To follow up on this, don't think for a minute Kelly didn't suspect the same. That's why the moment it presented itself to go to the pros, he was on a plane to Philadelphia. His new extension is a horrible mistake and terrible blemish on Swarbrick's resume. Bad judgement there.
From TOS:
"1. In its last 40 games, ND has beaten two teams that finished (or will finish) in the top 25 - USC in 2013 and Navy last year. And Reynolds was hurt for most of the game last year.
2. He's now 3-7 over the last ten games, with a close win over 3-9 BostonCollege, and wins against Nevada and Syracuse. In the same time span, ND has lost to 3-3 Texas, 2-4 MSU, 3-4 Duke, 4-2 NC State, and a 4-2 Stanford team that had lost its previous two games by a combined 22-86 and was without its Heisman candidate. Any decent team would have blown their doors off. I don't think it was unreasonable to expect a big win. This was an awful loss -- the fifth one of the season.
3. He is supposed to be an offensive expert and a QB developer. His most prolific offense finished 34th in scoring and 79th in red zone TD %. His current offense is 65th and 59th. 89th in rushing. His starting QBs could double as a Brian Kelly enemies list: first it was Crist's fault, then the hilarious "Tommy No!" years, then Golson's fault, then we finally found the guy. And put him in a two-QB rotation against Texas. Yesterday was pretty convincing evidence even DeShone Kizer can't withstand being coached by offensive expert and QB guru Brian Kelly.
4. He's not beating good teams, and he loses to too many bad teams. He hasn't even played many. Nine games in his career against AP top-ten teams (at the time of the game), and he's 2-7. He's lost to 14 unranked teams.
5. The post-2012 seasons, the years where Kelly had his own guys) have been a combined 29-17. That's .630. That includes the bowl wins. A 4-8 finish would put him right around .600 for that period. That's not the "hey, we have a good but not great coach" zone. That's right there in the [inaudible].
6. Almost no one is improving. The OL was a joke last night. ND has supposedly been recruiting top OL classes for years. Three guys in particular last night wouldn't start for Air Force. Special teams is still awful. Running game is still an afterthought (Folston had 6.1 ypc and EIGHT total rushes). Hunter and St. Brown are doing well and the tackling has improved, but that's about it.
7. Game plans and playcalling are mystifying. Unless you consider the fact that this team can't just build a game plan around running, because they have no running game. It's a structural defect in the foundation. One of the two things an American football offense needs to do, we don't give a wet fart about. Where was "the only guy with grit" last night, Dexter Williams? Why did Folston prove he could carve out a run game by himself and not touch the ball?
8.
The coach with no mentor and no apprenticeship is proving he has nothing but his own gut to turn to in times of crisis. The Kizer-Zaire deal is about as clear as it gets that we have a coach in over his head.
9. This program has become too expensive to squander. Kelly has been given all ND can give, and he has not delivered.
To wrap this up at last, this team does nothing well, and they're getting worse. With a body of work light on success and heavy on embarrassment, the conclusion is unavoidable. We can no longer accept the trajectory of this program."
