Wow. I was just looking at next week's slate of college games, and I discovered that Vanderbilt (yes, Vanderbilt) is ranked #19 in the AP and USA Today polls.
I have one word to say about that:
OUCH.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Get used to Ups and Downs
Another very enjoyable game to watch and once again we were blessed with spectacular weather. Here are some in-stadium notes and thoughts.
Positives: We came out on fire in the second half and really mixed it up well. Kudos to Charlie on his halftime speech because frankly we looked pretty average in the first half. Our receivers are play makers. Kind of like USC receivers usually are. It always frustrates me how top receivers out play our d-backs for the ball even when we have good coverage. Well now we have a bunch of those guys and they made some terrific catches. As Joe Tiller noted, with a quarterback who gets the ball close, we are going to make some plays. Yes, we also showed a bit of a run game now that we figured out we can set it up with the pass.
Negatives: Kicking game as noted by the Colonel. Hope that does not become our Achilles heel. I am also very frustrated with the 10-yard cushion our d-backs were giving at the line of scrimmage. I was watching this rather carefully in the first half. Purdue had several EASY 5-7 yard gains on quick outs. Guess we were concerned about getting burned deep (which we did anyway a couple times). It did seem that the corners tightened up a bit in the second half and it seemed to pay off.
At this point in the season I have concluded that we are likely to see some more big swings in performance as this team plays young. We will look like world beaters for a quarter, than look like dumbbells for a half. Or vice versa. There was a sequence in the first half that crystallized this for me. We drove down the field for 70 yards; we missed a short field goal; we gave up a big play on defense; we grab an interception for a touchdown; etc. Get used to some more head scratchers as we go. But expect to see a powerhouse in the next 2 years. I feel very good about the future right now.
Other game notes. One jet flyover was very cool; superlow with the afterburners blazing. He was a few seconds late but what a rush. Band show was a salute to Sinatra; not a student crowd pleaser but some very fine arrangements. Big kick line in the NY-NY number. Those visiting next week will see/hear a great band show because they try to kick it up a notch for the alums. The band had a very busy September with 5 shows in a row. October will be quiet by comparison.
Well on to game 5. We may sneak into the top 25 this week though I kind of hope we don't yet. It was an average Purdue team we beat. But you see and sense some confidence and I have to remember that turnovers killed us at MSU. We really should cruise in October but let's take them one at a time.
I will have to think about my score prediction. For now GO IRISH, BEAT CARDINAL!
Positives: We came out on fire in the second half and really mixed it up well. Kudos to Charlie on his halftime speech because frankly we looked pretty average in the first half. Our receivers are play makers. Kind of like USC receivers usually are. It always frustrates me how top receivers out play our d-backs for the ball even when we have good coverage. Well now we have a bunch of those guys and they made some terrific catches. As Joe Tiller noted, with a quarterback who gets the ball close, we are going to make some plays. Yes, we also showed a bit of a run game now that we figured out we can set it up with the pass.
Negatives: Kicking game as noted by the Colonel. Hope that does not become our Achilles heel. I am also very frustrated with the 10-yard cushion our d-backs were giving at the line of scrimmage. I was watching this rather carefully in the first half. Purdue had several EASY 5-7 yard gains on quick outs. Guess we were concerned about getting burned deep (which we did anyway a couple times). It did seem that the corners tightened up a bit in the second half and it seemed to pay off.
At this point in the season I have concluded that we are likely to see some more big swings in performance as this team plays young. We will look like world beaters for a quarter, than look like dumbbells for a half. Or vice versa. There was a sequence in the first half that crystallized this for me. We drove down the field for 70 yards; we missed a short field goal; we gave up a big play on defense; we grab an interception for a touchdown; etc. Get used to some more head scratchers as we go. But expect to see a powerhouse in the next 2 years. I feel very good about the future right now.
Other game notes. One jet flyover was very cool; superlow with the afterburners blazing. He was a few seconds late but what a rush. Band show was a salute to Sinatra; not a student crowd pleaser but some very fine arrangements. Big kick line in the NY-NY number. Those visiting next week will see/hear a great band show because they try to kick it up a notch for the alums. The band had a very busy September with 5 shows in a row. October will be quiet by comparison.
Well on to game 5. We may sneak into the top 25 this week though I kind of hope we don't yet. It was an average Purdue team we beat. But you see and sense some confidence and I have to remember that turnovers killed us at MSU. We really should cruise in October but let's take them one at a time.
I will have to think about my score prediction. For now GO IRISH, BEAT CARDINAL!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Hey Now!
Now that’s more like it!
Four TDs? How about 5, with the Defense throwing one in for good measure.
We made a field goal; and 41 yards at that. Yes, we missed a short one too, so I’m still not predicting any Irish scores that involve field goals.
13 rushing first downs and 201 net yards rushing. Pretty good.
Six different receivers caught balls, and Michael Floyd, FRESHMAN, had six catches for 100 yards to lead one of the best young receiving corps in the country.
And JC definitely looks very comfortable in this offense. His arm is very strong and he’ll be throwing fades in the end zone for the next 2.5 seasons with success. Hey, we even broke out the tight end a little today. And that would be another Freshman, Kyle Rudolph.
To me, the most impressive statistic I find is this: our 4 touchdown drives’ average starting position was our 30 yard line. So we had four long drives. That’s really saying something.
So, we didn’t beat a Top 25 team, but Purdue will get its share of wins in the Big 10.
As someone on TV said today, “boy, 3-1 feels so much better than 2-2”. Does it ever. Well Godfather, so far we’re 4 games in and one game ahead of our predicted pace. Feels pretty good, especially with the way we played the second half today. Certainly an afternoon we can build on.
Start stretching those hammies; Rock is Up.
The Colonel
Four TDs? How about 5, with the Defense throwing one in for good measure.
We made a field goal; and 41 yards at that. Yes, we missed a short one too, so I’m still not predicting any Irish scores that involve field goals.
13 rushing first downs and 201 net yards rushing. Pretty good.
Six different receivers caught balls, and Michael Floyd, FRESHMAN, had six catches for 100 yards to lead one of the best young receiving corps in the country.
And JC definitely looks very comfortable in this offense. His arm is very strong and he’ll be throwing fades in the end zone for the next 2.5 seasons with success. Hey, we even broke out the tight end a little today. And that would be another Freshman, Kyle Rudolph.
To me, the most impressive statistic I find is this: our 4 touchdown drives’ average starting position was our 30 yard line. So we had four long drives. That’s really saying something.
So, we didn’t beat a Top 25 team, but Purdue will get its share of wins in the Big 10.
As someone on TV said today, “boy, 3-1 feels so much better than 2-2”. Does it ever. Well Godfather, so far we’re 4 games in and one game ahead of our predicted pace. Feels pretty good, especially with the way we played the second half today. Certainly an afternoon we can build on.
Start stretching those hammies; Rock is Up.
The Colonel
Glad I was wrong!
Isn't it nice to see all those smiling faces? Jimmy needs to learn the words to Notre Dame Our Mother! Of course, we'll settle for him playing as well as he did today.
Should I hope to see this same kind of play again next week when you will all be on the sidelines? Some good band shots -- I'll be looking for you then since I opted not to travel twice to ND this fall.
I'll leave the in-depth analysis to you guys, you're better at it than I am, but I'll close by saying that it was an enjoyable game to watch from our perspective at least. The guys showed us that they can come from behind, and then come out of the locker room focused and fired up.
Looking forward to your comments!
Rosie
P.S. Next week -- if we play like this again, ND 27 Stanford 24 ( and I don't know anything about Stanford this year!)
Should I hope to see this same kind of play again next week when you will all be on the sidelines? Some good band shots -- I'll be looking for you then since I opted not to travel twice to ND this fall.
I'll leave the in-depth analysis to you guys, you're better at it than I am, but I'll close by saying that it was an enjoyable game to watch from our perspective at least. The guys showed us that they can come from behind, and then come out of the locker room focused and fired up.
Looking forward to your comments!
Rosie
P.S. Next week -- if we play like this again, ND 27 Stanford 24 ( and I don't know anything about Stanford this year!)
Just Play Well and We'll Win
I hope Rosie’s right and that going home will cure what ails us.
Purdue’s defense is just as bad as our running offense, so perhaps we’ll find some momentum on that side of the ledger.
And I’m swearing of picking any Irish score that includes a successful field goal made until I see us execute two in a row in a single game without a bad snap, bad blocking or a bad kick. I’m going to have to go back in the archives to see when the last time we had a field goal unit to be confident in.
Fair Weather Fan Alert: Did anyone see any of the Miami-North Carolina game? It’s on right now on ESPN2. The stadium in Miami is literally half empty. Wow.
Should be a lot of good football on throughout the day, including Georgia-Alabama, Penn State-Illinois, Colorado-Florida State (go Buffs!). And it only took three games for "Pete Carroll's best USC Team Ever" to lose. It's a great week already!
Will our game be any good? I was a bit surprised to see the Godfather predict a win with seemingly little hesitation. Makes me feel more confident. But, alas, he picked the Irish to kick two field goals (or miss an extra point, which I guess could happen too).
As I mentioned in my response to Don in his Southern Cal entry, the clock rule changes this year have really sped things up. Unless, of course, you go 3-and-out repeatedly, in which case you can still get 7 or 8 possessions in a half. We’ve been good at that this year.
So the question to me is, can we score 4 touchdowns? Because I think that’s what it’s going to take. I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes. And predict a 28-24 victory.
Enjoy the game (hopefully). Talk to you tonight.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT BOILERS!!!
The Colonel
Purdue’s defense is just as bad as our running offense, so perhaps we’ll find some momentum on that side of the ledger.
And I’m swearing of picking any Irish score that includes a successful field goal made until I see us execute two in a row in a single game without a bad snap, bad blocking or a bad kick. I’m going to have to go back in the archives to see when the last time we had a field goal unit to be confident in.
Fair Weather Fan Alert: Did anyone see any of the Miami-North Carolina game? It’s on right now on ESPN2. The stadium in Miami is literally half empty. Wow.
Should be a lot of good football on throughout the day, including Georgia-Alabama, Penn State-Illinois, Colorado-Florida State (go Buffs!). And it only took three games for "Pete Carroll's best USC Team Ever" to lose. It's a great week already!
Will our game be any good? I was a bit surprised to see the Godfather predict a win with seemingly little hesitation. Makes me feel more confident. But, alas, he picked the Irish to kick two field goals (or miss an extra point, which I guess could happen too).
As I mentioned in my response to Don in his Southern Cal entry, the clock rule changes this year have really sped things up. Unless, of course, you go 3-and-out repeatedly, in which case you can still get 7 or 8 possessions in a half. We’ve been good at that this year.
So the question to me is, can we score 4 touchdowns? Because I think that’s what it’s going to take. I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes. And predict a 28-24 victory.
Enjoy the game (hopefully). Talk to you tonight.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT BOILERS!!!
The Colonel
Friday, September 26, 2008
Boo Hoo, USC Blows It Again.
Well Oregon State does it again to USC. I have to say I am a bit surprised but not disappointed. Here is an early prediction that the Trojans will work their way back into the National Title picture by the end of the season though the PAC10 looks weak this year. Love to see those guys lose and I am sorry I did not watch the game.
Anyway time for a prediction. Paper had ND as a one point favorite over Purdue. I think we will win but don't expect a blowout.
Let's say Irish 27, Boilers 17. We will be at the game and I will provide stadium notes afterward.
GO IRISH!
Anyway time for a prediction. Paper had ND as a one point favorite over Purdue. I think we will win but don't expect a blowout.
Let's say Irish 27, Boilers 17. We will be at the game and I will provide stadium notes afterward.
GO IRISH!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
W/C/S
The game was closer than the score, if that’s any consolation.
We were in it until deep in the 4th quarter, if that’s any consolation.
We do have a studly receiver corps, who are a bunch of Freshmen and Sophomores, if that’s any consolation.
I predicted the winning score, albeit for the wrong team, if that’s any consolation.
Can you tell I’m looking for a silver lining here?
Ignoring the fact we have absolutely no running game, WE COULD HAVE WON THIS GAME! I’m not saying we should have (we didn’t deserve to win at all), but we coulda. And once again, this darned game we love so much turns in to woulda, coulda, shoulda (hence the title)…
We woulda been more competitive if we had any kind of “special” special teams. Heck, I’d settle for average when it comes to field goal kicking. I will have no confidence on any field goal attempt this season. And while we did have one great KO return, it was too little too late. There, we are average, and we need to be oh so much better than average.
We coulda won the game if we didn’t turn the ball over three times, twice in the red zone. Left 6-14 points on the field and gave MSU a short field once. Ballgame.
We shoulda gone to the spread offense sooner. It was obvious early we weren’t going to run the ball. That first drive in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. Right up until Michael Floyd fumbled deep. I still love him, he’s going to be a hero for 3 ½ more years, but that was costly. It was only 10-0 at that point. Make it 10-7, we got a little mo going, we had just held them 3-and-out, things coulda (there’s that word again) turned around.
Props to Javon Ringer. I swear to God, I had just said to myself, “boy we’re not doing too bad a job on him” when he torched that 63 yard run, salting the game away. By my reckoning, before that run, he was 33 carries for 118 yards. His previous 10 yards accounted for 3,2,3,-6,6,1,0,1,-4,0 yards. The 0/1/-4 string was on our really strong goal line stand that really showed some true grit against one of the best backs in the country. Very impressive.
So we’re 2-1 and probably deserve to be 1-2. And I predicted, like the Godfather, that we’d lose to either MSU or Purdue. So we’re half right with one to play.
Ok, time to move on. Bring on the Boilermakers, who beat one of the N/S/E/W Michigans by only a TD yesterday. So I guess there’s hope. I’ll think about that later in the week.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT BOILERMAKERS!!!
The Colonel
We were in it until deep in the 4th quarter, if that’s any consolation.
We do have a studly receiver corps, who are a bunch of Freshmen and Sophomores, if that’s any consolation.
I predicted the winning score, albeit for the wrong team, if that’s any consolation.
Can you tell I’m looking for a silver lining here?
Ignoring the fact we have absolutely no running game, WE COULD HAVE WON THIS GAME! I’m not saying we should have (we didn’t deserve to win at all), but we coulda. And once again, this darned game we love so much turns in to woulda, coulda, shoulda (hence the title)…
We woulda been more competitive if we had any kind of “special” special teams. Heck, I’d settle for average when it comes to field goal kicking. I will have no confidence on any field goal attempt this season. And while we did have one great KO return, it was too little too late. There, we are average, and we need to be oh so much better than average.
We coulda won the game if we didn’t turn the ball over three times, twice in the red zone. Left 6-14 points on the field and gave MSU a short field once. Ballgame.
We shoulda gone to the spread offense sooner. It was obvious early we weren’t going to run the ball. That first drive in the third quarter was a thing of beauty. Right up until Michael Floyd fumbled deep. I still love him, he’s going to be a hero for 3 ½ more years, but that was costly. It was only 10-0 at that point. Make it 10-7, we got a little mo going, we had just held them 3-and-out, things coulda (there’s that word again) turned around.
Props to Javon Ringer. I swear to God, I had just said to myself, “boy we’re not doing too bad a job on him” when he torched that 63 yard run, salting the game away. By my reckoning, before that run, he was 33 carries for 118 yards. His previous 10 yards accounted for 3,2,3,-6,6,1,0,1,-4,0 yards. The 0/1/-4 string was on our really strong goal line stand that really showed some true grit against one of the best backs in the country. Very impressive.
So we’re 2-1 and probably deserve to be 1-2. And I predicted, like the Godfather, that we’d lose to either MSU or Purdue. So we’re half right with one to play.
Ok, time to move on. Bring on the Boilermakers, who beat one of the N/S/E/W Michigans by only a TD yesterday. So I guess there’s hope. I’ll think about that later in the week.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT BOILERMAKERS!!!
The Colonel
Turnovers make the difference again.
We won thanks to 6 turnovers from Michigan last week and unfortunately committed the same mistake against MSU yesterday. The turnovers were particularly painful because I kept thinking we actually might win that game, despite not playing particularly well. Bummer.
Bad news. Only 30 yards rushing excluding an end-around, really lousy. How come the line can pass block but not run block? Offensive line still has a lot of improvements to make. MSU outplayed us on the line of scrimmage and that does tend to win games. Defense could not make the final big stop at the end when we still had a chance.
Good news. Clausen and receivers look pretty good again. The spread offense looked very nice and we could have scored a lot without the turnovers. I was actually encouraged by some things despite the loss. The defense kept Ringer in check pretty good except for that late 63 yard run after things were pretty much decided.
Preview: I am picking us to beat Purdue next week. They looked lousy at home and I think we will look better next week.
This team has improved but I don't feel we have seen the whole story yet. Let's win next week.
Go Irish! Beal Boilers!
Bad news. Only 30 yards rushing excluding an end-around, really lousy. How come the line can pass block but not run block? Offensive line still has a lot of improvements to make. MSU outplayed us on the line of scrimmage and that does tend to win games. Defense could not make the final big stop at the end when we still had a chance.
Good news. Clausen and receivers look pretty good again. The spread offense looked very nice and we could have scored a lot without the turnovers. I was actually encouraged by some things despite the loss. The defense kept Ringer in check pretty good except for that late 63 yard run after things were pretty much decided.
Preview: I am picking us to beat Purdue next week. They looked lousy at home and I think we will look better next week.
This team has improved but I don't feel we have seen the whole story yet. Let's win next week.
Go Irish! Beal Boilers!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Let's go home
At least we're perfect there so far this year!
Javon Ringer was driving me crazy. I must admit I was hoping he'd get temporarily sidelined so we might have a chance, but to be honest, we blew all our opportunities today.
Turnovers hurt badly. It was also hard to get a handle on Ringer and I think the commentators had it right when they said that he could hide behind his O-line, then burst out and catch our defense by surprise.
I still wonder about that first interception in the end zone. If we'd been at home, it might have gone our way.
At any rate, I'll pay the greens fees if the Colonel will golf during every remaining ND game -- haven't you been out on the links for our wins this year?
Oh and Syracuse won. They did beat Wattsamatta U (Northeastern) so it's nothing to brag about.
There were some good things happening and I think if our guys focus on the positives while remaining aware of how to deal with the negatives, we could be on a better path. Insight on this guys?
Rosie
Oh, and I didn't hear much about Anello this week. Where was he? haha
Javon Ringer was driving me crazy. I must admit I was hoping he'd get temporarily sidelined so we might have a chance, but to be honest, we blew all our opportunities today.
Turnovers hurt badly. It was also hard to get a handle on Ringer and I think the commentators had it right when they said that he could hide behind his O-line, then burst out and catch our defense by surprise.
I still wonder about that first interception in the end zone. If we'd been at home, it might have gone our way.
At any rate, I'll pay the greens fees if the Colonel will golf during every remaining ND game -- haven't you been out on the links for our wins this year?
Oh and Syracuse won. They did beat Wattsamatta U (Northeastern) so it's nothing to brag about.
There were some good things happening and I think if our guys focus on the positives while remaining aware of how to deal with the negatives, we could be on a better path. Insight on this guys?
Rosie
Oh, and I didn't hear much about Anello this week. Where was he? haha
Beware the Spartans
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the proverbial thorn in our side. I give you, the Michigan State University Spartans.
Javon Winger has already rushed over 100 times in 3 games; expect to see lots of him. They’ve thrown 75 times too, but their QB has only completed 44%, so expect lots of running. But they are balanced, yardage-wise, averaging ~190 yards on both the ground and in the air.
Not too shabby, but their two victories are against Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic. Not exactly Monsters of the Midway. And they lost to Cal, who lost to Maryland, who lost to Middle Tennessee, who lost to Troy, who had their game against LSU postponed due to a Hurricane, so they haven’t lost yet. Thank goodness, or I might have gone on for another several rounds of “6 Degrees of Georgia-Macon”. Ouch, that was bad.
MSU opens its Big Ten season next week, albeit at Indiana, so don’t expect them to be looking ahead.
Good article on Rosie’s new heartthrob, Mike Anello, at the SI web page:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/09/15/michigan.notre.dame/index.html
Interesting stat from last week: score on drives of longer than 14 yards: Michigan 17, Irish 14. So that would point to a lack of consistency on offense. Yes, the weather played a role in the third quarter, and we were playing conservatively in the fourth once we got the 18 point lead, but we still haven’t seen (I don’t think) 2 consecutive drives of 50+ yards.
It will be interesting to see how this team does on the road. One positive they may have taken is just how fun it is to win over a big name (albeit maybe not big talent) team. The boys looked really happy on Saturday; hopefully the win has built some more team unity that will carry through the season.
No golf today, and the game is actually on locally, so I’ll watch in real time. Like I said last week, until we lose, I’ll predict victory.
Irish 23, Spartans 17. Of course that presages 3 field goals for us. I might be a little optimistic there, but we’ll see…
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
Javon Winger has already rushed over 100 times in 3 games; expect to see lots of him. They’ve thrown 75 times too, but their QB has only completed 44%, so expect lots of running. But they are balanced, yardage-wise, averaging ~190 yards on both the ground and in the air.
Not too shabby, but their two victories are against Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic. Not exactly Monsters of the Midway. And they lost to Cal, who lost to Maryland, who lost to Middle Tennessee, who lost to Troy, who had their game against LSU postponed due to a Hurricane, so they haven’t lost yet. Thank goodness, or I might have gone on for another several rounds of “6 Degrees of Georgia-Macon”. Ouch, that was bad.
MSU opens its Big Ten season next week, albeit at Indiana, so don’t expect them to be looking ahead.
Good article on Rosie’s new heartthrob, Mike Anello, at the SI web page:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/andy_staples/09/15/michigan.notre.dame/index.html
Interesting stat from last week: score on drives of longer than 14 yards: Michigan 17, Irish 14. So that would point to a lack of consistency on offense. Yes, the weather played a role in the third quarter, and we were playing conservatively in the fourth once we got the 18 point lead, but we still haven’t seen (I don’t think) 2 consecutive drives of 50+ yards.
It will be interesting to see how this team does on the road. One positive they may have taken is just how fun it is to win over a big name (albeit maybe not big talent) team. The boys looked really happy on Saturday; hopefully the win has built some more team unity that will carry through the season.
No golf today, and the game is actually on locally, so I’ll watch in real time. Like I said last week, until we lose, I’ll predict victory.
Irish 23, Spartans 17. Of course that presages 3 field goals for us. I might be a little optimistic there, but we’ll see…
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
What A Wet Win!
The bouncing ball was certainly alive yesterday, wasn't it, Sports Fans? And the Irish got all the bounces, it would seem. Ball control was not the word of the day for the Wolverines.
After we went up 21-0, camera panned to "Coach Rod" and either Tom or Pat said: "Coach Rod looks shocked". Coach Rod never quite lost that look, did he?
Let's establish that we didn't play a great game, OK. U-M left their game in Ann Arbor and we capitalized. The points off turnovers tells it all: Good Guys, 21, Bad Guys, 3. That 18 points was the difference. If we were playing great, the final differential would have been double that. We could have done that. Got some good field positions off turnovers that we didn't convert. And the defense does still tend to give up big plays. And there were a few that got taken away from UM on penalties and a close INC call in the end zone (good call) that could have changed the complexion.
But boy were there some good signs. We do have some deep threats, especially Golden Tate. And in addition to being a deep threat, he had a 60 yard reception that was all Yard After Catch, breaking at least 3 tackles along the way. Running was almost good, although in the 4th quarter we got really vanilla and that brought the YPG down. We were at a 4.0 ypg clip until our last 10 runs.
And the defense seems to be playing well as a unit. Much better tackling than in the last few years, and our 27/28 combo (Bruton and McCarthy) were our top tacklers by far. And just when I was down on Sergio Brown on that one drive, he recovers a fumble, snuffing out Michigan's last hope of getting back in to the game.
We cause UM turnovers in the red zone. A good thing. We had several good stops on third and fourth down. Good fake punt by UM, but the punter high stepping on the sideline down 14-0 or 21-0 (can't remember) looked pretty darned silly.
We didn't waste time scoring when we got deep. That was helped by two U-M penalties in the end zone. But overall our red zone offense was very very good. And JC's arm is certainly strong enough to be very successful this year.
And our very own 12-year old assassin, Mike Annello (he looks 12, I swear), recovered a fumble and forced another on kicks.
TODAY'S QUESTION FOR THE GODFATHER: Don, glad to hear the crowd was into the game, especially early. It did sound loud on TV. Actually, I have two questions that your "on the scene" perspective can help with:
1. What's your sense of JC's relationship with his line and other offensive teammates? Hard to tell if "the bond" is there. To be honest, when I see him, he looks part Dash (from The Incredibles), part Chucky, and part Dennis the Menace. Can you sense if the offense is "sharing the love"?
2. At the end of the game, when they were interviewing Charlie, the team was over by the student section before the Alma Mater and the crowd and team were doing a 3 word cheer. Sounded on TV like "Yan---kees---suck!". I'm pretty sure that's not what they were saying, but I replayed it several times and couldn't read the players' lips. What were they chanting?
Two perspectives from me from TiVo-land: I was on the golf course for most of the game, helping my boss celebrate his 50th birthday. I was watching by Blackberry, sporadically. Greatest moment was when U-M fumbled on the 5 trailing 28-17 in 3rd quarter. I saw "first and goal on ND 5" and the next time I checked, we had the ball and UM hadn't scored. That made me feel good. Second perspective: while watching the tape late last night and today, once UM hit 17 points, it was fun knowing they weren't going to score again!
So it's on to East Lansing, where we know the Spartans have played a wonderful role of Season Spoiler. Of course we've done the same to them. When Brady and boys came back big two years ago, they went right into the tank. They've already lost (to Cal) and have beaten two patsies. No predictions on the game yet, but if we win Saturday, we'll beat Purdue at home too.
One more item, which I'm sure is a repeat. Twenty years ago, when Reggie Ho kicked all those field goals, including the game winner with a little more than a minute to go, Jill and I were on our Pre Cana weekend. No TV allowed. We found a TV. Five weeks later we gathered for Band Alumni Weekend to watch that year's Game of the Century against Miami. Not a bad weekend as I recall, as we also gathered at Jenny's to watch Kirk Gibson hit his limping hero home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
Dodgers are doing well again this year...
OK this is way too long, sorry. Enjoy the week all. Dry out if you got hammered by Ike and remnants. I think it rained here in March; I don't remember.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
The Colonel
After we went up 21-0, camera panned to "Coach Rod" and either Tom or Pat said: "Coach Rod looks shocked". Coach Rod never quite lost that look, did he?
Let's establish that we didn't play a great game, OK. U-M left their game in Ann Arbor and we capitalized. The points off turnovers tells it all: Good Guys, 21, Bad Guys, 3. That 18 points was the difference. If we were playing great, the final differential would have been double that. We could have done that. Got some good field positions off turnovers that we didn't convert. And the defense does still tend to give up big plays. And there were a few that got taken away from UM on penalties and a close INC call in the end zone (good call) that could have changed the complexion.
But boy were there some good signs. We do have some deep threats, especially Golden Tate. And in addition to being a deep threat, he had a 60 yard reception that was all Yard After Catch, breaking at least 3 tackles along the way. Running was almost good, although in the 4th quarter we got really vanilla and that brought the YPG down. We were at a 4.0 ypg clip until our last 10 runs.
And the defense seems to be playing well as a unit. Much better tackling than in the last few years, and our 27/28 combo (Bruton and McCarthy) were our top tacklers by far. And just when I was down on Sergio Brown on that one drive, he recovers a fumble, snuffing out Michigan's last hope of getting back in to the game.
We cause UM turnovers in the red zone. A good thing. We had several good stops on third and fourth down. Good fake punt by UM, but the punter high stepping on the sideline down 14-0 or 21-0 (can't remember) looked pretty darned silly.
We didn't waste time scoring when we got deep. That was helped by two U-M penalties in the end zone. But overall our red zone offense was very very good. And JC's arm is certainly strong enough to be very successful this year.
And our very own 12-year old assassin, Mike Annello (he looks 12, I swear), recovered a fumble and forced another on kicks.
TODAY'S QUESTION FOR THE GODFATHER: Don, glad to hear the crowd was into the game, especially early. It did sound loud on TV. Actually, I have two questions that your "on the scene" perspective can help with:
1. What's your sense of JC's relationship with his line and other offensive teammates? Hard to tell if "the bond" is there. To be honest, when I see him, he looks part Dash (from The Incredibles), part Chucky, and part Dennis the Menace. Can you sense if the offense is "sharing the love"?
2. At the end of the game, when they were interviewing Charlie, the team was over by the student section before the Alma Mater and the crowd and team were doing a 3 word cheer. Sounded on TV like "Yan---kees---suck!". I'm pretty sure that's not what they were saying, but I replayed it several times and couldn't read the players' lips. What were they chanting?
Two perspectives from me from TiVo-land: I was on the golf course for most of the game, helping my boss celebrate his 50th birthday. I was watching by Blackberry, sporadically. Greatest moment was when U-M fumbled on the 5 trailing 28-17 in 3rd quarter. I saw "first and goal on ND 5" and the next time I checked, we had the ball and UM hadn't scored. That made me feel good. Second perspective: while watching the tape late last night and today, once UM hit 17 points, it was fun knowing they weren't going to score again!
So it's on to East Lansing, where we know the Spartans have played a wonderful role of Season Spoiler. Of course we've done the same to them. When Brady and boys came back big two years ago, they went right into the tank. They've already lost (to Cal) and have beaten two patsies. No predictions on the game yet, but if we win Saturday, we'll beat Purdue at home too.
One more item, which I'm sure is a repeat. Twenty years ago, when Reggie Ho kicked all those field goals, including the game winner with a little more than a minute to go, Jill and I were on our Pre Cana weekend. No TV allowed. We found a TV. Five weeks later we gathered for Band Alumni Weekend to watch that year's Game of the Century against Miami. Not a bad weekend as I recall, as we also gathered at Jenny's to watch Kirk Gibson hit his limping hero home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
Dodgers are doing well again this year...
OK this is way too long, sorry. Enjoy the week all. Dry out if you got hammered by Ike and remnants. I think it rained here in March; I don't remember.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
The Colonel
That was fun!
Despite the water in my basement and the torrential rain that still continues today (I had good rain suit for the game!), it was a lot of fun to see the Irish stomp Michigan yesterday. Okay, so ANY team should win when the other guys have 6 turnovers but what was particularly pleasing was the fact that the Irish capitalized on the mistakes and punched it in the endzone 5 times. Last week I stated that you had to put the SDSU filter on when evaluating the game. The same is true this week; it is Michigan after all despite their down year. Boy did it rain.
Highlights. Skill players look great again with Hughes and Tate shining. Jimmy did okay as well with a couple very nice completions and NO SACKS. From inside the stadium I am impressed with our speed this year: receivers getting downfield, dbacks staying in coverage, and d-line able to string out the toss-sweep. The talent is coming along. Emotion was great from the Irish. Stadium was very loud (like USC loud) in the first quarter and we see what can happen if the Irish give us something to cheer about. The place was rockin.
Concerns. Average 3.3 yards per carry still pretty weak, but again it was a formidable Michigan line. Jimmy still throws it up for grabs occasionally. There is a fine line between being fearless and being stupid; occasionally he is right on the edge. He is not Joe Montana yet. Very happy to see us earn a couple first downs by running the ball, still think our balance is lacking. Other than that I have to say there was not much to be sad about; a very different team than week one. MSU and Purdue will give us good games, I expect we will learn more about this Irish squad in the coming weeks.
Band show was Bon Jovi which always gets the students singing and dancing. Michigan did a "boy band" show which looked and felt a lot like a ND Band show. Lou Holtz spoke to the band at their Saturday morning practice and we understand he was his usual entertaining self. Glad to see we won one during the salute to him and the 1988 team; those guys were studs though I think the 1993 team was actually better and deserved the national championship.
Finally, was listening to a South Bend radio show as we approached campus during which they discussed the length of the games and TV timeouts. The point was made that the NBC broadcasts are crazy long compared to other networks. One guy was advocating a JumboTron to get the crowd going as ND games are usually quiet. I do agree with the point that TV breaks tend to take the air out of any momentum changes or exciting trends, people forget what the heck was happening sometimes. Yesterday was interesting because the second half was quite quick by ND standards since there was less scoring and the clock kept running during the running plays.
Enough for now. Go Irish, Beat Spartans!
Highlights. Skill players look great again with Hughes and Tate shining. Jimmy did okay as well with a couple very nice completions and NO SACKS. From inside the stadium I am impressed with our speed this year: receivers getting downfield, dbacks staying in coverage, and d-line able to string out the toss-sweep. The talent is coming along. Emotion was great from the Irish. Stadium was very loud (like USC loud) in the first quarter and we see what can happen if the Irish give us something to cheer about. The place was rockin.
Concerns. Average 3.3 yards per carry still pretty weak, but again it was a formidable Michigan line. Jimmy still throws it up for grabs occasionally. There is a fine line between being fearless and being stupid; occasionally he is right on the edge. He is not Joe Montana yet. Very happy to see us earn a couple first downs by running the ball, still think our balance is lacking. Other than that I have to say there was not much to be sad about; a very different team than week one. MSU and Purdue will give us good games, I expect we will learn more about this Irish squad in the coming weeks.
Band show was Bon Jovi which always gets the students singing and dancing. Michigan did a "boy band" show which looked and felt a lot like a ND Band show. Lou Holtz spoke to the band at their Saturday morning practice and we understand he was his usual entertaining self. Glad to see we won one during the salute to him and the 1988 team; those guys were studs though I think the 1993 team was actually better and deserved the national championship.
Finally, was listening to a South Bend radio show as we approached campus during which they discussed the length of the games and TV timeouts. The point was made that the NBC broadcasts are crazy long compared to other networks. One guy was advocating a JumboTron to get the crowd going as ND games are usually quiet. I do agree with the point that TV breaks tend to take the air out of any momentum changes or exciting trends, people forget what the heck was happening sometimes. Yesterday was interesting because the second half was quite quick by ND standards since there was less scoring and the clock kept running during the running plays.
Enough for now. Go Irish, Beat Spartans!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
2 & 0, Way to Go!
Sorry, the cheerleader in me comes to the surface from time to time.
First, Godfather, I hope your family and all other families are safe and dry and have homes upon returning to TX etc. where Ike hit. Looks pretty scary from the news coverage.
It also looked like Ike was arriving in South Bend this afternoon! NBC showed water cascading down the stadium steps onto the edge of the field. Sure was like Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day for a while there. Are you guys soaked through?
The sun was shining on our guys though, even through the rain. I am encouraged, and hope that now the team has had a taste of success, they'll get hungrier for it. My personal fave, Mike Anello, showed his stuff again today, making at least a couple of key plays. Colonel, if you haven't seen the game yet, enjoy! There were a few moments of frustration, but let's be honest, aren't you glad you aren't a Michigan fan today? They had lots of problems and our guys were able to capitalize on quite a few of them, especially early on. Once we had the initial cushion, I just worried about complacency setting in, and so did Charlie in his words before the halftime break.
Get well soon, Charlie! That was a hard hit and when we saw the replays I guessed that his ligaments would be damaged. It hurts to watch things like that. Fortunately, NBC only played it twice that I recall. Now that many people have the ability to rewind live TV, we might be spared the grisly views being repeated over and over.
Just so you are aware, I'll take a chance and predict the ND-SU score now: 63 - 6. They look awful, and the situation is magnified now that the movie The Express is out celebrating Ernie Davis and the 1959 Syracuse National Champion team. If you like sports movies, take a chance on that one. Bob and Kyle said it was good.
Next week we travel to Michigan State. I don't know how they did this weekend, so I'll be looking for pre-game analysis from you faithful guys out there. Can we take our show on the road and do well? Hope so. My last observation from this week's victory: When NBC was interviewing Golden Tate on the sidelines and Jimmy Clausen was waiting his turn, Jimmy was bobbing his head in time with the Victory March and savoring a home W. I hope he likes the feeling so much that he and the rest of the guys stay eager for more. I noticed he gave credit to the offensive line for protecting him -- the second game in which he wasn't sacked. Another positive change. He did have a couple of hurried throws, but no sacks has to be a much better feeling.
Rosie
First, Godfather, I hope your family and all other families are safe and dry and have homes upon returning to TX etc. where Ike hit. Looks pretty scary from the news coverage.
It also looked like Ike was arriving in South Bend this afternoon! NBC showed water cascading down the stadium steps onto the edge of the field. Sure was like Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day for a while there. Are you guys soaked through?
The sun was shining on our guys though, even through the rain. I am encouraged, and hope that now the team has had a taste of success, they'll get hungrier for it. My personal fave, Mike Anello, showed his stuff again today, making at least a couple of key plays. Colonel, if you haven't seen the game yet, enjoy! There were a few moments of frustration, but let's be honest, aren't you glad you aren't a Michigan fan today? They had lots of problems and our guys were able to capitalize on quite a few of them, especially early on. Once we had the initial cushion, I just worried about complacency setting in, and so did Charlie in his words before the halftime break.
Get well soon, Charlie! That was a hard hit and when we saw the replays I guessed that his ligaments would be damaged. It hurts to watch things like that. Fortunately, NBC only played it twice that I recall. Now that many people have the ability to rewind live TV, we might be spared the grisly views being repeated over and over.
Just so you are aware, I'll take a chance and predict the ND-SU score now: 63 - 6. They look awful, and the situation is magnified now that the movie The Express is out celebrating Ernie Davis and the 1959 Syracuse National Champion team. If you like sports movies, take a chance on that one. Bob and Kyle said it was good.
Next week we travel to Michigan State. I don't know how they did this weekend, so I'll be looking for pre-game analysis from you faithful guys out there. Can we take our show on the road and do well? Hope so. My last observation from this week's victory: When NBC was interviewing Golden Tate on the sidelines and Jimmy Clausen was waiting his turn, Jimmy was bobbing his head in time with the Victory March and savoring a home W. I hope he likes the feeling so much that he and the rest of the guys stay eager for more. I noticed he gave credit to the offensive line for protecting him -- the second game in which he wasn't sacked. Another positive change. He did have a couple of hurried throws, but no sacks has to be a much better feeling.
Rosie
Weather the Wolverines
Great article in the SB Trib today about how the U-M game two years ago was the turning point of the Weis era. Brady and the boys were cocky, then got their clocks cleaned, 47-21. Things haven't been the same since.
Charlie is 1-5 against U-M and Southern Cal. Not the way to impress the faithful.
Once again, neither team is in the Top 25; in fact, neither received a single vote in the AP poll this week. Meanwhile, our combined biggest opponents will play each other out here in La-La Land in a battle of #5 vs #1. Not a good position.
So will we bring the passion today? Last week's performance wouldn't indicate we're going to see it. Plus, the weather tends to dampen fan spirit, so that won't be helpful.
So can we pull it out? I suppose we can. I, like the Godfather, have this as a loss in my pre-season prediction. And while we looked lackluster against SDSU, Michigan looked just as bad against Miami of Ohio.
Michigan is 1.5 point favorites. The over/under is 37.5. If both teams play to their potential in this weather, take the under. I, like Don, think the winner will score 17. But until we lose, I'll pick the Irish. ND 17, UM 16. We kick a last minute FG to win, bringing some luster back to the kicking game.
Unfortunately, I'll be out of the house most of the day and evening, so I'll be watching the game on tape delay, probably not until ~10 PM tonite. I'll be following it with my Blackberry in real time though. Hope I even want to watch when I get home.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT WOLVERINES!!!
The Colonel
Charlie is 1-5 against U-M and Southern Cal. Not the way to impress the faithful.
Once again, neither team is in the Top 25; in fact, neither received a single vote in the AP poll this week. Meanwhile, our combined biggest opponents will play each other out here in La-La Land in a battle of #5 vs #1. Not a good position.
So will we bring the passion today? Last week's performance wouldn't indicate we're going to see it. Plus, the weather tends to dampen fan spirit, so that won't be helpful.
So can we pull it out? I suppose we can. I, like the Godfather, have this as a loss in my pre-season prediction. And while we looked lackluster against SDSU, Michigan looked just as bad against Miami of Ohio.
Michigan is 1.5 point favorites. The over/under is 37.5. If both teams play to their potential in this weather, take the under. I, like Don, think the winner will score 17. But until we lose, I'll pick the Irish. ND 17, UM 16. We kick a last minute FG to win, bringing some luster back to the kicking game.
Unfortunately, I'll be out of the house most of the day and evening, so I'll be watching the game on tape delay, probably not until ~10 PM tonite. I'll be following it with my Blackberry in real time though. Hope I even want to watch when I get home.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT WOLVERINES!!!
The Colonel
Friday, September 12, 2008
UM Prediction: Rain
Our thoughts go out to all that will suffer because of Hurricane Ike in Texas. I have a sister in Houston that will be fleeing the storm this weekend with her family.
In South Bend it is also going to be raining, not tropical strength, but lots of rain nonetheless. The weather will undoubtedly be a factor. So we have two lousy offenses, lots of rain and lots of question marks.
So my prediction is a total guess. I feel I have to pick Michigan based on my pre-season analysis but it is likely to be low scoring. So I say Wolverines win 17-10.
Hopefully a couple turnovers will go our way and maybe some Michigan defender slips on a long pass play. In any case, please wish us some dry weather. Hope to write a post-game stadium report on Sunday.
Go Irish, Beat Wolverines!
In South Bend it is also going to be raining, not tropical strength, but lots of rain nonetheless. The weather will undoubtedly be a factor. So we have two lousy offenses, lots of rain and lots of question marks.
So my prediction is a total guess. I feel I have to pick Michigan based on my pre-season analysis but it is likely to be low scoring. So I say Wolverines win 17-10.
Hopefully a couple turnovers will go our way and maybe some Michigan defender slips on a long pass play. In any case, please wish us some dry weather. Hope to write a post-game stadium report on Sunday.
Go Irish, Beat Wolverines!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
My Perspective
Well, I attended the game yesterday and watched the Irish in all their glory. Here's what I saw, for what it's worth.
The Irish played like a high school team at best. It was frustrating and difficult to watch. Don G. mentioned that the pro-style game plan doesn't seem to be working and he's right - it can't work. These guys are young and inexperienced and 25% of the team turns over each year.
Our children tell us that a few football players spoke at the pep rally. They wanted to start a new cheer so that the team would be psyched. One player suggested "Crank Me Up". If that doesn't scream youth and inexperience, I don't know what does. I think that Charlie needs to tap into the youth and lack of experience and light the fire in their bellies...get them mad, get them psyched, get them moving! CRANK THEM UP!!!!
I am scared for the Michigan game. There will be lots of Big Blue fans on campus, as there always are. Even though they are having a 'rebuilding year' also, we sure didn't look like we could beat them.
Other than the frustrating football, it really was a beautiful day. The skies were blue, the Air Force flyover was timed just perfectly, and the band was fantastic. We sat on the 15 yard line in the south end of the stadium...had a good view of the SDSU cheerleaders. Not at all what I expected...I was looking for Southern California blonds and there was not a blond in the bunch. The team mascot was a young man dressed as an Aztec (he looked more Mayan to me) and he kept blowing a conch shell.
I'm sure I'll have more opinions about next week's game. Until then, CRANK ME UP!
The Irish played like a high school team at best. It was frustrating and difficult to watch. Don G. mentioned that the pro-style game plan doesn't seem to be working and he's right - it can't work. These guys are young and inexperienced and 25% of the team turns over each year.
Our children tell us that a few football players spoke at the pep rally. They wanted to start a new cheer so that the team would be psyched. One player suggested "Crank Me Up". If that doesn't scream youth and inexperience, I don't know what does. I think that Charlie needs to tap into the youth and lack of experience and light the fire in their bellies...get them mad, get them psyched, get them moving! CRANK THEM UP!!!!
I am scared for the Michigan game. There will be lots of Big Blue fans on campus, as there always are. Even though they are having a 'rebuilding year' also, we sure didn't look like we could beat them.
Other than the frustrating football, it really was a beautiful day. The skies were blue, the Air Force flyover was timed just perfectly, and the band was fantastic. We sat on the 15 yard line in the south end of the stadium...had a good view of the SDSU cheerleaders. Not at all what I expected...I was looking for Southern California blonds and there was not a blond in the bunch. The team mascot was a young man dressed as an Aztec (he looked more Mayan to me) and he kept blowing a conch shell.
I'm sure I'll have more opinions about next week's game. Until then, CRANK ME UP!
Stadium Report SDSU - Ughh!
I was struggling with the title for this week's post-game report and decided to let my gut do the talking. Ughh is pretty much how I felt all day as the Irish won but gave us little to cheer about in my view. Of course the team looked better than last year in general: able to move the ball, got some big stops, came from behind, etc. But you have to look at all that with SDSU filter on because they really should have been steamrolled. If we play like that the next few weeks we go easily go 1-3 for September. In the end I think we won because our superior ND athletes wore down SDSU with size and speed. For example, Golden Tate could blow by his 1/1 coverage all day.
Some of the big questions brought up by the Colonel are thought provoking. The offensive line seemed to provide decent pass protection but the run blocking is still lacking. One thing is clear to me: we have outstanding skill position talent at backs and receivers. If they get the ball past the line of scrimmage we will run up yardage and points against anybody. The turnovers hurt at some key plays but some were just bad breaks or bad luck hits (Allen's helmet to helmet hit for instance). What is most disappointing to me is the Weiss factor on two dimensions. One, he does not seem to get the team mentally prepared to play their best every week. Two, the team does not adjust at halftime and make marked improvements in my opinion. Sometimes it seems that the "pro-style" game plan is too analytical (or too stubborn) to let heart and emotion take over. I don't see that fire in the belly OR when it does appear it is rarely sustained.
Well, good teams improve as the season progresses. Next week should tell us a lot more that yesterday, hopefully it will be something good even if we lose. Just want to see us play up to our potential some week.
As for the band, it was an eclectic mix of Beach Boys and modern rock hits with a cute dance routine. But the highlight/lowlight was a dramatice reprise of the old SNL skit with Christopher Walken playing a record producer of "Don't fear the Reaper" where he wants more Cowbell. Unfortunately, Digger Phelps was playing the role of Walken and was his usual Blowhard self. Not sure why the band programmed that one in the show but it seemed to please the students.
Anway, got to go. Go Irish, Beat Wolverines!
Some of the big questions brought up by the Colonel are thought provoking. The offensive line seemed to provide decent pass protection but the run blocking is still lacking. One thing is clear to me: we have outstanding skill position talent at backs and receivers. If they get the ball past the line of scrimmage we will run up yardage and points against anybody. The turnovers hurt at some key plays but some were just bad breaks or bad luck hits (Allen's helmet to helmet hit for instance). What is most disappointing to me is the Weiss factor on two dimensions. One, he does not seem to get the team mentally prepared to play their best every week. Two, the team does not adjust at halftime and make marked improvements in my opinion. Sometimes it seems that the "pro-style" game plan is too analytical (or too stubborn) to let heart and emotion take over. I don't see that fire in the belly OR when it does appear it is rarely sustained.
Well, good teams improve as the season progresses. Next week should tell us a lot more that yesterday, hopefully it will be something good even if we lose. Just want to see us play up to our potential some week.
As for the band, it was an eclectic mix of Beach Boys and modern rock hits with a cute dance routine. But the highlight/lowlight was a dramatice reprise of the old SNL skit with Christopher Walken playing a record producer of "Don't fear the Reaper" where he wants more Cowbell. Unfortunately, Digger Phelps was playing the role of Walken and was his usual Blowhard self. Not sure why the band programmed that one in the show but it seemed to please the students.
Anway, got to go. Go Irish, Beat Wolverines!
Saturday, September 06, 2008
I Guess We'll Take the W...
Didn't deserve it for 3 1/2 quarters though, did we?
A la Ole Blue Eyes: Mistakes? We made (more than) a few. Look at John Walters' blog on the NBC Sports page. He has a great list of them all. Pretty much matched the list I was making. We had two third down and one fourth down defensive penalties that extended Aztec drives. We turned the ball over twice in the red zone. We fumbled a field goal snap. Duval Kamara had a good pass pop off his pads for an INT. I could go on. I might later.
Bright spots? There were a few of those, for sure. Rosie is spot-on about Mike Danello. He’s the real deal on special teams. And Kyle McCarthy had 15 tackles. I believe that between Kamara, Golden Tate, David Grimes and Michael Floyd we can have a good array of wideouts. I would say Jimmy Clausen’s arm is definitely 100% and I think it’s a good 100%. And no sacks allowed on 34 attempts. A good sign.
But these goods and bads are all at the tactical level of gridiron warfare. There are bigger themes we must be concerned with. My strategic level worry beads:
1. Near the end of the 3d quarter, after we had gone 3-and-out, INT, Fumble, 3-and-out to start the second half, Pat Haden said “It is library quiet”. And he was right. This team is not getting the fans excited. At the end of the game, Tom Hammond gave us a C+. I think he was generous. For once, I agreed with Mark May. His adjective was “uninspired”. For all the verbiage I’ve read about the passion and emotion of this team, it was sorely lacking for 50 minutes or so today.
2. Where is the offensive “vision”? We rushed for 105 yards, at a 3.1 yards per carry pace. As I said earlier today, that won’t win many games. Our “template” drive was our fifth possession in the second half. Five Clausen completions to 3 different receivers and two Allen runs averaging 5 yards per, capped with JC’s 38 yard TD pass to Golden Tate. Every play was crisp, the passes were mostly quick reads. If we do a drive like that 3 or 4 times per game instead of once, we’ll win a lot of games this year.
3. Godfather, correct me if I’m wrong from an “in the stands” viewpoint, but this team hasn’t yet told us why we want to be in the trenches with them. From the coaches to the players, they haven’t demonstrated to us what their raison d’etre is. Why do we want to love them? How will they make us forget Brady and the Shark? We want to believe, but they’re not playing like a team that is going to pull us in to believing. Do they believe in themselves? It’s not evident yet.
It’s late, and the final strains of Layla are echoing, so I’ll sign off. I’m actually in town this week, so I look forward to the myriad responses I’m sure this posting will receive. And I’ll try to post on other items, like Digger and Cowbells.
And take heart. It wasn’t pretty, but we’re still BCS eligible.
Have a good week all. Please also take pause on Thursday to remember all the great Americans who lost their lives seven years ago on September 11th.
GO IRISH!!!! BEAT THOSE STINKING WOLVERINES!!!!
The Colonel
A la Ole Blue Eyes: Mistakes? We made (more than) a few. Look at John Walters' blog on the NBC Sports page. He has a great list of them all. Pretty much matched the list I was making. We had two third down and one fourth down defensive penalties that extended Aztec drives. We turned the ball over twice in the red zone. We fumbled a field goal snap. Duval Kamara had a good pass pop off his pads for an INT. I could go on. I might later.
Bright spots? There were a few of those, for sure. Rosie is spot-on about Mike Danello. He’s the real deal on special teams. And Kyle McCarthy had 15 tackles. I believe that between Kamara, Golden Tate, David Grimes and Michael Floyd we can have a good array of wideouts. I would say Jimmy Clausen’s arm is definitely 100% and I think it’s a good 100%. And no sacks allowed on 34 attempts. A good sign.
But these goods and bads are all at the tactical level of gridiron warfare. There are bigger themes we must be concerned with. My strategic level worry beads:
1. Near the end of the 3d quarter, after we had gone 3-and-out, INT, Fumble, 3-and-out to start the second half, Pat Haden said “It is library quiet”. And he was right. This team is not getting the fans excited. At the end of the game, Tom Hammond gave us a C+. I think he was generous. For once, I agreed with Mark May. His adjective was “uninspired”. For all the verbiage I’ve read about the passion and emotion of this team, it was sorely lacking for 50 minutes or so today.
2. Where is the offensive “vision”? We rushed for 105 yards, at a 3.1 yards per carry pace. As I said earlier today, that won’t win many games. Our “template” drive was our fifth possession in the second half. Five Clausen completions to 3 different receivers and two Allen runs averaging 5 yards per, capped with JC’s 38 yard TD pass to Golden Tate. Every play was crisp, the passes were mostly quick reads. If we do a drive like that 3 or 4 times per game instead of once, we’ll win a lot of games this year.
3. Godfather, correct me if I’m wrong from an “in the stands” viewpoint, but this team hasn’t yet told us why we want to be in the trenches with them. From the coaches to the players, they haven’t demonstrated to us what their raison d’etre is. Why do we want to love them? How will they make us forget Brady and the Shark? We want to believe, but they’re not playing like a team that is going to pull us in to believing. Do they believe in themselves? It’s not evident yet.
It’s late, and the final strains of Layla are echoing, so I’ll sign off. I’m actually in town this week, so I look forward to the myriad responses I’m sure this posting will receive. And I’ll try to post on other items, like Digger and Cowbells.
And take heart. It wasn’t pretty, but we’re still BCS eligible.
Have a good week all. Please also take pause on Thursday to remember all the great Americans who lost their lives seven years ago on September 11th.
GO IRISH!!!! BEAT THOSE STINKING WOLVERINES!!!!
The Colonel
So far, a winning season
But I spent the first half of the game in tears. (I was busy chopping onions and making spaghetti sauce.)
Really, I was trying hard to find the feeling of "It's ND, they'll pull out a win in the end" but I couldn't summon it until our guys finally capitalized on a crucial turnover at their goal. Had their player not fumbled, we'd have been way down and demoralized. So sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Speaking of good, I found my fan favorite. #37 Mike Anello, the walk on who earned a scholarship, should be the model for all our players. He might not be fastest, he's definitely among the smallest, yet he's on the spot to make the play. Where's the zeal from the rest of our guys? Pick it up, boys!
I don't have any season predictions at this point, but if Michigan has a shaky start again next week, we could capitalize on the momentum that seemed to show up in today's 4th quarter. I believe I'll be able to park myself in front of the TV for the entire game -- Bob and Kyle will be at the SU drubbing by Penn State next Saturday (they looked sickly against the Akron Zips today. That is the one prediction I'm making for certain -- ND will handle SU without any difficulty. The only question we have here is how much longer Greg Robinson will be the head guy.)
Nice shot of Joe Montana's son there on the sideline. Hey Godfather, does your daughter have any classes with him? LOL Some nice shots of the band as well today but I don't know who I'm looking for as far as your kids getting TV time.
Go Irish!
Rosie
Really, I was trying hard to find the feeling of "It's ND, they'll pull out a win in the end" but I couldn't summon it until our guys finally capitalized on a crucial turnover at their goal. Had their player not fumbled, we'd have been way down and demoralized. So sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.
Speaking of good, I found my fan favorite. #37 Mike Anello, the walk on who earned a scholarship, should be the model for all our players. He might not be fastest, he's definitely among the smallest, yet he's on the spot to make the play. Where's the zeal from the rest of our guys? Pick it up, boys!
I don't have any season predictions at this point, but if Michigan has a shaky start again next week, we could capitalize on the momentum that seemed to show up in today's 4th quarter. I believe I'll be able to park myself in front of the TV for the entire game -- Bob and Kyle will be at the SU drubbing by Penn State next Saturday (they looked sickly against the Akron Zips today. That is the one prediction I'm making for certain -- ND will handle SU without any difficulty. The only question we have here is how much longer Greg Robinson will be the head guy.)
Nice shot of Joe Montana's son there on the sideline. Hey Godfather, does your daughter have any classes with him? LOL Some nice shots of the band as well today but I don't know who I'm looking for as far as your kids getting TV time.
Go Irish!
Rosie
Fool Me Once...
OK, so here I am, still COMPLETELY bummed about last season. Ignore the fact that I was actually present for 2 of our 3 (!) victories and that I can still claim we were co-champions of the Pac-10 by virtue of our 2-1 record with Pac-10 schools.
Plus, given the fact we were so sucky last year I didn’t feel bonded to this team like I felt with the BQ/JS/TZ Irish.
That’s a lot to get over.
But the Godfather says “Jump in, the water’s fine”. And we all know I was certainly the good little conformist during my days under The Dome.
And I got to see how several of our opponents performed (or didn’t) last week.
So here goes…
Last year I was "optimistically" predicting 8-4. Ha! Well, as Ronald Reagan said to Walter Mondale: "There you go again"...
IF we have improved as much as I hear we’ve improved from Charlie’s press conference transcript from Tuesday, then I would set 8-4 as the standard by which we should be judged. Heck, even Kirk Herbstreit says we should be 9-3. Haven't seen what Mark May (the Irish hater) has to say.
And the biggest question mark of the 8 is……..STANFORD!
Godfather approached it chronologically; I’ll take a different slant (what a surprise):
Definite Wins (6): San Diego State, UNC, Washington, Pitt, Navy, Syracuse
Close Calls (1): Stanford
Toss Up (1 of 2): I agree with Don, we’ll split State and Purdue, probably lose to State since that’s at East Lansing.
Should Lose: Michigan, Boston College (I hate those guys too), Southern Cal (hate them more).
Yes, Michigan and Michigan State both lost. And I want to think we could beat UofM at home with them having to play Wisconsin and Illinois in their two games after us (albeit with a week off after our game and both of those are in Ann Arbor). But again, remember, I’m from Missouri this year. But if we beat Michigan, like Don says, bar the doors Katie, because this could turn into a run similar to 2005.
(Aside: great picture of UM coach Rich Rodriguez on the ESPN Michigan team page. Looks like he spent a long weekend with D’Allesandro and Huhta.)
Our opponents went 5-6 last week and Navy lost last night. As I mentioned previously, SDSU and the ‘Cuse are in ESPN’s Bottom 10.
I’ve done a lot of reading this week on our players, the depth chart, etc. The key this year, as it was last year, will be the offensive line. In digging through last years stats, I see two that are directly attributable to the line that must improve by close to 100%.
1. We averaged 2.1 yards per rush last year. Pathetic might be a good word to describe that statistic. That has to be an all-time low. We must be between 3.5 and 4 yards per rush to succeed. Charlie’s previous teams averaged 3.6 and 3.9 yards per carry.
2. We surrendered 58 sacks last year. That has to be halved. With BQ at QB, Charlie’s teams allowed 21 and 31 sacks. We have to be in that range this year. Yes, we had a very “fluid” QB situation last year, but I’ll put a lot of the 58 sacks on the O-line.
This is nothing new. If our big uglies up front dominate their big uglies, we’ll usually win. So, GO BIG UGLIES!
One defensive stat that has to improve as well: forced turnovers. We only forced 11. That has to improve by at least 50% this year.
OK, I’ve drunk the Godfather’s Kool-Aid (and then some). I’m hoping the water feels fine after a couple of weeks. I’ll be back later this weekend after our 1-0 record gets established.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT AZTECS!!!
The Colonel
Plus, given the fact we were so sucky last year I didn’t feel bonded to this team like I felt with the BQ/JS/TZ Irish.
That’s a lot to get over.
But the Godfather says “Jump in, the water’s fine”. And we all know I was certainly the good little conformist during my days under The Dome.
And I got to see how several of our opponents performed (or didn’t) last week.
So here goes…
Last year I was "optimistically" predicting 8-4. Ha! Well, as Ronald Reagan said to Walter Mondale: "There you go again"...
IF we have improved as much as I hear we’ve improved from Charlie’s press conference transcript from Tuesday, then I would set 8-4 as the standard by which we should be judged. Heck, even Kirk Herbstreit says we should be 9-3. Haven't seen what Mark May (the Irish hater) has to say.
And the biggest question mark of the 8 is……..STANFORD!
Godfather approached it chronologically; I’ll take a different slant (what a surprise):
Definite Wins (6): San Diego State, UNC, Washington, Pitt, Navy, Syracuse
Close Calls (1): Stanford
Toss Up (1 of 2): I agree with Don, we’ll split State and Purdue, probably lose to State since that’s at East Lansing.
Should Lose: Michigan, Boston College (I hate those guys too), Southern Cal (hate them more).
Yes, Michigan and Michigan State both lost. And I want to think we could beat UofM at home with them having to play Wisconsin and Illinois in their two games after us (albeit with a week off after our game and both of those are in Ann Arbor). But again, remember, I’m from Missouri this year. But if we beat Michigan, like Don says, bar the doors Katie, because this could turn into a run similar to 2005.
(Aside: great picture of UM coach Rich Rodriguez on the ESPN Michigan team page. Looks like he spent a long weekend with D’Allesandro and Huhta.)
Our opponents went 5-6 last week and Navy lost last night. As I mentioned previously, SDSU and the ‘Cuse are in ESPN’s Bottom 10.
I’ve done a lot of reading this week on our players, the depth chart, etc. The key this year, as it was last year, will be the offensive line. In digging through last years stats, I see two that are directly attributable to the line that must improve by close to 100%.
1. We averaged 2.1 yards per rush last year. Pathetic might be a good word to describe that statistic. That has to be an all-time low. We must be between 3.5 and 4 yards per rush to succeed. Charlie’s previous teams averaged 3.6 and 3.9 yards per carry.
2. We surrendered 58 sacks last year. That has to be halved. With BQ at QB, Charlie’s teams allowed 21 and 31 sacks. We have to be in that range this year. Yes, we had a very “fluid” QB situation last year, but I’ll put a lot of the 58 sacks on the O-line.
This is nothing new. If our big uglies up front dominate their big uglies, we’ll usually win. So, GO BIG UGLIES!
One defensive stat that has to improve as well: forced turnovers. We only forced 11. That has to improve by at least 50% this year.
OK, I’ve drunk the Godfather’s Kool-Aid (and then some). I’m hoping the water feels fine after a couple of weeks. I’ll be back later this weekend after our 1-0 record gets established.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT AZTECS!!!
The Colonel
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
No Pressure, but...
San Diego State is now #1 in ESPN's Bottom 10, after their loss (at home, no less) to Cal Poly. I was wondering how we could be 20 1/2 point favorites over anyone. Now I know.
So I've printed out a bunch of recent newspaper and web articles to read on my trip tomorrow to Salt Lake City. I'm not back until late Friday night, so I won't be posting again until Saturday morning. Those persnickety governmentos pitch a fit if we use our AF laptops to try to log in to personal sites. Go Figure...
UCLA's victory last night actually gives me some hope for this season. A hugely entertaining game, IMHO. Perhaps my general feeling of ennui approaching this season is beginning to lift.
I'll let you know Saturday morning...
So I've printed out a bunch of recent newspaper and web articles to read on my trip tomorrow to Salt Lake City. I'm not back until late Friday night, so I won't be posting again until Saturday morning. Those persnickety governmentos pitch a fit if we use our AF laptops to try to log in to personal sites. Go Figure...
UCLA's victory last night actually gives me some hope for this season. A hugely entertaining game, IMHO. Perhaps my general feeling of ennui approaching this season is beginning to lift.
I'll let you know Saturday morning...
Is the Colonel Back?...
Monday, September 01, 2008
Hey, I got it on the second try!
So the memory brain cells haven't all died yet. Good thing, I think I have a lot of years left in me.
Anyway, I won't be attending the 100th anniversary reunion either, but that's mostly because I have a hectic life this year. I won't bore you with details other than to say I've been elected president of the board for the kids' school (Holy Family) and I've been working with our brand new principal to bring him up to speed. School opens Thursday here in Upstate New York!
We will be attending the ND Syracuse game as I mentioned, so I'm digging out the long underwear already. Two kids with us, two will stay home with Grandma. Last time the four of us came for the ND-SU meeting, three of our party of four didn't believe they'd need the cold weather togs, and I think they learned their lessons when they abandoned the stadium for the Joyce Center. HA! They thought they were tough. Pays to be smart, too.
After watching Syracuse Saturday, ND shouldn't have too much trouble with them. I hope I don't have to revisit that statement later in the season. What I hope to see this season is more mental toughness. My biggest recollection of last year's season was we never saw the same kind of performance in both halves of the game! It seemed like one team came out of the locker room for the first half and then a completely different and often demoralized group came out for the second half (or the other way around, depending on the game.)
Even though I have a lot of projects to work on at home this year, I hope that my Saturdays aren't terribly productive. That will only happen if the Irish are a lot more interesting than ironing, cleaning, disposing of clutter, etc.
Rosie
Anyway, I won't be attending the 100th anniversary reunion either, but that's mostly because I have a hectic life this year. I won't bore you with details other than to say I've been elected president of the board for the kids' school (Holy Family) and I've been working with our brand new principal to bring him up to speed. School opens Thursday here in Upstate New York!
We will be attending the ND Syracuse game as I mentioned, so I'm digging out the long underwear already. Two kids with us, two will stay home with Grandma. Last time the four of us came for the ND-SU meeting, three of our party of four didn't believe they'd need the cold weather togs, and I think they learned their lessons when they abandoned the stadium for the Joyce Center. HA! They thought they were tough. Pays to be smart, too.
After watching Syracuse Saturday, ND shouldn't have too much trouble with them. I hope I don't have to revisit that statement later in the season. What I hope to see this season is more mental toughness. My biggest recollection of last year's season was we never saw the same kind of performance in both halves of the game! It seemed like one team came out of the locker room for the first half and then a completely different and often demoralized group came out for the second half (or the other way around, depending on the game.)
Even though I have a lot of projects to work on at home this year, I hope that my Saturdays aren't terribly productive. That will only happen if the Irish are a lot more interesting than ironing, cleaning, disposing of clutter, etc.
Rosie
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