I’ve been frustrated after Irish losses in the past, but as I drove home Saturday night it seemed different. Not to take anyway anything from South Florida or Michigan - both are good teams who deserved the wins but Notre Dame lost those games as much the Bulls and the Wolverines won them. Brian Kelly said it last week, “We need to stop losing games before we can win games.” Yesterday he said, “We’re not good enough.” Mistakes, miscues, penalties, mental mishaps, and poor timing are things that will cost you games every time and when it’s happening on the offensive side of the ball, the defensive side of the ball and on special teams, we are in real trouble.
The problem is that it’s not one thing. Well, actually it is one thing in all areas. Call it bad luck, or mental mistakes - it’s not an easy fix. The good news is that it is fixable, but it has to be fixed by each player on their terms. The other issue is Notre Dame fans are not patient when it comes to wins and losses, although they should be with year after year of being told it’s getting better. With two losses and Michigan State on Saturday, Brain Kelly and his players need to straighten this ship if there is to be any hope of a “successful” season.
I want to review the good, the bad and the ugly of Saturday’s game.
Tommy Rees needs to cool it on Michael Floyd. Yes, Floyd may be the best player on the team and one of the best in the country, and yes, there is a good chemistry between the two of them, but defenses know that Rees is enamored with Floyd and will shut that down. Rees has enough other offensive weapons at his disposal and does not need to make his thoughts obvious.
The defensive secondary is lost. I would not consider B.J. Daniels and Denard Robinson to be great passers. With Kirk Cousins of Michigan State and Matt Barkley of USC down the road, not to mention Stanford’s Andrew Luck, it could be real ugly.
Turnovers, turnovers and more turnovers. Not that there are good times for a turnover but the Irish are doing it in places that are doing the worst damage. The turnovers are a sign of this team’s inability to control the game. The Irish look like National Champions between the 20 yard lines but on the offensive side of the ball they can’t close the deal and on the defensive side of the ball they seem intimidated.
The potential is there, but not capitalizing on opportunities and allowing opponents to take full advantage of the Irish mishaps will not lead to many victories. Defenses know the ball is going to Floyd and they can’t stop it from getting there, and once he’s got it and I know its cliché but they can only hope to contain him.
The offensive line has the makeup of the old Redskin Hogs; mountains that should push defensive lines through the back of the stadium and resemble the Great Wall of China for pass protection. Cierra Wood looks like a solid 1000-yard rusher and Jonas Gray could finally live up to his potential.
So here we sit 0-2, Michael Floyd breaking all kinds of Notre Dame receiving records, Cierra Wood with back to back 100 yard-games, two games with two different starting quarterbacks, and TEN turnovers. National Championship hopes (no matter how small they were to begin with) are gone, BSC game all but gone, improvement over last year’s eight wins slipping away and a losing record a possibility. I feel like Longshanks, can I trust Irish?
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