Rockne's Roundtable

Kelly has mentioned it more than once that the type of QB he wants to run his offense is that type that has the ability to extend the play. That must mean Hendrix !

Lou, you made a good case, but it's tough sell to this jury. If #11 takes the first snap in Orlando, the collective groan from the Irish faithful will be deafening.

IMO By the time we get to next fall, Golston will be the starter!!!

Lou, I think Rees hit his plateau in 11th grade

A "green" Hendrix gives us twice the chance to win as an experienced Rees!

egastro,

In my 40 years of following ND football, I don't know if there was ever a more unpopular starting QB among Irish fans than Rick Slager in 1975-76. Everyone was screaming for either Montana, Gary Forystek, Lisch, even freshman Joe Restic (1975) — anybody but him. That's why I recently did a Where Have You Gone feature on him for the print edition, and he too recalled how awful he felt more for his family than himself.

Cliff Brown (1971) had a similar experience, and that was agitated some back then by his race.

As for Rice, he and Andrysiak had the same number of career starts (6 apiece) going into the Cotton Bowl. I was surprised when Holtz opted for Andrysiak, who had missed the previous seven games with the injury. It was sort of like Crist getting the nod vs. USF based on the theory that a starter shouldn't lose his job because of injury.

The first time starter is better than the veteran starter. Brings way more to the table threat wise. If Rees struggled so much and couldn't get out of the way of the Stanford defense what would lead anyone to believe he'd fare better against as it was described a faster, better FSU defense?

I don't dislike Rees but he has that deer in the headlights look from the opening play. Hendrix looked focused and ready, even after getting walloped while Rees was done after that first big hit. Those 2 missed 3rd down completions to Floyd and Riddick on short passes when both were wide open were because the rush was coming and he couldn't get rid of the ball fast enough. So he threw behind both of them and we punted.

I would much rather take a chance on Hendrix's confidence into next season surviving a poor bowl game showing than I would on starting Rees in the bowl game.

I appreciate what Rees has been able to accomplish. IMO Hendrix will start. The announcers said that the defensive coordinator for Standford said that Standofrd would not do anything different if Hendrix came into the game. Hendrix was a couple of plays away from staging a big upset on Saturday night. There was a pass to Floyd that he caught on the 15 yard line in the 3rd quarter that was brought back due to a penalty and then the pass to Toma was originally called a completion then over-turned. If both of these plays had been made, I believe ND would have been within 7. Instead they had to punt the ball. Hendrix was very impressive on Saturday and threw the ball well down field. He missed a read option pass to FLoyd that Floyd caught out of bounds. His first TD pass to FLoyd on the goal line was a laser. He took a shot on the 10 yard line from Standford's safety and got right back up. That had to pump up his team mates. I had no idea Hendrix was that talented or tough. I would be surprised if he did not start in the Bowl game. A coach plays those players that give the team the best chance to win. Although the strength of one QB may be his ability to manage the game, I will take the QB that can make the plays on the field and as a Coach, I will handle the game management.