I am giving BVG my vote of confidence for 2016.

[Bodizephax]

I loved his defense in the 31 to 0 blowout of Michigan in 2014 and his defense in the 38 to 3 pasting of Texas in 2015.
When he has the bodies his teams produce. The depth was better in 2015 and held up to injuries better than in 2014.
The depth will be even better in 2016 and many of the players will have had 2 to 3 years in his system.

The defense did improve in 2015 over 2014 and will improve again this year.

Continuity as a defensive coordinator has been good for ND. Where as changing every year has been disastrous---the Charlie W years (If he kept his first D coordinator longer he would have been more successful (Rick Minter)

*** Most everyone wanted Bob Diaco gone after his first year when he we got blown out by Navy and he did not have any good answers. Many wanted him gone in 2011 after late defensive collapses to Michigan and getting run over by USC.

But Kelly showed confidence in Diaco and recruited some studs for him and Bob Diaco rewarded Kelly with having a top rated defense for his third year.

The Alabama loss in the National Championship game (sorry cgvr--Harbaugh has never been there)
showed a weakness that Diaco had which was a predictable defense.

Kelly hired BVG because he wanted a SEC style defense that could confuse opponents.

You may be laughing at me now (I am slightly insane--I admit) but I believe the Irish will have an outstanding defense to go along with an outstanding offense and make the playoffs in 2016.
I personally believe the Irish will win it all in 16. And BVG's name will be up for head coaching jobs after the season. Mike Sanford will also be up for a head coaching job after the highest scoring offense the Irish have ever had.

I hope the Irish pay BVG and Sanford huge salaries to keep them if we have a great season.

I still think we could have had a 14 and 0 season in 2014 if we had better luck on the injury front.

 

[Yooper Irishfan]

The thing is, both of those offenses were absolutely horrendous when we played them. Yes, we have been hammered by injuries, but why was our offense able to continue to produce with big losses while the defense was terrible? You're always going to have attrition in college...you need to have a system in place that accommodates that.

 

[napy2121]

The thing is, both of those offenses were absolutely horrendous when we played them. Yes, we have been hammered by injuries, but why was our offense able to continue to produce with big losses while the defense was terrible? You're always going to have attrition in college...you need to have a system in place that accommodates that.

My answer to that would be that we have and can continue to recruit elite or near elite talent on offense that has created amazing depth. We can't really say that on d, I'm not blaming anyone but the dline and back end have been historically difficult spots to land elite talent.

I think we'll have better depth next year, that came out of last years sacrifice. Hopefully it won't be as needed.

 

[stu4don]

Hmm... we lose our best four players (who for all but a game or two were healthy) from this year: Smith, Day, Russell and Shumate... And our defense which was mediocre at best (and many times came out flat and unprepared) was, despite BVG's excuse "they were young" one of the most experienced we've had in a long time. We started 8 seniors/juniors and 2-3 sops and a frosh. If that is young, I don't know what old is!

I hope I'm wrong. I trust in Kelly. But I was not impressed this year. We had the offense to go the distance. Our defense was very weak at times and seemed confused and under coached. I was also underwhelmed by coach BVG's recruiting efforts this year.

And I'm usually the optimist around here! So, Bodi -- I'm going to look at the glass, ah-hem, half full and hope BVG's system comes together in 2016.

 

[88ND]

I really can't understand how anybody can make any conclusions because of the injuries and suspensions over the last two seasons. ND also hired two new defensive coaches and moved a third within the defense. We shall see more clearly when ND travels to Austin Texas.

Ara, I have a question. In your opinion do you think Notre Dame is a good tackling team? The talent on the field at the time is irrelevant to this question. No matter who it is, would you consider Notre Dame a good fundamental tackling team? I don't.
I have never thrown BVG under the bus just because....but something that continues its ugly trend is the fundamentals or lack there of.
Something is going on there and it needs to be fixed. Either the staff is ignoring the repetition of it during practices and or the staff is ignoring those players listed at #2 or lower on the depth chart. Possibly some of both.
Let's eliminate the confusion on defensive schemes a second.
Morgan...out of control , Grace...out of control....

The one corner back who was brought in against BC that had an open field tackle attempt on a spot pass ....out of control and got nothing..not even a jersey swipe. That was the hands swatting motion game Kelly did in disgust.

These are the problems I have with the defense.

We can argue on the other issues the defense has but that is only an opinion.....what I mentioned above is evidence to me the defense has something going on and it's not good.

 

[IrishHerb]

Ara, I have a question. In your opinion do you think Notre Dame is a good tackling team? The talent on the field at the time is irrelevant to this question. No matter who it is, would you consider Notre Dame a good fundamental tackling team? I don't.
I have never thrown BVG under the bus just because....but something that continues its ugly trend is the fundamentals or lack there of.
Something is going on there and it needs to be fixed. Either the staff is ignoring the repetition of it during practices and or the staff is ignoring those players listed at #2 or lower on the depth chart. Possibly some of both.
Let's eliminate the confusion on defensive schemes a second.
Morgan...out of control , Grace...out of control....

The one corner back who was brought in against BC that had an open field tackle attempt on a spot pass ....out of control and got nothing..not even a jersey swipe. That was the hands swatting motion game Kelly did in disgust.

These are the problems I have with the defense.

We can argue on the other issues the defense has but that is only an opinion.....what I mentioned above is evidence to me the defense has something going on and it's not good.

88nd, I kind of agree with you here. As for schemes, plans and all that … I may like them or may not, but I can't read what is in the coach's mind and therefore can't really tell what he is/was planning to do.

But … as for fundamentals, thats a completely different thing. On defense that means tackling, shedding your blockers, playing under control, etc … ND seems to be weak in that area. Too many arm tackles, too many times a player over runs his pursuit and gets out of position. This is something that CAN be coached, and it looks like our coaching staff has been skimping in this area.

 

[Java65]

I really can't understand how anybody can make any conclusions because of the injuries and suspensions over the last two seasons. ND also hired two new defensive coaches and moved a third within the defense. We shall see more clearly when ND travels to Austin Texas.

I can because I have seen for 2 years nearly every player confused as to their position and assignment. We like to blast the S but the reality is they are the most obvious when they miss. I've seen LB not know who they are supposed to cover. LB hitting the same gap. CB not knowing if they have S help on a particular play.

Our defense has been lousy in large part because only a few guys knew what they were supposed to do.

 

[cgvr]

I really can't understand how anybody can make any conclusions because of the injuries and suspensions over the last two seasons. ND also hired two new defensive coaches and moved a third within the defense. We shall see more clearly when ND travels to Austin Texas.

Seriously?

Jaylon Smith had one sack last year.

Who knew that his sack in the second 1/4 of the season opener would be his ND career last?

This was in a blitz happy package (not a bend don't break).....

 

[end_23]

OP,

ND will never lose a game ever again!!!!!!!!! CJ Sanders Heisman!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Irishjohn68]

ND never strip tackles the ball. Other teams create turnovers, ND does not.

 

[IrishHerb]

Who really has the final say? My guess is the head coach.

Kelly has had Diaco and now BVG … schemes were different, yes. But fundamentals were basically the same. Wonder how much of that falls on the head coach? How much time id devoted to fundamentals as opposed to schemes and other things?

 

[88ND]

Who really has the final say? My guess is the head coach.

Kelly has had Diaco and now BVG … schemes were different, yes. But fundamentals were basically the same. Wonder how much of that falls on the head coach? How much time id devoted to fundamentals as opposed to schemes and other things?

It's kind of strange because Kelly himself was a defensive player.

Obviously he is an offensive guy through and through but he does have a defensive background.

Having said the above I believe a couple things are at work here. #1 Kelly is the offensive guy and puts his time in on that possibly at the expense of the defense. More weird in this is that he does recruit hard for defensive players something CW ..another offensive guy ignored for the most part.

I also think to me it's very evident they are NOT spending time going hot...or live if you will at practice. Probably in fear so much of injuries.

Imo injuries are a part of the game and I do find it alarming the apparent gap between the starting eleven and the back ups in regards to being prepared to get in the game and go.

Other teams deal with it and the back up might not be as talented...the drop off is no where as bad as our back up.

This can't be just a difference on talent only between one team and Notre Dame.

Seriously...we get a defensive player hurt and then stop the presses ...sky has fallen....we can't stop anyone now...the excuses come pouring out...injury this injury that...boo hoo....blah blah blah.

Let's say Alabama has a starting defensive player we will rate 10 out of 10.
The Notre Dame counter point player we rate 8.5 out if ten.

These players backups......
Alabama backup comes in and plays like a 6.5-7 out of 10.
The ND substitute comes in and plays like a 3-4 out of 10.

See this is where I blame the staff.

Our backups are so unprepared to play any kind of formidable defense where other teams backups are still be fairly competitive.

 

[Shakin' Down the Thunder]

It's kind of strange because Kelly himself was a defensive player.

Obviously he is an offensive guy through and through but he does have a defensive background.

Having said the above I believe a couple things are at work here. #1 Kelly is the offensive guy and puts his time in on that possibly at the expense of the defense. More weird in this is that he does recruit hard for defensive players something CW ..another offensive guy ignored for the most part.

I also think to me it's very evident they are NOT spending time going hot...or live if you will at practice. Probably in fear so much of injuries.

Imo injuries are a part of the game and I do find it alarming the apparent gap between the starting eleven and the back ups in regards to being prepared to get in the game and go.

Other teams deal with it and the back up might not be as talented...the drop off is no where as bad as our back up.

This can't be just a difference on talent only between one team and Notre Dame.

Seriously...we get a defensive player hurt and then stop the presses ...sky has fallen....we can't stop anyone now...the excuses come pouring out...injury this injury that...boo hoo....blah blah blah.

Let's say Alabama has a starting defensive player we will rate 10 out of 10.
The Notre Dame counter point player we rate 8.5 out if ten.

These players backups......
Alabama backup comes in and plays like a 6.5-7 out of 10.
The ND substitute comes in and plays like a 3-4 out of 10.

See this is where I blame the staff.

Our backups are so unprepared to play any kind of formidable defense where other teams backups are still be fairly competitive.

Agreed about the backup part. On ND offense we saw that they can lose their first string QB and RB and still be productive. When on defense Shumate goes down, I believe Nicky Barrati when in. That would make everyone wince.

As for the tackling, while the best way to practice is to do it full speed, I do believe you can still work on tackling technique/form and improve using methods that are safe and unlikely to result in injury. Hopefully Elliott who did such a good job researching how to stop the option is spending his off season researching how to tackle better.

 

[BGI User 1596]

“As we were transitioning, we were winning some football games along the way. We're not where we want to be defensively, and we're not going to apologize for the fact that we had injuries. We had injuries. But we're going to play great defense under Brian VanGorder and the staff that we've put together.” Does BVG have something on Kelly?

 

[Java65]

“As we were transitioning, we were winning some football games along the way. We're not where we want to be defensively, and we're not going to apologize for the fact that we had injuries. We had injuries. But we're going to play great defense under Brian VanGorder and the staff that we've put together.” Does BVG have something on Kelly?

geez.. the old injury excuse. O$U lost their entire starting DL (after Bosa was tossed) for the Fiesta bowl and they still played great and dominated our OL.

The fact that the most athletic, physically talented LB ND has had in decades only had 1 sack, 9 TFL and 0 INT tells me all I need to know about this defensive scheme.

 

[88ND]

geez.. the old injury excuse. O$U lost their entire starting DL (after Bosa was tossed) for the Fiesta bowl and they still played great and dominated our OL.

The fact that the most athletic, physically talented LB ND has had in decades only had 1 sack, 9 TFL and 0 INT tells me all I need to know about this defensive scheme.

That is very telling. Don't get me wrong someone got the idea to move Jaylon inside (no matter how hard this is forced he is NOT an inside backer) ..regardless.

I could see if this generational talent played in the back 4. .. but he played amid the front seven. Matter of fact I can count on both hands the number of times he blitzed the entire year and I don't even need all ten digits.

 

[Java65]

I ran across this today and thought it was very fitting in this thread. I'll paste the interesting part that pertains to this thread then I'll link for those that want to read. Below is comments from Caleb Kelly;

It’s hardly representative, but after five-star linebacker Caleb Kelly gushed about his potential position coach, Mike Elston, last month and his territory recruiter, associate head coach Mike Denbrock, he was almost dismissive of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

“VanGorder? He had two OK seasons,” the Fresno, Calif., standout said roughly a month before picking Oklahoma narrowly over the Irish, last week.

http://www.ndinsider.com/football/i...1e5-a3f8-b7cf4d8ff821.html?platform=hootsuite

 

[Pennick4]

I ran across this today and thought it was very fitting in this thread. I'll paste the interesting part that pertains to this thread then I'll link for those that want to read. Below is comments from Caleb Kelly;

It’s hardly representative, but after five-star linebacker Caleb Kelly gushed about his potential position coach, Mike Elston, last month and his territory recruiter, associate head coach Mike Denbrock, he was almost dismissive of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.

“VanGorder? He had two OK seasons,” the Fresno, Calif., standout said roughly a month before picking Oklahoma narrowly over the Irish, last week.

http://www.ndinsider.com/football/i...1e5-a3f8-b7cf4d8ff821.html?platform=hootsuite

Not going to take anything from the kids quote since he made a college decision by picking a school out of a hat.