Noles Edge Error-Prone Irish
by John Vannie
Notre Dame continued its all too familiar pattern of finding a way to lose a game it seemingly had under control, dropping an 18-14 decision to the Florida State Seminoles in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Irish led 14-0 early in the third period, but could not sustain a fine defensive effort and squandered several scoring chances when it mattered most. Turnovers once again spelled doom for Notre Dame, and both Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix threw costly fourth quarter interceptions.
The Irish sent their fans on a roller coaster ride at the outset before the game settled into a defensive battle. A 41-yard punt return (yes, it’s permissable to return a punt in college football) by Michael Floyd set up an opening drive that reached the FSU four yard line before Rees threw an interception in the end zone. The Seminoles took over and immediately coughed up the football as Manti Te’o forced a fumble that safety Zeke Motta scooped up and returned for a 29-yard touchdown.
These seven points turned out to be the only scoring in the first half. The Notre Dame defense repeatedly blitzed FSU quarterback E. J. Manuel and held the Noles to 18 yards of total offense before intermission. Menawhile, neither Rees nor Hendrix had much success against the Florida State defense. A missed field goal by David Ruffer and a certain touchdown pass that was dropped by Floyd prevented the Irish from building a safe lead.
George Atkinson opened the third quarter for Notre Dame with a long kickoff return, and a personal foul on the Noles helped the Irish get into the red zone. Hendrix rushed three times to get inside the five, and Rees came on to throw a fade to Floyd for a score. The ball probably should have been intercepted, but Floyd took it away from the defensive back and was able to secure it after a brief juggling act.
Lamarcus Joyner retaliated with a 77-yard kickoff return for Florida State for its best field position of the night. The Noles could not manage a first down, but Dustin Hopkins kicked a 42 yard field goal to make it a 14-3 ballgame at the nine minute mark of the period. Notre Dame appeared to be in good shape at this point, as the defense was still playing well and the Seminoles had lost their two starting cornerbacks to injury. Unfortunately for the Irish, Floyd went out of the game shortly thereafter with an undisclosed injury and did not return.
After pinning Florida State deep in its own territory with time running short in the third quarter, Notre Dame’s defense suddenly became conservative. The Noles were starting four freshman on the offensive line and could not handle the Irish pressure, but coaches Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco opted for a three man rush and soft zone coverage. The strategy backfired as FSU’s speedy receivers found open spaces and Manuel suddenly had time to get them the ball. The Noles scored their first touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter to make it 14-9 when Manuel hit Bert Reed from 18 yards out.
A failed two point conversion kept Notre Dame in control, but the Irish relinquished the advantage on the next series when Hendrix forced a pass right into the hands of Seminole linebacker Nigel Bradham. Starting at the Irish 18, it took Manuel only two plays to fire the go-ahead scoring pass to Rashad Greene. In a mere two minutes, Notre Dame lost control of a game it had in hand for three quarters. There was time to make amends, however, as the FSU lead was just a single point after another failed two point conversion attempt.
Rees hit Tyler Eifert near midfield on the ensuing drive, but the Seminoles sacked him on the next series to end the threat. Manuel was again able to stand tall in the pocket, and he used the time to launch a 42-yard bomb to Greene. This set up a short field goal by Hopkins to stretch FSU’s advantage to 18-14 with 8:05 remaining.
Notre Dame reached midfield again before stalling. This time, Ben Turk punted the ball to the Seminole one yard line and Irish fans prayed for a defensive stop. Manuel misfired on third down and punter Shawn Powell got off a poor boot that rolled dead on his own 43 yard line. A facemask penalty during the punt gave Notre Dame another 15 yards, so the Irish took over at the Seminole 28 with four minutes remaining.
After earning a first down at the FSU 18, Notre Dame was penalized for holding. Rees went for broke on the next play and his heave into double coverage was picked off in the end zone by Terrance Brooks. The Noles effectively ran out all but 13 seconds of the clock on the next series, and the Irish could manage only a few Hail Marys that went unanswered.
The loss dropped Notre Dame to 8-5, which is the same result that Kelly delivered in his first season. Two season-ending losses and numerous unforced errors leave a much more sour taste in 2011 though, and the lack of a reliable quarterback is the most urgent problem facing the coaching staff this offseason. Replacing Floyd and possibly Eifert will also be difficult given the lack of playmakers on the current roster.
Let’s review the answers to our pregame questions:
Which offensive line will best be able to protect the passer? The Irish protected well except when Rees held the ball too long, and the defense made life miserable for Manuel until they inexplicably backed off.
Can either team generate over 100 yards in the running game? Notre Dame gained 122 yards but netted out at 95 when sack yardage was subtracted. The Noles finished with a net of only 42 yards.
Which team will overcome the effects of the long layoff and avoid costly mistakes? The Noles handed seven points to Notre Dame in the early going, but it was the Irish who made all the errors from that point forward.
Can either Irish quarterback have success against the formidable FSU defense? Not really. A few good throws did not translate into sustained drives, and the best pass of the night was dropped by Floyd.
Which special teams will have the most influence on the outcome? The Irish were better in the punting game and FSU had a slight edge on kickoffs. The edge to the Noles is based on Hopkins’ two field goals and Ruffer’s miss.
Will Michael Floyd be able to get open against the Seminole secondary? Xavier Rhodes did a good job on Floyd before suffering a sprained knee in the third quarter. Floyd did bail out Rees for Notre Dame’s only offensive touchdown, but was not on the field later when the Irish tried to come from behind.
Are the Seminole War Chant and Tomahawk Chop more obnoxious than USC’s “Conquest”? The Noles were pretty quiet for the first 45 minutes, but they made up for it with incessant chants once their team woke up.
In the final analysis, the season ended as it started. Turnovers, ineffective offensive and defensive strategies, seemingly random substitutions and shuffling at quarterback, uneven special teams play and late defensive collapes. The pattern has become so familiar that Irish fans had just better get used to it.
I don’t love Brian Kelly, but I like him a heck of a lot more than the past three losers ND has hired. He at least has real college head coaching experience, and let’s face it guys, those kind of folks are tough to find. If ND boots Kelly, who’s going to coach here? Urban Meyer had the job offered to him on a silver platter in 2005 and he rejected it. People need to get out of the mindset that all of the best coaches in the world will drop down on their knees any time the ND job opens up. Sorry, those days are over, I hate to say it. This is THE toughest head coaching job, possibly in any sport at any level. If you don’t understand why that’s the case, then you probably shouldn’t comment on here.
This program, desperately, desperately needs continuity. They need to stick with Kelly and let him build something or else ND football will be stuck in perennial mediocrity. Honestly, come on folks, when in recent memory has anyone seen our defense play this well? I’m not saying they’re great right now, but they’re clearly headed in the right direction. In the Willingham and Weis era, the defense was just pathetic. Respectable D is something ND just hasn’t been able make happen until very recently, and that is the key. All of the Top 5 teams have Top 5 defenses (or close to). Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt, and Manti Teo are those types of guys that make Top 5 defenses, they just need to keep building. The stables were empty before these guys.
Really this team had a shot to win every single game this year. Yes, even SC and Stanford. 2 TD’s is nothing. We all became acclimated to at least one absolute massacre each year. The reason for the improvement is the D, and I have to say, Kelly. He’s a good college coach. Last year, there was only one game we had no shot at, which was surprisingly Navy. Yes, that sucked. Anyway, the overall trend is upward.
Go ahead and comment and get pissed after losses. It’s understandable, but get behind this coach. We sort of don’t have another choice.
If you’re going to get pissed at anyone get pissed at Monk Malloy. That guy essentially demolished the prestige of not only football, but basketball as well. I think Jenkins is at least reasonable and moving in the right direction.
Very well spoken.
Very well written.
AMEN…..and keep the faith!!
Agreed.
Kelly made a lot of mistakes this year. The first was dumping Crist, who clearly has the skills but lacks the mental tenacity — at least, he did lack the mental tenacity — to be NDs quarterback. We made a lot of other mistakes. But, he will learn what it takes to win at this level, just as he did learn what it took to win in the Big East and at other levels.
We were a few random plays away from a ten win season. ND is no dream job for anyone. Kelly is a decent coach who deserves our support.
If Kelly is such a good coach, then why would he use a Bowl game as a QB tryout? There was absolutely zero game plan for the offense. It was eclectic play calling and sporadic execution. Of all the games to try the QB shuffle, Kelly uses this one and we are supposed to say that we are moving in the right direction? I am sorry but part of moving in the right direction also includes good coaching decisions and this game shows that we are not moving that way. We suffered from poor coaching under Weis and it seems that we are still suffering. I do agree that we need some continuity with the program, but Kelly needs to show improvement as well as the team on the field. Otherwise, all the talent in the world is not going to get us to where we all want to be.
Weak secondary all year. Best freshman class in years. Let’s see what happens the next couple years.
Kelly takes a confident QB and systematically denigrates him into a snake bit and self-doubting weak leader and the team follows his lead.
So much negativity! I,too, am amazingly disappointed with this season. That said, if our players quit putting the ball on the ground or in the other team’s hands, ND has a pretty darn good team. Yes, they need better quarterback play. Someone who doesn’t”t look scared and play scared. My belief is that Golson will be that guy. Eifert is good but Koyack was rated much higher coming out of high school, so I’m not sure that losing Eifert will be that bad. The running game shows signs of life, the defense has great promise (especially if we keep the great DB recruits coming in), and depth at wide receiver will be good. Just hang onto the ball and this entire season is different. If we keep our current recruits and land Devin Fuller, this team will be a lot better next year. Be mad at the coaches and Swarbrick if you must, but they are not the ones handing the ball to the other team.
Strange how Kelly can coach at the lower level and raise the level of play with less talent. He took four different QB at Cincy and turned out winners there. Here he has the rich kids and they can’t stand the pressure and react like deer in the headlights. Give me some hard nose QB’s that can react to pressure and get the job done. So far we have had none.
Andrew seemed to get the job done when given the opportunity. Against Stanford, you may have missed that his 2nd half performance largely eclipsed that of their Andrew’s whole game performance.
Against FSU, he was moving the ball until the INT where there seemed to be a mis-understanding of the route by someone and an official (and probably a lineman or 2) obscuring the INT threat. Inexplicably, he never returned to the field, despite the miserable performance of Tommy.
Despite Andrew obviously being the QB for a Kelly O, there has been some mental block on the part of Kelly. Crist was not the answer, but why when Rees was obviously in trouble in many games, was Crist not sent in? Rees seems to be the only QB who can commit an error without being benched???
Weak secondary yes,but combat that with blitzes that worked the first half.I want to know who called off the blitzes?
John, this is the same question I had: why did Diaco (or whoever) call off the blitz?? It was working extremely well in the first half against four true freshmen o-linemen, and then inexplicably, we backed off and only rushed three! In my mind, that changed the game, and gave FSU QB time to set up and find the open holes in our zone D. Holtz was shocked after the game.
The deeper, more concerning question is that of recruiting and overall team talent/depth. The play-by-play guys did point out that the speed of FSU started to catch up with ND in the second half. For those out there that completely write-off the lack of overall talent/recruiting woes issue, please explain why we haven’t had an elite football team since the halycon Holtz era, where from 87′-90′, we had the #1 recruiting hauls in the nation! Also, explain why there are so few ND players in the NFL, whereas in the 90′s, almost every team had 2 ND starters.
My theory, and that of other diehard fans, is that the administration stiffened the academic entrance requirements for Holtz circa 91′, and this a big reason why he left in 96′. Perhaps prior to the administrative move, Holtz was able to recruit more “bubble” recruits- players that did not necessarily line up with the academic standards at ND, but those that Holtz believed could succeed, with hard work, summer school etc. Tony Rice comes to mind.
Holtz was able to build elite football teams and graduate over 95% of his football players, but can ND ever acheive both goals again?
Kelly, on offense, is an attacking coach, the problem is his qb’s can’t currently execute. Offense pressure is in his DNA its tough to change your DNA, that being said if we don’t throw a pass in the seecond half we probably win.
on defense the corners/db’s are not good against go routes/jump balls. period. once that is solved a top 10 defense will emerge.
[...] ND Nation » Noles Edge Error-Prone Irish [...]
The story is told of when Vince Lombardi took over in Green Bay – one day he yelled at Bart Starr in practice one too many times. Later on Starr spoke to him privately and said that he (Starr) would never get the respect of the team if Lombardi chewed him out in front of everybody. Lombardi agreed he was right and after that he put a sock in it. The results speak for themselves – 5 NFL Titles, including 2 Super Bowls.
Lots of people, including me, have long objected to the way Kelly conducts himself on the sideline. There is talent on this squad but we’ll never get to see how good they can be unless Kelly learns to put a sock in it. I seriously believe that it it going to take a player talking right back at him – showing some backbone – before this changes. They play scared – of their coach. I’m old enough to remember when that was a common practice, but it just doesn’t work any more. Jim Harbaugh, as much as I dislike him, is a good coach. I remember last year’s game when Stanford just kicked our butts all over the field and Harbaugh was on the sideline hollering encouragement to his players the whole game.
QB – Bees and Hendrix have both had plenty of time to absorb the system – it is not rocket science. It’s football. Each of them has had plenty of opportunity to show what he can do, and what he can’t do. Neither one of them has really shown much.
It is worth noting that Everett Golson is the 1st QB that Kelly has recruited. He has had a year to put on weight, watch from the sidelines, get used to the speed of the game, learn the system, etc. Give him a chance. In ANY case I think that Kelly should name the starting QB after spring practice.
There was a bit of a stink at mid-season when Kelly complained about the quality of the players he had inherited from Charlie Weis. Apologies were made, etc. and life went on. Kelly’s 1st full recruiting class will be sophomores next year, his 2nd will be next year’s freshmen. He has frequently spoken of the RKG -right kind of guy – that he wants there.
244 days until kickoff.
Let’s hope Kelly gives Golson a fair shot at the starting QB position in the spring. If Rees is the QB next fall, get ready for another 8-4 or 7-5 season, Irish fans.
Golson is Kelly’s recruit, whereas Hendrix, Rees (and Massa) were already in the 2010 recruiting class when Kelly signed on. By September Golson will have had 2 spring practices and a whole season of standing on the sideline watching, putting on weight and learning the system.
I don’t buy the spiel about how long it takes to “learn the system” – ND won the NC in 1966 with first year starters (Hanratty & O’Brien) at QB. Either you’ve got it or you haven’t got IT. It’s pretty obvious to me that neither Hendrix or Rees has IT.
Happy New Year
I disagree with your assessment of Hendrix “has (not) really shown much”. One does have to have a chance. How many snaps has Hendrix had aside from the 2nd half at Standford? Few. When he has had more than 3, he has moved the ball. In for the 2nd half at Stanford, his stats largely eclipsed that of Luck’s for the entire game.
Against FSU, he moved the ball, until the fateful INT. There appears to have been a misunderstanding of the route and a ref (and lines) was blocking his view of the INT threat. Then, with Rees failing, Hendrix never plays again?? You can see in Rees’ eyes that he still isn’t all there following the sacks he’s taken. I don’t get it.
I totally agree with you about Rees. I told my wife the same thing as we watched the game. You could see fear and discomfort in his eyes. When do you ever see him firing up the team on the sidelines. One of these guys HAS to step up and be a leader.
Happy New year and thanks for all you do.Hopefully,Kelly will swallow his ego and get this right.
Answer me this….if my sister who works as a secretary and makes roughly 30,000 a year turn to me and say…Why is Tommy Rees still in the game lol? And,Why did ND stop blitzing lol? also,Why do they have so many penalties lol? and yes,Why do they have so many turnovers all the time lol? What do you say lol???
If she can see it….then why can’t the guys who live,eat,breath,scout,coach and run the team see it lol?
Are you listening Diaco and Kelly?
Its amazing how these guys with all the experience getting paid all the money CAN’T SEE WHAT MY 40 YEAR OLD SISTER CAN SEE LOL?
Seriously,what is going on there….frustrated yet again! (not really its comical at this point lol).
Wow, you write lol a lot, lol. Maybe you should try and write like an adult, lol. Also, you asked us to answer a question that you never asked, lol. See your first “sentence” lol.
Why do you have to point out the fact your sister is a 40 year old secretary who makes 30,000? What does that have to do with anything? Are you saying that 40 year old women secretarys can’t know anything about football, or the fact she makes 30,000 she can’t know anything about football?
Year 3 traditionally defines an ND coach’s tenure. There are more important things to life than the W-L record of ND. However, when ND plays well, it does put a smile on the face of alums – subway and otherwise. The talent level is improving. The coaches show they understand the game and the players are better able to perform physically (better blocking and tackling than under Weis). Perhaps there is too much “overthinking” during the game. Did our defensive philosphy in the second half change because our players were tired or because of something FSU coaches did? Or maybe the correct term is “overreacting.” Never remember Ara yelling at players so consistently after they left the field. He always seemed focused on the next play and did not have time to berate a player. Some people react well to screamers. In my experience, most don’t. When I coached youth sports the players that played best were the one’s that weren’t always looking to the sideling to see if the coaches were upset at something the player did – whether the play was successful or not. Any parent who has a kid that got yelled at by the coach after the kid made a great play (like making a basket when the coach thought the kid should pass the ball to some other more favored player) understands what I am saying. I always thought Pete Carroll, like him or not, was a coach that made his players enjoy playing for him by not demeaning them on national television. He seemed to have a smile on his face for all of his players. Players that are afraid of being criticized don’t play to win. They play to stay out of harm’s way – to not be noticed. Sometimes it seems that players that follow their “reads” and give up touchdowns are usually assured of more playing time than players that ignore the “read” and make a game changing play. If Kelly corrects his gameday approach to coaching, I think he can be a very good coach. ND is a bright spotlight to perform under. It really is different than any other place. Which is why I think we are so passionate about the place.
Could someone tell me what happened in the locker room after the USC game,please?
Crist never should have lost his job. Rees is a turnover machine. Crist will thrive under Weiss and be a productive NFL QB. Rees will never make it.
Amen brother. Kelly sat a talented, rested and ready Crist and put a flat-footed, turnover prone kid in his place. What might have been were it not for this coach’s ego.
Can someone please explain something to me? Today, a former graduate of ND in the 60′s said that Notre Dame will never again return to greatness because of certain things. The world has changed, the world of college football has changed and the powers that be at ND do not want the kind of football metality on campuses elsewhere…there. Whatever that means. Also, he said ND is now an elitist school. People are recruited from all over the world and in every state to come there and it is mostly kids with rich parents. Tuition is over $40,000 a year. And it is hard to get in. Furthermore, the kind of kids on campus today aren’t really the football kind of kids on other college campuses. The whole demographic of ND has radically changed from yesteryear and never to return again. My friend is a loyal and devoted ND fan and is greived at what we all see each week and every year now. Furthermore, he believes the Board of Trustee’s should at least explain to the faithful what they are doing and why. Not very many people that I talk too really believes Notre Dame is relevent to college football anymore and the liklihood of that prospect reversing itself seems to be in serious peril. All of us here love them and it hurts to see a once great football program seemingly thrown to the curb. It almost seems as though the university has used the notoriety of the football program to build its status as an elitist educational institution thus abandoning the very thing that made the name recognized and great all over the country and world.
I have no idea where the future lies at Notre Dame in regards to being truly competitive in college footbally today but I don’t see championship type teams developing in South Bend any time soon. I do believe that Brian Kelly is the best of the last three coaches. And I also think we have to encourage him and stick with him. Notre Dame has some really good athletes but they just don’t have the numbers the other universities have who are competing for national championships on a regular basis.
I would really appreciate your comments.
From the perspective of depth, your friend is exactly right. Notre Dame, in some years, starts players who would not even play at other top programs. There are two- and three-star recruits who find their way to the starting lineup in South Bend, not because they’ve vastly improved or anything.
That said, compared to the other top programs, Notre Dame is a very small university with rigorous academics. Look at Alabama, Louisiana State, Oregon and Oklahoma State. These are very large universities — 40-50,000 kids — with extremely loyal followers. Academically, Notre Dame is in a different league than these other schools, which allows these other schools to compete for every kid. But this has virtually always been the case.
To return to true relevance — destroying Southern California and winning BCS equivalents — Notre Dame has to get a lot of the right kids. We need a roster filled with guys like Manti Teo and Stephon Tuitt, a very difficult endeavor. And, the guys that come in when a Jonas Gray gets hurt have to be similar guys from a strength-competence level. We haven’t had this in a very long time. And then, of course, we need the game-coaching skills. Kelly hasn’t yet shown this. It’s no to say he won’t get it done but it will take some time.
Notre Dame’s Davie, Willingham, Weis, & Kelly: After Two Years Not Much Difference in their records.
Despite all the hype about Brian Kelly, the last four Notre Dame coaches have similar records in their first two years. If we factor in the 3rd year records and make a prediction for Kelly’s record in 2012 there is almost no difference between them. Four coaches with similar mediocre results—is this progress?
Davie 1997 7-6
1998 9-3
Total 16-9
1999 5-7
21-16
Willingham 2002 10-3
2003 5-7
Total 15-10
2004 6-6
21-16
Weis 2005 9-3
2006 10-3
Total 19-6
2007 3-9
22-15
Kelly 2010 8-5
2011 8-5
Total 16-10
2012 6-6** predicted losses to Michigan, Michigan State, SC, Oklahoma and two losses from Miami, Stanford, BYU, Pittsburgh, BC, or Navy.
22-16
Kelly’s record is slightly better than Willingham (15-10) but worse than Davie (16-9) and Weiss (19-6).
It is the 3rd year that is supposed to make a difference for Notre Dame coaches and all we can do is make a prediction of what that will be under Kelly in 2012. With the killer schedule, unsettled quarterback, loss of Floyd, and possibly Eifert, 6-6 is a realistic prediction (see predicted losses above).
Notre Dame fans will have to wait until 2013 to see if Kelly can end the malaise. That will make it 20 years since Notre Dame had a successful season (1993). I define a successful season as beating traditional rivals USC and Michigan and winning a BCS (or equivalent) bowl game. Twenty years is a long time.
After an 8-4 campaign, Coach Holtz was 13-10 at this point. You cannot predict the future merely by looking at the past.
I’m glad somebody gets it.
The comments of the ND ’60s graduate referenced by s reno are insightful. The ND of that era does not exist anymore. The school sought to model itself after Princeton and now it has, for all intents and purposes, become the Princeton of the midwest. You don’t see Princeton winning national championships in football. That does not mean ND won’t win anymore national championships. It means that doing so will not be as frequent as it was in the past. It also means that when it does it will have no more significance than when Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, ect. win championships. And this is not meant as a slight to those fine schools or the ND team that does win a championship.
ND was a school of underdogs and overachievers when I attended and before then. Ara was the coach and most students had summer jobs because they needed them, not because it looked good on a resume. The students were connected to the football players more because they were like us – not simply because they lived with us in the dorms. We had all walks of life at the school – rich kids, middle class kids, poor kids, smart kids, not-so-smart kids and a racial diversity that extended beyond the football field. Most of us were trying to make it in the real world. It seems that the current students already have it made. People of my generation routinely acknowledge that they could not get into Notre Dame today. That is an over-generalization but the point is that the student population in my day reflected people trying to become successful in life – not people trying to be more successful. Top ACT scores, straight As and wealthy backgrounds were not a pre-requisite to go to ND in my era. That is not to say that the school did not have students that fit into all 3 categories back then. The school has clearly bettered itself. But with something gained there is something lost.
The Notre Dame I attended still remembered Navy saving it from bankruptcy and only those of us who went to school there knew it. Now, ND is wealthy beyond belief (just look at the new buildings) and the story is told by the school proudly to show how loyal ND is to Navy. Notre Dame and its students were once hungry and that is what made it great. Now that it is a wealthy and prestigeous top 20 University, the dynamic has changed. Again, this is not a bad thing. Notre Dame is still great but in a different way.
A wonderful book to see the Notre Dame that was is Resurrection. I highly recommend it and a comparison between that era and today may explain why the school has not achieved much success on the gridiron over the last 18 years.
I was at Notre Dame 50 years ago. There were lots of guys there who were the sons of 1st or 2nd generation Catholic immigrants who worked their butts off to give their sons a good education with a good solid Catholic foundation, and Notre Dame was the logical place for their kids to go.
50 years on – Notre Dame is the wealthy and prestigious university envisioned by Father Hesburgh. It is also expensive beyond the dreams of most kids who could have afforded it (with some difficulty) a few generations ago, and to me and many others, a SMALL percentage of whom are haters, it is in large measure elitist and arrogant, qualities that do not speak well of a university that would be known as Catholic.
Even thought I did not graduate from Notre Dame, I still love the place.
ND has become a 50 cent team. Good for 2 quarters. They play great the first half and then hand it back to the other team on a silver platter. A good psychologist might help.
Brad Hoke is in his 1st year as head coach of University of Michigan. Tonight after a 10 and 2 season Michigan plays in the Sugar Bowl. Stanford which is one of the top rated academic Universities in the country played in the Fiesta Bowl last night with a fist year coach.
Say what want and believe what you want, but to quote Frank Lenti the most successful high school coach in Illinois history. Losers make excuses winners make it happen.