Notre Dame Football News and Notes: Kelly Disappointed in Swarbrick’s Vote of Confidence

What could be so bad about a vote a confidence? Last week Jack Swarbrick gave his vote confidence and said that Kelly would be leading the team out of the tunnel next season on opening day. If you were Kelly you’d probably feel the same way about Swarbrick’s comments. I’m sure he’d much rather be 7-0 and ranked in the top ten right now rather than have everyone speculate about his job security for next year.

With the way the Notre Dame defense has played over the last 10 quarters Kizer shouldn’t need to put the team on his back anymore. His game has been a little off over the last two to three games. Hopefully the bye week let him relax, clear his mind and hopefully we’ll see the Kizer of old on Saturday afternoon.

This is one of the byproducts of having such a young team. Most of these guys haven’t been in those late game situations where you need a big play to pull out a victory. That being said, almost every game this year has come down to wire. So one would think these young guys should have the late game experience by now. Obviously that hasn’t been the case, but the Irish still have five more games to show they can close ‘em out.

With a 2-5 record the Irish could have easily packed in by now, but to their credit they haven’t. The fight is still there. Throughout every loss, I have yet to see the players just lay down and take it. They still are out there competing no matter what.

Adams suffered a hamstring injury early in fall camp down at Culver, and he really hasn’t been the same since. Last season Adams broke the freshman rushing record with 835 yards in really only six games of real action. This season he only has 416 yards and is averaging around 59 yards per game. So maybe that injury he suffered in camp has been bothering him all year. Kelly did go on to say that Adams probably benefitted the most from the bye way. We can only hope that the second half of the season will be a different story for Adams.

Other News and Notes

• Kevin Stepherson, Chase Claypool, and Jonathan Bonner are all demanding more playing time.
• Devin Butler’s status of indefinitely being suspended has not changed.
• Along with Adams, Kelly said that Equanimeous St. Brown and Cole Luke were two players that needed the bye week the most.
• Brad Kaaya will be the most experienced quarterback the Irish have faced this season. The junior has started 32 of 33 games in his college career.
• Miami ranks 23rd in the country in total defense. The Hurricanes are yielded just 345.7 yards per game.
• Lastly, Kelly said he is going with the Cubs over the Indians in the World Series. As a diehard White Sox fan and someone who despises the Cubs, I would have much rather had Kelly do his best Mike Leach impression.