During Notre Dame’s shocking 38-35 football loss Saturday to Duke at Notre Dame Stadium, the Fighting Irish student body was ridiculing one of their own by chanting for the termination of defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, whose son, Montgomery, is a junior on the Irish squad. “I went in and informed them, I mentioned that there would be changes and I mean that from coaches and players and I announced the change that I had made and really talked in terms of where we need to go from here”, he said.
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Even after the 94th-ranked scoring offense in the country hung 38 on the Irish, and that same lacking offense marched down the field on a back-breaking 10-play drive that resulted in what turned out to be a game-winning field goal with 1:24 remaining, Kelly steadfastly stood by his defensive man.
When pressed what went into the lack of energy, Kelly said: “I must be doing a poor job”.
“Our defense simply isn’t where it should be and I believe this change is necessary for the best interest of our program and our student-athletes”, Kelly said in a statement.
The loss to Michigan State a week ago confirmed that Notre Dame had exited the playoff hunt.
Sure, the coaching staff will give us the usual coachspeak and brush it off, but for once, the fans are 100 percent correct.
And, they’re excited to see if the new defensive coordinator, Greg Hudson, can turn up the heat.
Things have not started off well in 2016 for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He joined the Irish staff in June and previously served as defensive coordinator at Purdue, East Carolina and Minnesota. Multiple sources told ESPN.com that VanGorder had signed a three-year deal when he joined Notre Dame.
– At the ACC Kickoff in July, Edwards was asked about a proposal that college football do away with kickoffs, that the play is too unsafe. The Irish have an NFL-caliber quarterback in DeShone Kizer, but they seem to be staring at maybe a seven-win regular season, which is not a good look for ND. By the end of September, just about all the positive attention has already receded from South Bend.
Notre Dame had jumped out to a 14-0 led in the game on a Kizer 14-yard run and 44-yard strike to Stepherson.
VanGorder, 57, was in his third season as the Fighting Irish’s defensive coordinator.
Hudson will pay dividends if he can strike a match and light a fuse.
Kelly said he hired Hudson to bring experience and brain power to the program.
“You’re playing football for Notre Dame”.
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Kelly said there will be some tweaks on defensive side of the ball, but “we’re not going to pull the rug from underneath the kids at this point in the season”. Yet now because Notre Dame refuses to get into a conference, they still have a ton of tough games on the schedule to try and get the season back on track. It looks like it’s work. We just have not put (reserves) in the game and they are going to play. There’s no fun, there’s no enjoyment, there’s no energy.
