Defense! Defense!

A little tardy with my post-game notes but with the bye week today I had a little more time this week.

Included the photo below for the Colonel.  There was a four jet Air Force flyover last week which was great but this is a shot of one jet blasting its afterburner before the game.  All 4 buzzed the campus a couple hours before kickoff and certainly got every one's attention.

What a game last Saturday.  Things finally came around for Denard Robinson and he tossed a few bad ones to the blue shirts but I do think our defensive pressure forced him to make some bad throws.  After that horrifying lucky drive he had in 2011, it was really nice to see the chickens come home to roost finally.  And it was certainly time to get a W against Michigan for a change.

Incredibly loud throughout the close game on Saturday night.  Only time I can remember standing the entire game and even though there were Michigan fans sprinkled throughout the stadium the crowd was very civil and relatively sober.  One thing about interceptions, they do make for exciting plays and loud crowd reaction.  The place was rocking pretty good.  The ND Band now has a strategy of out-amping the jumbotron movement by playing loud interludes on every break.  They have an electric bass and miked drum to pump up the volume for the crowd.  Definitely hard to ignore.

Hopefully you noted that Manti Teo made the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.  The fact that ND is off today will protect against the SI jinx I trust.  The kid got a lot of well deserved positive press this week and after the game there was a moment with all the students swirling their leis in the air that was quite emotional.  A very special scene.  Our defense is going to keep us in every game which means we can beat anybody if we put it all together.  Not buying my BCS tickets yet, but this could be a special season.

We clearly have to get the offense going better.  Just not sure why we cannot get more production in the run game.  I think that will be needed to give Golson the comfort he needs to settle into the position.  At the time, I felt Kelly was a little quick with the hook on Golson.  But in hindsight it was clear that Everett was out of synch and Tommy got to play the calming super sub again.  I will say it again:  I love having Tommy as a sub and want him to stay right there.  I believe Everett will continue to get better and if we can get the offense clicking a bit this team could be quite formidable.

October presents a very challenging slate of games with all four of our opponents looking to prove something on national TV against the Irish.  We simply have to play great every week and I will not be predicting any easy wins.  We plan to make a weekend of it in downtown Chicago by taking advantage of many of the ND events including a pep rally in beautiful Millenium Park on Friday.  The Chicago Marathon is next Sunday so the downtown area will be very busy all weekend.  Prediction later this week.

GO IRISH!  BEAT HURRICANES!

Selling 4 Stanford tickets - Oct. 13, 2012

Because my husband has to travel overseas for business, we aren't able to get to the ND-Stanford game on October 13. I have four tickets, but I am willing to divide and sell them 2 & 2. First come, best served of course. Please let me know if you're interested. Kind of a sloppy game last night, but the defense held strong. Loved those INT's - Godfather was right that it was time to make Robinson make a few 'less than fond' memories at ND. Gotta love Manti Te'o. I'm sure his family will be glad to have him home for a little while with this bye week. Miami doesn't seem to be as strong as they used to be, but they are always a challenge because they don't like us. I'm sticking with the Irish for that game in two weeks, but the score will not be high. Looking for a final score in the teens - like 17-13 ND. Of course, I'd like it better if our guys can shut out the 'Canes. We'll see. Keep the defense strong and healthy, and we'll have a better chance to win more games. Our offense needs work, obviously, but time & experience will cure some of our problems. Looking forward to the game analysis from last night's game! Rose

Deny Denard

Ok, the guy already has a lifetime of positive memories about beating Notre Dame.  Time to make some positive memories for the Irish.

Once again it comes down to containing Denard Robinson tonight.  Two years ago he ran all over the yard.  Last year he hit three impossible passes at the end when our secondary imploded.  We could have won both games (remember Crist's blurred vision two years ago when the Irish were clicking?).  OK, so forget the past.  This is a different Irish team and a very different year.  But I have to admit the guy is a hell of a player. 

Keys to the Game: 

Will the Manti Teo lei tribute get the defense fired up or will they be over hyped and get out of their lanes?  Will Golson be able to handle the myriad of confusing blitzes he is likely to see?  Can we get some consistency in the run game today?  Will Eifertt return in a big way and have an epic day?  How many big chunk plays will Denard get?  If he gets 5-6 we are in trouble.  How many big chunk plays will the Irish get?  I expect us to try to hit the long post pattern today.  The Michigan CBs are supposed to be pretty bad and our young speed receivers will give it a go.  Finally, after a great game last week, will our O-line and D-line push around Michigan.  At the end of the day it will all be about the line.

With the solid defense this year, I simply do not see any team scoring a lot on the Irish.  So if our offense fires on all cylinders (in the 40 point range) we will win everytime we put big points on the board.  I think Michigan is going to be totally focused tonight.  They were embarassed against Alabama, and this is a chance to show they still have it on national TV (against a hated rival).  The Michigan fans I know are not bullish on the Wolverines however so I think they know they do not have a top tier team this year.  The question is do the Irish?

Since these thngs often go in cycles, I think we will regress a bit today but expect we still will have enough to win.  The night game factor (complicated by expected rain) means emotions will be high on both sides of the field and in the stands.  I may bring my ear plugs for the crazy rock music blasts.  Throwing all that in the mix, I think we are going to see another hard fought classic with turnovers and special teams play as potential difference makers.

Prediction:

ND 27, Michigan 20


GO Irish! 

Fasten Your Seat Belt

The Irish are 3-0 for the first time in a decade so let the hype machine begin!  With the Michigan night game approaching, we can expect expectations to go through the roof this week.  So before we start the "third year" coach stories and national championship speculation, let's just count to ten and take a deep breath. . .

OK, NOW let's dream about running the table and playing in the BCS championship game.  Isn't it nice to at least be able to dream about it for a moment?  Been a while.  Oh yeah, in other news USC LOST!  That was fun to hear being out here in Trojan land.

OK, so what conclusions can we draw from the Irish performance last night?  Our line play is pretty solid both ways. Dline simply shut down the Spartan run game and MSU pretty much never crossed the 50.  Think about that,wow.  Teo was flying all over the place.  Corners were OK but once again we did not face a great QB.  Oline was solid against a very good defense and though we did not run effectively most of the game we did end up with  122 yards and wore them down late.  Cierre Wood looked good in his return.  Golson was not spectacular but 178 yards and the receivers (Toma and Jones) stepped up nicely when MSU doubled Eifert all night.  Man, Eifert had zero catches and we won handily.  EG made a nice run for the second TD also and generally made good choices including throwing a few away.  Kicking game was the best it has been in a long time.  And how about NO TURNOVERS. 

All in all a great all around team effort and particularly nice to see us win a hard hitting game against a top ten team.  We were in control pretty much the whole game.  I am getting pretty excited.

So next week it is time to settle the score with those Wolverines.  We are on a roll and if we avoid the press clippings I think we may win comfortably.  

Go Irish!  Beat Wolverines!

Yee Haw!

This isn't my regular post mortem. Just a "spur of the moment" pronunciation that we look like a real team this year. Offense still needs some work, but tonight was a full team effort. Congrats to the boys in white tonite--a well deserved victory.

I still have 2 Michigan tickets if anyone needs them! Will consign them to the University Monday if no takers.

GO IRISH!! BEAT WOLVERINES!!!

Tough Test Tonight

Just arrived in Los Angeles to visit my son and go to the ND game watch in Hollywood.  Road Trip!

I do not have a great feeling about this game tonight.  While our ho hum performance against Purdue may make the Irish humble, I think we will have our hands full with MSU.  I watched part of their win over Boise State and was impressed.  Throw in the night game factor and revenge factor from the ND smackdown last year and the vibe is in the Spartans favor.  The pundits give MSU a six point edge and a touchdown for the spread feels about right to me.

No question we are going to give them a game though.

Keys for the Irish:

Stop the MSU run game and force the new QB to win it through the air.  Spartans will try to pound us and I think they will stick with it all game trying to wear us out.  Watch to see if we stuff the run early but show signs of fatigue later.  If MSU gets out of their gameplan we have a chance.

EG will see a lot more disguised coverage schemes and blitzes tonight.  Should be a real test for the kid.  We will learn more about what we have at that position this year.  I hope Kelly resists the urge to yank Golson if we get behind; the kid deserves a chance to build some confidence.  I expect our running game will be back tonight and that should help to keep things calm and close.

Do not expect a barn burner this week,more of a defensive struggle where big plays or turnovers may make the difference.  Field goals will matter in my view.  Have to go with the Spartans, hope I am wrong of course.

MSU 20, ND 13

GO IRISH!

Always A Close One

No pressure on the Irish tomorrow. Just playing a Top 10 Team. On the Road. In Prime Time. On ABC. Nationally (I think).

This might be a bigger game for the Spartans than it is for us. When MSU is good, they always (always!) lose a game they shouldn’t. Is this the game for them? I’ll admit I was more than a bit surprised to see that we’re only 6 point underdogs tomorrow night. That’s basically saying we’re equal teams playing on their home turf. Also says a lot of people still like to bet on the Irish. Who says we aren’t relevant anymore?

But can we win? Of course we can win, but will we? Well, which Irish team is going to show up?

Hopefully the healthy team. I read the SBT on Sunday and it appeared all our injuries should have resolved during the week. Haven’t checked back but I hope that’s true.

Hopefully the balanced offense team. I liked our Navy offensive game plan much better than the Purdue one. I think we have a line and enough good backs that we need to try to get that downhill running game going, mixing in some EG runs with Theo and King George III. And is Cierre back this week? I don’t remember. That could be a deadly entourage.

And hopefully the smart team. No more using 4 or 5 timeouts because the play clock is expiring. No late hits by team captains. And please make all extra points and field goals under 35 or so yards! If we go amiss in any one of these areas (especially the wasted timeouts), we won’t win.

We’ll be watching the game at one of the three LA area Alumni Club game watch locations. This one will be in Hermosa Beach. So we’ll sneak out at half time and watch the sun set over the Pacific. Worse ways to spend a Saturday evening!

If we can keep it close, I can feel another classic MSU overtime game coming. But if we fall behind early, we’ll have trouble catching up, I believe. But for the most part, the Irish and the Spartans play close, very hard fought games. And I think that will happen again tomorrow evening.

So all that being said, can I predict a win? I can, but will I? Alas, no, I won’t. We will keep it close, but a botched field goal or PAT sometime in the game will mean overtime. And we’ll lose in OT on the road.

And I’m also predicting Godfather is going to predict a win. Hope you’re right, Don!

(Don’t think I’ve ever predicted OT before)

MSU 26, ND 23, in one OT.

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!

The Colonel

Feels Better Than a Loss

But not much!  Weird feeling on the way out of the stadium on Saturday.  I could not help thinking how different I would have felt if we had beat USC by a last second field goal.  But it is all about expectations and the pundits told us to expect a win by 14 points.  So of course we are disappointed.  I kind of felt like we were winning the whole time but the score did not reflect that.  We ran up a lot of yards through the air but did not cash in for enough points.

Bad news:

What happened to the run game?  We came out from the first play clearly wanting to pass.  The Purdue d-line was good but we did not even seem to try to establish a run game.  The Colonel and I agree that is a head scratcher.  Was hoping for more from the offensive line.  Of course you have to look beyond the stats as many of the sweep tosses were officially passes but actually more of a long hand off in practice.  I liked that play to get our RBs around the end quick, it seemed to work well throughout the game.

Key turnover late near our end zone obviously hurt.  We have to stop doing that.  Not sure what all the final dispositions will be with the injuries so that is scary but hopefully not permanent damage.  Wasted timeouts were frustrating; we were fortunate that we did not need them at a critical time later.

Good news:

Defense played pretty good all day and did not give up a lot of big plays.  A few missed tackles can be corrected.  We have a great backup QB!  And Tommy is right where he belongs:  a solid sub who can run the offense under pressure.  But Golson is the man.  He can play and he can make all the throws.  Was particularly impressed by his mobility; the guy extends plays which really makes a difference in the Kelly scheme.  Guys get open if the QB buys a little more time and there were several big plays that EG made happen with one juke.  He did get sacked a few times but I hope he will learn to throw it away a bit more as the Colonel suggested. 

A LOT of front line players went down with injuries and the subs stepped in to play well.  Very encouraging.  The big positive is that we drove down the field at the end when we had to win the game.  Again, the mojo this year is different.  How often were the Irish on the other end of that story in recent years?

Hey it is a W, so we move on to MSU.   We are #20 (hmmm) and they are in the top 10 so the game will attract attention.  This is a key lever in the season.  If we lose we can make it up against Michigan.  If we win, the expectations for the Michigan game go through the roof..  But I want a win like you do.

Go Irish!  Beat Spartans!

Good Win? Bad Win?

I don’t’ know where to start!

Happy that we won? Sure.

Unhappy with the overall tenor of the game? Definitely

Happy that the defense played pretty darn well and only gave up 1 TD and a FG when Purdue didn’t get the ball deep in our territory? Yes.

Unhappy that our best D-lineman and best offensive player have potentially serious injuries? Yikes!

This game felt a lot like 2011, didn’t it? Offense not clicking. Forced to take 4 or 5 timeouts as the play clock ran down, and had another delay penalty. A raw QB who doesn’t know how to throw the ball away to avoid sacks. Not even trying to establish a run game after we pounded the ball on Navy last week. Some bad plays in the red zone costing us point. Several penalties at inopportune times. Two completely unnecessary late hits—by team captains!!!! Etc.

But at least this time, we managed to win, right? Golson is definitely green, but he’s confident in his greenness. He doesn’t look overwhelmed out there, so I see potential. He scrambled a few times to buy time and make key completions. He did run the ball some and successfully. I see flashes of what could be, with more playing time. We had generally bad field position all day, and still managed to score enough points. Barely.

Tell me you weren’t nervous on the winning field goal attempt and I’ll call you a liar. And why didn’t they wait until there were 5 or six seconds on the clock to kick? That should have been the last play. Instead, we had to kick off, they ran it back to mid field and had a Hail Mary chance to win it. Bad game management.
Credit to Tommy Rees on the last drive. He did what he had to in getting us in field goal range. And George Atkinson III gave us some decent field position for a change with his runback. Good thing we didn’t need too many timeouts. BK said after the game that Golson is still the starter, so I hope that means no talk of QB controversy this week.

So it’s off to East Lansing with our first 2-0 record since 2008. The Spartans are near the Top 10, so if we play like yesterday, we lose. Badly. In prime time. Maybe we can cook up a little magic and show the country something. We’ll see. For now, let’s do a collective “Whew!” and hope our injuries aren’t too serious.
I look forward to hearing from others on their perceptions. Have a good week!

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!

The Colonel

Half time

So I've been MIA here - it's a busy life we have in our small town! I'm watching two games at once and not really enjoying it. Thank goodness for DVR. I am recording both the ND game and the Syracuse-USC game. I'll admit, I have also been making salsa - 10 pints put up this afternoon. That's another distraction here. ND and Purdue are off to a slow start, only 7-7 at the half, but Purdue had to wait until the last second to get on the board, so it seems our defense is doing OK so far. As I said, I'm watching two games, so I am probably missing something. Syracuse's defense was keeping USC out of the end zone for the first quarter, but SC managed two TD's in the first half and SU only has a field goal to their credit. Fortunately for us, SU will have the ball to start the 3rd quarter, and the offense seems to have found their feet as the second quarter came to a close. I sure hope the locker room lecture does them some good. They are playing this 'home' game for the $$$ in Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands so we don't even have the Carrier Dome advantage to buoy up our guys. I'm quite annoyed by that, and we'll have to see how the 'home' game at Chicago does for ND when they play Miami. Of course, Chicago is closer to campus than NYC is for SU - it's a 5 hour drive to NYC from Syracuse. We are watching the weather closely - there is a storm front moving up the East Coast predicted to hit the Meadowlands at about 6 PM and all I can remember is the storm-delayed game last year at ND. Hope that doesn't happen in NJ. OK, I'm probably not supposed to chime in with a prediction after half the game has been played but here we go anyway. I think ND will overcome their first half issues and go ahead to win, 17-14. And I'm hoping SU stays within 10 points of USC to finish the game 28-17. I'd love that to be an Orange victory, but I'll settle for not being drubbed too badly by the Trojans.

Let's Have a Fun Home Opener

Here's to the Irish taking care of business again today. It shouldn't be a 49-10 deal (we're favored by about 2 TDs), but a nice 31-13 "safe" win would be nice.

Things we need to work on today to get ready for the next several games:

Long snap/catch/hold/kick: We flubbed two extra points last week. Mistakes like this just can not happen if we're going to compete with the likes of UM, OU and SC down the line.

Pass defense: Purdue threw the ball 47 times (!) last week for over 370 yards. Methinks our CBs and Safeties are going to get a work-out. Let's get a pass rush and hopefully that will help. Last week Navy mostly threw quick passes that prevented the pass rush from being a factor. I didn't see any of Purdue's game last week, but I'm guessing they'll be more of a drop back team. So our D-line can have an impact to try to keep some of the pressure off our green secondary.

Inserting Golson into the Running attack: Godfather noted that EG wasn't really part of the running scheme last week. Of course, he didn't need to be. So this can be a new wrinkle that gets rolled out. This could really give the team a triumvirate of difference makers carrying the ball.

I think three things is enough this week!

Again, I say IRISH 31, Boilers 13.

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT BOILERMAKERS!!!!

The Colonel

4 Years since 2-0!

Time for us to go 2-0 for a change.  Likely to happen this Saturday, but that is why they play the games.

Purdue whipped up on Eastern Kentucky last week I think but they should be overmatched against the Irish.  I hope to see a bit more of the playbook and a better test of our defensive secondary on Saturday.  We will see how Golson looks on the big stage (many have wilted!).

Irish win this one.

ND 40, Purdue 17

Go Irish!

Anyone Need Michigan Tix?

Now that I have your attention...

Actually, I'm serious. I have two tix for ND/Michigan on Sept 22nd that I won't be able to use.

Ideally, I'd like to trade them for 2 USC tickets. We have two for Jill and me, but ideally would like to take the girls too. But I don't imagine any of you applied for, received, and can't use 2 USC tickets. But again, that's the ideal.

To that end, I'm also going to advertise my available tickets on our ND Class of '83 Facebook group, to expand the audience.

If you're just in need of UM tickets, let me know. I'll do first come, first served on that if I can't get a USC trade in the next few days.

Thanks!

The Colonel

Good for a Start!

Pretty happy with the opener this weekend.  Both lines looked solid and the new QB was pretty reliable.  It was a smackdown on Navy like the good old days and really is the kind of outcome we should expect from the bigger, faster, and stronger Irish.  Of course you have to factor in that it was only Navy but nonetheless we looked pretty good.

The Colonel made a good point about the Irish answer in the 3rd quarter; that initial drive by Navy could have changed around old Mo' but we put them right back in their place.  That sequence and the Tuitt fumble return were the key points in the game.  As noted by one sportswriter, last year those kind of sequences would spin in the worst ways for the Irish.  Let's hope we are seeing some different mojo this year.

Good news:

Love the offensive line play.  This is a great line with Braxton Cave at center and I agree we will see some solid rushing stats all year barring any injuries.  Think about the fact that Cierre Wood is on the bench and you have to feel good about the run game prospects.  Passing game was OK; I don't think Golson made too many bad choices and he looked composed for the most part.  I thought it was interesting that he did not run very much.  Defense gobbled up four turnovers and shut down the Navy run game.  But...

Concerns:

Cornerbacks look horrid.  Need big time improvement there before we see some good passing attacks.   While we showed a nice little passing attack, it was pretty safe with lots of bubble screens and a few throws to Eifert.  While several diferent people caught the ball, I look forward to seeing Golson toss downfield a little more.  He seems to have the arm for it.

So we move on to Purdue which should also be in the win column.

GO IRISH!  BEAT BOILERS!

Taking Care of Business

Well, USC only won 49-10—think we’ll move ahead of them in the polls?

While it wasn’t anywhere near perfect, the Irish definitely took care of business yesterday in beautiful Aviva Stadium. Looked like a great place to play a game, and very picturesque.

While our secondary is pretty scary, and it will really help down the road if we can make all our extra points, most of the team acquitted itself very well.

The offensive line got a good workout, albeit against inferior size and talent. And our tailbacks definitely took advantage. We've got some very good downhill runners. Our new QB looked like a new QB in the passing game. His 12 for 16 performance is a little misleading, in my mind. EG’s one interception was bad thinking and bad execution. But for a first start, in a strange stadium (although I’m sure it felt like an ND home game), I think he acquitted himself OK. Many tough tests ahead.

And we’ve finally learned how to tackle the fullback against the option. Since we’ve done it two years running, I think we can check that box. And, I think it helped that Navy was our first game of the year, which probably allowed the defense to spend a lot more prep time on Navy’s scheme.

That 3-play, 75 yard drive Navy had to open the second half should really put the scare in Irish fans. That was some baaaad pass coverage. And Navy will be by far the worst passing team we face this year. The defensive coaches have plenty of film to show the secondary where improvements are needed. I just hope they’re up to the challenge, or we will have a pretty glaring Achilles’ Heel.

But fortunately the Irish came right back with a score of their own and that pretty much settled things.

Looking at other Irish opponents, Michigan got rolled by Alabama. I didn’t see any of the game since we went to see the Dodgers play last night. Michigan State and Stanford are perhaps a bit over-ranked. Don’t believe the Oklahoma score—it was 10-7 Sooners early in the 4th quarter. UTEP inexplicably faked a punt in their own territory midway through the 4th and OU wasn’t fooled. That totally turned the tide. Miami and BC had a 70+ point barn burner. Couldn’t find that game on here, so can’t say anything about it.

And next week’s opponent, Purdue, rolled over Eastern Kentucky. Here’s hoping that we continue to take care of business against the Boilers on our US home turf Saturday.

One down, eleven to go….

GO IRISH!!! BEAT BOILERMAKERS!!!

The Colonel