Drawn Up in the Dirt | by Jay

At the end of the half it looked like this game was going to be a huge step backwards. And yet, at the final whistle, it ended up being a modest step forward. No, not a win. But a modest step forward.

We've got a lot of notes on this game, from the dicey quarterback situation to the aggressiveness of Brian Smith to the defensive clampdown in the second half to some postgame Painter perspective. But for now (like I said to Dylan) how... about... Golden... Tate. He only caught three balls, but if I'll remember anything about this game years hence, it'll be him.

First he converts a 3rd & 12 with a 36-yard catch late in the first half; sort of a preview of what was to come. Then, he snatches a 43-yard 'go' ball on 4th & 5 with his fingernails, just over the hands of the corner. Finally, he catches a 25-yard fade in the end zone to bring the Irish to within a score late in the game. Sharpley managed to let it fly just before being crushed by a blitz, and Tate stretched out over the cornerback Pender to haul it in, crashing to the ground but holding onto it for the touchdown.

In the postgame, Charlie commented on Tate's involvement in the offense against Purdue. While fellow freshman Duval Kamara (6-68, 1 TD) was a rehearsed part of the game plan, using Tate was more of an improvisation:

I'll be perfectly honest with you, a couple of those were 'draw 'em up in the dirt plays'. Golden had no idea, and I said, "Get him over here." I told him, run a Go, we're throwing it to you. Real good coaching on my part [laughs]. And you want to know something? It gave us some momentum. Maybe I should just scrap the playbook and just draw 'em all up in the dirt.

Let's Go Irish! | by Pat

(thanks to Barrett for the pic)

BGS Needs You! | by Pat

Anybody going to the Purdue game? We're looking for some intrepid ND fan to email us a cell phone snapshot just before kickoff of the ND/Purdue game for our usual game thread. Just send the picture along to the BGS email address once you get settled into your cozy seat in the warm confines of Ross-Ade Stadium.

There is Superstition | by Jay

We are not above throwing salt over our shoulders, shaking chicken bones, burning sage, or sacrificing goats to appease the angry gods of Notre Dame football. Top 10 Ways to Break the Streak:

1. Tear up the Kentucky bluegrass and replant ND Stadium entirely with four-leaf clovers.

2. Reenact the Clausen commitment ceremony, this time with proper deference to Karma: have it at Minnie-Bo's ribs (next to Bullseye Liquor), with Jimmy arriving on the city bus.

3. Equip the Grotto with flamethrowers.

4. Collect the poison of a Yellow Jacket, the tooth of a Nittany Lion, the hair of a Wolverine, and the sweat of a Spartan. Mix together in a large pot and boil for 24 hours, chanting the ancient Celtic Rite of Purification. Pour mixture in the trash and immediately shotgun 12 Keystone Lights.

5. Perform Stonehenge at Stonehenge on North Quad.

6. Zahm Hall shall remain celibate until the first win. Zahm is delighted to finally have an excuse.

7. Go to Rockne's Gravesite and do a shot of whiskey this afternoon, leaving one full one for the Rock. Do not invite Bob Davie along.

8. Appeal to the Ghost of the Gipper in Washington Hall. To ensure he appears, come armed with everything Gipp loved in life: pool cues, dice, and a buxom blonde on each arm.

9. Get Chandra Johnson started on Rogaine.

and finally,

10. Play an overconfident Purdue team with a young, talented, and finally improving Notre Dame squad.

Statistically Speaking: Michigan State | by Pat

It's a Numbers Game

• James Aldridge broke 100 yards rushing in his first career start. The sophomore totaled 111 yards on 18 carries with the highlight being a 43 yard run. Trivia Time. Who was the last Notre Dame running back to surpass the 100 yard rushing mark in his first career start?

• Looking at another way to view ND's offensive (get it?) numbers, here are the all-purpose yardage totals as broken down by class.

Fr. -  607 yds
So -   434
Jr -    87
Sr -     6
5th -  154 

Thanks to BGS' Mark for compiling these numbers.

• Notre Dame's short running game continues to sputter. The Irish have faced 30 third downs so far this year where 1 to 3 yards were needed for a first down. The Irish ran the ball on 13 of those 30 downs, but only managed to make the first down 5 times (38%) The overall average yards per rush in this third and short situation was 2.31 yards. The passing game has been more successful as on the 17 times that ND decided to pass on third and short, they managed to make the first down 14 times (82%).

• Linebacker Maurice Crum, safety David Bruton, and defensive end Trevor Laws are all currently on pace to surpass 100 tackles this season. Not counting Crum's 100 tackle season last year, only 4 players total in the past 12 seasons have cracked the 100 tackle mark during a year. Trivia Time Part Two. With Laws on pace to hit triple digits in tackles, who was the last Irish defensive lineman to total 100 or more tackles in a single season?

Gotta Have M.O.E.

Some interesting results with the M.O.E. numbers this week. After three straight weeks of a M.O.E. result in the twenties, the Irish M.O.E. against Michigan State was 12%. In other words, Notre Dame cut their number of mistakes in half from the previous week. The Spartans did slightly better on offense, but not by much as they came away with an 11% M.O.E, which is the worst performance to date by a 2007 opponent.

Full results here.

Season Long Running Averages. Full season breakdown can once again can be found here.

Break out a Dropcloth | by Jay

What a difference a year made for Curtis Painter:

2006: 59.4% cmp, 22 TD, 19 INT
2007: 68.7% cmp, 16 TD, 1 INT (through 4 games)

Painter actually threw for a Big 10 record 3,985 yards last year, but also led the nation in interceptions. This year he's much more patient, and precise.

While it's true 4-0 Purdue hasn't really played anyone yet this year (they've beat up on 1-3 Toledo, 1AA Eastern Illinois, 1-3 Central Michigan, and 1-3 Minnesota), that kind of improvement on interception rate can't be chalked up solely to cupcake opponents. Painter looks smooth and confident in the pocket and has really cut down on his mistakes.

A lot of the credit for Painter's improvement should go to quarterback coach Ed Zaunbrecher, in his second year with the Boilers.

Ten of [Coach Z's] quarterback pupils have set school passing records, including Painter, who threw for a Big Ten Conference record 3,985 yards last season.

"We've grown closer as a quarterback and coach," Painter said of Zaunbrecher, who is in his second season as Purdue's quarterback coach and co-offensive coordinator.

"From a technique standpoint and from a football aspect, the two things he's really worked on with me is my balance and reading defenses. Those were probably the two biggest things that were a problem in my game, and those are the two things that have come along the most."

Despite his record-setting season in 2006, Painter was inconsistent. While he passed for 22 touchdowns, he led the nation with 19 interceptions.

After four games this season, Painter has shown drastic improvement.

He leads the Big Ten, and is No. 11 in the nation, with his 322.5 per-game passing average. He's completing 68.7 percent of his passes (114 of 166) for 1,290 yards.

"He's better than he was at this point a year ago, and he's better than he was at the first part of this season," Zaunbrecher said. "He's gotten better on some of the footwork things and the balance, and it's shown up in his completion percentage.

"That's the biggest thing, that he can throw the ball where he knows to throw it."

Let's not forget about that touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Painter currently is second in the nation with 16 touchdown passes, and he's thrown only one interception.

"He hasn't thrown into trouble too much," Zaunbrecher said. "For the most part, if we can't catch it then he's thrown it away. To me that's a good throw.

Painter's been able to spread the ball around pretty well so far this year. Wideout Dorien Bryant leads the team with 32 catches, but four other guys are very much in the mix: TE Keller (15 catches), WR Orton (14), WR Lymon (14), and RB Sheets (14).

Irish Hit the Road Looking for First Win | by Brian

Frank Perdue
1920-2005
"He Was Chicken"

Arthur Perdue first went into the poultry business on Maryland's Eastern Shore way back in A.D. 1917, while The Kaiser threatened Europe and a young George Ruth toed the rubber for Boston's American League Base Ball club. Perdue's son, Frank, was born in 1920, and it wasn't long before he was helping his pop around the farm, eventually becoming an official, full-time employee in 1939, while Hitler threatened Europe and an aging George Ruth enjoyed his retirement. Frank took over the family business in 1950, and became the face of the company for decades, eventually giving way to his son Jim in 1991, while The Scorpions threatened Europe and a deceased George Ruth was about to be portrayed on the big screen by John Goodman/Dan Connor.

In addition to their Empire of Fowl, the Perdue family has been at the forefront of philanthropy in the area. Salisbury University, in Salisbury, MD, boasts the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, while the Delmarva Shorebirds, Single A affiliate of the mighty Baltimore Orioles, take the field at Salisbury's Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. Truly, the Perdue family has been, and continues to be, a pillar of the Salisbury commun---

[Um, Brian? It's Jay....You're supposed to be writing about Purdue University, not Perdue Chicken.]

Uh...
Nevermind...!

Irish Look to Slow Down Purdue's Basketball on Grass

In their first four games, a series of fine running backs and gigantic leads has left Notre Dame's opponents content to keep the ball on the ground. That will likely change Saturday, when the Irish will have to contend with a Boilermaker pass offense led by talented quarterback Curtis Painter. Last year, Painter exploded for 398 yards passing and two touchdowns, with no interceptions, in a losing effort at Notre Dame Stadium. While Charlie Weis has spoken about improved depth in the secondary allowing the Irish to be more versatile in their personnel groupings, the Irish pass defense has been largely untested to this point, with Painter and company providing the first significant challenge.

While many would say that Purdue's most dangerous offensive threat is receiver/kick returner Dorien Bryant, the Irish will also have to contend with Boiler wideout Selwyn Lymon. Lymon was a veritable house afire in last year's matchup, with an astounding 238 receiving yards and two touchdowns. What is particuarly dismaying for Irish fans is that Lymon is not exactly the second-coming of Jerry Rice---he finished the 2006 season with a total of 580 yards and three touchdowns. Lymon is hardly the first figure, in sports or otherwise, to have one fleeting moment of greatness which dwarfs all of his other accomplishments. The following are some of the best-known examples of this phenomenon:

"There are some who call me...Tim."

--- Timmy Smith: Twenty years ago, a rookie running back named Timmy Smith stole the show in Super Bowl XXII, rushing for a SB-record 204 yards, and two touchdowns, in Washington's 42-10 win over the Denver Broncos. Remarkably, Smith had more rushing yards in his one game on pro footbawl's biggest stage than he did in his entire regular season career. In juries forced Smith out of the game in 1990.

Unknown apart from that one game, he is also handicapped by the fact that his name is Tim Smith, which is about as anonymous as you can get. He might as well just change his name to John Doe and get it over with.

--- Michael Cimino: Previously best known for directing the buddy flick Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (not to be confused with Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick), Michael Cimino left a permanent imprint on American cinema with his classic examination of the devastating effects of war on three blue-collar friends from Pennsylvania, 1978's The Deer Hunter, which won five Oscars, including one for Cimino for Best Director.

Heaven's Gate Cult leader Marshall
Applewhite (NOT Frank Perdue)

Cimino followed that up with what is widely regarded as one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history, 1980's Heaven's Gate, described by Roger Ebert as "a study in wretched excess" and "the most scandalous cinematic waste [he has] ever seen." (Interestingly, Ebert is said to have reacted to last week's Michigan St. preview in much the same way.) Not only did Heaven's Gate effectively ruin Cimino's career, it eventually lent its name to a bunch of wacko comet-riding kooks.

I've sort of lost track of Cimino's career since then, but unsubstantiated reports had him directing an episode of Small Wonder around 1987, as well as a 1993 ad for Crystal Pepsi.

--- Kevin Federline: A few years ago, a musical force burst onto the scene like a supernova, and, just as quickly, vanished. With his hip-hop tour de force entitled "Popozao", Kevin Federline unflinchingly captured the Zeitgeist of the time. The following lyrics are indicative of the song's impassioned warning against the perils of anthropogenic global warming and the sociopolitical divisions in the antebellum South:

In Portugese it means “bring your ass”
on the floor, and move it real fast.
I want to see your kitty and a little bit of titty–
want to know where I go when I’m your city?

Despite the obvious insights he displayed in this meditation on the human condition, Federline has not yet achieved a comparable level of success as of this writing.

The Resistable Force Meets the Movable Object

While the Irish defense will have its handful with Painter, Bryant, and Lymon, the key to the game as I see it is on the other side of the ball, as the struggling Notre Dame offense, which finally showed signs of life behind running backs James Aldridge and Robert Hughes (a.k.a. Thunder and Lightning), takes on a Purdue defense, led by defensive coordinator Brock Spack, which allowed 31 points last week to a struggling Minnesota squad.

On the one side, you have the Irish offense, with a freshman quarterback given little time to throw by an offensive line struggling to meld into a cohesive unit, and a running game which, while it showed flashes last week, still seeks consistency and the ability to run for a first down in short yardage situations. While some improvement was apparent against Michigan St., there is still a long way to go.

On the other side, you have this:



Who will come out on top of this matchup is anybody's guess.

The Dog and Pony Show

The pageantry and spectacle surrounding a Purdue home game would be a ripe topic for this preview, except that Jay already wrote the definitive treatment of the subject two years ago.

Lou to the Rescue

With the Irish at 0-4, it's time for former head footbawl coach Lou Holtz to put down the ESPN microphone and direct his legendary pep talking abilities toward his beloved Irish:

If I were going to talk to the University of Notre Dame team this week, this is what I would say. Men, I'd say, if you want to beat the University of Purdue, you just need to do three things.

The first thing you need to do to beat Purdue is you need to believe in yourselves. Belief in yourself is absolutely essential if you want to beat Purdue.

The second thing you need to do to beat Purdue is you need to believe in your coaches. Trust that what the coaches are telling you is going to put you in the best possible position to win the football game. I mean, that's what they're there for, men. If you fail, you'll still walk out of here in a few years with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. But if the coaches let you down, they'll be out of a job and on the golf course next year. So believe you me, they're going to do everything possible to put you in the position to win. Believing in your coaches is an important thing to do to beat Purdue.

The third thing you need to do to beat Purdue, men, is to believe in that lady on the Dome. That lady represents the Spirit of Notre Dame, and it's a powerful thing. That Spirit has been powerful ever since Father Sorin first founded this university, and it will remain so long after you and I have gone. Look to that lady on the Dome if you want to beat Purdue.

If you do these three things, men, then the rest will take care of itself, and you will beat the University of Purdue.

QB Browns Alert Level: BLACK (Benched)

It's been a few weeks, so let's recap the progress of QB Browns in Cleveland:

In Week 1, the Browns looked positively horrid in a blowout loss to archrival Pittsburgh. Starting quarterback Charlie Frye was terrible, backup Derek Anderson was no better, and the Cleveland faithful were chanting for Quinn to be put in the game. Mercifully for Quinn's sake, he was not.

A few days later, Frye was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a Venti caramel Frappuccino and 23 shares of Microsoft stock (somebody alert Jim Carrey). Many experts viewed this as evidence that the insertion of Quinn into the Cleveland lineup was imminent (though it should be noted that NBC's Peter King has consistently pointed to the Browns' post-bye week game against St. Louis as the most likely date for Quinn's debut). However, Anderson would be the starter for the time being.

In Week 2, to the surprise of absolutely everyone, Anderson suddently looked like a latter-day Otto Graham, passing for 328 yards and five touchdowns in Cleveland's 51-45 win over Cincinnati. If there were a Derek Anderson Alert Level, it would have been upgraded to ORANGE (The Toast of Cleveland).

In Week 3, Anderson came back down to earth somewhat, throwing for 248 yards, a touchdown, and two picks in Cleveland's 26-24 loss to lowly Oakland. Nevertheless, he will remain the Browns' starter for the time being, so the QB Browns Alert Level remains at Black. However, if Quinn is inserted into the lineup at some point in this Sunday's meeting with Baltimore, it could be downgraded to PURPLE (Pummelled by Ravens Defense).

In other QB Browns news, Chris "Berman of Alcatraz" has taken to calling him "The Mighty Quinn". How utterly surprising.

Prediction

With the accuracy of The Blind Oracle At Bristol's predictions now reaching ridiculous proportions, let's see what he has to say this week.

"Neither Fowl nor Foul, a nearby foe threatens control of the region. A cocoon envelopes them, and the great man (Brimley, not Don Ameche) controls the power of the Sun. Neither lime nor lemon, yet both at the same time, an old nemesis beckons. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Boilermakers. Purdue beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Swapping sides | by Pat

We first noticed it while watching the online practice videos earlier this week and now it's been picked up on Irish Insights as well.

Freshman Andrew Nuss has moved from the defensive line -- where the Virginian started the season -- to the offensive line.

You can see briefly see Nuss, #76, working with the OL in this practice video. If you recall back to when Nuss committed, he was initially considered an offensive line prospect with the ability to play on the defensive line if needed. He was needed on the D-line, so that's where he started. Now, however, he's back to the offensive line where he will give the Irish a bit more depth. Whether that's at guard or tackle, we're not sure yet.

In other OL swap news, freshman Taylor Dever is now listed as the backup left tackle behind Sam Young and freshman Matt Romine is now listed as the backup right tackle behind Paul Duncan. It's probably nothing and they were just flipped on the official depth chart when Sam and Paul flipped, but it's something to look for if ND starts subbing in new linemen again. Then again, against Michigan State it was backup left guard Eric Olsen who came in for a series at right tackle rather than either of the freshmen. With the musical chairs on the OL, it looks like the staff is still casting about for a consistent two-deep. At least plenty of guys are getting some battle experience.

Six Pickin' | by Jay

Just an FYI: I added a link on the upper right of this page to the Pick Six contest that will remain there all season long. I should have the rankings updated each week by Tuesday night at the latest.

Peacock Power | by Jay

NBC is having me on again at 1pm Eastern today for their weekly ND Football show, Notre Dame Live. John and Tiffany will be fielding a few phone calls as well: the number's (203) 569-4848. (Challenge: try to beat John's dad to the punch as the very first caller.)

Call up!

Update: here's the link to the show.

the Unknown Offense | by Jay

That pretty much sums it up for this season so far, doesn't it?

Although I have to say, I think I finally peeked out from under my own metaphorical paper bag this week. In fact, I think I can pinpoint the exact series: right when James Aldridge broke off the longest Irish run of the year, and Robert Hughes pounded it up the middle, dragging four Spartans with him into the end zone. Until the Michigan State game, the rushing attack had been Four Horses Running Backwards. What we saw on Saturday was a semblance of what we thought this team's identity was going to be to start the season. Finally, it looks like we're developing an identity, a core competency, or as Charlie put it, that "niche you can hang your hat on" (malapropism aside). Other thoughts:

• Aldridge & Hughes, with Allen mixed in: there's your rushing recipe for the rest of the year, and on into 2008.

• Aldridge's 43-yard gallop was the longest run by an Irish RB going back to Travis Thomas' 43-yarder against Penn State last year, on the fake punt. The only run longer was Quinn's 60-yard scramble against Southern Cal last year. (Darius Walker, God love him, only had 4 runs over 20 yards in '06). By the way, in all of 2005 we never had a run longer than 38 yards.

• Credit Turkovich on that drive. He may not be the best pass blocker in the world, but he mauled a lineman or two on some of those runs. Also, George West popped a couple of nice blocks downfield.

• Sharpley was in at the end of the game to manage the two-minute drill (and possibly a no-huddle). Don't read anything more into that.

• McNeil came in for Zibby for a defensive package called "penny", where you've got three cornerbacks on the field, and all your regular linebackers. Knowing that Purdue likes to spread it out (and still run the ball out of the spread), I wonder if we won't see more "penny" this week.

• We cut our sacks given up in half (and gave only one up to the "Sackmaster") and we cut the penalties way down, too (4 total). Progress. (I feel like a reporter for Pravda: Progress: Building a Better Future -- Today!)

• 3rd & 9. They convert. 3rd & 17. They convert. 4th & 2? No problem. That fumblerooski on 4th down was a nice play, but Danantonio was a little smug in explaining how it worked. He made it sound like a low risk proposition to put the ball on the turf and scoop it back up. I don't care how many times you practice it, fumbling the ball, whether on purpose or not, is risky. Credit to MSU for pulling it off.

The Big Picture. Our own Pete had an interesting take over on Cartier Field that I hadn't seen expressed in exactly this way so far. Read on...

"You're never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when you lose." - Lou Holtz

This quote and others with a similar message have been kicked around these parts pretty often this season, as an attempt to shore up the troops and remind everyone that, as bad as things appear on paper, there are positives to be found and appreciated in this young team. We may look bad, and people may say that we are bad, perhaps the worst, but it's not as bad as it can feel when you're trying to reconcile your hangover, sunburn, and bruised ego following another defeat.

Taking a look at the projected depth charts, you may have expected 2007 to be a down year for the Irish, but it's probably a safe contention that nobody expected it to be this bad. Three games without an offensive touchdown, an offense in the cellar in nearly every statistical category, and defense that isn't strong enough yet to make a game competitive on its own. It's been bad. Very bad. Historically bad.

And people look back at Charlie Weis's track record, in particular his losses, and express concern over the fact that when he loses, he loses big.

However, others may point out that those losses aren't as bad as they appear. Notre Dame, despite hemorrhaging yards on defense, was in it against OSU in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl. The yardage against USC in 2006 indicated a much closer game than the score. Notre Dame was a few plays away from LSU at halftime of the Sugar Bowl. But the scores looked like we were just blown out of the water.

Simply put, Charlie Weis doesn't care about appearances. While many of us found enjoyment and hope among the despair in the heroic 2005 loss to USC, Weis said he didn't believe in moral victories, even though he just made the best case for one possible. The beginning and end of Charlie's motivation is to win football games, all the other chatter and white noise exists somewhere far off over the horizon.

In those blowout losses, Charlie Weis never relented from his attempts to win the game. It'd be easy enough, as the lead grew, to keep the ball on the ground, grind up a few more yards while chewing up clock, work harder to keep the defense on the bench than the offense in the end zone, and walk out of the stadium having "kept it close."

But Charlie didn't. He passed the ball, made every attempt to continue scoring points to reduce the deficit, and when the team sputtered, gave the opponent chances to take advantage of the defense. That's the risk you run when you try to win. Charlie's losses look so bad because he never took his foot off the gas pedal, and never accepted anything less than the maximum effort to win. If he's going to lose, he's going to lose big while still trying to win. Appearances be damned.

As this season approached, Charlie knew he was dealing with a different type of team. Inexperience abound, lack of leadership, and a dearth of talent amongst the players he should be able to count on to pick up the slack of the departed. If we schlubs can see how this season was going to be trouble, I have no doubts that Charlie knew he was in for a bumpy ride as well.

As the season has disastrously progressed, Weis has been criticized (and rightfully so) for overemphasizing his scheme and gameplanning at the expense of fundamentals and establishing an identity. Some have speculated that Weis did it because of his arrogance and over-reliance on his X's and O's acumen, but I disagree. Weis did it because he wanted to give the team the best chance to win, and win now. So he risked it on specific game plans to take advantage of the opponent, in an all or none situation.

It looks now like we got none, and that being recognized after the Michigan game, Weis went back to square one and started building this team brick by brick. Perhaps Charlie should have recognized that no scheming and tweaking could compensate for a rudimentary offensive line and players across the board learning their positions. It may have been a mistake, but I don't think it was an oversight. I think it was Charlie taking a risk to win now, like he has his whole career, and it blew up in his face, as risks are sometimes wont to do.

He told us this was going to happen at the beginning of the season. He was going to deliberately refuse any rebuilding behavior, and expressed a continue desire to win, and to win now. So he develops game plans that try to compensate for weaknesses on the team so we can win now. It didn't work.

He could have slammed players around in training camp, risking injuries he couldn't afford, but that doesn't help him win now. He could have started establishing the playbook from scratch, running sparse plays until perfected, but that wouldn't help the team win now. He could have started building this team brick by brick over the summer, but he threw his lot into the schemes in an attempt to win now. It was a risk, and it didn't work.

But Weis probably saw it as a risk worth taking, as he said, he had an obligation to the seniors to win now.

Maybe he should have recognized the severity of our deficiencies from the outset and set out to travel the long road of correcting them, but it's not his style. We've loved and lamented his risk-taking style in the past, and this season, like those blow-out losses, was made worse because of a commitment to win now, appearances be damned. But that's our coach's way, come hell or high water.

We love this quality (among Super Bowl rings, Charlie Jr. on the sideline, and taking the responsibility for the team) when he wins, and hate them when he loses. Guess what? That's because losing sucks, and we don't feel good when it happens. Anything Charlie does would be criticized if we continued losing, and those criticisms would have nothing to do with the validity of the claim, but just another way of saying, "I feel bad that we continue to lose." Go to any message board of a losing team and you'll see the same.

Charlie took a huge gamble to start the season, and it didn't pay off. That's why they're gambles. So now we're back to square one, and we're building the team brick by brick.

We could have lost to Georgia Tech by 10, or lost to Penn State by 6, or lost to Michigan by 14, and it would have looked better. But we still would have lost, and that's all Charlie cares about.

No amount of bellyaching and criticism will change the outcome of the first four games, and while there are critiques of Weis to be had, you can never doubt his desire to win.

So what do we do now? We continue to support the team and its staff, we continue to look for improvements and development, and we trust that, with Weis committed to rebuilding, we continue to get better and close the margin of defeat. Don't worry about wins and losses, just worry about how the team looks. At this point, the record is just about appearances, and guess what? Appearances be damned.

The first three games were a complete wash, as schematic adjustments failed miserably. The MSU game was the first game where the team was committed to growing and improving, and surprise surprise, they did. But they had a long way to go, and therefore still lost. And the team will probably continue to lose, but also continue to improve. And after a while, we'll start winning, and continuing to improve and win.

In a noble attempt, Weis tried to win now with a severely overmatched team, and failed miserably. You can't blame him for trying his best to win now, considering that's what we hired him for. He's a risk-taker, and if we want to enjoy the benefits it brings, we also must be prepared for the dangers it possesses.

But now that he's committed to improving the team, forget about the past, and stay focused on the future. Because it's going to be bright.

Agree? Disagree? Let's hear it.

Finally, here's a bit that ran on NPR last week on the Irish's toils and troubles.

Going back to Cali? | by Pat

Tight end Konrad Reuland has withdrawn from school and will transfer.

“Basically, it came down to the fact I wasn’t happy with where I was,” the 6-foot-6, 255-pound sophomore from Mission Viejo, Calif., told the Tribune via cell phone Monday. “It was combination of things, not just football, not just the school. I wanted badly to be happy again, and felt this move was the best thing for me.

“I realize Notre Dame is a very special place. I wouldn’t have picked it from all the schools in the country if it wasn’t. But it didn’t work out for me on a personal level. I felt the change was the best.

Reuland's transfer makes some sense from his point of view. He came into ND as the 3rd ranked tight end and 81st player overall in the class of 2006, according to Rivals. Yet as a freshman he was already behind fellow classmate Will Yeatman on the depth chart. He was looking to get more playing time this year, but freshman Mike Ragone has really been pushing him for playing time and according to those who are at practice, he has passed him on the depth chart.

Besides contending with Yeatman and Ragone for playing time, Reuland likely looked at the incoming class as potential competition as well. Kyle Rudolph, currently the 25th overall player in the class of 2008, and 6'8 Joseph Fauria are both coming in as tight ends. All in all, this was a smart move for Reuland who hopes to latch on somewhere with more opportunities for playing time.

After the soap opera that was the Demetrius Jones transfer, Reuland went about making sure his departure wouldn't involve nearly as much drama.

“This wasn’t an impulsive decision,” he said. “I actually finally made up my mind that I was leaving last Wednesday. I just wanted to make sure I took the right steps to make this as positive a move for everyone involved. I didn’t want to be a distraction for myself, my teammates and the coaching staff. I want the best for them too.”

He met with Charlie on Sunday after playing in the Michigan State game -- he was in as a blocker on both touchdown runs -- to discuss his intentions.

“After meeting with Konrad Reuland on Sunday, he has decided he will leave the team and withdraw from Notre Dame,” Weis said Monday in a statement. “I appreciate all Konrad has done for Notre Dame, and I wish him nothing but the best.

As for the somewhat curious decision to leave the program four games into the season, it appears that by leaving now he may be able to salvage a year of eligibility.

The 6-foot-6 Reuland played in seven games last season, and played in three of Notre Dame's four games this season. Ralf Reuland said his son would still have three years of eligibility left.

The reason he'd be eligible for three more years is that the NCAA looks at the academic calendar, not the sporting one. If a player can enroll in a new program by the 12th day of class, that semester will count towards their transfer penalty, making them eligible the following season. Still, it doesn't appear that Reuland's path has been set yet.

Former Mission Viejo High tight end Konrad Reuland was given his release to transfer from Notre Dame, and one of the schools with high interest is UCLA, according to sources.

Reuland's father, Ralf, was asked if the interest was mutual.

"Oh, yeah. That was one of the top schools for him before he decided on Notre Dame," Ralf Reuland said. "(Notre Dame) just wasn't a good fit for him. Konrad really wasn't happy. It's more than just football. The losing had nothing to do with it."

The preliminary plan for Reuland, who is a sophomore, is to attend a junior college for a year, earn his associate's degree, and then enroll in a four-year school.

However, a move to UCLA this fall is not impossible. UCLA does not begin classes until Thursday, and a player has until the 12th day of the quarter to enroll. It is unlikely Notre Dame would release Reuland to UCLA before the Oct. 6 matchup with the Irish, but he could be released after the game. That would still give him time to enroll at UCLA.

Update: A bit of clarification on the eligibility issues mentioned above. Reuland can only play football for two more years. He does not have three years like his dad claims. Once you play in a game, baring a medical exemption, a player has effectively used up one year of academic eligibility. Since Reuland has played in games both this year and last, he has used up two years of eligibility and can only play for two more.

However, the transfer rules regarding the 12th day of classes still apply with regards to the one year in-residence transfer penalty. If Reuland enrolls before the 12th day of class, he will be eligible to play in 2008 and will have three years -- since he still has a redshirt year option -- in order to play two. If he does not enroll by the cutoff, he will be forced to sit out the 2008 season, and in effect burn his redshirt year, and then can play in 2009 and 2010. Check SavageDragon's post on ndnation for more information.

Scholarship-wise, there have been a few changes since we last took a look at the numbers for ND, so here's another quick breakdown of where the Irish stand at the conclusion of this season.

Potential 5th year candidates: 7
Seniors: 15
Juniors: 26
Sophomores: 18

Add those numbers up and you get 66 scholarships currently in use. This includes senior-to-be Thomas Bemenderfer and junior-to-be Eric Maust. Bemenderfer was awarded a scholarship prior to the start of the season and once he started playing, Eric Maust's scholarship should transfer from a baseball one to a football one per NCAA rules.

With the 85 scholarship restriction the upper limit, the Fighting Irish have 19 available scholarships to give out in the current recruiting cycle, assuming all potential 5th year players will be back in 2008. As it turns out, Notre Dame currently has 19 verbally committed recruits, meaning that all 85 scholarships are spoken for, to some degree. Of course, not all seven 5th year candidates will be back next year. I don't think it's particularly fair at this point to guess who will or won't be back, but it's safe to assume that not all of them will return. Therefore, barring any more attrition, for each 5th year player that does not return, Notre Dame has room for another freshman, up to the 25 scholarship limit for the freshman class. In other words, expect ND to pick up a few more recruits this year and wind up with 20 to 25 new freshman for 2008.

Odds & Sods - Drive Like Jehuu Edition | by Mike

Dig Your Own Hole. While the defense was not stellar, once again turnovers and poor special teams play left the defense with little field to work with. A holding penalty during a punt return, a Clausen fumble on a sack, and a 52-yard MSU kickoff return led to three MSU scoring drives that started in Irish territory. This year, Irish opponents have produced 23 scoring drives. Eleven of these drives have been 45 yards or less. The longest scoring drive by an Irish opponent this year was Michigan's 79-yard touchdown drive. While the defense - as with all areas of this year's team - has considerable room for improvement, special teams and offensive miscues continue to lose the field position battle before the defense even takes the field.

Start To Move. For one drive in the second quarter, we saw the offense I had hoped to see prior to the season. Following a 13-yard George West reception, James Aldridge and Robert Hughes combined for 67 yards on the ground. Surprisingly, the Irish offense produced a longer touchdown drive than any of Notre Dame's opponents have so far. (Of course, the aforementioned field position difficulties have limited opponents' opportunities for such drives.) A 17-point loss shouldn't be called encouraging, but at least now we know there is something the Irish can do on offense. Hopefully continued focus on the run game in practice will produce similar improvement this coming week as between the UM and MSU games.

Follow The Leader. As the losses mount, the importance of holding the team's psyche together will only increase. In this regard, I have to tip my cap to Trevor Laws and Pat Kuntz. It's hard for fans to know who the leaders are in the huddle, but from their play on the field they are clearly leading by example. Given all the double teams these two have faced, one might think they would be the first to tire or take plays off. However, these two have continued to fight throughout the painful start. Whether it's blocking a kick, recovering a fumble, or deflecting passes, these two seem to give their all every play. John Sullivan also deserves recognition for playing through pain yesterday. While Sullivan has garnered criticism for some bad snaps and the OL's troubles, his dedication should not be questioned.

Two & Two. On both offense and defense, two underclassmen gave the coaching staff reasons to find bigger roles for them. On offense, James Aldridge and Robert Hughes demonstrated the power and vision to find yardage against a defense expecting the run. On defense, freshmen linebackers Brian Smith and Kerry Neal found ways to pressure the quarterback and flow to the ball.

A Passing Feeling. So far this season, every Irish opponent has been able to put up over 30 points with only mediocre (at best) quarterback play. Opposing quarterbacks are a combined 41 of 84 against the Irish. Only Anthony Morelli has managed to complete at least half of his attempts (12 of 22). Such performances have been rendered irrelevant by the anemic Irish offense and big days for Tashard Choice, Mike Hart and Thunder & Lightning. Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter is far more accomplished than any of the quarterbacks Notre Dame has faced so far. The offense is going to need to score more than 14 points against Purdue.

May I have your attention please? | by Jeff

"It takes a strong heart to drive on clogged arteries."

- Tim McCarthy for the Indiana State Police

Kickoff! | by Pat

All the Way to State | by Jay

A little Spartan surveillance to get us warmed up...

• Defensive end Jonal Saint-Dic is the Spartan's best pass rusher. Saint-Dic — known as the "Sackmaster" by teammates — was named the Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the Week after recording five tackles, three tackles for losses, two sacks and two forced fumbles against Pitt.

He's quick around the edge, eh? The stats bear it out: MSU is tops in the nation in sacks. ND leads the nation in sacks given up. Gulp.

---

State returns one OL starter from injury this week, but lost another against Pitt:

The potential return of a top offensive lineman and backup spots for two starting defensive backs are among the changes on Michigan State's depth chart for Saturday's game against Notre Dame.

Senior Mike Gyetvai, who hasn't been on the field since the sixth game of 2006, is listed as a starter at right guard along with junior Mike Bacon. Bacon replaced starting right guard Roland Martin, who suffered a leg injury in the first half against Pittsburgh and did not return. He was on crutches after the game. Martin does not appear on the current two-deep chart.

Head coach Mark Dantonio declined to discuss injuries on Monday, but senior left tackle Pete Clifford gave an unofficial update Tuesday.

"Roland's a little banged up, but he's working out and I think he'll be alright in a week or two," Clifford said. "Everyone else is pretty healthy."

Sophomore center Joel Nitchman, who injured his hand last Saturday but returned at the end of the game, is expected to play this weekend.

---

Mitch and Murray (aka McMillan & Wife) seem to be the two guys that most of the game previews are focusing upon, and the presumption is the Irish defense, which can't stop the run, is going to be bludgeoned to death by the two-headed Spartan ettin. The yards given up certainly aren't encouraging. But I had a sneaking suspicion our susceptibility to the run is a little overstated.

So I looked into it. My hypothesis was that the high yardage is a product of a general apathy that sets in as the game goes on, once the defense realizes the offense isn't going to be able to put up any points. Perusing the excellent breakdowns on CFBstats.com, you can see how the rushing defense deteriorated as the games went on, and as the scoring deficit ballooned:

Irish Rushing Defense over Time Situation Att Yards Avg. Overall 150 712 4.75 1st Half 69 297 4.30 2nd Half 81 415 5.12 1st Quarter 32 110 3.44 2nd Quarter 37 187 5.05 3rd Quarter 35 180 5.14 4th Quarter 46 235 5.11

Irish Rushing Defense by Score Situation Att Yards Avg. Winning By 1-7 Pts 6 7 1.17 Tied 17 57 3.35 Losing By 1-7 Pts 27 92 3.41 Losing By 8-14 Pts 24 123 5.13 Losing By 15+ Pts 76 433 5.70

It would be nice for the defense if some of that early-game determination were rewarded. I wonder what the stats would look like were we playing ahead in a game, instead of constantly from behind.

---

Motivation? Sparty hasn't forgotten about last year.

Despite the fact that the Irish are winless and statistically rank among the nation's worst teams in nearly every offensive category, the Spartans weren't about to give Notre Dame any ammunition.

"They might be 0-3, but to me, that's Notre Dame," Saint-Dic said. "We're going there with the mindset that they're 3-0."

Over the past two years, both Michigan State and Notre Dame have felt the elation of a dramatic win and the anguish of a crushing loss.

In 2005, the Spartans beat the Irish 44-41 in overtime. Last year, Notre Dame rallied to a 40-37 win, after trailing by 16 points entering the fourth quarter.

"It was a pretty big contrast," Hoyer said. "That was one of the top wins I've ever had here at Michigan State and one of the lowest losses that we've had."

The Spartans appeared to be on their way to another 4-0 start last season before the a late-game meltdown against the Irish. That loss started Michigan State on a slide in which the team lost eight of its last nine games of the season.

Hoyer said last year's game will provide both motivation and education this week.

"There's a lot of guys here this year that were there last year," Hoyer said. "The way I see it, we've learned from that situation. The main thing you can take from that is not giving up."

Meet the new Sparty, care of coach D: no trash-talking, no self-slapping...no more meltdowns?

MSU coach Mark Dantonio tried to eliminate any bulletin-board material by making quarterback Brian Hoyer, defensive end Jonal Saint -Dic and captains Thornhill, Travis Key , Jehuu Caulcrick and Pete Clifford available to the media this week.

The Spartans have had a tendency to get drawn into some trash-talking in the media before big games in the past.

"That's something we have to learn from," Caulcrick said. "That's just a step in us maturing as a team.

"You've got to be above that. We know when it comes down to it, what we do on the field is going to win the game, not what's said in the media."

(Of course, the quickest and easiest way for MSU to clean up its act was to lose guys like Johnelle, and his toadies, like Matt Trannon).

Dantonio was actually known as a fire-and-brimstone kind of guy at Cincinnati, so you know he's pepping the guys up, even if the public front is rather placid.

University of Cincinnati football players have noticed a real contrast between first-year coach Brian Kelly and former coach Mark Dantonio, who is now coach at Michigan State.

In brief, Dantonio, who was a defensive coordinator under Jim Tressel at Ohio State, talked frequently about playing with "great emotion" and made it a key part of his weekly preparation. Kelly is more businesslike and conducts practice at a rapid pace with almost all of the emphasis on preparation for that week's opponents' strengths.

"It's real different," UC defensive end Anthony Hoke told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "Dantonio, he tried to make every game personal."

It's all a matter of style, of course.

"We've tried to move away from being emotional as possible," Kelly said.

Both teams are 3-0, so it's hard to quibble with either methodology.

and...scene. | by Pat

As far as we're concerned, here endeth the Demetrius Jones story.

"I'm going to root for those [Notre Dame] guys," Jones said. "The only thing I regret is how I had to leave. [Notre Dame] let me go the best way they could and that's pretty fair to me. If fans want to bash me, I understand where they're coming from. But this was a very hard decision."

One person Jones does not want to see bashed, however, is Irish coach Charlie Weis.

"He made an impact on my life, how to be a family man, lots of things," Jones said. "Everybody may not like him but he takes care of his business and he takes care of it every day. He doesn't change for anybody. He doesn't even let something like being 0-3 rattle his character or personality.

"When we talked [this week], we had a healthy conversation. He was talking to me like a father, not just a coach. I admitted to him that if I'd come to him before the Michigan game, he would've talked me out of [leaving].People didn't acknowledge that coach Weis and I had a great relationship. We've been through some rough times and some good times but we're linked to each other.

"I represent him. No matter what happens down the line, my career started at Notre Dame and that was because of coach Weis. I was a soldier in 'Charlie's army' and I enjoyed every minute of it."

When others suggested Jones should switch positions with Jimmy Clausen coming to Notre Dame, "the only one going to bat for me, saying 'Demetrius is a quarterback,' was coach Weis," Jones recalled. "Coach Weis told me this would be the hardest decision I would make. I feel like I'm blessed to have a second chance to do something so important."

Honoring a Legend | by Pat

This Saturday morning, put aside the tailgating for a short while and head over to the stadium, as Irish great Ara Parseghian will finally be honored with a statue at Gate D of Notre Dame Stadium. Und.com has the details.

A statue of former University of Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, will be dedicated on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007, at Notre Dame Stadium.

The dedication, slated for 9:30 a.m. EDT, on the morning of the Notre Dame-Michigan State football game, will take place at Notre Dame Stadium's Gate D, which honors the Irish national championship football coaches.

All of Parseghian's former players and coaches have been invited to the dedication ceremonies - and more than 200 of them are expected to attend. John Huarte - winner of the 1964 Heisman Trophy - will be speaking at the dedication on behalf of Parseghian's former players. The general public is welcome to attend the ceremony.

The statue itself is a larger-than-life representation of Ara being carried off the field by his players after the 1971 Cotton Bowl upset over the Texas Longhorns. Notre Dame alumnus Jerry McKenna created the sculpture, making it his third sculpture of an Irish coach. He also created the statue of Frank Leahy between the Stadium and the JACC and the statue of Knute Rockne at the downtown College Football Hall of Fame.

The Era of Ara was an impressive one. 11 years coaching, 95 victories, a staggering .833 winning percentage, two consensus national championships, and of course, one famous 10-10 tie against this Saturday's opponent. Ara arrived during one of the darker periods in the program's history and instantly revived the Fighting Irish and restored them as a national power. What's more, he's remained a vibrant consigliere and champion for the program to this day. Charlie talked about Ara during yesterday's press conference and about how he values his relationship with Ara..

Q. They're unveiling a statue of Ara Parseghian on Saturday. Thoughts on that?

COACH WEIS: Ara Parseghian, a lot of people look at him as a legendary coach, great ambassador to Notre Dame. To me he's been more than that. He's been much more of a mentor. He's the first person that calls me after a loss. It's easy for people to call you after a win.

But he's always there. He's always there to give me advice on the good and the bad. I can't think of anyone that is more deserving to be honored than Ara. He's been just great to me.

Here's a clip of the 1975 Orange Bowl against Alabama, Parseghian's final game as a Notre Dame head coach. (Many thanks to T.J. for once again providing the video.)



If you want to watch more of the game, here's the second half highlights.

And here's a special that was done at halftime of the 2004 Notre Dame-Boston College game on the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation, that was formed to study and combat Niemann-Pick Type C Disease. If you would like to make a donation to this worthy cause, here is the place to do so.



Finally, here's a profile of Ara from Time from 1964 that we posted a while back. It's a great read, and interesting, too, because it was written just as his first year at ND was underway. Even then, you could see the foundation he was laying for a spectacular Irish career.

the other shoe | by Jay

This just came out from ND SID:

September 20, 2007 -- University of Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White:

"Since learning of the situation surrounding the departure of Demetrius Jones on Friday, Sept. 14, the University of Notre Dame has been gathering facts to better assess his interest in transferring. Today, without formal confirmation of Demetrius' status, we reached out to him to assist him and his family in ascertaining his athletic and academic future plans.

"We are helping Demetrius compile a list of prospective schools that are not on our immediate future football schedules. We will grant him a release to those schools, and we will assist him in settling at another institution as best we can. It's our hope that Demetrius can enroll at an institution at which he might be able to receive a scholarship, possibly be eligible for the 2008 football season and, importantly, continue to make progress toward his degree without interruption.

"We have initiated our normal protocol by identifying a list of institutions to which he has an interest in transferring. While Demetrius did not consult us on his decision, the University and he are now working together in our customary fashion. Our hope is that this process assists him in finding an institution that will enable him to meet his goals both as a student and as an athlete."

Irish, Spartans to Play Football, Engage in Territorial Dispute | by Brian

Throughout this young millennium, the Notre Dame/Michigan State series has been marked by high-scoring affairs, astounding individual efforts, and last-minute heroics. With the early struggles of the 2007 Irish offense reaching Prognosis: Negative proportions, one wonders if such a game is in the offing this Saturday. But if recent ND/MSU games have taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected.

"We Claim This Land in the Name of Jennifer Granholm"

Iwo Jima it ain't.

For the past decade, Notre Dame Stadium has been the Spartans' querencia. They last lost in the House That Rock Built in 1993, beginning their current five-game winning streak at the venue in 1997. (The two schools did not meet in 1995.) Following their 44-41 overtime victory at ND two years ago, several Michigan St. players engaged in a daring geopolitical gambit, staking their school's claim to the stadium by planting a flag in the field and, metaphorically, in the hearts of Irish fans and grass enthusiasts the world over.

The Irish exacted a measure of revenge last year, overcoming a 16-point fourth quarter deficit for a stirring 40-37 win at Spartan Stadium. Fearing a reprisal of the previous year's flag planting, then-MSU head footbawl coach John L. Smith sent several of his players onto the field as the game ended, protecting the field with all the subtlety of Horatio Sanz performing in drag. Smith was still preoccupied with the loss a week later, slapping himself in the face, in some bizarre attempt at payback to Charlie Weis, during his postgame remarks following MSU's game with Illinois. To their credit, the Spartans' fans, and the local media, had a more reasoned, subdued reaction to the hellacious choke job.

The Spartans are now under the tutelage of head footbawl coach Mark Dantonio, hired from the University of Cincinnati. Dantonio, a former assistant at Ohio St., is often cited as a potential candidate to replace The Vest as OSU's head footbawl coach at some point down the line. It will be interesting to see if he will allow the Spartans to break out the flag if they win this Saturday. The playful, light-hearted hooliganism of flagplantery would prepare Dantonio well for the cartoonish überhooliganism of Columbus.

Michigan St. enters the game undefeated, but they looked unimpressive in their 17-13 win last week over Pitt. However, history has taught us that the Spartans can look flat and uninspired one week, and unleash the hounds of hell the next.

Frick and Frack

"In the Latin, Jehuu begins with an 'I'."

In their attempt to prevent another offensive outburst from the Spartans, the Irish defense won't have to deal with former quarterback Drew Stanton, who is now on Sunday clipboard duty, but they will have to contend with the imposing one-two punch of running backs Javon Ringer and Jehuu Caulcrick.

Ringer is the slasher of the two, a quicker back who is like the freakish result of a suburban Chicago lab experiment combining Gale Sayers and Walter Payton. Caulcrick is the power back, a straight-ahead runner who is a veritable brick wall. He is a human battering ram, in the style of Master of the Universe's Ram Man.

Both backs have a proven track record against ND, combining for 224 total yards and two touchdowns in last year's meeting.

Surely such an impressive duo merits a nickname, and as usual, footbawl players and media types alike have failed to disappoint, dubbing them "Thunder and Lightning". How utterly original. No duo of players have ever received that particular appelation, except perhaps for these guys, and these other guys, and them, and them, and many more. The following are alternative nickname suggestions for Ringer and Caulcrick, as well as any other duo in need of a nickname in the future:

Reserved for running backs who are so fast,
it's like they're travelling through time.

-- Arm & Hammer
-- Sturm und Drang
-- Thelma & Louise
-- Peat & Repeat
-- Mitch & Murray
-- Peas & Carrots
-- Tango & Cash
-- Fat Man & Little Boy
-- The Falcon & The Snowman
-- Mr. Peabody & Sherman
-- McMillan & Wife

Hearts of Darkness: A Blogger's Apocalypse

Venezuela, Six Months Ago...

My journey took me along the Orinoco, deep into the dense Venezuelan rainforest. I had entered the lands of the Guancaro tribe, and I knew that they did not suffer outsiders lightly. And yet, if the stories were true, the man I was sent to find was here. It couldn't be true. This was madness. And yet, this was my mission. The message had to be delivered.

Leaving the river behind, my guide led me deeper into the jungle. Though it was midday, the thick brush made it nearly pitch black, and the limited visibility only added to my sense of dread. After what seemed like hours, we suddenly came upon a clearing. In the middle stood a thatched hut, guarded by two Guancaro natives. They were half-naked and carrying spears---the Guancaro, I knew, eschewed modern technology not out of ignorance to outside society, but out of respect for the ways of their forefathers. These were a proud, disciplined people. With great reluctance, I approached. My guide, who had a rudimentary knowledge of the Guancaro's native tongue, explained to one of the guards my purpose, while the other guard eyed me warily, spear at the ready. My heart pounded in my chest.

Remarkably, the guide's words were satisfactory, and the guards stood aside. So it's true, I thought. He's here. I entered the hut, leaving the guard outside.

With the entrance to the hut open, some light from the clearing allowed me to get my bearings. I was standing in a small room, with a doorway leading to another. There was writing on one of the walls, in a brownish-red color. Is that blood?, I thought. The writing appeared to be a series of slogans: "Failure is Not an Option," said one. "Death Before Dishonor," read another. A noise from behind made me turn. A man entered from the other room. This was not the man I had been sent to find, and yet he was familiar. Though his hair was long, his face unkempt, and his clothes ragged, I could tell that this man was none other than Walt Harris.

Harris had ultimately succumbed
to the influence of Bay Area hippies.

"Is he in there?," I asked. "I was told that he's here."

"What are they gonna say about him?," Harris answered. "What are they gonna say? That he was a kind man? That he was a wise man? That he had plans? That he had wisdom? Bullshit, man!"

"So he is here!," I exclaimed. "Can I see him?"

"Hey, man, you don't talk to the Coach. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say 'hello' to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, 'do you know that if is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you'... I mean I'm no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man. I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas..."

After much persuasion, Harris led me into the other room. It was dark, as the room contained no openings to the outside. The room was dimly lit by two torches on the wall. Looking into the corner, I spotted him---there, face lit by the torchlight, his head shaved, was the man I had been sent to find---John L. Smith.

John L. Smith, at the crossroads of
genius and insanity, six months ago.

Smith never looked up. He was eating a banana. Not meeting my eyes, he addressed me: "Are you an assassin?," he asked.

"No, coach. I've been sent here to deliver a message."

Smith tossed the remainder of the banana at Harris, who left the room. Still not looking at me, he spoke. "The Guancaro use the same word for 'message' as they do for 'threat'. To them, outsiders epitomize the unknown---innocence and mayhem all at once."

My message could wait. I needed to know something.

"Coach," I began. "How did you manage to get the Guancaro to accept you?"

Without looking up, he answered. "There is an ancient rite of passage among the Guancaro, by which they choose their tribal chiefs. In the waters of their lands lives the fearsome anaconda. If one meets the anaconda in combat, and takes from the great beast its fangs, he earns a place of honor."

Smith gestured toward something around his neck. It was a necklace, from which hung several three-inch long fangs. He continued, "After that, they accepted me, much as Mr. Belvedere accepted Wesley as a surrogate son."

Another question was eating away at me. "When you lost to Notre Dame last year," I began, "you sent some players out to protect the field. Were you worried that, after your guys had planted a flag the year before, you would be hoisted by your own petard?"

"What the hell is a petard?" Smith replied.

"Nevermind. Anyway, as I said, I was sent to deliver a message. Ed Gennero has been hired to turn around the program at Texas State. He needs a tough-as-nails guy who won't take any guff to coach the defense. He's offering the job to you."

Suddenly, Smith looked up. There was fire in his eyes. He got to his feet, exclaimed, "What are we waitin' fer?" and stormed out of the room. Before leaving the hut, he turned to Harris and said, "I've leaving, Walty. I have footbawl to coach."

"Is there a job for me?," Harris asked earnestly, eyeing us both.

"'Fraid not," I said, and Smith and I left.

CUT TO: Last week...
Coach Gennero was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack, leaving Smith in charge. With his Texas State team trailing at halftime, Smith issued the following locker room pep talk:

"Now, let's analyze what's been working for us... [Long pause] NOT A GODDAM THING'S been working for us. Like this goddam suit doesn't work for me... and this stinking tie... and this goddam shirt. IT DOESN'T WORK FOR ME. You know how to play winning, hard-nosed football? You play football like ED GENERRO played football. A guy who gave his life for this football team. He was a 140-pound halfback, and he played like a goddam WILDMAN! NO! LIKE A GODDAM RAMPAGING BEAST! And that's the way you got to do it! YOU GO OUT THERE! YOU TEAR THEIR F----G HEADS OFF, AND YOU SH-T DOWN THEIR NECKS! Let us pray."

Coach John L. Smith was back. (Interesting note: As amazing as this story seems, it was not wholly unexpected.)

"SPARTANS!!! PREPARE FOR GLORY!!!"

I recently had the opportunity to spend a few hours chatting with Sparty in his living room, to get an idea of what makes MSU's mascot tick. Below is a partial transcript of the interview.

Me: Thank you for welcoming me into your home. [Extends hand]

Sparty: [Shakes hand] THIS...IS...SPARTY!!!

ME: Yes, yes it is. I must say, [laughs] your head is huge. That is one massive noggin. I mean, you could block out the sun with that thing.

Sparty: THEN WE WILL FIGHT IN THE SHADE!!!

Me: Whoa, relax! I was just kidding. Heh, [points] you're dangerous.

Sparty: You speak in the manner of the actor Val Kilmer. I enjoy his work.

Me: Oh yeah? What's your favorite Kilmer movie?

Sparty: [Grabs DVD off of shelf] THIS...IS...SPARTAN!!!

Me: Really? What about Tombstone? What about Real Genius?

Sparty: Yes, Tombstone, of course! [Looks wistfully into distance] I've made a huge mistake.

Me: An Arrested Development fan, I see. That's one of my favor---

Sparty: [Interrupting] THIS...IS...MARTA!!!

The discussion continued in this manner for about three more hours. I gained no real insight. I did learn one thing, though---Sparty makes a lovely pasta primavera.

ND-MSU Football: Cradle of Thespians

Which former Notre Dame or Michigan St. footbawl player has had the finest acting career?

Actor: Bob Golic, Notre Dame
Role: Michael Rogers, Resident Assistant and ex-NFL footbawl player, Saved by the Bell: The College Years

Acting Challenge: Having attended Notre Dame, Golic was all-too-familiar with single-sex dorms. So imagine the challenge of playing a character who lived in a dorm which was not only coed, but which had coed suites. Can you imagine having to deal with three guys that shared a suite with Kelly Kapowski? The mind boggles.

In addition, Mike was a multifaceted character who mirrored and related to to the diverse personality traits of the six leads: the rakish charm of Zack, the athleticism of Slater, the geeky earnestness of Screech, the sweet disposition of Kelly, the intellect of the blonde girl, and the comedic naivete of the ditzy brunette. Golic pulled off this feat with the ease of a veteran actor.

Actor: Bubba Smith, Michigan St.
Role: Moses Hightower, the physically imposing but sensitive cop, in six Police Academy movies

Acting Challenge: The gritty realism of the Police Academy series provided Bubba with a meaty character piece. Smith often used the methods of Stanislavski to dig deep to find the vulnerability needed for certain intensely personal scenes; for example, if the gang needed to enter a room whose door was locked, Hightower would be called upon to rip the door clean off of its hinges. It was hauntingly beautiful in its understatedness.

Addendum: Smith, a former Baltimore Colt, for many years after the team moved to Indianapolis, did commercials for a local law firm, with the catchphrase, "They're still my lawyers, and they're still in Baltimore." (Take that, Robert Irsay.) In recent years, Bubba has passed the torch for these commercials to Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.

The Verdict: On second thought, the award for Best Actor goes to MSU alum Tyrone Willingham, who has pretended to be a head footbawl coach for 13 years running.

Prediction From The Oracle

Almost right on the money for three weeks in a row, The Blind Oracle At Bristol has become increasingly cocksure about his gift for communing with the footbawl spirit world.

"Warriors of ancient nobility, their thirst for blood unquenched, claim the battlefield as their own. Barbarians at the gate, an unstoppable force, ready to wreak havoc. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Spartans. Michigan St. beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Businessman Jones | by Pete

The Demetrius Jones transfer has all the makings of a top-notch football soap opera: a program performing at historically low levels, an “arrogant” head coach finally getting his just desserts (insert fat joke here, naysayers), a quarterback scorned and cast aside for a hot-shot whiz kid everybody loves to hate, and finally, as the cherry on top of the Schadenfreude Sundae, a double-secret, eleventh-hour defection.

And yet, timing notwithstanding, this transfer is not all that different from the ones that occur in competitive programs every year. As Weis started bringing in higher levels of talent in greater numbers, many Notre Dame fans expected a number of transfers, and in a bittersweet way, almost looked forward to it. Increased depth and competition, and yes, transfers, are the signs of a healthy, vibrant program, one that Weis is trying his damndest to build.

Sometimes, a transfer is just business. Take Jones, for example: his was made for all the right reasons. But it was executed in a very poor fashion. Failures to execute haven’t occurred just on the field this year.

---

Imagine you’re Charlie Weis. You’ve got four quarterbacks competing during spring practice, and one – Jimmy Clausen – has taken the lead in your mind. However, he needs surgery over the summer, and won’t be able to take the reps needed to prepare for the first game (let alone as a first-time freshman) so he can’t be your starter. So you turn to the next guy in line, a sophomore with some feet to go with his arm, and tell him he’s going to be the starter for the opener. You throw your support behind him, and try to develop an offense to cater to his dual strengths. It doesn’t go well, and so you want to prime the pump with your highly-touted freshman, who's getting healthy just in time.

Now imagine that you’re Demetrius Jones. You take a role as an outspoken leader of the team, going so far as to put on the mantle of the fabled #3 jersey ("No busters wore number 3," he said at the time. "I'm just setting high expectations for myself.") After spring practice, you start taking more reps with the first team, and you learn that you’re going to be the starter against Georgia Tech. An offensive package has been developed to take advantage of your skill set, and you’ve prepared for it the best you can.

But the game doesn’t go well, and you’re pulled before you’ve had the chance to play a half of football, and you're ultimately replaced by that hotshot freshman quarterback everybody's had their eye on.

Obviously, Weis and DJ came to different conclusions about how much he should be playing, and that’s when transfers happen. It’s business. Unfortunately, business decisions, made for all the right reasons, can still go poorly.

---

Missed the bus. On the Friday before the game, Jones didn't show up for the team bus to Ann Arbor. Charlie didn't hear about it until about fifteen minutes before it was set to leave. Reporters caught up with DJ on Sunday, where he spilled the beans about why he jumped ship. His chief beef was about being misled by Weis. After the Georgia Tech game, Charlie had talked about Jimmy being #1 coming out of the spring. DJ heard that, and was miffed.

"When I heard Jimmy was the No. 1 all the way through spring and that the only thing that was keeping him out of the lineup was his surgery, well that's not what I was led to believe going into the summer. I thought I was getting a chance because coach Weis believed in me. Then I didn't know what to believe anymore.”

Demetrius was understandably upset about being yanked for Jimmy, and felt stung by being told he was the starter, only to see it taken away before one half of football had been played.

But let’s also look at it from Weis’s side of things. You know that the guy leading at the spring won’t be in shape to be the starter come the opener. Do you tell the next guy that he’s just keeping the seat warm? Tell him, try not to screw up too much out there before we can bring in the REAL quarterback? Hardly. You do your best to make a game plan that gives Jones the best chance of winning, and you give him your support. Try this thought experiment: if Demetrius had gone out against Georgia Tech, thrown 3 touchdowns and run for one more, would Charlie have still benched him? I don't think so. Starting Demetrius was brought about by necessity, by continuing a stated objective of giving the team the best chance to win, but it still was a shot at the starter's job.

In reality, Demetrius was named the starter because he gave the team the best chance of winning, and Charlie did believe in him more in that regard than the other two guys. He wouldn’t have been given the spot if he didn’t think that. Unfortunately, he struggled early, coughing up the ball twice and, despite those that say he never got the chance to throw due to his measly three attempts, failed to execute the offense and bailed out early on pass plays due to pressure.

After that, DJ wanted another chance to prove himself, and when he felt like he wasn’t going to get that, he looked for another opportunity to play. Business.

---

Benched forever? DJ may have felt that he was now forever trapped behind Clausen, but Weis may have had a different outlook on the situation. Remember that disastrous snap on the first play of the Michigan game? The one that was supposed to go to Armando Allen from a spread formation? Given Michigan’s well-documented weakness to the spread offense, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to think that, prior to missing the bus to Ann Arbor, that snap was originally meant to go to Demetrius. Other voices in the ND press (Irish Illustrated, for one) have surmised as much. If Weis had indeed put together a spread package, it would suggest he hadn’t given up on Jones just yet.

Yet it still wasn't enough to mollify DJ. Demetrius had made no attempts to hide the fact that he came to Notre Dame to be the starting quarterback, not to be trotted out to run specific packages like a poor man's Tim Tebow. (At least Tebow had the luxury of knowing he had the starting gig waiting for him after one season, whereas Jones saw his starting spot disappear for his entire tenure under Clausen.)

DJ deciding he didn’t want to be Pat White-Lite for Weis would also explain his sudden departure from the team. As Notre Dame prepared for Michigan, DJ learned he’d be expected to run the spread offense again, suggesting that he may never get a shot to truly run the offense, and would strictly be a package-specific tweak. He’d never get another true shot at the starting job.

---

Where the Huskies go. With a couple of high school buds and a cousin on the team, Northern Illinois, just a few hours west, had to look like a comfortable place for DJ to land.

''I'm Phil's [a linebacker for NIU] cousin,'' Jones said. ''I'm here to check [the Huskies] out. These are my boys from Morgan Park.''

So Demetrius decides to transfer. It's a sound decision, but executed poorly. This is where things start to unravel.

First, we know DJ had to have been enrolled at NIU by the time classes began for this semester in order to not waste a year of eligibility. It appears that his enrollment took place on either Tuesday or Wednesday night. But DJ practiced with the Irish all the way through Thursday, hiding his true intentions from the staff. There's never a conversation with Charlie about leaving. No sit-down. No phone call. He goes through the motions as if he's with the team 100%. But when the bus warms up on Friday, he's MIA.

In retrospect, DJ admits the move was "immature."

“I admit I made an immature decision, but I think it's going to turn out to be a good decision. It probably won't be the last immature decision I make. I'm human. But what we're talking about here is a dream -- my dream. I'm a man. I made my bed, and I'm willing to lay in it, whatever that might bring."

It would take until Monday night for Charlie to track down DJ and "clear the air", as Charlie put it.

I don't think DJ's a villain here. He’s a 19-year old kid making a big decision, but he obviously shirked his responsibility to be up front about it. Again, the problem isn’t the transfer, it’s the way he handled it.

---

No release. Late Tuesday another twist in the soap opera would materialize: ND wasn't going to let Jones out of his scholarship, which meant Jones couldn't accept one from NIU this year, and would have to pay his own way for this school year.

Typically speaking, when a school doesn’t release scholarships for transfers it's because the player wants to transfer to a school that they directly compete with, or because they’re not happy with how the transfer was handled (see Southern Cal receiver Jamere Holland not being allowed to transfer to Florida). This is obviously a case of the latter.

"We don't believe [Jones'] departure was handled appropriately," a spokesman for Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said.

When a player doesn't call his coach, and simply skips the team bus, (and ends up landing on a team stocked with friends and relatives), that’s probably a sign of a transfer that wasn’t handled appropriately.

On its face, this move might look like petty retribution from ND. But I think the facts tell a different, and much more mundane, story.

First of all, a spokesperson in the NIU athletic department said that even if they wanted to give Demetrius a scholarship, they couldn’t this year since they’ve already all been allocated. DJ is paying for the opportunity to be a Husky this year whether Notre Dame releases his scholarship or not.

He will not be able to receive an athletic scholarship from Northern Illinois this school year without the release -- though a spokeswoman for the football program said it doesn't have a scholarship to give Jones anyway.

Knowing this, Notre Dame is presented with a choice: release the scholarship anyway as a sign of good will and to play nicey-nice with the media, or hold the scholarship to express concern about how the transfer was handled. Given that the move is entirely symbolic, Notre Dame took the opportunity to show that this kind of 11th-hour, don't-tell-anybody transfer will not be condoned by the athletic department.

It's important to note that Notre Dame potentially is holding the scholarship because they can't be sure some transfer tampering didn't go on as well. As noted above, DJ had several high school friends and a cousin at Northern Illinois. And it appears they knew Demetrius was transferring before Weis did:

Another hint surfaced Friday on Jones' Notre Dame Facebook.com page, where Northern Illinois linebacker Phil Brown, a teammate of Jones' at Chicago's Morgan Park High School, wrote "So loong" at 1:08 p.m.

“I found out at quarter after 2 yesterday,” Weis said. “I’ll wait (to comment) until after I talk to him. I don’t know all the gory details. I was very, very surprised.”

The transfer didn't go through the appropriate channels, and when a player's new teammates know about the transfer before his current head coach, Notre Dame has reason to be suspicious. Throw in the fact that DJ's abrupt transfer means he must have handled some of the more time-consuming aspects of it (transfer application, enrollment, transcripts, etc.) beforehand while acting as if nothing was wrong, and you've got reason for Notre Dame's athletic department to not be so magnanimous in giving him back his scholarship.

And if you really look at it, there isn’t that much of a choice to be made here. Consider DJ’s handling of the situation. Unhappy with his role in the program, he goes out and enrolls at another school without notifying any appropriate parties at Notre Dame, continues to practice with the team as Transferred Man Walking, only to fail to show up to travel to a game less than 24 hours away. If DJ’s behavior doesn’t merit a refusal to release a scholarship, what will? A Molotov Cocktail lobbed in the direction of the Gug as the player peels out of South Bend, playbook in hand? Notre Dame isn’t holding the scholarship to screw DJ, they’re holding the scholarship because DJ transferred in just about the worst way he could manage, and a precedent needs to be set.

---

Old friends in familiar places. As an epilogue, it's worth mentioning that immediately prior to becoming Northern Illinois' athletic director, Jim Phillips served as senior associate athletic director at Notre Dame. He and Kevin White obviously know each other pretty well, and I imagine both parties realize that this situation was handled in less than an ideal fashion. Recognizing the fact that there is no scholarship waiting for DJ at NIU, and empathizing with White about the messy transfer, I don't think Phillips has any problems with Notre Dame adhering to standards by not releasing the scholarship. In fact, I bet if the roles were reversed, he'd do the same.

---

Some people would like to say that DJ’s transfer was a sign of the wheels coming off of Weis’s program, but that’s simply not the case. It’s just a transfer, made for the same reason transfers are typically made: business. Unfortunately, when your program is doing a great impression of a smoking, rusted-out Pinto, it’s easy to think every little ding is going to make the wheels come off.

In short: DJ wanted to be the starter, and Weis thought there was someone else better suited to play the role. So DJ went elsewhere for an opportunity to play. It’s a textbook transfer case. Notre Dame has had several notable transfers over the last two years (Zach Frazer, exhibit A), but this is the only one to blow up into a brouhaha. The way it was handled, and Notre Dame’s responsibility to subsequently address that irresponsible approach by withholding the scholarship, are the only deviations, and even those aren’t as dramatic as they first appear.

Good luck to DJ and all that, but we've got bigger fish to fry.

Kill this Idea | by Pat

Michael Rothstein has a late tidbit from the Office of Manufactured Spirit:

Adidas is giving out 75,000 white towels on Saturday for Charlie Weis' charity, Hannah & Friends, and the official Notre Dame Web site, UND.com.

The towels, given out on a first-come, first-serve basis, will read "Tradition Never Graduates -- Notre Dame Football."

So let me get this straight. Notre Dame stadium is going to be filled with Notre Dame fans wearing dark green Notre Dame shirts and waving white towels......while playing against a Michigan State team that has a rally cry of "Go Green, Go White."

Please, someone, anyone...kill this idea.

Statistically Speaking: Michigan | by Pat

It's a Numbers Game

• One bright spot from last week's game was the shifty Golden Tate who side-stepped a number of tackles on his entirely too many kickoff returns. With a 26.7 yards per return average, he's currently 32nd in the nation.

• Finding a new way to express ND's putrid offense, ABC resorted to comparing ND's offensive output to its punting output. I updated their numbers to reflect the current standings.

Total Offense - 345 yards
Punting - 1019 yards

• Teds found even uglier numbers by digging up these stats.

• 20 of our 39 drives (51%) have ended in three plays or fewer. Only 2 of the 39 (5%) have gone for 10 plays or more.

• Only 12 of the drives (31%) have resulted in 10 yards or more gained. Nearly that many of the drives -- 10 (26%) -- have resulted in negative yardage.

• We're #1! Notre Dame is currently ranked first in the nation in 4th down conversion defense. The Fighting Irish have stopped the lone fourth down attempt against them, putting them tied with 16 other teams for the honors. Hey, you gotta start with something.

• I pored through the stat sheets to find that one, elusive, sabermetric-ish stat that would completely explain Notre Dame's woes and offer great hope for the future. I couldn't find it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens on Saturday.

Gotta Have M.O.E.

Well, the M.O.E. metric is kind of useless when your team fails to score a single point. And not surprisingly, Notre Dame put up the worst percentage -- 29% -- of Charlie's tenure in the Michigan game. For the third straight game, Notre Dame's offense made mistakes at more than twice the recommended daily allowance of M.O.E.

The Michigan offense fared much better; not surprising, as a run-heavy offense is less likely to make mistakes. The number of fumbles boosted their number slightly, but at 9% they still fell under the magic 12% benchmark.

As always, full breakdown here. I also added charts for the visually inclined.

Season Long Running Averages

If you're a glutton for punishment, and clearly you are if you're still reading, here's the season long running stat breakdown.

"There must be a pony in here somewhere" | by Jay

There is. His name is Pat Kuntz. All during the off-season, Irish fanatics pointed to the hard-working but undersized lineman as the likely weakest link in the defensive chain. No way could that guy play nose tackle in the 3-4. No way could he line up head on the center and hold his own against double teams. He's got heart, but he's just not talented enough, many of us said. He's too light, too small. He'll get destroyed!

Well, guess what? Pat Kuntz turned out to be a hoss. The guy who played the last few games of his senior year of high school with a broken arm is one of the few (the only?) pleasant surprises on this Irish team (and has been noted as such by Charlie on several occasions). In the post-game interviews after Michigan, Pat Kuntz had a wild, crazed look in his eye as he talked about the defeat. Go check it out. It's no wonder when Zibby was asked which player is most like him in terms of intensity, he didn't even hesitate: "Pat Kuntz."

Everything else turned to manure, but Pat Kuntz, the fans' most popular preseason perturbance, is playing his ass off right now. Bully for Pat Kuntz.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled bellyaching.

the More You Know | by Jay

Turns out the Peacock has invited BGS on to their weekly ND Football call-in show, Notre Dame Live, tomorrow (of all weeks!), where I'll be commiserating about the Irish with hosts John Walters (a fellow ND grad) and the lovely and talented Tiffany Simons. Here's the link to the NBC show page.

It all starts at 10 AM Eastern tomorrow, and we'll be taking calls shortly thereafter. Check out the live show, and if you want to call in, the number's (203) 569-4848.

Call up!

Update: the segment is now available on the NBC site, right here.

Page One | by Jay

If the team improves this year, this is how it's going to happen. (Link goes to UND.com.)

CHARLIE: In training camp there wasn't one day where in every play in practice we took them to the ground, or one day where we tackled them on EVERY play. So today was the first day of the entire year that every play was 'take 'em to the ground.' This lets the lines on both sides work on some kind of mentality, and focus on run and pass blocking, and tackling. If you look at our games, run and pass blocking, and tackling, are our biggest downfalls.

We won't work anything on Michigan State on Tuesday. We'll come back again and go full pads, starters on starters, because until we fix US, the opponent is irrelevant.

The phrase in coaching is you need 'something to hang your hat on.' I think offensively if you try to X and O, and scheme a whole bunch of different things, and nothing good happens, then there's no comfort zone for the players. There's no set of plays that when you go to the line of scrimmage, you can say something good's going to happen here. So that's what we have to create.

When you talk about a training camp mentality, it's fewer things, but doing them more often, until you get good at them. And you don't do anything else until you get good at them.

The lack of hitting and tackling in camp is revelatory. Something is screwy with the Irish; while Notre Dame is hardly unique among teams having to break in a novice offensive line this year, they are the only team in football with net negative rushing yards on the season. If you were asking yourself, "why can't these guys block," well, here's part of your answer. Like Coffey pointed out, NFL vets don't generally practice full-go all the time. But that's why they're "vets"; they've been through college, they've honed their fundamentals, and they already know how to block and tackle.

Charlie's dropped down a playing level now, and with a young team, relentless drilling and repetition is the only way to build that core of toughness and reliability. The last two years he had the luxury of a largely veteran squad that had been through the fire, and he could take a more professional, and cerebral approach. Plays that required a high degree of technique, timing, and execution? Draws, screens, five wides, no huddle? Change the gameplan week to week? No problem. We had Quinn, Walker, Stovall, Fasano and a vet line. But this is the first year he's breaking in brand new starters across the board, and he's finding out -- 3 games too late -- that he's got to modulate his approach. The college game is above all a developmental league, where each year you say goodbye to your veterans, and welcome a new crop of youngsters to be cultivated. Raw talent must be fired and tempered on a yearly basis; this is the cyclic nature of college football.

Physical practices are a Catch-22, of course. With the precariously thin depth on this team, I can understand why Charlie didn't want to risk any needless camp injuries. But by not repping and hitting and knocking each other around, you risk not being prepared for the full speed of the game. You've been taking it easy in practice, coolly prepping and going through your gameplan, and you might have everything covered on paper. But that first snap of the ball -- that first punch in the mouth -- is a rude awakening. The speed and intensity is a shock to the system. It's like we've been doing laps in a closed parking lot for weeks, and suddenly we get dropped onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And for the fist time, there are other cars out there trying to knock us off the track.

All of this reminded me of something Corwin Brown talks about, a concept he calls "Page One." He spoke about it at the coaching clinic back in April.

The defensive scheme, no matter what it is (and there are many ways to skin a cat, as Brown put it), all starts with "Page 1", a concept borrowed from Bob Sutton of the Jets and also used heavily by Belichick. Page 1 is the foundation of your defense. You may start there, and go forward, but you have to start there. And you can always fall back on page 1 if all else fails. When Corwin started practice at ND they put in 1 front, and 2 coverages. Practiced strictly that for the first three days. "That's page 1. We can always go back to that. And we can get the job done with that."

Right now, there's not much else you can do, except go back and build the base. This team doesn't even have a Page One right now. But Charlie and Corwin and the rest of the guys can start writing one this week.

Hitting, blocking, tackling. Football starts there.

Ring Ring | by Jay

What the hell?

It's just awful, Dad. Something's rotten.

I can't figure it out. I've never seen an Irish team play so badly. Can you explain it to me?

They can't block and they can't tackle. They don't have any identity. They can't even run the ball for a one yard third down reliably. Right now it looks like camp was a total waste because they can't do anything right.

Jay, I've seen some BAD Irish teams. I was a freshman in '63 when we went 2-7. But this year might take the cake.

Good God. Who are we going to beat? Boston College? UCLA?

Right now Air Force could kill us.

Shit, this might be the year Navy finally breaks the streak.

It's just so damn depressing.

[long pause................]

So are you still going to the Michigan State game?

Heck, yeah.

Yeah, me too.

Erin go Blah | by Jay

Reid Cherner in USA Today had a pretty good collection of quotes this morning from various commentators on this year's Irish. Kevin White's in there, Pat Haden, Golic, Matt Cavanaugh (?), Mike Farrell of Rivals; hell, even Jimmah (PFS) weighs in. The mood is, if not optimistic, at least mildly hopeful for the future.

The Irish have three new starters on the offensive line, and going into the Michigan game had 13 starters with five or fewer career starts.

"In college football there is no secret. First of all you have to have the talent second of all you have to have the coaching," says Fox NFL analyst Jimmy Johnson, who will work the BCS title game on Fox. "They have a quality coaching staff but evidently their talent level isn't where it needs to be."

Johnson won a national title at Miami and two Super Bowls in Dallas. He was 1-15 with his first Cowboys team and won the NFL title three years later. Still, he's not sure how Notre Dame can fix its problems.

"Obviously they are playing a whole lot of young players on offense, so they've got to bite the bullet and let them get some experience and let them grow," he says. "But in all honesty, I've watched them in the first three games, and they've played three quality opponents, but I'm a little baffled myself. I didn't expect them to be great, but I expected them to be better than this. I'm scratching my head as well."

The question, of course, is when does the future begin? Will it begin this week against Michigan State?

Mixing and Matching | by Pat

It's no secret that an incredibly porous offensive line is one of the biggest problems for the 0-3 Fighting Irish. Nothing seemed to work on Saturday as ND was unable to protect the quarterback or open big holes for the running backs. One critique you cannot make, however, is that the Irish coaches are stubbornly sticking with the same players. Of the 13 Irish possessions, 9 different offensive line rotations saw the field. The first four series featured the usual five starters, with one twist. Sam Young moved over to the left side of the line and Paul Duncan took his spot at right tackle. Charlie hinted that an injury situation involving either Young or Duncan prompted the move. We should find out more about that as the week goes on.

Starting with the fifth series in the game, the coaches made wholesale substitutions on the line (see the table below), looking for effective combinations and trying to figure out which guys wanted to fight and which didn't. To be honest, no one really looked good out there.

According to Irish Insights, 340-pound sophomore Chris Stewart did make the trip up to Ann Arbor, making him the only offensive linemen to be on the sidelines and not play. There may be an injury situation there we're not aware of, but as someone on the internet with a sense of humor wrote, if opposing teams are going to continue running around our offensive linemen, we might as well play the one guy that takes the longest to run around. At least with a home game coming up, Stewart will be on the sidelines if needed.

Perhaps the most notable item in the OL rotation was the debut of freshman tackle Matt Romine, who saw time early in the game at LT, and again later at RT.

There was one injury during the game that affected the rotation as Dan Wenger went down with a leg injury late in the game. His status for the Michigan State game is unknown at this time.

First Half Series 1-4 LT - Young LG - Turkovich C - Sullivan RG - Wenger RT - Duncan Series 5 LT - Romine LG - Turkovich C - Sullivan RG - Wenger RT - Duncan Series 6 LT - Young LG - Olsen C - Sullivan RG - Carufel RT - Duncan Series 7 LT - Young LG - Turkovich C - Sullivan RG - Wenger RT - Romine Series 8 LT - Young LG - Olsen C - Sullivan RG -Carufel RT - Romine

Second Half Series 9 LT - Young LG - Turkovich * C -Sullivan RG - Wenger RT - Duncan Series 10 LT - Romine LG - Olsen C - Sullivan RG - Wenger RT - Duncan Series 11 LT - Young LG - Turkovich C - Sullivan RG - Carufel RT - Romine Series 12 LT - Young LG - Olsen C - Sullivan RG - Carufel RT - Duncan Series 13 LT - Romine LG - Olsen C - Bemenderfer RG - Carufel RT - Duncan

* replaced after false start in favor of Eric Olsen

Odds & Sods - Going Through The Motions Edition | by Mike

After Saturday's humiliation, these comments feel like the second half - just going through the motions.

On My Block. Three games into the season, and the OL still seem to have problems identifying their responsibilities. I don't know who was more frustrated by the offensive line's struggles - Irish fans or Paul Maguire. After the first quarter, Maguire had burned through his entire store of one-liners about poor OL play and was forced to repeat variations on "They're just not blocking anyone!" and "They did not block anybody!" for the final three quarters. Until the offensive line begins to remotely approach competence, all the other problems with this team are deck chairs on the Titanic. While Duncan and Young saw all the playing time at tackle in the first two games, we saw different combinations against Michigan. Duncan and Young flipped sides at times and "true" freshman Matt Romine saw the field. Unfortunately, these changes proved ineffective.

Can It Be All So Simple. When Weis arrived, he promised that his offense would not have a set gameplan - it would change from week to week to attack opposing defense's weak spots. In the NFL, this is a necessity. And in 2005, with a starting lineup replete with juniors and seniors, Weis was able to do this with a college team. However, with the limited practice time available in college football, I don't know if this is possible with a team as inexperienced as the 2007 Irish. While the paucity of upperclassmen starters is hardly Weis's fault, it is his responsibility to adjust his philosophy to take this reality into account. Without knowing what happens at practice, it may be futile to engage in this sort of speculation, but I think the offense has tried to learn too much before establishing any core competencies. Does anyone know what we do well? Before putting in new opponent-specific packages, I would hope we would be able to answer this question. In addition to the protean gameplans, another key to the success of the 2005 was the high level of execution. One of my favorite plays of the 2005 season was Anthony Fasano's 43-yard touchdown reception against Tennessee. It's rare for a tight end to score from over 40 yards out, but this play was made possible by the offense's ability to execute the play exactly as it was drawn up. Tennessee blitzed, but the Irish OL and Darius Walker expertly picked up the blitz. Quinn then hit Fasano perfectly in stride, allowing Fasano to lose his man. Finally, Maurice Stovall pancaked the cornerback, allowing Fasano to find the endzone. Weis was able to maintain this level of execution while implementing divergent gameplans when he had an offense that started no freshmen and only one sophomore. I suspect it may not be possible to achieve both of these ends when your roster is dominated by underclassmen. While these underclassmen gain experience, I would hope that their responsibilities can be simplified and the amount they are expected to digest reduced.

Atrocity Exhibition. Following the previous two losses, some Irish fans have attempted to diminish the sting of the throttlings by pointing to the quality of Georgia Tech and Penn State. While the quality of these teams may be an open question given their unproven quarterbacks, the quality of the Michigan team that destroyed Notre Dame is not. Michigan lost to a 1-AA team and gave up 624 yards to Oregon. This was a beatdown from a crappy, crappy opponent. To put the loss in perspective, Notre Dame was so bad they made Ron English look good (again!). Notre Dame was so bad, Lloyd Carr was looking forward to the halftime interview. As daunting a task as repairing the offense is, Weis may have an even bigger challenge holding the team's psyche together.

cue Homer | by Jay

Back from Ann Arbor. Thoughts on the road trip, the weather, the tailgating, the food, and the friendly conversation and banter to follow. Also, there was a football game.

Starting from scratch | by Pat

Here's a clip of Charlie's post-game press conference. Take from it what you want.

Update: the full post-game presser is up at UND.com.

Sorry, Charlie | by Dylan

You are what your record says you are, and right now you're an 0-3 football team, and that's not good enough.

Not by a damn sight.

It's always darkest before going pitch black | by Pat

Ouch. Not much you can say after that. Well, what you can say is hats off to the Michigan Wolverines. They played a very good game, especially on defense. Both teams had their backs to the wall and Michigan responded. The Irish did not.

How many times did I think it couldn't get any worse and then it did. Player mistakes, coaching mistakes, penalties, turnovers....on and on until the clock mercifully hit 0:00.

So, what now? For now, nothing. ND got their butt whipped in one of the ugliest games I can remember, and there's nothing we can do about it. Come Sunday the media will face Charlie and get to, hopefully, start asking some tougher questions. We certainly will start to ask more here.

Game Time! | by Pat

Game Day Grab Bag | by Pat

An assortment of news and observations as we head into a battle with Michigan.....

• Of all the trash talking between ND and Michigan fans, some of the more unexpected might have come from starting nose tackle Pat Kuntz, directed towards his very own defensive coordinator.

The Reggie Brooks run in 1992 at Notre Dame Stadium when he was a senior with the Wolverines. Rocket Ismail's two returns at The Big House in Brown's first college game.

All of those plays been showed in the Irish locker room this week.

“From that game, I had a ton of good plays, but nobody remembers those because that’s how life is," Brown remembers of Brooks' run in '92. "It’s a good conversation piece for our kids, because the rub it in my face.”

One of those players is nose tackle Pat Kuntz.

"Me and him, we talk a little trash to each other, fun stuff like that," Kuntz said. "I give him a hard time and he gives me a hard time, but it's all in fun."

• Michigan running back Mike Hart's guarantee of a Wolverine win found its way onto plenty of message boards and newspaper articles. Michael Rothstein's Irish Insights collected up an assortment of current and former player reactions to the Hart quote and while most didn't seem too worked up about the quote (at least publicly), former UM defensive back Marlin Jackson did express some reservation.

"I love my school, but Mike (Hart) can stay stand up there by himself on that limb. I'm going to back away from that boy and say I hope we win and I hope we can turn some things around and start playing better."

• One defensive note that could play out in Michigan's favor: the Wolverine's best linebacker, Shawn Crable, has been stuck playing mostly defensive end the past two games. The reasons as far as I can tell are twofold. Projected starter and highly-touted recruit Brandon Graham has been sidelined with an ankle injury and UM has been forced to line up in a nickel defense against the spread attacks of Appalachian State and Oregon. The defensive backs have been the weakness of the Michigan defense so far this season, so putting an extra DB on the field and having to move one of the best Michigan defenders out of position certainly isn't ideal.

With ND not likely to spread things out as much, and with Graham finally healthy, look for Crable to return to his linebacker spot and be more effective on blitzes (ND's weakness on offense). ND fans like to point out that the offense really isn't as bad as its "worst in Division 1" ranking. Well, Michigan's defense certainly isn't as bad as the 108th in the nation ranking either. Keep an eye on Crable (#2) during the game and see where he lines up. If he's back to his normal linebacker spot, the OL better be ready for repeated blitzes from his spot on the field.

• As to the Demetrius Jones story, he's definitely not with the team, per Charlie Weis:

At 2:30 today, while boarding the bus to Michigan, I was notified that Demetrius Jones had decided not to make the trip,'' Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said in a statement released by the school. ''I have not spoken to Demetrius and can only say that he missed the team bus. Any additional comment would be without all the facts.''

We're still going to wait until more facts come out before spending much more time on this, but if he did indeed leave the program without talking to Charlie first, on the eve of a tough road game no less, that certainly was a less than ideal way to handle the transfer.

• Finally, a very solid article from the South Bend Tribune's Jason Kelly as he easily skewers the latest "Weis versus Willingham" meme featured in many national and regional papers by dim-witted sports writers who go for outrage and controversy first and facts and logic second (if at all).

I'd just like to add to Kelly's piece a little factoid as it relates to the whole "Charlie can only win with Ty's recruits, not his own" rant that keeps popping up. I went back to the opening day rosters for 2005, 2006, and 2007 and counted the number of Willingham recruits who were starting (as opposed to those from Bob Davie or Charlie Weis).

2005 - 12 Willingham recruits starting
2006 - 17
2007 - 13

I'm not doing this to try and make excuses for Charlie or heap blame on Ty. There are numerous things that need fixing on this team and that is all Charlie's responsibility. Likewise, he and he alone is to blame for the lack of offensive production. I'm just trying to add some facts to the mix for the lazy journalists who can't be bothered to spend the 10 minutes it look me to look these numbers up and see that this year's team still features plenty of Ty's players.

Battle of the Recruitng Network Superstars | by Pat

With the Irish and the Wolverines stuck at 0-2, it seems like some fans of both teams are already looking ahead to seasons of future hope. And as fate would have it, this Saturday's game provides the first matchup of the two players considered to be the respective faces of those futures. It's a fabulous frosh showdown...

Pedigree versus Potential Poise versus Power Accuracy versus Distance California Cool versus Arkansas Brawn Surgeon versus Lumberjack Freshman versus Freshman

Yes, it's Clausen-Mallet Bowl I, starring two of the most talked-about quarterback recruits in recent memory. It wasn't supposed to happen until next year (at the earliest), but a few fumbles here, and leg injury there, and all of a sudden the two diaper dandies find themselves atop the depth chart and breaking the huddle tomorrow afternoon. What was supposed to be the undercard is now top billing on the marquee.

If you follow recruiting, you'e well aware of the battles of opinion waged over the the California kid and the Texarkana gunslinger. Mallett vs. Clausen has been an ongoing debate among recruitniks for a few years now, approaching the level of Sparta vs. Athens, the Stones vs. the Beatles, or maybe Russell vs. Quinn (if you really want to stretch it).

The hubbub all started when Clausen's personal quarterbacking tutor (that's right, I said personal quarterbacking tutor), Steve Clarkson, dubbed Jimmy the "LeBron James of High School Football" before he even threw a single high school pass. Mallet jumped onto the national recruiting stage with a strong showing at a Nebraska QB camp after his freshman year in high school. A whirlwind of wins and broken records and honors and ever-increasing hype for the two precocious signalcallers soon followed. Some said Clausen was the most polished passer ever to come out of high school, while Mallett's legend grew when a major Michigan recruiting evaluator claimed that the youngster had not only a stronger arm than most NFL quarterbacks, but that he would be the first quarterback taken in the NFL draft after his junior year. Clausen eventually became the #1 recruit in the nation, according to most services, with Mallet right behind him.

But all that hullabaloo is behind us. Throw out the star rankings, and the Elite 11 accolades, and the high school records, and the all-star games. Forget the stories of Clausen and his signing day limousine, and the stories of Mallett considering a transfer back to Arkansas due to homesickness. The past is prologue, and it's time to face off.

Who's got the upper hand? Well, both Jimmy and Ryan enrolled early, and both spent a semester learning the play book in the spring...Jimmy has a full game on the road as the starter under his belt...Ryan has the advantage of a veteran OL to protect him, and a more dependable running game, and more experienced receivers...Jimmy has more mobility, enabling him to move around and buy some time...Ryan is 6'7", which renders the Loeffler Low Release Point nearly meaningless...Jimmy will be taking snaps from a center with 35 career starts at center, as compared to 2 for Ryan...Ryan will have his blindside protected by a left tackle with 29 career starts, as compared to 2 for Jimmy...Jimmy has Charlie Weis calling plays for him...Ryan plays for an offense that has actually already scored an offensive touchdown this season...and so on...and so on...

We could keep going, but thankfully, an honest-to-God football game intrudes. Finally, we can quit relying on self-styled recruiting gurus to tell us who's better, who's best. After a nearly four-year jury deliberation, Clausen v. Mallett will announce a verdict tomorrow. (And quite possibly the first of several verdicts.)

---

Late News: Meanwhile, as the fresh frosh get set to go, Demetrius Jones decides to leave the team. It was a rumor all day on the boards, and it's finally confirmed. Here's the story, including this brief statement from Charlie:

A Notre Dame official said Jones was included on the travel roster in advance of the team's trip to Michigan, a list set Thursday. However, on Friday Weis learned that Jones would not join the Irish in Ann Arbor and issued the following statement.

"At 2:30 today while boarding the bus to Michigan I was notified that Demetrius Jones has decided not to make the trip," Weis said. "I have not spoken to Demetrius and can only say that he missed the team bus. Any additional comment would be without all the facts."

As of late Friday afternoon Weis had not spoken to Jones.

Further update: According to Mike from Red and Black Attack, Demetrius Jones is now enrolled at the University of Northern Illinois.

Pick Six '07 | by Jay

(Take Two -- let me know if your scores match up.)

Link is here. I've got the results uploaded into a shiny new Google spreadsheet, and I'll be tinkering with the format to allow for searching & sorting (hopefully), and adding hyperlinks for those of you who provided a link to promote. (And if someone out there has some experience in editing google spreadsheets, and can spare a few minutes, drop me a line at the BGS inbox.)

In the meantime, sorry for the "raw" nature of the data, but you should be able to scan through the list and find your score.

Fun at Pepperdine and JohnnyIrish33 are out in front with 97 of a possible 101 points.

(Update: link is updated. Hit it again.)

Something's Gotta Give | by Brian

Glenn "Bo" Schembechler
1929-2006
"He Kicked it to Rocket"

Before we begin this preview, I would ask that you all please rise, and gentlemen remove your caps, as we observe a moment of silence for former Michigan head footbawl coach Bo Schembechler.

Bo made no secret of his loathing for Notre Dame, and his feeling that they shouldn't be on Michigan's schedule. "They need us more than we need them," he once famously grizzled. So the old man no doubt rolled over in his grave upon the recent extension of the series through the 2031 season.

And now, my Notre Dame/Michigan Preview, a.k.a, Charlie Goes America All Over Michigan's A** (in honor of Thursday's season premiere of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia):

This Is a Big Game, We Swear

With the Irish and Wolverines both sitting at 0-2 for the first time ever, it would be easy to assume the entire sporting viewership would consist of haters eager to feast on pure, delicious schadenfreude, but to do so would be to ignore one of the sport's best rivalries. While this game doesn't have national championship implications, it's still a clash of two programs which boast the following proud histories:

--- The two programs rank first and second all-time in both wins and winning percentage.

1987 Heisman's Trophy winner Tim
Brown (Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated)

--- Notre Dame is, almost without dispute, the Team of the 20th Century, revolutionizing the game with the forward pass. Michigan has a claim to the almost-as-impressive title Team of the Late 19th Century, revolutionizing the game with helmets made of tanned cowhide; but in my opinion, the Elis of Yale were the finest Footed Ball squad of the era, and I will exchange fisticuffs under Queensbury's Rules with any scabrous roustabout who says otherwise.

--- The schools have combined for an impressive ten Heisman's Trophies; winners in the recent past include Notre Dame's Tim Brown and Michigan's Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson. However, Notre Dame is inarguably carrying the weight in this tag team, contributing seven bronzen stiff arms to Michigan's three. They need our trophies more than we need theirs.

Talented Michigan Team an Imposing Test for Young Irish

It's a minor miracle that the Wolverines have lost their first two games given the vast array of talent assembled by head footbawl coach The Embattled Lloyd Carr. Despite the setbacks, the team remains focused, putting on their uniforms one pad at a time, more often correctly than not.

--- Running back Mike Hart is poised for a breakout year. Hart is one of the top backs the Irish will face all season. He is also a sage non pareil. After correctly noting two years ago that Michigan doesn't "ever lose 3 games in a season," this week he handed the media a guarantee that his Michigan team would beat Notre Dame this week, that Britney's next album would signal a rebound for the embattled diva, and that the subprime mortgage crisis would be resolved by a gradual resetting of interest rates over the next two years.

Ryan Mallet breaks the huddle,
flanked by left tackle Jake Long

--- Quarterback Chad Henne is poised for a breakout year. But not this week, as he is listed as out with an injury (Henne, out-- leg, ennui). Instead, it will be a matchup of highly touted freshmen quarterbacks, as Top Jimmy squares off against the dangerous Ryan Mallet, who you may know better as Paul Bunyan. This conceivably could be the first battle in a four-year rivalry between the two young stars. Clausen has been praised for his poise and overall development well beyond his years, while Mallet was expected to launch the first Space Shuttle mission to Ursa Minor with his folklorish arm strength, prior to the NCAA ruling it would violate his amateur status.

--- Mario Manningham is poised for a breakout year. He eviscerated Notre Dame's secondary last year with the heartless accuracy of an evil droid surgeon, but look for a slowdown in production this year, due to the fact that the first ball he catches from Mallet will undoubtedly kill him. The setback will allow Notre Dame to shift from man coverage on him to a soft zone.

--- Steve Breaston is poised for a breakout year. He is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball. Unfortunately, if the long-anticipated breakout season which Michigan fans have promised for about four years running is to take place this year, it will occur not at Ann Arbor's fabled Great Big House, but at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, where Breaston helps distribute bobbleheads on Fan Appreciation Night.

---Scouts drooled over the talent on the Michigan defense last year, making a complete mess of their BlackBerries. Of course, that is why five of last year's defensive starters are now in the NFL as opposed to playing for the Wolverines. But certainly, second-year defensive coordinator Ron English will get the most out of the remaining talent, right? Right? He is poised for a breakout year, assuming he isn't fired before kickoff.

Evidence That Michigan Does Educate Some of Its Football Players

Having allowed 64 points in their first two games, and ranked 100th in the nation in rushing defense, it would be easy to look at Notre Dame and assume that the defense, under new coordinator Corwin Brown, continues to be a weakness. However, the fact is that Brown has done a solid job keeping the team in both games into the second half and getting the most out of an undermanned defense, especially with an anemic offense which has kept the Irish defense fatigued and consistently facing a short field. Brown has also been widely praised for his recruiting acumen, and is a major factor in Notre Dame's promising recruiting push so far this year.

On Saturday, Brown returns to his alma mater, where he played defensive back for Schembechler and his successor, Gary Moeller, from 1989 to 1992, serving as a captain as a senior. He is poised for a breakout year, assuming Michigan doesn't attempt to hire him before kickoff. Needless to say, he is no stranger to the Notre Dame/Michigan rivalry. In fact, Brown factored into two of the most famous plays in the history of the series. One can only hope that his players fare better in the coming years than he did in these two plays (Brown is #20):



At Least Thor Didn't Steal His Helmet Design From Princeton

The superhero which is most like
Delaware wears a similar helmet

Last year, some enterprising internet so-and-so decided to write a column comparing major college footbawl programs to the comic book characters that best described them. Not being one who shies away from stealing an idea, we will now give Michigan and Notre Dame the superhero treatment:

The Wolverines are like Thor: nobody really cares about them outside of their hometown or surrounding area, and both wear ugly helmets in which they take disproportionate amounts of pride.

The Irish, on the other hand, are like Wolverine: lionhearted, indestructible, and just a little dangerous.

The Blind Oracle Looks to Make It 3 For 3

For the second straight week, The Blind Oracle At Bristol used his unique abilities to forecast the outcome of Notre Dame's game with disturbing accuracy. Let's see what he has to say for this week's matchup:

"From beyond the veil, a presence seeks to keep the weasel from combat, but the Hart wants what it wants. The gathering blue throngs, a hundred thousand strong, impose their will. The masters of motion are the masters of their fates. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Wolverines. Michigan beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Taylor's Tidbits | by Pat

Former ND All-American Aaron Taylor has decided to jump into the blogging craze and has put together an excellent site called "Legends of South Bend". The site is set up to raise money for various charitable companies. So far, it features the writing of Taylor and video interviews with former players like Rick Mirer and Rocket Ismail. Taylor's insights into the offensive line performance against Georgia Tech is pretty interesting. Check it out.

The latest entry is a great bit where Taylor recalls his toughest practice at Notre Dame under the tutelage of legendary OL coach Joe Moore. Here's an excerpt:

Joe was Old School. Like Jurassic, old.

Lindsay Knapp, our left tackle, was up first. Coach Moore had instructed one of the scout team defensive linemen to line up on Lindsay’s outside shoulder. He then instructed another defensive lineman to line up on his inside shoulder as well, and yet a third player to stand behind the first two. After each snap, the third player was instructed to kick Lindsay in his head, but only after the two defenders dove straight into the ground. It was then that we all got nervous, and I don’t think that my mouth had ever gotten that dry that quickly. We knew we were in for it. And we were.

Lindsay must have attempted to drive block not one, not two, but all three defenders at least thirty times in a row before he was allowed a break. “See, that’s the problem…you’re not bringing your knees!”, he barked, emphasizing the very staple of his famous run blocking technique. Being physically impossible to move that many people, Lindsay quickly became fatigued, and started dry heaving. Think that had any affect? No. We all chuckled at first and quietly felt sorry for Lindsay, but were secretly happy it wasn’t us. Surely, we thought, this cannot go on any longer. But it did. “Ready, BREAK!” “Ready, BREAK!” Those infamous words that Coach Moore effortlessly used to start each rep began to sound like a personal mantra of vengeance, frustration, and determination. This went on, over and over and over again. Until it was my turn.

Did Taylor survive coach Moore's "batting practice?" You'll have to read the rest of the story...

Taylor's site is off to a great start. Keep a bookmark handy.

Statistically Speaking - Penn State | by Pat

It's a Numbers Game

• Somewhat lost in the news that the offense is ranked 119th in the nation, is the fact that the defensive play has been improved from last year, despite some notable personnel losses. However, after strong first halves -- 0 1st half 3rd down conversions for Georgia Tech, only 100 yards of total offense in the 1st half for Penn State -- the lack of depth starts to play a role as the defense tires. There might not be a better illustration of this than the opposing team's average yards per rush stat, as broken down by quarter.

rushing average against, by quarter
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q	3.74 yards per carry 4.00 5.05 5.80

• An interesting stat on defense courtesy of the Inside Notre Dame football program. 41% of all points scored against ND so far this season have occurred on drives of 36 yards or less. Just another reason to get the offense back in gear, eliminate turnovers, and start winning the battle of field position. Here's a breakdown of the points scored against ND this year in 20 yard increments of scoring drive length.

Drive Length	Points Scored Against
0-20 yds 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100	20 6 28 10 0

• I'm not putting this stat up to deflect attention from the 0-2 start. I'm putting it up because I was genuinely surprised by it when I saw it in the pre-game media notes. This is the winning percentages in college football since the start of the 1988 season; the year ND last won a national championship.

School	G	W	L	T	Pct
1. Florida State	237	193	43	1	.816
2. Miami, Fla.	231	185	46	0	.801
3. Nebraska	238	190	47	1	.800
4. Michigan	234	175	55	4	.756
5. Florida	238	181	56	1	.763
6. Tennessee	235	175	57	3	.751
7. Ohio State	236	175	57	4	.750
8. Notre Dame	232	162	68	2	.703
9. Texas	232	160	70	2	.694
10. Penn State	232	158	73	1	.683

I wouldn't have figured ND anywhere near the top 10, but there it is.

• Armando Allen totaled over 100 all-purpose yards for the second straight week (13 rushing, 38 receiving, 67 kick return). While Clausen is getting most of the press as ND's impact freshman, it is his classmate Allen that is ND's leading rusher, receiver, and kick returner.

• With a career high 10 tackles against Penn State, Trevor Laws is now 50th in the nation in tackles and 2nd in the nation in tackles among defensive linemen. Laws is currently leading the Irish in tackles with 19.0.

We want M.O.E

No surprise that once again ND's M.O.E. was horrible. Against Penn State it checked in at a depressing 27%. That result is the highest (read: worst) score in Weis's tenure. That's more than one offensive mistake (penalty, sack, interception, fumble, dropped pass) for every four plays run. The Nittany Lion M.O.E. wasn't all that impressive either, breaching the 12% cutoff line at 13%, but in this case it was still good enough to win.

Full breakdown here.

Season Long Running Averages

The complete breakdown of this year's numbers can be found here. I also added the 2006 numbers for comparison's sake, but keep in mind as the season progresses that the change in clock rules will make a direct comparison between 2007 and 2006 numbers somewhat inaccurate.

cue Nelson | by Jay

the Past and Pending | by Mike

A couple days ago, Dylan and I mentioned the role Willingham's recruiting plays in this year's struggle. Neither of us placed the blame for the offense's struggles solely at Willingham's feet. I specifically noted that the Willingham regime's lingering stench did not completely exonerate Weis & Co. ("Even without the upperclassmen options available at the vast majority of programs, I'm still surprised that the offensive coaches have not been able to produce a line capable of even modest success at opening holes or sustaining a pocket.") Nonetheless, the mere mention of Willingham's partial culpability left several people howling in outrage. These people are just going to have to deal with it. As shadyirish pointed out on on NDNation:

It is useful, when analyzing the last two weeks, to separate what appear to be problems that relate to situations under the control of the current staff (e.g. playcalling and gameplanning, player development, personnel decisions) and things not under the control of the current staff (e.g. recruiting shortfalls under previous staff). In fact, discussing the former while ignoring the latter is sure to produce a terribly flawed analysis of the situation.

We're quite concerned about playcalling, gameplanning and development issues. However, it's impossible to assess the coaches' shortcomings in these areas this year without reflecting on what the coaches have to work with. Back in our February 2005 Recruiting Roundtable, we were concerned with the long-tail effect of deficient OL recruiting. As Pat stated at the time:

The biggest "get" in this class was Paul Duncan and Michael Turkovich. Offensive lineman, especially tackles, were a top priority and by all accounts ND got two good ones. That only gives Notre Dame six offensive lineman in the past three years which is really going to hurt in a few years unless the young players develop and develop fast. I'm of the opinion that the play of the offense depends largely on the play of the offensive line. Even the best QB in country can't do much if he's being chased around the field. And even though ND missed on a few other tackles and guards in this class, Duncan and Turkovich appear to be quality players and fill the position I figured was the most glaring need this year.

Also consider the following post made by Hickster on NDNation in April 2005, before the first game of the Weis era:

Here is what I see should happen if things work out the way that we anticipate, under Coach Weis' ability to recruit, develop and coach:

2005: Next year could be strong, if we are lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle for the 2nd time (back in '64 when Ara took over in the 1st year). Unfortunately, systems seem to be more difficult to pick-up than back then.

2006: System in with good experience. Last full year of the last strong recruiting class in 2003 with players not redshirted BQ, RH, JS, on offense and VA, CN, FP on defense, plus some good experience from some 2002 redshirted players. This year's 2006 strong recruiting class get a chance to get used to the system...some skill players and only "man-child" lineman will see the field.

2007: New starting QB. No depth with OL and 6 of top 7 players from the good 2003 recruits have already used up their eligibility. This is the year for 2006 recruiting class and new QB to get allot of experience. This reminds me of 1972 when a lot of sophomores (Tom Clements and crew) got experience and get ready for 1973's NC year.

2008: 2006 recruiting class are juniors combined with those stronger players and overachieving players from previous classes will be playing. Also, there should be Top 5 to Top 10 recruiting classes from here on out to insert outstanding sophomores and start to maintain the program at the highest level.

While Freddie Parish did not live up to expectations and Weis implemented his system sooner than expected, that is a rather prescient analysis. It also shows that the current year's drop-off could be seen coming years away. Yet even with these concerns, I don't think many would have expected that the offense would fail to score a touchdown in the first two games. That has left us disappointed in Weis & Co., but just how disappointed should we be? That's a question that can't be answered without considering certain factors attributable to the previous regime - and we're not going to ignore these factors simply to avoid offending the hyper-delicate sensibilities of some. What can be expected from an offensive line that includes the following class distribution of scholarship linemen will probably be debated throughout the course of the season

5th-year seniors Seniors Juniors Sophomores Freshmen

1 0 3 6 3

At this point, it's hard to deny the significance of the big donut in the senior class.

Jay brought up another point that really brings the depth and experience issues with the offensive line into stark relief: our backup left and right tackles are Matt Romine and Taylor Dever, respectively, both "true" freshmen. During the Georgia Tech and Penn State games, the Irish coaches experimented with different options at the interior positions - starters Turkovich, Sullivan, and Wenger were spelled by Eric Olsen, former walk-on Thomas Bemenderfer, and Matt Carufel. However, I believe tackles Paul Duncan and Sam Young played every single down throughout both games (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). It's possible the other tackles simply haven't spent enough time on campus to develop the strength and conditioning necessary to hold up in game action.

At this point, you may be asking, "If the issues at OL were such foreseeable consequences of the Willingham regime, why didn't your predictions reflect this?" That's a good question, and one I've been asking myself quite a bit over the last week and a half. At this point, I would say that the previous staff's recruiting is not the sole reason for the OL's struggles. The coaches with responsibility for the line - Latina and, yes, Weis - have not lived up to my expectations in this area. However, I think I overlooked two other key factors, both of which relate to relate to the longer development period for offensive linemen than most other positions.

First, I overestimated Notre Dame's ability to establish a power running game. While I realized that the young turks would have problems with pass protection as they gained experience, I thought the highly touted underclassmen would be able to make up for these problems with punishing run blocking. Two games without positive rushing yards later, this has clearly not been the case. I now find myself asking whether the young guys have developed the strength necessary to impose their will on defensive lines. Duncan and Turkovich have only spent two offseasons in a collegiate strength and conditioning program, while Wenger and Young have only had one. A typical starting OL will be full of guys that have been through offseason strength programs three or four times. This is significant because one of the first things college athletes discover is how much harder college S&C programs are than what they knew in high school. In particular, college athletes commonly discuss building strength in their lower bodies that they never could have imagined, and lower body strength is of utmost importance in the trenches. I previously mentioned how I hoped the OL could adopt the style of the '93 OL, who in Kevin McDougal's absence so thoroughly controlled the Southern Cal defense that backup QB Paul Failla only had to attempt five passes. When asked about the Irish line, a Trojan defender said, "They were like trees." At this point, we may still be waiting for some saplings to grow into trees.

Second, turning a highly touted high school lineman into an effective college lineman requires considerable development both individually and as part of a unit. There's a reason Sam Young was the first player in the history of ND football to start at tackle from Day 1 as a freshman - it usually takes significant physical, technical, and mental development after high school before one can play the line. In addition to developing his individual skills, a lineman also needs to learn how to play with the other members of his line. It's easier for a running back (say, Armando Allen) or receiver to crack the lineup and produce than it is for a lineman. While a receiver, for example, needs to get his timing down with the QB, that only requires being on the same page as one other member of the offense. Linemen need time to learn how to block in concert with the linemen/TE on either side of them, if not with the whole OL. This brings us back to why having only Romine & Dever as the top backups is so precarious.

One sidenote about the paucity of linemen in the upper classes that bears mentioning is the limited options for filling that donut hole. After a 6-6 record his first year, Pete Carroll guided Southern Cal to a 10-2 record his second year and the Trojans haven't looked back. There are many reasons for this. First and foremost, Carroll is an exceptional college head coach. He also inherited a team with quite a bit of talent, and Carroll has recruited his ass off since his arrival. And as Michael mentioned in our 2005 Recruiting Roundtable, Southern Cal received significant contributions from junior college players, including offensive linemen Taitusi Lutui and John Drake. Weis has recruited several very highly touted prospects that already appear ready for major roles (Darrin Walls, Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, etc.). Yet when teams need quick fixes along the OL, it's much easier to turn to the JUCO ranks than high school prospects. At Notre Dame, this isn't an option. Thus while Weis has been able to address the linemen issues in the younger classes, there's really no way he could fix the void Willingham left in the upper classes. We've had to start filling at the bottom, and it's going to take time.

As we've repeatedly said, we think the current coaches could do a better job with this year's offensive line. The confusion among linemen, the missed assignments, and the penalties on display in the first two games point to inadequate preparation and repetition, which falls on the coaches. However, the role of the previous staff in our current predicament is impossible for the intelligent fan to ignore. Thus if any discussion that involves the lingering deleterious effects of the Willingham regime offends you, there's no point in sniping about it in the comments. Blinding ourselves to salient data would preclude the type of discourse we strive for on this blog, and you can probably expect ongoing discussion, consideration, and reconsideration of the interplay between coaching and depth issues along the OL throughout the season.

What's the plan? | by Pat

Charlie's presser to kick off Michigan week is up. Here are some of the more interesting questions and answers...

Q. How open is the competition on the offensive line this week?

COACH WEIS: Well, I spoke to a couple of the guys who were back ups last week and I said if they had done more in practice last week, they would have been in the game. And they were told the same thing going into this week.

I think that you have to go by what you see in practice because you have to believe that the guys you're going to put in there are going to give you a better chance than the guys that are already in there, and they have to give you some evidence. And I've always believed that by going by what I see in practice, and if it doesn't look any better in practice than the guys we've got, then I'm going with the guys we've got.

And they've been given that opportunity again this week. They've been told that, "hey, I'm not afraid to make a call, but you've got to give me a reason to do it." So until they do that, you don't change anything.

Q. The pass protection issues that you have had -- how much is that limiting what you can do with John (Carlson) and the rest of the tight ends?

COACH WEIS: That was significant last week. It was significant and we'll see if we can't begin to fix that problem this week.

Q. Do you have to take that risk at some point and get him involved?

COACH WEIS: Absolutely. When you don't get any offensive production for two weeks in a row, there comes a time where you have to take off the gloves and we're getting close to that time.

Q. Changing the subject a little bit. How do you coordinate your personnel with the play? For example, when (Tom) Zbikowski returned the punt inside the 10 (vs. Penn State), you tried the pass to the back of the end zone. You had your smaller receivers in there. Do you try to match personnel with the play, where you'd like to have a (Robby) Parris or a (Duval) Kamara in the game for a play like that?

COACH WEIS: Well, we have groups where we use big guys and groups where we use smaller guys. But what happens is sometimes you can telegraph a play by just putting in the big guys when you get into that area. So you have your starters for a play. It's the first play of the series. You go put your big guys in while everyone in the free world knows if you're doing that, that's what ends up happening. So you have to calculate, you have to go back and forth so that you don't out-think yourself. And every time you do something, make it so blatantly obvious what you're trying to do.

Q. In terms of (Duval) Kamara and (Golden) Tate, can you just evaluate what you're seeing from them?

COACH WEIS: I think they're both different players with huge upsides. I think that they definitely bring great athleticism to the wide receiver position. They're different players.

One of them is one of the fastest, if not the fastest guy on the team. And the other one is probably one of the best athletes on the team. So we're fortunate to have those two guys here in the program, and I think the future for both those guys is extremely bright.

Q. What category of penalties are you most concerned about? Is it the pre-snap ones, or the frustration things?

COACH WEIS: The false starts and delay of games are things that are intolerable. You can't have false start penalties, and you can't have delay of game penalties. That accounts for 6 of the 14 right there.

Now after that, for the second week in a row, we've had a flagrant personal foul that just that's not an intelligent play. So there's no tolerance for that either. Now there are things that happen in the course of the game. I'm not saying a holding penalty is any good.

You know, going down there hitting that guy. David (Bruton) was there, but he's a little shorter, it's a late fair catch signal, he's going down there. At least he's making an error trying to make a play. Even though I don't like the outcome, it's for the right reason that he's making a mistake, not the wrong reason.

I think that will be a point of emphasis -- it was with the team on Sunday. It was with the coaching staff today. And we're going to make it a major point of emphasis in everything that happens in practice this week because you can't have efficiency with that volume of penalties.

Q. Just a follow up: Did you ever get an explanation why six seconds ran off the clock after Trevor Laws recovered the fumble at the end of the first half (at Penn State)?

COACH WEIS: I asked that very question. They said I was in error, at the time. I told them we lost time on the clock. And they said, no, I must have misjudged. Amongst all the other mistakes I made in that game, you can maybe put timekeeper on that one as well. (laughter)

Weis had high praise for Kamara and Tate, along with the near admission that Carlson needs to be more a part of the passing game. Is Charlie planning on opening up the offense a bit more against Michigan? We all saw what the spread option attack did to the Wolverine defense the past two weeks. ND isn't going to have Clausen running all over the field, but we might see more four and five wide sets designed to spread out the Michigan defense. Of course, that means the offensive line needs to instill some confidence in Weis this week that they won't get Clausen killed if he takes the tight ends and backs out of the pass blocking equation. Which way will Charlie go?

Turk's Toils | by Pat

There was a pretty revealing hometown article on Pennsylvania native Mike Turkovich in the aftermath of the loss to Penn State. The starting left guard offered up some quotes that will really test if you're a glass half full or glass half empty person. To wit:

“I was looking forward to coming home to my family and friends and putting on a good performance,” the 6-foot-6, 301-pound junior said. “We tried, but we didn’t execute the way that we needed to. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

It’s exactly how things have gone for Notre Dame, which started a season 0-2 for the sixth time in school history. The offensive line, which includes three new starters – including Turkovich – has struggled in losses to Georgia Tech and Penn State. Irish quarterbacks have been sacked 15 times and the team has minus-8 yards rushing through two games.

Notre Dame gained 55 yards on the ground Saturday night, but also lost 55 yards. That was actually an improvement over the opener against Georgia Tech.

“The O-line is only as good as its weakest link,” Turkovich said. “We’re not coming together. We’re not jelling right now. That’s the most important thing for an offensive line, is to jel. That’s what we need to work on this week. We need to get better. Zero yards rushing? It can’t get much worse.”...

“As an offensive line, we knew what we had to do, but it’s a totally different thing executing,” he said. “That’s the frustrating part – we know what we have to do, but we couldn’t do it. Penn State’s defense is a very good defense, but really, I think this loss comes down to us not executing.”

Some might read this as an indictment of the coaching staff's inability to teach linemen how to be linemen. Others will view it as proof that the coaching's fine, but it's the player mistakes, borne largely out of inexperience, that are hampering the offense. The truth is probably a murky mixture of both issues, plus some stellar defenses they've gone up against, plus a few other unknowns thrown in for good measure. One thing's for certain: from here on out, the OL will be scrutinized and analyzed like no other position. That's a good thing in my mind, as closer inspection can only lead to more accurate assessments, and fewer knee-jerk reactions.

By the way, there is a fantastic article today on Irish Eyes that breaks down the Irish offensive possessions in the ND-Penn State game. Well worth a full read.

Notre Dame just needs to be better at football. | by Pete

Schizophrenic -- a struggle to rectify two competing realities -- is the word to describe my experience for this weekend’s match-up against the Nittany Lions.

One would think that, having grown up in western Pennsylvania, I would have at some point made the trip to State College for a football game. But no, I had to move south to Washington, DC, before I managed to hit the highway en route to Happy Valley.

Regardless of the direction the compass pointed, all roads led to central Pennsylvania this weekend. State College is nestled smack dab in middle of the Keystone State, a state whose residents will often tell you is closer to two separate and hardly equal entities than a united commonwealth. On the left, we have Western PA, home to Pittsburgh, pierogies, and Primanti Brothers. On the right, you have Eastern PA, home to Philadelphia, Pat’s Cheesesteaks, and the Fresh Prince.

Of course, that’s what the residents of each respective hemisphere will tell you about their superior half. If you ask the Philly Phaithful, they’ll tell you that Western PA is essentially the Midwest, more at home with Cleveland than anything in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, the ‘Burghers will tell you that Philadelphia is essentially a suburb of New Jersey, the only fate in the universe worse than actually being New Jersey. As a Pennsylvanian, you associate yourself with one city or the other, you obsessively root for their professional football team, you eat their grease-saturated food of choice. If you live right in the middle, you associate yourself with the Amish.

State College itself falls into the stable archetype of a college town, on a very large scale. Pizza joints and Chinese restaurants dot lines of strip malls, punctuated by a sports bar or Best Buy. Large houses littered with Solo cups and enormous cardboard boxes serve as reminders of the recent return of the student body.

As we staccato-drifted down Park Avenue towards Beaver Stadium along with thousands of others, you could see that festivities had been in full swing well before our noon arrival. Despite having a reserved spot in a specific lot, we ended up in the last open lot clear on the other end of the stadium. “You can either park here or in South Bend,” I was notified by the grinning parking attendant.

We intended to meet up with my parents and a group of their friends, who were Penn State season ticket holders. We beat them to the stadium, so they told us to “soak up the blue and white ambiance.” This weekend, it was much more white than blue. By a margin as wide as the Grand Canyon.

And most of those white came on t-shirts, which varied widely from expressing eternal devotion to Penn State to eternal indignation towards Notre Dame.

There was one for sale in a satellite bookstore that said, “I Don’t Give a Notre Damn.” Of course, if you’re willing to see this shirt, hold it up to your torso for a size approximation, wait in line, and then trade in hard-earned cash for this product, it’s pretty apparent you sure do give a Notre Damn.

But the one that stuck out most to me was the one that read, “You May Have Jesus, But We Have JoePa.” This should give you some sense of scale when it comes to discussing a Penn State fan’s love of their Ensure-fueled head coach. Not only was the shirt claiming that Joe Paterno was equal to Jesus Christ, but also that the fan thinks he got the better end of the deal.

Once we made it to the tailgate (which was impressively put together, I may add), it was the stuff all great college football experiences are made of: standing around in parking lots and drinking dedicated amounts of alcohol. I learned that Penn State’s original colors were black and pink. The State fan who imparted that information on me also told me that they changed to navy and white because the original colors faded in the sun. Pink became white, and the black lightened to navy, so apparently Penn State decided to cut out the middle man. This may be true, but I think the fact that they were black and pink certainly helped.

Either way, we had a great time with our group of Penn State fans, and you could not have asked for greater hospitality. I had heard stories that suggested a flak jacket wouldn’t be a terrible idea, and I’m sure others can chime in with less delightful stories, but my experience at least proved that not all Penn State fans have retractable claws and at night steal bad little Pitt fans that refuse to eat their vegetables.

Before entering Beaver Stadium, a fall Saturday at Penn State felt like a fall Saturday at most colleges, including Notre Dame. Good music, good food, games to play, drinks to drink, it was all you could want from a great college football weekend. Just what you’d expect from a school steeped in football tradition like Penn State.

However, upon entering the stadium and taking my seat, I was confronted with dozens of reminders that this was, in fact, not Notre Dame. I’m sure many State fans would be quite happy with this realization, but “THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS” repeatedly broadcast on a Jumbotron to a backdrop of college students mugging for a camera instead of watching the field, accompanied by a soundtrack prominently featuring Fergie, doesn't equate to true blue college football. I’m telling you right now, if Notre Dame ever gets a Jumbotron, I’m mailing back my degree.

Nonetheless, the white-out was quite impressive, as the PA announcer declared the game to be the first ever “White House.” And the Penn State crowd proved to be fairly football savvy, remaining quiet when their team had the ball, and being extremely and consistently loud when we had the ball. A freshman quarterback that all non-Notre Dame fans hate with the heat of a thousand suns making his first start probably didn’t hurt the atmosphere either.

The football culture of Penn State is schizophrenic. On the one hand, you’re surrounded by all the tawdry, nouveau-riche touches you would expect from a minor league hockey franchise. It’s best encapsulated by Penn State adopting Zombie Nation, a techno song, as their unofficial fight song. It really is treated like such, being played after touchdowns and turnovers. But it’s not played by brass instruments and bass drums, instead it was recorded by a European with waxed eyebrows and a mesh tanktop.

And then on the other hand, you have a program that has found recurring success for decades, a team that’s won national titles and Heisman trophies, a team steeped in tradition. That Penn State is realized in their undying devotion to Joe Paterno, the man who built the program from the ground up, and the man who can do no wrong in their eyes, despite living to an age where, for all intents and purposes, he could go at any minute. A Penn State that still wears Coke-bottle glasses, flood pants, and white socks with black shoes. I don’t know which Zombie Nation, the one that sings the song or the one that worships the zombie, is the real Penn State, and I don’t think they do either since making the Big Ten eleven. They have no real rival, no real history in their current setting. It’s almost like watching the Clampetts move to Beverly Hills; it may be an overall upgrade, but you get the feeling that they’re not comfortable in their own skin anymore.

Oh, that’s right, a football game took place there as well. Once again, schizophrenia was the term du jour. One side of the field saw a Notre Dame team that should be much, much better than it actually is, but has failed to reach half of its potential yet. On the other side was a Penn State squad that has fans thinking national title, but is not even close to competing with the big boys. Anthony Morelli was the better quarterback in the game, but I think both sides would agree who the better quarterback is.

Jimmy Clausen was a dichotomy himself. He played better than anyone expected a freshman to play in front of that rabid crowd, avoiding mistakes and leading a team desperately in need of a leader. However, it seemed like he played thinking he was better than he actually was. One play sticks out in my mind, one of the many third and longs. Jimmy drops back, looks around, and then tucks the ball and runs through a hole in the middle. He tries to stiff arm, yes, stiff arm one of Penn State’s linebackers, and is immediately tackled well short of the first down. He knew it was third down, he knew had to reach the marker. And he thought he could slash through Penn State’s defense to do it. That’s not to say he can’t be one of the best, but to think as a freshman that he could slink through Penn State’s defense for a big gainer pushes confidence to the brink.

You'd think that a team that's played this poorly would have several disasters to address in practice. But that's not exactly the case with this team.

You can put a lot of heat on the offensive line (and rightfully so), but a team doesn't yield such impotent results two games in a row because of the poor play of five individuals. Instead, it's underwhelming performances at nearly every position. The team just isn't doing a good enough job yet. The running backs need to attack the hole better, the quarterback needs to find the right receivers faster, the receivers need to catch the balls that are catchable. The defense, while certainly earning their keep, needs to improve in every area of their play as well. In other words, this football team just needs to get better. But at least there is youth, and budding talent, on our side.

Make no mistake about it, the Notre Dame team we had out there could have beaten that Penn State team. Unfortunately, it’s becoming rapidly apparent that our greatest opponent is ourselves. But fortunately, when you are your own worst enemy, you get plenty of time to work on beating that opponent. Schizophrenia, once again.

Just as Penn State is a football program that is unsure of its place since joining a conference, Notre Dame is a football team without a foundation. New defense, new offensive line, new receivers, new running backs, new quarterback. I think Charlie canonized Jimmy as the starter so soon just so this team has some sort of stability to build itself around. As it stands, this team has no leaders, and a unit without leaders is a unit that doesn’t know what it’s playing for. Until now, Weis offenses always had the players that defined them. Brady, Jeff, and Darius. Think back to Willingham’s first year, when our defense was our best offense. Shane Walton and Vontez Duff. Find your leader, and you find your way to win.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame doesn’t have the luxury of warm-up games to figure itself out. I’m sure we looked at the schedule and saw next week’s game against Michigan as a tough one, but not in this Bizarro way. A battle between college football’s two winningest programs fighting to just find a win. If that’s not schizophrenic, I don’t know what is.

Odds & Sods: Ghost Brigade Edition | by Mike

Thoughts from Saturday's wake:

Space and Time. Notre Dame's offensive woes will continue until the offensive line achieves competence. It's obvious to anyone that follows recruiting that much of the OL problems are the result of Willingham's apocryphal offensive line recruiting. Yet while the devastation wrought by the Purveyor of Platitudes is undeniable, it also seems unlikely that the coaching staff is getting the most out of the linemen on hand. Corwin Brown has been able to cobble a competent defensive front seven from more limited options than he would undoubtedly prefer. Even without the upperclassmen options available at the vast majority of programs, I'm still surprised that the offensive coaches have not been able to produce a line capable of even modest success at opening holes or sustaining a pocket.

Rollin' Back. Penalties continue to have a devastating effect on the 2007 Irish. The Penn State game saw the Irish penalized 14 times for 97 yards, a Weis-era record. Given the troubles protecting the QB, the Irish offense can't afford to place themselves in long-yardage situations. Simple mental mistakes become drive killers. However, as frustrating as the penalties are, this is probably the area where dramatic improvement is least unlikely. If the Irish are to beat Michigan, cutting down on the penalties will be essential.

Slight Return. Zbikowski's 47-yard punt return to the Penn State 7 yardline was the last gasp of excitement for Irish fans. It was also the lone special teams bright spot for Notre Dame. There doesn't seem to be a clear explanation for the Irish's special teams struggles other than the lack of an established special teams coach on the staff. I can't help but wonder if things would be different had Weis's rumored pursuit of Rich Bisaccia come to fruition.

Young Folks. Several members of the freshmen and sophomore classes showed flashes of promise against the Nittany Lions. The most obvious examples are Darrin Walls and Jimmy Clausen. Walls's 74-yard interception return was clearly the high point of the game for Notre Dame. It was a great play by Walls, and the rest of the defense set up their blocks beautifully on the return. Clausen's statistics are nothing special, and he occasionally held onto the ball too long or tucked and ran too early. Yet Clausen did show the resilience and poise that Brady Quinn demonstrated in the losing effort against Purdue in 2003. (It bears repeating, however, that with all the other issues with the offense, it's probably premature to draw conclusions about any of the quarterbacks.) Though his 43-yard reception was negated by a holding call, Golden Tate showed that he may be able to contribute at wide receiver earlier than expected. I also liked what I saw of Morrice Richardson, who showed added moves to his pass-rushing repertoire, no longer relying solely on his speed to the outside.

One Time For Your Mind. In the Michigan game, early success is critical to each team from both a psychological and strategic standpoint. Michigan may be struggling in numerous facets of the game, but they do know what they do well - run the ball with Mike Hart. If Michigan gets off to a good start, they can stick to a steady diet of Hart runs and play-action passes that could allow them to regain some confidence. On the Notre Dame side, the defense has played well to start each game. However, they have been unable to hold up as the game has gone on and the offense has failed to put points on the board. If the Irish offense can somehow put things together early against Michigan, this should motivate the defense and elevate their play. On the other hand, continued offensive floundering could really damage the defense's psyche and make things much easier for the Michigan offense.

Sh*t Sandwich | by Dylan

We knew this was coming, in spite of the rosy predictions of some. Me, for example. I'm constitutionally incapable of predicting losses to any but the strongest of opponents before the season starts. At this point, it's like that scene in Titanic where the grim reality sets in, that the laws of physics have taken over, when it becomes a foregone conclusion that, despite the miracle of its engineering, "Titanic will founder." We knew it last year, but hope got the better of us (of me, at least). We felt it looming, Ty's revenge from beyond the grave, but we chose to ignore it in the warm glow of the new season. But it was there all along, that iceberg, bobbing in the darkness, cold and inevitable.

The gaping hole in the depth chart, the paucity of bodies along the lines resulting from Willingham's hapless "recruiting", has been documented (and lamented) on this site and others. As poor a coach as he is, and as much as he deserved to be fired for that ineptitude alone, this year's senior and junior (despite Weis' best efforts to salvage it) classes are the true monuments toTy's mediocrity. It is primarily because of this dereliction that Notre Dame and her faithful find themselves in their current predicament, sitting down before a shit sandwich, knowing we must eat every bite.

And yet there is hope. Just as we knew this was coming, we also know what is yet to come. Jimmy Clausen is going to be very good. He handled himself about as well as could be expected. Armando Allen is as advertised. The defense is turning around. Most importantly, and this could never be said of Willingham, the players are on the way. If this season were a trip to the dentist, we've just heard the doctor say "you may feel a little pressure" before jamming four (Five? Six?) giant needles into our gums. But that pain is temporary. It will fade and will be forgotten in a year when our choppers are clean and healthy. An awful metaphor, but you get the idea.

So, what else happened in the CFB universe?

Michigan lost, again. At least everyone thought we were going to be bad. But Michigan? Dayum. The pain of a Notre Dame loss is generally mitigated by 30% whenever Michigan also loses, but that number can go as high as 45% when Michigan's loss is at home to a Division 1-AA would-be powderpuff or by 30+ points. I say this acknowledging that Notre Dame sucks this year and will probably lose to Michigan on Saturday, but I am loving the fact that this is just the beginning for UM. This is the beginning of the implosion. We're rebuilding now, but they don't even get to start rebuilding until next year after they fire everyone except Bo's ghost(who, quite frankly, is not pulling his weight either). Icing on the cake: watching a certain UM blogger take his site offline rather than face the music. OMG sooooooo teh bedwett0r!

Why are CFB writers so gullible? Why do they refuse to learn the most basic of lessons? Louisville is not a top ten team. The fact that their schedule is less likely to cause them to lose games does not make them good. Good teams do not give up 35 points in a half to middling Sun Belt schools. Yet there they sit at #9, the second most nonsensical "Number 9" in the history of everything.

Ditto Hawaii. 38 non-overtime points allowed to Louisiana Tech. But hooray! They don't play anyone and their quarterback throws a brazilian touchdowns against those nobodies. Top 25!

When it comes to preseason/early season polls, this week was just one more straw on the camel's back. By virtue of rankings that were based on last year or, more likely, nothing at all, teams like #7 Wisconsin (who was losing to UNLV after three quarters), #8 Cal (who moved up two spots after a 34-28 win over winless Colorado State), and #4 West Virginia (who was only up 27-23 over winless Marshall after three quarters) will be allowed to maintain their shiny preseason rankings. This makes no sense at all. No one has any idea how good these teams are, nor will they until the cupcakes are taken off the menu. Case in point? Virginia Tech. Ranked #9 after an inspiring 17-7 win over East Carolina, they were pantsed, swirlied, and drawn-on-while-passed-out by a frightening LSU team. VaTech lost by forty-one points, yet, somehow, they are still in the top 20. Eight of the teams in last week's top 25 struggled with or lost to unranked teams (Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Auburn, Nebraska, Hawaii, Boise State, and Texas A&M). When you're essentially clueless on nearly one-third of all the teams you've ranked, you're either terrible at ranking teams, or you just don't have enough to go on. Not that ignorance ever gave pause to a sportswriter.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but for a few seconds on Saturday, I felt sympathy for Miami. I really did. But it passed when I remembered they are @#!&ing Miami. Always have been (at least since 1983) and always will be, from the 58-7 game through the brawl with Florida Freaking International. I wish Miami could go 0-12 and still make it into the BCS Championship game, just so I could watch them get blown out again.

Many of our opponents look better than us right now. Before the season, I made a silly prediction based on the flawed notion that our offensive line would be, had to be, better. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. My prediction for the rest of the season? I'll get it to you after we score our first offensive touchdown. Hopefully in our third game.

Oh my Christ.

Gameday! | by Jay

live shot from Pete -- 5:33pm

on the Docket | by Jay

So few teams schedule a big game to start the season anymore, and BCS conference showdowns are increasingly rare. Thus, teams in the Conversation are always the easiest to pick out after the first week's results; essentially, it just boils down to whoever beat a BCS conference opponent in their opener.

No sense ranking anybody yet, but let's break them out by division.

12 BCS teams in the Conversation
Auburn Boston College Cal Clemson UConn Georgia Georgia Tech LSU Missouri UCLA Washington Wisconsin	def. Kansas State, 23-13 def. Wake Forest, 38-28 def. Tennessee, 45-31 def. Florida State, 24-18 def. Duke, 45-14 def. Oklahoma State, 35-14 def. Notre Dame, 33-3 def. Mississippi State, 45-0 def. Illinois, 40-34 def. Stanford, 45-17 def. Syracuse, 42-12 def. Washington State, 42-21

6 non-BCS Division 1 teams in the Conversation
Bowling Green BYU Central Florida Kent State TCU Wyoming	def. Minnesota, 32-31 def. Arizona, 20-7 def. NC State, 25-23 def. Iowa State, 23-14 def. Baylor, 27-0 def. Virginia, 23-3

and last, but certainly not least, one little 'ol team from Division 1-AA
Appalachian State	def. Michigan, 34-32

19 teams in the Conversation. That's a pretty good snapshot of who made a mark in week one.

Besides the Irish, these are the games I'm keeping an eye on today. Conversation teams in blue.

12:00 pm	Miami at Oklahoma
	Nebraska at Wake Forest
	Bowling Green at Michigan State
12:34 pm	Alabama at Vanderbilt
2:00 pm	Cal at Colorado State
2:30 pm	NC State at Boston College
3:30 pm	Oregon at Michigan
	Boise State at Washington
5:45 pm	South Carolina at Georgia
6:00 pm	Missouri at Mississippi
6:30 pm	BYU at UCLA *
7:00 pm	TCU at Texas
9:00 pm	South Florida at Auburn
9:22 pm	Virginia Tech at LSU

* the only matchup today between two teams already in the Conversation

Nittany Notes | by Jay

A solid PSU preview from the Philly Inquirer:

For the first time in recent memory, and maybe ever, the 14th-ranked Lions have designated three wide receivers as starters, but no fullback.

The revised alignment upgrades junior wideout Jordan Norwood, who grabbed a game-high five passes for 92 yards in last week's 59-0 spanking of Florida International, to first-team status. Former starting fullback Matt Hahn, meanwhile, drops to No. 4 at running back, behind Austin Scott, Rodney Kinlaw and Evan Royster...

"We have so many wide receivers back, and myself," said senior quarterback Anthony Morelli, who, perhaps not coincidentally, registered career highs in pass attempts (38), completions (23) and passing yardage (295) against FIU, in addition to throwing for three touchdowns. "We feel comfortable with our passing game."

Also perhaps not coincidentally, Penn State is without Tony Hunt, the workhorse tailback who has taken his 277 rushing attempts and 1,386 rushing yards to the NFL's Eagles, leaving the ground attack in the hands of the top five backs on the depth chart - including two fullbacks - who combined for all of 50 carries last season.

Not that Morelli is so bold as to pronounce the dawning of a new era of Air Joe.

"We'll do whatever we have to in order to win football games, whether that's to run to open up the pass or vice versa," Morelli said. "Whatever the defense gives us, however we can move the ball, that'll be what we do throughout the year."

...But, as is the case in play selection dictated by down-and-distance, Penn State's expected tilt toward the pass probably owes more to personnel than to philosophy.

Smurfish starting wide receivers Norwood (5-10, 172), Deon Butler (5-10, 168) and Derrick Williams (6-foot, 189) all caught 40 or more passes a year ago, the first time that has happened in the same season at Penn State.

If the Lions want to go bigger, there's 6-2, 210-pound sophomore Chris Bell - Norwood calls him the most talented wideout on the roster - and 6-3, 212-pound Terrell Golden, as well as 6-6, 241-pound converted quarterback Brett Brackett, who could prove useful on jump-ball plays in the end zone.

And the tight-end position also factors in, especially when 6-5, 252-pound sophomore Andrew Quarless' suspension for underage drinking ends (Paterno has yet to decide how long that will be). With Quarless out, another large target, 6-4, 250-pound Mickey Shuler, filled in and caught four passes for 54 yards and a touchdown against FIU.

"Maybe that is where this program is going offensively," Norwood said of the greater emphasis on the pass. "If so, that wouldn't bother me at all.

"I do think it's being emphasized a little more. And I think it should be. I don't think Penn State has had this much talent at wide receiver in a long time. We legitimately go six, seven receivers deep with no dropoff."

Even though the Lions lit up Florida International for 59 points last week, let's be clear: FIU stinks on ice. Mark tells me that last year the Golden Panthers were 119th in scoring offense (9.58 ppg) -- dead last in Division 1 -- and 87th in scoring defense (26.08 ppg). (As somebody on the boards said the other day...when told that Penn State had played "Florida International," his wife's reply was, "they played an airport?")

---

A little bit on the PSU running game, and some adjustments they made to get on track against FIU:

There was no getting around it: Penn State's running game was not that impressive early in Saturday's game.

"It was terrible," Joe Paterno said. "But overall I thought we finally settled down and picked out a couple of things we could handle with their blitzes, and we were able to run the ball."

The Nittany Lions rushed for 35 yards in the first half against Florida International's defensive front that players said was stunting and blitzing on almost every play.

In response, Penn State passed the ball almost twice as many times as it ran in the first two quarters. While Anthony Morelli broke a school record for passing yards in a half, starting running back Austin Scott averaged a paltry 2.3 yards per rush during the same time.

It took until halftime for Penn State's revamped offensive line to understand what was going wrong...

"We sat down, talked about it, and we came out and ran the ball a lot better," left guard Rich Ohrnberger said.

Ohrnberger is among four players starting at new positions along theoffensive line, the others being left tackle Gerald Cadogan, right guard John Shaw and right tackle Dennis Landolt.

Redshirt freshman Lou Eliades was listed as the left guard starter on a depth chart released by Penn State in the middle of last week, but didn't see the field until the third quarter of the game on Saturday.

The youth, coupled with FIU's constant movement was an anticipated concern.

"I expected them to have problems," Paterno said of the offensive line.

"Once we got some things put together, and we had some kind of pattern to their stunts, we could pick out a couple of plays that could handle most of it and I thought they did a good job."

Austin Scott finally found the end zone with two minutes to go in the half, and then Penn State punched it in four more times.

---

Pete Thamel of the NYT had a fun profile of Coach Terno yesterday, which included this gem:

Joe Paterno has seemingly not changed. He lives in the same cozy ranch-style house and, until recently, walked through campus to work. He turns in most nights around 10:30 while watching game film, pencil in hand. He does not have a cellphone, has never sent an e-mail message. He laughed when the N.C.A.A. banned text messaging between coaches and recruits this summer.

“I get a big kick out of all the fuss,” Paterno said. “I thought it was tech messaging — T-E-C-H.”

---

I was out drinking with my friend Bob last night and the conversation turned to sports movies. Went something like this.

Jay: "Tin Cup, Eight Men Out. Rocky (the first one). You gotta love the ones that are about more than just the underdog winning the big game. Slap Shot--"

Bob: "Something For Joey."

Jay: "Something For Joey?"

Bob: "TV movie, the kid from Penn State who won the Heisman, and his little brother Joey who had leukemia? You've never seen that? Oh, that's one of the best TV sports movies of all time. Right up there with The Rocky Bleier Story. Cappelletti, I think his name was."

Sure enough, Something For Joey is something of a sports movie classic. Penn State running back John "Cappy" Cappelletti was one of the best football players of his day. (You can watch some clips of him here.) Cappy won the Heisman in 1973, and at the acceptance ceremony he dedicated the trophy to his little brother Joey, who was stricken with leukemia. You can read his entire speech here. Those in attendance deemed it the most moving acceptance speech ever given at these ceremonies.

As John went on to fame and fortune in the NFL, Joey battled cancer for another three years. He finally passed away, with John by his side, in 1976.

In the movie (based on a book by Richard Peck) John Cappelletti was played by Marc Singer. JoePa makes an appearance, played by vet TV actor Paul Percini, and Geraldine Page plays mother Ann. And last, but not least, it was Steve Guttenberg's first ever screen credit, in the role of younger brother Mike Cappelletti.

Apparently Something For Joey still pops up on ESPN Classics from time to time. Keep your Kleenex handy.

---

Quote of the week (paraphrasing):

Q: Do you think Penn State will blitz as much as Georgia Tech?

Charlie Weis: Well, I would.

Irish Head to Happy Valley for First Time Since '91 | by Brian

Fresh off of a disappointing season opener against Georgia Tech, things get no easier for Notre Dame as they prepare to hit the road to face one of the favorites in the Big Ten, the Penn St. Nittany Lions. I would love to write about the excitement surrounding the teams' first meeting in Beaver Stadium since 1991. I would love to write about the anticipation of the first start in the career of Jimmy Clausen. I would love to write about a lot of things, but unfortunately, the buildup for this long-awaited matchup has been overshadowed by a developing scandal, which could shake the Notre Dame program to its very foundation.

Scandal and Chicanery: A Blue-Gray Sky EXCLUSIVE

One of the leaders of the Penn St. defense is Dan Connor, the 6'3", 233 lb. senior from Wallingford, PA. Connor is the latest Butkus Award candidate to wear the blue and white of Linebacker U. He will be a handful for an Irish offense looking to establish an identity after a disastrous performance in the opener.

John Goodman, on the other hand, has verbally committed to join Notre Dame in the fall of 2008. The Irish list Goodman as a 6'3", 186 lb. wide receiver from Fort Wayne, IN.

However, in a Blue-Gray Sky EXCLUSIVE, we can reveal photographic evidence that proves something so shocking, I can barely bring myself to report it: John Goodman and Dan Connor are THE SAME PERSON! In this photo, Connor/Goodman and an unidentified woman take in the Michigan/Appalachian St. game on the Big Ten Network:

Somebody call Jeff Carroll.

See what happens, Charlie?
See what happens when
you FIGHT a STRANGER
in the ALPS?

Attempting to pass off a player under an assumed name, in order to extend his college eligibility, is an NCAA violation of the highest order. Once again, Notre Dame head footbawl coach, and former resident of the 2nd floor of Flanner Hall, Charlie Weis shows that he thinks the rules don't apply to him. Have you no shame, Coach? Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?

You Don't Go Into the B.S. and Push Penn St. Around

The Nittany Lions are coming off of an impressive 59-0 victory over the visiting Golden Panthers of Florida International (the only Panthers that Penn St. will play these days). Penn St. quarterback Anthony Morelli was an impressive 23-38 for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns, perhaps finding his stride as he begins his second year as the starter.

Then again, the performance came against lowly Florida International, representing the mighty Sun Belt Conference. While that may seem like the typical early-season cupcake opponent, however, Florida International has been known to act a little feisty toward their hosts.

Joepa: Coach, Teacher, and Patriot Since Nineteen Dickety-Two

Penn St. head footbawl coach Joepa Terno is a bona fide institution/deity/regional treasure among Nittany Lion faithful, but has the game passed him by? We asked Coach Terno that very question at his weekly press conference, and this was his response:

Remember the Maine.

"Ah, heck, you know, the kids are different today, what with their Ataris, and X-Pods, you know, and their motorcars. But the game's basically the same as it was when I started coaching. There's still nine guys per team, you know, and touchdowns count as four points each, and most coaches still look at the forward pass as a cheap gimmick. And, heck, I mean, just look at our road uniforms. They've always been all-white 'cause the government needs the paint and dye supplies for the war effort, you know, to help defeat the Spaniards."

Eat at Your Own Risk

The Penn St. community proudly offers Peachypa Terno ice cream. It is only available on the Penn St. campus. Word is that the flavor does not have FDA approval due to its high fat content.

A similarly dangerous foodstuff can be found on the Notre Dame campus. Late at night, the LaFortune Student Center proudly offers Quarter Dogs, which are quite simply hot dogs sold for the low, low price of 25 cents each. This is a meat product the likes of which haven't been seen since the muckraking days of Upton Sinclair.

QB Browns Alert Level: BLACK

Throughout the season, we will periodically update you on the progress of fan favorite QB Browns in his rookie campaign. He will start the season on the bench, as the enigmatic (read: not particularly good) Charlie Frye has been given the nod to start against the Browns' archrivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

To give you an idea of QB Browns's progress, I have developed a handy, color-coded Alert Level to keep you abreast of his status. The levels are as follows:

BROWN: Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl
ORANGE: The Toast of Cleveland
YELLOW: Bench Pressing Steely McBeam
GREEN: Starting, but Unproven
BLACK: Backup
PURPLE: Pummelled by the Ravens Defense

It has been widely reported that QB Browns lost millions when he slipped from a presumptive top ten pick to the 22nd selection in the NFL Draft. Times are so desperate that he has gotten his hair cut clean off, presumably selling the clippings to one of those companies that makes wigs out of human hair.

One hopes for his sake that the haircut doesn't have the same effect as it did on Samson or the circa 1995 Eddie Van Halen.

Behold! The Blind Oracle at Bristol Speaks

After an alarmingly accurate forecast presaging the outcome of the Georgia Tech game, the Blind Oracle at Bristol returns to give his prediction for this week's game.

"Beware the Beaver---danger lies that way. From mountain high, the lion descends, ready to strike. The gray man, Death incarnate, foretells doom. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Nittany Lions. Penn State beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Fun Fact | by Jay

David Bruton's safety blitz resulting in a sack of Taylor Bennett already matches the total number of safety sacks we had all last year (1, Ndukwe). And the year before that (1, Zbikowski).

Upset City | by Jay

(One of our longtime readers, Dan, is a rabid Irish fan who also happens to be an Appalachian State grad. He and his friends road tripped all the way to Ann Arbor from North Carolina for the game against Michigan last Saturday. He sent us this report. Enjoy.)

Hi Jay,

I won't bother discussing details of the game as that is available everywhere on the net. But just a bit of a back drop, AppState has played Div I BCS teams pretty regularly for 20 years - mostly Wake Forest and when we started beating them regularly, they dropped us. In the past few years we took Auburn and NC State into the fourth quarter, and didn't embarrass ourselves against LSU (20-0). In addition we have been regulars in the Div I FCS playoffs the past 5 years and are the 2005 and 2006 national champions. I can't stress enough how the pressure, elevated play, and facing different style offenses and defenses in the playoffs gives a team experience and confidence. The excited talk on the long road trip up to Ann Arbor was Michigan's inexperienced defense. We knew our offense matched up favorably. Could we avoid mistakes on offense and possibly stop their offense?

Excited to get a full day's experience as reward for sitting in a car for 24 hours, we went to campus early on Saturday. Threw the football around for a while, sipped our cherry 'shine and headed out to the offically sanctioned Mountaineer tailgate location somewhere across the U of M golf course. What a great college gameday atmosphere - just as you envision a hundred thousand fans would tailgate! Our gauntlet was about a mile of Michigan fans - four of us decked our in our ASU gear. Not sure what to expect from the Wolverine fans, but they turned out to be nice and very gracious. However, being asked repeatedly "Where exactly is AppaLAYchian State?" wore thin. One confident Michigan fan told us we were about to get an education in real college football, and wasn't impressed by our national championships.

Into the stadium a bit early to soak up the atmosphere, and once the game started, the excitement peaked early as it was apparent by end of first quarter we could play with Michigan - but the peak lasted for the whole game. Numerous times I had to tell myself to breathe, and calm down. Halftime was a whirl of phone calls and text messages - some from folks I hadn't talked to in 15 years! It was just overwhelming. Our fans were so loud and excited the whole game, the energy was spilling over. Only twice, in the fourth quarter, did I feel the energy and noise of the 106,000 Michigan fans. While impressive and loud, it didn't seem to match the intensity of our home games. The rest of the day belonged to us - so loud were we that in the third quarter, a good-sized percentage of the Michigan band came to our tiny section of the stadium to harrass us. After being ignored and drowned out by our cheering, they quietly went back to their band. What a game!

Too drained to walk back to the car after the game, we just sat and watch the players on the field. The ASU players started running to the "M" on the 50 yard line. I froze and thought to myself "Oh please don't do anything crass like Michigan State would do." The players assembled as a team on the "M" and took some pictures - what a sign of respect and a very touching moment. Then the team said a prayer and headed to the locker room.

Walking out of the stadium, again we didn't know what to expect, but the Michigan fans were gracious and many congratulated us. Two young boys about 8-9 came up to the four of us and one of them said "You ruined our season!" I was speechless and started searching for words to console when I heard my son say "I'm a Notre Dame fan, when I was your age there were many times Michigan ruined our season. That's just part of college football."

We were the last to leave our parking area, we were just too excited to leave. Food, beverages, phone calls (though no one could understand me because I was so hoarse)...it was great to sit there until dark. Stragglers, both ASU and Michigan fans, stopped by and chatted - everyone realizing what just happened was really special for college football.

It really sunk in on the drive home: flying our "A" flags, speeding through West Virginia a state trooper flew up along side us and when he had our attention, he gave us a big thumbs up, flipped his lights on and off, then took off down the highway.

What a win. Go Apps. Go ND.

-- Dan

(By the way, if you haven't heard the radio call of the final blocked kick, go immediately here.)

I come to praise the Spread, not to bury it | by Jay

After the game on Saturday, I walked out of the stadium with a ton of questions flying around in my head: was Tech that good? Were we that bad? And why hadn't I used more sunscreen? Mostly, though, I had questions about the baffling, alien offense we tried to run with Demetrius Jones. What the hell was that? Instead of the rocket-powered ground attack I was expecting, we fizzled like a dud.

With the benefit of a second look at the game (and some pointed press conference explanations) I think the picture of what happened is a little bit clearer. Some of my questions, answered:

First of all, why Demetrius Jones, instead of Sharpley or Clausen?

According to yesterday's presser, Clausen wasn't 100% healthy until last week. Because of that, he wasn't able to get full reps in practice in the couple of weeks leading up to the game. As Charlie said:

COACH Charlie Weis: At the end of the spring, [Clausen] was the leader of the competition...And then, you know, after the spring, he had that spur taken off and then he rehabbed...he was going to be ready to throw full speed by September 1. But he wasn't ready to do everything on a daily basis, you know, until September 1. So we got kind of got in that gray area where we really couldn't consider him as the starter for the opening game.

Q. Would it be fair to say if he was healthy the whole time, would he have started last week then?

COACH Charlie Weis: That's potentially the case...But in training camp, he didn't do enough. He couldn't do enough to really be in contention for that first team.

So that eliminated Jimmy, and the question became, Jones or Sharpley?

Now, the Tech defense is a whirling dervish of aggression. It's especially hellish for young quaterbacks who lack experience in blitz recognition and might be hesitant in decision-making. As SMQ presciently wrote before the game:

Tech also has a great history in its favor against young quarterbacks early in the season, having claimed the hides of first-year starters in upsets of ranked teams in four consecutive Septembers (Auburn in 2003, Clemson in ‘04, Auburn again in ‘05 and Virginia Tech last year). DC Jon Tenuta is aggressive and unorthodox and has his usual pass-rushing raptors in Phillip Wheeler and Michael Johnson, all the better to force whichever freshly scrubbed scholar Weis has selected into the same eye-opening mistakes of his wilting forebears against Tech. The Jackets got after Brady Quinn something fierce in last year’s opener, and it was Quinn’s instincts and experience that got the limping Irish offense out of trouble on more than one occasion. I’m not giving Sharpley or Jones (or hell: Clausen. Why not?) the benefit of the doubt where icy decision-making is concerned until one of them has demonstrated it in live action. There won’t be much scoring, unless some it comes from the defenses.

If a QB is at all tentative against Georgia Tech, forget it. Last year Charlie had a Heisman contender at QB in whom he had full confidence to read defenses, audible out of plays that might get stuffed, and with whom he could talk to on the sideline about adjustments on the fly. Charlie knew he didn't have that this year. And furthermore, I think Charlie knew a hesitant, slow-footed passer making his first start wouldn't stand much of a chance dropping back and setting up in the pocket, especially with such a green offensive line. (The game, of course, bore this out; Sharpley was sacked 7 times. Consider what we saw of Sharpley...tentative, indecisive, holding onto the ball too long. A feast for the raptors.)

In retrospect, facing an aggressive defense, and with a young line bound to make mistakes, Demetrius really was the only sensible choice to start. He had a weapon that could counter the blitz: his speed. And why not pepper in a few plays designed specifically to take advantage of that speed, right?

What did we install, special, just for Demetrius?

Spread formation, first play of the game

The story of Charlie going to visit Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia really intrigued me. I figured he'd steal some plays from the spread option playbook, and come September we'd see a brand new dimension to the Irish offense. Sure enough, on the very first play of the game, Notre Dame came out in the Spread.

(Quickly, what is the Spread? The version we saw: the quarterback is in shotgun, usually with 1 or 2 running backs next to him in the backfield, and with 3 wide receivers on the field. It's what Purdue plays most of the time, and it's what West Virginia plays, among others. For the Irish, we'd never seen it used under Charlie before the first play of the game on Saturday.)

With the new formation, the Irish also ran 5 brand new plays for the spread:

• QB Sweep
• QB Draw
• Inside Zone Read (either a give to the RB, or a QB keeper)
  
• Rollout Pass
• Screen Pass

That's it. Maybe there were more that were practiced, but that's all we saw in action.

Was this too much to install? Too ambitious for the young Irish? I'm not so sure. We weave in new wrinkles and plays each week during the season, and this set isn't terribly exotic. Keep in mind, we installed a completely new offense before the '05 season when Charlie first came on board -- much more than simply one formation and five plays -- and that worked out pretty well. I have to think this wasn't too much to handle -- in theory. In practice-- well, we'll get to that.

How did we utilize the Spread against Georgia Tech?

It's important to note that in the game we didn't use the Spread exclusively. In fact, Demetrius' play calls were split almost evenly between the Spread and the usual Irish set, with the quarterback under center (let's call it Base Charlie).

DJ ran 27 plays over 6 drives. Two were negated with false starts. There were 13 plays from the spread (highlighted in yellow below). 14 were out of Base Charlie (in blue). Each section break in the table indicates a new drive.

Plays with Demetrius Jones at Quarterback

#	Down	YTG	Package	Play	Player	Yds	Mental Errors	Notes
1	1	10	Regular	QB Sweep	3	+7
2	2	3	Two Tites	Toss	26	-3		Unblocked WDE caught from behind and 44 missed block badly
3	3	6	Half-5	Inside Zone Read	5	+11
4	1	10	Out People	Rollout Pass	33	inc		DE stayed home, applied pressure, low throw
5	2	10	Detroit	Penalty		-5	False start, 77
6	2	15	Out People	Screen pass	3	-6	Fumble, 3	Heavy blitz, 3 didn't know what to do - screen pass
7	1	10	New York	Inside Zone	34	+1		74 badly missed block on 41 - nice hole otherwise?
8	2	9	Half-5	Inside Zone Read	5	+6		74 beaten badly - should have been called for a hold
9	3	3	Half-5	Inside Zone Read	3	-1		Designed to go to 5, but snap is way too high - busted play
10	1	10	Half-26	QB Sweep	3	+5
11	2	5	Half-26	QB Draw	3	+3		Weirdly designed play - no one to block LB, 51 no push
12	3	2	Two Tites	FB Dive	44	-1		Toss to HB is a read here for QB; didn't look at 26
13	1	10	Two Tites	Scramble (?)	3	+10		GT sends 6; 44 sneaks out to flat, 26 protects, 3 tucks and runs
14	1	10	Detroit	Inside Zone	34	+6		Play designed to go left, cuts back right
15	2	4	New York	Toss	34	+3		nice lead block by 89
16	3	1	Two Tites	Iso	26	+2		Big hole, nice lead block by 44, DB filled nicely
17	1	10	Half-5	Inside Zone Read	5	+8
18	2	2	Half-5	Inside Zone Read	3	+6		QB Keeper
19	1	10	Half-26	QB Sweep	3	+8
20	2	2	Half-26	QB Draw	3	-1	Fumble, 3
21	1	10	Regular	QB Sweep	3	0		44's cut block doesn't work, LB forces 3 back inside
22	2	10	Regular	Swing pass	11	+4		Toss play or swing pass
23	3	6	Detroit-5	Pass	3	-3	Sack	Cut blocks by 72 and 77 are ineffective.
24	1	10	Half-26	Jab	26	-1		89 couldn't seal, 77 whiffed, 26 never got to hole
25	2	11	Half-26	Penalty		-5	False start, 72
26	2	16	Half-26	Screen pass	26	inc		Overthrown, heavy pressure - 74 bad cut block, 51 bad block
27	3	16	Half-26	Scramble	3	0	Sack	GT rushes 3 DL and sends one OLB blitz - 26 can't pick him up

Running game
What's really surprising -- and this certainly was NOT my impression upon leaving the stadium -- was that running out of the spread was actually pretty effective.

The best running plays were the QB sweep, and handing off to Allen on the Inside Zone Read. The QB sweep was run four times, for 7, 5, 8, and 0 yards. Whenever Armando was in the game, we almost always ran an Inside Zone Read. It was either handed off to Armando or Jones kept it. Here's our production for that play:

• Allen: 3 carries, 25 yds
• Jones: 2 carries, 5 yds

Jones had one carry for 6 yards on a Inside Zone keeper, and on the other, it was the third & two play on the second drive where the snap was so high that the play was disrupted. DJ couldn't hand it off to Armando, which forced him to run wide and lose a yard. If there had been a good snap, we would have easily earned the first down (there was a solid block by Wenger, and a great cut block by Young on the LB). That would have been another Armando carry, and another 5+ yards.

Contrast rushing from the Spread with the rushing production from Base Charlie:

• Spread: 11 carries, 50 yds
• Base: 7 carries, 7 yds

Passing game
Overall, Jones had seven passes called for him (out of 25 plays) in both Spread and Base. There were only two pass plays called from the spread. One was the play action roll out pass to Hughes (which Demetrius underthrew), and the other was the screen pass where Jones developed "deer in the headlights" syndrome and got himself sacked.

There were also two scrambles on passes but both came out of Base Charlie. First, there was the play action on the first play of the 4th drive where he tucked and ran for 10 yards. The other was in the last drive on 3rd down. The OLB blitzed from the outside, and Thomas engaged him but didn't stuff him. Jones stepped up in the pocket to throw, and was nailed. It's technically a scramble because it didn't go for negative yardage, but it's really a sack. Charlie gave Demetrius opportunities to throw the ball, but terrible pass blocking, bad throws, and panicky decisions to tuck and run conspired to kill the passing game.

That said, after a second look, the spread still seemed like a good plan considering the circumstances coming into the game. It was even producing some positive yardage before we fell too far behind and Charlie pulled the plug.

First drive, 2nd & 15. Slot receiver points out the blitz


Allen (btm) & Hughes (top) flare out.
Corner & LB blitz.


Allen & Hughes looking for the pass; DJ scrambles


Sacked. Hughes with all kinds of daylight,
and blocking downfield. Drat.

So why didn't it work?

Mistakes. Piss-poor blocking. Two drives ended by fumbles, one on a critical drive where we might have taken the lead, 7-6. Another hindered by a terrible snap, and another drive ended on a sack due to a bad block. Poor decision-making by Demetrius. And don't forget the terrific, aggressive defense that confused the hell out of our linemen and consistently beat our blocks.

On every drive-ending play, there were crucial mistakes. The starkest example (and most heart-breaking, because it could have been a big play) was on the very first drive.

It's 2nd & 15 on our own 38. ND comes out in the spread, with Out People personnel (2 RB, 3 WR), and Hughes and Allen in the backfield on either side of Jones.

The corner on the slot receiver is showing blitz, and the slot receiver alerts DJ before the snap.

At the snap, Hughes and Allen both flare out. The corner blitzes, as noted, along with a linebacker.

Hughes and Allen are both looking for the pass, and the receivers are setting up blocks downfield. But DJ never seems to look right or left, and instead steps up and squirms around, trying to avoid the blitz.

That play's a killer, because all DJ had to do was loft it out to Hughes and it would have gone for 10+ yards, and maybe more. It didn't require a perfect pass, just a recognition that Hughes was going to be open (again, with the corner blitzing) and an easy pop-up that Hughes could have run under and hauled in.

Thus was the potential of the spread, and thus was it frittered away.

Disclaimer. It strikes me that this post probably reads like I'm putting most of the blame on the players' failure to execute an otherwise sensible gameplan. In truth, we didn't look prepared for Tech's blitzes, we didn't execute our cut blocks very well, and the quarterback obviously lost his head under pressure. This goes to coaching and preparation as much as execution. Charlie (as usual) owned up to not having the team ready for the speed of the game or the defensive schemes presented by the Yellow Jackets, and he rightfully deserves his own set of nice, big goat horns.

So is this the end of the spread?

Charlie said something interesting on Sunday's presser about how the spread gameplan "was intended for this opponent," meaning, presumably, the extent of its usefulness was for attacking Georgia Tech, and Georgia Tech alone. But after seeing the potential with the spread, I really hope Charlie doesn't relegate it to the trash bin. It would be easy to junk the whole thing and go back to Base Charlie with a prototypical dropback passer, but elements of the spread could still be quite productive.

Recall how successful the inside zone read play was from the shotgun with Armando Allen. Now consider this. We trot out against Penn State with Clausen at QB. It's first and ten from the 25, first play of the game. Shotgun formation, Half personnel (3 WR), Armando Allen standing next to Clausen.

You're Lions defensive coordinator Tom Bradley...what do you do? Do you go to nickel because of the three wideouts? Or do you stay in your base defense? Base defense...okay, what do you do with that 3rd WR? Do you bring a safety down, and play man to man on the outside? If you use a LB on the 3rd WR, that's a mismatch the Irish can exploit. And you still have to account for Allen on the handoff; with a safety or linebacker committed to outside coverage, there's a lot of room to run in the middle. While I doubt you'd ever see Clausen on the keeper with the inside zone read, you could mix in play action, or the swing pass to soft coverage, or the Hughes/Allen flare pass. There's a world of possibility here.

Statistically Speaking - Georgia Tech | by Pat

It's a Numbers Game

Some notable stats gathered from the ND/GT box score and the recent game notes media release...

• Of the 61 players that played on Saturday, 31 were freshman or sophomores. That is the highest number of freshman/sophomore participation since freshmen became eligible in 1971.

Opponent, Date                          Fr./So. Played
Georgia Tech, 2007...............................31
Virginia, 1989 ..................................29
Purdue, 1983 ....................................29
Purdue, 1984 ....................................23
Maryland, 2002 ..................................23
Indiana, 1991 ...................................22
Kansas, 1999 ....................................22
Purdue, 1980 ....................................21
Michigan, 1987 ..................................21
Northwestern, 1992 ..............................21

• 16 players saw their very first minutes of playing time on Saturday including 9 freshmen (Clausen, Allen, Hughes, Kamara, Romine, Neal, Tate, Walker, and Williams), 6 sophomores (Jones, Wenger, Gordan, Schmidt, Mullen, Wade), and 1 junior (Bemenderfer).

• It may not have seemed like it, but in his very first collegiate game, Armando Allen totaled more than 100 all-purpose yards. In addition to his 25 yards rushing and 1 yard receiving, he totaled 84 yards in kickoff returns (16.8 yards per return) for a grand total of 110 all-purpose yards.

• 9 different players caught the ball for the Irish on Saturday, the most in Weis's tenure. Of the 9 who caught the ball, 5 made their first career reception (Allen, Hord, Jabbie, Kamara, Yeatman)

• Zibby had 4 tackles in the game and with his 1st tackle, he passed Michael Stonebreaker for 10th on the Irish career tackles list. With 224 career tackles, he is 66 tackles away from #9 Steve Niehaus. He is 5 tackles away from passing Jim Browner (228, 1976-78) for most career tackles by a defensive back.

We want M.O.E.

Our pre-season post about Major Offensive Errors (M.O.E) generated a fair amount of conversation both for and against such metrics. For those who don't remember the original post, the idea is that adding sacks allowed, offensive penalties, dropped passes, interceptions, and fumbles and then dividing by the total number of plays yields an "offensive efficiency" number. The lower the number the better, with 12% or lower being the goal of sorts.

In order to see how the generalized "12% as indicator of victory" rule of thumb holds, I'm going to be tracking the M.O.E. for both ND and the opponent all year. And even if you don't really care about its value as a metric, it does give you a quick and easy snapshot of how effective (or not) the offense was in a particular game. Not that you need it for last Saturday.

As expected, ND's M.O.E. against Georgia Tech was a pitiful 21%. That is second only to the 2006 Michigan game as the worst job in Weis's tenure. The key culprit in this calculation was the high sack total (9).

Georgia Tech did a great job holding on to the ball and focusing on the run. That meant they limited their chances for interceptions and sacks and the M.O.E. result of 4% shouldn't be a surprise. It will be interesting to see how this stat stacks up against the rest of the ND opponents over the course of the season.

The full breakdown for each team can be found here and will be updated as the season unfolds.

Raw Data

This year I'm putting all of the offensive, defensive, turnover, and special teams stats into a google spreadsheet in order to keep this post a bit shorter and make it easier to update as the season goes on. If you're interested in knowing which two defensive categories are currently ranked in the Top 30, and just where our offense is ranked, follow this link. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this week's installment of Statistically Speaking.

the Clausen Era starts...now | by Pat

Word has officially come down from on high that freshman Jimmy Clausen will be the starter on Saturday against Penn State. Here's the video of Charlie discussing Clausen.



Even though Jimmy showed a pretty good arm against the Tech backups, playing against a very talented Penn State defense in from of 100,000+ screaming fans is another case altogether. Best of luck to Jimmy.

If we here at BGS could offer young Clausen just a wee bit of advice as he embark on a hopefully long and successful career....given our OL play last weekend, make sure your mouthpiece is in before getting under center this Saturday.

Roster review | by Pat

There were a lot of new faces out there on the field on Saturday. Here's some quick reaction on individual players before we delve into some deeper gameplan analysis...

Before I start though, hats off to the Georgia Tech team. Everyone is worried about how horrible ND looked and what went wrong with the Irish, but that detracts from a stellar Yellowjacket team that played exceptionally well. Kudos to Gailey and the crew for getting the team ready to play and to the players themselves for doing a fantastic job.

QUARTERBACK It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Demetrius Jones over the course of the season, because Saturday wasn't pretty. I hope he gets another shot somewhere down the line to redeem himself, because I don't believe he's nearly as bad a player as he looked on Saturday. But the brutal truth is that he had an awful game and that trumps whatever he shows in practice. Even the best runner has trouble when the opposing defense keeps 8 or 9 guys in the box, but Jones didn't do himself any favors by not showing much patience in the pocket. He just didn't look comfortable, although most of the credit for that goes to the Tech defense. Despite immediate impressions that all Charlie did was call runs, there were a number of called passes and screens for Demetrius. However, on most of them Jones just decided to make a play with his feet rather than stand in the pocket and try to deliver the ball. I wondered why ND didn't move the pocket very much or try to roll him out, but the one play where they did resulted in a pretty ugly pass to the feet of Robert Hughes.

Evan Sharpley came in to run the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half and his play earned him the nod for most of the 2nd half. He did show much more patience in the pocket than Jones. The problem was that he showed too much patience. With the pocket collapsing all around him he took too much time with his reads and getting through his progressions. He earns some kudos for the way he bounced up from some vicious hits and his quick thinking on one of the fumbled snaps. But it takes more than moxie to lead the team against some of the talented defenses that ND will face the rest of the season. When he did get a pass off, he showed some zip on the ball, but his accuracy -- the play action to a wide open Grimes comes to mind -- was a bit off on the longer passes. For his first taste of non-garbage time play, I thought he showed some promise even if at times he did play like the inexperienced quarterback he is.

Jimmy Clausen came in to the cheers of many, but it's hard to really take away too much from his performance. He certainly didn't look all that bad, but he was also playing against a 2nd string defense and Tenuta had for the most part called off the dogs. Still, he made quick decisions, got the ball out in a hurry, and kept his eyes downfield the entire time when he was flushed out of the pocket. There's still the question of if his arm is strong enough for a full game of throwing out routes and accurate deep balls. It looks like we'll all find out together on Saturday as he has already been named the starting QB.

RUNNING BACK One of the few bright spots on the day, Armando Allen has the look of a future star. While all of the other backs struggled to pick up more than 3 yards a carry, Allen averaged 8.3 on his three carries. Whatever the reason he didn't play more in the 2nd half -- and I'm sure his inexperience at pass blocking was it -- don't look for him to be lacking carries for very long. As the starting running back, Travis Thomas had a rough day. He didn't have much running room, but he still didn't do a great job hitting the hole when he did. His pass-blocking was on and off, with a few solid blocks likely overshadowed by getting run over by the Tech strongside linebacker on one of the many Yellow Jacket sacks. James Aldridge didn't do too much, but watching him run through a tackle or two certainly was encouraging for the future. It wouldn't surprise me to see his number of carries rise as well. It also wouldn't surprise me if he finished the year as ND's leading rusher. Junior Jabbie played more in the second half as ND attempted to throw the ball more. He looked solid pass blocking and some pretty good hands pulling in one slightly off-target screen pass. Robert Hughes saw the field a lot earlier than I thought he would, but both screen passes that were designed for him failed before he could get the ball.

Frankly, Asaph Schwapp had a rough game. He's built like a fire hydrant and one of the strongest players on the team, but for whatever reason that rarely translates to his blocks. Too often he either failed to sustain a block or was easily sidestepped by more athletic linebackers. Either he needs to improve or I wouldn't be surprised to see more of Luke Schmidt when ND uses a fullback.

WIDE RECEIVER Yes, Notre Dame did have receivers on the field the entire game. They were the guys who didn't really have anything to do in the first half. In the second half we got to see a few glimpses and there does appear to be some potential. David Grimes looked faster than I remember blowing by the Tech corner on a nice out and up move. Robby Parris showed some good hands and cemented the Samardzija comparisons for the rest of his career. It was great to see D.J. Hord finally running down a deep ball after years of frustrating injuries. He also showed some good hands catching a quick out from Clausen with a man right on him. George West looked quick but the lack of height issue became obvious when a high pass from Sharpley went right over his out-stretched hands. Duval Kamara certainly doesn't lack any height. Watching him catch the quick slant pass from Clausen and drag a defender for an extra yard or so brought back many Quinn to Stovall memories. I suspect that starting with Penn State this weekend we'll see a lot more of what the receivers can and can't do. The Nittany Lions have a tremendous secondary so their work is certainly cut out for them.

OFFENSIVE LINE Ouch. Seeing as how the 2005 and 2006 offensive lines were the first and second most experienced offensive lines in the history of the program, respectively, a drop-off in OL play was to be expected. Still, I don't think anyone was ready for just how much the line struggled. Again, much credit to the extremely fast, aggressive, and confusing Tech defense. Still, the line play was far below acceptable and it wouldn't surprise me to see changes in the lineup if things dont' improve immediately. The biggest disappointment was Sam Young. Not that he was horrible, but with all of the expectations and his size and talent, he missed a fair number of blocks. When he did get his hands on a guy, he was great. But too often he was off-balance and wasn't able to set up a good block. In Dan Wenger's first start he certainly showed his inexperience with a few plays where he was looking the wrong way and let a defender fly by him untouched. But overall he showed quick feet and and a very aggressive attitude. It's going to be fun watching him develop over the next four years. Sully had his usual game where he buried the defensive tackle a number of times but also got beat on a speed move now and again. He's in line for another strong year, although he's not going to stonewall everyone.

The left side of the line is the one that had the most trouble against the Yellow Jackets and is where opposing defensive coordinators are going to continue to attack until it proves it can handle it. Even though he lost a fair number of them, Mike Turkovich showed some strength in one-on-one battles. It was the speed of the Tech defenders however that was just too much for him. ND kept pulling the guards on passing plays and too often Turk had trouble getting over to his spot before the oncoming Yellow Jacket defender. Maybe it was just nerves and inexperience, but he has to know that he's now going to be where teams send their blitzes. He also has to know that there are a few promising young players right behind him on the depth chart looking for an increase in playing time. Paul Duncan had a few cringe-worthy plays as well, including one where he was just off-balance and fell down without touching anyone. Like Turk, I don't imagine he is going to have a very fun film review session this week. He did show some strength in the run game, but pass blocking is going to be an adventure this year.

TIGHT END The Irish kept John Carlson on the line to help block for most of the game and he definitely showed improvement in that area from last year. Still, his strength is in the receiving game and hopefully he'll get to show that more in the future. Will Yeatman played a lot as the second tight end and I thought that he was the best blocker out there for most of the game. While most Irish players had trouble with the speed and agility of the Tech defenders, Yeatman consistently was able to keep his balance and hold the block. He also made a pretty nice grab on the pass from Clausen late in the game. He's going to be a good one.

DEFENSIVE LINE A guy on defense who played really well was Trevor Laws. That likely won't be the last kick he blocks and he was all over the field both as an end in the 3-4 and a defensive tackle when ND lined up in a 4-3. Pat Kuntz was overwhelmed at times, but he held his own on a good number of snaps. I think he's going to be better than most people expected this year, but he's definitely going to need help so that he doesn't tire as the game (and season) drag on. Ian Williams got some time at the end of the game and he's certainly a big body. That he got as many tackles as both starting outside linebackers is a good sign for him (and a bad sign for the starting outside linebackers) Hopefully he can provide Kuntz with a few breathers during the year. Justin Brown is another guy that showed some potential, until his costly personal foul. I'm sure he's going to catch hell for that from the coaches but he should be right back in the starting lineup for the Penn State game. Dwight Stephenson had a much tougher time after Brown got ejected. Most of Choice's runs went to Dwight's side of the line as he wasn't able to hold his ground very often. There isn't much in the way of depth behind him, so hopefully he's able to pick up his play. Otherwise, ND is going to continue giving up large rushing totals.

LINEBACKER Good news/bad news here as the linebackers looked aggressive and generally did a solid job tackling. However, they still had trouble fighting through blocks, particularly on outside runs and anytime you give up that kind of yardage on the ground, the linebacker play wasn't adequate. Mo Crum was Mo Crum. He got blocked out of a few plays, but also showed great instincts and was always around the ball. His increased bulk seemed to help him out too when it came to head on tackles. Joe Brockington also picked up where he left off last year and efficiently picked up tackles. He's not the kind of guy you notice too much during the game, but he always winds up near the top of the tackle list. Toryan Smith on the other hand only finished the game with one tackle. He's going to need to be more productive or he'll lose more snaps to Brockington. John Ryan and Anthony Vernaglia did a good job crashing down the backside of the line on running plays, but when the run was to the outside they had a hard time fighting off blocks and getting to the ballcarrier. Ryan in particular saw a number of Choice runs go right by him as he fought to get away from a lineman or tight end. Vernaglia did look much more aggressive than we've seen in the past and that's a good thing. Mo Richardson and Kerry Neal both got in later in the game, mainly during passing downs, but there really wasn't too much to draw from their play.

DEFENSIVE BACK It was David Bruton's first game as a starter, and I was impressed, considering when we last saw him against USC. He looked very fast in the defensive backfield, was a solid tackler, and did a good job on the blitz. And as usual he was fantastic on punt return coverage. Most importantly, he was always around the ball on the few deep passes that Tech attempted. Zibby had a quiet game, which somewhat can be attributed to the fact that Georgia Tech ran the ball so much. He was sent in on a few blitzes, but the called play nearly always was run away from him. I'm still interested to see how he does in pass coverage on a more consistent basis. Darrin Walls apparently left the game and was replaced by Ambrose Wooden, but while Walls was in I was impressed with him. He looked extremely fast and, like Charlie said, was much more physical than last year. It should also be noted that Tech kept picking on Terrail Lambert and stayed away from Walls. Lambert actually had some pretty good position though on most of the passes and turned around to make a play on the deep balls. He knocked away one and one was just a very nice catch by the taller receiver. All in all, I think ND's secondary is going to be much improved this year, assuming ND can generate a better pass rush than what was seen on Saturday.

SPECIAL TEAMS Quickly, Geoff Price had a few bad punts, but I'm not too worried about him overall. He'll bounce back. The good news was seeing freshman Brandon Walker split the uprights right down the middle on the lone ND field goal attempt. Sure, it was a chip shot, but given the uncertainty at kicker I'll take it. And it's a good thing he got one under his belt before he has to kick one that counts for something. Armando and Golden Tate looked quick returning kickoffs and I really do think it's just a matter of time before one of them returns one for a touchdown. Zibby didn't do much on the punt returns, largely because of the solid work of Tech's All-American punter.

Overall, the result was obviously disappointing and immediate improvement is needed. There were a few bright spots, but that still makes for a very small silver lining on an otherwise large gray cloud. It will be interesting to see how the players respond to this embarrassing loss. Entering into a very hostile environment on Saturday, it's not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. Will the players come in focused and determined to put on a better performance, or will they allow the stench of last week's game to flow into this week's? Considering that there should be a few players playing for their starting jobs, I would hope the answer is the former. We will see.

May I have your attention please | by Jeff

"Any animal behavior is a pet peeve."

- Tim McCarthy for the Indiana State Police

Odds & Sods: Revenge of the Nerds Edition | by Mike

Sundry thoughts on the Georgia Tech game...

You Trip Me Up. When I think about Saturday's game, the game I am reminded of is the 1997 LSU game (only with Georgia Tech in the role of Notre Dame and Notre Dame in the role of LSU). In that game, Notre Dame didn't do anything spectacular, but they played largely error-free football. The Irish neither turned the ball over nor committed a penalty, and the result was a 24-6 victory in a game that never really was in doubt. On Saturday, Georgia Tech was remarkably efficient. They didn't turn the ball over once. While they committed a few penalties, they avoided costly ones. Except for a few James Aldridge carries, the Yellowjackets were reliably solid tacklers. I didn't have the appetite to go back and run the numbers, but I suspect GT's MOE was comfortably under 12%. Meanwhile, the Irish played error-filled football, turning the ball over, missing assignments, and even shanking a punt. For the most part, these phenomena are not independent - many Irish mistakes were the product of Georgia Tech pressure. Nonetheless, I was impressed with Georgia Tech's discipline and execution this early in the season when the Irish clearly looked like a young team not entirely sure of their responsibilities. Were too many new starters asked to do too much?

Young Man Blues. My expectations for this year were predicated on the belief that the offensive line would provide a power running game. As the 1993 USC game proved, it doesn't matter who your quarterback is when the OL is imposing its will on the defense. I knew the young '07 OL would not be as good as the '93 OL, but I believed we would see that style of OL play. I had believed that the finesse approach of the previous two years was due to limited personnel options, but as Weis's OL recruits found their way into the starting lineup we would see the return of the power game. Now it seems obvious that this belief was based more on Weis's promise of a "nasty" football team than anything we have seen on the field so far. I keep telling myself that the Irish are still dealing with a young line (four of the five starters committed to ND after Weis's hiring; Dan Wenger was seeing his first game action) that should improve over the course of a season. That said, it will be extremely disturbing if the Irish do not have a power running game by the end of the year.

Sad If I Lost It. Midway through the second quarter, it was hard to be too upset with the defense. The score may have been 9-0, but offensive and special teams miscues had not given the defense much field to work with. Consider Georgia Tech's scoring drives:

QUARTER   STARTING FIELD POSITION      RESULT
1           Notre Dame 33              FG
1           Notre Dame 48              FG
2           Notre Dame 44              FG
2           Notre Dame 47              TD
3          Georgia Tech 16             FG
3          Georgia Tech 30             TD
4           Notre Dame 17              TD

The first three scoring drives all began in Irish territory, but the defense kept the Yellowjackets out of the endzone. On Georgia Tech's first touchdown drive, the Irish appeared to have held Tech on third down, but Justin Brown committed a personal foul that kept the drive alive and got him ejected. While Tech's greater offensive success following the ejection cannot be attributed solely to Brown's absence, the ejection was a painful reminder of how little depth the Irish have along the defensive line at this point. An injury to any of the starting DL - particularly Laws - would have a disastrous effect on the remainder of the season.

Fresh New Eyes. I don't think there aren't any silver linings in Saturday's game, but a few players making their first appearances or their first extended appearances acquitted themselves well. Anthony Vernaglia made his share of plays as a first-time starter. David Bruton notched his first sack and continued to fly down the field in punt coverage. Armando Allen gained 25 yards on 3 carries. While this may not seem like much at first glance, recall that the Irish finished with -8 rushing yards for the day. Allen's burst was obvious in his limited opportunities. I suspect the reason we did not see more of him was because the freshman's practice time was spent learning the spread package with Jones at QB. James Aldridge seemed to break a tackle on every carry.

Catch Hell Blues. Irish fans got to see all three quarterbacks in action Saturday, but I believe fans should refrain from drawing too many conclusions about the long-term prospects of the QBs based on the Georgia Tech game. There's no need to make a scapegoat out of any one quarterback given that mistakes were made across the board, and I'm sure Weis would say the blame should start with the coaching staff. Finally, we're dealing with such limited sample sizes with respect to each QB, that arguments about their performance inevitably rest as much on conjecture as actual data. For instance, Clausen looked good. But this can be countered by pointing out that the defense he faced included many reserves. And this rebuttal can itself be countered by pointing out that Tech continued to send multiple guys on each play, so it's not like Clausen was facing a passive, run-the-clock defense. But ultimately, we're talking about such a limited number of plays in such different circumstances that fans would be best served by letting things play out before giving up on any of the quarterbacks.

A Daisy Through Concrete. The weekend's sole mercy came in the form of the Mountaineers of Appalachian State. Fortunately, Michigan laid the biggest college football egg of my lifetime on Saturday, thereby preventing the Georgia Tech game from being the lead college football story of the weekend. Yes ASU, you and your Van de Graaf generators and keyboard solos truly are hot, hot, hot.

All Messed Up | by Jay

Back from the 'Bend, but I'm still choking on the dust from Saturday's demolition. I knew in the back of my mind this was in fact going to be a rebuilding year, but I guess I was thinking something more on the order of a living room remodel, not knocking down all four walls with a Wreck-ing ball.

While I'm breaking out the respirator, here's a bit from the SBT that points to the core issue of the day:

[Tech defensive end Adamm] Oliver often peered across the line of scrimmage and saw waves of uncertainty roll through an Irish offense that ran through three different quarterbacks, none of whom he believed played with much confidence.

"You could tell they were very uncomfortable and we were coming after them every play," Oliver said. "I don't think they were very quick with their reads. We had them all messed up."

If Jamal Lewis wasn't racing in from his safety spot for one of his team-high eight tackles, linebacker Phillip Wheeler was creating havoc underneath as defensive lineman Darrell Robertson was having his way with an inexperienced Irish offensive line.

Robertson admitted that as the game wore on, Tech defenders started a competition amongst themselves about who would make the next big hit. There were many takers.

"The person who doesn't get it next was the one being ragged on," said Robertson, who finished with six tackles and 1.5 sacks. "We had to handle business and then start having fun out there."

Finally...GAME TIME! | by Pat

Time to Jump. | by Pat

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

-Ray Bradbury

We jump in two hours. Let's go Irish.

Sky Writing | by Pat

Before we dive headfirst into the new season, an assortment of news odds and ends.

• With all the new names and faces playing this year, BGS reader Mike whipped up a handy one-page cheatsheet. The two-deep is listed, as are the personnel groupings we highlighted a few weeks ago. Print it off and have it ready to go when the game starts. You can then impress your buddies with saying like "Interesting...they've just brought in Will Yeatman and are setting up in Two Tites. I suspect that means run" while stroking your imaginary beard between your thumb and forefinger. (In order to print it out, click on the File button under "ND Cheat Sheet", select Export and .pdf. They print that .pdf and you're all set) The full roster can still be found at und.com.

• Kudos to Pete and Fitzwater for nailing Charlie's approach to the starting QB derby.

Was it your plan to keep the pressure off the guy who is going to be the starting quarterback by not announcing it sooner?

“That might be the best question I’ve been asked this whole time, Tom. It might be the best question I’ve been asked because it was by far the number one reason that you do this. Why would you want to take somebody after you’ve had a guy like Brady Quinn, who has been starting here for four years, why would you want to anoint someone a few weeks ago and have them living under the microscope of being the Notre Dame quarterback before they ever even played a down. So when everyone sits there and says Weis is an idiot …ta dah ta dah ta dah... in the meantime, it’s not on them and it’s allowed them to be a lot looser in their preparation which to me was very, very important.”

• We haven't talked all that much about new Yellow Jacket QB Taylor Bennett. And one of the more common questions asked is "if he's supposed to be so good, how come he could never beat out Reggie Ball?". Well, here's the answer, straight from Bennett.

"What they don't understand was there was a reason I was sitting - I didn't know anything," Bennett said. "I only started one year in high school. When I got here, I couldn't tell you the difference between a Cover-2 defense and a cover-3 or 4. As much as I wanted to play, I know I wasn't ready to play mentally or physically."

And the maturity process took years, not months. Gailey declared the quarterback job open prior to 2005 spring practice. Ball had regressed in 2004 after a promising freshman season, and Gailey expected Bennett, having spent a year in the system, to challenge for the job.

Bennett didn't. Ball kept the job and improved throughout his junior season.

Bennett finally made strides in 2006 spring practice. Tailback Tashard Choice said Bennett and Ball were "about even" coming out of the workouts.

But by then Ball had three years experience, and with a talented group returning, including Johnson, last fall was the wrong time to experiment at quarterback.

"I guess with Reggie being there for so long and being the starter for so long, Taylor really had to look so much better than Reggie to take the job," Choice said. "So they went with Reggie, and that was OK because we all believed in Reggie."

So there you go. No conspiracy theories, just a guy who needed some time to acclimate to college football. Hopefully, for ND's sake, he's not fully comfortable yet.

• Make sure to check out und.com and nbc.com before the game. Und.com will have the stadium cam up and running at 11:00AM or thereabouts for those who want to watch ND warm-up and see the stadium fill up, not to mention their pre-game show. NBC is back with their pre-game show at 3:00pm, streaming live from the NBCSports webpage. If you can't wait that long, they have the entire 1997 game against Georgia Tech streaming up on the web.

• Ben Ford has an excellent triplet of blog posts on his ETruth blog, covering the best quotes of fall camp. He has them broken down into Offense, Defense, and Coach Weis. My favorite though is one that's not on the list. It comes from burgeoning quote machine Toryan Smith in his recent interview with und.com's Jack Nolan.

Nolan: "How ready are you to hit somebody in a different uniform?"

Smith: "Oh, I can't wait, because that'll be the first time I get to take somebody ... really hit somebody to the ground. You know, we kinda take care of our own teammates, but I really get to unleash my thunder on somebody."

Nolan: "And you love that thunder, don't you?"

Smith (smiling): "I love it."