re: ND fan here

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Years ago, ND went with a death by a thousand paper cuts model - play all power five teams except navy b/c we just have to play frickin navy and USC, and then play average P5 schools 10 times. Hope USC is good so you can get a quality win and then take care of the average to slightly above average P5 teams on the schedule. Compare that to what the SEC did - schedule a couple FCS teams, a mediocre out of conference game, beat up on shitty teams in conference and then strap it up for three big time games.

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Only reply to that is that USC hasn't been good for over a decade. And 3 big games? If ND faced Bama, A&M, Miss State, Ole Miss, Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Florida this year they would have at least 3 losses. And while UCLA isn't great, they were a tough road opener and in the past LSU has scheduled games against Texas and Oregon and WV in their primes.

In reply to your other post, the teams that LSU plays on its schedule are before any championships or playoffs. It isn't the same if you lose to a team like Bama or Clemson in the playoffs if your schedule allowed you to get to that point by playing weak opponents in the first place.

I think Kelly could do well here if he jump starts the offense and can get a good DC to keep the defense where it is now. But he is going to have to be ready for a full season of challenges to prepare his team for.

Much is made about ND's so called lack of speed. Depth and a top flight QB hold them back on offense more than speed.

Our backfield is talented this year. Kyren Williams is a NFL back and would start pretty much anywhere. Chris Tyree was a five star kid that can fly. Totally forgot we have a LA kid named Diggs. Was a three star, I think, but he looks good.

Take a look at the ND receivers drafted in recent years - claypool ran a 4.4 at 6'4'' 230. Boykin ran a 4.4 at 6'3'' 220. Our current stable of receivers are fast and ahtletic.

We have fast players. You guys just have more so you can afford to lose guys to injury or early draft exits without worrying about making too many adjustments b/c the backup is probably a younger really fast kid. THe dropoff for our backups is usually far greater than yours so we may have to rely more on scheme.

To that extent, maybe lack depth is the reason they use their scheme over a more north/south scheme. I don't think so, though. I just think kelly prefers this system over a three yards and a cloud of dust. I prefer downhill running and imposing your will on defenses, i.e, michigan vs osu. I hate michigan but it was refreshing watching them move the ball last week.

I think Kelly can and will adjust if needed. He's going to do whatever it takes to win, imo. He has shown the ability to adjust at ND. If you guys can get some lineman and an elite QB, you'll score points regardless of teh scheme given your ability to recruit skill players.

I would worry more about scheme as it relates to building a team identity. You're going to score 30 plus a game if things work out but I would want to do it with power running rather than finesse running. I think it's just a better way to win consistently, especially in SECW.

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He does as much or more than any coach in America

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No, HE doesn't. He makes hires mostly on a person's recruiting ability especially at the position coach level. Now, he may be the closer, and he may tell coaches who to pursue and how hard. But he ain't killing himself on the recruiting trail like this is 2011.

ND is not a top 4 team this year. They'll probably finish in the top 5 only b/c everyone else is heavily flawed. In a normal year, this ND team is about probably ranked between 10-20 in the country. ND is heavily flawed too, lost 8 guys to the draft, lost their best players to injury and still pieced together 11 wins. Yes, a lot of the teams they beat are not good but ND beat the living shite out of them once they made some coaching moves. That's a sign of a good program or culture.

So yes, it's possible they could lose a few games you listed in your post. That doesn't necessarily mean the job Kelly did this year is somehow irrelevant.

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ND attracts a lot of players for the exact same reason we cannot get some other players. Kelly can lock up some really great recruits that simply want to play at a place like ND over a place like LSU. That makes it easier to secure kids.

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This is overrated. Securing future seventh round picks doesn’t beat Bama.

To further elaborate, ND fans are more shocked at how little the people who are entrusted with the program seem to care at the moment.

A Southerner's understanding of ND is limited no different than my understanding of LA's football culture is limited. We all know enough to form a decent opinion but some things are lost on us from both sides. WHat is probably lost on you is that ND is so naive and have their heads so far up their asses that they truly think their university would hold the same stature with or without their football team. THat is probably impossible to understand b/c it's so dumb it's imcomprehensible but it's the truth.

I grew up with this team and care about the program but I shouldn't care more than the people in charge. For those reasons, I would love to see Kelly win title after title just to rub their faces in it. Not b/c we desperately need Kelly or b/c they should have have matched his salary to keep him. They just need a wake up call. Maybe LSU made a horrible mistake hiring Kelly and spent too much money but they are fully engaged and committed. Meanwhile, our administration is scoffing at all of this as if it's beneath them and irrelevant to the university. We deserve what we get.

Thanks very much for coming by with such an informative post.

You said:

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He will adapt if needed.

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Then you said:

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I do not like his style of running on offense. Slow developing and too much lateral movement. Even with a great offensive line, it makes it difficult to run against high quality defenses with speed.

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I watched the ND-Stanford game and saw a lot of two-TE sets. It does seem your TEs are fairly mobile and good route runners.

But my question to you is: How do you feel about the narrative that BK adjusted his offense because he had a hard time getting elite skill people to ND?

Now he’ll have those in droves at LSU, so do you think he will adjust his offense accordingly?

Of course, LSU’s weakness is in the trenches so I hope he shores that up. And all due respect to you, but I hope a few of his OL recruits follow him to LSU.

BK will absolutely trot the best 11 guys out there, whether it's 3 wide or double tight. This year we are usually single tight and three wide and I think that's his preference overall.

Against Stanford, you saw more double tight than usual b/c we lost our slot receiver to an acl injury a few weeks ago. It's also difficult to defend them with double tight b/c of the talent and depth at tight end. Mayer is a freak show and is basically the key to the offense. He can get us a mismatch in the pass game lined up in the slot or the line of scrimmage. Our backup tight end is 6'6" senior that is an abvove average blocker and decent receiver. If both are in the huddle, we're still jsut as likely to throw as we are to run b/c Mayer could line up in the slot and beat a safety with relative ease. Defenses are forced to play honest despite the run look we're giving them.

BK's offense isn't really reliant on having one or the other. He'll use what he's got and honestly think he prefers the WR and slot weapons you guys can get with ease.

I don't think you'll get any offensive lineman in the deal. Oline is probably the position least likely to decommit and/or transfer. I doubt anyone on the roster would transfer either. Patterson is draft eligible and will go to nfl or stay at ND. The two tackles are from IN and Minnesota, both are freshman and I doubt they are committed enough to BK to jump ship. The two guards we have worth a shite are from michigan and Pennsylvania and I doubt either one of them transfers.

We do not have anyone committed from the 23 class. The 22 class has a few guys but none of them are elite. I think a couple could be good but nothing to write home to mom and dad about.

Kelly is going to look to upgrade your oline immediately. Maybe he makes some moves in the portal. ND picked up a grad transfer named cain madden last year. He was average, at best. Best thing for your oline is that stud you have coming in to be ready to go day 1.

SEC rarely comes up to get a lineman from the midwest. It's kinda surprising bc I think you can get some of these guys and they would help out your roster quite a bit. I can think of two kids who left the area. bama starting guard is from indianapolis. He was a stud in HS and I think he's doing well there. THe other is a kid you guys had from IL named pocic if Im not mistaken. Maybe BK plans on hitting the area up for more hogs.

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Negatives: I do not like his style of running on offense. Slow developing and too much lateral movement. Even with a great offensive line, it makes it difficult to run against high quality defenses with speed

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He won’t need to worry about packing speed and scheming to compensate here.

Builds great offensive line and dangerous things are imminent.

It's more to do with style and less to do with the horses. If you're interested in a game to watch that illustrates my point regarding the run and ND's overall issues winning "big games" with BK as a coach, watch the Clemson playoff game from 2019 (I think). It was the cotton bowl ND lost like 30 - 3.

Watch how long it takes for the run plays to develop, not how long it takes for the back to hit the hole. It's slow developing and requires your RB to be patient and oline to sustain blocks for far too long against an athletic defensive front. Keep in mind that ND offensive line has three guys currently in NFL and one that will be drafted. The fifth was a five star multi year starter that didn't make it in league. They just couldn't get the run game going b/c Clemson was shooting gaps and using speed to disrupt it before it got going.

You will also notice the clear lack of depth at ND I was talking about in an earlier post too. We started four guys in the secondary who are all in the NFL except Hamilton who will be there next year. The defense was great all year and Clemson was having issues in the first quarter through the second. Etienne did absolutely nothing and we were getting consistent pressure on Lawrence. Then our starting CB, Julian Love, was knocked out of the game. They went right after his backup who was clearly out of place athletically. They went to him over and over and nothing ND could do about it.

Do we win that game if Love plays? No, probably not. That Clemson team ended up hammering bama and was just a better team than ND with or without love. The game would have been closer, though. Love was a huge loss and that was even apparent to the brain dead announcers calling the game. I'm not making excuses for Kelly losing big games - he lost them no matter how you cut it. I'm just pointing out some of the issues he dealt with that were nearly impossible to correct at ND that simply will not be an issue at LSU. Your corner goes down, you got someone with speed behind him.

The other thing you can gather by watching this game is what I'm talking about at QB. We had Ian Book who was no doubt a great college QB but he was very limited. Clemson had zero respect for his arm strength and just smothered the line of scrimmage without giving a single frick about getting beat deep. When you are playing with less talent, a big armed QB is the X factor you need to change the game a bit. ND didn't have that, and that is on Kelly. To what extent is arguable. I don't know if Kelly will take more risks at QB. I don't think you guys need a Lawrence to win a title b/c you can recruit well enough to win one with a game manager. It'll be interesting to see what approach kelly takes with your QB, though.