Did we overrate Elko?
MF is now 2-0 on the road against him. His offense looked flat, and never figured out an answer for our secondary. Disappointed A$M “fans” are already calling for his replacement because of his play-calling on that 4th quarter fourth-and-two call. He did a great job at Duke, but maybe he is not a big game coach.
Replies to: Did we overrate Elko?
No.
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I would say no.
The ND defense is simply better than his. And our offense was a little better also.
Elko isn't overrated
He has proven that he's a winner at every stop.
Even though his stay at ND was just one year as a defensive coordinator, he took what everyone thought was a terrible pool of Brian Van Gorder players (62 out of 128 teams), and turned them into a good to very good defense (31st out of 130 teams), all while elevating the talent already in place by a big margin. Clark Lea ended up inheriting a solid group of players, and went on to be one of our best DC's in recent history.
He did something similar at Texas A&M as their defensive coordinator, flipping them from having the 87th ranked defense, to the 19th ranked defense, and kept their defense performing at a solid level his entire time, even having the 3rd best defense in 2021. If anything, his being hired is what saved Jimbo Fisher from getting terminated earlier.
He turned around a Duke team that had a really terrible year (caused Cutcliffe to retire) and turned them around, making them a bowl team in 2022 and 2023.
That's not a coincidence. That shows an excellent mind for coaching. Had we hired him in 2022 as a replacement for the purple faced one, I would have been quite happy (don't get me wrong; I'm very happy with the Freeman hire).
He just happened to run into one of the best defenses in all of college football yesterday, against a very good up and coming coach. I'm sure that having a quarterback being struck with heat exhaustion (projectile vomitting twice on the sidelines) didn't help either, since he couldn't complete a pass in 4Q.
There are better days ahead for Mike Elko, and I'll be happy when he turns that program around in its entirety.
How does either game make him overrated?
We had far more talent than Duke. And the Aggies were a 7-win team last year while we won 10, and this is his first year there.
We should expect a solid coach to win those games for N.D.
No
He is a winner. Witness his one year at ND, the job he did as the DC at TAMU, he miracle turnaround at Duke. He has the resources of a program that is willing to pay a coach $70M or so to leave. He will do fine.
Or maybe we were just the better team and he got out-everythinged?
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Elko didn't make the play call on the 4th and 2 play
He has an offensive coordinator who calls the play.
Or maybe, just like at FSU, Jimbo left a talented team and terrible culture.
Culture is not something you can change over night.
He'll take some lumps, but he'll get them tightened up eventually because he's a really good coach.
He is excellent. It took a miracle for ND to beat Duke last year.
A&M is in excellent hands. He is also a very good recruiter.
This is truth.
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Elko will be alright....remember, this team needs to learn how to win ala Holtz' 1st season at ND.
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It's 1 game. He'll be fine. Our O didn't look like wold beaters either.
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What?
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Our?.
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