Brian Kelly was fulfilling a few media obligations before turning his focus onto the big match-up with Oklahoma this weekend. Part of that media tour included a few minutes in the “Herd,” joining ESPN’s Colin Cowherd to discuss the state of the Irish football program, and go one-on-one with a pretty polarizing radio personality that hasn’t had the nicest things to say about the Notre Dame program the past few years.
If you waste a lot of time getting worked up over Cowherd’s antics or opinions, you’re largely barking at the moon. That is what the man does. He’s quick witted, opinionated, and dictates the tone and discussion on his show by making a statement, defending it with a few persuasive points, then usually moves on before too many people can poke holes in his theories.
Amateur critical radio analysis aside, Cowherd does spend quite a bit of time talking about college football, a semi-rarity on the national scene. And while his friendship with Lane Kiffin and affinity for Manhattan Beach (you can’t blame him for half of this) largely have Irish fans believing it colors his opinion, Cowherd has spent the last week or so talking about how overrated the Irish are right now (while calling USC -- a team that lost to Stanford -- a better team.)
You can listen to the entire exchange here, but it’s actually an interesting discussion on the state of Notre Dame football, the problems that plague the offense, and how Kelly goes about the job rebuilding the football program while trying to win football games now. If you don’t have nine minutes to listen, here’s a rough transcription of the conversation:Cowherd: I can’t figure out offensively what you’re doing. What are you offensively, coach?
Brian Kelly: We’re trying to find ourselves. We’re young on the outside with inexperienced wide receivers. We’ve got a tight end that we’re trying to get the football to and we’ve got three outstanding running backs. When you’re moving two quarterbacks in and out of the game, it’s really hard to have a set identity. We’re just trying to find ways to put enough points on the board, rely on a great defense, neutralize things in the special teams and win football games. Until we get ourselves in a situation where our quarterback is ready to start and finish a game, it’s just the way we’re going to have to put it together.
Cowherd: Come on, coach. You’re half way through the season. Figure out your offensive identity. Pick a quarterback. Can’t I say that?
BK: Again, I’d say that we’ve run the football extremely well against good defenses. I think that’s really where we’re going to manage the football game. My background is that I like to spread it, run up-tempo, and throw the football. We’re not ready to do that, but at Notre Dame, you can’t not be ready to win. You’ve got to win each and every week. So we’re going to eke out a way to move the football and put enough points on the board. And when we’re ready to move to that next level, it’ll be when our quarterback is.
Cowherd: Seventeen points, 20, 13, 20, 20. In four of your six games, you’re scoring about that. You guys get a sense going into games, you’ve gotta put points on the board. What do you think you’ve got to put on the board this weekend to go to Oklahoma and win realistically?
BK: Again, it depends on how we play the game. For example, BYU averaged 98 plays a game the weekend before. We got them to 60, we took 38 plays away from them. So, we’re going to try and help our defense the best we can to keep the points down on that end and then obviously, if they’re an offense that’s putting points on the board, we’re going to have to do some things offensively in spreading the field and throwing the football around. So it’s really predicated on how we’re playing defense, as to how we are playing offensively.
Cowherd: College football is not entirely fair... until we get a playoff. Scheduling matters a lot. What if I said, ‘Coach, a lot of Big Ten teams. The Big Ten is not very good.” Who have you beaten? Is that a fair criticism?
BK: Going into the season, I can only look at our schedule and talk about the teams. We went to Michigan State when they were 10th in the country and beat a team at that time that was top ranked. We had to beat Michigan. I think Stanford is a darn good football team. And we’ve got to play that kind of schedule each and every week. Our opener was in Ireland. Then we went Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State. It’s a tough schedule that requires your guys to be on each and every week and they’ve been on seven straight weeks and let’s see if we can get it to eight.
Cowherd: What do you make of the talk that Notre Dame is relevant. (He mentions Rick Reilly.) Whether or not they’re great is a different story. Do you listen? Your players hear stuff. What do you make of it?
BK: I really think that our kids are above the noise. They hear it. They watch ESPN. They listen to the talk shows. But the way we’ve got this focused is, look, we’re trying to be a consistent program. We want to be a part of the discussion not just one year, we want to do it each and every year. And as we do that, and build consistency, look at Oklahoma. They’ve been there every single year. That’s the level that we need to get this football program. Not just one year, where I get to go on your show. So our players understand it’s about consistency, not just about one spike. I didn’t come to Notre Dame because we wanted to have one great year it’s about a consistency... We’re not a great team, but I’ll tell you what, we’re mentally and physically tough and we’ll go and play you anywhere and any time. All I have to do to our kids is let them know is that they’re building a program.
C: You just said, you’re not a great team. That’s all that I said.
BK: I would be the first to tell you that we’re not a great team. But we’re a football team that’s getting better each and every week. Once we firmly have experience and an identity on offense, and keep building our defensive depth and special teams, we’ve got a chance to be a really good football team. That’s the process we’re in right now.
Cowherd expounds on a theory about Oregon’s face-paced offense and how he’d stop them. Kelly politely listens, largely agrees, and they move on.
C: This wasn’t nearly as contentious as I was hoping for.
BK: I’ll get in an argument if you want. (Laughter) We’re trying to build this thing so we can have this conversation in three or four years and we can talk about whether we’re great or not.
Next up, Desmond Howard. (Just kidding.)