Comments on: Irish Dominate Spartans

By: sully

sully — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:36:37 +0000

Huh? With your team up 14 pts and your defense completely shutting down the opposition, your idea is to run 5-wide sets? Forgive me if I don’t take your criticism seriously.

Kelly had the perfect game-plan for the second half — be very conservative, run the ball, eat up clock, and control field position. Trust your defense to hold them (which they did — MSU only ran 1 play in ND territory in the second half).

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:41:35 +0000

Great win, I was so excited for the team. I just pray the defensive play calling looks exactly like this the rest of the season, except with a little more pressure on third and long, GO IRISH!

By: Bob Howsam, Jr.

Bob Howsam, Jr. — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 12:11:23 +0000

In reply to martinjordan. 2. Everytime Theo Riddick looks like he’s going to break a long one he seems to trip over his own feet or be easily tripped up by a defender. Is it his balance? Theo is impatient, and runs up the back of his blockers. As a consequence, he doesn't let the play develop and runs into a scrum or fails to see the cutback lanes. He also seemed to lack the jets Wood brought. At the end of the day, Wood may have been the difference maker in the second half.

By: Arnie

Arnie — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:38:04 +0000

In reply to FB. Just remember--a punt is not always a bad thing. No turnovers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: RockMcd

RockMcd — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 03:34:32 +0000

I suggested this in a comment beneath the MSU game preview and figured it’s worth repeating now that it all came to such a happy ending. As proud and awestruck as I am of Manti’s courageous performance, I’m just as proud of his bros who helped carry him through it (playing for Manti and that’s it!). When Manti looks back at this past week and the MSU game he just might see 84 sets of footprints in the sand.

By: Bob Howsam, Jr.

Bob Howsam, Jr. — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 01:54:15 +0000

In reply to Jason C. I agree my criticism was probably too harsh. The Irish played a solid game and kicked the snot out of Sparty and the victory was a signature victory that has elevated ND to 11th in the polls. Having said that, ND was 1-14 in 3rd down efficiency. That's not going to cut it against Michigan, Stanford or the dreaded Trojans and Kelly's play-calling had a lot to do with that.

By: Jeff D.

Jeff D. — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:33:59 +0000

Are you serious? Poor game planning and preparation? Did you ever play football? I remember personally working on a defensive alignment every day in practice for a college game. When the offense we were playing came out in the predicted formation, we were aligned incorrectly and the coaches had to burn a timeout. We had gone over the alignment numerous times on a daily basis and we still made the mistake, NOT the coaches. When kids get into a game and get very excited and have thousands of screaming fans staring at them, they make mistakes. You can’t hang everything on the coaching staff. Kelly scripts the plays. They knew the play yet the tight end forgot to go on the field. How is that a coaching error? It’s just an excited kid who became a spectator when he was supposed to be a participant.

By: Irishk9

Irishk9 — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:39:51 +0000

In reply to terry. My thoughts exactly on A.L. Very impressed with the way Tuitt stepped up to fill the void, hope he chases D.R.all the way back to Ann Arbor.

By: Irishk9

Irishk9 — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:23:56 +0000

In reply to Kevin Welsh.

AMEN!! Great win for the Irish, happy for Goodman, Toma and Jones….I knew there would be life after Michael Floyd!! Keep spreading the ball around, credit to all the “good-hands” guys, and keep putting points on the board. Can’t wait until Saturday night. Hated to see Eifert covered all night, but the next-guy-in will fill his shoes.

GO IRISH!!

By: Flirish

Flirish — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:19:30 +0000

This was the second really important win for Kelly. First USC and now this. USC was not a dominating and was a game full of turnovers. This is Kelly’s best win. I have never been sold on Kelly but he proved a lot today. The first two plays consisting of penalties and time outs have been characteristic of his poor game planning and preparation but after that he and the team really showed they are getting there.