no. no no no. nope and wrong.
come ON… Seriously? I have been a fan since before the 77 season and THIS is the thing that most makes me want to cover my head in a bag. Enough with “The World is Picking on Us” chorus, men. I’ve been hearing it for years and it needs to stop. Every time we go on the road, every time we have a call not go our way, half of our fanbase sound like children crying to momma. Show some grit.

If there were 7 bad or missed calls, MAYBE four went their way and three went ours, but it was close. And any errors were just that: errors. NOT some huge conspiracy on the part of the “FITB Conference Here.”

Just like Alabama… we were beaten by a better team. Their QB was better, their WR (at least one) was MUCH better, their D was better… and they played with direction and fire. You might even say we were outcoached but I don’t know. (???) No doubt about this though: we needed someone to step up… like Gallon did, like Gardner did,… and no one stepped up and stayed stepped up. And, just sayin, our key player on D (JUST LIKE AGAINST BAMA) wasn’t there. Fizzled. Non-factor. Negated. Had Gardner not made the bungle of his young career, Tuitt would have been unheardfrom too. Refs schmefs.

As far as Tommy’s stats… THAT is what QB stats look like when a D is playing back, playing soft, playing bend but don’t break. No surprises. Under those circumstances, he could have thrown the ball all night… but if he didn’t outplay/outscore Gardner, we were done. You don’t wanna blame Turnover Tommy? OK, he hung 23 points on one of the best (THE best?) teams in the BigHowevermany when he needed to hang 35 and still have help from his D. Lead us to a win??? TOMMY?!?! Oh, he’ll lead us to a win… and a few losses too.
He’ll look brilliant against Purdue & MSU, though.

Go Irish! Now, let’s man the eff up!

I agree that Rees is not the problem, or not the whole problem. He can’t do what Golson could do, but he played well enough. The offense really missed Riddick last night. All of those passes that bounce off of Atkinson’s hands were completions when Riddick was here. The defense obviously missed Te’o a great deal, not just in terms of his playmaking but also his leadership and on-the-field coaching from the MLB spot. Plus, Gardner just made some amazing plays.

I am not sure what to say to anyone who thinks Hendrix is the answer. I have watched every snap he has taken and I have never seen anything that gave me confidence that he is an adequate backup, much less a better starter than Rees. That’s just wishful thinking.

The big problem was the D. As noted, the offense did enough (though they scored 23 points, not 30). Last year, the offensive gameplan was generally get to 13 and wait for the D to work like a boa constrictor, suffocating and swallowing opposing offenses whole. But without the leadership of Manti Te’o, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Danny Spond et al the unit seems rudderless. It’s also clear that the front seven isn’t dominant enough to cover for the inadequacies of the secondary. Jeremy Gallon isn’t Calvin Johnson. Part of the reason why opposing QB’s look so good is because their receivers can get consistent separation.

REES. IS. NOT. THE. PROBLEM. He made one bad throw at the half and another in a desperate situation at the end of the game. It’s not as if replacing him for this year will do any good, because Golson is the quarterback next year.

Firstly, Rees was not the reason this game was lost. Period.

Second, Kelly’s offense is not predicated around a running QB. ND put up 543 yards last week and 410 this week. They are moving the ball just fine.

I wasn’t thinking national championship with this team, but it wasn’t because of Rees. We lost a hell of a player in Te’o and that loss seems to be greater than expected based on the way the defense played last night.