Where Is the Fight In the Fighting Irish?

It’s tough to digest what happened on the field of the New Meadowlands last Saturday. Looking at the final score and statsheet provides only a vague understanding of the carnage. Unless you watched every painful and sobering moment of the Naval Academy’s complete destruction of the University of Notre Dame you can’t quite grasp the full gravity of what occurred.

In an era filled with heartbreak, disappointment, and failure this Saturday’s loss represented the low-point of the last 15 years—which says an awful lot. This was worse than the ‘08 loss to Syracuse and their lame duck coach, more embarrassing than the previous two Navy losses in ’07 and ’09, and more painful than the string of historic beatings we’ve endured at the hands of Southern Cal, Michigan, and other elite schools since 2002.

What made this game the nadir was not just the fact that the Irish lost to a service academy for the fourth time in four years, to a team filled top-to-bottom with players that recruiting “experts” would universally deem “unworthy” of even remote consideration for a roster spot at Notre Dame. It was the fact that Notre Dame was outhustled, out-schemed, and outclassed from the opening whistle to the final gun.

When Brian Kelly arrived in South Bend he came up with “The Irish Creed.” This creed stated, “The pride and tradition of Notre Dame Football will not be left to the weak, timid, or non-committed.”

The players must have misinterpreted the message because the reality is that ten months after that motto was posted in The Gug those three adjectives best describe the players who donned Notre Dame jerseys who took the field Saturday. It was a listless team devoid of heart and fight, something the Midshipmen made painfully clear with the contrasting passion and effort they dedicated to every play.

As the players slept-walked through the game, Brian Kelly and his coaching staff failed to adjust to a glorified high school offense they’d planned for months to face. In a brief sideline interview after halftime Kelly said the Mids employed a version of the option (the veer) they hadn’t previously shown this season so Notre Dame hadn’t prepared for it.

Is that all it takes to beat Notre Dame’s defense, doing something that the coaching staff hasn’t seen on tape? How could Kelly and his assistants be so baffled by a slight variation to the triple option? It shouldn’t matter whether a team like Navy comes out with the speed option, the load, the veer, the steer, the Lear, or the beer on the deer—a well-coached team with the talent advantage Notre Dame had Saturday should be prepared to combat and smother it.

While the complete befuddlement of the coaching staff was alarming, perhaps even more disturbing was how quickly Coach Kelly threw in the towel. With 13 minutes left in the game the Irish faced a 4^th and 3 in their own territory. Instead of going for it and attempting to keep their faint hopes alive, Kelly decided he’d seen enough. He raised the white flag, sent his punter in the game, and conceded defeat.

He might as well have grabbed a camera, stared into it, and stated: We are the Folding Irish.

It’s true that Notre Dame had not flashed any sign they were capable of erasing the four possession deficit, especially when you consider they essentially had four possessions the entire first half…but just two short years ago Irish fans watched in disbelief as a dead in the water Navy team—that had shown no sign they deserved to be on the same field as Notre Dame—stormed back from three touchdowns with six minutes left to nearly steal a victory.

Wouldn't a coach trying to build up his program's toughness go down swinging to the bitter end? What message does it send to the team when the head coach completely packs it in with so much time left on the clock?

I’m not taking the Navy loss as a sign that Brian Kelly is doomed to fail by any stretch and I’m still hopeful that he can be the one who restores Notre Dame Football to what it should be. But it’s time to call a spade a spade: the visible progress I expected to see at this point in the year is not present. Saturday’s travesty raised the eyebrows of even the most loyal and optimistic fans while setting off alarm bells across all of Notre Dame Nation.

Going into this season the rational fan understood the potential pitfalls. There would be bumps in the road as the team learned and became accustomed to new schemes on both sides of the ball. In terms of the big picture, it was going to be a process for Kelly to tear down the losing culture that had rotted the foundation of Notre Dame’s program since Holtz left and rebuild a winning one. How long it would take for Notre Dame to turn it around was debatable, but no one doubted there’d be growing pains.

However, there was one thing that even the most rational and patient fan expected right away. When Brian Kelly first addressed the fans at halftime of a Notre Dame basketball game this winter he said the following:

“We will play hard for four quarters, you will love the guys we put on the field because they’re going to give you everything.”

I believed him. I thought this season—if nothing else—there’d be clear indications of Kelly’s confidence and passion rubbing off and it would manifest itself in the effort, heart, and toughness displayed each and every game.

What Brian Kelly promised and what I expected him to deliver IMMEDIATELY—not in year two or year three, IMMEDIATELY—was a football team clearly and undeniably motivated every game to put Notre Dame back where it belonged.

So far that has not been the case and the blame for that shortcoming falls squarely on Kelly’s shoulders. It is his job to ensure his team is ready to play each Saturday, his responsibility to push whatever buttons necessary to ensure his players are properly prepared, motivated, and focused. All three were lacking against Navy. Will that change going forward? If Kelly does not want to lose throngs of supporters in just one season it better.

The truth is it’s unrealistic to expect the Irish to beat Utah or even stay in the ballpark with a Lane Kiffin led Southern Cal team that will be out for blood. This season is most likely unsalvageable, so what should be expectations for fans over the final month of the year?

What I’m looking for over the last four games is a team with a pulse and a sense of pride, a team hell-bent on making sure that there will be no darker moment than the one that happened in the swamps of New Jersey last Saturday. I don’t just want to hear rhetoric and about progress made behind closed doors—I want to see tangible improvement with my own eyes and it starts with the effort put forth on the field.

Brian Kelly was hired he arrived with a self-proclaimed "five-minute plan" to restore Notre Dame to its proper place among college football's elite. Well, five minutes was officially up at the end of the Navy game and unfortunately the only thing we've learned thus far is that it's impossible to wake up any echoes when you're sleepwalking through Saturday afternoons.


Irish Blogger Gathering: Backing into Backup College

This week the IBG questions come from Domer Law. Head over there to check out his answers and a compilation of responses from the other IBG-ers at well.

Tough week to be an Irish fan...but no matter how tough it gets it'll always be better than being a BC fan. Let's get to it!

1. After 3 straight losses, there appear to be two camps of fans:

A. The sky is falling. Coach Kelly is not a good coach, not a good fit, probably won't ever win a game and should be fired today.
B. Coach Kelly is still totally awesome, and you had to expect some bumps and bruises as he builds the team - remember Holtz's first year?

Which camp do you fall into, and why?

For the record, people in Camp A wear helmets, headphones, and don't like it when people touch their ears. That being said, it's ok for fans to express some doubts as to whether Kelly is the right guy. In the first few weeks there have definitely been some coaching blunders that deserve critique and the flat, uninspired team that took the field Saturday certainly raised an eyebrow. Expressing doubt is reasonable; it's also totally different than already declaring Kelly is doomed for failure.

Personally, I still believe in Coach Kelly. He has almost two decades of head coaching experience, a winning pedigree, and an acute understanding and appreciation for the uniqueness of Notre Dame. I'm not ready to guarantee he's going to win national titles at Notre Dame, but I am more than willing to be patient and see what he can build.

Time and time again people rush to hand down long-term judgments despite the fact that there's little to no basis for them. The sports world we live in requires an over the top, immediate reaction to every win, loss, pass, rush, or facial expression. Some are ready to deem Kelly a failure based on three games. Simply put: they're morons. Give him some time and let's see what happens.

2. With the current state of the program, put yourself in a recruit's shoes. If you had offers from all 12 schools on our schedule and Notre Dame, which would you pick right now and why? Who would your top 3 be?

I'd pick Notre Dame because it's the greatest school on the planet. Now I'm incredibly biased, but my reasoning would be two-fold. Football-wise, there's a huge appeal in being a part of the resurrection of a sleeping giant. The Notre Dame fan base is more far reaching than any other in collegiate sports and it's desperate for a truly legitimate return to glory. A player who evolves into a key contributor in pulling the Irish off the mat and helping them ascend to the top of the college football world will forever be a legend--just ask Tony Rice, Rocket Ismail, and Michael Stonebreaker.

Outside of football, you graduate with one of the most respected degrees in the country and have an extensive, powerful, and accommodating network of alumni there to offer help and guidance for the rest of your life. The combination of that rolled in with the fantastic academic support system in place, the beauty of campus, and the deliciousness of CJ's Pub Burgers and consider me committed.

If I were a recruit and removed all my biases (because I'd never let any of my children attend Michigan or Southern Cal and I feel like it goes without saying that they wouldn't want to go to Purdue or Michigan State), the three most appealing schools (not including ND because there's no way to remove that bias) are Stanford, Michigan, and Pitt.

Stanford is an elite school academically, has a great coach (though who knows how long he'll stay), a team on the rise, and a gorgeous campus (paired with far better weather than South Bend). Michigan is a traditional power and a fan base that's truly passionate (something Stanford can't offer). Lastly, I chose Pitt because they play in a weaker conference that paves the way to the BCS and they've had some success sending guys to the League. I'd rather them than Southern Cal because the Trojans are on probation and coached by a smug douche bag.

No matter what my situation or biases though, BC would be my safety school.

3. What's the trajectory of this season? Is this going to spiral downward into a 2007-esque kind of year, or will the team rally and start winning some game against quality opponents?

It won't get as bad as 2007 simply because that was a collection of players totally devoid of developed talent or direction. I think this year's squad has both talent and direction, though if Nate Montana becomes our starting quarterback at any juncture it'll be time for everyone to head to the fallout shelter.

If you have faith in Brian Kelly then you have to believe this team is going to progress as opposed to go down the toilet like the previous two. One big thing we have going for us this year is that the schedule allows us to come up for air with some cupcakes (Western Michigan, Tulsa, Army) that should help build confidence. While the team took a step backwards last week against Stanford there was clear progress each of the first three games. Hopefully that was just a bump in the road and not something indicative of what the rest of the season will look like in terms of production and effort level.

There are plenty of young starters (namely the one heading the offense and the guys protecting him) that are going to experience growing pains but should get better as the season wears on. Some great coaches have had rough starts in their first seasons at major schools. Lou Holtz started 1-4 at Notre Dame (including a 28-10 whipping in ND Stadium at the hands of Alabama) while Nick Saban started 6-6 at Alabama (including a loss at home to Louisiana-Monroe).

One thing those disappointing seasons shared in common though was a strong finish that hinted at the success that would eventually come. Holtz's squad had an inspiring last second comeback victory over Southern Cal in the Colosseum while Saban and the Tide won their bowl game. If Brian Kelly is who we hope he is then we'll see that same sort of strong finish that gives us some momentum into the offseason.

4. Give me your top 5 reasons why you'd rather go to Notre Dame than Backup College.

5. ND has Notre Dame Stadium, The Grotto, The Dome, TD Jesus, The Basilica. BC has...the Mods?
4. They worship Doug Flutie and celebrate Music City Bowl berths. ND has Joe Montana, 7 Heismans, and 11 Titles.
3. Because Frank Leahy chose ND over BC and Frank Leahy is a smart man.
2. I've really tried and I can't think of a single reason why I'd rather go to BC than Notre Dame.
1. Only a moron would want to be Fredo Corleone when they could be Michael.

5. I'm depressed after our third straight loss. Do your best to cheer me up and convince me that I should still be excited about this weekend's game.

I love Notre Dame Football and whether we're 4-0 or 0-4 I'm going to be excited to watch the Irish play. If it happens to be a rough year then that means maybe I'll have to tailgate a little harder to convince myself that we're going to win that day...but if that's what it takes so be it.

There are 12 days out of every 365 that you're going to be able to watch Notre Dame play football. That's 3% of the days in a year. Come on man, you can't find a way to fire yourself up? You never know when something memorable will happen even in a tough year (like ND over SC in '86, ND over LSU in '97, ND over Tennessee in '04, and ND over SC in '10).

6. If you could ask Coach Kelly any one question, what would it be?

It's going to take awhile to set up the actual question so stay with me...

"You've been quoted as saying that the reason you chose to sling the ball around the yard so much at Cincinnati was you felt you were outmatched talent-wise most weeks and the best opportunity to win was "shoot and make as many 3's as possible." You went on to say that you'd much rather have a balanced, more traditional offense in terms of run-to-pass ratio.

Some people may look at the splits of your offenses at Cincy and Central Michigan and not believe you, but I went back further and looked at the statistics of your 2003 D-II championship team at Grand Valley State. The Lakers actually ran the ball 60% (!!!) of the snaps on offense, essentially averaged equal yards passing and rushing (223.7 passing, 215.9 rushing), and held the ball on average about five minutes longer than opponents (32:20 to 27:36).

My question to you is do you see the team evolving over the next few years into a style of play more reminiscent of your Grand Valley State teams, where there was a heavy commitment to the run in a much more balanced attack? Is it just a matter of getting the right type of players in place that fit your scheme better? Or has your offensive philosophy evolved a bit over the last seven years to the point where you think it's more beneficial to pass more than run?"

Dark Days for the Irish Faithful

I've literally sat and stared at my computer screen for two hours and all there is to show for it is this sentence.

Every once in awhile I'll jot down a thought and try to piece together something on last Saturday's debacle against Stanford, but inevitably the white screen returns seconds later. It's a typed game of yo-yo—a sentence flows for awhile before being snapped back to oblivion with an extended tap of the backspace key.

We're just 21 days into the 2010 campaign and the Kool-Aid well is bone dry. The brief sense of unified hope within the Irish Nation has evaporated, the divisive bickering has returned. Message board drama queens and divas are out in full force, using the anonymity the internet allows as a vehicle to express ignorant and irrational opinions with no conscience for how tactless, disrespectful, or outright stupid those opinions may be.

Nine months worth of optimism and hope for 2010 was officially wiped out as the Cardinal methodically dismantled the Irish beneath the watchful eye of Touchdown Jesus. While the first two games exhibited signs of progress, this was clearly a huge step back in every regard. Normally after a loss I spend Sunday and Monday trying to pick out the positives, but Lassie wouldn't find a silver lining from this game if it was wrapped in bacon.

It's time for Irish fans to face reality: this is a far greater rebuilding project than many estimated.

I'll be the first to admit I was totally wrong. I truly and honestly believed that Brian Kelly walked into a situation that mirrored the ones Willingham and Weis inherited: underachieving teams that were stocked with very good talent—especially on one side of the ball—and primed to make an immediate (and nationally unexpected) splash. I wasn't thinking national championship, but I thought we'd see consistent progress and by the end of the year there would be clear signs that we were close to reemerging on the national scene.

The reality is we're not even close.

Now that there is a 240+ minute sample of "Notre Dame: The Brian Kelly Edition" to study and analyze, the magnitude of the rebuilding project has become much clearer. While a talent gap certainly exists between the Irish and the sport's elite, there is a far wider mental chasm that must be closed first. There is substantial work to be done on the field of play, but there's even more to be done on the six inch field between players' ears.

Stanford played a smashmouth brand of football that rattled Notre Dame early and broke their will late. The Irish did not answer like the tough, hard-nosed squad Kelly promised to deliver; they responded like a defeated group resigned to its fate and listlessly went through the motions until the clock mercifully hit zero.

Judging by Kelly's body language and tone from his press conferences the transformation into a passionate, decisive, aggressive team has not gone as quickly as he'd anticipated. Perhaps he underestimated the residual effect of three disastrous seasons on his players' psyches.

It's clear there's no short-term quick fix for tearing down the culture of losing that's infected the program and rebuilding a winning one. Coach Kelly has stated he has a plan, a blueprint for success that will provide the necessary renovations to the core of Notre Dame Football.

Unfortunately it won't be a five minute one like he thought it could be; it's more than likely to be a three year plan that will really take root in 2012. That's a depressing thought for Irish fans who have endured three (going on four) consecutive painful and hopeless seasons, one of the darkest stretches in Notre Dame history that's had few (if any) redeeming moments.

Think about it: for how bad the ten years directly following Lou were we still never had to go through more than two seasons without a nine win campaign and a New Year's Day bowl (and that was only once, the final two years of Ty). We're in the midst of a drought the likes we've only seen once since 1964 (the Faust Era).

Despite how bleak things seem it's not time to throw in the towel and wail about how Notre Dame will never bounce back. It will bounce back, unfortunately it's just not going to happen overnight like we all secretly hoped it would when Brian Kelly took the reins. I realize that the patience well is probably even drier than the well of optimism, but the time to accept reality is now.

People may bemoan the fact that Kelly has stumbled out of the gate, but that's far more common for elite coaches than the Ara Parseghian one-year miracle turnaround.

The 1964 season is regarded as a miracle for a reason.

By now you've heard the litany of names and the records they've posted in their first season: Holtz (5-6 at ND), Stoops (7-5 at Oklahoma), Saban (6-6 at Alabama), Carroll (6-6 at USC). Of course there's no guarantee that Brian Kelly is destined to join all those greats in winning a national championship shortly the initial mediocrity. We'll have to wait and see whether he can turn around the 1-3 start like Lou did or if he's doomed to flop like Bob Davie ultimately did after losing three of his first four games as head coach in 1997.

But I implore all Irish fans to be patient. Don't get hopes too high for this season and maybe even next season. Sit back and monitor the progress; watch this team grow. Allow Kelly adequate time to mold his current players and bring in ones that fit the schemes he's trying to implement. Kelly has brought years of experience and a winning pedigree to South Bend; one month is not going to shake his confidence and Irish fans shouldn't let it shake theirs in him either.

There will be bumps in the road as he gets comfortable on a stage that's grander than he could have ever imagined. People already have and will continue to question his every move, dissecting every mistake. But he's sticking to a tried and true plan that he believes will ultimately lead the Irish where they belong. The failures of the first four weeks are only going to spur him to adjust and work harder.

It's a tough time to be an Irish fan, but know that eventually this darkness shall pass...it just may be here a little longer than we would have liked.