Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1479280
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 24, 2022 7 FAN FORUM SUPPORT THE TEAM! The two Notre Dame losses to begin the '22 season are generating lots of criticism, directed at the head coach, Marcus Freeman, and other coaches in particular. But maybe we were all too caught up in the hype generated before the season about ND's strengths and likely quali- fying for the College Football Playoff. Were we too willing to buy the myth that a new head coach and many new position coaches plus a new defen- sive coordinator could meld together immediately and produce winning games? Did we ignore the lack of ex- perience in the offensive playmakers, the starting quarterback, halfbacks and wide receivers? Now we find an offense that is strug- gling to make first downs, and a defense that is staying on the field too long and fades in the last quarter. The offensive line, with some inexperience, is both unable to open holes for the run game and provide consistent pass coverage. We may have to be satisfied with 7 to 8 wins this season, and be patient as all the new parts improve with experience game by game. Pointing fingers and rushing to find culprits won't improve things, but can undermine the coaches and discourage young players. And perhaps cause the outstanding incoming recruits to re- think their commitment to ND. ND has a bright future with the mat- uration of the young men on the field currently and the incoming talent in the next couple of years. Let's moderate the criticizing of the team and coaches un- til they have time to mesh together, it serves no purpose except to let us vent our disappointment and frustrations. Try to do it privately, not on public media and on campus. Support the team and staff — they need it right now! Go Irish! Tim O'Reilly Via the internet OFF THE MARK? It appears Tyler Horka's article in your spring issue "Don't put too much stock in Blue-Gold Game results" could not be more wrong. Pyne and the of- fense really were that bad. Tony Ardizzone Indianapolis Following Notre Dame's surprising 26-21 loss to Marshall Sept. 10 that gave the program its first 0-2 start since 2011, Fighting Irish fans were searching for answers and reasons for optimism. Here is a sampling of their thoughts and opinions on our message board at BlueandGold.com: tstaup: I'm not a Kool-Aid drinker. I was calling for blood during the game and all day yesterday. However, after 48 hours I'm in a better place after considering three things: 1. Freeman has really only had one bad game. Oklahoma State doesn't count based on the timing and missing players, and whether you want to admit it or not we performed much better against Ohio State than any realist expected. 2. We are two games into almost a completely new coaching staff. Our talent will surface, but often (not always) things take time to gain traction. 3. Jimbo Fisher … does he deserve the axe after [losing to] Appalachian State? We aren't competing for a championship this year, but anyone that truth- fully expected that was setting themselves up for disappointment. I still think Marcus will get us to where we need to go, and I still firmly believe we can get 8 wins this year … 8 wins is well above average for a first-year coach at a school like Notre Dame. Rockne1988: I have said numerous times it's going to be a work in progress with a first-time coach. I thought 8-5 would be our record with possibly going 9-4, but the ineptness in so many areas is alarming. There appears to be so many issues. GraceHall4D: Unless we see a pronounced improvement we have no shot at beating BYU, Clemson or USC. That's 5 losses before accounting for the three other teams that could beat us on a given day — Cal, UNC or BC. 7-5 is looking like a decent outcome. nd32fan: I didn't have great expectations. I had 2 definite losses and pos- sibly 4. The lack of O-line play is mind-boggling. I'm still hoping last game was a letdown from Ohio State, and we come back strong this week. PreTill: I just have one question. Why does the Oklahoma State game not count? They had missing players also. It's not about the loss but how bad they were outcoached in the second half. Which leads me to my biggest concern, this staff has lost three straight second halves due to limited adjustments. Freeman will get time to learn. I personally don't think ND is an on-the-job training position but so be it. That isn't changing at this point. All we can HOPE is he grows into the position. Rsatkowiak: I'm really interested how people would have viewed the sea- son expectations back in August if everyone was operating under the thought that the O-line would be the same as it was last year. We all just assumed it would be better simply because the coach changed, and I feel like that gave us a false sense of security of, "Well even if the QB stinks at least we can run." Anubis42: We are all guilty of ignoring some extremely obvious and time- tested signs that this year would be rough. We all wanted to look the other way but compile all the obvious signs: First-year head coach, and his first HC gig. New QB. 65% coaching turnover. New OL, or rather a line that had never played together. Lost our top three offensive contributors in [Jack] Coan, [Kyren] Williams and [Kevin] Austin. New DC, who hasn't called a defensive game in over a decade. A very depleted WR room with no known playmaker. Substandard recruiting classes prior to the 2022 class, with holes in critical positions. Add all that together, we probably should have seen a down year coming. Doc Possum: Agree w/the Rock. Not making excuses, but we have inexpe- rience in a number of critical positions. Coaches got to coach. Each player learns at his own pace. I do think that younger players need a few snaps for encouragement and so they have some film of their own play to study. No reason young receivers can't at least streak down the field to wear out defending DBs. Who knows, they might get open. The easiest activity in the world is to criticize. We need to rally around the team and support their growth. It will take 2-3 recruiting cycles to get player talent where it needs to be. Other changes will take place as needed. Ne- braska got rid of Frank Solich because he could not win more than 10 games a year. How did that work out? DenPetDel: I accept that we have a new HC and basically a new coaching staff. Add new QB and players having to learn to play together. (Bear in mind that Marshall came in with 24 transfers and seemed to coalesce quite well). What I find hard to fathom is the seeming lack of basic focus and intensity. Playing soft? No excuse. JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! GET ONE YEAR FOR JUST $1 FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com