I don't post a great deal anymore as life with kids, wife, mortgage, etc take up most of my time. I do however read a lot and of course follow the Irish closely. I was as torn up by the Texas loss as anyone, and was even more disturbed by the blowout (score doesn't reflect how bad it was) to MSU. However, I never thought ND would be overly great this season. I had them at 9-3 at best given the losses from last year and the dismissals we saw before season.
ND's cupboards are not as full as teams we would like to see ND being (OSu, Alabama, etc.), so replacing guys can be taxing. I don't think it should be this taxing though. ND's talent level is good, especially on offense, but the defense is lacking significantly and has since Kelly took the helm. He's an offensive guy plain and simple. I think most of us agree that no matter how explosive your offense is, no matter how many points you can rack up, sooner or later someone will figure you out and either shut you down all together, or slow you down enough to compete and keep a game tight. Sooner or later you will need to play some hard nose defense. This is where ND is failing significantly and the dreams of an undefeated season will never be realized until they start fielding top tier defenses. You may be able to get away with lesser defenses in the PAC12 or BIG12, but playing against BIG10, some ACC and SEC teams require stout defenses to be successful.
I believe the offense is as good and as capable as anyone. I really do. I believe we can credit Kelly for most of this. Thats his bread and butter. They are very very dangerous with the ball in their hands. But I also think its on Kelly to make sure the defense is where it needs to be. Not directly on him, but I think Van Gorder needs to go and Kelly needs to hire the very best D coordinator and staff he can to assemble the defense of their choosing. In other words, stay out of all defensive matters Kelly and stick with what you do best (offense). Van Gorder defenses are too complicated apparently and severely lack fundamentals. I've never seen so many guys out of position. I've never seen so many audibles on defense that takes them out of play. Don't get me started about the missed tackles.
I think the excuse of admissions, etc is somewhat warranted, but I have to believe that if someone like Stanford can field great or at the very least solid defenses, so can ND. I would put a Stanford D up against anyone year in or year out. They're always solid and thats all ND really needs, a solid defense.
I don't know, just my two cents for what its worth. All I know is with even a decent defense, ND would be 3-0 right now.
ND's cupboards are not as full as teams we would like to see ND being (OSu, Alabama, etc.), so replacing guys can be taxing. I don't think it should be this taxing though. ND's talent level is good, especially on offense, but the defense is lacking significantly and has since Kelly took the helm. He's an offensive guy plain and simple. I think most of us agree that no matter how explosive your offense is, no matter how many points you can rack up, sooner or later someone will figure you out and either shut you down all together, or slow you down enough to compete and keep a game tight. Sooner or later you will need to play some hard nose defense. This is where ND is failing significantly and the dreams of an undefeated season will never be realized until they start fielding top tier defenses. You may be able to get away with lesser defenses in the PAC12 or BIG12, but playing against BIG10, some ACC and SEC teams require stout defenses to be successful.
I believe the offense is as good and as capable as anyone. I really do. I believe we can credit Kelly for most of this. Thats his bread and butter. They are very very dangerous with the ball in their hands. But I also think its on Kelly to make sure the defense is where it needs to be. Not directly on him, but I think Van Gorder needs to go and Kelly needs to hire the very best D coordinator and staff he can to assemble the defense of their choosing. In other words, stay out of all defensive matters Kelly and stick with what you do best (offense). Van Gorder defenses are too complicated apparently and severely lack fundamentals. I've never seen so many guys out of position. I've never seen so many audibles on defense that takes them out of play. Don't get me started about the missed tackles.
I think the excuse of admissions, etc is somewhat warranted, but I have to believe that if someone like Stanford can field great or at the very least solid defenses, so can ND. I would put a Stanford D up against anyone year in or year out. They're always solid and thats all ND really needs, a solid defense.
I don't know, just my two cents for what its worth. All I know is with even a decent defense, ND would be 3-0 right now.
