JTennant

I really don't think this is a TR issue. The whole situation is disjointed for sure.. We'll never know as there won't be a control in this experiment. The only control will be TR being OC for another program. MF will be done as a HC after this disaster and before his contract is up. He'll be a DC for a long while once he's let go.

Execution but he's pointing blame at himself. He doesn't sound like he has any answers TBH.

Fr. Jenkins had a ton of catching up to do when he took over the university in 2004, but I don't see him closing the gap in big time CFB and I'm not sure that's even a priority for him. Why follow a program who goes out of it's way to not be competitive? (self sabotaging) Their stance 7 years ago was that ND would abandon big time CFB if pay for play became a reality. That's a slap in the face, on it's face. You have a 12B endowment fund BECAUASE of your football program, not because you're a Catholic School in a shit-hole rust belt town northern Indiana. Without it's football program you'd be a run of the mill small town catholic school see U of Dayton. It makes more sense being a lifelong Lions fan.. At least their owners fire the incompetent GM and coaches who are actually trying but are just not capable.. This program is capable. They've just decided that the risk is not worth the reward. They have an unsurmountable stockpile of cash and are happy to enjoy the spoils of it without really committing to football excellence because that could jeopardize their feel good pride of being a team who boasts 90% graduation rates and does everything right "off the field" This holier than thou, better than thou, smug & entitled philosophy will alienate and erode a lot of it's blue collar fan-base within the next decade or two. It still won't matter, but they will fall even further off the pace of being a competitive football program. I sure hope I'm wrong but this has been a long time coming for me and Brian Kelly's overachievements as a HC has been the glue that's held my attention. They've peacefully rested on the laurels of the first half of the previous century and all of the financial success that's come with it. They've smugly convinced you that their mediocrity is in the name of Our Lady and higher learning yada yada. I'm not that drunk but I'm seriously over this shit. They'll always have a place in my heart, but my son's first birthday is next Saturday and this will be the first time in 20 years I've missed a game live TV or in person. I hope to catch it on the DVR next week if I have time. I'll be around, but I'm checked out.

Hiestand sucks, Buchner can't play QB. If this is all we got folks, this might be a 2-10 team.

There was so much that happened in this game but it kinda felt like USF game. Hopefully he doesn’t send anyone up in a scissor lift during gale force hurricane winds this fall.

Kedon said ND reached out to him and that he was not interested. Ohio State ran the ball at-will in the 2nd half. For whatever reason Ryan Day was still trying to make this a 7on7 affair. I'll give MF credit the defense looked improved in terms of not giving up the big chunk plays. When you know a team has to run 4 minute on you to close out a game and you just get gashed, it's hard to call you an elite or even a great defense. They may be good, but Clemson is going to take a page out of OSU playbook and pound the rock and get after TB. To me, outside of UNLV and Marshall, this team could lose the rest or win all of them and obviously it will be somewhere in the middle. I would feel more confident in this team going forward if there were more offensive fireworks. Shit i'd settle for no missed blocking assignments in the pass game. What I took away from the ND OSU game is that they can get superior opponents to play them in a phone booth and gash them to extinction. That's a baby step improvement over what Brian Kelly did in big games..

Based on ND has a first year starter that the coaches showed little confidence in by pursing transfer QBs and reluctantly gave the starting position to in fall camp after an abysmal spring game and potentially an unimpressive camp by Pyne. I mean if Buchner was as good as many people on here think he is, shouldn't the coaches have named him the starter early on in camp? Would the coaches have kicked the tires on transfer QBs in the portal? Clemson's D is a legit championship caliber defense, Notre Dame's is not. Clemson has some weapons at receiver, Notre Dame has many unproven quantities. Clemson has a QB with about 15 games under his belt and they won 10 games last year as a "down year". The eye test of Clemson struggling through a power 5 match up in week 1, victoriously 41-10. Clemson has a quality backup QB should something happen to DJ, Notre Dame does not. Just kinda some of my observations with some other gut instincts

Week 1 Over-reaction. Clemson will be hitting on all cylinders and will beat ND by 10 points or more.

Looks like the ceiling probably going to be 9-3 for this team. When you say bumps and bruises, I mean look out for UNC, BC, Syracuse, Clemson, USC, BYU. Splitting that run puts them at 8-4, losing all is 5-7 All of these games are going to be close to toss ups and ND will be a touchdown dog against Clemson and USC. I know I over-reacted about FSU last year and they played better against a better team than FSU but I really don't see this team making huge improvements. Bumps and bruises are ok, but he has a top 10 talent roster, so there aren't a whole lot of excuses if he can't dominate lesser competition.

Notre Dame being bad has little to do with Tommy Rees, Brian Kelly, or Marcus Freeman. The common denominator is a stodgy, entitled "brass" that was 25-30 years too late to adapt to the ever changing world of CFB. Notre Dame will never be what your dad or grandfather grew up with because of the Power circle's(admin / high priests etc) delusion of what a student athlete should be in 2022. They can be a top 10 program that recruits top 10 kids. Without the dominant football program that built this university, Notre Dame would simply be another midwestern Catholic school, think University of Dayton.. The administration will not embrace the fact that the football program is what led to this universities prominence and 12B endowment fund. Now they will practice the holier than thou routine and propagate the at least our kids can read messaging. Hey at least ND does it right, ya know what I mean? Maybe they'll form a league with Boston College, Stanford, Northwestern, Vandy, and Wake Forest so ND fans can relive some semblance of the glory days. You're not gonna get it chasing the big dogs(Bama Clemson OSU etc) who are actually committed to football excellence.

It's ok buddy. Theres a lot of shit that probably doesn't make any sense to you.

40 times don't mean anything if you can't shake someone. This could be a 6-6 team if you're being honest about their prospects with a cruddy offense. Cal, UNC, BYU, Syracuse, Clemson, BC, and USC can all score points that will make the games pretty close. I hope the offense got a lot of work with a traditional style offense under Pyne in case Buchner can't go or they need to make a chance.

We should start a club. I got blasted on here and Rivals when I made that comparison. Too many people enamored with 40 times.

I'm still in the Andrew Hendrix 2.0 camp..

That's a pretty big gap compared to what some of the top dogs in the big10 are going to get under this new Big10 deal.. Some of the top dogs are going to get upto 100 million. 60 Million + 10 from ACC.. That's quite a disparity. While ND doesn't need as much money as OSU to keep afloat 30 mill is 30 mill, yo. ACC Grant of rights expires in 2035-2036 so it sounds like the ACC may fall way behind in the next 13 years. https://www.wralsportsfan.com/here-s-a-copy-of-the-contract-keeping-the-acc-together-for-now/20361234/

I wonder if this means, ND will not have any home night games since NBC has slotted the evening for the Big10 rotation?

I think Tommy Rees and MF would say something very similar off record in the QB room which is why they named him so early so they can get to work on his offense as opposed to Pynes offense. Theyre gonna start throwing more stuff at the wall and see what sticks what they can work on and what they need to scrap.

And that’s why I said teams are going to let him punch himself out with 4 yards here 8 yards there but when the field is condensed he is going to have to make reads and throws from within the pocket or they’re not going to even be competitive against OSU or Clemson. If I’m a D coordinator I’m trading short yardage gains for hits and wear and tear on Buchner and just gonna roll the dice and hope he’s not going to Peyton Manning me once he gets into FG range. Teams are going to do this to him until he can prove that he can do it from the pocket..

Individual stats won’t mean much. Can he lead them to play Ohio State and/or Clemson tough? Or will that defense swarm and confuse him? Will he rack up stats on teams that have mostly 3* rosters? Sure. Also stay healthy and start all 12 games and don’t throw more than 10 picks would be a success if he could combine that with a close loss to either Ohio state or Clemson or better.

Correct he has more touch than Andrew Hendrix, but that’s not saying much. Teams are going to force him to stay in the pocket and make good reads and throws. It’s not that hard schematically unless it’s Lamar Jackson or Michael Vick which he’s not either of those. They’ll effectively let him punch himself out. He reminds me of Andrew Hendrix because of his hard nosed plow forward running style and lack of consistency. Buchner has a better deep ball.. Jamarcus Russell had a deep ball. If ND can’t provide a dominant running game, he’s going to have to sit and the pocket and fit throws into some tight windows and I haven’t seen enough in his very limited action that makes me think he’s the next Brady Quinn or Jimmy Clausen. He’s going to need to be the most improved player on the team for ND to win 10 games this year.

Doesn't protect his body when he's running, good straight line speed, decent agility sporadic accuracy and mechanics, ok. Look I don't hate the kiddo just haven't seen anything from him that instills confidence in the fact he's going to keep this team ranked in the top 10 all season. You're obviously one of the many who become too enamored with high school rankings and 40 times. I sincerely hope, for the sake of him and the football program, that he develops into a polished pocket passer by the end of the year, but I'm not going to hold my breath.. I would love nothing more to than Buchner to develop into a true dual threat QB and this team win 10 games with him returning as the unquestioned starter next year and a deserved top 10 preseason ranking with a real chance to make a playoff run. Color me a realist here..

Watching him play.

Bud, I get it. I was just being facetious. I'm 38 and am a general contractor, but refuse to pay my subs through next weeks newest tech payment platform venmo cashapp zelle. I'll mail you a check, or you can take my credit card or you can not work for me. I don't do well with change especially dumb a$$ ever changing technology. Zuckernut looks like a clown with that meta crap on his head. I now have a kid and am married but even when I was a single party animal I yelled at some guys to slow down in my neighborhood. I totally understand his frustration was just being stupid.

Way too high to be relying on Andrew Hendrix 2.0 or the pillsbury dough boy to be leading the offense.. 11-15 more fitting.