Last week we were measuring the progress of the 2007 Notre Dame Football team using the Lego Duplo version of “measurements.” After having seen some real progress, we’ve decided that this team is ready to not choke on the 1-piecers and 2-piecers, and so we’re moving them up to The Lego City Edition. A bit more to work with here. There are a few moving parts and even an opportunity to poke your eye out once or twice, but still not even close to the Lego Technic measurments and miles upon miles to go from the Lego Mindstorms measurements of progress.

For the MSU game, we had the following progress indicators:

• Tackle - The overall technique against MSU was poor. Granted, I’d rather eat nothing but salad for the next 2 weeks than try to tackle Jehuu Caulcrick just once, but I’m an out-of-shape office dweller, and I spend my free time critiquing the effort and execution of 19 year old kids, so… Anyway, Purdue don’t have a Jehuu, and it will be absolutely vital in this game to limit yards after contact, so hopefully ND’s tackling has improved quite a bit this week.
• Block - We saw a lot of promise developing last week. Sam Young and Turkovich seemed to lead the way. Sully played tough. Even Schwapp made me smile a time or two. This, above all else, is an area that has a little bit of momentum. Hopefully that can continue to gain some more.
• Run - We’ve got 3 running backs that pretty much any team in D1 football would take in a heartbeat. We need to ride them like trampy girls on a mechanical bull at Hogs ‘n Hunnys. 5 yards here, 3 yards here, and then an occasional 40-yarder here or there.
• Create the Violence - I’ve seen Zibby really pop a few guys. I’ve seen Turkovich send a guy flying like he was the victim of a roundhouse kick in an anime flick. I’ve seen Bruton put every once of what he has into a hit. What we need here is more consistency. Every single hit should count. Every single hit should register in the mind of the opponent and get him thinking about pain rather than winning.
• Hustle - Last week, even though the second half wasn’t pretty, I think it’s fair to say we saw this the entire game. It’s part of what gives me hope for this team - they don’t give up.
• Take Pride - Given the account by Charlie Weis of the mood in the locker room after the MSU loss, I think it’s fair to say these guys take a lot of pride in what they’re doing. What needs to happen is that the young guys on this team learn how to channel that into positive plays so that they can stop feeling badly about the results and start feeling good.
• Win

And now, having seen some sure signs of progress, or, at least, promise, we’re ready to hand this football team the rubberized wheels and hinged cockpit doors. Who knows, maybe we’ll even pass along some of those little stickers that you have to soak in water for a few minutes in order to remove from the backing!

The new pieces include:

• 3rd down efficiency - offense - An actual quantitative element! Woo hoo! The stuff up above is a little to touchy-feely for my tastes, but this right here is a real indicator of performance with statistical correlations to winning and losing! All season, ND has had trouble converting 3rd downs. This is an area about which I once just shook my head in awe back in the Quinn/Shark/Walker years. Now I just try to shake away the pain.
• 3rd down efficiency - defense - This is really where the game got out of hand against MSU. Really, the defense performed reasonably well for 2 out of 3 plays on several drives, but they kept allowing themselves to be gashed by 4th and shorts and 3rd and longs.
• Performance on 3rd and short (3 yards or less) - offense - This is a matter of attitude. And really, while I’d be pleased just to see the numbers improve significantly here, I’ll be sort of bummed if Charlie finds a way to do it without running the ball over the defense, especially considering we’ve got Hughes and Aldridge and the other team has light DEs. I’ll be even more displeased if Charlie tries to improve this area of performance without a real running attack and fails.
• Performance on 3rd and short - defense - Also a matter of attitude, but I don’t think anyone can complain about the attitude of guys like Kuntz and Laws. Corwin Brown needs to find a way to reliably use that attitude to beat the opposing offense off the ball and stop the ball carrier for a loss while not allowing the LBs and DBs to get sucked in and then beaten on play action.
• Angle of Pursuit - As important as tackling will be against Purdue, how exactly the ND defenders go about getting to the ball carrier may be even more important. Purdue tends to change direction of the play and go against the grain or flow of the defense after short passes or during runs. It’s vital that all of the defenders play excellent “assignment football” (meaning they take responsibility for their particular gap and/or zone) and not over-pursue the the initial part of the play. Because if the play reverses course, the defender needs to be there to make the stop after a 3 yard gain rather than a 15 yard gain.
• Defensive Ball Skills - For starters, get a feel for when the ball has been thrown. As much as QBs need to feel the rush and know when to get rid of a ball, a good CB must have a good instinct about when the ball has been thrown and when to turn around and try to make a play on that ball. Of course, not getting blown off the LOS will help tremendously here. We’re going to face a lot of challenges as Purdue will find ways to create man-to-man match-ups that may not favor ND. It’s important that all of the CBs and Safeties have a good game and also make sure to team-tackle once a guy has the ball.
• LOS technique of the receivers - A lot of people point out that Jimmy Clausen holds onto the ball too long. Almost as many people have expressed wonder at whether or not any receivers are open. Our front-line receivers aren’t going to torch anyone going down the field, so they must use excellent technique to create space between themselves and the defender. And given the fact that our OL isn’t considered very good at pass blocking, and our receivers tend to be small, you can expect to see a lot of physical play right at the LOS, trying to slow down the ND receivers’ release, thus forcing Jimmy to hold onto that ball.
• Kickoff Defense - Purdue is #1 in kickoff return right now.  The challenge for ND: Don’t allow Purdue’s starting field position to average better than the Purdue 37 yard line after a kickoff.

Ok, so our “measurables” are still largely unmeasurable, at least in a classic, quantitative sense, but we’re getting there. Hopefully on Sunday we can talk about how we’ve “turned the corner,” and we can toss most of the touch-feely stuff aside in future editions. See you Sunday and be sure to drink excellent beer this weekend.

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