Are you a defense wins Championships believer? How about a franchise QB means everything? Or wait.. Players consistency and culture? Do we build it like the pros?

Confusing. Lots of questions no wrong answers.

 

My opinion has changed

Before Kelly: I was big on plays, coaching and such.

 After Kelly: I realized you can have a library of plays but without the top players those plays only take you so far.

 

Its all confusing to  me:

So where do you stand? Has your opinion changed or stayed the same?

The blueprint at ND seems pretty clear. And, as chance would have it, it's a blueprint that's most often found on championship teams. Dominate the trenches. Get a dynamic QB. Don't beat yourself (aka, be disciplined). Put the FIGHT in fightin' irish. 

10 hours ago, soulpatch said:

The blueprint at ND seems pretty clear. And, as chance would have it, it's a blueprint that's most often found on championship teams. Dominate the trenches. Get a dynamic QB. Don't beat yourself (aka, be disciplined). Put the FIGHT in fightin' irish. 

so is that the order you would put them in?

trenches

QB

Turnover Margin/Penalties

overall toughness, fight

 

That'd be a fun poll question.

10 hours ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

so is that the order you would put them in?

trenches

QB

Turnover Margin/Penalties

overall toughness, fight

 

That'd be a fun poll question.

I'd say so. I feel like 1 & 2 are universal (and the necessity of 3/4 or anything post-2 has a relationship to how "burrow" #2 is).

Recruit the best players

 

Hire the best coaches

On 5/15/2022 at 9:10 PM, soulpatch said:

I'd say so. I feel like 1 & 2 are universal (and the necessity of 3/4 or anything post-2 has a relationship to how "burrow" #2 is).

One thing to note is that you do not need to be "perfect". Clemson won their NCs despite not putting many OL into the NFL. Instead, they had great QBs and DLs and enough WR and RB talent to make up for their lesser OL talent.

8 hours ago, jbrown_9999 said:

One thing to note is that you do not need to be "perfect". Clemson won their NCs despite not putting many OL into the NFL. Instead, they had great QBs and DLs and enough WR and RB talent to make up for their lesser OL talent.

Yeah, that's a great point. I think a Dynamic QB is the number 1 factor in general as it can cover a great many other shortcomings, so maybe I'm rethinking that. For me, though, dominating the trenches is the most surefire way to compete year in, year out. Not to mention, ND will always have a harder time securing skill position talent that a program like Clemson (even with Freeman and Co showing that Kelly seemed to artificially throttle his recruitment efforts). But, at the end of the day, you're gonna have a hard time getting to the mountaintop without both of those in place.

I'm a defense and trenches guy, because that's where I played.  I look at teams like my local Hawkeyes who are great in those areas and put guys in the NFL because they are very well coached and developed.  One of the biggest knocks on them and those similar like Wisconsin, is the lack of big threats on offense.  A game manager for a QB, good backs, good TE's, and ok WR with zero big play potential.

We differ in that we've had QBs who can run and aren't statues, except Coan recently.  But we haven't been consistent in our ability for a long pass to keep D's from loading the box.

I don't know for sure the identity MF is looking for on offense.  It'll be fairly similar to what we've been doing with Rees, right or wrong.  I think the D is clearer in that he wants an attacking/turnover generating scheme that hopefully can get off the field quickly.  Love the depth and talent level we are going after in recruiting which can elevate our on the field performance.

13 hours ago, jessemoore97 said:

A game manager for a QB, good backs, good TE's, and ok WR with zero big play potential.

We differ in that we've had QBs who can run and aren't statues, except Coan recently.  But we haven't been consistent in our ability for a long pass to keep D's from loading the box.

I'm with you there. Since maybe that window around Peyton's Harrison/Wayne/Clark offense-2007 Patriots Offense, passing has obviously been where the majority of successful teams (college and pro) distinguish themselves from the middle-of-the-pack teams. Seeing the transformation in Saban's offensive approach is pretty telling that you generally need a dynamic playmaker at QB to compete. And, historically, that's always been the case for ND.