It’s not mutual exclusivity. It’s allocation of limited resources. Should ND devote more time and resources to special teams? That’s the question. The answer has to take into account that resources, specifically time resources, would have to be taken away from other areas. College teams have limited practice time. So while we all agree that ND hasn’t been very good in STs, is it worth it to reallocate resources that way? (And this is a little hinkey because nobody knows exactly how ND allocates time here). Neil and cheeks have made a reasonable point that maybe affording more time and focus to STs isn’t the no-brainer it might seem on first blush. The top 3 teams right now — Bama, Clemson, ND — seem to share a common pattern: better on O and D, not so great at STs. It’s easy for fans to just look at STs shortcomings and say “the coaching staff is stupid on this.” But maybe it isn’t that simple. Cheeks and Neil have caused me to rethink this. I agree that ND hasn’t been good with ST. Not sure it is just bad coaches “ignoring it.” I think it is an interesting discussion.