Reaction to the Irish win last night is running about as hot and cold as the Irish offense was last night. For as many fans that are enthusiastic about Notre Dame drubbing rival Boston College at Alumni Field — something the Irish haven’t been able to do since 1998 — there are just as many people complaining about the inconsistency that continues to plague this team as it evolves.
“I didn’t come in thinking that we were ready for the national championship game,” head coach Brian Kelly admitted after the victory. “But the process for us has been exactly what I thought it would be. We’re developing a mentality and a toughness, a physical and mental toughness, that all the teams that I coach want to display. We just have to work really hard on that principle.”
While Kelly rattles the eardrums of his players ingraining that philosophy, he also continues to mold a team into the likeness he desires. While the methods surprise many that expected a buttoned-up coach that matches the man they see in press conferences and public appearances, the leader of the Irish is as fiery as the last coach beloved by Notre Dame Nation, a man named Lou Holtz.
The Irish win was in many ways a perfect outcome for Kelly and the coaching staff. A dominating victory that featured exceptional play by both the offense and defense in spurts, but enough teachable moments that reaffirm the weekly message this coaching staff preaches.
Let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly from Notre Dame’s 31-13 victory over Boston College.
THE GOOD
An Irish defense that was labeled “high school” by ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit on ESPN’s College GameDay, absolutely stifled the Eagles’ offense. Praise certainly should be heaped on the rush defense of the Irish, but what’s not to be discounted is the Irish defense’s ability to hold the fort down when they’re forced into immediate action — something that’s happened too often with the Irish offense turning the ball over more often than they’d like.
“They did a great job the last couple of weeks with turnovers,” Kelly said this afternoon. “Against Stanford we turned the ball over on a sack fumble and held them to a field goal. We’ve been very resilient on what we consider those crucial moments, sudden change we call them. Our defense has been very good against sudden change.”
In a second quarter that saw the Irish offense attempt to give back much of what they did during the opening minutes, Bob Diaco’s troops held strong, limiting Boston College to only one of six on third down even thought the Eagles held the ball for 10:43 in the second quarter.
Kelly has been open about his pleasure in the defense’s play so far this season, even if the stats didn’t prove it. Saturday’s performance was a nice step in the right direction for the Notre Dame defense, who will need to continue with the improvement they showed on Saturday.
(Special Mention in the good category goes to true freshman Bennett Jackson and Prince Shembo, who both made an impact on the game — Jackson on the opening kickoff and Shembo in pass rush situations.)
THE BAD
It’s hard to be too hard on any facet of the Irish, but it’s clear that the Irish passing game is still a work-in-progress. Dayne Crist looked great in the opening drives of the game, but his 4.5 yards per attempt is sub-par in an offense that has as many weapons as the Irish do.
It’d be unfair to complain about a quarterback that’s played as well as Crist has in the first five starts of his career, but Kelly has made it clear that Dayne needs to master the spread system if he’s going to lead the Irish back to prominence.
“He’s gotta be a spread quarterback or he can’t be
the quarterback here. Period. We’re running the spread offense and he’s
gotta be a spread quarterback,” Kelly said. “If he can’t do that, he can’t be the
quarterback here. He’s all in. He’s 100 percent in. He had a great week
of practice and preparation. We’ve begun to build on that process of
developing him as a spread quarterback. He’s not there yet, but he’s
developing. He’s shown signs. I think we’re going to get better each and
every week.”
The transition hasn’t only been difficult on Crist, but also front-line players like Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph. Floyd and Crist missed on a sight-adjustment that nearly turned into an easy interception for BC, and while many assumed Kyle Rudolph’s lack of production was because of defensive schematics, Kelly acknowledged that even his tight end is going through some growing pains.
“He’s getting better too at learning where he fits within the offense as well,” Kelly said of Rudolph. “There’s some things he has to continue to work on… He’s usually in tight coverage situations. They know where Kyle Rudolph is. You’re not going to get Kyle Rudolph one-on-one without tight coverage on him. He’s evolving as well within our offense… but it’s a process for Kyle as well.”
THE UGLY
It was an ugly victory Saturday night, and if that’s the only ugly that Irish fans have to deal with, then everybody should get in line to sign up. While a faction of Dame fans downplayed the game the Irish played, consider what Boston College head coach Frank Spaziani said after the game:
“First of all congratulations to coach Kelly and Notre Dame, they did a good job,” Spaziani said. “They came in here and licked us schematically, physically, every way. They really played a very good football game.”
After three very downtrodden weeks that ended in Notre Dame defeats, Irish eyes are finally smiling.
“Happy happy happy. Everybody’s happy in Notre Dame land,” Kelly said after the game. “Our
players wanted to win badly. They worked hard at it, I’m happy that
they got a win, but they know they’ve got a long way to go. But they’re
doing the right things to get there. We’ve just got to keep grinding.
We’re not there yet. But we’ll go to work every day and continue to work
on those things to get us better.”
