I'm tired of "his ceiling is higher" or "he gives ND the best chance to win." What exactly is his "ceiling"? And if a guy does have a higher "ceiling" but always trips on the third stair, what difference does it make?
Someone else said this, but it bears repeating. Points scored by ND in the last 7 games starting with the Miami game: 8, 24, 20, 21, 24, 24, 22 for an average of 20.4 per game, three of them coming against the vaunted defenses of Navy, Ball State and Vanderbilt, and 4 of those games coming with the awesome O-line of 2017 with dynamic running. Come on. With offensive "production" like that, you still want Wimbush to be the QB?
If Book can do one thing and one thing only - avoid interceptions - he will be the better QB, and it won't even be close.
Long and Alexander bear a big part of the blame, as does Kelly.
I still think Wimbush should start this game but put in Book unless he takes the team to a TD on his first posession. I guess the alternative of only using Wimbush inside the ten would also be acceptable, assuming Book does not make the same mistakes Wimbush has continued to make. But if the play calling and receiver execution does not improve it probably won't matter who is at QB. Are Austin, McKinley and Young really worse than Claypool and Boykin? Is Weishar really worse than Mack? Was Davis ever going to be a factor at running back?
Do the ND coaches really know who should be playing and where they should be playing? I remember that Ara came in and took a 1963 7 loss team, moved around some players, and had essentially an undefeated year in 1964 (except for a referee screw job in LA). Unfortunately there is evidently no Ara.
"Parseghian recognized almost immediately he had enough front-line talent to win and win immediately. His primary concerns during his first spring season were improving morale, getting the best players on the field and finding the right positions for those players. The previous coaching staff seemingly showed little patience with the players, Parseghian recalls, creating a climate of self-doubt and a counterproductive fear of failure."
"What was happening, the guys would go into the game, have three plays, maybe make a mistake and they would jerk him out of the game," Parseghian says. "They never apparently gave their guys an opportunity to show what they were capable of doing."
"Make no mistake, Parseghian was a stern disciplinarian who demanded attention to detail and didn't tolerate careless mistakes. But by putting his faith in his own players, they then began to put faith in themselves, and the positive results quickly showed."
"Notre Dame guys are smart guys. They can sense when you don't believe in them and that is what was happening," Parseghian says. "If the coach doesn't believe in his players, then what do you have? You can't be successful that way. It starts at the top."
Watch the replays; it's the same as last year. There's always someone running free and Wimbush just doesn't see them.
The coaching staff isn't going to change (at least this year). And I have a hard time believing experienced coaches from varied backgrounds ALL don't know what they're doing.
Ara didn’t replace all of Devore’s coaches when he came in, but the results he and his staff were able to achieve can not be disputed.
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Let Book manage the possession and get first downs. Bring in Wimbush to run zone-read at the goal-line.
Essentially, do the opposite of what Kelly does with QBs and play-calliing!
He just can’t catch a break.
You're welcome.