Enough Allready, Notre Dame's Defense Was Not to Blame Last Year

People have been writing how bad the Notre Dame defense has been for the past couple of years. Have the statistics been horrible, yes. Have tackles been missed,yes. Would it be nice to have defensive backs actually cover receivers, yes. There is no argument against the statistics or missed opportunities.

What even some astute Irish football fans have missed, however, is that the Notre Dame offense was to blame. Not any of the skill positions, but the offensive line in particular. There was far to many missed opporotunities by that unit last year. To prove my point, I will attempt a short recap of each game.

Game 1, Nevada- great game, just about everything went right for Notre Dame.

Game 2, Michigan- Well I am sure certain officiating crews were rewarded for their performance. However, when we needed to control the clock-we could not get the job done. Some blame the coach, some blame missed tackles but at the end of the game we still "lost" to Michigan. I wonder if the referees were paid in cash?

Game 3, Michigan State- This was an up and down game for us. The main story was the injuries. Overcoming those injuries took almost the remainder of the season. Both offense and defense made errors during the game. However, it was a defensive stop that did save the day.

Game 4, Purdue- This was most likely the best coached game by Charlie last year. He over came injuries on offense and horrible play on defense. What was really frustrating to me was that we controlled the ball almost the entire 3rd quarter and could not get any points. That shows how ineffective the offensive line usually was last year. We could generate good statistics-but not any points.

Game 5, Washington- Another interesting game, with some amusing comments from Washington fans. Apparently, opposing teams should be able to hold Armando Allen with impunity. Also, how many "roughing the center" calls did Washington get in the last 10 years? I think the defense did ok against a very skilled quarter back. The offense for Notre Dame did win the game, but there were many mistakes on both sides of the ball. We had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns and it was the offense which gave Washington its only tochdown in the 2nd quarter.

Game 6, USC- this game was probabalbly the worst showing by the Notre Dame defense all year. It cost us the game plain and simple. It would have been nice to at least slow down the USC tight end once in a while last year. Though, the offense also did not have the best showing either.

Game 7, Boston College- This game was probably the best showing for the defense. Boston College's running game was not effective at all. Boston College did get some lucky recpeptions, but it was really the defense that won that game. Again, the offensive line failed to give us points during some key times during that game.

Game 8, Washington State- This was not enough of a dominating game for me. The opponent was weaker and we should have scored more points. There also was the critical injury against Mr. Crist. I do beleive we lost some critical development time after that injury.

Game 9, Navy- This is really painful to remember. This was probably the worst showing for the offensive line last year. Getting shut out by Navy is inexcusable. The offense, again, failed to perform when needed. There is nothing more to say on this tragedy.

Game 10, Pittsburg-This is also painful. Again the offense did not show up when needed. There were some bright moments, but not enough of them. The Notre Dame defense did keep the game close, but they were eventually overwhelmed. I believe that both sides of the ball failed us in this game.

Game 11, Conn.- I still have trouble believing that people defended Charlie Weis after this game. There really is almost nothing to say. Both the offense and defense failed to perform in this game.

Game 12, Stanford- Another bad game for the defense. Notre Dame stopped that particular running back in the previous 3 meetings. Notre Dame won its 3rd game in the 2007 year. Irish fans most likely still have nightmares remembering that season. This game lost was almost solely the fault of the defense.

This is the point I am attempting to make. The offense was supposed to carry the team last year. I was expecting 10 points more per game than that unit provided. Notre Dame did not score points when it had to last year. They did generate good statistics, but that does not always translate into points. I hope this year we do score the points we could have last year.