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First of all, Merry Christmas. And let's all hope 2021 is a better year for all of us!

I would never lay these bad losses at the foot on one player or one coach but anyone thinks we are limited by our playing talent, we are even more limited by our offensive coaching talent.

Rees is far less qualified to be the OC at ND that you seem to think. If you actually think being a "real student of the game" trumps actual coaching experience (Rees has 0...that is NONE.. years position coaching experience and a mere two year of any non-player football experience outside of Kelly's system since he stopped playing football), I doubt you've ever been around a college football coaching staff in your life. Who you crappin' here? Again, take a look at Rees' peers in the Power 5 conferences and I'd bet you wouldn't find one guy who has less than 10 years of actual coaching (and analyzing and studying isn't really coaching is it?). Yes, Long didn't far very well but then Kelly thought it was wise to hire a guy with less (and much less) experience than Long? Huh? Kelly hired a minion because that is what he typically does.

There are lots of guys who are "real students of the game" but that doesn't make them qualified to be an OC much less OC at a school that every year aspires to be in the playoffs. Studying football and break down film (Charlie Weis Jr was doing it in high school!) isn't coaching. As a student manager at ND under Ara in the 70's, I helped to self-analyze our own offensive tendencies through the use of a rudimentary computer programming that I was on the team that helped build. I remember sitting down (with others) with Tom Pagna and walking through those readouts. I can't tell you how many post-game film studies I sat through with team break out groups, typically on Monday nights after training table. I can't tell you how many football practices I was at along side coaches listening to their thought process as they noodled different plays. None of that would have made me remotely qualified to be the OC at ND with minimal experience outside of the system I played in as you clearly think it does for Rees. Being a effective and competent coach takes more than reading books, studying film and attending seminars.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing Rees by any means. Like I said, Rees may end up being a very good coach. I'm just dissing that fact that Kelly determined he is qualified at this point in his career to be the OC at ND. Kelly made one of his typical coaching decisions and picked low hanging fruit because that is what Kelly does.

There is no doubt that Rees coaches Kelly's offense. But that is the point. Rees really can't implement other concepts of offense because he has almost no experience in other concepts of offense. The notion that Rees is limited by Kelly is inane. He simply doesn't know enough about coaching college football offense to be able to provide any real innovation and adaptation to a game play to beat good teams. Rees is serving an apprenticeship at a team in the college playoffs. The main reason we are there is because we have a 5th year, 2.5 starter at QB. Any chance we have to beat Alabama, or a fully loaded Clemson team, would take take luck aided by clever and innovative play-calling which Rees doesn't have the experience to provide.