Navy Sinks Irish Dreams of 5-7 Season

I am 43 years old. Roger Staubach led the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy to a stirring win over Notre Dame in 1963, just a few months before I was born. Navy had not beaten Notre Dame in a football game in my whole life, until yesterday. Am I sorely disappointed? Of course I am. Not quite as ticked off as this guy - but pretty unhappy. [EDIT: The link to BGS now goes to very toned-down assessment of Coach Weis' play calling. The original rant was an all-time classic, but Jay has decided not to leave it up as a permanent part of the BGS historical record. If you missed it, well, that's a shame. It was probably a little overwrought, but is was darn funny too.]

On the other hand, if I had to write a list of the teams I hate losing to the most, I'd probably run out of ink or get writer's cramp before I put down "Navy." The loss hurts, but in this season alone I'd rank each of our seven other losses well ahead of Navy in terms of personal bitterness.

1. USC
2. Michigan State
3. Boston College
4. Purdue
   
5. Michigan
6. Penn State
   
7. Georgia Tech

I feel bad for the Notre Dame players who, as a group, probably played their best game of the year and still came up short in front of the home fans. I don't feel bad for Irish football fans. As this horrendous year has ground on, I have begun to notice more and more of a whiny, entitled tone creeping into the writing in the Notre Dame blogosphere. "How dare Coach Weis and his players lose to Navy! We're Notre Dame after all. We're entitled to win ten games every year and go to a BCS Bowl."

Calm down, people - it isn't always about you. The Notre Dame football players and coaches want to win more than anyone. And they're working their asses off to make it happen. It isn't yielding much in the way of results right now, but at 1-8 (even when it was only 1-7) you have to write this season off. As I wrote last week, the 2007 season is over. The four games starting with Navy are pre-season games in the 2008 season. These games are about developing our talent and depth so that the Irish can return next season to their rightful place in the football Universe. While still hoping for a win, I was keeping my eye on Chris Stewart getting lots of reps at right tackle. I was watching James Aldridge and Armando Allen learn how to run at the Division I level. I was watching Sam Young, Eric Olsen, and Brian Smith get their work in, mistakes and all, to get better for next year. And because these games are not about the now but really about the future, I fully expect to see Jimmy Clausen worked back into the mix and established as the starting quarterback by season's end. Because Evan Sharpley is serviceable at QB, but he is not the Irish future at QB.


Perhaps I am more patient than many because I attended Notre Dame for four years of the Gerry Faust era, when we lost four straight to Air Force. I am willing to forgive Coach Weis this season, boneheaded game-management decisions and all, because I do believe he is bringing in the quality players Notre Dame needs to get back to the top. I'll give him one Mulligan. But if 2008 looks anything like what we have seen in 2007, Coach Weis can pack his bags.

What did I see in yesterday's game? My first thought was that the offense, while not perfect, played well enough to win the game. I felt that the biggest problem was that the defense could not stop Navy. The "D" couldn't get off the field by forcing a punt or some turnovers. This greatly magnified the importance of each possession by the Irish offense and eliminated any margin for error. When there is no margin for error, the game can turn on any play.

Taking a closer look at the numbers after the game, I realized that it was more complicated than that. While the offense was generally very good (leaps and bounds better than any other game this year), they did fail to produce at several key points in the game, whether through poor play calling or poor execution.

My brief observations:

• Each team missed one field goal attempt.
  
• Each team lost one fumble. Navy turned the Irish turnover into seven points. Notre Dame failed to score after Navy lost a fumble at their own 30 yard line, turning the ball back over to Navy on downs after a ridiculous fake field goal attempt.
• Navy did not punt until 2:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.
  
• Notre Dame had more first downs than Navy (27-23), more total yards than Navy (375-228), and held the ball longer than Navy (30:41 to 29:19), essentially beating Navy at their own game.
• Notre Dame was 9 of 19 in 3rd down conversions (47.37%) while Navy was 9 of 16 (56.25%).
• Notre Dame was 6 of 8 in 4th down conversions. Each failure was huge: (1) the fake field goal attempt that ended the Irish drive on a short field following the Navy fumble, (2) the fourth down at the end of the game where Coach Weis decided that he preferred the odds of converting a 4th and 8 over the chances hitting a 41-yard field goal. The fact that the Irish offense attempted to convert 8 times on fourth downs tells me a couple of things: (1) Although the Irish "O" had a good game overall, they weren't consistently overpowering Navy on downs 1 through 3, and (2) Coach Weis had very little confidence that the Irish "D" could slow down Navy's offense.
• Without ever punting the ball, Notre Dame played the field-position game very well. Notre Dame's average starting field position was it's own 43 yard line. Navy's average starting field position was it's own 27.
• Navy had five sacks on the season before yesterday, but got four against the Irish.

I also have some non-statistical thoughts. When Navy was FINALLY forced to punt the ball to the Irish at 2:23 of the fourth quarter, and Zibby had a very nice return of the punt to the Navy 38 yard line, I knew the Irish were going to win. We had just scored on a 14-play, 76 yard drive that featured James Aldridge and Armando Allen running the ball very effectively, plus an amazing throw and catch from Sharpley to John Carlson. The "O" was hitting on all cylinders. Putting the field goal decision aside for a moment, all I could think at the time was "Why is he throwing the ball to David Grimes?" Duval Kamara had been amazing all game long, John Carlson was looking like himself again, even Robby Parris had been effective. What has Grimes done this year that convinced Coach Weis to put the ball in his hands on the potential game-winning drive? (Answer: Nothing.)

My other thought relates to Travis Thomas. I didn't watch the game live yesterday, as I had to help the OC Daughter with a school function. When I got home, the only highlight of the game I caught before watching the game myself was the failed two-point conversion in the 3rd OT. And I screamed at my TV "Why are you giving the ball to Travis Thomas in that situation?" It's clear that Coach Weis likes TT at the goal line. It's also clear that he is very loyal to his senior captains. But at some point you have to think that James Aldridge and Armando Allen are going to get tired of TT cherry-picking the touchdowns after they have pounded the ball down the field. In the second quarter the Irish had a 12-play, 46 yard TD drive. Aldridge was the feature back on the drive with carries of 13, 4, -4, 3 and 4 yards. That's tough sledding. With the ball down to the 1 yard line after a 4-yard run by Aldridge on 2nd-and-goal, Thomas comes in a gets a 1-yard TD run. Same thing in the fourth quarter. On a 14-play, 76 yard TD drive, Aldridge had carries of 4, 5, 3, and 0 yards, while Allen had carries for 15, 13, 6, 6, 5 and 4 that put the ball at Navy's 3. Thomas then came in and ran for a 3-yard TD. Coach Weis may have very good reasons, based upon what he sees at practice, to use TT in goal line situations. As for myself, I'd like to see what Aldridge or Robert Hughes can do.

Grading the game, I'd give the offense a solid "B." They generally moved the ball very well, and had their best production of the year. The Sharpley fumble and some pass protection issues keeps the grade from being any higher.

I give the defense a "D" for this game. It's not that they didn't play hard. They just couldn't stop the Middies. They forced only one turnover, and didn't force a punt until very late in the game. They surrendered an average of 4.5 yards per play.

Special Teams get a "C". Kick and punt returns were very solid, but our kick-offs and kick coverage was poor. Notre Dame's first kick-off pinned Navy at the 10. Subsequent Irish kick-offs gave Navy starting field position at the 37, 32, 34, and 35 yard lines. Add a missed field goal attempt and failed fake field goal play, and a "C" is probably generous.

Coaching gets an "F". You have to beat Navy. Your defense has to stop that damned option play and get the ball back. You don't run a fake field goal on 4th and 15 in easy field goal range. You don't forego even a long filed goal attempt to win the game on 4th and 8.

Finally: I was glad to see Robert Hughes score the first Irish touchdown and get to keep the ball. That ball is small consolation for the loss of his brother this week, but hopefully he will always have it as a reminder that he is part of the Notre Dame family and that our prayers go out to him and his family at this very difficult time, no matter what happens on the football field.

Go Irish! Beat Falcons!

I Flew 2000 Miles for That? (USC Review)

As I mentioned in my hastily-written USC preview post, I took my family back to South Bend for the USC game. We don't get back there very often to see Irish home games, but we were offered tickets, and the timing worked out pretty well since we wanted the OC Daughter to see the campus again before she starts filling out college applications a year from now. So we took a red-eye out of LAX to Chicago (via Atlanta), grabbed a rental car, and made it to Notre Dame by mid-afternoon on on a cool, gray Friday. First stop was the bookstore, then the rest of campus. We watched the Band rehearse their step-off, and sat in on the Glee Club's Friday afternoon practice, which was really neat. Then we visited the grotto and walked around St. Mary's Lake to my old dorm, Carroll Hall. By then it was getting late, we were really tired, it was getting cool out and we were starving. So we called it a night and went to dinner. As we were walking back to our car, a gentleman approached me somewhat tentatively. I was pretty sure he wanted to ask me a question, but he seemed a bit reluctant. Finally he asked "Are you OC Domer?" I wasn't sure how to react. "Yes I am. How did you know that?" He told me that he reads the blog regularly and that he recognized my kids from the pictures I have posted here! What an amazing memory he has. He was very nice and complimented the blog, and I thanked him for reading. How weird was that! If you're still reading after Saturday, friend, it was great to meet you!

The next day dawned gloriously. Bright blue skies and a perfect autumn day. I, of course, had been promoting my theory that the key to an Irish victory was heavy snow. Thus, my theory was not going to be put to the test. Instead Notre Dame and USC fans alike were to be treated to the most perfect day you could imagine for a college football game. We headed back to campus around 1:00. We wandered for a bit enjoying the sights and taking some pictures, eventually making it over the the Knights of Columbus Hall where we bought our steak sandwiches for lunch. Then we listened to the Band concert on the steps of the Architecture building and finally followed the band as they stepped off for the stadium. I took over 500 pictures in two days, and have selected the best of the bunch for a slide show which is embedded below. Click on any of the pictures to open a new window that will let you see the entire album in full size.

As you can see from the photos, it was a fantastic weekend to be at Notre Dame for a football game (or for anything else).

Unfortunately, the football game did not live up to its setting. I felt, going into the game, that the Irish actually had a chance against a banged up Trojan squad playing behind a second-string quarterback. That theory pretty much fell by the wayside when it turned out that many of the key USC players who had been nursing injuries felt just fine on Saturday. In particular, the Irish were really hurt by the fact that Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing seemed to be at full strength. As you know, I was at the game, and haven't seen any recordings of it, so I don't have any benefit of instant replays or announcers' analyses. All I can relay to you are some of my impressions from being present in the stadium.

A couple of things are clear at the outset. First, USC should never have lost to Stanford. They are much too talented for that. Second, this Notre Dame football team is getting emotionally fragile. They play hard as long as they still feel they are in the game, but once a few breaks go against them you can sense (from the crowd as well as the team) the "here we go again" fears creeping in. In my estimation, Notre Dame (especially the defense) was mentally and emotionally in this game until late in the second quarter. Down 14-0 and starting a "drive" with 1:57 left in the half, the Irish were faced with a 3rd-and-1 situation at our own 23 yard line. A poorly thrown ball to Kamara fell incomplete and the air went out of the balloon. We punted and USC went on a 70 yard drive in 1:30, capped by a field goal with 11 second left in the half. At 17-0 it was "Game Over."

Evan Sharpley was definitely NOT Evan Spark-ley. He looked exactly like Jimmy Clausen, holding onto the ball too long, unable to make the decisions on where to throw it. Looking at my photos today, I don't think we can lay it all on the O-line. While Sharpley certainly didn't have the time and space that Mark Sanchez had, and while he was frequently under pressure, he also had numerous plays where the protection was sufficient to complete a pass. The problem in many cases seemed to be that (1) nobody was open, or (2) receivers were open, sometimes wide open, but Sharpley never saw them. There were also accuracy and hands issues. All-in-all, anything that CAN go wrong with the passing game DID go wrong.

Although the defense clearly broke down in the second half, it was once again the futility of the offense that was the major culprit. Our defense is not good enough to win games all by itself, but it is good enough to win games if the offense can help just a little bit. But the offense has been utterly unable to provide that help.

I'm not going to break down the numbers in this post, but rest assured that they tell largely the same story we have seen all season - Notre Dame's offense cannot do anything. They can't sustain drives by converting third downs and moving the chains, and they can't score with the big play. Against USC the Irish only moved the ball late in each half. At the end of the first half USC was playing a very soft prevent defense, and Sharpley completed a few balls underneath. At the end of the game, USC had it's reserves in the game and we moved the ball down to the USC 25 before the drive sputtered out. How absolutely miserable it was to stand in Notre Dame Stadium and hope that Notre Dame could score a touchdown in the final seconds of the game so that they could avoid a shut-out and only lose 38-7 instead of 38-0. Humiliating.

I don't have any answers. I only have questions. How is it that we can't move the ball at all? We can't reliably execute an off-tackle run, or a toss sweep. We can't throw and catch a quick slant, a ten-yard out pattern or a seven-yard crossing route. We still can't get a single yard when faced with a crucial 3rd-and-1. How can it have gotten this bad?

Right now I am only clinging to one hope: We can't be as bad as we have looked. We've played an extraordinarily tough schedule against Top-25 teams. We aren't a Top-25 team right now, so we're 1-7. But we aren't the 90th best team in the country either, and we'll do fine over the last month of the schedule. Wins over Navy, Air Force, Stanford, and Duke will bring the Irish faithful back in off the window ledges and we'll start looking forward to next year, when all the pain of this season will bear fruit. I hope.

Road Trip for a Home Game (USC)

I'd like to write a comprehensive preview of this Saturday's Notre Dame - USC tilt, but time is short. An old and dear friend of my wife's family called about a month ago and said he had some USC tickets with our name on them. (He's a fairly prominent Alum who lives in South Bend). Some quick work with Orbitz.com revealed that if we were willing to fly at strange hours we could actually make the trip happen within the OC Domer family budget. So we take off tonight from LAX at around midnight and get to Chicago tomorrow morning, then we fly home from Chicago at about 6:00 a.m. Sunday. Factoring in the drives between Chicago and South Bend and spending as much time as possible on campus Friday and Saturday, it looks like we might be able to get a little sleep Friday night, but that's about all.

I'm taking my camera, so I'll take about a thousand pictures and put the best of them up here in a slide show like I did after the UCLA game. I won't be able to post normally until Sunday night at the earliest, but I hope to make some remote posts (including live pictures!) using my cell phone throughout the weekend, so check back in with OC Domer to see how the weekend is going.

The Domer Law Blog has a nice USC preview up, and I pretty much agree with his analysis, including this:

This is the granddaddy of them all, the greatest rivalry in college football.

It's become cliche, but it is often true that when these two teams meet, you can throw out the records.

[...]

Despite the fact that the matchups appear to favor the Trojans, I simply refuse to allow myself to believe that we will lose this game. It means too much to the players and coaches for them not to come out and play the game of their lives on Saturday morning.

I'm hoping that a couple years from now, when we are celebrating our 12th national championship, I'll be able to say that I was in Notre Dame Stadium for the turning point in this program, when the Irish started something special that woke up the echoes, not just for a fleeting week or two, but for good.

This week could serve as the foundation for the building of a dynasty. It's that important.

I can't add much to that.

As a resident of Southern California, the USC game is always huge. Neighbors, co-workers, friends are all USC grads and/or fans. My wife's family is littered with USC alumni from her Dad, to her aunt, to her brother. Radio and television is saturated with Trojan coverage year-round. For a Domer in the OC there is no bigger date on the calendar than the date of the USC game - it means an entire year of bragging rights or humility depending on the outcome.

Notre Dame heads into Saturday a total mystery. Instead of numbers on the awful green jerseys they will be wearing they ought to be wearing question marks. Youth and inexperince all over the field. At quarterback we're trotting out the third guy this season to make his first-ever collegiate start. The defense is steadily improving, and shows flashes of brilliance, but they are still giving up big yards.

The offense has been woeful, despite glimmers of potential. Everyone is hoping that Evan Sharpley can be Evan Spark-ley and get the Irish on the board early so we aren't playing catch-up in the second half, again.

USC comes in proud but banged up. They had their pride tempered significantly by the loss to Stanford, but the fact is that their fans are really looking past this game. They see Oregon and Cal on the horizon, and don't think the Irish present any sort of an obstacle. USC will feature at QB an experienced John David Booty playing with a broken middle finger on his throwing hand, or an inexperienced Mark Sanchez making his second career start. Radio reports here are saying that Sanchez is the likely starter, but there is no way of knowing if Pete Carroll is blowing smoke. The Trojan offensive line is really banged up and may present some real opportunities for our D-line to make some plays, as USC has been prone to both turnovers and penalties this year. USC has other guys injured all over the field, which has led to erratic and un-inspiring play for much of this season (including the big loss to Stanford).

Bottom line: Both of these teams are a snake-bit this year. They are not playing at levels that they are accustomed to historically. They are making mistakes and feature youth and inexperience on both sides of the ball, albeit talented youth and inexperience. The way I see it, the home field advantage for Notre Dame is huge this week, especially if Sanchez is at QB for USC. If Notre Dame stadium can present a truly hostile environment for the Trojans, I think this year's team can be rattled. And if we can rattle them, anything can happen.

I can't even remember what year it was, but a few years ago my wife and I went back for the USC game with her brother, his wife, and another USC couple. It was a cold, drizzly, miserable day in Notre Dame stadium. It was clear early on that neither the Trojans nor their fans had any interest in playing a football game in those conditions. USC was flat and uninspired and the Irish won in workmanlike fashion in front of a bunch of happy home fans and miserable Southern Californians. The weather forecast right now is calling for cool weather and some showers on Saturday. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but as far as I am concerned, the colder and wetter the better. Think snow!

Go Irish! Beat the Trojans!

Evan Help Us

Coach Charlie Weis announced today that Evan Sharpley will get the nod at QB Saturday against the USC Trojans in place of Jimmy Clausen. Thank goodness. Sharpley will probably make some mistakes, as he has been prone to do, but so far this year the team has appeared to have more energy with Evan in the game. He also gets the ball out of his hands quicker and has shown more ability, or at least more willingness, to stretch opposing defenses vertically. Over the past few games our defense has actually played well enough to overcome a few offensive mistakes. As long as the "O" is moving the ball and occasionally putting points on the board, a small number of mistakes won't kill us. It will certainly be better than a mistake-free offense that can't get a first down.

Here are the stat lines for Sharps and Clausen so far this season:

Clausen: 81 of 141 (57.4%), 618 yards, 1 TD, 5 INT, 89.51 QB Rating.

Sharpley: 43 of 80 (53.8%), 479 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT, 111.42 QB Rating.

It's interesting to see that despite a lower completion percentage, Sharpley has a much higher QB efficiency rating. That's because he's getting more out of his passes. With roughly half the completions of Clausen, Sharpley has only 22% fewer yards and 2 more touchdowns. Clausen has gotten 7.6 yards per completion, while Evan is getting 11.1 per completion. Although Evan has played in situations that have required him to be aggressive down the field (i.e., we have been trailing), it's also true that he's been throwing the ball into a defense that KNEW we were going to be airing it out.

This will be Evan Sharpley's first start at quarterback. Prior to the opener I wrote about first-time starters, and noted (Stats slightly corrected due to reader feedback):

Overall, of the 34 different quarterbacks making their first starts in the "OC Domer Era", there were 26 wins against 7 losses and 1 tie. [...]

First time starters are just 14-7-1 when the start doesn't come in a season opener. Not bad, but not great either. But it makes sense. These guys are starting after (1) they failed to win the job at the start of the season, and (2) the #1 QB either got hurt or struggled

Injuries can force a change at any time, but quarterback changes are much more likely in the first half of a season than in the second half. New quarterbacks got their first starts in games 2 through 5 of the season fifteen times. Games 6 through 11 had first-time starters only eight times. Weeks 4 and 5 are the most popular times for a mid-season QB change. It seems that by the time the mid-point of the season is reached, you're dancing with who brung ya.

By making a QB change in week 8 of the season, the Irish are in a bit of an unusual situation. If you want to call 1-6 unusual.

Good luck Evan!

Beat the Trojans!

Boston College Recap: All I'm Asking for is "Mediocre"

[EDIT: Welcome UHND readers. I hope you'll bookmark OC Domer and come back regularly!]

Under a blue-gray October sky the Fighting Irish offense, under the tutelage of offensive genius Charlie Weis, once again stunk up the field. The Notre Dame defense played well enough that we didn't even need a "good" or "great" performance on offense. All we needed was for the "O" to raise its level of play from "deplorable" to "mediocre." Alas, "mediocre" was not in the cards for Saturday. Instead, the offensive line was unable to block effectively in the run game or the passing game, the quarterbacks made poor decisions and threw the ball inaccurately, and the receivers dropped numerous catchable, though not perfectly thrown, passes.

How bad was it? Here, briefly, is what the Irish were able to accomplish with each of their possessions:

1. 6 Plays, 3 yards, punt.
2. 5 plays, 16 yards, punt.
3. 3 plays, 9 yards, punt.
4. 3 plays, 9 yards, punt.
5. 10 plays, 22 yards, ball turned over on downs when punter's knee touches ground while fielding low snap. Drive "aided" by a false start penalty on Eric Olsen, starting in place of the MIA Matt Carufel.
6. 5 plays, 9 yards, Clausen pass intercepted. Drive featured ND holding penalty.
7. 1 play, 0 yards, Clausen pass intercepted.
8. 7 plays, 79 yards, TD pass from Sharpley to Parris.
9. Brian Smith intercepts pass and returns it 25 yds for Irish TD. (Not an Irish "drive", but I count it as a possession).
   
10. 3 plays, 7 yards, punt.
11. 6 plays, 16 yards, punt.
12. 6 plays, 15 yards, Missed 41 yd FG attempt. Drive featured Turkovich holding penalty.
13. 11 plays, 53 yards, Ball turned over on downs. TD pass nullified by Turkovich holding penalty.
14. 4 plays, 0 yards. Ball turned over on downs.
15. 1 play -1 yard. Game over.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Notre Dame offense in game #7 of the third season under Coach Weis. I still believe Charlie Weis is the right man for this job, but some things have to change. More on that in a minute.

It is tempting to blame Irish penalties or even the referees for the poor offensive performance. Certainly a couple of the penalties came at really bad times and hurt us, and some of the penalty calls were borderline. But the reality is that Notre Dame got the better of it BY FAR with regard to penalty calls. The Irish were flagged seven times for a total of 64 yards. Boston College was called for fifteen penalties for 131 yards. The Eagles got one first down by penalty, while Notre Dame got four first downs via penalty. That's more first downs than we picked up via the running game (3). Boston College had two drives in the first quarter that stalled out at least in part due to penalties, and two drives in the third quarter that stalled due to penalties, including the drive that ended with Brian Smith's interception.

If you exclude the offensive drives marred by penalties (#s 1, 5, 6, 12, and 13 above) and the interception return for a TD, you're left with one long touchdown drive (#8) and seven other drives that ended by punt, interception or downs (#s 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, and 14) the longest of which gained 16 yards (#2 and #11). That's right, even in drives where we did not hurt ourselves via penalty, we mustered one drive for a TD and seven other drives that averaged just a tad over 8 yards each. The referees did not cost us this game - our offense did.

What can be done about it? Well, unlike Coach Weis, I am not an offensive guru. But I can see pretty clearly that our offensive line can't block. Run blocking or pass blocking we are playing very, very poorly. Often our guys are just getting beat. But it seems that just as often our guys are missing assignments and letting defenders go completely unblocked. True, there are some young guys on the line getting their feet wet. But Sullivan, Duncan, and Turkovich are veterans of the system and Sam Young now has roughly twenty starts under his belt. If those guys can't figure out who to block by now and at least put a helmet on them, then they are not being coached very well. And this is not a new problem. Under Coaches Weis and Latina the Irish have NEVER been able to run the ball with authority. Our best short-yardage play for two years has been the QB sneak. Even when our running game has worked, it has usually been Darius Walker running draw plays. In 2005 Notre Dame averaged 147.1 rushing yards per game. In 2006 we averaged 125.7 yards per game. This year it's 32.1 rushing yards per game (so far). In the passing game, even before this year's disaster (34 sacks allowed so far) our pass protection has been lousy. We allowed 21 sacks in 2005, and 31 sacks in 2006. That is not progress. Coach Weis certainly bears his share of the blame, but so does offensive line coach John Latina. Notre Dame may not have the best talent along the offensive line, especially in the upper classes, but there are MANY, MANY teams across the country who are getting far better play from lesser talent than Notre Dame has. The difference is coaching. If for no other reason than to show he takes the problem seriously, Coach Weis has got to give John Latina his walking papers. A new offensive line coach is certainly not going to make matters worse.


The other change that has to be made is at quarterback. Jimmy Clausen may be the quarterback of the future for Notre Dame, but the quarterback of right now is Evan Sharpley. Coach Weis has said repeatedly that this is not a rebuilding year (Hah!) and that he will play the guys that give the team the best chance to win. Facing USC this Saturday, that guy is Sharpley. Clausen may have all the talent in the world, but right now the team is playing better with Evan under center. Back in May, in the heat of the quarterback race, I wrote:

Reading the tea leaves, I think Evan Sharpley gets first shot in the Fall, based upon his experience at running the offense. But he's on a short leash. If he doesn't "make plays" then Jones and Clausen will battle it out to see who can move the team the best - Clausen primarily with his arm, or Jones as a dual pass-run threat. At the end of the day, Coach Weis will go by what he sees on the field. Whichever QB moves the team best and makes the most plays will be the starter, regardless of "potential." At the end of the day, it might be the team that decides. Sometimes a team just responds better, plays better, for a particular quarterback. Which quarterback will most quickly earn the loyalty, respect, and confidence of his teammates?

Clausen and Sharpley are close in playing level right now. Neither is anywhere close to perfect. But right now, the team is responding to Sharpley. He has been decisive and gets the ball out of his hand quicker. He throws the ball with more authority, and he has clearly been the better quarterback at stretching defenses vertically and getting the ball down the field. His faster decisions are not always the correct ones, and his accuracy can be improved. Clausen may read defenses better, and he may be more accurate, but he is not making plays. Throwing the ball sideline to sideline doesn't frighten anyone. Sharpley may throw an INT or two, he may miss an open receiver, but right now he is the only play maker we have at QB, and he has to start. It doesn't show up in the stat sheet, but the defense is playing better as well when Sharps is in the game. I think this is because he moves the team and the defense gets fired up when they believe that the offense might actually score points. I do not think it is a coincidence that ND's interception return for a TD came immediately after Sharpley led the team on 79-yard TD drive. I read today where Weis said Sharpley needs to practice better if he wants to be "the guy." That's all well and good, but Coach Weis is also fond of saying that "I can only go by what I see." Well, we can all see that the team is playing better with Sharpley in the game. There was once another Irish quarterback who was buried on the depth chart because he wasn't a great practice player. His name was Joe Montana, and he did alright on game day.

Other Observations:

• Other than the play where Geoff Price put his knee down fielding a low snap (which hurt us), he had a very good day punting, netting 42.2 yards per punt compared to a net 34.6 for BC.

• Although Zibby never broke the big one, we finally saw some production on punt return, with 3 returns for 34 yards.

• As might be expected from the offensive stats discussed above, ND got killed in time of possession, approx 21 minutes to 39 minutes.

• Despite what it seemed like watching the game, ND and BC had similar days converting on 3rd downs. BC was 7 of 17, while ND was 6 of 18. BC was 0 for 3 on 4th down conversions (the first time they failed on 4th down all year), while ND was 1 of 4.

• Notre Dame Dame failed to sack Matt Ryan (according to the stat sheet, although I thought we got him at least once), but we only allowed two sacks of Irish QBs (which is a good day for us).

• Although the defense played pretty well against a top team, it would have been much better if we could tackle. Too often BC ball carriers dragged ND defenders for extra yards. Several times we had Matt Ryan dead to rights in the back-field and missed the chance to put the big hit on him. Zibby needs to get his head in front and drive his legs. He tackles like he's trying to jump on the back of a rodeo calf, and defenders just shrug him off.

• David Bruton is having an amazing year. He shows tremendous speed, a big heart, and he CAN tackle. Keep up the great work David!

Conclusion: While this loss really hurt because of the multiple times we shot ourselves in the feet, at the end of the day the Irish competed pretty well against a team that may be #2 in the country as I type this. Although I think BC is overrated, they are still a very good football team and you have to take some encouragement from the fact that Notre Dame was within one score of taking the lead midway through the 3rd quarter. If Evan Sharpley gets the start next week against a USC team that is looking very human right now, I like my chances of seeing a BIG Notre Dame win next Saturday. The Irish are undefeated this year (1-0) when I am in the house, and I'm taking the whole family back to South Bend for the game this week.