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Transcript of the first couple of segments,, Watch the entire show above.
Instant Takeaways
“There is an issue with the culture of the program. When you watch these kids play, you just do not see kids, outside of Book, he tries to make things happen, and the front four who seem to run hot or cold occasionally in terms of their ‘want to’ or willingness to make a play. You do not see the kids making exceptional efforts to make a play. It’s like a cultural thing where the kids play robotically, and they do not play or do anything outside of their natural ability. Nobody sticks a block, nobody is really sticking their head in there. It is just really disappointing to see. The blame will go to Kelly, go to Rees, and the coaching staff and they are a big part of it.
“I know I was not the best player in the world, but I cared and I tried and I was tough. You just don’t see that at Notre Dame when it matters in these big-time games. Specifically in the run games, no one was getting off of a block and making a play. We were getting out jumped and outran in certain situations and that can be chalked up to a lack of ability at times but the lack of ‘want to’ that Notre Dame fans have seen throughout the years and in recent history has reared its head again today.
“It’s almost like Notre Dame is the kid getting picked on at school. They are the kid that is too afraid to stand up to the bully and is too afraid to be punished for throwing the first punch. At a certain point, you have to puff your chest out and stand up. You have to stand up for yourself and it comes down to recruiting. Notre Dame just landed the Georgia safety Khari Gee and on his film he is not a kid that is going to take it. Hopefully Notre Dame can step up and get more kids like that. The talent aspect is there right now. Those Clemson players have fun and have the toughness where if someone throws a punch, they are swinging right back and maybe are even throwing the first punch. Notre Dame needs more dudes like that on this team.”
What was different today? What went wrong?
“As far as what went wrong, on the first drive, everything was great. We got a field goal and got some points. Where the bottom went out and the air went out of the balloon was the Avery Davis drop on 4th and 3. That was the gong shell for Notre Dame and when the wheels fell off. It was not just one wheel that fell off either; it was all of them. Sure, that throw to Davis was not perfect, it was behind him, but it was very catchable. After that, we were deflated and missed a field goal after that. When you are playing a big-time team like Clemson, there are ebbs and flows in the game, but you have to keep swinging. You don’t put your hands in your pockets and that is what we did tonight.”
“On defense, Clark Lea’s decision to leave and the timing of all of that had to factor into today’s performance. We can pontificate about it all we want, and we may never truly know what happened, but it seemed like a loss of focus, even if it was just a 5-10 percent decline in terms or preparation, that is a very real thing.
“I know those kids love him and Lea is an exceptional person. I don’t have a bad thing to say about him, but when you know your leader is gone, and the guy you have been riding with for the past three seasons is gone, that is tough. I went through that when our coach left right before a bowl game and all of the assistants were looking for new jobs and no one really seemed to care about the game. The team spirit and a little lack of prep was what it looked like to me today.
“Offensively, we know what Clemson does in their front seven, they bring heat. The offensive line let us down today and they could not track the movement of the Clemson front seven. From day one, Notre Dame has leaned on and relied on its offensive line to be the strength of this team and the backbone of this team and they have been that but today they were discombobulated from the movement and that carries into pass protection. As far as the game plan, I thought we would see Tommy Tremble show up and he had three catches and I thought we would see some middle screens but we only ran one I believe. If you are blitzing, football 101 is throwing a screen to slow that down. Today, it just never stopped. Once we started bleeding, it just got worse and worse. I feel like if we rewatch the game, that 4th and 3 drop was the beginning of the end.
Playoff Picture
“Do we want to go to the playoff? Our playoff chances come down to the two top-15 wins and everyone knows it was without the best player in the country, as Brian Kelly said, you still beat Clemson, but I tend to be a glass half empty kind of guy. I don’t know if we want to go to the playoff. You could make a strong argument for Notre Dame to get in, and I do not think Ohio State should get in. Notre Dame struggled with Clemson, but Ohio State struggled with Northwestern today. I know they were down guys but you eked out a win against Northwestern. Texas A&M is the interesting one for me. Ohio State does not deserve to get in. OSU would struggle with Clemson and the Big 10 is rough this year. I am not super impressed with them going 6-0 this season. Cincinnati is not getting in so it is coming down to Notre Dame, A&M, and Ohio State. I think it would be fun to have a playoff without Ohio State given how bad the conference is this season. I don’t know how intentional the committee is with these matchups, but Bama does well what Notre Dame does not and that is a tremendous team.”
