Rockne's Roundtable

I just watched the replay of the game here in Boston on NESN. I am of the mindset that for the program's sake he needs to start inserting Golson this weekend if just to give opposing offenses something to think about. With either Reese ofr Crist at QB you are playing with a limited spread offense. They need to have a QB who can run. Think about how much time our D spent worrying about Daniels and about how we will all be scared stiff of Denard Robinson until the final gun sounds Saturday night. I think we should be targetting another spread QB in this recruiting class. Let Dayne graduate. Get someone that can truly run the spread in there...make the move now.

Nice recap Lou....
Now that its been almost 24 hours since the game ended I can begin to breathe.

I am a bit concerned about a few areas.
1. Punting & our Punt return teams. We suck! Turk must freeze up once inside the stadium. Have him practice in the stadium. You cant simulate 81,000 fans but for lords sake..do something to improve his game or remove him.
Punt return....wow! If we arent dropping or bobbling the ball we have 5 opponents surrounding our receiver. Dont we block anyone so we can maybe have a return?

2.Kelly's meltdowns. I am a big beleiver in getting on these players when they fail to execute( especially jr's & Sr's) ...however, at some point after Kelly has disemboweled a player and has lit up the caoches..he needs to STOP and compose himself and get the players ready for the next play or the next situation. I saw some discombobulation from him and it came (in my opinion) because he was caught up in the rant. Another observation..when you watch the players on TV during his meltdowns..they look concerned that maybe this guy IS LOSING IT !!
I never wat a Ty Willingham Flatliner approach but I'm not sure Kelly's implosion (on almost every mistake) is the answer either.

3. The atmosphere at ND these days. I would never boo a team. I always treat a team in this way...They dont go out to fail or make a mistake..it happens. If the students ( who i am speaking of) fail in class or fail in something they do..would they want to be booed? Nope. I also rationalize that if my roomate is Dayne Christ or Mike Floyd..would I boo them to there face? Nope. At ND the players and students eat sleep and study together as one..students! Finally on this point ( for students & fans) if your brother or son was out there..would you boo them? Nope. It was a low point for me to hear the boos.

So...we lost. We were really bad in red zone offense etc.
Next week we suit up again and play the game.
We win next week & the weeks after and this game becomes a "too bad we lost" experience.

So the game is over and we have al analyzed & the pain is still there.
I will never give up hope that someday ND will return to the Glory we all want and expect.

With all due respect Lou, there's no reason to be complacent with John Goodman's fair catches. Theo Riddick may not be the answer on the punt returns, but there has to be at least one of these blue-chip athletes that can return punt for "positive yardage". Other programs have them.

I agree with Lou 100%. As I posted in my thread called "17 sorry years now...next week, next year, if this, if that...":

"At the end of the day, when push comes to shove, we have been a joke since 1994. We played about 200 games over that time. Who have we really beaten that was a legitimately good, national picture team? The haters been on a nice 17 year run"

http://notredame.247sports.com/Board/87/17-sorry-years-nownext-week-next-year-if-this-if-that-4040787/1

lennyd I agree with you that we need an addition or boost to the qb position. If Rees is the qb, and I think we all agree he should be based on the USF game, then I think we will eventually see the "change of pace qb" put in to play. I always thought that if Crist were the qb he would be called on to keep the d honest on his own. (Eventually Hendricks getting in to keep him content and on the roster, but not much.)
With Rees as the qb I think that will force a change in the qb approach. During Rees' portion of the game there were a lot of lanes that he could have picked up nice chunks of yardage, were he mobile. (I know they were dropping into coverage based on score and time.) But I do believe if Rees is the qb then we will see Hendricks or Golson being brought into the game. And I know some are opposed to the two qb system but I think it can be a positive. Just not sure I would want to see it for the first time at the bighouse.

Lou:
SPOT ON!
NashDog 77

I agree with you Lou, ND needs to just start getting it done on the field. After 18 years of we will turn it around, it is getting very old.

I would say MF has the best hands on the team

I was surprised when Hendrix/Golson didn't come in to run the 2pt play, especially the second one from the 1.5 yard line.

Luther, you have hit your stride as a writer. I agree with all your comments and insight in the aftermath of the 5 turnover bonanza. We gift wrapped that game for S Florida.

I also owe Tom Hammond an apology. I was quite certain he alone was the reason Notre football sucked. Turns out there are other forces in the universe at work. Me and coach Kelly will continue to try and figure out what those are.

Jimbo

The fundamental thing wrong with the offense, in my view, is the way it seizes up in the red zone.

I have been watching ND football since the 50's, and the one thing that made the ND ground game what it was, was that there was never any doubt that when they got near the goal line, they would almost always punch it in.

Remember all those slowish, thick-legged backs Ara had? Or, if the middle was clogged, Joe T or Clemens would dart outside or cut off tackle, often scoring standing up.

And how about the Dick Lynch quick pitch against OU? Fourth and three. Bang. TD.

Kelly must develop a confident short yardage game and stop trying those high percentage interception throws in the red zone. There's too much pressure down there. I am also not a fan of hit or miss fades. They require too much precision at a time when you should be leveraging superior mass.

As respects Riddick returning punts, the fact that Kelly didn't yank him from the role during the game was deeply troubling. Riddick's footwork was so bad that it should have been obvious to the entire staff that he has trouble judging the wobbly spin of a punt. It's not like a kickoff. It's a well known fact around the Yankess tha A-Rod can hardly catch real high pop-ups, so judging the trajectory of a punt may something the otherwise talented Riddick may not be able to do. Just look at the tape. There are guys on this board who could probably have done better.

All of that said, let's see how they face the coming adversity of UM at the Big House in the first night game ever, wearing goofy uniforms and white shoes. Holtz always said that the most progress a football team makes -- if, indeed, it makes it -- is between the first and second games. If there is real progress -- and that would have to include a victory, as opposed to a moral one -- this team stands a good chance of shaking the USF loss and becoming a force to be reckoned with.

If there is no progress and the same tendencies show up, we could be looking at one of Joe Kuharich's very good on paper 5-5 teams or, again, a very good on paper Gerry Faust 7-5 type outfit.

Will this team be able to perform under the pressure that is ND football or not? We shall see.

Punt return yardage has gone down a bunch the last few years in college football since teams started employing that spread punt formation. At this point, get someone back there that can catch the ball first.