The issue isn't solely talent compared to Bama, etc. Look at our defense. It is truly an elite unite and did about as well as can be expected against Bama. And only giving up 17 points the final 49 minutes was impressive.
Offensively, we develop some of the best lines in college football year after year. We have some talent and speed at the skill positions.
The problem, once again, is QB. It is IMPERATIVE to have at least a top-10 QB, and Ian Book, as much as he tried, isn't even one of the 50 best QBs in college football. You can say all you want it's Kelly's job to get an elite QB, and I would agree, but he does recruit 4-star QBs with regularity. You can blame the coaching staff for not properly developing them, but look at the guys who transferred: Crist, Golson, Zaire and Wimbush. None of them panned out at their new schools.
Although the Kelly haters won't admit to this, we basically did get a new coach after the 2016 season, and the results since then would be more than palatable if we truly did get another guy. Two points:
1) Kelly needs to stop with "the guys needs to check off all the boxes before they can play" philosophy. Quit going with the "safe" choices (Schmidt over Morgan, Adams over Williams, Book over Jurkovec, leaving Lenzy, Keys and Johnson on the bench, etc.)
2) I am still high on Tommy Rees doing the job. There is ample evidence, if you open your eyes, that he knows what he's doing. My brother was at the game and said receivers were open time after time; Book never threw to them. Book's deficiencies totally handicapped this offense much more than many of you may think.
We were maybe one elite QB and one elite WR away from making this a game. If Kelly can change his mindset one more time - and we can get a big-time QB - a national championship is not out of the question.
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making the receivers have to adjust to catch the ball instead of being able to run right away after the catch. What I admire about Book was his guts, as he never quit and why did we not pass the ball on first down more when we had a chance instead of waiting to do it late. There were two key plays to me. One of which Book ran on third and 7 and gained about 3 yards. I believe we were going to go for it on 4th down had he gained two more. It was 7, or 14 to nothing at that point. The other was the interception he threw on the pass to Meyer when it was 21 to 7 and we had a good drive going. The pass should have been thrown where only Meyer could catch it and we would have had a first down on about the 20, or if it wasn't complete a 3rd and about 8 from about the 35 of Alabama. We were moving the ball and a touchdown would have made it 21-14 with some momentum. Our defense had begun playing better at that time and maybe we could have tied eventually and moved ahead.
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Edit: Doesn't the fact that Kelly has had many highly-touted QBs and produced NOTHING with them tell you something about his coaching abilities?
Crist's, Zaire's, Golson's and Wimbush's new coaches didn't get results, either.
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Kelly can’t even judge talent. And his relationship with students and fans is grade school
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He made dramatic changes after 2016. I've been very consistent in saying he needs to make these final changes.
It seems like you're trying to argue both.
Blame anybody but Big Game Brian Kelly though, right?
I think he has recruited really well considering the restrictions compared to Bama and tOSU but they regress or never develop because of his philosophy on checking all the boxes.
him. What are you getting paid for coaching?
I guess you could look at this two ways. One is that the players who are in the NFL are well developed, and you can include Boykin and Claypool in that group. The other is why did Boykin basically sit for three years, why did Williams sit for three years, why wasn't Claypool featured more his first two years, why isn't Lenzy playing, etc. Kelly still has a philosophy of keeping even elite talent on the bench if they don't "check all the boxes," and it's this that Subway and I are in agreement, not that talent isn't being provided to the NFL. They can still be developed to a solid NFL level by letting them play more earlier.
He let Dexter sit on the bench for 3 years. Boykin played in 13 games total in his first 3 seasons. I wouldn’t call that being allowed to develop. Tyree should have played more. Lenzy should have played more last year. A lot more. Javon McKinley could have been a lot more had he gotten playing time his first 2 years. What about Greg Bryant? Never got much of a chance. But every year it seems like Kelly is converting a QB or RB to WR or vice versa and it never really works out. Kelly has been very open about his philosophy when it comes to being able to play the game to his standards. If you can’t do everything then you can do anything. Basically that’s what he is saying.
You can't say the writing wasn't on the wall.
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Please don’t infect my football program with it.
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Big man, that Lance. I'm embarrassed that you have any association whatsoever with ND.
Fuck off, asshole.
Always have been. A pretentious prick.
persona you are. How do you define success/ failure? Everyone has their own definition, it is riches for some and some unappreciated riches for others.
Lance, you're a complete Grade A asswipe, and that's who you are. There are plenty of low-character people in this world, but you aren't even one of them as you don't even possess any.
I'd take my life and who I am any day over you. I actually feel sorry for you.
He’s a complete asshole
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you are fucked up. You should go to bed and don't drink ever again.
Maybe not...but it would have been an even contest.
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cut Brett Favre. There have also been other surprises and failures. Haskins was going to be a star as the 7th player picked in the draft and the Redskins just cut him. Or I guess the Washington Football Team.
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Talent is there, I think. Brian Kelly is as good as he is ever going to be. He doesn’t allow offensive talent develop on the field. It’s a philosophy problem with him.
become an NFL talent. Boykin was behind St. Brown but emerged his last two seasons and almost never drops a ball and is making his mark too. The linemen have clearly developed and he has even gotten guys to the NFL who had almost no chance projection wise to get there.
But forget it if you are a talented freshman or sophomore WR/RB.
Just look at who the starting WR were this year. McKinley is a senior who is finally getting playing time. Skowronek is a grad transfer. Davis is a converted QB.
Lenzy 18 catches in 2 seasons
Wilkins 7 catches in 2 seasons
Keys 17 catches in 2 seasons
seems like he is going to stay the course. Which is a bad sign.
win a national title these days unless he has two career days at the exact right time.
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