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Let the second guessing begin in the Brian Kelly Era of Notre Dame Football. Kelly made several questionable decisions in Saturday's 28-24 loss to Michigan, leaving many Fighting Irish fans searching for answers. While none of these decisions take away from the spectacular day Denard Robinson had, they were the kind of decisions that definitely helped decide the game.
It started in the first quarter after starting QB Dayne Crist came out of the game, experiencing blurry vision after a 20 yard run on the opening drive. Freshman Tommy Rees's first pass play was a flea flicker, which got intercepted by Michigan's Jonas Mouton. Whether this was a scripted play to start the game, it doesn't seem like a wise choice to have so many moving parts for a true Freshman, making his first career pass against Michigan. One play after the INT, Denard Robinson found Roy Roundtree for a 31 yard TD. It screamed of being too cute, rather than running something Rees was comfortable with.
Many others questioned his failure to use a Timeout while on defense on Michigan's last drive, which would have saved roughly 15 valuable seconds of time. ND ended the game with 1 timeout remaining, and used their 2nd TO with the clock stopped already and 6 seconds to go. Having that extra time could have opened up the play book just a little more at the end of the game, maybe not forcing a semi-Hail Mary play from the 25.
The most egregious error, however, came right before the end of the first half. QB Nate Montana had just found WR Theo Riddick for a 37 yard pass down to the 3 yard line, and 3 seconds remained on the clock. The Irish were down 21-7, and Crist was seen warming up on the sidelines, most likely to come back in to start the 2nd half. Instead of kicking the Extra Point-like Field Goal, Kelly decided to roll the dice and go for the touchdown. This decision failed miserably, as Montana overthrew his intended receiver by at least 10 yards. Those 3 points loomed large at the end of the game, where the Irish could have, at worst, been kicking a game-tying FG. Kelly was asked about his decision in his post-game Press Conference, and kind of skirted his reasoning:
Q: End of the first half, did the Field Goal roll through your mind, or did you say we really need the Touchdown here?
A: I thought where we were, score, two scores down, I thought that was an opportunity. We had a good look, we just read it out wrong.
Kelly is paid a nice salary to make tough decisions in the heat of the moment. By completely side-stepping the question, and with hindsight being 20-20, he seems to think he made the wrong decision there. Leaving points on the field, especially that early in the game, came back to haunt Kelly late in the fourth quarter.
Brian Kelly thought the ND job was tough up until this point. After today, however, he'll really feel the pressure of coaching in South Bend. The easiest way to relieve that pressure? Win next weekend in East Lansing.
FACTS & STATS: Site: Notre Dame Stadium (80,795) -- South Bend, Indiana. Television: NBC. Home Record: Michigan 1-0, Notre Dame 1-0. Away Record: Michigan 0-0, Notre Dame 0-0. Neutral Record: Michigan 0-0, Notre Dame 0-0. Conference Record: Michigan 0-0, Notre Dame 0-0. Series Record: Michigan leads, 21-15-1.
GAME NOTES: The Michigan Wolverines and Notre Dame Fighting Irish will add another chapter to their storied rivalry on Saturday afternoon as they do battle in South Bend.
Many expected Michigan to have its hands full with Connecticut in the season opener, but the Wolverines were highly impressive in a 30-10 triumph. Rich Rodriguez, the head coach of the Wolverines, needed that victory to quiet the cries of his detractors. He has failed to take Michigan to a bowl game in either of his first two seasons and finished the 2009 campaign with five straight losses to fall to 5-7 overall, including 1-7 in the Big Ten play.
As for Notre Dame, it kicked off the Brian Kelly era in impressive style with a 23-12 triumph over rival Purdue. A proven winner, Kelly resurrected both the Central Michigan and Cincinnati programs, and the fact that he led the Bearcats to a pair of BCS games speaks to his ability. Kelly takes over for Charlie Weis, who failed to elevate Notre Dame back to an elite level.
"Clearly, I was very pleased that we battled for four quarters," said Kelly after the opener. "I told them, if you just give me great effort for four quarters, we'll find a way to get it into the house. Now, we are going to have to get in a little bit more assertively at times, but that's going to come."
Michigan owns a 21-15-1 series edge over Notre Dame, including a thrilling 38-34 victory over the Fighting Irish last season.
A perceived weakness of the Michigan team heading into this season was the quarterback position, as sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson had much to prove. Judging by the opener, the Wolverines are in good hands. Robinson rushed for 197 yards against Connecticut, a school record for a quarterback. He ran for one score, passed for another and finished with 186 yards through the air.
"He threw the ball well, and he made great decisions," said coach Rodriguez of his signal caller. "He was in command, and we ran him. We have other quarterbacks that can play too, but Denard certainly took the lead today and did a great job."
Vincent Smith ran for a touchdown, as did Michael Shaw. Smith also caught a touchdown pass, and while no receiver had a breakout game, the fact that many contributed was encouraging.
On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan entered this season with few experienced holdovers. The Wolverines gave up a school-worst 393.3 ypg last season and lost its three best defenders. Fortunately, the team's new 3-3-5 set worked extremely well against a UConn team that is expected to challenge for a Big East title.
Michigan allowed 343 total yards, and while the team didn't post a sack and recorded just one takeaway, the fact that it held the Huskies to 4-of-15 success on third down conversion attempts was impressive. As a result, the Huskies had possession of the ball for just over 23 minutes.
"Our guys played hard, and we have to be an active defense," said Rodriguez. "We've got to tackle well, which we did for the most part today. For the most part, I thought our young guys did pretty well for the first time playing."
Not only did Notre Dame enter the opener with a new coach, but there was a new quarterback in place as well. Dayne Crist, a junior, completed 19-of-26 passes against Purdue for 205 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.
"I would say that if we were looking at his performance, he played well enough today for us to get a win against a good opponent, but there's great room for improvement," said coach Kelly of Crist. "I think we would probably be in agreement on that."
Standout receiver Michael Floyd made five catches for 82 yards, while stud tight end Kyle Rudolph made five catches as well. Notre Dame finished with 358 yards and 20 first downs, and while the production could have been better, the Irish have to be encouraged by the fact that Crist didn't turn the ball over.
Give credit to the Notre Dame defense, as it allowed just one touchdown to Purdue. The Boilermakers were only able to post 102 rushing yards on 32 carries, and while they did complete 31-of-42 passes, the Irish limited those connections to 220 yards and also recorded a pair of interceptions.
In what figures to be a tight game from start to finish, a narrow edge goes to Notre Dame. Michigan has won some thrillers over the Irish in recent years, and the Fighting Irish will get some revenge.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Notre Dame 27, Michigan 20
To call Denard Robinson’s afternoon against the Irish a ‘career day’ is an understatement. Robinson racked up a Michigan school record 532 yards of total offense, including 255 yards rushing. His amazing afternoon in South Bend was capped by a game-winning touchdown with 27 seconds left to give Michigan a 28-24 win over Notre Dame.
As Michigan blogger Maize n Brew Dave said prior to the start of the game, "When Michigan and Notre Dame get together, it’s more than just a game. " In the case of this game, he is 100% correct.
Notre Dame took the lead in the fourth quarter on an impressive 95 yard touchdown throw from Dayne Crist to Kyle Rudolph. The play was the second-longest touchdown in Notre Dame history. However, the quick strike touchdown left 4:28 on the clock, which was all the time Michigan’s Denard Robinson needed to orchestrate a twelve play, 72 yard drive capped off by Robinson’s two yard touchdown run.
The loss drops Brian Kelly to 1-1 in his debut season as Notre Dame’s football coach.
Injury Update: Crist is OK, Swelling In Face, No Concussion
ND Quarterback Dayne Crist doesn't look like he has any serious injuries, including a concussion, after Saturday's 28-24 loss to Michigan. Crist was injured on the first drive of the game, slamming his head on the ground after a 19 yard run, coming out of the game until the start of the 2nd half. According to Head Coach Brian Kelly, he had blurry vision, and had some swelling on the left side of his face:
Other injuries reported in Kelly's Teleconference on Sunday:
Sep 13 8:55p by Matt Grecco - 0 comments