2008 Season Preview: Birthday Edition

Neil Waechter by Correspondent Written on August 16, 2008
(Page 5 of 6)
First of all, as much as I obsess about football, even I had trouble keeping up with Weis' playcalling. He was calling plays in the first quarter that led to successful plays in the third quarter. He was about five steps ahead of Wanny, and if he hadn't pulled his first string, he would never have punted. An example of Weis' playcalling:
In the first two drives, Weis called two screens, and Brady Clausen checked down into two more (one of which was their first touchdown) before Pittsburgh was able to catch on. Also, Weis consistently called runs to the right side, in which Walker Allen would inevitably beat the linebackers to the corner.

Late in the first quarter, Weis, having seen Pitt's tendency to watch for screens to Walker Allen and shade to the right side, called a play which had a fake to Darius Armando to the right (sucking in some of the defense), then a fake reverse to Rhema McKnight Duval Kamara (which fooled nobody on the D). Quinn Clausen looked at Walker Allen in the flat to the right side of the field, which caused the ENTIRE Pitt defense to collapse towards that side. Then Quinn Clausen quickly tossed the ball to Rhema Kamara in the flat to the opposite side of the field, where Rhema Duval caught it in the flat, with nobody within 10 yards of him. Twenty yards later, the corner on the left side brought him down.
Weis knew before the play started that this would happen, and this is the beauty of his system. He has so many plays in his playbook, nicknamed The Phonebook by his players, that he has a play for literally every defensive tendency. He sees a weakness, and he exploits it.
The best thing about the Irish offense is the number of weapons they have at their disposal. At wide receiver, they have McKnight, Stovall, Samardzija, and Shelton Grimes, Kamara, Floyd, Tate, Parris, and Walker. At running back, they have Walker, Thomas, and Powers-Neal Aldridge, Hughes, Allen, and Gray. At tight end, they have Fasano and Carlson Ragone, Yeatman and Rudolph. They have two stud quarterbacks in Clausen and Crist. That is 11 15 players on offense that would start at their position on any other team. And don't even get me started on the incoming freshmen.
The key play of the game was ND's first score, in which ND ran a called screen to Darius Walker James Aldridge. The play itself wouldn't have been spectacular, except that Charlie's coaching reared its beautiful head. A great block by a lineman and Walker Aldridge outrunning H.B. Blades would have given ND a 20 yard gain, but for the fact that Fasano, Samardzija, McKnight, and Stovall Ragone, Grimes, Parris, and Kamara all formed a convoy for Walker Aldridge, blocking downfield. They turned a good gain into a game-breaking touchdown, and showed the world the discipline and depth of a Weis offense, as his play called for that type of downfield blocking, it wasn't a fluke.
The wonderful thing about Weis is that he has put in an offense where every single playmaker on the team is a threat to move the ball on every single play. These guys have the capability to put up 40 points on EVERY SINGLE TEAM THEY PLAY THIS YEAR.

Prediction: 42-21 Irish

at Boston College

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written on August 16, 2008 Sports

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