Comments on: Five things we learned: Notre Dame vs. Miami

By: darind61

darind61 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:31:55 +0000

I am a loyal Canes fan, and I do resepct good football! ND you guys simply kicked our butts in the bowl game. You were faster, stronger, and better prepared.

By: dochrd

dochrd — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:58:57 +0000

This was a very emotional season for a lot of reasons, but one sure thing was the quality of this blog and site. Keith did great reporting, the comments section added value (as oppoosed to past years), and the video highlights were well-edited. All of this for free! I’m with Art V.: please, NBC, keep it free and support the site! Looking forward to this Fall, but first stop: Keith’s recruiting and Spring game reporting.

By: radschneider

radschneider — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:55:59 +0000

I agree with all the positives but what is bothering me is Notre Dame’s inability to punch in touchdowns when deep in the red zone. The Sun Bowl was no exception. Had the ball within the 2-yard line and they failed to score a touchdown. That has been a problem for the past few years and still has not improved much. If they want to beat the elite teams they can not do it by kicking field goals. Could have had close to 50 points on Miami had they executed better in the red zone.

I don’t know about other people, but as Miami started scoring I actually got nervous. I thought “here we go again….”.

ND still lacks that killer instinct. ND should have beaten Miami as badly as Miss. St. beat Michigan.

By: kidmarc

kidmarc — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:44:59 +0000

1. If this is it for Michael Floyd, he certainly left us with something to talk about.

If Floyd leaves early, it will speak more to the program than to Floyd; it isn’t that he is ready for the Pro’s — more about whether being at ND under current conditions is worth it or not.
The same goes for Rudolph. You either sticking it out, or you are saying the program isn’t worth it, currently.

2. Regardless of what the future holds for Tommy Rees, he saved Notre Dame’s season.

Rees did very well with his tailored game plans. He is very much like the coach, a gambler. However, if he becomes the next QB by or durinig next season, Hendrix should look to transfer to that place he visited before commitment to ND. The gates of heaven have opened up and a voice has spoken to Hendrix, “Go south, young man!… Further south!”

3. Even without a 100-yard rusher, Hughes and Wood provided the ground game needed to win.

Sadly, by the time Hughes has found himself, it’s too little too late.

5. Don’t look now, but the 2011 season could be a special one for the Irish.

Yes I’m afraid given the performances of the this season by the other teams and the ND schedule of 2011, ND will have a good chance of being BCS contenders. Okay Okay… don’t all hiss and booo just because ND will get their shot next year; it’s not the end of the world… that won’t happen until the following year. In the meantime, go home and write, “I will not hiss and booo Notre Dame just because they have a chance next season.”, a hundred zillion times… and maybe… just maybe… there will be BCS championship game in your stocking next season.

Peace

By: irishfan2791

irishfan2791 — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:36:59 +0000

I Love this, when Notre Dame is winning everything is that much sweeter, I seriously believe this team still has a ton of room to grow, Brian Kelly has made the comment many times that they aren’t where they want to be and that there is still more to put in. I look at the recruiting class and I like what I see, DEFENSE. Even if Floyd and Rudolph dont come back we’ll still have a plethora of playmakers with Riddick, Jones, Effiert, Wood, and Daniels, Adkinson(two freshman, look’em up on youtube) for either Rees or Crist(personally I want Crist) the offense should be awesome. the Irish are on their way back we need to win some more games were not totally expected to MSU, Stanford. GO IRISH!!!!!!!

By: jerseyshorendfan1

jerseyshorendfan1 — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:12:31 +0000

5 Things Learned:

1) Boy, it sure feels good to win a Bowl game in such a dominant fashion, especially against Miami. I know some of our players weren’t even born when this rivalry was at its zenith, but they should still be proud of beating these convicts so convincingly.

2) The ND brand hasn’t lost any of its luster. This was the fastest sellout in Sun Bowl history. ND has superb academics, football tradition and an appeal to Catholics and those of Irish heritage the world over. Let’s face it, no other university really has that type of following on such a national scale. NDNation can become a home crowd just about anywhere.

3) Brian Kelly coached an outstanding game. He had a nice mix of the run and pass and made all the right decisions re: FG’s, clock mgmt, etc. Even won the time of possession battle. My hat is off to him and I am now looking forward to his long term presence at ND (even though I wasn’t so keen on his hiring at the time). Furthermore, he weathered a really tumultuous season, on and off of the field (Matt James, Declan Sullivan tragedy, Seeburg suicide and allegations, etc) and frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t gone totally gray by now.

4) Several players deserve to be singled out for their bowl performances: Harrison Smith had a game about as wild as a west Texas wind; Rees’ stats were stellar when you consider what the UM secondary had done all year; Hughes continued to plow through defenders, Riddick is just plain exciting whenever the ball touches his hands and what else can you say about Mike Floyd (except please don’t go); and,

5) Keith Arnold put in a stellar season with his insightful articles and entertaining live blog. Keith, I hope the suits at NBC Sports don’t find out how much we like this site and the live game day blog because they’ll either do something to screw it up or start charging us.

Anxiously awaiting NLOID and the 2011 season, I remain,

Your Pal,
Art Vandelay

By: Keith Arnold

Keith Arnold — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:54:20 +0000

Okay, gents. Cleaning a few of these up. Let’s make a New Years resolution of not commenting like an idiot.

By: joewyoming

joewyoming — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:14:39 +0000

Hip hip hooray for the Irish! Even when they were losing, this team had a “just wait and see” vibe to it. Can’t wait to see the future. Go Irish!

By: borromini

borromini — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 04:36:50 +0000

You give a crap rubber head…that’s why you bothered loggin in and commenting.

By: fightinmad35

fightinmad35 — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 02:19:44 +0000

Good game. Floyd looked dominant against a highly regarded NFL prospect at cornerback (Harris). I think his stock just went up. I hope he comes back but I honestly don’t expect him to. BK kept his team together and they make great improvements as the year went on. He showed his quality be season’s end. This will be the longest 9 months of my life. Looking forward to next year already. Go Irish!

By: papadec

papadec — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:11:05 +0000

I wasn’t very happy about the 4th quarter, but a win – is a win – is a win. I’m glad to see BK finally got the message about putting points on the board (field goals) when he has the chance. It will be interesting to see which recruits jump on board, now. Two 7-5 teams could be undefeated when they meet in 2012. That would be very interesting. Happy New Year to all – and thank you Keith.

By: c4evr

c4evr — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:50:51 +0000

Great win by a team that was left for dead. I was one of Kelly’s biggest critics this year and he still hasn’t completely sold me on the spread being a good fit at ND. On defense, solid play until the 4th quarter. But we didn’t get much pressure on the QB all afternoon. And I don’t know if it was the big lead, Teo being out of the game, or UM finding it’s rhythm, but there were a lot of yards piling up in the 4th quarter. Take away Jacory’s horrendous start and you have a tight ball game the rest of the way.

Here’s the 5 things I learned from this game.

1. Rees showed, once again, he has composure beyond his years and will win the starting job for 2011

2. The defense is not the same when Teo is out… and not in a good way.

3. Controlling the offense line of scrimmage must be priority 1 this Spring

4. Michael Floyd will return next year with all the uncertainty in the NFL (alright, that’s actually a wish)

5. David Ruffer deserves a scholarship for next year – that shot would have been goof from 60+