Horrific night of tossing and turning but after a lot of thought here are my thoughts on where we are:
1. For the first time in the last 20 years or so, I did not see any talent gap at any position vs OSU. We lack nothing in speed, size, skill or physicality. We are finally on par from a talent standpoint.
2. I have seen real and solid player development from last year to this year. For years we would never reach our potential with developing players. There is marked improvement across the board and that shows we are coaching and making these guys better.
3. We outplayed OSU. First time I can remember a ND team physically dominating a team like OSU in the second half especially at the line of scrimmage. It was like what we used to do back in our glory years. That show real progression.
4. Our coaching staff as a whole lost that game for us both on our last drive and on our last defensive drive. No doubt about it they messed it up. We should have kept running the ball down their throat and the game would have been over. Same thing on defense. No excuse for not having 11 players on the field…..twice!
5. That being said, I believe MF and the staff will learn from this and become better. Our recruiting and player development has never been at this level for the last 20 years. We are making improvements and I believe we are on the right track.
6. Still, it is just a kick in the gonads to lose another game like this by just giving it away. There is a ton of good and hope for us going forward, but this one is going to sting for a long time.