Coming into the 2011 season, many, including myself believed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were a team capable of competing with any team in the country.
It was believed that with the talent the Irish had on defense, the skill players running around on offense, and improved offensive line play Notre Dame could legitimately compete for a berth to a BCS game. If Notre Dame could make the progress many had believed it was capable of, this team would be very good.
If Notre Dame wins out from this point on they would be very much in contention for a BCS berth, but after Saturday’s ugly win over Pittsburgh, combined with bad losses to South Florida and Michigan, there aren’t many who still contend that Notre Dame is still a BCS caliber football team. At least not right now.
With the disappointing losses and the ugly win over Pittsburgh, the question has been raised, where is the progress?
That is a good question. Has this football team shown much progression in year two of the Brian Kelly era? The question is easy to raise, the answer is not easy to give. It really boils down to which part of the team you want to talk about.
WINNING GAMES
Saturday's 15-12 victory over Pittsburgh was ugly, real ugly. The offense continued its habit of turning the ball over and failing to capitalize in the red zone. Notre Dame’s special teams had some good moments and some bad moments, its modus operandi thus far. The defense gave up a couple of big plays, but otherwise it was dominant against the Panthers.
Notre Dame scuffled for much of the game, but in the end, both sides of the ball made the plays necessary to win the game.
That was the big criticism fans and media alike had with this football team during the first two weeks of the season. Notre Dame looked great for much of the game, moving the ball up and down the field and with the exception of one quarter shutting down its opponents on defense. But they could not make the big play on offense or the big stop on defense to win the game.
In past seasons, Notre Dame always seemed to find ways to lose football games. The Irish would play ugly, fail to put teams away, and then when it really mattered Notre Dame just could not get it done. Whether it was the offense turning the ball over, failing to convert, or the defense failing to make a play to stop the bleeding, everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong for the Irish football team.
As ugly as Notre Dame played on Saturday, the offense came through when it mattered. First you had Jonas Gray ripping off a 79-yard touchdown run on a quick trap play that beat the Panther stunt. The play was made thanks to a huge perimeter block by Michael Floyd, and Gray made a great move in space on Pittsburgh safety Jason Hendricks. Then you had Tommy Rees going 8-for-8 on the final scoring drive, helped along by outstanding catches from both Tyler Eifert and Theo Riddick.
Defensively, the Irish defense held its ground and came up with a big stop as the Panthers tried to drive in for the win.
It was ugly, but that is what good teams do, they find ways to win ugly. Teams do not roll every single week, even championship football teams. In 2009, Alabama won the title after going 14-0. I can’t help but think back to its ugly 12-10 win over a 7-6 Tennessee team at home. That same year Texas, Alabama’s opponent in the title game, had an ugly 16-13 win over 8-5 Oklahoma and an 13-12 ugly come-from-behind victory over Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.
Last season, Auburn needed overtime to beat 6-7 Clemson at home. They also had an ugly 37-34 win over Kentucky, a game where Auburn needed a 24-yard game-winning field goal as time expired to win.
I still remember Ohio State in 2002, a team that went 14-0 and won the title. That season, Ohio State had ugly wins over Cincinnati (23-19), Penn State (13-7), Purdue (10-6), and Illinois (23-16 in OT). They didn’t always win pretty, but they always won.
Saturday’s game was the kind of game Notre Dame always seemed to find a way to lose in the past. The fact Notre Dame was able to play as bad as it did at times and still win on the road against a quality Big East opponent was a sign of clear progress.
I do not want to see too many more days like Saturday, but the fact Notre Dame was able to leave the Steel City with a victory was big.
OVERALL TEAM PROGRESS
When Notre Dame entered October of 2010, it was a 1-3 football team that had just lost three straight games. The most recent was a 37-14 beat down at the hands of Stanford, as the Irish limped into October as both a physically and mentally worn down football team. Kelly’s 2010 team finished the season on a high note, but it started the season poorly.
His second team has improved its record, as the Irish stand 2-2 heading into their matchup against Purdue this weekend, the first game of October. From a sheer record standpoint Notre Dame has shown progress. Notre Dame also heads into October with momentum, having won its last two games over Michigan State and Pittsburgh. That could not be said for Notre Dame at this point in 2010.
So in that regards, there is progress.
IS THIS TEAM TOUGHER?
In football, toughness is gauged on two levels, physical and mental. A season ago, Notre Dame showed good mental toughness after coming back against Michigan State a week after losing a heartbreaker to Michigan. The Irish fought hard against the Spartans, but still lost in overtime. Against Stanford the Irish came out flat, and the Cardinal whipped them for sixty minutes. Notre Dame was just not ready to bounce back from the first two defeats.
This season, Notre Dame again struggled through back-to-back heartbreaking defeats, as they opened the season with a three point loss to South Florida and a stunning 35-31 loss to Michigan on the road. Notre Dame was a loss away from seeing its season being over by the middle of September. Notre Dame bounced back against Michigan State, pounding the Spartans 31-13 at home. This past weekend, Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 15-12 on the road despite playing poorly on offense.
Notre Dame has even shown progress within this season. When things started to go poorly against South Florida and Michigan, neither side of the football could come up with the plays it needed to bounce back and win the football game. That has changed the last two weeks, as players on both sides of the football have stepped up and made plays with the game on the line. The result is back-to-back wins.
From a mental toughness standpoint this team seems to be ahead of where it was a season ago, although there is still very much to prove in this regards. This is a sign of progress.
Making an argument for improved physical toughness should be easy. Even the most critical observers of the program should be willing to readily admit this football team is clearly bigger and stronger than it was a season ago. Notre Dame has yet to get beat up front, as both Irish lines have out-played and out-fought their opponents.
When it comes to physical toughness, this team has progressed.
DISCIPLINE
Discipline, in my view, is evaluated in a number of ways. When it comes to being disciplined on the field it involves how a player/unit executes assignments, penalties, and turnovers.
In 13 games in 2010, the Irish were penalized 58 times for 529 yards. That was an average of 4.5 penalties and 40.7 penalty yards per game. Through only four games in 2011, Notre Dame has been penalized 31 times for 286 yards. That’s an average of 7.8 penalties and 71.5 penalty yards per game. Those numbers are abysmal, and rank Notre Dame No. 107 nationally in both penalties and penalty yards per game.
That is a clear sign of regression in discipline.
Notre Dame has also turned the ball over at a much higher rate than it did a season ago, alarmingly so. Notre Dame wasn’t exactly great at protecting the football in 2010. In 2010, the Irish turned the ball over 24 times in 13 games. In only four games this season, Notre Dame has already turned the ball over 15 times. They are on pace to turn the football over 49 times this season, which is over twice the number of turnovers the Irish committed in 2010.
That is a clear sign of regression in discipline.
Quarterback has been the biggest issue when it comes to turning the football over. A season ago, Dayne Crist was making the first four starts of his career. In those four games Crist threw for 1155 yards, had nine touchdowns (8 passing, 1 rushing), and had five turnovers (3 interceptions, 2 fumbles lost). Crist had a passer efficiency rating of 137.6.
Through four games this season Rees had made only the fifth, sixth, and seventh starts of his career. In those four games Rees has thrown for 988 yards, has seven touchdowns (all passing), and has nine turnovers (6 interceptions, 3 fumbles lost). Rees has a passer efficiency rating of 133.6.
In many ways the Notre Dame offense is much better than it was a season ago. The pass catchers are more talented and experienced, the running backs are more explosive, and the offensive line is exponentially better than it was last season. Despite these improvements around the quarterback, the Irish offense is actually scoring less points (23.0 in 2010 vs. 22.5 in 2011), is going for slightly fewer yards (426.3 in 2010 vs. 423.5 in 2011), and is only slightly better at yards per play (5.9 in 2010 vs. 6.0 in 2010).
The problem is simple, the 2011 offense is not protecting the football. Turnovers can kill any offense, and right now the lack of discipline on the offensive side of the football is preventing what should be a high-scoring and potent offense from becoming that. Until that changes, Notre Dame will continue to struggle as a team to perform as well as it should.
Coming into the 2011 season, many, including myself believed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to be a team capable of competing with any team in the country. It was believed that with the talent the Irish had on defense, the skill players running around on offense, and improved offensive line play Notre Dame could legitimately compete for a berth in a BCS game. If Notre Dame could make the progress many had believed, this team could be very good.
If Notre Dame wins out they would be very much in contention for a BCS berth, but after Saturday’s ugly win over Pittsburgh, there aren’t many who still contend that Notre Dame is that good of a football team. The question has been raised, where is the progress?
That’s a good question. Has this football team shown much progression in year two of the Brian Kelly era? The question is easy to raise, the answer is not easy to give. It really boils down to which part of the team you want to talk about.
To read Part II CLICK HERE.
