Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 14, 2016 5 FAN FORUM AN NBC CURSE? I am a Notre Dame alumnus and a loyal listener to the BlueandGold.com podcasts. I enjoy and appreciate the reviews/previews and all the analysis you do for us. I have a question: Do you think NBC is sucking the life out of this program? I live in Seattle and have experi- enced first-hand (at Seahawks games) many times what an engaged crowd can do for the home team. When I am watching Notre Dame home games, it feels like a very casual affair. The team makes a great play, scores a touchdown, crowd gets into it — NBC takes a six-minute break. The team kicks off, maybe makes a great play defending the kick return — NBC takes another five-minute break. By the time Notre Dame gets on defense, the crowd is already quiet, the opponent settled down and the momentum is gone. Why doesn't any- one talk about this? Ever? As far as I know, Big Ten and SEC teams get way more money from their conferences than Notre Dame gets from NBC. Why are we then letting NBC kill the program like this? Asif Ahmed Via the Internet Mr. Ahmed, this has been talked about extensively the past couple of decades. Of course, when Notre Dame starts floun- dering, it seems to be talked about more. When you lose, everything is fair game for critical assessment. You are certainly not alone in your frustration. That's part of why in recent years there has been an effort to get the audience more engaged with piped-in music and the like. NBC games are about the same length as the regular three hours, 30 minutes of a football telecast. The Miami game lasted 3:38, Stanford 3:17, Duke 3:14, Michigan State 3:31 and Nevada 3:25. The road game at Syracuse was 3:40, longer than any of the home games. Texas and North Carolina State were both four hours, but the game with the Longhorns had double overtime, and there was about a half-hour weather delay ver- sus the Wolfpack. YOUTH ALIBI GETS OLD Thanks for exposing Brian Kelly's self-serving "youngest team since 1972" blarney. Also, kudos for assessing that he has not established a "program." In- stead, his Irish from day one have been a roller coaster of losses to vastly inferior teams and ugly games with the big boys. Kelly was not hired to have two really good seasons out of seven, nor was he hired to be a little better than his three predecessors. He was hired in hopes he could be on a par with the Meyers and Har- baughs, etc., and approach the stan- dards of Ara/Lou/Dan. He arrived with no experience in big bowls, no W's over primetime Power Five clubs and with a MAC- level coaching staff. He also had no quality "mentoring" as a self-taught Division II coach who still has not developed any disciples who are suc- cessful. His current top assistants, with a few exceptions, are clearly mid-MAC level when compared with Alabama, OSU, U-M, etc. And, of course, his big bowl and big game results reflect yet another "Peter Principle" coach. Notre Dame football is not the Pin- stripe Bowl and Music Bowl, and this Kelly scenario' is déjà vu. No Irish coach has been successful with such an erratic record. Perhaps Kelly can rescue himself by hiring a real con- temporary/innovative offensive co- ordinator and defensive coordinator. Don Troy Los Angeles Head coach Brian Kelly's tenure at Notre Dame has been too much of a roller-coaster ride for some Irish fans. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA After the 30-27 win over Miami that helped stop calm some storms around the Notre Dame football team, a popular inquiry on BlueandGold. com was where do the Fighting Irish go from here, especially as it relates to 2017? Here are two different schools of thought: LCCBacker1481: Best-case situation happens and we beat Virginia Tech and lose to USC to go 6-6, then beat Indiana or Arizona in some third tier bowl game. The media and some of you will praise Brian Kelly for "saving" the season. We will get a big-time defensive coordinator, return a ton of talent, momentum, and be in the top 15 with playoff expectations. After arrests, academically ineligible players and injuries, Notre Dame will be down 5-7 starters before a snap of the 2017 season is even taken. A 7-5, 8-4 season will fol- low, and it will be a decision time. One thing is painfully clear: Brian Kelly is not the man to get Notre Dame to the college foot- ball playoffs. 4Simm: Not sure what you mean by "BK can't get it done." If by that you mean win a national championship, I honestly don't believe anyone short of Saban/Meyer/Harbaugh/Peterson can win a title at ND, and none of those guys would want this job. If this group rallies to have a winning season at 7-6 or 8-5, it would show a good deal of resolve. Make a home run hire at DC and find a compe- tent special teams coach. With the overwhelm- ing majority of the two-deep returning to go along with a top 10 recruiting class, the arrow is definitely pointing up. FROM THE WEBSITE BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007 Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com