Once again a barn-burner of a game as Kelly loses 3 out of 4 to Michigan. Michigan coach, Brady Hoke, apparently coaches the whole game without knowing what plays are being called ala Joe Paterno.

It looked at times that ND would be blown out but these guys kept fighting back – no quitters on this squad. With that said – they need a ton of work especially the defense. The DL is just not that good – Tuitt and Nix a real disappointment – seemed they were easily handled for most of the game and Day was just swallowed up.

Which brings me to Bob Diaco – does he know what the hell he’s doing or is it just the players that are hopelessly confused? He just made Devin Gardiner (QB Michigan) an All American – kid just ran and tossed terrifically the whole game. Diaco just seems to be always behind the curve during the game and at times the “D” players seem lost.

On offense – no imagination on play calling at all and it was just way too predictable. I’m not going to hang this loss on Rees, although he did throw one boneheaded pick at the end of the first half.

His job is to manage the offense and not be solely responsible for winning the game by himself – some imaginative play calling from the coaches to help him out would have been nice – that together with some blocking would have been nice also.

Michigan would rush 4 against ND’s 5 and get a lot of pressure on him. The OL really needs to improve on their run blocking – ND had only 96 yds rushing.

With all of the above Rees was 29 of 51 for 314 yds – 2 games in a row Rees over 300 yds passing. One bright note is the emergence of TE Troy Niklas – kid is a stud.

Running back – Carlisle is the real deal and Atkinson isn’t, but Amir is small. With Purdue next, ND must get Bryant and Folston into the game early. These kids have to play NOW!!! Don’t tell me they can’t pick up a blitzer – look at the arms on Bryant.

I’d start Bryant against Purdue and put Carlisle in for the home run–hell why not play 2 RB’s at the same time and just rotate the 3 of Them – again – get some plays, some imagination please. Of course the OL would have to block – just a little bit.

So next is Purdue. A truly dreadful team that just barely eked out a win over Indiana State 20-14.

Other News:

The Good – USC lost to Washington State 10-7.

The Bad – BYU clobbered Texas and racked up 550 in rushing yardage – BYU 40 Texas 21 – seems BYU has a running QB.