Irish Display Progress in Blue & Gold Game

Well the 2010 Blue & Gold Game is in the books, and Coach Brian Kelly has to be pleased with what he saw. The stat sheet isn't out yet, but I wanted to quickly share my initial impressions of the game.

Of course all eyes were on Dayne Crist and his surgically repaired knee, and Dayne looked very good physically while taking every snap for the Blue squad in the first (and most important) half. The first half was played under normal game clock rules and generally featured the players who are on the two-deep depth chart or fighting for a spot on it. The second half was two 12-minute quarters with running clock. It went very quickly and was the opportunity for the back-ups and walk-ons to see some live fire in Notre Dame Stadium.

The most surprising aspect of the game for me was how well all the quarterbacks looked in the new offense. Dayne Crist started for the Blue squad, while Nate Montana ran the Gold team, and both seemed very much in command of the offense, getting everyone lined up and generally making the proper reads and getting the ball where it needed to go. Dayne looked to me to be a little ahead of Nate as far as making the reads and getting the ball out quickly, and he had more zip on his throws, at least until he started to look a little fatigued late in the first half when his throws started falling a little short. But Nate was not far behind Crist in execution and actually had a better stat line for the game. I did not expect our #2 quarterback to look as far along in learning the offense, and I certainly did not expect anything from the #3 QB, Tommy Rees, who looked like he could step in and play if he is needed. Pretty impressive all-around performance from the QB corps (and the coaches who got them ready).

The other really big surprise for me today was Cierre Wood. Wow, that kid has a burst! It didn't take very long to see why Theo Riddick is now a wide receiver (and a good one at that). Wood showed acceleration through through the hole that the Irish haven't seen in decades. He gets through the hole and into top gear right now. If he gets half a step on a defender, he is not going to get caught. I was reminded of the time that Charlie Weis talked about Munir Prince's "whoosh!" speed. Well, we never saw Munir's "whoosh!" translate to a game situation, but Cierre Wood is the real "whoosh!" deal. Armando Allen is the starting running back, but he won't ever get too comfortable in that role because Wood is gaining on him fast.

Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray also looked very good at times. The bottom line is that Coach Kelly has plenty of depth to draw on at running back, especially since we'll generally see only one back on the field at a time.

The one wide receiver that really stood out today was the early enrollee, TJ Jones. Although he doesn't look very big, he did look very quick and sure handed. That young man is going see playing time early and he is going to be a play maker. Shaq Evans also had a good day.

Both Kyle Rudolph and Mike Ragone had very productive days at the tight end spot, and more importantly they both looked 100% healthy.

The defense, although playing vanilla sets, played generally very well and most importantly seemed to tackle much better than last season. Manti Te'o stood out for his instincts and his speed, and Steve Filer surprised by leading the team in tackles. The defensive line seemed to be getting a good push up the middle and had good awareness in batting down several passes.

All in all, I was very pleased that the team on both sides of the ball appears to have already grasped a good understanding of the basic sets they will be using next season, and that the understanding extends fairly broadly across the roster so that Coach Kelly and his staff are developing a lot of depth. The game was played very cleanly with very few penalties, mental mistakes, mishandled balls, etc... I take that as a sign that Coach Kelly's insistence on discipline and attention to detail has begun to take hold.

Overall I was very pleasantly surprised by all the progress the coaches and the team have made over the course of just 15 spring practices. I don't know how many wins that will translate into come the fall, but I am now confident the team will not be unprepared when Purdue rolls that big drum into Notre Dame Stadium on September 4th.

Lou Two?

"The Shirt" has been unveiled, and the 2010 edition of the Blue & Gold Game is upon us. As we wait for the public premiere of the latest version of the Fighting Irish, I wanted to share my thoughts on what has essentially been the prologue of the Brian Kelly Era. I was hoping to make this post much more in-depth, but time constraints (it's already really late on Friday night) dictate that it be just a summary of my impressions. But I think you'll get the flavor.

Lou Two? It hit me like a ton of bricks about a week ago when watching some of Coach Kelly's post-practice remarks to the media that he sounds a lot like Lou Holtz. His remarks that day were particularly tough on Dayne Crist, criticizing his sloppy footwork and his technique in general. He also remarked that "right now we're not a very good football team" and lamented the need to motivate players who are lucky enough to be wearing a gold helmet and playing for Notre Dame. That dose of pessimism and poor-mouthing was vintage Lou. But the similarities don't end there. When Lou came to Notre Dame he found a group of players that thought a little too much of their own abilities, and he had to bring those players down a peg by instilling a much stricter sense of discipline and by emphasizing the concept of "team" over the individual. We're seeing from Coach Kelly a lot of talk about the sense of entitlement he perceived when he walked into the Gug and the need to find the Right Kind of Guys (RKGs) who come to Notre Dame because they want to be part of the tradition of the Fighting Irish, not because it will enhance their chances of being drafted by the NFL. The final similarity I see is the primacy of the "system." Under Lou the Irish ran the option offense. It was who they were. Everyone knew the plays they were going to run, and the game plan was simply to execute the system better than the other team could defend it. Under Coach Kelly the system is his version of the spread offense. His goal is to develop his team to a level of unconscious competence in the spread and then execute it at a high level on game day, regardless of who the opponent is. So, at the outset, the Brian Kelly Era feels an awful lot like the beginning of the Lou Holtz Era. I think these two coaches have very similar ideas about how a head football coach should go about his business. I hope Coach Kelly can have results that compare favorably to Lou's as well.

Tempo. We've had some glimpses of the team's spring practices, although we haven't really been able to see anything meaningful. But we've certainly heard and read a lot about tempo. Those who have observed the practices have said that they are remarkable for the high tempo. Coach Kelly himself has on numerous occasions stated that one of the biggest challenges for the players and the team in the spring has been adjusting to the high tempo at which he expects them to play. But does all the talk about tempo mean anything? Or is it just so much more "new coach" rhetoric? I think all the emphasis on tempo is very significant. Even Charlie Weis noted that one of the problems that really vexed the team in 2007 was "tempo." I have written quite a bit about tempo, or the lack thereof, here on this blog. For example, after the loss to Georgia Tech to open 2007 (sorry to bring that up):

In talking about the loss, Coach Weis had a different take. It wasn't that our guys didn't know what to do, it was a "tempo" problem.

“It isn’t just the players playing each other, it’s handing the speed of the game. You can simulate it in practice the best you can, but obviously they did a much better job than we did of handling the speed of the game. They controlled the tempo with their defense versus our offense.”

And again -

“I thought the speed of the game, especially the offensive front against their defensive front, we were playing at two different tempos.”

What does that mean? Is that like "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Domer, it's not that little Johnny can't read. He actually reads very well. It's just that he reads at a slower tempo than the other children."

Oh, is that all?

And, more importantly, can you fix a "tempo" problem? Because if we don't fix our "tempo" problem I have a very strong feeling that this could be an issue down the road. Like this week in Happy Valley. Or in Pasadena. Or when the Trojans come calling.

This "tempo" issue has been discussed before here at OC Domer. Following the fan appreciation day practice in August I posted my thoughts on what we learned (or didn't learn) from that public practice. Included in my ramblings was the following:

It seemed to me that the line play was only going about 80% speed. Very little real smash-mouth going on. That, and the poor overall quality of the video posted at UND.com (too small, too grainy) makes it very difficult to evaluate line play. So I won't try.

Much has been made of the coaches requiring the defense to "run" a lap around the field when they lined up with only ten men on one play, as though the coaches were really cracking the whip. I was disappointed in how most of the guys dogged it on the lap. They pace was very slow, and many of the guys cut the corners in the end zones. I know the guys are fatigued after a week of camp, but maybe the reason USC and LSU run laps around us on game day is that we don't really "run" our laps at practice. Practice slow and play slow. Maybe I'm being unfair and too harsh, but that "lap" bothered me.

So maybe we've had a tempo problem for a while. If so, I am really disappointed. Living in Southern California, I am subjected to a rather steady stream of USC coverage. I've built up some immunity to it and no longer break out in hives. One common, recurring theme from those who visit Trojans' practices is that they are impressed by the high tempo of USC practices. If I know that one of the distinguishing characteristics of the current top program in the country is their high-tempo practices, surely that word has gotten out to the coaching community. Why wouldn't we (Notre Dame) be trying to emulate that? And if we are trying, why isn't it translating to Saturdays? Is it because we're coaching it wrong? Or is it because our guys are just too slow to play at that higher tempo? I sure hope it's the former, because coaching techniques can be fixed. If it's the latter, we're in serious trouble, because you can't teach speed.

It certainly seems that "tempo" is central to Coach Kelly's ideas about how he wants his teams to play the game, and it appears that he puts his money where his mouth is on that point by forcing the team to work at a very high tempo 100% of the time in practice. Hopefully in will translate into a team that plays faster and with more urgency than we have seen at Notre Dame in many years.

Defense. With all the focus on Dayne Crist and the new offensive system, the defense is getting overlooked. In listening to the coaches, it is clear that the new defensive system will be a significant departure from the Jon Tenuta experiment. Rather than a "Tora! Tora! Tora!" attack mentality, this year's defense will be a more disciplined unit with greater attention to gap control and playing one's assignment. Nobody wants to say it, but it is going to be a "bend-but-don't break" scheme that will focus on slowing down the opponent and avoiding the big offensive play. Once Coach Kelly's spread offense is hitting on all cylinders, a solid though perhaps unspectacular defense should be more than sufficient to enable the Irish to win what I expect will be a lot of shoot-outs. But the offense will surely sputter for a while as Dayne and the receivers grow in it, and the defense is going to have to be more than just "solid" if this team is going to win games in 2010. The defense is going to have to generate turnovers and it will have to be very stout when faced with tough situations following stalled drives and turnovers by the inexperienced offense. I have no idea what to expect from this unit, but I have no doubt that it needs to be a lot better than it was in 2009. Hopefully the new 3-4 scheme will be a better fit for our personnel, and hopefully the new defensive coaches can teach basic tackling techniques better than the previous staff did. There is plenty of talent on this side of the ball, and if they can learn the new schemes sufficiently well to "play fast" without making too many mistakes they could be very good. Coach Kelly's public comments on the defensive talent on this team have been very positive. I don't have a lot of insight to offer on what the defense will do. My only insight is that I think folks are underestimating how important it is that the defense be very good right out of the box since it has to be expected that there will be growing pains on the offensive side of the ball.

Chuck & Duck The Spread Offense. In order get some idea what to expect from Coach Kelly's offense, I have been watching this Tony Pike 2009 highlight video:




Obviously the quarterback drives the bus in this offense, and Dayne Crist will have to be very good from week one or we are in trouble. There is no place for the QB to hide in this scheme. There really is no way to protect the QB or slowly bring him along. It is pedal-to-the-metal from the coin flip. But the receivers are equally important. They have to run their routes correctly to get open, and they have to be able to catch the ball, even if the throw isn't perfect. It is clear from watching the above video that Tony Pike had a tremendous degree of trust in his receivers. He frequently threw the ball to receivers who weren't really open and trusted that they would be aggressive enough to come down with the ball or at least prevent an interception. In this system the QB is frequently going to be throwing the ball under duress, and he won't be able to deliver it to his wide-outs on a silver platter. This offense appears to assume that the QB will simply get the ball out of his hand and into the general vicinity of the receiver, who is expected to attack the ball and come down with it. That's the "bad news" for the receivers, so to speak. The good news is that the wide receivers will have many, many opportunities to make big plays. The ball is in the air all the time. When the offense is working, the receivers frequently catch the ball in space with plenty of room to make big gains. There will be plenty of wealth to spread around to those players who are able to grasp the scheme and step up their game. Michael Floyd is obviously the #1 WR right now. But this offense needs at least four WRs on the field at a time, and Golden Tate is playing for Pete Carroll now. It's time for the young guys to show us what they can do.

BGS RIP. The best college football blog on the 'net has decided to go out on top. The Blue-Gray Sky was the best college football blog when I started OC Domer in March of 2007, and they were still the best when they retired their jerseys on March 25, 2010. Week in and week out, season in and season out, the Blue-Gray Sky was the gold standard against which Notre Dame football blogs were measured. While the rest of us made do with our own modestly informed opinions based upon watching the game once, live, while drinking beer and eating nachos, the crew at BGS watched film, broke it down, and gave us actual analysis (accompanied by video clips, diagrams, and screen-caps) of what the team was doing and why it was or wasn't working. That's a lot of hard work and it was without peer in the Irish blogosphere. And it was greatly appreciated by me and thousands of other loyal BGS readers. It was a proud milestone for the OC Domer blog when BGS added us to their blogroll. Thanks for the traffic guys. Here's a portion of my comments at BGS upon hearing the news that they were shutting it down:

Running my own one-man blog, I completely understand how much work goes into a quality post. And as a dad with a job, I understand how hard it is to find the time to blog well. Thanks for all the blood, sweat & tears you guys have poured into your site the past six years. And good luck to all of you as you move on to the next chapters of your lives. But you and BGS will be missed.

NFL. Congratulations to Jimmy Clausen on being drafted by the Carolina Panthers! It looks like a great fit for Jimmy. The offense is the same one he ran at ND, and it is a fundamentally sound team that just needs a good QB to get to the next level. Jimmy will have a great chance to compete for the starting job right away, and if he wins it he will be in a much better situation to stay healthy and win games than Brady Quinn was in with the Browns. Good luck to Jimmy, and I'm glad he wasn't in New York where the cameras could document his pain as he slid down the board. And congratulations also to Golden Tate, who will be in Seattle playing for his old nemesis Pete Carroll. Great pick by Pete, and good fit for Golden as Seattle sorely needs a playmaker like him. How long has it been since Notre Dame had a player drafted (Clausen at pick 48) before the first USC player was drafted (Taylor Mays at pick 49)? Weird that Tebow was drafted ahead of Clausen and will be competing with Brady Quinn in Denver. I hope BQ wins that job and keeps Tebow on the sideline for a long time.

Conclusion. It's been exciting to watch Coach Kelly take over the Fighting Irish and begin to mold it in his image. But up until now its been like fingering the presents under the tree before Christmas, trying to figure out what's inside the wrapping. Tomorrow the wrapping begins to come off and we get to see what Santa brought us. I hope Santa got my letter.

Go Irish!

Blue & Gold Answers

In the run-up to the 2009 Blue & Gold game last week I posed the questions that I hoped to see answered by the scrimmage on Saturday. Below are the questions I had along with my highly qualified answers.

I don't mean that I am highly qualified to give any answers, I mean that the answers I am giving come with a lot of qualifiers. Such as: It was just a scrimmage, a lot of guys were held out, both the offense and defense showed very vanilla packages, it's very hard to judge a team playing against itself. But the biggest qualifier is that I had just one very quick pass at the full game video. The UND website posted two videos of the scrimmage on Saturday. One was a highlight package that is mildly entertaining but largely useless. It featured multiple slow-mo looks at just a handful of plays, along with a game of Duck, Duck, Goose. That video is still available on the website.

The other was a compilation of what appeared to be most (if not all) of the plays from the game. That video is very useful as you can watch the bad plays as well as the good on both sides of the ball. I watched that video all way through one time on Saturday. I also tried every trick I know to save that video to my hard drive because they posted a similar video after the 2008 B&G game and then took it down soon thereafter. I wasn't successful capturing the feed, and sure enough it's not on the UND site anymore. So I got one decent look at the whole scrimmage.

Disclaimers and qualifiers aside, here's what I saw:

Specifically, here are the questions I'm hoping to have answered (at least tentatively) on Saturday:

How does Clausen look? Is his arm strong? Accuracy good? Is he consistently making the proper reads and throwing to the correct receivers? In short, does JC look like the QB we saw in Hawaii or the QB we saw against Boston College? I'm betting that we'll see Aloha Jimmy, but I would really like some affirmation in that belief.

• Clausen was a so-so 8 of 17 for 70 yards with no touchdowns and one pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by B&G Defensive MVP Robert Blanton. Based upon the small sample of pass plays, I didn't think he looked quite like "Aloha Jimmy". But he looked confident and in control, and his arm strength and accuracy looked pretty good. Many of the incompletions were due to excellent coverage by the secondary, which is very encouraging. Compared to last year's B&G game, Clausen has clearly improved as last year his accuracy left a lot to be desired.

How close to being ready to play is Dayne Crist? Is he really all that? Rumors last season had Crist looking great in practice and ready to challenge Clausen for playing time. This spring we're hearing that Dayne's accuracy is off and he's struggling with running the offense and making the reads. I am hoping to get a good look at this young player and hopefully (there's that word again) get a good feeling about what will happen to the Irish QB situation when Clausen moves on to Sunday games.

• Crist was 4 of 10 for 40 yards with no TDs and no INTs. As with Clausen, many of the incompletions were due to excellent secondary play, which figures to be a strength of this team. I don't recall any "wow" plays with respect to Crist's arm strength, but I was favorably impressed with his poise and apparent command of the (presumably simplified) offense. A couple of bobbled snaps aside, I liked his decision-making, his sense of timing, and the touch on his throws, often to backs in the backfield). The "wow" came from a couple of Nate Montana's throws. He hit on the longest completion of the day. He showed very good accuracy in his couple of chances, and seems to have his Dad's knack for delivering a very catchable ball right on stride. Altogether, I feel about as comfortable with our depth and our future at the quarterback position as I have felt for a very long time.
  

Has the offensive line learned how to block in the power running game? Can they push defenders back when they have to? (And if they are pushing guys around, is it because they've gotten better, or because our D-line isn't stout enough?)

• Coach Weis is well known for saying "I can only go by what I see." Judging by that standard you'd have to say that the offensive line's blocking in the power running game is already significantly better than at any previous time in the Weis era. You may recall that Darius Walker put up some nice rushing yards under Charlie, but you must also recall that he usually did it on his own after eluding at least one defender in the backfield as he took the hand-off. Armando Allen had 70 yards on 12 carries for a gaudy 5.8 yards per rush. Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray each averaged about 4.4 yards per carry. There was clearly an emphasis on the straight-ahead power game versus the outside runs, and I am very hopeful our running game this year will force defenses to play us honest on first and second downs, and that 3rd-and-short will become automatic first downs with Robert Hughes running behind this unit. Keep up the great work Coach Verducci.
  

Will the re-built and very young defensive line be stout enough to defend the run while still pressuring the passer?

• I think they'll be able to pressure the passer, and I don't think anyone is going to beat our guys to the edge on outside running plays. But the guys up front got pushed around a bit in the power run game. If there is any area of concern on defense, this is it. Part of what we saw on Saturday is no doubt a case of an experiences O-line getting better. But part of it is a group of young defensive linemen who have to develop in a hurry. One has to hope that we jump out to some early leads in 2009 to force teams out of time-consuming drives on the ground. If we can force teams into playing catch-up this defense will feast. But if we're down late and the opponent is trying to run out the clock we may be hard pressed to force a punt.
  

Have the new coaches settled into their roles and is the staff functioning well as a unit? Are the players responding to the new coaches, playing hard, and getting better?

• Can't really judge the functioning of the staff other than by what we saw on the field. The team seemed excited to be out there, and they seemed to be playing hard and at a high level. From all that, I'd tentatively say that the new coaching hires and the reorganization of responsibilities seems to be working.
  

How well is Coach Weis getting around these days on his new wheel?

• He's certainly walking much, much better. He did say at the beginning of the post-game press conference that he was pretty tired and sore from being on his new knee that long on Saturday. And maybe it's just me but I think Coach is losing a little weight.

And so we head into summer workouts. Before you know it we'll be straining to hear any word on how the incoming freshman are looking in fall workouts. Will Manti Te'o live up to the lofty expectations? And then on to a schedule that sets up very favorably for the Irish in 2009. Less than 10 wins would be a real disappointment. You're tempted to put USC in the "L" column out of habit, but even that assumption must be questioned. The Irish defense actually played very well against the Trojans in the Coliseum last year, but they just didn't get any help from the offense. This year USC is breaking in a new QB. The offense struggled ("struggled" is being kind) against an outstanding USC defense in 2008, but that defense will be playing on Sundays in 2009. The USC game at Notre Dame on October 17th figures to be very close. Get your tickets now!

Assuming Notre Dame is at least moderately improved in 2009, based upon returning experience and normal maturity growth, a second loss on the schedule is hard to pin down. Michigan? They're still a mess. I think we win again, although not as easily as in 2008. Probably the most likely candidates for loss #2 would be Michigan State or Boston College just based on recent results against those teams, but we get them both at our place. Pitt and Stanford lurk out there as November road games. But if we're playing at the level I expect, those games will become very important for a team looking to make their case as a BCS Bowl invitee. Motivation at that point shouldn't be a problem.

Let the summer speculation season begin!

Spring Blogkeeping - Some changes at OC Domer

It's been fairly quiet here at OC Domer over the past few weeks. In part it's because I find it difficult to contribute to the conversation in any meaningful way during spring football practice, which I have written about before. In part it's because other events at work and at home have nudged my blogging habit to the sideline for a bit. And it's also because I have been doing a lot of thinking about the future of the OC Domer blog and what it will look like going forward. I'll have more on that in a moment, but first I want to point out some of the minor tweaks I've made to the blog in the past few weeks.

• I've discontinued the "OC Domer International" feature on the sidebar. When I first started the blog I was pretty fascinated with my traffic and where it was coming from. The novelty of seeing hits from exotic places around the globe led to creation of the list of other countries with OC Domer readers. It was a lot of fun, but the thrill is pretty much gone and I haven't been maintaining the list for a while now. Before discontinuing the feature I was up to about 80 different countries, which is pretty cool. One interesting tidbit about the OC Domer International feature: One of the most common recurring sources of traffic to the blog was Google searches for the phrase "twirlers" from Muslim countries. There are sects in Islam that practice twirling (basically spinning in a circle really fast until one gets really dizzy and enters an enhanced state). (I know that is a gross over-simplification but I'm not interested in a treatise on religious practices right now). The humorous part is that Googling the word "twirlers" (or variations thereon) for a while would hit on my Purdue preview post from the 2007 season, which was a sarcastic look at the Golden Girl and all the other baton twirlers and band auxiliary elements surrounding Purdue's football program. Somehow I doubt that the Golden Girl is what the searchers from these Muslim nations were looking for. Or at least I hope so.

• I have dropped the sidebar ad for the FootballFanatics.com website. Not because I don't believe in the products (it's a great place for your Irish merchandise), but because I wasn't seeing any return on investment. It's actually pretty darn funny. When FootballFanatics first approached me about advertising on my blog, I really agonized about whether I wanted to commercialize OC Domer, which I do because I enjoy it, not to make money. Part of me didn't want to "sell out." But I decided that I believed in the product and would really be doing my readers a service by offering them a trusted source for their Notre Dame gear. So I opened my account with them and put up the ad. I sold my soul. And that ad generated exactly ZERO sales for FootballFanatics and ZERO cash for the OC Domer. So it's gone. I may sell out for Google Ads instead. We'll see.

• Fairly early in the history of OC Domer I was seeing traffic coming from Facebook.com, but I wasn't a member of Facebook and I couldn't see what was generating the hits. So I signed up for Facebook. My page isn't very fancy, but it gives me another way to keep up with my kids, and I even have a few Notre Dame football players as Facebook friends. I have added a badge that links to my Facebook page in the sidebar, and the badge even includes my Facebook status. If you're on Facebook, "Friend me!"

• One of the biggest stories to come out of spring football this year is that Notre Dame Head Football Coach Charlie Weis is "Twittering." Twitter is an internet application which has been called "micro-blogging." Basically Twitter allows a user to use the text messaging feature on their cell phone to broadcast short messages to anyone in the Twitter world who has signed up to "follow" that user. The user's Twitters (I think they are actually called tweets or twits?) also are automatically posted to the user's Twitter web page. Coach Weis is Twittering under the handle NDHFC. As of this moment Charlie has 1,877 followers, including OC Domer. I have installed an application at the top of the OC Domer sidebar that shows my readers NDHFC's last five Tweets, as well as a link to NDHFC's Twitter page. So come back to OC Domer to follow Coach Weis' Twitter updates, or sign up to follow him yourself. Charlie tends to send a flurry of messages in the morning when there is going to be football activity that day, and a flurry at night recapping the day's football events. He's kind of fun to follow as he doesn't really have the hang of the very brief Twitter text message format yet. He tends to send long messages that take up several Tweets. This morning's flurry of updates was all about the upcoming Blue & Gold game.

• In order to figure out the best way to install the NDHFC Twitter feed on the OC Domer sidebar, I had to sign up for Twitter myself and tweak one of their applications to get the NDHFC feed. At any rate, OC Domer is now Twittering too. I've added a Twitter badge to the sidebar that will take you my Twitter page. If you're completely insane you can follow my utterly ordinary existence. I have a way to go to catch up with Charlie's 1,877 followers. I tend to Tweet about current events from my own Right Wing Extremist perspective.

Which brings me to the biggest change at OC Domer, and the one that I have been thinking about a lot lately. In the history of the blog I have occasionally posted my thoughts on political topics. Ironically, the political posts tend to generate a lot more feedback and comments than my very thoroughly researched and cleverly written football posts. Many of the comments I get on those posts are positive and supportive, but a certain percentage come from folks who not only disagree with me, but who feel that such posts have no place on OC Domer. Given current events in America, I have been moved to write more about politics and other topics and I have been debating about whether I wanted to put those items on OC Domer or whether I wanted start another blog focusing on politics and current events. At the end of the day I decided that OC Domer is my baby and it is who I am. I don't owe it to anybody to partition my life according to their preferences. So right now I intend to start putting more politics/current events posts on OC Domer. I expect that the vast majority of my readers will be able to cope with that. Some will enjoy the posts, some will ignore those posts. The immature will attack me for daring to post my personal opinions on my personal blog, and they will call me names if they disagree with me rather than engage in civil debate. Some will stop reading me altogether. I'm a big boy, I can take it. OC Domer will still largely be about Notre Dame and Notre Dame football, especially during football season. But we're going to be branching out and growing the brand, so to speak. I just wanted to give my readers a heads-up and an explanation before we make this minor change in course.

Spring Thoughts

Editor's note: The Dayne Crist image at the top of this post is copyrighted by Jose L. Marin of Marin Media, and is used with Mr. Marin's permission. Check out more terrific sports photography, including some great Notre Dame stuff at MarinMedia.org


Well, it's almost time for the 2009 Blue & Gold Game, which means spring football practice for 2009 is nearly over and I don't think I have written a single post on it. Shame on me. This blog started in the Spring of 2007, and one of my first posts here was about the futility of trying to assess the progress of the team during the Spring, and the Hope that all Irish fans embrace this time of year. Nothing about Spring football has changed since 2007. I'll admit I read every silly report I can find about the 20-minutes at the start of each practice when reporters are allowed to observe the team, although I must admit I'm almost ashamed of myself for doing so. I mean, really, how useful is it to read the following drivel:

The defensive linemen began with their usual 2-man and 4-man hitting drill. Next I saw them doing a new angle tackle drill. A bag was set up sideways inside a set of cones and two players were lined up across from each other. One was the ball carrier and the other was the tackler. The ball carrier gave a little stutter step and then chose which side of the bag he wanted to run to, and the tackler had to fit in for the angle tackle.

The defensive backs worked on their backpedaling and opening their hips before coming back for the interception. Next a cornerback and safety teamed together to communicate and fit in for a tackle, one inside and the other outside.

The linebacker drills always move at a quick pace with Tenuta, but he gets in his critiques when needed. First they sprinted twenty yards and slightly slowed down there steps every five yards as though they were going playing the misdirection. Next they made a forward pursuit to an orange dot and broke down in front of it.

“You better gather,” Tenuta told the group. “Get your eyes up!”

That's not a knock on the author of that piece, it's just that we fans don't get very much meaningful information about what the team is really doing until we see the Blue & Gold game, and even then what we are allowed to see is carefully staged.

Not that I'm not looking forward to Saturday, because I am.

This year's Spring scrimmage is much different than the 2007 version (4-horse QB derby), but will be similar to the 2008 edition. As with last Spring, most of the guys we'll see in starting roles have already played a lot of football for the Irish. Certainly there are a few new faces, but by and large the team we'll see Saturday (and in September) is the team we saw on Christmas Eve. The question is and will be: How are they developing? Specifically, here are the questions I'm hoping to have answered (at least tentatively) on Saturday:

1. How does Clausen look? Is his arm strong? Accuracy good? Is he consistently making the proper reads and throwing to the correct receivers? In short, does JC look like the QB we saw in Hawaii or the QB we saw against Boston College? I'm betting that we'll see Aloha Jimmy, but I would really like some affirmation in that belief.
2. How close to being ready to play is Dayne Crist? Is he really all that? Rumors last season had Crist looking great in practice and ready to challenge Clausen for playing time. This spring we're hearing that Dayne's accuracy is off and he's struggling with running the offense and making the reads. I am hoping to get a good look at this young player and hopefully (there's that word again) get a good feeling about what will happen to the Irish QB situation when Clausen moves on to Sunday games.
3. Has the offensive line learned how to block in the power running game? Can they push defenders back when they have to? (And if they are pushing guys around, is it because they've gotten better, or because our D-line isn't stout enough?)
4. Will the re-built and very young defensive line be stout enough to defend the run while still pressuring the passer?
5. Have the new coaches settled into their roles and is the staff functioning well as a unit? Are the players responding to the new coaches, playing hard, and getting better?
6. How well is Coach Weis getting around these days on his new wheel?

Those are the things I'm worried about, so those are what I'll be watching. (Will I be watching? Does anyone know if this will be on TV or on-line?). I feel pretty confident that the running backs & receivers will be good enough to get the job done (but battles for #3 WR and #2 TE will be interesting). Our linebacking corps and secondary will be very good to excellent. Kicking game will be of some interest, as always, but Coach Weis seems to have settled that down a bit finally.

Enjoy the game, and the weekend, especially those of you lucky enough to be "in the house" on Saturday.

Morning Wood

Happy Blue-Gold Day! Just a couple of quick hits before we here at OC Domer get going on a day full of lacrosse and Angels Baseball.

The BIG NEWS is that Cierre Wood, listed by many as the nation's top running back prospect for next year's recruiting class, verbally committed to Coach Weis and Notre Dame during his unofficial visit to campus this morning. If this is true, it would be a HUGE way to kick off the new recruiting cycle (no disrespect to young Jake Golic, who already committed but who doesn't carry the same cache'). Hopefully the reports are true, and this will get the ball rolling!

The other "news" is the unveiling of the "The Shirt" for 2008. Background on the shirt is here. Best pictures of the shirt are here.

I just have a hard time getting into "The Shirt." Who's the flabby, slow-looking white guy? Is he supposed to be a kicker? A symbol, perhaps, that our kicking game will improve to just mediocre (instead of God-awful) this year? You couldn't throw a picture of a determined David Bruton on there? Or a pumped up Robert Hughes? Or a snarling Coach Tenuta? Sheesh.

ND will rise again? Sounds like "the South will rise again", which is a sad joke because folks in the South have been vowing to "rise again" for 150 years, without success. (There's a great "South will rise again" parody at TheOnion.com which I can't get out of my head when I look at The Shirt).

"The Shirts" were better when they were done by the students, spontaneously, and when they were for specific big games and had a real edge to them (usually involving a nasty insult to the opposing team). It meant something to have "the shirt" that was made for a big USC game, or a Miami game, or an important Michigan contest. The Shirt today is so darn corporate vanilla that I just can't get into it.

But I like the blue.

Pat at BGS informs me that students still make "bootleg" shirts for big games. Bootleg?! What does that mean? The student shirts used to be the only "real" shirts. Now they're considered "bootleg"? What's the world coming to?!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day at the "2008 Blue-Gold Spring Football Festival, presented by Home Run Inn Pizza!"

What's In a (Blue-Gold) Game? (2008 Edition)

The 79th Annual Blue-Gold Game will be played this Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium. Of course, the scrimmage is now part of the "2008 Blue-Gold Spring Football Festival, presented by Home Run Inn Pizza." Coach Weis has named six big-time heroes from Notre Dame's storied past to be the Honorary Coaches for this year's contest. He has also modified the format of the game a bit (offense versus defense with funky scoring), probably due to depth issues (such as at QB and TE).

However it's played, the Blue-Gold Game is always a highlight of the Spring for Irish football fans, as we've been in serious withdrawal from our steady diet of football since at least the Super Bowl, or perhaps even since the Stanford game for those who just can't get a good buzz from the NFL (the "Methadone" of the hardcore college football fan). It's also the way those serious fans finally get release from the tension that has been building up for several weeks. We know that football is going on. We've been teased and scintillated by video clips of guys running over bags, and receivers catching balls in drills, and coaches cussing at the linebackers - but we haven't been allowed even a glimpse of "our guys" playing real football, full speed, on real grass, and under the bright sunshine of a Notre Dame afternoon. The anticipation is part of the fun, but after a while it's almost too much to bear. This Saturday we'll all be able to satisfy our hunger, relax, and breathe easier. At least for a while.

If that last paragraph feels a little creepy, I think it's because I've been distracted by the whole Marilyn Monroe sex tape thing. Do you think it was really JFK?


But I digress. Every Spring, there are two categories of questions swirling around the Blue-Gold Game. The first category of questions are the "what will we see?" type question. Last year those questions dwelt on the four-horse quarterback derby (including Jimmy Clausen's arm) and on Corwin Brown's new defensive scheme. This year, we aren't expecting a lot of surprises from a depth chart perspective, many of the young players played a lot of football last year and we (or at least "I") don't expect to see a lot of "new" faces in the lineups. But that doesn't mean we don't have questions.

• How does Jimmy's arm look? Is it finally 100%?
• Have the young receivers (Kamara, Tate) matured enough in the offense to take the passing game to the next level?
• Who's going to be "the guy" at RB? Can Armando Allen run through some contact and rip off some big yards?
  
• How different will the defense look with the addition of Coach Tenuta to the defensive staff?
• Do we have enough big bodies to fill out the D-line? Will the D-line be able to stop the run at all?
• Can anybody in St. Joseph's County kick a f*&%ing field goal? A touchback?
• And, the number one question of the Spring: Can the offensive line get the job done?

So we'll watch the game and get some tentative answers to the "what will we see?" questions. But it's the second category of question that is the most compelling: "What does it all mean?" It's tempting to say that "it's just a practice" and that you can't really put much stock in what comes out of this somewhat artificially staged scrimmage. Last year I did some digging to try to see if there was any correlation between what happens in the Blue-Gold game and what we see in the Fall. I was able to find some data back to the 1998 B-G contest, which I've included here, updated to reflect the results from 2007.

• 2007. Gold defeated Blue, 10-6. Offensive Player of the Game, Junior Jabbie (13 rushes for 87 net yards, 0 TDs). Defensive Player of the Game, David Bruton (4 total tackles and 35-yard INT return for a TD).
  
• 2006. Blue defeats Gold, 10-7 on a Carl Goia field goal. Offensive MVP was Travis Thomas (8 rushes for 104 and a TD). Defensive MVP was Trevor Laws (6 tackles, including 2 sacks).
• 2005. Blue defeats Gold, 28-6. Offensive MVP Brady Quinn (8 of 12 passing for 102 yards, 2 TDs). Defensive MVP Trevor Laws (1 sack and 3 total tackles for loss).
• 2004. Blue defeats Gold 35-7. Offensive MVP Brady Quinn (17 of 22, 263 yards, 1 TD). Defensive MVP Tom Zbikowski (1 INT).
• 2003. Blue defeats Gold 17-14. Offensive MVP quarterback Chris Olsen (11 of 25, 146 yards). Defensive MVP Justin Tuck (3 sacks).
• 2002. Gold defeats Blue 3-0 on Nick Setta field goal. Offensive MVP Ryan Grant (7 carries for 45 yards). Defensive MVP Gerome Sapp (5 tackles, 1 INT).
• 2001. "Defense" defeats "Offense" 74-40. Is nothing sacred? Offensive MVP David Givens (2 TD catches). Defensive MVP Shane Walton (INT return for TD).
• 2000. "Defense" defeats "Offense" 39-31. Offensive MVP Jabari Holloway (4 receptions). Defensive MVP Anthony Denman (39 yd INT return for TD).
• 1999. Blue defeats Gold, 49-10. Offensive MVP Jarious Jackson (5 of 6 for 73 yards and a TD). Defensive MVP Anthony Denman (6 tackles, 1 INT).
• 1998. Blue defeats Gold, 38-7. Offensive MVP Autry Denson (11 carries for 109 yards). Defensive MVP Kory Minor (5 tackles including 1 sack).

Based upon my review last year, I concluded:

Well, to me it looks like what you see is what you get. If a player has a big Blue-Gold game, he's a pretty decent player and he's likely to have a pretty good Fall season. If the offense is prodigious in the Spring, you'll probably be able to move the ball in the Fall. If the defense dominates the Blue-Gold, the defense will likely be the better unit come September. So, while you're tempted to say that the Blue-Gold is fairly meaningless, I would have to disagree. Looking back a few years tells me that teams don't change drastically over the summer. Warning signs in April are serious weaknesses in October. Strengths now will likely be the team identity in five months.

Well, that's what I said before the 2007 Glue-Gold. Did it hold up? Here was my recap of the action in last year's contest:

So, after last Saturday, a day on which the weather did cooperate, what do we have? We have a quarterback derby that is still very much in the air. Before the game, Zach Frazer was pretty vocal about being #1 in the race, at least in his own mind. Then he went 0 for 4 with a pick. Demetrius Jones was only 3 of 6 with an INT, but also threw the only TD pass of the day, and had a very nice 31 yard run in a key spot. Evan Sharpley was 5 for 7 for only 31 yards, and got "sacked" 4 times. Wonderkid Jimmy Clausen was 3 of 7 for 23 yards. As a group, the four quarterbacks were 11 of 24 attempts for a whopping 77 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. You'd have to say nobody set Rock's House on fire from the quarterback spot.

On the ground, contrasted with just 24 passing plays (by the QBs), the Blue & Gold squads ran the ball 44 times for a net 211 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per rush (excluding QB runs and sacks). The combined squads had 12 first downs via the ground, only 2 converted through the air. The offensive surprise of the day was Junior Jabbie, who had more than twice as many yards as any other rusher (net 87 yards on 13 carries). Travis Thomas, James Aldridge, Asaph Schwapp, and Armando Allen were all within spitting distance of 30 yards gained and 4.0 per carry.

All offense taken together averaged just 3.2 yards per play. (3.0 for the Gold, 3.5 for the Blue).

The defenses, aside from holding the offense to just 3.2 yards per play, had 2 interceptions (one returned for a TD), 9 two-handed "sacks", and 8 other tackles for loss. Longest pass completion was just 15 yards.

The offensive MVP was an unknown running back (Jabbie), not a QB or receiver. The defensive MVP was a defensive back (Bruton), which is a good sign.

Last year we saw quarterbacks go a combined 11 of 24 for 77 yards, 1 TD (reportedly on a shaky throw by Demetrius Jones), and 2 INTs. We also saw the QBs get "sacked" a total of 9 times with 8 other plays going for a loss. I think it is fair to say that we should not have been surprised when our passing game was anemic to start the Fall campaign and when our O-line couldn't pass protect at all. The clues were there. In retrospect, it also wasn't a great sign when our #1, #2, and #3 running backs (Thomas, Aldridge, and Allen) were all significantly outgained by the guy who would end last season 5th on the depth chart. It probably was also a clue that Coach Weis dialed up a total of 44 running plays to just 24 passes, and that the teams combined for just two first downs through the air (versus 12 on he ground). At the time there was much conjecture that Coach Weis was playing his cards close to his vest, calling a very vanilla game plan so as to give nothing away to opposing scouts. The truth was that our passing game (including Clausen's elbow) was not ready for prime time and what we saw in the Spring was what we got in the Fall.

Of course, Defensive MVP David Bruton did go on to have a great season, capped off by being named the OC Domer Player of the Year.

Spring practice wraps up on Saturday. Kick-off against San Diego State follows 140 days later. There will be a lot of weight lifting and conditioning over those 140 days, but precious few real practices. Some new talent will be infused, but likely won't be a big factor in September. The team we see for the 2008 Blue-Gold Spring Football Festival, presented by Home Run Inn Pizza, is the team we'll see on September 6th. Let's hope they look sharp.

In particular, I'll be looking for much improved blocking (especially pass protection) from the O-line, and I really hope to see Brady Quinn-like numbers from Clausen (65% to 75% completion percentage for 200+ yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs). If Clausen doesn't have time to throw, and if he can't push the ball down the field, I'll be very, very concerned.

So, just try to have fun out there guys!

Spring Blog-cleaning

For some strange reason, I actually had a few minutes available this morning to spend on the blog - so I thought I'd do a little Spring cleaning. Specifically, I like to check on the sites listed on my blog rolls to make sure that they are current (i.e., worth keeping on my personal list of best Irish blogs and worthy of promoting to my tens of readers).

The first change I had to make was to put The Irish Roundup on probation. For all I know, the proprietor(s) there could be dead, or maybe just kidnapped, or maybe just ran off with a Purdue cheerleader. In any case, the last post over there was on February 6th (signing day). That's well over two months of NOTHING. But Irish Roundup has been good to the OC Domer (i.e., they once sent us a nice e-mail and they include us on their blog roll), so instead of unceremoniously dropping them altogether, I have made them the first member of the new blog probation list. Hopefully Irish Roundup will get back from his bender in Vegas soon and we can take him off probation.

The other changes right now are the addition of two excellent blogs to our rolls. Section 29, Row 48, Seat 10 is a group blog with nine contributors. Despite a strong whiff of Dillon Hall in the air when I visit their blog, I'm adding them to our roll because they consistently produce very thorough and thoughtful posts, and cover several Irish sports besides football. I first became aware of them about halfway through last football season, but their archive shows that S29, R48, S10 has been up and running since 2005, which makes them a sort of blog Grandpa. Check 'em out.

Finally, OC Domer is pleased to welcome Irish Band of Brothers. IBB is a new blog (even younger than OC Domer!), but they've been pumping out a very nice mix of Irish news, analysis, opinion and humor since their inception in October 2007. The WeisGipper who runs the site doesn't provide much personal information about himself, but IBB does link to both the official and the unofficial websites for Carrol Hall. Being a Vermin myself, I would probably link to IBB for that reason alone - but the quality content is a nice added feature.

I hope you'll visit the blogs on my rolls. They really do represent the best, most consistent, non-commercial content available and are worthy of your time and support.

I'll have some more thoughts on Spring football later in the weekend (I hope!).

Lessons Learned?

It's Spring here in the OC, if not quite so in South Bend, and Spring football is underway. Blogging Spring football is a difficult and dangerous task. Difficult because a blogger living in Orange County who can't go to the practices and who can only watch short, grainy video clips of players running through bag drills, has a hard time producing thoughtful content that is actually relevant to what's going on at practice. Dangerous because of temptation. The vacuum created by the lack of anything real to write about tempts one into believing that all will be well with the world. That the Spring, which is a season of miracles, will produce wondrous and positive changes on the Notre Dame practice fields. Spring brings out a little Bob Marley in all of us:

Don't worry about a thing,
cause every little thing gonna be all right.

I wrote last year, when OC Domer was only about a week old, that while it is silly to sit here in California and try to write a "preview" of next year's version of the Fighting Irish, Spring need not be an unproductive time.

What's a fan to do? We can hope. Spring is the season of hope, and that is our role. We can't lift weights, we can't hold the blocking dummy, we can't help the young cornerbacks with their footwork. So we hope. We hope that Coach Weis and Coach Brown really do have the mojo and the savvy needed to teach our very young players how to play this game at the highest level in a very short period of time. We hope that the young men Coach Weis and his staff have brought to Our Lady's University are really all that and a bag of chips. We hope that at least one of the quarterbacks really can grasp and run this complex offense with confidence. We hope the young offensive linemen play better than the seniors who are about to graduate. We hope the defensive backs can cover the seam route, and that we can develop a pass rush. We hope all those kids coming off injuries are 100% "GO!" for this season. We hope we find a guy who can kick the ball through the end zone and one who can make a 40-yard field goal.

We hope. And those of us who have been "hoping" since we were toddlers - we believe.

So, I hope, and I believe.

Coming off a 3-9 campaign in 2007, there's a lot of hoping and believing to be done, and frankly Hope and Belief are a little bit tougher to come by this year than last. So I have tried to identify and organize my hopes in such a way that, with a little Irish luck, I might be able to move beyond mere Hope and into actual optimism about the 2008 season. I know, baby steps OC ...

In his 2007 season wrap-up press conference, Coach Charlie Weis stated that once recruiting was over, he and the staff would begin systematically addressing the "what went wrong" issue and the "how can we fix it" question. I stated at that time that I did not expect that Coach Weis would be issuing a White Paper in the Spring detailing the results of that inquiry, and I was right. While Charlie appropriately takes the full blame for everything that went wrong on the field, he also has been very adept at avoiding any substantive discussions about why things went as poorly as they did last year, or how he is going to fix things for 2008.

In the absence of a White Paper from Coach Weis, Irish fans (and bloggers) are left to break down the 2007 season on their own and to try to fashion a sort of blueprint for an improved 2008. My contribution to this effort is set forth below, in the form of my Top 10 Irish Lessons Learned from the 2007 football season.

10. Special Teams are too important to be left to a committee. After two mediocre special teams seasons in 2005 and 2006, Coach Weis decided that special teams were going to become a priority for every coach on the staff, that special teams would be coached by committee. The result was that Irish special teams in 2007 looked like the product of a committee. CW has recognized the error of his ways, has gone back to having one coach with full-time responsibility for special teams and one assistant special teams coach, a guy by the name of Weis. These changes, coupled with an imminent visit to Frank Beamer, the head coach at Virginia Tech who is widely acknowledged to be a special teams genius, will hopefully produce some positive results in the form of field position on Saturdays.

9. Talent Needs to Play. Coach Weis is a loyal guy. He is loyal the University. He is loyal to the great Notre dame players of the past. He is loyal to his own players who have moved on. He is slow to fire loyal coaches. He wants to reward senior players who have been good soldiers by giving them playing time, and he has been reluctant to bench more veteran players even when it is clear that guys behind them on the depth chart give the team a better chance to win. Unfortunately, in football, loyalty and experience can be overrated. Superior talent needs to get on the field. Call this the Travis Thomas rule. TT was a loyal member of the Irish program, who selflessly moved from running back to linebacker because the team needed him there. But he was never the best running back on the roster last year, and he shouldn't have been taking carries and touchdowns from the younger, more talented players. By the end of the season, Coach Weis seemed to understand that and we saw very little of TT. But it wasn't just him. Similar scenarios were played out at safety, in the O-line, among the receivers, and at linebacker. You're recruiting these 4- and 5- star players for a reason - get them on the field!

8. The football field is not giant craps table. The playing surface inside Notre Dame Stadium is green like a craps table, and shaped like a craps table, so I can understand the confusion. I guess. But calling plays for the Fighting Irish is not a game of dice. There's a little riverboat gambler in Coach Weis, and that's a good thing. You don't want to be too predictable for opposing defenses, you have to keep them off balance to be most effective. But Coach Weis isn't just a gambler. He's that guy who who has emptied the ATM, and who is now playing on the credit card cash advance because he's convinced his winning streak is going to start on the next roll of the dice, even though he hasn't won anything all night. Coach Weis (and now Coach Haywood) needs to call plays that will work, instead of plays that should work. There's always a gap between theory and reality. In football, that gap is known as execution. It's not enough that the opposing defense is lining up just right, and that your substitution package has created the match-up you wanted, and that the play you called will be a quick touchdown, if your players can't be counted on to execute the play perfectly. Rather than calling "perfect" plays that might or might not work for easy touchdowns, Coach Weis needs to dial up plays that can more reliably be expected to get 5 yards and a first down because the team knows how to execute them. I think I speak for many when I say I would gladly take high-percentage first downs over low percentage shots at the end zone.

7. Coach the Team You Have, Not the Team You Wish You Had. Charlie Weis clearly has a vision of what he wants his football teams to be. Too often, he coaches his team, and calls the game, based upon his vision of the future rather than current reality. Two examples. First, he wants the ball. It is CW's stated preference to receive the ball on kick-offs, because he believes that his offense is good enough to march down the field, score a touchdown, and put his team on top early. In 2005 and 2006, that was a sound strategy. In 2007, it wasn't. In 2007, our offense was anemic and the only thing receiving the kick-off did was give the opponent great field position after two quarterback sacks and a lousy punt (great tackle by David Bruton). Coach Weis finally admitted this flaw in his philosophy in the worst possible way - by choosing to kick instead of receive against USC. While the decision was the right one, choosing to abandon his long-held bravado at that moment sent a horrible signal to his team and the fans in the stadium that felt for all the world like a giant white flag of surrender. The second example is fourth downs. More than any other college coach in the country, probably, Charlie loves to go for it on fourth down. If you have a decent offense and you pick your spots, it's actually not a bad percentage play. But last year it wasn't a good percentage play. More often than not, a failed fourth down play left a dejected offensive unit smelling of failure as they went to the sidelines, and forced an overmatched and tired defense to take the field with their backs to the wall. Finally, in the UCLA game, Charlie punted. And he punted, and he punted. By playing the high percentage field position game, Coach Weis forced the game to be decided by the match-up between a UCLA offense with no quarterback and a Notre Dame defense that was playing with its hair on fire. He was finally coaching the team he had, rather than the team he wanted to have. And it made a world of difference.

6. Quarterback Derby = Bad Idea. It's an old football cliche' that if you have two quarterbacks you don't really have one quarterback. That apparently goes double if you have four quarterbacks. In 2005 and 2006 the Irish were so settled on a single QB that most fans were unsure who the QB would be if Quinn got hurt. And that actually worked out okay. In 2007 Coach W gave four different quarterbacks equal opportunities to win the starting job, keeping the winner a big secret up until opening day. That didn't work out so much. While guys should certainly be given a chance to work their way up the depth chart, the importance of stability and confidence at QB should not be underestimated. It's because of this lesson that Dayne Crist won't see the field next year unless Clausen fails spectacularly or gets hurt. Ditto Evan Sharpley. The days of quarterback controversies at ND are over, at least for a while.

5. Men versus Boys. Coach Weis knows how to coach NFL players. And he knows how to coach older, more experienced college players. Last season he learned that 18 and 19 year old boys have to be coached differently than men are coached. You have to account for the youth on your roster and adjust EVERYTHING accordingly. You have to adjust the way you coach technique, as well as the game plan you install. Because while young players may have all the talent and potential in the world, they can't execute an NFL offense. No matter how smart the coach is. It is amazing to me that Coach Weis apparently didn't fully understand this lesson entering 2007. But I think he gets it now. Of course, understanding that adjustments are necessary, and actually figuring out the correct adjustments to make are two different propositions. Stay tuned for future developments.

4. "Scheme" is overrated. Coach Weis has proudly boasted that because of his NFL experience, the Irish will usually be able to win the battle of "Xs and Os" on game day. Which is nice. But calling the perfect play does you no good if it isn't executed. Calling the right pass protection is worthless if the running back whiffs on the blitzing linebacker. In 2005 and 2006, Coach Weis' Xs and Os helped Notre Dame win a lot of football games. Rarely did the Irish take the field with an overwhelming talent advantage. But we did have a superior QB and some experience around him, so that "scheme" could make a difference in the final outcome. "Scheme" helped mask some deficiencies and even gave us a shot at beating USC in 2005. But at the end of the day, "scheme" didn't get us over the hump against USC, or Ohio State, or LSU. At the end of the day, you have to block and tackle better than your opponent. You have to beat the guy across from you. You have to be able to run off tackle for two yards and a first down when you need it, and prevent your opponent from getting that first down when he needs it. Fundamentals first, scheme second. Or maybe fundamentals first and second, scheme third.

3. Let's Get Physical. Although Coach Weis will tell you now that his practices have "always" been physical, such an assertion seems at odds with his very public statements following the Michigan loss last Fall that he was taking the team back to "training camp." Everyone acknowledged at the time that practices from that point on included much more full speed contact. The reluctance prior to that time to be too physical in practice was dictated by depth issues. Going into last season, Coach Weis had never been able to fill out a "two deep" chart for the offensive line with guys who could actually be counted on to play. We have been paper thin in both the offensive and defensive lines, and an injury to a starter on either line would have been a disaster. But that issue has finally been addressed. We're still awfully young, but at least we have enough talented bodies in camp to fill out a credible depth chart. NFL players don't need full contact on Wednesday to be ready for Sunday, and experienced college players can perhaps spend their time most productively on the mental aspects of the game. But the young guys needs to hit other college players at full speed, a lot, to be ready for Saturdays.

2. Tempo. I wrote about tempo (or the lack thereof) after the season opening loss to Georgia Tech last season. It's closely related to lesson #3, physical practices. Young players need to be prepared for the speed of the college game. Full speed on a college Saturday afternoon is a whole different animal than full speed on a high school Friday night. To be properly prepared, young players need to see (and feel) full speed at practice. Over and over again. Walk-throughs and practice reps at 80% speed doesn't do the young player any good. It gives him a false sense of confidence that quickly evaporates on game day as his opponent makes him look silly at game speed. Practice physical, but you also have to practice fast.

1. Niche. After last year's catastrophe in Ann Arbor, Coach Weis talked about "niche." He talked about how the team needed to go back to square one and establish a core package of plays that they knew they could execute well when they needed to. He was talking about having an offensive identity - about not trying to do too much. And was right. He was late, but he was right. This is closely related to lesson #4, Scheme. Don't be too fancy, don't try to outsmart the opponent every play. Have an identity, then line up and execute the plays you have earned the right to have confidence in. I think Coach Weis recognizes that the time spent last Summer installing an exotic spread offense for Demetrius Jones and Georgia Tech was a huge mistake. It left the young players confused and without any idea of who they were supposed to be. The confusion led to a lack of confidence as well as horrific execution of both the spread offense and the regular offense. It's good to tweak your game plan to exploit your opponent's weaknesses. But you can't let your opponent force you to change who you are. Without your identity you are lost. And the Irish looked completely lost for much of last season.

So, instead of a Spring preview, you have my Top 10 List of lessons I hope Charlie Weis and the Fighting Irish learned last season. If these lessons are taken to heart, I believe Notre Dame will be a much improved team in 2008.

Go Irish! Beat Aztecs!

College Football Preview Rags: The Sporting News

The college football preview magazines for the 2007 season have come out, and for true CFB junkies, these rags are just about the only thing that keeps us sane between the Spring game and the opening day of Fall practice. Dark days. So I grabbed a couple of this year's editions off the shelf at my local supermarket, and eagerly sat down to soak up the goodness.


What a fool I am!

This post will likely be the first of a sporadic series of posts reviewing the preview rags, from the perspective of a rabid Notre Dame fan. First up is the Sporting News, which apparently has very little respect for Notre Dame generally, and Head Football Coach Charlie Weis in particular. I'll generally work from the front of the magazine to the back, taking the insults and outrages in the order in which they offend.

1. Toughest Schedules. On Page 4, TSN editors give the Irish credit for having the 2nd toughest schedule in the land, behind only Florida State. But while giving with one hand they slap Notre Dame a backhanded compliment with the other hand. Noting our brutal schedule, they can't help but drop in a snarky reference to our unofficial competition for the Commander-in-Chief's trophy because we play service academies. So, to the guys at Sporting News, having the 2nd toughest schedule in the nation isn't good enough. Should we drop the academies and play half the SEC too?

2. Bowl projections. On page 6 TSN has nice grid laying out the Bowl game predictions of two experts (Tom Dienhart and Matt Hayes), followed by the Sporting News' projection. Both of the named experts project the Irish into the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day. Dienhart has us playing Florida State, Hayes has us playing Virginia Tech. I can live with that. I admit I don't expect the Irish to make it to a BCS Bowl game this year, and the Gator is a respectable alternative. Either of these opponents are worthy, the location, date, and history are respectable. So what is the Sporting News projection for the Irish? The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on December 31st against Oregon State. A decidedly less prestigious game. Why does Sporting News have a significantly less favorable view of the Irish than the two experts whose names actually appear in this feature? No explanation is offered. Just a good chance to take an anonymous swipe at Notre Dame.

3. Gotta See Games. Page 7 has a list of "Gotta See Games." LSU appears in three games. Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, and USC each play in two of these games. Notre Dame has "zero" games listed as "Gotta See." So there's no need for you to tune in and catch the Irish against Michigan, USC, Penn State, or even in their historic return to the Rose Bowl against UCLA.

4. Upsets. On page 8 TSN lists 56 that "if they happen, will turn stomachs and quash dreams." Pretty wishy-washy description. They aren't actually predicting the upsets, but seem to be warning of possible upsets. Hey, on any given Saturday .... Of the 56 upsets listed, Notre Dame figures directly in only one - a possible upset loss to Purdue. Ouch. But the Irish figure indirectly in several other games flagged as possible upsets. Purdue (the same team that Notre Dame needs to watch out for) is tagged as a possible upset loser to both Indiana and Toledo. So, Purdue is seen by TSN as a team that could possibly lose to Indiana and Toledo, but also could beat the Irish. Where's the love?

5. Newcomers. Page 11 lists several "Newcomers You can't Miss." It's not clear what that means. Does it mean these newcomers will have the most impact? Get the most publicity? That these are the guys you will most want to keep an eye on? Who knows. But, leading the pack is Jimmy Clausen. Sporting News doesn't whiff on this great opportunity to take a cheap shot. Says TSN:

The most-hyped high school recruit since Brock Berlin, and we all know how that turned out. Oddly, both are from small lower-classification private schools.

What did Clausen ever do to these guys? Jimmy has yet to take a snap, and all of a sudden he's the next Brock Berlin? And do we all know how that turned out? I looked it up, and while it wasn't easy, Brock ended up with decent numbers at the University-that-shall-not-be-named, while his pro career has fizzled.

6. Top Coordinator Hires. On page 12 TSN grades out the head coaching hires, and also includes a list of the Top 5 coordinator hires. Corwin Brown failed to make the cut. Now, I have no idea, really, how Corwin Brown is going to do as a defensive coordinator. Maybe his defenses will have us crying in our beer for the return of Rick Minter. But I doubt it. What do we know? We know that coaching is teaching, and that teaching is communicating. We know that Coach Brown was able to be an effective NFL assistant coach, which means he was able to effectively communicate defensive concepts to the New York Jets' defensive backs. We also know that he has been exceptional as a recruiter since he joined Charlie Weis' staff. It has been remarkable how many of the kids Notre Dame has landed so far have commented on how impressed they were by Coach Brown, how much they enjoyed talking to him, how at ease he made them feel, and how he made them want to come play for him. That's all communication. It's motivation. And I think it's going to make him a pretty good D-coordinator. I have Corwin in my Top 5.

7. Ranking the BCS Coaches. Page 13 includes a list of the BCS coaches, from top to bottom, 1 through 66. Pete Carroll of USC is #1, Gene Chizik of Iowa State is #66. Notre Dame's Charlie Weis is #42. Not even close to being in the top half of BCS coaches. Some of the great coaches ranked by TSN ahead of Coach Weis? Joe Paterno (#18), Houston Nutt (#20), Mike Riley (#25), Chan Gailey (#30), Joe Tiller (#32), Brian Kelly (#36), and Rich Brooks (#40). All Charlie Weis has done in two years at Notre Dame is win 19 games with talent so depleted that other "better" coaches were afraid to take the Notre Dame job. He has lost six games over two years to the following opponents: USC (twice), Michigan, Ohio State, LSU and Michigan State. With the very notable exception of the loss to the Spartans, these losses were to teams considered among the most elite in the nation at the time. Is Notre Dame a Top 3 or a Top 5 team yet? No. But Coach Weis' teams have beaten just about everyone but those Top-5 caliber teams since his arrival.

8. Hot Air. But the Sporting News crew isn't done with Coach Weis yet. Also on page 13 is a short list of the five most overrated coaches. Guess who is #5? That's right, Charlie Weis! It's not clear if TSN thinks Coach Weis is overrated on their own list (at #42) or if they think he's properly slotted at #42 and that everyone else thinks too highly of him. In any case, they were able to irrationally slam Coach Weis twice on the same page, which shows good focus on their part.

9. The Top 25. On page 18 TSN begins discussion of their Top 25 teams for the upcoming season. Surprise! Notre Dame didn't make it. That didn't surprise you? Then you're paying attention. Teams that TSN ranked well above Notre Dame? BYU made it (#25). Southern Miss made it (#24). TCU made it (#20). South Florida and Boise State made it (#21 & #22). Thank goodness we don't have to play any of those guys. Instead, we get to play real Top 25 teams: USC (#1), Michigan (#3), UCLA (#10), and Penn State (#15).

10. The Top 39. Notre Dame is ranked by Sporting News at #39. That's behind all of the teams listed above, as well as the following programs: Missouri (#26), Boston College (#28), Alabama (#31), South Carolina (#36) and our opening day opponent Georgia Tech (#37). We barely edged out Purdue (#40). Does anyone here have bulletin board I can borrow?

11. Zach Frazer. On page 174 (right after the Sun Belt Conference) is the Sporting news preview of Notre Dame. There are at least a couple of glaring clues that tell us the author of this preview has no idea what the hell he is writing about. My personal favorites concern recently announced Irish transfer Zach Frazer. About Frazer as possible starting QB:

Strong-armed Zach Frazer played as well as anyone in the spring.

And, from the "A Pro Scout says ..." item:

I don't know about Jimmy Clausen, but I've seen Zach Frazer, and he would play for a lot of schools. Big kid, stands tall in the pocket, strong arm. Don't be surprised if he wins that job.

How in the world can anyone not on the Notre Dame team or coaching staff say that Zach played as well as anyone in the Spring? All the practices were closed, and Zach went 0 for 4 with an INT in the Blue-Gold game. What can this possibly be based on? And of course, we'd all be surprised if Zach were to win the job now, since he is about to become a U Conn Husky.

12. Schedule tidbits from the preview. Sporting news has Michigan as our toughest game, with USC as our best chance to pull an upset. Wow. According to the Sporting News, we have a better chance of upsetting USC than we do of upsetting Michigan, UCLA, Penn State, Boston College, or Georgia Tech. (Remember that TSN ranks all of these teams ahead of us, so beating any of them would be an upset). Call me crazy, but I'd probably count USC as our toughest game, with best chance of an upset against G-Tech, Penn State, B.C., or UCLA.

What's the bottom line? The editors at Sporting News hate the Irish, hate Coach Weis, and don't even know what the hell they're writing about. Which means I totally blew $6.99.

Evan, Jimmy, and Demetrius Still in the Hunt at QB

Big news today from Coach Weis. After telling the Notre Dame faithful all Spring that his plan was to narrow the quarterback competition from four candidates to two by the end of May, Charlie has called an audible and changed his plan at the line of scrimmage.

It was announced today that Sharpley, Clausen, and Jones would continue to battle for playing time this Fall, with Zach Frazer as the odd man out. From Coach Weis:

After concluding spring ball evaluations, Evan Sharpley, Demetrius Jones and Jimmy Clausen remain as the main contenders. Each of these three young men brought something unique to the QB competition. Evan ran the operation the best, Jimmy threw the ball the best, and Demetrius made the most plays. For these reasons, they will compete for playing time.

Wow. First of all, I feel bad for Zach Frazer. He announced very publicly in the Spring that he was confident that he was the leading candidate for the job. I guess not. While most reports had Frazer throwing the ball really well, his performance in the Spring game (0 for 4 with an INT) was a disappointment, and it looked like he was having trouble executing the offense and reading the defenses. Hopefully Zach will stay at ND, because in my view you can't have too many quarterbacks, and we might need him some day. But it is also very possible, if he wants to get on the field, that he would transfer. Good luck to him whichever path he chooses.

Second, Coach Weis said a mouthful with a few choice phrases.

• "Evan ran the operation the best." I take it to mean that he's the guy right now, because he can get the play called, get to the line, and execute the offense right now, while the other guys are still trailing in that regard.
  
• "Jimmy threw the ball the best." I take that to mean that JC is the guy Weis envisions as his QB as soon as he is able to "run the operation" as well, or nearly as well, as Sharpley.
• "Demetrius made the most plays." Coach Weis has often said that he goes by what he sees. He doesn't play guys based on potential, but based on what he sees in practice and on the field. And apparently, what Charlie sees in Jones is a guy who makes plays on the field, despite not running the operation the best, or throwing the ball the best. Jones is a playmaker, and you want your playmakers on the field.

What does it all mean? It means that Zach Frazer separated himself by falling behind the other three guys, but nobody separated themselves from the others by stepping out front. 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?

Why is this man smiling?

The crew at Blue-Gray Sky have once again outdone themselves with a wonderful gallery of photos from the 2007 Blue-Gold game, which was played this past Saturday under a bright blue sky in Notre Dame Stadium. In perusing the BGS gallery, as well as other photo coverage of the game, I was struck by the photo of Coach Weis featured above. (Photo credit to BGS contributor John Maxwell). Is anybody in Notre Dame Stadium having more fun this man? I don't think so. Every other photo I have seen of Charlie from that day also shows him smiling, whether pre-game, in-game, or post-game. I'm sure there's an image of him somewhere with a more serious expression, maybe even a scowl. But the above image is very representative.

So what's my point? My point is that Charlie Weis absolutely loves his job. He loves being the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. He loves being in Notre Dame Stadium, and he loved seeing Lou Holtz and Ara Parseghian back on the sidelines as much as any fan in the stands did. And he loves coaching Notre Dame kids. Charlie Weis has lost his star quarterback, top running back, and top two receivers, as well as key members of the offensive and defensive lines. You would think that he might have been distracted on Saturday by the four-way quarterback race, or the need to find somebody to throw the ball to. With 50,000+ of the Irish faithful filling the stadium for a glimpse of the future, Charlie had every right to be a little nervous. A little tense, anxious, or even testy. But he wasn't. Instead, he had a goofy grin on his face, amused by a trick play called by one of the honorary coaches. Just having fun with his guys.

I can't tell you how refreshing that is. Wins and losses aside, Notre Dame needs a football coach who loves the University and all that it stands for. I went to school during the Gerry Faust years. Being a Notre Dame fan in that era was maddening. We beat USC three of four years I was there, and lost to the Air Force Academy all four years (my Dad's alma mater). We would beat Michigan and Miami, then lose to Arizona and tie Oregon (1982). Stuff like that. But as frustrating as the team could be on the field, no one doubted that Coach Faust had a heart of gold and that he loved the University with all his golden heart. It was hard to harbor bad feelings toward the guy, even if he was in way over his head.

Lou Holtz was the same way. You knew he "got it" when it came to the whole Notre Dame experience. But Bob Davie never "got it." I'm sure he respected the football tradition, the National Championships and the Heisman trophies. But he never really understood the University. He never understood the Notre Dame way. To him, the Notre Dame way just meant that it was harder to get "baw players" and "ath-a-letes" into school. To him, the Notre Dame way meant that we would never win again, because expectations were unrealistic. Ty Willingham , I think, understood the Notre Dame way on an intellectual level. He embraced the concept of the true student athlete, the idea that character counts. But Ty never seemed to embrace the University and its tradition on a gut level. He maintained his emotional distance, never really investing himself in the place, and it showed.

With Coach Weis we're back to where we should be, with a football coach who embraces Our Lady's University and all it stands for. His enthusiasm and his faith in Notre Dame is infectious - it spreads to the coaches, the fans, and the players. The high school student-athletes who are exposed to this enthusiasm and belief can feel it too - and they want to be a part of it.

So why is Charlie smiling? Because he loves his job, a job which I suspect he feels he was meant to have. But there's something else in that smile. I can't help but get the feeling that Coach Weis knows something we don't. That he's got one or more guys who will do just fine at quarterback, that we're deep with quality running backs, that the offensive line will finally be truly "nasty," and that our new defensive coordinator is doing a very good job. In short, I think Charlie's smiling because he likes his team, and he likes their chances.

I just hope he's still smiling in November.