that you are well prepared for the task in front of you or you don't. How many more gigantic moments do we need to wilt in front of before all of our alums/fans look at the root of the problem...Kelly.

You can take all the soccer balls, phony baloney practice scenarios, and loud music and shove em where the sun don't shine. The players, for whatever reason, do not believe and because of that they play scared. They panic at the moment of truth. The false starts, personal fouls and other simple mistakes are the personification of their confidence in their preparation.

This was not an issue under Holtz/Moore/Alvarez. Why? The players believed to their very core in the game plan and what we were going to accomplish. It was only a matter of showing the college football world what they already knew.

Sweet Jesus, the lengths some folks will go to to excuse a crap job.

1) Silent snaps eliminate all possibility of false starts. You simply do exactly what the DL does -- you look at the ball and move when it moves.

Kelly says they practiced that and also says that Book reverted to muscle memory during the game and didn't use the silent snap. That is probably the worst thing I have heard in my 52 years. If true, Book is quite possibly the dumbest person on the face of the Earth -- and Kelly should have slapped the shit out of him during the game similar to a Holtz moment of going out onto the field and dragging him by the head to the sideline.

2) Play a real schedule every single year and get rid of all neutral site games -- period.

ND historically was an extremely good road team and won all those big games we have heard about or seen (if older than 35). Why? Because ND was always the team that had seen it all before. Why? Because they played 5 or 6 true road games per year and at least one or two of them were against elite teams every year.

When you do that you have a starting team full of players that have been there and done that before and the crowd has zero affect on them. You have a few freshman where it is new -- but they are surrounded by players that have each been there 2 to 6 prior times that are totally unfazed by it.

1. It certainly does not eliminate the possibility of false starts. Offensive players are just as likely to try to get a jump as defensive players. They will anticipate also. Additionally many times a lineman cannot see the ball well. He may move early based on a flinch or pre snap movement by a defender.

2. Depending on the type of silent count used there are some other issues. Some teams use the guard to look back at the QB to ascertain if hes ready for the snap. This is usually after the center and other OL have made their own reads and calls. The guard will then tap the center and a pre arranged time will elapse before the snap. This requires all players to count at the same pace. Obviously once in a while something throws this off and someone moves early.

3. Book clapping or lifting a leg is often another way to signal hes ready for the ball. Sometimes however when he did it frantically I suspect its him basically saying snap the damn ball the play clock is about to expire.

The bottom line is playing in an atmosphere like that presents issues for the away team. Changing plays at the line further complicates things even if its a simple check with me to one side or another. You certainly have to practice for it, but you have to expect a couple of penalties when trying to use the silent count in a hostile atmosphere. 5 or 6 is too many obviously. I suppose Kmet having a couple could be a result of him just coming back, I dont know.

Most if not all teams were going to have issues with noise in that atmosphere Saturday night including the Clemson's of the world.

cannot see the ball. That is literally impossible. It is illegal to be lined up off the LOS enough that every single OL cannot see the ball. I played OL for 4 years -- 40 games. I have zero penalties. Not one single penalty of any kind -- not a false start, holding, down field, zero.

It is complete and utter horse shit to even remotely tell anyone that an OL cannot see the ball, thus can't simply wait for the snap. In fact, the sole reason I never once had a penalty is exactly because of that. The few times I forgot the snap count or wasn't 100.0000% certain I remembered it -- I simply looked at the ball.

As for trying to get a jump -- that's what the bench is for. Defense or offense. There never has been and never will be an excuse for any OL or DL to get a penalty for failing to watch the ball (OL when using a silent snap).

All other elements of your description are just noise. In the end it is as simple as any OT on any team at any level can always have a straight line of sight to the ball and in a game where you know you are using a silent snap -- there is zero excuse for not watching the ball.

Yes -- this means that the DL and OL both are moving at the snap. Yes, that's an advantage for the DL. Yes, that's why you need an OL coach worth a shit so in spite of that advantage your OL still kicks the shit out of the DL.

Though I didn’t play OL and I respect that you did , I played college football as well. In a 3 point stance leaning over yes you can see the ball. Nowadays tackles do not have their hand on the ground in some situations and even when they do they are constantly flirting with being lined up in the backfield illegally in order to gain an advantage on the outside speed rushers. Look at the bow in offensive lines now. They look like a recurve bow and arrow. At that angle it can be tough to see the ball. Furthermore their head is up and looking at the defenders lined up outside their outside shoulder or downfield. How many of our false starts occurred with our end man on the interior whether TE or tackle with their hand on the ground or at least bowed far behind the ball and not at a great angle to see it. I’m not sure and don’t have the time now to go back and watch but I’m guessing at least a few occurred with the line in a 2 point stance or bowed alignment.

I heard someone today say they talked to a coach in the PAC 12 and he said it’s impossible to find an offensive lineman west of the Rockies who gets in a 3 point stance. Line play has become much different across all of football at all ages. I live in western PA and 75% or more of the teams are running spread offenses with lineman in 2 point stances. Even the midget programs are doing it because that’s what the HS coaches want.

Perhaps getting in a 3 point stance in more 22 personnel and running the ball downhill would help. We know with this regime that ain’t happening though.


Edit : I went back and watched the opening drive just now. We do appear to have our hand on the ground but man is our left side of the OL basically in the backfield. Their is no way Eichenberg can see the ball. I wish I could send a photo. Perhaps they should tell him to move up where he can see

We ran a no huddle offense in school that was 100% silent count snaps.

The QB would call Rip or Liz, we would line up. He’d either call the play or use hand signals, and we’d look at the ball and move when it was snapped. Same with the TE and WRs. We practiced the shit out of it.

I’ve seen some linemen hold hands on the outside and the G would break away when the ball was snapped but it wasn’t all that common.

There was no excuse for what we saw on Saturday. It was a failure of preparation.

But you can blare crowd noise from games into the practice area.

The key is to practice/focus on silent counts, regardless of the noise/atmosphere.

It was clear we didn't spend enough time practicing it

In the new indoor practice facility, hell they made a video about it and showed you could crank it. Yet as always here we are with a team that didn’t practice the silent count. I have a dream... that one day all Notre Dame fans will realize just how full of shit Brian Kelly really is.

There were entire articles about it before the game. They were cranking Guns N Roses in practice.

Kelly mentioned yesterday that Book was reverting back to clapping for the ball when they were in their silent count.

I was at the game and some of the false starts happened when the crowd wasn't even at a fever pitch.

Cole Kmet also had 3 in his first game of the season.

but the idea that ND didn't practice crowd noise or silent counts is false. That's how they ran their scrimmages.

Instead, they did the clapping thing for a while until that didn't work, then switched mid-game. Seems like it would have been simpler to just commit to the silent count from the get-go.