Notre Dame Football: BK’s Sunday Presser - Michigan State Week

It’s understandable what Kelly is saying here. Look, he’s not going to sit up there and say everyone is terrible and throw his coaching staff under the bus. He’s going to try be somewhat calming.

That being said, he’s not right about this. There has been nothing shown to create any sense of confidence in the Irish defense or the coordinator. This is a defense that ranks near the bottom, and in some instances at the bottom (Sacks), in almost every single major statistical category. Not to mention, they are terrible at the fundamentals. What is there exactly to be confident about, Coach?

There are two ways to look at this. The first, he’s absolutely crazy for not panicking because the season is not going anywhere now after two losses and if anything this team has regressed in a number of areas. The other being, “What is there exactly to panic about when the season is going absolutely no where?”

If giving up 500+ yards and 35+ points to a low powered Michigan State offense, at home, in primetime doesn’t make you panic...what exactly will it take? Oh thats right, if the Irish defense is still doing this by week 10 that is when we can start worrying and asking questions.

Aren’t these things that should have been worked and perfected on in fall camp? Quotes like this is what makes Irish fans start to panic. We’re three games into the season and things like fundamentals and tackling are still an issue? That is unacceptable. To say this and then also you have confidence in your defensive coach kind of contradicts itself. How can you be confident in a coach that doesn’t have his players coached up on the fundamentals and tackling?

A little bit? Kelly is putting that lightly. Against the two quality opponents Notre Dame has played so far (Texas and Michigan State) there has been an alarming amount of missed tackles.