Had to give this one more than a day.
Ultimately, all you can really do is compare the outcome to the expectations. Michigan came into the game flying high off a strong performance against a directional. ND came in feeling confident after a strong win over a Nevada team. The two week-1 performances actually felt so similar, it was hard to tell which team was actually already playing better football at this point in the season. Going strictly by the week 1 performances of each squad, the week 2 match up of the Irish and the Wolverines looked pretty balanced. Even the Vegas line had sunk to something like 3 points by gametime. Sure enough, the Irish end up losing a heart-breaker in Ann Arbor by 4 points. And therein lies the problem. 2 years after the Irish began their 3-9 campaign and just 1 year after Michigan began theirs, not only did the Wolverines look as good as the Irish, they bested the Irish. 2009 isn't a season in which the Irish should look anything comparable to Michigan, and yet by the only real comparison we're allowed, the Irish looked inferior.
Let's just get it out of the way first: Yes, the Big Televen refs did everything in their power to job the Irish. Fine. Unfortunately, these are the rules ND agreed to play by. How the hell anyone could ever agree to play Michigan in Ann Arbor using Big 11 refs while not, themselves, being part of the B11 is mystifying. My only guess is the previous AD had hoped to be part of the B11 by this point anyway, thus making the issue moot. Still, I can't help but feel the Irish should have been good enough to overcome this obstacle.
I keep reading posts out on the blogosphere and net discussions about how the Irish "showed a lot of heart" in this game, managing to make a tough comeback in a tough atmosphere. Hogwash. If this squad had a lot of heart, then we wouldn't be reading reports of the Irish having a sloppy practice during Michigan week. If this squad had a lot of heart, then they'd have spent the offseason becoming so physically dominating that the game wouldn't have been much of a contest. If this squad had a lot of heart, then the Irish would have had their crushing defeat of Michigan and we'd all be enjoying rants and raves over the competencies of Rich Rodriguez rather than writing our own about Charlie Weis. The comebacks within this game were not the result of heart. They were the result of desperation. The Irish looked and played as though they read about how the game should go on paper and bought right into it, and the comeback was really only the result of highly talented players displaying short bursts of focus.
Michigan may well prove to be one of the better teams the Irish face in 2009. Perhaps this Wolverine team competes for and even wins their conference or manages to win 9 or more games, but I can't help but feel about Saturday's game like I felt about the Miami/FSU game from Labor Day Weekend. Was this really a great game between two strong teams that went right down to the wire, or was it a pillow-fight between 2 squads that didn't so much feature firepower as it featured haplessness? After Nevada, the Irish fans attributed a lot of missed tackles to a known-quantity of extreme athletic ability: Colin Kaepernick. But this past weekend? Tate Forcier? Hey, I'll admit: I've bought into the Tater. The fact that we're going to have to face him 3 more times is just horrible. But is he really the athletic force of Kaepernick, or are the Irish just completely incapable of basic football techniques like keeping an athletic stance, breaking down a rush, and wrapping up? Thus far the first 2 data points lead me to guess that the 3rd will indicate an Irish problem more than a string of superior athletic gifts wrapped up in small QB packages.
That said, I don't lay a ton of blame for this game at the feet of John Tenuta. Yes. He had his issues, but I think even he was surprised at the lack of freshmanness of Tate Forcier and he had to make some adjustments to what he was planning to do in the game to account for that surprise. But the reason I don't lay a ton of blame at his feet is pretty well encompassed in this drive chart:
Of Michigan's 38 points, 14 of them were scored off a Kickoff Return and a 26 yard, post ND fumble drive. And the final 7 were scored in the final seconds of a game, which means the Irish were defending against the "kitchen sink" offense. I found that final 7 to be the most frustrating, but I lay that 7 at the feet of Armando Allen. In the final minutes of a close contest between a historically tough opponent, Armando Allen - that's 3-year playing, junior, "1A," starting running back Armando Allen - decided, in a game he knew damn well was being officiated (questionably) by Big Televen refs to make a "hush" motion to the Ann Arbor crowd at the end of a 2 point conversion attempt. Think on that for a moment. The kid knows he's finishing up a run into the end-zone on a 2 point conversion attempt because the game is so close and a successful 2 point conversion will put the Irish up by a field goal with the clock ticking away slowly. And he decides that the moment is worth a penalty. Brilliant. Biscuit has glossed over this moment in another post, arguing that the gesture doesn't really fit under "unsportsmanlike behavior." Who cares? The kid should have handed the ball back to a ref and rushed over to the sideline to regroup with his team and figure out what the hell they need to do next in order to close out the game. But instead he decided to celebrate 2 god damned points, put the win at risk, cause his special teams to kickoff from 15 yards closer to the Irish end zone, entirely flip the field-position game in favor of the Wolverines for the final 5 minutes, and make my head explode. I know damned well that 21 year old kids are dumb. I was once 21 and dumb, but that dumb? How can anyone be that dumb?
I think they can be that dumb because they just don't know any better. Self referential causation of stupidity as the result of not knowing how to win because, as we've mentioned more times than a Michigan football player could count, this team only has a ton of experience at sucking. There's no frame of reference of "how to win." No examples from more senior players about how to prepare, thus the sloppy practices on one of the biggest weeks of the season. And apparently very little help is coming by way of the coaching, because I haven't read any stories about how Allen was forced to hitch-hike back from Ann Arbor. Near as I can tell, he was allowed on the bus home and he didn't have to make the journey doing a headstand atop the toilet in the back, so I guess the team captains aren't real forceful either. Weis made mention in his post-game comments that he was glad to see there wasn't any finger-pointing in the locker room, but I hope that's only because pointing fingers would have felt ridiculously redundant to all involved. Someone who's now been in an Irish uniform for 3 years made the mistake of a 2nd week freshman because he's no more familiar with how to win college football games than that 2nd week freshman.
Stop. Wait. I know where you're going. You're going to make the argument that Weis doesn't know how to win these games either. You're going to argue that, in close games, Weis can't seem to ever close out the win. It's just not true. During the Weis era, ND is 9-6 in games that have been decided by 7 or fewer points. And Weis has never experienced 3 losses in a row during such games. So I don't think the issue is with his gameday ability to do the right things to win. Perhaps he's not as dominating in such games as we'd like, but he's far from incapable either. In down-to-the-wire games, he's won 60% of the time. It's a better argument that he, at times, plays games too closely.
There are a ton of potentially positive things for the Irish that happened while ND was missing tackles, fumbling deep in their territory, allowing a kickoff return while playing scared, etc... Sure. The Irish are 54th in rushing offense at this point. Remember when they were 110th? It wasn't that long ago. That was the best offensive production by any ND team in Ann Arbor ever. And the Irish are even registering in the top 3rd of the nation in Tackles for Loss (still averaging half of what #1 Oklahoma is averaging). But the Irish are also giving up rushing yards at a clip that's a full yard worse than last year's average, and we all thought last year's rush defense was a problem, and the 2009 Irish don't have near the same Pass Efficiency Defense as last year to help bail them out (ranked 54th this year, 22nd last year).
We're now 2 weeks deep on this journey and we've still got no idea where we're headed. Michigan may not actually be very good at all. We've no idea of what to make of the Nevada win because they didn't play on Saturday. MSU laid an absolute egg last Saturday and it just worries me more. I don't think Mark Dantonio suffers egg laying very well, and I've got a feeling MSU will give the Irish their best shot. Meanwhile we're all looking for some sort of miracle of leadership on the Irish sideline that will help ND use this week 2 loss as some sort of springboard into the rest of the season. Maybe the Irish will find it. Maybe they wont. At least we know one thing: The Irish get to do something for which they've had an awful lot of practice the past 2 years: recover from a loss.
By Ska September 14, 2009 - 12:41 pm
ND needs to be prepared for MSU. They will play hard against ND. MSU always does.
Still believe that ND without all the mistakes, including coaching preparedness and impartial refs, this game would have been a blow out for ND. Tater would not have been able to bring the skunks back from a 3-5 TD deficit. It most likely would have resulted in the point deficit growing larger for the skunks.
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By san diego irish September 14, 2009 - 1:11 pm
Good post DMQ–I feel your pain. But I disagree somewhat with your analysis. Offensively they didn’t best the Irish. And defensively they didn’t really either. It was a pretty evenly played game between two teams with roughly comparable talent levels. Michigan was better on special teams, committed fewer penalties, had the home field advantage, and arguably got some help from the refs. I think you’re a bit too hard on AA (who has ever seen that shhh thing get a penalty?), but agree it was a bad decision on his part.
Defense was really atrocious at times. Even a average defensive performance and ND wins comfortably. That is my only big concern moving forward, mainly the play of the front 7. Defensive backs didn’t look great, but no corner on the planet can cover a receiver for 10 seconds while the qb is scrambling and threatening to run.
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By Bad Kermit September 14, 2009 - 2:46 pm
Awesome post.
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By subway September 14, 2009 - 3:07 pm
Domer, I’m so in agreement aboat Tate. He seemed lost the entire game. There’s a problem among the players on this team, that only a fly on the wall can answer. The talent is there, but not the
will. I fear another lost season. Keep up the great posts.
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By Craig September 14, 2009 - 5:01 pm
I could see Michigan only losing to Ohio State and Penn State, and I’m not even all that sure about Ohio State. Who else has the receiver depth to challenge their secondary, and the front seven strength to turn Forcier into a pocket passer?
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By Mark September 14, 2009 - 5:12 pm
How many undefeated seasons have Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Pete Carrol and Bob Stoops had in the last 5 years?
Yes, these are all better coaches than Charlie Weis. He’s fat and from New Jersey. He can’t motivate or finish games. He probably goes to the zoo and throws feces at the animals.
The national champ is not going to go undefeated these days. Sorry, it’s just too hard. Okay, yes, ND lost to a team it was clearly more experienced and more talented than. The team had a sloppy week of practice and should have done better. Losing on the road to an undermatched team? That would be like losing to Oregon State or Stanfor…OH WAIT PETE CARROL HAS DONE THAT THE LAST 3 YEARS.
“We’re now 2 weeks deep on this journey and we’ve still got no idea where we’re headed.”
- I DO. To Notre Dame Stadium to finally fuck up Michigan State. If people want to complain about coaching and referees, that’s fine, but that’s not going to be me. I’m going to yell and cheer and expect victory. So we lost. Shit happens. I have to pay taxes, hot girls are not easy to seduce, and LOST doesn’t come back until January. Can we just get over it right now and go kill Sparty?
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By ILDomer17 September 14, 2009 - 5:21 pm
Amen, Mark! Let’s put this game in the rear-view mirror, learn from our mistakes, and lay the hurt on whoever gets in our way from here on out.
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By The Biscuit September 14, 2009 - 5:37 pm
I didnt gloss it over. I just think that what he did was the same as Forcier pointing to the crowd when he walked into the endzone. If that was a personal foul, there were at least 5 others. Not saying it wasn’t stupid – it was very stupid. But so were 3-4 other plays, easily.
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By John85 September 14, 2009 - 6:25 pm
The Armando Allen “unsportmandllike conduct” was not even noticeable.
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By domer.mq September 14, 2009 - 9:30 pm
John85, yes it was. As soon as he did it I scared the crap out of my 1 y.o. daughter as I screamed at the TV, “You can’t be that f-ing stupid!”
Since then, every time she sees football on TV, she’s yelling at it. Kinda cute, yeah, but my mother-in-law is mortified.
It was blatantly apparent, and one reason it was apparent was because most of the rest of the team was just running back to the sideline rather than gathering around him after the “big score,” because they realized there was still much work to be done.
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By domer.mq September 14, 2009 - 9:31 pm
Biscuit, just because it was stupid the other 3-4 times doesn’t make it any less stupid. I know you know that, so why are you cutting him a break? The very-senior RB should have known what he was dealing with. He wasn’t being careful then, and he wasn’t being careful on the screen where he stepped OOB. (Go check out the WNDU coverage, they’ve got a better picture than the ABC crew did. He was OOB, and he shouldn’t have been within a yard of that sideline. He wasn’t concentrating.)
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By FU September 15, 2009 - 12:39 am
I’m not absolving Allen of his responsibility. It was stupid on all counts. No break, his bad. Just making the point that the refs, again, f-ed us.
Disagree on the call on his stepping out too. the WNDU footage is conclusive. the footage the refs had was not.
I agree he should play better. Lots of guys should play better – somehow there was a lack of focus which is hugely disappointing – especially bc we STILL almost won. But both of those plays were called against us. Blatant cheating in my eyes. Blatant.
But yes, Allen blew it as well. Twice.
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By The Biscuit September 15, 2009 - 12:40 am
FU is me btw. Didnt really mean ‘f u’ DMQ. That was from a response I gave a skunkbear fan the other day. Forgot to re-do the handle. My bad.
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By DeepTeaKup September 15, 2009 - 12:50 am
My (worthless) take on the game for whatever it’s worth:
1. I think the celebration penalty should be banned but the rule is clear, you can’t taunt the spectators. Dumb play by AA. Forcier did not taunt them, apples and oranges.
2. The passing plays were not necessarily dumb, not trying to get your TE the ball against a walk on safety who was not even on the depth chart, may not have been the best strategy. Seriously, #32 was a walk on who got cut from LAST year’s UM team.
3. Domer, ND scored 10 off of a 17 and a 36 yeard drive, not sure what your point is here. There are three parts to the game, UM made some plays in all three areas, it’s not like UM scored a pick 6 off a pass that deflected off the umpire.
4. Floyd is a beast, best WR in NCAA? Probably.
5. Is Tenuta overrated? I’m starting to think maybe yes, did not see a lot of adjustments from ND.
6. Claussen, when he gets time==wow!! Claussen when a little pressure gets back there, looks ( and plays) scared.
7. Weis whines a lot in his press conferences (not sure if it is worse than RichRod crying).
8. How big is the MSU/ND game this week for both teams? Big expectations for both, one will be 1-2 after 3 games.
9. For the love of god, please let ND beat Sparty, if only to help restore the natural order of the CFB world.
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By Darius Fleming's Jockstraps September 15, 2009 - 1:00 am
LOL. Not using Michigan (Sucks!)?
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By Greg September 15, 2009 - 8:28 am
Excellent, excellent post.
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By domer.mq September 15, 2009 - 9:59 am
DTK, I’m not saying Michigan didn’t earn the points. I’m saying I don’t blame those points on the ND defense. I blame them on ST and the offense. If ND gets a TD from a short drive set up by a INT return, I credit the D with those points for doing most of the work. It’s a subjective thing, sure, but I’ll bet a lot of coaches would agree with me.
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By The Biscuit September 15, 2009 - 10:35 am
DTK, pointing at the fans prior to crossing the goal line could be seen as taunting the opposition. “Look at me, I can celebrate before I am even in the end zone”. I know that’s a stretch, but so is calling Armando’s little finger to the mouth thing. I could argue he was just asking them to be quiet so he could celebrate with his team. Moronic? Yes. Just like the calls. Either they’re all unsportsmanlike, or none are. The rule is wayyyy too subjective, and this is twice in a decade that it helped decide a game in UM’s favor by UM refs. It’s BS. B. S.
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By DeepTeaKup September 15, 2009 - 12:07 pm
domer, fair enough, I guess I just misunderstood your point. What do you actually think of Tenuta to this point? I don’t really see a big difference with him on board.
Biscuit, like I said, I agree with you, the celebration penalty is moronic. But remember, UM did not score on the next possesion, ND got the ball back and had the chance to kill the clock, they failed.
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By The Biscuit September 15, 2009 - 12:10 pm
right, but 15 yards less to go for UM.
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By The Biscuit September 15, 2009 - 12:12 pm
I think Tenuta’s a good DC, but I think his scheme struggles against the spread. That’s why Weis went to visit RR back in the day when we opened up against Tenuta’s G.Tech D – to see how RR beat it. It’s just in Tenuta’s nature to attack, and against a spread O with a really shifty/athletic QB, an attacking D is vulnerable. While I think Tenuta knows more than I’ll ever even imagine about creating a defensive scheme, I think he needs to learn to adjust a bit to the spread and athletic QBs, and do a bit less attacking, and more containing. Especially with young defensive players that aren’t tackling in the backfield great. We came really close to a bunch of sacks on that final drive due to the pressure, but really close doesnt keep those final points off the board.
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By Pat O'Connell September 15, 2009 - 12:28 pm
I think that this team has more potential than recent teams, but we still find ourselves coming up short. Tenuta is a good DC in terms of scheming, but where was the discipline in the players? Walls had inside help on the winning TD, yet he jumped the route incorrectly. Where is the discipline there? Fleming had to keep him inside on the TD run, so why go at an angle leaving yourself susceptible to being a sportscenter highlight? And how is it possible that there is no safety help at all once Fleming is beat like that? You know the run spread options, and that is clearly one fo them.
Now the argument over Armando’s celebration is simple, the rule is awful as was said. That was a joke call that was not necessary. I saw it as a microcosm of the rest of the game. A lot of the good things ND did was tarnished, or even taken away, by the refs. I don’t wanna cry, but that was terrible. I mean I find it hard to believe we were making more holds on that defense with our experienced line than a line who was running a spread option all game. Either way, phantom hold or a real hold, AA “taunting”, or defensive plays we were not disciplined. Gotta fall on coaching.
Lastly, Floyd is the best on this team hands down after those drops when we needed Golden. But I don’t know when Clausen looked scared, or played it. I thought he was very poised the whole seasons thus far really. Three times he could have been flustered, once he ran, another he dropped off to running back I believe, and the third he held his composure beautifully really and found Rudolph cross field for that long catch that was called back by a “hold”.
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By domer.mq September 15, 2009 - 12:39 pm
DTK, Tenuta was sort of hamstrung. How many QB hurries did ND manage to get that Forcier slipped out of? I think he put the guys in the position for opportunities and UM made the plays. Further, our DL is just awful right now. One of our “starting” DEs, Kerry Neal, doesn’t have a single tackle after 2 games and appears to have been pulled in favor of a guy most of the ND fanbase had hoped wouldn’t sniff the field other than during blowouts. And we don’t have any DTs. None. At least none who don’t arrive to the game with rollerskates on their feet. Much of ND’s hopes were pinned on the new DL coach working a relative miracle with this crew, and thus far we haven’t seen any miracles.
I think the idea that Tenua struggles vs. the spread is a bit silly. He did shut out Nevada last week. And that old game between GT and WVU? That was actually one of the slower performances by the WVU offense that year (can’t remember the numbers, but it was something like 200 yards and 19 points below the average WVU output). I really think he was hamstrung in this game, probably, in particularly, when the Tater refused to play anything like a freshman. So annoying.
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By domer.mq September 15, 2009 - 12:44 pm
Oh, yeah, DTK, the “Clausen playing scared” thing. No. I think you’re just seeing something you want to see there. Don’t worry. You get to keep your QB for 3 more years. We only get JC for another after this if at all (and the way he’s playing, why wouldn’t he be a 1st rounder?).
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By The Biscuit September 15, 2009 - 12:45 pm
Pat, the discipline point is spot on. Agree 100%. Coaching.
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By san diego irish September 15, 2009 - 1:18 pm
DTK–what exactly would make Clausen look scared? Did the crummy skunkbear D even sack him? I’m sure they got to him once or twice, but it was so insignificant I can’t remember. He didn’t even play his best game and still shredded your D. There are plenty of things for you to crumb on ND about after that performance–Clausen is not one of them.
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By domer.mq September 15, 2009 - 1:54 pm
Agreed, Pat. Great point about the discipline. The long Forcier TD was particularly egregious. Same with the final TD pass. You’d think those guys would be a little more composed than that.
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By DeepTeaKup September 15, 2009 - 4:23 pm
domer, don’t misunderstand, I think Claussen could be the first QB off the board in either this or next year’s draft. Maybe I am seeing something but it just seems like he hurries more than necessary.
SDI, that’s my point, UM did not get great pressure but it just seemed like whenever they got a whiff Claussen would panic.
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By san diego irish September 15, 2009 - 10:46 pm
He hit 60% of his passes for 300+ yds, 3 tds with no pics, and led 2 fourth quarter scoring drives. If he ever learns to control his panic problem he’s going to be really good.
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