The defense is young and will be great next year. But, they need to learn how to tackle at the knees and not have four guys trying to down a big running back by tackling him high. Who the hell is coaching that.

Book is a ordinary quarterback that doesn’t know where his outlet receiver is when he’ under a full blown rush. He looks terrible rolling away from the rush and blindly throwing the ball down field. I agree that we need to start bringing along his replacement now. 9 wins 3 losses and another bowl game loss. I’m 87 years old and would like to see us return to the glory days of Leahy, Ara, and Lou before I pass on.

What’s unfortunate is that you feel we should simply accept this version of ND football. I agree with academics and faith, but really, ND was able to compete then and should be able to do so now.

Either of them would be a great choice to replace Kelly.

And please be sure your answer does NOT include “it’s the players fault”. As has been once said, “players are only as good as they’re coached”. I believe it. I’ve been part of it, too, on a team with two straight undefeated seasons. Why were we undefeated for that stretch? Because our coach would accept nothing less than perfection. Love him or hate him, Nick Saban is the same. Accepts nothing less than perfection. Urban Meyer… same. These coaches have multiple championships, too. Look at Matt Rhule and the turn around at Baylor. Brian Kelly will never be any of these coaches especially when he apparently has a problem just being Brian Kelly. He can’t even do that well.

But, it doesn’t make sense that our offensive guys were getting pushed around that much.”

It’s simple. ND was playing as if it were business as usual, while Michigan was playing with raw emotion. Any further questions?

Ok, Joe…. what has Kelly done with TWO undefeated regular seasons? Followed them up with a 42-14 loss to Alabama in the 2012 BCS National Championship game and last season’s 30-3 loss to Clemson in the CFP semi-final. What did Lou do? WON A DAMN CHAMPIONSHIP. He was also in the running for at least 2 more during that 1988-1993 run. Enough said! Time for a change!

Ouch! I did, I thought, although I missed the typo in had and put that “e” in. Mea culpa. (Latin, you’ll note, rarely passes spellcheck, but I risk it anyway.)

I’m truly conflicted on the “education v powerhouse football program” issue; I suppose I shouldn’t be. As a lad of 8 the year Hornung won the Heisman while the team went 2-8, I recall my excitement reading aloud to my father the World Book entry on Notre Dame. It described the university as a small school in South Bend, Indiana known for its outstanding football teams. He looked up from the brief he was reviewing at the kitchen table and remarked that such a characterization was just about the last thing any alum would care to hear about his alma mater.

Hesburgh changed all that, but his success has ruined many of my Saturdays.

It’s time for Chip Long to go. The writing has been on the wall for awhile, but it REALLY reared it’s ugly head Saturday. Also, Phil must get some more reps. I’m not sure how good a coach Quinn is although he obviously can recruit.
The problem is will Brian Kelly do anything different next year. If not we’re stuck being mediocre.