Bleacher Report - Articles by Jon Hunn

Where's Our Golden Ticket?

Jon Hunn — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:49:18 -0500

Since the press conference held by Notre Dame’s Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick last Monday announcing the departure of Charlie Weis, the entire Notre Dame fan base has been on the edge of their seat, constantly checking the internet and ESPN, to see if any head way has been made in the search for the next head coach of the football program. Meanwhile, Swarbrick is working to interview and negotiate with potential candidates as the current assistant coaching staff zig-zags across the nation trying to dissuade recruits from jumping ship. The search for a new coach is not only hard on the Notre Dame administration and current coaching staff, but it’s also hard on the Notre Dame fan base. The situation that the football program currently finds itself in is one which causes fans to turn on each other over differences as to who should be the next coach in South Bend.

In late 2004, when Notre Dame fired Ty Willingham and subsequently whiffed on landing Urban Meyer, some people thought that Notre Dame “settled” with Charlie Weis. While most Irish fans cannot come up with a consensus #1 candidate to replace Weis, some are worried that Notre Dame may be in the process of whiffing once again with Bob Stoops, Brian Kelly, or Gary Patterson. And while it may have been ideal for Notre Dame to get a wink and a nod from the successor to Weis before he was let go, it was likely next to impossible for that to happen, especially considering the fact that the football season wasn’t over. Given their recent history of relatively poor coach hirings, Notre Dame cannot afford to be trigger-happy when it comes to finding a successor to Weis. These next few weeks will define Swarbrick’s tenure as Athletic Director at Notre Dame—just as the firing of Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis’ contract extension defined Kevin White’s legacy—and Swarbrick cannot afford to rush the process and hire the wrong candidate.

Currently, the Notre Dame fan base reminds me of Veruca Salt from Roald Dahl’s beloved classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” You remember her, right? She’s the girl who had her father wrapped around her finger. She had a whole factory of workers furiously unwrapping Wonka Bars to find her a golden ticket. All the while, her father—played by Jack Swarbrick in our scenario—is hoping the Golden Ticket turns up so his daughter will stop yelling at him.

The fact is, like it or not, the University, the current players, the fan base, and the media have no other option but to wait for Swarbrick to make his decision on who Weis’ successor will be. Part of the frustration lies in the fact that Notre Dame, as storied as the program is, can no longer lure away anyone it wants and going through a coaching search makes this painfully obvious to Irish fans and foes alike. With as many false “sources” and “leads” that this story has already gotten from mainstream media and how many blatantly incorrect “scoops” that have been circulated on the internet, it’s apparent that the Notre Dame fan base and the rest of the nation doesn’t want to wait to find out the identity of Weis’ successor.

Notre Dame fans have been waiting for 15 years for their team to return to national prominence. Whomever Swarbrick chooses to take the helm at Notre Dame will have unbelievable pressure thrust upon them to produce favorable results—quickly. Given the relative failure of the last three hires, perhaps quicker isn’t necessarily better.

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This article is © 2007-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

The Problem With Hype and History

Jon Hunn — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:01:53 -0400

The head coaching position for the Notre Dame football team is arguably the most high-profile position in the country. Not only do you have to deal with constant exposure and criticism from television personalities, radio broadcasters, and magazine and newspaper writers, but you also have to deal with the incredible history of your position. Three of the greatest football coaches in college or professional history (Rockne, Leahy, and Parseghian), spent the majority of their careers under the Golden Dome. Throw in the success of coaches like Devine and Holtz, and the immense pressure to produce favorable results as quickly and consistently as possible is daunting, to say the least. The same can also be said regarding the quarterback position for the Irish. You have the same type of exposure that the coach of the program deals with, but you have arguably more history to live up to. Stuhldreher, Bertelli, Lujack, Guglielmi, Hornung, Huarte, Hanratty, Theismann, Clements, Montana, Rice, Mirer, and Quinn were all prolific quarterbacks for Notre Dame and college football as a whole.

Almost halfway through his junior season, Jimmy Clausen has felt the pressure of his high-profile position for the past two and a half seasons as the country has watched him develop from a freshman, with a “deer-in-the-headlights” look on his face through most games, to a quarterback with refined talent and a front-runner for the Heisman trophy. But has Jimmy Clausen lived up to, not only the history of his position, but the immense potential he had when he announced his intentions at the College Football Hall of Fame to play for Charlie Weis? As good as Jimmy Clausen may be this season and as good as he will be next year, if he decides to return to Notre Dame instead of taking an early exit to the NFL, the pressure on him is especially great for two very monumental reasons and neither of them is under his control: hype and history.

Jimmy Clausen was arguably the most successful quarterback Notre Dame had ever seen before he even stepped foot on campus. Clausen had a staggering 42-0 record as a starting quarterback in prep school. He amassed 10,677 yards passing for a California state record 146 touchdowns. His senior year, Clausen was named the USA Today “Player of the Year” and he won the 2006 “Hall Trophy”—the Heisman Trophy for high school football. He was so heralded coming out of high school that just about every recruiting analyst tabbed him as a “once-in-a-generation quarterback,” poised to eclipse the careers that his brothers Rick and Casey had at Tennessee.

Despite the inordinate amount of hoopla surrounding his verbal commitment to Notre Dame and his subsequent “championing” of the Notre Dame name, Jimmy Clausen had a rude introduction to NCAA FBS football during the 2007 season. However, Charlie Weis had no problem prognosticating that by his junior year, Jimmy Clausen would be as good as, if not better than, Brady Quinn was in his junior season. Through his freshman and sophomore seasons, which were fairly pedestrian, the hype surrounding Clausen continued to circulate, which caused most Irish fans to reconsider their collective anointing of Clausen as “The Chosen One.”

We are now in the middle of Clausen’s junior season and the apparition in Charlie Weis’ crystal ball is becoming more and more a reality. As Clausen continues to display the arm strength and pinpoint accuracy that made him so famous in high school, the buzz surrounding Clausen has progressed beyond hype and has morphed into those concerned with college football, from professionals who write about it to fans who argue about it, comparing Clausen to Notre Dame’s most recent successful quarterback—Brady Quinn.

Throughout his career, Jimmy Clausen has been, and will continue to be, compared to Brady Quinn. This is especially difficult because Quinn played a scant three years ago. To put it succinctly, Irish fans have been spoiled by Quinn—and rightly so. Nobody expected Quinn to be as good as he was at the beginning of his junior year and it was even more surprising because the Irish had not had a very successful quarterback for nearly a decade. There were few expectations for a truly good quarterback before Quinn had his breakout junior year: not because the tradition of the position had diminished, but because it had been almost a dozen seasons since the Irish fielded a more than competent passer. However, despite all of the accolades that Brady Quinn garnered while he played at Notre Dame, he will be forever discounted from being a truly great quarterback because he never possessed a signature win.

Brady Quinn’s biggest game at Notre Dame was the loss in 2005 to USC. He never won a big bowl game for Notre Dame and he never defeated USC. The same can be said for Jimmy Clausen. He has not had a signature win for Notre Dame: he hasn’t beaten USC and hasn’t won a notable bowl game. No matter how many records Clausen breaks and no matter how he elevates his play while donning an Irish uniform, he will never be labeled as a great quarterback until he delivers a significant win for Notre Dame.

Is this fair?

Jimmy Clausen (and Charlie Weis, for that matter) has failed to deliver on the national stage for Notre Dame. At the end of the season, both may depart—one leaving voluntarily for greener pastures, a bigger stage, and a hefty contract worth millions, and the other being asked to leave for not producing desirable results. It would be naive to think that the matchup against USC this weekend has little bearing with either Clausen or Weis’ future at Notre Dame or the legacy they ultimately leave behind. Lose, and it will only be another notch in a long line of disappointments in marquee games for this program. But win, and this game will be remembered as a moment in the long history and never-ending hype surrounding Notre Dame football when a good player and a good coach delivered on their potential to be truly great.

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This article is © 2007-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

For Better Or Worse: Re-Evaluating Irish Expectations (Part 2)

Jon Hunn — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:36:25 -0400

I'm usually an optimist concerning most things. I'm the guy who sat in front of the television every Saturday afternoon during the 2007 football season yelling obscenities and screaming that the football team wasn't playing as well as I thought they should. They weren't playing up to my expectations, even though the expectations I had for the team were founded in wishful thinking rather than sound logic or reason. I had deluded myself into imagining that even though the team was full of underclassmen starting at key positions, that somehow the Irish persevere and have a real shot at pulling off a marginally-successful season. Did I learn anything from that year-long lesson in wishful-thinking?

Most Irish fans entered this season calculating that an 11-1 or 10-2 season would be a realistic final record for this football team. After all, the Irish were returning a heavily experienced offensive line, a seasoned quarterback, a stable full of talented running backs and wide receivers, and one of the best secondaries in the nation. However, even though we are only four games into the season, there are several events that have transpired and several weaknesses that have been revealed about this football team that begs the question, "Are the expectations we had coming into this season the same expectations we should have a third of the way through?" This article is the second in a two-part series addressing this very issue. In case you missed it, yesterday we had some guest writers from The Subway Alumni Show give their opinion on this very subject. You can read their thoughts right here in Part 1.

When addressing this subject, I believe a definite distinction needs to be made between the expectations for this year's football team and the expectations for Charlie Weis---because they are two different things that have often been convoluted in the minds of the Irish faithful. It is these expectations surrounding Charlie Weis that have been magnified by two things.

First, anticipation for success under Weis is high for the very same reason that hopes for success has been high for every other Notre Dame coach that came before him---tradition. Historically, Notre Dame has fielded many great teams, but like Sprout said in yesterday's article, if you judge how successful a team or a season has been based on their winning a National Championship, then Notre Dame has had 11 successful seasons, and I just don't believe that that's the case. However, the coach at Notre Dame is expected to consistently field elite teams. The other reason projections for Charlie Weis have been and continue to remain high are because of the hype and experience surrounding him when he was hired. It's the same reason that people have great hopes for Jimmy Clausen and why fans forecasted great things for Ron Powlus when he came to Notre Dame. Charlie Weis had the coaching pedigree and a reputation of being an offensive genius. It is for these reasons that fans still desire a high level of coaching excellence and I can't say I disagree with them. However, if Charlie Weis were to win a National Championship, these expectations for him and his coaching staff will only be pushed higher still.

On the other hand, expectations for a football team are very different in nature. They are based on skill, experience, and development rather than legend and reputation. On paper, this Irish football team is anticipated to be very good. They have skill and experience---the past several seasons have taught us that. However, the one x-factor in this year's squad is development and this is where expectations for an entire team and the coaching staff intersect.

Coming into this season, Irish fans expected a potent offense, a productive passing and rushing offense, and a stout offensive line. However, they also anticipated solid tackling and secondary play as a result of the team's high level of experience. However, four games into the season, needless penalties, sloppy tackling, poor defensive pressure that leads to poor secondary coverage can do nothing but lower expectations among realistic fans. Close games against Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue cause bystanders to question whether or not Notre Dame can beat teams like Washington, USC, or even Pittsburgh.

While hopes have fallen at this point in the season, the majority of this does not fall on the team, but on the coaching staff. When expectations for a football team meet or exceed those for a coaching staff, then that program is achieving success. However, when expectations for a football team are lower than those of the coaching staff, then that program is not succeeding. Currently, the 2009 football team is in the latter category.

All is not lost. The season is not over. Like Eric mentioned in yesterday's article, most of the problems seen on the field can be corrected by positive personnel development which stems from effective coaching from both Charlie Weis and his assistants. It's far too early to be calling for the removal of Charlie Weis. However, at the end of the season, it will be necessary to not only make an emotional decision on whether or not Charlie Weis is still the man for this job, but it's also necessary to look back and ask, "Were the expectations for this football team met?" Not only were they met from the standpoint of wins and losses, but were they met from the standpoint of development? The ultimate success of a football program is not how much talent they started with, but how much development in skill and discipline they ended with and that goes beyond wins and losses.

For Better or Worse: Re-Evaluating Irish Expectations (Part 1)

Jon Hunn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:12:34 -0400

Based on pre-season expectations, most Irish fans are starting to grumble about the state of the football program at Notre Dame. Some people are waiting to see if the two previous close wins will catch up to the Irish, similar to the Michigan game. Around the nation, Irish fans are starting to ask themselves "Are the Irish as good as we thought at the beginning of the season?"

Here at Clashmore Mike, we will be doing a two-part look at Irish expectations and what changes, if any, need to be made based on the first third of the season. For part 1, we've reached out to fellow Notre Dame analysts Sprout and Eric over at The Subway Alumni Show. Individually, they gave their opinions on the idea of Irish Fans shifting their expectations:

Sprout

I subscribe to the belief that any team can beat any team if they prepare and play properly. The ranking in front of your name doesn't always mean you're guaranteed a victory ---just ask USC or Ole Miss or Penn State about that. Notre Dame has the talent and the depth to run with anyone on their schedule. Are they going to have their backs to the wall in several of those games? Yes. If they end up 10-2 are they going to be a top-five team? Doubtful. Does that mean this season will be a let down or all for naught? Absolutely not.

What I do think needs to change for Irish fans are their expectations of what Notre Dame football means. Football, like anything else, is cyclical. To say the Irish should never lose to a certain team simply because they are Notre Dame comes across as arrogant. That doesn't mean I agree with every loss they've had recently...but things happen. If perfection is what fans expect from Notre Dame, then by my count Notre Dame has only ever had 11 successful seasons. It's a wonder anyone is a fan to begin with based on all that failure.

All sarcasm aside, the college landscape is very different for Notre Dame than it was 20 years ago and it seems people are having a hard time admitting that. It's harder to recruit. It's harder to schedule. (A big part of the reason Notre Dame was able to schedule so many big name teams in a single season during the Holtz era was because a majority of those teams were independent also. Once everyone jumped ship for conferences, recruiting became a lot more complicated.) And to expect to be the best team based on Notre Dame's history doesn't cut it for me. It just doesn't seem reasonable.

Overall though, I think the issues run deeper than just Notre Dame fans, but I'll use us as the example. The way college football is currently setup is for that of failure. We have to expect a perfect season because that's the only measure of success anymore. In any other sport, on any level, losing a single game does not hold as much weight as it does in college football. Why is that? It's a recipe for disaster. A playoff system has to be put in place. As outrageous as ESPN's conference realignment piece was---that was aired earlier this year---and regardless of how tongue-in-cheek they were being, a system like that makes sense for college football. And it's under that system, in my opinion, that Notre Dame has the best shot at winning a National Championship again.

Eric

Since my counterpart took his answer to the much larger issue of the college football landscape, I'll stay within the shadow of the Golden Dome and explain why I believe the Irish and their fans are still able to meet expectations of an 11-1 or 10-2 records.

I think most college football predictions can be pretty outrageous---like Lou Holtz's 13-0 (upsetting Florida in the National Championship) prediction. But when Lou presented his argument he brought up the point that from the top of the schedule to the bottom, Notre Dame would field the better team athletically each week. Now some can make the argument (enter Mark May) that Notre Dame is not athletically superior than USC this year, but I disagree. I understand USC reloads faster than any school in the country, but losing players like Sanchez, Turner, Cushing, Matthews, Maualuga, and Moala---along with others---has played a huge role in closing the gap this year on USC and in my opinion are too many losses, especially on defense to be seen as superior to Notre Dame. Having virtually our whole offense back this season along with almost all of the key pieces on defense, it becomes easy to understand Lou's bold prediction. Notre Dame should continue to field the better team in each of it's games this year, barring of course the dreaded injuries.

As we all know, it's not just who has the better team on paper and who's ranked higher---that's why they play the games (see Appalachian State vs. Michigan). It's more about coming into each game prepared, focused and ready to execute at the highest level on every down of every possession. A pretty big request to expect out of some college "kids," so we prepare ourselves for the miscues and the letdowns. To me, that is why so many people brushed off Lou's prediction. He was simply calling for perfection, something that is so rarely seen in any sport, let alone in college football. However, with a down schedule for the Irish in '09, a prediction of say 10-2, or even mine of 11-1, doesn't seem to be so far-fetched.

Since the early slip-up against Michigan, followed with some close call victories against Michigan State and Purdue, I understand why some fans want to adjust their expectations. To make the excuse of this team not being ready for life in the top 10 or the top 5: I disagree. A mature Brady Quinn took Charlie Weis' offense into the top 10 before and I think we can all agree that Quinn and company had less talent than the current players. Even with Mike Floyd out for what looks to be the season, I think that this group of kids should be and will be able to perform well enough throughout the remaining games to keep on winning.

There are some negative aspects that the team is currently facing (poor tackling, poor pressure by the defensive line, poor secondary coverage, and needless penalties), and although we are nearing mid-season already, I find that those are all correctable problems. People easily forget that players progress throughout the season and I don't believe it's too much to ask of our defensive line to improve upon their pressure or our linebackers to tackle better. The pieces could fall into place very easily for the Irish. If the defensive line is able to create better pressure consistently, the secondary's job becomes easier since the opposing quarterback won't have all day to make up his mind. Both of these things will then lead to players being in the right position to make the right plays. I think Notre Dame is fortunate that the negative aspects that have come out of our first four games are so few and seem to be easily correctable.

Overall, it will continue to be on the players and coaches to stay focused on their performance and improvements each week. Just because we should be beating the Washington State's and Boston College's this year doesn't guarantee a victory. Will we see an 11-1 season? I believe so, but then again I predicted Brady Quinn was going to be able to win a game or two for my Cleveland Browns.

Once again, our thanks go out to Sprout and Eric at The Subway Alumni Show for allowing us to pick their brains on this topic. Make sure to check out their Purdue recap and Washington preview episode airing tomorrow. Also, Part 2 of this topic will be covered tomorrow right here on Clashmore Mike.

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This article is © 2007-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

Why 2008+1=2005

Jon Hunn — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 01:07:06 -0400

“‘Right now, you’re a six and five football team. And guess what, that’s just not good enough. It’s not good enough for you and it’s certainly not going to be good enough for me.” —Charlie Weis

Those words echoed a feeling of hope that the future for the Notre Dame football team was bright and it brought temporary ease to the gruesome year that the Irish had just a season before. In his introductory press conference, Charlie Weis spoke promises of an improved football program and an improved attitude throughout that program and for the first two years after he was hired, he delivered on his promise. But what many sports enthusiasts didn’t count on in 2005 was a surprisingly good team—a team that was poised to break out and compete heavily against every team they faced.

It is now 2009, besides those two, what most people would call “good years,” the Irish had two lackluster years including a 3-9 2007 campaign and a 7-6 2008 campaign. Fall camp is underway and even though most fans are fairly optimistic about the upcoming season, some cynical fans are waiting on the edge of their seat for the Irish, or Charlie Weis, to implode and provide a reason for them to call for the coach’s departure from South Bend.

This upcoming season should look surprisingly similar to the scenario that took place in the 2005 season. That year, the team was loaded with some decent talent that were at the peak of their collegiate careers. That, coupled with the new coaching philosophies instilled by Weis and his original team of position coaches (of whom only Ianello, Parmalee, and Polian remain) and an ideal schedule for a young, talented team allowed the 2005 squad to come just a few plays shy of vying for the BCS Championship. Am I saying that this year’s team could be playing for the national title? Yes. Is it likely that they will? No. But given the circumstances, there is little evidence to doubt that they are capable of doing so.

For the past two seasons, Notre Dame fans, myself included, have reassured themselves that the sterling classes that Weis and his assistants were bringing into Notre Dame were going to change the face of Notre Dame football for this generation. But it was also common belief that the bevy of fresh talent needed a few years to mature and develop into collegiate players and that the Notre Dame program would be two or three years removed from national prominence.

This is the year that the first true Weis-recruited class will come to fruition. Sam Young, James Aldridge, Chris Stewart and others are no longer the heralded freshman, but upperclassmen that will lead this year’s squad onto the field Saturday after Saturday. You can’t judge the effectiveness and prominence of a recruiting class until they have matured and, as Lou Somogyi wrote, this is the year in which that first class will be judged.

This is also the turning point for Charlie Weis as a head coach. Even though the 2007 season was much worse than it should have been, most fans gave Weis a pass on the season, chalking the poor performance on the field up to the Great Quarterback Derby of 2007, the lack of effort on the defense, the lack of cohesion on the offensive line, and the lack of a consistent running game, or Weis learning to coach technique and mechanics instead of schematics. Much like the 2005 season was a showcase of Charlie Weis’ capability of coordinating experienced football players, 2009 needs to be a showcase of his ability to coach raw, fresh-out-of-high school talent into truly technical football players. And even though the Irish are still probably at least a year from being a pre-season title contender, this is the season that Charlie Weis needs to show that he can take a team from a rough 3-9 campaign to a national powerhouse.

Weis himself made it clear in his media day session with the press that this is the year in which the talking of an improved team and an improved attitude stops and more focus will be placed on bringing the results to the field. His players echo that same attitude. If this team needs to exemplify one thing this year, it is a “put up or shut up” attitude because this is the year that Coach Weis, his assistants, his staff, and his players do not get a pass on a sub-par season.

Was the Hawaii Bowl last year the break-out game for this current 2009 team that the Pittsburgh game was for the 2005 squad? Are this year’s personnel poised to have a break-out season like 2005: Charlie’s first year at Notre Dame? The program needs a breakout season, Charlie Weis needs a breakout season, the University needs a breakout season, and the fans desperately need a breakout season.

The seniors of this team are the same players who were freshman the last time the Notre Dame football program was poised for a great season. Much has passed since then and for Charlie Weis, much has been learned. It truly is time for Coach Weis to put his money where his mouth is. Talk is cheap and I don’t think that anyone associated with the football program would have any reservations in agreeing with me and that, in itself, bodes well for this season.

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This article is © -2009 by and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

A Clashmore Mike Roundtable: 2009's Major Contributors

Jon Hunn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:46:28 -0400

With the Blue-Gold game over and the football team taking time off until June, the staff of Clashmore Mike sat down to identify key players on this year’s team.

These players are not being singled out merely because of their performance in the Blue-Gold game, but because of their potential for exceptional performance next season.

Team Anchors

This player is an anchor for his side of the ball. More than skilled, he should be an emotional leader and consistent performer.

Offense

Andy: Jimmy Clausen — As much as I hate to admit it, this must be the season Clausen matures into the type of player that commands respect and is able to coax the best possible performance out of those around him. He's shown potential and flashes of brilliance. The time is now for Clausen to finally develop into a true leader of an offense.

Anthony: Jimmy Clausen — Clausen must be the anchor of this team. There is no more important leadership position on a football team than quarterback. and Clausen needs to come into his own this year. He is a two-year starter with loads of talent but hasn’t consistently played up to his potential. The 2009 Irish squad will only go as far as his leadership takes them.

Jon: Sam Young — Young will enter this season having started every game for the Fighting Irish the past three seasons (38 games). He is the unquestioned leader on the offense in terms of experience. However, it’s time for Sam to step up as the emotional leader for the offense, and what better time than now? I look for Sam to close out his somewhat disappointing career at Notre Dame with a strong season. Hopefully, he’ll ride some momentum into the postseason this year. If he plays up to his potential this season, he could prove to be a solid first-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

Michael: Jimmy Clausen — While Sam Young has the quiet confidence and leadership of the offensive line, Weis’s offense is quarterback-centric. All roads lead from Clausen. Clausen’s third-year starting must display maturity and a thorough knowledge of the playbook—as Quinn did—for this team to dominate. Ten returning starters ease the pressure. I expect Clausen to show real leadership, make the right calls, and eliminate any costly mistakes.

Defense

Andy: Brian Smith — As Smith is the unquestioned emotional leader of this defense, I don’t think there’s any likelier candidate for an anchor position than him. While he is able to amp up those around him, it’s vitally important that Smith’s play becomes much more consistent and productive for him to truly lead the Irish defense into battle on Saturday afternoons in the fall. I expect him to rise to the occasion.

Anthony: Brian Smith — In the same way that Clausen must come into his own, it is time for Smith to take on a larger leadership role on his side of the ball. Smith has proven to be an exceptional athlete with loads of potential, but he needs to move beyond leading by example to being the vocal leader of the defense. If Smith can keep this unit energized, the Irish defense will significantly elevate their level of play.

Jon: Brian Smith — Even though Smith is a junior and Kyle McCarthy outranks him in terms of seniority and experience, Brian’s leadership on the field has been well-documented this offseason. Moving over to middle linebacker should help solidify his position as the anchor of the defense, and hopefully his play this season will live up to the hype. I have no doubt it will. One thing is for sure—when looking for the most emotional player on the defensive side of the ball, look no further than Brian Smith.

Michael: Brian Smith — As a legacy, Smith grew up on Notre Dame and responded to pressure with heart in his first two years. The defense will feed off of his passion and love for the school. Expect Smith to anchor the defense whether inside or outside. He’ll call the formations and provide leadership for an attacking defense. The Irish defenders will play with heart in 2009 due to his leadership.

Team Cornerstone

This is the most important athlete on each side of the ball. If this player does not perform up to standards, Notre Dame will have a hard time winning close games.

Offense

Andy: Sam Young — While conventional wisdom ought to dictate a pick of Paul Duncan for this slot (and there are convincing arguments to be made), I have to pick Sam Young as the offensive cornerstone for the 2009 Irish. The entire offensive line’s play is going to be crucial for anyone to see success next year—whether passing or running the ball—and Young must finally live up to his potential in turning the front five into a fine-tuned machine. It’s time his play finally develops some sense of consistency and he is able to sustain relevance on every down.

Anthony: Offensive Line — On offense, the success of the Irish won’t be determined by a single player. Rather, the production of the offense will be directly linked to the offensive line. The Irish have plenty of weapons at the skill positions. With Clausen distributing the ball to a deep group of receivers, a host of talented tight ends, and a stable of highly recruited running backs, the offense will only go as far as the offensive line play allows. To have a BCS season, Notre Dame needs a high level of performance out of this unit.

Jon: Running Backs — While I’d like to pick Jimmy Clausen or Paul Duncan for this category, I can’t. Rather, I think the little extra that will push this year’s squad from ordinary to extraordinary (that’s right, I said it) will be the success of the running backs. Armando Allen, Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray—coupled with James Aldridge at fullback—will play a large role in determining if this offense can post big numbers on opposing defenses. If the Blue-Gold game is any indication of their potential, this offense may not be so pass-heavy next season. It may finally be time for the running game to play a pivotal part in keeping defenses honest by pounding the line of scrimmage.

Michael: Paul Duncan — Duncan must show he can protect Clausen’s backside against the opponent’s top pass-rushers without help. His dominance at left tackle will allow the Irish to utilize all their weapons, freeing up a tight end. He will be integral to a successful Irish running game.

Defense

Andy: Harrison Smith — Smith’s transition to free safety is one of the most important offseason personnel changes. period. A dominant force is needed to control the middle of the field, and it looks as if last season’s emergence of Smith as a potent young gunner should ease his migration. Following in the footsteps of safeties like Tom Zbikowski and David Bruton, Smith must deliver consistent play to avoid a drop in production at this crucial position.

Anthony: Ian and Hafis Williams — On defense the Irish need productive years from Ian and Hafis Williams. This doesn’t necessarily need to come in the form of sacks, tackles for a loss, etc., but defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta’s scheme requires tenacious play by the interior defensive line. Ian and Hafis will be counted on to stuff the run as well as provide push up the middle. Notre Dame’s defense must be able to stop the run with seven. If the Irish can get this production from the interior defensive line positions, the defense will open up, utilizing the assets of a strong secondary, and perform at a much higher level.

Jon: Harrison Smith — Again, the popular choice for this category would be the play of the defensive tackles, and you cannot underestimate their role in making the Irish defense a force to be reckoned with. However, another very important part of the defense is the secondary, and a big part of its success will depend on how well Harrison Smith transitions to the free-safety position. If he transitions well, the Notre Dame secondary could be one of the most talented and strongest, depth-wise, in the nation. If he transitions poorly, the secondary may prove to be the weak link in an otherwise very strong chain—a weakness opposing offenses may look to expose. The only positive, should Harrison Smith not be up to the challenge is that behind him in the depth chart is a capable Sergio Brown, and he should see some playing time regardless.

Michael: Ian and Hafis Williams — What a perfect time for Bryant Young to return to South Bend! Both Ian and Hafis Williams will benefit from his All-Pro experience and coaching and veteran coach Randy Hart. The defensive line will be counted on to limit opponents' ground games. That will force teams to pass, playing into the strength of the Irish defense—the secondary. With few experienced QBs among our opponents, Notre Dame’s rivals will try to exploit the run. Expect cornerstone play from these two up the middle.

Break-Out Player

This player should become an integral part of the team. What excites Notre Dame fans most in watching young talent develop is observing a player exceed expectations and perform at a high level (e.g. Golden Tate in 2008). This is a player to watch next season.

Andy: Ethan Johnson — Johnson is poised to become the most devastating pass-rusher since Justin Tuck was harassing opposing quarterbacks. His speed and technique at the line of scrimmage are incredible, and he looks to be progressing rapidly in a defense that seems tailor-made for his skill set. Bryant Young’s arrival will only accelerate his development and maturity.

Anthony: Armando Allen — Allen finally looks to be comfortable playing in Coach Charlie Weis’s offense. He is a back with top-end speed and quickness, exceptional hands, and game-changing ability. If the Blue-Gold game was any indication, his vision and patience have both improved, and he has finally learned to utilize his speed. He is also the best back in pass protection. If Allen can play at a high level and get the ground game going, the sky is the limit for the Irish offense.

Jon: Jonas Gray — If Gray can be a complete running back in Charlie Weis’s offense (i.e. blitz pickup, identifying defensive schemes, etc.), he could be poised to become a consistent contributor to this year’s offense. Even though I believe Armando Allen will get the majority of the touches out of the backfield, Jonas Gray could prove to be a reliable second option when Allen needs a breather. Robert Hughes has been a fan favorite, but despite some solid performances at the end of the 2007 campaign his running has been fairly lackluster thus far. If he continues to disappoint, Jonas Gray could receive some heavy consideration as the thunder to Allen’s lightning.

Michael: Ethan Johnson—Johnson will provide the outside edge rusher that pressures opponents' QBs, forces mistakes, and puts opponents in holes with sacks. Expect him to benefit from Tenuta’s attacking defense and Hart and Young’s tutelage. With few opponents returning starting quarterbacks, look for Johnson to take advantage of the inexperience. I wonder if he and Justin Tuck will be comparing notes over the course of the season.

Most Improved

Just as the title says, this player should be the most improved player from last year to this year, not necessarily the best performer on the field or the one to put up the biggest numbers.

Andy: Armando Allen — Allen is poised to become the difference-maker in this year’s Irish team, and it’s not hard to see why. With a new position coach, improved offensive line play, and returning experience in the passing game, Allen should be the first- and second-down back for the majority of the season. His fundamentals and technique look better than 2008, and his trademark quickness is still present. Look for Allen to dominate with Weis calling the plays.

Anthony: Sam Young — After three years as a starter, Young is poised to have a strong senior year. Young was arguably the most-heralded offensive line recruit in the country his senior year of high school but has yet to play up to his potential. Young must perform at a high level to pave the way for the Irish ground attack as well as protecting Clausen. If newly hired offensive line coach Frank Verducci can harness Young’s talent, he could secure his status as a top pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

Jon: Harrison Smith — Every report that came out of spring practice said Harrison Smith’s transition from outside linebacker to free safety was nearly flawless. With his new position, Smith will be poised to contribute to the defense on a full-time basis, as opposed to a part-time outside linebacker in Notre Dame’s speedier defensive package last season. Just as he did during the Blue-Gold game, I expect to see him terrorize opposing offenses and consistently pressure quarterbacks in Tenuta’s new blitz-heavy defense when he’s not providing extra pass support.

Michael: Armando Allen — With an experienced offensive line and improved coaching, Allen should benefit the most from the increased emphasis on the running game. With Allen developing into a complete back with the speed that is required in Weis’s dynamic offense, Armando may well double or even triple his 45-yards-per-game average from 2008. Look for Allen to score Irish TDs in punt and kickoff returns this year as a young Notre Dame team reaches maturity.

Most Valuable Player

This player should be the most impressive statistical leader and a strong candidate for a postseason team award.

Andy: Jimmy Clausen — Provided all the progress being made in the running game and along the defensive front translates into tangible performance on the field in the fall, Clausen is in a unique position to become an elite college quarterback in 2009. Throwing to all the same targets as last season, Clausen should be productive in the passing game if the Irish can finally keep teams honest running the ball. The only thing holding Clausen back at this point is himself.

Anthony: Armando Allen — Again, Allen has the potential to be an all-purpose yardage machine—running, receiving, and as a return specialist. If he plays up to his potential, he should provide a huge boost for Notre Dame’s offense and special teams.

Jon: Michael Floyd — Even though Golden Tate has the biggest game-breaking potential on the offensive side of the ball—the majority of opposing defenses will key in on Tate with two defenders—Michael Floyd should benefit the most from the mismatch. Couple his pure athleticism with Jimmy Clausen’s improvement this offseason and Floyd will be poised to have a record year for the Fighting Irish.

Michael: Jimmy Clausen — Clausen’s QB rating (23rd) ranked just behind NFL draft prospects Mark Sanchez (21st) and Josh Freeman (22nd) in 2008. Clausen had as many TDs as Matthew Stafford (25, tied for 17th), and his completion percentage was nearly the same as well (60.9 percent vs. 61.4 percent). Clausen should cut way down on his interceptions (17 in 2008). A wide-receiver corps as deep and talented as any in the nation, an improved running game, and a mature, experienced offensive line will make this an unpredictable offense. Weis will expand the playbook further now that Clausen is entering his third year starting. Surrounded by weapons and with an additional year to mature, Clausen’s junior year will look light years better than his sophomore outing.

Summary

The players featured above have been highlighted as integral pieces in this year’s squad. They will be major factors that determine whether the 2009 campaign will live up to Notre Dame standards or if the Fighting Irish will be playing in another low-tier bowl game at the end of the season.

However, this list isn’t all-inclusive and we’d like to know what you think! Leave your comments and let us know your picks for each of these categories. One thing is for certain—whether we are right or wrong, this should turn out to be, at the very least, a very exciting season for Notre Dame football and the Irish faithful.

This article is © 2008-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

The Art of Beating a Dead Horse

Jon Hunn — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:20:16 -0400

This past weekend was the annual Blue-Gold spring football game for the Fighting Irish. It was a game that, at times, lulled me to sleep and, at other times, got me excited for the young, developing talent on display. After a rigorous post-game debriefing with my brother and my dad, I was certain that the morning would bring a newspaper stuffed full of interesting perceptions on the very game I just witnessed.

When I awoke and got around to unfolding my copy of the South Bend Tribune, I was met with a proverbial smorgasbord of articles pertaining to anything from the improved rushing game to coverage of the ND/Japan try-outs by former Notre Dame players. Then I read over an article that annoyed me to no end, and led me to the inevitable conclusion that certain people simply refuse to let some things go.

I realize that articles like this are published for only two possible reasons:

To attract controversy and invite speculation.
Provide opportunity for people to suspend logic in favor of beating a dead horse.

To the South Bend Tribune’s credit, Jim Meenan has managed to do both, as is apparent by the sheer volume of meaningless comments that the article has garnered.

The other problem I have with this article regards timing. I understand the fact that Weis’s job security was in question last season after the drubbing at the hands of USC and heading into the Hawaii Bowl. Maybe the time to do an article like this, was then? Even though this article was poorly done and in bad taste, the fact that the Tribune decided to run it on the cusp of summer break, only serves to make me think that the Tribune has no problem with conducting themselves unprofessionally, if doing so results in increased exposure.

This is a new season and, by all signs exhibited at the Blue-Gold game, this staff should field an improved team, even though it’s hard to come to any concrete conclusions about a team from a scrimmage. It’s time for the Notre Dame media and fans to stop beating a dead horse, and leave the subject of Coach Weis’s job security alone until the end of the 2009 season. Hopefully, by then it will no longer be an issue.

This article is © 2008-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

Consistency Is Key for Notre Dame in 2009

Jon Hunn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:05:42 -0400

“…the day to day consistency. We’ll flash that we know how to do it at times and then we’ll not do it another time. So the consistency of doing it over and over are things you harp on.” – Frank Verducci

If you’ve read my previous article, you’ll notice that, at times, I love playing devil’s advocate. I wrote that article as much for other Notre Dame fans as I did for myself.

I was one of the people who was comparing the 2007 squad to the 1988 squad and hoping for the best. As it turns out, I spent most of the 2007 season under a rock and, after a while, my friends stopped making fun of me.

Just a few days ago, I was thinking to myself, “If Notre Dame can get into the USC game unscathed and can squeak away with a win, they have a good chance of finishing the rest of the season undefeated.”

Then, I had to remind myself that last year, Notre Dame lost four out of their last six games to finish out the regular season including an excruciatingly painful loss to Syracuse. What was the common denominator in all of those losses? Consistency. Do the research.

In fact, Anthony has done the research and has written an article covering each of those games statistically.

When it really comes down to it, most of the questions I outlined in my previous article that are facing the Irish this upcoming season could be remedied by consistency in all facets of the game.

In fact, one could argue that consistency was the biggest problem facing last year’s squad as well. The last half of last year’s campaign included several games in which the Irish gave up double-digit leads to lose the game. The Irish could have very easily won each of those games with consistency from the entire team.

Consistency, however, is not an easy thing to achieve. Really, it starts up front on the offensive and defensive lines. If the offensive line provides consistent protection to the quarterback, he can establish a rhythm with his receivers and provide a consistent passing attack.

If the offensive line can provide consistent running lanes for the running backs, they can consistently gain good chunks of yardage which will not only move the ball down the field, but open up the passing game for the quarterback.

Similarly, if the defensive line can provide consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks they can consistently shut down the running game with the linebackers and it provides an opportunity for the secondary to consistently cover the opposing receivers. It’s a vicious cycle.

“Every football game is won or lost in the trenches.” The old saying is true and this year, it rings true for the Fighting Irish. The Spring is not for installation and teaching technique as much as the summer is.

However, the spring is a time for the coaches to observe who is playing with the most consistency thus far. Come summer camp time, those players will have the upper-hand on the depth chart. Only time will tell if that translates to the upper-hand on the opposition.

This article is © 2008-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

Curb(ing) Your Enthusiasm

Jon Hunn — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:40:55 -0400

What I appreciate most about the Notre Dame fanbase, and what normally annoys anyone who doesn’t bleed Blue and Gold, is our unending devotion to the Irish and our blind support of the football team—including to the point of humiliation (see 2007).

If we sit around long enough and think about the team enough, we start to rationalize why Notre Dame should go undefeated this season, even though there’s no statistical proof to suggest it. We then go into the season with unattainable expectations for the team and are ultimately disappointed.

This should be a decent year for the football team, but how much stock should we put in practice reports, depth charts, or the long-winded praises of a head coach (Munir Prince anyone?).

What is a realistic expectation for this year’s team? We’ll hear from you readers later in a forth-coming poll and article written by Anthony.

But for now, let’s outline some different factors one should take into consideration before making any sort of prediction for this upcoming season.

Mental Errors Are Never Non-Existent

Let’s face it—even though a football team wins and loses together, a lot of the weight of a game is placed on the shoulders of the starting quarterback. And, even though Jimmy Clausen played like a Heisman Trophy candidate on Christmas Eve, it still does not erase the mental errors that he had that cost the Irish many games earlier in the season.

Usually, a quarterback greatly matures mentally and physically from his sophomore to junior season. However, don’t expect Jimmy Clausen to be flawless in his execution and game management.

No quarterback is perfect, although in the Hawaii Bowl, Clausen was about as close as you can get. Sometime, somewhere, Jimmy Clausen will misread the defense or attempt a throw he shouldn’t, and in doing so, he will put the team in jeopardy of losing the game.

Climbing out of that hole will depend on the mental toughness and development of the entire team, not just the quarterback.

Star Players from Last Season May Regress in Production This Season

Golden Tate and Mike Floyd had very good seasons last year. If Golden Tate can produce this season like he did last season, he will be a legitimate contender for a spot on the All-American team.

However, to expect both he and Floyd to produce as well this season as they did last season is unfair and probably unlikely. Even Jeff Samardzija had a drop-off in production from 2005 to 2006.

This season, expect opposing defenses to key in harder on Golden Tate with double coverage. This should open up the passing lanes to Mike Floyd and Kyle Rudolph, especially if Weis concentrates less on his “pound the football” mantra from last season and goes back to what he does best—passing the pigskin.

Because opposing defenses will be preoccupied with Tate and probably even Floyd, Clausen will spread the ball more, so even though the passing game may not regress a large amount, Tate’s impact on the offense will likely regress.

Comparing Current Players’ Developmental Patterns to Former Players Is Dangerous

Everybody is doing it and in a future article, I will do it too. However, comparing players on this year’s squad to former players and their production patterns is dangerous to do.

The most obvious comparison is the expected development of Jimmy Clausen and the surprising development Brady Quinn had between his sophomore and junior seasons.

Sure, Brady Quinn’s development in 2005 was a pleasant surprise, but to expect that kind of leap in development from Clausen will probably lead to disappointment.

This principle can also be applied to other players. Expecting Robby Parris to resemble Jeff Samardzija in 2005, Harrison Smith to Tom Zbikowski, or Ian Williams to Trevor Laws is not only unfair to those players, but is also unfair to you.

The reality is that those players were once-in-a-decade players, and expecting Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Golden Tate, Mike Floyd, or Brian Smith to follow in their footsteps is unrealistic—even though they have the potential to do so.

Basing a Win-Loss Prediction on the Schedule Alone Will End in Heartache

Until the season actually starts, it’s almost impossible to predict an accurate win-loss record based on the schedule alone. There are simply too many questions surrounding not only the Fighting Irish, but also their opponents, to predict how a team will perform in the fall.

It’s too tempting to go through the schedule and size up an opponent based on their previous records. Many people think that this season should be the easiest we’ve seen in a while, but who thought that the Irish would lose to Syracuse last year?

Sure, Notre Dame has more pure talent than all of the teams on their schedule this year, save for USC, but player development and team cohesiveness is far more important to determining a team’s potential than talent alone.

Less heralded upperclassmen with experience and time to mesh with their teammates often produce more desirable results than underclassmen with unrefined talent.

So, what’s a realistic expectation for this season? As I outlined in the paragraphs above, it’s hard to predict based on the schedule, last season’s star players, or expected development of current underclassmen.

Too many times we, as Notre Dame fans, allow our emotions and our devotion to the university to affect our predictions. We base our expectations for the upcoming season on the tradition and stories of past Notre Dame seasons.

Realistically, this should be a solid year for many players at the skill positions. This year’s team will have to rely on unrefined pure talent even less than they did last season and definitely less than they did in 2007.

For now, I will shy away from attempting to come up with an exact win-loss record—especially since spring practice isn’t even finished yet. Rather, I will continue to chart the development of the current team and look forward to any surprises in the class of freshman arriving this summer.

I invite you to do the same.

This article is © 2008-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

Spring Cleaning for the Fighting Irish

Jon Hunn — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:23:55 -0400

Spring cleaning…for anyone who isn’t a spitting image of Danny Tanner, this term evokes many feelings of disgust, hate, and loathing. At least, that’s what I feel when I think of Spring cleaning. It’s a tedious task that usually takes up an entire Saturday–a Saturday that could be spent watching TV, playing video games, or watching videos of Jerome Bettis clown-stomp the Florida Gators. However, spring cleaning is necessary.

The same can be said about spring practice for any college football team. It’s a time for the returning players to dust off the ol’ jock strap for several weeks and showcase their mental and physical development from the previous season to their coaches and fans. It is also a time when players get acclimated to their new positions, new responsibilities, and new coaches.

As the Fighting Irish football team begins their spring practices, there are several players who need to be extraordinarily productive in order to get themselves off to the right start for the new season. These players also need to have a strong 2009 campaign if the Fighting Irish have any dreams of a top-tier bowl game or (dare I say it?) a National Championship.

Duval Kamara

After putting up record numbers for a freshman receiver in 2007 (records that have since been broken by Michael Floyd), Duval had probably the biggest drop-off in production of any player on last year’s squad. In 2008, he racked up a measly 20 catches for 208 yards and 1 touchdown. This season, Kamara needs to improve his play so he can fit seamlessly into the slot receiver position. Because Golden Tate and Mike Floyd pretty much have their respective positions sewn up, he must fight off Robby Parris, Deion Walker, John Goodman, and Shaquelle Evans for the starting job. While Robby Parris is a viable option for the slot, he just hasn’t been very productive and the other three wide receivers have yet to record a single reception in an Irish uniform. Duval is the front-runner for the job and it’s time he returns to the form he had his freshman year (I never thought I would say that about a player). A reliable slot receiver will be paramount in taking some defensive pressure off of Tate and Floyd next season.

Darrin Walls

After his breakout season in 2007, Darrin Walls had to leave the team for “personal reasons” (read: grades). While the Irish didn’t miss his contributions last season like they missed Kamara’s, Walls will be welcomed back to the team this spring with open arms. Even though the secondary is full of bodies, Darrin Walls should be one of the front-runners to replace Terrail Lambert even though Robert Blanton did an outstanding job last season. If nothing else, the Irish could stand to have some of the upperclassmen leadership that Walls would bring to the secondary. At the very best, look for Walls and McNeil to be starting opposite one another. At the very worst, look for Walls to share playing time with Robert Blanton. Either way, it will be great to have Darrin Walls back on the team.

Ian Williams

After receiving Freshman All-America honors in 2007, Ian Williams was a bit quiet last year. Williams had 40 tackles last season, but more alarmingly, zero sacks. With Pat Kuntz hitting the draft, it will be imperative that Williams increases his production this season as he will most likely be the veteran on the inside line. It will be up to Williams to hold the inside of the defensive line in the 4-3 defense that Jon Tenuta plans on running. Just as offensive production hinges on the offensive line, so too does defensive production hinge on the defensive line. The defensive line must increase their ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks while stopping the run and all of that funnels through the defensive tackles and Ian Williams.

Brandon Walker

Brandon Walker’s kicking in the first half of last season was probably the most consistent part of the team last year: week in and week out he was consistently horrible. Actually, it got to the point where we simply had to write an article about it. I don’t like to put blame on any one person for a loss, but if Walker had been a bit more accurate during the first half of the season, the Irish may not have had six losses last year. However, during the second half of the season, something seemed to click in Walker’s head and he started making more and more field goals. Hopefully, Walker can continue that trend and head into the 2009 campaign with a more reliable leg. I would love to see the kind of accuracy Walker had during the overtime heart-breaker to Pittsburgh. If Walker’s leg doesn’t improve from last season, I would not be surprised to see Weis pull the trigger on him and replace him with someone else.

Brian Smith

Much like Ian Williams in relation to Pat Kuntz, with the graduation of Maurice Crum, Brian Smith will step into the middle linebacker role as the emotional leader of the defense. Brian Smith has made a name for himself since his freshman year as being a high-energy tackler with enough passion for the entire defense. This season, Jon Tenuta and Corwin Brown will call on Smith’s skills and leadership to lead the linebackers. Even though Kyle McCarthy will be the experienced leader of the defense (if he’s granted a 5th year), Brian Smith should be the glue that holds together the middle of the field for the Irish. It is imperative that he not only produces as well as Crum has in the past, but that he surpasses those expectations in leading a defense that has been fairly lackluster the past few seasons. If he does this, Brian Smith has the potential to be an All-American.

Jimmy Clausen

This one seems like a no-brainer, but it’s worth mentioning how much Jimmy Clausen’s development this off-season will have an affect on the entire team. When Clausen was a freshman, Charlie Weis predicted that, at his junior year, Jimmy Clausen should be more developed than Brady Quinn was in his junior outing. We all know that Brady Quinn’s junior year was his break-out year and this season should be Clausen’s as well. If last year was any indication of his progression, look for Clausen to surpass Quinn’s junior year numbers. Comparing their sophomore campaigns, Clausen out-threw Quinn by 586 yards, threw an additional 8 touchdown passes, but had 7 more interceptions. If Clausen wants to be better than Quinn was his junior year, he must eliminate the mental errors that cost Notre Dame several games last season. It’s also especially important that Clausen, as well as the entire offense, produces well this season so Weis can give backup Dayne Crist some meaningful playing time. Weis has already commented that this spring will be especially hard on the quarterbacks. Let’s hope that the extra difficulty will prove to be beneficial to Clausen’s development.

Entire Offensive Line (LT)

Under new Offensive Line coach Frank Verducci, the Notre Dame Offensive Line will look to improve on their progression from 2007 to 2008. Last season was a huge step forward from their abysmal showing in 2007 and if the Irish offense, and Jimmy Clausen, wants to be productive, it will all hinge on the ability of the offensive line to block for the quarterback and the stable of running backs. Can the component of the offense that was fairly inconsistent last year mesh more effectively this season? The only position really open for battle this season is at left tackle, however it’s also the most important position on the entire line. With the graduation of Mike Turkovich, the competition for his replacement is between fifth year senior Paul Duncan and junior Matt Romine. The productivity of the offense this season centers more on the cohesion of the offensive line than on the progression of Jimmy Clausen. Whichever blocking scheme Charlie will utilize the most this season, it is up to Frank Verducci to implement it and make it work. This is one area I will be paying special attention to this season.

Entire Running Back Corps (Tony Alford)

Am I the only one who had to find out who Tony Alford was when Charlie Weis announced him as Mike Haywood’s replacement? It has been well documented how poor the Irish running game has been the past few seasons, in spite of superior talent. Notre Dame now has seven potential running backs (including Ciere Wood and Theo Riddick), all of whom were highly touted out of high school. So, the problem isn’t talent–it’s either coaching or execution. Charlie Weis has already attempted to fix the coaching problem (even though he didn’t fire Haywood), now it’s time for the running backs to fix the execution (enter Tony Alford). Tony Alford and newly appointed Offensive Line Coach/Running Game Coordinator Frank Verducci have had a large task set in front of them. But, if the offense wants to be productive this season and have some sort of balance between the running game and the passing game, the running backs and the offensive line need to work together in order to produce a solid ground game. Utilize man blocking with Robert Hughes, James Aldridge, and Jonas Gray. Utilize zone blocking with Armando Allen and Ciere Wood. Do whatever it takes, but let’s get some production out of the ground game. Hopefully, with opposing defenses keying in on Golden Tate, Mike Floyd, and Kyle Rudolph, the Irish running game should see some success.

This spring and fall will be very interesting to watch as this is the year most Irish fans believe the football team will begin to seriously compete for a BCS bowl game or a National Title. There are several issues with the team that need to be addressed before they can think about competing with some of the other elite teams in the country. Some of those issues are highlighted here, but this list is not all-encompassing. However, if the squad performs to its potential and these insidious issues are rectified, this team could produce as well as or better than the 2005 squad. Anything short of that will be a disappointment.

This article is © 2008-2009 by De Veritate, LLC and was originally published at Clashmore Mike. This article may not be copied, distributed, or transmitted without attribution. Additionally, you may not use this article for commercial purposes or to generate derivative works without explicit written permission. Please contact us if you wish to license this content for your own use.

Should a Rivalry Dictate a Season?

Jon Hunn — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:48:12 -0500

A year ago, I wrote an article discussing who Notre Dame's true rival is. It was an open and shut case and nobody can deny that, throughout their respective histories, Southern California is Notre Dame's biggest rival.

However, with the instability of Weis' tenure at Notre Dame, most people are pegging Charlie's success this season on two things: total wins and losses and the team's performance against USC.

I live in North Central Ohio. Here, either you're an Ohio State fan or a Michigan fan. Luckily, I'm neither. I've talked to many Ohio State fans that just care about one game at the end of the season against the Wolverines.

The same is true for Michigan fans, and some might claim that one of the reasons Lloyd Carr was fired from Michigan was his poor performance against Ohio State in recent history. But, is it fair to judge a coach or a coaching staff on their performance against a rival?

Most Notre Dame fans are more concerned about the season as a whole rather than just the Irish's performance against the Trojans. However, I think it is important how Notre Dame does against USC for several reasons.

In recent history, it's been common knowledge how dominant the Trojans have been in college football. Whether Notre Dame fans care to admit it or not, basing your team's performances against top football powers like USC, Florida, Ohio State, Texas, or other notable teams is a solid depiction of where your program rates against theirs.

However, the bad thing about college football, or good thing, depending on your opinion, is that on any given Saturday, any team can beat any team.

Because of this, some losses to weaker teams could make your team look worse than they really are (see Notre Dame vs. Syracuse, 2008).

In the same respect, even if Notre Dame does beat USC, it doesn't mean that the programs are equal or Notre Dame is better than USC.

Since Charlie Weis has come to Notre Dame, he has established himself as a powerful recruiter who can give Notre Dame at least a decent shot of signing the majority of most blue-chip recruits.

USC's Pete Carroll is also a coach who has had success in recruiting. Often times, Weis and Carroll find themselves battling over some of the same recruits. If Notre Dame can beat USC, it will aid Weis' recruiting efforts for those players who are deciding between South Bend and California.

Perhaps the biggest concern for Notre Dame fans is if Charlie Weis is finished learning on the job and is ready to become a leader that a head coach needs to be.

He has established himself as a recruiter and he's established himself as a fine-tuner of talent, but can he establish himself as a leader of an entire football team and a football program?

Notre Dame's performance against USC this season should be an accurate depiction of how close Notre Dame is to being a perennial power in the national scene once again.

It's undeniable how successful Pete Carroll has been at USC, and a competitive game against USC should show, among other things, how well Weis is doing as a head coach.

While I don't think it's fair to judge a coach on one game, the USC game has extra weight this season. Not only is it a rivalry game for the Irish, but it will carry several indicators of how close, or how far, Charlie Weis and Notre Dame are to returning to the state in which the program should be.

If the Irish should lose to Southern Cal, it does not automatically mean that Charlie Weis should be fired. Conversely, if the Irish should win, it does not mean that Charlie Weis should remain at Notre Dame.

The 2009 season is bigger than the date with Southern California, and Charlie Weis' future at Notre Dame after 2009 should be as well.

Notre Dame's National Signing Day Roundtable Recap

Jon Hunn — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:42:38 -0500

Signing day has come and gone, leaving a clearer picture of the 2009 recruiting class for the Fighting Irish. Head coach Charlie Weis and his staff reeled in the 20th-ranked class according to Rivals, and 24th-ranked class as judged by Scout. The writing staff here at ClashmoreMike.com weighs in on each recruit.

Offense

Alex Bullard
OG, 6'3", 275 pounds
7th ranked OG by Scout (four stars, No. 171 overall)
15th ranked OG by Rivals (four stars)

Jon: Alex Bullard has nice size for a high school lineman. Because he is extremely fast off the line of scrimmage, he often catches his assignment off guard with his speed and pushes them into the second and third level of the defense. However, Bullard will be facing much stronger and faster competition at the college level, which will force Bullard to not only bulk up, but keep his speed and enhance his technique. If he is able to do this, he could make a nice addition to the already populous stable of offensive linemen.

Andy: Bullard has nice size and good footwork, which should help him acclimate to the college game much more quickly than your typical incoming freshman lineman. As discussed elsewhere, his pass-blocking and technique will need some work. A very solid pickup for the Irish, Bullard should become a good option after being introduced to the speed and athleticism of the college game.

Anthony: Alex Bullard has excellent mobility and athleticism for an offensive lineman. He uses his hands well and excels at engaging linebackers at the second level. His technique can be sloppy, and will need to improve as he will inevitably face better opponents at the next level. Perhaps the weakest part of Bullard's game is pass blocking, but with his agility and hands, he should be able to develop this area of his game nicely.

Tyler Eifert
TE, 6'6", 220 pounds
25th ranked TE by Scout (3 stars)
24th ranked TE by Rivals (3 stars)

Jon: Being listed at 6'6" and 220 pounds makes Eifert look much more like a wide receiver. However, for his size, he moves very well, posing a problem for opposing defenses who don't account for him as a downfield threat. Look for Eifert to put on more weight and muscle in the weight room.

He reminds me of Kyle Rudolph with his ability to catch on the run and his height gives him the ability to fare well in jump-ball situations, especially in the red zone. I don't expect Eifert to make a push for playing time his freshman year for two reasons. First, he has a long way to go to get his body in a condition to play college football. Finally, because of Ragone's injury last season, Kyle Rudolph got the bulk of playing time and I expect him to fall into the No. 1 TE spot this year again. With Ragone coming back and Fauria getting some experience, that leaves little room for another TE. However, if Weis does need to call on another TE this season, count of Eifert to get the nod over Golic.

Andy: Tyler Eifert's size is certainly a concern and I would expect Coaches Weis and Mendoza to get started on that immediately. With a fair amount of work in the weight room, I could see Eifert getting a bit of playing time down the stretch depending on the progress Ragone and Fauria make in the off-season. There certainly is room for Eifert to break into the two tight end sets that Weis is so fond of calling, with Ragone's injury and Fauria's rather lackluster play thus far.

Anthony: Right now Eifert looks a lot like current tight end Kyle Rudolph, but doesn't bring the same athleticism. He isn't ready to play major college football (questionable competition at Bishop DeWenger), but he does have a big frame that can put on weight and could become a versatile tight end for Notre Dame with some time in the weight room. Eifert moves well for his size and excels at catching the ball at its highest point, giving him the potential to be a big-time red zone weapon. His ball skills and hands are solid, the test for Eifert will be developing more size to become a more complete player.

Jake Golic
TE, 6'4", 212 pounds
54th ranked TE by Scout (3 stars)
Unranked TE by Rivals (2 stars)

Jon: Because of Golic's relatively early verbal to Notre Dame, some might contend that his offer was a courtesy, given his family's previous involvement with Notre Dame. I tend to agree. Unless Charlie Weis sees some sliver of potential with Golic, I can't see him making much of an impact on a regular basis for Notre Dame. He is much smaller than Eifert and needs to add some muscle and weight in the weight room if he wants to play TE in college. He does have decent hands, but not better than Eifert or our current receiving TE's. I expect Golic to make his impact on the scout teams and possibly on special teams.

Andy: The family connections notwithstanding, one thing that has been proven time and time again is that ranking high school players based on projected college impact is more mystery than science. While Golic isn't coming into Notre Dame with the most impressive resume, he certainly has a supportive and knowledgeable family behind him that will be pushing him to excel at all times. Golic remains a rather large project, but could make an impact on special teams where so much of success depends on intangibles like intensity and ball-hawking.

Anthony: Golic is perhaps the biggest project of this class. He needs to gain size, speed, and strength in order to contribute at the college level. While Golic does have the intangibles, I don't anticipate him being a strong contributor for the Irish.

Zach Martin
OT, 6'5", 270 pounds
22nd ranked OT by Scout (4 stars)
24th ranked OT by Rivals (3 stars)

Jon: The thing I like about Martin is his intensity. He doesn't ever take a play off, which is key for an offensive tackle. However, sometimes his high motor works against him as he tends to over-pursue his defenders. Adding size to his frame while keeping his speed and intensity will be key to Martin's ability to translate well into college football. Honing his technique will keep him from missing blocks and put him in good position to contribute later on in his time at Notre Dame.

Andy: Another great offensive line pickup in this class, Zach Martin will again need to add some weight and strength to contribute effectively. One has to appreciate his tenacity and work ethic. The return to smash-mouth football seems much more likely with this recent crop of athletic linemen and Martin is one to watch as he blossoms into a solid contributor.

Anthony: Like the other offensive line recruits in this class, Martin has excellent athleticism. He stays low off the ball, utilizes great leverage, and plays with a high motor. He does a good job with hand position and engages defenders well. About the only knock on Martin is his strength. While he does engage well, he doesn't dominate the more physical defenders. Martin will need to add some weight and strength to contribute at the next level but certainly has the feet to play the tackle position.

Theo Riddick
RB, 5'10", 185 pounds
28th ranked RB by Scout (four stars, No. 241 overall)
10th ranked RB by Rivals (four stars, No. 242 overall)

Jon: Not many people have paid attention to Theo Riddick in this class, given the commitment of Cierre Wood. Riddick does however have some qualities in a running back that Wood does not. He seems a bit stronger than Wood. While Wood is labeled as a speedier back, I like to think of Riddick as a hybrid between speed and power. He does have good speed, but not as elusive as Wood. However, he is the stronger of the two. I like to think of him as a faster James Aldridge and see him being utilized in the same way as Aldridge—not your every down back, but certainly good for a change of pace. I don't see him making an immediate impact, but he does have potential to see the field in the future.

Andy: A great prospect, Riddick is already a very patient runner and possesses quite a bit more strength than his splashier counterpart, Cierre Wood. Lacking the speed to be considered an outside threat, it seems that Theo may be able to develop into a runner that will gather his share of third-down work. I think one item to be gleaned from ND's current stable of running backs is that we are very likely to see multiple backs garnering significant touches every game, much like the current time-sharing existing in the NFL.

Anthony: Riddick tends to be overshadowed by Cierre Wood but he is certainly a unique talent. With decisive cuts, excellent vision, and very good patience, Riddick does a very good job waiting for plays to develop. With quite a bit of power, he is often tabbed as a "between the tackles" runner, but he certainly has the capability to make defenders miss in space. If needed, he could even be moved to the defensive side of the ball as the running back position is filling up quickly with very talented bodies.

Chris Watt
OG/OT, 6'3", 280 pounds
1st ranked OT by Scout (5 stars, No. 31 overall)
2nd ranked OG by Rivals (4 stars, No. 77 overall)

Jon: I must admit that I was thrilled when I heard that Watt gave a verbal commitment to Notre Dame. He was recruited by some top schools and it's not very hard to see why. Watt has good size and technique to be a threat on the offensive line. He is a very good run blocker but he needs to improve his pass blocking and zone blocking skills. I see him as a guard for the Irish rather than a tackle. Additionally, if he is to play as a guard on the line, I'd like to see him bulk up a little. Out of all of our offensive line recruits, I can see Watt making the earliest impact for the Irish.

Andy: Watt very well could end up being the MVP of this class once all is said and done. He already has great size and blocking technique, although I question how he will adapt to Notre Dame's love affair with the zone-stretch scheme. Eating at college will put some more weight on him and I expect him to tilt the scales very near 300 pounds come fall. A fantastic pickup for sure.

Anthony: Watt has very good speed and agility for a lineman. He engages linebackers at the second level as well as just about any other offensive lineman. Watt plays with an aggressive, tenacious, physical style, particularly when run blocking. He stays low and drives his legs to move the defender. He also moves well in space, something that should prove to be an asset in pass blocking. About his only drawback is over-extending his arms and body to reach defenders.

Cierre Wood
RB, 6'0", 192 pounds
6th ranked RB by Scout (four stars, No. 54 overall)
8th ranked RB by Rivals (four stars, No. 76 overall)

Jon: When watching Wood on tape, it's hard not to notice his speed and athleticism. Charlie Weis usually picks one recruit in which he singles out of the class as being his most exciting recruit to watch—last year was Armando Allen and Munir Prince the year before. I think this year's recruit will be Wood. I don't see him getting much playing time in the backfield this year given the fact that we still have four candidates vying for playing time who've been in the system for over a year.

For even more pressure, Weis requires his running backs to not only run the ball, but pick up blitzes and catch out of the backfield—all things I think that Wood will be good at, but not right away. However, it's hard not to notice his up-side and that alone will get him on the field in some capacity this year. Look for him to possibly be used like Golden Tate in kickoff returns at the very least at some point this year.

Andy: Weis' propensity to pass first and run second will undoubtedly reduce Wood's initial impact on the team. While his athleticism and speed are outstanding, and may very well result in significant playing time on special teams, I can't see him making a case for playing time at RB in the fall. The additional complication of adjusting to the oftentimes frustrating task of reading and picking up the blitz further reduces his chance to garner touches. He certainly has high upside, and will no doubt blossom into a fantastic college back, but I expect his first year to be one of study and adjustment. Hopefully he will turn a few heads through special teams.

Anthony: Cierre Wood has the ability to start from day one on campus. While he has a difficult depth chart to climb, he is arguably more talented and athletic than any running back currently on the Irish roster. Wood has top-end speed, quickness, and acceleration, averaging gaudy numbers in virtually every high school statistical category. About the only knock on Wood is his patience. He frequently uses his superior athletic ability to create yards rather than reading and waiting for his blockers.

Shaquelle Evans
WR, 6'2", 200 pounds
12th ranked WR by Scout (four stars, No. 127 overall)
24th ranked WR by Rivals (four stars, No. 160 overall)

Jon: Coming out of the same area as Rhema McKnight, I like to see Shaq Evans as a similar player but with more explosiveness. He is very elusive and makes people miss in open space, which is part of his appeal as a possession receiver. He also has the ability to stretch the field much in the same way as Mike Floyd or Golden Tate, which adds to his versatility as a receiver. While I'm not comfortable in predicting when he sees the field, I will say that he has the ability to contribute very early.

Andy: A fantastic and somewhat overlooked pickup in this class, Shaquelle Evans has the ability to contribute very early on in his freshman campaign. Less of a possession receiver than Rhema McKnight, Evans nevertheless will be a very solid target with his excellent route-running and hands. His ability to get downfield and run-after-the-catch will allow Evans to complement Notre Dame's current crop of receivers.

Anthony: Evans is a receiver in the Michael Floyd, Deon Walker mold. He has an excellent combination of size, speed, and athletic ability and is an exceptionally powerful route runner. While some have tabbed him as more of a possession receiver, he certainly has the ability to stretch the field and make people miss in space. Evans has great hands and is one of the few recruits in this class that could contribute right away.

Defense

E.J. Banks

DB/ATH, 5'11", 181 pounds
26th ranked S by Scout (three stars)
45th ranked ATH by Rivals (three stars)

Jon: E.J. is a very good athlete. He reminds me a lot of Darrin Walls. He is always putting himself in a good position to make plays of defense. He has very good closing speed and attacks the ball with recklessness. Given his size and speed, he is a great prospect for either a safety or a slot wide receiver and I could see him playing either. Because of the depth at both positions, look for E.J. to first make his presence known on special teams and then work his way into the mix at either position.

Andy: Banks' speed is his most prominent attribute, which could result in him seeing time as a slot receiver or being used in the backfield a la Golden Tate. Possessing a good sense for the ball, he also shows some promise as a safety, but it will probably take one or two years of development to get him in position to see the field.

Anthony: About the only thing holding E.J. back from being a higher rated prospect is his size. Banks possesses exceptional speed, agility, quickness, and skills that make him an excellent safety or corner prospect as well as a weapon with the ball in the open field. Not many players will catch Banks from behind, something that may make it difficult for Weis to keep him away from a slot receiver position.

Carlo Calabrese
LB, 6'2", 225 pounds
14th ranked LB by Scout (four stars, #234 overall)
25th ranked LB by Rivals (three stars)

Jon: If Charlie Weis has anything to say about Carlo, he'll talk about his New Jersey toughness. This is only one of the major upsides to Carlo and his style of play. Carlo is only listed at 225 but he looks like a Mack Truck. He speed isn't something to write home about, but at the very least, the Irish have gained a very tough run blocker. I could see Carlo playing inside linebacker but he looks big enough to play DE. With his size and strength, Carlo will become a very punishing tackler—something the Irish desperately need.

Andy: A tough-nosed recruit out of Weis' home state of New Jersey, Calabrese is one of a handful of talented linebacking recruits in this class. His tenacity and passion, as well as his chiseled physique, will undoubtedly result in inspired play from those around him. While speed is an issue, Carlo's run-stopping power will make him a force to be reckoned with.

Anthony: Calabrese is a coach's dream, with intangibles that elevate the play of those around him. He plays with intensity, toughness, and motor that are second to none. While he doesn't possess elite speed, Calabrese makes up for it with instinct and determination. He punishes the ball carrier by utilizing leverage and driving through tackles. He also has exceptional strength. Calabrese won't be an inside linebacker that runs sideline-to-sideline, but the Irish have notched an inside run stuffer with a long mean streak.

Dan Fox
LB, 6'4", 219 pounds
22nd ranked WLB by Scout (three stars)
13th ranked OLB by Rivals (four stars)

Jon: Dan Fox comes into Notre Dame with the proper attributes to be a solid linebacker. But, as is the case with most of the other players in this class, he will need to not only develop his skills, but he will also need to develop his body in order to be an impact on the defensive side of the ball. One thing he already has is quickness and height. These two things combined make him a very effective pass rusher off the edge. Additionally, his speed allows him to drop back into coverage to pick up the screen pass or the tight end.

Andy: Fox's speed lends itself more to the safety position and I honestly would not be surprised to see the defensive staff make a switch with him before he sees significant playing time. Out of all the linebacker prospects in this class, I would see Fox as having the highest percentage chance of not playing his native position in high school at Notre Dame. He'll undoubtedly need time to develop at whichever position he eventually occupies, but Fox has the tools necessary to fill in any talent gaps on the defensive side of the ball required.

Anthony: Fox is somewhat of an enigma. He has the straight-line speed to play safety, but the size to be a linebacker. At 6'4", he runs well in space and is comfortable making tackles in the open field. He will need to add size to line up at linebacker, as well as improve his lateral movement. His height could also be an asset pass rushing on the outside. Like most of the linebackers in this class, Fox has the physical tools to be a solid player, but will need time to develop.

Zeke Motta
LB, 6'2", 207 pounds
10th ranked WLB by Scout (four stars, No. 179 overall)
5th ranked OLB by Rivals (four stars, No. 54 overall)

Jon: Zeke is probably the most punishing tackler that the Irish have landed in this recruiting cycle. When he hits a ball carrier or a blocker, he literally moves that person backwards before driving them into the ground. He is a very versatile player in that his speed makes him fit into the secondary, but his size and aggressiveness makes him an ideal candidate for an outside linebacker. With Harrison Smith likely moving into the secondary, look for Zeke to fill his spot on the field if he can develop his knowledge of Corwin Brown's defense. However, because he enrolled early at Notre Dame, he has a head start on most of the other recruits, which can only bode well for him.

Andy: Like Calabrese, Zeke Motta is one tough character. A sure-fingered tackler, Motta doesn't miss often and will likely be called on to contribute toward the second half of his freshman campaign. One thing that would stunt this progression is how quickly Motta can learn and become comfortable in the sometimes contrarian defensive styles of Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta. His early enrollment will only help with his development and I expect him to be a positive freshman influence on the 2009 Irish team.

Anthony: Motta is a tackling machine and very similar to Calabrese in playing style. Whether it is in open space or stuffing the run, Motta doesn't miss many tackles. He has excellent range and good size, two things that make him an attractive safety or linebacker prospect. It is highly likely he will play a role similar to what Harrison Smith did in 2008, as he has the ability to cover receivers in space. Motta is aggressive, instinctive, and seeks out the ball with a vengeance. About the only negative for Zeke is a lack of pure speed, but he makes up for it with decisive play and tenacity.

Tyler Stockton
DT, 6'1", 290 pounds
13th ranked DT by Scout (four stars, No. 121 overall)
16th ranked DT by Rivals (four stars, No. 193 overall)

Jon: Along a thinning defensive line, Tyler Stockton will be a welcome addition. He, along with Zeke Motta, has enrolled at Notre Dame early and he can only benefit from this decision. Not only will Stockton be able to familiarize himself with the defensive schemes that Corwin Brown uses, but he will also have the benefit of a semester's worth of strength and conditioning and he will be able to participate in spring practice. Stockton is probably the player in this class that needs physical development the least. Look for Stockton to make an immediate impact on the defensive line like Ian Williams did his freshman year.

Andy: As the lone defensive line recruit from this year's class, the coaching staff nevertheless must feel fairly proud of recruiting this talent to the team. Stockton's impressive size and weight should not be a hindrance to his immediate impact and his ability to leverage offensive linemen out the gate will be a welcome addition to a line often criticized for its inability to record sacks.

Anthony: Stockton is a force to be reckoned with in the center of a defensive line. He explodes off the ball, stays low, and uses his hands very well, all assets defending against the run. However, he also has the athleticism to be an effective inside pass rusher. With a good motor, and physical play, Stockton will be desperately needed to contribute along the defensive line.

Manti Te'o
LB, 6'2", 225 pounds
1st ranked SLB by Scout (five stars, No. 6 overall)
2nd ranked ILB by Rivals (five stars, No. 12 overall)

Jon: Te'o is probably the best defensive recruit that the Irish have signed in nearly 20 years. His versatility will make him a force to be reckoned with once he stops on the field in Notre Dame Stadium. Even though Te'o is not enrolling early at Notre Dame, I have no doubt that he will hit the ground running in the summer and should make an immediate impact on the defense. It will be interesting to see how Tenuta shapes Te'o as a linebacker. I have no doubt that if he does not make an immediate impact on the defense his freshman year, he will be seeing significant playing time by his sophomore year.

Andy: Unquestionably the star of this recruiting class, the buzz is already swarming around this Hawaiian recruit. With Weis' assurances of time off for his two-year Mormon mission, Te'o should make waves before his significant time off. An athletic specimen, Te'o's versatility is probably his most attractive quality, especially for schemers like Weis and Tenuta. He has the speed and coverage abilities to move to the edges, as well as the strength and size to stop the run. The largest coup of the draft.

Anthony: Manti is as good of an athlete as you will find at the linebacker position. He has the size, strength, and toughness to stuff the run as well as the speed, quickness, and lateral movement to run sideline-to-sideline and play in pass coverage. Manti is a defensive coordinator's dream not only because his athleticism makes him incredibly versatile, but also because he has the football acumen to read and react well. On top of this, Te'o has all the intangibles coveted by Notre Dame. Bringing him in on signing day was a huge get for the Irish program.

Biggest Get

Jon: Te'o is an incredible pick up for the Irish this year. His pure athleticism makes him a high-profile player before he steps on Notre Dame's campus. Additionally, it will be interesting to see how Zeke Motta fits into the defense. His intensity is something that the defense needs. However, I think that from purely a recruit that fills the biggest need, Tyler Stockton was this class' biggest acquisition. In fact, the need was so great that the Irish could have stood to get a few more defensive line recruits. Hopefully, Stockton can make an immediate impact on the line and can do well to give Ian Williams a bit of a rest throughout some games.

Andy: The brain-dead answer is Manti Te'o. Arguably one of the most talented defensive prospects in the country, Te'o will make an impressive impact on an Irish defense that needs more players of his caliber. In fact, the entire crop of linebacking recruits in this class is enough to make any defensive coordinator envious. It is a comforting feeling to know the the future heart of the Irish defense is in good standing.

Anthony: From a pure athletic standpoint, Cierre Wood is as sure of a prospect as the Irish have grabbed in recent memory. He has the ability to contribute in the running and passing game, as well as on special teams as a returner. But the biggest haul had to be getting Te'o on signing day. Manti is an exceptional athlete for his size and arguably the biggest defensive recruit for Notre Dame in the last 20 years.

Biggest Miss

Jon: Notre Dame's biggest miss in this year's recruiting class was Anthony LaLota. Even though the Irish have been out of the mix for a little while with Anthony, they were considered one of the front runners, along with Michigan (whom he signed with), for quite some time. LaLota could have filled a void on our defensive line that we desperately need. Tyler Stockton does some good to fill that void, but the problem could have been remedied that much more with another stand-out recruit like LaLota on the list.

Andy: The obvious miss in this class is a quality defensive line recruit. While Notre Dame has some hope early, Anthony LaLota ended up opting to play up north. Additionally, the Irish secondary could've used some help in this class and received only one tenuous recruit. It seems as though Notre Dame's preference to recruit quality athletes by talent and not through position may end up coming back to haunt us in a few years as athletic defensive players may be asked to play out of position to fill personnel problems.

Anthony: The biggest miss in this class is another solid defensive line prospect (or two). Despite the success along the defensive line in 2008, the Irish are still dangerously thin in both quantity and quality at the defensive tackle and end positions. It seems that Weis' recruiting along the defensive line mirrors that of his predecessor along the offensive line. Without at least one more solid defensive line prospect in this class, it cannot be considered great.

Overall Impressions

Jon: With a third great recruiting class in the books, the Irish can now breathe a little easier. The good thing about this class is that none of these players needs to feel like they need to step into a starting role or a be a major contributor right away. The upside to this class is that it has many recruits who may not need to develop into college players. Manti Te'o, Shaq Evans, Zeke Motta, and Tyler Stockton are all players who could see some considerable playing time if they are as good as advertised.

The other major positive to this class is that Weis has picked up a few good offensive line recruits. It is paramount in college football to continue to add to the offensive line so you are not caught with your pants down (see Notre Dame Football 2007). Luckily, Weis recognizes this and has continued to recruit well to get bodies in the trenches for the Irish. This is a very solid class for Charlie Weis—certainly not 20th or 24th. I would rate this class at about No. 12 in the nation, especially with the acquisition of Te'o.

Andy: Notre Dame put forth a solid effort in this recruiting cycle and this current crop of recruits should feel secure in the knowledge that none of them need to come in and be immediately relied on to contribute or fill gaps in the current team. With an offensive group that has the skills in place to perform at a high level with a season or less of conditioning and experience, and a defensive group that includes several players that will make an impact with their attitude or play in their freshman outing, this class should be seen as an overall success for the Irish. While not quite as high a profile as 2007 and 2008, if this is as gloomy as the recruiting outlook under Weis gets, Notre Dame fans are in for a relatively painless and steady cycle of talent through the program.

Anthony: I think this is an average-to-good class for the Irish. Many of the recruits will not be able to contribute right away, but due to Weis' recruiting efforts over the past few seasons Notre Dame can afford a few players who are projects and take some time to develop. There are, however, several excellent athletes in this class. Wood, Evans, Motta, and Stockton all have immediate impact potential due to their athleticism. Additionally, the offensive line recruits boast excellent athleticism for players with their size.

Facing an Angry Mob: The Future Of Charlie Weis at Notre Dame

Jon Hunn — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:51:22 -0500

For most Irish fans, including myself, this year was quite a let down for the Notre Dame Football team. At the beginning of the season, many analysts touted the Irish as a team with more cohesiveness and more experience. Gone were the days of poor techniques and poor execution.

However, most people still felt that this year's squad would be one or two years away of seriously competing with the top programs in the country.

But, as the end of the season is upon us and most teams are preparing to receive their bowl bids, most Irish Eyes are not smiling. The Notre Dame Alumni and the most expansive fan base in the nation has formed a blood-thirsty mob complete with burning torches and pitchforks looking to run Charlie Weis out of Notre Dame.

Unfortunately, the mob must go through Jack Swarbrick, Rev. John Jenkins, and the rest of the Notre Dame administration. But, they are doing their best-writing letters of disapproval and pledging money to contribute to Weis' buyout.

These are the same fans who stood up for Notre Dame when accusations were made that Notre Dame was turning into a football factory when Tyrone Willingham was fired, citing wins and losses as the main reason. However, we know now that Tyrone was a poor recruiter and didn't understand and appreciate what athletics mean to Notre Dame.

Now, these fans are turning against their University and asking them to behave more like a football factory, requesting that Charlie be relieved based on wins and losses. They are tired of the football team not performing up to their capabilities and with good reason. But, these fans are blinding by their desperation.

If Charlie Weis' status as the coach of Notre Dame only hinged on total wins and losses, I would expect that he would be fired this coming Monday as a 6-6 record is far from what is acceptable for anyone coaching at Notre Dame, especially Charlie Weis.

Everything that has happened since the Sugar Bowl in 2006 (except for recruiting) has paved the road out of Notre Dame for Charlie Weis. However, there is much more than wins and losses that should be considered when deciding whether or not Charlie Weis should be retained or fired.

First, the football team is better than they were last year and there's little evidence to believe that they won't be better next year. Nearly every statistic from individual players to the offense and defense, to the team as a whole has improved from last season.

While many people are unhappy with the team's performance this year, these were the same fans who believed that this football team was still a year or two away from competing with most teams in the country but are upset that they aren't competing at an elite level this year.

Second, Charlie Weis and his staff have been doing an outstanding job in recruiting not only last year, but this year as well with many top-flight commitments already made for the blue and gold.

Even if Charlie Weis was one of the worst coaches in the nation, he could do no worse than 9-3 two years from now with all of the talent that he and his staff are currently bringing into the University. This bodes very well for the people who are concerned with just wins and losses, which by the sound of things, seems to be most of you.

Third, and Jack Swarbrick has emphasized this several times, Notre Dame has STUDENT-athletes. Charlie Weis has raised the overall GPA of the football team to above 3.0, something Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie failed to do.

Additionally, he has had an exemplary graduation rate for his football team. He is ensuring that even if some of his players do not go onto the NFL, they will receive degrees from Notre Dame as well as the credentials to succeed in the working force.

Fourth, Charlie has done outstanding work for the University and the South Bend community outside of athletics. While his on-field demeanor leaves much to be desired, his work with charities, including Hannah and Friends, clubs, societies, and benefits have been outstanding. His work with all of these organizations have done nothing but reflect positively on Notre Dame.

Finally, it's important to think about the future of the program. Would the immediate future be better without Charlie Weis? Would the foreseeable future be better without Charlie Weis? Frankly, I don't want to see another highly touted coach come into Notre Dame, only to have to wait for him to implement his own system setting a National Championship back even further (see Michigan) when all signs indicate that Charlie Weis could do it in the next two or three years.

I hate to see Notre Dame getting beat up as much as the next fan, but I'm not sure that firing Charlie Weis will give these fans the satisfaction they deserve. Coach Weis has shown his willingness to make changes in an attempt to right a program that was once storied and I have no doubt that he will do the same this off-season, given the chance. If successful, it may prove to be just the thing to repel the mob knocking on his door.

Progression...Or a Lack Thereof

Jon Hunn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:54:42 -0500

pro⋅gres⋅sion
Pronunciation [pruh-gresh-uhn] – noun

the act of progressing; forward or onward movement.
a passing successively from one member of a series to the next; succession; sequence.

Progression—in football, it's used to describe two things. First, it's used to describe the mental and physical process a quarterback goes through on a passing play to "check off" his receivers when they are not open. It's called going through a progression.

Second, it's used to describe how a team develops during a single season. Certain games, series, or plays in the season mark specific points that a fan or someone associated with the program can look at and see the team getting better. They are benchmarks in the season where the team matured. They shed their old technical, mental, and physical inadequacies.

When you add these up, the visual and statistical evidence that a team is "progressing" and getting better is evident.

Unfortunately for the Irish, this progression has been absent this entire year—rather, call it regression. No doubt this team is better than the team the Irish fielded last season, but have the Irish gotten better since Sept. 6?

Notre Dame played its most impressive game, statistically, on Sept. 13 against Michigan. They played their most complete game from start to finish on Sept. 27 against Purdue. But since those two hallmark games, have the Irish progressed this season? It's tough to say that they have.

From the beginning of the season, the Irish have been plagued with mental errors. What causes mental errors? Youth? Inexperience? The Irish have both.

Some might argue that this team is no longer inexperienced. However, one just needs to look at the statistics and the roster to understand that at all of the skill positions, with the exception of David Grimes, James Aldridge, and Robby Parris, Notre Dame is starting and giving most of the playing time to freshmen and sophomores.

Additionally, Robby Parris and James Aldridge both have only two years of regular playing time under their belts.

Furthermore, the offense has prided itself on its ability to make the big play, yet consistently fail, and are getting progressively worse at the most fundamental aspects of football: running, throwing, catching, blocking, and tackling.

When opposing defenses learned of the Irish’s ability to make big plays, they starting defending the big plays, which made the Irish switch to the running game—one aspect that this offense has failed at miserably.

Unfortunately, the offense hasn’t been able to progress in their running game, which is a mixture of the offensive line’s lack of ability to block, the wide receivers and tight ends failing to block downfield, and the running backs not running with confidence.

While there are several plays or series where one can spot a particular team getting better, there are other plays or series where one can spot a team getting progressively worse. Such is the case for the Fighting Irish.

1. Jimmy Clausen misses a wide-open Mike Floyd in the end zone to stall the first drive of overtime against Pittsburgh, forcing a second overtime, and ultimately, a defeat.

2. In the first offensive series of the second half against North Carolina, Jimmy Clausen forces a pass that’s intercepted and returned for a touchdown, starting a snowball effect which results in an Irish loss.

3. Coming out of halftime with the lead again, the Fighting Irish Offense shoots themselves in the foot with a rash of penalties and a 17-yard sack to face fourth down and 47, taking them out of field goal range.

These three plays hallmark the type of season that Notre Dame has had this year. However, the offense is not the only part of the team at fault. In every game mentioned above, the Irish defense let the opposing offense creep back into the games. Coming into games with high expectations, the Irish played up to their potential and subsequently played defensive football instead of aggressive football.

But who’s at fault for the type of season that the Irish have had?

The coaching this season has been less than stellar. I think it’s safe to say that Mike Haywood has failed thus far as an offensive play caller, but Charlie hasn’t done much better. Furthermore, Mike Haywood has failed in developing three running backs who were highly praised coming out of high school to play effectively in college.

The offensive line has continued to underperform all season, even with the surprising start they had to the season. Finally, the special teams units have been very inconsistent this season, with David Bruton and Mike Anello being the exceptions.

Even though the coaching has been subpar this season, there is one universal truth to coaching football: You can coach your players until you're blue in the face, but you can't make them execute.

The reason for Notre Dame’s inability to have a consistent offense and defense once the ball has been snapped is due to the inexperience on the field, which results in mental errors. These mental errors have caused more than their fair share of failures for the Irish. Without them, the Irish could very well be 9-2 right now. As it is, they stand at a paltry 6-5.

So where does this leave the Irish for the remainder of the season and heading into the bowl game? At the end of the Syracuse game, it seemed that the media had caught on to the cries of some of the Irish fanbase, as they relentlessly asked Charlie Weis several questions on whether he thought the team was improving, and if not, could he be the person to turn that around?

Understandably, Coach Weis bypassed those questions, instead choosing to focus on Syracuse and looking forward to Southern California.

Much to the dismay of some Irish fans, Coach Weis will not be fired at the end of this season, even if the Irish lose to USC. He currently has the support of Notre Dame’s new Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, and the last thing that Swarbrick would want to do is fire the most high-profile coach at Notre Dame within months of taking his new job.

But what these Irish fans fail to realize is that if the three plays mentioned above would have went the opposite way, most Irish fans would be discussing which New Year’s bowl the Irish will be playing in rather than pondering whether Charlie Weis is the right man for the job.

However, if the squad that the Irish field next season isn't as good as or better than the squad they fielded in 2005, Charlie Weis’ job security could be seriously be in question, and there will be some validity to calling for someone else to take over at Notre Dame.

This week's game against USC will be the benchmark in which the Associated Press, the players, the coaches, and the fans will determine how much better this Notre Dame team is than last year, even with its ridiculously easy schedule.

With all of the confusion that this season has brought, most Irish fans are ready for this season to end and to see if the Irish can keep their finale against USC somewhat close. I wouldn’t count on it.

Suggestions for Charlie Weis: Week Nine

Jon Hunn — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:45:51 -0500

This past weekend was a very difficult one for many Irish fans. The frustration and disbelief I felt at the end of Notre Dame's matchup against Boston College was similar to the disbelief a young man feels when he breaks up with his very first girlfriend.

In one moment, the young man realizes that the faults in his relationship with his girlfriend far outweigh the good feelings he had when he first took interest in her. Ultimately, there is nothing left for the young man to do to salvage his "relationship" with his girlfriend, and he breaks up with her.

While I'm not at the point yet to give up on Notre Dame football or even Charlie Weis, the outcome of Notre Dame's football game with Boston College left me in the same desperation that this young man feels near the end of his relationship. The good feelings that I had about Charlie Weis, Jimmy Clausen, and the rest of the Irish football team at the beginning of the season, and their remarkable start, have since worn off.

I felt that if only this young team could turn the corner and begin to play up to their capabilities, they might be able to make a run for a decent bowl game. As it stands right now, the Irish aren't even bowl eligible.

The Good

At Least the Defense Came to Play

Giving up just 10 points all game, the defense was the bright spot in Saturday's match up and for the first time, I enjoyed watching the defense far more than the offense. Even though the secondary leaves a lot to be desired, anytime the defense holds the opposition to just 10 points, it gives any inept offense an opportunity to be the hero of the football game and achieve victory. Additionally, the performance of the Irish defense was especially significant because of the great field position the Irish Special Teams gave to the Boston College Offense at nearly every chance.

Mike Floyd Is a Man Among Boys

As a freshman, Mike Floyd is putting up some very strong numbers to solidify his position not only in the record books for freshman receivers at Notre Dame, but also to solidify his position on the Freshman All-American Team. He is currently one of the country's two best receivers, with Julio Jones of Alabama (although he leads Jones in receptions, yards, and touchdowns). On Saturday, Mike Floyd lead all receivers with 69 yards, and the only time the Notre Dame offense was moving the ball consistently was when Jimmy Clausen was completing passes to Floyd. He remains one of the bright spots of the Irish anemic offense, especially when teams are putting two defenders on Golden Tate.

The Bad

Hey Look! Jimmy Clausen Is a Freshman Again!

My brother owns an Irish Terrier puppy named Sorin (yes, that Sorin). When I went and visited him this weekend, he was commenting on how he is house training his puppy. He said that usually, when an Irish Terrier puppy gets to a certain age, and for no apparent reason, there is a short time when he forgets all of his training and reverts back to the state of when the training began and he hadn't learned anything yet.

This is the stage that I felt Jimmy Clausen was in this past Saturday. He was forcing balls where they shouldn't have been and for the second time this season, he threw an interception for a touchdown. Clausen had he worst game of his career—throwing four interceptions to zero touchdowns. Furthermore, he was not throwing the ball properly all game. On short screen passes, he was throwing the ball unnecessarily hard which resulted in incomplete passes and stalled drives. Who knows what the problem was on Saturday; either Clausen played that bad, or the Boston College defense was that good. I think it's a combination of both.

When Is The Running Game Going To Arrive?

Probably not this year. Every year, Charlie Weis comes to the press at the end of summer camp and hypes-up one runner more than the others. Last year, it was Munir Prince who ended up moving to the secondary and subsequently transferring. This season, it was Armando Allen who, while marginally better than the other two running backs, still has not broken out as a powerful and intimidating running back. I still have no inclination when he touches the football that he could break off a 60 yard run for a touchdown. So, this begs the question: "Is Charlie Weis just blowing smoke up our rear ends, or is he misguided?"

Notre Dame's offensive line is marginally better at pass blocking, but they haven't gotten any better with run blocking—which is very discouraging. Additionally, the running backs seem very timid when they hit the line of scrimmage. Holes are being made by the offensive line and the running backs are doing a very poor job of finding those holes and accelerating through them.

The Element of Predictability

What was Mike Haywood thinking when he called a draw play on third and 20 on Notre Dame's first drive of the ball game deep in their own territory? Unfortunately, this was only the tip of the iceberg. Time and time again, I was dumbfounded at the possible thought process behind some of the calls that Mike Haywood was sending down to the field. Furthermore, I was dumbfounded that Charlie Weis would have approved such calls.

Fortunately, there may be some help coming for the game against Navy. Unfortunately, Mike Haywood has to attend a funeral which will cause him to miss some practice time. That means that Charlie Weis will be taking back the laminated card for the game against Navy. We will see first hand whether or not Haywood's play calling is a significant factor in Notre Dame's inability to effectively gain and keep a lead in a football game, especially in the second half. I have a feeling that the experiment of giving the play calling duties to Haywood will prove to be a mistake, one which Charlie will rectify this weekend and one that he won't repeat next year.

Currently, the Irish sit at a record of 5-4. Given the season that the Irish had last year, 5-4 is still a monumental turnaround from 3-9. The frustrating thing is that the Irish still could be 8-1 right now, but several things have plagued the Irish this season; things that have plagued them nearly every outing.

So far, this season has been a tough pill to swallow for many Irish fans. After coming off a year like last year's, many fans wanted to see the Irish play up to their potential. However, this team still isn't at the point where they can play a bad game in most statistical categories and still expect to win. But, given Weis' track record as a recruiter, once the Irish get over that hump, they will be able to reload talent and compete to be one of the top teams in the country year after year.

Hopefully, Navy will provide the Irish with a victory to which they can add Syracuse and go into Southern California with some sort of confidence and try to salvage what's left of this disappointing season.

Suggestions for Notre Dame Fans

Jon Hunn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:27:41 -0500

Yes, you read the title correctly. The Notre Dame Football program is at a unique crossroads this week as it recovers from a marathon loss to Pittsburgh and prepares to face Boston College .

This week is more crucial to the outcome of the season for the Fighting Irish than their bye week was two weeks ago. Why? Because this week, as Notre Dame Football fans, we will see two different things:

First, we will see how a very young team will bounce back after a tough loss at home to an opponent that they should have beaten very soundly.

Second, we will see how Charlie Weis, as the head of the program, will go about repairing his limping program that has a few very blatant problems and capitalizing on the things his team is doing correctly.

Usually, I write an article every week that recaps the previous weekend’s game. Recently, most of the things I’ve highlighted as strengths of the game or weaknesses of the game have reoccurred several times throughout the season and such is the case this week. Rather than recap the Irish’s performance against Pittsburgh, I think it’s more important for the sanity of the fans to write an article detailing the program as a whole.

Anybody, Irish fan or not, that is ready to throw Charlie Weis, Corwin Brown, and the entire Notre Dame Football team under the bus because of their loss to Pittsburgh had way too high of expectations for this football team coming into this season.

Unfortunately, people have already been talking about Weis being fired this offseason. The fact is that most level-headed Irish fans or pundits knew that this season would turn out to look something similar to what we’re seeing right now.

Most erratic fans saw what Notre Dame did against Michigan and started buying tickets to all of the BCS bowls-reselling on eBay the tickets to whichever game in which the Irish didn’t play. Even a victory against the Trojans of USC didn’t seem out of realm of possibility and the history books were all but published documenting the biggest turn around for any football program in Notre Dame’s history.

The harsh reality is that this program is right where they should be. Is it where we want it to be? No. They are beating the teams that they should and are competing with teams that are ranked somewhere near the bottom of every top 25 list. The kind of progress that this team has shown from last season to this season is remarkable, and it takes a person blind to facts and logical thinking to not realize this.

Sure, there are things that this program needs to change, most notably the mistakes of the coaching staff. Charlie Weis, for the love of all things Holy, take back the laminated paper from Mike Haywood! This offense has become very predictable in the second half of nearly every game this season and is a large part of why the Irish can’t close out a tight game successfully.

Unfortunately, I think that this coaching staff has gotten used to being behind in a football game and don’t want to risk coaching to win a game, rather than coaching to not lose when the Irish are ahead. This team cannot afford to be run in such a manner. When this young team is ahead in a game, the coaching staff needs to put the pedal to the floor instead of beginning to utilize their defensive driving skills.

Additionally, this team is still playing with a plethora of mental errors coming in crucial spots. Harrison Smith commits a personal foul that stops a scoring drive that the team desperately needed against Pittsburgh.

Mike Floyd tries to lateral a ball in the closing seconds of the North Carolina game instead of going down, possibility giving the option of another play. Jimmy Clausen throws an interception for a touchdown in the first play of the second half against North Carolina and throws two more interceptions against Michigan State.

But the mistakes are not exclusive to the players. As Anthony Pilcher noted , it took Corwin Brown three drives to find a way to stop the “wildcat formation” that Pittsburgh was running on Saturday. The excruciating result of these mental errors, however, is that the Irish very well could be 8-0 right now, but that doesn’t mean that they should be.

The bright spot is that this team has a plethora of young talent that is still improving at a rapid place. This team is still playing with upperclassmen that didn’t see much time before last year and underclassmen that have still yet to develop physically and mentally.

Sure, underclassmen make their mistakes, but it’s imperative to understand that, once this team matures into next season like they matured into this season, the Irish will be fielding a squad that most Irish fans will be proud of. We’ve seen flashes of their abilities this season, but as the squad matures, the spaces between the flashes of brilliance will begin to recede.

This week is a critical one for this program, its players, its coaches, and its fans. This week will define this entire season. If the Irish can play next weekend and pull out a victory in Boston, it will certainly be the turning point for this program for years to come.

Boston College is a team that is sitting exactly where the Irish are in terms of skill and experience and if the Irish can manage to win, it will mean that they have begun to rise above mediocrity.

If there’s anything that Weis has shown in his first three and a half seasons at Notre Dame, it’s his willingness to adapt and change when necessary. If there’s anything that most Irish fans have shown is their unwillingness to accept mediocre seasons, which, I’m sorry to say, is what we’ll have to accept this season.

But the future is bright at Notre Dame! If this season is any glimpse of the potential this squad possesses for years to come, buy your BCS tickets next year.

Suggestions For Charlie Weis: Week Six

Jon Hunn — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:41:46 -0400

The clock clicked to zero and the players on the field began to jog into the locker room. It was halftime and Notre Dame was beating up on North Carolina. The score was 17-9 and by that alone, you couldn’t tell that the Irish were playing some of the best football I’d seen all season.

The Notre Dame defense held the North Carolina offense to three field goals and the Irish offense was moving the ball fairly well against a stout Tar Heel defense.

I was too comfortable.

I had come to expect such production out of such a young team for, as the previous two weeks indicated, the Irish were fairly explosive on offense.

However, I knew they had a tendency to implode and let a turnover or a mental error snowball into nearly costing them a couple of games. Which is why, when Charlie Weis was leaving the field he said to a reporter that they needed to come out in the second half and get an early score, I leaned over to my wife and said, “They’re going to have to protect the ball.”

Such prophetic words had never been spoken.

With that, the Irish came out in the second half and proceeded to neatly wrap the game and give the Tar Heels an early Christmas present. This single interaction between my wife and I is what personified entire afternoon for Notre Dame.

On Saturday, Notre Dame was their own worst enemy. When they had a big play on offense, they negated the play with a penalty or a turnover. When they stopped a run on defense, they allowed the Tar Heel wide receivers to reach the first down marker—one step forward, two steps back.

Sure North Carolina is a decent team, but the Irish had the ‘Heels on their heels (pun intended) going into the half.

What the Irish couldn’t do for Stanford one week earlier, they managed to do for North Carolina.

The Good

Receivers are Getting Separation

If there’s one thing that has been fairly constant throughout this entire season, it’s that the receivers are clearly the strength of this offense. They were arguably the second weakest part of the offense last season, second only to the offensive line.

However, with the emergence of young talent like Mike Floyd and Golden Tate, the entire corps has become very reliable. Additionally, they seem to be the one unit on offense that is committing the least amount of mental errors. Sure, some routes haven’t been run correctly, and that botched lateral by Mike Floyd at the end of regulation cost us the game, but they are one of the most consistent parts of the entire team.

Not only that, but the receivers are getting a decent amount of separation against their defenders. The only reason that Golden Tate is able to perform fade routes so well is his speed, and he uses it well to get separation from opposing cornerbacks.

Mike Floyd is one of the most nimble freshman receivers to come to Notre Dame that I have seen. . He reminds me of Maurice Stovall or Derek Mays, but with a bit more muscle.

He is a freshman and already, he is able to contort his body, stop and start quickly, or turn on a dime in order to catch the football. It’s amazing what these two will be able to do for this offense when Tate is a senior and Floyd is a junior.

Hello, Duval Kamara

Welcome back. I’m glad you decided to join your teammates on the field. Duval had 58 yards receiving on Saturday coming on five catches.

This is certainly very minor compared to the record-setting numbers he had as a freshman wide receiver last year, but considering that Kamara had only 45 total yards previous to Saturday’s game, it was nice to see Kamara making catches again and on a consistent basis.

Hopefully, this is a sign that he has instilled some sort of confidence in the coaching staff. It sure will be nice to have him back on the field along with Mike Floyd and Golden Tate.

The Safety Net of the Defense

The play of the safeties yesterday may have been the only bright spot to the entire Notre Dame defense on Saturday and through the season so far.

Both of Notre Dame’s safeties, David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy, are leading the defense in tackles, with Kyle McCarthy having three more tackles than David Bruton with 56.

They are both on track to break the century mark in tackles by the end of the season and they were both the only safety net that the defense had on Saturday-especially with the way the cornerbacks were playing.

The Bad

Impact of the Kicking Game

It’s fairly safe to say that Brandon Walker did not fail anyone on Saturday, which is the first time he’s achieved this feat.

However, his performance throughout the season had a big impact on Saturday’s game.

Why?

Two weeks ago, I said that the performance of Brandon Walker would come back to haunt this team and potentially cause them to lose a game. Well, in instances like this, I hate to be right.

On fourth and seven from the Notre Carolina 27, Charlie Weis elected to go for a first down rather than attempt a field goal.

And who can blame him?

Sure, Walker had been perfect for the day, but nothing in the previous five games had told him that Walker would be a reliable choice. Had Charlie Weis elected to kick a field goal and had Brandon Walker made the field goal, it would have pulled the game within three points for the Irish, who would have been driving for a field goal rather than a touchdown at the end of the game.

As it was, the Irish attempted the conversion and failed. Nobody could blame Coach Weis for his decision, but the lack of a kicking game pigeon-holed Charlie Weis into making that decision.

Had Brandon Walker been even 50 percent on field goals for the season, Coach Weis’ decision might have been different and the outcome of the game might have been different as well.

Still Making Mental Errors

Notre Dame out-gained the Tar Heels by a difference of 150 yards. They committed three fewer penalties for 22 fewer yards. They also turned the ball over a total of five times (including conversion on downs), which was five more than the Tar Heels had.

Usually, if a team does not win the turnover battle, they do not win the game and this proved to be true for the Fighting Irish on Saturday.

After going two games without committing a single turnover, the Irish walked into Chapel Hill, NC and commit five turnovers, with four coming in the second half. You cannot expect to turn the ball over five times and still win the game.

Part of my frustration with this is that the two games where the Irish committed most of our turnovers were when they were not in Notre Dame Stadium. People say that we can’t expect this team to win on the road, in a hostile environment and it’s true if this team can’t make smart decisions in a hostile environment.

Poor decisions by the quarterback, not protecting the ball, and incorrect route-running by the wide receivers-all of these play into the offensive woes for the Irish on the road.

It’s time to rectify these problems.

It’s a 60 Minute Game

For the second week in a row, the Irish had a comfortable lead going into halftime, both by score and success on both sides of the ball.

And for the second week in a row, they blew it.

This team and their coaches are not coaching and playing to win the game in the second half, they are coaching and playing to not lose the game in the second half.

It’s not working.

That’s the difference in this team. They come out in the second half and put on the cruise control instead of slamming on the throttle. Something has to change because this team cannot expect to win anymore games if they want to take it easy for the second half of the football game.

The Strength of our Team is Now Our Weakness

If there was one thing we as fans knew about this team coming into this season: the Irish secondary could have been one of the best in the nation.

Then, Darrin Walls left the school for the semester and was replaced by a very capable duo of backups in Gary Gray and Raeshon McNeil.

Why then, after Mike Anello knocked out Brandon Tate on a clean hit in the first half and didn’t have him to worry about, did the secondary still have trouble shutting down Hakeem Nicks?

Why in the third quarter, when North Carolina was facing a third and 18 did Sexton complete a pass to Hakeem Nicks for 19 yards and a first down?

Could it be that our secondary isn’t as good as we originally thought? During Saturday’s game, the Irish safeties were playing 15 yards off the line of scrimmage to try to prevent the big passing plays, but the cornerbacks were giving the North Carolina receivers 10 yards of cushion at the line of scrimmage.

It’s either an issue of discrepancy between the coaching philosophies of Jon Tenuta and Corwin Brown, or the cornerbacks aren’t as good as everyone, including me, originally thought.

Right now, they are the weakness of our defense that is full of questions and is currently struggling to shut down opposing offenses.

Summary

The winner of this game should have been Notre Dame, but it will be recorded in the history books as a victory by North Carolina.

But North Carolina did not win the game on Saturday, Notre Dame lost the game.

A mixture of mental errors and lackadaisical emotions made up the bullet that was fired into the toe of the Fighting Irish at the beginning of the second half. One must imagine how much longer this adolescent team will continue to play like one as the Irish head into a bye week with the Washington Huskies and Tyrone Willingham approaching rapidly.

What stings is not that the Irish lost this game, but that they must head into a bye week with a horribly discouraging defeat to dwell on and the option to allow this defeat to affect their performance in Washington on the 25th.

If Charlie Weis is half of the coach he thinks he is, he won’t let this happen.

Players of the Game

Offense
Golden Tate: 5 receptions, 121 yards, 1 TD
Mike Floyd: 6 receptions, 93 yards, 1 TD

Defense

David Bruton: 8 tackles

Special Teams

Brandon Walker: 1 field goal, 1 attempt

God, Country, Notre Dame (In Glory Everlasting)

Jon Hunn — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:39:36 -0400

It’s more than a clever motto. If you’ve ever visited the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the campus of Notre Dame, you may have seen this phrase engraved deep into the stone above the side door.

For the thousands of Irish fans across the globe, this phrase personifies the place that Notre Dame has in their lives.

But what does this phrase mean, and how does it impact the way Notre Dame Alumni and fans act or feel when it comes to the University of Notre Dame du Lac?

“God, Country, Notre Dame”

Quite literally, this phrase is meant to identify the importance of Notre Dame in the lives of alumni and fans; God first, Country second, Notre Dame third.

Nobody expects that, as a fan, you love the University more than your family, or occupation (you probably do love Notre Dame more than your occupation).

But it is a testament to the passion that the Notre Dame family feels for the University, its education, its athletics, and for one another.

As a Notre Dame fan or as a collegiate sports fan in general, you will hardly ever see a passive Notre Dame football fan.

By that, I mean that you will hardly ever see a Notre Dame football fan that doesn’t follow the Irish with some sort of consistency or passion. Some, however, are more passionate than others.

Not to pick on Ohio State, but I live in Ohio and work with Ohio State football fans. Sometimes in my conversations with some of them, I will bring up a game they had just played a weekend earlier and these fans will say to me, “Oh really, who did we play last week?”

Are you kidding me? You’re an OSU “fan” yet you don’t know who your team plays on a week-to-week basis? These are also the same fans who don’t watch OSU Football games unless they’re playing Michigan or in a bowl game.

I realize that this is just a small cross-section of OSU fans, but when it comes to Notre Dame, you rarely ever see this from a fan. This doesn’t mean that Notre Dame is better than Ohio State...actually, yes it does.

“Here’s to you, hopeless Notre Dame Fan”

I’ve seen the video, and I still think it’s stupid. But, they have one thing right: the passion of Irish Fans.

Every year, Irish fans fantasize about an undefeated season and a National Championship. And for many fans, the season is lost if Notre Dame falls to one opponent.

We will still watch the games and root for our team, but the season isn’t a success unless the Irish bring home a National Championship trophy, which hasn’t happened in a while.

In some respects, it’s a bit unfair, the expectations Irish fans put on the football team. But, they’re warranted.

Notre Dame is historically one of the best teams in the Nation, even if they haven’t been playing like it for the past decade.

Every year, Notre Dame competes for the National Championship and they have players that come to play football who want to do the same thing. And the fans expect that Notre Dame competes for a title every year.

Notre Dame is a school that can go anywhere in the country and recruit players. And, honestly, what’s better than playing football for Notre Dame: national spotlight, amazing education, exposure for professional football, and the country’s best fan base?

Notre Dame Is Everywhere

Notre Dame has one of the biggest fan bases in the nation. You’ve probably heard the statement that Notre Dame is to College Football as the Yankees are to professional baseball. In some respects, that’s true.

But, I think that Notre Dame has a bigger impact on college football than the Yankees do on professional baseball.

Think about it. Not many people are apathetic towards Notre Dame football. If they don’t tune into NBC to watch Notre Dame win, they tune in to watch Notre Dame lose.

This is why Notre Dame has a contract with NBC. This is why Notre Dame will always get picked up for a BCS bowl game if they qualify.

They are a money-maker for any network that shows them. This is largely in part to the expansive fan base. Notre Dame is, by far, the biggest team in College Football.

“This school was founded on faith, belief, and a commitment to excellence.” - Lou Holtz

There are many things that are associated with Notre Dame, but the biggest thing is a standard of excellence. This standard exists in all facets of the university and permeates many things.

One of the things that the standard of excellence is personified through is its fan base. Notre Dame has a reputation of being not only one of the biggest fan bases in the nation, but also one of the most cordial and accommodating to other people.

Many times people are blown away by the courtesy of Irish fans when they attend a Notre Dame game. Such was the case of some Stanford fans I sat by during last week’s game.

Every school has a few “rotten apples” when it comes to fans. And Notre Dame is not void of such people. However, with Notre Dame, there exists a brotherhood of fans that unites one another.

As a Notre Dame fan, this brotherhood follows you throughout the country due to Notre Dame’s expansive fan base.

A Tradition Like No Other

At Notre Dame, there exists a tradition that is present in everything that is associated with the University. Going to their first football at Notre Dame is a life-changing experience for some because of the vast amount of tradition found on the campus.

Derek Horner recently touched on this subject and everything he mentioned is correct. But, with Notre Dame, there exists a tradition that is bigger than the confines of the University itself, not just with football.

There is tradition in the structures and the people that make up this University. Father Sorin, Father Corby, Knute Rockne, Father Hesburgh, Ara Parseghian, these are all people who have had a hand in shaping the tradition of Notre Dame.

But, the list does not stop there. Notre Dame is a place where the tradition exists in anyone associated with the University alumni and fans alike. This is what makes Notre Dame’s tradition bigger and more impactful than any other school.

Not a Motto, But A Way of Life

“God, Country, Notre Dame” means more than a cliché to Notre Dame Fans. It is both a description of the passion and the tradition involved with Notre Dame.

It’s something that Irish Fans and Alumni cling to. It personifies the importance of Notre Dame in the lives of anyone who sets foot on its campus as a student, parent, teacher, or fan.

And anyone associated with the University embodies this commitment to it. And through them, Notre Dame remains “In Glory Everlasting.”

Suggestions for Charlie Weis: Week Five

Jon Hunn — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:09:26 -0400

Anyone who has attended multiple games at Notre Dame Stadium keeps a personal record of wins and losses while they were there.

My mother, for example, has a horrible record as an attendee—Notre Dame has lost every game that she’s attended. Previous to last season, I had a 4-0 record as an attendee—however, the last game I attended was last year’s game against Navy.

Understandably, I was a little leery about attending Saturday’s game against Stanford. This game had all the makings of an upset surrounding it: trash talking, a duo of very productive opposing running backs, and Notre Dame coming off a decent win against Purdue. My voice is just now starting to return.

This week, rather than writing my regular article of general observations and suggestions for the coaching staff, I am going to point out several things that had a significant effect on the fans in the stadium and in return affected the players on the field.

It’s a very unique experience watching a game in person. Most of my perceptions of the game were more emotionally based rather than cognitively based. Thus, I have also reviewed the game on television to round out my experiences and perceptions of what went on during the game. So, without further ado...

The Good

Jimmy Clausen

What we saw at the beginning of the season from Jimmy was just a flash of what we would see from him later. Hopefully what we see from him now will only be a small flash of what he will be towards the end of the season.

He continues to put up career-high numbers every game and is now starting to put up numbers as a sophomore that Brady Quinn did his junior year. However, there are still things to improve about his playing.

First, he is still being spooked by blitzes. I’m sure that eating dirt a few dozen times last year has nothing to do with that. Additionally, he is still holding onto the ball too long to try to make plays where there aren’t any. He should be throwing the ball away about three seconds earlier when he can’t find an open receiver.

This will come back to hurt him if he can’t learn to throw the ball away instead of forcing a play where there isn’t one.

Defensive Playmakers

Pat Kuntz, Kyle McCarthy, David Bruton, and Brian Smith—all of these players had a significant impact on the way the defense performed during the first half of Saturday’s football game. They made big plays when the team and the fans needed it the most and were a big part of why Notre Dame was up 21-7 at the half.

Now, if only they can continue to do this throughout the season and do it through a whole game (more on that later). Unfortunately, they only seem to make plays inconsistently.

Wide Receivers

This unit has improved drastically from the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the season, Golden Tate was a novelty and had yet to be discovered by opposing defenses. Now they have an understanding of his playmaking abilities and have covered him very well.

As is an important aspect of a solid receiving corps, Mike Floyd, David Grimes, and Kyle Rudolph have stepped up to help out the team. Grimes was one of the most frustrating receivers to watch last season, but since he’s returned from his injury, he has been a nice compliment to Floyd and Tate.

I still wish that Duval Kamara would show up on a regular basis, but I’m starting to wonder if he’s a lost cause this season. Nevertheless, this corps is still quite young, which excites me, but they are also very solid. They are one of the major reasons that Jimmy Clausen is putting up career-high type of numbers.

The Bad

Kicking Game

I know I’ve covered this aspect of our game several times. However, it wasn’t until this weekend that I saw the true devastating affect that an inconsistent kicking game has on this team and the fans.

Brandon Walker is 1-7 this season and 2-14 over the past two seasons on field goals. This is just simply unacceptable from someone whose only job is to put the ball between the uprights.

Additionally, his inconsistency is a major emotional deflator for this team. It’s like having a quarterback who throws an interception to end every offensive drive. The offense scratches and claws down the field, only to have the kicker miss a field goal. The defense creates a turnover only to have it wasted on a missed field goal.

Something needs to be done to salvage the rest of the season for the kicking game. Not only are they not putting points up on the board, but they are also having a negative emotional and psychological effect on the entire team.

Running Game

Last year, Robert Hughes ran for over 300 yards in the team’s final two games against Duke and Stanford. During the offseason the only thing anyone ever said about the offense was how Robert Hughes was going to continue to run rampant on the opposing defenses and put up over 1,000 yards this season. Well, he hasn’t done that.

The same happened when Armando Allen rushed for over 130 yards last week. A lot of people immediately fell in love with Allen and expected him to break out. Saturday was a major letdown for the running game.

I’m convinced that the Irish’s anemic running game is a result of Notre Dame’s running backs and not the offensive line. The running backs are timid when the have to run through the middle of the offensive line, and it’s killing the offensive drives. Without the running game, the offense is forced to throw the ball much more and becomes predictable.

This may not have caught up with the team this week, but there will be a game, maybe as early as next weekend, when the opposing defense completely shuts down the passing game, and the Irish will have to rely on the running game. All I can say is that I hope they fix the problem by then.

Interior Tackling

Too many times this season, the defense has had to rely on the sound tackling of our secondary to stop the opposing offense. I’m not sure what the problem is, but the defensive line and linebackers are having a difficult wrapping up opposing running backs and receivers on first contact.

Notre Dame is very lucky that Stanford didn’t have enough foresight to keep pounding the ball at their defense. Stanford averaged just over seven yards a carry on Saturday. Luckily for Notre Dame, they only ran the ball 23 times.

Had Stanford chosen to run the ball more, even in just the first half, I can’t say that Notre Dame’s tackling would had saved the game for them.

Consistency

This game was an unusual game for Notre Dame. They could have won the game 34-21 had Brandon Walker hit his field goals. Or the game could have been even more lopsided had Notre Dame’s offense and defense played in the second half like they did in the first half.

Conversely, Stanford really could have beat Notre Dame had Pritchard not thrown three interceptions and had they stuck to their ground game more. Stanford had no problem moving the ball against Notre Dame but was clouded with mental errors.

Notre Dame did an alright job of moving the ball, but their drives were killed with critical errors by the running game and kicking game. Really, this game could have been won by either team. Luckily for Irish fans, it was Notre Dame who committed fewer errors.

Summary

This game was a very interesting one to attend. It started very positively for Notre Dame and ended with the Irish holding on for dear life. Had it not been for the stout performance of the defensive line towards the end of the game, this really could have been a Stanford victory.

Notre Dame is starting to find their offensive identity through Jimmy Clausen and the talented corps of receivers, but they continue to struggle other fundamental areas of the game—mainly running the ball, tackling, and kicking.

I’m always satisfied, as a fan, with an Irish victory. However, unless the team starts to form some sort of consistency with all three facets of the game, the last half of the season—which is supposed to be much more difficult than the first half—could be a disastrous one.

Next weekend, Notre Dame travels to North Carolina, who is also 4-1. This will be a tough game for the Irish, who have yet to win on the road. Hopefully the Irish will continue to progress in their strengths and begin to rectify their weaknesses. The fate of their postseason hinges on it—as does the sanity of this fan.

Players of the Game

Offense: Jimmy Clausen – 29/40, 347 yards, 3 TDs
Kyle Rudolph – 5 receptions, 70 yards, 1 TD

Defense: Kyle McCarthy – 14 tackles, 1 interception
Pat Kuntz – 3 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 interception, 1 pass deflection, 1 fum. rec.

Special Teams: Brandon Walker – 0 field goals, 2 attempts

Suggestions for Charlie Weis: Week Four

Jon Hunn — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:13:44 -0400

Whenever the Irish saddle up to play the Boilermakers, I usually look forward to a game of little excitement. Even though Purdue is a team that likes to dink and dunk the ball down the field, they usually end up playing a vanilla type of game with the Irish.

It’s not like when Notre Dame faces USC or Michigan, where you can expect a certain level of excitement and emotion from the players and the fans—let’s call it Moose Tracks or Spumoni.

To my delight, however, Saturday’s game was anything but vanilla for the Fighting Irish.

This past Saturday was a welcome sight for Notre Dame fans across the nation. For the first time since 2006, the Irish football team played a complete game of football from wire-to-wire.

Notre Dame soundly handled a Purdue team that took a talented Oregon team to overtime, and for the first time in a long time, the victory for the Irish was a team effort, from offense to defense to special teams.

The Good

1. Game Planning

So far this season, whenever Charlie Weis has had a press conference, you could count on one question always being asked: “Charlie, do you think that your team has found their offensive identity yet?”

Notre Dame fans’ hearts were content when we heard Coach Weis at the beginning of the year express his intent to play “smashmouth” football. However, through the first three games of the season, the Irish have been able to do anything but pound the football at their opponents.

This week, it seems that the coaches capitalized on that reality. They spread out the offense and had several multiple wide receiver sets in which the running back was able to run around the field. This in turn opened up the passing game for Mike Floyd, Golden Tate, and David Grimes.

For the second half of this game, it seemed like the Irish could move the ball with consistency, which is always a pleasure to see.

2. Play Calling

For the first time this season, I think that Mike Haywood and the rest of the coaching staff did a decent job at calling the offensive plays for an entire game. This past Saturday, Notre Dame ran almost as many running plays as passing plays. This, in turn, led to big plays on offense.

As anyone knows, you can’t be effective with the running game if you aren’t effective with the passing game—and you can’t be effective with the passing game if you aren’t effective with the running game. For the first time this season, it seemed like the offensive staff finally realized this and tried to even out the plays.

I’m fully confident that this is why Notre Dame was able to pass the ball effectively and why Armando Allen racked up 134 yards on the ground.

3. The Offensive Line

Following the lead of the rest of the team, this was the first game of the season where the offensive line was as decent with run protection as they were with pass protection. The offensive line also did fairly well with the absence of Will Yeatman. Trevor Robinson filled in nicely at times, as did the other tight ends, to fill the void left by Yeatman.

Additionally, Kyle Rudolph had some decent blocks on Saturday, clearing the way with Sam Young and Chris Stewart for Armando Allen to put on a show during the third quarter.

It has been an all-around team effort to keep Jimmy Clausen off his back, and so far, they are performing very well. Let’s hope they keep it up.

4. The Entire Defense

The Notre Dame defense did an extraordinary job with the Purdue offense. They were harassing Curtis Painter all game. No, they did not record a sack on Painter, but they did pressure him all game.

The way that Purdue’s offense is set up, it’s almost impossible to keep their quarterback from putting up some big numbers. However, the Irish secondary did a good job of not giving up many big passing plays, and the Irish defensive line and linebackers did a good job of keeping Kory Sheets to 87 yards on the ground.

It was a team defensive effort with no player really standing out as the true leader. David Bruton, Pat Kuntz, and Maurice Crum all finished with six tackles, and Kyle McCarthy and Robert Blanton each recorded five tackles, with Blanton adding a spectacular interception.

The Bad

1. Kicking Game

I really don’t want to keep beating a dead horse here, but it was very evident this Saturday how bad Notre Dame’s kicking game really is. Ryan Burkhart had one good kickoff, and the rest of the kicks were falling somewhere between the 5- and 15-yard line. Additionally, Brandon Walker is doing a very poor job of kicking field goals.

This past week, Charlie Weis had a kicking competition in practice between Brandon Walker and Ryan Burkhart to see who was better with field goals. Apparently Brandon Walker did far better than Burkhart did. I’m not sure what the deal is with these two guys, but this will come back to haunt them sometime this year.

I expect Charlie Weis to aggressively recruit at least one blue-chip kicker this year. What’s not to like? He can come to Notre Dame and play immediately. It’s not like he will have much competition.

2. Quarterback Pressure

Notre Dame did a decent job of keeping Curtis Painter under pressure this past weekend. At times, he looked flustered and had to quickly get rid of the ball before being tackled. However, Notre Dame still has not seen this defense record one sack. Usually, they get to the opposing quarterback and then are unable to run him down to tackle him.

I am fairly pleased with the Irish defense as a whole, but I’d love to see their defensive line and linebackers record some sacks—starting with Stanford.

3. Anemic Beginnings

For the second straight week, the Fighting Irish looked fairly flat coming out of the gate, not scoring a touchdown until the second quarter and not scoring an offensive touchdown until there were five minutes left before the half.

Notre Dame had a spectacular start to their game against Michigan, and I’m sure we all had high hopes that they would continue to start every game in the same fashion. In the four games played so far, Notre Dame has scored first only once. This was, of course, against Michigan.

It’s imperative, as the season progresses, that the offense gets points on the board first and makes the opposition play catch-up throughout the game.

Summary

Overall, this was a much improved team from the one we saw against Michigan State. In fact, I wonder how the team would have fared against Michigan State had they played this well.

However, people who were expected to make a big impact on this team (i.e. Duval Kamara, Robert Hughes) have yet to make their presence known.

This is only overshadowed by the fact that this team is littered with young players like Mike Floyd, Robert Blanton, and Ethan Johnson who are already making a very big impact on this team and are picking up the slack for some of the upperclassmen.

Additionally, there are young players like Kyle Rudolph and Trevor Robinson who are starting to develop and grasp the different schemes of this team.

Let’s hope that the progression of this team can continue at its current rate and the Irish can play another 60-minute game as they host the Stanford Cardinal next weekend. I will be in South Bend to see the game firsthand.

South Bend, here I come.

Players of the Game

Offense: Jimmy Clausen: 20/35, 275 yards, three TDs
Armando Allen: 17 rushes, 134 yards, one TD, 7.9 average

Defense: Robert Blanton: 5 tackles, one interception for TD

Special Teams: Armando Allen: 86 return yards, three attempts, 28.6 average

Suggestions For Charlie Weis: Week Three

Jon Hunn — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:25:45 -0400

On Saturday, I sat with my brother, cursing at the television. I could not understand, for the life of me, why a team who showed so much promise against San Diego State and Michigan, a team that had some unexpected players starting to make game-changing plays, could lose so poorly to Michigan State.

It wasn’t that the Irish lost by a big margin (they didn’t) or that they looked like amateurs trying to compete with the Spartans (they didn’t), but that it seems that this team is not yet over committing stupid mental mistakes.

It was a sad day for Irish fans across the nation who had so much confidence in Notre Dame going into the game and yet, like much of 2007 are down in the gutters emotionally going into Purdue. Let’s hope that the team won’t dwell on this loss as much as Irish fans and haters alike.

The Good
1. Young Talent: One positive note to the game was to see how much young talent this team is stocked with. It almost pains me to keep talking about the future when the team is barely scraping by right now, but the future does look bright for Notre Dame Football.

Golden Tate, Mike Floyd, Gary Gray, Brian Smith, and Ian Williams are freshmen or sophomores who are contributing to this team right now in a big way. With these players continuing to progress, the future does look bright for Notre Dame football. Not just in 2009, but the future of this season will look brighter as these players continue to hone their skills on the football field.

2. Defense: Contrary to popular opinion, the defense did not play very badly on Saturday. Sure, Ringer had over 200 yards rushing, but it took him nearly 40 touches to get there. And, he was averaging under four yards a carry going into the fourth quarter, which is when he broke for 63 yards on one rush, which was a result of over-pursuit by the defense.

The play calling and style of defense that Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta are implementing into this program is working. We’re not reaping the benefits in terms of sacks, but we are reaping the benefits in that the defense is starting to dictate how opposing offenses play the game. And that is always a good thing.

3. Pass Blocking: All right, the Notre Dame offensive line isn’t unstoppable. They gave up three sacks on Saturday. But, three sacks in three games is a remarkable improvement from a team who gave up 58 last season. They are continuing to protect Jimmy Clausen, who needs to get over his ailment of “happy feet” in the pocket.

But, this isn’t just an achievement of the offensive line. Jimmy Clausen deserves some credit for making smarter plays behind the line of scrimmage. Additionally, the running backs are doing a remarkable job of picking up corner and linebacker blitzes. Across the board, the entire offense is doing a better job. Let’s hope it continues to progress at this pace.

The Bad
1. Rushing (Run Blocking): Since Charlie Weis has arrived at Notre Dame, he has continued to bring in top talent at the running back position. While we might not see Jonas Gray in the backfield this season, there are three other running backs who were highly touted as some of the best in the nation when they arrived at Notre Dame.

Additionally, Weis has continued to recruit a decent amount of offensive lineman since he arrived at Notre Dame. Why, then, can they not run the ball effectively, even against a team who is lining up to stop the run?

I realize that it was Michigan State’s intent to stop the run and make Clausen beat them through the air, but this was pathetic. There were countless times that a running back would run up to the line of scrimmage, look at a hole on his right and a hole on his left and then run straight ahead into the back of an offensive lineman.

I’ve never seen such timid running in all my life. Something needs to be quickly done about this. Notre Dame cannot afford to be a one-dimensional team.

2. Play Calling: I mentioned this in my point above, but it also deserves to be covered here. Notre Dame completely abandoned the run in the second half. In the whole second half, the Irish ran the ball a total of four times.

I understand that they were behind and needed to catch up quickly, but completely abandoning the run will get you nearly nowhere with the passing game. You need one to have the other and in the second half, the Irish became predictable.

Brady, Jeff, Maurice, and Rhema were good at slinging the ball down the field for a whole quarter or a half. Jimmy, Golden, Mike, and Robby are not there yet.

3. Tackling: This is the second week in a row that the Irish have had trouble with bringing down the opposing ball carrier. I’m not sure who wracked up more yards after they were hit, Javon Ringer or Sam McGuffie. This is something that needs to be corrected immediately.

As Notre Dame progresses in their schedule, people like Jake Locker or Joe McKnight will wreak havoc on this defense if they can’t wrap them up on first contact. Most of Javon Ringer’s yards on Saturday came after he was hit. That’s simply unacceptable.

4. Kicking Game: Why is it that Weis, in all of his infinite recruiting wisdom, cannot manage to recruit a serviceable place kicker? DJ Fitzpatrick was the last decent kicker that this team had.

Something needs to be done about this aspect of the offense. If it’s mechanics, they need to be fixed. If it’s nerves, than Charlie needs to come up with a better way to simulate game-time kicking than hanging whether or not the team runs sprints at the end of practice on the kicker’s shoulders.

If this team cannot correct this problem then, mark my words, the team will lose at least another game because of the kicker’s inability to kick the ball between the uprights.

Summary
All in all, this wasn’t that bad of a game for the Irish and they didn’t play as badly as anyone, including me, makes it sound. There are some glaring holes in their abilities but there are also some very bright spots to this team.

However, this team is not good enough to commit three turnovers (two interceptions, and a fumble) and miss two field goals and still win the game. They were close to winning the game, but they are not there yet. Purdue will present this team with a whole new set of challenges.

The Irish secondary will get tested by Curtis Painter all day. But, if some of these problems aren’t at least partially fixed this week, there will be another close game in store for the Irish, and possibly a loss at the hands of the Boilermakers.

Players of The Game
Offense: Golden Tate – 5 catches, 83 yards receiving, 24 yards rushing
Mike Floyd – 7 catches, 86 yards receiving, 1 touchdown

Defense: Brian Smith – 10 tackles, 1 fumble
David Bruton – 10 tackles

Special Teams: Armando Allen – 170 return yards

Injecting Emotion Into an Emotionless Program

Jon Hunn — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:48:13 -0400

It wasn’t quite the Miami/Florida International brawl. However, anyone who went to the 2008 Blue-Gold Game remembers the scuffle that occurred when Harrison Smith intercepted a Jimmy Clausen pass and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. What we saw that day was what had been brewing since December.

This past off-season, Charlie Weis did some soul searching to figure out if maybe he was a contributing factor to Notre Dame’s 3-9 campaign in 2007. What turned out to be a nightmare for most Irish fans was a learning experience for Coach Weis and the rest of the football staff.

Charlie Weis came to terms that he was coaching a team of young, inexperienced players. He wasn’t coaching a team of mature, experienced veterans who knew the game and knew how to get the job done. Charlie found that he needed to change the way he related to his players.

We’re already two games into the season. Notre Dame fan’s expectations for this team continue to rise with every win that the team puts on their record – and with good reason. They are starting to look like a complete team instead of a team of misfits. They’re starting to play like a team, and they’re starting to win like a team.

But, what was the difference between the team we saw last year and the team we are seeing this year? Sure, they have progressed as players. Some have gotten bigger and stronger, some have gotten faster. But, things have changed in South Bend, Indiana. What’s causing the difference for this year’s team? Emotion.

Charlie found during his off-season that he couldn’t continue to treat each game as a business trip – at least, not with this team. He found that there were ways to reach his players and to get them to emotionally invest in the games they were playing. He found that in order to capitalize on your player’s abilities and their bond with one another, you must tap into their youthfulness.

You must tap into their abilities to carry one another and influence one another, on and off the field, to be better players and better people. “…I felt that the team didn't have fun. We'd go out for a game and you wouldn't - all those other teams would be out there loose and ready to go.

And I'm not talking about being goofballs now; I'm talking about going out and looking like they were going to enjoy themselves. And that wasn't our team.” It took Charlie quite a bit of time to realize that the mentality that you use in the NFL isn’t the same mentality you use with players who are still teenagers.

Essentially, you must let their personalities shine through their playing. As Notre Dame fans, we saw flashes of this coming through our veteran teams of 2005 and 2006, but never experienced it in 2007. What we saw last Saturday was something that this football team had been missing since the days of Lou Holtz.

And we’re slowly starting to see the difference in Coach Weis. During his press conference on Tuesday to preview Michigan State, he mentioned winning the game for the Megaphone Trophy– something he used to dismiss as a useless tradition.

Now, Charlie Weis is buying into the emotions that surround Notre Dame Football and he’s selling it to his players like a glass of cold lemonade on a hot summer day. He’s tapping into the emotions he undoubtedly experienced and participated in as a student at Notre Dame. And he’s encouraging his players to do the same. It’s about damn time.

Suggestions For Charlie Weis: Week Two

Jon Hunn — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:01:50 -0400

In light of last week’s game against San Diego State, I was pretty weary about watching Notre Dame this Saturday. It’s not that I didn’t think that the Irish would perform badly, but that there were so many unknown aspects about both the Irish and Michigan that could make this game a pleasant surprise or a hellish nightmare for Irish fans.

Luckily for Irish fans, it was a surprise indeed.

Many things can be said about the game. ESPN and many other major newspapers are saying that it wasn’t as big of a blowout as the score indicated. They think that Michigan gift-wrapped six turnovers to the Irish, which the Irish capitalized on.

First off, Michigan gift-wrapped two turnovers, the Irish created the other four. Furthermore, it takes a decent team to capitalize on turnovers. The Irish team from last year wouldn’t have capitalized on the turnovers like this team did on Saturday. This is a sign that the team is progressing fairly well.

Now, onto the suggestions.

The Good

1. Ball Hawking

It’s one thing to tackle well (more on that later), but it’s another to hawk the ball—to fiercely go after it.

Four of the turnovers created on Saturday were a result of the defense and special teams players not only going after the ball carrier, but also after the ball by trying to strip or punch the ball.

If the offense or defense can’t compete with other teams later on their schedule, winning the turnover battle is a big way to close the talent or scheme gap between them. Usually, a team that wins the turnover battle wins the game.

Continuing to promote the concept of taking the ball away from an opposing offense can only help this team’s situation as the schedule continues.

2. Pass Protection

The offensive line didn’t give up a sack for the second week in a row. This is against a team who set up camp in Notre Dame’s backfield last year. This was also against the strongest defense that the Irish will face until they play USC at the end of the season.

What’s even more remarkable is that Notre Dame accomplished this with true freshman, Trevor Robinson, starting for the questionable Chris Stewart on Saturday. It’s more than likely that Stewart will be back next week, but at least we know that there’s a capable backup behind him.

Not giving up any sacks is a huge confidence booster for this offensive line and will help instill a “swagger” in their playing style.

There were several opportunities for the Wolverines to sack Jimmy Clausen on Saturday, but he’s starting to throw the ball away when he can’t find an open receiver and that only helps their offensive situations during the game.

3. Special Teams

Saturday produced two fumbles for the Irish during kickoffs. A decent Special Teams unit may capitalize on one of the fumbles, but the Irish capitalized on both.

On the first, the Irish held the returnee to six yards after he recovered his own fumble on the two-yard line. The second time the Irish recovered the fumble.

With the help of cult hero Mike Anello, the Irish were able to aggressively run the table on Special Teams once again. This is good because they will need this aspect of their game against Michigan State next week.

The Bad

1. Tackling

I don’t know if it’s the elusiveness of Sam McGuffie or Notre Dame’s inability to wrap him up, but I was severely frustrated at Notre Dame’s defense on Saturday.

McGuffie was able to wrack up 131 yards on the field and another 47 through the air for a touchdown.

I think that the secondary is doing a great job of one-on-one tackling and stopping any ball carrier from gaining yards after a catch, but the defensive line and linebackers are having a hard time with wrapping up.

If this problem doesn’t get fixed soon, it could lead to many valuable yards and touchdowns that are given away in the future.

2. Jimmy Clausen

In last week’s review, I stated that Jimmy Clausen was a big positive to the game. While that’s true and that Jimmy threw for two touchdowns on Saturday, he also threw for two interceptions.

Because Jimmy’s talent and ability to read defenses is improving, much more will be expected of him. While I’m not expecting him to be the next Brady Quinn just yet, I am expecting him to eliminate big mental errors.

He is on pace to throw for 30 touchdowns, but he’s also on pace to throw 24 interceptions and just over 2,300 yards on the season.

If he doesn’t eliminate mental errors, it will be a long year for him—especially when people start to lock down on Golden Tate and he won’t be able to get many yards after catching the ball.

3. Wide Receivers

You can just go ahead and eliminate Golden Tate from anything that I will be saying in this section.

The three leading receivers from last year (Robby Parris, David Grimes, and Duval Kamara) have not shown up in either game the Irish have played so far.

Kamara had a touchdown reception against Michigan, but it was his only catch of the game. Grimes also had a catch against Michigan for an three yards. I’m not sure if the receiver’s production is a result of the play calling or if it’s their inability to separate themselves from the opposing secondary.

Mike Floyd is playing fairly well for a freshman, but we can’t expect him to make any significant impact on the team this year—it’s simply unfair.

If the Irish want to be productive in any game in the future, especially against tougher opponents, the experienced receivers will need to start increasing their impact on the team.

An average of 192 yards through the air per game is just simply unacceptable for the caliber of quarterback and the type of receivers we have.

4. Quarterback Pressure

I understand that the main object of Jon Tenuta’s influence on Corwin Brown’s defensive scheme is to allow the linebackers and safeties to make most of the plays in the backfield.

However, the whole idea of the defense hinges on the fact that the defensive line will be able to plug the running lanes through the middle and put pressure on the opposing quarterback.

I’m not expecting the defensive line to have a gigantic number of tackles at the end of the season, but I am expecting them to shut down the middle of the line so our linebackers and safeties can make the plays.

Right now, they aren’t getting it done and the only reason the defense is as stout as it is, is because the linebackers and safeties are doing a magnificent job at making plays and creating turnovers.

Summary

This was the type of game I expected this team to play in the second week. I certainly didn’t expect the team to create as many turnovers as it did, which is always a pleasant surprise.

The Irish have excelled at many aspects of their game—probably much further than their experience would allow them to—but they are also lacking in some aspects that should be almost fundamental at this point in their careers.

However, one thing is certain—the Irish need to play much better fundamentally if they have a hope of trying to contain Javon Ringer and the rest of the Michigan State offense next weekend.

The Irish should be underdogs going into the game, but hopefully the team can start to turn around some of the silly mistakes they have been making and will start to be more productive on offense.

If the defense can rectify their tackling problem and continue to create turnovers, and the offense can begin to produce the type of big plays that they are capable of producing, this will be a team that could do great things, starting with Michigan State next weekend.

Players of The Game

Offense – Golden Tate: four receptions, 127 yards, one TD.
Robert Hughes: 19 rush, 79 yards (4.2 avg.), twoTD

Defense – David Bruton: 15 tackles (10 solo, 1.5 TFL), one fumble, one int.
Brian Smith: six tackles, two fumble (one fumble for TD)

Special Teams - Mike Anello: three tackles, one fumble recovery

Suggestions for Charlie Weis: Week One

Jon Hunn — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:03:53 -0400

On Friday night, I couldn’t sleep. As part of my annual tradition, I watched Rudy. I know—in my previous article, I bashed people who watch Rudy and then make predictions on the new football season. Let’s just say I was trying to gear myself up for a new year of football laced with optimism. Plus, I’ve already made my season PREDICTIONS.

Finally, Saturday morning rolled around. Like little Ralphie who couldn’t wait to see if Santa brought him his Red Ryder BB Gun, I didn’t sleep as long as I usually do on the weekends. I was excited for a new season as I put on my usual Saturday garb of greens and golds.

But wait! I just remembered! I have to go to a wedding that starts the exact same time as the football game! Curses!

Needless to say, I didn’t see the first quarter of the football game—but I don’t think I missed too much.

This week is the first installment of my weekly articles that will run all season entitled “Suggestions for Charlie Weis.” These articles will point out the positive things that happened during the previous game, and things that the team still needs to work on. So without further ado...

The Good

1. Jimmy Clausen

Finally! It seems that Clausen’s elbow has healed to almost 100 percent, and he’s starting to make the throws that he was highly touted for. Clausen also made significantly fewer mental errors. This can only improve as the season, and his career, progress.

Clausen also did a decent job of recognizing defensive packages and adjusting the plays at the line of scrimmage accordingly. He still needs to work on his pocket presence, but that will come with experience.

2. Special Teams Coverage

It’s great to see that the trip to see Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech did some good for Charlie Weis and Brian Pollian. Notre Dame’s special teams coverage was decent yesterday, and their usual gunners, Mike Anello and David Bruton, picked up where they left off last year. Also, Sergio Brown’s punt block was a nice surprise.

3. Defensive Blitzing

You can definitely tell that Jon Tenuta has had some input on this year’s defensive scheme. While the Irish didn’t touch the SDSU quarterback much yesterday, they did succeed in getting pressure on the quarterback. Additionally, Ian Williams had some great plays breaking up some passes.

Usually, if you blitz the quarterback a lot, it leaves your secondary out on an island with one-on-one coverage, but our secondary did a nice job giving up only a couple of big plays.

4. Pass Protection

Notre Dame gave up 58 sacks last year. That number was a combination of the porous offensive line and their running backs' inability to pick up the blitz. On Saturday, however, Jimmy Clausen was not sacked once. There was some pressure by SDSU’s faster defensive line, but the offensive line did a decent job protecting Clausen. It’s nice to see some sort of progression with this unit from last year.

The Bad

1. Run Blocking

Even though Notre Dame’s offensive line did a decent job with pass protection, they failed pretty miserably with run protection. There were several times when their running backs were lying on the ground behind the line of scrimmage and the offensive linemen were standing around looking at them.

You can’t play smashmouth football and “ram the football down their throats” if your offensive line can’t block the defensive line and pick up some blitzes along the way.

2. Play Calling

Notre Dame’s play calling was very predictable most of the day. I hope this is a result of Mike Haywood’s first experience with calling the plays for the whole game and not because the offensive personnel could only handle a basic set of plays mentally.

I was expecting Notre Dame to commit to one style of play during Saturday’s game—running—and leaving the passing game for Michigan. Of course, that hinged on the fact that the run blocking was supposed to be somewhat better.

I was amazed how ineffective the run game was and how effective the passing game was. I’m not sure if it was a product of the play calling or...

3. Mental Errors (Execution)

Saturday’s game was littered with mental errors on both sides of the ball for the Irish: two interceptions, one fumble, one botched field goal snap, one missed field goal, and one incomplete pass that could have easily been a touchdown.

All of these errors, more or less, could have theoretically given the Irish 27 more points (three touchdowns and two field goals). Add that to their score, and they “could” have beaten SDSU by a score of 48-13, which is the score most of us were expecting.

Mental errors also played factored into the reason why they abandoned the running game somewhat and switched to the two-minute offense several times throughout the game.

4. Special Teams Kicking

Why is it that Notre Dame can’t seem to find a kicker who kicks the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs? While watching the game, I kept saying to myself, “That’s a decent kick” when Ryan Burkhart was kicking the ball to the opposing 10-yard line. That’s not a decent kick. Those are valuable yards that we are just handing to the other team for free—and that goes double for Eric Maust.

The only thing that is saving the kicking game is the quick and ferocious tackling by Mike Anello and David Bruton.

Wrap-Up

This was a very peculiar week. The Irish were expected to mop the floor with the Aztecs, and instead they made a multitude of mental errors and barely scraped by with a W. The only thing that is not advantageous to starting the season off with a weaker opponent is that you can’t get a very accurate depiction of your team.

There were some positives to the game, but will they continue to be strengths as the season winds towards that inevitable end? There were also some negatives in the game, but will these weaknesses continue to become a chink in the Irish’s armor as they start to play progressively stronger opponents?

One thing is certain, however: The Irish are a better team than last year. We’ll just have to wait to see how much better they really are.

Players of the Game

Offense: Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate

Defense: David Bruton, Kyle McCarthy

Special Teams: Sergio Brown, Mike Anello

Broken Bones and Missing Teeth

Jon Hunn — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:45:49 -0400

On Saturday, I felt very empty. While the rest of the country was enjoying the first games of the 2008 College Football season, I was sitting at home watching the television, wishing I could root for one team or another, but I’ve never been able to root for a team that isn’t wearing the interlocking ND on their uniforms.

So far, the 2008 season has dealt us a handful of surprises. Virginia Tech, Clemson, Michigan, and Pittsburgh all lost their season openers to what many deemed “inferior” opponents.

This coming Saturday, however, the 2008 Fighting Irish Football Team takes the field for the first time since their horrid 2007 campaign that left many weak-hearted Irish fans (read: bandwagon fans) running for the hills.

There will, however, be some very different ingredients that will go into this year’s team that will make this year a much better year for the Irish faithful and will kick that dead horse that was the 2007 season out the door.

Personnel

One of the major bright spots for this year’s football team is that they return almost all of their starters on offense and defense from last year. However, one could argue, “Hah, the Irish were horrible last year. The same lousy players will produce the same lousy product on the field.”

While the departure of John Carlson, John Sullivan, Tom Zbikowski, Trevor Laws, and Darrin Walls (for just this year) will hurt, there are many more positives about this year’s batch of players.[1]

First off, all of our offensive line that started the last few games of our 2007 campaign will be back. This can only help the cohesiveness that is sorely needed on any good offensive line.

Second, many players, including Jimmy Clausen, Sam Young, and Duval Kamara have bulked up, or trimmed down, as the case may be (Kamara), and we should start to see the effects of these moves in every facet of our team. In fact, the whole offensive line as a unit is bigger and stronger.

Finally, this year’s Irish team will add the best recruiting class to its ranks since the days when Lou Holtz was picking grass on the Notre Dame sideline.

The most recent depth chart was released on August 25^th for the Irish Football team. Michael Floyd (WR), Braxton Cave (C), Trevor Robinson (RG), Kyle Rudolph (TE), Robert Blanton (CB), Darius Fleming (LB), Kapron Lewis-Moore (DE), and Ethan Johnson (DE) have all cracked the two-deep at their respective positions, with Rudolph being the starter at Tight End as a result of the injury to Mike Ragone.

The highlight of the addition of these freshman players is the fact that none of them were forced into their respective spots because of a lack of depth. All of them were good enough to earn a spot. Look for Floyd, Rudolph, and Johnson to make the biggest and earliest impact on this team.

Staff

It’s no secret that the Irish have added John Tenuta to their defensive staff from Georgia Tech. If you’ve seen any of the practice videos of this year’s Irish team, you would have heard his gruff voice in the background yelling and taunting his linebackers.

John Tenuta’s presence on the coaching staff can only help second-year coordinator, Corwin Brown. With Tenuta’s blitz-happy defensive style and Corwin Brown’s 3-4 defense, our defense should only improve from last year, providing that Jappy Oliver can get our defensive line ready to play.

The other change to this year’s staff that you should have heard about already, if you’re not living under a rock, is the addition of Mike Haywood to the play-calling fold.

Yes, Weis is handing over the laminated card to the running back’s coach and offensive coordinator, Mike Haywood. Haywood has had a lot of coaching experience at some great schools, LSU and Texas to name a few, and only time will tell how he will handle his new role on the staff.

Many are projecting the Irish to run the ball more than pass and with a healthy stable of running backs and bigger, stronger offensive line, I could hardly disagree.

Additionally, Charlie said so: ''We're going to pound it. That will help everything get better. It will help the play-action pass, will get guys open on intermediate routes and will help pass protection because people will have to worry about stopping the run first. I don't want to sound hypocritical, but ever since I've been here, I've wanted to pound the football and we haven't.”

But, rest assured, if Weis thinks that Haywood has slipped up one too many times with the play-calling, we will undoubtedly see the laminated card back in Weis’ capable hands.

Preparation Style

What ever happened to the type of teams that the Irish had in the 40’s with Leahy at the helm? What ever happened to the toughness for which the Irish were famous—people playing with broken bones and missing teeth?

One precursor to the incredible break-down that occurred last year was a result of the type of preparation that the team had during the preseason and the first few weeks of the season. The Irish looked like they were afraid to hit someone and were afraid to be hit.

Part of the reason of the light-contact practices can be attributed to the poor depth that the Irish had last year at many positions, but mainly on both the offensive and defensive lines. If you practice hard and bring people to the ground, people are likely to get hurt. It was just simply a risk that the coaching staff was not willing to take.

This year, however, things are different.

It’s good to see videos of the Irish’s practices. It’s good to hear the sound of pads on pads with everything being done to toughen up the players except to cut block a player who is blitzing.

While I’m not expecting players on the team to be playing with broken bones and missing teeth, I am expecting to see some sort of the “nastiness” that Weis had proclaimed when he was introduced as Notre Dame’s new coach and we haven’t seen it yet, not even in 2005 or 2006.

Hopefully, this will be the year that some of that nastiness is shown in our playing. The difference is, however, that this year, we can afford to play with some nastiness because our depth on the lines and at the skill positions allows us to do so.

Another difference in this year’s preparation style comes with Weis’ new role as a true Head Coach. Because Weis has handed over the playing calling duties to Coach Haywood, he has more time to devote to other areas of the team.

This has lead to different things such as Weis and Coach Pollian traveling to Virginia Tech to get some Special Teams help from Head Coach Frank Beamer, who is nationally known for his expertise in Special Teams.

Additionally, Weis’ increase in free time during practices allows him to help out at other positions where his coaching is badly needed, like at Wide Receivers and the Offensive Line. Hopefully, if Weis is the football “genius” that others have labeled him as, spreading his knowledge around the practice field can only help this still young football team.

Schedule

Before this season began, the 2008 Fighting Irish Football Schedule looked to be a very weak one at best. At least, the schedule was weaker than the typical schedule that the Irish have.

However, after the round of upsets that took place on Saturday, it seems that the Irish’s schedule may be even weaker than originally anticipated. Two teams that were supposed to be fairly decent, Michigan and Pittsburgh, lost to arguably inferior opponents in Utah and Bowling Green respectively.

This only hurts Notre Dame’s already weak strength of schedule. Despite the weak strength of schedule, however, the Irish’s schedule is laid out in a way that can only help the Irish this year.

First off, the Irish started off with a bye week. This should turn out to be beneficial to the Irish as they have an extra week at the beginning of the season to not only prepare for San Diego State, but it also gives them an extra week to hone their fundamentals instead of throwing them into the fire against a strong team like Georgia Tech, ala 2007.

Second, as fellow Notre Dame Writer, OC Domer, wrote in a recent article[2], the Irish’s schedule layout can only help the team. The schedule has four “peak” games in Michigan, North Carolina, Pitt, and USC. These four games are against the highest ranked teams (preseason) on our schedule.

The good thing about the schedule comes in the fact that each “peak” game comes after a game against an inferior opponent and is followed by a game against a lesser opponent or a bye week. This can only help to boost Notre Dame’s confidence going into the big games and allows them to repair themselves after them.

The only negative to this format is that the Irish are likely to be caught in a trap game following one of their “peak” games and get beat by Michigan State, Washington, or Boston College. This could be the most detrimental thing to our season—losing the games we ought to win.

I’ll admit that I was a person who was defending the Irish last year before the 2007 campaign, drawing parallels to the young and untested 1988 squad where there weren’t parallels to be drawn.

My hope in the 2007 team was grounded in things that weren’t factual and was based on purely emotion. Too many times, Irish fans make their predictions after they watch Rudy or listen to “Notre Dame, Our Mother” too many times and I fell into that trap. However, this year should be a jolt of reality to all Irish fans.

All of this positive evidence that points to a good 2008 season should do nothing but help this team. However, this team is still very young. Once the football leaves the tee at the beginning of the game, everything that I have said in this article will have had no impact on this team if the players haven’t increased their capacity to process things mentally during the offseason.

If they have increased their mental capacities, and with all of these positive aspects for the 2008 season surrounding nearly every facet of this team, anything less than a record of 7-5 will be very disappointing. Anything more than 8-4 will be a pleasant surprise.

This prediction, I believe, is rooted in fact and supported by the truth previously discussed. Just as this past Saturday provided many surprises for college football as a whole, here’s hoping that the 2008 season will deal Irish fans a handful of surprises—hopefully the kind we can be happy about.

Bring on the Aztecs!

[1] Note: I chose not to include Travis Thomas in this list simply because I won’t miss him and neither will the team.

[2] OC Domer’s article can be found here: http://ocdomer.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

Notre Dame's Top Rival: Who Takes the Cake?

Jon Hunn — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:33:58 -0400

If you walk down the streets of South Bend and ask any Notre Dame fan who the Irish’s biggest rival is, more than likely the answer will be “USC.” However, if you ask a fan who isn’t as well versed in Notre Dame history, you might hear responses like Michigan, Boston College, Miami, Florida State, or even Navy.

Why do some Notre Dame fans consider USC to be Notre Dame’s biggest rival, while fans might consider these other teams to have that distinction?

For starters, you can thank Notre Dame’s diverse schedules for the plethora of responses. Additionally, some older Notre Dame fans might believe that younger fans aren’t schooled in the rich history and tradition of Notre Dame Football.

I’m 24, and I think I’ve read enough books, magazines, and articles to be fairly knowledgeable on Notre Dame’s history. Without a doubt, USC is Notre Dame’s biggest and oldest continuous rival, with some of the most exciting games played in either school’s history.

Why, then, would some consider these other teams to be Notre Dame’s biggest rivals? Could it be that because of the dominance by the Trojans in the recent history of the annual game, some fans don’t get too emotionally invested in the games anymore?

What constitutes a rivalry?

A rival is a person or group that is at constant odds with the subject: rival businesses, rival competitors, etc. A rival is not someone who is in conflict with someone or something else just once. A rival is always there, making things difficult: Joker to Batman, Tom to Jerry, and the Red Sox to the Yankees, just to name a few.

More importantly, a rival usually makes things much more difficult at critical moments—say when a football team is making their historic run for the National Title (don’t say Boston College—more on that later).

Who are Notre Dame’s main rivals, and why?

Notre Dame vs. USC

The Notre Dame/USC rivalry is the longest-running intersectional rivalry in the nation. What does that mean? It means that it is the longest rivalry that has nothing to do with conference affiliation or geographical positions.

Notre Dame started playing USC in 1926. Notre Dame and USC have played every year since excluding 1943, 1944, and 1945, when the series was halted for the Second World War.

Why is this Notre Dame’s biggest rivalry? It’s the biggest rivalry because of all the tradition behind it.

First, Notre Dame has been playing USC since before the Great Depression. Second, there are 18 National Championships between the two schools: 11 for Notre Dame, seven for USC. Third, there are several times when Notre Dame and USC have met where one school played spoiler to the other’s National Title run.

Finally, there are several very memorable and arguably some of the best games in both school’s football histories: 1974—The Comeback Game; 1977—The Green Jersey Game; 1988—No. 1 vs. No. 2 and the destruction of Rodney Pete.

If there’s so much history behind these two teams playing one another, why would anyone consider any other team than USC to be Notre Dame’s biggest rival?

Frankly, with the exception of the controversial ending to the 2005 game, there have been more exciting games in Notre Dame’s recent history which may have a hand in skewing some younger Notre Dame fans' views of the Irish’s rivalries.

Florida State and Miami

The only case for Florida State and Miami can be made in a few games.

Hands down, the most exciting game of the '90s for Notre Dame was the ’93 game against Florida State in the “Game of the Century.” The game lived up to its immense hype and ESPN’s College Football GameDay’s first campus visit was a great one.

If you don’t know the story of the game, I can’t help you—you’re too far gone. It had all of the hype and excitement of the 2005 USC game—except the Irish won.

Miami is another story altogether. They had a clash with the Irish in 1987 and once again in 1988 in the Catholics vs. Convicts game, which ended in a close Irish win, much like the FSU game. Pat Terrell batted down a two-point conversion attempt in the last remaining seconds of the game, and the Irish won.

Coincidentally, the Irish went on the next week to beat No. 2 USC to end the season. The Irish and Miami have not met since 1990.

As is the case for both teams, these games were huge in their respective seasons. However, one or two memorable games does not constitute a rivalry.

Nevertheless, if younger Notre Dame fans are going on the emotion and excitement of one single game to name a rival, a Notre Dame fan need not look further than these two games, as they are some of the most memorable games in the past 20 years (with the Snow Bowl coming in a close third).

Boston College

I have to mention this... The biggest game for Boston College came against Notre Dame in 1993. The Eagles beat the Irish 41-39 on a last-second field goal to move the Irish back down to No. 2 and gave the National Title to Florida State.

It is one of the most heartbreaking losses in school history, mostly because of what happened the week before against Florida State, and the first heartbreaking loss I remember being emotionally invested in. This game is probably the most memorable loss to any Notre Dame fan younger than 25. This would continue to be Boston College’s style of football (read on).

That being said, the majority of Irish fans maintain that BOSTON COLLEGE IS NOT OUR RIVAL, and I have to agree with them. Boston College is called “Fredo” by most Irish fans. Fredo is the brother in The Godfather who betrays the family, much like Boston College betrayed the Big East for the ACC Conference.

Most Irish fans consider Boston College not a rival, but more like a little brother. Rather than achieving greatness on their own, their great moments are when they stunt the greatness of others (see above paragraph).

Regardless of whether Boston College fans revel in the chance to play Notre Dame in football, Notre Dame fans do not reciprocate the same feelings. Boston College will always be the little annoying brother of Notre Dame and should be treated as such—case closed.

Michigan

The University of Michigan was Notre Dame’s first opponent in football ever, as the Wolverines notched a victory against the Irish in 1887 and continued to beat the Irish for the next seven meetings. The Irish got their first victory against Michigan in 1909.

Much of the rivalry can be attested to the fact that Michigan literally taught Notre Dame the game of football. From then, Notre Dame and Michigan have been in an on-again, off-again relationship.

Much of the animosity between Michigan and Notre Dame can be attested to different coaches and athletic directors getting their feelings hurt.

After Notre Dame notched their first victory against Michigan, Michigan cancelled the next year’s game and boycotted the Irish until 1942, when Elmer Layden brought the Wolverines back to the schedule for two years. Then the series was not renewed until 1978, when Moose Krause brought the Irish back to the schedule.

Through the years, Notre Dame and Michigan have been two of the best programs in the nation. Michigan has the best winning percentage of any program with a .745 mark, while the Irish are second at .739.

The case of the rivalry between the two teams can be attributed to the sheer number of times the two teams have played. Michigan lists Ohio State as their biggest rival, with Notre Dame in second. The Irish list USC as their biggest rival, with Michigan in second. I think that’s an accurate statement.

Navy

The “rivalry” with Navy isn’t a rivalry at all. Rather, the Irish have a great amount of respect and gratitude towards the Midshipmen. The Irish and the “Middies” have played each other annually since 1927, making it the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in the nation.

Even though the Irish have owned the series between the two schools, there is no animosity between them, and Notre Dame has deep respect for Navy.

Like a lot of other schools, Notre Dame had a great deal of economic hardship during World War II. Navy decided to use Notre Dame as a training facility and paid the University enough money for its facilities to keep the University afloat during the War. Since then, Notre Dame has had an open invitation to Navy to play the Irish, and Navy has taken advantage of that invitation.

The series with Navy is one marked with a great amount of respect. This respect is evident as both teams stand at attention during the playing of the other school’s Alma mater. The “rivalry” with Navy comes out of respect and an annual payment of honor, not as a hostile meeting.

Even though, in this writer's opinion, USC is our school’s biggest rival, there hasn’t been much of a rivalry between the schools recently due to the lack of exciting games or National Championship implications.

The only mention of the other schools can be attributed in part to their involvement with some of the most memorable recent games in Notre Dame’s illustrious history.

Notre Dame has the most storied history in all of college football, and many teams have had a hand in shaping this history. But what makes a rival?

While the perception of this question changes from generation to generation of Notre Dame fans, one thing does not change: the love and respect for Notre Dame Football. While we may disagree on the importance of our opponents, we all have one thing in common—our love for the University of Notre Dame.

National Championship Drought: How Long Is Too Long?

Jon Hunn — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:50:06 -0400

Before I begin this article, I must confess that I'm a die-hard Notre Dame fan. I live and die with the Irish and more recently, I've been dying.

I've seen a lot of criticism towards Notre Dame in recent years, with people saying that Notre Dame is irrelevant in college football. Part of this, I’m sure, is Notre Dame’s stellar streak of nine bowl losses.

Be that as it may, not every team that is near the top of college football now was near the top in past years. This season marks 20 years since the Irish have raised the National Championship trophy above their heads.

The last coach to deliver that trophy for the Irish can now be seen on College Football Live on ESPN sparring with Mark May on a regular basis.

In this article, I will examine the National Championship droughts of what some would call the some of the better teams in the nation.

Louisiana State University

It only seems fitting that I start with last year’s National Champion.

LSU won the National Championship last year (2007). They also won the title by split decision with USC in 2003.

Prior to 2003, however, the last time that the Tigers won the title was in 1958—that’s 45 years.

Ohio State University

The Buckeyes have been in the National Championship the past two years, both times coming up excruciatingly short by margins of 14 points against LSU and 27 against Florida.

This year, they are one of the favorites to win the title, but can they follow through? The last time OSU won the National Title was in 2002.

Prior to 2002, however, the last time the Buckeyes won the National Championship was in 1970—that’s 32 years.

University of Southern California

Since the Trojans hired Pete Carroll, it seems as though they have annually been included in the National Championship discussion, and this year is no exception.

The last time USC won the National Championship was in 2004, with Matt Leinart behind center. In 2003, they received the AP’s vote for National Champion while LSU took the BCS vote for National Champion.

Prior to 2003, however, the last time the Trojans won the National Championship was in 1978—that’s 25 years.

University of Michigan

Michigan has more recently been tagged as an up-and-coming team but hasn’t quite been getting it done on the field, partly thanks to losing at the hands of OSU five out of the last six years.

This year, Michigan is expected by many to be in a down year with the transition to a new coach and a new scheme. Nevertheless, the last the Wolverines won the National Championship was in 1997, which is 10 years ago.

Prior to 1997, however, the last time Michigan won the National Title was in 1948—that’s 49 years.

University of Texas

Texas has seen great success since the days of Vince Young. This year, they are poised to make another run for the title in the Big 12.

The last time the Longhorns won the National Title was in 2005, when Vince Young and Texas made a run over Matt Leinart and USC.

Prior to 2005, however, the last time that the Longhorns won the National Championship was in 1970—that’s 35 years.

University of Tennessee

The Volunteers are ranked 18^th to start this season.

Usually, Tennessee is a fairly decent team, but like Georgia, they are part of a brutal SEC conference and thus annually play a hard schedule. The last time The Volunteers won a National Championship was in 1998.

However, prior to 1998, the last time that Tennessee won a National Title was in 1967—that’s 31 years.

University of Georgia

The Bulldogs are ranked first in many pre-season polls this year. However, it has been quite a while since they have brought home a National Title.

Part of this can be attributed to the unquestioned strength of the SEC conference. The last time the Bulldogs won a National Title was in 1980—that was 28 years ago.

However, prior to 1980, the last time that Georgia won a National Title was in 1942—that’s 38 years.

Additionally, there are teams in the nation that are now considered by many to be strong teams year in and year out, but have a short history of National Championships.

Just a couple of examples are Florida State (’99, ’93) and Florida (’06, ’96). In both of these cases, the Seminoles and the Gators hadn’t won a National Title prior to their runs of success in the 1990s.

Finally, in all fairness, there are teams that have managed to maintain a respectable amount of time between National Championships.

In the case of most of these teams, the span between National Titles usually doesn’t exceed 15 years. Some of these teams include (with most recent National Title in parentheses): Alabama (’92), Oklahoma (’00), Miami (’01), and Nebraska (’97).

So, what do these numbers tell us? That almost no team is immune from a National Title drought of some sort.

Everyone can agree that Notre Dame had a horrible season last year. However, their recent history has shown that they are still very much in the national spotlight, either by their own doing or with help from the media.

Additionally, Notre Dame, prior to Weis, had gone through probably one of their worst stretches of coaches with Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham, which produced some of the lousiest football in Notre Dame history—not including last year’s debacle.

What does this mean for the Irish?

Notre Dame could very well be near the hunt for another National Title in 2009, if their talent progresses as it should at the skill positions and on the offensive line.

Charlie Weis has recruited very well since his arrival at the Golden Dome and we will start to see the benefits of this recruiting.

Hold on, Irish, our time to hoist that trophy once again is approaching rapidly. When that time comes, we will all rejoice together.