The matchup with UW is no longer the cupcake everyone expected. Sark has his boys playing much better, but their talent deficiencies, particularly along the lines (sound familiar?) and their lack of depth have hurt them thus far this season. UW is very much improved, but very much improved from 0-fer still isn’t great. ND should win this game, but sadly UW matches up pretty well with the Irish and could give us a game.

UW Offense

The UW offense obviously depends heavily on Jake Locker, but not necessarily on his feet. Sark likes a more traditional offense, and has Locker throwing the ball. Locker has thrown for 1000 yards, at a 58% completion rate. However, he’s not getting a ton of production per pass, averaging 7.4 yards per attempt, and he has 3 INTS to his 6 TDS. Growing pains in a new offense to be sure. And his stats are padded from their game against Not-USC/Stanford/LSU. But still, he’s not looking bad.

The run game is very different at UW this year, and it’s more traditional than Ty’s “Locker run for your life” attack. It’s also not that much more effective. The team combines for 433 yards at 3.3 YPC. Those look like ND stats from a year ago (okay not quite that bad).

So how does the UW match up well against ND? Well, they like to pass, which is a big weakness for the Irish D, and they have a scrambling QB that will make you pay if you miss tackles in the backfield (See: Nevada and Michigan, all day long). So statistically, the U-dub offense isn’t very scary. But they tend to play into the areas where ND is weakest. I am hoping that Tenuta has a plan for correcting our tackling issues, and that we can mix up the blitz to keep UW off balance, while maintaining some semblance of decent coverage. At the least, this isn’t a game where we “have” to stack up against the run like the past 3 (we ‘had’ to stop Nevada’s run game and force Colin to beat us through the air, we ‘had’ to because there was no way a frosh Noodle-Armed QB at Mich was going to beat us, and we ‘had’ to against the Boilers bc they have a first year starting QB that was 2nd string until like 2 days ago). I’m relieved by this, because those game plans didn’t work out so well. UW is more balanced, and leans toward the pass. Maybe if we scheme against the pass, we can stop it? But then what about the run???? Guess we’ll find out.

UW Defense

The UW defense doesn’t match up well with ND. Or anybody really. They are giving up >25 points per game and 380 yards, pretty balanced run vs. pass, for next to last in the pretty-bad-at-defense-except USC Pac-10. Stanford ran for 7,000 yards last week. And while Stanford is decent, it’s still Stanford doing all that running. Allen and company should have a field day, which should open up things for Tate and his complementary crew of WRs as well.

The Matchup

So why does UW match up well with us? Well, we score a lot. They have a pretty bad D, so we should score a lot again (assuming our injury-to-Floyd issue can be overcome, which is still TBD). UW can score on us as well, because, well, ND hasn’t really stopped anyone since Nevada. And if that happens, look out for another nailbiter.

The keys for the game: How ND’s Defense prepares and executes, and avoiding costly mistakes in penalties and turnovers. Tenuta needs to plan to stop the pass, while not giving Locker all day. I liked the mix at Purdue and am hoping our front 4 can contain the run against UW’s fairly thin OL, allowing Tenuta to blitz here and there, and drop into coverage when needed as well.

On the mistakes, I’m not all that concerned. ND has been solid in turnover ratio this year and the fact that we won’t have Big Televen refs bodes well for another decent game in terms of penalties (assuming Sam Young gets his head out of his…) UW hung with LSU and beat USC largely on red zone errors and turnovers by their opponents. Not taking anything away from their play in those games, but without 75 turnovers by USC, UW doesn’t win that game. So ND has to stay mentally sharp and take care of the ball.

If Tenuta and the D can figure out a gameplan that works and execute it well, and our guys are in the game mentally, though, this won’t even be close. I’m betting on something in between a blowout and nailbiter: ND wins 34 – 24, but not going to the wire. We’ll have the ball to wind out the clock in the 4th (Lord, I hope).

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(Note: I changed the title of this post because it was annoying me. -dmq)

ND is 3-1. All of the top-5 teams in the current polls are 4-0. And, really, after you’re done talking about Florida, Texas, and Alabama, you’re done talking about the “Tier 1″ teams this year, at least according to most pundits.

I got to thinking about what it means to be undefeated at this point in the season when I read this post by Dr. Saturday questioning whether or not ND and Michigan’s relatively decent records are really indicative of high-quality levels of play.

But these aren’t really inspiring wins, in general: Notre Dame’s three wins are over teams that are 2-5 outside of their losses to the Irish, with losses to Central Michigan, Colorado State and Northern Illinois in that record.

Dr. Saturday makes some valid points. Oh how I yearn for a 10-win record against a schedule featuring teams who otherwise beat everyone they played. You know, like the currently undefeated top-5 of Florida, Texas, Alabama, LSU, and Boise State. Those teams are beating everyone, and the teams they beat otherwise beat everyone they play. They’re awesome.

Or not. At least, not so much as you might believe until you do a little digging.

Now, first, I submit that a win against Charleston Southern doesn’t count as a win in D1 football. It just doesn’t. You can rant and rave all you want, but in this universe, only losses to non-FBS programs count. Wins do nothing for ya.

So, given that all top-5 teams have played 4 games each. Almost all of the opposition of the top-5 have also played 4 games each. Which means almost all of those teams had 3 other opportunities to win a game against a FBS opponent. They may not have chosen to actually play FBS competition on the other weeks, but that’s not my problem. No rewards for cupcaking. Anyway, how many wins do you suppose the opponents of the Top-5 teams can claim against FBS opponents, on average?

Less than 5. 4.8, actually.

Florida’s opponents have managed 6 wins vs. the FBS. Texas’ opponents have won 4. Same with Alabama, and BSU. LSU’s opposition has chalked up 6. And let me tell ya, you’d be stunned how often I read the name “Troy” while doing this quick research.

Now, how many wins vs. the FBS has ND’s opposition managed? Five.

Granted, style-points count. ND’s only got one blow-out of an opponent in 4 attempts. Top-5 teams have blown out the likes of UTEP, Charleston Southern, and North Texas already. And yes, I’m talking quality of all opposition here, regardless of whether ND and/or the top-5 won or loss because the Top-5, obviously, won all of their games. ND had the misfortune of losing to Michigan in the final seconds.

I’m certainly not making the case that ND is top-5 material. I’m not convinced that the Irish are even top-20 material. The Michigan loss irritates me, and, somehow, so do the MSU and Purdue wins. But I do find the actual makeup of the actual top-5 pretty interesting. And pretty unconvincing.

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Coming into the season, we all thought we knew what we had in our defense: A really, really solid backfield and some suspect parts of the front 7, mostly due to youth and inexperience. We were all very confident in our ability to stop the pass, and therefore allow our front 7 to focus a bit more on the run. But, somehow, we’ve made world-beaters out of 3 QBs in a row (including a frosh with noodle arms, a first year starter that’s mediocre at best, and another first year starter that’s mediocre at best) after shutting down all-world Colin K from Nevada.

So 4 games in, our D isn’t quite what we expected. We’ve learned we can’t just go man-to-man and sell out against the run all day. When we do, we get burned, especially in the short/intermediate routes. Tenuta’s adjustments at Purdue helped, but we still made Elliot look great, when he’s not. Check out our stats on the year thus far:

Rush Defense. Rank on YPG: 57. We’ve given up 522 yards on the ground, at an average of 4.42 YPC. That rolls up to 130.5 YPG. That’s not great, but it’s not terrible either, especially given the concerns we all had coming into the season.

Pass Defense. Rank on YPG: 106. (!!!!) There are less than 20 teams worse than us a defending the pass. In the country. We’ve given up 1037 yards through the air, and opponents are completing 61% of their passes, for an average of 259 yards per game. That’s pretty freaking bad.

One could say that we’ve had to pick our poision – we’ve decided to stop the run and force young/newly starting QBs to beat us through the air. We decided to give our young DL guys help up front to stop the run, and hoped that our experienced DBs and Safeties can handle the pass (hopefully, rushed due to the NONSTOP NEVERENDING BLITZBLITZBLITZ). In theory, this made sense. We faced teams with young or inexperienced QBs and we’d expect them to make mistakes, miss WRs, throw INTs and generally F things up under pressue. But in execution, we’ve struggled. Our DBs haven’t been all that disciplined in their coverage, and some plays have just been completely blown up. A lot of it has been miscommunication, which is another huge issue for the defensive backfield.

At Purdue, we mixed things up a bit and had a bit more success. We still stopped the run really well, as the D shut down their star RB Bolden (Purdue only ran for 74 yards on the day), but we still gave up way too many yards to the passing game, and that INCLUDES Elliot missing a bunch of guys, tossing a pretty bad INT, etc. So, there are problems.

This week, Washington poses a big challenge, as Locker can put the ball in the air well, and he has scrambling ability. Hopefully we can execute disciplined defense as we did against Nevada to shut down the UW attack, but the challenge becomes clear: ND needs to figure out a way to shut down the Pass.

I think that a more balanced defensive strategy will help, but NDs CBs, LBs when in coverage, and Safeties just need to learn how to defend a passing play better. Positioning, coverage adjustments, playing the ball and shutting down passing lanes are all areas where we need improvement. Heck, just making sure that everyone on the D is playing the same coverage is really important, and something we’ve failed at more than once per game thus far.

The other thing that will help the Pass D is some sort of pass rush. Obviously the blitz packages haven’t delivered as promised, and things are being shifted a bit, but we need that young DL to step up and make plays. (The good news is that it seems like the DL plays better when there ISN’T a blitz called). No matter how well our DBs play, a QB will pick you a part if they have time to read a book and take a nap in the backfield. And that’s been the case thus far.

I think we’ve seen improvement since Michigan. While the stats dont show it much, we’ve given up fewer points each week, and the D appears to be less disheveled/desperate with each passing game. I think the arrow is moving in the right direction, but do we have too far to go? This weekend will provide a good test for the ND defense, and I’m hoping they’re up to the challenge.

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• Okay. Fine. I'll admit it. On occasion I enjoy Jacory Harris' one-liners. #
• RT @ChiTribHamilton: Great question from @jdubs88: What % of the #NotreDame O was absent from bag drills? (No Clausen, A.Allen or Floyd.) #
• Can't keep my face off the keyboard. Purdue is so freaking boring I cant evenzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. #
• RT @SteveKragthorpe: Hey man whatever happened to Spuds Mackenzie? << Didn't he just die? Or was that the Taco Bell dog? #
• So, when Dayne Crist starts against Purdue on Saturday, will the MSM take the "QB controversy" angle? #watchARumorGetStarted #
• Funny how every time we play Purdue, I seem to schedule a vacation for that weekend. #
• RT @jrcopper: @herloyalsons stop the stupidity please << We can't stop it, we can only hope to exploit it. #
• RT @jimmyheisman: @herloyalsons a little love for http://tiny.cc/jc4heis? << Absolutely support this, but the site is down. #
• Alright, here we go. @jimmyheisman 's real URL: http://bit.ly/jSJb9 #NDFB #
• 9am west coast football rules. #
• Based on the 1st qtr of msu wisc…it seems like our offense is even better than i thought. And our D worse #
• The review standard upheld ANOTHER time, contradicting both calls against ND by Big 10 refs. Man we got screwed on those #
• Notice how much mich struggles without the refs' help? #
• This non-jimmy drive shows that 1. Weis can game plan. 2. Verducci and Alford were great hires n the OL n RBs have responded to them #
• Wow. Calls against the OTHER team. Forgot what that was like. #
• 'Just too much speed at Notre Dame'. Remember when a few yearrs ago that just wasnt a possibility? #
• Bad decision by Jim on the Int. 2nd WR means a 1st down n 3 pts. #
• Oregon has turned it around in a serious way. Amazing 180 #
• Riddick seems more explosive than Gray #
• Impressed with Crist and the oline #
• Tate should be the wildcat guy 4 the rest of the season #
• Impressed with Jimmy too. I think his injury is worse than anyone wouldve guessed. #
• Our punt game is a huge liability. #
• Nice to see Tenuta adjusting this game. Scheme is similar but slightly adjusted. Love it. #
• Horrible decision by Charlie AGAIN! 4th n 10? With a rookie QB? U PUNT! #
• No pts in a qtr where u have the ball for 12 minutes is absurd #
• Typical ND football. Nice lead and control. Do NADA in the 3rd. Tight game in the 4th. F. #
• Hope's timeout is the only coaching call worse than Weis going 4 it on 4th n 10 #
• Jimmy is a leader. #
• But he shouldnt have to be against PU #
• If this team could skip the entire 3rd qtr we mite be great. As it is, we are mediocre. #

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We’re 3-1, yay!

We have tons of issues, still, boo.

Charlie had a great gameplan to deal with his injuries and the team executed it well for ~2 quarters, yay!

He made another extremely bone-headed call that no one in the world but him would make, and it didnt work, again. Boo.

Tenuta seemed to adjust this game, and our Defense served up some good stops, yay!

The Defense also made critical mistakes at key points in the game, and literally BLEW coverage on a few plays for big gains, boo.

I was hoping that this week might provide a little clarity on ND. That we’d see the ‘real’ team come out and put a team away. Maybe that was too much to expect with 3 of our 4 top producers on offense out of the game, and for an away game at night. I don’t know, but it’s what I was hoping. After that game, I don’t know much more than I knew last week. I have no idea where this team stands, and if we should be 4-0 or if we should be 1-3. What’s nice is that we’re 3-1, what’s not nice is that I can’t get my finger on the pulse of this team.

Flashes of brilliance in plan, execution and fundamentals. Horrible breakdowns minutes later. It makes for exciting games, but as Ethan Johnson said “HOLY SHIT!” We just want to win a game w/o all the drama.

The Offensive Scheme

I liked Weis’ game plan. I know some wonder why we had to go to such a scheme with a Top-level QB as our backup, but here’s why I think it was the right move: Not only has Dayne never started a game in college, but it was an away game. At night. With the starting RB and our #1 WR out. If it was a home game, and Floyd and Allen were healthy, I’m guessing you would’ve seen Dayne in the traditional pro-set O for the most part, with the Wildcat mixed in more than average to change things up a bit. But in these circumstances, I think Weis made the right call to give them the best chance of success.

So then, WTF on Going for it on 4th and 10?

And that’s where the going for it on 4th and 10 makes no sense to me. Weis clearly realized that he couldn’t depend on Dayne to run the traditional O throughout the game. Then how in the world did he conclude that we could pick up a 4th and 10 in that same game with Dayne throwing? It was completely counter-intuitive. It’s literally like Weis thinks to himself “hmmmm, everyone else in the world would do X 99% of the time. We GOTTA do Y.” It’s maddening. That call was almost as bad as going for it on 4th and 8 within FG range against Navy two years back. The only reason it’s not as bad? We won.

The Run Game
How about that for a running game? With our #1 RB on the sideline, this team comes out and eats up yardage and clock for 2 quarters. ANYONE that doesn’t give the OL and the RBs a ton of credit is on crack. And along with the players, Verducci and Alford deserve credit. Those were 2 great hires – we’ve seen measured improvement in the run game this year, and it’s been critical.

The D

Ugh. While I think we saw improvement (our opponent didnt put up 30+ points, so that’s good), there were still some huge, critical errors on the defense. I think Tenuta’s more selective blitzing worked. It actually made it more difficult for our opponents to pick it up, because it came more sporadically, and the additional help on coverage helped us make some big stops as well. But, we still have the same issues: mental errors, missed tackles/fundamentals, and a huge vulnerability to 3-5 yard pass routes. Some of this has to do with our having a pretty young front 7, but we’re 4 games in now, and we need to continue to see significant improvement week to week if we want to be a decent defense by year end. I think the new plan should be maintained, I think they gotta keep working on fundamentals and tackling, and we somehow need to eliminate huge moments of blinding confusion that result in easy 30 yard gains. Those are killers.

Special Teams

On the kicking side, I LOVED the improvement I saw in kickoffs. We got a lot more distance with decent hang time, and the results were promising. What I don’t quite get is why our coaches still have no confidence in the FG game outside of a 40-yarder. I’ve seen Tausch’s leg, and he seems to be good from 50 on in. They must be seeing something in practice they don’t like, but a good FG game is a weapon we need in close contests, and right now we just don’t go to it.

On the punting side, we’re a complete mess. Maust has regressed significantly from last year. I’m not sure what Turk is doing in practice to keep Maust on the field, but it must be pretty terrible, because Maust is stinking it up. He hit one great one last night that helped his distance average, but he’s not getting a good mix of distance and hang time, and therefore our coverage has been spotty at best as well. We were lucky to not have one taken to the house last night. This should be a very basic and fixable issue, but I havent seen any changes thus far.

In the End

I don’t know what to think. We won a tough game, down to the wire – this team has heart. But, it was against a mediocre Purdue team. But, we were hobbled by serious injuries to our top offensive players. But, the defense still looked suspect. But, we won. I don’t know what to think. But I’m very happy that I don’t know what to think after a W, rather than a loss. I know I think that.

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I take back my entire post. Sincerely, I was wrong. The lurkers from Purdue and Trojan-land showed me the light. I’d like to do the right thing and admit that I was entirely wrong, and that pretty much every team Notre Dame plays is a RIVAL. Except for the Trojans, who are not a riva because we haven’t beaten them lately.

Nevermind that the Trojan fan that convinced me of this fact then claimed that UCLA is their rival. Because, you know, UCLA has won JUST ABOUT 50% of their recent games I guess. It must be so, since that’s the qualification to be a rival, right? Right.

Purdue? They’re clearly a rival. They’re close by and we’ve played them a lot. By that criteria, Michigan (sucks) and Michigan State are ND rivals as well. And if you go by the longevity part of that equation, throw in BC, Navy, Pitt and Stanford too.

Man, ND sure has a lot of rivals. How can we keep track of all of them, and how can we be sure to CARE just THAT MUCH MORE EVERY SINGLE WEEK? Well, we’ll just have to, because I’ve been clearly convinced by the awesome use of language and insurmountable logic of our lurkers that this is the case.

Nevermind that rivalries are supposed to be special, and about tradition, history and mutual respect. Nevermind that both sides must consider it to be a rivalry for it to be a rivalry (you 3 people that claim that USC does not consider ND a rival have literally no clue about anything, ever, in college football).

ND has sooooo many rivals:

Michigan, MSU, Purdue, Navy, USC, Stanford, BC? All rivals. Man, it must be weird to be on the ND schedule and NOT be a rival.

Doesn’t matter that the only game we “circle” before the season is USC, bc the other side “circles” ND in each instance, which MAKES it a rivalry. But wait! Nevada said that they had the home opener this year circled SINCE THE END OF LAST SEASON. WOW, ANOTHER RIVAL! Score!

And hold on, I think Washington players say the same thing, and Washington State and UCONN too! HOORAY! ND plays 12 rivals in a row this year. That’s just a-MA-zing!

Can’t wait for ANOTHER rivalry game this weekend!

SIDE NOTE: Idiots.

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Going into camp we heard pronouncements like “everyone’s good to go”, and “this is as good as it gets” in terms of health.

No more.

In last week’s narrow win, the injury bug bit ND hard, and in the worst places. Floyd goes down for the season. That alone is a huge blow to this Irish offense.

But, a matured Jimmy Clausen is really playing great and can help mitigate the loss. Clausen gets hurt.

But, Armando Allen and the oline have developed a ton this year, and a solid run game can help make up for a somewhat reduced passing game, due to the loss of Floyd and the injury to Clausen. Allen gets hurt.

F.

The latest has Jimmy playing, with the help of plates and customized shoes, a little grit and a lot of talent. Great news. But Allen is game-time, and if he plays he’ll probably see limited action. This alone is a concern for the offense, as ND really needs Allen to produce to take some of the pressure off Tate and the group-that-is-now-Floyd. But with Allen unlikely to be 100%, that means reduced carries and more reliance on the rest of the RBs.

And while ND is deep at RB, the distance between Allen and the rest has become pretty obvious this year. Allen has started, and performed well with both running and blitz pickup assignments.

Aldridge was switched to FB, and is out with an injury. Gray has shown flashes, but puts the ball on the ground way too much for my liking, and has trouble with the pickups. Hughes, once my favorite back, has slid down the depth chart and is now a glorified FB (which isn’t a bad thing necessarily), which means he was not close to earning the starting halfback job. Riddick shows a flash, but is super young and struggles mightily with blitz pickups, and Cierre Wood is a likely ND-style-redshirt.

With a Purdue defense that struggles agains the pass, we’d love to be able to fling it all over the place. But with Clausen hurt, Purdue will bring heat, and our backfield’s ability to block in this game will be key. So we’ll be depending on our deep, but somewhat flawed, backfield to deliver. Here’s hoping that Alford has them ready to go.

One other concern is that using backups reduces the sets and plays that Weis can choose from. While it would seem that this should not be a huge problem, we saw what the lack of personnel did to Weis’ playcalling last year (when we only had 1 TE).

I’m hoping Allen can go for 15-20 carries, and that our backups can handle the rest without putting the ball on the ground, and without major mix-ups in the blocking assignments. And hopefully Jimmy and the new WR mix will keep Purdue from being in the backfield much in the first place.

But to be sure, the injury bug makes this week’s game a lot more interesting. That bug brings a lot more to the table than Purdue does, that’s for sure.

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Kyle McCarthy, Ladies Man.

McCarthy is apparently taking Piano as a course this Fall, during his 5th year.

Why? A confident McCarthy says it’s to score some points with the ladies.

“Not that I need help, but I feel like the female population might like that.”

Hey man, it didn’t really work for Bill Murray, but maybe it can work for you. Get to it.

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NA-na-NA-na-NAH-NAH!

Purdue OL veteran out against the Irish. Mostly because RR whined. Fun all around for us.

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This week, Frank, over at the excellently designed, prolific UHND, asks the questions. We provide our answers below…

1. The obvious question for the week, how does Notre Dame deal with the loss of Michael Floyd? What wide receiver steps up? How, if at all, does the offense change?
   With a pants-load of 4 and 5 receiver sets. One of the keys (I’m guessing) to the success of the ND rushing game of late has probably been the tendancy of all opposing defensive coordinators to look at ND’s base offense, get a load of the top 2 receivers, piss themselves, pass out, and forget who they are for an hour or so. And when they come to, the DCs all tell the safeties to get absolutely nowhere near the “box” for run support on threat of death. Now with Floyd out, Weis will have to find a way to keep those safeties out of the box. So 4 receiver (with Rudolph acting as a “receiver”) and 5 receiver (Rudolph and a just-swung-out-to-the-flank-during-the-cadence Allen as “receivers”) sets makes sense, at least to me.
   
   
2. After seeing three games from Notre Dame in 2009 have your expectations increased, decreased, or remained the same?
   This season feels a lot like a game of craps to someone who doesn’t get the game explained to them. I don’t know what the hell is going on, what the hell will happen, and what circumstances might occur that may or may not make whatever final results we’re presented with seem acceptable or unacceptable. All I know is, if I did do something based on some notion of expectations, like, say, bet of games, I’d likely lose everything. I’m staying the hell away from this market because I don’t understand it. Yet.
   
   
3. The last two years against Purdue a Notre Dame player has had their breakout game. In 2007 it was Golden Tate and in 2008 it was Armando Allen. Who do you think could have their breakout game against the Boilermakers this year?
   I’m gonna go with a defensive guy because, well, we need someone on the defense not named “McCarthy” to do something really positive. I’m going with Ethan Johnson. I left the open practice feeling like he might be the best “football player” on the squad, and so I’m going with Ethan Johnson in a breakout performance that involves him accumulating more tackles than one of the starting safeties. Note I didn’t say both of the starting safeties. I’ll take a member of the DL besting one of the starting safeties.
   
   
4. How would you grade the three new coaches on this year’s staff based on the first three games?
   Verducci: B+. Clearly something has “clicked” for the OL. The presence of the possibly-most-lethal-passing-attack can’t account for all of the improvement we’ve seen in the running game, and even after the MSU debacle, the pass protection has been quite solid. Alford: B. Allen’s certainly running better than he ever has, though we’re still frustrated by the total lack of a break-away run. Also, sure, the RB depth is a little sticky right now in terms of experience, but we hate that we now feel like RB #2 is probably a liability in either ball protection or blitz pickup. Hart: Incomplete. And boy, we’re tempted to give out a D here. We have a man-crush on the guy that’s saving him right now, but thus far the DL has, at best, underperformed, and, more bluntly, in a way, wrecked the chances of the 2009 Irish being 3-0.
   
   
5. Your thoughts on Golden Tate’s stage dive into the Michigan State band? Was he trying to avoid running into the band? Was the whole thing intentional? Little of column A, little of column B?
   Loved it since he didn’t get hurt. Now let me comment on my thoughts on the melange of reactions among the ND faneratti: Holy balls, people. I don’t think a day has gone by in the last 5 years where someone on the internet hasn’t mocked the “promise” Weis made of a “Nasty” football team, and now that you’ve got some guys showing some of the symptoms of such an attribute, you piss and moan? No, I don’t think Golden’s dive was “nasty,” but it is representative of a guy playing the game with every wire exposed, and that’s part of playing “nasty” football. People who have a problem with it remind me of when I was 9, saw a recipe on the back of a Cheez-it box for “Cheez-it crusted fried chicken,” and harrassed my mother for a month before she finally gave in and prepared – for a family dinner – “Cheez-it crusted fried chicken.” I hated it. I thought it was horrible. I refused to eat it and I pitched a fit about it. And my mother asked, “It’s Cheez-it crusted fried chicken, what the hell did you expect it to be like?” What the hell did you expect a team what plays some nasty football to look like? Tate’s dive was only a glimmer, of course, of what balls-out, commando-style football play looks like, but if you all get that for which you’ve been asking, be prepared for what it’s going to look like. Be prepared for some insanity.
   
   
6. How has your opinion of the Notre Dame schedule changed from how you felt about it in the pre-season?
   Much tougher, largely because Pitt actually looks competent, Stanford’s running game scares me, Washington looks much improved, and SoCal, no matter how “down” they might have been against Washington, will always, always come to play against the Irish.
   
   
7. Should Jimmy Clausen be getting more hype for the Heisman?
   Certainly. What he’s done thus far in the season is difficult to do in 7-on-7 drills against defenses that aren’t really trying. He should at least be considered among the top-5 candidates at this point. One odd thing about the Floyd loss is that it could represent a real opportunity for Clausen. If Clausen continues to play impressively without his best receiver, then the world will be forced to take notice. It’s a big ‘if,’ but it’s there and the opportunity is huge.
   
   

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This article actually gets it right. Most do not.

A whole bunch of teams think of themselves as having a rivalry with Notre Dame. Sorry to burst your bubbles, fans-of-opposing-teams, but you’re very unlikely to be our rival. Why? Because we only have one, and it’s USC. I know it makes you feel important to think you’re our rival. “We have an ongoing rivalry with Notre Dame”. “ND is our rival”. Makes you feel elevated, like you matter just a bit more. (And spare me the “ND doesn’t matter anymore” response). If that was the case, so many teams we play wouldn’t be calling us a rival, even when it’s clearly not the case.

Let’s just do the quick run-down of this year’s sked, and of those that call us a rival, and what they really are.

Nevada – never claimed it, good for them.

Michigan (sucks) – claim to be a rival, are not. The Skunkbears are the enemy, but not our rival.

Michigan State – claim to be a rival. They’re not, but they’ve been a pain in the butt, for sure. No way they’re an ND rival.

Purdue (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz) – claim to be a rival. Not even close. Not even close to within eyesight of a range in the proximity of close to being a rival.

Washington – don’t claim it, thank the Lord.

USC – claim it, and they’re correct. USC is our rival. The one, and the only. We still hate them, and we know they cheat, but we respect the history and tradition of this cross-country rivalry.

BC – claim it, but of course they’re not a rival. And having the best of a series does not make you a rival. It makes you annoying.

Washington State – no claim, awesome. Good stuff WSU.

Navy – Navy probably thinks of us as a special opponent, and we think of them in the same way, but most do not claim a rivalry here, which is good. Solid, respectable and historic matchup. Not our rival.

Pitt – many fans claim they’re a rival (heard this a lot growing up in Pittsburgh). Not even close.

UCONN – not claiming it (yet). Hooray.

Stanford – many Cardinal fans think of ND as a rival. Not sure where they get this. Not even remotely close to a rival.

This doesn’t, and isn’t meant to, belittle our opponents that are not rivals. It’s just that, by definition, any given team can only really have 1-2 rivals. We have USC. USC has us and UCLA. Pitt has WVU. Purdue has Being Awake. Michigan has Graduation Rates.

So how does this happen? How can we be everyone’s rival?

We’re ND. That’s how.

Teams look at Notre Dame on the schedule, and they circle the game. They get fired up. Their fans get fired up. This is why ND gets the best from its opponents week in and week out – for THEM, it’s a rivalry game. For US, it’s another week. Which makes the challenge even that much greater.

No matter how boring Purdue might be, for them this is a rivalry game, and they’ll give us their best shot (as boring as that shot may be), and a much better shot than they gave NIU. ND needs to be ready, each and every week. After all, almost every week is Rivalry Week when you’re Notre Dame, right?

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This week ND takes on hhgyukkmk;lakdsjffjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj;lka;a;;”;;’

Ugh, sorry, fell asleep there. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn. Okay. So. This week our beloved Fighting Irish play Purdhdsfajk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;lkj;jjjh whoa, again? Huh.

So the Boiler adsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
sssssssssssssssssssssflk;j;. Shoot.

Nevermind, they’re boring. I’m taking a nap.

Go Irish.

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Forget about the playcalling part of being an OC. Sure, it’s the most visible. It’s what we see work, it’s what we see fail, and it’s what we yell at the TV about. But this week will be the test to really see how good Charlie really is.

Because if Charlie can put together a winning offensive game plan after losing his #1 receiver, I’ll believe he’s legit as an OC. Scratch that – as a COLLEGE OC. We all know he was legit as OC at New England (booooo), but he’s had fits and starts at ND, and it’s been tough to really get him. Is he that genius? Is he too clever for his own good? Forget all that. Let’s see how he ‘dials up’ (he freaking loves that phrase) his offense this week against (yaaaaaawn) Purdue, and we’ll see if he’s really got game.

Last year, the ND offense fell apart without Floyd. Teams rolled up coverage on Tate, and we were left with few passing options in a pass-happy offense. This year, things should be a bit better given that emergence of a serviceable running game thanks to an improved OL and Allen, and also because we have a solid, and somewhat experienced crew of WRs to fall back on. None of them will come close to replacing Floyd on his own, but as a group, pending on the gameplan, the production just might add up.

My guess? Robby or Kamara as the Y, and a lot of Shaq in the slot when we go three-wide. I also expect copious amounts of Kyle Rudolph and Allen/Hughes out of the backfield.

Also of Note: Clausen is freaking amazing

I know it’s been sort of looked over because everyone wants to whine about how the sky is falling, but Jimmy Clausen has looked unreal so far this year. Even with a gimpy foot, he looked in control of the game on Saturday – managing the offense, leading his team, and making plays. Even his scrambling looks a bunch better. If nothing else, we know for SURE that Charlie can develop a QB. Brady, Quinn and now Jimmy. The transformation from last year – in terms of leadership, decision-making, and even accuracy (though he was pretty solid in that respect last year already) is really impressive.

If ND happened to have the ball with 1:23 left at the end of the Michigan game, and Clausen leads a drive to take that win home, he’s in the discussion for the Heisman big time. Given that loss, and the loss of Floyd, it’s looking like much more of an uphill battle. But he at least deserves the props for great growth from last year to this year. Love watching that kid play.

EDIT: A few stats to add in here on Jimmy…

He’s 62 for 91 attempts, with more than a few (coughcoughGoldenTatecough) drops in there, for a completion percentage of 68.1% (20th in the nation). He’s thrown for 951 yards (4th in the nation), good for almost 10.5 (4th in the nation) per attempt. 9 Touchdowns (2nd in nation), ZERO INTs (tied for 1st). QB rating: 188.6 (2nd in the nation to Mallett, who’s only thrown the ball 61 times).

That’s ridiculous.

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• RT @mikerothstein: Armando Allen was out of bounds, confirms WNDU: http://tinyurl.com/lu2pre #Michigan #NDFB #
• RT @hansensouthbend: … Armando Allen (thigh) is 100 % … Weis says only damage is a bruised ego #
• A nice bit of writing to make Irish fans think, "It's gonna be ok." http://bit.ly/3nCkpK #
• RT @uhnd: New #NDFB, #notredame update : Let’s Not Party Like it’s 1999 http://bit.ly/6YGUS #
• RT @mikerothstein: UM should sit Mouton whether or not Rodriguez thinks it was a punch: http://tinyurl.com/o8mz9u #Michigan #BigTen #NDFB #
• Sure, I'm a college football geek, but I'm pretty sure I can beat up these 2 loud Warcraft geeks who seem to think this SBUX is their stage. #
• RT @FirstandBigTen: BREAKING NEWS: #Illini linebacker Martez Wilson out for year! #
• RT @jdubs88: Today's Daily Domer: http://bit.ly/4iXRp <– Time for these Irish to go WHAPPOW! (Hard to rhyme 'allow') #
• @TriceraPops RichRod probably doesn't think he's balding either. in reply to TriceraPops #
• RT @jdubs88: Charlie W. said he's in the office every day at 4:35 a.m. <– Maybe more sleep would help him on days he has to call plays. #
• @oaknd1 Oh, don't get us wrong. We're glad Weis works so hard. That was just tee'd up too easily. We're still cheering for Weis to win. in reply to oaknd1 #
• RT @NunesMagician: Jeremy Piven went to Northwestern. I rest my case. #BeatNorthwestern #
• All I want is a literal crushing of MSU. Is that too much to ask for? #
• Share a bday with Wendy Nix from ESPN. Hooray. #
• University of Sudden Choke strikes again. #
• Starting to feel like #NDFB is the only underdog who can't beat SoCal. #
• Gutsy game by Jimmy. Scared bout the O without Floyd. Serious issues on Defense. Worse than I ever couldve guessed. #

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While the ND fanbase is pretty agitated with the loss on Saturday, most fans are, at least grudgingly, pretty pleased with what appears to be an improvement in the Irish rushing game. And while I’m pleased to be noticing some statistical improvement over last year and happy to note Armando Allen has worked his way to a #22 ranking among D1 college football rushers, ND still hasn’t gotten one monkey off its back: Managing to earn a big gain in a single rushing play.

We’ve been harping on this for quite some time now. Sure, it’s great that ND’s top rusher is averaging nearly 6 yards per carry, but we can’t help but wonder what a difference a long rushing play of, say, 40 yards might have done for ND’s fortunes in the Michigan game. 40 yards may sound like a lot, particularly to ND fans, but it’s actually nearly 10 yards short of the average long rushing gain of Allen and everyone ahead of him on the list of rushing leaders. Allen’s season long is just 24 yards, achieved against the Wolverines last Saturday.

Take a look at the numbers here:

Again, it’s great that Allen’s output is so high. Hell, it’s nearly shocking. Of the 23 guys on that list, he’s one of only 6 who haven’t got a rush over 30 yards. There are 6 other guys with season long rushes over 70 yards. There are 14 guys with long rushes over 40 yards. (Yes, I know all this falls into the statistical category of “duh,” but I feel it deserves highlighting.) What Allen’s doing is as “lunch pail” as you can get from a running back. Take away each of these guys’ season long rushes, and Allen’s yards per carry average only falls by half a yard (2nd smallest drop on the list). The average drop is about 1.4 yards.

One interesting and somewhat encouraging statistic is Allen’s total carries. Allen’s only got 36 carries to this point – 1 short of the average of the guys on the list. That’s just 18 carries per game, hardly a rate that we’d expect to cause substantial wear and tear on Allen’s body over the long course of the season. (Javon Ringer, just to give you some perspective, had 30 carries per game in 2008, and Daniel Thomas, at #12 on this list, has 50 carriers already.) Maybe, just maybe, this “easy does it” approach to a rushing game can work, but we’d still like to see Allen use the same speed we saw in the Hawaii bowl game during a run this season, and soon. Showing such capabilities gives defensive coordinators extra challenges as they search for ways to stack the box against the run without opening up themselves to the big play both in the air and on the ground. Just a few, truly long runs can really create a tug-o-war of defensive tactics. Still, with MSU’s linebacking corps on the other side of the line of scrimmage this weekend, we don’t expect to see it Saturday.

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