before from Texas and LSU before, but this may be worse. At least Brown talked about Colt getting hurt and Miles just said Bama was a heck of (he probably used words not allowed on this site) a team and didn't make excuses.
Click here
So, what is Kelly trying to say here? The line was ten points, and most smart fans said if both teams played their A games, Bama would blow ND out. The game ended 42-14, and if Bama plays with intensity the whole game, I think CNS could have ran the score up to 49-7 or worse if he wanted. Bama simply had MUCH more talent, and MUCH more elite talent across the board. From the interview:
SBT: You’ve since rolled back your initial assessment a bit about the gap between Alabama and Notre Dame. But when you go back over the BCS National Championship Game, what exactly happened and why did you initially feel the gap between the two programs was so sizable?
Brian Kelly: “I think I miscalculated on the enormity of the game. I felt like playing at Oklahoma, playing at USC in a game that meant going undefeated, playing at Michigan State, just playing here at home before 80,000, that our kids would feel comfortable or would not be out of their element, if you will, playing in that kind of game. It was larger than that. “It definitely was larger than they had anticipated, and partly that would be left on my shoulders, that I didn’t do a good enough job of making them understand that — that they have to play within themselves, that they couldn’t play too emotional, all the things that they did.
“We had (two) penalties on defense on the first five plays. And, quite frankly, playing in it for the first time, we needed some good things to happen for us early on. And none of those things came together for us. And Alabama’s a really good football team. “Throw that into the mix, and you’ve got a problem. “We settled down at halftime and played much more like we had played all year in the second half.”
So, Kelly mentions two penalties on the first drive helping to lead to the downfall. He fails to mention a 27 yard pass to Norwood and a 13 yard run by Lacy on two of the first three plays of the game. That was before a face mask or offsides penalty occurred. He also forgot to mention a 22 yard run up the middle by Lacy on the fifth play from scrimmage for a TD. Did the early penalties cause Alabama to get 4 touchdowns on its first 6 possessions of the first half? Or, two TDs on the first two possessions of the second half, extending the lead to 35 points on both occasions. So, Alabama scored 6 TDs on its first 8 possessions.
SBT: Is there something you can share that you would definitely do different (preparing for the NC game)?
Brian Kelly: “It’s a complicated answer, but I wanted to tackle more (in practices), but I had six offensive linemen. I had to weigh the risk — do I put Zack Martin out there, who just came out of a (protective) boot, and risk really having no chance of winning that football game or do I not go live? “I was not able to do some of the things I would have liked to have done and the complexity of the answer is we weren’t deep enough as a football team to really handle those 42 days. We need more depth. "We’ll be better able to handle that personnel-wise this time around. Obviously, we’ve addressed some shortcomings in personnel through recruiting. So the complex answer is I would have liked to have tackled more. I knew I needed to tackle. I didn’t think we could.”
Do you really need to have a bunch of offensive lineman to practice tackling? Can't you practice tackling with just the defensive players?
Or, is it tougher to tackle when you are playing against an elite OL and RBs? ND was simply used to tackling RBs from Purdue, Navy, Michigan, Wake Forest, Boston College, Pitt, BYU, Miami, USC, and OU's pedestrian running games.
They weren't able to tackle Bama's RBs or WRs the entire game. They needed multiple players to tackle Lacy, Yeldon, Cooper, Norwood, and Jones for most of the game.
As Meyer said on the telecast Bama's skill against ND's skill "it was even close." I doubt they would have been able to tackle UGA, A&M, or LSU's skill players either.
SBT: Were you surprised at some of the numbers you saw from Notre Dame players at the NFL Combine?
Brian Kelly: “Not really. They’re a tad slower, but they weren’t far off from what our projections were. Now, I think they’ll do much better at Pro Day. They’re always going to be a tad slower at the combine, because of nerves and anxiety and the meetings and the interviews and the whole process. “They’ll all show better numbers than they showed at the combine, but they weren’t far off.”
Later in the interview Kelly acknowledges that MAYBE his players weren't that good. Te'o won a ton of individual awards (somehow beating out players like Clowney and Jarvis Jones for some), but I don't think he would start for a couple of SEC teams. Mosley was MUCH better than Te'o this year, and he'll be playing in college again next year.
Click here
So, what is Kelly trying to say here? The line was ten points, and most smart fans said if both teams played their A games, Bama would blow ND out. The game ended 42-14, and if Bama plays with intensity the whole game, I think CNS could have ran the score up to 49-7 or worse if he wanted. Bama simply had MUCH more talent, and MUCH more elite talent across the board. From the interview:
SBT: You’ve since rolled back your initial assessment a bit about the gap between Alabama and Notre Dame. But when you go back over the BCS National Championship Game, what exactly happened and why did you initially feel the gap between the two programs was so sizable?
Brian Kelly: “I think I miscalculated on the enormity of the game. I felt like playing at Oklahoma, playing at USC in a game that meant going undefeated, playing at Michigan State, just playing here at home before 80,000, that our kids would feel comfortable or would not be out of their element, if you will, playing in that kind of game. It was larger than that. “It definitely was larger than they had anticipated, and partly that would be left on my shoulders, that I didn’t do a good enough job of making them understand that — that they have to play within themselves, that they couldn’t play too emotional, all the things that they did.
“We had (two) penalties on defense on the first five plays. And, quite frankly, playing in it for the first time, we needed some good things to happen for us early on. And none of those things came together for us. And Alabama’s a really good football team. “Throw that into the mix, and you’ve got a problem. “We settled down at halftime and played much more like we had played all year in the second half.”
So, Kelly mentions two penalties on the first drive helping to lead to the downfall. He fails to mention a 27 yard pass to Norwood and a 13 yard run by Lacy on two of the first three plays of the game. That was before a face mask or offsides penalty occurred. He also forgot to mention a 22 yard run up the middle by Lacy on the fifth play from scrimmage for a TD. Did the early penalties cause Alabama to get 4 touchdowns on its first 6 possessions of the first half? Or, two TDs on the first two possessions of the second half, extending the lead to 35 points on both occasions. So, Alabama scored 6 TDs on its first 8 possessions.
SBT: Is there something you can share that you would definitely do different (preparing for the NC game)?
Brian Kelly: “It’s a complicated answer, but I wanted to tackle more (in practices), but I had six offensive linemen. I had to weigh the risk — do I put Zack Martin out there, who just came out of a (protective) boot, and risk really having no chance of winning that football game or do I not go live? “I was not able to do some of the things I would have liked to have done and the complexity of the answer is we weren’t deep enough as a football team to really handle those 42 days. We need more depth. "We’ll be better able to handle that personnel-wise this time around. Obviously, we’ve addressed some shortcomings in personnel through recruiting. So the complex answer is I would have liked to have tackled more. I knew I needed to tackle. I didn’t think we could.”
Do you really need to have a bunch of offensive lineman to practice tackling? Can't you practice tackling with just the defensive players?
Or, is it tougher to tackle when you are playing against an elite OL and RBs? ND was simply used to tackling RBs from Purdue, Navy, Michigan, Wake Forest, Boston College, Pitt, BYU, Miami, USC, and OU's pedestrian running games.
They weren't able to tackle Bama's RBs or WRs the entire game. They needed multiple players to tackle Lacy, Yeldon, Cooper, Norwood, and Jones for most of the game.
As Meyer said on the telecast Bama's skill against ND's skill "it was even close." I doubt they would have been able to tackle UGA, A&M, or LSU's skill players either.
SBT: Were you surprised at some of the numbers you saw from Notre Dame players at the NFL Combine?
Brian Kelly: “Not really. They’re a tad slower, but they weren’t far off from what our projections were. Now, I think they’ll do much better at Pro Day. They’re always going to be a tad slower at the combine, because of nerves and anxiety and the meetings and the interviews and the whole process. “They’ll all show better numbers than they showed at the combine, but they weren’t far off.”
Later in the interview Kelly acknowledges that MAYBE his players weren't that good. Te'o won a ton of individual awards (somehow beating out players like Clowney and Jarvis Jones for some), but I don't think he would start for a couple of SEC teams. Mosley was MUCH better than Te'o this year, and he'll be playing in college again next year.
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