This certainly isn’t the first time quarterback Tommy Rees has felt the fire from Notre Dame’s fanbase. About a year to date after Rees was booed entering the game in relief against Purdue last season, Rees is once again the whipping boy of Irish fans near and far as the senior quarterback’s performance against Oklahoma, 9 of 24 with two touchdowns but three first half interceptions, was a key factor in the disappointing 35-21 loss.
And while the treatment of Rees on social media like Twitter has been pretty pathetic, it’s not something head coach Brian Kelly thinks will effect the quarterback, who desperately needs to rally after back-to-back subpar Saturdays.
“If you’re the starting quarterback at Notre Dame and you can’t handle those things that are inevitably going to come your way after a loss, then you can’t be the quarterback at Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “It comes with the business of being the quarterback at Notre Dame. You have to avoid the noise, when it’s good and when it’s bad. And that’s just the nature of it. It comes with being the quarterback at Notre Dame.”
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Here are a few other bits I found interesting after going back over Brian Kelly’s weekly press conference.
* For those back clamoring for Andrew Hendrix, Kelly’s critique of the senior’s play was fairly candid, especially his one throwing attempt, where Hendrix missed a wide open Davaris Daniels running free down the middle of the field.
Kelly talked about the reintroduction of Hendrix into the Irish offense after not taking any significant snaps last season.
“The way we presented it to Andrew is, look, you’ve got to help us win. You’ve got to help us win football games,” Kelly said. “But he’s got to be more effective than he was on Saturday. He can’t go in there and we get two false start penalties. We can’t miss a wide‑open receiver. We’ve got to do a better job on our zone read.”
Rewatching Hendrix on the zone read, he still doesn’t look quite comfortable reading his keys, especially on one play where he kept the ball even with an unblocked defender coming right at him.
But even four years into the program, there’s no substitution for true game action, and on a Saturday where moving the chains is really important, Hendrix is going to need to be able to make the quick read both on runs and especially on pass plays, an area where it would be very helpful if he could show himself to be even moderately serviceable.
* There was plenty of grumbling about the way Bob Diaco and the Irish defense chose to defend the quick throws to the outside by Oklahoma. Sooners head coach Bob Stoops called the quick passing game an extension of their rushing attack, with the designed screens a part of their offensive game plan.
“They got the ball outside a couple of times, but it didn’t go to winning and losing the football game,” Kelly said of the Sooners’ success throwing quick screens. “Winning and losing the football game last week was turnovers and the two big plays. I thought that by and large we minimized most of those plays to under 10 yards, but we will get attacked on the perimeter, there’s no question, we will have to continue to be on top of our game there.”
This was exactly the game plan last season against the Sooners as well, when Landry Jones completed 35 of 41 passes for 356 yards, but was limited to just seven yards an attempt as the Notre Dame defense put the clamps down as the Sooners got closer to the Irish endzone.
Kelly talked about why he’s willing to give up those short throws, something that’ll likely be very important this weekend against an Arizona State team that put together some “big chunk” plays in the second half of their victory over USC after being somewhat limited early.
“If you break down the game, they did not win the football game by throwing bubble screens and getting it out on the perimeter. They’re doing it for other reasons,” Kelly said.
“What we need to do a better job in is keeping the ball, staying above the cut when we’re in three deep, not giving up quick slants for 56 yards. Obviously if we minimize the big plays and the turnovers, we’re talking about a different football game here.”
If people think back to one of the schematic changes the Irish made last season against Oklahoma, they utilized motion to get an inside linebacker to vacate the middle of the field before running Everett Golson up the gut. The Irish chose not to shift their linebackers when motion occurred last Saturday, likely to stop the inside linebackers from vacating the middle of the field, an area that was caught for the back-breaking 56-yard touchdown pass.