Eventually a game will turn on a STs play. And you’ll come on the board pretending it vindicates you. But it won’t. You have never tried to understand the cogent and rational comments Neil (and cheeks) put on the board. You continue to pretend that there is a contingent of fans who say “special teams don’t matter at all.” NOBODY claims that. The counter to your venting about subpar STs play has been that STs don’t matter AS MUCH as offense and defense. Which is indisputable. Do you really not get it? If ND wins or loses on a STs play this week or any week, it won’t support your side of this any more than when ND wins or loses with offense or defense, which happens ALL THE TIME, supports Neil’s. The thesis is incredibly simple and compelling: there are limited time resources in college football. Tough decisions have to be made about how to allocate those resources. An increasing number of coaches seem to be taking the approach of devoting less focus to STs and more to offense and defense. It makes sense to me. As you will see in the thread I linked above, Neil and cheeks really caused me to rethink this last year. I hadn’t considered it in those terms before, and once I did I was convinced. I think it is a better approach than devoting more time to STs at the expense of offense and defense. Why? For the reason Neil keeps explaining: a much higher percentage of plays involve offense and defense that special teams. Certainly a coach could go the other way, the Frank Beamer model. Maybe if you are a Virginia Tech that makes sense. For ND, I think it is more important to ultimate seasonal prospects to work on the run game, for example, than STs. That doesn’t mean “ignore” STs, btw. It’s about allocation of limited resources. You don’t like the approach? Ok. You have made that clear. But please understand that when a game does eventually turn on a STs play, and one will, you will be miles off in patting yourself on the back. You saying “see STs matter” will be no more relevant than Neil coming on the board and saying after every game that doesn’t turn on STs “see offense and defense matter.” Something he could do almost every week if he wanted to. Go back and read that original thread. You are arguing with phantoms. Nobody says STs don’t matter at all, nobody says games can’t be won or lost with STs, nobody advocates for “ignoring” STs. Many just say offense and defense are more important and therefore deserve more allocation of limited resources. It really isn’t that complicated. And if it’s a good enough approach for Dabo, who apparently embraces it too, maybe Kelly isn’t as stupid on this at it appears upon superficial analysis. Does that make sense?