Notre Dame rout of Michigan State leaves Brian Kelly smiling at last
Posted on Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 03:39 AM
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In the end it comes down to defense and Notre Dame finally had it against Michigan State.
A stellar performance by the defensive unit , especially stopping the Michigan State run game, left coach Brian Kelly beaming and flashing an unfamiliar smile in his post game press conference.
“I couldn't take it any longer,” Kelly said,. “If I had to listen to you guys another week, I wasn’t going to show up.
“You know what, I think it’s like anything else. I know one thing is that they weren’t lacking confidence, but sooner or later you gotta get paid. You gotta be validated.”
Validation finally arrived and even the fake field goal play that Michigan State pulled off last year was an abject failure this year.
That play especially fired up the Irish who lost last year's game on the last second trick play.
Michigan State coach Mike Dantonio must think the Irish were born yesterday if they were going to fall for that.
They weren't and they didn't.
Despite the victory Kelly will not dwell too long on the result.
He knows this team should be 3-0 or at very least 2-1 and closing in on a major season.
He knows the old flaws were covered up yesterday but three more turnovers adds to the laughable total of 13 in three games
He knows quarterback Tommy Rees is still a work in progress when he had expected Dayne Crist to be the finished product this year.
He will take nothing for granted against Pittsburgh who lost a heart breaker to Iowa on Saturday. After that its Purdue before the schedule stiffens again.
It's been a long season and we are only three games in.
Brian Kelly at least avoided disaster yesterday and a 0-3 start that could have been fatal for his job prospects.
He can be thankful for that at least.
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walleyeman | Sep 18, 2011, 07:31 PM EDT
Pilib04. Agree rankings are a joke anyone who bets based on rankings wil go Rome.
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pilib04 | Sep 18, 2011, 03:58 PM EDT
In case anyone missed it, the polls are out. Michigan State remains ranked ahead of Notre Dame in both polls. They are 23 in the "Coaches" USA Today poll. What a joke!
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pilib04 | Sep 18, 2011, 03:53 PM EDT
walleyeman, what this game exposes is the corruption of the AP and USA/Today ranking system. This nonsense has been going on for years. Whoever ends their season on a high note is rated. They have to lose in order to go down. There should be NO rankings until the fifth game of the season. Then you would see quite a difference. This is why the BCS is such a mess. Imagine, Boise State is already #4 in both polls and will play no one their entire season!
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pilib04 | Sep 18, 2011, 03:49 PM EDT
It has not been easy to beat Michigan State over the past 15 years. Kelly's Irish did a great job of it Saturday. Very pleased with the outcome. Now, hopefully the Irish can stop the fumbling and Rees can stop throwing interceptions. With that combination Notre Dame will be quite difficult to beat with the Defense they have and Rees explosive arm.
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Murph46 | Sep 18, 2011, 12:55 PM EDT
When does the coronaion of King Kelly start ,he finally won a game w/o berating his players on national TV.
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walleyeman | Sep 18, 2011, 10:52 AM EDT
Good game by ND. Moo U finally played a real football team this year rather than the cupcakes they played weeks1 & 2 ND exposed them for what they are. The laughable part was ND at 0-2 had to spot 2-0 15th ranked Moo U 5 points. Just shows you the Vegas sports books are on top of their game.
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