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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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