The biggest news of course, is that former Heisman hopeful, Matt Barkley, will be out of this Saturday’s contest with a sprained throwing shoulder. Now, while I wouldn’t put it past Kiffykins to try to pull a fast one on us, I have a hard time believing that even Lane Kiffin would dare pull a stunt like that. So let’s just assume, that redshirt freshman, Max Wittek, will be under center for the Trojans.

What do we know about Wittek? Very little, besides the fact that he might just regret saying this:

We haven’t got the full game plan yet, but from what I can tell, we’re going to play our offense, whatever coach (Lane) Kiffin feels comfortable giving me. If he wants to air it out, let’s air it out. If he wants to pound it on the ground, let’s do that. Like I said, I’m going to go out there, I’m going to play within myself, within the system, and we’re going to win this ballgame.

Poking the bear already, kid? Brave. I salute you for your courage, but question your intelligence for doing this before you face the toughest defense your team’s seen all season and right after the guy in front of you got broken.

To be fair though, Wittek does actually have some legitimate reasons to have some confidence. This is, after all the 27th best offense in the nation, led by their 20th ranked passing attack. While Barkley is a large reason for this success, actual Heisman hopeful, Marqise Lee, and Robert Woods have had a large part in this as well. While most expected Woods to have the biggest impact, Lee has proven to be the most dangerous offensive weapon on USC’s roster. Lee is second in the nation in both receptions/game (9.73) and receiving yards/game (145.91). Apparently, he can play a bit of defense too…but don’t expect it.

Further, and likely the biggest concern for the Irish, is the explosive play potential for the Trojans. Southern Cal comes in 10th in the nation for explosive drives with 24% of their drives ending in an average of 10 yards/play (this is one of those fun stats from Football Outsiders).

While the Irish defense showed that they could hold up against a powerful offense like Oklahoma, the Irish have yet to face an offense with this kind of explosive potential. The young secondary will have to ensure that they again keep all plays in front of them and don’t let USC gain any momentum with a huge play.

While much has been made about the Trojan defense being a weakness of this team, especially after Oregon put up 50+, they do have some potential to cause the Irish some issues. In particular, keep an eye on the Trojan pass rush that ranks 4th in the nation with 3.82 sacks/game. Should the Irish line have issues protecting Everett Golson, there is a huge potential for the young QB to have some mistakes of his own. Further, keep in mind that USC ranks 5th in that nation in tackles for a loss, coming in at an even 8 TFL/game.

So yes, the Trojans defense has proven beyond beatable, but considering the Irish have demonstrated offensive struggles of their own in the past, this battle will be far from a pushover.

Some other fun facts about the Trojans this season:

• USC has faced four currently ranked teams in the BCS top 25 (Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona), and has lost all of those matchups.
• USC has been great at home, 5-1, with their only loss coming to Oregon.
• USC’s best offensive performance came in that loss to Oregon. Their second best came against lowly Colorado. Pac 12 defenses y’all.
• USC’s worst offensive performance came against Stanford. Oregon feels your pain.

And perhaps most importantly, the last time Matt Barkley was injured and didn’t play against the Irish, the Trojans lost at home to a Tommy Rees led Irish squad in 2010. Here’s hoping history repeats itself.

I hear Miami is fantastic in January.

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In short, the only thing we know right now is that we’re playing the University of Southern California Trojans on Saturday in Los Angeles. Everything else, to me, is speculation, despite Lane Kiffin’s announcement that Matt Barkley would not play against the Irish. Given his past, I won’t believe that until the game is over. Am I giving in to Fox Mulder-esque paranoia? Probably. But before you judge me, remember this:

1.  “I would not vote USC number one, I can tell you that much.”

2. USC has deflated balls.

3. USC fakes jersey numbers.

4. USC banned a reporter for reporting a player injury.

These are all run-ins with the truth and rules that happened THIS YEAR. Let’s not even get into Coach Kiffin’s history with the truth and rules while at Tennessee. Just sticking with this season, I think you can make a pretty convincing case that Coach Kiffin is not above trying to turn the present situation to his advantage, or at least using it to get inside the heads of the Fighting Irish.

But what’s it mean? Who is Matt Wittek? Well, here’s his recruiting video:

This season, the redshirt freshman has seen action in 9 games, throwing 9 passes with 8 completitions. He’s thrown for 1 touchdown and has a quarterback rating of 214.23. He has yet to throw an interception. On the ground, he has -13 yards rushing.

The only thing that matters for the Irish should be beating USC, regardless of who is under center. There’s no denying, though, that losing Matt Barkley, preseason Everything Trophy favorite, is a massive loss to their offense, if he’s indeed out. While you can debate just how focused a four-loss Trojan squad would be against the Irish, that went out the window when we put on the Number One ranking. Now the Irish wear the bull’s eye.

Don’t think Lane won’t use every trick in the book to take us down.

The post Ulterior. Subterfuge. Chicanery. appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

You can talk all you want about who the quarterback is going to be, or who’s gonna carry the ball or who’s gonna replace Michael Floyd. When you want to get serious, I’ll be here. Go on. What? You’re back? Couldn’t stay away from the Bayou, could you? You’re not the first, baby. And you won’t be the last. But before we get into all that, let’s talk about the offensive line.

To be honest, if the O-line doesn’t dominate the line of scrimmage, you could have Matt Barkley or Andrew Luck behind center, and it wouldn’t matter. As Coach Kelly said in the video above, a strong offensive line “has always been a staple in any good football program.”  The corollary to that, of course, is that a weak offensive line is a staple in any crappy football program. Believe me when I say this: the 2012 Fighting Irish have a very strong offensive line.

And it’s not just me saying that. The internets are saying that. Athlon ranks our O-Line in the Top Ten, right there with USC, Oklahoma and Michigan. In fact, if you love O-line play, and if you don’t you should stick to watching synchronized diving, you are going to LOVE this season. Along with ND, USC, Michigan and Oklahoma, Michigan State and Stanford made it into the preseason Top Fifteen. Bottom line is that our front five are as good as anybody’s and this should be the year the start crushing it. Why, Bayou? Why 2012?

2012 will be the year of the O-line for several reasons, the first of which is that we will have a mobile quarterback back there to keep the D-line honest. Let’s face it, loyal readers, Tommy Rees had the mobility of a fireplace. Do you know what that does to an O-lineman? Well, let me tell you: it makes you nuts. When you hear “pass” in the huddle, you curse silently to yourself, because you know that no matter how good you are, YOU CAN’T HOLD YOUR BLOCK FOR TWENTY MINUTES. Not without holding.  Sacks (and turnovers) are poison to the morale of the offensive line. They infect the relationship between the QB and his line and they can begin to undo the relationships between the linemen themselves.

Tony Rice, who knows something about playing quarterback at ND, thinks Golson is “better” than he was. That’s saying something. Me? I think our O-line might be better than his. Rice had Grunhard, Heck, Heldt, Ryan and Brown in front of him. Golson (or Hendrix) will have Lombard, Golic, Cave, Watt and Martin in front of him, and these young men are beasts. They’re all over 300 pounds and Lombard is a monster at 6’5″ & 309. They have a new line coach in Harry Hiestand, who brings a respected NFL-pedigree to the program.

Finally, they have experience and maturity on their side. Like rowing, the offensive line is a collective of individuals functioning as one. They communicate constantly and cover for each other in a symbiotic relationship from center to guard to tackle. With the “good morale and great communciation” that Coach Kellly mentioned in the video at the top, they stand ready to improve upon last year’s not insignificant accomplishments. Last year, they were #1 in the nation (7/7) on Fourth Down conversions and were tied with 10 other teams for 24th in the country in sacks allowed with 17.

And if you don’t think going against Nix, Manti and the rest of the boys all day long in practice won’t make our O-line an elite unit when it’s all said and done, you, my friend, should go back to watching rhythmic gymnastics.

The front five who take the field against Navy on September 1 are going to set the tone with their speed, size and ferocity. They will play at once the most important and unheralded role in clawing the Fighting Irish over the top and onward to victory.

The post The Offensive Line: the Secret to Our Success appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Kieth Arnold over at Inside the Irish got me thinking about this even earlier than I planned to when asked to rank the top 25 Irish players on the roster. As I did that exercise, I decided to rank everyone on where I think they are skill-wise right now and not estimate future potential. When I did that, I had all 3 QB ranked within a few spots of each other, but one managed to come out on top.

Andrew Hendrix rolls away from pressure against Stanford in 2011.

Andrew Hendrix
Year: Sophomore (RS)
Height/Weight: 6’2″/220 lbs

I can already hear a few screams of “REALLY NOT GOLSON?!” in my head as I type this out. However, I just can’t give Golson the nod over Hendrix based off just a single spring game and a lot of hype.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe Golson is immensely talented and will find himself on the field this season. He will be an impact player and he will simply wow us on more than one occasion. However, he has still yet to see a single meaningful snap in a game.

Andrew Hendrix though, has. Although he is not without faults, his mistakes are correctable. The INTs that he had last season (and in the spring game) were the result of flat out misreading coverages and losing track of a linebacker. That is much easier to fix than consistently locking in on a single receiver and forcing a ball into triple coverage or having passes that are wildly inaccurate on a regular basis as we’ve seen Tommy do.

With great speed and a rocket arm, Hendrix has all the physical tools he needs to succeed. With a year under his belt, he will be much better prepared to lead the Irish in 2012 than any other QB on the roster. He fits Kelly’s system and is a true dual threat that will force the defense to honor both aspects of his game.

Golson’s time will come. 2012 is the year of the Hendrix experience.

Matt Barkley sets up the Southern Cal offense (Credit: Neon Tommy)

Matt Barkley
School: Southern Cal
Year: Senior
Height/Weight: 6’2″/230 lbs

Unlike Notre Dame’s situation, finding the top opposing QB is a rather easy task. Just take a look at any pre-season Heisman list and you’ll find Matt Barkley’s name at the top and for good reason.

Barkley has thrown for over 9,000 yards, completed 64.3% of his passes, and thrown for 80 TDs with just 33 INTs. Even in his worst season as a freshman, Barkley had a 59.95% completion percentage, threw for over 2,700 yards and his TD to INT ratio was still above 1 at 15:14.

He’s really, really good at football.

However, he also holds the distinction of being the first Trojan QB to lose to the Irish since Carson Palmer in 2001. So at least we have that going for us? [Edit: As mentioned below, I completely forgot that Barkley was hurt in the 2010 loss to the Irish]

Once again, the Irish will end the season facing a top quarterback from the Pac-12 that is likely going to be the first pick in the NFL draft. And with weapons like Woods surrounding Barkley, it’s no surprise that many have Southern Cal as their favorites for the national title.

Previous Entries

Punter/Kicker
Defensive Line
Offensive Line
Safety
Wide Receiver
Cornerback
Running Back
Tight End
Linebacker

The post Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy: Quarterback appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

He may have filmed the 16 most boring minutes on YouTube, but he gave us college football fans and gamers some golden offseason fodder to argue about. Starting with the overall team ratings, Notre Dame is given a 97 overall (WOWsers!), with a 94 offense rating, 95 defense rating and 6 star prestige. I would love to say I agree with this number…but it seems high to me. For context, 97 ties ND for the 6^th highest rating behind Wisconsin, Texas, LSU, Oregon and USC who each are rated 99 overall. Tied with the Irish at 97 overall are Florida State, Georgia, Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Michigan. Other Irish opponent ratings include: Navy (77), Purdue (87), Michigan State (93), Miami (91), Stanford (93), BYU (89), Pittsburgh (85), Boston College (85) and Wake Forest (81). Considering the real life talent differential between teams like USC and LSU compared to Boston College and Wake Forest, there certainly doesn’t seem to be much ratings disparity built into this year’s version of the game.

Grantland-X is going to appreciate the Notre Dame QB rankings, which are as follows:

With Rees having far more experience under his belt than any of the other 3 scholarship QB’s, we can’t be shocked that the guys over at EA Sports took the safe route and rated him slightly higher than Hendrix and Golson. Tommy’s speed rating is surprising, as I would have expected it to be in the mid-to-low 60s. The fact that Hendrix’s strength is a 53 and break tackle is a 67 is ludicrous – each should be much higher. I would probably lower the awareness rating for both Hendrix and Rees as well. Throwing power and throwing accuracy ratings are not yet available, but based on Tommy’s inferior athletic ratings coupled with the fact his overall rating is the highest, you would expect him to show the strongest numbers in those categories. Of course, whether or not you agree with those ratings is an entirely different story.

Moving on to the running backs:

I love speedy RBs when playing this game, and the Irish backfield stable does not disappoint. For those of you that plan on playing in Dynasty Mode, the Carlisle/Atkinson combination is going to be one of the strongest in the country when you enter your 3^rd season and they are each seniors. Here’s to hoping that the on the field product turns out similarly.

And now the entire EA Sports ND roster (note: their 70 man roster is mostly made up of current players and early enrollee freshmen. For the few freshmen enrolling in the fall that appeared on the roster, I generally didn’t try to guess who the game was referring to.)

The Top 10 ND Players:

***Update: Manti Te’o is tied with Matt Barkley and Montee Ball as the highest rated player in the game. Tyler Eifert is in a tie for 4th with Marcus Lattimore. The Irish coming in with two of the top 5 players in the game? Not too shabby….

Questions/Comments:

Players ranked 11 through 30:

Questions/Comments:

Players ranked 31 through 70:

Questions/Comments:

How do you feel about the team rankings and the individual player rankings? Would you have made any significant changes if you were running the show at EA?

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