Odds & Sods: The Right Thing To Do Edition | by Mike

Three is a magic number. Statistically, Saturday's game was the best offensive performance of the post-Quinn era. Using a balanced attack, the Irish offense rolled up over 200 yards on the ground and Jimmy Clausen threw for the most yards of his career. A number of factors contributed to the offensive success - including the weakness of Purdue's defense - but one that stood out was the extensive use of 3 WR sets. Although a pass-first formation, the Irish enjoyed considerable success on the ground from this formation. The running backs ran 34 times for 194 yards (5.7 yards per carry), with Armando Allen rushing for 7.9 yards per carry en route to 134 yards on 17 carries. It will be interesting to see whether this becomes the offense's base formation in the future or whether the heavy use of this formation was simply a Purdue-specific gameplan. Recall that in 2005 and especially in 2006, the Irish used three-wide-receiver sets more than any other formation.

Still Grimey. After missing the Michigan State game due to injury, senior WR David Grimes returned against Purdue and caught four passes for 65 yards. While Grimes may not have the size and natural ability of Michael Floyd or Golden Tate, he's a fundamentally sound player who provides needed experience when the Irish employ 3 WR sets that include sophomores Clausen, Tate and Allen and freshmen Floyd and Kyle Rudolph. Grimes is also a more effective blocker than you might expect from someone his size. His 30-yard fourth-down touchdown reception was one of my favorite plays of the game, and in his post-game comments, Grimes described how the play happened:

"[W]e saw that it was blitz 0 which means that there was no safety in the middle of the field. Jimmy looked at me and I looked at him and we made a play. Jimmy threw it up and I ran under it and caught it."

Nice recognition by Grimes and Clausen.

Caught, can we get a witness? An overlooked play [EDIT: but apparently not overlooked by Pat] from the first quarter was Kyle McCarthy catching Desmond Tardy and preventing a touchdown. With Purdue leading 7-0, Tardy caught a Curtis Painter pass and raced towards the endzone. It was a big play for the Boilermakers, covering 39 yards, but McCarthy caught Tardy at the 9 yard-line. The Irish defense then held the Boilermakers to an unsuccessful field goal attempt. Had Purdue scored a touchdown on that drive and gone up 14-0, we could have seen a much different game since the offense may not yet have had confidence in its ability to play as it did in the third quarter.

Fighting in a sack. Once again, the Irish defense failed to record a sack. On the one hand, Purdue's offense features a fifth-year senior quarterback and a veteran offensive line that included four seniors and one junior and emphasizes quick passes. On the other hand, Painter attempted 55 passes and not all of them were three-step drops. Additionally, this was the third consecutive game without a sack. Even without reaching the quarterback, the defense has deflected a number of passes and forced many inaccurate throws due to pressure. Nonetheless, to compensate for the heightened risk of such frequent blitzing, it would nice to see the heightened reward of actual sacks.

Brand new. The latest freshmen to announce his presence was Robert Blanton, who intercepted a Curtis Painter and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. I loved Blanton's determination to get into the endzone on the play. Ethan Johnson started and showed some pass-rushing ability. Kyle Rudolph recorded his first career touchdown reception and demonstrated some improved blocking. Michael Floyd had six catches for 100 yards, just four short of Golden Tate's total in his big game against Purdue last year. Jonas Gray also saw the field on special teams.

Kicked it in the sun. Notre Dame won the field position battle most of the game, in large part due to excellent coverage against Purdue's formerly successful kickoff return units. The Boilermakers were second in the nation in kickoff returns at 31.8 yards per return entering the game, but Mike Anello & Co. limited Purdue to 13.9 yards per return.

Purdue Photo Galleries | by Pat

Pictures of the Purdue game are up. Check out Boilerstation.com, the South Bend Tribune, Und.com, and Irish Eyes,

I was tempted to pick this shot of Armando Allen leaving Purdue defenders in his wake as the picture of the game. After all, that is about when ND finally started to get the ground game working. However, this week I'm going to go the picture with Kyle McCarthy's diving, touchdown-saving, tackle of Desmond Tardy. Had Tardy scored, Purdue would have taken a 14 point lead and who knows how ND would have responded. As it was, the Fighting Irish red zone defense held the Boilermakers to a field goal try, one that they promptly missed.

After that it was all ND for the most part. That McCarthy tackle just might have been a significant turning point this season and for that deserves special recognition.

Game Day! | by Pat

Go Irish! Beat Boilermakers!

Under the Big Top | by Jay

While fondly reflecting this morning on the electric brilliance of Quizz Rodgers, here are seven Purdue notes to ponder.

1. Purdue's record to date:

• W 42-10 Northern Colorado
• L 26-32 (16) Oregon (OT)
  
• W 32-25 Central Michigan

Everyone knows that Purdue nearly lost to Central Michigan last week. But not everyone remembers that they also nearly beat Oregon. They jumped out to a 20-6 lead at the half, but let Oregon back in the game. Then they missed a game-winning field goal with :04 left on the clock, and lost the game in overtime.

2. Kory Sheet's rushing numbers are a little inflated. He's a good player, but his stat line has also benefited from two long plays.

• Northern Colorado - 16 rushes-81 yards
  
• Oregon - 29-180 *
• CMU - 17-91 **

* Sheets went 80 yards in one play. Check out the video. At most, it should have been a 20-yard pick-up. The Oregon tacklers did an awful job. The extra 60 yards he picked up helped to make his day look better than it really was (under 4 ypc otherwise).

** With 1:00 minute left in the game against the Chippewas, Sheets had run 16 times for 45 yards. Then he busted a 46-yard TD to win the game. If CMU had not committed a face mask penalty on the ensuing kickoff, I'm not sure that Tiller could have, or would have, run the ball in that situation. Without that penalty that set up that run, his numbers look much more pedestrian.

Michael sez: "I'm not sure we have to have Harrison Smith in the game to stop the run; one of Sergio Brown's best strengths is his tackling. Another reason why I'd rather have Brown is, despite some struggles in coverage, he's still more adept at it than Harrison -- and especially Crum. Purdue's scheme really knows how to find match-ups to exploit. Now, they don't have Keller anymore, which will make things easier on us, and so long as we tackle well I think we can prevent Sheets from having a big game.

"I would like to see us play Ian Williams a tad more, even though he's technically just a second stringer in our personnel against spread offenses. It's not like we're sacrificing that much in the pass rush, which has been somewhat quiet anyway."

3. Until a minute left in the game, Central Michigan had out-gained Purdue 440 to 298. How did they do it? With a spread offense and a crazylegs, scrambling quarterback named Dan LeFevour. He threw it 44 times for 291 yards, but more impressively, he was also the leading rusher on the day, running 24 times for 148 yards.

Purdue's front four actually hurried him quite a bit on Saturday, but LeFevour has that one intangible that Jimmy Clausen will hopefully develop someday: escapability. Check out the game highlights: he turned a lot of near-sacks into positive yardage. We don't have that luxury: we don't run a spread, and we don't have a quarterback who can scramble like LeFevour. Let's hope our protection is up to snuff.

4. Coach T on the Irish pressure package:

Q. Notre Dame tends to blitz quite a bit, give you some different looks. Talk about the challenge of that, what they bring defensively in terms of pressure.

COACH TILLER: Yeah, they bring a lot of pressure. About the only thing I can say is having played the teams that we've gone against to date, it's helped us prepare for a team like Notre Dame, although we've seen pressure in all three games, a multiplicity of different looks. We'll probably see all three gamed wrapped into one in this game in terms of different looks.

It's not uncommon for Notre Dame to run a particular blitz maybe twice in the game. You don't see that blitz, but you continue to see pressure. I think they're a football team that wants to bring five-man pressure all the time. That means they're bringing somebody other than a front guy. Could be a linebacker or could be a secondary defender. You're never quite sure who that extra rusher is going to be.

It's truly a pressure defense. Like I said, you're going to see five guys coming all the time. They might have a lineman dropping into a zone pressure look and bring in two extra defenders, maybe a secondary guy and a linebacker. But is it going to come up your left side, right side, up the middle, where is it going to come. They like to confuse you with their style of play in terms of numbers of looks that you're going to see. Like I said, we'll probably see as many in this game as we've seen in the first three games combined.

It's good to see the respek coming from the Boilers' coach, but the Irish blitzing has yet to produce a slew of sacks...in fact, we've gotten only one (1!) in three games, if you can believe that. Like Corwin said in his presser yesterday (a good one, if you can find it on the UND.com website), "When you go to a restaurant you want to eat steak. Hamburger is good, but you want to eat steak. And we've been eating a lot of hamburger."

5. Looking at the official Purdue depth chart for the ND game, there's been some moving around since the season began. Three-year starter Sean Sester still limited by back injury and not in the starting lineup at right tackle. Pre-season starting left tackle Zach Jones now starting at right tackle. Fifth-year senior career backup Garrett Miller now starting at left tackle. Multi-year starter at DT Alex Magee is now at DE. That's right, a 295-pound defensive end. Will he be squaring off against Kyle Rudolph?

Fifth-year senior Frank Doung, a former walk-on from Mishawaka's Penn High School, is now the starting SS. He's 5-8, 178. Here's a story about him.

Redshirt freshman Joe Holland was moved from safety to linebacker a month ago. Now he's starting at WLB while regular Jason Werner is recovering from back surgery. A 211-pound linebacker? Maybe it's better to send Rudolph into a lot of patterns, and let Holland and Anthony Heygood -- one of their best defenders -- chase him around the field.

6. Speaking of offensive strategy for the Irish, with Yeatman out, I expect us to ditch the two-TE sets and go with three wideouts most of the time. Stick to a short passing game like what we saw in the second half against MSU, and use the pass to set up those draws and delayed handoffs. Flex Rudolph out more; don't ask him to block guys like Magee; let him block DBs and LBs in space and run routes. Have four receivers out on every play (not counting the back). Have Clausen throw look passes when they load the middle, and hit the backs out of the backfield after our receivers clear out the underneath with vertical routes. Then pump-fake a look pass and hit a wide-open Golden Tate down the sideline. Ladies and gentlemen of the Notre Dame fan base, that's what I'd do. But what do I know? I'm just a caveman.

7. The Resistible Force versus the Movable Object: PU Defense rank: 103rd. ND Offense rank...

...107th.

SkyWriting: Statues and Subways Edition | by Pat

A bunch of news bits and pieces from the past few weeks to cover as we head into the Purdue game.

• I neglected to link photos from the Michigan State loss. If you're still interested, you can see them at Mlive.com, the South Bend Tribune, and the Detroit News.

• Speaking of pictures, the new statue honoring Coach Holtz was revealed before the Michigan game. Here is a photo of it courtesy of Irish Eyes. For those headed to the Purdue game this Saturday, make sure to swing by Gate D to see it. Also, here's video of Lou's speech at the unveiling.

• And when you are at the Purdue game, another gameday photo would be greatly appreciated. If folks just want to send pics in for every kickoff, that would be great. We'll probably need them for nearly every game this year.

• I finally got around to tabulating the BGS Pre-Season fan poll. The results are quite different from the adjectives being submitted in Jay's Moody post down below. I guess 16 yards rushing against the Spartans will do that to a fan base.

Here are the results. Plenty of optimism to go around, even if a few of those 12-0 submissions were jokes.

The game by game predictions were just as optimistic save the Southern Cal game, which is hardly a surprise, and the Michigan State game, which is a bit surprising given the confidence in the other games.

As for the fan choice for breakout freshman, Michael Floyd was the no-surprise choice with 48% of the vote. Rounding out the Top 5 were Kyle Rudolph (32%), Ethan Johnson (5%), Robert Blanton (3%), and a tie between Dayne Crist and Braxston Cave (2%).

• A few new ND related sites to mention. First off is The Subway Alumni Show, a fun video blog with a new episode each week. I'll link this week's show, but I recommend visiting their site as well. If they can make the show interesting after a loss, you know it's good stuff. Check out the Michigan week show for some tailgating fun.

• Another well-designed site is Fr. Lange's Gym, a homage to Notre Dame legend, Father Bernard Lange. Long before the Gug or JACC, Fr. Lange introduced many ND men to weight lifting in his gym located in Brownson Hall. Check the site for some fantastic photos and stories of a priest who's ND story is unique in every way. Consider this passage from the 1987 Notre Dame Magazine.

Rev. Bernard H. B. Lange, C.S.C., the legendary “strongman-priest,” was a contemporary and friend of Knute Rockne. Like Rockne he had a galvanizing effect on those students fortunate enough to come under his tutelage. But where Rockne led through wit and charm, Lange was a Prussian field marshall, motivating his lifters with a combination of fear and Teutonic discipline, tempered by love for “his boys.” More than anything, he was a hero to those of us who worked out in his quaint gym behind the Golden Dome.

His reputation as a non-conformist and superman dates to his years in Notre Dame Preparatory School. It was probably born the day he climbed to the top of the Golden Dome, wrapped his right arm around Our Lady, and waved to his awestruck classmates on the ground far below. The police were summoned, and he led them on a frantic chase through St. Ed’s Hall and down to St. Mary’s Lake, where he made good his escape by swimming under the ice to the far shore, where he broke from the lake headfirst and disappeared into the woods.

• Finally, while Classic Ground is the site to hit if you're looking for an ND fan who knows his art, I enjoyed the MSPaint Like a Champion Today blog linked in a recent BGS comment section. There isn't much there yet, but hopefully more is added throughout the season.

• Irish Insights had a note on recent transfer Richard Jackson. When Jackson left Notre Dame, playing time was thought by many to be the main reason. Turns out it was something much more close to home.

"I was really homesick at Notre Dame," he said. "I had a lot of reasons I needed to be at home. My daughter is 16 months old, and I was missing out on a lot with her. Every time I got home, she would have learned something new that I didn't get to see. It took her awhile to get used to me being around. I didn't want her to go four or five years only seeing me three or four times a year. I want to be around her right now so that she knows, 'That's my dad, and he's going to be with me every day.' "

He also wanted to be closer to his grandfather, who helped raised him and is battling cancer.

"My granddad isn't doing so well, and I didn't want to miss this chance to be around him," Jackson said.

• I've seen a few questions about finding ND games on the radio and realized I forgot to update the ND Football radio link on the sidebar. It's fixed now and goes to the ISP page linking all of the ND Football radio affiliates.

Moody | by Jay

I'm a little stressed out these days. I'm not sure if it's because of the economy woes, the election, or the latest trial for the Juice, but I'm nervous and anxious and I can't seem to focus.

Part of it has to be the haphazard state of Irish football. Here we are, already a quarter of the way through the season. The Charlie Weis era -- if he stays for the full 10 years -- is just about a third over. We're about to square off against Purdue, a team which really shouldn't be giving me these palpitations. And yet here I sit, my mind racing, worrying about Kory Sheets and basketball on grass and the Boilers' pass rush. Four years in, I shouldn't be feeling this way, right? Not about Purdue, right?

Am I alone? I devised a little mood ring survey to find out. (Results, as they roll in, right here.)

Update: I did a tag cloud on the results, and moodiness ensued.

ambivalent anxious apathetic apprehensive average bumfuzzled cautious concerned confused depressed disappointed frustrated hesitant hopeful impatient improving indifferent lamp meh nervous optimistic patient pensive perplexed pissed resigned scared skeptical tentative trepidation uncertain uneasy unfulfilled unsatisfied unsettled unsure upbeat waiting worried

Statistically Speaking: Michigan State | by Pat

It Came From the Game Notes

• Notre Dame has not surrendered a single punt return longer than 10 yards or a kickoff return longer than 25 yards.

• Freshman WR Michael Floyd recorded seven receptions last week against Michigan State. It was not only the most catches for an Irish player in a single game since Jeff Samardzija in the 2007 Sugar Bowl against LSU, but also the most ever for a Notre Dame rookie.

• The 16 rushing yards against Michigan State were the fifth-fewest in the Weis era.

• Maurice Crum, Jr. has 260 career tackles, needing just 35 tackles to enter Notre Dame’s top-10 list for career tackles.

Battle for First Down

I'm still feeling my way through this metric. Perhaps it won't really prove very illustrative of anything on its own, or perhaps I just need to be more patient with it. This week's results were not what I expected.

Against the run, ND held 12 of MSU's 20 1st down run attempts (not counting the final kneel down) to 2 yards or fewer. That's good for a win rate of 60%, the highest of the season. That's not exactly what you'd expect given the fact Javon Ringer topped the 200 yard mark and seemingly barreled ahead for a decent gain on nearly every run. And yet there it is. Even more notable is that ND "won" the final 7 straight 1st downs.The fact that MSU had the lead and was running the ball on first down exclusively played into this, but it's still impressive given how much the defense had been on the field by that point.

Perhaps against the run there are only "very good" win rates (over 80%?), or very bad ones, and everything else is sort of meaningless. Last week I wrote that a Win Rate of over 50% against the run was probably very good. I'm now thinking that is way too low for the cutoff of "very good."

Against the pass, ND also notched its highest mark of the season with a Win Rate of 57%. It was a low sample size though as MSU only passed 7 times though on 1st down. The boom or bust effect was definitely seen here as MSU only completed 3 passes on 1st down out of the 7 attempts, but they went for 4, 16, and 28 yards.

Ultimately, I think these numbers might be best used not as a indicator themselves, but as a comparison to the performance of last year's defense or other previous defenses. As some class homework, why don't people take a game box score from last year and figure out the 1st Down Win Rates against the run and pass? It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for each game. Remember, a win is 2 yards or fewer, 3 yards is a draw, 4 or more is a loss. Here are the box scores with the play-by-play data. Just add up the numbers and post your results as a comment. (Hurray for crowd-sourcing!)

Here are the numbers to date this season.

Gimme M.O.E.

This is an interesting week because the results highlight the need to always keep stats and metrics in context. ND's M.O.E. result for the week was 12%. It might seem abnormally low given how poorly the Irish performed, but that's why it's important to remember that this particular metric deals with offensive mistakes rather than efficiency. A 50 yard run and a 1 yard run are the same thing to this particular metric.

The ND offense couldn't get the running game going at all, but for the third straight game kept the self-inflicted mistakes to a relative minimum.

Michigan State on the other hand played their run-heavy, conservative offense to a very low M.O.E. of 6%. Their biggest mistakes were dropped passes. Without those they would have had a nearly flawless offensive game. Most of the quantifiable mistakes used in his metric are tied to the passing game (sacks, interceptions, dropped passes) so it does make sense that teams that rely on the run have lower M.O.E. scores.

Here is the season to-date M.O.E. chart.

Season Long Running Averages.

It's still a bit early to put too much emphasis on these numbers, but we're getting close to the point where extremely low rankings will be hard to salvage for the season. Here are the numbers.

Bang the Drum Slowly | by Jay

Coach Tiller: I got a...I a got a couple of things I need to talk about...

Boilermaker Pete: Yeah?

JT: Yeah...I guess me and your grandma...I mean, Brock Spack...I guess we're going away.

BP: (sniffles) Where to?

JT: Well, that's not important. What's important is when we get where we're going, we won't be sick, we won't get any older...and we won't ever die.

BP: You're going to Penn State?

JT: (softly) No...no.

BP: Will I be able to visit you and grandma?

JT: No...and we wouldn't be able to visit you either...and that kinda bothers me.

BP: I'd never see you again? (crying) When are you going?

JT: Soon, my boy...soon. And you know where? Well you wouldn't believe it if I told ya... (Looks skyward) I wonder if they'll have fishin' holes there. Well there's some things they won't have...they won't have Golden Girls and they won't have train whistles...and they won't have big head mascots like you, my boy...and I...

BP: What, pops?

JT: I'm gonna miss 'em.

They hug, an awkward hug...tears roll down Pete's big plastic cheeks...and he sobs...

JT: (Wipes his eyes) Okay, now. Cast it out there...

House Party | by Pat

It's been in the news the past few days that freshman Mike Golic, Jr. and junior Will Yeatman were among the 37 students arrested over the weekend for underage drinking at a house party that was raided by Indiana's Excise Police force. Yeatman's inclusion was especially noteworthy as, in addition to being charged with underage consumption, he was also tagged with false informing and resisting arrest. After his January arrest for OWI and reckless driving, Yeatman has been on a year-long probation that would have seen the OWI wiped from his record had he stayed out of trouble. That is in jeopardy now, depending on the actions of the St. Joseph county court.

Charlie addressed the incident and Yeatman's future yesterday at his normal Tuesday press conference.

I want to make a note of regards to events this past weekend. I'm still in the process of gathering information, but until further notice, I've decided to hold Will Yeatman from competition until his matter is resolved. Any other action as it relates to team rules, including the situation with Mike Golic will be handled by me.

From a team standpoint, both Will and Mike will be at practice. But, Will, I'm not going to let him compete until we have -- unless we have resolution. I won't let him compete this Saturday unless we have resolution on this matter.

It's not likely there will be any type of resolution that would see Yeatman back in action for the Purdue game and his status for the rest of the season has to be in doubt at this point.

That leaves freshman Kyle Rudolph and freshman Joseph Fauria as the two healthy scholarship tight ends on the roster. Charlie discussed the possibility of Fauria seeing the field this Saturday.

COACH WEIS: I'd say the depth chart has changed. I think the obvious guy that comes to the forefront right off the bat is (Joseph) Fauria. You know, he's a guy who, you know, there's a good chance he was going to go through the year and not play this year. Well there's a good chance that won't happen. As a matter of fact, today instead of practicing on the scout team he'll be practicing up with the big boys. Because you have to have your contingency plans in place just in case.

Q. Is he the only contingency plan or do you have others as well lined up?

COACH WEIS: We have other contingency plans, yes. That's a fair question. And the answer is yes. But the names I can't give you on those. But we do have them

Obviously Luke Schmidt, who has been labeled as a "move TE"/H-Back to this point will see more TE type responsibilities in the coming weeks. The past few years Charlie has also used extra offensive linemen as tight ends and that is most likely the plan again. Former left tackle Paul Duncan and backup right tackle Taylor Dever come to mind as two possible candidates to line up as blocking tight ends when ND wants to use a bigger personnel grouping. But that's not really an every down type of solution so it will be interesting to see how the offense adapts to the suddenly rail-thin TE depth chart. There is one guy I wouldn't mind seeing out there at tight end, but I don't think that is going to work.

Getting back to Kyle Rudolph for a second, he's been getting closer and closer to finally catching a touchdown pass the past few games. Purdue might be his best chance as they have been rather generous towards opposing tight ends so far this season. In two of Purdue's first three games, opposing tight ends have led their team in receiving. Granted Oregon's Ed Dickson and Northern Colorado's Ryan Chelsa are veteran players and intergral parts of their team's offense, but they did catch caught 7 passes for 93 yards and 9 passes for 99 yards against the Boilermakers, respectively. If Rudolph has struggled while staying in to block, perhaps we'll see him test the Purdue defense on Saturday and give the linebackers and safeties something else to worry about in addition to Tate, Floyd, and the rest of the receivers.

Update: A quick note from Irish Insights that a new walk-on tight end was spotted at practice yesterday. Bobby Burger played defensive end at Dayton before transferring to Notre Dame. Now he's the newest walk-on tight end for the Fighting Irish joining Paul Kuppich and Kevin Brooks (who is also the starting long snapper). This isn't really news that will have much impact, but it's nice to have a few additional bodies at practice should Yeatman's suspension grow from playing in games to practice as well. It's also kind of cool that Burger is a legacy walk-on. His dad, Bob Burger, was a walk-on turned scholarship starting offensive lineman who recently was named to the Academic All-American Hall of Fame.

Stabled | by Jay

Jeff had the good news, relatively speaking: if we'd had fewer major, game-changing mistakes, we would have had a much better chance of beating the Spartans. I don't think Michael Floyd dropping a fumble in the red zone, or James Aldridge false starting, turning a 1st and goal into a 2nd and 20, or Jimmy Clausen staring down Duval Kamara and inviting Otis Wiley to eat his lunch are particularly systemic problems. It's sloppy football, to be sure, but these are fixable things.

No, the bad news -- the elephant in the room -- is the utter lack of a running attack after three games. Various pundits of the Notre Dame cognoscenti have weighed in since Saturday with a whole host of reasons, excuses, and finger-pointing; it's the crummy play design, some say...no, it's the lack of strength of the linemen...they're getting pushed around. Wrong: the backs don't hit the holes fast enough. See, we're too predictable, and we tip our hand to the defense. No, the holes are there -- our running backs just lack vision. You're all wrong: the sequencing of plays is the real culprit.

I've watched (and rewatched) the running plays from this year, and I can't pinpoint the exact reason for our lack of production. I suspect if it were an easy fix, we'd all be talking about the same thing. That said, we did manage to pick up a couple of contributing factors in reviewing the Michigan State game. At the end of this post I'll include the video of all the runs against the Spartans, and while you're watching, consider these two bullet points:

1. Michigan State shifted and stunted us like crazy. You might not remember -- I certainly didn't -- but last year, the Irish rushing attack was actually fairly productive against Michigan State. Aldridge and Hughes both averaged over 5.5 yards per carry against the Spartans, and Aldridge even ripped off a 43-yard gallop. What made the Spartan run defense so much better this year? For starters, there were a couple of personnel changes, with Brandon Long going back in as a starter and transfer Trevor Anderson, a former all Big East selection from Cincinnati, settling in at defensive end. But even more than the new blood, a revamped scheme played a big part in stopping the Irish. If you look at the big runs from last year, you'll see a 4-man line and linebackers playing behind them. But watch the video below: you're going to see State shift the line on almost every play before the snap, and bring an extra defender to the line of scrimmage. This five-man front was not heavily used in their game against Cal earlier in the year, and I wonder if we had scouted it extensively enough. In any case, zone blocking a five-man line as opposed to a four-man line means less opportunity for blockers to double and move to the next level, so what you end up with are more 1-on-1 battles. Which brings me to...

2. We lost too many of those one-on-one battles. In the video below, you'll see Kyle Rudolph unable to hold the point of attack; Dan Wenger getting pushed back into the play; multiple players getting stood up; and in many cases, unblocked defenders making easy tackles.

Here are all the runs against Michigan State (except for a couple of late ones after we'd already gone pass-happy).



How to get better? There's no easy answer here. We obviously can't run reverses and draws all day long. Even if we ripped up the playbook, outfitted the running backs with guided missile systems, and signed the ghost of Joe Moore to replace John Latina, we're still going to face these same two challenges: recognizing a shift or a stunt, and winning the individual battles. If we can't do either of those things, then it's going to be a long year on the ground for the Irish.

Late update: Charlie was asked about the run game woes in today's presser. His answer made me chuckle in its simplicity. Want to run the ball better? Move the line of scrimmage.

Q. You mentioned the other day that the running game looked better in practice. It hasn't translated on the field. Just looking back at the opponents you've played, against Michigan which is one of the best run defenses, you guys did better than the other opponents. But against the other teams you've done worse. Is it a matter of consistency or have you been able to put a finger on why?

COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I think fundamental -- it's a matter of fundamentally playing sound. I think against Michigan, you know, for example look at that game. I think they didn't figure we were going to even try to run the ball. So when they don't think you are going to try to run the ball and you are calling almost the exact same plays okay but they're working because they're worrying more about stopping the pass. You know this week I give credit to Michigan State because they came into the game saying we're going play our front seven and our two safeties and you are going to have to throw the ball to beat us, and they got the best of us in that exchange right there. Some people talk about an eight-man front, that's closer to a nine-man front. But still it comes down to even if you don't block the safeties, even if you are just blocking the front seven, it still comes down to moving the line of scrimmage. As you watch the game as the line of scrimmage doesn't move in the defense's direction then usually something good is not going to end up happening. And that happened too many times in this past game.

Q. Is one of the possible solutions try to go to more misdirection to keep teams off balance or do you just have to wait until your line can start moving back?

COACH CHARLIE WEIS: We ran misdirection in that game. It's just that I think you need to move the line of scrimmage. You know, I hate to make it be so simple sometimes, but you got to move the line of scrimmage. Because when the line of scrimmage starts moving that way, you know, usually something good is going to end up happening.

Six Pickin' | by Jay

Pick Six is updated! At long last.

It's a Mistake | by Jeff

Three games into the 2008 season, we are starting to get answers to some of our preseason questions. Has the team improved from last season? Absolutely. Is the team as good as it needs to be? No way. Is it exceeding expectations? Well, that depends on your expectations.

There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing over the loss to Michigan State, but the fact is that the Irish are 2-1. Repeat that three more times, and the team is 8-4 with a likely trip to the Gator Bowl. While 8-4 would be a disappointment for championship caliber teams, this year's Irish squad was never expected to go all the way. Picking up 5 games in the win column over last season would show definite improvement, and would set the team up for a very good year in '09.

Last season, the team riddled itself with hundreds of small mistakes (sacks, penalties, drops, missed assignments, etc.), which compounded into a season to forget. These smaller miscues can sometimes be overcome or discounted with a subsequent great play (see: Golden Tate's 22-yard rescue on 3rd and 17 against Michigan State). But this season, the games thus far seem to be hinging on larger, game-changing mistakes, as is typical of most football teams when playing close-to-evenly matched opponents.

Major mistakes either directly cost the team points or create a substantial field position advantage for the opponent. A good candidate list for these major mistakes are drive-ending plays that do not improve field position: turnovers, missed field goals, and failed fourth down conversions.

Pat has been following the team's progress at eliminating mistakes overall (via MOE) by the '08 Irish, and despite the results last Saturday, the team is playing much better this year. The minor mistakes (sacks, penalties, missed assignments, etc.) seem to have been addressed well in the offseason, which means that major mistakes are now determining the outcomes:

Major Mistakes	Turnovers		4th Downs Missed		Missed FG		Difference
	by ND	by Opp	by ND	by Opp	by ND	by Opp
San Diego State	4	2	1	1	1	0	-3
Michigan	2	6	1	2	0	0	+5
Michigan State	3	1	1	0	2	0	-5

Probably the best omen for this young season was ND losing the mistake battle to San Diego State (-3) and still winning the game. During both the 18-point win over Michigan and 16-point loss to Michigan State, the winning team made five fewer major mistakes than the loser, so it is difficult to really assess how well the Irish are playing at this point. We certainly aren't good enough to repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot against average competition and still win, but we can win with an extraordinary number of miscues by the competition (which is how we beat UCLA last season - a +8 difference in errors, led by 7 turnovers).

So the message for this Irish team is one we've heard over and over: eliminate mistakes. We are at least slightly better than the next six opponents on our schedule, but not good enough to overcome big mistakes. How many we commit will go a long way to determining the outcome for this season.

Odds & Sods: Pool Deck Edition | by Mike

Thoughts from Saturday's game (besides how much I miss John L. Smith at MSU):

Up against the wall. One of the reasons I predicted an MSU victory in our season predictions, was that I expected Dantonio would have the patience, and Ringer and his blockers would have the ability, to wear down the Irish front seven. For fifty-five minutes, the Irish defense held up fairly well against the Spartans' persistent running game. Justin Brown played well, including making a great play on a 3rd-and-1 run. They even had an impressive goal-line stand in the fourth quarter, when MSU had first-and-goal from the two-yard-line and the defense stuffed Ringer on three consecutive carries. Ringer had gained 124 yards at that point, but those 124 yards came on 32 carries. That hardly qualifies as shutting down Ringer. However, his quarterback entered the game completing less than 50% of his passes and would go on to complete less than 50% of his passes in the game. Given Hoyer's struggles, one would have hoped that simply keeping Ringer from running wild would be enough to allow the offense to win the game. Unfortunately, the offense failed to hold up its end of the bargain, and following the missed field goal with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, a deflated defense allowed Ringer to rip off 77 yards on seven carries. While the game was in doubt, the defense played well. I wonder if they would have held up better if the offense had been able to put more points on the board.

Running just to stand still. The Irish rushed for 16 yards, and it's possible that the statistics actually understate the ineffectiveness of the Notre Dame ground game. Taking out Golden Tate's reverse, the sacks and Clausen's carries, the Irish running backs rushed for 30 yards on 15 carries, or 2.0 yards per carry (Aldridge - 3.2, Hughes - 1.8, Allen - 1.3). Against MSU last year, the same three running backs rushed for 150 yards on 27 carries, or 5.6 yards per carry (Aldridge - 5.8, Hughes - 5.5, Allen - 4.3). I am positively baffled by the inability to approach even 2007 levels of rushing.

The decision to use four-wide-receiver sets in the second half made sense in the context of the game given the futility of the Irish rushing attack against the Spartans. However, the game also demonstrated the downside to such an offense. The Irish offense can pick up yardage with this offense, but will have difficulty translating such yardage into points. And the point of the game, obviously, is to score points, not accumulate total yardage. The reasons the Irish will have difficulty generating points from the four- and five-wide sets are the consistency and quick-decision making such formations demands from the quarterback and receivers and Notre Dame's youth at these positions. When a defense brings pressure against these sets, the quarterback and receivers need to recognize where the pressure is coming from and adjust their routes and reads accordingly - and do so quickly. With David Grimes out due to injury, Clausen and four of his five receiving options were all underclassmen. The odds that one of these underclassmen will make a drive-killing mistake - or that someone else will make a mistake (e.g., a penalty) that they can't overcome - over the course of an extended drive are bad. Running plays don't put the same degree of mental pressure on young players and a balanced offense is thus less prone to drive-ending errors.

Gold lion. Golden Tate once again demonstrated impressive versatility in a game short on offensive highlights. He took a reverse 24 yards, hauled in a 30-yard pass and performed a miracle on 3rd and 18. I also loved his awareness and toughness on a bad Clausen pass, knocking down a pass that two defenders had a shot at intercepting.

Videotape. I could not understand Weis using a challenge on Michigan State's second touchdown, which touched one of my pet peeves with replay reviews. When officials correctly apply the rules, it is almost impossible to overturn a close goal-line play. The parallax errors that arise from the placement of most cameras largely ensure that the available video evidence won't produce anything "indisputable." An off-axis camera can't compete with an attentive official near the action when it comes to the question of whether the plane of the goal-line was broken. Additionally, it was still conceivable at that time that the Irish would need that timeout.

Game Day! | by Jay

Photo Op | by Jay

Unfortunately none of the BGS staffers are going to be at the game tomorrow. Can one of you intrepid photogs going to the game snap a kickoff picture for us with your fancy camera phone, and email it to the BGS account (bluegraysky@gmail.com) for the gameday post? We'd be much obliged!

Through the Ringer | by Jay

Tomorrow's forecast for East Lansing: partly cloudy, 78 degrees, with a 100% chance of Javon Ringer. His stats are tremendous: third in the nation in rushing (166 yards per game), averaging 4.79 yards per carry, and reigning as the national scoring leader (for all positions) with 9, count 'em 9 touchdowns in three games. All in all, very impressive.

But let's take a look at Sparty's opposition. One of these things is not like the other.

• L 31-38 vs Cal (2-1)
• W 42-10 vs Eastern Michigan (1-2, sole win over Indiana State)
• W 17-0 vs Florida Atlantic (1-2, sole win over UAB)

Furthermore, let's look at Ringer's production in each game:

Javon Ringer, 2008	Rushes	Yards	Average	TDs
vs Cal	27	81	3.00	2
vs Eastern Michigan	34	135	3.97	5
vs Florida Atlantic	43	282	6.55	2

That game against Cal sticks out like a sore thumb: Ringer racked up most of his yards against two terrible opponents, while the third, halfway decent one more or less corralled him.

But let's temper our enthusiasm for the moment, and ride the seesaw back down. Ringer's been a Spartan fixture going back to 2005, and looking at his career production he's put up 5.85 yards per carry. Moreover, against Notre Dame over the past three years he's rushed 44 times for 244 yards (5.55 ypc). To take the Cal game out of context and say, "Hell, we can stop him just like they did" would be a poor assumption.

Ringer is obviously the key to Sparty's offense, which is more of a traditional, power running scheme, as opposed to the two spread variations we've seen in the first two games. As we finally face a more traditional offense, this should be a great test of our new 'stop the run first' defensive mentality. Ringer plays big on first down (5.85 yards per carry). Something has to give. And going from Charlie's presser, it sounds like we're moving some defensive pieces around for this game (which might actually start to resemble the preseason depth chart). Big-bodied Ian Williams will play more in the middle, with Kuntz shifting over. We'll probably see some more Harrison Smith (and perhaps Scott Smith), and less Sergio Brown in the (so far) ubiquitous nickel.

Michigan State hasn't demonstrated a competent passing attack so far this year. QB Brian Hoyer has thrown only 1 touchdown and 2 INTs with a 44% completion rate. Against Cal he chucked it 48 times (completing just 20) in a game where they trailed the entire way, but he only threw it 12 times in the EMU blowout and 15 against FAU (in a monsoon). A few articles mentioned some egregious drops by State receivers, and that might help explain Hoyer's crummy completion numbers, but I think it's safe to say the Sparty passing game isn't terribly powerful at this point. If beefing up on the run starts to work, and we can win the battle of first down to force them into more passing -- again, more of a dropback scheme rather than spread passing -- will we start to notch some more sacks?

A few more various and sundry notes...

• Michigan State has fast linebackers, and slow-developing plays aren't likely to be effective against them. Greg Jones in particular is impressive. He's basically their Brian Smith, a sophomore playmaker that they move all over.

• Michigan had good corners but weak safeties. MSU is the other way around. What to do? Will we attack them through the air? Will we see more out routes, and more of the tight end in the passing game? The Spartan safeties have shown themselves to be very aggressive against the run. FAU obviously scouted this, and nearly scored on a wide-open flea flicker (if the QB had thrown it just a bit further, it was an easy six.) Maybe Charlie and Haywood will gift-wrap something similarly devious for State.

• Michael caught part of the MSU-FAU game, and notes that State will rush Ringer mostly up the gut, but also off tackle, and around the end. There's a toss play that features pulling guards -- a strategy that gave us all kinds of fits last year (especially against Georgia Tech). Tomorrow could really tell us a lot about how (and if) our defense has improved.

• Finally, and not to be overlooked: State is always a tough road environment, but because it is an afternoon game instead of at night (as many of our recent games at East Lansing have been) the crowd should be less inebriated, and therefore decidedly less hostile. I swear '06 was one of the most virulently anti-ND crowds I've ever witnessed, largely due to the fact that kickoff wasn't until 8pm and everyone was absolutely hammered. When the rains came, the mood got even pissier.

But we all know what happened in the end. 2006 Michigan State will always be one of the most remarkable games I've ever witnessed.

Wolverine Whoopass | by Jay

I'd just like to conclude this fantastic week by saying that it's nice to be on the other end of a Michigan beat down for a change. The last time we won by such a large margin was way back in 1987 (and only once before that, in 1943). Only three times has Notre Dame beaten Michigan by such a large score, and Charlie and his 2008 team own one of them.

In many ways, Saturday was the mirror image of the game in 2006, a 47-21 immolation that featured lousy turnovers, short scoring fields, and long bombs for touchdowns. In the first quarter that year, Michigan scored on an interception that caromed off of Carlson's hands, a 70-yard bomb to Manningham who beat the Irish coverage, and a 4-play drive from the 27 set up by a fumbled kickoff. Sound familiar? And yet, no excuses were made; not by us, anyway. As Pat said at the time: That one was rough. Notre Dame lost that game in all phases -- offense, defense, special teams, and coaching...It's going to be a long night for ND fans after this, the biggest loss in the fledgling Charlie Weis era.

Walking out of the stadium last Saturday, I experienced the palpable feeling of a large primate being gently lifted from me. That team in 2006 had legitimate national championship expectations, and quickly dashed them against the rocks; this year, most fans, I think, simply wanted to see improvement, however modest. After the Michigan game, I think we can check that one off. Perhaps it's time to recalibrate our metrics for this young season. Onwards to East Lansing.

Statistically Speaking: Michigan | by Pat

It Came From the Game Notes

• All five Irish touchdowns in the 35-17 rout of Michigan were scored by sophomores.

• Notre Dame recorded only three passing plays of 38 yards or longer all last season. The Irish, more specifically sophomore WR Golden Tate, has already registered three in the first two games.

• After giving up a school and NCAA record 58 sacks a year ago, Notre Dame has not
allowed a single sack over its first two games. The Irish had not gone consecutive
games without yielding a sack since 2003.

• A total of 29 different states are represented on the Irish roster. Among Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division IA), only Army has more states represented on its 2008 roster.

Most States Represented
Army – 35, plus American Samoa
Notre Dame – 29
Navy – 27
Nebraska – 25
Air Force – 25
Stanford – 24, plus two foreign countries
Northwestern – 23
Michigan – 21, plus Canada
West Virginia – 21
Colorado – 20

The Battle For First Down

After reading through the comments from last week, I decided to make a small change. I now consider a win, loss, or draw for 1st downs. A win is when the offense gets 2 or fewer yards on 1st down. A draw is 3 yards, and a loss is 4 or more yards. This doesn't change the Win Rate metric at all from last week as it still take a play of 2 or fewer yards to yield a defensive "win", but it does add a bit more context.

Michigan had 32 first down plays. They were the opposite of the pass-happy Aztecs as the Wolverines ran on 25 of those first downs and passed on only 7 of them.

Against the run, the ND defense won 14 downs compared to 9 losses and 2 draws for a Win Rate of 56%.

Against the pass, ND defense won only 2 downs and lost 5 for a Win Rate of 29%.

There are far too few data points to start drawing steadfast conclusions about what Win Rate against the run and pass would be considered "good" or "bad". But my gut feeling tells me that a win rate of over 50% against the run on first down is very good. Hopefully over the course of the season we'll be able to get a better feel for these numbers.

I set up yet another google document spreadsheet to track the season long Win Rates. Enjoy.

Gimme M.O.E.

The Irish offense continued to play largely mistake free as the M.O.E. numbers from the Michigan game add up to a low 8%. That is the 7th lowest M.O.E. score for the Irish offense in the 39 game Weis era. No sacks, no offensive penalties, and no lost fumbles were the main reason for the low score. ND also ran the fewest number of plays while Charlie has been coach. Remember, the idea is to come in under 12%.

Michigan on the other hand made mistakes across the board with penalties, fumbles, dropped passes, and interceptions to arrive at a 15% M.O.E. score. This doesn't include the fumble on the kickoff return as that was not an offensive play.

Season Long Running Stats

Dig through all the numbers and rankings here. It's still way too early, but the special team numbers are looking better.

Notes from a Win | by Michael

During the 35-17 win over Michigan, I spied the following...

1. The much-maligned Asaph Schwapp deserves a Gatorade shower.

The Irish are using a fullback in the running game more than they ever did when the offense was dominant in '05 and '06. Perhaps it's because Schwapp has blossomed into a more consistent blocker, whether it's leading the halfback through a hole or when he engages a defensive end on a zone run. Against San Diego State we ran the ball 11 times for 46 yards with Schwapp on the field. On Saturday, we saw similar production. While 13 runs for 49 yards in normal situations yielded a slightly lower per carry average, Michigan's run defense had been stout heading into the contest. Furthermore, Schwapp's blocking enabled the Irish to punch the ball in not just once, but twice in goal line situations. Lastly, the Irish had great success running the ball from an off-set I-formation; the Irish ran eight times and racked up 40 yards from that look, as Schwapp pushed around some more defenders.

2. "Bombs away."

The vertical passing game against San Diego State wasn't an anomaly. Several times the Irish threw over the top of Michigan's corners, two of the better corners we'll face until the game in the Coliseum. From the post-game press conference, Charlie Weis suggested that if it wasn't a 21-0 game so quickly, the Irish would have continued their aerial assault. The first two weeks of game film are going to have serious implications for Irish opponents. From here on out, opposing safeties will have to respect the big play capability of the Irish receiving corps. Rarely should the offense see eight defenders in the box. If the Irish can run the ball well and force defenses to commit that extra defender, then Mike Haywood can call plays like the max protect play action pass from a run-heavy personnel grouping and formation that Jay discussed on Monday.

3. "We're going to pound it."

The Irish consistently won the short yardage battles against a good run defense. When was the last time they could brag about that?

• 1st & Goal from UM 2 - 2 yard TD run
• 2nd & 1 from UM 16 - 7 yard run
• 1st & Goal from UM 1 - 1 yard TD run
• 2nd & 3 from ND 36 - 13 yard run
• 3rd & 1 from ND 16 - 3 yard run
• 3rd & 1 from ND 20 - 1 yard sneak

Although they converted their first six opportunities, they did fail on two subsequent short yardage plays and two fourth down pass attempts. But by that point the game was over. Most encouraging was Notre Dame's ability to pick up the tough yardage when they needed to do it. Over the last few years, too often the offensive line seemed to get stoned at the point of attack, and a back would have nowhere to go. As such, the offense has had to resort to trickery too often around the goal line, whether it be the play action passes to Jeff Samardzija, a direct snap to Darius Walker out of the shotgun, or when times are truly desperate, an ill-advised roll-out pass on first and goal. Although Weis will never abandon his inclination to outsmart an opponent at the goal line (witness the unnecessary play action passes to Kyle Rudolph and Mike Floyd in the endzone), it seems clear from the Michigan game playcalling that the coaching staff believes they have the big uglies and backs to convert short yardage and goal line situations.

4. Wake me up, before you go go...

The wham trap run saw its return to the offense. It wasn't as effective as other runs, but it averaged over three yards per play against a talented Michigan front four, and it allowed the Irish to be a little more creative with how they attempted to pound the defense. Will Yeatman would motion toward the middle of the formation as the "move TE," and Clausen would hike it. Then Yeatman would take on the unblocked defensive end away from him. The back would try to hit the hole between Yeatman and the offensive tackle. The five times the play was called was actually the most since the Navy game in '05, when six were called. The play was also used five times against Tennessee that year, but since then it's been a ghost in the gameplan. If we're willing to run it that many times against a stronger defense, I think we'll see it more often in upcoming games against weaker opponents. We could also likely see a variation where the unblocked defender is a defensive tackle, not an end.

It's also worth noting that against San Diego State the offense ran a bootleg play action pass from a similar formation. While we didn't run it against Michigan, opponents may see a little of each in the weeks ahead, which should only make each complementary piece that much more effective.

5. The defensive coaching staff needs to remove the bullseye from Sergio Brown's jersey.

Teams are picking on Sergio, and it started against San Diego State. Not only did he give up a touchdown on a corner route, but they ran the same play later in the game. Sergio was beaten again, though this time David Bruton rescued him from ignominy. Michigan saw that and attacked him multiple times. Brown allowed a 33-yard completion to freshman wide-out Martavious Odoms and then was called for an obvious pass interference penalty on the same drive; ironically, it was Sergio who, a few plays later, scooped up the fumble that ended Michigan's bid to make it a 28-24 game. Either the coaching staff should put Brown in better situations for him to be successful, or they should find someone to replace him in the nickel package until his ball skills improve. Hopefully, it's the former, because he seems to have a nose for the football.

I didn't spy the following...

A freshman offensive lineman replacing a starter and getting manhandled by a veteran Michigan defensive line. Trevor Robinson played the entire second half at guard and held up very well. It's a good thing for Chris Stewart that his injury isn't serious -- he should be back in the starting lineup on Saturday. Otherwise his nickname might have changed from Mr. Plow to Mr. Pipp.

Max Protect | by Jay

There are a lot of encouraging improvements for the Irish so far this year, but perhaps none more so than the "sacks given up" tally after two games: NONE. The terrific effort against a talented Wolverine pass rush (second in the nation in sacks coming into the game) was augmented by a conservative, "safety first" approach; when you're going to throw deep to Golden Tate for a touchdown, it helps to have a couple of extra guys blocking:



Late update: Here's the video of the entire play.

Michigan Photo and Video Galleries | by Pat

Plenty of great photos from the wet and wild win over the Wolverines at UND.com, Michigan's official football site, the Detroit News, the South Bend Tribune, Getty Images, the Detroit Free Press, the Ann Arbor News, and Irish Eyes (via Andy A.)

Shot of the week: I'm going with the one to the right of Hughes from the Detroit News. There are also a few good ones in the Ann Arbor news photo set including a helmet-less Eric Olsen scowling at a downed Michigan player.

If you have any photos you took at the game, feel free to link to your album in the comment section.

As for video, there are highlights of the youtube and NBC variety already popping up. NBC also has the full-game, commercial free replay up. Normally I link these in the BGS News Feed on the right sidebar, but they aren't showing up on their RSS feed for some reason. Either way, here are the direct links to the 1st Quarter, 2nd Quarter, 3rd Quarter, and 4th Quarter. NBC also has video up of the post-game interviews with Golden Tate and Jimmy Clausen, and Charlie's post-game presser. Also, make sure to check out this sideline video from the game. Great stuff.

Odds & Sods - Bringing '88 Back Edition | by Mike

On a day when Lou Holtz and the 1988 National Champions were brought back to campus to be honored, the 2008 team offered a tribute of their own with a fun win over Michigan.

Saw red. Michigan's two early turnovers were obviously huge plays. Equally important, however, was the Irish offense's ability to turn those turnovers into touchdowns rather than field goal attempts. Against Utah and Miami (Ohio), Michigan's defense was quite strong in the red zone. In seven trips to the Michigan red zone, the Utes and the Redhawks combined for just two touchdowns. Utah's veteran offense frequently sputtered when the Wolverines only had to defend a short field, and the Utes needed four field goals from Louie Sakoda to win the game. Getting touchdowns against the previously stout Michigan defense on these possessions was an important confidence boost for the whole team and set the tone for the rest of the game. The Irish would also produce a touchdown on their trip to the Michigan red zone in the second quarter.

Protect ya neck. Michigan's defense entered the game with a talented defensive line and sitting second in the nation in sacks. So many people were expecting Michigan's defense to get to Clausen that a number of game previews went so far as to predict the number of sacks Michigan would get. I recall seeing predictions as high as nine sacks. Yet the Irish offense did not give up a single sack. The quick start meant that Notre Dame would not spend much of the game in obvious passing situations, but this is still an impressive statistic. The offensive line, tight end, running backs and Clausen have all come under fire for the number of sacks given up in 2007, so it's only fair to recognize their excellent performance yesterday.

What's Golden. Golden Tate was the most dangerous player on the field Saturday, hauling in four passes for 127 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown pass from Clausen that did most of its damage through the air and a 60-yard slant that including 50 yards after the catch. However Tate's most impressive performances of the day may have come as a kick returner. Michigan went with the squib kick on their kickoffs, and a couple such kicks took some pretty bad bounces right before getting to Tate. Tate displayed great hands, latching on to each kick and denying the Wolverines the opportunity at a momentum-swinging fumble.

This boy is exhausted. I mentioned last week how I was concerned that short offensive possessions against Michigan would lead to a tired defense that was more susceptible to Rodriguez's offense. That was the case in the first half, but not for the reasons I expected. Notre Dame's first drive covered 11 yards in 50 seconds, the second covered 14 yards in 52 seconds, and the third covered 63 yards in 15 seconds. As a result, first quarter time of possession was in Michigan's favor by 11:21 to 3:39. Even the first drive of the second quarter that covered 87 yards only lasted 3:06. Since all of these drives ended in touchdowns, I can't complain. However, the defense did look tired in the first half, and Michigan broke a number of tackles during this time. I still think the Irish offense will need to develop a ball-control offense to help the defense during those games where they aren't scoring touchdowns in rapid succession.

High price, small reward. The total yardage stats certainly don't look pretty, at least until you consider the game context. With the torrential rains arriving in time for the second half, the Irish coaches appear to have concluded at halftime that the only way Michigan could win would be with big plays from their defense and special teams. If the Michigan offense was forced to march the length of the field, the Irish coaches were confident the defense could get a stop on downs or create a turnover before the Wolverines crossed the goal line. Accordingly, the Irish offense went into a shell in the second half (aside from the decision to come out five wide, which mercifully lasted only one play). While I obviously would have preferred the offense to string together a few more first downs in the second half, I was happy that the Irish offensive coaches proved that they are not in fact constitutionally incapable of conservative playcalling. In certain circumstances (e.g., a double-digit lead in terrible weather against an ineffective offense), the correct answer actually is what Lloyd Carr would do. Meanwhile, the Michigan offense was forced to take risks - risks that would generate yardage, but also kill drives before they could put points on the board.

Get it together. It may seem churlish to complain after yesterday's win, but we saw a few areas yesterday that need improvement. Allowing Michigan to run the successful fake punt while up 21-0 in the first quarter was disappointing - particularly since it gave the Michigan players a needed confidence boost - and the blame falls on the coaches. Fortunately, this weakness in punt coverage did not emerge in a game where it could have affected the outcome. It was also disappointing that despite frequent blitzes, the Irish offense was unable to record a sack. Finally, I had hoped the defensive line would be able to control Michigan's patchwork offensive line. Michigan's starting left tackle was out for the game. The Wolverines starting center was David Molk, who came to Notre Dame's summer camp as a high school prospect but failed to garner a scholarship offer. The SDSU and UM offensive lines will likely prove to be two of the weaker OLs the Irish face all season, so this is cause for some concern. (Although it should be noted that Rich Rodriguez has more scholarship upperclassmen offensive linemen available than ND had in 2007.)

Heroes. A week ago, I mentioned how much fun Mike Anello was to watch on special teams. Against Michigan, his special teams play elevated him to full-blown folk hero status. Anello's fellow gunner David Bruton had a great game as well. The play of Anello and Bruton demonstrates the error of attributing the fumbled kickoff solely to a Michigan error. It's not that rare to see a kick returner bobble the ball before salvaging a decent return. The difference with Saturday's play was that Anello came flying into the play so quickly. When a team's gunners close on the ball as quickly as Anello and Bruton do, you can expect some big plays over the course of a season. Bruton also had quite the game at his safety spot, forcing another fumble, intercepting a pass and recording 15 tackles.

Back in the game. After coming in for criticism last week, Duval Kamara had a nice touchdown catch on ND's second drive. As mentioned above, getting seven points off of the early Michigan turnovers was key and Kamara helped make it happen. Another target of scrutiny, Asaph Schwapp, also played well.

The soph parade. Being thrust into the action as freshmen last year paid dividends for the sophomore class on Saturday, as all 35 Irish points were scored by sophomores. Robert Hughes had two touchdown runs, Jimmy Clausen completed touchdown passes to Duval Kamara and Golden Tate, Brian Smith had the fumble return, and Brandon Walker added the extra point to all five touchdowns.

Wearing and tearing. I expect Michigan State to provide a tough match-up next week. The Spartans have a great running back in Javon Ringer, and coach Mark Dantonio has the patience to give the ball to Ringer over and over and over again. There's no doubt about Dantonio's commitment to pounding the ball. Pay attention to whether the Irish DL can hold up against the Spartan running attack, particularly on the right side behind Roland Martin, or whether MSU will be able to wear down the Irish.

Fool in the rain. After the game, Michigan safety Steve Brown proudly proclaimed his membership in the Michael Taylor Memorial The Better Team Lost Club, declaring:

"We don't have our heads down because we know who the better team was," defensive back Steve Brown said, referring to Michigan. "They beat us today. It happens, but in our hearts we know we're the better team."

Is there a class at Michigan on this? Do they designate a guy in the locker room to say this after every loss? Where else would a three-score margin be considered the better team losing?

Game Day! | by Pat

Go Irish! Beat Wolverines!

the Left Stuff | by Michael

In this corner, the prize fighter: six hundred sixty-seven pounds of elite high school talent in its third year at Notre Dame. Two behemoths whose fall camp play inspired Charlie Weis to utter those fateful words: "We're going to pound it."

And in the other, Glass Joe: an inferior San Diego State defensive line that had allowed 250 yards or more on the ground in its last five games. That includes 263 in an embarrassing 29-27 loss to Cal Poly (which rushed for only 173 yards in a 30-28 loss to Montana last Saturday). Prior to the game in South Bend, the Aztecs had shuffled their line-up in the wake of injuries, and had even moved undersized linebackers to the front four.

The prizefighter went straight for the chin on three of its first four running plays, with Irish halfbacks running behind the right side tandem of 337-lb right tackle Sam Young and 330-lb right guard Chris Stewart. Those three runs picked up 4, 11, and 2 yards, plus a first down. And if a freshman tight end had properly sealed off the backside DE, that third play would have picked up at least five or six yards. Unfortunately, both drives stalled because of failed third down passes. Although fans were left wondering why Mike Haywood called pass plays on third and short, it seemed that this semi-commitment to running the ball behind Stewart and Young would continue to yield benefits.

Inexplicably, the next ten runs all went to the left. On those, the Irish picked up just 35 yards. Then a draw to the right that the running back cut to the left, followed by another run to the left side for three yards. In the first 42 offensive plays of the game, the Irish "pounded" to the right just four times out of 16 runs. Puzzling.

Then the Aztecs scored to make it 13-7. Would falling behind finally force the braintrust to shift gears back to its apparent strength? The answer appeared to be yes. Consider the subsequent drives:

• On their next possession, the Irish ran a toss to the left on 1st down, followed by a run to the right. A huge hole was opened, and Armando Allen showed the speed that many fans have been waiting for. He picked up 14 yards, but he also fumbled when he took a big hit.
  

• The Irish got the ball back, and after a first down pass, the very next play was another run to the right (Robert Hughes for 5). Unfortunately, that drive ended on a botched play call where there was no lead blocker for Hughes, who lost four yards on 3rd and 1.

• The next time the Irish regained possession, David Bruton had just recovered an Aztec fumble in the end zone. Now desperate to play catch-up, the offense abandoned the run entirely as Jimmy Clausen quickly led the offense eighty yards to pay dirt in just over two minutes. During that entire drive, the Irish ran plays from their 2-minute drill series.
  

• Finally, the last two drives exemplified the "pound it" mentality that Irish fans have been hoping to see. With possession of the ball and a 14-13 lead, Notre Dame rushed 7 times in 11 plays -- thrice behind Stewart and Young -- and capped off the drive with a score. And on the final drive to ice the game, Hughes and Allen ran it four of four times, 3 to the right, picking up a first down and running out the clock.
  

The final rushing statistics illustrate why many fans were increasingly frustrated by the play calling as the game wore on:

• RIGHT - 12 carries, 62 yards, 5.2 ypc
• LEFT - 19 carries, 56 yards, 2.9 ypc
• MIDDLE - 1 carry, -4 yards

So the question to ask: why would the coaching staff tie the right hand of the prizefighter behind his back like this?

Perhaps Jon Tenuta can help explain. One of JT's primary tenets is that a defense should "make [the other team] try to beat you with the hard stuff, not the easy stuff" (or make them left-handed, as he likes to say). In other words, the defensive game plan always focuses on taking away an opponents' best running plays. An offense doesn't want to be forced to run its fourth and fifth best running plays, but good defenses game plan to take away the ones they run best. And Michigan, with its vaunted run-stoppers, were next on the docket.

So perhaps all the running left was by design: if we can beat SDSU with the left hand, why show the big right hook to Michigan at all? Until we fell behind in the third quarter, we really didn't need to exploit the right side. Did Weis want to give Michigan, which has been absolutely dominant against the run, lots of looks at the left side of the run game, knowing full well that the right side is the true strength?

That's what I'm wondering. I don't know why else we would consciously run 10 times in a row to the left when you know the right side is more productive. It's crazy, isn't it?

We didn't start running to the right until we needed to. And when we did, it lacked the creativity normally associated with a Weis offense. We didn't run a toss right, only to the left. We didn't run a stretch play to the right until the second half. Even though SDSU was overplaying the run all night, we called only one misdirection play until late in the game, despite the fact that Hughes had turned some of these counter plays into his biggest gains last year. We ran seven different types of runs to the left before we even repeated one. On the other hand, we only ran a couple of different runs to the right. Is Haywood really that dense?

If you're ND and you know you have more talent than SDSU, wouldn't you want to hide some stuff? The plan backfired because of all our turnovers, but c'mon, doesn't this strike you as deviously Weisean, in a way? I'm reminded of what Sherlock Holmes would always say to Watson: Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. It's nearly impossible that Haywood would be so clueless that he would call 10 in a row to the left without realizing it...and it's nearly impossible that he would not run on any of those third-and-shorts...isn't it?

Well, at least one person shares my suspicions...

Statistically Speaking: San Diego State | by Pat

Statistically Speaking is back for another season and I'm going to try to stick to a four act script this year. Here we go.

It Came From the Game Notes

In this spot each week will be a random stat or fact from this week's game notes or box score that I found interesting. Hopefully you will too.

Sophomore WR Golden Tate recorded a career-best six receptions last week, equaling
his entire output from his rookie campaign.

The Battle for First Down

Coach Tenuta has used the saying "win first down" as one of his main coaching points for years. The idea is simple. Keep the opponent to little or no yardage on first down to force more second and long and third and long. It's easier to let the defense pin their ears back and come blitzing when teams are in obvious passing downs. This season I'll be keeping track of how the ND defense does in the so-called Battle of First Down.

I'm still trying to figure out how to accurately define "winning first down". For starters, I'm going to consider any 1st down where the opponent gets two or fewer yards a "win" for the defense. Critiques and comments are more than welcome on how to refine this stats breakdown.

San Diego State had 33 first down plays. 6 were runs and a whopping 27 were passes. Against the run, ND won 3 downs and lost 3 for a Win Rate of 50%. Against the pass, ND had 15 wins and lost 12 for a Win Rate of 56%. The total Win Rate for the game was 55%.

For comparison, in 2007, ND had a Win Rate against the run of 41% and a Win Rate against the pass of 52%. The total First Down Win Rate for the 2007 season was 44%.

It will be interesting to see over the course of the season if this metric has any notable relevance to the overall play of the defense.

Gimme M.O.E.

For those new to the blog, here is the primer on the M.O.E. (Major Offensive Errors) metric. The executive summary is the M.O.E. number is obtained by taking a percentage of total plays that were offensive mistakes (sacks, penalties, interceptions, fumbles, dropped passes). The goal is to get under 12% in a game. Here are the results for the Fighting Irish over the past three seasons. On to the numbers.

Against the Aztecs, not only did Notre Dame have a better M.O.E. than San Diego State, they dipped under the 12% mark with a M.O.E. of 10%. What helped obtain that number was a sack-free performance and only two offensive penalties. It's the lowest M.O.E. for ND since the Army game in 2006.

The San Diego State offense faced off against ND's aggressive defense and put up a 14% M.O.E. The big hits for the Aztecs were drops and penalties.

This table will keep the season long M.O.E. numbers.

Season Long Running Stats

Here are the game by game and season totals for ND in most of the major stats categories. I added national rank to a lot of the numbers to try and provide a bit more context. Special kudos to cfbstats.com for providing most of the national ranks. Keep in mind these numbers won't mean too much until everyone gets a chance to get a few more games under their belt.

Season numbers here.

"You Have to Believe" | by Jay

With the 1988 National Championship team gathering this weekend on campus to commemorate their magical season (and to unveil a statue of Coach Holtz), let me direct you to an excellent overview of the '88 season, resplendent with pics, links and videos, and composed by Paul of Classic Ground. The piece is in three parts: one, two and three.

On a personal note, I was a freshman in 1988, and it was totally awesome.

Dink and Dunk | by Jay

One of the complaints we talked about after the game: with the Aztecs throwing so much (59 passes attempted), how come we didn't ring up more sacks? Where indeed was the vaunted "Tenuta Effect?"

One hypothesis: knowing that the heat was on, QB Ryan Lindley was coached to get rid of the ball, at all costs. And that he did. Our old buddy Bill actually grabbed his stopwatch and timed the release on Lindley's passes in the first quarter. It went like this (measured in quarter-seconds): 2, 2, 2.5, 2.75, 2, 1.75, 1.75, 2, 1.75, 1.75, 1.75, 1.75, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3 (rolled out), 2.5, 2, 1.75, 2, 2.25, 1.75, 2, 1.75, 1.5.

The average is 2 seconds per throw if you throw out one high and low. On one of the 3 second holds, Lindley bails out of the pocket after about 1.5 seconds. There was nary a five- or seven-step drop; he got rid of the ball very quickly. For a blitzer coming off the edge, it was hard to do anything but try and disrupt the pass in the lane. (And we did get some hands up, and in his face, as the game went on, forcing some hurried, unsteady throws.)

Credit Lindley and Coach Long for the strategy (and the blitz pick-up, too), but that short passing game manifested itself in a paltry 4.6 yards-per-pass attempt. It's halfway decent ball control, but it's not terribly efficient.

I'm really curious what lessons opposing offensive coordinators are going to draw from this game, and how they might attempt to neutralize the Irish pressure. Will they want to copy the Aztecs? Should we expect Michigan to hit us with a barrage of short passes this Saturday?

Cinema Verite | by Michael

Four things witnessed over the weekend, with a little video assist.

1. Jimmy Clausen is bigger, stronger, and better.

The Weis offense clicked in '05 and '06 because quarterback Brady Quinn possessed mastery of offense's philosophy "take what the defense gives you." Last year Clausen and the other Irish quarterbacks took what the defense was giving them to the tune of 58 sacks. But in the first game of this year, we witnessed flashes of a young quarterback's maturation. Clausen moved through his progressions more quickly and with greater efficacy; he also changed his wide receivers' routes at the line of scrimmage.

Watch Floyd's touchdown. Clausen audibles before the snap and sends him to the end zone, then throws a fade ball for the touchdown. It doesn't get any better than this.



Charlie:

He turns to him, tells him to run a go; next thing you know, it's six. I don't think that that ever happened -- that's one more than last year, just from that example."

2. Clausen is still only a sophomore, and teaching moments abound.

No play illustrates this more than the second interception, which occurred immediately after an Aztec turnover.



Said Charlie:

I would have liked for him to throw the ball to the other side away from rotation to try to make a play. I talked to him afterwards and said sometimes you've just got to take the profit.

San Diego State shows blitz on the left side. The cornerback covering Kamara has given him a huge cushion. Given the zone blitzes that the Aztecs defense had previously used in the game, this one seems poorly disguised. Finding David Grimes or Kyle Rudolph to the right may not have resulted in the payday that Clausen wanted, but he needs to take what the defense is giving him. These are the kinds of mistakes that disappear over time with experience and film study.

3. Mike Haywood needs to realize that situational playcalling isn't just about looking up a play on his chart; he needs to consider the actual distance to pick up a first down when sending in a play.

Within the first eleven plays the Irish would run, the offense faced 3rd-and-2, 3rd-and-3, and 3rd-and-2. Not only did the Irish choose to pass each time, but they lined up with three wide receivers each time; on the first attempt, Rudolph also split wide, giving the Irish four receivers. The threat of the run seemed non-existent. Charlie tried to explain it in his Sunday presser:

On the 2-[yard] to 5-[yard] plays when the staff does their research, I tell them to give them the best stuff, whatever the best stuff is, and if the best stuff is a run, they call a run, and if the best stuff is a pass, they call a pass. I was letting them go with what they thought was best.

The Irish later faced a 3rd-and-5 situation and lined up in the I-formation. A play action fake (rendered worthless given earlier situational play-calling) was followed by four man pressure that forced Clausen to roll out of the pocket and fire an incomplete pass to Golden Tate.

A search of the BGS game chart archives led to an interesting find. Only one other time in 2005 and 2006 did the Irish line up with a fullback on 3rd and 5. Is this really one of our best situational plays, as Weis alluded to in our presser?

It would seem that, if Haywood wanted to call a pass, the I-formation play might have worked better in the earlier 3rd-and short situations. And any of the earlier pass plays might have fared better on 3rd and 5. Food for thought for the novice play-caller.

4. Lacrosse > Basketball, at least when it comes to blocking.

Freshman beanpole Kyle Rudolph struggled in blocking at times against SDSU. When lax man Will Yeatman was on the line of scrimmage as the "Y" receiver (fixed on the line, as opposed to motioning or lining up in the slot), the Irish ran three times for 18 yards (6.0 ypc). But with Rudolph as a blocking "Y", the Irish ran 15 times for just 41 yards (2.7 ypc). Twice he allowed the backside DE to clean up the play from behind, and once he couldn't seal the end.

This is admittedly not a huge sample upon which to make a judgment, but a lightweight freshman tight end against Michigan ends Tim Jamison or Brandon Graham is not a favorable matchup in the run game. There are still plenty of snaps available to Rudolph as the second, or "move" TE, in the game, but for basic running, Yeatman should be the choice against the Wolverines.

1-0 | by Pat

No doubt there is plenty of material to grumble over following a lackluster, come-from-behind victory over the mighty Aztecs of San Diego State. There were also a few bright spots. Hat tip to Irish Band of Brothers for finding the latest ND victory highlight video.

Odds & Sods - Montezuma's Revenge Edition | by Mike

Miscellaneous thoughts on a game whose first fifty minutes were a repeat of 2007 followed by ten minutes where Notre Dame outgained the Aztecs by 146 to 5 yards.

What happened. Less than two weeks after promising the offense would "pound it," the Irish struggled to move the ball on the ground against what may turn out to be the weakest run defense Notre Dame has faced this decade. While Duke and Stanford's 2007 defenses were hardly worldbeaters, they were probably better than the San Diego State defense that gave up over 200 yards rushing to a 1-AA team. Yet, with largely the same personnel, Notre Dame's rushing offense was significantly less effective against SDSU than it had been against Duke and Stanford. In the final two games of 2007, the Irish running backs averaged 5.7 yard per carry against Duke and 5.1 against Stanford. Against SDSU, the Irish backs averaged a meager 3.4 yards per carry. Perhaps even more telling than the statistics was the play-calling. On each of their first three drives, the Irish offense faced a third-and-short situation (3rd and 2, 3rd and 3, then 3rd and 2 again). Each time, the call was a pass. It's hard to reconcile that play-calling with a commitment to "pounding" the ball.

Future foe scenarios. While the Irish may be able to defeat SDSU-caliber teams with a one-dimensional offense, I don't see how they can succeed against a defensive line as talented as Michigan's without forcing the defense to account for both the run and the pass. Additionally, the lack of some semblance of a running game against the Wolverines will hurt the defense as well as the offense. The attacking style of defense the Irish employ this year works much better with fresh legs. The Aztec offense enjoyed its greatest success during a stretch in the second half after the Irish turned the ball over on the first and second plays of consecutive drives and a special teams penalty kept an Aztec drive alive. As the defense tired, its effectiveness decreased dramatically. A credible running game, and the resulting time on the sidelines for the Irish defense, helps the defense avoid getting gassed. Tired defenders are more likely to blow their assignments or fail to keep contain, and these are the errors that Rich Rodriguez's offense is designed to exploit.

Carry the zero. While watching the game, I was struck by how the team seemed to be less than the sum of its parts. It was easier to pick out promising individual performances than I would have expected from such an ugly game. Even with the loss of Darrin Walls, the defense appears to have - at least - five solid defensive backs. We knew David Bruton would be good, but Kyle McCarthy and Sergio Brown were also impressive. With 14 tackles (10 solo), Kyle McCarthy is currently first in the nation in tackles per game. (A defensive back leading the nation in tacklers could be a bad thing. However, SDSU passed 59 times for only a 4.6 yards-per-attempt average, so this is probably more a result of McCarthy's solid tackling.) In addition to his blocked punt, Sergio Brown displayed solid cover skills. On the offensive side of the ball, Golden Tate made the plays we've been asking for since last year's Purdue game. Clausen was also impressive, with nice accuracy and a noticeably stronger arm than last year. Yet despite all these individual efforts, the Irish trailed SDSU in the fourth quarter. Part of this was due to turnovers and breakdowns in the kicking game, but I think the main takeaway is how such individual performances can be offset by a lack of production from the running game and defensive line.

All the young punks. Irish fans have been dying to see Michael Floyd in action since he and Dayne Crist hooked up in the Army All-American game to beat Michigan cornerback Boubacar Cissoko for a deep touchdown, and Floyd did not disappoint. The first reception of his college career was a 22-yard touchdown grab. Floyd became the first freshman ever to score the Irish's first touchdown of a season and is also the first freshman with a touchdown reception in the season opener. Kyle Rudolph got the start and tight end and had a 5-yard reception. While I think Rudolph will ultimately be a star at Notre Dame, he has a ways to go as a blocker (which is to be expected with a freshman tight end). I suspect Weis has visions of using Rudolph to attack the middle of the field against Michigan, but at this point I would be more confident with Will Yeatman as the starting tight end due to blocking concerns. Other freshmen to see the field were Ethan Johnson, Darius Fleming and Braxston Cave.

Fire it up. No matter how ugly the game got, it was always a joy to see Mike Anello's play on special teams. I'm very glad he was awarded the scholarship he deserves.

Where is my mind? Duval Kamara has tons of ability, but until the level of his focus approaches the level of his ability it will be a bumpy ride. Clausen's first interception was the result of Kamara allowing the ball into his body, where it ricocheted off his pads and into the hands of the SDSU DB. On the second interception, Clausen may have made the wrong read, but Kamara has to recognize that the DB is about to intercept the pass and break up the play, even if that requires offensive pass interference. I hope that is attributable to yesterday's game being the first of the year and that Duval plays to his potential for the rest of the year.

Throw your flag up. The SDSU fumble has garnered a good deal of attention, but there were a number of controversial officiating calls. On SDSU's second possession, on 2nd and 15 from their own 39-yardline, Lindley took the snap and, standing on the 34-yard hash mark, turned and threw a pass to his running back. The ball sailed over the running back's head and landed on the 33 - a clear backwards lateral. Brian Smith alertly scooped up the ball and ran to the endzone. However, the official whistled the play dead, blowing the call and costing the Irish a touchdown. On the Robert Hughes fumble at the 3-yardline, I could live with the lack of a reversal. While it looked like Hughes' knee was down before the ball came out, I don't think the cameras caught a clear enough view to provide incontrovertable video evidence. More troubling were the missed false start on SDSU's first touchdown and the lack of review on the second interception. With respect to the latter, I think part of the blame falls on Weis for not challenging the play. Finally, the massive delay after the holding penalty near the end of the third quarter was simply comical.

Like spinning plates. You really have to dig deep to put a positive spin on the game. You can say that this was ND's first game against a team playing their second game, and teams make their biggest improvement between the first two games. You can say that the team was looking ahead to Michigan or that they wanted to hold things back so as not to show them to the Wolverines. You can say that the team just needed to learn how to win first. While there probably is a grain of truth in each of these, they simply don't explain what I saw yesterday.

Game On! | by Pat

A helping hand | by Pat

According to the ND Media notes, only two schools in the country have more freshman in their two-deep depth chart than ND. And while I'm sure that everyone reading this has the roster memorized, BGS reader Mike whipped up another depth chart cheat sheet for those who be a tad bit forgetful.

Rise and Shine | by Jay

I've recently relocated from Chicago to the west coast, and today, this first day of the new season, is a tad bittersweet for me: I won't be tailgating nearly as much as I used to. Chicago is such an easy commute to campus, and over the past five years I don't think we missed more than a handful of home games. The alarm would go off at 5am, but on most days, I was already awake, looking forward to a day of feasting and football.

We'd shake the friends from out of town who were sleeping on our couch, and pile into the van we'd loaded the night before after the trip to Costco. Rolling east, the sun coming up over Lake Michigan, we'd take Lake Shore Drive past Soldier Field, south through Hyde Park and onto the Stoney Island parkway, picking up the Skyway and heading on into Indiana. Our first stop in South Bend was always Martin's, where we'd load up on ice and pick up the tin of fried chicken we'd ordered the day before.

We'd hit the stadium lot around seven-thirty -- early, sure, but it always made me smile to see the handful of really early folks who by the time we rolled in had already set up and were enjoying their Bloody Marys. These guys are the real pros: pockets of old friends, people from LaPorte and Goshen and Elkhart, who have been doing this tailgating thing for decades, gathering in the same spot year after year.

We'd coast across the empty lot, the dark skies retreating, yellow-vested ushers just arriving with their steel thermoses of coffee, maintenance trucks dropping off cardboard trash bins, and we'd pick out a good spot. ("Same place as usual, Jay?" would be the question leading up all week. "That's what we're shooting for.") We'd back into the spot, throw open the van door, set up the table and plunk down the coffee. Then I'd gently unscrew the cap from the Bailey's, and pour the first coffee and cream of the day. This is what it's like to wake up with the birds.

We'd turn on the music. Set up the chairs, the tent, the table. Ice down the beer and soda. My favorite part of the day, before kickoff, came next: breakfast. Over the past couple of years we perfected a delcious and easy grill-top breakfast burrito (brown some ground sausage and onions in a pan set on the grill, mix in some whisked eggs to scramble, heat up tortillas right over the flame, and serve with sour cream, grated cheese, salsa and guac. Your friends will think you're a master tailgating chef). Friends and family who'd driven separately would begin to show up, and by 9am we'd have a core group of about a dozen regulars muching burritos and mixing up their Bloodies. The parking lot isn't even half-full yet.

Around eleven-thirty or twelve we'd hit our stride. Forty or fifty people by now, you'd ditch your Bloody for a beer, and it'd be time to transition to lunch to feed the hungy masses. Rip open packages of brats and hot dogs from the Vienna Beef store, and a pan of grilled peppers and onions on the side, toast the buns if a spot opens. The grill is working overtime. It's bright and sunny (we've had unusually good weather for home games over the past several years, even late in the season), and the lot is packed and campus is teeming. Late-comers with stadium lot passes would try to wedge their cars into open spaces, and we'd laugh: where the hell have you been?

I'd pull myself away from the grill to visit with folks, and this, really is the best deal about a ND home weekend: each game is like a mini-reunion. Most people from out of town will fly in for a game a year, and hook up with a few old friends. But the beauty of living in Chicago, within an easy drive: you get to go every weekend, and you get to see everybody. I've seen more of my far-flung ND friends over the past years than I ever did while I lived further away. This is the reason we set the alarm so early, this is the reason we prepare and shop and set everything up, this is why we tailgate, and this is what I'll miss most of all.

Then suddenly-- crap! It's a half-hour to kickoff! All at once, the leisurely day turns into a mad scramble. Turn off the grill! Break down the tables! Throw open the van and toss everything inside! Hand out the tickets, grab one for the road, and start heading towards the stadium. It's game day, we've been up since the crack of dawn, and now, it's time for some football.

Virtual Pep Rally! | by Pat

Bring out the band!



Your speaker: Brian Smith!



At my signal..unleash Hell!



Mr Plow!




If that's not enough, keep UND.com's Football Primer and Football Primer 2.0 on repeat until kickoff. Go Irish!

Where do we go from here? | by Pat

We're finally here. The longest day of the year. So while you sit there, willing the clock to speed up while the Victory March plays on an endless loop in your head, take 30 seconds to enter your preseason prediction for the 2008 Fighting Irish.

2008 Notre Dame Preseason Poll

Ok then, now that your picks have been locked away, here for your fun and enjoyment are the BGS 2008 season predictions.

2008

SDS

UM

MSU

PU

Stan.

UNC

UW

Pitt.

BC

Navy

'Cuse

USC

W-L

Brian

W

L

L

W

W

W

W

W

L

W

W

L

8-4

Dylan

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

L

W

1-11

Jay

W

W

W

L

W

W

W

W

L

W

W

L

9-3

Jeff

W

W

L

W

L

W

W

L

L

W

W

L

7-5

Mark

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

L

W

W

W

L

8-4

Michael

W

W

W

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

W

L

9-3

Mike

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

W

L

8-4

Pat

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

L

W

W

W

L

8-4

Pete

W

W

W

L

W

L

W

W

W

W

W

L

9-3

Teds

W

W

L

W

W

L

W

W

W

W

W

L

9-3

As per usual, we also had a mini-roundtable about the upcoming season.

We were all way off last season on predicting the season. What was the one thing you overlooked last year and aren't this season?

Michael: Great question. There wasn't one thing. There were many things. Forced to choose one, I would say that I overlooked the general void of talent and numbers in the upper classes. That reared its ugly head all over the field. This year I think there is the same or more talent across the board with the exception of DE (Trevor Laws) and TE (John Carlson). Some might argue for the inclusion of Darrin Walls in that list, but I think it's a negligible difference (time will tell). I think the overall defense should be better, as Laws made many of his 100+ tackles 5-6 yards downfield by jumping on the ball carrier from behind. I think we should do a better job holding the edge on defense, the secondary should be good, and the aggressive blitzing defense should be able to rattle some of the more inexperienced QBs on our schedule. Speaking of which, that schedule is weak, and I think it's good that we play games like Michigan State and Michigan earlier in the year.

Mark: The overall youth and inexperience of the team, particularly at QB and OL. One is bad enough to deal with but the combination of the two can be, as we saw, brutal. And that was made worse by the mistakes Weis and company made, particularly in summer camp and early in the season.

Overall, ND was one of the youngest teams in the country last season. And while I think the situation is better in 2008 it's still not where the program should be and I think we will be inconsistent this season as a result. I had a hard time deciding which games to put down as wins and which ones to put down as losses. Because I see as many as seven games that I think are toss ups. We'll lose at least one game to a team everyone considers to be inferior. But I think that is basically par for the course in today's world of college football.

Pat: To be blatantly honest, I overlooked the fact that Charlie is inexperienced too. I assumed he would be good enough head coach to cover up all the inexperience on the roster. I knew we were young, but I figured the raw talent would be enough for Charlie to whip up some Irish magic. That didn't happen. I probably underestimated a few of our opponents too and Corwin Brown's ability to scheme against the triple option.

Pete: That talent alone won't win you football games, but experience is perhaps an even stronger component. We had all these talented freshmen coming expected to contribute, and I'd seen other freshman on other teams immediately make a difference, but I failed to account for the fact that last year's squad really had no foundation that the young guys could lean on while they learned the ropes. Effectively, last year's team was a high-school All-Star team in terms of cohesion, consistency, and comprehension. We really had no idea how much the team was starting from scratch last year.

Brian: The offensiveness of the offensive line.

Dylan: I overlooked the fact that college football is just a silly little game. It really, really, really isn't that big a deal. Seriously! We all have more important things to do, like yard work. And walks on the beach. It's all about the children!

Mike: The cumulative effect of inexperience. Every year, there are freshmen contributing in college football, but those freshmen contributors are usually surrounded by experience (think Sam Young in 2006). When the number of inexperienced players is small, coaches can adjust their playcalling and schemes to protect the inexperienced players. Not so when you have inexperience across the board.

Teds: The value of experience and the prudence of a balanced schedule. Okay, two things.

What one unit will be the most improved from last year?

Pete: The offensive line. If they're bad this year, it'll be a marked improvement.

Mark: Offensive Line. If not, then a lot of my predictions will be as useless as last season's.

Brian: The offensive line, almost by default, since there's so much room for improvement. It's a more seasoned unit this year, and the young guys have an extra spring and summer in the weight room under their rather large belts.

Dylan: I would say Charlie's headset, since it clearly didn't work last year. Otherwise he would have heard Haywood screaming "KICK THE GODDAMN FIELD GOAL" against Navy.

Michael: Offensive line. I think they're better, and they'll be put into a position where they'll be more likely to be successful (running the ball).

Pat: I'll go against the grain a bit and say special teams. Not that I don't expect the OL to get a lot better, but I think the special teams units will be improved across the board from returning kicks and punts to covering them to being somewhat consistent kicking field goals to finally landing a few kickoffs in the endzone.

Mike: Offensive line. Only one loss to graduation, and Wenger got experience when Sullivan missed the last few games due to injury.

Teds: Offensive line. Frankly, they have the most upward mobility after last year.

What will have a greater impact. Tenuta working with Corwin or Charlie stepping back from calling plays?

Pete: Tenuta working with Corwin. I think Weis will still have a finger in formulating Haywood's gameplan and overall strategy, but he's really leaving the nuts and bolts to his offensive coordinator. On the other hand, I think Tenuta's inclusion could result in a major makeover of the defense, a complete change in philosophy.

Mark: Corwin working with Tenuta. Corwin, overall, did a good job last season but our performances against Navy and AFA, and the gameplans we utilized were, uh, subpar. Tenuta is a college lifer. He's attacked options teams, spread teams, pro style teams, etc. And that's something that I think we will be doing more of this year on defense - attacking.

Michael: Tenuta working with Corwin. I still am not sold on the idea of Haywood calling plays, though I realize it's en vogue with Richt, Tedford, and Spurrier also giving up the job. Also, some of Corwin's gameplanning and playcalls against option teams were called into question last year by folks whose Xs and Os knowledge I trust. Tenuta's college game experience should be invaluable. The combo of Tenuta in the box and Corwin on the field with the players could be extremely successful.

Mike: Tenuta working with Corwin. Given Corwin's NFL background, I think Tenuta's college experience will be a big help in facing some of the offenses that you see in college but not in the pros.

Teds: Tenuta. I think his impact is actually being understated by many of the ND fans I converse with. People will complain that the personnel isn't quite there yet, but he's fared better in other places with less than he and Brown have to work with now.

Brian: Tenuta, and it's not close. That was a key addition to the staff at a time when the defense appears on paper to be a little thin on depth up front.

Everyone loves an impact freshman. Who's your pick?

Michael: Kyle Rudolph. I think it's telling that, despite losing Mike Ragone for the year, Weis still said, "We're excited about our tight end situation" in the 9/2 presser. If Weis were playing poker, that'd be a big tell.

Mark: On one level it's Dayne Crist. He was one of the lynchpins that helped keep that class together through signing day and one of the big reasons why we held onto Floyd, Rudolph, Johnson, etc. On the more traditional level, Kyle Rudolph.

Pete: Michael Floyd. I think he'll be a regular contributor by the end of the year, and will likely gain a bit of national attention.

Dylan: I prefer not to think in terms of "impact." I prefer to think of them all as gears. Foam gears. Spongy foam gears turning together in a beautiful, soft, quiet machine that uses the fuel of kinetic energy to produce a parade of peace and harmony. This is my dream.

Mike: Kyle Rudolph. A few weeks ago, the contenders would have been Rudolph, Michael Floyd, Ethan Johnson and Robert Blanton, but Mike Ragone's injury gives Rudolph the biggest opportunity to have an impact.

Teds: Floyd, hands down.

Pat: Kyle Rudolph will start the season as the impact freshman, but by the end it will be all Floyd.

Brian: Omar Hunter. Oh, wait....On second thought, Kyle Rudolph and Michael Floyd or, as I like to call them, Thunder and Lightning.

Any general expectations for 2008?

Michael: Strong defense, solid running game, inconsistent passing game. Ultimately, I think the success/failure of the season may hinge upon the plays Haywood calls when teams load up the box and dare us to pass: how well will the passing game execute in those situations?

Pat: We'll have a team that will be fun to watch. There will still be mistakes and a few losses scattered about, but the team will fly all over the field on defense and the young talent on offense will provide the highlights and production that were missing last year. We may even finally live up to the description "nasty".

Mark: I think ND will be a solid football in 2008. Not as good as the 2005 team but not as bad as the 2007 team. But I don't see the amount of impact upperclassmen needed to be anything more than solid. As talented as were are in the freshmen and sophomore classes (and I think we are just as talented as any team in the country in that respect) we're still average at the top. That won't stop us from being good but it will stop us from being great.

Mike: Less anguish than 2007, not as much fun as 2005.

Teds: I expect to see a great deal of growth this season, though probably not on the smooth curve everyone surely hopes for. I do believe that this team will be capable of pushing SC and
anyone else they might have to play by the end of this season and ready to unleash hell in 2009.

Dylan: Michigan will continue to suck

Brian: A greatly improved win-loss record, but more importantly, legitimate progress in every aspect of the game, leading to an abundance of optimism for 2009 (yet another Return to Glory).

Pete: The team will be better this year, no doubt. I can't imagine a world where they don't improve from last year's historic debacle. However, just because they'll be better doesn't necessarily mean they'll be back to 2005/2006 levels; by all accounts this is still an exceptionally young team, and if last year taught us anything, a youthful team should also come with tempered expectations. This year, we'll see more of the some of the very brief flashes of excellence we saw towards the end of last season, and on a more regular basis, but there still will be times where the team will seem stomach-churningly similar to 2007. However, with this year's schedule, it could be easy for us to get very quickly overconfident and declare Glory Returned, only to end the season by playing USC and being sternly reminded that we still have some work to do.

While I seriously doubt we'll be hoisting the crystal football this year, if anything else, 2008 should be more fun than 2007, and we'll probably end the year looking forward to 2009.

Finally, will ND win a bowl game this season?

Mike: If the regular season win total is 7-9, then yes.

Mark: No. Which will make for another fun filled off season.

Pat: Yes, and then ND fans will lord it over the losers of the 31 other bowl games about how their favorite program hasn't won a bowl game since at least 2007.

Brian: I don't care if it's the Shamwow! Absorbency Bowl---they will by god win a bowl game.

Pete: If Notre Dame is mediocre, they win a bowl game. If they are good, they don't, because we'll get shoved into some BCS or other top tier bowl against a bunch of fire-breathers and get smoked again. We need to win the RonCo Rotisserie Bowl or something, not be sacrificed at the hands of Fiesta.

What To Do | by Pat

Every year there are questions from fans about the schedule of various events around campus on a typical Notre Dame home game weekend. With that in mind, we saved off a truly excellent post by ndnation poster IrishTrpt07 detailing the basic timetable for the events surrounding ND Football. Either bookmark the link or this post for future reference.

Notre Dame Home Game Weekend Schedule

There is one normally scheduled event that won't be happening this year though. The annual Dillon Hall pep rally is a tried and true tradition, taking place on the lawn of South Quad the Thursday before every first game of the season. Except this year. The reasons for the cancellation are being kept somewhat vague, but it sounds like something ran afoul of the ND administration.

The truly excellent ND blog, Section 29, Row 48, Seat 10, offered up their thoughts on the sudden cancellation and as recent grads and residents of Dillon, I'm going to link their take on the matter and suggest you go read it. Hopefully this is just a one year aberration for one ND Football tradition that shouldn't go by the wayside. As the official pep rally becomes more commercialized, sanitized, and geared towards ND tourists than the team or student body, the Dillon Pep Rally embodies the less-than-polished, less-than-politically correct, less-than-sober example of what a good pep rally should be.

2008 Opponent and ND Position Preview Summary | by Pat

Time to wrap up the 2008 Opponent Position Preview. If you're looking for the individual position rankings, here you go: Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receiver, Tight End/Offensive Line, Defensive Line, Linebacker, and Defensive Back.

Now for the fun part, adding up the numbers from all the position previews gives us the following so-called "talent rankings". This list doesn't really include any consideration of head coaching acumen, the location of the game, or what happened last year. It's all just my take on the relative talent and experience levels of the teams on the Irish 2008 schedule. Remember that I'm combining the WR and TE rankings into one combo ranking when determining the averages. In other words, use the rankings for QB, RB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, and DB to get the average I did.

Team	QB	RB	WR	TE	WR/ TE	OL	DL	LB	DB	Avg.
Southern Cal	1	1	1	6	3.5	4	3	1	1	2.1
Pittsburgh	6	2	3	1	2	6	6	3	5	4.3
Michigan State	4	3	6	9	7.5	3	7	5	3	4.6
North Carolina	8	7	2	3	2.5	1	5	6	6	5.1
Michigan	10	5	5	4	4.5	9	1	9	2	5.8
Boston College	9	12	4	2	3	5	2	2	9	6.0
Purdue	2	4	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	6.0
Stanford	11	8	8	5	6.5	8	4	4	4	6.5
Washington	3	11	11	8	9.5	2	11	12	8	8.1
Navy	5	6	10	12	11	11	9	11	11	9.1
Syracuse	7	9	12	11	11.5	10	10	10	12	9.9
San Diego St.	12	10	9	10	9.5	12	12	8	10	10.5

My immediate reaction is that while a few of the individual rankings now might look a bit silly after watching last week's games (UW as #2 OL?), overall the ranking of opponents passes the sniff test. Southern Cal is a pretty clear favorite. Pitt, MSU, and UNC are definite step below, but have a decent collection of talent. The next four teams -- UM, BC, Purdue, and Stanford -- are clustered fairly close together before the drop-off to #9 Washington. San Diego State has last place all to itself, although Syracuse is looming.

Once we factor in the competence of the head coaches, game location, and special teams (which I continue to ignore in these talent rankings because I always run out of time) you'd see a few teams move around I would think. Stanford might pop up a few spots, Pitt might drop a few, etc... But overall I think it's a decent rough gauge of where to rank ND's opponents in terms of ability.

One of my biggest regrets from last season was running out of time and not being able to compare ND's positions with the opponents. Honest to blog I did a quick back of the envelope calculation while waiting for the Georgia Tech kickoff and ND wound up either 4th or 5th worst on the list. That translated to a losing season. But I foolishly disregarded it, assuming that Charlie's superior coaching would make my previous day's official 9-3 prediction much more likely. Lesson learned.

This year, for better or worse, I'm going to stick with whatever shakes out from this list as my official prediction. For each position, rather than re-invent the wheel, I'm going to link to the Rakes of Mallow ND position previews as they did a bang-up job in addition to the same class/starter status/2007 stats list I did for the opponents. Ready? Let's Dive In.

Quarterback

Jimmy Clausen (#26). Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 138-245, 1254 yards, 7 TDs, 6 INTs.

Position Preview.

Clausen had a rough first year, but definitely showed improvement. He's healthy and stronger now. Having an experienced and veteran backup in Evan Sharpley is a nice bonus. I think putting Clausen after Washington's Jake Locker and before MSU's Brian Hoyer is fair. Ranking: 3.5.

Running Back

Armando Allen. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 86 carries, 348 yards, 0 TDs.

Position Preview.

ND doesn't have the veteran starter that a few other teams have, but have a trio of backs (Allen, Hughes, Aldridge (#30 RB) )who all got over 50 carries last year. Add them together and you have 260 carries for 1,105 yards last season. Jonas Gray is physically ready to play as well, which adds to the depth. And while he's a popular whipping boy, Asaph Schwapp (#8 FB) has a lot of experience. Considering Purdue lost starter Jaycen Taylor for the year, I'm putting ND before Purdue and behind Michigan State. Ranking: 3.5

Wide Receiver.

David Grimes. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 27 receptions, 224 yards, 2 TDs.
Duval Kamara. (#64 WR) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 32 receptions, 357 yards, 4 TDs.

Position Preview.

Everyone is back from last year. Much is expected from Kamara as a returning starter. Grimes isn't a game breaker, but he's a solid veteran player. Tate should be able to run more than the go route this year and Michael Floyd has been getting rave reviews from the moment he stepped on campus. Throw in last year's leading receiver Robby Parris and George West and ND has a deep, while still somewhat young, receiving corp. I'm putting them after BC's group, but before Michigan's equally young group. Ranking: 4.5.

Tight End

Kyle Rudolph. Freshman. New Starter.
2007 stats: N/A.

Position Preview.

Losing Mike Ragone was a definite blow. Yeatman is solid and, frankly, Rudolph, has to be pretty good to beat him out already. Schmidt will finally see some passes thrown his way too in all likelihood. But inexperience is inexperience so I'm dropping ND down behind Purdue and before Washington. Ranking: 7.5.

Offensive Line

LT - Mike Turkovich. (#46 G) Senior. Returning Starter.
LG - Eric Olsen. (#44 G) Junior. Returning Starter.
C - Dan Wenger. (#32 C) RS Sophomore. Returning Starter.
RG - Chris Stewart. (#57 G) RS Sophomore. New Starter.
RT - Sam Young. (#6 T) Junior. Returning Starter.

Position Preview.

A tough one to rank since they were so awful last year. And Turkovich at left tackle will be an interesting experiment. But the experience is there this year. Call me a foolish optimist, but I'm putting them a step behind Purdue and ahead of Stanford. Ranking: 7.5

DL

DE - Justin Brown. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 30 tackles, 1.0 sack, 3.5 TFL.
NT - Ian Williams. (#58 DT) Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 45 tackles, 1.5 TFL.
DE - Pat Kuntz. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 42 tackles, 2.5 TFL.

Position Preview.

Definitely a worry heading into the season. Are they big and deep enough to consistently stop the run.? Williams should be fine as a starter. Kuntz should be servicable at defensive end. Having Mo Richardson split time with Justin Brown will help things. I'm giving them the lowest ranking, behind Purdue and ahead of Navy. Ranking: 8.5

Linebacker

OLB - Harrison Smith. RS Freshman. New Starter.
2007 stats: N/A.
ILB - Maurice Crum, Jr. (#11 ILB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 84 tackles, 1.0 sack, 4.5 TFL, 2 INT, 2 FR, 3 FF.
ILB - Brian Smith. Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 25 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 4.0 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FF.
OLB - Kerry Neal. (#49 ILB) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 20 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 2.0 TFL, 2 FR.

Position Preview.

There is a world of promise with this unit, but they are still pretty inexperienced outside of Mo Crum. ND also has some decent depth with Ryan (#39 OLB), Smith, Smith, Quinn, and the freshmen. There aren't a lot of experienced linebacker units on the schedule either, so a spot right behind Michigan State and ahead of North Carolina sounds about right. Ranking: 5.5

Defensive Back

CB - Terrail Lambert. (#36 CB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 34 tackles, 1 INT.
CB - Raeshon McNeil. (#58 CB) Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 9 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL, 3 BrUp.
SS - Kyle McCarthy. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 20 tackles, 1 INT, 1 BrUp.
FS - David Bruton. (#19 FS) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 85 tackles, 1.0 sack, 4.5 TFL, 3 INT, 2 BrUp.

Position Preview.

The best unit on the team, even with the loss of Darrin Walls (#15 CB) for the semester. Bruton should be a star this year. Lambert, like Crum at linebacker, is a solid player with a ton of experience. McNeil will have plenty of passes thrown his way early, but with Gary Gray and Robert Blanton waiting in the wings, there is actually competition and depth at the position. I'm putting ND's secondary behind Michigan's and ahead of Michigan State's. Ranking: 2.5

Adding everything up, we get the following:

Team	QB	RB	WR	TE	WR/ TE	OL	DL	LB	DB	Avg.
Notre Dame	3.5	3.5	4.5	7.5	6	7.5	8.5	5.5	2.5	5.3

If you buy my rankings at all, then ND's 5.3 average would place them a solid 5th on the above opponent table. That translates to an 8-4 record for 2008 and (spoiler alert!) that's going to be my prediction tomorrow.

2008 Opponent Position Preview: Defensive Backs | by Pat

There's a lot to be posted and little time to do it, so the defensive back preview will be cut down. Feel free to add your own analysis in the comment section.

And make sure to check back often today as we have a full day planned. Coming very soon is the summary of the opponent position preview along with speculation on where the individual Irish units might rank when compared to the opposition.

Later today, we'll debut the 2008 BGS Reader Season Prediction Poll and let everyone have a chance to put in their guess as to ND's 2008 record. Friday morning we'll post the BGS predictions. There may also be a few shorter posts mixed in as the countdown to kickoff gets closer and closer to zero.

SAN DIEGO STATE

CB - Aaron Moore. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 59 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 4 INT, 7 BrUp
CB - Vonnie Holmes. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 26 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 4 INT, 3 BrUp
SS -T.J. McKay. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 19 tackles.
FS - Corey Boudreaux. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 84 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 3 INT, 8 BrUp.

MICHIGAN

CB - Donovan Warren. (#25 CB) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 52 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.5 TFL, 1 INT, 5 BrUp.
CB - Morgan Trent. (#34 CB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 41 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 2.0 TFL, 2 INT, 8 BrUp.
SS - Brandon Harrison. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 42 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 6.5 TFL, 1 INT, 4 BrUp.
FS - Stevie Brown. (#26 FS) Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 28 tackles, 1 INT, 1 BrUp.

MICHIGAN STATE

CB - Ross Weaver. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 19 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1 BrUp.
CB - Chris Rucker. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 24 tackles, 1 INT, 1 BrUp.
SS - Otis Wiley. (#31 SS) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 49 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 4 INT, 5 BrUp.
FS - Kendell Davis-Clark. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 72 tackles. 4.0 sacks, 5.5 TFL, 8 BrUp.

PURDUE

CB - Brandon King. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 44 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 INT, 3 BrUp.
CB - David Pender. Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 44 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 INT, 6 BrUp.
SS - Dwight Mclean. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: JUCO
FS - Torri Williams. (#33 SS) RS Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 17 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.5 TFL, 2 INT, 1 BrUp.

STANFORD

CB - Wopamo Osaisai. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 45 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 INT, 8 BrUp.
CB - Kris Evans. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 40 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 7 BrUp.
SS - Bo McNally. (#16 FS) RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 114 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 7.5 TFL, 2 INT, 6 BrUp.
FS - Taylor Skaufel. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 35 tackles, 1 BrUp.

NORTH CAROLINA

CB - Jordan Hemby. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 0 tackles.
CB - Kendric Burney. Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 50 tackles, 1.0 sack, 4.5 TFL, 1 INT, 4 BrUp.
SS - Trimane Goddard. (#19 SS) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 59 tackles, 1.0 sack, 2.5 TFL, 2 INT, 5 BrUp.
FS - Duenta Williams. (#24 FS) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 57 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 3 INT, 2 BrUp.

PITTSBURGH

CB - Aaron Berry (#62 CB) Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 19 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL, 2 INT, 5 BrUp.
CB - Jovani Chappel. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 17 tackles.
SS - Dom DeCiccio. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 6 tackles.
FS - Eric Thatcher. (#40 FS) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 53 tackles, 1 INT, 3 BrUp.

WASHINGTON

CB - Mesphin Forrester. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 93 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 INT, 2 BrUp.
CB - Quinton Richardson. RS Freshman. New Starter.
2007 stats: redshirt
SS - Darin Harris. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 73 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1 INT.
FS - Nate Williams. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 32 tackles, 5 BrUp.

BOSTON COLLEGE

CB - Roderick Rollins. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 26 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL,
CB - DeLeon Gause. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 39 tackles, 3.0 TFL, 1 INT.
SS - Paul Anderson. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 58 tackles, 2 INT, 6 BrUp.
FS - Wes Davis. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 6 tackles.

NAVY

CB - Rashawn King. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 53 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 INT, 2 BrUp.
CB - Kevin Edwards. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 27 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 2 BrUp.
SS - Jeff Deliz. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 13 tackles, 1.0 TFL
FS - Wyatt Middleton. Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 88 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1 BrUp.

SYRACUSE

CB - Mike Holmes. Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 64 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 2 BrUp.
CB - Da'Mon Merkerson. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 4 tackles.
SS - A.J. Brown. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 38 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 2 INT, 1 BrUp.
FS - Randy McKinnon. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 6 tackles.

SOUTHERN CAL

CB - Cary Harris. (#16 CB) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 48 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1 INT, 7 BrUp.
CB - Shareece Wright. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 29 tackles, 1.0 sack, 3.5 TFL, 4 BrUp.
SS - Kevin Ellison (#5 SS) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 57 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 8.0 TFL, 2 INT, 6 BrUp.
FS - Taylor Mays. (#1 FS) Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 65 tackles, 1.0 INT, 6 BrUp.

2008 Opponent Defensive Back Rankings

1. Southern Cal - Mays leads another top ranked unit from the Trojans.
2. Michigan - Two excellent corners and two athletic, but somewhat inconsistent safeties.
3. Michigan State - Wiley is a very good safety. Somewhat experienced at the other spots.
4. Stanford - McNally highlights a group with average corners.
5. Pittsburgh - Some inexperience, but Berry and Thatcher are a good combination.
6. North Carolina - Still young, but now playing with some experience.
7. Purdue - Torri Williams finally returns from two years worth of injuries.
8. Washington - One of the more experienced units on a young team.
9. Boston College - Need to replace a lot of talent from the 2007 team.
10. San Diego State - Have returning experience from last year's 104th ranked unit.
11. Navy - Only one new starter, but Deliz is coming off of injury.
12. Syracuse - Young and inexperienced.

2008 Opponent Position Preview: Linebackers | by Pat

We're in the home stretch. Done with the QB, RB, WR, TE/OL, and DL previews, now we get to the linebackers. A stat primer: TFL = tackles for loss. INT = interception, FR = fumble recovered, FF = fumble forced. Phil Steele position rankings in parenthesis as always.

SAN DIEGO STATE

WLB - Andrew Preston. RS Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 72 tackles, 1.0 sack, 7.0 TFL.
MLB - Luke Laolagi. (#53 ILB) RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 94 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 6.0 TFL,
SLB - Russell Allen. (#14 ILB) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 119 tackles, 1.0 sack, 5.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR.

The strongest unit on the team, the Aztec linebackers return every starter from last season. The star of the corp and defense overall is strongside linebacker Russell Allen (right). The senior has started 31 games, was 1st Team All-Conference last eason, and 33rd overall nationally in tackles made. He's the leader of the defense. Middle linebacker Luke Laolagi is also a veteran player, starting every game last year and nearly getting 100 tackles. In his first season seeing playing time, Andrew Preston started nine games and was 5th on the team in tackles. He plays in a bit of a rotation, but should see even more time now that he's a returning starter. Depth: Redshirt junior Jerry Milling is listed as a co-starter with Preston. He injured his foot last season and spent most of the season on the bench. Now that he's healthy, he will rotate in at the weakside 'backer spot with Preston.

MICHIGAN

WLB - Jonas Mouton. (#48 OLB) RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 5 tackles.
MLB - Obi Ezeh. (#13 ILB) RS Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 68 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 4.0 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FF.
SLB - Austin Panter. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 7 tackles, 1.0 TFL.

It's a re-tooled Michigan linebacking corp for 2008. The only returning starter is middle linebacker Obi Ezeh (left). In his first year starting last year he finished 5th on the team in tackles. At 6'2" 247 pounds he is a big 'backer for stopping the run with just enough speed to drop back into coverage. The outside linebackers are stepping up from reserve roles last season, which should make for a few growing pains. Redshirt sophomore Jonas Mouton and senior Austin Panter have limited experience and even less production from last season. Mouton fought through some ankle injuries while Panter didn't adapt from his junior college ball to Big Ten football as quickly as predicted. The development of these two might dictate the overall effectiveness of the Michigan defense. Depth: Sophomore Marell Evans started the Utah game at the weakside linebacker spot but has already lost his starting job and is now listed as the backup strongside 'backer behind Panter. Redshirt senior John Thompson is the backup to Ezeh at middle linebacker. He started three games last season, but isn't going to be much more than situational reserve in 2008 as Ezeh develops.

MICHIGAN STATE

WLB - Eric Gordon. (#33 OLB) RS Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 62 tackles, 1.0 sack, 7.5 TFL, 1 INT.
MLB - Adam Decker. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 0 tackles.
SLB - Greg Jones. (#40 OLB) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 78 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 8.5 TFL, 1 FF.

A surprise last season, sophomore Greg Jones (right) led the team in tackles in his first year on campus and is on the verge of becoming a nationally known player. Not overly big at 6'1" 222 pounds, Jones is fast and always around the ball. He didn't even crack the starting lineup until the sixth game of the season but still accumulated more tackles than anyone else on the team. Weakside 'backer Eric Gordon also had a productive first year on the playing field. He started 10 games and while he's not big at 6'0" 220 pounds, like Jones, he is exceptionally quick. New starter and redshirt junior Adam Decker was slated to see more playing time last season, but an ankle injury knocked him out for all but two games. He's in his fourth year in the program but hasn't seen the field much to this point. At 6'2" 238 pounds, he provides the bulk that Jones and Gordon lack. Depth: Redshirt junion Brandon Denson moved from safety to linebacker where he now backs up Greg Jones. Senior Ryan Allison is another fast 225 pounder providing depth behind Gordon. He's seen limited action the past few years on defense and special teams after starting his career as a wide receiver.

PURDUE

WLB - Jason Werner. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 28 yards, 1.0 sack, 2.0 TFL.
MLB - Kevin Green. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 7 tackles.
SLB -Anthony Heygood. (#6 OLB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 81 tackles, 1.0 sack, 15.0 TFL, 3 FF.

Another team that is rebuilding their linebacker corp, Purdue will rely on the leadership of returning starter Anthony Heygood. While starting 12 games last season, Heygood was second on the team in tackles and tied for the lead in tackles for loss. Interestingly, of the 15.0 tackles for loss, only 1 was a sack. Senior Jason Werner has battled through back injuries and a switch from safety. He played in every game last season as a backup linebacker and now moves into the starting lineup. As with Heygood, his strength is his speed on the field. Middle linebacker Kevin Green is pretty inexperienced as he only played part time in eight games last season, averaging less than a tackle per game. He isn't a huge middle linebacker at 6'2" 236 pounds, but should be big enough to stand up to the run. Depth: The second string is young as it consists of a sophomore (Tyler Haston), redshirt freshman (Joe Holland), and freshman (Chris Carlino). If they are pressed into extensive playing time early in the season, there will be the expected growing pains.

STANFORD

WLB - Pat Maynor. (#29 ILB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 88 tackles, 6.0 sacks, 16.5 TFL, 1 FF.
MLB - Chike Amajoyi. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 47 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 9.0 TFL, 3 FR, 1 FF.
SLB - Clinton Synder. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 96 tackles, 8.0 sacks, 14.5 TFL, 3 FR, 4 FF.

Stanford returns one of the nation's more underrated linebacker corp. Redshirt junior Clinton Synder (right) is the leader of the group and his 8.0 sacks highlight his ability to get to the quarterback. He has started 22 games and his 96 tackles last season were good for 2nd most on the team. Redshirt senior Pat Maynor has started 20 games and led the team in tackles for loss last season. He was also 26th in the nation in that category last season. Chike Amajoyi is the newcomer to the starting lineup, but saw increasing action last season as a valuable reserve. He was also named the team's most valuable freshman. Depth: Behind the starters is a collection of backups who have solid game experience. Backup middle linebacker Nick Malaculso started six game last year so he certainly is familiar with his position. Redshirt junior Will Powers started four games in 2006 before moving into a reserve role in 2007. He'll back up Synder at the strongside spot. Redshirt senior Thaddeus Chase hasn't started a game, but he did play in every game last season, although mainly in a special teams role. He's currently slotted in the reserve role behind Maynor.

NORTH CAROLINA

WLB - Quan Sturdivant. (#45 ILB) Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 47 tackles. 1.0 sack, 1.5 TFL, 1 FR.
MLB - Mark Paschal. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 53 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 6.5 TFL
SLB - Bruce Carter. Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 25 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 2.0 TFL, 1 FR.

Both outside linebackers for North Carolina fall somewhere between new starter and returning starter. Both Quan Sturdivant and Bruce Carter (left) worked their way onto the field as freshman last season and wound up starting five and seven games respectively. Both rely on impressive speed to fly over the field and make plays. As they gain experience in 2008 they should only continue to get better. Sturdivant specifically is expected to develop into one of the better linebackers in the ACC. Mark Paschal hasn't had the instant impact of his linebacker counterparts. Instead he has slowly worked his way into the starting lineup. He started one game in 2006 and four in 2007. Now the starter at 6'0 230 pounds he'll have to provide veteran leadership to the younger linebackers. Depth: Another older player who has been with the team for a few years is senior backup weakside linebacker Chase Rice. He broke his ankle last season while playing for a starting spot. He's behind Carter now where he'll be a solid reserve. Junior Kennedy Tinsely moved over from fullback a few years ago and to this point has been a special teams player. Now he's the backup to Paschal in the middle.

WASHINGTON

WLB - Joshua Gage. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 7 tackles, 2 FR.
MLB - Donald Butler. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 52 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 2.5 TFL
SLB - Mason Foster. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 25 tackles, 1.0 sacks, 5.0 TFL, 1 FR.

Junior Donald Butler (right) has the most experience on a linebacking corp that doesn't have much overall. He started four games last year before missing a number of games due to injury. He's healthy now and at 6'1" 242 pounds he's built like a traditional run stopper. Joshua Gage is a former walk-on who played mainly on special teams the past two years. Due to lack of depth, he's now a starting linebacker and will need to quickly come up to speed if he wants to help the Huskies. Sophomore Mason Foster saw the field immediately last season and even started four games, three at the weakside spot and one in the middle. Now at the strongside spot, Foster is expected to develop into a quality linebacker for Washington. Depth: The Husky linebacking corp took a big hit when last year's leading tackler E.J. Savannah was thrown off the team for undisclosed reasons this summer. Senior Trenton Tuiasosopo started eight games at middle linebacker last season but now is the backup to Butler.

PITTSBURGH

WLB - Shane Murray. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 60 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 4.0 TFL, 3 FF.
MLB - Scott McKillop. (#19 ILB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 151 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 9.0 TFL, 1 INT, 2 FR, 2 FF.
SLB - Adam Gunn. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 59 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 6.0 TFL, 1 FR, 1 FF.

No player in the country had more tackles per game than Scott McKillop (left) last season. A 6'2" 240 run stopper, McKillop will once again be near the nation lead in tackles considering last year was his first year as a starter. Returning starters Shane Murray and Adam Gunn only had about half as many tackles as McKillop but were still second and third on the team. Murray and Gunn were also in their first year as starters last season and with an entire year of experience under their belt should be even better in 2008. Murray came to Pitt as a QB before moving to safety and then settling in at linebacker. Gunn only cracked the starting lineup last season, but has been in the Pitt program for five years. Depth: Redshirt freshman Max Gruder is the backup behind McKillop but hasn't played yet. Outside linebackers Triston Roberts and Brandon Lindsey are two other promising backups who haven't seen game action yet.

BOSTON COLLEGE

WLB - Brian Toal (#3 OLB) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: out with injury
MLB - Mike McLaughlin. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 64 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 5.0 TFL.
SLB - Mark Herzlich. (#23 ILB) Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 97 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 12.0 TFL, 1 INT, 2 FR, 2 FF.

The Boston College Eagles line up a trio of talented linebackers for 2008. The big news is the return of Brian Toal from the shoulder injury that sidelined him in 2007. He has started 31 games in his career and is line for post-season honors if he is able to return to pre-injury form. While Toal will get headlines, returning starter Mark Herzlich (right) might be the best linebacker on the team. He started every game last year and was second on the team in tackles and first in tackles for loss. A big outside linebacker at 6'4" 238, Herzlich is effective against the run and athletic enough to be a threat against the pass. Redshirt junior Mike McLaughlin is the lone newcomer, but started three games last season and played extensively as a backup. Despite his backup status, he still finished the year fourth on the team in tackles. At 6'0" 252 pounds, he's a very big inside linebacker that will combine with BC's defensive tackle tandem to make rushing up the middle a tough task. Depth: Redshirt senior Robert Francois is another big middle linebacker at 6'2" 253 pounds. He started seven games in 2006 and was eighth on the team in tackles with 39 last season. Another redshirt senior, Kevin Atkins has started two games in his career and despite playing a reserve outside linebacker role last season was third on the team in sacks with 4.0.


NAVY

OLB - Corey Johnson. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 20 tackles.
ILB - Clint Sovie. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 10 tackles.
ILB - Ross Pospisil. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 67 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 2.0 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR.
OLB - Craig Schaefer. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 13 tackles.

Returning starter Clint Sovie (left) started nine games in 2006, but injuries cut short his 2007 season during the second game of the year. The defensive captain for 2008, Sovie will attempt to top his 61 tackles and 2 interceptions from 2006. At only 5'11" 210 pounds, he's extremely quick, but undersized for an inside linebacker. His fellow inside 'backer, junior Ross Pospisil, only started four games last season while mainly working out of a reserve role. He still finished fifth on the team in tackles. At 6'0" 223 pounds, he's not as big as most 3-4 inside linebackers, but he's bigger than Sovie. The lightest starting linebacker is 6'2" 205 pound Corey Johnson. Originally a basketball player for Navy, he transitioned to football and played in every game last season as a backup and special teams player. Junior Craig Schaefer starred mainly on special teams last season and now finds himself in the starting lineup. At 6'2" 222 pounds, he's actually the biggest starting 'backer on the team. Depth: The infamous Ram Vela, last seen sacking Even Sharpley in the 4th quarter last season, is the backup behind Johnson at one of the outside 'backer spots. Adding a bit more size to the depth chart is sophomore Tyler Simmons. He's yet to play in a game, but at 6'3" 23o pounds has more ideal size for his position.

SYRACUSE

WLB - Mike Mele. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 29 tackles. 0.0 sacks, 0.5 TFL.
MLB - Jake Flaherty. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 95 tackles, 1.0 sack, 9.5 TFL.
SLB - Derrell Smith. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 1 tackle.

Senior Jake Flaherty (right) is the leader of the Orange linebacker corp. He's played in every game since he's been on campus and started all 11 last season. He finished 2nd on the team in tackles last season and is a good bet to reach the top spot in '08. At 6'1" 228 pounds he's a bit on the lighter side for a middle linebacker and might be suspectible to a power running game. Weakside linebacker Mike Mele is only a sophomore after seeing reserve action as a freshman last season. He's also a smaller linebacker at 6'0" 218 pounds. Redshirt sophomore Derrell Smith is settling in at linebacker after starting out at running back and seeing time as a pass rushing defensive end. Depth: Redshirt sophomore Parker Cantey started two games last year so he will provide some experience off the bench as Smith's backup. He's another smallish 'backer at 6'3" 218 pounds. Due to a pre-season concussion, redshirt junior Mike Stenclik only played five games last season. But he started three of them and will use that experience as the second string middle linebacker behind Flaherty.

SOUTHERN CAL

WLB -Kaluka Maiava. (#63 OLB) Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 44 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 4.5 TFL, 1 FF.
MLB - Rey Maualuga. (#2 ILB) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 79 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 10.5 TFL, 1 INT, 1 FR, 1 FF.
SLB - Brian Cushing. (#1 OLB) Senior. Returning Starter. 2007 stats: 25 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2.0 TFL, 1 FR.

Southern Cal once again will field some of the nation's top linebackers. Keith Rivers was lost to the NFL which means senior Kaluka Maiava will get a chance to build off his reserve role from last year that included one start. The big name of the Trojan linebackers is big Rey Maualuga. At 6'2" 260, he's one of the biggest linebackers ND will face and has enough speed to chase down running backs trying to get to the corner. Now in his third year as starter he will be one of the best linebackers that ND faces in 2008. Senior Brian Cushing is also earning plenty of accolades, but his contributions to the team don't always show up in the stat sheet. While coming off pre-season surgery, he averaged only 2.5 tackles per game in the 10 games that he played. But with his experience (27 career starts), he'll be an effective and disruptive strongside linebacker. Depth: Somewhat surprisingly, there is little experienced depth on the Trojan second string that is healthy. Maualuga's backup at middle linebacker, Uona Kaveinga, is a 6'1" 235 pound true freshman. Redshirt sophomore Michael Morgan contributed on special teams last year and now is the reserve strongside 'backer behind Cushing. At 6'4" 220 pounds, he's definitely lighter than Cushing. Sophomore Malcolm Smith did see the field last year as a freshman, picking up six tackles. He's back as the backup weakside linebacker. Redshirt junior Luther Brown (#55 ILB) and redshirt freshman Chris Galippo were both extremely highly regarded recruits, but both are injured and may or may not be at full go by the time ND travels to Los Angeles.

2008 Opponent Linebacker Analysis and Ranking

At first glance, the strength of this year's linebacker opposition is on the edges. Sure, middle linebackers like SC's Rey Maualuga and Pitt's Scott McKillop may be the toughest overall linebackers ND will face. But the list of talented outside 'backers -- MSU's Greg Jones, Purdue's Anthony Heygood, Stanford's Pat Maynor and Clinton Snyder, and BC's Brian Toal and Mark Herzlich all bring a lot of speed and talent from the outside linebacker spots. Michigan and Syracuse are really the only two teams on the schedule that have their talent focused in the middle.

Getting back to those outside players, until ND can prove otherwise, expect opposing defensive coordinators to keep sending their linebackers on blitzes up the middle and from the edges. With ND also facing a number of talented defensive lines, communication between the ND OL (and others in the backfield) is essential if ND wants to avoid a sequel to last year's sack fest. Speaking of last year, only four players on this linebacker preview did actually sack ND last year. Stanford's Clinton Synder and Chike Amajoyi were each credited with one (although one or both may have been when Clausen ran out of bounds) MSU's Eric Gordon notched one while SC's Rey Maualuga had two. Overall, the only linebackers who totaled more than three sacks last year were MSU's Greg Jones, the trio of Stanford linebackers, and Maualuga.

Ranking linebacker units is always a bit iffy, as it's hard to tell how a new starter will react to being in the starting lineup. Before his 151 tackle showing last season, Pitt's Scott McKillop totaled a lackluster 29 in 2006 as a backup. Is there another unsung McKillop on the ND schedule? Here's my best crack at a ranking. I think the first four are pretty set. After that it gets a bit murky and I could see reasons for justifying teams sliding up or down a few spots.

1. Southern Cal - Once again they top the best linebacker list.
2. Boston College - Two very good players in Toal and Herzlich and some decent depth.
3. Pittsburgh - A veteran unit highlighted by Scott McKillop.
4. Stanford - A fast and experienced group of linebackers.
5. Michigan State - Greg Jones is at the start of a very productive career.
6. North Carolina - A younger unit, but a lot of athleticism and promise.
7. Purdue - Heygood highlights an otherwise somewhat inexperienced group.
8. San Diego State - Plenty of experience and production, but still let up a ton of yards.
9. Michigan - An uncharateristic spot for the Wolverines. Ezeh will need to pick up the slack.
10. Syracuse - Flaherty is a tough veteran, but can't do it all by himself.
11. Navy - Sovie and Pospisil have a bit of experience in the middle. The edges are young.
12. Washington - Very inexperienced, but Foster and Butler have some promise.

2008 Opponent Position Preview: Defensive Line | by Pat

The offense is done. Time to move to the defense. If you're just catching up, here are the QB, RB, WR, and TE/OL previews.

SAN DIEGO STATE

DE - Jonathan Soto. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 35 tackles 3.0 sacks 4.5 TFL, 1 FF.
DT - Siaosi Fifita. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 29 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 6.0 TFL.
DT - Ernie Lawson. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 17 tackles.
DE - B.J. Williams. RS Sophomore. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 45 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 4.0 TFL.

The Aztecs return a veteran defensive line as three of the four starters have started at least eight games in their careers. However, these same starters were part of the line that allowed the nation's 118th worst rush defense in 2007. The lone newcomer is Ernie Lawson, who was a backup last season. At 6'3" 250 pounds, B.J. Williams is their pass rusher coming in off the edge. He only picked up 1.5 sacks in that role last year as a new starter but those numbers should go up now that he has a year of experience to his name. Redshirt junior Jonathan Soto is a bigger defensive end at 6'3" 270 pounds which should help against the run. Senior Siaosi Fifita (right) started his career at linebacker before being moved to defensive end. He was moved in to tackle during spring ball. At 6'4" 270 pounds he's slightly undersized for the tackle spot. He also hurt his knee, making him somewhat questionable for the ND game. Depth: If Fifita can't go, Soto will slide inside at the tackle spot. Also helping out is massive 6'4" 355 JUCO transfer Darias Jones. He only made it to the final few practices so he's still catching up and will only be a spot player. If Soto moves, the new starter in his place will be either junior Tony DeMartinis, who is also the backup tight end, or Ohio State transfer Ryan Williams. The backup behind Lawson at tackle is freshman Jerome Long, who is definitely undersized at 250 pounds.

MICHIGAN

DE - Tim Jamison. (#10 DE) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 52 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 10 TFL, 1 INT, 2 FF.
DT - Will Johnson. (#35 DT) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 40 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1.5 TFL.
DT - Terrance Taylor. (#5 DT) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 55 tackles, 3.5 sacks. 8.5 TFL, 1 FR.
DE - Brandon Graham. (#25 DE) Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 25 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 9.5 TFL, 2 FR, 3 FF.

Any question as to the improvement or not of the Irish offensive line will be answered when they line up against Michigan's DL. Arguably the best line ND will face all year, the Wolverine front four are experienced as any and filled with NFL talent. Perhaps the best player is the youngest, junior Brandom Graham. He only started five games last season, but led the team in sacks. In fact, no opponent on the 2008 Irish schedule finished with more. Extremely fast for his 270 size, Graham will be tough against the pass and run. Nose tackle Terrance Taylor is the biggest one on the line at 6'0" 320 pounds. He has started 24 games for Michigan and led the entire DL last season in tackles. Running up the middle against him will be tough. Next to him is another experienced tackle in redshirt senior Will Johnson. He's a taller tackle at 6'5" 285 pounds, which sometimes works against him, but his strength makes up for his relative lack of bulk. It took redshirt Tim Jamison (left) until last season to crack the starting lineup, but he has been a valuable backup his entire career. With one final season he will be a defensive leader and should improve on last year's numbers, including his second best on the team 10 tackles for loss. Depth: The backups at the tackle spots are inexperienced with undersized but extremely strong freshman Mike Martin behind Taylor at the nose tackle spot while Canadian import and sophomore Renaldo Sagesse will play behind Johnson. Sagesse only saw action in six games last year as a freshman.

MICHIGAN STATE

DE - Brandon Long. Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 18 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 4.0 TFL, 1 FF.
DT - Justin Kershaw. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 34 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 5.0 TFL, 1 FR.
DT - Oren Wilson. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 10 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 1 FR.
DE -Trevor Anderson. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: transfer from Cincinnati.

The Spartan line might appear to be inexperienced at first glance, but that really isn't the truth. Junior transfer Trevor Anderson is one of the reasons why. He sat out the 2007 after transferring from Cincinnati where he started all 13 games at defensive end, led the team in sacks, and was named 2nd Team All-Big East. He'll be a strong fill-in for the departed Jonal Saint-Dic in the pass rush department. The emergence of Saint-Dic was one of the reasons that expected starter Brandon Long slide back into a backup role last season. A former linebacker, the 6'4" 250 pound Long should be solid against the run for the Spartans. Redshirt senior Justin Kershaw has the most starts under his belt and successfully made the transistion from defensive end to defensive tackle. At 6'5" 275 pounds he's still a bit undersized for tackle, but his quickness makes up for it somewhat. The true new starter is sophomore Oren Wilson (right). He's another tackle that doesn't crack the 290 pound mark so it will be interesting to see how he holds up over the course of a game. Depth: Wilson held off the much larger 6'5" 318 pound Antonio Jeremiah for the starting job, but look for Jeremiah to get plenty of playing time, especially on obvoius running downs. Redshirt senior Dwayne Holmes moved from fullback last season and will contend for snaps at the defensive end spot with Brandon Long. At 6'0" 286 pounds, he's definitely built to stop the run. Freshman defensive end Tyler Hoover is a big 6'7" 270 pounds and has a bright future if early practice reports are any indication.


PURDUE

DE - Ryan Kerrigan. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 18 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL.
DT - Ryan Baker. RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 22 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 4.0 TFL,
DT - Alex Magee. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 38 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 4.5 TFL, 2 FR, 1 FF.
DE - Keyon Brown. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 21 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 4.0 TFL, 1 FF.

Purdue returns a veteran line led by their tackles. Senior Alex Magee (left) has started 22 games in his career and is stout against the run and quicker than the average 300 pound defensive tackle. Redshirt senior Ryan Baker cracked the starting lineup last season and returns, but at 280 pounds can't always hold up to a physical run game. He's a tough player though and has the experience to outplay those that might have a talent edge. Keyon Brown started last season as a backup but moved into the starting lineup for the final 12 games. He's a quick end at 6'3" 240 pounds and should continue the somewhat under the rader Purdue tradition of quality defensive ends. Sophomore Ryan Kerrigan is more of a run stopping defensive end at 6'4" 255 pounds than a pass rusher. He saw limited action last season and will be counted on to quickly acclimate to playing nearly every down. Depth: Junior Mike Neal was hit with injuries last season, but still picked up 22 tackles and 2 sacks at the defensive tackle spot. Redshirt freshman Gerald Gooden is a smaller defensive end at 6'3" 235 pounds and was suspended from the team for awhile, but is back now and expectations are that he'll be able to play himself into a solid reserve for the Boilermakers.

STANFORD

DE -Pannel Egboh. (#34 DE) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 49 tackles, 6.0 sacks, 13. 5 TFL, 2 FR, 3 FF.
DT - Brian Bulcke. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 9 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1 TFL.
DT - Ekom Udofia. (#14 DT) RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 18 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2.0 TFL.
DE - Erik Lorig. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 37 tackles, 2 sacks, 7.5 TFL.

Another team, another veteran defensive line returning. Sense a theme yet? Redshirt junior Pannel Egboh (right) is one of the most underrated pass rushers in the nation and is line for a great final season. He's a huge end at 6'6" and 275 pounds but is still fast enough to give left tackles fits trying to contain him. The next best player is redshirt junior Ekom Udofia. A big run stuffer at 6'2" 310 pounds, Udofia has battled injuries during his time on the Farm. He broke his leg midway through last season, but still has 18 career starts to his name. If he can finally stay healthy he'll be a big assest to the Cardinal defense. Erik Lorig started out at tight end for Stanford but moved to defense last season and started eight games at end. Now that he's more familiar with the position he should see an uptick in his tackles and sacks. He's 6'4" 270 pounds, which gives Stanford two sizable defensive ends. Junior Brian Bulcke is the lone new starter of the group although he did start the final two games of last season. He's not much bigger than Egboh or Lorig at 6'4" 278 pounds, so he might have trouble with bigger offensive linemen. He also missed spring practice due to injury so he will make a few inexperience mistakes here or there. Depth: Sione Fua is actually listed as the starter on the latest Stanford depth chart in place of Ekom Udofia. It could be an injury fill-in, or he could have beaten out Udofia right before the first game. Either way, Fua will see the field this year in some manner after serving his LDS mission last season. A tough 6'2" 305 pounds, Fua will plug the middle and provide an excellent one-two punch with Udofia. Levirt Griffen started six games last season at defensive end and can provide depth at either end or tackle thanks to his 6'4" 270 pound size. Finally, sophomore defensive tackle Matthew Masifilo is supposed to work his way into the Stanford rotation starting this year in preparation for future seasons as a starter.

NORTH CAROLINA

DE - E.J Wilson. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 44 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 9.5 TFL, 2 FR, 1 FF.
DT - Marvin Austin. (#17 DT) Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 26 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 6.0 TFL
DT - Cam Thomas. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 8 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.5 TFL. 1 FF.
DE -Darius Massenburg. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 11 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 1.0 TFL.

The Tarheel defensive line isn't going to be the most experienced one that the Irish face, but it will be one of the biggest. The smallest player on the line is returning starter and redshirt junior E.J. Wilson, who still checks in at 6'2 280 pounds. The leader of the line, Wilson started every game last season and his size will be a big change to left tackles used to fighting with 240-250 pound defensive ends. Next to him is the future star of the line, 6'3" 300 pound Marvin Austin (left). He only started three games last season as a freshman, but kept getting better and will be a force in the middle the next few years. Running up the middle against North Carolina will be tough, especially when Austin pairs with 6'4" 330 pound junior Cam Thomas. Like Austin, Thomas started three games last season before an ankle injury forced him to the sidelines. His size alone will give offensive lines fits. Bringing defensive tackle size to the defensive end position, sophomore Darius Massenburg is a huge end at 6'4" 300 pounds. It remains to be seen how effective he will be rushing the passer, but at least against the run he will a sizable opponent. Depth: Being the large starters are, well, large backups. Junior Aleric Mullins started five games last season so he provides experience backing up Cam Thomas in addition to his 6'4" 300 pound size. Redshirt freshman Tydreke Powell doesn't have any game experience, but, like, Mullins, he is listed at 6'3" 300 pounds. Sophomore Greg Elleby adds another huge defensive end at 6'5" 290 pounds while sophomore Vince Jacobs provide another pass rusher at a comparitively skinny 6'7" 235 pounds.

WASHINGTON

DE - Daniel Te'o-Nesheim (#38 DE) RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 57 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 15.0 TFL, 2 FF.
DT - Cameron Elisara. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 2 tackles.
DT -Senio Kelemente. Freshman. New Starter.
2007 stats: N/A
DE - Darrion Jones. RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 1 tackle.

There aren't any defensive lines on the 2008 ND schedule as inexperienced as the Washington line. Redshirt junior Daniel Te'o-Nesheim (right) is one of the more productive defensive ends in the nation, but the other three starting defensive linemen combined for three tackles last season. Te'o-Nesheim was the team's defensive MVP last season last year in his second year as full-time starter. One of the most experienced players on the defense, he will be a leader on the field and a legitimate threat comingi off the edge. Senio Kelemente on the other hand has landing in the starting rotation right out of high school. He's listed at only 6'4" 260 pounds on the official depth chart, which isn't going to be big enough to stand a full game of pounding. Even if he's slightly heavier than than, he's going to be undersized. but will undoubtedly struggle at times as most all freshman do. Cameron Elisara is also in his first year starting, but played in a backup role in 12 of 13 games last season. At 6'3" 290 pounds he has the size to hold his own, but playing in 12 games and only getting two tackles isn't the sign of a player about to break out. Darrion Jones mans the other defensive end spot where he played in four games last season. He's on the lighter side at 6'2" 245 pounds so defending the run may be an issue, but the former linebacker has the speed to rush the passer. Depth: The second team is just as inexperienced as the starters with freshman and redshirt freshman filling up the depth chart. Two of the more notable ones are defensive end Everette Thompson and defensive tackle Alameda Ta'amu. Thompson has prototypical pass rusher size at 6'6" 255 pounds and was a highly regarded recruit. He should see the field frequently as he has a bright future on the Husky D-line. Ta'amu is probably the biggest defensive tackle the Irish will face at 6'2" 348 pounds. Conditioning might be an issue this season for the freshman, but he'll probably see some action on goalline and other short yardage situations.

PITTSBURGH

DE - Greg Romeus. (#45 DE) RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 41 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 11.5 TFL, 1 FR.
DT - Mick Williams. RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 29 tackles, 3 sacks, 8.0 TFL,
DT - Rashaad Duncan. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 40 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 7.0 TFL.
DE - Jabaal Sheard. Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 3 tackles.

Another opponent, another veteran defensive line it seems. The star-in-the-making on the Pitt line is redshirt sophomore Greg Romeus (left). He didn't start last year in his first taste of college football, but played in every game. He finished the year tied for 2nd on the team in sacks, 2nd in tackles for loss, and 8th on the team in tackles. Expectations are sky-high for the 6'5" 265 pound pass rusher. The experience on the line is in the middle with redshirt junior Mick Williams and senior Rashaad Duncan. Duncan has 22 career starts to his name and is a powerful 6'2" 295 gap filler. He was voted Pitt's most improved player last season and should only be better in 2008. Williams only started seven games last season, but played in all of them. He didn't have a lot of tackles last season, but had a fair number of tackles for loss for a defensive tackle. Sophomore Jabaal Sheard doesn't have much playing experience, but like with Romeus, expectations are high that Sheard will provide an instant pass rush from the defensive end position. He might struggle initially against the run, but his quickness will help Pitt when the opposition drops back to pass. Depth: Redshirt junior Gus Mastakas started 14 straight games at defensive tackle before tearing his ACL last season. As he gets back up to full speed, he will provide experience off the bench and form a solid DT rotation with Duncan. Backing up Williams is junior college transfer Tommie Duhart.

BOSTON COLLEGE

DE -Alex Albright (#58 DE) Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 38 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 10.0 TFL, 2 FF.
DT - B.J. Raji. (#25 DT) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: ineligble
DT - Ron Brace (#51 DT) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 27 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 7.5 TFL.
DE - Jim Ramella. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 19 tackles, 1.0 sack, 3.0 TFL.

Boston College continues the parade of experienced defensive lines. The Eagles also feature perhaps the best pair of defensive tackles that ND will face in 2008. The massive 6'1" 323 pound B.J. Raji (right) had to sit out last season due to academics, but with 24 career starts it won't take him long to get back up to speed. Next to the large Raji is the equally large 6'3" 324 pound Ron Brace. Brace has started 23 games and used last season to step out of Raji's shadow a bit and go from big obstacle on the field to NFL caliber defensive tackle. Paired with Raji, Brace will make it extremely tough for teams to get yardage up the middle. Alex Albright entered the starting lineup last season and wasn't expected to be much of a pass rusher, but he wound up with 8.5 sacks, which is tied for the most out of all the returning D-linemen facing ND this season. He did break his arm towards the end of the 2007 season, but is fully healed and should see his stats creep up even higher with teams paying more attention to Brace and Raji. The lone new starter is Jim Ramella, but even he started 3 games last season while playing in 13. He's not a threat, but is a solid program player with plenty of backup experience. Depth: Austin Giles, younger brother of former ND player Zachary, backs up Ramella, but also has five career starts to his own name. Giles is a bigger than average defensive end at 6'3" 283 and likely will rotate in on short yardage downs. Redshirt senior Jerry Willette doesn't have the size of Brace or Raji at 6'5" 285 pounds, but provides solid experience off the bench. He started two games last year and has played in 33 in his BC career.

NAVY

DE - Michael Walsh. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 57 tackles, 3.0 sacks, 10.5 TFL, 3 FF.
NG - Nate Frazier. Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 42 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 4.5 TFL.
DE - Matt Nechak. Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 22 tackles, 0.0 sacks, 1.0 TFL.

The first team on the schedule to exclusively play a 3-4 defense, Navy returns two quality starters from last season. Senior Michael Walsh and junior Nate Frazier (left) both started every game last year and will be counted on to provide a solid first line of defense for the Midshipmen. Walsh is the best lineman on the team and his 10.5 tackles for loss last year in his first year of starting shows an ability to get into the backfield. Frazier is slightly undersized for the nose guard position at 287 pounds, but he's one of the strongest players on the Navy team and is quick enough to slip past slower linemen. Walsh Junior Matt Nechak will have to adjust to the starting lineup, but did play in every game last season, starting one. Depth: Sophomore Billy Yarbough backs up Nechak, but is light for a 3-4 defensive end at 234 pounds. 6'4" 263 pound Jordan Stephans is the next in line at nose guard, but as is usual for most Navy backups, lacks ideal size for his position.


SYRACUSE

DE - Jared Kimmel. RS Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 5 tackles.
DT - Arthur Jones (#23 DT) RS Junior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 51 tackles, 1.0 sack, 17.5 TFL.
DT -Nick Santiago. RS Senior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 17 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 1.0 TFL.
DE - Vincenzo Giruzzi. Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 41 tackles, 2.0 TFL, 1 FF.

One of the younger defensive lines ND will face, Syracuse still features a top defensive tackle in redshirt junior Arthur Jones (right). His 17.5 tackles for loss last season was the 18th best mark nationally, which is even more impressive considering he plays defensive tackle. Last year was his first year starting which means he should only get better in 2008. Senior defensive end Vincenzo Giruzzi is technically a returning starter, but he moved from starting linebacker to starting defensive end during spring practice. He started seven games last season and has played in 35 straight games, but there will be some adjustment to having his hands on the ground every play now. Redshirt senior Nick Santiago has played in over 30 career games as well, but only has started two. After four seasons of being a backup, he'll finally get a chance to start and be a more productive member of the defensive line. Redshirt sophomore Jared Kimmel is the youngest member of the defensive line. He tore his ACL last season and, while back, will likely still be slowed a bit as his knee continues to heal. Depth: Syracuse's DL depth took a hit when returning starting defensive tackle Brandon Gilbeaux was declared academically ineligble. That leaves a trio of sophomores and a freshman as the second stringers. All three sophomores saw the field last year in at least nine games so they have some experience. The freshman, Mikhail Marinovich, is the younger brother of former Southern Cal QB Todd Marinovich.


SOUTHERN CAL

DE - Kyle Moore (#16 DE) Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 35 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 3.5 TFL 2 INT, 1 FF.
DT - Averell Spicer. (#48 DT) RS Junior. New Starter.
2007 stats: 9 tackles, 1.0 sack, 2. 0 TFL.
DT - Fili Moala. (#1 DT) RS Senior. Returning Starter.
2007 stats: 32 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 5.5 TFL.
DE - Everson Griffen. (#18 DE) Sophomore. New Starter.
2007 stats: 21 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 5.5 TFL, 1 FR, 2 FF.

Southern Cal is still able to just reload after losing two 1st round defensive lineman to the NFL. Defensive tackle Fili Moala (left) will pick up where Sedrick Ellis left off. He has all of the physical talent and the benefit of 20 career starts under his belt; he'll just need to turn it into production on the field. Next to Moala is new starter Averall Spicer who actually replaced Ellis as the SC nose guard. Spicer doesn't have the national recognition of his fellow linemates, but should be a tough run stopper in the middle. Kyle Moore returns on the edge, where at 6'6" 270 pounds he's a big defensive end who's still quick enough to get into the backfield on passing downs. The lastest Trojan to be predicted for star status is sophomore end Everson Griffen. Combining exceptional quickness and a 6'3" 265 pound frame, Griffen is still making a few mistakes borne out of inexperience but has an extremely bright future and should get better from game to game. Depth: Splitting time with Spicer is sophomore Christian Tupou. He hasn't played much (four games as a backup) and at 6'2" 280 is a bit light for the nose guard spot, but has played well enough in practice to earn a co-starting tag. Both backups at defensive tackle are completely inexperienced in redshirt freshman DaJohn Harris and freshman Armond Armstead. On obvious passing downs, redshirt senior Clay Matthews will spare Everson Griffen as the former linebacker has better passing rushing skills at this point.

2008 Opponent Defensive Line Analysis and Ranking

Well, it certainly seems that the ND offensive line has their work cut out for them this season. Unlike the opponent offensive positions, the opponent defensive lines are filled with experience, depth, and star talent. Team after team returns battle-tested veterans and even some of the new starters are either transfers with all-conference honors to their name (MSU's Anderson) or highly regarded recruits on the cusp of likely star careers (UNC's Austin, Pitt's Romeus, USC's Griffen).

With the move of left guard Mike Turkovich to left tackle, it's taking another look at the defensive ends he'll be expected to slow down. Like the rest of the line, he'll have a steady stream of experienced starters looking to race by him and sack Clausen. Michigan and Southern Cal have perhaps the most fearsome pass rushers, as usual. But the list only starts with those teams. Pitt, Michigan State, North Carolina, Washington, Stanford, Boston College, and even Purdue have quick and talented ends that will look to use their speed to slip by Turkovich. All the more reason to rely on the run in 2008.

As for running the ball, the increased size of the ND OL will certainly help, but they won't be playing many undersized and inexperienced linemen. Only Washington and North Carolina have to replace both of last season's starting defensive tackles. And in UNC's case, the replacements are extremely talented and just for good measure there are a few 300 pounders ready to rotate in and give the starters a few breathers. Michigan, Purdue, Pittsburgh, and Boston College all return both starting tackles including some of the better players ND will face in the Taylor/Johnson combo for Michigan and Raji/Brace duo at BC.

BGS reader Erik'04 had the idea to look at how many of last year's 58 sacks were caused by guys who return to the Irish schedule for 2008. The answer is 15 players who were responsible for 20 sacks. Among the defensive line, here are the returning players who have already tasted success against the Irish OL:

• Alex Albright (BC DE)
• Ron Brace (BC DT)
• Pannel Egboh (Stanford DE, 2 sacks)
• Brandon Graham (UM DE, 3 sacks)
• Tim Jamison (UM DE)
• Justin Kershaw (MSU DT)
• Fili Moala (USC DT)
• Kyle Moore (USC DE)
• Matt Walsh (Navy DT, 2 sacks)
  

On to the rankings. Again, there is a lot of talent and experience going against the Irish in 2008. If ND is able to consistently run the ball, we'll know that the players and coaches did a fantastic job in the off-season as they are facing a season-long run of stout defensive lines. All of the lines down to perhaps Syracuse have what can be considered a quality line.

1. Michigan - Plenty of NFL talent across the board.
2. Boston College - A veteran unit with two of the top defensive tackles ND will face.
3. Southern Cal - They will only continue to get better as the year goes on.
4. Stanford - An underrated unit with enough size and speed to be effective.
5. North Carolina - Some new faces, but a lot of sizable depth and promising new players.
6. Pittsburgh - Romeus will get the press, but the tackles are quality players in their own right.
7. Michigan State - Will need Trevor Anderson to come up to speed quickly.
8. Purdue - Not much star power, but veteran players who play tough.
9. Navy - Walsh and Frazier give Navy two solid returning lineman.
10. Syracuse - Jones is a solid player, the rest will need to help him out.
11. Washington -It's Te'o-Nesheim and a whole lot of inexperience.
12. San Diego State - Experience is there, but they haven't been very effective at all.