As I said after the USF and Michigan disasters, Coach Kelly is in over his head at ND. How many more times are we going to see the Irish not prepared for a game? ND was dominated by a very shaky and still on probation USC team. I like BK but he is not and never will be a primetime coach. He would do well at any Big East or ACC school but these are not and should not be Notre Dame’s aspirations. Or are they?

I am with you, JB.

This was a loss due to poor coaching.

USC and its fans and friends regard last year’s defeat in L.A. as a mere bump in the road. They came to town fully expecting to do just what they did – start the streak back up with a good beat-down in South Bend.

Right now Notre Dame football – moral superiority aside – is stuck on mediocre. Playing stupid music into the P.A. system and writing 7 or 8 articles about the pretty new hats the boys are wearing with the lovely GLITTERY color scheme that matches the color of the golden dome – even going to the extent of having Alex mention them on the air – isn’t going to change that.

The talent is there but there is no toughness.

(Especially when the players are FORCED to wear pink)

All games are won or lost up front – ND was DOMINATED on both sides of the ball. USC and its fans look on last year’s game as an abberation, and they came to SB fully expecting to start the streak up again with a beatdown, frilly new glittery hats and stupid music on the P.A. notwithstanding.

And that is exactly what they did.

Notre Dame does not do humble well at all, and for a place that even calls itself catholic (small c) that’s not a good sign.

RUN THE FOOTBALL. 14 rushing attempts for 41 yards???? Head scratching game plan, execution, and use of personnel from head coach, who I can’t even bring myself to mention by name. I’m totally disgusted.

After 59 years of being a ‘Loyal Son’ of ND re every facet of the university, not just football, I find that like a lot of things in the USA today, ND is not what it used to be, and is not likely to ‘Return to Glory’. As a management consultant, I have recognized the tell tale signs of this steady deterioration of leadership quality at ND, just as I have in many other U.S organizations.

Like our country and like the Catholic Church itself, ND’s problems are systemic. It’s not the students or the players, its the management. Since the departure of Fr Hesburgh and Moose Krause, ND’s management has steadily declined. Fr Malloy, Fr Beauchamp, Fr Jenkins, AD’s Wadsworth, White, and the current ‘Brick’, are not cut from the same cloth as those who authored ND’s greatness. Neither are Davie, Willingham, Weis,Kelly,or the next coach that the ND management will hire after the current one finishes bumbling thru the rest of his 5 years. The only current coaches that display any resemblance to what ND used to be are the leaders of the women’s basketball and soccer teams.

Under ND’s senior leadership this once great university that reached out to all americans (i.e., ND’s Subay Alumni, of which until last Saturday night I had been a proud member for over a half century) has redirected the future toward the elite and the wealthy, and away from the common person. With the current stampede toward supersized conferences for college sports, the only accurate fit for today’s ND is the Ivy League. When I review ND’s men’s athletic achhievements over the last decade, I find their greatest success has been in the all american sport of fencing.

Coach Kelly has dispayed several key traits of his failed predecessors, but he is right about one thing: ND needs the RKG’s. Unfortunately, neither he nor his superiors are those kind of guys.

I’m a Kelly guy, but he got completely out-coached by Kiffin. Plus, he was way to “cute” with the QB changes and abandoned the run too quickly. How many carries did Jonas have after his big TD run? Zero! That’s crazy.

I think our losing is a mixture of both poor coaching and poor play from our players. I think that we should have been tackling 4 days in a row every week to instill a sense of toughness in our players. I don’t see that toughnness in us like it was for the USC players and teams like Alabama and LSU. I want us to be as dominate as LSU and Alabama and in order to get become like that we need to practice tough. I would rather for us to practice too hard all week and be tired then to practice weak and soft and not be ready to take the pain. As for Dayne Crist fumble on the goal line, thats pathetic. I don’t care if he isnt the starter or not, the first thing a quarterback is taught is to handle the ball. I would say it could be the centers problem if there were more bad snaps exchanged thru the game but there wasnt. Only with Crist. If Crist is so good like all of you say he should be able to handle 1 snap. He is no quarterback. He needs to transfer to Miami of Ohio and be with them. He would fit in well. He may be a good guy and all but being a good guy isnt what its about. It’s about winning games. Now as far as the coaching we definitely should have ran the ball more, thats a coaching problem. We did not set up any runs, play action to soften the defense to help our recievers or quarterback buy some more time. We have a solid running game we should have used it more. I think that our team can not handle the pressure of big time games that decide our season. I can easily see us now that the pressure is off, we can easily win out, and as crazy as this seems we very easily will beat Stanford because ND has absolutely no pressure on them now. No one thinks they are worth anything. So they will feel comfortbale and win like they are suppost to. Just like in the Michigan State game. We handled Michigan state and we all see what Mich State did to Wisconsin… It’s crazy how the mentallity of it all works in the players heads. But bottom line is the coach has to fix that crap and turn them into winners now. I’m tired of the coach saying before the games, ” We aren’t quite where I want them to be yet but we are making progress… GEt them there! I want them there now. LSU Alabama arent making exscuses saying we arent quite where we want to be. They are already there. We have every oppurtunity to be a national football power again. We can be. We just need someone to instill our players with this philosophy that we can win and win NOW! We do not need time. I want them to beleive that it is possible now not later. Hopefully Brian Kelly believes this and conveys this to our players. I still believe in Kelly but he needs to start re evaluating how he approaches things and come through. ND is completely different than Cincinnati or Central Michigan.

Crushing losses to USC and Michigan this year. Just awful. I do think Kelly is the right guy, though, and I believe when he gets his guys in there, ND will start winning the tough games. I am driving up to South Bend from SE Tennessee this weekend for the Navy game. The last time I made this trip ND got crushed by Georgia Tech. I am hoping I will still be an optomist on Saturday night, and not pissed off, and freezing cold. Go IRISH!

“Great Dane”… WOW, pulling out all of the old tired “cheater” references, and even- older than time- “SUCKS” reference. If you watch the tape of the end of the game, you will hear that the UC band began to play their fight song and then about 8 seconds into it, the ND band began to play their song.
Point being, when they started playing, the ND band was not playing. So no intent was made to play over the ND band. It just happened.

From a sportsmanship standpoint, the loud music played when USC had third downs designed to make it hard to hear signals was bush league… the first time I have ever heard of such a stunt. Almost as bad as letting the grass grow deep about 6 years ago.

My experience has been that both schools have a lot of respect for each other and that is what makes the game so special. It is also much bigger than the ignorant comments made by a bitter subway alumni like you.

Regarding sell outs, we have a lot more to do in Socal than you folks in South Bend do. I doubt if you ever have been to the coliseum, but about 20,000 of the seats (east end) are so far from the football field that they are not worth sitting it. This (to continue my education of you) is because the stadium was designed for the Olympics and not football so fans would rather watch on TV vs sitting in these very poor seats, many of which are 100 yards from the closest end zone.

Bob Golic of ESPN who has 2 players on the ND team was asked why ND did not use their remaining 3 time outs when USC was running the ball in the final 6 minutes of the game and he said that he to was surprised that everything was not done to try to win the game, including using these 3 time outs.Some USC players thought ND quit by not doing so and one of the ESPN announcers said correctly that if a ND player was to give up on a play, his coach would have reamed him but yet he gave up by not calling the the 3 time outs.

You can thank Lane Kiffin for not trying to put the ball into the end zone at games end (USC on the 5 yard line with 30 seconds to go – first down) but rather just run the ball into the middle of the line. This is out of respect of ND. You should try to show similiar respect yourself and drop of the hate. It might make you feel like a decent guy but I doubt it.

Great Dane … Nice to see a good loser and sportsman. LOL
PS: very old and tired references.
ESPN just used the word “bludgeoned” to describe the beatdown.
Until next year 😉

Yeah Kelly has never beat any team worth mentioning. If he is fired the AD needs to go too. I really think Meyer was sick of all the stupid stuff that went with his players at Florida, I think he loved his players but everything got to be to much.

To me I think he would love a place like ND, its not like ND doesn’t have issues but not nearly as much. I’ve never been one of those “we just need Urban” ND fans but now I don’t care, I just want to wake up on game day a see an actual defensive scheme for Notre Dame.

After the Crist fumble on the one-yd line, I experienced both game (1) deja vu and amnesia. Did they at least give Crist a police escort out of town after the game because I know I was plenty mad at the kid? That one play simply knocked the wind out of the sails of Notre Dame for good and regardless of ‘rust’ from not-playing, receiving the ball from the center should be football 101 for a supposed all-star QB.

The “Crazy Train” song every 3 minutes was a splendid touch, especially on national television. Eye-eye-eye… How about Aye Carumba? I don’t know whose idea that was, but consider it a bust. Quit turning ND stadium into a bad rock concert. Everyone on this team was responsible for this loss, especially the coaches. The players seem undisciplined and lost at times. True, the coaches aren’t fumbling, but stressing the fundamentals at all times can’t be understated. Didn’t Coach Holtz make players carry a ball with them at all times, with a penalty if they set it down or dropped it? Perhaps that’s overkill, but it seemed to drive the point about holding onto the ball.

The coaching staff, IMO, gave up on using Floyd and his height advantage way too early. If Floyd is your go-to guy then go to him already. Still, Floyd reminds me of Randy Moss – doesn’t seem to play every down to his potential. Sometimes, he’ll make that awesome catch, other times he seems uninterested and even bored.

I love Notre Dame football, but I guess we still have to give Coach Kelly some more time to both implement his program and get the type of players he needs to succeed here. Yet, sadly, the days of ND being a college football powerhouse seem to be over. The bigger schools have the money and the power to manipulate the system and get what they need. True, once-in-a-while a team will get caught and made an example of, but it’s a paper tiger. It’s like Fort Knox: it appears they’re guarding the gold, but the illusion is the gold itself… it doesn’t exist but it’s important we think it exists.

Advise to Coach Kelly: winning builds tradition and maintains excellence, not your reputation or the promise of a better tomorrow. We’ve already heard all that noise from the previous few coaches.

God Bless ND, their fans, and our patience.

PS. Telling people to “stay in their seats” is the kind of Gestapo crap that has infiltrated even the NFL of all places. Where did this ridiculous rule come from and why are the minority always getting their way over the majority anymore? PC, I guess.

USC was the better team. Line of scrimmage, running and moving the ball, total gameplan–I think if we played them 10 time we lose 7.

Thinking that we were somehow worthy of a BCS bowl game (and are therefore a top 10 team) MAKES ALL OF THIS VERY DISAPPOINTING, especially for those of us who might have believed were were good when we whipped a MSU team that went on to beat a good Wisconsin squad, that humiliated Nebraska, and on. But top 10? You have to be delusional like Lou Holtz–we lost to a now unranked South Florida team, and Michigan squad beginning to show it’s true mediocre colors in the Big 10.

This year, we just are not that good.

And at times, it’s beyond painful to follow this team. I understand the anger.

But I’m confused by the continual call for a new coach, a new AD, a new president–I think this intolerance of the process of rebuilding is part of the problem.

Albeit at a different level, I remember when teams I played on turned the ball over in high school football. When we played bigger, better, faster teams in bigger games–we coughed it up. This pattern of turnovers, as much as I hate to believe this, is not random. It’s just another symptom that we really are not very good. Kelly is right about that. Better players and teams handle the pressure of 1) Opening game, 2) 1st Michigan Night game and 3) 1st ND Night game 20 years. We clearly, have not. I would not be surprised to see the fumbles largely disappear for a few weeks, until the end of the season when we are poised to show the nation why Andrew Luck is a Heisman contender. Recurrent Fumble-itis. National stage. Night game. Big pressure.

JimK71 has stated my feelings eloquently. And, the fact that there are only 109 comments to this news story (as of Tuesday, 9:30 AM, EST) means, to me, that more and more fans have just accepted the painful truth rising out of the mist. I am truly beginning to the think the Irish are cursed.

Dear BOBC,

I am not some bitter subway alumni but a graduate student who has been to the Coliseum 5 times. The crappy reference is more about how ND people are treated there and it is not good.

I went to the UCLA-ND game back in 2007 and it was a very classy venue and I did not feel like my life was in danger as when I used to go to the Coliseum.

Comparing South Bend to LA is like comparing apples to oranges.

ND fans are from all over the US and flock to ND. I came from a long distance myself. A USC graduate told me back in 2000 that the only games USC could fill up were ND and UCLA. The “lots” to do excuse is just that an excuse. The bottom line is that USC are fair weather fans. They only go to games when they are winning.

As far as the cheating thing, that is not old but rather recent. It went to the basketball program and women’s tennis too.

I was at the game Sat. and sat right behind the USC band I know what I heard and they did drown out the alma mater and also played their song about UCLA.

I usually do not hate, but I do like USC.

That being said, I was very disappointed in ND’s play. I think this giving up thing is being played up more than it should be.

GO IRISH Beat Navy!

In the end, it is just a game. And our heart forever Love thee, Notre Dame! (Our Lady).

JimK71 is on point in my view. The similarities to the Weis era are very troubling. The elevation of Rees to the starting job over the guy who won the job is not unlike Weis elavating Clausen as starter over the first and second string qbs after only three quarters of football in the first game. When you make a move like that, it would seem to me that it could affect the team’s confidence in the coach’s decision making and their perception of the fairness of the process. The talent on Weis’ team in his third year was expected to compete for a national title, not go down as the worst team in ND history. All indications are that he lost the team with that decision and never recovered from it. I hope the same thing is not happening to Kelly with this team. The performance of Rees in the USF, Michigan and USC games would have put most qbs in the country on the bench – permanently. Whatever the reason, Crist will never be given a real opportunity to show what he can do, despite beating Michigan last year with a likely concussion, only to watch the brilliant defensive scheme we employ give the game back to Michigan. As soon as Kelly gave Crist the vote of confidence before the season opener in his press conference, I knew he was in trouble (any vote of confidence given to a coach or manager usually occurs only a few days before they are fired). No one likes looking over their shoulder. For some reason, Rees doesn’t have to.

On another issue, I do not view a new coach signalling a rebuilding process. Between Weis and Kelly, ND has allegedly had at least 6 top tier recruitting classes. How can teams with such alleged talent be so bad? The answer begins and ends with one word – coaching. ND was awful for 7+ years and said to have no talent until Ara took that talent to within one bad call of a National Championship and an undefeated season. I still believe that can happen. Stoops and Tressel both won in their 2nd year. While Tressel inherited a loaded team, I don’t recall that being the case with Stoops at Oklahoma.

As regards USC, we all have experienced boorish behavior by fans. I have always been treated well by USC fans, especially when visiting the Coloseum and think they are a classy group of people. However, I did have some drunk college students smart off to my wife and kids while we were heading into the stadium only to have other USC fans come to our aid and chastize the drunk students. Those fans then apologized to us and said, “unfortunately USC sometimes stands for University of Spoiled Children.” I like USC. If not for them, ND’s schedule would lose a lot. If you don’t like your biggest rival you are missing the point. Rivals need each other. Many USC fans actually want us to become good the same way many ND fans wanted USC to become good again after our long winning streak against them under Lou. A one-sided series does not make for a good rivalry. One final point on this fan issue, years ago I took my in-laws to the ND v Navy game with my wife and four young children. I purchased before the game 2 Navy sweatshirts for my wife’s parents to wear since her father served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. We arrived at ND very early (between 7-8 a.m.), parking near the bookstore with very few cars (or people) around us when the 8 of us exited the van – 2 people in their late 60s wearing Navy sweatshirts and 6 people in ND gear. We toured the campus, had steak sandwiches, shopped the bookstore and watched the first half of the game. When we returned to my car, it had “Navy S*CKS” written all over it in white. I was embarrassed and humiliated by the so-called ND fans that felt a need to show their team spirit on my car by expressing their disdain for a retired World War II veteran wearing a Navy sweatshirt. Hard as it seems to believe, even we have boorish and obnoxious fans. I don’t paint any school’s fans with the broad brush of hatred for their team and fans. Colleges are cool places and they used to be places where you could wear the opposing teams colors and only contend with spirited and good natured teasing. More and more, its like going to an NFL game in certain cities where you take your life in you hands if you even cheer for the opposing team.