There will have to be some changes within the Notre Dame football team this week. There will likely be bigger changes ahead for the Notre Dame football program down in the not too distant future. The Duke Blue Devils came in to South Bend as 22 point underdogs yesterday. They left victorious; meaning it was the biggest upset, using just point spreads as your criteria, in 20 years for the the Fighting Irish.
You have to immediately wonder how much longer Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder will remain employed.
Sunday afternoon the axe came down:
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/780104723533881344
His unit allowed 498 yards of total offense to a Duke team that had only scored 27 combined against power five competition entering Saturday. VanGorder’s guys, in year three of his scheme, STILL don’t know where they’re supposed to be sometimes. You still see ND defenders messing up their basic assignments. Quite often, they just don’t get it, but Notre Dame football coach Brian
Kelly quieted talk of a BVG dismissal saying that the defense was “the least of my concerns after today” in the postgame press conference yesterday, but Kelly had no problem doing what he needed to do Sunday morning; replacing BVG with Defensive Analyst Greg Hudson.
As of right now, Kelly doesn’t seem interested in jettisoning VanGorder, meaning that you also have to wonder about his long term job security. With three losses already, even becoming bowl eligible is in serious peril. The Irish still have two games remaining against current top 15 competition (Miami and Stanford), plus a very good Virginia Tech team.
Not to mention the fact that replacing VanGorder doesn’t do anything to heal the seriously ailing running game, nor remedy the team’s biggest problem- lack of individual player leadership.
Notre Dame football has dropped five in a row against power five competition, and five of their last six overall. Hor how much longer can Kelly’s seat can keep from overheating to the point that it catches fire?
Yes, he recently signed a very long, very lucrative extension, but ND had no problem buying out Charlie Weis in order to send him out of town.
Kelly said after the game that every single position on the depth chart is now an open competition; before later saying that he’ll probably let the long snapper keep his job.
“There is no position that is untouchable on this team,” said Kelly, before adding that running back Dexter Williams was the only player who had “emotion and fire.”
“If you want to play for me moving forward, you better … have some damn fire and energy in you. We lack it. Severely.”
Kelly said that even starting quarterback DeShone Kizer, who had just thrown for a career high 381 yards passing and led the team in rushing, did not have job security. Kelly said that Kizer, who is getting a lot of #1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft love right now, was below standard and unacceptable.
The Notre Dame football head coach even suggested the idea of playing his third string QB this season. Yikes!
Let’s not say things that we really don’t even come remotely close to sincerely believing!
For most of Saturday afternoon and much of Saturday evening, Notre Dame was the #1 trending term on Twitter. #DukevsND and #NDvsDuke were trending in the top ten.
Twitter exploded as Notre Dame football how now reached red alert crisis status. Duke looked AWFUL last week at Northwestern, and Northwestern looked TERRIBLE the previous two weeks heading into that contest last weekend.
ND’s losses to Texas and Michigan State have also since lost a lot of credibility. There is absolutely no excusing or sugarcoating what happened at Notre Dame Stadium yesterdday. For the Fighting Irish, it was their first loss at home to a non-Big Ten team since 2014 (Louisville).
There was a ton of Notre Dame football schadenfreude on Twitter yesterday, but we stayed away from those for our Twitter gallery here. We focused more on the neutrals and the people within the Notre Dame football community. We looked at some of the numbers, stats, and facts.
One thing we can say for certain though- the familiar refrain we hear every season that Notre Dame football is/was “overrated” has never been more true than 2016. It is mind-boggling to think that a team ranked top ten in the preseason is now 1-3 and in very serious danger of reaching even a lower tier bowl game.
Enter the Tweet gallery:
Saw a couple of "FIRE BVG" shirts around Notre Dame yesterday. Are there any more available on campus yet?
— Jim Irizarry (@JimOnSports_) September 24, 2016
In #NotreDame's last 6 games against Power 5 teams, the Irish are 1-5 and opponents have scored 25-26 times in the Red Zone with 21 TDs.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 25, 2016
Factual state of Indiana FBS records 2016:
Purdue 2-1
Indiana 2-1
Ball State 2-1
Notre Dame 1-3— Hammer and Rails (@HammerAndRails) September 24, 2016
If OU loses next week, it will mark the first time EVER that Notre Dame, OU and USC all start the season 1-3 or worse.
— Joey Helmer (@joey_helmer) September 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/779784316733784064
When Duke goes on the road and beats Notre Dame. #DukevsND pic.twitter.com/drzP7jdb2t
— The Ledge (@TheLedgeSports) September 24, 2016
Duke just beat Notre Dame. In September. In football. On the road. In football.
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) September 24, 2016
Even in the awful 3-9 Notre Dame season of 2007, the Irish still managed to beat Duke.
— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) September 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/TheFakeESPN/status/779817449709531136
https://twitter.com/GoFightinIrish/status/779817218012024832
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/779817331027484672
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/779816387401383936
Notre Dame is overrated every single year, but this year may have set the all-time record #DukevsND
— Tom Roussey (@tomroussey7news) September 24, 2016
Mood. #DUKEvsND pic.twitter.com/4mrGVuN571
— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) September 24, 2016
We need to reevaluate what we're doing & who we're doing it with–Brian Kelly after loss to Duke @ABC57SatKickoff pic.twitter.com/pN2XlmOVKG
— Allison Hayes (@AlliHayesMedia) September 24, 2016
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.