Concerning the play of our offense when the game is well in hand.
There have been multiple opportunities this season and throughout the Brian Kelly era in which Notre Dame had the opposing team completely put away. Two things seem to happen in this case. 1.) The offensive starters including the QB remain in the game. 2.) The offensive backups will come in at some point and, all too often in my opinion, will hand off the ball three times before we punt it back to the other team.
Each player has a redshirt season where they can play up to four games. Would it not make sense to use these times to give younger players experience? Would it not make sense to prepare those you may need should injuries happen? Would it not have been better to have gotten Drew Pyne actually experience running our offense during this time? In the case that Book got injured and we needed him to play and finish the season would it not have been of benefit? Would we not be in better position heading into this season if we had a QB with some experience...especially if Coan had not transferred? Would allowing the backups to play when the game is put away not also protect the starters from the risk of injury and keep them fresh? How many players currently on our roster could have had the experience of playing in an actual game last year?
I'd be very curious to hear some thoughts on the possible rationale for why we wait so long to put in reserves when we are blowing a team out, why we stop running our offense when we finally do put our backups in and do you think it is smart policy.
Personally, I've always viewed the end of the games that you are winning easily to be a great time to keep your starting team healthy and rested and the best possible practice and development for the backups you will need in the future and may need in the current season.
Replies to: Concerning the play of our offense when the game is well in hand.
100% correct, I say this every year.
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there is absolutely no excuse not to do exactly what you're suggesting.
this is one of bk's greatest mental errors year after year.
really stupid management.
BK has never been good at developing talent (& depth) for this reason. Also he's not just good at...
Formulating a plan to get young players meaningful reps during a game or at the end. He's not a risk taker, he's not a all in kinda coach. He's play not to lose, manage the game, make little to no mistakes and you should win. And that works for 10 games. He won't win those last 2 or 3 that way.
Dabo, Saban, Urb, Pete, Ed O, The Mad Hatter, any of the last few guys to win one or a few are THAT type of coach. BK simply is not. These coaches are putting freshman out there to make plays and letting them. Not handcuffing them because they're not adjusting to your evidently overly-complicated offense in 5 weeks. So they sit a year or two and get disengaged and many times just lost. Not all kids are that saavy with Xs and Os... but are smart and disciplined enough to get to ND in the classroom why not make the transition on the field easier and perhaps things click elsewhere. Nope, not BK's style.
NT
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Re: 100% Agree. I tried to make this point last fall and several disagreed.
You can’t develop young players when they never see the field. Case closed.
Baloney there are players littered in the NFL who did not get significant playing time in college.
If you have high level talent, your second string talent gets developed too. This is true in basketball also. Swen Nater never saw the floor with Bill Walton at UCLA but he had about a 7 year basketball career. When are you supposed to play these guys, he is not going to choose losing over who he thinks can win for him. Joe Montana was lucky there was an injury before he came in against Purdue.
Correct me if I’m wrong - did Montana play in at least 3 seasons at ND?
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He started for about 1 and 3/4ths years. I believe 9 games his junior year and 11 his senior year.
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Yes, but only part of two
It wasn't until his third season that he actually completed a full season as a starter.
Link: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/joe-montana-1.html
The point is that he saw game time.
It’s not as if he went to the NFL without ever seeing the field in college.
That wasn't the point and you know it, you were being a sarcastic dick.
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Ummmm no I wasn’t. He sporadically played in various games
And wasn’t totally “green” when he did get more playing time.
Well he was terrible at times. Against Missouri in game one in 1978 we scored 3 points I
believe. Against Michigan 2 weeks later he was not much better.
Couldn't have been stated any better.
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Can you provide some data for this for the last 4 seasons?
Or you just winging it?
Sure. I'll give you a couple years and let's start with this year.
ND defeats S. Florida 52-0. Drew Pyne played and threw 2 passes. Brendan Clark doesn't play.
ND defeats Pittsburgh 45-3. Brendan Clark plays and throws 3 passes total. Drew Pyne plays and does not throw a pass.
ND defeats Syracuse 45-21. Up by 24 points entering the 4th quarter. Drew Pyne plays and does not throw a single pass.
In 2019:
ND defeats N. Mexico 66-14. Jurkovec and Clark play and throw a combined 3 passes.
ND defeats Bowling Green 52-0. Up 35-0 at half. Jurkovec plays and throws only 7 passes. Clark plays and does not attempt a pass.
ND defeats Duke 38-7. Jurkovec does not attempt a pass.
ND defeats Navy 52-20. Jurkovec attempts 2 passes. Clark does not play.
ND defeats BC 40-7. Jurkovec attempts 1 pass. Clark does not play.
So that is a couple of years. I do not feel it necessary to go back any further...I am confident that the readers of this forum have been watching ND football during the Kelly era and can form their own conclusions.
Remember that Book was playing like absolute dog shit in games.
Everyone wanted the backups in but BK left him in to get him confidence. We were running teams off the table with the run game. Book couldn’t seem to get it right. But I agree with your sentiment. Chris Tyree and other wideouts could have used the time.
Impressive reply.
you certainly made your point with facts
And the crowd chanted “Rudy!, Rudy!, Rudy! ......”
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Bob Davie did the same thing. Remember Eric Chappele in the USC game?
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Sorry, but Chappell stank
No amount of playing time would have gotten him ready. For that matter, even after he transferred to Alabama A&M, he still stank as a defensive back.
Davie really screwed the pooch by not even giving Zak Kustok a chance.
That was my point.
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My misunderstanding, then. Apologies!
I misinterpreted your statement, where I thought that you were claiming that Chappell could have been something with some more experience.
I think Chappell has a -150 QB rating, or some other unholy number...
Ah...the Davie/Chappell show...
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I absolutely agree with you on this.
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Our back up QBs are the best hand off specialists out there.............
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👍🏻 You hit the nail on the head.
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