Statistically Speaking | by Pat

• So far this season, Notre Dame's kicked the ball off 34 times and has recorded 6 touchbacks. That's a touchback for every 5.67 kickoffs or, put another way, 18% of ND kickoffs end up as touchbacks. Opponents have kicked the ball off only 22 times, but have recorded 9 touchbacks. That's a touchback every 2.44 kickoffs or a 41% touchback percentage. While it appears that the kickoff distance is not exactly ideal, it hasn't really hurt Notre Dame in the field position battle. Taking returns into consideration, the average Notre Dame kickoff goes for 39.7 yards while opponents are putting up 39.8 yards per kick.

• Notre Dame's scored 185 points while giving up 120 points. There's been some criticism of the defense being too porous, especially through the air. Yet it would seem that many of the points are being scored in garbage time, which lessens the impact of the score. A look at the breakdown in opponent scoring shows this to be true.

Point Differential	Points Allowed
28+ (+)	36
21-27 (+)	14
14-20 (+)	10
7-13 (+)	3
1-6 (+)	12
TIED	31
1-6 (-)	0
7-13 (-)	7
14-20 (-)	7
21+ (-)	0
TOTAL	120

Two things jump out.

First, we give up most of our points when we lead by 28 more. In fact, 50 of our points given up, or 42%, came when we led by three touchdowns or more. That makes sense, as Weis has commented that he's not looking for blowout wins. As the Purdue game showed us, he'll gladly trade touchdowns with a team down by 28 points late in the second half if it means keeping the clock running.

Second, 31 points have been scored by the opponent when the game is tied. Yet, only 14 have been scored when the Irish were already losing. That suggests that the Irish are able to respond to giving up points by scoring some of their own. In fact, looking at the drive charts, Notre Dame has scored on the immediate drive following an opponent score 9 times out of 19. That's 47% and includes running out the clock against Washington and Purdue. If you only consider the first half, ND is 5 for 9 or 56%. I have no frame of reference on a stat like this, but it sounds awfully high to me.

• The pass defense numbers and rankings are still threatening obscenity laws; the Irish check in at 305.6 passing yards allowed per game which is good enough for 112th in the nation. That number looks about the same as the numbers for 2004 (281.25 yards, 116th place). However, the pass efficiency ranking, which is probably a better measure of the true worth of a pass defense, marks the Irish at 123.46 yards per game, which is 60th in the nation. To compare, in 2004 the numbers were 138.34 yards per game, good for 98th in the nation. So in that regard, it does seem that the defense is improving.

To be clear, the "pass defense" ranking only counts the total passing yards given up per game. The "pass efficieny defense" is calculated by considering the total passing yardage, pass completion percentages, interception totals, percentages of interceptions thrown, total touchdowns, touchdown rates, yards per pass attempt, and yards per pass completion (whew). So, while ND has been giving up plenty of yards through the air, those yards haven't been as effective for opponents as they were last year. That is to say, fewer yards per pass, fewer touchdowns, and more interceptions.

• The one offensive stat that really gives an assist to the defense (besides touchdowns) is time of possession. And right now no one is doing it better than ND: the Irish lead the nation in offensive TOP with an average of 34:30 minutes per game.

It's cliched, but it's true: opponents can't score if they aren't on the field.

• Brady Quinn New Record of the Week: With his performance against Purdue, Quinn not only passed Rick Mirer (5,997 yards) on the career passing list, but also became only the third Notre Dame quarterback in history to reach 6,000 career yards. Previously, no Notre Dame quarterback has ever thrown for 300 yards more than twice in a season. Quinn has accomplished this feat in three straight games.

As it currently stands, Quinn has 1,621 passing yards on the season and 6,038 yards for his career. He is averaging 324.2 passing yards per game this season. Not only is this destroying the record single-season average of 242.9 set in 1970 by Joe Theismann, but his completion percentage of 65.3 is currently comfortably ahead of the single season ND record of 61.6% set in 1993 by Kevin McDougal. If the passing averages hold and we only consider regular season games, Quinn will finish the season with 3,566 passing yards, which is 833 yards greater than Notre Dame's current record of 2,753 yards set by Jarious Jackson in 1999. It will also give Quinn 7,983 career passing yards, which will move him ahead of Ron Powlus (7,479 yards) for the all-time career passing title. Oh, and Quinn has another season of eligiblity left.

• This stat is jumping the gun a bit, but with only one road game remaining -- against a struggling Stanford team to boot -- I figured, why not.

The last time ND went undefeated on the road was in 1993. That year the Irish beat #3 Michigan, Purdue, Stanford, BYU, and Navy (at Veterans Stadium) on the road. That's more of a factoid than stat, but it's just another connection between this year's squad and some of the better units under Holtz. Of course, the road opponents this year haven't been as strong as advertised. As we head into the middle of conference play, they are a collective 8-14 with only one team (3-2 Michigan) in possession of a winning record. Home opponents on the other hand, who initially appeared to contain most of the weaker teams on the schedule, are currently a collective 14-11.

Season-long Running Averages

Offense

Category	Pitt	UM	MSU	UW	PU	2005	2004
Yards per rush	5.5	2.4	2.8	5.0	3.1	3.8	3.32
Avg yards per PA	8.4	4.7	8.1	8.8	12.0	8.5	7.2
Avg yards per PC	11.0	11.7	14.8	13.1	15.6	13.2	13.4
Pass completion %	67%	63%	55%	68%	77%	62%	54%
3rd downs conv.	10/15 (67%)	4/15 (27%)	6/18 (33%)	6/13 (46%)	10/16 (63%)	36/77 (47%)	68/183 (37%)
Rushing yd avg	275.0	104.0	107.0	233.0	153.0	174.4 (39th)	127.4 (85th)
Passing yd avg	227.0	140.0	487.0	327.0	468.0	329.8 (11th)	218.1 (54th)
Total offense yd avg	502.0	244.0	594.0	560.0	621.0	504.2 (9th)	345.5 (81st)
Time of Possession	32:45	30:55	35:49	36:56	36:03	34:30	30:50
Red Zone TDs	5/ 6 (83%)	2/2 (100%)	4/ 5 (80%)	3/5 (60%)	5/5 (100%)	19/ 23 (83%)	25 / 36 (69%)

Defense

Category	Pitt	UM	MSU	UW	PU	2005	2004
Yards per rush given up	3.3	2.4	4.5	1.9	6.8	4.1	2.7
Avg yards per pass attempt	6.3	5.1	12.1	10.2	6.0	7.5	7.9
Avg yards per pass completion	11.0	11.7	20.4	21.5	10.6	14.3	13.6
Pass completion percentage	57%	43%	59%	48%	57%	52%	58%
Quarterback sacks	5	2	1	3	0	11	30
Rushing yd average against	103.0	114.0	161.0	41.0	164.0	116.6 (38th)	88.2 (4th)
Passing yd average against	220.0	223.0	327.0	408.0	350.0	305.6 (112th)	281.2 (116th)
Total yd offense average against	323.0	337.0	488.0	449.0	514.0	422.2 (92nd)	369.4 (54th)

Turnovers

Category	Pitt	UM	MSU	UW	PU	2005	2004
Interceptions by ND	1	1	1	1	1	5	9
Fumbles Forced / Recovered	2/ 1	3/ 1	4/ 2	2/2	1/1	12/ 7	27 / 12
Turnovers gained	2	2	3	3	2	12	21
Had Intercepted	1	0	1	0	2	4	10
Fumbles / Lost	1/ 0	3/ 1	1/ 1	2/0	0/0	7/ 2	15 / 6
Turnovers lost	1	1	2	0	2	6	16
Turnover Margin	+1	+1	+1	+3	0	+6	+5

Special Teams

Category	Pitt	UM	MSU	UW	PU	2005	2004
Kickoff return average	17.5	24.0	21.5	31.0	31.0	23.8	18.7
Kickoff return average allowed	16.0	18.0	20.8	16.0	25.2	19.5	19.9
Punt return average	23.0	19.0	11.0	15.5	0.0	13.6	10.8
Punt return average allowed	0.0	5.2	2.0	10.0	9.0	5.4	8.2

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Fun Fact O' the Day: Brady Quinn has thrown a touchdown pass in 10 consecutive games. This ties him for the Notre Dame record with Heisman Trophy winning quarterback John Huarte, who accomplished the feat in 1964.

Road Warriors | by Pat

QB - I really can't remember the last performance by an Irish quarterback that was that complete. He hit the short pass, the medium range pass, and the long pass. He avoided the sack and ran for the first down when the coverage was tight. Just an all-around excellent performance by Quinn. Weis mentioned that he actually called about 15 more runs in the game, but Quinn checked into pass plays due to what the Purdue defense offered. Perhaps my favorite play of the game was the pump-fake on the short pass to Matt Shelton. All of the Purdue defenders bit on the fake and Quinn hit Shelton for a first down. Quinn's pocket presence again shows poise as he's able to step out of the rush while still keeping his eyes down the field on the receivers. 440 yards and three touchdowns is obviously pretty impressive. What's also impressive is how close he was to three more touchdowns. Samardzija's amazing catch finished about 3 feet away from the endzone and was converted later by an RPN run. Stovall's great effort after a Quinn pass down at the goal-line ended up a foot short and two plays later a nice blitz by Purdue's Kyle Williams kept Brady from hitting an open Asaph Schwapp in the endzone. RPN eventually did end that drive with a touchdown. Finally, Maurice Stovall dropped a third down pass with nothing but green grass between him and the endzone. Now, I'm not complaining. ND scored plenty. Just pointing out how close Quinn was from having even more gaudy stats.

RB - Walker failed to reach the century mark, but credit goes to the excellent Purdue defensive line. Walker went east-west a bit too much in the game, trying for the corner against a defense that was content to string the outside runs all the way to the sideline. Perhaps it's the speed of the opposing defenses, perhaps he's started to get a bit banged up from all of the carries, but Walker does look a bit winded at times on the field. I suspect we might see a few more runs for negative or minimal gain if Walker keeps looking for the potential 4-5 yards to the outside rather than the sure 2-3 inside.

Powers-Neal's goal-line touchdowns were great, but what was really exceptional was his blocking. On more than one occasion he went up against Purdue's star defensive end Ray Edwards and kept him away from Quinn. RPN also continues to be very effective on screen passes.

For the second straight game Travis Thomas got in late in the 4th quarter and for the second straight game he ran in a touchdown from 10 yards out. Like RPN, he did a good job blocking. He made some appearances in the first quarter and had some key blocks, notably on the first 3rd down of the 98 yard drive when he released and blocked the linebacker, allowing Samardzija to get the first down and keep the drive alive. Plays like that will earn him extra playing time just as much as his hard-charging runs up the middle late in games.

WR - Crank up the Jeff Samardzija All-American campaign. Not only did he have one of the highlight catches of the season (again), he also showed an knack for yards after the catch. His performance so far this season has been nothing short of incredible. As with Hoyte, the Samardzija recap is getting repetitive, which is great for ND fans.

Stovall had an outstanding game as well, two drops notwithstanding. As long as the Purdue corners decided it was okay to play 10 yards off of Stovall, Quinn was content to hit him with a quick throw and let him use his size to race down the sideline for the first down. Wash, rinse, repeat. With both Stovall and Samardzija both finally starting to throw their size around on the field it's becoming a "pick your poison" dilemma for opposing defenses. The Boilers seemed content to cover Fasano and let ND's pair of 6'5" receivers take advantage of single coverage. My favorite play from Stovall was his holding penalty that negated a Walker 17 yard run. Now, the penalty was a bit obvious and hopefully he will learn how to block without tugging on the guy's shoulder pads, but as Walker passed Stovall by, Stovall kept blocking the guy. He didn't let up until the Boilermaker was blocked out-of-bounds and sent flying into a teammate standing on the sideline, at which point Stovall stood glowered over the fallen defender for a brief second before returning to the field. That play showed me more fire from Stovall than his first three years combined. If he can play with that kind of passion consistently, he'll be near unstoppable. Last but not least, credit Stovall for hustling back and tackling Rob Ninkovich after his interception.

Another welcome sight was Matt Shelton, showing no ill effects from his injured knee. He ran a number of nice hot routes on Purdue blitzes and did a great job holding on to the ball and getting the first down. If the Trojans focus on Samardzija, Stovall, and Fasano, it just might be Shelton's time to shine.

TE - Before the game, a Purdue coach mentioned that one of their strategies would be to take away Anthony Fasano. I suppose they were successful as he finished with a season-low 2 receptions -- even if they both did go for first downs. However, most of the night Quinn was throwing quick 3-step drop passes to negate the Purdue blitz, so waiting for Fasano wasn't always in the cards. Fasano still contributed with some excellent blocking to make up for his lack of production in the passing game.

One tight end that Purdue did forget to cover was John Carlson. He was so wide open in the endzone for a second I thought he was going to drop the pass out of pure shock. Ron Franklin proclaimed that Carlson could be a first-rounder, which I suppose is true, but seeing as how Franklin claimed it before Carlson snagged his first career touchdown reception, it's possible he was just trying to put a Beano Cook-esque curse on him. Let's hope Carlson proves Franklin correct, sweetheart.

OL - When NFL teams are deciding where to draft Mark LeVoir, the game film of the Purdue game is going to move him up at least one round. He kept Purdue's future first rounder, defensive end Ray Edwards, away from Quinn all night long. Bull rush...spin moves...the Reggie White club to the head...LeVoir held his ground against them all. Mark has been having a strong season, but last weekend he really shined. I believe he's our best offensive lineman right now. I never thought I would ever type that, and it's a credit to his hard work.

Unfortunately, I can't be as effusive for the rest of the line. Yes, the pass blocking was excellent and many kudos to the way they picked up the various Boilermaker blitzes, but the run blocking was once again lacking. On draws and the like the blocking is excellent, but on the short yardage straight ahead runs, the holes just aren't there like one would expect. It should be noted that I'm very high on Purdue's defensive line. Ninkovich played a great game and Brent Grover got the best of Santucci on a number of plays. Still, at some point, perhaps on October 15th, the inability to definitively get the tough short yardage could hurt ND.

One benefit of a blowout win is the ability to play the reserves and nearly everyone got in against the Boilermakers. Of particular interest on the OL were the freshman tackles, Michael Turkovich and Paul Duncan. In their first extended playing time, both looked like promising candidates. Turkovich in particular looked like he will make a quality left tackle one day. He was both bigger and faster than I had anticipated.

DL - To be honest, I thought the rush was a bit better in this game. On the first half blitzes the line did a good job occupying the offensive lineman and allowing the linebackers and safeties to get through with a minimal of obstruction. Landri got more penetration than he did in the last few games, but Kirsch's mobility negated a few of the better pass rush plays. Frome failed to contain Kirsch on one blitz and the result was a first down, but for the most part he did his job and kept Kirsch in the pocket. It didn't really help that the team went to a 3 man rush in the second half. (I'm not trying to second-guess the coaches as much as I'm voicing my own dislike of the ultra-conservative 3 man rush.) Of course, with the 3-step drop quick pass offense that Tiller finally decided to run it's really expecting a lot to get to the QB before he can release the ball. Then again, if Purdue wanted to dink and dunk down the field and chew up an inordinate amount of the limited time left in the game, that's fine with me.

The interior run defense was once again solid, making up, in some part, for the lack of a pass rush. Sure, it would be nice to get to the QB more often, but giving up 4-8 yard runs up the middle on a consistent basis would be far worse, and so far ND isn't allowing that. It might sound like I'm digging for positives here, but nothing kills a defense faster than a weak run defense.

As for the backups that got time later in the game, most still look like they need to add weight, which isn't unexpected for such a young group. Patrick Kuntz really was active the limited time he played and might just work himself into the DT rotation next year if he can add enough size.

LB - Mixed results here. Along with the DL they did a standup job against the interior runs, but weren't nearly as effective on the outside option runs. Crum in particular had trouble fighting off blocks, one reason the early outside pitches were so successful. Mays quietly finished third on the team in tackles, but wasn't able to get to Kirsch on his blitzes. Purdue tried to pick on Hoyte a bit in the second half by throwing at his man repeatedly, but Hoyte did about as well as one could expect. Hoyte also did a great job of getting his head between the football and the endzone on Jerod Void's fumble. I'm sure he planned it like that. The linebacker blitzes occassionly forced an early throw and incompletion, which aren't as noticable (or demoralizing) as a sack or interception. I just hope that whatever led to Kory Sheets being so open on the outside edge is fixed before Reggie Bush gets the same idea. The fact that Leinart isn't an option threat helps.

DB - Purdue took their shot at a knockout punch early in the game by sending their fastest player, Dorien Bryant, streaking towards the endzone. Ambrose Wooden not only kept up step for step but also turned back to the ball and swatted it harmlessly away, giving Purdue their first clue that fun time was over. And then for an encore Wooden reprised his Michigan peformance by flying across the field and knocking Kory Sheets out of bounds short of the endzone. And just like at Michigan, that play saved a touchdown when Jerod Void was kind enough to cough it up on the next play. Permit me some Ron Franklin premature speculation and predict All-American honors for Ambrose Wooden before he leaves ND.

Seeing how much fun it is to turn around and look for the ball, Mike Richardson did a great job covering Purdue's wheel route later in the game, nabbing an endzone interception. One thing I noticed about Richardson is that as much as he catches grief for losing receivers occasionaly, he's the surest tackling corner we have and is a tough guy to block.

Safety play was hard to compare to other games as Purdue was content to dink and dunk more often than take shots down the field. Nduwke was solid against the option on occasion and almost pulled down his second interception. As for the backups, Purdue did seem to move down the field quickly against them. Leo Ferrine allowed a number of completions but always seemed to be right there, which bodes well for the future. Lambert was challenged with a deep pass (that was overthrown) and managed to stay step for step with his man. I think both Ferrine and Lambert are earning more of Coach Lewis' confidence. It was hard to see if Bruton did anything particularly good or bad at safety, but on one play he really came up and planted a Purdue receiver who was cutting across the field. We all know he's fast so seeing him be physical was great.

Special Teams - Supreme effort play by Trevor Laws on the blocked field goal and he's been rewarded by being named special teams captain for the USC game. Have I said I really like this new tradition of not only having a special teams captain, but picking the best performer from the previous game as the current week's representative? Just another way not only to reward great efforts but also reinforce the importance of special teams in the context of the game. The rest of the special teams weren't terribly noteworthy. Grimes had another nice kickoff return and Bruton (again) out-raced everyone down the field for an excellent open field tackle behind Purdue's wedge. The kickoffs still seem to die before the endzone, but they are getting closer. The 70-something yard kick return by Purdue was a buzzkill, but credit Chase Anastacio for taking a great angle and getting the tackle right before Bryant hit the open field.

Overall the offense played an amazing game and the defense was able to make the big play when it counted. It really was the kind of dominant performance needed to give the Irish a shot of confidence heading into the 2-week prep for the Trojans.

Recruitnik-ing | by Pat

While we're on a bit of a recruit kick, here is a sampler of updates on some of the other guys who have already picked Notre Dame.

First off, here's nd94e's excellent roundup of last week's games and how the recruits performed. One recruit not mentioned is Barry Gallup, who had 150 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns to go along with a 55 yard TD reception in a 42-12 win. There was also a nice story recently about Gallup in the Boston Globe.

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Someone who isn't having as much fun his senior year is incoming wide receiver Rob Parris, who this past weekend dislocated his hip in a game against Massillon and is done for the year. Here's the writeup from the Plain Dealer.

With St. Ignatius leading, 26-21, Parris -- a senior who accepted a football scholarship from Notre Dame this past summer -- attempted to make a leaping catch across the middle near the Massillon 40-yard line. Tigers junior defensive back Brian Gamble came racing across the field and hit Parris as he was catching the ball, knocking the ball loose and forcing Parris to land awkwardly on his legs.

Play was stopped with 7:20 remaining as Parris received treatment on the field. He was put on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to Parma Community General Hospital, which is across the street from Byers Field.

Parris underwent a surgical procedure Saturday night to have his hip put back in place. After more X-rays and tests, he was released from the hospital on Sunday.

Ouch.

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You know you're a big boy when you make Charlie Weis look small. The recruit in the picture is offensive lineman Bartley Webb. A few weeks ago Webb was named to the West roster of the Army All-American Bowl game. He will join Irish recruits Darrin Walls, Zach Frazer, Demetrius Jones, and James Aldridge who have also already been named to the East team roster. Here's the roster as it currently stands if you're interested.

Last year, D.J. Hord, who announced his decision at half-time, was the only Irish recruit at the game.

Cornering the Market | by Pat

In perhaps the best news of the recruiting season, cornerback Darrin Walls announced at a small press conference on Monday morning that he will be attending the University of Notre Dame. (Here's a video link to the press conference care of Blue and Gold Illustrated.)

The 6'1", 180-lb Walls is a landmark recruit who's considered the #1 cornerback in the nation according to Rivals (and their 24th best player overall) and the #7 cornerback in the nation according to Scout. Recruiting top-flight cover corners has long been ND's recruiting achilles heel so the committment of Walls is extremely good news.

As it turns out, the press conference merely made public a preference that Walls had been feeling for a few months.

But Walls said he has known since the spring that Notre Dame was his top choice. He visited Notre Dame the first time in April for "junior day."

"It just felt like home to me. I took my other visits just to make sure," said Walls, who has been to Notre Dame three times. "I didn't silent verbal [to Notre Dame], but I knew that was where I wanted to go."

Walls attends Woodland Hills High School near Pittsburgh, PA where he has been starting on the varsity since his sophomore year. Recently the school has been a pipeline to Michigan, sending current Wolverines Steve Breaston and Ryan Mundy to Ann Arbor. In fact, the high school's nickname is the Wolverines, and the team helmet is of a similar design to the one used in Ann Arbor. (Re-education camp will begin at once.) In the end, Walls credited ND's 98% graduation rate as a big reason why he selected the Irish over other finalists Pitt, Michigan, Florida, USC, and a whole host of other schools.

Not that the other schools gave up easily. Pitt sent Walls over 40 handwritten letters the day before the press conference, and even Southern Cal made a last ditch effort.

Two weeks ago, Southern California's coaches called Walls in hopes of getting in the hunt, and the coaches had trouble accepting no.

"They kept passing the phone on to every one of their coaches, all the way down to [head coach] Pete Carroll," Darrin Walls Sr. said. "I finally got on the phone and said, 'Come on guys, this is badgering the kid.' "

ND's 19th known verbal commit, Walls plans on visiting Notre Dame for the Southern Cal game, and should be able to help persuade other top-shelf recruits who are coming in for the game. Hopefully they will come to same conclusion that Walls did.

"When I went on my visits, I compared Notre Dame to each school. Nothing compared to Notre Dame."

Notre Dame now has five defensive backs in this recruiting class: Walls and Raeshon McNeil are both pure corners, while Jashaad Gaines, Leonard Gordon, and Sergio Brown are safeties. On paper, this looks like a fantastic group. And with the impressive showings of young DB's Ambrose Wooden, Terrail Lambert, Leo Ferrine, and David Bruton, the future for the Irish backfield at this point seems pretty bright.

When's the last time we could say that?

Bye Week begins | by Jay

Gotta check out the post-Purdue presser from Charlie today. A couple of gems.

Q. Early on someone asked you about your tag, the offensive guru, and you laughed at that. Do you not think you are pretty darn good at it?

COACH WEIS: I think I am pretty good, but I think there are plenty of people that are good. I do have one advantage over a lot of people - the fact that from where I have come I have seen a lot of things and you build up a reservoir of how to handle the things you are going to go against. So as you're sitting here watching things you say, I remember we did this in 1994, we did this in '96. That reminds me of the game in '98. So when you have a reservoir it isn't all original notes but to everyone you are going against it is original because they have never seen it. One thing I do have is that I have a very good memory. And I am talking about when it comes to what happened in different games and how -- what we have done to, both pro and con, so that's the one advantage I have is that reservoir of experience of things that happened over my 15 years in the NFL.

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Q. Your experience of being a teacher, how does that make you a better coach?

COACH WEIS: Too many people too many times look at sports and almost say that dumb jock stereotype that when we all were growing up. I think it's become so much more of an intellectual game now that much of the approach in the preparation to these games is intellectual. It's not just physical. It's not just "let's go pound them." You know, there's a big mental approach. That can be a definite weapon to be able to use your brain could be a definite weapon. That's where teaching comes into play.

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Q. Defensive line had no sacks. How much of that is attributable to the three step drop; how much is it having to contain the option and then how much is disappointment that you had no sacks?

COACH WEIS: I wouldn't be disappointed because second half that's all they did was three step drops. You are not counting on sacks on three step drops. That was their whole mentality; which is a little different from what they have done. If you've watched Purdue so far this year you noticed in the second half they went to a personnel group of four wide which they'd only used nine snaps the entire year of four wide with one back in there because by blitzing we scared them out of empty. They got out of that. But then they went into a four wide, two by two, formation, three step drops, and they had some success doing it. It was really something they really hadn't done all year, but they hadn't been in a situation where they are down four scores all year either. So they are going to make some plays when that ends up happening but the three step drop, they had no sacks either, as you recall, so this was a sackless game then. Didn't bother me too much.

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Q. After the game a lot of the offensive players talked about how they felt, like if they just did their job nights like Saturday should be common place. Does that border on overconfident; do you like that attitude?

COACH WEIS: As a matter of fact I learned that one from Bill Belichick because his number one phrase all the time was `just do your job.' What happens is when you start trying to do somebody else's job, and not just do your job, there's chances for individual breakdowns. Once you get everyone doing their job in sync you have a chance for success.

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Q. People seem to be making a big deal about you having an extra week to prepare for USC. How much more prepared can you get a team in the extra week?

COACH WEIS: Exponentially.

Player of the Week | by Pat

Brady Quinn's effort against the Boilermakers hasn't gone unnoticed as he was named National Player of the Week by The Sporting News.

Playing his best game in an Irish uniform, Quinn was unstoppable as he completed over 80% of his passes for 440 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also passed Rick Mirer's career 5,997 yards as Quinn become only the third Notre Dame quarterback to pass for 6,000 yards in a career. The other two quarterbacks who share that honor are Ron Powlus and Steve Beuerlien. Quinn also continued his quest to re-write every single Notre Dame quarterback record on file.

If Quinn is going to make noise in the Heisman voting this year, this honor is a good way to get the publicity machine started. Another is to be named Cingular/ABC Sports All-American of the Week.

Quinn is currently nominated for this award alongside Michael Hart of Michigan, LenDale White of Southern Cal, and Zac Taylor of Nebraska. As this particular award is determined by fan votes, if you want to vote for Quinn (cough, cough) you can follow the above link for directions. The voting will end on October 5th. Now, even though this is an obviously biased website, I still think it would be a bit unseemly to put the directions on the blog and openly encourage votes for Quinn without considering the fine efforts of Hart, White, and Taylor. So, you'll have to click on the above link to find out the stats for the other contenders and how to vote for Quinn your player of choice.

Boilermaker Benchmark Revisited | by Jeff

The game is over in West Lafayette, and Charlie passed his test at Purdue with flying colors. His 21-point victory against the Boilermakers nestles him nicely between Holtz and Rockne for first year performances against Purdue. Very nice company.

First Year Games vs. Purdue

Year	Coach	Career Win %	Result	Score	Location	Purdue's Record
1986	* Lou Holtz	.765	W	41-9	Home	3-8
2005	Charlie Weis	? (.800)	W	49-28	Away	? (2-2)
1918	* Knute Rockne	.881	W	26-6	Away	3-3
1964	* Ara Parseghian	.836	W	34-15	Home	6-3
1975	* Dan Devine	.764	W	17-0	Away	4-7
1934	Elmer Layden	.770	W	18-7	Home	5-3
2002	Ty Willingham	.583	W	24-17	Home	7-6
1981	Gerry Faust	.535	L	14-15	Away	5-6
1997	Bob Davie	.583	L	17-28	Away	9-3
1954	Terry Brennan	.640	L	14-27	Home	5-3-1
1959	Joe Kuharich	.425	L	7-28	Away	5-2-2

* won a National Championship

P6 Update | by Jay

Pick Six Standings took a hairpin turn this week. The effects of the LSU loss were finally recorded, and Coaches Poll voters rewarded Alabama while busting Florida all the way down to #15. BSnizzySniz takes the lead with 113 points.

In the BlogPollers' division of the Pick Six...well, looky there.

A couple of ranked battles to keep an eye on this week: #4 Georgia at #7 Tennessee, and #6 Ohio State at #18 Penn State.

Just a reminder: once the BCS standings start up, we'll switch over and start using that ranking to tabulate the Pick Six. The first BCS standings come out on October 17th.

Week 5 in a Nutshell | by Dylan

You couldn't have asked for a cleaner lab environment to test the hypothesis that Notre Dame had been, for the previous three years, a horribly coached football team. Last night, the same 22 guys (basically) squared off and last year's result was turned on its ear. Tiller and Spack went from steely-eyed geniuses to slack-jawed doofuses in two quarters. The next guy who asserts that Willingham was anything but an awful coach at Notre Dame will be seen gazing eastward, waiting for the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria to fall off the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

Brady Quinn might win the Heisman Trophy this year. Look at the numbers. Look at the schedule. If we beat USC, it's between him and Vince Young. If it's between him and Vince Young, Texas needs to win the National Championship to keep it out of Brady's hands. You can mark that sucker down. Some numbers to consider:

Leinart- 82/126 (65.1%), 1286 yards, 10 touchdowns, 2 INT
Young- 54/82 (65.9%), 780 yards, 7 touchdowns. 48 carries, 310 yards, 2 touchdowns, 5 INT.
Quinn - 124/190 (65.3%), 1621 yards, 13 touchdowns, 3 INT.

At this point, it's not really close, is it? If Reggie Bush and Lendale White were the same guy, he'd have a shot, but they're not.

Has there ever been a smaller 18 point lead in the history of college football? I've never seen a game where the team losing 21-10 had things under such control. USC can play very sloppy football (nine first half penalties?) and beat good teams on their home fields. Ho hum, another 35-point half. What happened in Tempe should give Irish fans pause, because USC can lay a turd like that and still blow us out of our own stadium. Beating the Trojans will not take a miracle, just a perfect game. There are two teams standing between USC and the MNC, and we're one of them. We are 24-4 all-time in post-bye games. We do rotten things to #1s in Notre Dame stadium. But playing this USC team makes "cautious optimism" ridiculous. Me? I'm only mildly fatalistic, which is about the best we can hope for. We have the proverbial "puncher's chance."

I'm kicking myself for leaving Florida off my "enigma" list last week. You'll have to take my word that I backspaced them out of the post. Sure enough, they showed that they haven't been entirely de-Zooked in their 31-3 pantsing at Alabama. Bama moves into their spot as highest profile enigma (joining stalwart Miami and upstart Penn State), a role compounded by the loss of Tyrone Prothro, gone for the year after his leg tried to form the letter "Q." Are the Tide any good? We may not know until the Rose Bowl.

Speaking of Ron Zook, his Illini are the recipients of this week's "AP Understatement of the Week":

Illinois (2-3, 0-2) struggled in the first half, in which two of its field goal attempts were blocked, a third was missed, and a pass was intercepted deep in Iowa territory.

Similarly, Ned Beatty struggled on a canoeing trip in Georgia.

Holy crap! Oklahoma threw a touchdown pass! With this new gadget in their playbook, they might be able to stay within four touchdowns of Texas next week. What's that you say? Adrian Peterson is hurt? 56-6.

I woke up this morning and it was 1982. Nebraska, 4-0. Penn State, 4-0. Go figure. What's Iowa Pre-Flight's record?

Reason #147 why it's not good to lose to Michigan State. You never look back and say it was a good loss.

Ball State allowed its 197th point in their fourth game (against 34 scored), completing some of the most incredible, self-sacrificing cupcakerie in memory. It was Boston College this week, handing them their second shut-out loss of the year. We need to get FEMA up to Muncie, ASAP. Come to think of it, they've probably been there since the Cardinals broke camp. Luckily for BSU, the conference schedule starts next week, and less than half their remaining opponents don't have "Northern", "Eastern", "Western", or "Central" in their names.

Odds and Sods, Take Five | by Mike

Bouncing from thought to thought like Jeff Samardzija bouncing off Purdue defensive backs.

Time is on my side. After the Pittsburgh game, Weis commented on the steps he would take to draw officials' attention to a play that needed to be reviewed.

"If I think that they were really wrong and it was a critical mistake, I'll burn a timeout just to hope that 90 seconds or minute or two that this comes into play, maybe they can go ahead and review their thinking and go ahead and challenge a call."

Such a situation presented itself yesterday, as recounted by the Daily Southtown:

It came with the Fighting Irish already ahead of Purdue 28-0, but with the Boilermakers mounting their best drive since their second possession. Quarterback Brandon Kirsch threw a low pass to Andre Chattams in the left flat, and at first, it appeared Chattams made a clean catch while on his back, good for a first down on the Irish 45-yard line.

The play was in front of Notre Dame's sideline. Weis didn't think there was a clean catch, and replays — which under NCAA rules neither Weis nor his assistants upstairs could see — proved his hunch correct. In order to give the replay officials more time to review the play, he called time.

That bought him 90 seconds, and at the end of it, it was announced the play was under review. Another minute passed, and the call was reversed. Rather than first down on the Irish 45, it was fourth-and-7 on the Purdue 44, and the Boilermakers had to punt.

This may seem like an easy call, but the possibility of using timeouts as de facto coach's challenges eluded the coach of at least one of our opponents. Rather than waiting until after Henne's fumble on a subsequent play to demand review of Michigan's preceding goalline plunge, Lloyd Carr should have called a timeout after Henne's first dive if he thought the play should have been reviewed.

Dazed and confused. The look of utter befuddlement on Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack's face following Darius Walker's second quarter touchdown scamper was a thing of beauty. The last time I saw someone look that flummoxed on the sidelines was when Norm Chow and Pete Carroll had just finished applying a tag-team atomic wedgie to our previous staff.

Knock on wood. Yes, I did see the play where Ambrose Wooden failed to finish a tackle near the sidelines. However, that play was quickly cleaned up by the safety. More importantly, Wooden made two of the biggest defensive plays of the game. On Purdue's first possession of the game, Kirsch launched a deep ball as Dorien Bryant raced to the endzone. Yet before Bryant could haul in the ball and give Purdue a 6-0 lead, Wooden turned his head, kept pace with Bryant, found the ball, and batted it away. It's hard to cover the opponent's best receiver any better than that. On Purdue's second possession, Wooden beat Kory Sheets to the endzone, forcing the Purdue RB out of bounds at the 1. Just as he had done to Jason Avant in the Michigan game. And just as in the Michigan game, Wooden's play made a goal line fumble possible. Similar effort was displayed by Maurice Stovall, who chased down Purdue DE Rob Ninkivich after Ninkivich intercepted Quinn. Once again, the Irish were rewarded for playing to the whistle, as Mike Richardson intercepted Brandon Kirsch in the endzone on Purdue's first play following the turnover.

Recognize. One offseason. That's the apparent answer to the oft-repeated question, "How long will it take Brady Quinn to understand Charlie Weis's NFL offense?" According to a Jason Kelly article in the South Bend Tribune, Weis's confidence in Quinn's recognition abilities has led to increased freedom for the junior signal-caller:

Weis gave him freedom to choose his weapon at the line of scrimmage on several plays and the quarterback liked the look of the pass coverage most of the time.

"I probably called 15 more runs in the game than we actually ran because they were run-pass options based off of pressure," Weis said, "and then Brady just picked them apart."

Blood in the water. Jeff Samardzija snared his seventh and eight touchdown receptions of the season. Five games into the season, Samardzija has already tied Tom Gatewood and Jim Seymour for third place in single-season touchdown receptions. Both Gatewood and Seymour were consensus All-Americans. With six regular season games remaining, Samardzija needs only three touchdowns to tie the mark of 11 set by All-American Derrick Mayes. Could Samardzija be playing his way into All-America recognition?

Feel the rush. In 2004, Purdue recorded seven sacks against the Irish, and Brady Quinn spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon picking himself up off the sod of Notre Dame stadium. In 2005 - with all eleven starters back for Purdue's defense and the pieces virtually the same for Notre Dame's offense - Purdue failed to record a single sack. It's hard to imagine a more dramatic turnaround. In particular, Ryan Harris did a stellar job of shutting down star Purdue defensive end Ray Edwards. The only bad play on Harris's part I can recall was failing to get Rob Ninkivich's hands down on a quick pass, leading to Quinn's interception.

Blitz pick-up was excellent all around. While Purdue's defense doesn't quite possess the speed of Michigan's defense, the breakdowns that occurred in the Michigan game appear to have been addressed. However, we have yet to face a team that can really get pressure just by rushing its front four. (I should admit I thought Edwards might be able to do so. Again, a credit to our tackles.) The defensive lines of USC and Tennessee will pose formidable challenges.

I was frustrated by the Notre Dame defense's inability to record a sack against Purdue. Part of this can be attributed to Kirsch's mobility. Several times what would have been sacks against slower quarterbacks turned into positive plays for Purdue on Kirsch scrambles. However, the defense simply can't afford to give Leinart the time Kirsch had.

First of the month. On October 1, several Irish players recorded career firsts. Backup quarterback David Wolke completed his first pass, tight end John Carlson hauled in his first touchdown reception, former walk-on Rob Woods caught his first pass (a 28-yarder), and defensive back Leo Ferrine got his first start as Notre Dame came out in its nickel package. Finally, while he has already seen a fair amount of playing time for a freshman, David Bruton's tackle on kickoff coverage deserves recognition.

You stay classy, West Lafayette. Accomplished jazz flautist Ron "Burgundy" Franklin provided one of the more humorous moments in yesterday's broadcast. When sideline reporter Holly Rowe tried to put a positive spin on Brock Spack's timeout late in the fourth quarter, Franklin responded, "It's 49-21, sweetheart." Great Odin's raven!

Wrong way. Last week, I raised the possibility that Dave Wannstedt had merely ruined Pitt's offense and that their defense might still be decent. Allow me to retract. I also suggested that this might be the year Sparty finally abandons their rollercoaster ways. After all, the 1998 team was a couple coaches, uniforms, and field logos ago, to say nothing of the turnover in players. Different coaches, different players, different uniforms, same result. Dropped third down passes, breakdowns in the kicking game, an interception of a wide receiver's weak pass attempt - it was all classic Sparty. Javon Ringer fighting to stay in bounds as the Michigan defender was about to drive him out of bounds near the end of regulation was one of the more surreal sights in college football this season. Mea culpa.

Miracle man. UM's Mike Hart had an impressive performance against Sparty (36 carries, 218 yards). However, that performance pales in comparison to the wonders wrought by the person responsible for keeping Hart academically eligible. After the game, Hart proclaimed:

We don't ever lose three games a year. If we lost three, what would that make us look like?

Is Hart unable to count to three? Because that would make you look exactly like a Llloyd Carr-coached Michigan team, Mike.

2004: 9-3-0
2003: 10-3-0
2002: 10-3-0
2001: 8-4-0
2000: 9-3-0

Spackling | by Jay

Shark! | by Jay

Safety Dance: Extended Remix edition | by Pat

Number 18 is in the books with the recent committment of Sergio Brown to the Fighting Irish.

The 6'2" 193lb safety from Illinois is the fourth defensive back to commit to the Irish and is another sign that Coach Weis' plan to re-establish Notre Dame's recruiting presence in the Midwest is working. 12 of the 18 recruits could be considered to be from the "driving distance Midwest" that Weis talked about in one of his first press conferences.

The backstory on Brown is textbook "flying under the radar" stuff. It seems that early on, his lack of recruitment could be attributed to a perfect storm of playing on a lackluster team, coaching turnover, and the always dangerous clerical error.

Brown was caught in a vacuum when Proviso East coach Bo Flowers was fired after his team finished 2-7 last season. Then college recruiters were turned off when a biography on Brown noted his 40- yard dash time was 4.8 seconds. But it didn't note that the time was recorded as a freshman.

In November, we began to wonder why no colleges were calling about Sergio," said Aaron Peppers, Proviso East's new coach. He was the West Suburban Conference's defensive player of the year. He was Proviso East's MVP. He returned five interceptions for touchdowns."

When Brown wasn't attracting any attention, Peppers and friend Shadeed Hadee put together a highlight tape and sent copies to Illinois, Northwestern and Nike. Almost overnight, he received scholarship offers from Illinois and NU, and Nike invited him to the Michigan combine.

On top of that, an old article that isn't available online anymore noted that Brown used to wear two different numbers his junior year. #13 on the road, #7 at home. But in the roster guide he was only listed as #7 so people who wanted to know who #13 was during away games weren't able to find out. That had to hurt his early recruiting somewhat.

Of course, all of that is over now that Brown is a Notre Dame verbal, so the question is, just what will he bring to the Irish team? Currently Brown plays both safety and wide receiver so perhaps there is a chance that the 6'2" athlete might see some time on the offensive side of the ball. Other insights into his athletic ability include the fact he qualified for the state track meet for long jump and plays on the East Provisio High School basketball team. Former East Provisio high teammates of Brown include Dee Brown (Illinois) and Shannon Brown (Michigan State).

Once Brown gets to Notre Dame and receives an upgrade in coaching (just looking at the way he's holding the football in the above picture here folks), it's possible that Brown could really develop into a quality contributor early for the Irish. Of course, he has to get to Notre Dame first. After choosing the Irish over schools like Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, and UCLA, Brown has mentioned that he still plans on taking other recruiting visits. Usually in a situation like this it's one of two things. Either recruit gives a verbal to one of his finalists in an effort to save his spot so to speak, or he continues the visits because, let's face it, free trips around the country to be wined and dined aren't an every day occurrence. I'm leaning towards thinking it's perhaps a mix of both with Brown, but I really would be surprised, even if he did take a trip or two to other schools, if he ended up anywhere other than Notre Dame.

Check yo'self | by Jay

This week we've been subtly (or not so subtly; see Pete, below) sanguine about our chances against Purdue. However, like Dr. Phil tells me every day (thanks, Tivo!), it's always good to stop and try and take an honest look at yourself from time to time. This game is by no means a gimme.

Here's a post from IE that sounds a proper note of caution.

Why Purdue will win by 10+ points tomorrow...

Our defense is not that good. We cannot generate a pass rush and our safeties have not played well this year. They have created some turnovers but they have been absent in coverage and they have bitten too hard on play fakes.

Tomorrow Purdue's offense will take full advantage of this. Say what you want, but the Purdue offense does a great job of attacking the weaknesses of a defense. Chaney and Tiller pinpoint weak spots and go right at them. The difference between the last few years and 2005 is the QB position, however. No Kyle Orton means they don't have someone who can shred a defense in the air, but you'll see Brandon Kirsch tomorrow use his legs to cause all sorts of problems. That will force ND to use a spy on him, and in doing so, that means we'll have one less guy in coverage. Down one guy is going to make the secondary's job that much harder (see Michigan State game).

Sure, our offense will move the ball in the air, but we've struggled closer to the endzone. Also, our offense hasn't been able to create big plays. We've moved the ball downfield and used up a lot of clock. The downside of that is that, without quick-strike capability, you're more likely to get stopped by a better defense (see Michigan, 2nd half).

Michigan State has no defense, but their offense is good. Tomorrow we'll face a better defense who'll do some things to us like Michigan did in the second half. Meanwhile on offense, we'll be picked apart at times because we just don't have the secondary to consistently stop teams. We've gotten some opportune turnovers and I think that rash of luck will end tomorrow.

Washington sucks (see how they lost to Air Force, who has lost two bad games in a row) but they put up 400+ yards on us and made some bad decisions (inexperienced QB throwing into endzone on the run, bad fumble on goal line).

Pitt moved the ball against us in the first half until their bad coaching caught up with our good coaching.

Michigan State moved the ball against us nearly at will, although it got better when we went to a nickel defense.

Tomorrow Purdue will run and throw on us, and they'll keep us off-balanced all day. Meanwhile Spack will give Weis a good test.

Boil 'er Down | by Pete

Well, we can all breathe easy. We managed to come out of the Ty Bowl with a strong victory, and we didn’t have to burn any crosses to do it, despite what John Saunders may have us believe. Granted, we didn’t beat the crap out of them like we did last year under Ty, but here’s a key difference: we play second string players this year. Tyrone never played any true reserves in games, because 1) we’d either be losing a game, 2) it’d be too close to bring in reserves, or 3) Tyrone beat the crap out of bad teams to make us think we were better than we really are. While beating Stanford by 50+ points with a fake punt for good measure or beating up on a one-win Washington team, Tyrone refused to call off the vicious animals in those games because he had to make up points wherever he could. We all sure as hell knew he was going to lose 30 or 40 anytime we played a good team.

So we keep the first string in and play for points that entire Washington game, the Huskies never score those two touchdowns and we tack on a couple more. All of a sudden, we’ve got a 50-3 game, which is an all-around ass-whooping of Tyrone proportions. Of course, Kent Baer would claim that it was their talent that just beat them, which just translates to “Hell, with the crap talent we’re working with now, what did you expect?” Atta boy, coach.

The Washington game saw us run the ball, pass the ball, make big turnovers when we needed them; it was an all-around strong performance, save some special teams errors. In fact, the only thing I really thought was missing the game was a live satellite feed of Bill Diedrick watching the game from his apartment in the frozen tundra, while he ate Chef Boy-ar-dee out of the can and wept softly. I would’ve liked to have seen that.

But the real focus today is on the Purdue game, a team that brings with it not only the World’s Largest Drum and the World’s Largest Group of Unnecessary Pep-Related Members, but also the World’s Most Over-Inflated Sense of Ability. I swear, every year is “the year” for the Purdue Boilermakers, they always think that the pieces are finally in place, and they’re ready to make a run for the Big 10 Title and, God willing, a trip to a BCS bowl. And every year, they don’t. This year it was hyped up even more, as the Gods of Scheduling smiled upon the mortal Boilermakers with no games against Michigan or Ohio State, only to promptly smite them with a ferocious Gopher attack.

Watching games last weekend, I had varying feelings seeing Purdue lose and watching USC flirt with losing in the first half. For USC, I never want to see them lose until they come to see us. USC has been winning for so long and so easily, it’s hard to believe that they aren’t starting to get somewhat complacent. I want to see a USC team that has gorged itself on big wins over small opponents come into South Bend, and I think Notre Dame is in the perfect opportunity to beat the coasting Trojans. The more wins for USC, the more indestructible they feel, the harder they fall when they come to South Bend.

However, I’m very glad that Purdue lost last weekend, and it makes me that much more confident about this week’s game. Some people say teams come back with a vengeance after coming off a tough loss, but nobody includes Purdue in that theorem. While they always come into the season soaring high, that first loss pops their spirit as they deflate their way to 3 or 4 losses. Purdue is a team that is exponentially worse once they hit the first road bump of the season, and that makes it all the easier for Notre Dame. Notre Dame is riding high, and is certainly looking to wipe the taste of last year’s embarrassing loss at home out of their mouths. Purdue seems convinced that Ross-Ade is a tough place to play, but if anything, Charlie is the master of not letting a team do what it wants (right, Peyton?). I predict Notre Dame to jump to an early lead, and never let Purdue sniff within a touchdown of that lead. Our coach continues his dominance over mustachioed opponents, as the Charlie Weis Mustache Destruction Tour (brought to you by Home Depot) rolls out of Ross-Ade with a 3-0 record.

The feeling on campus is one of optimism and confidence, but guarded nonetheless. We all took a big ego hit last year when Purdue stomped all over us on our home field, and we certainly don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here. We’re guarded because, looking at recent history, it’d be hard to believe we will win this game. However, the confidence comes from the fact that this is Purdue, the pride of the cornfields, and I certainly hope that Charlie has the team prepared for a long and sustained domination of the Boilermakers during his tenure. If we’re going to be as good as we want to be, a good ol’ beat-down of Purdue is always the perfect place to start. I look for us to score more points than Purdue has mascots (what’s that, like 4?) as we romp to a satisfying victory in the middle of nowhere.