Comments on: Bumbling Irish Drop Opener

By: Scott Sweeny

Scott Sweeny — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:21:55 +0000

In reply to dan. Are you serious Dan? One loss and suddenly ND can't get the best players? Jimmy Claussen and Dayne Crist could have chosen ANY school in the country from USC to the SEC to all the Florida schools. Same goes for Teo. In fact the roster is full of players at all positions in the same boat. ND has had five plus years of top notch recruiting classes and does have the players to compete. If you watched the game you would have seen that this had nothing to do with the outcome. Mistake after mistake after mistake cost the Irish. These mistakes are fixable and I would not be surprised to see ND reel off eleven straight wins! Then what will you have to say?

By: NYND

NYND — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:51:02 +0000

In reply to NYND. The crowd was deafening to start the second half, and overall kept up the noise throughout the half.

By: Shecky

Shecky — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:48:48 +0000

In reply to Scranton Dave.

I couldn’t agree more. At the end of that game, I couldn’t help but think that this loss was on the players. One bone-headed miscue after another, most of which…IMO…couldn’t be hung on poor coaching or lack of preparation. Critical fumbles, poor decisions by the QB’s, not looking when a pass is being thrown your way, etc…
They can take solace in the fact that I genuinely believe they will not play a worse game the remainder of the season.

By: Jim Kress

Jim Kress — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:21:56 +0000

In reply to JPNess. Nice one!

By: Jim Kress

Jim Kress — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:18:23 +0000

In reply to terry. Unless you were constantly standing on the sideline behind Kelly and were privy to everything in the exchanges between Kelly and the players, I don't believe you have a basis for your argument.

By: wally

wally — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:15:31 +0000

wait till next year we are going to be really good.

By: NYND

NYND — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:29:34 +0000

In reply to Colin. Being at the game in the SW endzone, I think the booing was started by the USF fans in the SE endzone in response to their team taking a knee to end the half. I didn't hear any booing from other parts of the stadium.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:54:00 +0000

I can’t believe that some of you think ND is done? Notre Dame had over 500 yards of total Offense. How much did South Florida have? 252? Most all teams who have 500 or more total yards of offense win game. Notre Dame is probably one of the only teams to ever lose with having a 2 to 1 ratio like that. The ND defense played solid and did not get pushed around by South Florida ND pushed South Florida around to be honest. South Florida did not do much to win the game. Anyone would have beat ND with 5 turnovers and Crist as starter. Rees had 296 yards passing in 2 quarters coming off bench. If he is in all game he averages 592 yards passing. Not too many guys throw for 300 yards in a half. Not to mention South Florida went into a 3 deep shell with their cornerbacks and saftey in all of 2nd half, which means most time they dropped their corners and safety back to play the pass and deep ball forcing ND and Rees to make tough decisons and tough throws. they were rushin g 3 dropping 8 playing the pass. He did not have the luxury of Crist did when he was in with a “balanced” defense. It was smart of South florida to do that. They did not want to give up the big play, they forced Rees to thread that needle and his passes were right on target. Not many quarterbacks can do better than what Rees did coming off the bench against an 8 man pass defense. If Rees starts that game, ND wins by at least 17 points and the game isnt even close. ND WILL WIN against michigan I guarantee. It took a michigan comeback at last 2nd last year to even win the game against ND with horrible CRIST starting at quaterback that game. Just think how we will do with Tommy in the game now! Crist is not a leader. He may be a good guy and all and I like him but hes just not a good QB. Crist is scared of contact. Even when he ran on a broken play he slid before the first down marker and didnt even charge in to get the first down. Its little things like that that are very disapointing to see. The chemistry is awesome with Rees. Rees has the “it” factor. ND will win by at least 10 points this saturday. Its sad that Kelly decided to change the chemistry they had with rees and his 4 game win streak last year. I know ppl will say wait Rees had 3 turnovers in the USC game or something like that last year, but who led ND down for the go ahead touchdown at the end of the game? REES DID. The difference between him and Crist is Rees can make a mistake and come right back and throw a touchdown pass. Mistakes dont affect Rees the same way that they do Crist. and Rees just always finds way to win a game and lead his team. just like all the good ones do. They shine at the end of games and under pressure. And Brian Kellys career record as head coach is 179-62-2. brady Hokes record as head coach is 47- 50. He doesnt even have a winning record so you can not say that he is a better coach. not saying that michigan sucks they are a good football team, but they have a year or 2 to become really solid and precise with their game. ND is not Western Michigan. ND wins by 10 at least. They will clean up the turnovers and sloppy play.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:46:46 +0000

I was born and raised a fan of ND. Like most of you, it literally makes me sick to watch ND lose a game! I’m only 23, therefore I dont even remember the last championship won but I can not give up on them no matter how badly I may want to sometimes. Obviously I’m no sports expert but it seems Notre Dames biggest problem is Notre Dame. Like vegascat said above me, ND flat out beat themselves. After watching and keeping up with ND football for many years, it feels like they think they deserve something. Like they just deserve to be an elite football program. And evidently they believe teams are just gonna give up because THEY are Notre Dame and YOU are some small “no-name” team from Florida. ND has rode on all the legends and hall of famers coat tails way to long, and as soon as they realize that teams/players now dont care about what they did in 1988 or any other year in the past, ND will be better off. Because when all comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what they have done in the past. What matters is what they do now! (btw USF is not as bad team. They are decent, and I hate to say it but so is ND)

By: vegascat

vegascat — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:56:14 +0000

ND had opportunities and didn’t covert them into points. SF had opportunities and coverted them into points except for 1 missed fg. Let’s play the big if game…IF ND had converted just a fg on first drive of game..that’s a 10 point difference. Make a fg instead of an interception, now we are talking 13 points difference. Make a 30 yard fg, now we are talking a 16 point difference. SF only scored 10 points against ND defense..the long fg in the first half and the td in the second. Plus when you throw in the horrible punts…SF didn’t beat ND, ND beat ND.

Now with all that said..ND cleans up its act on turnovers, penalties and special teams then Michigan will be raving about how good ND is when the Irish roll out out Ann Arbor on late Saturday.