First of all, it was good that ND held Alabama to its lowest point total of the year and 19 points below their season total. But it is a pyrrhic accomplishment since ND was never in the game. They never at anytime challenged Alabama.
Two things stood out to me. One was that once more the offense failed to show up in a marquee game. Secondly, where was the pass rush? To me, that was the biggest problem in the game, lack of pass rush - next of course to the offense not showing up.
Kelly has brought back the ND program back to prominence in 3 stages. Stage one was placing ND in the 20th to 15th range in the rankings. Stage two was moving the program up into the 14th to 10th range. The 3rd stage is where the program is currently at - the 9th to 5th range.
I think that Kelly has a lot of parts to make an occasional foray into the 4th to 1rst. But he has to someway be able to recruit and sign that elite quarterback and 3-4 speed guys at the skill positions.
Can he do that? I don't know, but until he does, we will be seeing rerun after rerun of what we have seen in the big marquee games since Holtz.
Two things stood out to me. One was that once more the offense failed to show up in a marquee game. Secondly, where was the pass rush? To me, that was the biggest problem in the game, lack of pass rush - next of course to the offense not showing up.
Kelly has brought back the ND program back to prominence in 3 stages. Stage one was placing ND in the 20th to 15th range in the rankings. Stage two was moving the program up into the 14th to 10th range. The 3rd stage is where the program is currently at - the 9th to 5th range.
I think that Kelly has a lot of parts to make an occasional foray into the 4th to 1rst. But he has to someway be able to recruit and sign that elite quarterback and 3-4 speed guys at the skill positions.
Can he do that? I don't know, but until he does, we will be seeing rerun after rerun of what we have seen in the big marquee games since Holtz.
