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As to Pyne, the staff made it loud and clear last night that his only future at ND is as a backup. A 5'11 QB without elite arm talent and athleticism probably should never have been recruited.

I'm curious how last year's OL could have received more coaching from Quinn's predecessor. Were they 7th-year players? For the "you can't credit Quinn for last year's OL" theory to hold up you need the Chris Watt channeling Hiestand part that Driskell pedals. Good luck with that. Occam's razor.

You yourself acknowledged before the season that it would take time for an OL with 4 new starters to gel. That was before Fisher went down, followed by Carmody, Baker and now the new starter, (converted TE, true freshman) Joe Alt and Kristofic taking over as starter at LG from the undersized Carroll. The additional size on the left side seems to have made a difference last night.

"For those who keep focusing on the QB, that isn't the crux of the problem." What problem exactly? I'm not going to treat seriously the idea that an immobile QB who the defense doesn't respect in the running game and who raises no containment issues in the passing game and whose name isn't Tom Brady is an insignificant problem. That he is the best option speaks to Kelly's biggest failure at ND, the QB position.

On the one hand, injuries no excuse for Quinn but with respect to Freeman, you have to take them into account? And the criticisms of Freeman relate specifically to the end of halves, playing soft and giving up points -- bringing up memories of BVG -- and the failure to contain a QB who has mobility, negating ND's defensive strength, the DL.