Quick Hits from Notre Dame-Purdue

This Notre Dame team is missing something... Something really big. I don't exactly know what it is but here is what I see:

• The team isn't very physical. We saw glimpses of it on offense (especially on the drive to start the second half). We saw glimpses on defense. But Notre Dame didn't wear Purdue down. The Irish have the talent to do that.
• The tackling in the secondary is atrocious. I am not sure what happened in between the game at Southern Cal and the national championship game, but ever since the 2012 regular season ended, the Irish can't tackle. A strength has turned into a weakness.
• The Irish can't put teams away. We saw it in the opener against Temple. We saw it again tonight. Three TDs in three and a half minutes had Purdue on the ropes and the Irish couldn't finish them off until they absolutely had to.

Watching this game - a predictable offense, a soft defense, not putting teams away, feels just like the first two Kelly seasons (and a number of seasons before Kelly). I hope it turns around, but it doesn't feel like it will.

The trio of Calabrese, Fox and Grace in the middle of the linebacking corps is embarrassingly slow. They couldn't keep up with some of the Purdue (!) skill players. We are learning by the week how much this team misses Te'o, but his speed is a big one.

Also, let's put out a missing person's alert for Stephon Tuitt. Four tackles in three games.

Before I get to the offense, I want to apologize to Louis Nix. He gets double-teamed a ton and it's hard to notice him unless you watch him.

I called last week for more of a balance in the run-pass ratio and we got that a little bit (24 runs and 34 passes before the last drive) this week. However, this offense seems very predictable. It felt like we saw no more than five run designs all night. That works if you run an option-based attack.  Purdue had Notre Dame very well-scouted but it doesn't seem that difficult. When Notre Dame runs a play, it rarely surprises me (outside of the Daniels TD).

The argument that Alabama, when down 14-0, got back in the game by passing isn't as easy as it seems. That works because of Alabama's traditional success in running. That works because they threw the ball against nine in the box on the flea-flicker. That works because Alabama doesn't go five-wide with an empty backfield to totally give up on the threat of a run.

I can get myself to the point of passing to set up the run. I don't agree with it but Kelly believes in it. I just don't think the offense is very good, especially with an immobile quarterback.

Notre Dame stretched the field twice and found success both times. More of that please. Hint: it will help with opening up the running game.

We heard a lot of hype about Davaris Daniels and he appears to be living up to it. If he keeps developing, Daniels may play on Sundays.

Amir Carlisle may go into the Jonas Gray doghouse.

I thought Purdue did a good job with delaying the blitzes. We know Rees likes to check at the line but the book on him is to show one defensive look and then change it after he adjusts the play.

Thankfully, Notre Dame was playing a team the caliber of Purdue.

Quick hits on the Notre-Dame Michigan game

Devin Gardner was way better than I was expecting. He played exceptionally well until that boneheaded interception in the end zone. He wobbled for a little bit but answered the bell down the stretch. It didn't get much play on the broadcast, but that throw on the last TD pass was very impressive. Gardner had a lot of pressure and put it one the money.

The refusal of the Notre Dame coaching staff to run the ball consistently is maddening. The drive that kept Notre Dame in the game (first drive of the second half) was a great combination of runs and passes. Pick your situation - Down 14 and 3rd-and-3 deep in Michigan territory, the run was never an option (especially when you are gonna go for it on fourth down!). Down 7 with the short field after the shanked punt, Carlisle runs it for 16 yards on the first play and then FOUR STRAIGHT PASSES. Notre Dame showed it could control the middle of the line of scrimmage but had a 18-45 run-pass ratio before the last-ditch drive

Troy Niklas is an absolute beast. His route running needs a little work but he is a good blocker and when he gets in space, watch out.

Man does Amir Carlisle run hard. I thought Theo Riddick ran like a senior last year and maybe he rubbed off on Carlisle, who I think is more talented physically than Riddick.

I am not sure what is wrong with the defense, but it should start with Tuitt and Nix losing 20 pounds apiece. That weight might be good for Nix on Sundays but not in college.

Seriously, if anyone can fix the defense, please call Bob Diaco. The loss of Te'o and Lewis-Moore can't be the only thing wrong.

I would love to see some analytics on 2nd-and-18 vs. 3rd-and-8. Obviously it didn't work out for Notre Dame but I would just like to see the percentages on that decision. Intuition says the 2nd-and-18 would be better for the defense but I am curious.

Tommy Rees played fine. He is what he is - a backup quarterback who has improved in his career and knows the offense very well. He never saw the Michigan defender on that interception. Tommy shouldn't be asked to throw the ball 40 or 50 times a game. No college QB should.

Notre Dame got some awful breaks on three pass interference calls. The early one on Russell and the one on Jackson were very tough. If you can't do that, then you can't play defense. I think the call on Farley was correct.

You see why a team doesn't want to rely on passing. Notre Dame got the break in the first half on the tipped ball and Michigan got the break at the end of the game. There are a lot fewer things that can go wrong when you run the ball.

The next two games should be wins for the Irish. Purdue is miserable and Michigan State's defense has scored more touchdowns than its offense through two games. Then the tests come with Oklahoma, Arizona State and Southern Cal.

At least the Rays are losing. The Indians are six outs away from being one game back in the wild card. 

Why It Appears Like a Rivalry

(courtesy of Matt Lozar) A major topic this week created by the media (thanks to Brian Kelly's comment) has been "Is Notre Dame-Michigan A Rivalry?"

 

To me, it feels like a rivalry. And here's why.

 

Yes, Michigan ducked Notre Dame for decades and did everything it could to keep the Catholics out of the Big Ten. And I agree with Kelly's original comment not his backtracking

 

Since the "Reunion Game" in 1978, ND-UM haven't played six times — 83-84 (South Carolina), 95-96 (Ohio State) and 00-01 (Nebraska). Unlike Mark May and Skip Bayless, I actually watched these teams play while growing up. There have been a number of memorable games:

 

I wasn't born but Harry Oliver in 1980 when fans swear the flags on top of the goal posts stopped for the 51-yard field goal for the left-footed, soccer-style kicker out of Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

Losing 24-23 in Holtz's first season in 1986 and ND becoming the first NCAA team to move into the top 20 after a loss.

 

Four field goals for Reggie Ho in 1988.

 

Kicking to the Rocket in 1989. Good move Bo.

 

The 90s had its fair share - Reggie Brooks getting knocked out when scoring a TD in 92, upsetting the defending champs in 98, poor clock management in 99.

 

The real reason this has felt like a rivalry to me has been the past 11 seasons.

 

Granted, I started as an undergraduate at Notre Dame in 2001, but there is no other series that I can easily tell you every single game between Notre Dame and its opponent in the past dozen seasons. You will have take my word for it but I didn't have to look at all for these quick recaps.

 

• 2002 - the offense finally scores a TD. Students storm the field. The country takes ND for real
• 2003 - Houston's Better - 38-0
• 2004 - Payback Is A... Darius Walker's coming out party. Students storm the field again. I do 38 pushups at midfield and take home a chunk of the turf that lived in a bowl from South Dining Hall for the entire fall semester.
• 2005 - A noon start and a 17-10 win over a top-5 UM team that wasn't that close. Weis gains national attention
• 2006 - An absolute egg after a dominating win over Penn State. There weren't enough beers in Hoboken that afternoon
• 2007 - 38-0 again.
• 2008 - A downpour in Rich Rod's first season and a ton of Michigan turnovers. Let to this photo.
• 2009 - Tate Forcier won the September Heisman
• 2010 - Denard Robinson wins the September Heisman.
• 2011 - An epic fourth quarter collapse at the Big House. Gary Gray's worst game ever. The day I re-evaluated how much I let Notre Dame football affect my life
• 2012 - HeisManti

 

Is Michigan a traditional rival? No. Do Notre Dame fans few Michigan more as a enemy? Yes. Am I disappointed they aren't on the schedule in the future? Kind of.

 

But the rivalry between these teams during the past 30 years ranks at the top of the list for Notre Dame. It doesn't have the tradition of Southern Cal, Navy or Michigan State, (hell, even Purdue), but for the last three-plus decades, it has given us its money's worth.

 

For those of you who read the whole thing, I leave you with this video. Thanks for reading and hopefully you come back in the future as the blog gets rolling.

Season's Beatings

by John Walters: Thursday, December 25, 2008 3:16 PM

(per email from Ookie)

  
‘Twas the night before Christmas, 
When all through the den, 
The plasma was tuned to the ESPN, 
The fade route was hung by the pylon with care, 
In hopes that young Golden soon would be there, 
The O-line was lit as if by a fuse, 
With visions of blocking for Allen, or Hughes, 
And Charlie on crutches, not unlike Tiny Tim, 
Though his face not so pale, and his eyes not so grim, 
Joined by Chuck Jr., his son now a teen, 
Two Weis men from the east, a nativity scene, 
On a Hawaiian island, Notre Dame is marooned, 
Give thanks in green jerseys they are not festooned, 
The voice on the tube, it did give quite a scare, 
We wanted Pat Haden, but got Andre Ware, 
While up in the press box, scribes scatter like mice, 
No, that isn’t Santa, it’s a lei’d Charlie Weis, 
When, what to my half-drunken gaze should arrive, 
Than the Domers are gaining plus yards on a dive, 
With a little-used halfback, and now he is scorin’, 
Poor Pops--too much eggnog—in the corner is snorin’, 
Then Clausen broke huddle, while Gramps he broke wind, 
And as Jimmy called names, I sat and listened: 
“On Rudolph, on Duval, on David, on Tate, 
Let’s put positive spin on the season ’08! 
Run routes with a fervor; please give it your all, 
And, do me a favor, just don’t drop the ball.” 
Like ravenous orphans when at table do sup, 
The crazed Irish defense did bark,“Crank me up!” 
With the speed of eight reindeer the 'backers were blitzin', 
While Corwin did send nearly all of his Smiths in, 
Then behind the safety young Golden did go, 
Intent on not hearing, “That’s ten in a row.”
Bowl losses, that is, for they all knew the score, 
N.D. hadn’t won one since Jan. ’94: 
Buffs, Buckeyes and Beavers, the latter school twice, 
Had helped forge a record so naughty, not nice, 
An ACC trio extended the drought, 
Plus two to the Tigers, and both were a rout, 
But tonight, in Oahu, ‘gainst placider climes, 
Look, Ma, in the end zone: a touchdown for Grimes! 
And when Armando returned a kick all the way, 
The children, all ages, were merry and gay, 
Who knew that this school could provide us such mirth, 
On the eve of the date that its namesake gave birth? 
And when it was over, the scoreboard proclaim:
Hawaii 21; 49, Notre Dame, 
49 points? In a bowl? That’s a first, 
For the men of South Bend, who of late have seem cursed, 
Or at least apathetic, uninspired, or lame, 
It was as if they’d forgot who they are: Notre Dame! 
But tonight on the shores of the 50^th state, 
Where brides and Barack often go to vacate, 
Some pride was restored, and hope came alive, 
That next year we may crack the ol' Top 25, 
And Charlie was happy, that much you could see, 
He needed a win near as much as a knee, 
Back home in our p.j.’s, we readied for sleep, 
With grins as we thought of the ’09 two-deep, 
While out past the ocean, where honeymooners play, 
Charlie opened the presser with, “Fire away!” 
Then he boarded a plane, this descendant of Knute, 
Saying, “Merry Christmas to all, now I’m off to recruit!”

ND Expectations 2009

As a follow-up to Bernie's post regarding Weis staying in South Bend - now is as good a time as any to start the "expectations talk."

"Though this past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program, I am confident that Charlie has a strong foundation in place for future success and that the best course of action is to move forward under his leadership," athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement released by the university Wednesday.

That being said, what are expectations for next year? Does that start with winning the bowl game this year? I'm thinking win the bowl game, at least eight wins next season and being competitive against USC.  He can't afford an opening loss at home against Nevada and hopefully the extra practices for the bowl help out.  It also doesn't seem like Clausen is progressing the last half of this season, he needs competition from Crist and I think it would be good for Charlie to open that competition up in spring ball.  (Basically, no matter how much Clausen forces throws and makes bad choices, Sharpley isn't going to replace him as starter.)

This has potential to be a light schedule looking at the performance of a few of these teams (Michigan, Purdue, Washington, Washington State).  Combined record as of now for these teams is 71-69.  However, ND hasn't been great on beating good teams the past few years and seven of the 12 will have winning records with USC, Michigan State, and BC already at or over nine wins on the season, Pitt likely to join them as well as Navy if they beat Army and win their bowl.  Losing to four of the five (and almost five of five) this year seems to leave little room for error navigating the schedule next year.

2009 Notre Dame Football Schedule

Sept. 5 NEVADA

Sept. 12 at Michigan

Sept. 19 MICHIGAN STATE

Sept. 26 at Purdue

Oct. 3 WASHINGTON

Oct. 10 Open Date

Oct. 17 USC

Oct. 24 BOSTON COLLEGE

Oct. 31 vs. Washington State (at San Antonio, Texas)

Nov. 7 NAVY

Nov. 14 at Pittsburgh

Nov. 21 CONNECTICUT

Nov. 28 at Stanford

Same as Everyone Else...

...ND coaching and BCS

BCS first, and the 3-way ties thing. For what it's worth, I'd like to point out that this year the BCS is working EXACTLY as intended. The national championship game will likely pair the winners of the 2 undisputedly best conferences, which combine to include 4 of the consensus top 5 (and 5 of the top 7) teams in the country. So, my apologies to USC (not really), but their conference and related strength of schedule wasn't good enough to merit their single loss as a national championship contender.

Although the SEC model worked out fine this year, the Big XII tiebreaker for determining the South division champion is really the problem. By this point, we know that OU is going to the Big XII Championship and, hopefully for the BCS, the national championship. (What a mess it would be if Missouri somehow finds a way to win that game.) But this is a problem with the conference, not the BCS, so don't blame the BCS for this.

I agree that it's unfortunate that Texas and TTU (I hate that people are discounting them because their BCS rank isn't as high in large part because they weren't a preseason top 10 team and lost most recently) apparently won't have a chance to factor into the national title picture, but I don't have a solution for the conference tiebreaker, so to go any further with this would be counterproductive.

However, in response to earlier posts, I am against forced scheduling, in large part because I think it is unnecessary and impractical and I think that it could hurt historical inter-conference rivalries (i.e. ND/UM, ND/USC, Florida/FSU, Iowa/Iowa St., etc.) because who would want to play a 3rd marquee non-conference game if they already have to play 2? I am also against an 8-team playoff because mid-December scheduling interferes with finals and because now you are bringing 2-loss teams into the picture.

Now ND coaching. I am for the most part in agreement with most of the other sentiments posted on this site. I think ND is in a lose-lose situation right now. Therefore, for too many reasons to write on a post that is already too long, I think that the best course of action is to keep Weis for at least one more and probably two more years. Link Weis to Clausen and that class--if he can't get it done in 1 1/2 years, fire him mid-season and be first in line to get a new coach.

Or maybe he'll die from "health complications" before that point.

Why I Hate BC

I really can't stand Boston College.  As a Domer, we have our share of rivals, but Boston College is that one school that really just gets to me.  I can't stand anything related to Michigan and don't like USC - but at least I can find a measure of respect for their programs.  Boston College on the other hand...only knows one thing about greatness - and that's when they ruin the greatness of others.  Here are a few reasons I hate BC:

1. Backup College Superfan shirts worn by ND students are infinitely better than the BC "Rudy Sucks" shirts worn by BC students.  Obviously Rudy sucks, otherwise it wouldn't be a very good movie, figure it out;
2. That was not a kick in the National Championship last year, and anyone that tries to argue it was deserves the ignominy of holding a degree from BC.  You win the game and yet still try to argue...
3. You're not in Boston, you're not a college.  Why don't you call yourself what you actually are, "Chestnut Hill University";
   
4. The "little brother, please pay attention to me" mentality.  Look, just because you beat us a few times in football doesn't mean you will ever be as good as Notre Dame;
5. Your greatest moments in football history are spoiling the efforts of others, that's their pride.  Here are two well known examples: 1)1984 - come from behind win against Miami led by Doug Flutie.  Miami was the incumbent national champion and BC knocked them off.  2) I think this picture is enough said, I don't really want to get into further details.

1. 

I was going to make this a top 10 list, and I'm sure I could get there - however I really don't want to get worked up to that point right before I get on the plane.  Go Irish, let's hope for a clean sweep this weekend.

Willingham Out at Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says he will step down at the end of the 2008 season.

The Huskies fell to 0-7 on Saturday after a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. Willingham and athletic director Scott Woodward made the announcement at a news conference Monday.

Willingham has been under fire for being unable to turn around the Washington program. He is 11-32 overall in his four seasons. Washington currently has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, tied with North Texas for the longest in the country among major schools.

Woodward has said he did not want to change coaches during the season. But he said Monday's announcement ends speculation of what is going to happen and lets the team focus on the final five games.

Avoiding Downfall in South Bend

Since the Irish are traveling to Seattle to take on the Vicious Animals, it's the time of year to play the "what if" game.  What if Notre Dame had kept Ty Willingham around to give him a fair shake to stay as coach longer than three years?  What if the Irish football team was allowed to go through a full cycle of Willingham recruiting classes?  I think it's pretty clear what would have been the outcome - the total dismantling of Notre Dame football.

Willingham apologists like to point out that he was 21-15 at Notre Dame through three seasons.  He was also National Coach of the year in 2002 after somehow leading the team to an 8-0 start (which was followed by the nightmare at home against BC and a drubbing on the road against USC).  What his supporters don't seem to quickly point out is that he lead Notre Dame through five blowout losses of 30 points or more, had an offense consistently ranked towards the bottom of 1-A (now FBS) schools, and his last two recruiting classes following his "standout year" ranked 32nd and 40th respectively.

Now let's look at Willingham at Washington to see where Notre Dame could have been headed.  Washington is 11-30 under Willingham, has not had a recuriting class ranked above 24 (the current one is 90th), and is the only FBS school without a win halfway through the season.  The direction Notre Dame was being led by Willingham would have put the Irish in the position where just making a bowl would have been a significant achievement and staying within four touchdowns of USC would be a moral victory.

While in Weis' first three years he finished with a comparable record to Willingham at 22-15, he did lead a record setting ND offense under Brady Quinn that is looking to return to form under Clausen (currently ranked 17th of FBS school in passing yards per game), and the Irish have gone to two BCS games with a bowl berth looming in year four.  The biggest division between Willingham's capabilities and Weis' relates to the fact that Weis has pulled in two classes ranked 8th nationally, last year's class was ranked 2nd a year ago and is putting together another great class for next year.

So where are we left now?  We play the what if game and realize that Notre Dame would be in much the same position as Washington currently is, a consistently losing school with angry boosters and a massive rebuilding effort needed to become competitive again.  Without a doubt Notre Dame is better off sans Willingham, and I hope for the sake of college football he isn't awarded the opportunity to tear apart another program after Washington.  Unless Pete Carroll leaves and he gets hired at USC, I'd make an exception.