A few weeks ago, Charlie Weis was asked what he thought the ND Seniors’ legacy would be. He responded that he felt that the seniors’ legacy would be determined in the last few weeks of the season (including the bowl game). “You’re always rememebered by how it ended,” Weis said. So now the question remains, is this how the ND seniors are to be remembered? The class that couldn’t beat Southern Cal? The class that couldn’t win the really big games?
No. Notre Dame fans will always look back on this class fondly. This is the class that turned things around. This is the class that gave us hope. This is the class that fought back.
But there is a legacy being left here, and hopefully Charile Weis can leave it in the dust. That’s the legacy of Tyrone Willingham. Because Willingham was never willing to do what it takes to recruit top talent from across the country. It might have cut into his golfing time, and we all know how hard it can be to master the bump and run. Meanwhile, coaches from USC, Michigan, and Ohio State were poaching the very talent that Notre Dame should have been recruiting, assembling classes of talent that make Notre Dame look like a bunch of nice guys trying really hard to win one for the Gipper.
Notre Dame’s last 3 losses in the last 365 days have come to, arguably, the top 3 teams in the country. And each time Notre Dame has been outclassed. I find it really interesting to listen to people who don’t follow college football all that closely during these games. I keep hearing the same things, “They look so big compared to our guys.” And, “why don’t our guys run that fast?” are quite common. And those comments usually come right before I find myself huddled in a corner somewhere, mumbling something about Willingham and sitting in a recruit’s home, refusing to leave his house for 8 or more hours. And it’s sad because I’m right. This Notre Dame team can and will beat most of the collegiate teams out there, but they cannot and will not beat the elite teams until the roster is stocked to the brim with elite talent.
Southern Cal, Michigan, and Ohio State just have gobs of talent, while Notre Dame has 5 or 6 first day draft picks on offense, and then a patchwork of converted players playing different positions on defense, a “senior” offensive line made up of 1 hyper-potential freshman and a bunch of other guys that wouldn’t start at Ohio State or Michigan. Southern Cal, Michigan, and Ohio State cause people like Brent Mussberger to use terms like “flying to the ball.” Notre Dame’s defensive backs get a lot of “great efforts.” And that’s only when they aren’t being posterized.
I spent the entire day watching football yesterday, and save for the last 4 hours of the evening, that was glorious. But one thing kept leaping out at me watching teams like Florida, FSU, even Pitt: These teams tackle. They stick someone and then wrap up and bring a man down. At Notre Dame, the defense just doesn’t tackle. Rarely does the first man to the ball, often behind the line of scrimage, take the ball carrier down. What does this have to do with talent levels? Well, Charlie Weis has said in previous comments that Notre Dame doesn’t practice taking a man to the ground. Why? Because Notre Dame’s depth is thin. Razor thin. And so our guys just don’t have the proper technique practiced well enough to take really talented players down to the turf. Meanwhile teams like Southern Cal have such gobs of talent that they manage to thru a season with only one loss despite injuries across the board. And, oh, by the way, they probably practice tackling too. I’m not sold one way or the other on Rick Minter, but I do know that his schemes caused our defense to hit their ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage several times. A good tackling team would have converted those opportunities into long 3rd downs and gotten the ball back. Our team simply allows the opponent to rack up broken tackle numbers.
Ty Willingham has left his mark, his legacy, on this program like smallpox. And the result is scar tissue left behind in the form of razor thin talent levels. 1st day draft picks teamed with questionable talent. And that just leaves Notre Dame exposed in these big games where every face on the opposition’s roster makes NFL scouts take notice.
If you read the many Notre Dame message boards, you’ll find a lot of theoies. Some have already begun the “how much rope should we give Charlie?” type questions. And that’s riddiculous. You can’t question that Charlie Weis is an excellent coach. Tell you what, give Alton Brown a can of artichokes, some anchovies, white pepper, and some raisins and tell him to go make a great chocolate cake. That’s what Charlie’s being forced to do here - make a great team out of a few solid ingredients and a lot of really crappy ones. And that’s the sort of response you should give to anyone asking why Charlie can’t get his players to shine like Lou could. Lou had the ingredients. Charlie doesn’t even have the cholocolate. And then remind them how much the 1996 squad stepped up against OSU.
And so we simply must wait. We have to wait for Tyrone Willingham’s legacy to shrivel up and die. And that’s what Charlie’s trying to make happen today, as he hits the recruiting trail rather than going home to sleep it off. Because Charlie may have to honor the scholarships that Ty Willingham handed out, but he doesn’t have to play Ty’s players. Charlie’s bringing in his own army now, and soon they’ll snuff out Ty’s legacy.
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