Defense Keying Irish Rebound

I just wanted to interject with some quick thoughts to get the blog caught up on the season so far.  Things have been busy at OC Domer HQ, as the OC Son has started his senior year of high school and is smack in the middle of the college applications process with all the essays to write, letters of recommendation to procure, meetings with clueless guidance counselors to attend, etc...  In fact we will be taking a road trip to look at a few more schools VERY soon, so I won't be able to blog much in the next several days either.

In my last post I dissected the brutal loss at Michigan, and hammered the defense pretty well for its 4th quarter collapse.  I am very happy to report that the "D" has taken that criticism to heart and deserves the bulk of the credit for the Irish wins over Sparty and Pitt.  These past two games played out much more like my pre-season vision for this team:

As this season unfolds, I expect the signature unit of the team to be the aggressive, stifling defense, rather than the efficient, potent offense.  There will be weeks when the offense sputters a bit, but the defense will be consistently good and will key Irish success in 2011. 

The impressive 31-13 defeat of the Spartans was NOT the result of brilliant offense, as the 31 points would lead one to believe.  It was sparked by a defense that completely took Michigan State out of their preferred game:  rushing the football.  MSU was held to just 29 net rushing yards, for an average of 1.3 yards per rush.  Even though MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins put up some decent numbers throwing the ball, he was harassed enough by an aggressive Irish defense to blunt his effectiveness.  Cousins was sacked twice and intercepted once, and Sparty scored just one touchdown (and one field goal) in five Red Zone possessions.  That's terrific defense.  Add in a Robert Blanton 82-yard interception return, an 89-yard kick-off return for a touchdown by George Atkinson III (where has GA3 been all my life?), and some efficient offense, and you have the recipe for a win.

Kudos to Robert Blanton for a most impressive game:  In addition to the INT and return, #12 had an 11-yard sack, two other tackles for loss, six total tackles, and three pass break-ups.  Dominant.

Perhaps we should add "total offense" to the list of irrelevant statistics in Coach Kelly's system. 

The Irish outgained USF 508-254, and lost.  They outgained Michigan 513-452, and lost.

Notre Dame was out-gained by Sparty 358-275, and whipped 'em. 

And ND outgained Pitt 398-268 and barely escaped with a win. 

I Tweeted after the Pitt game:  "Better to win ugly than lose ugly. But make no mistake - it was ugly."  Poring over the stat sheet, I don't see anything to change my initial impression.  A sack/fumble by Rees that results in a Pitt 3-0 lead.  On First & 10 at the Panther 24, Rees throws  an  interception at the 4-yard line, squandering yet another scoring opportunity.  Mrs. Domer wonders aloud "What must Dayne Crist be thinking?"  He was benched for throwing a single interception against USF, and Tommy has thrown six interceptions and lost three fumbles since then.

I was very worried by the success Pitt had in confusing Tommy by disguising the coverages until just before the snap, and I was even more worried by how long it took our coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments.  The Irish were very lucky that Rees didn't throw more interceptions, as he threw several balls right at Panther defenders that were dropped.  I was very unhappy that Tommy (and Kelly) kept trying to force the ball to Michael Floyd.  As much attention as #3 was getting, surely Riddick and/or Jones were wide open.  How about a pump fake to Floyd to draw the safety and a lob down the field to TJ Jones?  That should loosen the defense up.  But instead we kept throwing those maddening horizontal passes into tight coverage.  It was a flashback to the worst tendencies of Charlie Weis' offense.  Throw it down the field!!!

Or run it.  Maybe with Jonas Gray - who took his second carry of the game 79 yards to the house and was promptly placed in the Federal witness protection program.  What was up with that?  Against Sparty, Cierre Wood and Jonas Gray split the running load 14 carries to 12.  Jonas goes off for 79 yards on one carry against Pitt - was I the only one shocked by his speed? - and gets only three carries against Wood's 23 carries.  Did Jonas pull a hammy?  

Fortunately, while the Irish "O" was stumbling around, the defense was putting in a very solid day, holding the Panthers to just 2.7 yards per rush and just 3.8 yards per offensive play.  Pitt QB Tino Sunseri was sacked FIVE times.  He threw for just 165 yards, with 18 yards as his longest completion.  Pitt only got into the Red Zone twice, resulting in one TD and one field goal.

Eventually of course Coach Kelly and T. Rees figured something out and Tommy put together the game-winning drive which clearly illustrated why he remains the starter despite his rookie mistakes.  Down 12-7 in the 4th quarter, Rees and the "O" take over at the Irish 15-yard line.  Tommy goes 8 for 8 passing on the 85-yard TD drive, and tacks on a 9th completion for the 2-pt conversion.  I think the word Coach Kelly likes to use is "moxie."  Nice job by Rees, and by Riddick and Eifert who keyed the drive with multiple receptions each.

State of the game:  The 15 points scored by Notre Dame was the fewest en route to a victory since Sept. 2, 2006, when the Irish slipped past Georgia Tech, 14-10.

Bottom line:  For the past two weeks the Irish defense has kept the opponent almost completely in check, while the offense has been just efficient/productive enough to get the win.  I think this is the formula for Irish success this year.

Up next is Purdue.  According to the Sagarin rankings at USAToday.com, the Boilermakers (2-1) are the 88th-best team in D-I football, having played the 181st-toughest schedule in the country.  Notre Dame slots in at #25 according to Sagarin, and have played the 5th-toughest schedule in the country so far.  Nobody ranked above the Irish by Sagarin has played as tough a schedule as Notre Dame.

It's a prime-time ESPN game under the lights at Ross-Ade though, so you know the crowd and the Boilers will be jacked up.  Back-to-back roadies for ND.  I expect Purdue to put up a good fight for about a half, then reality will set in and the Irish will win comfortably.  I do think Coach Kelly will put a premium on taking care of the ball, so we might see a lot of ball control runs on the offensive side that will keep scoring down a bit as we rely on the defense to overpower the Boilers and win the game.  

BLOGKEEPING NOTE:  Are you bundled?  I want to welcome to the OC Domer blog our new sponsor, Charter Communications, who encourages you to save more on TV, internet, and phone by bundling with Charter.  Learn more by clicking on "Charter Cable Packages." 

That is Gonna Leave a Mark

I'm a little late getting in here with reaction to the Michigan game.  But today is the first day I have been able to walk upright since taking that kick to the groin last Saturday, and I'm still feeling a little queasy.  There is obviously plenty of blame to go around for the loss, but for some reason I have been fixated on figuring out whether it was more the fault of the offense or the defense that we once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  It is a really close call, but I have decided that while nobody is blameless, the defense gets tagged with this loss just a tiny bit more than the offense.

The "O" has to take the heat yet again for its turnovers.  How many times have we heard the yapping heads on the TV tell us that the team that wins the turnover battle wins the game 350% of the time?  The stat sheet says the Irish had five turnovers, but I don't really count the fumble on the final kickoff with time expiring.  That was inconsequential.  That fumble aside, we still have to deal with two interceptions thrown and two fumbles lost. 

1.  With the Irish up 14-0 early in the 2nd Quarter (do you even remember the Irish being up 14-0?) Tommy Rees threw an INT on 3rd-and-9 which gave Michigan the ball at the ND 45.  That's a bad thing, giving the opponent the ball with a short field.  Bad Tommy.  But the defense, which had been bottling UM pretty well, gave up a 43-yard TD pass on the second play of the UM drive.  Big chunk of yards, fast score.  We'll develop that theme.

2.  On the very next possession, still up 14-7, Rees and Irish march down the field but the drive ends on another Rees INT, caught at the UM 2-yard line and returned out to the 18.  It was a Red Zone scoring opportunity wasted (awful), but at least the Wolverines were backed up inside their own 20-yard line.  Michigan goes 3 & out and the Irish get the ball back at the 50 after a short punt.  Good job by the "D", and the turnover doesn't cost us additional points.

3.  In the 3rd Quarter, leading 17-7, Notre Dame's Cierre Wood fumbled the ball at the UM 29-yard line, recovered my Michigan.  Probably the only obvious mistake Wood made all game.  But we're still up by 10 points, and Michigan doesn't get great field position out of it.  Michigan gets one first down, but then Zeke Motta hauls in an Irish INT, and we're back in business at the ND 29.  Good work again by the "D", and the turnover doesn't cost us any points.  Rees and the offense then mount a beautiful 7-play, 71-yard touchdown drive that puts ND up 24-7.  Do you remember being up 24-7?

4.  Fast forward a bit to later in the 4th Quarter and the final (meaningful) Irish turnover.  It is probably the one everyone remembers.  With ND still ahead 24-21, they are driving and get to 1st-and-Goal at the Wolverine 7-Yard line.  Rees has a HORRIBLE, BUMBLING fumble and Michigan recovers at their own 9-yard line.  This is the second Red Zone opportunity wasted, and at this point the game is very tight.  Yet disaster did not ensue.  Michigan was pinned deep, and they went on a long drive that only ended when Robert Blanton intercepted a Denard Robinson pass in the Irish end zone.  Phew!  Bullet dodged.  Irish still lead, 24-21.  

Four turnovers, but miraculously only one of them led directly to a Michigan score.  Of course, two Red Zone opportunities were wasted and the team certainly could have used those points.  But when all is said and done, the offense once again amassed over 500 yards (out-gaining UM 513 to 452). The "O" did put 31 points on the board, staked the team to a 24-7 lead, converted 8 of 14 3rd downs, and possessed the ball for just over 37 minutes (37:01 to 22:59). The team averaged 6.0 yards per rush, and 7.1 yards per offensive play.  But for the inexcusable turnovers, that's a pretty impressive display of offense.  It should have been good enough to win.

The story of this loss has to be the collapse of the Irish defense.  From the start of the game until about midway through the 3rd quarter, the defense stymied the Michigan "O" pretty well.  Here are the numbers on the first nine Michigan drives:

3 plays, -1 yard, Punt
3 plays, 8 yards, Punt
4 plays, 15 yards, INT
4 plays, 21 yards, Punt
2 plays, 45 yards, TD
3 plays, -1 yard, End of Half
4 plays, 42 yards, Punt
4 plays, 14 yards, INT

That's actually some really good football.  One gaffe led to a quick TD, otherwise very, very solid. 

Now here are Michigan's next 5 possessions:

4 plays, 83 yards, TD
5 plays, 40 yards, TD
3 plays, 61 yards, INT (Whew!)
5 plays, 58 yards, TD
3 plays, 80 yards, TD

That was 28 points in the last 17 minutes and 13 seconds of the game.  Touchdown drives of 83 yards, 40 yards, 58 yards, and 80 yards - all of them like a hot knife through butter.  If the "D" had been able to just slow down Denard Robinson and the Michigan offense (never mind actually stopping them) ND would still have won the game.

I don't know the "why" of the defensive collapse.  Irish tacklers had pretty well contained Robinson the whole game, but in the 4th Quarter they were suddenly unable to catch him and bring him down.  Was it just fatigue?  Clearly the Michigan coaches decided that Gary Gray was the defensive back to pick on, and it paid off handsomely.  The whole planet sees that Gary needs to work on getting his head around sooner to find the ball when it is in the air.  And he better figure it out soon, because he is going to see a lot of jump balls in the end zone in the near future.

So at least I have settled the "who is to blame" question in my own mind.

Some quicker impressions of the Michigan game:

• Night game in Michigan Stadium, under the lights, was pretty cool.  Amazing atmosphere.  It would have been cool to have been there.  Except that I would have been surrounded by 100,000 drunk and obnoxious Michigan fans.  I was glad my daughter stayed back at ND for the game, rather than being in Ann Arbor in the middle of the night when that game let out.
• The Michigan throwback uniforms with the big "M" on the chest were awesome.  I didn't think the Irish uniforms were that great.  It'll be okay if I never see the green shamrock on the golden helmet again.   
• The Notre Dame cheerleaders throwback Catholic schoolgirl uniforms were awesome.  But probably I better say no more on that because it would make all of us uncomfortable.
• Glad to see Theo Riddick get back up on the horse and have a good game.  Apparently Coach Kelly agreed with me that having Theo work offense, kick returns and punt returns was too much.  
• Also glad to see TJ Jones make a nifty TD catch & run.  Nice bounce-back for him.
• Cierre Wood is the real deal.  Did you know he had 134 net rushing yards?
• Jonas Gray had a very nice game.  We need him to be solid.
• I really wish Ben Turk would show some consistency.  He had a better week but still shanked a 25-yarder early in the 4th Quarter that set UM up at the Irish 40-yard line.  Michigan was in the end zone 5 plays later.  We need to be able to control field position better in special teams overall. 
• Despite the painful turnovers, Tommy Rees is the right quarterback to lead this team.  That drive and TD pass to Riddick with 30 seconds remaining to put the Irish back on top 31-28 was cold blooded (even the TV announcers agreed) and I don't think Dayne Crist has shown that kind of moxie in tough spots. 

 

Just two weeks ago I picked the Irish to win 10 games and get to a BCS bowl game.  The 0-2 start has removed all the margin for error and this team has to be perfect for my prediction to come true.  I am not sure I see ten games' worth of perfection in this team which has coughed up ten turnovers in two games.  But that doesn't mean I'm not open to the possibility.

Sparty comes to town this week ranked #15 in both the AP and USA Today polls.  Clearly they deserve such praise, having dispatched of Youngstown State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (an FCS school) and Florida Atlantic of the Sun Belt Conference.  According to the Sagarin rankings at USA Today, Sparty has played the 177th toughest schedule in the country so far this season.  Impressive!  But MSU must go on the road for the first time this year and take on a hungry and (hopefully) pissed-off Notre Dame squad that would like nothing better than a nationally televised win over a ranked opponent.  Notre Dame's schedule-to-date is ranked #20 by Sagarin.

Of course the Irish lost to Sparty on a fake field goal in OT last year.  The desire to atone for that bitter disappointment, in addition to playing in our house this year should make for a nice Irish win despite MSU's spot in the rankings.   

I'd Feel Better About A Four-Leaf Clover

As announced last June, Notre Dame will be honoring the first night game to be played in the Big House by wearing "throw-back" uniforms:

Paying homage to the rich football tradition of Notre Dame football, the Irish "Under the Lights" adidas uniform includes a white jersey with Kelly green lettering and two Kelly green shoulder stripes, old gold-colored pants, white socks with green stripes and white shoes. A large shamrock logo appears on the traditional gold helmet for the first time since the early 1960s. The years the Fighting Irish won National Championships are listed inside the bottom hem of the jersey. 

A picture of the retro-helmet was recently tweeted by @NDFBEquipment -

 

I saw some comments on the web earlier this week where some were objecting to the "new" helmets, saying that they preferred the "traditional" solid gold helmet.  It seems to have been lost on the audience that this shamrock helmet IS PART OF Irish history.  Mulling it over, I recalled that Blue-Gray Sky had done a retrospective on Irish uniforms at some point, so I thought I would dig that up and post the link here, since BGS isn't active anymore.  Which sucks.

Click here to visit the BGS "Uniformly Excellent" post from May 2005.  You'll be glad you did.

As an added bonus check out this piece, and this piece from Helmet Hut which have more detail on the shamrock helmet.

   

Now don't get me wrong - my first reaction upon seeing the shamrock helmet was "Ewww."  But I'll keep an open mind until Saturday night.  And if the team plays well, I'll be demanding they wear the same helmets all season.

2011 Irish Could Be Special

With kickoff for the new season less than 3 hours away, it's time to get myself on the record with my expectations for the 2011 Fighting Irish.  Bottom line:  BCS Bowl or Bust.  The 2010 edition of the Notre Dame football team compiled an 8-5 record that could have been (and arguably should have been) 11-2.

There is no way to argue the losses to Stanford and Navy.  Stanford was a very good team and there was no doubt that they were much better than N.D. last year.  The final score was 37-14, but the Cardinal was up 34-6 with less than eight minutes to play.  Navy gashed the Irish for 367 yards rushing yards, the most ever by Navy against Notre Dame.  The Middies put some wrinkles into their option attack that Notre Dame was unprepared for and unable to adjust to.  It was probably the worst coaching performance so far in the young Notre Dame career for Coach Kelly and his staff.

But the other three losses were all games that should have been won, and which almost certainly would have been won by the more seasoned Irish team that played the final four games of the season.  Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson had 502 total yards against N.D., and yet the Irish still led the game 24-21 before Robinson's game winning touchdown with 27 seconds left in the game.  Had Dayne Crist not been sidelined by a strange head injury for most of the first half, or had the defense been able to collect itself and contain the dynamic Robinson even a little bit, Notre Dame wins that game.

The Michigan State loss in overtime on a fake field goal was an even battle that could have gone either way.

The Tulsa loss was a gut-wrenching affair.  Even before kickoff the team was in emotional turmoil following the tragic death of Notre Dame student-videographer Declan Sullivan.  Although the Irish were in control for much of the game, Dayne Crist was knocked out of the game early due to a season-ending knee injury, and Tommy Rees, while throwing for 334 yards and 4 TDs, also threw 3 interceptions, including one that was returned for a Tulsa TD.  Add a Tulsa punt-return TD, and a failed two-point conversion returned by Tulsa for 2-points, and you get an awful loss.  It was a sloppy game marked by the loss of our starting quarterback in an emotionally difficult week.  In almost any other circumstance you have to figure the Irish find a way to win that game.

So, an 8-5 year that ended on a high note with four straight wins, including a thumping of The U in the Sun Bowl, could have been even better.  What does this mean for 2011?  With most of the key pieces coming back for another year in Coach Kelly's system, and with a very manageable schedule, I expect the Irish to win 10 games (and possibly more) and play in a BCS Bowl Game, with an outside chance of playing for the National Championship.

On offense, Dayne Crist has been tapped as the starting quarterback.  This shocked nobody, although I expect that Crist will be playing on a very short leash.  Before being knocked out of the Tulsa game last season on his second freaky non-contact knee injury in two years, the Irish were a disappointing 4-4.  Although Crist's numbers over those first eight games were actually pretty good (about 60% completions for over 2,000 yards and 15 TDs), a starting QB gets judged (or should be judged) on wins and losses, and on leadership.  A great quarterback exudes confidence and inspires the whole team to a higher level of play.  I don't feel that the Irish were getting that confidence and inspiration from Dayne in 2010.  To me, Dayne too often looked a little overwhelmed last season, with just a little bit of a "deer in the headlights" quality to his play.  By contrast, Tommy Rees, although lacking that stud QB physique and rifle arm, generally seemed very calm and in control of the game (even while throwing multiple interceptions).  The team certainly played better as a whole when he was the starter, and I am hesitant to just shunt aside they guy who led the most impressive four-game winning streak seen in Domerland in many years.  As alluded to above, Tommy did have a penchant for throwing a few more picks than did Dayne last year.  Crist threw 7 INTs in 294 attempts in 2010, compared to Tommy's 8 INTs in just 164.  Folks tend to focus on that stat, which is fair, but which needs a little context.  Three Rees INTs were in the Tulsa game, a game in which he had no idea he would be getting meaningful snaps.  He came off the bench and threw for over 300 yards and for 4 TDs, along with his 3 picks.  Three more picks came against USC in the L.A. Coliseum, in horrible conditions.  On the flip side, Rees' completion percentage on the season was actually better than Crist's (61% vs. 59.2%) and he threw 12 TD passes in just 164 attempts, while Dayne had 15 TDs in 294 attempts.

So while there is something noble in allowing Dayne to be the starter again coming off his injury, he needs to play well right away.  This team is good enough to make some noise nationally if the QB gets the job done.  I don't believe Coach Kelly will be as patient as he was last season, knowing that Rees is a proven winner off the bench.  In his press comments Coach Kelly has said some very glowing things about how Dayne has progressed since last year.  Am I the only one who read between the lines and heard the inference that Kelly was not terribly impressed or pleased with Dayne last season?  And it doesn't end with Crist and Rees.  Andrew Hendrix showed some impressive ability in the Blue & Gold game, and you can't help but be excited about Everett Golson.  Golson fits the mold for Kelly's offense of being a good passer who can drive a stake through the defense's heart with his legs.  It seems to me that the Irish have done well in the past with exciting dual-threat QBs from South Carolina.  The Irish seem to have four quarterbacks who could come in and be very effective.  I can't help but contrast this situation with what the team faced going into the 2007 season when we had four quarterbacks and were wondering if ANY of them could play.  (Frazer, Jones, Sharpley, Clausen).

I am excited about Cierre Wood at running back, spelled by Jonas Gray.  But I honestly don't even know who our third RB is.  Coach Kelly stated in one of his pressers that he would put his first 22 against anyone, but that depth was an issue.  Looking at the running back position, I can see what he means.  Cierre is a dynamic playmaker, and Gray has some toughness and reliability.  But those guys need to stay healthy.  I am very concerned that we don't have anyone on the roster to replace Robert Hughes.  Hughes was a real leader and embodied toughness when the Irish needed it.  Who is going to be the guy when we need that late, dominating drive to win the game like the Irish did at USC last year, with Hughes and the O-line imposing their will?

At receiver, we have Michael Floyd, Theo Riddick, and TJ Jones.  That is an awesome starting trio.  Floyd will be a key to our offensive success, but I hope he has actually gotten his off-field act together and we have seen the last of his immature behavior embarrassing the team and the University.  As at RB, the depth behind the starting receivers is a pretty steep drop-off as far as game-breakers go.  We have guys who can be be effective, but neither Toma nor Goodman strikes fear into the hearts of defensive coordinators like our starters can.  Tight end is not a feature position in Kelly's offense, but those duties should be very capably filled by Eifert and Ragone.

The offensive line appears to be very talented, and deep.  This line should give the offense some stability and give the team the chance to be effective from the get-go, in both the running and passing games.  They should also enable to Irish to control the ball and the clock when needed.

It's the defense that really has me excited bout 2011.  Although the D had some egregious low points in 2010 (Navy, Michigan, Tulsa), this unit clearly gelled late in the year allowing an average of less than 10 points per game in the final four contests (3, 3, 16, 17).  The performances against USC and Miami were dominant and inspiring.  Most of that unit returns, and for the most part the key losses will be very capably replaced.  On the back end, I am very comfortable with Robert Blanton replacing Darrin Walls at corner.  I am a little unsure about the two safeties.  Harrison Smith is a ball hawk and can make plays, but he is also the same guy who fell down at the end of the USC game and almost gave up the game-winning TD but for a lucky dropped ball.  There's a lot of Zibby in him, risk-reward.  Jamoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta are both upper-classmen with ample playing time and experience who should play well, but both players have been a bit under the radar and I don't have a real feel for my confidence level at that second safety position.

The front seven of the defense should be dynamic, disruptive, and at times flat-out dominant.  For the first time in a very long time the Irish D should be talented, deep, and stout at the point of attack.  This unit should be very difficult to run on, and the recruitment and development of explosive pass rushers will make opposing quarterbacks miserable.  Unlike the depth issues on offense, the problem on defense will be finding enough playing time for all the talent.  It will be fun to watch the upper-classmen rise to their potential (Manti Te'o, Ethan Johnson, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Darius Fleming) while also seeing the young guns flash their talent (Aaron Lynch, Louis Nix, Stephon Tuitt, Prince Shembo, Troy Niklas).

As this season unfolds, I expect the signature unit of the team to be the aggressive, stifling defense, rather than the efficient, potent offense.  There will be weeks when the offense sputters a bit, but the defense will be consistently good and will key Irish success in 2011. 

Special teams will be very solid.  Ruffer, Tausch, Turk all return to capably share the kicking/punting duties.  Theo Riddick has been named to return kicks and punts.  He will be very good as a returner, but I admit to being nervous about having such a key offensive player at risk of injury in the return game.  The fact that Riddick is by far the best man for the job confirms the lack of depth at RB and WR. 

I'll give a quick bite on each of the games for this season, as well as my confidence level for each game, as is the custom here at OC Domer.

South Florida (9/3).  The Bulls are a talented team that has was somewhat inconsistent in 2010.  What worries me is their head coach.  Skip Holtz is a former Irish player, an ND alum who coached at ND under has Dad.  He "gets" Notre Dame and I have to believe this game is a big-freaking-deal for him.  He is also a terrific coach, as he demonstrated by his success at East Carolina, a team nobody had ever heard of before he got there.  But Coach Kelly has familiarity with Holtz as a coach from their time together in the Big East, and Kelly has the more talented squad.  The defense will key an Irish win, but I don't expect a blowout.  ND 24, USF 13.  (Confidence level:  70%).

At Michigan (9/10).  The Irish lost a bizarre game last year.  Crist was on the sideline for most of the first half with vision problems, Denard Robinson was inexplicably impossible to tackle, and yet the Irish were with 27 seconds of winning the game.  Michigan is undergoing a coaching change and has seen a lot of layer defections in the off season.  The Irish are a significantly better team than they were a year ago.  Michigan is in a tough transition.  Irish earn a workmanlike win.  ND 30, UM 20. (Confidence level:  85%).

Michigan State (9/17).  I'm guessing Brian Kelly will remember losing in OT on a fake field goal forever.  I'm also guessing it doesn't happen again.  Mark Dantonio is a heck of a coach, and MSU will be very good again this year.  They just seem to reload with more of the same each year.  This will be a physical battle, but the Irish D is more stout up front than in previous years, and the offense should have an advantage spreading the field against Sparty.  And this time the game is at our place.  Irish win another close game, 24-21.  (Confidence level:  70%).

At Pittsburgh (9/24).  Irish won a close one at home in '10.  Pitt projects to have a very good defense in '11, but have a new head coach and are learning a new offense.  I expect the Irish D to win this game for us as the Irish O struggles a bit.  ND 20, Pitt 10. (Confidence level:  80%).

At Purdue (10/1).  It's Purdue.  Back-to-back road games for the Irish, but talent will tell.  Irish win comfortably, 45-20.  (Confidence level:  90%).

Air Force (10/8).   Glad to be back home in the friendly confines, but maybe peeking ahead to the USC game, this could be a trap.  Air Force is very experienced, and they beat a Navy team that whipped the Irish in 2010.  But the Falcons will be coming off a road game at Navy, and playing their first game of the season on grass.  Uncomfortably close, the Irish win 20-13.  (Confidence level: 75%).

Southern Cal (10/22).  The Irish get two weeks to prepare.  This year both teams should have their starting QBs healthy, and it should be a battle.  Barkley is really good, but his supporting cast is young.  NCAA sanctions are hurting Trojan depth, but bowl ban turns this night game into a Bowl game for USC.  The atmosphere of the night game should be electric, and I expect the Irish defense to build on last year's success to win another low-scoring contest.  ND 24, USC 14.  (Confidence level:  70%).

Navy (10/29).  This is Bob Diaco's big chance to redeem himself after getting burned badly by the Middies in '10.  I think he does so.  Could be a letdown game after USC though.  I think the Irish solve that pesky Navy offense and overwhelm them, 27-14.  (Confidence level:  80%).

At Wake Forest (11/5).  I love this game, because I like playing top level universities that take the concept of sudent-athlete seriously.  But the Demon Deacons aren't very good.  Irish win big, 40-13. (Confidence level:  90%).

Maryland (11/12).  The Irish are rolling now.  I would predict another blowout, but the Terps have a new coach, Randy Edsall, who proved at UConn that he doesn't buy into any Irish mystique.  Irish win comfortably, 35-17.  (Confidence level: 85%).

Boston College (11/19).   ND beat up the Eagles pretty well in 2010.  No reason for that not to repeat.  ND 38, BC 20.  (Confidence level:  85%).

At Stanford (11/26).  If they had asked me, I would have gladly hosted Jim Harbaugh's going away party.  This could be a HUGE game for the Irish.  If all goes well, a win in this game sets the Irish up for a BCS Bowl game.  If all goes REALLY well, this could be a game to decide whether ND gets to play in the BCS Championship.  For Stanford, the game figures to be "big" but not "BIG."  The Cardinal's fate in the Pac-12 will already be set.  Win or lose, they either will or won't be playing in the Pac-12 Championship Game.  If they are in the conference title game, they could be looking past the Irish.  If they aren't, then this is a consolation game.  I much prefer a first-year head coach to playing Harbaugh.  The Irish are a much better team than they were in week 4 last year, and Stanford figures to take a step back, even with Luck at QB.  Irish win a real battle, 27-24, and earn a BCS Bowl berth if not better.  (Confidence level:  65%).

Conclusion:  I see the Irish with the very real potential to run the table.  But there very few gimmee games on the schedule, and if they have a couple injuries or show up flat, they could lose three or four.  I would predict that the breaks beat the boys a couple of times, and they end up 10-2, playing in a BCS Bowl.

Sorry I don't have time for pictures, etc... but it's almost kickoff!  Go Irish!

Zen and the Art of Irish Blogging

Forgive me Father, for I have not blogged. It has been 261 days since my last post.

With so much happening in and around the Fighting Irish program, how in the world can any self-respecting blogger go silent for 8 months and 19 days? I have been asking myself the same question, off and on, for months.

The answer, I believe, is inner peace. Not inner peace about the world, or America, or even my own personal or professional life. But rather inner peace about the state of Notre Dame football. Over the past 261 days I realized that the reason I wasn't blogging is that I wasn't feeling the urgent need to write that has driven the OC Domer Blog since I started it 1,611 days ago (March 14, 2007). My motivation for blogging has generally been my personal angst about what the Fighting Irish were, and what they weren't.

In the spring of 2007 the Irish were coming off a 10-2 regular season and a Sugar Bowl appearance. But they had been hammered by USC in the regular season finale (44-24), and were pummeled by LSU in the bowl game (44-14). Brady Quinn was heading for the NFL and four young, untested quarterbacks were vying to replace him. Jimmy Clausen eventually won the job over Zach Frazer, Demetrius Jones, and Evan Sharpley. The three seasons of the Weis/Clausen era (3-9, 7-6, 6-6) did little to ease my Irish angst. Of course, the excitement of Brian Kelly's first season under the Dome made 2010 a great year to blog Irish football.

But something funny happened in over the final four games of last season: The Notre Dame football team started to play the way the Fighting Irish are supposed to play. Following back-to-back losses to Navy and Tulsa (can you feel the angst?) Notre Dame hosted the #15-ranked Utah Utes, and in miserable rainy conditions the Irish dominated. After the game I wrote about the experience of being there:

First, although I don't get to South Bend for a lot of games, the game against Utah was the first I can remember for a long while where I felt that the crowd was being vocal enough to give our team a true home-field advantage. It has seemed to me in recent years that the Notre Dame home crowd is generally pretty flat, and not too fearsome for opposing teams. But the crowd was into it last week (sparked by Robert Blanton's punt-block touchdown!) and I really felt that Utah was having trouble communicating and that they were rattled by the crowd. It was awesome!

Second, the scene after the game was unlike anything I had ever seen. I stormed the field as a student at Notre Dame, but I have never witnessed anything like the celebration last Saturday. It was clearly a catharsis. On one level it is silly for a 5-5 Notre Dame team to storm the field after a win over Utah. We're the Fighting Irish for crying out loud. On another level, this team, these seniors, those students have experienced tremendous adversity over the last four years and even in the last few weeks. They needed some good news like nobody's business. The first win over a ranked opponent for this senior class was a sufficient excuse to celebrate. The students poured onto the field, and it didn't take long for the ushers and security staff to switch from trying to stop it to just making sure nobody got hurt. The team and the band and the students were all partying together, and the crowd was so jammed in that the band couldn't march out through the the tunnel. So they just kept playing! The fact that my wife and I watched from the stands while both our kids were down on the field (somewhere!) just made it that much more special.

Third, and this is probably just the optimist in me, but the outstanding play of the defense and the efficient play of the offense (including the appearance of a power running game) really felt like a turning point for this team and for Coach Kelly's program. From the stands you could feel the confidence of the team grow as the game wore on. I sure hope we're able to look back at this game and say "We were there" when Coach Kelly and the Irish turned the corner.

The Utah game did feel like a real turning point in the program. That feeling was reinforced when Tommy Rees and the Irish went to the new Yankee Stadium and did what a Fighting Irish football team is supposed to do to a service academy team - beat them soundly (27-3).

A week later the Irish were in OC Domer country, playing the Trojans in the L.A. Coliseum. It was a glorious day of rain and unseasonably cold temperatures. Both teams were playing back-up quarterbacks in the game. It was only the four Irish turnovers that kept the game close, as the Irish out-rushed and out-gained USC, capping the game with a punishing 7-play, 77-yard drive featuring Robert Hughes power runs of 6, 12, 13 and 5 yards, the final rush for the game-winning TD. I stood with my wife in our typical end zone Coliseum seats with all the other Domers, the rain dripping off us, and I was very happy and excited. But I was also overcome with an intense feeling of relief. The Irish had finally snapped the streak of eight straight losses to the Trojans. To me, the world was once again restored to its proper balance. Notre Dame had gone into the Coliseum and had pushed the Trojans around, literally shoving them backwards the length of the field to score the final touchdown (20-16). It was clear to me standing there in the rain, cheering for Old Notre Dame as the clock wound down, that the Fighting Irish were back. Maybe not all the way back, yet. But Coach Kelly clearly knows what he is doing, and while there may be some bumps along the way, Our Lady's University finally has the right man for the job.

My feeling of inner peace with respect to the Irish was obviously boosted by their impressive performance in the Sun Bowl. Media darling Miami, with all that "speed", couldn't hang with Notre Dame on either side of the ball. The final score was 33-17, but the game wasn't that close.

Although I was hugely impressed with how the defense had matured over the final four games of 2010, and how Tommy Rees had stepped in and led the offense after Dayne Crist went down with injury, I didn't feel the urge to sit down and write about it. It's hard to be interesting when the substance of your posts boils down to: "Wow! We're really good! Did you see how good we looked!"

So where does the OC Domer blog go from here? I have been giving it a lot of thought. The Blue-Gray Sky set an awfully classy example of how a blog should probably just ride off into the sunset when the sense of urgency fades, and real life intrudes. But I don't think I can be that classy. The OC Domer will endure, but it will probably change from what my readers have seen over the past few seasons. I'll still be blogging, but posts will, I expect, be a little less regular. I probably won't write as many long game-preview posts or post-game analyses. I will be gracefully (I hope) bowing out of the weekly Irish Blogger Gathering. But when I notice something that moves me to offer my two-cents' worth, I'll be here. You'll probably see more non-football topics as well. (I know I have threatened that before).

The changes here don't mean I am less passionate about my team, or my alma mater. It just means that I'm more at peace with the state of the Fighting Irish, and that other aspects of my life will be getting a little more of my attention. At least for now.

A Little Blogkeeping

There are a couple of items I want to address before we can move forward with the 2011 season.

1. Congratulations to Tommy Rees, who has been named the winner of the 4th Annual OC Domer Player of the Year Award for 2010. What can you say? A backup QB who takes the reins of a team on the brink of collapse and leads it to wins over Utah, Army, USC and Miami is a no-brainer for this award. Past winners of the OCDPOTYA include David Bruton, Michael Floyd, and Golden Tate. Tommy is no less deserving of this prestigious honor just because I am months late handing it out. The runner-up for 2010 was defensive sensation Manti Te'o, with honorable mention going to kicker David Ruffer.

2. Congratulations to the winner of the OC Domer 2010 Fantasy Football League: OC Domer! I want to thank everyone who has participated in the OC Domer FFL over the past four seasons. I have really enjoyed running the league, and I hope everyone else had fun too. As part of the general reorganizing and re-prioritizing here at OC Domer HQ, I do not plan to organize/manage a league for the 2011 season. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but just because I want to use that time pursuing other interests.

Irish Blogger Gathering: The Fall of Troy

Living in Southern California as I do, Subway Domer is kind enough to let me be the host for this week's edition of the Irish Blogger Gathering. It's an exciting week here at OC Domer Headquarters. As I type this our daughter is on a plane flying home for Thanksgiving (and the ND v. USC game). She is bringing her roommate with her, and we are going to be seeing a lot of her OC and Notre Dame friends over the next several days. OC Headquarters is as clean and ship-shape as it has ever been, as Mrs. Domer has had us working overtime for weeks in preparation. But now that all the preparations are complete, we can turn our full attention to those heathens who call themselves the "Trojans." I don't think I can over-emphasize the importance of this game to all the Notre Dame alumni and fans here in Orange County. This is Trojan country, and this game is for a full year's worth of bragging rights. I don't know if you have a lot of interaction with USC's bandwagon fans where you live, but I can tell you that the last thing you want to give a Trojan is a year's worth of bragging rights. You might think that having a National Championship, a Heisman Trophy, and two years of bowl eligibility stripped from them by the NCAA would teach them a little humility. You would be wrong.

USC has had a nice little run lately against the Irish, having won eight in a row. It's almost enough to make you forget that the Irish owned USC for 13 years in a row from 1983 through 1995, or that Notre Dame leads the all-time series over USC 42-34-5.

Both of these teams are in transition. The Irish are beginning what they hope will be a long, successful run under new head coach Brian Kelly. USC said a tearful goodbye to Pete Carroll and is now led by Lane Kiffin. It hasn't been pretty for either team this season. USC of course got hammered by the NCAA, and they have lost four games to PAC-10 opponents so far, getting completely undressed by Oregon and Oregon State. The Irish have had troubles of their own, losing five games so far and having been whipped by Stanford and Navy. Yes, whipped by Navy. The Irish have not had any NCAA trouble, but they have been beset by a rash of injuries to key personnel and a tragic death within the program. The good news for Irish fans is that the team is playing its best football of the year behind freshman quarterback Tommy Rees and a defense that seems to have finally got its groove on with outstanding performances against Utah and Army in the last two games, whereas USC is coming off a beat-down at Corvallis and may have lost their starting quarterback to a high ankle sprain.

Which brings us to this week's IBG questions:

1. Notre Dame played perhaps its best game of the year in a win over the Utah Utes two weeks ago. Utah remains ranked at #23 in the Associated Press poll. Notre Dame likewise took Michigan State (AP #11) to overtime before losing on a fake field goal. Therefore the Irish should have no trouble with this unranked Trojan squad. Agree or disagree? Show your work.

Disagree. USC is unranked, but perhaps unfairly. Yes, Oregon and Oregon State whipped them pretty good. But those are two great teams (#1 and #22 in the Sagarin ratings). But USC has also beaten California, Arizona, and Arizona State (#27, #17, and #29 in Sagarin). They lost to Stanford (Sagarin #2) by just two points. You might recall that Stanford beat the Irish by 23.

Although the Irish win over a ranked Utah team was nice, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Irish themselves are unranked in the major polls and Sagarin has them at #37 versus USC's #19.

But, a lot of that is history. Notre Dame is playing its best football of the year. The defense in particular appears to have had an enormous light bulb turn on over its collective head. The challenge for the Irish this week will be to take its high level of play into the Coliseum against a team with athleticism which is a significant cut above that of Utah and Army. The Irish defense was clearly faster, stronger, more athletic than the skill players of Utah and Army. How will they match up against the 4- and 5-star players of USC, even if they are playing with the same focus and discipline? The Notre Dame defensive line dominated the past two games. Can they dominate the USC offensive front?

Notre Dame's backups - at QB, receiver, tight end, running back - were able to outplay the starters for Utah and Army. Can our backups outplay USC's starters?

I think it will be a close game. Our spread O against a USC defense that has been out of sorts this year. USC's dynamic offense against an improving D that has been gashed at times. It may well come down to whether Matt Barkley is able to play. If we can put the Trojans in the same position we are of playing back-up QB, I like our chances. Our back-up quarterback is better than your back-up quarterback!

Bottom line: I like the momentum and mental toughness of the Irish. USC is feeling a bit besieged right now. The streak ends Saturday, as the Irish beat the Trojans 27-24.


2. It is almost time for the OC Domer Player of the Year to be named. This award is intended to recognize the Notre Dame football player or players who played the best when it mattered the most. Suffice it to say that the primary criterion is a consistently high level of play, with significant bonus points awarded for exceeding expectations. Injuries have taken many of the pre-season favorites for this prestigious award out of the running. Who is your nominee for this award, and why?

Well, there is still a chance for a star to emerge against USC and take the prize. And I am very interested to see who the other bloggers nominate. But the obvious candidates for me are Manti Te'o, Chris Stewart, and Tommy Rees. Manti has been a tackling machine and is a rising superstar at the national level. Chris Stewart is just an amazing story of character and perseverance. And freshman back-up Tommy Rees has been remarkable off the bench so far.


3. With a delicate flavor similar to beef, though slightly sweeter than other meats, horse meat can be used to replace beef, pork, mutton, and any other meat in virtually any recipe, though most aficionados prefer it in marinated or spicy dishes. Nutritionally, horse meat has around 40 percent fewer calories than the leanest beef, while supplying 50 percent more protein and as much as 30 percent more iron; and horse fat is considered an excellent health-conscious deep-frying alternative, especially for delicately-flavored foods that are easily overpowered by heavier oils. What is your favorite horse meat recipe?

Filet Mignon

This simple French classic serves 4.

4 four-ounce filets of horse
4 slices bacon
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare exactly as for a filet mignon. Wrap outside of filet with uncooked bacon slice and secure with toothpicks. Broil to taste.

4. Do you miss Pat Haden, who left the Notre Dame television broadcasts to become athletic director at USC?

Absolutely not! It was always a little weird that Notre Dame had a USC guy on its T.V. broadcasts, although I always thought Haden did a good job. But I have been blown away by his replacement in the booth, Mike Mayock. Mayock is outstanding in analyzing the X's and O's, as well as in relating his stories and his impressions of the student-athletes involved in the games.

As an aside, I think Haden was an excellent hire to replace Mike Garrett as USC's A.D.

5. USC is the Notre Dame rival I love to hate. What Notre Dame rival do you most despise, and why?

As noted above, USC is villain #1 in the OC Domer household. It started with watching Anthony Davis and that damn horse gallop all over the field against Notre Dame. Living amongst the Trojan faithful the past several years hasn't helped things. The contrast between flashy, west coast, Hollywood USC and wholesome midwestern values Notre Dame is just so stark for me. It's a clash between two different cultures.

6. Reggie Bush got a car, his parents a house. Cam Newton's Dad was looking for $180,000 in straight cash homey. Can Notre Dame compete for athletic recruits in this environment? Or do you believe these incidents are the exceptions to an otherwise clean recruiting landscape?

I think this type of stuff happens more than I would really care to admit to myself. But I still think there are enough kids of good character who are going to college for the right reasons that the Irish can field a strong football team. I do think, however, that in some parts of the country (cough *SEC* cough) the motto is still "If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'." That's why the sanctions against USC and a strong NCAA response to the Cam Newton situation is so important.

As the other members of the IBG post their responses I will put links to those posts below.

The Domer Law Blog post is here.

We Never Graduate chimes in with some Gary Gray love and USC Hate.

Subway Domer goes on the record, in his own inimitable style.

Frank V. of UHND.com has some love for the Irish secondary.


Go Irish! Beat Trojans!

OC Domer Trying to Catch Up. Brian Kelly Earns a B-.

This is not how I planned to spend my 2010 football season. I am a lawyer by trade, which means that every now and again I have to strut my lawyerly stuff and earn my paycheck. For most of the past month I have been on the road and putting in long hours in preparation for a trial that will take place next week. I could tell you more, but I'd have to kill you.

Seriously, it's not a big deal of a case by any means, but it is important to my employer and it is sucking up a lot of time and resources as my total failure to blog anything since September 12 proves. I apologize to all of the subscribers to the blog and refund checks will be sent out shortly.

Yes, that was a lame attempt at humor. Clearly I have lost my edge.

I want to take this quick opportunity to give thumbnail reviews of the Michigan State, Stanford, and Boston College games, and then toss up here a quick version of the Irish Blogger Gathering post for Pitt Week.

Michigan State Loss (34-31). In my pre-season predictions post I wrote that "I am not convinced yet that our guys can go toe-to-toe with a very physical Sparty squad" and I predicted an Irish loss by virtue of my 45% win confidence. The team actually held up pretty well physically and played an amazing game only losing in OT on a very gutsy fake field goal that was made possible by the officials failing to notice that the play clock had expired well before the ball was snapped. Should have been a delay of game, and then who knows what happens. The game was so exciting that Sparty's coach literally had a heart attack. Tough loss, but Michigan State is a pretty decent team (16th or 17th in the country depending on whether you like the USA Today Coaches poll or the AP poll), so one can take some encouragement from taking them to OT. One interesting stat: The team that won the Average Starting Field Position battle (ND, averaging starting at the 29 versus MSU's average start at the 23) actually lost the game. Hard to make too much of it, since their game went to OT and could have gone either way, but since I harp on ASFP a lot, I thought I'd mention it.

Stanford Loss (37-14). Pretty much a whipping. Not much else to say. In the pre-season I had a 65% win confidence on this game, which means I was waaayyy wrong. I thought the departure of Toby Gerhart would set the Cardinal back a bit. Yeah, well, not so much. You want stats? Stanford punted once. They converted 11 of 16 third downs. The Irish had 44 net rushing yards (a 1.9 yard-per-rush average). Notre Dame had zero sacks of Andrew Luck. Notre Dame of course lost the ASFP battle, 39-26. Stanford is also a pretty good team (16th in the AP, 18th in the USA Today), but we can't find any solace in that since, unlike the Michigan State game, we didn't play them close. This game looked like a Top 20 team putting a beat-down on a team that is not yet ready for prime time. Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

Boston College Win (31-13). Finally, something that looked "normal" to me. I had just about concluded that I had been kidnapped by aliens and dropped into some freaky parallel universe where Stanford owns Notre Dame in football, Texas get humiliated by UCLA, and Boise State and TCU are Top-5 college football powers. But the the Irish went to Chestnut Hill and put a hurting on a pretty bad Boston College team in a very workmanlike performance. A nice homecoming for Coach Kelly. I watched the game by streaming ESPN3.com through my HDTV via an S-video cable. One could tell that the game was very, very important to Brian Kelly as he was coaching his mouth off! I don't know if NBC is maybe more committed to the Irish home games being a G-rated show, but ESPN was giving us close ups on Kelly engaging in full and frank sharing of his opinions with his players all game long. I, for one, welcome our fiery, foul-mouthed overlord. Am I in any way offended? Are you kidding me? I mean, are you f&%#ing kidding me? You should hear the OC Wife cuss like a sailor when the Irish aren't playing well. It's about time the head coach at Notre Dame is at least as into the game as my wife. Key stats: BC held to 5 net rushing yards, Irish sacked BC QBs 5 times. Irish did just barely win the ASFP battle, 32-31. The only thing to take away from this game is a win. The Irish should have beaten BC soundly and they did. It is a good sign that the team took care of business by winning a game they were supposed to win. That hasn't always happened in recent years, not by a long shot.




The Irish Blogger Gathering is being hosted by the Irish Round Table this week. Go check them out to read all the bloggers' responses to this weeks questions. Without further ado here very quickly is the OC Domer contribution to the IBG for Pitt week.

1. Grade Brian Kelly’s performance to date. We’re not interested in how you think he will perform going forward. How has he done through the first five games? Grade scale is A+ to F-.

Well, I might argue that the grade scale is 00% - 100%. At 2 wins against 3 losses, that's a winning percentage of 40%. Where does 40% fit on the A+ to F- scale?

It's pretty early to give a grade, but so far I'd give a B-. The Irish have played five games. They got worked by Stanford (which is NOT a good thing), but had every chance in the world to win the other four games. Of the four winnable games, they won two and lost two.

Notre Dame was up on Michigan 28-24 with 3:41 remaining in the game. In order to lose the game the Notre Dame defense gave up a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive, allowing UM to score the winning TD with just 27 seconds remaining.

The Irish manage to take Michigan State to Overtime, but when they get the ball first in OT can't make a first down, instead having to settle for a field goal on 4th-and-1. The defense stiffens against MSU forcing Sparty into an untenable 4th-and-14 on the Irish 29, but then give up the game winning 29-yard TD pass on a fake field goal.

What grade do you get for winning 50% of winnable games?

The Irish offense is still a work in progress. We have a new quarterback in a new offensive system, and we have seen some expected inconsistency. It seems that in each game we see short spurts where the offense looks dynamic and explosive. We're seeing big plays that we haven't regularly seen in recent years. One can see that once the players mature in the offensive system this team will be able to score some points. There are signs, however, that the running game is already lagging seriously behind the passing game. The ability to "impose our will" with a power running game and ice a game by taking the air out of the ball is nowhere to be seen.

The defense is bend but don't break, and has only given up a very small number of really big plays. But the defense is bending a little too much, and they are having a hard time getting off the field in key situations. We've seen really good plays on the back end of the defense, but we need to get more pass pressure against teams not named Boston College and we need to be more stout against the run.

Special teams play has been a mixed bag. Kick-offs have been decent, place kicking is good. Kick returns very inconsistent, and punting needs to improve.

Coach Kelly's game management and play calling has been very questionable at times.

Based solely on his on-field results so far, I think B- is generous. If, as I expect, the team looks better in November than they did in September, I think he will earn higher marks by the end of the semester.

2. Much has been made of Brian Kelly’s sideline rants. Some fans like the excitement and energy others are worried that they are excessive and will wear thin on the players. Where do you stand?

Love them

Love.

Them.

He is colorful, but he's teaching. He's not just calling them names and screaming at them for being incompetent. He usually fires off an expletive-filled "What are you doing?" and then asks the player why they did what they did, and then he tells them what they were supposed to do and why. He's fiery, but it is to a purpose.

I can't help but think back to the many times under Charlie Weis when the team just looked flat and disinterested. Sometimes a coach has to get the team's attention and raise expectations.

It also seems to me that Kelly's passion level was way up for the Boston College game compared to the previous three games. My assumption was that he expected the team to dominate B.C. and was trying to teach them to hold their boot on the Eagle's throats and really put the away. He had higher expectations for that game against a lesser opponent. Against a much better team like Stanford (Wow, did I just type "a much better team like Stanford"?), I think coach realizes that yelling isn't going to be productive and the teaching needs to be more patient.

3. What is the best storyline for Notre Dame football this year? The best storyline in college football?

I love the Chris Stewart story. Do you remember that he came within a whisker of leaving the team and the University because he was frustrated and homesick? Now he has his Notre Dame degree and is starting at left guard while attending law school. Take that all you Kinesiology degree mills out there. I'm looking at you Michigan.

But Denard Robinson it absolutely amazing. If he can stay healthy he is going to rewrite the record books and I can't imagine any Heisman voter not having him at #1 on their ballot.

4. We are going to test your prognostication skills with a little IBG prediction contest. Predict the following for this week’s Pitt game:

Kyle Rudolph receptions: Four.
Points scored by Notre Dame’s defense: Zero.
Carries by Robert Hughes: Two.
Points Notre Dame wins by: 11.
Tackles Manti T’eo registers: 12.
Pass attempts by Tommy Rees: Zero.
Taylor Swift in Attendance: No.

5. What would you like to see in place of the yellow mums on the Notre Dame sidelines?

Well, if you must have yellow, why not yellow bikini girls? If it's good enough for Lambeau Field it's good enough for Notre Dame Stadium.


Go Irish! Beat Panthers!

Can I Change My Pick For Heisman? Michigan Reaction.

I actually have a lot of work to do today, but I wanted to very quickly throw out my thoughts on the tough loss to Michigan yesterday in a hard-fought, dramatic, and at times bizarre, football game.

• Denard Robinson is simply an astounding talent. He has been blessed with God-given ability, and he is making the most out of it in a system that is perfectly suited to maximize his potential. My Heisman Trophy ballot now has Robinson as my #1 choice, and I don't think anyone else is close enough to him to deserve to be #2 or #3.
  

• The fact that Denard Robinson is an amazing football player does not somehow transform Rich Rodriguez from scumbag to coaching genius. I'm looking at you Kirk Herbstreit.
  

• Robinson had 258 rushing yards and 244 passing yards, for 502 total yards of offense. By himself. All players not named Denard Robinson had just 30 rushing yards for Big Blue.

• Everyone will want to lament the fact that the Notre Dame defense gave up 532 yards to the Wolverines. Are you surprised to know that even though Notre Dame's starting quarterback was out of the game for most of the first half, the Irish still out-gained UM on the day with 535 yards? Yeah, I was surprised by that too.

• Despite Michigan's gaudy totals, I thought the defense played very, very well. Robinson certainly gashed us for a handful of big plays that were decisive, but Michigan only converted on 3 of 16 third downs in the game. Michigan was shut out in the second half until the final touchdown with 27 seconds remaining.

• Dayne Crist is going to be really good, pretty soon. He played just a little over one half of football yesterday and had almost 300 yards of total offense himself. He was 13 of 25 for 277 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. He also had 30 yards rushing and 1 sack for -11 yards, for a net 19 rushing yards. Total rushing and passing = 298 yards. His two touchdown passes were for 53 and 95 yards (to TJ Jones and Kyle Rudolph, respectively). But there is still a lot of room for improvement, in both accuracy and in decision making.

• Coach Kelly better take good care of Dayne Crist, because "next man in" at quarterback is problematic.

• I wonder if we'll ever learn what was going on with Dayne that caused him to sit out most of the first half. Loss of vision in one eye? So very strange, especially since he didn't appear to take any big hits on the noggin. I hope it was just a one-time thing and that Dayne is 100% healthy going forward. But it's a damn shame that such a freak thing probably cost us the game. Twenty-one of Michigan's 28 points came in the first half after Crist left the game.

• Notre Dame quarterbacks threw three interceptions (one per QB). This was a huge factor in Notre Dame losing the field position battle. Notre Dame's ASFP (Average Starting Field Position) was it's own 25. Michigan's ASFP was its own 32. On the young season, AFSP is 2 for 2 as a predictor of who wins the game.

• Another big factor in the field position battle was the inconsistency of Irish Punter Ben Turk. Turk punted 8 times on the day. Half of his punts were very good, pinning Michigan back inside their own twenty (two of them inside the 10). Half of his punts were poor: 38 yards to the UM 44, 37 yards to the UM 35, 29 yards to the 41, and 34 yards to the UM 48. Ben needs to step it up and drive the ball deeper when there's no danger of a touch-back.

• It's really nice to see our linebackers leading the team in tackles instead of our safeties. Manti Te'o is really maturing as a player. He had 13 total tackles on the day (6 of them solo). Carlo Calabrese, the meathead from New Jersey was second on the team with 10 tackles (3 solo).

• I like Mike Mayock as the new analyst. He's a football junkie who knows his stuff and doesn't mince words. He's actually value-added on the broadcasts.
  

• Our defensive line play has been a very pleasant surprise. Ian Williams, Kapron Lewis-Moore, and Ethan Johnson are all playing really well.

• Armando Allen was clearly the lead dog among running backs yesterday, and I have to think it was largely because he provided some leadership on the field while Dayne was out. He looked good, and Cierre Wood never really got it going.
  

• Did anyone else wonder if Kyle Rudolph's hamstring was going to hold up on his 95-yard race to the end zone? Nice job by the training staff getting him back to full health.

This was another amazing edition to the Notre Dame - Michigan series. It is painful that we came out on the losing end. But I think the team took some giant strides forward in the cajones department yesterday. They fought hard for sixty minutes in the face of severe adversity, and darn near pulled off a miracle. There will be no shame losing to this Michigan team once the end of the season rolls around, because as long as D. Robinson stays healthy the Wolverines are going to win some games.

Before the start of the season I thought we'd beat Michigan and quite likely lose to Sparty. I would probably revise that now. I think the defense is stout enough to slow down MSU's power game, and as long as Dayne is healthy we're going to score some points.

Go Irish!

The Gipper

I'm a Notre Dame alumnus, a huge Fighting Irish fan, and heck, I even write a Notre Dame football blog. I've seen Knute Rockne, All-American and Rudy. So I always figured I had a decent understanding of, and the proper amount of respect for, the history of Notre Dame football. But a recent coast-to-coast plane trip provided me the excuse to finally dig into The Gipper: George Gipp, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football, which has been sitting in my stack of books to read for a few weeks. I'm glad I packed it in my bag, because it was thoroughly enjoyable, extremely educational, and it made my trip across the country jammed into coach class much more bearable (not that I ever fly in other than coach).

The Gipper, written by Jack Cavanaugh and published by Skyhorse Publishing, focuses on the improbable and inscrutable life and career of George Gipp, but really covers the intertwined Notre Dame careers of Gipp and his famous coach, Knute Rockne. I was astounded by how much I didn't know about Rockne, Gipp, and college football in general in the early twentieth century.

Notre Dame was a very respectable football program before Knute Rockne became the coach. In the ten seasons prior to Knute being named head coach, Notre Dame's record under four different coaches was 66 wins, 7 losses, and 5 ties, for a winning percentage of .878, which is just shy of Rockne's .881 winning percentage over 13 seasons. Notre Dame had already burst onto the national scene with its historic win over Army at West Point in 1913, which featured quarterback Gus Dorais throwing the ball to end Knute Rockne in a historical display of passing proficiency which truly changed the way football was played from that day forward.

But it was the ascendancy of George Gipp as Notre Dame's star player and the promotion of Knute Rockne from assistant to head football coach that took Notre Dame football to the next level. When Rockne first became Notre Dame's coach, during Gipp's second varsity season in 1918, a typical crowd at a big game would be 5,000 fans at standing-room-only Cartier Field. In Rockne's final season, 1930, Notre Dame opened a new 54,400 seat stadium on campus and played Army at Soldier Field in Chicago in front of a crowd estimated at 110,000 fans. And, of course, as the fame of the Fighting Irish grew, so did the reputation of the University of Notre Dame which has sought since Rockne to achieve recognition and respect for its academic accomplishments while it nevertheless embraces the fame and the financial rewards that accrue to its football team.

The Gipper covers what is known of George Gipp's life growing up in Laurium, Michigan and all his exploits as a Notre Dame football player and sometime student. Ample coverage is given to Gipp's very sporadic academic pursuits as well as his expertise as a billiards player, card player, and gambler. And the author tries to sort the fact from the fiction of Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech and Gipp's tragic death. As amazing as Gipp's statistics and performance as a football player are, I was even more amazed by how easily it apparently all came to him. He rarely practiced football, and normally reported for the season at the last minute, if not a week or two late. He was a talented baseball player who was actively sought after by multiple major league franchises and was the best pool shooter in Northern Indiana. He broke a leg near the end of his first varsity season, and scored a key touchdown in his final game, against Indiana, after suffering a dislocated shoulder and a broken collar bone.

In addition to providing a real education about two Notre Dame legends, The Gipper offers real insight into what college football was really like in its infancy. The lax academic standards, the Sunday pro games played under assumed names, players playing at West Point for four years after exhausting eligibility in All-American careers at other schools. The 1918 season that was almost entirely canceled due to a nationwide flu epidemic. Michigan's campaign to keep Notre Dame out of the Western Conference (forerunner to the Big Ten) and to blackball Notre Dame from playing Western Conference teams. All are covered here in an entertaining, easy to read presentation that fans of Notre Dame will love, and that all fans of college football history will appreciate.

Purdue Review and Muck Fichigan (IBG Week 2)

Her Loyal Sons hosts the Irish Blogger Gathering for this week. I've been on the road for work this week, putting in some long hours in the office, and my blogging has predictably suffered. Who the heck schedules any sort of actual work between September 1st and the Super Bowl anyway? It's anti-American in my view.

So I want to put down a few very quick thoughts on the Irish win over Purdue in Coach Brian Kelly's first game.

The Irish beat Purdue by 11 points, making the wise guys in Las Vegas look pretty darn wise. I had predicted a 14-point win, so I was pretty close. But the game was actually closer than the final score indicated. The Irish only out-gained Purdue by 36 yards (358 to 322). Each team had 20 first downs.

The things I saw that I really liked included an obviously improved ground game (Armando Allen was solid at 5.2 ypc, Cierre Wood was eye-popping at 8.3 ypc), and a generally solid bend-but-don't break defense that also managed to generate some pressure on the quarterback. Purdue's longest play from scrimmage was a 23-yard scramble by the quarterback. The longest run by a non-QB was 14 yards. The longest Boilermaker pass play was just 16 yards. The Irish sacked Marve 4 times. The final really good thing was a very solid special teams performance that contributed greatly to the Irish win in the field position battle. Notre Dame's ASFP (Average Starting Field Position) was it's own 33-yard line. Purdue's ASFP was the 22-yard line.

Dayne Crist's stat line was "fine." 19 of 26 for 205 yards, 1 TD and zero INT. I don't know how things go in your house, but in my house if my wife (or my daughter) tells me that something is "fine" that's not synonymous with "good." "Fine" is synonymous with "not at all fine, and you better figure it out and fix it mister or there's gonna be trouble later." It wasn't all on Dayne, as his receivers dropped several catchable balls. But Dayne had quite a case of Brady Quinn-itis going on, allowing his adrenaline (or something) to severely affect his accuracy. I am going to chalk it up to first-start jitters and hope there are no second-start jitters. Thank goodness for Kyle Rudolph who appears in the early going to be Crist's security blanket. Michael Floyd and Theo Riddick need to step it up against Michigan, and of course catch and hold onto the ball. Between the drops and three fumbles, the ball was on the ground way too often in game one. And a safety? Really? I trust that's the last we'll see of that.

All in all, a "good " start for the Irish in the Kelly era. Better than "fine," but not great.

Now a quick, but pithy contribution to this week's Irish Blogger Gathering


1) You've now seen Notre Dame Football: The Kelly Edition, Volume 1, Episode 1. Was it everything you thought it would be? Were characters missing from this episode that you were expecting to see featured? Did it strike you as a carbon-copy of Kelly's Cincinnati teams, or is there something discernible between the 2 programs beyond the colors of the uniforms?

It was not everything I thought it would be, as discussed above. I never felt like the passing game was truly "clicking", although the success in the running game was a bit of a surprise. I hope we'll see more from Theo Riddick this week. If he doesn't step up, opponents will shut down M. Floyd and dare you to find another way to beat them.

Was it a carbon copy of Cincinnati? Seriously? What Notre Dame fan has ever watched a Bearcats game? I haven't seen more than 5 minutes of Cincinnati highlights that I pulled off You Tube once. I only watch football that matters.


2) Pick one positive play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday that you feel serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. Extra points if you can stretch the metaphor to fit Kelly's entire tenure at Notre Dame.

Man, you piled the words metaphorical, foreshadowing and tenure into this one question. I guess we know who the English major is.

Okay, here's your play. Score still tied 0-0 in the first quarter. The Irish have had the ball twice, punted twice. Armando Allen is the featured back and has had runs of 4, -2, 1, and 4 yards and one reception for no gain. Purdue is in Irish territory and driving, when Darrin Walls intercepts a Marve pass at the Irish 16. The Irish offense takes the field, with Cierre Wood at running back in relief of Armando Allen. On the first play of the drive, Cierre Wood takes the hand-off and slashes his way up field for 16 yards and a first down. He follows up with a 15-yard rush on the next play, and also adds another 15-yard run later in the drive. To cap the drive Armando Allen scores a TD on a nifty 22-yard drive that had a lot more energy than any of his carries before Wood entered the game.

Metaphorically, Cierre Wood's first carry was an injection of youth, energy, and talent into the the Irish offense that picked the team up and propelled it to a touchdown and, ultimately, to victory. This foreshadows the injection of youth, energy and talent in the person of Coach Kelly and the players he will bring into the Irish program.


3) Pick another play, offense or defense, by the Irish from last Saturday again, but this time, make it a negative play. Tell us how that play serves as a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing for the 2010 Irish. And again, bonus points for stretching it over Kelly's tenure.

Is it too easy to pick Michael Floyd's great catch and run, followed by his horrible fumble that cost the team a touchdown and put the outcome of the game in doubt?

That was a foreshadowing of the growing pains that we will see for much of 2010. We'll see flashes of brilliance, signs of great potential, and then we'll see flashes of failure, signs that we aren't ready to be champions yet. We saw all that on just that single painful play.


4) You know us, we're stat geeks. Give us a stat that we should be watching this season that will A) Tell us something enlightening about the 2009 Irish and/or B) Tell us something enlightening about the average Top-5 teams at the end of the 2009 season.

I love Average Starting Field Position (ASFP). It tells you a lot about the hidden yardage within a game. A team that takes care of the ball and makes few mistakes will generally win the AFSP battle, and they will usually win the game. Against Purdue, as noted above, the Irish won the ASFP battle by 11 yards (the 33 versus the 22 yard line). That's a fairly sizable margin, and that's why the Irish won by 11 points even though we barely out-gained the Boilers and both teams had 20 first downs. Turnovers is arguably the most important stat in football, and special teams play is the most under-appreciated. ASFP usually reflects a team's performance in both these important areas.


5) Notre Dame is currently a 4 point favorite in the coming Michigan game. You get 3 points for being at home. The AP poll actually ranks Michigan higher than ND. ND is 1-4-1 in the last 6 games with Michigan in which the Irish were favored and 9 and 6 in the last 15 games in which Michigan was favored. Does any of this worry you? Why or why not?

Let's see. Last November, with Irish QB Jimmy Clausen passing for 329 yards, UConn beat Notre Dame 33-30 in double OT in Notre Dame Stadium. One week ago, Michigan whipped UConn 30-10. So therefore Notre Dame is favored to beat Michigan this week by 4 behind a young QB making his second start.

Makes. No. Sense.

I'd prefer to be the underdog against UM any time. But I doubt that Coach Kelly is going to let the boys be over confident going into this game.


6) Last week, Frank at UHND put the Gathering on the spot with our predictions for the season. After week 1, are there any of those predictions that you'd like to alter? Any upon which you'd double down?

Clearly I was giving the Big East and Pittsburgh too much credit. I had Pitt ending the season as the highest-ranked Irish opponent, and I had their running back Dion Lewis winning the Heisman. Pitt has serious QB problems, which allowed Utah to just pack the box against them and stuff Dion Lewis. Lewis is in for a long season.


7) Describe in no fewer than 30 words why you hate Michigan.

Over the summer there was much discussion about a major re-alignment of college football, and many felt that Notre Dame could not survive as a relevant, national football power if it remained independent. So-called experts have repeatedly opined that it was obvious that Notre Dame should join the Big Ten. What most commentators fail to understand is that Notre Dame is independent for one reason, and one reason only: The University of Michigan, under a succession of football coaches and athletic directors, led a conspiracy fueled by anti-Catholic bigotry and jealousy which aimed to keep Notre Dame out of the Western Conference (forerunner of the Big Ten) and to discredit Notre Dame as a University and as a football program. Notre Dame became an independent and America's college football team playing coast-to-coast because the other universities in its own back yard refused to respect them enough to put them on the schedule. Given the long and inglorious history of despicable treatment of Notre Dame by the members of the Big Ten generally and Michigan particularly, Notre Dame should not EVER consider joining the Big Ten until the members of that conference issue a formal, public apology to Our Lady's University.

More on the ugly history of Michigan's treatment of Notre Dame can be found here:

http://www.domerdomain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30904