IRISH NEWSLINK Blue and Gold Illustrated: “Notre Dame Focuses On Playing Better, Not Bowl Talk”

File Photo of Word of Life Stone Mural Mosaic, Featuring Christ with Arms Upraised, On the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame

“Today, Notre Dame is 4-6 — and yet there were inquiries during head coach Brian Kelly’s weekly press conference about whether the team would be receptive to going to a bowl game, even with a possible 5-7 record. … ‘I haven’t given it much thought, to be honest with you,’ replied Kelly when asked if the school would play in a bowl with a 5-7 mark. “I think those scenarios I would address at the end of the year.’ …”

IRISH VIDEO: Brian Kelly Tuesday Press Conference – Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech Preview

“Virginia Tech has a very good football team. Justin Fuente, head football coach and Bud Foster, the defensive coordinator, put together a very good year, some really good wins; North Carolina I really thought probably as complete a game as they played all year. Turned the ball over a few times, but a really good football team. Defensively it’s what you expect from Bud Foster’s team, they keep the pressure on you.

Experience in the back end of their defense I think is the key to their defense, returning starters across the board can play man, can mix it up, play some zone coverages. They’ve lost some guys up front, but Eron and Edmunds, extremely productive tackles. What you see with Virginia Tech is negative plays. And most offenses get into long yardage and Virginia Tech is one of the best in the country on third down. ….”

IRISH VIDEO: Brian Kelly Post-Game Press Conference After Notre Dame’s 44-6 Victory Over Army in San Antonio

Brian Kelly meets with reporters after Notre Dame’s 44-6 victory over Army in San Antonio.

IRISH NEWSLINK South Bend Tribune: “Kelly appeals to Kizer’s sense of history to spark improvement”

File Photo of Word of Life Stone Mural Mosaic, Featuring Christ with Arms Upraised, On the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL: “…. ‘I talk mostly about Notre Dame, and where does he want to be as it relates to the Notre Dame quarterbacks?’ Kelly said. ‘Most quarterbacks are judged by not their numbers, but by their wins. And we’re all, right now, 3-6.’ ….”

IRISH VIDEO: Brian Kelly Radio Show Notre Dame vs. Army Preview

Saint Joseph's Lake with Golden Dome and Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the Distance

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL: Brian Kelly talks with Jack Nolan and Notre Dame players, and covers the latest in Notre Dame football as the Irish prepared for West Point.

IRISH NEWSLINK Fox Sports: “10 college football coaches on the hot seat in the season’s final weeks”

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL: “… 5 Brian Kelly – Notre Dame: The Irish will have a hard time finishing this season with four wins. Kelly might have received a vote of confidence from his athletic director, but coaches in good standing don’t need that. It’s awfully hard to justify three wins…

IRISH NEWSWATCH: “No big changes coming to struggling Irish” – Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

Notre Dame Stadium Facade

“… immersed in … the worst of his 27 seasons as a … head coach, it would be easy for … Brian Kelly to make wholesale changes within his program. He did so last month by firing … Brian VanGorder, but from a personnel standpoint, Kelly has decided to stay the course even after losing for the sixth time in nine games …. ‘If you look at the six games that we’ve played,’ Kelly said, ‘what needs to change is a little bit better play calling here, maybe a little bit better execution there, and the players just maturing.’ … To Kelly’s point regarding the ‘maturing’ of his team, the Notre Dame depth chart listed 39 players out of 59 that were either in their first or second season of being on the field. …”

Click here for Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “No big changes coming to struggling Irish”

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IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Double vision for Notre Dame’s defense?” – South Bend Tribune

File Photo of Word of Life Stone Mural Mosaic, Featuring Christ with Arms Upraised, On the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL:

“The vision Brian Kelly is selling to recruits of how Notre Dame’s defense will evolve … ‘Quite frankly, we’re going to be in both (3-4 and 4-3 fronts), because I’m not going anywhere,’ he said. ‘So it’s going to be a three-down, four-down defense, and they’re going to have to be somebody that can do both.’ They are the eight defensive recruits already committed in the 2017 class, the four defenders in the 2018 group, and … prospects Kelly and his staff are still chasing [for 2017]. The nuances and even some of the basic tenets of the next scheme … attacking vs. read/react, how much man vs. zone — will and should likely have to wait until Kelly makes perhaps the most momentous hire of his head coaching career, deposed defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder’s permanent replacement. Interim Greg Hudson … remains in the running.”

Click here for South Bend Tribune: “Double vision for Notre Dame’s defense?”

IRISH NEWSWATCH: “Ignore the scoreboard, Notre Dame is a bad football team” – Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

Football on Turf Near Yard Marker

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL: The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel’s Tom Davis comments:

“Notre Dame is a bad football team. That is the problem. Poor coaching, poor coaching decisions, and poor execution by its players (which is certainly related to the poor coaching) are merely the symptoms. ‘I love the way we compete and play hard,’ Kelly said. ‘We’ve lost six close games that easily could have went our way.’ It is true that Notre Dame has had many opportunities to win games this year in the final minutes. But good teams – well-coached teams – find ways to win games, while poorly coached teams do the opposite. We now have enough data gathered since Labor Day to show that Notre Dame isn’t just a young team that is enduring hard luck, it is a bad team led by a coach that is doing a bad job this year.

Click here for Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “Ignore the scoreboard, Notre Dame is a bad football team”

IRISH VIDEO: Brian Kelly Tuesday Press Conference – Notre Dame vs. Army Preparation

#NOTREDAME #FOOTBALL: Brian Kelly met with reporters early in the week as Notre Dame prepared to take on Army.

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