Comments on: The good, the bad, the ugly: USC

By: v9versace

v9versace — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 12:02:27 +0000

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By: irishfan2791

irishfan2791 — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:17:27 +0000

Imagine when this team gets healthy and finally feels comfortable in the system. BK wants to run this offense as fast as Oregon runs theirs….thats scary. With all the athletes and pure talent on this team it’ll be unstopable. If the Defense plays like they have in the past three games next year (I don’t see why not) Notre Dame is gonna be scary good. Rees has done admirably in his role but I still think Crist is the starter. So with Crist, Cierre Wood, Jonas Gray, Robbie Toma, Theo Riddick, TJ, Tyler Eifert, Kyle Rudolph…..possibly Mike Floyd plus the freshman coming in (i.e. DeVaris Daniels and George Atkinson Jr.). I’m lookin forward to the bowl game and 2011 season. GO IRISH!!!!!!!

By: mbadomer

mbadomer — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:35:22 +0000

“None of them imagined they would lose this game,” Kiffin said. “It’s really hard to picture this happened. The ball is in the air, and everybody’s thinking he’s going to catch it and the streak is alive.”

As much as I hate USC and Kiffin (lost any shred of respect for the man after what he did to UT), I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that he was blaming this kid for losing the game for USC. If he said something like, “yeah, we would have won if not for that play” then I’d be on board with this analysis. Having said that, good article this week. It’s great to see the Irish pull one out down the stretch after watching heartbreakers like Michigan, MSU and Tulsa this year!

By: glowplugv

glowplugv — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:43:22 +0000

After the game I was walking to the bus to take me back to the parking lot and an older USC gentlemen (I’m older too!) turned and congratulated ND on the win. Then he said, “here’s hoping that we move this series back to playing for the national championship!” Well put and a classy statement by a USC supporter.

By: c4evr

c4evr — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:56:43 +0000

I propose a new category – the GOOBUGLY… because Rees was all of those on Saturday. The great thing about it is that it happened in reverse. He was ugly, then he improved to bad, and finally looked good (perhaps great) in the final, inspired drive. A lot may be made of the dropped pass, but to me, the real story is how a true freshman came in to the Coliseum and endured an atrocious night holding on to the ball only to pull it together on the final drive and lead the team to victory. That – unlike Lady Luck intervening on dropped passes – is something upon which you can build a program. Congrats to Rees for showing great composure where others would have crumbled.

By: jimkress

jimkress — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:35:52 +0000

Agreed. The vast improvement in defense (except for the bollux-up against Navy) is the best thing that has happened this year.

By: jimkress

jimkress — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:33:40 +0000

When the Staff makes really dumb remarks, like those of Diaco after the Navy game, they need to be withheld from the media until they are properly educated on what to say/ not say.

By: papadec

papadec — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:56:40 +0000

How about “Best Beast”?

By: 1notredamefan

1notredamefan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:08:38 +0000

err. *Best?

By: 1notredamefan

1notredamefan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:03:20 +0000

The Good, the bad, the ugly………We should add one to this weeks article….”THE BEAST”

By: dochrd

dochrd — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:53:44 +0000

Bring on next year is right! the play of the defense in the last three games gives me hope for a new era in ND football when playing great defense doesn’t rely on a weak opponent, but is the result of a fearsome attitude by the players. This is my 50th year of watching ND football (started when I was eight), and these last three games remind me of the inspired defense of the 1988 team, my favorite defensive squad. A great defense is needed for obvious reasons, but another reason it’s needed is to give the offense the confidence to do it’s job, even when it’s struggling.

By: dochrd

dochrd — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:47:06 +0000

Keith, you SHOULD keep talking about the defense. I haven’t been this confident of a ND defense since the early 90′s. Your statistical comparison of the last three opponents is great. These last three games have been awesome on defense, and let’s hope and pray and rub rabbits feet that this is the start of an era in ND football when the defense is feared, can be expected to stop teams in critical situations, and gives us the chance to win games. Putting aside the TD pass that was dropped (and H. Smith slipped and fell, it wasn’t blown coverage), in every other situation against USC the DEFENSE won the game. When’s the last time we could say that against USC? What an inspired three games it’s been on DEFENSE!!

BTW, this year this site and this blog have been excellent. Seems like there are more video features this year, and your articles have prepared me many times for water cooler debates. I’m looking forward to your coverage of the bowl game.

By: ndnaz

ndnaz — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:27:06 +0000

The litmus test of this year’s team was to see measurable improvement.

We finished 7-5. Sure, Stanford and Navy embarrassed us, and we gave the Tulsa game away. But 8-4 or even 9-3 was tantalizingly close.

Keith’s stats are right-on in documenting how the defense improved. The offense continued to put points on the board in spite of devastating injuries at so many skill positions, and we actually looked pretty darn good at times when in full stride early.

I am most excited at the resolve this team showed in every game after the Tulsa debacle. That’s a clear sign of tremendous leadership, and a program headed in the right direction.

Improvement? Darn right, and in spades. Nice work, players and coaches. Bring on next year!

By: tlndma

tlndma — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:56:01 +0000

I think you’ll see Kelly let his coaches back in front of the media, now that the season is over. I think he may not allow it during the season anymore. The scrutiny this program is under may make that a wise move. The added pressures of facing the media, at ND, can only hurt his staff’s performance.

By: tedlinko

tedlinko — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:52:18 +0000

In my estimation, the Kiffin quote is very revealing. Is it just me or doesn’t he look a bit like a petulant teenager prowling the sideline over there. I know a lot of coaches (including BK) do a lot of jawing at the officials. No issue there. But with Kiffin it seems like there’s this constant whining, eye-rolling, and gesticulating every time a call doesn’t go his way. It doesn’t help that the guy looks like a teenager (he can’t help that part) but does he always have to act like a spoiled teenager as well?

(I’m not just talking about this week — Living in CA, SC is on all the time out here so I’ve had lots of opportunities to observe. Naturally I’m not exactly unbiased but just wondering if others have observed the same as I).

By: bernhtp

bernhtp — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:50:12 +0000

Agreed about the ugly. After all of these years, even an ugly win over USC is a beautiful thing to behold.

By: 1notredamefan

1notredamefan — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:37:15 +0000

Great write up Keith, This has to be the best good, bad, and ugly article I’ve EVER read since finding your blog!!