Team depleted by injuries. Admirable season.

I’ve defended Kelly on here quite often but if you were an anti Kelly guy this game definitely adds fuel to the fire. I’m not talking about their inability to stop Stanford late because there is D is sub par. Schmidt played like a walk on this whole season and there corners even being banged up don’t cover to save their life. I’m talking about Kelly calling a timeout with 35 secs left. There was no reason to do that. Run the clock down from the 3 yard line and with 2 timeouts you have 4 plays and can run anything. There was no reason to give them the ball back with even 30 secs left. They have now become a team that is good enough to lose close to all the best teams. Maybe a big improvement over the last 20 years but not quite there yet.

A prevent defense rushing 3 linemen was a huge mistake. Give a good qb and decent receivers enough time and they’ll complete a pass. Unfair to the kids who played their hearts out. Van Gorder has to go.

I’m very proud to be a ND fan this morning. The game against Stanford was a hard fought game and ND left it all on the field. Considering they lost 9-11 starters this year, I think the season was a success…not as successful as we would have hoped…but a success nonetheless. There will be those diehards that expect perfection, in an imperfect sport, who will demand that Kelly and Van Gorder be fired, but this team acquitted itself very well, and only 4 points and two plays kept them from competing for the prize. Well done Team 127.

I am very disappointed with the result, but certainly not with the effort. The fact is that Stanford played a a little better than Notre Dame last night and earned the victory. Kevin Hogan and Devin Cajuste both had outstanding games for the Cardinals.

Unfortunately, three critical mistakes were the biggest factors in costing the Irish the victory. First, the DeShone Kizer fumble at the end of the first half when he failed to protect the ball in all likelihood cost the team a field goal. (Kizer otherwise played a terrific game.) Second, Amir Carlisle dropped a wide-open pass in the flat inside the 10 yard line in the third quarter that would have been a touchdown. Third, the face mask penalty on Isaac Rochell after ND had just taken the lead 36-35 with 30 seconds left in the game cost the Irish 15 critical yards and turned what would have been a second and 10 into a first down. Even with the Cajuste catch for 27 yards, which of course never should have occurred with a three-man rush, Stanford would have been well short of field goal range with time about to expire.

Agree with John that ND’s inability to score touchdowns in the red zone was also huge. On ND’s second trip to the red zone in the first half, overly conservative play calling was the cause. On the third trip to the red zone in the first half, a mysterious offsides penalty of Nick Martin was the culprit. On the third quarter red zone trip, as noted above, Amir Carlisle dropped a TD pass.

There were also some questionable calls that went against the Irish like the long pass that kept a Cardinal drive alive in the first half on third and long after being called incomplete on the field by an official who was in perfect position to make the call. There is no way from the replays shown that there was conclusive evidence that the receiver’s foot was in bounds, as it appeared his toe was also on the sideline. The pass interference call on Cole Luke was a joke and also kept a drive alive. Both drives resulted in Stanford touchdowns.

Hats off to Jaylon Smith, Sheldon Day, Max Redfield, DeShone Kizer, Josh Adams and Will Fuller for awesome games. Too bad it was not enough. I do disagree with John’s criticism of Will Fuller for the one ball he failed to catch. While Fuller got his hands on the ball, it was was an extremely difficult catch on a ball fading high and to his right that he had to dive up and out to attempt to catch.

In my opinion, Notre Dame had a terrific year given all of the injuries to starters that the team had to endure, many more than any of the other National Championship contenders. Finishing with a 10-2 record, where the only two losses were by two points each to the No. 1 and 9 teams on the road, and where those two games literally went down to the final plays, is pretty darn good. I think we all have to salute the coaching staff and the players. I also agree with other posters on this board that with the performances of Oklahoma and Michigan State, it is extremely unlikely that a 36-35 win would have catapulted the Irish into the final four. Hopefully, a victory over a strong opponent in a bowl game will cap an excellent season and set the stage for an even better 2016.

Overall, a nice season but our red zone offense and our poor pass defense along with losing( by my count) 16 key players due to injury, transfer and eligibility issues kept it from being special…Continuing defensive breakdowns make me question whether BVG is the right guy to run the defense….

Lets hope that we play a beatable opponent in our bowl game….and get back some of our wounded so we can put our best foot forward…GO IRISH!!!

As I said on the post after the game the secondary lost the game. 36 points should have been enough to defeat Stanford. I also said, as many others have, that a 3 man rush and a prevent defense when all that Stanford needed was a FG was dumb. The kids played hard and had a good season, better than I had predicted when the season began and before the injuries. I agree with others that BVG is not the right fit. Kelly is doing a good job all in all. Go Irish!

This game served as an explanation point on ND’s shortcomings.

First, Brian Kelly’s play-calling in the clutch, particularly in the red zone is awful. The plays are unimaginative and he fails to make the necessary adjustments. In the red zone, because the safeties come down into the box you have to spread the formation four or five wide and pick your poison. How many times did the Irish run the dive play up the gut into a swarm of bodies? Where was Amir Carlisle last night? If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was a healthy scratch. The naked boot DeShone ran was a thing of beauty, but why was that the first time we ran the play ALL season??? That little misdirection near the end was awesome, but again, why do we see so few plays with that level of creativity? And the last point is that silly move where the guys freeze and look to the sidelines for their mommy has got to go.

Second, Van Gorder’s D calls at the end sucked for sure, but does Kelly get none of the blame in that switch? Everyone knows that in that situation you simply cannot rush three guys and let a guy like Hogan pick you apart. Everyone evidently except BVG and BK. The tackling from the secondary left a lot to be desired.

All in all still a great year. How many programs have this level of success year in and year out? But look out. Kelly’s headed to the NFL next year for sure.

I’m still not over the loss. We still would have been squeezed by the committee. However if you look at the last two plays we had a lineman drop, not rush and just stood about two yards from the line of scrimmage. What was his job? Spying the QB? Made no sense. The face mask hurt but giving up the 25 yard pass was inexcusable. The prevent the win defense prevails again. I’m not blaming BVG until I know it was his call alone. Great final drive by the offense. I’m very proud of this team just disappointed for the players. They made us proud. If we get Ohio State we might give up 50 points.

In order to win, somebody needs to step up, but BK’s teams have no leadership because like Chip Kelly he has no connection to his players and staff. Jaylon Smith’s stupid narcissistic episodes with the cheesy bowling ball celebration and pointing to the captain symbol prove he can’t lead because he’s more concerned with highlights than wins, plus he won’t play linebacker in the NFL because he cannot stop the power runs and messes up gap assignments, they will have to move him to defensive end. Why does the offense freeze every time it gets in the red zone? Kizer looks so lost, he turns the ball over just out of angst because his coach can’t make the offense simple and effective enough and rehearses so he knows what to do when he gets down there; how can the passing game be so complicated with 3-5 receivers split out every play? The good news is they have the big play potential at RB and in Fuller, but somebody who drops half of the shorter and mid-ranged passes thrown to him isn’t ready for the next level. I also noticed the receiver run very poor routes and really don’t try to get open. The little things win ball games, tenacity wins ball games, heart and love of your team love ball games; unfortunately, you could tell from the outset how this game was going to go, especially with the red zone weakness. I don’t think Kelly can handle this level of College Football, his teams at Cincinatti were more competitive in big games against WVU and Pitt, who were on par with Stanford, and we know they couldn’t compete with the top 5 teams of that period. This is as good as it will get, and to give up the tradition that ND represented for a century for a classless tyrant who put in a megatron, plays Ozzie Osbourne, and puts in turf, and assaults staff isn’t worth 5 championships.

As the saying goes, all a prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Stanford redzone offense was very good, with imaginative but relatively safe play calls. I wish we would have run the plays they ran. Special teams are starting to become special again, as in the days of Holtz. Defense under-performs too often to make a title run. The talent is there for the most part. The scheme used by BVG seems to be nothing more than over-coaching by someone who is consistently out-coached. Let your talent win the game. They don’t need to be in perfect position to make the play. Simply let them be in position to make a play with their athletic ability instead of putting them in positions where they can get beat for big gains. And if you are going to play prevent defense, maybe pull some of our slower players and put in faster DBs (assuming we had any left). For me, the defensive scheme woes are far more significant than the offense’s redzone problems. Overall, I agree with the poster who says this is his favorite team since the ’93 team. Fixes are still needed (like getting a new chart on when to go for 2) but these are only fixes. The overhall needed after Weis is now a thing of the past. Kelly is the right guy in my view. Go Irish.

Congratulations to the team for a great ride that came up just a bit short. What did we learn? There is
some stellar talent spread around on this team. Who knows how good we might have been without the
crippling injuries. Kelly is building a true “program” with excellent depth, but to make it this far with a
third string quarterback and a fourth string running back is amazing. Kelly has proven to be excellent at
judging talent and developing it, but he isn’t a great game day coach. He is not a commanding presence.
For whatever reason, we are our own worst enemy. We lack the killer instinct. We leave tons of points
on the field; give up tons of cheap points in garbage time; and are completely impotent in the red zone.
In sum, we are not yet championship caliber, but all things considered, it was a terrific ride, we have a
great nucleus coming back, and I can’t wait for next year!

Wow its hard to believe that ND fans are so delusional . We lost the game because of COACHING PERIOD! We need to look a Defensive Cordinator on the last drive you run a zone 3 man rush and let 89 catch as 8 yard slant and turn it into 30 yards what a joke. I guess if you like losing then keep watching . Over 25 years since the last championship team too long for this fan . If they don’t make any changes on the defense (BVG) we should be ready for the same crap. I have had it personally cant handle much more that loss was totally unexcusable!

These kids ( yes; they are still ki played their heart out this year and gave it 110%. We had good breaks (Virginia) and not good breaks (Stanford) Kelly did a phenomenal job considering all the injuries…
Thank You ND Players for giving it your all!!

This is a deep, talented, committed and well coached football team that was just not good enough this time. No shame there. And no reason to place blame all over the place anywhere because of personal frustrations and shortcomings. Brian Kelly and his staff did a commendable job recruiting, developing players and preparing them for the challenges they faced this season. They are a team with inexplicable flaws, indomitable spirit and the heart of champions. They deserve a place of honor among the football legends of Notre Dame–if they take care of business in our bowl game. I have no doubt the adversary chosen for us will be formidable. It will feature the two teams who “might” have been national champs.

ND= No Defense

Brian van Gorder must go!