Rockne's Roundtable

I'm not a coach and unfortunately i live in Pennsylvania so i don't get to see the team practice. I'll let the coaches decide who is the QB next year.....

We're 10 - 0 , and we seem to be getting better each week on offense. So i have to ask.....

Why would you post this at this point of the season. Isn't this a topic that would be more appropriate for the off-season? And yes, you have every right to post what you want , when you want.....Just very curious as to why now?

CraigR,

You are a man of steel stones to take on the board on this subject at this point of the season. I marvel at your fearlessness.

Regarding your call, I won't even begin to venture a guess. After many years of wishing on many stars, I have learned that, for me, it is much more rewarding to let things play out. So, I will neither agree nor disagree with your bold prediction.

I will say this, however. Matt LoVecchio, who had a Golson-like season in 2000 was replaced by Carlyle Holiday the following year. This observation is by no means meant as an exact comparison or, God forbid, a seconding of your prediction. Again, I am agnostic on the subject.

But the precedent for the kind of thing you are describing HAS BEEN SET and within the last fifteen years. In the case of LoVecchio and Holiday, Holiday was seen as the better "option" given the running dimension Davie wanted at QB.

AND it's worth remembering that, in his last start of the 2000 season, LoVecchio kind of bombed in the Fiesta Bowl loss to Oregon State, one of the most humiliating whupppings ever laid on a supposedly good (9-2) ND team. Pure smack down.

What would happen if Golson were to lay an egg against USC and/or in the bowl game? Who knows, as he was pulled from the UM game rather unceremoniously. Chances of that happening SEEM QUITE LOW, but one never knows.

Bottom line: never say never, and let's wait till spring.

After all, this is Golson's moment and Golson's team. Let him do what he can with it. So far, he's pushed the right buttons.

irish 13,

Thanks, but I just wanted to examine the subject in an open way without getting into anything heated. Some days we fight; some days, play nice.

The thing is, it's an intriguing question regardless of the likelihood -- or not -- of Golson being supplanted. And I truly don't know what Kiel can or cannot do. All I could tell from the spring game is that he is TALL.

Last year I was bandwagoning Hendrix and thought, after his Stanford performance, that he would be the next great ND QB. Call it, perhaps, my CraigR moment. But then Golson emerged and literally stole the show.

And for every LoVecchio giving way to a Carlyle, there is a Tony Rice holding off a Kent Graham, who in 1987 was considered, like Kiel, the best QB coming out of HS not only in Ohio, but the entire country.

Graham never stuck and eventually transferred, which many here predict Kiel will do. Will he? Who knows?

Frankly, I don't care who plays as long as it's the guy whose earned the spot, going forward. My sense is Kelly will pick the right guy and, if not, correct the situation quickly or, as needed, on a per game basis.

Right now, it's all kind of moot, as we enter the final phase of the season with Golson expanding and, in some ways, perfecting his game. He's the QB that matters now, and how he plays may determine if ND goes all the way.

May he play his heart out.