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I told you all so... kind of.

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Irish_inPSU

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Sep 22, 2008
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I'm not gloating or anything. Heck I'm not a coach and don't know the details of play calling etc. But a while back, I made the case that ND's offense had no identity. Even during the Kelly era, the offense always felt more like a mix and match of play calling styles. Given the QB situation and other personnel on the offense, I said, ND needs to be a power running team. Let those big fellas up front "eat". There nothing an O line likes more than pushing the defense backwards. It develops rhythm, it takes the pressure off the QB and forces the D to play more one dimensional schemes. ND absolutely has, and have for quite some time, an elite offensive line unit. They absolutely can push most, if not all defenses off the ball. Since the Clemson game, they are looking the part of an elite unit and imposing their will on defenses. Clemson has an mighty talented front four and they had no answer.

I'm thrilled to see this type of offense and I firmly believe if we do the same thing this weekend at USC, we will put this game away in the third quarter. USC does not have the personnel up front to play physical, smash mouth football. Thats always been the Achilles Heal of the Pac-12 teams. If Reese decides to turn this game into a track meet... ND is in trouble. Pound them in the face, play sound defense and ND will finish the season on a great note and be setup great for next year.
 
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Irish_inPSU said:
I'm not gloating or anything. Heck I'm not a coach and don't know the details of play calling etc. But a while back, I made the case that ND's offense had no identity. Even during the Kelly era, the offense always felt more like a mix and match of play calling styles. Given the QB situation and other personnel on the offense, I said, ND needs to be a power running team. Let those big fellas up front "eat". There nothing an O line likes more than pushing the defense backwards. It develops rhythm, it takes the pressure off the QB and forces the D to play more one dimensional schemes. ND absolutely has, and have for quite some time, an elite offensive line unit. They absolutely can push most, if not all defenses off the ball. Since the Clemson game, they are looking the part of an elite unit and imposing their will on defenses. Clemson has an mighty talented front four and they had no answer.

I'm thrilled to see this type of offense and I firmly believe if we do the same thing this weekend at USC, we will put this game away in the third quarter. USC does not have the personnel up front to play physical, smash mouth football. Thats always been the Achilles Heal of the Pac-12 teams. If Reese decides to turn this game into a track meet... ND is in trouble. Pound them in the face, play sound defense and ND will finish the season on a great note and be setup great for next year.
Click to expand...
54-9 the last five seasons in South Bend for Brian Kelly that included two undefeated regular seasons and two playoff berths. Whatever “mix and match...” Brian Kelly was running on offense his last 5 seasons garnered a lot of wins, and Kelly has continued his “...mix and match...” offense for more success at LSU, going 9-2, winning the SEC West, and beating Alabama.
 
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God damn, only a lost soul ND fan would come to gloat, and make an absurd claim that he 'told us so', about his personal fantasy, that admittedly is prevalent and is shared all throughout the greater ND fan nation, that ND needs to turn back the clock and revert to three yards and a cloud of dust.

And only because Drew Pyne is our QB, that's the only reason. Out of desperation we're blatantly running the ball down after down, and keeping our fingers crossed that it keeps working. I could imagine guys like the OP being in favor of deliberately stunting what would be the utterly natural, inevitable and highly desirable development of our passing offense and our QBs, so that we'd be forced to run the ball for lack of anything else.

So enjoy it while it lasts, I would suppose. Which will probably be this final game vs USC and that's it. And then the first order of business will be resuscitating the passing game, maybe even including seeking out a portal QB, despite having five scholarship QBs and a full depth chart heading into next season - knock on wood with Minchey - such will be the necessity to improve in this area.....
 
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Not being argumentative because I get the sentiment somewhat, but I think “having an identity” is a bit overstated. It’s one thing to have something you do well, but you don’t want to be predictable. Even a great o-line can’t run the ball if the opponent is loading the box, so actually not having an identity, and instead a measured balance helps, no matter what you do well. Again, nit-picking but I believe unpredictability is the key to an offense, but I also get having an area you excel in being important & I assume that’s the point being made when someone says “having an identity”.
 
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francade said:
Not being argumentative because I get the sentiment somewhat, but I think “having an identity” is a bit overstated. It’s one thing to have something you do well, but you don’t want to be predictable. Even a great o-line can’t run the ball if the opponent is loading the box, so actually not having an identity, and instead a measured balance helps, no matter what you do well. Again, not-picking but I believe unpredictability is the key to an offense, but I also get having an area you excel in being important & I assume that’s the point being made when someone says “having an identity”.
Click to expand...
Identities change as your personnel changes
 
Our identity was winning. The OP must have been happy as the proverbial pig in shit during the Brandon Wimbush years, when we we're in the same boat. A QB who straight up could not pass, and we had to scramble to figure out something so maybe we could win some games. And so, unsurprisingly, like any team would I suppose, we turned to our running game. We had a good stable of backs, we had sort of a generational OL with QN and MM on the left side, and we had BW himself who was a formidable running QB. And we blatantly ran the ball, and led with the run, and hoped for the best....

And it got us a 9-3 record, and it saved BK's job, which I suppose a lot of those same run-first fans have mixed feelings about that last part let's just say, even though it must have been thrilling, and exhilarating, to keep running the ball like that, play after play.

But perhaps MF is just personally inept enough, when it comes to having strong feelings or convictions on the subject of offensive football, and just sort of generally impressionable as well.... that he'll want to stay with this power running attack, because it's working! And will de-emphasize the QB position in our football culture and 'identity' under his leadership moving forward. On the strength of two games, both wins, when our QB was presumed to have been so, shall we say substandard, that we're just better off not throwing the ball much at all, and we'll take our chances handing it off repeatedly....

Oh, and I should add that we are currently on track to have EIGHT scholarship RBs next season. So we could definitely rotate RBs if we wanted to, and pretty much run the ball every single play, with fresh legs every time....
 
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Irish_inPSU said:
I'm not gloating or anything. Heck I'm not a coach and don't know the details of play calling etc. But a while back, I made the case that ND's offense had no identity. Even during the Kelly era, the offense always felt more like a mix and match of play calling styles. Given the QB situation and other personnel on the offense, I said, ND needs to be a power running team. Let those big fellas up front "eat". There nothing an O line likes more than pushing the defense backwards. It develops rhythm, it takes the pressure off the QB and forces the D to play more one dimensional schemes. ND absolutely has, and have for quite some time, an elite offensive line unit. They absolutely can push most, if not all defenses off the ball. Since the Clemson game, they are looking the part of an elite unit and imposing their will on defenses. Clemson has an mighty talented front four and they had no answer.

I'm thrilled to see this type of offense and I firmly believe if we do the same thing this weekend at USC, we will put this game away in the third quarter. USC does not have the personnel up front to play physical, smash mouth football. Thats always been the Achilles Heal of the Pac-12 teams. If Reese decides to turn this game into a track meet... ND is in trouble. Pound them in the face, play sound defense and ND will finish the season on a great note and be setup great for next year.
Click to expand...
last paragraph is pretty much the story; SC is physically un imposing alongboth lines. Start your game plans, offense and defense, with that premise and you will succeed. Next year this will not be the case so, carpe diem!
 
sjb75 said:
54-9 the last five seasons in South Bend for Brian Kelly that included two undefeated regular seasons and two playoff berths. Whatever “mix and match...” Brian Kelly was running on offense his last 5 seasons garnered a lot of wins, and Kelly has continued his “...mix and match...” offense for more success at LSU, going 9-2, winning the SEC West, and beating Alabama.
Click to expand...
No one cares but you BK apologists.
 
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NDinNJ said:
Who cares, he's doing no better than he did at ND. He still hasn't won anything.
Click to expand...
he is in the cradle of football talent though! does not get any better than LSU to recruit
 
d1042 said:
11 games? bit premature? he is a good coach, but despicable person
Click to expand...
We could say the same about Freeman. Only 11 games in as a first time head coach. Kelly has 30 years experience on him.
 
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I don't mean to come off as gloating or anything like that. I made this statement after the last loss and did get kind of hammered on it.

Anyway... Identity isn't really the right word, and as someone else mentioned, your "identity" does change depending on the type of personnel you have from season to season. I get that. However, I think maybe maybe foundation is the best way to describe it. I have always felt for a long time, even during the kelly years, we just didn't have a great.. foundation on offense. There wasn't something we did really well and hung our hats on that. I also have been saying for many years now, that ND is recruiting very good O lines that have the size and strength required to push the elite defenses around a bit.

The Clemson game had me giddy, I'll admit. Its been a long time since I have seen an ND offense impose their will on an elite defense. Even the OSU game, the O line was not struggling that much.

ND never was and never will be a team built to win shootouts. I wholeheartedly believe that if we stick with this style of offense, power running game with an elite TE, if we do find ourselves with an elite QB or if Pyne develops into an elite type of QB, we'll be in very good shape. All that is needed is shore up the defensive depth.
 
No it's perfectly fine to gloat. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was an awesome win vs. Clemson. ND is not going to become a run first team/program like Stanford or Wisky. That's just not happening. It wouldn't be happening now if we had a better QB. And it isn't actually happening now, it's just an ad-hoc approach for a couple three games, and we're fortunate have a couple good backs, and as always a strong OL, and so we're improvising.....
 
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Irish_inPSU said:
I'm not gloating or anything. Heck I'm not a coach and don't know the details of play calling etc. But a while back, I made the case that ND's offense had no identity. Even during the Kelly era, the offense always felt more like a mix and match of play calling styles. Given the QB situation and other personnel on the offense, I said, ND needs to be a power running team. Let those big fellas up front "eat". There nothing an O line likes more than pushing the defense backwards. It develops rhythm, it takes the pressure off the QB and forces the D to play more one dimensional schemes. ND absolutely has, and have for quite some time, an elite offensive line unit. They absolutely can push most, if not all defenses off the ball. Since the Clemson game, they are looking the part of an elite unit and imposing their will on defenses. Clemson has an mighty talented front four and they had no answer.

I'm thrilled to see this type of offense and I firmly believe if we do the same thing this weekend at USC, we will put this game away in the third quarter. USC does not have the personnel up front to play physical, smash mouth football. Thats always been the Achilles Heal of the Pac-12 teams. If Reese decides to turn this game into a track meet... ND is in trouble. Pound them in the face, play sound defense and ND will finish the season on a great note and be setup great for next year.
Click to expand...
No no no...
I TOLD YOU so...😎

I said this before you by at least a week. 😉
Post in thread 'Tommy Rees play calling....' https://notredame.forums.rivals.com/threads/tommy-rees-play-calling.180796/post-3624842

Another post before yours...
Post in thread 'Honest question: Why does ND struggle to recruit RBs these days?' https://notredame.forums.rivals.com...to-recruit-rbs-these-days.180808/post-3625057

I'd say you're welcome and I'll be here all week but odds are I'll be here longer 😎
 
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sjb75 said:
54-9 the last five seasons in South Bend for Brian Kelly that included two undefeated regular seasons and two playoff berths. Whatever “mix and match...” Brian Kelly was running on offense his last 5 seasons garnered a lot of wins, and Kelly has continued his “...mix and match...” offense for more success at LSU, going 9-2, winning the SEC West, and beating Alabama.
Click to expand...
their offense isn't why they are winning - they're winning because their defense is giving up a full 8 PPG fewer...

and their QB is their leading rusher, with more attempts than the next 2 runners combined. sound familiar?

Georgia will annihilate that offense. they only have to stop one guy.
 
Pennick4 said:
Just won more games than any other coach at ND. Hope you can get BK out of your head so you can enjoy the Holidays! 😜
Click to expand...
He's not in my head. and if you are so enamored with BK feel free to become an LSU fan. like I said I don't care about BK, he's gone. Freeman is now the coach It's you and savvy that keep bringing him up with every thread, my response is who cares about BK, he's gone.
 
The USC defense is not very good. But make no mistake, they can put up a lot of points. We cannot afford a 14-0 first quarter deficit. Keep it close and we can win. They are playing for a possible playoff berth, they will be motivated.
 
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christophero said:
The USC defense is not very good. But make no mistake, they can put up a lot of points. We cannot afford a 14-0 first qaurter deficit. Keep it close and we can win. They are playing for a possible playoff berth, they will be motivated.
Click to expand...
BenMo has emerged a major threat to Caleb Williams.
 
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NDinNJ said:
He's not in my head. and if you are so enamored with BK feel free to become an LSU fan. like I said I don't care about BK, he's gone. Freeman is now the coach It's you and savvy that keep bringing him up with every thread, my response is who cares about BK, he's gone.
Click to expand...
Oh Patrica oh my. Stop responding to post about Kelly then.
 
Irishjohn68 said:
Oh Patrica oh my. Stop responding to post about Kelly then.
Click to expand...
You are beyond stupid and unfortunately for you, there is no cure for stupid !

Why don’t you ask the moderator if NDinNJ and I are the same person, you idiot.
 
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thehellyousay said:
their offense isn't why they are winning - they're winning because their defense is giving up a full 8 PPG fewer...

and their QB is their leading rusher, with more attempts than the next 2 runners combined. sound familiar?

Georgia will annihilate that offense. they only have to stop one guy.
Click to expand...
I think it’ll be a close game. LSU is peaking and their elite true freshman are as well.
 
Irish_inPSU said:
I don't mean to come off as gloating or anything like that. I made this statement after the last loss and did get kind of hammered on it.

Anyway... Identity isn't really the right word, and as someone else mentioned, your "identity" does change depending on the type of personnel you have from season to season. I get that. However, I think maybe maybe foundation is the best way to describe it. I have always felt for a long time, even during the kelly years, we just didn't have a great.. foundation on offense. There wasn't something we did really well and hung our hats on that. I also have been saying for many years now, that ND is recruiting very good O lines that have the size and strength required to push the elite defenses around a bit.

The Clemson game had me giddy, I'll admit. Its been a long time since I have seen an ND offense impose their will on an elite defense. Even the OSU game, the O line was not struggling that much.

ND never was and never will be a team built to win shootouts. I wholeheartedly believe that if we stick with this style of offense, power running game with an elite TE, if we do find ourselves with an elite QB or if Pyne develops into an elite type of QB, we'll be in very good shape. All that is needed is shore up the defensive depth.
Click to expand...
ND is playing to its strengths and compensating for its weaknesses, like any well coached team would. This offense looks a lot like Wisconsin under Chryst, Pitt under Narduzzi or even Bama when McCarron was the QB. We will need to stretch the field and make teams pay when they chest up safeties to stop the run.
 
Patrirish said:
You are beyond stupid and unfortunately for you, there is no cure for stupid !

Why don’t you ask the moderator if NDinNJ and I are the same person, you idiot.
Click to expand...
IrishJohn is too dumb to understand. He lacks reading comprehension.
 
NDinNJ said:
We could say the same about Freeman. Only 11 games in as a first time head coach. Kelly has 30 years experience on him.
Click to expand...
Kelly quit Notre Dame....not the other way around. That point seems to get lost on this board sometimes. Maybe someone on this board can set up a "Kelly's Groupies" board....a safe space where all the Kellyannas can gather and support their idol. Kelly is a good coach...and Kelly never won anything...So both things can be true at the same time. The rest is up the the Kellyannas.
 
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sjb75 said:
54-9 the last five seasons in South Bend for Brian Kelly that included two undefeated regular seasons and two playoff berths. Whatever “mix and match...” Brian Kelly was running on offense his last 5 seasons garnered a lot of wins, and Kelly has continued his “...mix and match...” offense for more success at LSU, going 9-2, winning the SEC West, and beating Alabama.
Click to expand...
Agree, and, looking at past champions, you need a QB who can throw the ball. (*How many National Championships has Wisconsin or Navy won?)
 
Harpo Marxist said:
Kelly quit Notre Dame....not the other way around. That point seems to get lost on this board sometimes. Maybe someone on this board can set up a "Kelly's Groupies" board....a safe space where all the Kellyannas can gather and support their idol. Kelly is a good coach...and Kelly never won anything...So both things can be true at the same time. The rest is up the the Kellyannas.
Click to expand...
Kelly is proving he can coach Orgeron's recruits (and the guy could recruit). Kelly is a mediocre recruiter at best and that isn't as big a problem at semi-pro LSU. At Collegiate ND, Freeman is showing us... it is possible to bring in a top 5 time, something that kelly did once in ten years. Now, if Freeman can learn to beat the teams the should beat.
 
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