I honestly hope they just fire the guy now so some of you people can cry next season when things get worse. He just coached against one of the best teams in college football with half his defense injured/suspended and you expect miracles! Oh and the lack of offense didn't exactly help the defense out did it?
Lack of talent, lack of depth, and injuries have killed this team since he started coaching but some on here think someone else could have done better, just ignorance. Stop looking at the coaches and get realistic about the players we have on defense so you can not complain when the next defensive coordinator fails. Obviously if someone new comes in they will automatically do better with a healthy team but I am sure that will be overlooked and it still won't be a major difference.
We aren't Alabama, we don't have that type of talent and unless you start understanding that then you will never be happy. Just look at our "top" targets like Pride and Studstill, they aren't ranked high at all yet we consider them "top" targets. Meanwhile go back and watch Bama's thrashing of Sparty and they had two 5* freshmen studs at corner starting. On top of that they have a defensive line that not only stuffs the run but more importantly gets pressure on the QB, something we haven't had for a while. It isn't only Bama because you can also look at Ohio st. and see the same thing or just go down the line of the top teams that have shots at the national title each year. Here is a serious question Blue and Gold mentioned a few weeks back and it says a lot... when was the last time we had a major defensive player get drafted in the NFL and made an impact? The only one I can think of is Justin Tuck which was a long time back. Obviously some kids will be really solid college players and not do well in the NFL, which would be great, but we rarely get those special athletes anymore that you know will be destined for greatness at either level... Jaylon being the newest and I hope he heals well so he can have a long career in the NFL.
Besides the lack of big recruits people forget about the transfers/suspensions that have hurt our depth the past 4-5 years. You can't build a solid defense when kids are getting hurt and you have no talent behind them. Hey I love Joe but on how many major programs would he be starting? He played decent before getting hurt but this entire season you could see he lost speed and strength yet we had nobody to step in and take over.
Hey maybe a new coach will change the scheme and the assistants can be better overall, I would be very happy if that happens, but I don't see much changing if the talent and depth don't get better. The schedule is stronger next season and if the offense isn't playing at a higher level then we could lose 3-4 games based on our defensive outlook. I do think the offense has to get better with the added playing time, mainly at QB, and that could decide whether we are an 8, 9, or 10 win team. Offensive line will be best position so there shouldn't be excuses for the running game or pass protection, one would assume, but not sure who will be catching passes when Fuller leaves.
Oh well, it was a good season in my opinion and I honestly didn't think we would have 10 wins. We played well against Clemson and Stanford, both solid teams, but today the injuries were too much against a better team. If you have followed ND your entire life then maybe you are like me and understand we aren't the same program we were in the past and college football has changed a lot in terms of diversity. ND now recruits against more programs and with the restrictions we already have it is extremely difficult. On top of that we have to deal with other factors like location, weather, the ND lifestyle, etc... I think we can still get enough talent to make runs at a title, like 2012, but other than that one year it has been rough since the Holtz era. I seriously can't recall the last time we played a top ranked team and thought we had an honest shot at destroying that team, can you? I think this speaks a lot about the players we have these days on our team.
Lack of talent, lack of depth, and injuries have killed this team since he started coaching but some on here think someone else could have done better, just ignorance. Stop looking at the coaches and get realistic about the players we have on defense so you can not complain when the next defensive coordinator fails. Obviously if someone new comes in they will automatically do better with a healthy team but I am sure that will be overlooked and it still won't be a major difference.
We aren't Alabama, we don't have that type of talent and unless you start understanding that then you will never be happy. Just look at our "top" targets like Pride and Studstill, they aren't ranked high at all yet we consider them "top" targets. Meanwhile go back and watch Bama's thrashing of Sparty and they had two 5* freshmen studs at corner starting. On top of that they have a defensive line that not only stuffs the run but more importantly gets pressure on the QB, something we haven't had for a while. It isn't only Bama because you can also look at Ohio st. and see the same thing or just go down the line of the top teams that have shots at the national title each year. Here is a serious question Blue and Gold mentioned a few weeks back and it says a lot... when was the last time we had a major defensive player get drafted in the NFL and made an impact? The only one I can think of is Justin Tuck which was a long time back. Obviously some kids will be really solid college players and not do well in the NFL, which would be great, but we rarely get those special athletes anymore that you know will be destined for greatness at either level... Jaylon being the newest and I hope he heals well so he can have a long career in the NFL.
Besides the lack of big recruits people forget about the transfers/suspensions that have hurt our depth the past 4-5 years. You can't build a solid defense when kids are getting hurt and you have no talent behind them. Hey I love Joe but on how many major programs would he be starting? He played decent before getting hurt but this entire season you could see he lost speed and strength yet we had nobody to step in and take over.
Hey maybe a new coach will change the scheme and the assistants can be better overall, I would be very happy if that happens, but I don't see much changing if the talent and depth don't get better. The schedule is stronger next season and if the offense isn't playing at a higher level then we could lose 3-4 games based on our defensive outlook. I do think the offense has to get better with the added playing time, mainly at QB, and that could decide whether we are an 8, 9, or 10 win team. Offensive line will be best position so there shouldn't be excuses for the running game or pass protection, one would assume, but not sure who will be catching passes when Fuller leaves.
Oh well, it was a good season in my opinion and I honestly didn't think we would have 10 wins. We played well against Clemson and Stanford, both solid teams, but today the injuries were too much against a better team. If you have followed ND your entire life then maybe you are like me and understand we aren't the same program we were in the past and college football has changed a lot in terms of diversity. ND now recruits against more programs and with the restrictions we already have it is extremely difficult. On top of that we have to deal with other factors like location, weather, the ND lifestyle, etc... I think we can still get enough talent to make runs at a title, like 2012, but other than that one year it has been rough since the Holtz era. I seriously can't recall the last time we played a top ranked team and thought we had an honest shot at destroying that team, can you? I think this speaks a lot about the players we have these days on our team.
