Photo by Rick Kimball/ISD
Notre Dame Football
Brian Kelly Notebook: Sunday Teleconference 11/20
November 20, 2016
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Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly wanted to look at the film before he could say where the Irish offensive went stagnant during Saturday’s 34-31 loss to Virginia Tech. On Sunday, Kelly felt it was more about what his team did more than Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster.
“Pretty clear that they were self-inflicted wounds,” Kelly said on Sunday. “The first two possessions we fell behind the chains because of procedure penalties. The third possession we scored a touchdown. The fourth possession we did not pick up a pressure front that led to a negative run of six yards that put us behind the chains. Fifth possession we had two drops on very makeable catches on a 2nd and 4 and a 3rd and 4.
“Our sixth possession we had a big drop down at the end of a deep ball that was a ball that we should have caught, and then the seventh possession was the last possession of the game.
“Really self-inflicted, negative plays, and the inability to make a catch here or there. You know, I'd like to credit Virginia Tech, but looking at the film, we executed a whole lot better in the first half than we did in the second half.”
Rick Kimball/ISD
DeShone Kizer
More DK
Kelly made it clear on Saturday evening he was extremely displeased with the lack of review on a few hits that involved Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer. Notre Dame sent film for review on Sunday and Kelly was more frustrated on Sunday after seeing the tape.
“We sent it into the supervisor of officials, and they won't comment on it until they get a chance to see it from our film,” explained Kelly. I have not got any further information from them.
“It's clear on film that it was a helmet to helmet on a defenseless player. You know, it will stand up to the scrutiny, it's just beyond me why it doesn't get reviewed. That's what their job is is to review it, and that's the second time this year that we've had a player that's been targeted that the replay officials have not seen it that way.
“At this point, you know, my points that I made yesterday are still, for me, the most important. What are we going to do when it comes to player safety? Our officials have got to be held accountable for player safety.”
Kizer did suffer a big hit prior to being knocked out of the game, but Kelly didn’t feel his quarterback was in danger between the hits.
“The nature of the way he plays, he's a big, physical player, and if you were watching the way he played throughout the game,” stated Kelly. “He was running people over. So you know, there's a physicality to the way he plays. He's not a -- I don't look at him as somebody that is a china doll out there. He's physical player. He's out there mixing it up, and we're always concerned about player safety and DeShone, but I don't think that there was a time where I felt like he was out there at risk. I think he was playing physical, and that was kind of the nature of the game that we were in.”
Soft Run Game?
There is a portion of the fan base that feels Notre Dame’s run game is soft, as it was pointed out yesterday that the Irish offense couldn’t score from basically the one-yard line before Kizer dropped a shotgun snap.
Our own Jamie Uyeyama feels Notre Dame is doing well in short yardage situations and Kelly doesn’t feel his run game lacks a physical presence.
“We rushed for 200 yards against one of the best rush defenses in college football,” said Kelly. “I don't know where that perception has come from, really, to be honest with you, if I look at it.
“
Coaching Staff
As the season winds down this weekend, the attention with turn from a losing season to a coaching search on the defensive side of the football. Notre Dame needs a defensive coordinator and internally Greg Hudson and Mike Elston present options, but Kelly made it clear he will also look externally at candidates too.
“I think I'll definitely interview inside the staff and certainly bring somebody from the outside, as well,” Kelly explained. “That process will take on an internal candidate and there will be external candidates, as well.”
Kelly also mentioned on Saturday that there might be “too many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to offensive play calling. Kelly, Mike Denbrock and Mike Sanford all have a hand in the offensive scheme, but it’s thought to be that Kelly and Denbrock assume the role of calls plays.
The seventh-year head coach admitted he will look at the situation and his staff across the board.
“it's something that we'll definitely have to think quite hard on in the off-season, absolutely,” Kelly said of the play calling situation.
“I think when you're 4-7, I think you have to evaluate everything. I don't think I sit here right now with all of those answers for you, other than certainly we've talked about players and executing, but coaches are part of the evaluation process, as well, and I have to be able to evaluate our coaches critically, as well.”
Kelly didn’t rule out taking over play calling duties again or even stepping away completely from play calling.
“That's an option,” he said of calling the plays. “Certainly not being involved in the direct play calling can be one of the options, but like I said, I'm going to reserve comment on what that ends up being until I get a chance to fully evaluate everything.”
Under Center vs Shotgun
As mentioned earlier, Kizer bobbled a snap on 3rd down that cost Notre Dame a likely touchdown. Kelly wasn’t wavering for more plays under center, as that’s not what the offense is does or is comfortable with.
“It's what we do,” stated Kelly. “I mean, you know, that's what we're comfortable with. That's what we practice every day. It was a little bit too far out to go direct snap in that situation. We had the option -- we have a couple of direct-snap plays. We were going to run quarterback power on that play, and it was blocked very well, and the only problem is we mishandled the snap, which is obviously something that we do every single day, and unfortunately that was an unforced error.
“We feel like the big quarterback in that situation and running him was the right call at that time on 3rd down. You see that from, I think, Virginia Tech on most of their key situations. They ran the quarterback. We like that play on 3rd down. We just obviously didn't execute it with bobbling the snap, something that we do every day.”
Injuries
Daniel Cage missed his third game in a row and Torii Hunter Jr. missed his second game in a row on Saturday. Kelly didn’t sound overly positive either player would be available for the USC game on Saturday.
“I think both of them have made progress, but I really wouldn't have a sense until we see them move around on Tuesday.
“Torii has got to be able to change direction. He hasn't been able to change direction. He can go straight line, but he hasn't been able to change direction in the manner that he needs to at the position he plays. He could be playing a lot of different positions, but the one that he plays requires that change of direction. He just doesn't have it right now. We'll see where he is next week Tuesday.
“Daniel Cage, yeah, I mean, that could be a tougher one because of the conditioning factor, because he hasn't been able to do a lot of conditioning. We think he's going to be able to do his conditioning this week. We'll find out. But I would say it's going to be a lot tougher for Cage because of that conditioning element.”
“Pretty clear that they were self-inflicted wounds,” Kelly said on Sunday. “The first two possessions we fell behind the chains because of procedure penalties. The third possession we scored a touchdown. The fourth possession we did not pick up a pressure front that led to a negative run of six yards that put us behind the chains. Fifth possession we had two drops on very makeable catches on a 2nd and 4 and a 3rd and 4.
“Our sixth possession we had a big drop down at the end of a deep ball that was a ball that we should have caught, and then the seventh possession was the last possession of the game.
“Really self-inflicted, negative plays, and the inability to make a catch here or there. You know, I'd like to credit Virginia Tech, but looking at the film, we executed a whole lot better in the first half than we did in the second half.”
Rick Kimball/ISD
DeShone Kizer
Kelly made it clear on Saturday evening he was extremely displeased with the lack of review on a few hits that involved Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer. Notre Dame sent film for review on Sunday and Kelly was more frustrated on Sunday after seeing the tape.
“We sent it into the supervisor of officials, and they won't comment on it until they get a chance to see it from our film,” explained Kelly. I have not got any further information from them.
“It's clear on film that it was a helmet to helmet on a defenseless player. You know, it will stand up to the scrutiny, it's just beyond me why it doesn't get reviewed. That's what their job is is to review it, and that's the second time this year that we've had a player that's been targeted that the replay officials have not seen it that way.
“At this point, you know, my points that I made yesterday are still, for me, the most important. What are we going to do when it comes to player safety? Our officials have got to be held accountable for player safety.”
Kizer did suffer a big hit prior to being knocked out of the game, but Kelly didn’t feel his quarterback was in danger between the hits.
“The nature of the way he plays, he's a big, physical player, and if you were watching the way he played throughout the game,” stated Kelly. “He was running people over. So you know, there's a physicality to the way he plays. He's not a -- I don't look at him as somebody that is a china doll out there. He's physical player. He's out there mixing it up, and we're always concerned about player safety and DeShone, but I don't think that there was a time where I felt like he was out there at risk. I think he was playing physical, and that was kind of the nature of the game that we were in.”
Soft Run Game?
There is a portion of the fan base that feels Notre Dame’s run game is soft, as it was pointed out yesterday that the Irish offense couldn’t score from basically the one-yard line before Kizer dropped a shotgun snap.
Our own Jamie Uyeyama feels Notre Dame is doing well in short yardage situations and Kelly doesn’t feel his run game lacks a physical presence.
“We rushed for 200 yards against one of the best rush defenses in college football,” said Kelly. “I don't know where that perception has come from, really, to be honest with you, if I look at it.
“
"If we had to do it all over again, we should have thrown the ball a little bit more."
They were in a lot more pressure fronts, especially in the third and fourth quarter, a lot more man-to-man coverage, and that was the nature of the game. If we went into that with the thought that we were going to rush for 200 yards, I probably would have taken it.”Coaching Staff
As the season winds down this weekend, the attention with turn from a losing season to a coaching search on the defensive side of the football. Notre Dame needs a defensive coordinator and internally Greg Hudson and Mike Elston present options, but Kelly made it clear he will also look externally at candidates too.
“I think I'll definitely interview inside the staff and certainly bring somebody from the outside, as well,” Kelly explained. “That process will take on an internal candidate and there will be external candidates, as well.”
Kelly also mentioned on Saturday that there might be “too many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to offensive play calling. Kelly, Mike Denbrock and Mike Sanford all have a hand in the offensive scheme, but it’s thought to be that Kelly and Denbrock assume the role of calls plays.
The seventh-year head coach admitted he will look at the situation and his staff across the board.
“it's something that we'll definitely have to think quite hard on in the off-season, absolutely,” Kelly said of the play calling situation.
“I think when you're 4-7, I think you have to evaluate everything. I don't think I sit here right now with all of those answers for you, other than certainly we've talked about players and executing, but coaches are part of the evaluation process, as well, and I have to be able to evaluate our coaches critically, as well.”
Kelly didn’t rule out taking over play calling duties again or even stepping away completely from play calling.
“That's an option,” he said of calling the plays. “Certainly not being involved in the direct play calling can be one of the options, but like I said, I'm going to reserve comment on what that ends up being until I get a chance to fully evaluate everything.”
Under Center vs Shotgun
As mentioned earlier, Kizer bobbled a snap on 3rd down that cost Notre Dame a likely touchdown. Kelly wasn’t wavering for more plays under center, as that’s not what the offense is does or is comfortable with.
“It's what we do,” stated Kelly. “I mean, you know, that's what we're comfortable with. That's what we practice every day. It was a little bit too far out to go direct snap in that situation. We had the option -- we have a couple of direct-snap plays. We were going to run quarterback power on that play, and it was blocked very well, and the only problem is we mishandled the snap, which is obviously something that we do every single day, and unfortunately that was an unforced error.
“We feel like the big quarterback in that situation and running him was the right call at that time on 3rd down. You see that from, I think, Virginia Tech on most of their key situations. They ran the quarterback. We like that play on 3rd down. We just obviously didn't execute it with bobbling the snap, something that we do every day.”
Injuries
Daniel Cage missed his third game in a row and Torii Hunter Jr. missed his second game in a row on Saturday. Kelly didn’t sound overly positive either player would be available for the USC game on Saturday.
“I think both of them have made progress, but I really wouldn't have a sense until we see them move around on Tuesday.
“Torii has got to be able to change direction. He hasn't been able to change direction. He can go straight line, but he hasn't been able to change direction in the manner that he needs to at the position he plays. He could be playing a lot of different positions, but the one that he plays requires that change of direction. He just doesn't have it right now. We'll see where he is next week Tuesday.
“Daniel Cage, yeah, I mean, that could be a tougher one because of the conditioning factor, because he hasn't been able to do a lot of conditioning. We think he's going to be able to do his conditioning this week. We'll find out. But I would say it's going to be a lot tougher for Cage because of that conditioning element.”
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