I think he did defer a few times in 2012 after it became clear what side of the ball was our best.

I understand why he took the ball against Alabama, since the most likely outcome of kicking was being down 7-0 very quickly.

The last ND coach who could properly handle the coin toss was Ty. 16 years ago. And it was the only thing he could properly handle.

First, deferring opens up the possibility of a 14 point run if a team can score going into the half and then again coming out of the half. From a momentum standpoint than is incredibly valuable.

Second, it was obvious last night that our nerves were fried coming out of the tunnel. Let the defense take the field first and play with high energy flying around. Something good may happen which loosens up the offense when they come out. The worst thing that can happen is that they slice through the defense and score quickly. Well, that fucking happened, and we'd screwed our offensive nerves even more in the process.

the ball first? I mean, how many times has ND actually controlled the ball and scored a TD on the first possession? The only one I can remember this entire season is 1st Clemson. Other than that, I'd venture to guess that they're less than 50%. To me that says, it's not a good idea.

Taking it against Alabama is just beyond galactically stupid.