Notre Dame fires defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder

The offense excelled against the Notre Dame defense which has struggled so far this season.

The Panthers made the move Sunday, one day after the team fell to 0-4 this season with a 53-14 loss to Central Florida. Notre Dame abandoned it after falling behind big against Michigan State, but the Irish weren’t gaining much anyway (57 yards on 20 carries).

“And [I] had time [Saturday] night to evaluate our current situation and made what I felt to be the best decision for the program”, Kelly said on his weekly Sunday teleconference. One guy. So, if you want to play for me moving forward, you better, I don’t care what your resume says, I don’t care if you were a five star, if you had a hundred tackles or 80 receptions or 30 touchdown passes, you better have some damn fire and energy in you.

“Everybody on our staff for the rest of the season is on a very public interview”, Kelly said.

“They wanted it more than us”, Kizer said. “It’s about us executing every single play and raising our level of consistency”, he said.

Wide receiver Anthony Nash hauled in two touchdown passes as the Blue Devils racked up 498 total yards. But it’s been said that his defensive schemes were too complex. We got to look for the guys that want to have fun and play this game with passion and energy.

Reed had missed all three of his field goal attempts this season before kicking the game victor. Northwestern scored on the next play.

On what the Irish looked to exploit coming into the game…

“As soon as you make it a huge issue, then you have people trembling”, he said.

The Irish are allowing 33.5 points per game this season, 41.3 points per game against Power Five opponents. The special teams crew remains inconsistent, so much that I’d argue Kizer’s interception, which resulted in a 42-yard field position swing on third down, was a better outcome for Notre Dame than trusting the often-brilliant punt game backed up in its own end zone. He loves Notre Dame. Cutcliffe said he was involved mainly in recruiting. If 10 wins a year doesn’t cut it at LSU, nine wins a year sure as heck doesn’t cut it at Notre Dame.

“As a player, I respect what he does, and his system is one I have enjoyed playing in”, outside linebacker James Onwualu said Wednesday.

Offensively, Notre Dame football is averaging 262.3 yards in passing and 167.3 in rushing, and 37.3 points per game.

“I think my mentality and my poise is something that this team isn’t benefiting from”, Kizer said, according to Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

“The pace Alabama’s been on over the last few years has put the onus on all (the) elite 10-15 teams”, he said.

The defensive problems extend to last season, when the Irish finished by allowing 38 and 44 points in losses to Stanford and Ohio State, respectively. Duke lost starting safety DeVon Edwards to a knee injury in the first quarter.

“That unit there, they believe in him and he’s got a lot of talent”.

In a statement, Hudson said: “Obviously, this is a hard day for our coaching staff, but I’m excited and honored about the opportunity that Coach Kelly has afforded me”.