tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28252645656633331422024-03-06T01:28:28.433-08:00Shamrock HeadRanting, Raving, and Reveling in Irish FootballLThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-71358296071879844292015-11-28T15:02:00.001-08:002015-11-28T15:02:11.646-08:00Notre Dame Football: Time-Out Edition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The dream is alive at 10-1, with a make-or-break matchup against Stanford this afternoon (or evening, I guess) that should decide our playoff-worthiness once and for all. Probably. </div>
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Except I kind feel like we’ve been kicked off the playground at recess and been told to take a time-out.</div>
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It’s like the playoff committee looked at the BC game and said, “Whoa! Five turnovers? All right, Notre Dame. Why don’t you just go sit at #6 for a while. Let us know when you feel like you’re ready to play with the Top 4 again, and then maybe you can come out.” </div>
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From this view, two spots out of playoff contention, this seems a tad unfair. After all, there are three one-loss teams ranked ahead of us now, and who did their losses come against? Now-#18 Ole Miss, unranked Texas, and unranked Nebraska. Whereas our only loss of the season came against #1 Clemson. And our strength of schedule, while apparently not A-plus SEC-worthy, is nothing to sneeze at. </div>
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Of course, suppose you’re looking at the way Notre Dame played against Boston College, and you’re asking yourself, “Does this look like a team that could beat Alabama in a playoff game? Does this even look like the same team that was a 2-point conversion away from tying Clemson?” the answer would be no.<span class="_5yi_"> </span></div>
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So many fumbles. So many dropped passes. BC was stripping harder than a dancer at a gentleman’s club. However, I don’t think anybody who’s watched more than one BC-ND matchup (or really, more than one BC-against-a-highly-ranked-opponent matchup) should’ve be surprised to find the Irish in a near-nailbiter against the Eagles. (Upsets are really the only thing BC is good at.) As Winston Shi at the <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stanforddaily.com%2F2015%2F11%2F27%2Ffootball-predictions-stanford-vs-notre-dame%2F&h=DAQG-YGbP&s=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stanford Daily</a> put it: “The Irish played ugly against Boston College last week, but everybody plays ugly in Boston.” </div>
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Of course I would’ve liked to see us put forth more of a dynamo effort against our Catholic nemesis-in-arms--but not for a second did Notre Dame play like it was going to be defeated. No matter what happens, this team does not give up, does not concede, and does not let anything--not even an outrageous number of season-ending injuries--stop them from playing to win. It’s not just mental toughness. It’s mental resilience. </div>
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But those kinds of intangibles don’t matter so much if you don’t look good while you’re winning. Apparently. And the selection committee (like most pollsters before them) is playing with a system of weighted grades. How you finish the season matters far more than how you started it (as the now-#3, lost-to-bleeping-unranked-Texas Sooners can attest). It doesn’t matter that we creamed Texas in the season opener if we can’t shellack 3-7 Boston College in our second-to-last game. It doesn’t matter who we lost to if the other 1-loss teams fighting for a playoff spot score more points against their lesser-ranked opponents than we do.</div>
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Because of course all championship-worthy teams improve steadily over the course of the season. Nobody ever has a hard-fought brawl against an old rival at a “neutral site” in their opponent’s backyard the week right before they’re supposed to play top-10 Stanford in the game that decides their playoff contention once and for all. I mean, what kind of team loses the ball four times and then holds their opponent scoreless for an entire half? What kind of team kills its own momentum over and over and over and yet never allows their opponent to lead or even tie for the entirety of the game? </div>
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Obviously I’m not going to say we played well against Boston College. But I think it’s a testament both to how bad BC’s offense is and how good ND is overall that we kept a five-turnover game from getting out of hand. (Just like we kept all those turnovers against Clemson from getting out of hand.) And it’s a little bit hard to swallow being dropped two spots in the polls after a win. </div>
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Then again, some of the things I dislike about the playoff committee are also the things I like about the playoff committee.</div>
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For example: I like that the playoff committee refused to rank Ohio State #1, even though when the first playoff poll came out the Buckeyes were still the undefeated defending national champs. Because come on--let’s not be slaves to last season. </div>
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I also like that they’re currently giving Iowa kudos for being 12-0, even though the Hawkeyes have defeated pretty much nobody of interest in the Big 10 west and whoever they face in the championship game next week (either Ohio State or MSU) is probably going to send them hobbling out of the top 4 with skinned knees and a bloody nose. (Though interestingly, no matter who emerges victorious from the Big 10, it probably isn’t going to help ND.)</div>
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I<span class="_5yi_"> </span>really don’t know how I feel about Oklahoma jumping four spots to #3 after a one-point victory over TCU. I mean, it’s kind of exciting the playoff committee is willing to bounce teams around like that--but did the Sooners look so much better beating #18 TCU by one point than they did beating #6 Baylor by 10 points the previous week? Or was it just that beating two ranked opponents in a row finally convinced the playoff committee to forget Oklahoma’s little hiccup against Texas and catapult them into true playoff contention? </div>
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With any luck, Oklahoma State will dispatch Oklahoma this evening and keep the Rodgers-and-Hammerstein hopefuls from snagging a lead in the playoffs, and then we’re back out of the corner and swinging from the great crazy road-to-the-championship jungle gym again. </div>
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Of course, let us knock on wood (NOT JINXING US) because absolutely none of this matters if we don’t manage to beat Stanford this evening.</div>
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Which will be tough. Stanford is a good team. We’re pretty evenly matched in terms of size and cunning--and apparently ND’s performance at Fenway rattled confidence in the Irish so much that the ninth-ranked Cardinal are favored to win by four. I haven’t looked up many score predictions for the game, but I was amused to see that all of the sportswriters for the Stanford Daily (except one, who picked ND to win--smart man) predicted Stanford would score at least 30 points on the Irish. Which I suppose makes sense considering Stanford has rarely scored less than 30 in a game this season, but seems a bit cheeky considering the only team to score more than 30 on Notre Dame this season is USC. </div>
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Stanford has beaten Notre Dame by a touchdown or more the last three times they’ve played in Palo Alto, so playing on the Cardinal’s home turf is no joke. Stanford’s also got a huge playmaker in running back Christan McCaffrey, which could be lethal, given Notre Dame’s tendency to give up huge plays on defense. </div>
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Everyone’s predicting a high-scoring, big-12 style brawl this evening--but considering neither team has put up more than 30 points on the other for the last 5 years, I’m not convinced. Though always hopeful for an ND breakaway victory, I think the teams are evenly matched enough that this game is going to be tighter than people expect. </div>
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But who knows. I’m terrible with predictions. Don’t listen to me. </div>
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All I know is our players came here to win. </div>
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Time-out’s almost over, guys. Let’s get out there and kick some schoolyard ass.</div>
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GO IRISH BEAT CARDINAL!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08371634730286609719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-86057085961822517752015-11-15T16:06:00.003-08:002015-12-07T11:18:01.271-08:00Notre Dame Football: Understudy Edition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a class="_2yug" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=5620372" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=5620372" target="_blank"></a><a class="uiLinkSubtle" href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/lisa-tuholski/notre-dame-football-understudy-edition/10153034934911371"><br /></a><span class="_4_mf"></span>
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Holy showstopping musical number, you guys. Playoff picture--playoff picture--<span class="_5yi_">playoff picture</span>!</div>
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If you drew a picture of what the playoff was gonna look like, Notre Dame would be right there in the friggin’ corner. (#4! YEAH!!!!)<br />
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We’re not the star of the show this season. And I’m totally okay with that.</div>
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In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to be #4.<br />
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This might sound like crazy talk coming from me. But I feel like I’ve had an apostrophe (I think you mean an epiphany) about what a privilege it is to be here. Not just in the Top 5, but to be watching this particular epoch of Notre Dame Football.</div>
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I mean--Back In My Day (during my brief interim as a student), Notre Dame Football wasn’t the star of anything. In fact, if they’d been auditioning for a spot in College Football’s Greatest Hits, they’d have barely made it into the chorus. (And even then, only because they’re a Name.)<br />
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Basically, when I was a student, ND Football did three things: 1) look really sexy during the regular season and then lose in a major bowl game, 2) look really skunky during the regular season and slink off in 3-9 shame, and 3) look really bipolar during the regular season and then flee to Hawaii for some Vitamin D and a bowl win (which the band was not present for, for the first time in school history--not that I am still bitter about missing a free trip to Hawaii or anything, I AM JUST SAYING).<br />
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Since then, we’ve had one diva-esque year of Jimmy-to-Golden with virtually no defense, followed by the Brian Kelly Era. Which nobody can make up their minds about, because A) it is still happening, and B) Brian Kelly has not won us a national championship yet.<br />
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For decades, players have been saying that they came to Notre Dame to win a national championship. But since Lou left, no team has legitimately had the bones to come close to a national championship except the 2012 squad.<br />
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And those guys are seniors now.<br />
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My mind boggles trying to imagine what it must be like to be a student in Notre Dame’s current senior class. At least in terms of being an insane, monomaniacal sports fan. I mean--you come in as a freshman, and the football team has the most epic season in living memory. Overall, you get 4 straight winning seasons and 2 straight bowl wins (including a long-awaited postseason victory over an SEC team), and as a senior, now you’ve got another top-5 team with a legitimate crack at the second-ever college football playoff. Assuming they win out. (Knock on wood and all that.)<br />
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In my head, this is what Notre Dame football should always look like. Not always in the playoff picture--not always with a spectacular season (I mean, with all the injuries we had last year on defense...what can you do?)--but always making hits. Always with the potential for the squad to come together and pull out a major-bowl-worthy run.<br />
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Just like they’ve done this season.<br />
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Without six of their key starters.<br />
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<b><span class="_5yi-">Don’t cry for us, ND Nation--the truth is, we have a depth chart</span></b><br />
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During an on-field interview yesterday, Kathryn Tappen asked Brian Kelly how his team managed to have so much success despite losing six starters to season-ending injuries. Without hesitation, Kelly said “Good recruiting.”<br />
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Boom. That’s the key to this season. Not just having the “next man in” mentality, but actually having the personnel, all the way down the depth chart, to make the next man in as effective as the first man in.<br />
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Particularly after losing Zaire, I think most ND fans reflexively moved into an underdog mentality. We’ve got a tough schedule, and the more players we lost, the more reasonable it seemed to temper our expectations (while still rooting for Notre Dame to kick ass at every available opportunity, of course).</div>
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I’m not sure most of the fan base was as willing to go along with Brady Quinn’s yes-of-coursee-we-should-win-out-during-the-regular-season prediction as I was. But LOOK AT US NOW, PUNKS. EVERYTHING WE DREAMED ABOUT THE DEPTH CHART WAS TRUE. </div>
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I mean--holy musical bonanza, my brethren! Can you even believe our running backs this year?! Of course I want Folston back. But just look at Prosise this season! The man is a slippery eel defenses can barely contain without doing their best impression of a brick wall. Or what about Josh Adams, stiff-arming his way to a 98-yd Notre Dame TD record (which Prosise had broken with a 91-yd TD run only a few home games prior)?</div>
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It seems like every running back we’ve put in this season has managed to do something spectacular. It’s a testament to our O-line and our recruiting--as well as what “next man in” can do for you when you’ve got all the right people in place.</div>
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We’re in the sixth season of Brian Kelly’s direction now. This is 100% Kelly’s team. All of the recruits, all of the fifth-years--everybody--has been subscribing to “next man in” all along. We’ve got some outrageous talent, true...but also I think we are conspicuously devoid of superstars.<br />
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I’m not saying Will Fuller isn’t one of the best receivers in college football. Or Jaylon Smith isn’t a first-round draft pick. Or Sheldon Day isn’t an unstoppable, impossible-to-block man-beast. </div>
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I’m just saying I don’t think any one player--or even a small handful of players--is carrying the team. </div>
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This isn’t a perfect analogy, but it’s kind of like watching a high school production of a musical versus a professional Broadway version of a musical.<br />
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For whatever reason, my high school had a high concentration of talent in the drama club, so our performances were generally pretty good, but this being high school and all, the superstars really stuck out. And there was a certain magic to watching those people kick ass on stage. It was impossible not to go up to them afterward and be like, “OMG YOU WERE THE BEST they should’ve given you more songs I could literally have watched you all night.”<br />
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Kind of like how, in years past, I always wanted the ball to end up in the hands of Julius Jones or Golden Tate or Tom Zbikowski.<br />
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But if you go see a professional Broadway musical--the lead actors are going to be amazing, of course, but so is pretty much everyone else on stage. Because those people in the chorus? They’ve totally got the pipes to play the lead roles. In fact, most of them are probably understudies.<br />
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You’re still going to have your Nathan Lanes and your Bernadette Peters who stick out even among super-talent, much like the NFL has its Peyton Mannings and its Walter Paytons. But when everyone up on stage has the goods, the disparity is not so great. Because <span class="_5yi_">everyone</span> came to play.<br />
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This is not to disparage Notre Dame players of years past. Playing anywhere at the D-I level takes an incredible amount of hard work, discipline, and talent.<br />
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But in terms of the way the team plays as a whole this year--I don’t think we’ve got any Broadway superstars here. I think we’ve got talent across the board, on both sides of the ball.</div>
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And everybody came to <span class="_5yi_">play</span>.</div>
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<b><span class="_5yi-">A Little bit less like </span><span class="_5yi- _5yi_">Phantom</span><span class="_5yi-"> and a little bit more like </span><span class="_5yi- _5yi_">A Chorus Line</span></b></div>
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I am, of course, getting ahead of myself, since we’ve still got 2 regular-season games we’ll need to win in convincing fashion in order to stay in the playoff picture. But I can’t help comparing the 2012 squad to this one. Since the commentators have already begun doing so during ND game broadcasts, I can’t possibly jinx anything by speculating that hasn’t already been jinxed. (You know. Probably.)<br />
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In 2012, it was indisputably the defense carrying our team. Specifically, we had Manti Te’o out there to amp everyone up, keep everyone focused, and perform outrageous feats of athleticism, such as recording twenty-one tackles in a single game.<br />
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This year, we don’t exactly have a Christine Daae out there, belting unmistakable sopranic leadership from the backfield--which I think has hurt us in some ways. We haven’t really seen our defense put together a solid performance for four quarters (except maybe in the Texas game). Particularly in the fourth quarter, we’ve seen lapses in focus that have allowed our opponents to sneak up on us again when they had no business doing so.<br />
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Our offense has been much more consistent at putting up points this season--but sometimes they don’t put in a full performance, either. At times they’re only half there, getting only the run game or the passing game going at a time. Sometimes they jump out of the scene completely, sputtering and stalling for entire quarters at a time. And sometimes (like yesterday, for example) it takes us almost the entire game to find our rhythm.<br />
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Somehow it doesn’t matter.<br />
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Because if the offense goes blank, the defense will jump in and pick up their lines. Or if the defense just bombed a huge play, Kizer & Co. will trot out there for a big ol’ showy touchdown pass to even things out. And if offense and defense have both decided to take prolonged, diva-style breaks in their dressing rooms, special teams is there to cover our ass until one or the other of them decides to show up again.<br />
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It’s brilliant.<br />
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And frustrating.</div>
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And it doesn’t feel a thing like the last time we were in the vicinity of the national championship conversation. <br />
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Because despite the devastating season-ending injuries, the way we’ve been playing largely lacks that high-school-musical style drama. We had one nailbiting “omg-can-Kizer-do-it?!” moment, after Zaire got injured in the VA game (and happily, the answer was, “Why yes, Sad Virginia fan--yes he can”). But we haven’t had a string of outrageous goal line stands. We haven’t had the same chills-n-thrills, down-to-the-wire heart-pounding victories.</div>
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We’ve just been <span class="_5yi_"><i>winning</i>. </span>Putting up a cheery storyline for ND fans, week after week.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
You know...except for that one game where we didn’t. <br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
<br /></div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
<b><span class="_5yi-">The Understudy</span></b><br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
I wouldn’t trade that 2012 season for anything. (Except maybe for a 2012 season where we won it all.) The angst. The blog posts. The being-in-the-stands for most of the games. The sublime, stars-aligning Saturday that shuttled us to #1.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
Honestly, though, I would rather have the sign atop Grace Hall lit up after the curtain closes on the season than while the play is still being acted out. (Well--okay, I would rather have it lit up all the time, but never mind that.)<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
I know, I know--TOTALLY JINXING US. </div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
But holy jazz hands, twelfth man--just look at where we are! We’re just one grapevine and a chaine turn away from true playoff contention.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
And maybe we haven’t been stirring up standing ovations all season long, but it’s not an exaggeration to say we’ve been straight-up winning week after week, either.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
Our closest games this season have been Virginia (34-27), Georgia Tech (30-22), Clemson (22-24), and Temple (24-20). Of those, I would say Virginia and Clemson are the only true nailbiters. Virginia Tech we dispatched in meme-producing glory, and Georgia Tech snuck up on us in the 4th quarter after we completely manhandled their option. Temple played a tough game, but we played tough right back; it didn’t ever feel like that win was going to slip away from us.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
For every other W on our schedule, we’ve pulled away by 10 points or more, leaving little doubt of our victory by the 4th quarter, if not long before.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
It’s not a spectacle-saturated Andrew Lloyd Weber-style season, but it’s incredibly refreshing, all the same.<br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
We still have two games to go, so I should probably stop talking flowery nonsense about the playoffs. (It’s not just me, though. NOT JINXING US.)<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
All I’m saying is: we were a 2-pt conversion away from taking the now-#1 team in the country into overtime (or, you know, one less turnover and a FG away from beating them). Up against bad weather in a hostile environment, Kizer played like a young QB and our offense got off-rhythm at crucial moments. We moved the ball pretty well, but we couldn’t find the end zone, and we flubbed possession enough times to befoul our best shots at victory.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
But we still battled back, for an almost-comeback. We went toe-to-toe against the Tigers, and I think if we could take them on again, we’d find a way to outshine them.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
Here’s hoping we get to prove it. </div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
<b></b> </div>
<b><div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
<br /></div>
</b><div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
<b><span class="_5yi-">There’s only us / there’s only this / forget regret / or Kizer’s pass is yours to miss / no other win / no other play / no game but this game</span></b><br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
So I like our chances in this not-top spot. In fact, I’d be content to stay at #4 (or #3) the rest of the season. We’re playing the understudy right now. Let’s keep the target off our backs and our noses down. Let’s put together the best performance we can for the next two weeks. So when the spotlight comes, we’ll be ready.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
Our next stop is a “neutral-site” home game against a 3-7 BC squad at Fenway Park. Don’t even think about Stanford, or we’ll trip and stumble like an amateur fumbling a kick ball change. No letdown, guys. NO LETDOWN.<br />
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
</div>
<div class="_2cuy _3dgx">
GO IRISH BEAT EAGLES!<br />
</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08371634730286609719noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-64781562559297156022015-09-27T15:30:00.000-07:002015-09-27T15:30:42.657-07:00Notre Dame Football: Tug of War Edition<div class="_5k3v _5k3w clearfix">
<div>
4-0, people. FOUR-AND-O!<br />
<br />
For the 3rd time in the the last 4 years, we are unbeaten in the month of September.<br />
<br />
Though
as everybody who watched last season knows, that will mean precisely
squat if we managed to win 0 games in the month of November.<br />
<br />
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.<br />
<br />
Based
on our performance in the last two games, I think our destiny is
genuinely in our hands this season (barring an excessive number of
injuries, which we SHAN'T TEMPT FATE TO GRANT US). I say this based not
on the fact of victory, but on what happened in the last minute of the
Georgia Tech game, the second quarter of the UMass game, and during
large chunks of the Virginia game (when we lost not only our starting
quarterback but apparently the mental focus of our entire defensive
line).<br />
<br />
That is what will carry us or break us this season.
Not necessarily the coaches or the strength of the team or even the
personnel we're able to put on the field. I think we've got the coaches,
and (if the second half against UMass is any indication) we've
certainly got the personnel.<br />
<br />
So what it comes down to is the will to win. Not wanting to win--everybody <em>wants</em>
to win. Wanting to win is the same as wanting to backpack through
Europe or go bungee jumping or write a novel. It doesn't mean you're
actually going to trek through foreign countries carrying all your
worldly possessions on your back for several months, or strap a harness
attached to a wibbly cord around your waist, or peck away at your
keyboard every day for three months convinced that every phrase that
leaves your fingers is complete and utter drivel.<br />
<br />
No. Simply wanting to win is not enough.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Rope Burn</strong><br />
<br />
I
figure the will to win is a bit like tug-of-war. Theoretically,
tug-of-war is all about which team has the most collective brute
strength. Each person on both sides of the rope tugs with all their
might, and whichever team has the most muscle mass wins.<br />
<br />
But
of course that's not what really happens in tug-of-war. At least it
isn't if you ever attended field day at my elementary school.<br />
<br />
Occasionally,
the powers that be would decide to pit the girls against the boys--a
fair enough contest in the days before puberty, I guess. The boys would
always be like, "ha ha like <em>that's</em> gonna be a contest," and the
girls would mostly be like, "whatever--if we must." I would always be
that crazy ass at either the back or the front of the line being like,
"C'MON LADIES, WE CAN DO THIS!" (Or at least, that's what I'd be
thinking in my head.)<br />
<br />
That first yank was a big surprise
to the boys. And possibly to all the girls standing anywhere near me in
line. I don't mess around with battle of the sexes tug-of-war. I will
pull until I have rope burn if that's what it takes to prove a point to
those chicken-legged, skinny-armed jerkwads who think they're
automatically going to win just because they've got Y chromosomes in
their DNA. (Pshh. PSSSHHHHHH.)<br />
<br />
See? I was nuts even when I was ten.<br />
<br />
Anyway--I
don't actually remember who won. Mostly what I remember is the girls
giving a big ol' yank, and the entire line of boys getting jerked
forward, and being like, "Whoa. Hey. We might actually have to try."<br />
<br />
And
then they did, and the match evened out a bit. There was enough apathy
on both sides of the rope that I am pretty sure 50% of the participants
were not trying at all.<br />
<br />
But that's precisely the point.<br />
<br />
You
can line up whoever you want on the field; you can look at the matchups
and say, man, this person or this team or this defensive line is going
to win every time.<br />
<br />
But maybe they won't. Because maybe
they aren't ready for the enormous yank their opponent's going to give
at the start of the game. Maybe they're going to surrender their focus
for a second (or a second quarter) and find themselves dragged through
the dirt a bit. Maybe they feel so assured off victory they give up
slack on the end of the line and get jerked back within one score of a
tie.<br />
<br />
Every game is a battle of wills. But I think when you
get to a point where you know you have the personnel, the strength, the
coaches--basically all the pieces you need to put a victory together
every week--then that's all the game becomes. It's all mental. A test of
who's willing to get the rope burn each week.<br />
<br />
Some weeks,
of course, your opponents are going to be more evenly matched than
others, and the actual personnel matchups are going to matter more.
Sometimes you're going to execute to the best of your ability, and sheer
speed or a great block or a tricky scheme is going to beat you and
there's just nothing you can do about it.<br />
<br />
But it's not
about that one play that gets away from you. It's about the way you
fight through the entirety of the game. It's about convincing an entire
team of people to tug with all they have on that line until they
succeed in dragging their opponents, inch by inch, into defeat.<br />
<br />
When
you lose focus--that's when the opponent regains inches. That's when
you get momentum swings and trap games. Lack of focus is how good teams
can topple face-first in the mud.<br />
<br />
We didn't fight in the
second quarter against UMass. We didn't fight in the last minute against
Georgia Tech. We didn't know WTF to do with the fight Virginia gave us.<br />
<br />
But we still found an answer, every time.<br />
<br />
The
answer for UMass came in the second half, when the defense buckled down
and refused to allow a score until long after we'd secured a 40-point
lead and let the 2nd string take over the game.<br />
<br />
The answer
for Georgia Tech came in the first 59:00 of the game, when we shut down
their (apparently) un-shut-down-able option attack for (almost) an
entire game.<br />
<br />
The answer for Virginia came on a last-second
bomb to Will Fuller from unknown entity Deshone Kizer, who assured us
with one brilliant sling of the pigskin that the season was not yet
lost.<br />
<br />
Yes--this is a team that has the will to win.<br />
<br />
Time will tell if they can keep that will for all four quarters.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Notre Dame 30, Georgia Tech 22</strong><br />
<br />
So
Notre Dame's defensive field day against Georgia Tech seems slightly
less impressive now that 20th-ranked Tech has lost 30-24 to unranked
Duke and dropped out of the Top 25 entirely.<br />
<br />
Maybe we
broke them. Maybe we showed opposing defenses how to handle their
option. Or maybe Georgia Tech's offense just straight-up isn't that good
this season.<br />
<br />
Whatever the case, I don't think the current
state of affairs should diminish the way our defense flew around the
field last weekend. Joe Schmidt had one of the best games of his career,
leading the team in sheer badassery and tackles, with 10 total
including 2 for loss, 1 sack, and 1 QB hurry. For the majority of the
game, the defense looked like they'd been blowing apart the option their
entire lives instead of only facing the dreaded cut-blocking beast once
per season.<br />
<br />
On the flip side of the ball, Kizer went
21-of-30 for 242 yards and 1 TD in his first official start. His only
major hiccup was an interception on a fade to the back of the end zone.
Kizer doesn't have Zaire's footwork, or his
so-charismatic-you-can-sense-it-through-the-TV-screen confidence, but
he's a solid presence in the pocket, and he's looking pretty darn good
at the helm--particularly because of the way the rest of the team is
playing around him.<br />
<br />
Speaking of:<br />
<br />
<strong>Can we just pause for a moment to consider C.J. Prosise?</strong><br />
<br />
Holy
guacamole, C.J. Prosise--where have you BEEN? What on earth was Folston
doing in practice that put you at the #2 position? What <em>weren't</em> you doing in practice that put you at the #2 position?<br />
<br />
I'm
willing to contemplate the glorious probability that Folston is just
that good. But I can hardly envision a running back playing better than
Prosise has this season. The man does not quit. He does not go down on
the first tackle. He spins. He jukes. He stiff-arms. He breaks Notre
Dame stadium records by running the ball 91 yards for a touchdown, and
he's on pace to average nearly 100 yards <em>per half</em>. (Slight
exaggeration. But not really.) The man looks like a freaking
professional. Someone's even started a Twitter feed @CJforHeisman.<br />
<br />
I
know we're only four games in--but when was the last time we had a
running back with this kind of breakout season? Armando Allen had a
pretty good senior year. Darius Walker had a solid run during the Weis
era. We've had plenty of good backs in recent years.<br />
<br />
But
after these last two games, I'm starting to feel like the last time we
really had a running back punishing our opponents the way Prosise has
been is when we had Julius Jones.<br />
<br />
The main difference, of course, is that when we had Julius Jones, he was pretty much our entire offense all by himself.<br />
<br />
Whereas by the end of the game yesterday, a bunch of our freshmen running backs were also rolling over UMass like professionals.<br />
<br />
Because the real heroes so far this season are the guys anchoring the offense.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>O-line for Heisman</strong><br />
<br />
Let's
be real: the main reason Kizer is looking so steady in the pocket and
Prosise is putting up 200-yard games and Will Fuller has had a string of
100+ yard receiving games is because the O-line makes it possible.
They're opening up holes you could drive a Hummer through. We averaged 9
yards per carry against UMass--a leap up from a pretty solid 6.7ypc
against Georgia Tech. We did have that worrying
failure-to-convert-on-4th down (and, uh, on 3rd down ever) against
Virginia; since then, we've improved to 4-of-11 on 3rd down against Ga
Tech and 8-of-13 against UMass.<br />
<br />
And overall, I think the
evidence is just in the way the team is starting to roll. Four freshmen
scored touchdowns yesterday. We had 8 different receivers and 4
different running backs and 62 points on the board--the most scored by
an Irish squad since Lou left.<br />
<br />
You can't move the chains like that without a dominant O-line.<br />
<br />
Round
of applause for Ronnie Stanley, Quenton Nelson, Nick Martin, Steve
Elmer, and Mike McGlinchey for being one of the most dominant units in
college football. YOU COMPLETE ME.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Notre Dame 62, UMass 27</strong><br />
<br />
So
did everyone enjoy playing NCAA Football '15 yesterday? See, I thought
they discontinued that franchise after a lawsuit against EA, but--<br />
<br />
OH. Oh wait. THAT WAS AN ACTUAL GAME.<br />
<br />
Ahahahaha - someone please pinch me like it's St Patrick's Day and I forgot to wear green.<br />
<br />
No. I take that back. Lemme just sit here and watch the highlight video a few more times.<br />
<br />
Like, what--what--<em>what</em> was that?<br />
<br />
A lot of this ridiculousness has already been discussed--but just to recap, yesterday's game included:<br />
-681 yards of total offense<br />
-62 points scored by 8 different players<br />
-4 touchdowns scored by freshmen, including:<br />
-CJ
Sanders's punt return for a TD (the first in Notre Dame Stadium since
fellow #9 Tom Zbikowski took it to the house vs UNC in 2006)<br />
-Tyler Newsome breaking Geoff Price's game record by averaging 52 yards per punt<br />
-Our first string taking the bench midway through the 3rd quarter<br />
-25 defensive players recording a combined 74 tackles<br />
<br />
I
mean, seriously, I haven't seen that much of the bench out on the field
since the last time we won Senior Day. Which--okay, just never mind
about when that was.<br />
<br />
But THAT, my friends--that is what
I've been waiting for. For a team to look as good on the field as they
do on paper. For the Irish to take up the slack after halftime and play
to their highest level instead of whatever level their opponent happens
to be playing.<br />
<br />
When was the last time a Notre Dame team looked that good?<br />
<br />
Um--YESTERDAY.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In
the immediate aftermath of the Georgia Tech game, our performance had
me feeling equal parts terrified and optimistic about the Navy game.
Terrified because now Navy has a whole extra game's worth of footage to
study--and as we know, Ken Niumatalolo and his staff have proven
exceptionally skilled at throwing monkey wrenches into our defensive
schemes.<br />
<br />
Optimistic because C'MON--did you see how we manhandled that offense?! We absolutely <em>swarmed</em>
them. Even if Navy executes their option better than Georgia Tech
(which they probably will; Navy, if nothing else, can usually be counted
upon for clean execution)<br />
<br />
<strong>Onward to Victory</strong><br />
<br />
We're
only a third of the way through the season, and our toughest games are
still to come--including next week's primetime showdown against
Clemson (which will be featured on ESPN College GameDay).<br />
<br />
The bad news for us is that the 11th-ranked Tigers are coming off a bye week, and we're playing them in Death Valley.<br />
<br />
The
good news is that Clemson has played pretty much nobody so far this
season. Their first two victories came against FCS opponent Wofford,
49-10, and newly-minted member of the Sun Belt conference Appalachian
State (in the FBS since 2014! who knew?), 41-10. Clemson's first game
against a Power 5 conference opponent was an underwhelming 20-17 victory
over the 0-3 Louisville Cardinals.<br />
<br />
<br />
So based on
that, I'm assuming...nothing. I would say Clemson is overranked, but
it's kind of hard to tell. Especially in a season where Alabama's
already been knocked off by Ole Miss, Utah just kicked the stuffing out
of Oregon, UCLA is apparently the best team in the PAC-12, Stanford and
Michigan have clawed their way back into the rankings after early
losses, and Northwestern is ranked higher than USC. I'm not sure how MSU
ended up at #2, but after the first four weeks of college football, I'd
say that makes about as much sense as anything else. I'm kind of
looking forward to the Top-25 rankings imploding as conference play
begins in earnest. Everyone knows pre-season rankings are BS, anyway.<br />
<br />
But I digress.<br />
<br />
I
don't think Clemson's as good a team as Oklahoma in 2012, but this game
kind of has that feel to it--our first big road test against a ranked
opponent with a young QB at the helm. Based on absolutely nothing except
my own instincts--I don't think Clemson's as good as we are. Not this
year. But they tend to play brilliantly at home. They'll bring their A
game, and it will be better than the A game of any opponent we've faced
this season. Huge test for our O-line. For our defensive front.<br />
<br />
But
if yesterday is any indication, our team has started to heat up.
Offense, defense, special teams--after that slack-line of a second
quarter, everybody came to play. There's no mistaking what our team is
chasing this season.<br />
<br />
So watch out, Clemson. We're ready to pounce.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT TIGERS!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="Becky Malewitz//SB Tribune" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/12033081_10101846457665887_7285117606827660407_n.jpg?oh=3f546dfb3b9f7a99f408a54a997dbcd4&oe=569FEF22" title="Becky Malewitz//SB Tribune" /><span class="caption">Becky Malewitz//SB Tribune</span></span></div>
</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-73672053133319822092015-09-19T12:00:00.000-07:002015-09-27T15:27:16.432-07:00Notre Dame Football: The Sky Is Falling Edition<div class="_5k3v _5k3w clearfix">
<div>
Sometimes I empathize with Chicken Little.<br />
<br />
Watching
our starting running back go down in week 1 and our starting
quarterback topple in week 2--following a season in which almost every
single starter on defense got injured or suspended--kind of makes it
feel the sky is falling. Again.<br />
<br />
The loss of Zaire, like a
sharp thunk to the head, is enough to send any fan scurrying in panic.
Most of our hype this season was predicated on having a fleet-footed,
gunslinging beast in the pocket. Who are we without him? Who is this
Kizer fellow, anyhow?<br />
<br />
Toss Zaire's injury in the midst of
an underwhelming performance against unranked Virginia, and it starts
to feel like more than one acorn against the noggin. It's a whole
hailstorm.<br />
<br />
Because seriously:<br />
<br />
-WHERE was the pressure from the D-line?<br />
-HOW did we fail to convert a 4th down? And also go <em>0-of-10 </em>on third downs?!<br />
-WHY did we give up on the run game after Kizer went in?<br />
-WHAT was with our secondary? Aren't they supposed to be one of our elite veteran units!?<br />
-WHEN did we become so weak-ass in the red zone?!<br />
-WHO do these Hoos think they are? Don't they know we're supposed to be playoff-worthy this year?!<br />
<br />
I
mean, seriously--I don't know how much more I can take of these teams
playing us so hard it looks like they're fighting for the Superbowl and
we're just fighting not to get injured before we start playing ranked
opponents.<br />
<br />
Oh--oh--<em>wait</em>.<br />
<br />
Obviously
this is a terrible mentality. Because of course I want to give kudos to
Virginia for a game well-played. And of course I think we should be
dominating no matter who we're playing. And in the words of every decent
coach ever: we should approach every game like it's the most important
of the season, because let's be real--if you falter once in college
football, you're more or less screwed out of getting a playoff spot
unless everyone else takes an unexpected dive along the way .<br />
<br />
Really,
I think what I can't take anymore is my own thwarted expectations. I
know that we aren't going to be amazing every year. (I do. I really do. I
promise.) And even in the years we're <em>supposed</em> to be
amazing...part of the joy and agony of sport is that you literally never
know how a game is going to turn out until it's played. There's always
the villainous upset lurking just around the corner; the unexpected
blowout buoying you through the next week's nailbiter; the thrilling
comeback that turns a thwarted dream into a tale of triumph. That's what
makes our gridiron gladiators worth watching every week.<br />
<br />
But
I think there's a general consensus among those addicted to the action
that truly elite teams tend to play as well on the field as the
statistics on paper say they're supposed to. And they do so with
consistency.<br />
<br />
This is what I'm really hoping for, of
course: that the team that plays to its own highest level of execution.
That every week, they go out on the field and do pretty much exactly
what you think they're going to do.<br />
<br />
It's an unfair
expectation to put on the 2015 squad, considering that even with Zaire
at the helm, we didn't really know what the team would look like this
year.<br />
<br />
In 2012, when we ended up having a ridiculously
dominant red zone defense, we didn't really see flashes of what the team
would become until at least 2 or 3 games into the season.<br />
<br />
So
the team has to become what it is. It has to manifest its identity
before you (aka: me--take a chill pill, Lisa) can start expecting it to
perform a certain way with any kind of consistency.<br />
<br />
Whatever
our team (specifically our offense) was going to be this season is
gone; that particular future fractured along with Zaire's ankle. We have
a new team now. A new identity to mold.<br />
<br />
The greater
sports world is betting on that team being a weaker incarnation than the
one we touted at the beginning of the season. Somehow we got bumped up
to #8 in the polls this week, but obviously nobody believes it since
everyone's picking 14th-ranked Georgia Tech to beat us.<br />
<br />
It's
hard not to see their point. Georgia Tech has averaged over 65 points
per game the last two weeks. They run a fierce option (full of dubiously
still-legal cut-blocking that ALWAYS RESULTS IN INJURY) that we won't
be able to stop from entering the end zone. Without the threat of Zaire
on the ground, we're going to have a much more limited playbook, and
even with Can't-tackle-me-on-the-first-try Prosise at the helm, we're
not going to be able to open up our run game in quite the same way.<br />
<br />
But we mustn't give in to the panic.<br />
<br />
Even
if VanGorder's zealous blitz attacks against the Hoos resulted in
precisely 1 sack (by KeiVarae Russell...y'know, the cornerback), 0
hurries, and several unpleasant flashbacks to the porously blitz-happy
Weis defenses of olde.<br />
<br />
Even if Prosise got 0 yards on 2
carries after Kizer went into the game and Notre Dame converted 0-of-10
third downs against the 109th-ranked Virginia defense.<br />
<br />
That kind of thinking will lead you straight into Foxy Loxy's den to be devoured.<br />
<br />
<br />
With less than an hour to go until game time, I know that these thoughts are too late to matter.<br />
<br />
But
for the sake of my own sanity, I had to spit some of this out. I have
no idea how we're going to play against Georgia Tech. Despite DeShone
Kizer's brilliant, Matt Saracen-esque moment of football glory to win
the game last week, it's impossible to say how he'll handle the helm for
an entire game. Hopefully with all the pomp and confidence of a German
emperor (only, you know, without the disastrous political consequences
and global warfare. Or turnovers. NO TURNOVERS).<br />
<br />
I still think we have the personnel to take on anyone in the country. Today is our chance to prove it.<br />
<br />
So in the hopes that we will make all the Ramblin' Wrecks from Georgia Tech feel like Sad Virginia Fan today:<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT YELLOW JACKETS!<br />
<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/12006246_10101838310038797_7003194963976382586_n.jpg?oh=80d238372b5a250f148f26475d83afe9&oe=569A9431" title="" /></span></div>
</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-71721077632844450942015-09-08T21:29:00.002-07:002015-09-08T21:29:28.384-07:00Notre Dame Football: Everything is Easy edition<strong>Notre Dame 38, Texas 3</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
The Irish made that look easy.<br />
<br />
5
touchdowns, 500+ yards, 1 field goal, 0 turnovers, 0 punts, and
19-of-22 passing (86%) in Malik Zaire's first game as Notre Dame's
official season-long starter.<br />
<br />
In the first week of the season, a lot of things are easy.<br />
<br />
It's
easy to look at the depth chart and get misty-eyed realizing we've got
Jaylon Smith, Joe Schmidt, and James Onuwalu all starting at linebacker.
Or get a little slack-jawed thinking about our five starting wide
receivers: Chris Brown, Corey Robinson, Torii Hunter Jr., Amir Carlisle,
and Will Fuller--backed up by equivocally exciting freshman Equanimeous
St Brown (the hands-down winner for this year's best football player
name).<br />
<br />
It's also easy to say <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/is-notre-dame-a-contender--with-qb-malik-zaire-at-the-helm--it-would-appear-so---060343709-ncaaf.html" target="_blank">Notre Dame looks like a contender</a> after just one game (thanks, Pat Forde)
following an opening weekend where Notre Dame laid the biggest
beat-down on a fellow FBS team. (Although I must admit that my favorite
run-down of college football's opening weekend comes from an SB Nation
writer who desperately wants the Irish<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/9/6/9268933/notre-dame-texas-2015" target="_blank"> <em>not</em> to be the real deal</a>.
How he can stomach watching Ohio State win anything is beyond me...but
that's a rant for another time.)<br />
<br />
Above all, it's easy
to imagine the rest of the season stretching out before us in one long,
unbroken line of victories. (At least, it is if we don't think too hard
about the past and decide to buy blindly into <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/collegefootball/510334019935/0/notre-dame-2015-season-preview" target="_blank">Brady Quinn's preseason analysis</a>).<br />
<br />
This, of course, is how I attempt to envision every season. It's just not always easy. Sometimes it's downright laughable.<br />
<br />
Not this year.<br />
<br />
This
year, I can envision us slicing through opposing defenses like butter,
beatin' people like they stole something and riding the gravy train of
our success all the way to the four-team playoff in December. It'll be
easier than falling off a log.<br />
<br />
I mean--not really.<br />
<br />
But
make no mistake: that's what this season is about. That elusive white
whale, the 12th national championship, is far off yet, but it's in our
sights once more.<br />
<br />
For the first time in decades, I think we might actually have the crew to pull it off.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Flashback!</strong><br />
<br />
So,
after Notre Dame's
unexpected-yet-not-entirely-unsurprising-(because-let's-be-real-that's-how-they-should-have-been-playing
-all-season) victory over LSU, I kept thinking I was going to write a
rant entitled "Notre Dame Football: Redemption Edition." But now it's
September, so I guess the time for that has passed.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless--Notre
Dame's 31-28 victory in the Music City Bowl was a balm for all the
vicious burns we suffered at the end of last season. Redemption for a
team that dropped 5 of its last 6 games (including a 3-point loss to
Northwestern). Redemption for Golson and the offense, who turned the
ball over 0 times; for Kyle Brindza, who scored a last-minute,
game-winning field goal; for Sheldon Day and our injury-riddled
defense, who surrendered an average of 40 points per game during the
last half of the season. (Not to mention redemption for anyone who had
to spend like 12 hours in the Superdome before watching the Tigers
trample all over a perfectly decent 10-win season the last time Notre
Dame played LSU.)<br />
<br />
Because our execution during the last half of 2014 belied our talent.<br />
<br />
And
people (Lee Corso) need to stop saying things like, "Notre Dame's
returning 10 starters on defense--but that defense surrendered the most
yards ever in the second half of the season." Because most of those
returning starters <em>didn't actually play</em> during the last half of 2014.<br />
<br />
But all that's behind us. (At least, it had better be.)<br />
<br />
With
a ridiculous number of returning starters on both sides of the ball, we
have the chance to jump right back where we were last season (while we
were still good)--and hopefully make it through the season unscathed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Mid-season form</strong><br />
<br />
"We
didn't want to start off with the mentality of it being just the
opener. We wanted to start off mid-season, with a mid-season mentality
as far as the execution and things like that. We showed great
confidence." --linebacker Jaylon Smith<br />
<br />
Confidence! This
may be the most crucial component of our team this year. Or at least
it's the one I'm most craving, considering the confidence-draining
codswallop that crippled us last season (aka turnovers, injuries, and
specious playcalls that make me feel not at all sorry about the
"touchdown" LSU may or may not have had after their fake field goal
attempt in the first half of the bowl game).<br />
<br />
Maybe it's just me, but I think Malik Zaire blares confidence like a gigantic 90's boom box.<br />
<br />
I mean--it's easy to be confident when you're winning.<br />
<br />
"When
your guys are playing at a high level - offense, defense and special
teams - it really just allows you to relax. It reassures you that we
are going to be fine." --cornerback KeiVarae Russell<br />
<br />
The
trick is to keep executing at the highest level. And that's always the
snag, isn't it? How do you maintain that all season long?<br />
<br />
I mean--first, you avoid injury.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately
for us, starting running back Tarean Folston is already out for the
season with an MCL tear. This is devastating to what is perhaps our
least-deep unit on the offense (though the merry-go-round at TE is a
thing of uncertain beauty as well).<br />
<br />
Fortunately for us, our offensive line is looking <em>sick</em>
this year. Led by All-American Ronnie Stanley at left tackle and grad
student Nick Martin at center, the O-line paved the way for C.J.
"you-can't-tackle-me-on-the-first-try" Prosise to chew up nearly 100
yards on the ground, and Josh
"I'm-just-gonna-score-a-touchdown-on-my-first-ever-collegiate-play"
Adams to average 9.8 yards per carry (on five carries).<br />
<br />
"We were having fun, to be honest. We were just ready to play. I thought we did well." --center Nick Martin<br />
<br />
Yes, Nick. Yes you did.<br />
<br />
Of course, it's still difficult to predict what this game means for the rest of the season.<br />
<br />
Is Texas quite as bad as they looked? Seems unlikely.<br />
<br />
Is Notre Dame quite as good as <em>they</em>
looked? The answer to that is slightly less easy. But looking at the
rest of our schedule (from the luxurious vantage point of a one-win, top
ten team), I don't see why we <em>couldn't</em> win out if the Irish
continue to dominate the line of scrimmage, communicate well, and avoid
turning the ball over. Looking at the rest of the season:<br />
<br />
@ Virginia<br />
Ga Tech<br />
Massachusetts<br />
@ Clemson<br />
Navy<br />
USC<br />
@ Temple<br />
@ Pittsburgh<br />
Wake Forest<br />
Boston College<br />
@ Stanford<br />
<br />
I'd say our keys to victory are:<br />
-build confidence against Virginia before a bludgeoning battle against the ramblin' wrecks of Georgia Tech<br />
-don't get injured against Navy so you can trample all over the Trojans<br />
-don't go into overtime against Pittsburgh<br />
-don't lose by a field goal to Boston College<br />
-and don't worry about Stanford, they lost to Northwestern<br />
<br />
Okay,
JUST KIDDING about that Stanford thing (especially considering we lost
to Northwestern last year). Actually it would be great if Stanford could
kick ass the rest of the season so that when we come to Palo Alto over
Thanksgiving weekend, the showdown will be--you know--a showdown.<br />
<br />
As
for our immediate opponent: I know almost nothing about Virginia,
except that they lost 36-14 to #13 UCLA in their season opener and they
have the most terrifying state flag in existence. Also their mascot has
too many syllables. Oh--and one of their coaches is John Tenuta, former
defensive coordinator at Notre Dame during the blitz-happy end of the
Weis era.<br />
<br />
Virginia might be well-coached, but I just
don't think they have the personnel to battle us down the line. I say
we're looking at a repeat of the Texas game, unless for some reason the
players completely lose their cool. Considering the team seems to have
less jitters playing away than they do at home (drawback of all that
darn tradition, I guess), that shouldn't be an issue.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT CAVALIERS!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3-YIPars5S9B6IEzYkS2SGenGtt4bRMVLv6ijg1-EMs6Xr9h66me8bC4bD-C49pqR1MfnxPRfK0qzjJkX43mLo1mRyTFQTPF2e5htMP8ozVGZ9I2ihRFtttcdxIA8GZkFmr8BlMA_lID/s1600/ncaa-football-texas-notre-dame-850x560.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO3-YIPars5S9B6IEzYkS2SGenGtt4bRMVLv6ijg1-EMs6Xr9h66me8bC4bD-C49pqR1MfnxPRfK0qzjJkX43mLo1mRyTFQTPF2e5htMP8ozVGZ9I2ihRFtttcdxIA8GZkFmr8BlMA_lID/s320/ncaa-football-texas-notre-dame-850x560.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Matt Cashore // USA Today</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-78901604987933059952014-11-29T19:18:00.002-08:002014-11-29T19:18:52.167-08:00Notre Dame Football: Used Car EditionHow. Did. We. Get. Here.<br />
<br />
SERIOUSLY--how do you march your way up to the Top 10 and then bottom
out so badly that you lose in your last game by the LARGEST MARGIN
EVER? I thought we were done with defensive statistics like this when
Charlie Weis left and we got back to actually coaching fundamentals.
Although based on the tackling in the last few games, apparently we've
lost sight of fundamentals this season as well.<br />
<br />
Since mid-season, our team has become a textbook illustration of Murphy's Law.<br />
<br />
And a perfectly good season has rapidly deteriorated into a lemon.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Deflating Tires</strong><br />
<br />
As far as I can tell, Golson's confidence started to deflate after
the Florida State game, and it's been taking the air out of the entire
offense ever since. Until today, when Golson appeared so afraid of
making a mistake that his favorite receiver became the sideline, and
then he threw two interceptions, anyway, and everything...went...flat.<br />
<br />
Zaire managed to pump some life back into the team with a two-play TD
drive, and there were a few pretty sweet runs after the catch
(including a doozy of a stiff-arm scramble by C.J. Prosise). But it was
all too little, too late. Apparently there are leaks in our offense
everywhere now. Not all of Zaire's passes were spot-on--but there were
an appalling number of drops on the passes that were. I'm not sure if it
was mental errors, or if the receivers weren't used to catching Zaire's
wicked-fast spirals--whatever the case, the team couldn't finish. Which
is a shame, because I stand by what I said before: when our offense is
on, they can move the ball against anybody in the country. We've seen
flashes of that all season. But with so many turnovers, it's become
impossible to maintain momentum.<br />
<br />
Maybe it's not even accurate to say our tires are constantly
deflating. In the middle of drives, we just keep blowing them. And it's
pulled our season to the side of the road, while the rest of the Top 25
zooms past.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Broken Parts</strong><br />
<br />
But the real struggle of this season has been on the other side of
the ball, where almost every major component of the defense has broken
down.<br />
<br />
Here's the injury list for the USC game:<br />
*Ridiculous un-blockable man-beast and defensive captain Sheldon
Day--OUT (but hopefully back for the bowl game. since weirdly there will
be a bowl game).<br />
*Junior defensive lineman and other-half-of-the-Sheldon-Day-man-beast team Jarron Jones--OUT.<br />
*Team leader in tackles and everyone's-favorite-Rudy-story Joe Schmidt--OUT.<br />
*Returner and only-player-in-the-secondary-with-any-real-experience Cody Riggs--OUT.<br />
*Other defensive captain-and-primary-leader-in-the-secondary Austin Collinsworth--OUT, and then in, and then OUT again.<br />
*Freshman safety and one-of-the-top-ten-leading-tacklers Drue Tranquill--OUT.<br />
*Junior safety Nicky Baratti--OUT.<br />
<br />
Combined with the suspension of corner KeiVarae Russell, safety Eilar
Hardy, and linebackers Ishaq Williams and Kendall Moore, running the
defense has become an exercise in improvisation.<br />
<br />
It's kind of like trying to fix a car with only the parts you have
lying around in your shop. You can't order new ones; you just have to
work with what you've got. Even if Sheldon Day is a grade-A
non-replaceable part. Tough luck. So you swap in parts you know might
not run as well; try to jam things in where they don't exactly fit; and
basically jerry-rig the shit out of your schemes until it looks like
MacGyver went to town on your playbook.<br />
<br />
Only MacGyver's tricks basically only needed to work once--whereas
our defense has sixty minutes of football to play each week. As our
roster grew more and more hodge-podge, our opposing offenses only
increased in difficulty. Our young, untested secondary got burned.
Opposing offenses picked up Van Gorder's schemes--not necessarily
because the schemes were bad, but because we could no longer execute
them at the highest level. Confidence wavered. Fundamentals weakened.
Too much was put on the shoulders of our weakest unit, and--perhaps in
an attempt to overcompensate--parts began to break down at a rapid pace.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Fried Sensors</strong><br />
<br />
As you will most likely know if you have driven a car to a ripe old
age, the most joyous parts to fix on any vehicle are the
sensors--delicate, sensitive instruments that cost three times as much
to replace as the average car part and can completely crap out your
engine even when they control something that seems like it should have
nothing to do with the overall performance of your vehicle. Such as the
fan.<br />
<br />
I cannot blame Kyle Brindza for the way things have gone this
season--although it certainly would've been great if Brindza's holder
hadn't decided to start fumbling snaps and completely deteriorate his
confidence to a point where the field goal unit couldn't do anything to
help the team win, even from extremely advantageous field goal ranges.<br />
<br />
Which is a shame, because prior to this season, Brindza had scored
more field goals for Notre Dame than any other kicker in Irish history.
His accuracy has dropped from an average of 75% over the last two
seasons to 59% this year. The sensor's on the fritz. Which is
terrifying--because when it's not working properly, it can cause huge
momentum shifts.<br />
<br />
But if you don't have the exact right sensor to replace it, there's
pretty much nothing you can do except take the risk of removing it
entirely (usually not a good option) or just cross your fingers and hope
it decides to start working again.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>The Mechanic</strong><br />
<br />
With everything grinding to a halt in dubious fashion (no-win
November, at your service) it's impossible not to look at the mechanic
and go, "WHAT GIVES?"<br />
<br />
Should Kelly have put Zaire in four games ago? Maybe. Maybe not. How
do you a bench a quarterback who keeps winning despite his mistakes?
Who makes last-minute touchdown passes against Florida State that get
called back on penalties? Who nearly engineers a ridiculous comeback
against ASU after five turnovers in a game where literally nothing went
our way? (Though to be fair, whenever ASU decided to step on the gas, we
were totally at their mercy. And at least 2 of those turnovers were
directly engineered by the ASU defense.)<br />
<br />
But how do you bench Everett Golson against <em>Northwestern</em>? That was supposed to be a bounce-back game, right?<br />
<br />
And benching Everett Golson on Senior Day....<br />
<br />
I don't know. See, this is why I'm not a coach.<br />
<br />
The thing is, we knew turnovers were going to be a problem coming in.
We were just assuming our offense was going to score enough points that
we'd be able to survive it. And that performance would improve over the
course of the season, as everything settled in.<br />
<br />
Instead, Golson went nearly as much on the fritz as our kicker, and we sputtered to a halt.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>The Lemon</strong><br />
<br />
So this is maybe the most confused I've felt about a 7-5 team in my entire life.<br />
<br />
The Florida State game almost felt like a flashback to USC 2005.<br />
<br />
Almost everything after that felt like a flashback to 2007. Or
no--maybe 2008. Because, see, it's impossible for me to concede that
we've played as poorly this season as we played in 2007. Because in
2007, the team was never a team. And this season--for a good solid 7
games--we <em>were </em>a team. On all sides of the ball.<br />
<br />
And now we're not.<br />
<br />
I honestly don't know how much to blame Kelly for (except maybe lack
of commitment to the run game). We have new coordinators this year,
which always changes the team dynamic slightly. We've had coaches out
with illness. We've had the players suspended and then forced out for
the season. Plus a combination of all the maladies mentioned above.<br />
<br />
But it seems like there should be come consistency in our
approach--some cohesion on some deeper level--that prevents us from
falling so spectacularly apart.<br />
<br />
Maybe Brian Kelly relies too heavily on his players to create that
cohesion. I think it was pretty clear in 2012 that Manti Te'o was the
heart and soul of the team. As long as he was on fire, we continued to
win games we may or may not have had any business winning. A perfect
storm of a season. At least up until the post-season. And the scam which
(whatever your opinions are about it), I am convinced, took some of the
heart out of the heart and soul of the team. I mean--Alabama is still
Alabama, and maybe they would've won anyway. But I think Irish fans can
agree that the defense we saw in the first half of that championship
game had none of the fire or aggression or passion it played with for
the majority of the season.<br />
<br />
And this season... We lost all of our leaders on defense to
suspension or injury. There's only so much you can do from the sideline;
and I think players on the field tried to step up--but there's only so
much you can do if you're not 100% sure you know what you're doing. As
mentioned, I think we lost Golson at some point after the FSU game. And
it's possible Cam McDaniel's fumble took a bit of the air out of him,
too. (Though I certainly don't want to cast aspersions on Cam the Man's
leadership. And would like to point out that there's only so much you
can do when you're not in charge of calling audibles and you only get
the ball once like every thirty plays.) There's no been no time to gain
confidence with Zaire in the driver's seat (um...I guess that's where
the quarterback belongs in this metaphor).<br />
<br />
So here we are: bowl eligible, but stalled. Maybe we can make
something out of the post-season. Maybe we can find the right spark to
get things running again. Another three weeks of practice with Zaire at
the helm couldn't hurt. (Although really, you guys, I do still love
Everett Golson. If he could just figure out how to simmer down and play
his game he would be TOTALLY FINE.)<br />
<br />
But mostly I'm just hoping we can coast through to next year with all
of our parts still intact. I think we've had more than enough injuries
for one season.<br />
<br />
I suppose this is a melancholy way to end things. But really, four losses is a damn melancholy way to end the year.<br />
<br />
So I can only say, steadfastly and as always: GO IRISH.<br />
<br />
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LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-60002049744437148332014-10-18T14:46:00.002-07:002014-10-18T14:46:25.082-07:00Notre Dame Football: Magic 8 Ball EditionSo here's my prediction for the FSU game: Everett Golson's going to turn the ball over.<br />
<br />
I know it. You know it. We all know it.<br />
<br />
I
am not saying we couldn't end up with another miraculous, turnover-free
victory against a Top 10 team on the road (a la the Oklahoma game in
2012); Golson often has a freakish ability to play better in hostile
road environments than he does when the Irish are at home. (Maybe all
the animosity helps him focus. Who knows)<br />
<br />
But every
time I consider the possibility of a turnover-free game against the
Seminoles, some internal, Magic 8 Ball-esque voice tells me: <em>Don't count on it. </em><br />
<br />
I
still hope for the best, of course. But in an effort to brace myself
for any inopportune possession changes, I've decided it's best not to
simply wish for the costly mistakes to disappear. Instead, I've decided
to focus on the potential outcomes of any turnover malarkey by asking
myself: okay, what happens AFTER we turn the ball over?<br />
<br />
<em>Better not tell you now, </em>says Magic 8 Ball.<br />
<br />
But
what we've learned so far this season is that it is apparently possible
to turn the ball over five times and still win by a sixteen-point
margin. And that we have a special teams unit strong enough to help us
out in this endeavor, by gaining key field position, making key tackles,
and blocking key kicks. We've also learned that we're capable of
orchestrating a comeback--of scoring fifty points when necessary
(scoring 6 out of 6 trips to the red zone), if that's what it takes to
win the game.<br />
<br />
The obvious response to all this--the one
generally agreed upon by the greater college football universe and all
statistical common sense--is <em>Outlook not so good. </em>Because obviously you can make crazy turnover mistakes against Syracuse. Or North Carolina. Or Purdue. Or...Stanford.<em> </em> But you can't do that against a team like FSU. They will make you pay for it.<br />
<br />
It
makes sense. In fact, it's an argument I've made myself. Turning the
ball over five times or digging a 14-0 hole in the first five minutes of
regulation isn't a good idea unless you've been cast as the underdog in
a heartwarming sports movie (preferably involving overcoming the odds
by beating your big brother in a cross-town peewee football rivalry).
And no--I don't think we can beat FSU if we make as many mistakes
against the Seminoles as we made against North Carolina or Syracuse.<br />
<br />
Because
we've also learned this season that our defense can't stay on the field
for 90 plays. That a hurry-up offense destroys our ability to make key
substitutions and stay dominant on third down (see: North Carolina
game). That our holder really needs to wear gloves during field goal
attempts in the rain. And that it's more or less impossible to tell
what's going on in Everett Golson's head, and we should probably abandon
hope that the team (or Everett Golson's brain) will have eradicated all
their stupid mistakes by the time the Irish trot out on that field in
Tallahassee tonight.<br />
<br />
But we can also say with absolute confidence that we've gotten lots and lots of practice recovering from our own mistakes.<em> You may rely on it. </em>The
last four games have not been stellar in terms of dominance, and there
have been so many obvious errors it's easy to fixate on them. But in the
midst of the glaring snafu's, that when we're down--when things are
starting to go wrong and the breaks are beating the boys--we go out
there and WE WIN ANYWAY. Even if we miss two incredibly crucial field
goals in a tight game against the top-ranked defense in the country.
Even if we're watching the lead teeter back and forth like a see-saw
until time finally expires.<br />
<br />
It doesn't matter that some
furious, selfish, unsportsmanlike part of me wants the team to shape
the hell up and stop making turnovers, stop missing tackles, stop
looking like they're a work-in-progress and start looking like a bunch
of dominant mo-fo's--not because obviously they should be doing this
anyway but so that people can STOP SAYING THINGS like, "Ha, well, even
if Notre Dame does manage to scrape by on their suuuuuuuuper difficult
schedule and go undefeated and make it into the playoffs, it's just
gonna end up like this again: [post link to 2012 national championship
debacle]"<br />
<br />
Maybe I should just stop going on the
internet during football season. Because I'm sick to death of these
snarkastic comments and I'm sick of people saying ND has a ridiculously
tough schedule at the beginning of the season and then taking it back
three weeks later, and I'm sick of pre-season rankings in general; and
I'm SUPER sick of the effing selection committee even though they
haven't done anything yet, because HOW THE HELL is appropriating two of
the major historic bowl games each season and pissing off a ton of
Top-10 teams' fans by cherry-picking four teams each year instead of two
ANY BETTER than the original system of "Hey, everybody just play your
bowl games and we'll pick the winner from there"? (I guess that's an
entire rant on its own, for another time.)<br />
<br />
Anyway.
Back to the point: I know everybody thinks we should be all quaking in
our buckled leprechaun boots about the possibility of turning the ball
over against the defending national champions (or whatever), but I say
screw that. I will of course be a lobster-faced vision of fury should we
turn the ball over three times and have it cost us the game. But I am
not afraid of making mistakes. Go ahead, Irish. Give my blood pressure a
spike. Do what you do.<br />
<br />
Because even if this team DOES
screw up, I don't believe it's a sign of imminent failure. Because this
year, the one thing we've been really, really good at is overcoming our
mistakes.<br />
<br />
Now, perhaps this does not sound as optimistic or violently comforting as <em>YEAH--let's
go break some wooden boards apart with our faces and then go out there
and smash in the faces of those Seminoles!!!!!!</em> (<br />
<br />
I'm
afraid I don't really have a lot of face-smashing conviction about this
game. Whenever I try to ask myself what I think, I mostly get a <em>gloop gloop gloop...Try again later. </em><br />
<br />
But
I do know, with certainty, that we are capable of fixing our flub-ups.
Even if we're just fixing them with duct tape and spackle to hold us
over til the end of the game. (That's as long as it needs to last,
anyway.)<br />
<br />
And this is a new week. A new game. We get to
start all over. Leave the lopsided, shoddily constructed structure from
last week's caper behind and build something new. Maybe even something
that will last. Something we'll look back upon--maybe even feel the
urge to gild and commemorate for future generations. Because, you know,
there are few things Domers love more than gilding victories for
posterity.<br />
<br />
So let's go out there and lay a new
foundation. Doesn't matter how unstable the thing looks in the midst of
construction; you pull this one out, and some combination of glee and
nostalgia will fix that sucker right up until it looks like the friggin'
Parthenon. (Well. Or something like that. It's only the seventh game
of the season; let's not get carried away.)<br />
<br />
<em>It is decidedly so</em>.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT SEMINOLES!<br />
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<br />LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-89460763107029379212014-10-11T14:37:00.000-07:002014-10-18T14:44:14.369-07:00Notre Dame Football: Haiku EditionApparently ND football haikus are a thing this week, thanks to
Subway Domer's fit of poetic inquiry in the Irish Blogger Gathering.
Kind of takes me back to the Weis era, when Haiku Notre Dame
<http: www.haikund.blogspot.com=""> had its sterling run. Speaking
as someone who once wrote a blog post entitled "Notre Dame Football:
Moby Dick Edition," I can't entirely discount the appropriation of
classic works or art forms to get the point across about exploits on
the gridiron. So this week the blog will be, erm, poetic.</http:><br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Frozen Five</strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<em>Five men wait, frozen--</em><br />
<em>while wins rush past like rapids--</em><br />
<em>dangling like hooked fish.</em><br />
<br />
No
word on the hearings. Rumors leaking that no matter the outcome, the
five suspended Irish players won't see the field this season. Brian
Kelly denying any knowledge of the outcomes. The whole situation is
appalling. It's bad enough that the investigation had to happen at all
(don't even get me started on integrity and the apparently inversely
proportional relationship between academics and athletic prowess in
America)--but if it had to happen, just make it HAPPEN.<br />
<br />
It's
a sticky situation: if you let the players play and they're found
guilty of academic dishonesty, they'll be suspended or expelled from
school, and then become retroactively ineligible for all games and
practices in which they participated (from the time the academic
dishonesty started onward, presumably). Which then opens up the NCAA
quagmire of Notre Dame potentially vacating wins in which those players
participated.<br />
<br />
Which, if you ask me, is pretty much the
stupidest punishment ever. Those games happened the way they happened.
Who can say whether the game would have turned out any differently
because of that single player? But, you know, clearly something must be
done to show people the seriousness of academic violations. So
obviously the best solution is to wipe entire seasons off the record,
thereby invalidating the play of every other person on the field and
stripping the games of any meaning or outcome.<br />
<br />
Yes. That will show them.<br />
<br />
Anyway:
If the players AREN'T found guilty, then at least they've been going
to school and attending class, so they won't fall behind in their
credits. But now they've missed six games--half a freaking season--and
suffered the ignominy of an investigation and suspension for no reason.
And will probably have to face not playing for the entire season,
because of eligibility issues. And lack of practice. And so on.<br />
<br />
If
the players ARE found guilty, then they'll have to deal with
suspension or expulsion, plus additional appeals and hearings. And if
they're suspended from school immediately, then all the academic work
they've done so far this semester (presumably of their own volition--?)
will have been for naught. Although considering they're under
investigation for academic fraud in the first place, I'm really not sure
how to feel about this--only that it seems odd, given the
circumstances, that they've been stripped of athletic privileges but
still been allowed to go to class.<br />
<br />
So clearly there was
never an ideal way to handle this situation. Having uncovered the
potential Honor Code violations during the summer session, the
administration had no choice but to wait until school officially
reconvened in the fall to assemble a hearing committee, which must
include Notre Dame students (by code of the...Honor Code).<br />
<br />
But
it seems like the best option in a less-than-ideal situation would
have been to get it over and done with as fast as humanly possible.
Obviously the students, professors, and administrators involved in the
hearings have enough else on their plates without having to decide the
fates of five students who potentially committed the ultimate act of
disrespect toward an institution of higher learning. But come on. Seven
weeks? No verdicts?<br />
<br />
Considering ND is filled with
obsessive overachievers collectively invested in the outcome of
collegiate sporting events probably more than is reasonable or wise, it
is hard to believe this is the best we can do.<br />
<br />
As to
the outcome of the investigations: I have no idea what is going on. None
at all. Given that Everett Golson was suspended last season due to
Honor Code violations, it's not like we can exactly point to the entire
team having squeaky clean records or anything. It's still depressing.
But I don't know anything about the situation and don't care to
speculate. The only thing I can say is that this catch-and-release job
they're pulling on the five students in question has dragged on so long
it's borderline cruel, and whatever the outcome, it just needs to COME.
Let's get this over with.<br />
<br />
Anyway. Enough depressing ranting. On to actual football!<br />
<br />
Notre Dame 17, Stanford 14<br />
<br />
OVERTIME VANQUISHED.<br />
By Golson's faith, strength, and arm<br />
Cardinal sins die.<br />
<br />
The Irish are 5-0 for only the third time since Lou left.<br />
<br />
Five
years into Brian Kelly's program, this is what we want to see: a team
staying alive until the very end; playing physical without getting
pushed around; recovering from mistakes by playing with confidence--and
absolutely no fear.<br />
<br />
Everett Golson is a winner. As he's
been the perpetrator of our greatest pitfalls so far this season, so
has he been the engine of our victories.<br />
<br />
The man will not stop. He will not quit. He is 15-1 as a starter.<br />
<br />
He will not be defeated.<br />
<br />
I'm
not just talking about the scoreboard at the end of the game (although
that is obviously the most crucial statistic). I'm talking about the
mentality it takes to win the game. Never mind that our ground attack
has been sputtering at best. Never mind the unusually high number of
turnovers in the red zone (actually wait, do mind those; just be
grateful they're happening so deep in enemy territory our opponents have
had to work hard to make anything out of them). Just keep in mind that
whatever happens, Golson will go out on the field next play and try to
win. And everyone around him will try to win. And even if it takes until
4th-and-11 in the last minute of play, he will keep trying to find a
way to win.<br />
<br />
Full satisfaction lies in full effort. You can't ask for more than that. (Although srsly guys, STOP TURNING THE BALL OVER.)<br />
<br />
In
many ways it feels like we are in the Top 10 by default. Just because
we're undefeated. Which, you know, we've earned--but people are still
acting like we haven't earned our stripes. Our defense is still young
and our secondary relatively untested (though so far we're being pretty
punishing against the run). Our offense can move the ball against
anybody--we gained nearly as many yards in the first HALF against
Stanford than the top-ranked Cardinal defense had allowed in a single
game all season. But we've had lots of mistakes, lots of turnovers
these last three games. With Michigan's season going down the tubes,
there's still some sense that we haven't played any "real" opponents.
That everything will somehow be decided against Florida State next week.<br />
<br />
But
make no mistake: beating Stanford is still a tremendous victory. Not a
statement victory (whatever the hell that is) or proof positive that
we "belong" in any particular place in the rankings. But five weeks
into the season, we've at least proved that we're not going to stop
fighting. That we're going to keep plugging at it, without loss of
confidence or resolve. That we don't get rattled. The way the players
talk about the team is only ever positive, only ever "everyone on the
team can play."<br />
<br />
It's not just confidence, you know,
it's faith. We're not winning because of the offense, or because of the
defense. We're not winning because we're executing so perfectly on
every play. We're winning because the WHOLE TEAM PLAYS. Even if they
botch an assignment, they botch it 100%--which, if you're going to make a
mistake on the field, is the only acceptable way to do so. Even when
Golson's scrambling for his life, it's just because he's trying to get
another play off. Trying to make something happen. Playmakers. That's
what we've got. Everybody trying to make plays, all the time.<br />
<br />
So
if you're not going to be the most experienced, most perfectly
executing team in the history of teams, that's about all you can ask
for.<br />
<br />
Well, except for having a defensive coordinator
who decides that instead of going into a "victory defense" at the end of
the game he's just going to call an ALL OUT BLITZ and sack the
ever-loving shit out of Stanford's quarterback (or pay dearly for the
gutsy call).<br />
<br />
I couldn't have scripted a better end to
the game. At this point, I almost feel like I couldn't ask for any more
from Van Gorder, who is absolutely capitalizing on the advantage of
nobody-knows-what-my-game-is yet to shock the hell out of opposing
defenses. NO HESITATION. NO OVERTIME. NO MERCY.<br />
<br />
I feel
like if I were to come back in my next life as a defensive coordinator, I
would probably come back as something resembling Van Gorder. (He's my
spirit animal, guys.)<br />
<br />
Last but not least, can I just
take a moment to commend the special teams for really, incredibly
excellent play all season long? Never mind those two botched field goals
(which were fixed later by the holder--here's a revolutionary idea, to
quote Brian Kelly--PUTTING ON GLOVES so he could handle the ball better
in the rain). The fact that we have a special teams unit worth speaking
of is still kind of surreal. But also: awesome.<br />
<br />
And against North Carolina, we are just going to keep bringing the awesome.<br />
<br />
<strong>Onward to Victory</strong><br />
<em>Cleats laced, run game go</em><br />
<em>Trap game test of tar on turf to see</em><br />
<em>whose heel stomps hardest</em><br />
<br />
(Hint: it's ours.)<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT TARHEELS!<br />
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LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-83316478529219802402014-10-04T14:44:00.000-07:002014-10-18T14:45:43.342-07:00Notre Dame Football: Schrodinger's Cat EditionSee, this is why I don't make predictions. They always come out
feeling less like predictions and more like I'm tempting fate. Everyone
please ignore me any time I start talking about the future. PAY NO
ATTENTION to the woman behind the keyboard. (In other news: I predict we
are going to play terribly against Stanford. Terribly.)<br />
<br />
Nevertheless,
despite a penalty-laden victory over Purdue and a terrifying
five-turnover foot-shooting fest against the Orange, the #8/#9 Irish are
4-0 and heading into our first big test of the season against the
14th-ranked Cardinal. (You know, since Michigan has apparently decided
to rock it like it's 2008 and all. Which I am totally okay with. As
mentioned.)<br />
<br />
On the bright side, the Irish have scored
30+ points in their first four games for the first time since 1943.
Which would be a bit more impressive if the other members of the Top 25
weren't busy shellacking their opponents by scores of 56-14 (#9 MSU vs
Wyoming) or 62-27 (#11 UCLA vs #15 Arizona St) or 63-7 (#16 LSU vs New
Mexico St).<br />
<br />
The usual arguments must be trotted out for
inspection. It still seems both unnecessary and distasteful to beat
opponents by a fifty-point margin just to prove how good you are--as
though taking it out on clearly overmatched teams proves anything at
all. There is this insidious sense that yes, if your team is REALLY that
good, you should be steamrolling over all of your unranked, "lesser"
opponents, and the best way to prove this is by racking up the score,
and if you don't do this you are clearly not one of the elite.<br />
<br />
Which is just poor sportsmanship.<br />
<br />
But
it's become so commonplace that I think this (horrible) mentality
contributes to our frustration when we play, for example, Purdue.<br />
<br />
Because
the Spoilermakers have a tendency to give us the best game of their
season. Which is the kind of grit and verve that should be commended.
But instead Irish fans have a tendency to gnash their teeth and wail in
frustration. Particularly this year, coming off the downright euphoria
of blanking Michigan, heading into the Shamrock Series game with two
solid wins under our belt that were so clean, so free of penalties or
injuries or costly turnovers that it was downright flabbergasting to see
the mental mistakes against Purdue. A team that, in the week prior to
playing the Irish, lost 38-17 to Central Michigan. It was hard, in the
midst of the action, not to want to yell "KNOCK IT OFF PURDUE. STOP
PLAYING LIKE YOU ARE IN THE ROSE BOWL. THIS ISN'T THE POSTSEASON JUST
SIMMER THE HELL DOWN."<br />
<br />
Which, you know, is kind of like complaining, "Last practice and this asshole thinks it's the Super Bowl."<br />
<br />
But
unlike O'Hara, our actual frustration isn't that our opponents are
playing like they're in the Rose Bowl. Our actual frustration is that
our opponents look like they think they are playing in the Rose
Bowl--and we do not. They may be having their best game of the season
against us--but we do not look like we are having our best game of the
season against them. And while I'll certainly take a win, no matter the
form, it'd be nice to see us, you know, not stumble. (Or fumble.)<br />
<br />
I
am all for a good, tough, head-to-head matchup. I can even handle a
close game EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE--if both teams are battling hard and
only fail to score because they keep thwarting one another.<br />
<br />
But
just once, guys--JUST ONCE--I would like to go through an entire season
without having more questions about our team than answers.<br />
<br />
Because
staring the season with 2 solid wins, followed by a rocky first half
(but a reasonable pull-together in the second half) against Purdue,
followed by a bye week (during which you think, "Okay, all that nonsense
against Purdue will have worked itself out by now") followed by a trip
to the Meadowlands involving five turnovers and more mental mistakes
than we've seen in out first three games combined? WAY MORE QUESTIONS.
NOT ENOUGH ANSWERS.<br />
<br />
It was too easy, in the wake of
31-0 shutout glory, to get carried away with visions of a dominant
season. Which we may yet have. If we can get our act together.<br />
<br />
And it would be easy, too, to blame a lot of these recent errors on the youth of our team. Particularly the defense.<br />
<br />
But
that's unfair because most of these errors were perpetrated--and then
fixed by--Golson. Who, I am now vividly recalling, has always needed a
bit of time to settle in and get his head on straight before he really
starts executing at a high level. So you end up with a game that
includes five turnovers and five scoring drives (if I'm remembering that
right). 31-15.<br />
<br />
Woof.<br />
<br />
What a victory.<br />
<br />
On
the one hand--Syracuse is not exactly a dominant powerhouse threat; any
good team should make you pay for turning the ball over 5 times.<br />
<br />
On
the other hand--holy crap, we turned the ball over five times and
managed to score 31 points. And I think rack up 500 yards of offense? (I
have not checked the statistics. Don't listen to me.)<br />
<br />
So that's kind of astonishing.<br />
<br />
But provides no decent theories about the rest of the season.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Alive or dead?</b><br />
<b></b><br />
So
we're left once again with Schrodinger's cat-in-the-box conundrum. Is
it alive or dead? There's no way to know until we open the box. And I
think most Irish fans are counting on this game against the Cardinal to
tell us whether the rest of this season will be alive one--or one more
deadly and fraught with self-immolation.<br />
<br />
I'm really counting on it not being the latter.<br />
<br />
There's
so much uncertainty still hanging over our heads--the pending,
ridiculously drawn-out investigation of four players for academic
dishonesty (seriously, how can it be taking this long?); injuries; the
mental state of QB1; Van Gorder's youthful defense--particularly the
secondary--yet to be tested against a truly dominant passing attack.<br />
<br />
I look out on the rest of the season and see only a box.<br />
<br />
But I am ready for some answers.<br />
<br />
It's
gray. It's cold. It's dripping. But there are going to be like a
thousand band members in the stadium today, so that should help.<br />
<br />
Let's play this like it's the freaking Rose Bowl.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT CARDINALLThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-69565293566070913662014-09-10T18:57:00.000-07:002014-09-10T19:15:37.719-07:00Notre Dame Football: Read It Like A Book Edition<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Notre Dame 31, Michigan 0 </h2>
You know that feeling when you're reading a good book and you don't want it to end, but you cannot put it down because it is SO GOOD--and then once you're finished you're desperate to talk about it with someone but talking about it only makes you want to read it again, and then after you're done re-reading it you think "DANGIT why isn't there a sequel?" and then once the sequel is announced you feel both thrilled and trepidatious, because how could the sequel possibly be as good as the original? It can't, of course--but there's always the hope that the author's only warming up and the sequel will be even better than the original and after enough days of rehashing and re-reading and re-reading and re-reading you become a bit desperate for the sequel because YOU MUST KNOW. WHY ISN'T IT PUBLISHED YET.<br />
<br />
That is what this season's like.<br />
<br />
At least so far.<br />
<br />
Notre Dame's 31-0 shellacking of the Michigan Wolverines is a page of history I want to read over and over and over again. After the game, I went home after the game and scrolled obsessively through Twitter, liked every game-related Facebook status I could find, rewatched the game highlights, re-posted my favorite .GIFs; and all week long I've continued rewatching and rehashing and basically LIVING THE DREAM and still I <i>cannot get enough of how awesome it was</i>.<br />
<br />
The last game against Michigan that even came close to being this
much fun was the 2012 affair in which Denard Robinson threw four
interceptions. In a row. On his birthday.<br />
<br />
But it
was not necessarily a game you want to take home and cherish. It was
simply one wild victory amid a series of demoralizing, outrageous
narrow defeats and equally hair-raising victories against the
Wolverines.<br />
<br />
Our final prime-time showdown against the Skunkbears (for the next twenty-odd years--or however long the series goes on hiatus this time) seemed destined to follow the same scurrilous plotlines as almost-every matchup for the last decade: another bloody, pulp-fiction mash-up--gory and gut-wrenching down to the last punctuation mark.<br />
<br />
Instead it was a giddy, gloom-free adventure yarn, thick with touchbacks, touchdowns, turnovers, and--egads! can it be?--punt returns (fielded by the absolutely fearless Cody Riggs), dazzling its readers (I mean spectators) with a breathtaking, never-before-seen 31-0 conclusion. <br />
<br />
At least, it was if you're an Irish fan.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Pursuit of Perfection</b><br />
<br />
If I said this was a perfect game for the Irish, that would be a lie. Everett Golson needed three time-outs during the first series of the game to get the offensive tempo right. Our receivers dropped some key passes. Michigan came within scoring range on their first two drives of the game, notched 9 more yards of total offense than the Irish (289 to ND's 280), and converted a key 4th down early in the game.<br />
<br />
But Michigan had four turnovers. We had none.<br />
<br />
Michigan missed two field goals. We were so busy scoring touchdowns we only attempted one.<br />
<br />
Notre Dame was 4 for 4 on scoring chances in the red zone. Michigan didn't even make it to the red zone.<br />
<br />
The crazy thing is--Michigan didn't even look that <i>bad</i>. It wasn't like they were falling all over themselves, fumbling snaps or running all over the field like fools, the way my unfortunate and least-favorite-protagonist (aka JimmayJimmayJimmay) did when Michigan blanked us 38-0 in 2007. Michigan looked like a team that knew how to execute; and which is probably capable of executing at a much higher level.<br />
<br />
Only they didn't, because we were too busy straight-up kicking their ass and everybody knows it. Including Wolverine head coach Brady Hoke:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Number one, give Notre Dame credit for how they played. It was a total butt-kicking all the way around."</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
Step off, Balrog. You thought you had our number but we totally turned Gandalf the White on your ass. <br />
<br />
Feel free to savor that for like the next two decades.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Double Double, Toil and Trouble...</b><br />
<br />
I'm just going to say this now, even though it's only two games in and too soon to call it: something special's brewing in South Bend.<br />
<br />
I'm not saying it to be cocky and I'm not worried about jinxing us (though feel free to knock on wood if you like); it's just a deep-down feeling in my gut, and it's been there ever since I walked out of the stadium Saturday night.<br />
<br />
The crowd was different than I expected. Not rowdy or raucous or even necessarily electric. Just fierce. Because it wasn't a game filled with the thrill of a comeback or sudden, violent twists of fortune (despite the turnovers); it was a page-turning ADVENTURE, where from beginning to end, no matter what potential peril loomed ahead, everything always turned out all right. And you don't keep going along with the story because you want to see more peril; you keep going because every freaking page is full of WIN.<br />
<br />
Even if an undeniable part of the glee over beating the Wolverines is fueled by a borderline vicious desire to have the last laugh, the energy in the stadium was not one of anger or revenge; it was more the exuberant energy of JOY. Pure celebration. And contentment. Like lying on the beach reading your favorite book all day while people bring you free drinks kind of contentment. That sleepy, assured certainty pooling deep in your stomach that ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD, and whatever disasters are going on elsehwere, whatever uncertainties or doubts or pitfalls lie in our future, they cannot touch you at this moment. Nothing can touch you. At this moment, YOU ARE INVINCIBLE. And you do not want it to end.<br />
<br />
In all honesty: the loudest thing I heard coming out of the student section all night was a booming chorus of "Notre Dame Our Mother," followed by most of the students just standing around for a while, not wanting the night to end. So naturally everyone went home and watched replays, accompanied by sudden uncontrollable bouts of maniacal laughter. (Well, okay. Maybe that was just me.)<br />
<br />
But anyway. My point is--for most of 2012, it felt like we were playing with a chip on our shoulders. We had a year of amazing, nailbiting victories--of questions that needed to be answered, points that had to be proved. Our squad that year was driven by the defense; its heart and soul was undeniably Manti Te'o. And when Te'o got crushed by a hideous catcfishing scam, the team likewise faltered and went down hard. (That's my narrative and I'm sticking to it.) <br />
<br />
But the team that played Michigan Saturday night? No questions. Only answers. As Coach Kelly noted in the post-game presser:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But, this team [...] probably its success is really in its youth.
There's young guys out there that are playing for this football team,
and we have embraced that. [...] It's a group of kids that has bonded really well
together on both sides of the ball.
So, it's not really just one side. It's not just the defense. It's
not just the offense. When we won 12 games, it was definitely a
defensive group that kind of led that. This, they feed off of each
other one both sides of the ball.
</blockquote>
<br />
The team that was in the stadium Saturday night put forth an effort so complete, so unified, so viscerally <i>present</i> that our mistakes didn't matter. We made mistakes, but we absorbed them the way readers absorb minor typos in an otherwise perfect manuscript: we glossed right over them and moved on. <br />
<br />
<br />
As Lou Holtz reminds us, you don't have to be the best team in
the country. you just have to be the best team in the stadium every
week. So we don't need to play perfect every week. We just need to play like THAT every week. Not like we're out to prove something; just like we're out there to PLAY. If we play every game the way we played Saturday, we will win every game on our schedule.<br />
<br />
Anyway. I know it's too early in the season to be saying any of this and that everyone is looking forward to Stanford as the next big test. But our goose-egg defeat of the Skunkbears isn't the kind of game you see every day. Or every decade. And I am just saying. If we keep this up--if we believe in Mt. Everett, the man who cannot be brought down--if we believe in a full-team effort led by the Prodigol5on.... There's something special about to start brewing in South Bend.<br />
<br />
And in the meantime:<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT BOILERS!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-MPIgJ5EC7wlTxQ3ezuDvXHVrjmu0yC_Rf8CzFJWxLOXo956sRiZuCc8nTRz0LBi2lk6pMZrtM2Y4O5kYGFjh0meQqqwqOxX6HDWQFpaZ68rXEOTXB9CsFfEc9GQ7_S5DfpgOmrEyBkxE/s1600/van+gorder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-MPIgJ5EC7wlTxQ3ezuDvXHVrjmu0yC_Rf8CzFJWxLOXo956sRiZuCc8nTRz0LBi2lk6pMZrtM2Y4O5kYGFjh0meQqqwqOxX6HDWQFpaZ68rXEOTXB9CsFfEc9GQ7_S5DfpgOmrEyBkxE/s1600/van+gorder.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-51622889381676332552014-09-07T11:10:00.001-07:002014-09-07T11:18:09.142-07:00Notre-Dame Michigan Postgame Tweets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Because there's nothing like reliving the moment over and over in 140 characters or less.<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a>-<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Michigan?src=hash">#Michigan</a>, two rivals going at it for the last scheduled time: <a href="http://t.co/zGURo6HVFp">http://t.co/zGURo6HVFp</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IrishInsider?src=hash">#IrishInsider</a> <a href="http://t.co/oqZS0tmxAX">pic.twitter.com/oqZS0tmxAX</a><br />
— Observer Sports (@ObserverSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/ObserverSports/status/508253454423576577">September 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
<h3>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Last season: lost 41-30 at the Big House. Michigan plays the chicken dance to bid us farewell.</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Notre Dame fans remain unintimidated.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Good morning, everyone. This is a reminder that Michigan still sucks.<br />
— Ryan Ritter (@HLS_NDtex) <a href="https://twitter.com/HLS_NDtex/status/508261369201065984">September 6, 2014</a></blockquote>
<h3>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Game Day: Under the Lights</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="http://t.co/Vnc6qwRx4f">pic.twitter.com/Vnc6qwRx4f</a><br />
— Matt Cashore (@mattcashore) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattcashore/status/508460023446786048">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<h3>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
1st half: Notre Dame 21, Michigan 0 </h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth" - Mike Tyson<br />
— Romeo Okwara (@RomeoND45) <a href="https://twitter.com/RomeoND45/status/508456477145989120">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<h3>
2nd half: Notre Dame continues to exceed expectations. Van Gorder lives the dream.</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Notre Dame Defensive Coordinator VanGorder is pumped! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> <a href="https://t.co/KX7FKcT8un">https://t.co/KX7FKcT8un</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/vineapp">@vineapp</a><br />
— Robert J. Szczerba (@RJSzczerba) <a href="https://twitter.com/RJSzczerba/status/508621546605121536">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
THATS THE KIND OF BAT OUTTA HELL CRAZY I WANT ON MY DEFENSIVE COACHING STAFF<br />
— Irish Elvis (@IrishElvis) <a href="https://twitter.com/IrishElvis/status/508446458279112704">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Van Gorder's basically a walking GIF anyway<br />
— Spencer Hall (@edsbs) <a href="https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/508451968797253632">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<h4>
<script height="381px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid=5e83fc845d86487e88b6953600eaff54&ec=xuY3A1cDrHjAGbugQd4FXCBK_4DWdtCu" width="672px"></script> </h4>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
4th quarter: Better than the chicken dance </h3>
<h4>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/105465568" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </h4>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Final Score:</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Here y'go... <a href="http://t.co/XwkO2zyo44">pic.twitter.com/XwkO2zyo44</a><br />
— Matt Cashore (@mattcashore) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattcashore/status/508655007026401280">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<h4>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> </h4>
<h3>
Postgame: Everything Is Awesome</h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
You guys I am like stupid happy right now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDvsMICH?src=hash">#NDvsMICH</a>
<a href="https://t.co/TQKy12Pmw1">https://t.co/TQKy12Pmw1</a><br />
— shamrockhead (@shamrockhead) <a href="https://twitter.com/shamrockhead/status/508464628641562624">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Michigan didn't run a play in the red zone in the entire game. Unbelievable.<br />
— Irish Illustrated (@NDatRivals) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDatRivals/status/508454696676499456">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
ICYMI, the Michigan bus hasn't been able to get out of the parking lot. Apparently some joker painted a 20-yard line in front of it.<br />
— First Down Moses (@1stDownMoses) <a href="https://twitter.com/1stDownMoses/status/508471557413289985">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Only note that matters: Michigan hadn't been shutout in an NCAA record 376 games before tonight (Oct. 27, 1984) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bertschybits?src=hash">#bertschybits</a><br />
— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDsidBertschy/status/508451060865040384">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
The last time Michigan was shut out was like two hours ago at Notre Dame.<br />
— Chris W. (@rakesofmallow) <a href="https://twitter.com/rakesofmallow/status/508470940234444800">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<h3>
Sunday Morning: </h3>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
1st ICON from FIDM- <a href="http://t.co/qKF1zBSFkk">http://t.co/qKF1zBSFkk</a>
Last def play from the student section & locker room reaction to ending UM's scoring streak!<br />
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) <a href="https://twitter.com/FightingIrish/status/508661402765361152">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a> is up to No. 11 in the coaches poll.<br />
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) <a href="https://twitter.com/Matt_Fortuna/status/508646935364788224">September 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-80188818247094853362014-09-06T11:00:00.001-07:002014-09-06T22:52:40.006-07:00Game Day Scavenger Hunt: Michigan Week<b>Game Day Scavenger Hunt</b><br />
<br />
It's a long way to kickoff. You should tweet me pictures of your ND-Michigan game day preparations @shamrockhead<br />
<br />
See if you can capture any of these gems:<br />
-Cars plastered with Notre Dame paraphernalia<br />
-People painted entirely green<br />
-People wearing kilts (who aren't the Irish Guard)<br />
-People dressed up as nuns and priests<br />
-Wait...actual nuns and priests<br />
-People taking Touchdown Jesus pictures in front of Touchdown Jesus<br />
-Tailgates with pirate flags<br />
-Someone wearing outrageously tricked-out Notre Dame tennis shoes (I know at least one person who has a pair)<br />
-Someone who's converted an XXL version of "The Shirt" into a dress<br />
-Dogs wearing spirit gear (not that I generally condone dogs wearing people clothing--I am just saying)<br />
-The person wearing the most rally beads<br />
-A bloody mary with an absurd amount of garnish<br />
-Notre Dame fans photobombing Michigan fans<br />
-People dressed up like leprechauns (who aren't the actual leprechaun)<br />
-Random road signs (or, you know, Burger King signs) cheering on the Irish<br />
-The tailgate that looks most like a formal banquet<br />
-Food purposely shaped like footballs. Or shamrocks.<br />
-Cornhole<br />
-Muck Fichigan shirts<br />
-Anything so ridiculous it must be photographed<br />
-Anyone not on campus who is still tailgating like a boss<br />
<br />
Send them to me @shamrockhead and I will
compile them into a Game Day Photo Post. Dooooo ittttttttttt.<br />
<br />LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-6724330818005178902014-09-06T10:56:00.000-07:002014-09-06T10:59:24.352-07:00Notre Dame Football: Last Night of the Skunkbear EditionI confess it: the season snuck up on me. The summer, the cheating
scandals, the potential unionization of college football players, the
ridiculous four-team playoff system that . I saw it all coming
(well--maybe not the entire ND cheating scandal, but since that's
indelibly intertwined with all the other major issues in college
football it is, alas, is another post for another time). And I let it
sneak up on me anyway.<br />
<br />
I didn't have time to collect my thoughts before the Rice game, and
sure as our special teams unit (NEWS FLASH: special teams unit now live
-- good field position now available in all locations -- no limits on
exchanges or returns) I didn't have time to write anything after. But
it's Michigan week--the Last Night of the Skunkbear for probably
twenty-odd years. I can't let that pass in silence.<br />
<br />
First things first - I'm going to sum up some of my thoughts with<br />
<br />
<b>Shit I Didn't Have to Write</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11474578" target="_blank">ESPN College GameDay's spot this morning</a> about about walk-ons, featuring this choice
quote from ND Running Back Tyler Plantz:<br />
<blockquote>
-How much did last semester's tuition cost you?<br />
-Nine grand.<br />
-Worth it?<br />
-I would've paid nine million</blockquote>
The <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/odds/2014/9/5/6099847/michigan-vs-notre-dame-betting-odds-preview-and-pick" target="_blank">Odds from SB Nation:</a> <br />
<blockquote>
The Michigan Wolverines are 6-2 SU and ATS in their last eight games
against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but just 2-6 at South Bend
since 1998.<br />
Despite their recent success in this series, the Wolverines are the
betting underdog this Saturday going off at +5 on the road against Notre
Dame.<br />
<br />
Everett Golson has never lost a regular season game under center at
Notre Dame, improving to 13-0 SU and 8-5 ATS all-time in last
Saturday's win over Rice. He is poised to improve to 14-0 when he leads
the Fighting Irish to a win and cover as a 5-point favorite over
Michigan on Saturday.<br />
To pull off the road upset, Michigan will likely need to get the
running game going against a Notre Dame defense that is replacing five
of last year's seven starters in the front seven.</blockquote>
<br />
The West Wing clip: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wbc2DLPI7OI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<blockquote>
Did you say Michigan sucks? I'm sorry, I thought you said Michigan sucks. </blockquote>
<br />
SI.com's
take on the<a href="http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/09/05/perfect-saturday-week-two-tv-guide" target="_blank"> Last Known Matchup Between ND and Michigan</a> For Some Tim: <br />
<blockquote>
"Much like energy, a rivalry can neither be created nor destroyed.
So, Michigan’s hatred for Notre Dame will (probably) turn into more
hate for Ohio State. Notre Dame’s disdain for Michigan will
(presumably) scatter all over this great nation."</blockquote>
<br />
I don't really feel the need to defend Notre Dame's scheduling
choices to Michigan fans (in the same that way I don't feel the need to
waste my breath arguing integrity with USC fans), but since the
ND-Michigan game is going on hiatus for an indeterminate number of
years (which, let's face it, is another traditional part of the
rivalry), it's hard to resist quoting Lou:<br />
<blockquote>
I just want all Michigan alums and administration to know--it's not
that we're not playing you because we're afraid of you. We're not
playing you because we're trying to upgrade the damn schedule.</blockquote>
<br />
But really, nothing sums up my thoughts on the Michigan rivalry
better than <a href="http://www.bluegraysky.com/michigan-letter.html" target="_blank">Blue-Gray Sky's letter to Michigan fans:</a> <br />
<br />
<blockquote>
In the end, perhaps we do owe the Skunkbears a few more
tokens of thanks. If Yost hadn't taken his ball and gone home, perhaps
we would now be in the Big Ten, and our idea of football excellence
would entail two or three losses per year and a trip to the Rose Bowl
twice a decade. But instead, you blackballed us, and tried to choke us
out of existence. You should have finished the job. We survived, and
because too many teams were under Michigan's villainous spell in the
Midwest, we were forced to look elsewhere to find quality opponents. And
we did. We scheduled and played the nationwide champions of the day:
Army, Southern Cal, Georgia Tech, Stanford, and many others. We
criss-crossed the country, we were Rockne's Ramblers, taking on all
comers, what tho' the odds. In doing so, we won national acclaim,
respect, and the hearts of countless Americans. It was Michigan's
attempt to stamp out a budding rival that created the nation's most
popular and successful football program, the University of Notre Dame's
Fighting Irish.
<br />
</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
This is why we don't approach the Michigan game with the same
tradition-laden respect, the pomp and circumstance, or the "contest of
equals" honor reserved for the Southern Cal game. Rather, like Inigo
Montoya closing in on the six-fingered man, we come with a singular
focus. <b>We are Notre Dame Football. You tried to kill us. Prepare to die.</b></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>How Sweet it is (to be Loathed by You)</b><br />
<br />
You guys...I kind of love to hate Michigan. It's oddly satisfying:
like popping a pimple or demolishing a sandcastle or squashing a fly.
It's a destructive energy--a homage to entropy--a union with the
inevitable decomposition of the universe and a visceral representation
of the state of Michigan's defense once Everett Golson's finished
shredding them to pieces tonight.<br />
<br />
Playing Michigan isn't the same as playing USC. Playing the Trojans
(loathed as they are) sort of has a pomp to it--like the approach you
might have to a yearly, organized fight-to-the-death between two
patronizing and highly aggressive city-states. Or playing MSU, which
feels more like fighting with a rude neighbor whose pitbull keeps
trespassing on your lawn. Or playing f@$*ing Pittsburgh, which isn't
even a rivalry game but which is lot like trying to fight the actual
pitbull trespassing on your lawn. Every time Pitt plays Notre Dame,
they play us like they've contracted f*$&-ing rabies. (Guess who I
am NOT SORRY to not be be playing this season.)<br />
<br />
But watching Notre Dame play Michigan is like watching two kids
brawling in the schoolyard; kids who can't even pass each other in the
halls without throwing a punch. Like James Potter versus Severus Snape.
Or no, actually, since there is no scenario in which Michigan is cool
enough to be either of those characters. So really it's more like Molly
Weasley vs. Bellatrix Lestrange.<br />
<br />
And we must destroy the Bellatrix Lestranges of the universe. We
must crush them, like cockroaches, under the heels of our vengeance. We
must charge into our final meeting roaring with enough fury to last a
century:<br />
<br />
NOT IN OUR STADIUM, BITCH.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpTwU3jv-D42l6WzitMt0oacdA3eTqyGD0UmyHonYyWf6AeEtvcKf8ThxlmQqWtpE0jgnpad3ElH-qyx6V49prxJze7tQEit4T-fQ4jI7RUvh6tW225WXsh1uP4Sgca2wPUDYO6wywMSJ/s1600/teo+yell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpTwU3jv-D42l6WzitMt0oacdA3eTqyGD0UmyHonYyWf6AeEtvcKf8ThxlmQqWtpE0jgnpad3ElH-qyx6V49prxJze7tQEit4T-fQ4jI7RUvh6tW225WXsh1uP4Sgca2wPUDYO6wywMSJ/s1600/teo+yell.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">^This is the last time we beat Michigan. I am just saying.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">GO IRISH BEAT WOLVERINES</span></b>LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-37585209218119472562013-12-28T08:06:00.000-08:002014-08-08T08:07:35.111-07:00Notre Dame Football: Stumped<div class="_5k3v _5k3w clearfix">
<div>
So...if each season is like a
forest, and each team is like a tree, then at the end of this season our
tree is one of the nice, tall, leafy-looking ones with four of its
limbs hacked off.<br />
<br />
For most of the year, we've looked
strong and sturdy enough to weather our weekly storm. If you compare our
manner of weathering the week to our opponents', I think you'll find
few deficiencies so grievous that they should have resulted in loss of
limb. We could have made it through the season with more of our branches
intact. Maybe all of them. But we didn't.<br />
<br />
There were
times it seemed we'd contracted turnover-causing termites that began
chewing our offense out from the inside. There were other times it
seemed we'd suffered from an obscure defensive disease that sapped our
game-winning strength and softened the bite of our bark until it looked
as though we were ready to drop leaves and go into hibernation,
mid-season. But we didn't do that, either. We came back with all the
force of an angry Ent to purge our weaknesses and defend our turf on
Senior Day. Unfortunately, this surge of rage-limbed prowess didn't last
long enough to vanquish those tree-appropriating orcs from California.
And now we're left, slightly battered, to face a lackluster opponent in a
baseball-themed bowl game in NYC.<br />
<br />
Which pretty much sums
up the sawed-through feeling of our season. 8-4 is not always a bad
year. But after last year's marvelous 12-0, anything less was going to
be a downer. Even if we were expecting it to be a downer season. Even if
the downer really started at the end of last season, when we lost to
Alabama in the championship game. It was no given that this year's team
was going to match last year's squad in strength of spirit or
execution--but I think there was some general feeling that with so many
returning starters on defense, the acorn should not have fallen quite so
far from last year's tree.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I get the frustrated
notion that it would be nice if we didn't have to start over every
single year with brand-new foliage. I mean...isn't there some way to
avoid this starting-from-sapling feeling? Can't we just transplant the
mighty victorious strength of last season, prune the limbs, and grow
ever mightier, year by year?<br />
<br />
But you can't do that,
really. You can't uproot roots if you expect them to stay strong. Let
the memories grow tall and the branches grow thick enough to build a
treehouse on--and then you can stuff it full of memorabilia and string
up Ye Olde Rope Ladder to Yesteryear, and go up whenever you want to
take admiring looks around, and ruminate over things like Manti Te'o
(before he became associated with jokes involving moustache-tentacled
aquatic animals of any kind)...or magnificent, heart-stopping goal-line
stands...orsigns lit up atop Grace Hall...or Bob Diaco's hair. Or what
have you.<br />
<br />
And then you can clamber back down and face the
reality of this season, which actually looks kind of similar to last
season, only with less last-second victories and a lot more grinding of
potential wins into a pile of woody pulp.<br />
<br />
That's what I
see when I look back on this season. Not the eight wins, not the things
we did right, not the flashy potential of our younger starters--but the
sawdust-scented pile of mulch we're going to have to use to sow our plot
for next season.<br />
<br />
This doesn't feel optimistic enough for
Christmastime. Probably it would be better if I did a fun clever
look-back at all the high points of our season. And there were plenty,
it's true. You could put together a very nice highlight reel of us
outscoring ASU in Texas; beating USC at home; laying the ever-loving
smackdown on Air Force; winning on Senior Day four years in a row.<br />
<br />
But it's all over now--<em>finito</em>--and
we didn't make it to the BCS, and there are few things to be excited
about in the coming bowl game, unless maybe you're using it as an excuse
to party in NYC. Or perhaps you are privately rejoicing that at least
you'll be able to watch this game without having a complete heart attack
over the outcome. (We hope.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Pinstriped</strong><br />
<br />
So I gather that there were some good reasons Notre Dame wanted to play in the Pinstripe Bowl. Namely:<br />
A)
We didn't have enough wins to qualify for a BCS Bowl, and we don't have
any tie-ins with the ACC bowls until next season-ish, so our options
were basically the Pinstripe Bowl or the Hawaii Bowl (or maybe the
Holiday Bowl? But ASU's playing in the holiday bowl, and we already
played them, so possibly that's why we didn't go there). I'm not
entirely sure why we accepted our bowl game a week earlier than most
other teams...the only reason I can fathom is:<br />
<br />
B) We
weren't expecting Rutgers to actually make it to six wins. If Rutgers
had lost, we probably would have been matched up with an 8-4 Houston
team. Although I also recall reading that if we had been matched up
against Houston, we would've had the option to "buy out" our opponent
(since Houston doesn't really have a conference tie-in with the
Pinstripe Bowl) and get some other opponent that would've given us more
of a "headliner" kind of game (which totally sounds like the kind of
thing Notre Dame would do...but this is all complete hearsay so don't
quote me on any of this). Other reasons we accepted the Pinstripe Bowl
bid include:<br />
<br />
C) Notre Dame wants to keep up good relations with the Steinbrenner family, and:<br />
<br />
D) Seemed like a good opportunity to play for all the alums/subway alums in the NYC area.<br />
<br />
Which is fine. And all makes sense. And...whatever.<br />
<br />
But
my number-one greatest hope for this season (after we lost to Michigan)
was that we would play a ranked team in a bowl game and <em>win</em>.<br />
<br />
And
instead we're playing a .500 Rutgers team. I would say nobody is happy
about this, but actually I've been hearing a lot of binary opinions
about our postseason matchup.<br />
<br />
<em>Opinion #1:</em> It's a shame.<br />
<br />
...that
we accepted this bowl bid, that we're not playing a more evenly-matched
opponent, that we're playing someplace cold (where we've already
played), that the season had to end this way when we had so much
potential to do better (etc etc). Some of which A) sounds like an insult
to Rutgers, and also B) makes it sound like we've completely forgotten
the fact that football is a game (which people ostensibly play for fun),
and that despite any personal disgruntlement we may have with the
completely excessive number of bowl games and the ridiculous amounts of
corporate money flying around, this is nonetheless an excellent
opportunity for many of these 18-to-22-year-old players to visit one of
the greatest cities in the world and experience some of its sights and
culture in a way they may not have had a chance to when they played Army
in Yankee Stadium during the regular season three years ago. (And so
on.)<br />
<br />
Opinion #2: It's awesome.<br />
<br />
...because
we're going to watch Notre Dame kick the shit out of somebody, so the
whole day is totally going to be an excuse to drink and have fun. Right,
guys?<br />
<br />
Which also sounds like an insult to Rutgers (sorry,
Scarlet Knights). We are 14-point favorites, which seems reasonable
enough, given our respective seasons, but my general opinion on the game
is this:<br />
<br />
Brian Kelly didn't come here to win the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.<br />
<br />
Neither did our players.<br />
<br />
Look,
I know this is the point in the season when you're supposed to lick
your wounds and move on (or whatever)--but from everything every athlete
has ever said about losing a big game: all you want after a loss is a
chance to get back out there and play again.<br />
<br />
After you
lose the national championship game, you don't get that chance. Playing
again is not an option. All you have left is the weight room and the
off-season and the choice to work, work, work to get back where you
were. So you can try again. So you can WIN. Which you know may never
happen. But you were JUST THERE. It makes the whole idea of getting back
there seem not just possible, but tangible.<br />
<br />
Never mind
what the press said or what you thought the outcome of the 2013 season
was going to be. Never mind the graduating players or the injuries or
the losses in personnel. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking
about the schedule Notre Dame posted in the locker room at the beginning
of the season that had a slot for "January 7, 2014 - BCS National
Championship Game." Maybe it smacked of hubris, putting it on the
actual wall. But as a coach, as a player--as a <em>human being</em>--getting
that close to attaining something that big and walking away empty? OF
COURSE they want to go back and try again. OF COURSE that's the goal.<br />
<br />
But
this whole season became less an exercise in victory and fortitude than
an exercise in scaling back expectations. If we can't make it to a
championship, then let's make it to a BCS Bowl. If not a BCS Bowl, then
let's at least anoint ourselves well enough to make it to a good bowl
game against a well-matched opponent. And if we can't have that,
well...okay...let's just at least make sure we play in a bowl game.
Right? Even if it's a bowl game nobody's ever heard of and we're
expected to trollop our opponent. Because that's what the postseason's
all about. I mean...the post-season's definitely NOT about all of the
best teams in the country getting the chance to play one another in a
series of increasingly exciting and meaningful match-ups culminating in
the crowning of a national champion. Because that would be insanity.<br />
<br />
On
the one hand, who am I to complain about being able to flip on the TV
practically any time of day for the next week and a half and find a
college football game on or soon-to-be-played? And as a former college
band member, I cannot help thinking every college band member (or, you
know, football player) should have an awesome bowl game trip experience.
But seriously guys--this is kind of lame. There are too many bowls and
there are too many teams going to bowls that have barely scraped .500
records, and you end up with matchups like this one, which you can be
sort-of excited about, but not really, because if we win, then no big
deal. But if we lose? Horrific.<br />
<br />
I'm really not trying to
be offensive to Rutgers; I haven't watched the Scarlet Knights play this
season and I don't know anything about this year's team other than that
they limped their way to six wins, and then their head coach fired a
bunch of his coordinators (presumably because he thought they should've
gotten more than six wins). So probably Rutgers is more talented than
their record indicates. They've gone to bowl games 8 of the last 9
years, including a victory in the Pinstripe Bowl two years ago against
Iowa State. So, you know, they've covered this ground before. Rutgers
knows how to play in the postseason.<br />
<br />
I just feel like
watching this game is going to be like watching another Sun Bowl or
Hawaii Bowl. It'll be fun, of course, but this time around it doesn't
mean much of anything. It's not like we're recruiting Manti Te'o. And
we're not facing off against an old-school foe like Miami. I mean, the
last time we played Rutgers we beat them 42-0 (that's just off the top
of my head, but I'm pretty sure that's right because I was there). And
we don't have anything to prove in the way of "yes, we can win bowl
games," because we HAVE been winning bowl games. Just not against ranked
opponents. Which we can't accomplish today, so that will leave me way
too much time during the game to ruminate over the off-season and how
the departure of Chuck Martin and Bob Diaco might affect recruiting and
whether Everett Golson might genuinely get beaten out by Malik Zaire
(seems unlikely, but you never know).<br />
<br />
Well, anyway.
Obviously the game's in like ninety minutes so you don't need me to
babble to you about it anymore (or leave you on a total downer). Let's
just finish out this season looking nice and leafy--and see if we can't
find some nice-looking acorns to take with us into next season.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT RUTGERS!<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/996076_10101085802864207_1560787012_n.jpg?oh=9ce88d9d6103392e26bfa37ecee09d7b&oe=5470C643" title="" /></span></div>
</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-59694519099312882392013-11-24T20:09:00.001-08:002013-11-24T20:09:19.382-08:00Notre Dame Football: Senior Day Snow BowlFirst things first--you might want to watch the ICON video from this
week. It features choice game highlights, snippets of Coach Kelly's
locker room speeches, and several extremely fierce Hawaiians:<br />
<br />
http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/112313aab.html#ooid=VxZzVvaDq7_WzmRPbO-IzG3EvwbKucVI<br />
<br />
<b>Epic Bulldog</b><br />
I've
long thought that Brian Kelly looks a bit like a bulldog when he gets
angry on the sidelines. His jowls quiver. His jaw clenches. He sometimes
looks like he's prepared to latch onto the ref's arm and shake it in
fury until the refs make the correct call.<br />
<br />
At some point
during the BYU game, in the midst of some furious texting, one of my
friends posited that Brian Kelly's sideline rants were nothing short of
epic, and I said yes. They are epic.<br />
<br />
Epic bulldog.<br />
<br />
If
you are skeptical, then you should definitely watch the ICON video from
this week. Zoom ahead to approximately the 2:47 mark, and check out
Brian Kelly yelling at the team during halftime: <b><i>"I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHAT I SEE</i></b>."<br />
<br />
Because if that's not Epic Bulldog, then I don't know what is.<br />
<br />
So here's to you, Brian Kelly, and the first graduating class at ND that you've coached for all four years.<br />
<br />
This
is an interesting class, because next year is the first year Brian
Kelly will be graduating a class of seniors that he both recruited and
coached. This year's seniors, by and large, were brought in by Charlie
Weis to play his pro-style system--and we've seen some bumps in the road
as Brian Kelly attempted to work some of these less-versatile players
into a "you-must-be-versatile" system.<br />
<br />
Last year's senior
class had a little more flash, fame, and obvious NFL futures (not to
knock Louis Nix, of course), but this year's senior class has done some
things no senior class has done for a while. Like winning on Senior Day
four years in a row. Beating USC 3 times. Going 11-1 in Notre Dame
stadium over the last 12 home games. Playing for the national
championship. And, you know, playing in bowl games four years in a row
(which, btw senior band members, I am not jealous of you for at ALL).
The overall record under Brian Kelly is 35-13, which puts us at a .729
win percentage--the best mark for any head coach at Notre Dame since Lou
Holtz (.765). (Just think--if only we'd had a better showing against
Alabama, we could've continued with the grand tradition of Notre Dame
coaches winning a national championship in their third season.)<br />
<br />
So
it's frustrating to think that this season is, somehow, a
disappointment. At the beginning of the year, the team was talking about
gunning for a national championship, which without Everett Golson
seemed unlikely at best...and then we had to recalibrate to aim for a
BCS bowl...and then for an outside BCS berth...and now we're mostly
thinking we'll be lucky if we can beat Stanford. It's the opposite of
the trajectory we had last season, and that makes it harder to swallow.<br />
<br />
Part
of the reason these losses have been so bitter and untenable--and the
reason I was so pessimistic yesterday--is because NONE of our losses
were out of reach. It was mostly mental mistakes. Lack of edge. Lack of
focus. And I bemoaned our ability to get the edge back.<br />
<br />
But we did. And on Senior Day, no less.<br />
<br />
<b>Sayonara, Seniors</b><br />
<br />
The
goal on Senior Day is no different than the goal on any other day: win.
But Senior Day always feels a bit different, because it marks the
beginning of the end. The end of the season. The end of the year. The
end of college, for those being honored. It's surreal, that "last time,"
because it both does and doesn't feel like the last time at all. By the
time you're a senior, it just feels familiar. Game Day is something
you've done twenty-three times already. Your brain knows the routine too
well already; the majority of that gray sludgy mass in your head
refuses to acknowledge that anything about this is different or new.
Besides--it's not like it's the <i>last </i>last game. There's always that game in California over Thanksgiving. And if you're lucky, a bowl game.<br />
<br />
And
then, of course, there's the entire rest of your life to come back and
tailgate and sneak into the student section and watch the players get
progressively younger and younger while you grow old giving yourself
ulcers over last-second touchdowns. Until one day you start saying,
"When I was a student..." and you realize you don't actually know
anybody who goes to school here anymore. Which brings you to
approximately Phase VII of the life cycle of a Notre Dame Student.<br />
<br />
(And since I just made that up right now, I guess I'd better elaborate on what the phases are:<br />
Phase I: Prospective Student <i>"Please pick me oh please pick me oh please oh please oh please"</i><br />
Phase II: Eager Student "<i>COLLEGE IS THE GREATEST THING EVER"</i><br />
Phase III: Disillusioned Student <i>"I am so sick of dining hall food. I can't believe anybody pays for this. I never want to eat at South AGAIN."</i><br />
Phase IV: First-semester Senior "<i>My brain never really came back from study abroad..."</i><br />
Phase V: Second-semester Senior "<i>Oh God Oh God WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE?"</i><br />
Phase V: Poor Young Alumni "<i>Wait, I have to donate HOW much to get into the football lottery next year?"</i><br />
Phase VI: Old Young Alumni "<i>Guys, I don't know anybody who lives in South Bend anymore. We're gonna have to get a hotel."</i><br />
Phase VII: Cranky Young Alumni "<i>Man, when I went to school here, quarter dogs were still twenty-five cents." </i><br />
Phase VIII: No Longer A Young Alumni "<i>Wait, I have to donate HOW much to get into the football lottery next year?"</i><br />
Phase IX - XI: TBD<br />
<br />
I
don't know how many phases there actually are, because I haven't
reached them yet. I suspect there are three more levels, and at least
one of them is "Crotchety Old Alumni Who Still Thinks The Students
Should Be All Guys." Though I suspect this will be modified by the time I
get there.)<br />
<br />
Anyway. Back to the football.<br />
<br />
So
on Senior Day, everything's the same, except you're kind of rooting for
all of the seniors to get playing time, in addition to the win. You
want to see those backup players take the field. You want to see Danny
Spond in full uniform again. (You want to see Zibby in at QB.) And when
you play a team like BYU, you know it's going to be nigh-impossible to
get a comfortable enough cushion to send out your third- and
fourth-string. Especially when your team's just had two weeks to mull
over an unconscionable loss to Pitt.<br />
<br />
So you worry. You obsess.<br />
<br />
And
then you watch in delight as your team comes out swinging, dominates
the line on both sides of the ball, and basically owns the field for the
majority of the game.<br />
<br />
Mental edge = recovered.<br />
<br />
And it's sharper than a vorpal blade. Or a subtle knife. Or the sword that cut the ring from Sauron's finger.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Gunning for Touchdown Mode</b><br />
<br />
Tommy
Rees has two modes: Touchdown Mode and Turnover Mode. Yesterday, we
mostly saw touchdown mode, but I guess Tommy couldn't resist throwing
one more pick in the endzone (you know...for old time's sake)<b>. </b>I
don't mean to be hard on Tommy (yes, I do), but hey, the kid's tough.
He's done everything that's been asked of him, and he's done it with
aplomb (you know, except when he's busy throwing interceptions). And he
always comes back fighting. That's become true of this team as well:
even when they've suffered a knuckle-headed loss, even when they're
getting run over in a national championship loss to Alabama--they come
back fighting.<br />
<br />
I guess I shouldn't have doubted this
senior class would make a mental comeback on Senior Day. After all--on
Senior Day, they've never lost. The senior-class mindset was perhaps
epitomized most fully by linebacker Dan Fox, who led the D with 9
tackles, and obscene amount of focus, and probably the best game of his
entire career.<br />
<br />
But what's most impressive about this win,
perhaps, was the total team effort. The kind of effort we've been
expecting to see more of all season, where everyone's locked in,
everyone steps up--so that when your starting center goes down with a
season-ending injury in the middle of the game, the next man in plays so
well (and the rest of the team continues to perform so consistently)
that you hardly notice the switch was made at all.<br />
<br />
So many
of the players who helped us corral the Cougars yesterday weren't
seniors at all: Tarean Folston, who scored the first TD of the game; Cam
McDaniel, who kept us barreling forward on the ice-slicked ground;
DaVaris Daniels, who had the two biggest catches of the game; Jarron
Jones, who had 7 tackles and a blocked kick; and Kyle Brindza, who, when
they said they were sending the punt unit on the field prior to his
51-yd field goal, said "Are you kidding? That's in my range!"<br />
<br />
Now THAT's Notre Dame football.<br />
<br />
As Coach Kelly put it in his presser:<br />
<blockquote>
This is the way we need to play. This is what we're capable of playing. It's a much more physical brand of football. [...] <b> </b>I
think the Pittsburgh game was an anomaly for a number of reasons that I
just can't get into right now [...], and they had a chance to go out
and show in their last home game the kind of football team that they
really are.</blockquote>
<br />
<b>The Clash of the New Ivies & The Search for Self-Actualization</b><br />
<br />
So
as we head out to play our frenemies next week in Palo Alto, let's hope
that we continue to play like the football team we really are, instead
of a football team that looks like it got mugged twenty feet outside the
stadium and then ran onto the field with its pockets emptied of a
decent run-blocking scheme and proper tackling technique. (Sorry. Still
angry about the Pitt game)<br />
<br />
The 8th-ranked Cardinal (the
color, not the bird) have beaten five out of five ranked teams they've
faced; their two losses came against unranked Utah (26-20) and
then-unranked USC (20-17). This does not necessarily bode well for #25
Notre Dame (now ranked again in the BCS standings). On the one hand,
Notre Dame beat USC. On the other hand, Stanford beat Oregon.<br />
<br />
What
does bode well for us is the way we played against BYU. If we can keep
up that level of focus and avoid turnovers of any kind (excepting
possible leftovers from Thanksgiving), there's no reason we shouldn't be
able to control the line of scrimmage against the Cardinal. Also boding
well for the Irish is that Stanford seems to have taken its frustration
out on Cal this weekend (63-13), so hopefully they'll be facing the
Irish on an even keel.<br />
<br />
Although I have to say--for as much
as I deplore Stanford's band (for example), and for as much as I want
the Irish to win and prove (yet again) what they're made of--I'm kind of
frustrated that Stanford had the gall to lose to Utah and USC. We need
more teams like Stanford in the top 10, for the sake of college
football. To make a point about not compromising academic standards for
the sake of sport. We need these teams to win BCS bowls--if for no other
reason than to score a Pyrrhic victory in a war we may have already
lost.<br />
<br />
But in the meantime, I hope we both end this season 9-3.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT CARDINAL!<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/s720x720/1470303_10101048105639747_365764745_n.jpg" title="Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune" /></span><br />
<div class="caption">
Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-58654536727834825852013-11-23T01:00:00.000-08:002013-11-24T20:06:32.337-08:00Notre Dame Football: Points too late to matter<div class="_5k3v _5k3w clearfix">
<div>
<em>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of [a loss], I shall fear no [future losses], for thou art [football].</em><br />
<br />
And that is just how thou art.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Words too late to matter</strong><br />
I feel like I should apologize for how lackluster this is going to be.<br />
<br />
I
meant to write when the wound of the loss was still fresh and oozing,
riper than a spoiled pomegranate. I mean to write when I had the horror
of the game still clearly in my head; when words of yin and yang could
act as a balm to ease the sting of loss and my thoughts were still raw
enough to be wrung into clever metaphors. Instead I wrapped a bandage
over things and went about my business, while below the gauze things
bled and scabbed and then peeled off, only to scab and peel again. Now I
press at the tiny pinkish flesh where the wound has healed and find
that I don't know what words I had there at all.<br />
<br />
I recall
expounding on several theories in a series of frantic texts during the
Pitt game (because how can I understand my angst about sports except
through electronically-enabled cogitations?). I present them to you now
in no particular order and with no particular amount of relevance:<br />
<br />
1.
I feel like we've been playing a bowl game every week. I mean--our team
hasn't necessarily been playing like they're in a bowl game every week,
but I feel like our opponents have. I mean, I know people like to say
"every team gets up when they play Notre Dame," but that's not always
true. Sometimes we lay the smackdown (like at Air Force). And in some
seasons (let's face it) it's not always so hard to beat us.<br />
<br />
But
this season...Oklahoma and Arizona State looked like they were playing
us for the freaking Fiesta Bowl. Navy's game against the Irish was
near-perfect, even though we beat them; Oklahoma's game wasn't, even
though we lost. The Michigan game was the same old train wreck it's been
for the last five years, and the USC game is the only discernible
evidence that last year's defense came back to play this season. And
though we've got seven wins; though we can move the ball well; though
we've still got vestiges of the defensive adjustments we were able to
make last year...we can't win unless we play clean. And that's been
hit-or-miss. If we turn the ball over once, we'll turn it over twice.
And our opponents, for the most part, aren't making mistakes back. They
just let us shoot ourselves in the foot, watch us hobble around trying
to cover all the gaps in our defense, and dare us to win by sheer grit
and the skin of our teeth.<br />
<br />
The game against Pitt was
enough to take the last of our hope for a BCS berth and stab it to the
wall like a butterfly in the early days of entomology. <em>Look, folks! Look what they've caught. Look at the bright streaks of optimism in its wings! </em><br />
<br />
Maybe
this is all karma coming back to slap us in the face for beating Pitt
in overtime last season. Or for the way we won the MSU game this season.
<em>Win one game on penalties--yea, so thou shalt lose</em>.<br />
<br />
(............or not.)<br />
<br />
2.
The actual theory that I posited via text during the game: maybe we
lose all of our bowl games against ranked opponents because the whole
season is like one long bowl game for us. By the time we reach the end
of the regular season, we're so so mentally drained from having all of
our opponents swarm us like maggots in a meat market that we sink too
far into our rest, and we lose our edge.<br />
<br />
Mostly I posit
this because I used to get sick every spring break in college. Or any
school break, really. I'd run myself so ragged during the semester that
by the time I had time to rest, my body was like, "GREAT we are now
shutting down ENTIRELY." And I became totally useless for many days.<br />
<br />
Maybe
that's what happens to the team. Maybe you can only play so many bowl
games before your mental edge starts to dull--and then you give yourself
a break to sharpen up again, but you can't. You can't. Look at the
shape that blade's in. It would be easier to just melt it all down,
start things over and re-forge. So--essentially--that's what we do.<br />
<br />
Of
course, I do think we would have done better against Alabama if the
heart and soul of our defense hadn't been distracted by a HORRIBLE
CATFISHING SCAM for like two whole weeks before the game (yeah, I'm
sticking with the press-conference version on this one). But hey. What
can you do?<br />
<br />
3. We're still hungover from the national championship loss. Not mentally, this time. But physically.<br />
<br />
Because last season we <em>did</em>
have the mental edge in every game. His name was Manti Te'o. And this
was what allowed us to play so incredibly hard; what allowed us to make a
miraculous goal-line stand against Stanford and hang on for
every--single--win (save one).<br />
<br />
But you can't play that
hard for that long without it taking a toll. The defense put it all out
there, again and again and again, in a way you just <em>don't</em> in a
normal season. And then you get to the championship game and you lose
and your spirit breaks. You have no endorphins to temper the sheer ache
of your effort; no wave of euphoria to wash away your bruises and carry
you into next season. Instead, you feel the hurt. Every ache settles
deep in your bones. Bruises become proof of defeat instead of effort.
Joints throb like they're predicting the weather.<br />
<br />
And by next season, your whole defense shows up injured.<br />
<br />
Maybe
this sounds slightly mad. But even Manti Te'o's been injured this
season. [Also, I swear the same thing happened after the Bears lost to
the Colts in Superbowl XLI. Chicago's defense was so good that they
carried the team to the championship--despite the best efforts of Rex
Grossman to turn the ball over as many times as he possibly could
(including one memorable Monday night game in which Grossman threw six
interceptions and the Bears still won)--then they lost to Peyton Manning
(who is afraid of literally no defense ever), and the following season
half the defense came back injured and they went 7-9. Perhaps there were
other extenuating factors but I really don't remember now.]<br />
<br />
To
further our defensive woes, Louis Nix is now out for the rest of the
season due to knee surgery and will most likely abscond for the NFL next
year. (Not that we can blame him, I guess; he's graduating in January,
so he'll have his senior day this weekend...and if there's any concern
about potential future injuries, probably better to face those fears in
the NFL than risk getting hurt again in college and not get drafted at
all. Though it is sad we won't be able to see him play out all four
years of eligibility.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>The valley of the shadow </strong><br />
<br />
I
can't rehash the Pitt game. I can't do it. If I was going to, I
would've done it weeks ago, and maybe it would've involved a metaphor
form the Count of Monte Cristo about how we're all either kings or pawns
(and Pitt got to be king-of-the-moment)....but if anyone's still trying
to figure out what happened against Pitt (besides some truly outrageous
penalties), I don't know, either. The answer's probably turnovers.<br />
<br />
Notre
Dame has turned the ball over thirteen times this season--10
interceptions and 3 fumbles lost. However, we've also gained the ball
ten times from our opponents, so overall our turnover margin is -3.
Which, uh, sounds slightly better but still is not exactly great.<br />
<br />
Here's the part of this statistic that matters most:<br />
In Notre Dame's wins this season, our overall turnover margin has been +4.<br />
The cumulative turnover margin for our losses is -8.<br />
<br />
This pretty much sums up Notre Dame's entire season: if we can hold onto the damn ball, we can win the game.<br />
If we can't, we're screwed.<br />
<br />
More or less.<br />
<br />
I
think this is the part of the rant where I'm supposed to give you an
inspiring speech about Senior Day, but actually all I'm thinking about
right now is my own Senior Day. Aka the day everyone almost froze to
death watching us lose to a 2-7 Syracuse team. Aka the Worst Senior Day
Ever.<br />
<br />
In an attempt to eradicate this horrific mental
image, I've been reading bits of Coach Kelly's presser (about how Tommy
Rees is always the first one to show up for practice and the last one to
leave). And scrolling through my Twitter feed (@<strong>Kegsneggs </strong>I have no idea what is targeting.<em> </em>// @<strong>KeithArnold</strong>
Neither do the rest of us. I think Stephon Tuitt just knocked down a
dorm in frustration.) And reminding myself that somewhere beneath this
festering canker of frustration, I know that this team is better than
its record; that we had no business losing to Pitt; and that no matter
what, I have faith that we can turn the yin to the yang.<br />
<br />
Plus it's Game Day, and I'm an addict. (Somebody stick an IV in my arm. I'm ready for a fix.)<br />
<br />
Let's GO IRISH BEAT COUGARS!<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1452199_10101045710973677_484401284_n.jpg" title="" /></span></div>
</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-31818767574406022002013-11-06T20:45:00.004-08:002013-11-06T20:45:39.331-08:00Notre Dame Football: Fixin' for Victory EditionSo the Irish are 7-2 and ranked #23 in the BCS, with three
not-so-easy games left before we can start talking about bowl bids in
earnest. Despite the inevitable anger and frustration during the
nail-biter against Navy, I'm actually feeling pretty good about us at
this point in the season (especially if I don't think about how things
might have been different if certain players had had the scholastic
fortitude to comply with the university's extremely clear stance on
academic dishonesty. But no matter). There's lots of stuff to be
impressed about (and some stuff to be distressed about)--but one thing I
wouldn't do is pay attention to anyone who says we're vying for a BCS
bowl bid until we've played Stanford. Then--and only then--shall we have
proved whether we are worthy.<br />
<br />
But let's start with first things first.<br />
<br />
<strong>Notre Dame 45, Air Force 10</strong><br />
aka <em>This land is your land, this land is my land, but the air over Falcons stadium is f***ing ours</em><br />
<br />
HEY GUYS.<br />
Remember
that time Notre Dame went to Air Force and Tommy Rees threw for five
touchdown passes to five different receivers for like the first time in
school history?<br />
Or that time Kyle Brindza kicked a 51-yd field goal like it was nbd, because, pshhh, that's not even his career longest?<br />
Or
how about that time half of our starting players got to sit out for the
entire 4th quarter because we had so much of a lead WE DIDN'T NEED THEM
ANYMORE?<br />
Or the time Andrew Hendrix got to redeem himself after a
stupendously poor showing against USC by coming in against Air Force
and throwing a ridiculously beautiful 47-yd pass to freshman WR William
Fuller before running the ball in for a TD on the very next play?<br />
Or what about that time the defense held its opponents scoreless in the second half for the second week in a row?<br />
Or
that game where seven different defensemen were credited with tackles
for loss? And the team as a whole had one penalty and zero turnovers?
And the entire game was pretty much the equivalent of sitting there and
eating your way through a large pumpkin pie Blizzard--delicious and
filling and stomach-aching-ly satisfying, and so infused with the
pumpkin-ripe of autumn and the nutmeg-spice of the holidays that by the
time you've finished you can think of nothing else except to lie there
in a semi-euphoric stupor, your limbs jazzed from too much sugar (or
possibly too many touchdowns), wondering why things can't be this good
and rich and satisfying all the time?<br />
<br />
REMEMBER THAT?<br />
<br />
I
only ask because I can barely remember the last time I felt so hazy and
full and satisfied after a game. It seems like we've gotten maybe one
game like this per season. In about fifty percent of our seasons. For
the last fifteen seasons. Give or take.<br />
<br />
And for the
first time in a while, I thought to myself, "Oh yeah. This is why teams
try to schedule cupcake opponents early in the season." Because
sometimes you just need a game where you can boost confidence, give your
team a chance to gel, and (before you run through your entire playbook
and reveal too many secrets to your future opponents) give your second
string some time to play.<br />
<br />
Only we don't do this so much
at Notre Dame, because we don't believe in starting the season with
dessert. Even games we start out *thinking* might be cupcake-y often
turn out to be more than we can stomach. <br />
<br />
It's like our
opponents show up with the attitude of, "Ohhhhhh, so you think we're
gonna be some big soft pudding, eh? You think you're just gonna schlep
right through us, eh? Well, we've got news for YOU, you great bunch of
dome-brained Bloody-Mary-swillers. We ain't pudding. Oh, no--today we're
gonna be RANCID TAPIOCA."<br />
<br />
And you can't digest that sort of thing at all.<br />
<br />
Even
in years when we are genuinely too good to let rancid tapioca get the
better of us, it's often easy to forget how good we really are. Because
there's no amount of retroactive Pepto-Bismol that can cure the heavy,
greasy, fried-onion-log consistency of that loss to Michigan, or the
overcooked-steak toughness of that twice-pick-sixed tragedy against
Oklahoma. And since our O-line still isn't strong enough to push
opposing defenses aside (like a mound of buttery mashed potatoes) and
create neat seams up the middle (for the smooth gravy train of our
running backs), we still rely too much on Tommy to make things happen.
And on defense? Our consistency is harder to to predict than the quality
of a souffle in the hands of an inexperienced chef.<br />
<br />
I'm
not accusing Bob Diaco of being an inexperienced chef (you all know how
I feel about Bob)--it's just that it was pretty hard to stomach the
half-raw tuna steak that was the Navy game after watching our D perform
so beautifully against Air Force. And it's still hard not to wonder what
happened to all those truffles and bon-bons the defense was doling out
last season (even if we've already posited that it probably has
something to do with our current lack of a master chocolatier at
linebacker).<br />
<br />
But we can't fixate on these things. <br />
<br />
We've
got to aid our digestion by chomping on the cool mint leaves of reason
and reminding ourselves how much we're capable of doing RIGHT.<br />
<br />
And
it's when you're watching a game like the one against Air Force that
you remember, "Oh, yeah. EVERYTHING. We are capable of doing just about
EVERYTHING right."<br />
<br />
And you just remember that (when
things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the boys). You look at
what the D did against both Air Force and USC and you remind yourself
it was not a fluke.<br />
<br />
The other sweet spot of the Air
Force game (at least for me) was being able to watch the CBS Sports
Network Broadcast, which featured A) less commercials than the average
sitcom, and B) Aaron Taylor. Seriously, NBC needs to figure out a way to
hire Aaron Taylor right now. The man is full of insight (and Lou Holtz
impersonations). He cares about the team. He knows how to pronounce the
players' names. He TALKS ABOUT ACTUAL FOOTBALL. Somebody please hire him
immediately.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, let's talk about this:<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Notre Dame 38, Navy 34</strong><br />
<br />
Part
of me would like to characterize this game as one big toothache
following the sweet overindulgence against Air Force, but that wouldn't
really be fair--to our team or to Navy.<br />
<br />
After two
straight years of getting chomped on by the Irish, Navy came pounding
into Notre Dame Stadium and churned out a near-perfect game: zero
penalties, zero turnovers. Two punts.<br />
<br />
Notre Dame played
a somewhat-less-clean game, with 5 penalties for 55 yards and 2
turnovers--but 0 punts. That's probably the most significant statistic
of the game; Notre Dame scored every single time they had the ball (that
they didn't turn it over), and this effort, combined with Navy missing a
crucial point-after attempt, probably kept the game from turning into
another triple-OT debacle.<br />
<br />
All the back-and-forth in
this game wasn't so much like watching a tug-of-war as it was like
watching Wreck-It Ralph and Fix-It Felix grapple over the facade of the
Nicelanders' apartment building in Fix-It Felix Jr. (and if you haven't
seen "Wreck-It Ralph," you're just gonna have to go with me on this
one.) Notre Dame struck first, sending the shiny gold hammer--I mean
helmet--of George Atkinson scampering to the end zone for the game's
initial TD. The Middies responded by punching through Notre Dame's
defense on a 9-play, 56-yd scoring drive, culminating in a pile-driving
smash into the end zone for Navy's first TD.<br />
<br />
And so it
went. Navy's ground-pounding scoring drives sent Notre Dame hopping
around, looking for a way to fix the score to our liking. Our defense
had a few moments of brilliance, including Jaylon Smith's game-winning
tackle on Navy's last 4th & 4 attempt--which was akin watching the
Nicelanders throw Wreck-It Ralph off the top of their apartment building
to end of the game. There were some other nice patch-ups on defense,
too (1 sack, 5 TFL, etc.), but most of our repairs came from the swift,
sure hammer-strokes of the offense.<br />
<br />
TJ Jones and the
endzone came together like the cross-sections of two perfectly cut
beams. Troy Niklas and Ben Koyack rat-a-tatted their way down field with
the force of two handheld nail guns. And Tarean Folston bore down the
field with the strength and persistence of a power drill, leaving 140
yards and possibly some Navy-blue sawdust in his wake.<br />
<br />
Whatever
fumbling hits we may have made against our own hands, we never bruised
ourselves too badly to go on. We had the conditioning to go
blow-for-blow against Navy. We had the fortitude to keep coming back as
the score fell out of our favor. And, most importantly, we had the right
tools.<br />
<br />
There are no teams I admire more than the
military academies for the way they play the game. But when it takes six
guys to tackle Troy Niklas; when a freshman RB can jump and juke (a la
Julius Jones) and make guys miss--well, that's stuff you can't really
coach for. That's stuff you can barely <em>recruit </em>for. And in this game, it made all the difference.<br />
<br />
I
know it's hard not to be nervous/vexed/confused/all in an internal
kerfuffle over what's going on with the defense, but after considering
these last two weeks, I say: don't sweat it. Coach Niumatalolo has had
Notre Dame's number more than once, and he's smart enough to adjust his
schemes to vex Diaco--especially after having a chance to watch what
Notre Dame did to shut down Air Force. Yes, our defense had an extra
week to practice defending the option, too. But Navy executes the option
WAY BETTER than Air Force, and--let's face it--that near-perfect game
against the Irish is was probably the best effort Navy will put out all
year.<br />
<br />
Plus, Notre Dame sustained a series of
unfortunate injuries (Sheldon Day and Kona Schwenke both with ankle
sprains, Ben Councell with a season-ending knee injury, Austin
Collinsworth with a strained neck, and of course Louis Nix still out
with knee tendinitis) that most likely set the tempo of our game
slightly awry.<br />
<br />
But I'm not losing sleep over it. If we
can get it done against the option, we can get it done against anybody.
In fact, I think we're gonna look much snappier on defense moving
forward, because we'll be able to get back to playing the way we did
against USC. (It'll be good to see a pass rush again, eh?)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>To End: An Interlude</strong><br />
<br />
And
to anyone who maintains that Notre Dame shouldn't have its players sing
the alma mater with the student section after a home loss
(*coughcough*BrianKelly*cough*): why don't you just watch the last few
minutes of the Air Force game, when Notre Dame went to stand with Air
Force as they sang their alma mater, and tell me if it doesn't cause
some slight stirring in your soul; some notion that this show of unity
hearkens to something greater and deeper and wiser than this game;
something truer than a loss, greater than a win and more important than
looking ahead to next week's game. You just think about what it means to
be a family, and whether a show of unity means more in good times than
in bad.<br />
<br />
And you get back to me on that.<br />
<br />
Oh,
I know no one's ever going to read this who has the clout to make these
kinds of decisions (none of THEM care what I have to say)--but DANGIT,
guys. Singing the alma mater with the players after the game is a
tradition to be proud of. Because it means more than just football. More
than just win or lose.<br />
<br />
And that's something worth fighting for.<strong> </strong><br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Bring on the Pittsburgh Pussycats</strong><br />
I mean Panthers<strong>.</strong><br />
<br />
Okay,
probably shouldn't jest about Pitt, considering all the debacles we've
experienced against them in the past (including last year's 3-point OT
victory). And especially considering that the only time we've beaten the
Panthers by more than 7 points for, uh, the last fifteen years or so
was when we beat them 42-21 in 2005.<br />
<br />
I've got nothing but but respect for the tenacious, cat-scratch fever of Paul Chryst's kitty-cat crusaders.<br />
<br />
I
am just saying: I think we are too good to put up with any more of this
nail-biting BS and I think we ought to pummel them into kitty litter.<br />
<br />
Pitt
is more of a powerhouse on defense than on offense, which works
directly in our favor. We've already proved we can move the ball on
anybody. We just need to go out and prove it against these pugnacious
prowlers of the night without committing any turnovers (DO YOU HEAR ME
TOMMY? Oh, and TJ, too--let's not leave TJ out of this after that
stupendous slip-n-fall last week [ay ay ay caramba]).<br />
<br />
Maybe
I'm just hungering for another pumpkin-pie-Blizzard kinda game. And
this hunger is especially voracious against Pitt because they were the
team that nearly spoiled our championship hopes last season (y'know,
before Alabama did), and they had NO BUSINESS DOING SO. I have no
intention of allowing those feline philanderers to fight us down to the
wire again. (Y'know. 'Cuz I have so much say in these things.)<br />
<br />
Most
of Coach Kelly's presser this week read like an extended injury report,
but he did have this little gem about the Panthers in there:<br />
<blockquote>
But
they always just play us so hard, and before I got here two losses I
think in overtime, difficult games that went to overtime. So
midwestern team, tough, blue collar, physical, they don't seem to like
Notre Dame very much, and they want to beat Notre Dame. </blockquote>
<br />
YOU THINK, BRIAN?<br />
<br />
I
absolutely couldn't tell you why, but those f***ers always get all over
us like they're in heat or something. Well, you know what? BRING IT,
BAGHEERA. We are sick of your hormonal rage and we are about ready to
fix you.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT PANTHERS!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRhmuqmL9r5sFC0mWOxhfmcDFO5QKr9eG5kCRv_uwijdRViUswUXeJO9UP6EU5UeSfVWsKrVVFs7Xnqm2qlSp3z58sXogEBDYO8Xq3DqrMx4bj40jlD3WGMeu5-rlyBqe8JJiy4y-CzN9/s1600/folstonendzonejump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvRhmuqmL9r5sFC0mWOxhfmcDFO5QKr9eG5kCRv_uwijdRViUswUXeJO9UP6EU5UeSfVWsKrVVFs7Xnqm2qlSp3z58sXogEBDYO8Xq3DqrMx4bj40jlD3WGMeu5-rlyBqe8JJiy4y-CzN9/s320/folstonendzonejump.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-53928499504419897992013-10-22T23:41:00.002-07:002013-10-24T20:24:00.028-07:00Notre Dame Football: Down the Rabbit Hole<b>ND 14, USC 10</b><br />
<br />
Did anyone else feel like they fell down the rabbit hole on Saturday?<br />
<br />
I
mean--there we were, enjoying a lovely golden after-afternoon (courtesy
of the field lights), sitting amongst a bunch of perfectly normal,
non-anthropomorphized flowers (and all-natural grass), watching both
teams drive up and down the field, scoring perfectly normal
touchdowns--and then the second half came around and Tommy Rees got
injured, and suddenly it was as though we'd followed the white rabbit
all the way to Wonderland.<br />
<br />
Both endzones swelled or
shrank in size, too large or small to brook admittance. USC's drives
fizzled and turned back on themselves, like Alice stumped by the twists
of the Cheshire Cat's logic--whereas our drives had all the pointless
feeling of an endlessly circling Caucus-Race.<br />
<br />
For those
in the stands, getting drizzled by the weather (for the weather never
ever does a thing for me), it may have seemed as though Time was
standing stiller than at a mad-Hatter's tea party, each tick of the
clock like a frustrating riddle without any obvious end.<br />
<br />
And yet--O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!--WE WON.<br />
<br />
In our house, the heartless red Trojans will have off with our heads no more.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>How doth the little crocodile</b>...<br />
...<i>improve his shining tail</i><br />
<i>And pour the waters of the Nile</i><br />
<i>On every golden scale! </i><br />
<br />
<i>How cheerfully he seems to grin,</i><br />
<i>How neatly spreads his claws,</i><br />
<i>And welcomes little fishes in</i><br />
<i>With gently smiling jaws!</i><br />
<br />
I hope we are all in agreement that the Notre Dame defense was the crocodile on Saturday.<br />
<br />
Stephon Tuitt was the jaws.<br />
<br />
USC
scored zero points in the second half. They also converted zero third
downs, threw an interception, missed a field goal, accrued 11 total
penalties for 95 yards, and turned the ball over twice on downs.<br />
<br />
Stephon
Tuitt was responsible for 2 sacks, 2 QB hurries, 2 tackles for loss,
and 1 pass break-up, along with being such a conspicuous beast he
probably deserves to be memorialized in his own passage of fearsome
verse. Not that we can overlook the rest of the defense--like Big Louuu,
Carlo Calabrese (who led the team in tackles), Jaylon Smith (who had
that interception), Sheldon Day (whose propensity for playing like a
bulldozer cannot be overlooked), KeiVarae Russell, Dan
"don't-bench-me-again" Fox.... Yes--like a many-headed hydra (or, um, an
unslain Jabberwock), the defense has risen again.<br />
<br />
Time
will tell, of course; we'll see how we play against Stanford. But
ranked or not, USC is still a formidable team to blank out for an entire
half. As Coach Kelly put it, you don't fire the coach of a 4-2 team
unless you think that team should be 6-0.<br />
<br />
The way USC played in the second half, it's fairly obvious why they aren't.<br />
<br />
The way Notre Dame's defense played in the second half, it's fairly painful to think about why WE aren't.<br />
<br />
But
to vanquish such a burbling foe at home, after twelve long years of
whiffling it--ah! 'Twas brillig! (and the slithy toves / did gyre and
gimble in the wabe / all mimsy were the borogoves / and the mome raths
outgrabe...)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!</b><br />
<b>How I wonder what you're at!</b><br />
<br />
Did
anyone else feel astonished by how much they missed Tommy Rees? I
must've felt nearly as astonished as Alice after she ingested her first
bottle of "Drink Me" and grew to approximately the size of Godzilla (aka
Lous Nix & Stephon Tuitt combined).<br />
<br />
Here's the big question resulting from this astonishment: why don't we have a back-up plan?<br />
<br />
You
would think, after Everett Golson was booted out for the season, that
we would have come up with a back-up plan. I mean--Tommy WAS the back-up
plan, right? Which means Hendrix is, in the grand scheme of things,
third-string.<br />
<br />
But you can't have a backup quarterback
who only knows how to run the Wildcat. Hendrix kept chucking balls at
the turf like he was trying to nudge a hedgehog forward in a croquet
match. I imagine he wanted to avoid any accusations of stealing the
queen's tarts (by which I mean...causing a turnover) so much that he
refused to parlay with his receivers at all. One can only assume it was
nerves.<br />
<br />
But this led to two quarters of USC stacking
the box, stuffing the run, and toppling our ball carriers like a trio of
tripped-up flamingos (in a croquet match), so that we barely seemed to
move the ball at all.<br />
<br />
In case you forgot how ridiculous
the second half was, there was a stretch in the third quarter during
which Notre Dame and USC traded the ball six times for seven consecutive
three-and-outs. That's three plays. Each. SEVEN TIMES IN A ROW. Aka
nine and a half minutes of game time with zero first downs.<br />
<br />
That's
even more absurd than a talking caterpillar smoking a hookah on top of a
magic mushroom that will make you big if you eat from one side and
small if you eat from the other.<br />
<br />
However...can I just
say that I do, in fact, appreciate Hendrix's efforts not to turn the
ball over, even if it resulted in a whole lot of nada. We couldn't have
afforded a pick-six, and as long as our defense was doing as well as
they were doing, there was no reason to take unnecessary chances.<br />
<br />
I
believe the kid can throw the ball; I believe he's furious with himself
over his performance; I believe he won't be caught unawares again when
it comes to being the next man in (and I believe it is wise that we are
committed to red-shirting Malik Zaire, because we're sure gonna need
that kid in the future).<br />
<br />
The good news is that Tommy's
back. He suffered a neck sprain during the game, but he was cleared for
practice today. According to Coach Kelly's presser, he should be fine to
play on Saturday. <br />
<br />
And only now can we appreciate how crucial Tommy is to this year's success. <br />
<br />
I
maligned the playbook before, missing the versatility Golson brought to
the field; I complained that Kelly had hardly changed the game plan to
accommodate Rees at all--he'd merely been painting white roses red. And
though I've said, more than once, that I believe Tommy makes all the
right reads, not until very recently did it seem as though all those
reads were clicking.<br />
<br />
The pace of our offense in the
first half was like nothing we've seen all season. Like nothing we've
seen for YEARS. It was the fast-paced, high-tempo offense we were
promised when Kelly first came to South Bend. <br />
<br />
Our
first drive was astounding in its efficiency, and disappointing only in
its lack of production. (Just imagine, if we'd scored on that one, how
much less nerve-wracking the second half might have been.) It was not a
speed I'd expected to see--not this year and not against USC--but what
better time for it to manifest? What better time to make full use of our
tight end? To split catches between Niklas, Jones, and Daniels? To
balance the offense with Cam McDaniel's century-mark game?<br />
<br />
If
only the second half had matched the first one. If only Tommy hadn't
gone out. Maybe then the smackdown I envisioned might have come to
light, instead of just turning out to be a prolonged daydream.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>"The time has come," the Walrus said,</b><br />
<b></b><br />
<b>"To talk of many things:</b><br />
<b>Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--</b><br />
<b>Of cabbages--and kings--</b><br />
<b>And why the sea is boiling hot--</b><br />
<b>And whether pigs have wings."</b><i>(And why the Irish, back-to-back</i><br />
<i>play ruddy option teams)</i><br />
<br />
We've
got Air Force this week, followed by Navy. It's a sheer stroke of luck
we've got both option teams on our schedule two weeks in a row. A
one-and-six Air Force squad isn't likely to give us too many fits
(assuming our defense hasn't had too many Honey Buns over fall break),
and it should have us primed and ready for facing Navy at home next
week. (Holla if you're going to the Navy game. I should be out
tailgating most of the day.)<br />
<br />
I always like playing the
service academies. Not because I think they should be easy W's
(pffbt--have you seen us play Navy these last few years?). I just like
the tradition. You can't boo your own military, and it's hard to hate on
enlisted men and women who show up in uniform and celebrate by doing
push-ups and defending our country from terrorists.<br />
<br />
Plus
it's kind of nice to take a break from all the angry bile I swallow
every time I see Michigan's winged helmets, or the seething rage that
threatens to consume me every time the "Spirit of Troy" assaults my
eardrums.<br />
<br />
So stay classy these next few weeks, ladies
and gents. If you see and servicemen and women out there, give 'em a pat
on the back. Maybe a beer. Leave the ass-whooping to our boys out there
on the field.<br />
<br />
Don't worry. They'll git 'r done.<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/s720x720/1394105_10101007199820337_1171212661_n.jpg" title="" /><br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT FALCONS!<br />
<br />
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-71063266724983363122013-10-19T12:30:00.000-07:002013-10-22T23:43:10.126-07:00Notre Dame Football: Smackdown EditionI have an extremely short time in which to write almost everything I should have said these last two weeks.<br />
<br />
Let's start with the important stuff: GO IRISH BEAT TROJANS.<br />
<br />
If
the last decade of Notre Dame football has taught me anything, it's
that playing the Trojans does not necessarily make or break your entire
season.* There are things in the world of Notre Dame football that feel
worse than losing to USC (assuming USC is good that year), and there is
at least one thing that would feel better (like winning a national
championship).<br />
<br />
However.<br />
<br />
It has been a
long time since we gave the Trojans a good old-fashioned smackdown. I
would really, really like to see us send those cocky, latex-ridden
little pustules home with a big fat lopsided score--or, better yet, a
big ol' goose egg tucked between their legs.<br />
<br />
I am
sick--dead SICK--of these close-scoring games. We've put up with five or
six long years full of nailbiters--against good teams, against mediocre
teams, against teams we have no business coughing up the ball to--and
it is time. To. Stop.<br />
<br />
I don't care what USC's talent
level is like this year. I don't care if they have a stable filled with
five hundred running backs. I don't care whether they've got a strong
offense or a weak defense or whatever the hell it is they have--and no, I
don't particularly care whether their head coach just got fired, or
whether their hometown's just been sacked and burned by a bunch of angry
Greeks--I WANT. TO KICK. THEIR ASS.<br />
<br />
I want to kick
their ass for so many reasons. For 2005 when they really didn't beat us
and 2007 when they really did; for the entire first decade of the 2000's
when Pete "cut-and-run" Carroll was busy parlaying his juvenile
shenanigans all over the Trojans complex (and kindly turning a blind eye
to all the NCAA rules violations taking place under his distinctly
post-pubescent nose); for every idiotic sports reporter who thinks the
ND-USC rivalry has somehow waned in recent years; but most of all I want
this for the players.<br />
<br />
I mean--I'm sure I have slightly
different priorities than the players. And at the end of the day, if
it's a win--well, I'll take it. But I'm tired of people saying that if
we beat the Trojans, it's because we're lucky, or because their starting
quarterback was injured, or whatever. I'm tired of railing against the
nay-sayers and I'm tired of waiting for another decade of dominance and I
want us, for once, to be able to go out there and not have to battle on
a goal-line stand in overtime in order to make a statement. I want us
to make a statement on the board that NOBODY CAN REFUTE.<br />
<br />
It'd
be nice for them to have a game that leaves an indelible mark upon the
psyche of the fans, so that the next time we have a highlight reel
showing the great matchups in Notre Dame-USC history, we don't have to
hearken back to the 1977 green jersey game or the 1988 #1 vs #2 game
or--God forbid--the 2005 game to talk about a classic in the rivalry's
history.<br />
<br />
I guess what I really want is for this team to
be the team that goes out there and makes a statement and then backs it
up with a series of successive victories culminating in a quality bowl
win against a ranked opponent. (It's on my Christmas wish list.) And
there's no obvious indication that this year's team will necessarily be
the team to do this thing. But there's no indication that they can't be
the team to do this, either.<br />
<br />
On paper, ND and USC look
sort of similar. Both teams are both 4-2 and unranked after starting the
season ranked. USC has had lopsided victories against Hawaii and Boston
College, close wins against Arizona and Utah, a 3-point loss to
Washington State, and a funtime touchdown carousel sort of game against
Arizona State, which resulted in a 62-41 loss and the firing of head
coach Lane Kiffin.<br />
<br />
So I'd say the on-paper crap means
next to nothing. Notre Dame's pair of losses this season were both
coulda-woulda-shoulda games against ranked, then-undefeated teams (who
both decided to lose last weekend), in which our main deficits were A)
turnovers, and B) lack of team identity. Both of which can be fixed.<br />
<br />
Keep
in mind that this is an Irish team that's beaten USC in 2 of the last 3
meetings. Tommy Rees has more victories against the Trojans than
losses. That hasn't been true of an Irish quarterback since last
century.<br />
<br />
Guys, I know this has no basis in reality,
really--but we are DUE. It is our TIME. Let us go forth and make this
smackdown happen.<br />
<br />
I mean, did you see what we did against Arizona State?<br />
<br />
<br />
*except in 2005<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Right, so about that thing that happened in Dallas</strong><br />
<br />
DID YOU SEE THE DEFENSE? DID YOU SEE? DID YOU SEEEEEEEE?!??!<br />
<br />
I
don't care that it ended up being a 3-point victory and I don't care
(much) about Arizona State's late-game surge; DID YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED
OUT THERE? That was OUR--GAME. It was not Arizona State's. Five sacks,
three forced fumbles (two recovered by ASU), three interceptions, three
pass break-ups, and seven tackles for loss? YEAH. That was our game.I
don't know where that defense came from, but they came BACK.<br />
<br />
Maybe
they've finally figured out where their nucleus is. Or maybe they were
really fired up about Jarrett Grace's injury. Grace being out is a huge
blow for the team; by all accounts, he was becoming a real leader and a
real presence at the linebacker position (which, as you can imagine, is
where the attention of the defense gravitated over the last couple
years). But just as important as having those leaders on your team is
having a team that gets fired up and rallies when a player goes down.<br />
<br />
But
of course we don't want players going down. We want our team to get
fired up and fly around and play more like they did against Arizona
State EVERY WEEK.<br />
<br />
It wasn't perfect, of course. We had
one stellar interception/pick-6 on ASU's 4th down attempt late in the
game; on ASU's other 4th down attempt they scored a touchdown. So,
obviously, room for improvement. But we're getting closer. SO MUCH
CLOSER. (And just think--if our defense had played like that against
Oklahoma...well, but never mind the past-tense hypotheticals; they will
get us nowhere.) ASU was kind of like a coming-out party; now we just
gotta bring that shit hoooooooooooooome. You realize we haven't beaten
USC inside Notre Dame stadium since 2001?<br />
<br />
IT IS TIME. LET US MAKE IT SO.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>One last word on the yin and the yang</strong><br />
<br />
Speaking
of it being time for things--and the notion of ebb and flow--if you
look back on the history of the ND-USC rivalry
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame%E2%80%93USC_football_rivalry#Game_results),
the peaks and troughs have become more pronounced over the last four
decades--in the 70's, the Trojans dominated; by 1982, they'd closed the
gap in the all-time series record to 27-23. Then they didn't win another
game against the Irish until 1996, at which point the momentum of the
series began to shift again, and by the early 2000's it was Notre Dame's
turn to flounder.<br />
<br />
A "great rivalry," according to
certain sports writers, shouldn't have such large spikes of victory and
defeat. It should be made up of smaller peaks and valleys; more
evenly-spaced interstices of light and shadow.<br />
<br />
But hey
look, buddy--MOUNTAIN RANGES AIN'T SYMMETRICAL, all right? Sometimes you
have to climb a REALLY REALLY REALLY high peak before you get to the
next one. Sometimes one side of the mountain just kicks your ass for a
while. It ain't all gently rolling foothills, or evenly-spaced rest
stops, you big whinerbaby.<br />
<br />
And besides--what makes a
rivalry a rivalry isn't something you can define by how close the games
are, or how evenly the wins are swapped back and forth. A rivalry is
about the feeling in your gut and the energy in the game and the endless
roar of the crowd, so loud and pervasive and enduring that you start to
wonder--WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? Week in and week out, we have nearly
the same demographics--nearly the same mix of first-timers and alumni
and students in the crowd--but when we play the Trojans, that crowd is
not the same. It becomes a tempest--a maelstrom--and in the center, the
eye of the storm--that's where the game takes place. And we, the howling
winds, we beckon--we challenge--we dare both teams to grapple for
control of the storm.<br />
<br />
Even in the worst of our years, I have seen this storm come alive.<br />
<br />
THAT'S a rivalry game.<br />
<br />
<strong>GO IRISH BEAT TROJANS</strong><strong>!</strong><br />
<photo id="1"></photo>LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-15119761067642454492013-10-04T22:31:00.001-07:002013-10-04T22:33:51.410-07:00Notre Dame Football: Yin-Yang Edition<i>*Note: My knowledge of yin and yang comes almost entirely from
pop culture's appropriation of the taijitu symbol and a cursory reading
of a Wikipedia article on the subject, so nobody take my interpretation
of Taoist philosophy too seriously.</i><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
The
relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of
sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley. Yin (literally the 'shady
place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's
bulk, while yang (literally the 'sunny place' or 'south slope') is the
brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang
gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and
obscuring what was revealed.</blockquote>
<br />
In football,
winning and losing are the yin and the yang. There are no victories
without small dark spots of defeat; there are no losses without small
bright spots of victory. The whole of the game is both a win and a loss,
merged together; the outcomes are inseparable, and one without the
other means nothing.<br />
<br />
During the course of the game,
the win and the loss are always present. Both forces exist on every
play, big or small; when one team has a succession of small victories,
we call it momentum. <br />
<br />
Momentum shifts, ebbing and
flowing, like ripples in a pond. The higher the peak of the ripple, the
lower the trough. But the water moves, and the trough eventually becomes
the peak. <br />
<br />
This is why sporting events must be timed;
whoever holds the peak when the clock stops gets the win. Otherwise the
games would never end.<br />
<br />
Sometimes one team beats another
so soundly that it is impossible to imagine the losing team ever
capturing a win. But over the last few weeks, Notre Dame's wins have
looked so similar to its losses--and its losses have been so close to
its wins--that the whole season seems to be ebbing and flowing like the
curves of a taijitu--the black-and-white symbol we recognize as
representing the yin and the yang. <br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Yin: ND 21 - Oklahoma 35</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, and passive [...].</blockquote>
<br />
Shadows
fell at the very beginning of this game. Two turnovers within the first
two series isn't something you can do and expect to beat a team like
Oklahoma. Even so, there were plenty of spots of daylight moving over
our proverbial mountain. We didn't look defeated, even after going down
14-0 so early in the game. In fact, our offense looked very in control
of itself on its fourth possession, putting together a 10-play, 80-yard
scoring drive that chewed five minutes off the clock. We rushed for 220
yards--our highest number all season. George Atkinson III had a massive
80-yard breakaway TD run (which I personally think serves as its own
advertising campaign for why Notre Dame should try to run more sweeps
instead of running up the middle from the SHOTGUN all the
time--seriously, can we not snap the ball from under center? Have we
seen the O-line open up any holes large enough to justify that much
downhill running?). Tarean Folston's big almost-TD run was ALSO up the
sideline to the left (you see? You SEE?), and Troy Niklas made another
one of his, "Oh hey! A tight end! Where have you been all season?!"
grabs. <br />
<br />
Our defense made several huge stops against the
Sooners, the likes of which we haven't seen since last season. Oklahoma
only went 5 of 14 on third-down conversions. They did score on three
out of four trips to the red zone--but two of those were field goals,
and one was the result of a turnover. <br />
<br />
Our defense is steadily improving. You can see things beginning to settle in. Flashes of brilliance have started to emerge.<br />
<br />
But
three turnovers is too many against a team like Oklahoma, and our
defense is not yet good enough to stop a good offense at will. In the
third quarter, after our offense put together a 75-yard scoring drive to
make the score 28-21, it seemed as though the game was within reach.
But Oklahoma responded immediately, chewing up 75 yards of their own for
a TD and capping off the scoring drive with 2-point conversion. <br />
<br />
We were not over-matched--not really--but as in the Michigan game, we fell behind too early and couldn't get out of the shadows.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Interlude: The voices in the box</b><br />
<br />
Listening
to the great sports broadcasters of the past is like listening to a
form of art. Like great jazz musicians, the commentators must improvise
to riff off the action on the field, fusing all the passion of a
die-hard fan with an intricate know-how of the game in order to recreate
for the listener an echo, a mirror, a snapshot of the game; to give
them with a clearer lens through which to view the action on the field.<br />
<br />
Such
art does not exist in TV broadcasting. Instead of navigating the game
with the smooth ebb and flow of a jazz artist, today's voices in the
booth function more like hack musicians who were taught how to play a
few bars of ragtime once, and now they sit down every week and play the
same thing in a different key and hope nobody notices.<br />
<br />
TV
commentators aren't really paid to be experts, anymore--just to know
more than the casual fan. They're not even paid to care. <br />
<br />
And
that's television's big mistake. In pandering to a national audience,
they've eliminated the one element absolutely crucial for success in any
art form: PASSION. The ability to show that you give care. <br />
<br />
By
far, the TV commentators I despise the least are the ones who cover the
Olympics--because they're allowed to show bias. The 1980 U.S. Olympic
Hockey team's victory over the Soviet Union would not have been dubbed
the "Miracle On Ice" if it weren't for Al Michaels's ebullient cry of,
"Do you believe in miracles? YES!" as the clock ticked down to zero. He
was allowed to cheer for the team; he was allowed to let his passions
take over. He knew darn well that he was sharing this victory with other
Americans, and that his voice would not, for example, be broadcast in
the Soviet Union, where you can be damn sure no one was standing around
calling that game a "miracle."<br />
<br />
But this is not
possible for national football broadcasts. Bias is only allowed for
hometown radio announcers--the last potential wielders of an art form
that has, for the most part, died from the national consciousness. (Or
rather, been brutally stabbed to death by television.)<br />
<br />
Here's
an idea that will never happen: instead of having to listen to the
idiotic pandering of the "unbiased" commentators in the booth (who
rarely know more about the teams they're covering than the average
enthusiastic fan), why not stick two hometown announcers in the booth
together and let them duke it out? Hometown announcers don't have
training in national TV broadcasting, of course. But they do follow
their teams week in and week out; they know what they're talking about,
and more importantly, they CARE. Let them get into a knock-down,
drag-out fight over who should be beating who, or which team's getting
it worse from the refs. And here's a radical concept--why not let them
talk about the GAME? The ins and outs of the plays; why they're being
called now and why they are or aren't working and whether they fit with
the play-calling trends the coaches have been employing this year. Talk
about who missed what assignment, and whether it was the quarterback or
the receiver's fault; talk about who opened up the gaps to make a run
play happen; talk about why the hell coaches feel, EVER, that a prevent
defense late in the fourth quarter is a good idea. <br />
<br />
It
can't possibly be any worse than the inane pandering we have to put up
with from the booth every week (let's talk about golf! let's talk about
Eminem! let's interview LeBron James! let's talk about the refs! oh
wait, is there a player injured down there? do we know who it is? nope?
okay, let's talk about the refs some more!). <br />
<br />
In fact, the casual viewer might actually learn something about the game of football.<br />
<br />
But I'm sure that's too much to hope for. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<br />
<b>The Yang: ND 17 - MSU 13</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive[...].</blockquote>
<br />
This
is the way to win--by being solid, focused, aggressive. By not turning
the ball over, capitalizing on your opponent's mistakes, and defending
your turf late in the game.<br />
<br />
If you believe the talking
heads in the booth, then Notre Dame won this game because of the
referees. But I wouldn't listen to that claptrap if I were you. MSU was
penalized 10 times for 115 yards; Notre Dame was penalized 8 times for
86. If the refs are throwing flags left and right, there's nothing you
can do about it except adjust your game and stop whining. <br />
<br />
Coach
Kelly had no way of knowing what the TV commentators were going on
about in the booth all game--but trust me, it was mostly a prolonged
discussion about how many pass-interference penalties were called
against MSU--but it was nevertheless extremely satisfying after the game
to hear Kelly say something akin to, "MSU's defense was playing man
coverage all game. They were all over us. I thought they should've
gotten more penalties."<br />
<br />
As far as
shadows-in-the-midst-of-our-sunshine go, our offensive numbers weren't
pretty in this game. We only averaged 2.8 ypc on the ground against the
nation's top-ranked defense, and Rees completed 40% of his passes for
142 yards (less than half his total from the previous three games) and 1
TD. <br />
<br />
On the bright side, MSU's offensive stats weren't
much better (3.2 ypc and a 50% completion rate from their QB)--and if
MSU had the best defense in the country, ours didn't look too shabby in
comparison. <br />
<br />
However, there are still bits of the
yang that have not yet been fully realized. Our defense is probably no
slower than they were last season--but they LOOK slower, don't they?
Even when our D-line breaks into the backfield, we don't regularly come
up with a sack. Either the quarterbacks we've faced are too mobile (and
we've forgotten what having a mobile quarterback is like?), or there's
just something missing. We're not flying around the field like we used
to. We're not being aggressive. We're not taking control.<br />
<br />
We're not ANGRY enough. <br />
<br />
But we should be.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Interlude: Pride</b><br />
<br />
I've
been thinking lately (or...as usual) about why it is we get so crazy
about football. I posited this to a former professor a few weeks ago,
and she said: "Pride." <br />
<br />
That's all it is, really, isn't
it? The desire to win. To have bragging rights. To be able to wax
poetic in crazy blog posts about the athletic prowess of people you've
never even met. To say that our team, our school, our football players
have one-up on someone else's. On <i>everybody</i> else's, if you manage to win the ultimate bragging rights. <br />
<br />
But
why does it matter so much? It's just a game. Just a collection of wins
and losses. We've given it such attention, such prestige--such a ticket
price--that it's become a stage on which to win personal, local,
national glory. This is both to its benefit and to its detriment.<br />
<br />
For
Notre Dame fans, so much of our pride rests in the past--on the laurels
of previous championships, previous trophies won, previous coaches who
shaped the legends that are long gone. But we insist there's something
else in our pride, too; a notion something must be different about how
we win and how we lose. <br />
<br />
There's been some outcry over
the past week over whether the players ought to sing the alma mater
with the students after every game, win or lose. According to<a href="http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/100313aag.html" target="_blank"> this letter</a> from Jack Swarbrick, he and
Coach Kelly sat down after the 2011 season and determined that the
players would only sing the alma mater with the students after a win.
It's been almost two years since the Irish have lost at home, so there
was confusion after the Oklahoma game; some of the players ran into the
tunnel straightaway, but others, hailed by their fellow students,
remained behind to sing the alma mater. <br />
<br />
This is a
tradition that's only really been in place since 2006, but already we've
grown proud of it. It's an impressive sight, watching ~7,000 students
(let's face it, some of them punk out) remain in the stands after a
loss, just to sing the alma mater. Even if it's a big, big, big, big
loss. It impresses the hell out of a lot of people. And that show of
solidarity, for many, has become almost an emblem of what Notre Dame
represents: a family--a community of students and alumni and fans
predicated on something more than just a win/loss column. <br />
<br />
Despite
our collective monomania over winning another national championship,
football is not all that Notre Dame stands for. It has never been. The
basilica is the highest point on campus for a reason, followed by the
dome and the library: religion, family, education. In that order. And on
purpose. I feel like I say this at least once per season, but the faith
and the community of Notre Dame are more important than academia.
Football doesn't even make the list.<br />
<br />
As imperfect as
Notre Dame's execution of this ideal is, the important thing is that we
are still and always fighting to achieve it. ALL of us are fighting
against our own vices, our own weaknesses, our own setbacks, to try to
be what we want to be. Our ideal selves. And that's the important part,
really: the fight. (What would YOU fight for?) <br />
<br />
And
that's why, during the Oklahoma game, I despaired over the last five
minutes. Not because of the points on the board--not because of the
ultimate result of the game--but because of the way we fought. Or
rather...didn't fight. <br />
<br />
We're still lacking that
edge--that transcendent quality that makes it possible to come back
against a team when you're two scores down and there are less than five
minutes left. It's not a matter of strength and conditioning; it's all
mental. We lack a rallying point. Someone's got to step in and fire up
the troops. SOMEONE. But who?<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Yin and Yang: Arizona State</b><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every
advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a
fall.</blockquote>
<br />
In case you missed it, Arizona State
scored 62 points in victory over USC last weekend, which resulted in
the Trojans firing head coach Lane Kiffin. (Between you and me, though,
Kiffin is such a little piece of sewage that this cannot possibly have
been the only factor leading to his demise.) The 22nd-ranked Sun Devils
are averaging 44 points per game, led by QB Taylor Kelly (1,370 yards,
11 TDs) and coached by Todd Graham (formerly of Tulsa and Pittsburgh).
For a full run-down of ASU's (depressing? terrifying?) offensive
statistics, I recommend <a href="http://slapthesign.com/2013/10/02/notre-dame-football-opponent-preview-arizona-state-offense/" target="_blank">this article</a>.<br />
<br />
But before you have a panic attack, let's consider a few things.<br />
<br />
1)
Notre Dame has not looked over-matched in any game this season. I don't
care what sort of fancy things Arizona State's been doing with the
football--Notre Dame is not a bad team, not a slow team, not an
under-conditioned team; we're a good team suffering from an identity
crisis. Which means...<br />
<br />
2) The breakthrough could
happen at any time. It took until the Michigan game last year for our
defense to start lighting it up. Without a Manti Te'o figure in the
backfield or an anchor like Kapron Lewis-Moore on the D-line, I don't
know who's going to be the catalyst for us. But I'm convinced that if we
get one, it'll flip some sort of switch. Things will click into place
again. A new order, a new identity will be established. And considering
how well Arizona State's been playing,<br />
<br />
3) This could be
the game. I know it seems illogical, since this is probably the most
terrifying offense we've seen so far this season--but that's exactly it.
This is the challenge. Think of the yin-yang; the trough becomes the
peak. This is the peak we have to become in order to defeat them. <br />
<br />
4)
Arizona State has faced two ranked teams so far this season: Wisconsin,
who they beat by 2 points, and Stanford, who they lost to by 14 points.
Notre Dame isn't as good as Stanford this year, but we're definitely on
par with Wisconsin (even if we did get booted out of the rankings this
week), and there is absolutely no reason this game should be out of
reach.<br />
<br />
Just as long as we don't commit any egregious turnovers, we should be fine. <br />
<br />
Also,
keep in mind that the "neutral-site" Shamrock Series games have treated
us very well thus far. This alone is no reason to go placing bets, of
course, but do keep in mind that when we played Miami(FL) last year, the
commentators were still insisting that we "lacked the team speed" to
keep up with a much-improved Hurricanes...and then we went to Soldier
Field and kicked their butts 41-3.<br />
<br />
So I don't want to
hear it about Arizona State. Doubt the Irish all you like, but I don't
think we've seen the best of them this season, and I don't see any
reason why tomorrow can't be the defense's coming-out party--or Cam
McDaniel's homecoming party--or (however frustrating the play-calling
might be) the Reesus' next chance for ascension.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT SUN DEVILS!<br />
<br />
<div _mce_style="position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden;" class="mcePaste" id="_mcePaste" style="height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 1px;">
Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-22434989800109063492013-09-17T20:16:00.000-07:002013-09-17T20:16:07.969-07:00Notre Dame Football: Antacid Edition<strong>Notre Dame 31, Purdue 24</strong><br />
<br />
Sometimes things just don't sit right in your stomach.<br />
<br />
Sometimes
your team's down late in the third quarter and your defense can't put
up a stop and your run game feels like a lump of lard, just SITTING
there while everything else churns around it; and after enough dropped
passes and stuffed run plays, you get so queasy you start thinking
nothing is ever going to settle; this feeling his never going to pass;
holes are gonna get poked in your stomach lining before you can properly
digest this game--and before you know it you'll have so many metaphoric
ulcers you'll hardly be able to watch the games at all.<br />
<br />
We
went in as three-touchdown favorites. It seems as though it should've
gone smoothly--as though the offense should've chomped up yards faster
than Pac-man in pursuit of a bouncing fruit and the defense should've
swarmed Purdue like a game-freezing maelstrom of Pinky, Inky, Blinky,
and Clyde.<br />
<br />
Instead, Purdue seemed to be running on a
surplus of skill and extra lives, scoring points and stuffing our run
game while we haphazardly turned all the wrong corners, dropped crucial
passes, and couldn't travel far enough down the field to find the end
zone. The first half of the game was almost as bad as a mixed metaphor
involving Pac-Man and acid indigestion.<br />
<br />
But then--after
three long, fruitless quarters--Notre Dame finally pieced together a
scoring drive to tie the game 10-10. Our defense forced Purdue to punt,
and our offense took advantage of the momentum swing by lobbing the ball
to DaVaris Daniels, who stiff-armed Purdue's best corner to stay in
bounds and run the ball in 82 yards for a touchdown.<br />
<br />
I
don't know about you guys, but this was the moment I decided to pop some
proverbial Alka-Seltzer and try to chill out for the rest of the game.<br />
<br />
On
the very next drive--and with a wave of relief akin to the moment your
antacid kicks in--I watched Bennett Jackson intercept the ball and run
in ND's first pick-six of the season. Purdue's subsequent scoring drive
and Amir Carlisle's fumble (which was not entirely his fault) provided
the last few stabs of discomfort before everything settled into a bleary
haze of content, culminating in a 61-yard, 7-and-a-half-minute
possession by the Irish to end the game. Possibly the best part of this
drive was the series of handoffs to Cam
"I-bled-from-the-head-but-I-ain't-dead" McDaniel before we finally took a
knee in the victory formation. (Obviously would've been more exciting
if we scored a touchdown instead, but whatever.)<br />
<br />
And the Irish came home with a win.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Get tough on heartburn</strong><br />
<br />
Despite
last week's yoke of oppression, we had the potential to come home with a
win from Ann Arbor, too. We didn't, of course, but we had similar
late-game surges against both Michigan and Purdue. I know nobody wants
to spend the season watching last-second nailbiters with a container of
Tums in one hand and a bottle of aspirin in the other--but given the
choice, I would much rather have our team show the conditioning and
wherewithal to keep fighting all the way through the fourth quarter than
have them suffer a bruising, straight-up, all-game-long defeat.<br />
<br />
The
whole "late-game-rally" strategy doesn't work so well against teams
like Alabama, which are well-versed enough in last-second comebacks to
beat out even Johnny "I'm the biggest dick in" Football. But as we're
not playing Alabama this season, it's probable that ND's late-game
dominance could work to our advantage as the season progresses. (I
continue to hope for us to dominate the entire game--but for right now,
I'll take what I can get.) Our biggest challenges will most likely be
MSU (because trick field goals, etc.), Oklahoma, USC, and Stanford.
Oklahoma is actually my biggest worry right now, as we're playing them
so soon and our secondary did not exactly look dominant against Purdue.
(Although at least Bob Stoops has already named Blake Bell the starter
for the ND game, so at least we know which QB to prepare for.)<br />
<br />
However,
given how spirited Temple looked in the opener and how hard we had to
battle to beat Purdue, it's probably wise not to overlook any of the
opponents left on our schedule. Apparently making it to the national
championship game puts an even bigger target on your back than usual.
(Even if you do not emerge victorious.) Who knew?<br />
<br />
It is
because of this that I refuse to develop pre-emptive ulcers while
looking ahead to the rest of our games. Yes, our defense should be
playing better. Yes, our lack of ability to establish a run game early
is a concern. But based on how our opponents have played us thus far, we
shouldn't expect to make a clean sweep of anyone--not until we've got
some of our own issues worked out. So I'm gonna try not to sweat it if
we get down early in the game.<br />
<br />
BUT OUR DEFENSE, you may be thinking.<br />
<br />
I
know. I hear you. But I think things are starting to happen on defense
that don't necessarily translate into what we, as fans, would prefer to
see on the field. For example, Stephon Tuitt has only had, what, two
tackles in the last two games? Granted, one of them was a sack against
the Wolverines--but still. How is Tuitt supposed to break Justin Tuck's
single-season record if he's not averaging 1.2 sacks per game?<br />
<br />
However, after the Purdue game, Coach Kelly said in his presser:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Yeah,
this is probably [Tuitt's] best game of the year in terms of just
being on every play, just physically at the point of attack, two
gapping, doing the things we want him to do, effort level. I really
liked his play up front.<br />
Tuitt, Nix, Sheldon Day, Shembo. An
offense predicated on running the football, [Purdue] can't run the
ball, your front four, those guys in particular, have to be doing
something right. They played very good football for us.</blockquote>
<br />
Considering
we've let our opponents score on 7 out of their last 8 trips to the red
zone (and the lone stop was a missed FG by Purdue), it's kind of hard
to think of our defense playing "very good football" right now. However,
we held Purdue to just 38 yards rushing on 21 attempts--that's 1.8
yards per carry (an even more abysmal mark than Notre Dame's 2.5 ypc!).
We've scored on defense two weeks in a row. And we forced Purdue to punt
after ND fumbled the ball in the 4th quarter. Those are all pretty
solid defensive statements, even if it doesn't quite feel like we've got
a lot of dominance going on right now. (Especially considering we also
let Purdue convert a 4th down for a TD in the 4th quarter.) But we're
piecing things together.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Pop pop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is!</strong><br />
<br />
Personally,
I am committed to enjoying this win. I'm enjoying having a winning
record, too. And being ranked in the Top 25 for an entire calendar year.
(We've been officially ranked in the AP poll since Sept. 8, 2012.) When
was the last time THAT happened? 2006? Anyway, if you are for any
reason feeling remotely glum about the Irish, just go watch some Purdue
game highlights and replay that 2-yard DaVaris Daniels TD a couple
times. See if it doesn't make you feel better about life, the universe
of sport, and the gridiron in general. Some rewinds of Bennett Jackson's
pick-six wouldn't hurt, either. Personally, I always find watching
highlights after a win to be kind of soothing. Like an after-dinner
mint.<br />
<br />
Be sure to let this all sink in before you turn your
sights ahead to the Spartans and college football's top-ranked defense
(<a href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/football/ncaaf/stats/team-total-defense" target="_blank">no joke</a>).
I'm expecting nothing less than the usual gritty brawl from the This Is
Sparta crowd; but we've won nine games in a row at home now, and I
think we're finally at a point where we can Protect This House with more
than just lip service. Plus, nine in a row hardly seems like a streak
when you play six games a year at home? But ten in a row--that's a
start.<br />
<br />
MSU has looked extremely solid in its first three
games of the season, particularly in its 55-17 beat-down of Youngstown
State, during which QB Connor Cook threw for 4 TD's and the Spartans
racked up 547 yards of total offense. However, considering MSU's first
two opponents were Western Michigan and South Florida, I wouldn't say
MSU has exactly had a tough start to the season. ND's the first real
test on their schedule, and it will be interesting to see what they make
of the newly rejuvenated Irish offense--especially if the Reesus can
stay turnover-free. And dagnabbit, guys, our defense better show up to
PLAY.<br />
<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT SPARTANS!<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="Robert Franklin/SB Tribune" class="photo_img img" src="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/543954_10100968567644527_585727588_n.jpg" title="Robert Franklin/SB Tribune" /></span><br />
<div class="caption">
Robert Franklin/SB Tribune</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-77765502148600915662013-09-13T13:06:00.001-07:002013-09-13T13:06:36.489-07:00Notre Dame Football: Tchaikovsky Edition<i>All right, fellow band nerds...this one's for you.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i></i><br />
I
decided to bust out my flute this morning (for the first time in
forever), and I spent about an hour playing through random bits of music
until I got to Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave." Then I decided to give it
up and listen to the full recording of "Marche Slave" while I puttered
around the kitchen making breakfast. Amid what was possibly a
hunger-induced delirium, it hit me: <i>this is what football season feels like</i>.<br />
<br />
I'm
not just talking about the obvious connection between classical music
and college football game day. Snippets from "Ride of the Valkyries," "O
Fortuna," the "Mars" theme from Holst's <i>Planets</i> suite, and the
closing bars of the "1812 Overture" can be heard in college stadiums
all across the country, alongside contemporary classics such as "Crazy
Train," "Livin' on a Prayer," and the bass line from that one White
Stripes song I can never remember the name of.<br />
<br />
The
power of music to unite--a country, a fan base, a disaffected generation
of hippies, etc.--cannot be denied. It's always stirring, the moment
when everyone rises to put their hands over their hearts and sing the
national anthem before the game; we are all united as Americans and
sports fans for one shining moment before we go back to acting like we
all want to kill each other. Just as every country has a national
anthem, every college team has a fight song.<br />
<br />
Fight
songs are meant to inspire, uplift, and remind us of our common bond as
students, alumni, fans, and raving-lunatics-in-arms (except, of course,
for the Michigan fight song, which as everyone knows is the audio
equivalent of a hyena vomiting all over your child's crib). As a former
band member, I can tell you that playing the fight song always felt more
effective in a hostile away environment than it did at home--at least
in terms of uniting the crowd. (Having four hundred screaming fans in
wool uniforms standing directly behind one of the opposing team's
endzones didn't hurt, either.) There were, of course, times when playing
the fight song didn't seem to have any effect whatsoever on the team's
morale; and after the 2007 season, there were certain pep songs I would
have been glad to never play again (*cough*CELTICCHANT*cough*). But
there were other times when playing the fight song felt downright giddy,
almost euphoric--such as in the aftermath of the 2006
dramatic-comeback-game-in-the-rain vs. MSU.<br />
<br />
But that
wasn't what I thought of this morning while listening to "Marche Slave."
Instead I thought, "Holy shit! This whole song is like a metaphor for
how I feel during football season!!!"<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>It's not a <i>perfect </i>metaphor.</b>...<br />
<br />
If
you don't make a regular habit out of listening to classical music
(and/or instrumental music in general), there's one very noticeable
difference between classical stuff and the stuff you hear on the radio,
and it's called dynamics. Pop music mostly wavers between FORTE and
FORTISSIMO (aka the rockin-in-the-club strategy of BUY DRINKS! and BUY
MORE DRINKS!!!). The quietest pop songs ever get is maybe a mezzo-forte.
(You know, like if it's a ballad or something.)<br />
<br />
Whereas
if you put on a nice long piece of classical music, you'll probably
start out thinking, "Oh man, that's really quiet--I better turn it up."
And then two minutes later you'll be like, "Holy shit that's quite loud I
guess I'll turn it down." But if there's a bigass crescendo going on,
ten seconds later you'll be like, "HOLY SHIT THAT'S STILL TOO LOUD! I
JUST TURNED IT DOWN! <i>HOW DO THEY KEEP GETTING LOUDER?!?!</i>" (Because musicians are BAMFs, that's why--and don't you forget it.)<br />
<br />
And so on.<br />
<br />
Most
college marching bands don't bother much with dynamics; when you're
playing to a crowd of 80,000, anything less than forte is gonna get lost
in the shuffle. (Unless, you know, you're one of those pretentious
bands *cough*OhioState*cough* and you feel like playing really complex
music nobody can hear.)<br />
<br />
But there <i>are</i> dynamics
in the stadium on game day, and it's something everyone notices--even
the talking heads in the booth. (You know, when they're not distracted
by the upcoming golf tournament or the latest Eminem single or whatever
else it is they're being paid to sponsor instead of talking about the
actual game.) The cheering thousands move through peaks and troughs of
sound, like the great strains of a orchestra being conducted by the
actions of the players on the field. Like a sheet of music, the lines
of the gridiron define the form and the limits into which the coaches
can inscribe an infinite number of plays and combinations, drawing an
infinite number of reactions from the crowd.<br />
<br />
But it all
uses the same notes, over and over again. The cry of victory. The groan
of defeat. The great gasp of the almost-caught pass. The stone-dead
silence of a crowd whose team has just been sacked and stripped and had
the ball run back on them for a touchdown. The notes are drawn out of us
almost without our consent; when the playing starts to hurt, we say, "I
can't watch." But we do. We build up calluses and we move on.<br />
<br />
There is always another game to be played.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>"Marche Slave</b>"<b> = loss to Michigan = yoke of oppression</b><br />
<br />
"Marche
Slave" (also written as March Slav) is the French (and most common)
title for Tchaikovsky's "Serbo-Russian March," which was commissioned by
the Russian Musical Society in support of the Serbians during the
Serbo-Turkish war (c.1876).<br />
<br />
My interpretation of this
piece of music has nothing to do that, in the same way that the Notre
Dame Band playing the "1812 Overture" at the end of the 3rd quarter has
nothing to do with Russian's defense of the motherland against Napoleon.
As mentioned, this morning, my reaction to Marche Slave was more like,
"Holy shit! This is how I feel during football games!"<br />
<br />
I'm
not saying I want "Marche Slave" to be piped into the stadium on game
days. I'm just saying: if you were going to take my internal landscape
following the loss to Michigan and interpret it as a piece of music
(...like you do...), it would kind of sound like this.<br />
<br />
And now, fourteen paragraphs later, we get to the point.<br />
<br />
If you've never listened to Marche Slave, you can do so here:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5poSw7tFLB4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Or you can just take my word for it and interpret the song based upon my comments below.<br />
<br />
Marche
Slave begins in B-minor, which as everyone knows is the key you write
in when you want to sound oppressed. It's slow, like a funeral march,
and its downward-slipping melody skips around the orchestra in a somber
refrain until everybody in the audience feels deep within their souls
that We Are Being Oppressed (By Michigan)--And This Is Not Okay. But it
is not the sound of true despair, or true defeat; it turns to the
lyrical, almost poetic march of those who refuse to let their notes ring
atonal, even in the face of skunkbear-scented defeat. Then, at about
the 1:27 mark, you get the first rebuttal. The spark of rebellion. The
rallying of the troops--the refusal to accept defeat. And there, at the
2:16 mark, comes the rage, the fury, the frustration--and the angry
f***ing piccolo who cannot believe her defense--our defense--the f**ing <i>just went to a national championship defense</i>--gave
up 41 points and 96 rushing yards to some punk quarterback from
Michigan who isn't even Denard Robinson. I mean, come on. You have GOT
to be kidding me. I CAN'T GO THROUGH ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF THIS.<br />
<br />
Oh, wait. Except we won't have to. Because we're not playing Michigan anymore after next year.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>But in the meantime, back to our regularly scheduled oppression</b><br />
<br />
It's
been a long while since we've been in the frustrating position of
playing catch-up all game long against a team that we are, genuinely,
pretty evenly-matched with. But Michigan wrested control from us early,
and--like any true oppressor--they never gave up the high ground. There
were times when the Irish drew even; times when it even seemed as though
we might surge forth to victory, as we did in so many last-second
comebacks last year.<br />
<br />
But we couldn't throw off the yoke this time.<br />
<br />
Every
ghost of a worry that plagued us during the Temple game came back to
haunt us this game: two drives sputtered because we couldn't establish a
running game early on; our defense looked porous against a mobile
quarterback; we let Michigan score on 4 out of 4 trips to the red zone;
our offense has not yet produced a consistent deep threat at receiver;
Tommy continues to underwhelm while scrambling; and yes--the Reesus
threw another turnover. We lost two of our possessions on interceptions
and two on failed 4th-down conversions. The only marked improvement in
scoring this week was Kyle Brindza's return to place-kicker; he made 3
of 3 field goals, two from 40+ yards.<br />
<br />
I don't mean to
be entirely bleak, of course. We did score on six of our possessions;
Rees threw for over 300 yards and 2 TDs, spreading the ball out fairly
evenly between Jones, Niklas, and Daniels; and once we got something
going on the ground, Amir Carlisle and George Atkinson III each averaged
over 5 ypc.<br />
<br />
But any game in which you score 30 points
and do not win is not a stellar defensive effort--and that, more than
anything, is worth an angry Serbo-Russian ballad. Our offense is
improving, but they're not good enough yet to win on their own volition.
We need our defense to be the anchor, and they just aren't anchored
yet. Maybe they're in the process of untying knots before the anchor can
be lowered--but dang it, I wish they'd hurry up.<br />
<br />
If
you look at the defensive stats, there are some things there to be
pleased about. We had eight tackles for loss, 3 pass break-ups, 3 QB
hurries, 1 sack, and 1 extremely badass interception courtesy of Stephon
Tuitt. But all of that amounts to bloody nothing when your opponent
puts up 41 points on you. Also it doesn't help when you have a specious
pass interference call against your defense on a key drive late in the
game...but never mind that; what's done is done.<br />
<br />
I also
think this is something of a testament to the leadership we had on
defense last year; the bend-but-don't-break mentality really only works
if you're committed to <i>not breaking </i>in the red zone, and we
don't seem to have that right now. There's no point lamenting players
lost, but I do hope that as the season goes on, our team finds a way to
reincarnate what made us so clutch last year. Because sometimes it isn't
about the opponent. Sometimes it's just about going out there and
acting like you're the baddest mother on the field--even if you're not.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>And now on to zen mode.</b><br />
<br />
So
guys...no perfect regular-season this year. Despite the initial fiery
rage, I think I'm going to be okay with that. Not only because I have no
choice, but also because it allows us to fade into the background and
do what we do best: be the underdog.<br />
<br />
Of course it makes
no sense for Notre Dame to be the underdog, really. We're still ranked;
we're still good; more likely than not, we're going to make it to a
good bowl game. And honestly, now that the monkey's off our back about
making it to the national championship game, that's all I want us to do:
I want us to go to a good bowl game, and I want us to <i>beat a freaking ranked opponent. </i>No
more of this "Notre Dame being overmatched in the postseason" BS. I
want us to figure out how to take a three-week break from the season,
come back, and WIN. Then--and only then--can we talk about winning
another national championship.<br />
<br />
In the meantime...let us
skip to 3:22 in Marche Slave and contemplate how the rest of the season
might go. Let's contemplate playing Purdue, shall we? I am not saying
this will be a game without peril. We only beat Purdue by 3 points last
year. I'm just saying I think we can count on our guys being focused and
a little angry after all of that thundering oppression in the Big
House. It's going to be a hard fight against the Boilermakers (lots of
angry brass, blaring trumpets, that sort of thing)--but yes, I expect us
to emerge victorious without inducing any heart attacks.<br />
<br />
Not
until we face MSU at home next week do I expect we'll hit something
like the 4:32 mark of Marche Slave and have some serious, blood-pressure
raising anxiety. And as for the Oklahoma game the week after that? All
bets are off.<br />
<br />
But if you listen all the way to the end
of the song--it builds. It gets better. It becomes more intense. More
electrifying. More satisfying.<br />
<br />
And I assure you, fellow Irish fans, it ends in triumph.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT BOILERS!<br />
<br />
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LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-15966004343603340072013-09-03T20:46:00.005-07:002013-09-03T21:11:28.649-07:00The Ten Commandments of Irish Football<b>Notre Dame 28, Temple 6</b><br />
<br />
All right, Irish revelers--my fellow Lunatic Legion--let us go forth and rejoice. The Irish have triumphed again!<br />
<br />
It
was not, perhaps, the stalwart defensive effort everybody was hoping
for--nor was it as much of an all-day scoring spree as we might have
anticipated based upon the first two drives of the game. However, thanks
in part to a truly horrific kicking game, we pulled out a solid,
non-nail-biting win against an overmatched (but still quite plucky)
Temple team.<br />
<br />
After the game, though, I had several people
say to me, "Great game!" And instead of agreeing like a normal person, I
looked at them like they were noodle-heads and said, "Really? I mean,
we won and all, but what game were YOU watching?"<br />
<br />
This was
not a game that readily inspired me to believe I was going to be able
to watch the Irish play Michigan without danger of stroke and/or cardiac
arrest. I mean, did you SEE our kicking game? Did you SEE IT? And what
about our defense in the second quarter? What about those Louis Nix
penalties? And what about that sack we gave up? I mean, YIKES.<br />
<br />
At which point I said to myself: Lisa, thou shalt Get a Grip.<br />
<br />
I
still experience a sense of football-induced PTSD whenever it seems
like our team might possibly, marginally, in any way begin to stumble
against a team like Temple (or South Florida or Tulsa or...let's not go
on). I also seize up whenever it seems as though the rejuvenated Reesus
might revert into the Turnover Tommy of olde. (Keep thy focus, Reesus.
Convert thy third downs to firsts. Sow your passes not unto infertile
soil but into thy players' open hands.) I have to remind myself that
with a new and relatively untested receiving corps, not all of the
missed catches are going to be the QB's fault. And a couple incompletes
are no big deal when your QB is completing 69% of his passes for 346 yds
and 3 TDs.<br />
<br />
But the Crazy Irish Fan within me does not
care about logic. Crazy Irish Fan wants to live in a world without
doubt. Crazy Irish Fan wants perfect passes all of the time--and perfect
defensive play even MORE of the time. Crazy Irish Fan wants redemption
for the game against Alabama, proof that last season was not a
fluke--was not all just a paragon of wild luck--was not all just an
euphoric dream---and Crazy Irish Fan wants all of that RIGHT NOW. I
mean, IMMEDIATELY. First game of the season, we should be smacking down
our opponent 59-9. Right? RIGHT?!??!<br />
<br />
To which I say: No,
Crazy Irish Fan, you cannot have it all at once. Stop being so crazy.
And maybe take a minute to remind yourself what you can expect from
Brian Kelly's teams. For one thing, you can expect the team to improve
over the course of the season. (Remember how no one was really sure
about us last season, and then 3 or 4 games in, all of a sudden it was
like HOLY SHIT THIS TEAM?) For another: you cannot expect this team to
be last season's team.<br />
<br />
No matter how much I protest that I
know this year is going to be different...let's face it, I really
wanted to see the defense look pretty much the way it looked last season
(nvm that Manti Te'o is gone; I mean, you've still got Nix & Tuitt
& Shembo & all those guys, right? The defense will just
magically reinvent itself and fill that gap, because...because
magic....). I also really wanted the offense to make all touchdowns look
as easy as they looked on those first two scoring drives. Because then
I'd be able to focus on all the ways in which we're going to pulverize
the Skunkbears instead of worrying about all the weaknesses we'll have
to deal with when we play Michigan this week. (And seeing as the winner
of the ND-Michigan game traditionally goes on to have a pretty stellar
season--considering this is the last time we're playing Michigan for
who-knows-how-long--considering it's a night game in the Big
House--there's enough to worry about in this game already.)<br />
<br />
It
occurred to me, as I was mulling over my own insanity, that there are a
lot of things I have to remind myself of throughout the course of every
season so that I do not have an aneurysm. And with all the irreverent
"Reesus" references flying around, I got to thinking...why not write
some of these reminders down for myself? Y'know, like commandments. For
myself, for the team, for my fellow fans. Therefore--lo, I present unto
you...<br />
<br />
<b>The Ten Commandments of Irish Football</b><br />
<br />
<b>I. Thou shalt have no other teams before the Irish.</b><br />
God. Country. Notre Dame.<br />
<br />
<b>II.
Thou shalt not make unto thy helmets any graven image, nor any likeness
of any thing that is on the dome or the library above, or in the
monogram or leprechaun logo below... </b><br />
...and thou shalt
pretend as though the Shamrock Series uniforms have been smited from the
Earth, and thou shalt speak no more of them after the neutral-site
"home game" is done.<br />
<br />
<b>III. Thou shalt respect thy opponents</b><br />
and
not underestimate the desire of thy foes to defeat Notre Dame; nor
shalt thou laugh at thy fellows when they lose to FCS opponents* -- for
he who loses to Tulsa and Navy and South Florida cannot cast stones....<br />
<br />
<i>*unless thou is referring to Michigan vs. Appalachian State</i><br />
<br />
<b>IV. Thou shalt not gripe about a win,</b><br />
nor
bring the woes of Jonah upon thyself like a scourge when there is no
whale of defeat to devour the season whole. Instead, thou shalt look
upon thy victories and rejoice. (REJOICE!)<br />
<br />
<b>V. Thou shalt not bear false witness against this year's team.</b><br />
Not even if thou is obsessed with comparing it to last year's team. (Just get over it, thou. It's never gonna be the same.)<br />
<br />
<b>VI. Thou shalt not covet thy future opponent's box scores,</b><br />
nor
thy opponent's all-time win percentage, nor thy opponent's Heisman
trophy, nor his ranking nor his championship rings nor his
regular-season record, nor anything that is thy opponent's. Thou shalt
snatch victory from thy current week's opponent and nothing more.<br />
<br />
<b>VII. Thou shalt honor thy coach* and thy athletic director.</b><br />
Even
if thy coach insists that Michigan is not a "historic rivalry" for
Notre Dame and then takes it back again two days later. (Also, thou
should not make such a big deal about thy coach's contract--it is not as
though the contract is a guarantee of job security, as thou well
knows.)<br />
<br />
<i>*Unless thy coach is some sort of prig like
Pete Carroll, in which case thou shalt campaign for the termination of
thy coach's contract immediately</i><br />
<br />
<b>VIII. Thou shalt not kill the referees.</b><br />
Thou
shalt settle for being righteously indignant, even if thy referees are
woefully possessed by demons or blinded by cataracts or bribed by the
opposing team's football boosters.<br />
<br />
<b>IX. Thou shalt remember the football Saturday,</b><br />
and
thou shalt not have work, nor baby showers, nor volunteer commitments,
nor any friends nor family who choose to get married on Game Day.<br />
<br />
<b>X. Thou shalt beat USC.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
With all that written out, I guess it's time to remind myself:<br />
-It's only the first game<br />
-We had zero turnovers<br />
-After
letting Temple drive into the red zone three times in the second
quarter, ND's defense buckled down--Temple's possessions in the second
half ended with Downs, Punt, Punt, Punt, Downs, Fumble ...and only one
of those drives made it into Notre Dame territory<br />
-Penalties are just mental mistakes and we can FIX those<br />
-Stephon Tuitt's still a beast<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Last Scent of the Skunkbears</b><br />
<br />
So
guys. What with Notre Dame moving to the ACC and committing to play 5
ACC opponents in football per year (despite retaining our "independent"
status), we've cut our series with the Wolverines a little short. Which
means Saturday night's game in Ann Arbor may be the last regular-season
matchup between Notre Dame and Michigan for the next 10-15 years or so.<br />
<br />
This
seems odd for those of us who began watching football after 1978 (when
the ND/Michigan series resumed), but it's not as though this rivalry
hasn't taken its little breaks before--usually after one coach had a
hissy fit about how the other team's coach treated him, which sometimes
resulted in Michigan campaigning for the Big 10 to boycott Notre Dame
for no other reason besides poor manners. So if you hear about Brady
Hoke accusing the Irish of chickening out on the series with the
Wolverines--don't listen to him, he's just being a little snot (na na-na
boo boo).<br />
<br />
Regardless of what one team's coach says about the other, I predict this game is going to be an absolute brawl.<br />
<br />
Prime
time in the Big House probably gives 17th-ranked Michigan the
edge--except, you know, Notre Dame has that whole thing going where they
play way better in hostile environments than they do at home. So who
knows? Denard of the Dashing Dreadlocks is gone; Michigan's new QB,
Devin Gardner, remains relatively untested after a 59-9 victory over
Central Michigan (during which Central's QB & top RB went down with
injury); Gardner went 10 of 15 with 1 TD and 2 interceptions. This
bodes well for Notre Dame's secondary, if you ask me. And let's face
it--for the past few years, the decisive factors in our games against
Michigan have been A) turnovers, and B) last-second scores by Denard
Robinson. Even last year's game, with Robinson throwing five straight
interceptions, Notre Dame still only won by 7 points. >.< So let's
hope for a positive turnover margin, yeah?<br />
<br />
Of course, it
doesn't really matter who's starting at QB for the Wolverines, or
whether Notre Dame is currently ranked slightly higher in the polls;
when it comes to the Notre Dame-Michigan game, all bets are off. And
especially for this game--<i>we have to win. </i>Who doesn't want fifteen years' worth of bragging rights?<br />
<br />
So
get ready, Irish fans. It is time for one more clash of the
blue-and-gold and the maize-and-blue. Bust out your "I Heart Appalachian State" bumper stickers, re-read Blue-Gray Sky's "<a href="http://www.bluegraysky.com/michigan-letter.html" target="_blank">Letter to Michigan Fans</a>",
and get ready to HAIL, HAIL, to Michigan, the Assholes of the World as
we victory clog our way out of Ann Arbor for the last time this decade.<br />
<br />
<b>GO IRISH BEAT WOLVERINES!</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="photo "><img alt="South Bend Tribune/JAMES BROSHER" class="photo_img img" src="https://sphotos-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/s720x720/1234723_10100953875692317_1264054645_n.jpg" title="South Bend Tribune/JAMES BROSHER" /></span><br />
<div class="caption">
South Bend Tribune/JAMES BROSHER</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-64997582387026286792013-08-26T07:39:00.001-07:002013-08-26T07:45:53.569-07:00Notre Dame Preseason 2013: To Be or Not to Be editionThere are more things in Heaven and Earth, fellow Irish fans, than
are dreamt of in our football seasons. But in six days, we blind
ourselves to all that lies outside the House that Rockne built, and with
our cheering thousands rise above the worms of doubt that seek to spoil
our hope that we will rise up to the top again.<br />
<br />
We have
nothing but wondering to fill the preseason hours. Despite the obvious
tragedy of our most recent game, there is no point in looking back and
recounting the ills of prior seasons; that way leads to madness. But nor
can we move forward with conviction until we have seen this year's
players act the thing out.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
To [win], or not to [win]: that is the question:<br />
Whether 'tis nobler [on] the [field] to suffer<br />
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,<br />
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,<br />
And by opposing end them? To [win]: to [lose]<br />
No more; and by a [win] to say we end<br />
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks<br />
That [fans are] heir to, 'tis a consummation<br />
Devoutly to be wish'd.</blockquote>
<br />
Let the speculation now begin.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."</b><br />
<br />
So
guys. Everett Golson went and got himself suspended (from school and
from the team) for violating the student Code of Conduct ("cheating on a
final" seems to be the general consensus, but in the spirit of not
spreading libel, I cannot say I know for sure), which leaves us in a
pickle YET AGAIN when it comes to the quarterback position. We've also
got a stable of virtually-untested running backs (GAIII
notwithstanding), a bevy of wide receivers with no superstar among them,
and a thicket of tight ends with no heir apparent to the line of
players we've recently sent into the pros (Eifert, Rudolph, Carlson, and
Fasano).<br />
<br />
Which means no one knows what our offense is
really going to look like this season. Similar to last season, sure, but
with no obvious threats. This means everyone must be considered an
equal threat, until our main villain-of-opposing-defenses is revealed.
Which I'm kind of excited about. For one thing, the shroud of mystery
upon our offense can only work to our advantage--and for another, I'm
wicked excited to see who steps up.<br />
<br />
Wide receiver/<a href="http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/notre-dame-wr-tj-jones-swims-with-sharks/" target="_blank">shark whisperer</a> TJ Jones and offensive tackle Zack Martin have been named co-captains for the
offense. Jones will probably be the top WR target this season (as well
as our punt returner, apparently), but Sports Illustrated has DaVaris
Daniels pegged as ND's offensive player to watch. Personally, I'm hoping
to see more of senior Daniel Smith and super-fast sophomore Chris Brown
hauling catches to the end zone (like you do), and I also really,
really want to see George Atkinson (THE THIRD) have a breakout season.
He'll most likely be trading touches with Cam McDaniel, but if USC
transfer Amir Carlisle can manage to stay NOT INJURED, he'll probably
have a breakout season, too. Personally, I'm hoping everyone steps
up--then we'll get to watch new and dazzling plays unfold from our
offense all season. It'll be like Christmas every Saturday until
December! (Oh, wait--this is already how I feel about football season.
In, uh, an entirely non-blasphemous way.)<br />
<br />
The best news,
of course, is that our entire coaching staff has carried over from last
season, which means there has been no adjustment period for any of the
players in terms of coaching communication--except for the freshmen, of
course--but HEY GUESS WHAT GUYS? For the first time in years we have so
much depth on the team that most of the freshmen WON'T PLAY. Not that
they don't want to play, of course--but they WON'T HAVE TO. They will
have time to learn and adjust and get stronger before they officially
take the field as starters. Which--again--can only work to our
advantage. <br />
<br />
In other offensive news, if you're
worried about the O-line, don't be. Sure, we graduated Center Braxston
Cave, and we don't exactly have a specific unit etched in stone, but
what we do have are returning starters Chris Watt, Christian Lombard,
and Zack Martin, and--most importantly--a unit that acts like a UNIT.
From BK's presser: "That group works so well together. Boy, they do
everything together. They hang out together. There's a continuity in
that group that exists in their DNA as offensive linemen. You know
what I mean? That's probably one of the units that I'm less concerned
about that group playing together because they do it as a way of life."<br />
<br />
Last
but not least (for the offense): senior QB Tommy Rees has been named
the starter for the first game--but not the whole season. Given Brian
Kelly's penchant for playing multiple quarterbacks, I would not be
surprised to see senior Andrew Hendrix and freshman Malik Zaire appear
at various points throughout the season. But unless Tommy starts
throwing six picks (or pick-sixes) in every game, I wouldn't expect him
to be completely ousted as the starter, either. Rees knows the offense
verrrry well at this point, and you can count on him to make the right
read. You just can't always count on him to make the best
throw--especially not if the pocket starts collapsing like an
undercooked souffle. However, if you're worried about Coach Kelly
getting all fancy with the play-calling, don't be (well, mostly):
"Probably won't be running as much option with Tommy, but we'll do
things that suit him." Good. Keep your promises, coach. (Point of
interest: Coach Kelly's actually turning play-calling over to offensive
coordinator Chuck Martin this year. We'll see how that goes.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Doubt thou the stars are fire;</b><br />
<b>Doubt that the sun doth move;</b><br />
<b>Doubt truth to be a liar;</b><br />
<b> But never doubt I love [Bob Diaco].</b><br />
<br />
Yes,
I know I'm defiling Shakespeare. But never mind that. Let's move on to
the sterling unit that saved last season and sent us to the national
championship. Oh, defense--shall I compare thee to a summer's day? How
do I love the? Let me count the ways. Oh, frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
(This is no longer making sense, but hey, it rhymes. Um...let's move
on.)<br />
<br />
So: no more Manti Te'o. He's going to be playing on
Sundays soon (just like Robby Toma said). Kapron Lewis-Moore is gone,
too, along with Zeke Motta and Jamoris Slaughter (all of whom got picked
in the NFL Draft this year)--but never fear, you guys. Never. Fear. Bob
Diaco's defense is still stacked deep with talent, featuring:<br />
-Irish Chocolate aka Louis Nix aka guess-who's-on-all-the-preseason-watch-lists THIS year, punks?<br />
-Newly-named defensive captain Bennett Jackson<br />
-Stephon "I've-got-more-sacks-than-a-potato-factory" Tuitt<br />
-sophomore standout KeiVarae Russell<br />
-Kona Schwenke<br />
-Justin Utupo<br />
-Sheldon (I-hope-you're-not-eating too-many-honey-buns) Day<br />
-Dan Fox<br />
-Carlo (near-convict) Calabrese<br />
-Austin Collinsworth (no longer injured!)<br />
-Lo Wood (also no longer injured! we hope)<br />
-Elijah Shumate<br />
-Okay, I could go on, but then I'd just be listing the entire defense, wouldn't I?<br />
<br />
Also worth noting:<br />
-Danny
Spond is no longer on the team. He decided to stop playing football,
due to health concerns; he left early during training camp, which can't
have been easy--but I can only commend him for making this decision.
As much as I love football, I am but mad north-northwest; when the wind
is southerly, I can tell a hawk from a handsaw. When it comes to
health (obviously), the wind is southerly. So--way to go, Danny Spond.
Way to make the tough decision. (Live long and prosper.)<br />
-Jesse
Biongovi is on the team now; anybody wanna lay odds on how many times
the Notre Dame Band features Bon Jovi songs in its halftime shows this
year?<br />
<br />
Anyway--as we all know, the defense was the anchor
of our team last year, and it's gonna be the anchor of our team this
year. Nobody's expecting a repeat of last season. But that's all to the
good. Last season, we got called lucky a lot. This season, I don't want
us to be lucky. I want us to be GOOD.<br />
<br />
I don't think
anyone's expecting another perfect regular season. After all, we watched
our perfect regular season get beaten by Alabama, didn't we? And now
Manti's gone, and Golson's got himself chucked out for a semester, and
our star tight end's off to the NFL, etc etc etc. We're #14 in the
pre-season poll (not that this means anything). Yet in the Notre Dame
locker room, they've hung this:<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
"Presumptuous," at least one blog has called us.<br />
<br />
I call it AWESOME.<br />
<br />
Do
I think we're going to go 12-0 again? I HAVE NO IDEA. I mean, right now
it seems kinda far-fetched that we will run the table and get back to
the national championship again. It seems nearly as far-fetched as it
would have if someone (besides Lou Holtz) had told me at the beginning
of last season that we WERE going to go to the national championship.
And you know what? That kinda makes me mad.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>What a piece of work is a man!</b><br />
<b>How noble in reason! How infinite in faculties!</b><br />
<br />
How full of ridiculous bias!<br />
<br />
Okay, so I promised that if I wrote another rant, I would include <a href="http://thecrunchzone.com/over-rated-13-year-bias-of-the-ap-poll-evaluated/" target="_blank">a link to this article</a>, and here's where it comes in:<br />
<br />
Over
the past 13 years, Notre Dame has been one of the most UNDER-RATED
teams at the beginning of each football season. (Just look at the
numbers; they'll tell you it's true.) Now, I'm sure there are people out
there who would want to argue that this statistic is only true because
Notre Dame is always OVER-rated by the end of the season--and they sort
of have a point, considering we haven't won a bowl game against a ranked
opponent since 1994...OUCH. Then again, some of these people are the
same people who said Notre Dame had "the hardest schedule in the
country" at the beginning of last season, and by the end of last season
had proclaimed that Notre Dame's schedule was "easy," so I am not 100%
sure we can trust their opinions.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, I think
that we are, in fact, underrated this year. I'm not saying we should be
#2 or anything; we did lose to Alabama, and as mentioned, most of our
offense is a big fat question mark (etc etc etc).<br />
<br />
So now we've got to go out there and prove ourselves. Again.<br />
<br />
I
suppose every team has to prove itself every season, but it just irks
me to overhear people saying, "Notre Dame's not going to go undefeated
this season." "Haha, yeah, no way."<br />
<br />
A;DGA;OFDIJA;SODGIJAW;OGI<br />
<br />
YOU GUYS. The season hasn't even started yet. I DO NOT NEED TO HEAR THESE SENTIMENTS.<br />
<br />
I
am as aware as anyone what our situation is this year. But it is in no
way outrageous for this team to claim they're going back to the national
championship this season. It is, in fact, a way less outrageous
statement coming from this team than it would have been coming from any
of Notre Dame's teams for the last, oh, fifteen years or so, considering
over 80% of the players on this team HAVE PLAYED IN THE NATIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.<br />
<br />
I am just saying.<br />
<br />
Now, I
know it's impossible to stir up the same kind of optimism and fervor
that we would have had if we'd actually won the championship game
(ahahaha--can you imagine?), but nevertheless, tickets for Notre Dame's
regular season games this year are already re-selling for more money
than tickets for any other college football program in the country
(according to <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/08/22/notre-dame-tops-nation-in-college-football-ticket-prices/)" target="_blank">this article from Forbes</a>)...so clearly SOMEONE out there is excited for our chances this season.<br />
<br />
And
the point that I am trying to make, beneath all this waffle, is that I
think we're going to be much better this year than we're expected to be.
Yes, we lost some superstars--but we also spent most of last season
proving that we've figured out how to play like a team. And I think this
year's team--especially the offense--is going to be slightly less
flashy and slightly more consistent. Look, this even came up in
coachspeak at Brian Kelly's latest presser:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
Last
year we had some bold personalities. You had a Manti Te'o that had a
very bold personality. And sometimes we took on his personality as a
team.<br />
<br />
This one represents more of a group. So every
single day this is a group that comes to work every single day with a
consistency. So I think that's what I see more than anything else is
that I know what I'm going to get from them every single day because
it's it's a deeper group in the sense that there's not just one
personality. It's across the board.</blockquote>
<br />
And
that is super A-OK fine by me, because when you don't have superstars,
that's exactly what you need to beat teams like Stanford. And USC. And
Alabama. You need to be grounded in what you do, and not get all outta
whack just because you're playing in a big game. If we prove nothing
else this season, I hope we prove that we're consistent. (CONSTANT
VIGILANCE!)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Words, words, words.</b><br />
<br />
All of this is just babbling conjecture, of course. We won't know anything until we see the team get out there and play. <b> </b><br />
<br />
It's after midnight now. You know what that means, guys? Only FIVE DAYS 'til Irish football.<b> </b><br />
<br />
To
be honest, I know very little about what we can expect from
Temple on Saturday. Historically, Temple has been one of the, uh, weaker
D-I programs--but these days, coaching for the Owls is apparently a
good springboard for your career; Temple was pretty good for a couple
years under Al Golden, who was subsequently hired by Miami-FL. After
Golden left, Steve Addazio took over and led the Owls to their
second-ever bowl game victory (the first was in 1979). Then Addazio
(after a 4-7 season) left to coach at Backup College (good choice, BC),
and Temple hired Matt Rhule, who had worked as an assistant at Temple
for six years before spending the 2012 season as an assistant line coach
for the New York Giants. Quarterback Connor Reilly was just named
Temple's starter this week, as I learned from <a href="http://temple.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1539814&PT=4&PR=2" target="_blank">this article on OwlScoop.com</a>.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately,
that article was not very informative about Reilly's strengths, or
Temple's team strengths (although it does mention Louis Nix and Stephon
Tuitt, because clearly they're relevant). The Temple football blog I
found was not very comprehensive, either (although <a href="http://templefootballforever.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/temple-football-for-dummies-one-week-before-nd/" target="_blank">this post</a> helpfully
lists several teams Temple's beaten in the last few years that Notre
Dame lost to).
Soooo I'm just going to have to go with my gut feeling on this one,
guys: pretty sure we're gonna win. Might have to check with Stephon
Tuitt and Louis Nix on that one.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, make
sure you've got The Shirt clean and your tailgate playlist ready (and,
you know, your rally beads and your face tattoos and your shamrock
earrings and your blue-and-gold nail polish all set) for Saturday. It's
officially game week. And I am ready to BRING IT.<br />
<br />
GO IRISH BEAT OWLS!LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2825264565663333142.post-70055421246677564012013-01-12T13:21:00.000-08:002013-01-13T06:38:22.629-08:00This is the way the season ends<div class="mbl notesBlogText clearfix">
<br />
<div>
<i>Note: This post is a post of verve and depression and may involve slightly disgusting words like pupa</i>. <i>But this is just something we are all going to have to live with.</i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Notre Dame 14, Alabama 42</span></b> </span></div>
<br />
<b>This is the way the season ends. Not with a bang, but with a bust.</b><br />
<br />
I'm going to end the season the way I began it: by saying Rick Reilly, you are STILL WRONG.<br />
<br />
As it all unravels and the season respools, there are those who will
tell you that the season amounted to very little. Trophies were not
claimed. Banners were not brought home. The SEC was not unseated. Notre
Dame is not "back."<br />
<br />
The coaches are not what you thought.<br />
<br />
Everything hurts. It hurts through my swollen throat and my
cough-battered lungs and my energy-sapped muscles. I've suffered the
last several days with an illness that was probably the result of
post-holiday, post-bowl game depression, and my head's been in a
wordless fog that wouldn't clear. For 48 hours, I took the thread-ends
of the year and spun them into a chrysalis, setting all thoughts of
football into a protective pupa until they were well-formed enough to
burst into something tangible and brightly-winged.<br />
<br />
And the seethe, the anger, the wallop of disbelief have mostly faded
to the backdrop of forgotten plays. What springs forth is the stuff
worth remembering.<b> </b><br />
<b> </b>Like Manti Te'o and the thousands of leis and the strength of his faith and the soul of the team<br />
and Big Lou and the Chocolate News<br />
and Theo Riddick and the way he charges through defenders like a bull<br />
and Cierre Wood and how he's always catching opposing backfields with their pants down<br />
and Chris Brown and the long ball against Oklahoma<br />
and Kapron Lewis-Moore and his mad-hattery as the campus Superfan<br />
and Stephon Tuitt and his 11 sacks<br />
and the defense and their six picks against Michigan<br />
and Braxston Cave, local hero<br />
and Prince Shembo's bike seat<br />
and the goal-line stand against Stanford<br />
and the Golic brothers and John Goodman (aka gramps) and Trick Shot Monday<br />
and Cam McDaniel and his one-man drive against Miami<br />
and the way the entire team stuck it to USC<br />
and Bob Diaco and his disarmingly attractive hair<br />
and Tyler Eifert, the nation's best Tight End<br />
and Robby Toma, for being the man overlooked<br />
and Zack Martin, for never allowing a sack<br />
and GAIII, for being the next big thing<br />
and Everett Golson and his piano-playing hands<br />
and the terrifying way he holds the football when he runs<br />
and the ridiculous strength of his spirals when he's flushed out of the pocket<br />
and the luck of the smash-mouth overtime against Pitt<br />
and the way we absolutely owned it all in Ireland<br />
and how far we've come<br />
and how far still to go<br />
and it how it felt to see those golden helmets run out in Sun Life Stadium to play for the national championship game<br />
and to think the dome they represent<br />
and the lakes and the grotto and the spire<br />
and the stadium<br />
and the echoes.<br />
<br />
I love this team and this school and I know it's not perfect--we're
not perfect--I know there's a whole roiling quagmire of muck going on in
college football in general--but for right now, I don't care; for this
season, WE WERE PERFECT. And no one--NO ONE--not the the pundits or hack
writers or the AP poll or the fakers-who-fell-off-the-bandwagon or the
Crimson Tide and their completely fabricated number of national
championships can change that. DO YOU HEAR ME?<br />
<br />
Alabama fans are gonna crow. The SEC will reign supreme. ND haters can call us delusional all they like. But it doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
And moreover, I don't think it's true.<br />
<br />
I think we belonged in that game.<br />
<br />
Of course, we didn't <i>play</i> like we belonged in that game, so no one will believe me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Shattered glory</b><br />
<br />
<br />
I don't know what happened to our team. I don't know if they all had
sunstroke or they peaked at the wrong time or they were somehow
subconsciously affected by having a head coach who was secretly plotting
his escape to the Philadelphia Eagles (more on that bullsh*t in a
minute) or WHAT--but for unknown, unfathomable reasons, everyone on the
defense simultaneously forgot how to tackle, and we imploded like an
undercooked souffle.<br />
<br />
Look, I know Alabama's good, but unless they're all pumping steroids,
it's not like they're superhuman. A tackle is a tackle. You should know
how to make one. You <i>do </i>know how to make one. We saw it all
season, against opponents with running backs our team wasn't supposed to
be able to tackle. So what the hell?<br />
<br />
Maybe it got to them, finally, being the underdogs. They didn't look
aggressive. They didn't attack. They sat on their heels most of their
game, waiting to see what Alabama would do. By the time they caught on,
it was too late.<br />
<br />
Alabama had no such problem with nerves. Of course they didn't. They
were just here last season. 'Bama took too much from us too fast, and
we deflated. Midway through the game, I began to long for players I
haven't had much cause to miss. Jamoris Slaughter. Aaron Lynch.
(Harrison Smith.) Only a very few looked the way they've looked all
season. Louis Nix, for example.<br />
<br />
Nobody can block Big Lou. Not even Alabama.<br />
<br />
But for the first time all year, the disparity in experience and
talent on our team became egregiously apparent, and we didn't play
enough like a unit to make up for it. Zeke Motta had 16 tackles--6 more
than Manti Te'o. Any time a safety is your leading tackler, you're
losing the battle in the trenches. This is where the game needed to be
won, and we didn't. We couldn't.<br />
<br />
I don't know why.<br />
<br />
There were a couple of huge momentum shifts early in the game that could have made everything different.<br />
Are you sure that wasn't a catch, refs? I'm pretty sure it was.<br />
Are you sure that shady fair-catch penalty was really a penalty? I don't think it was.<br />
If it had been a turnover, it could have made the game. Or at least made it close.<br />
<br />
But no. Instead we got a game full of missed tackles and a head coach ready to split for the pros.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Bye bye baby, baby good-bye</b><br />
<br />
In case you have been living under a rock (or encased in a very
large pupa), you are most likely aware that the day after the national
championship game, Brian Kelly interviewed with the Eagles. (The
Philadelphia Eagles. Keep your pants on.) Evidently Oregon's Chip Kelly
and Penn State's Bill O'Brien have talked to the Eagles, too, but both
have decided to stay with their current programs--unlike Kelly, who is
apparently meeting with the Eagles again this weekend. (According to
the Internet, which as we know is the font of all truth and no lies.)<br />
<br />
You know what, Brian Kelly? If you wanna go, go. This ain't a
revolving door. You can't just sally up to whoever you want and then
waltz right back in expecting a pay raise. So if this is what you
want--if this is all the loyalty you've got--sally forth. And good luck.<br />
<br />
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is what Kelly did to
Cincinnati, isn't it? Cut and ran for Notre Dame when his team was 12-0
and playing for the Sugar Bowl?<br />
<br />
I do recall Kelly saying that if the Bearcats had made it to the
national championship game that year, he wouldn't have left. Because
how can you do that to a team, right? How can you abandon them once
you've taken them so far?<br />
<br />
Ha. Ha. Ha.<br />
<br />
Of course, there are semi-reasonable, semi-bullshit excuses one
could make for why Brian Kelly left Cincinnati the way he did. After
all, among the 119 FBS schools, there are Cincinnatis galore, but there
are only a few programs like Alabama, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan,
etc., that are gonna give you the big bucks and the rabid fan base and
stay on everybody's radar year after year whether they're bowl-eligible
or not.<br />
<br />
And--let's be obnoxious for a second--there's only one Notre Dame.<br />
<br />
So if you're the head coach at one of those top-tier programs<i> </i>,
you've pretty much reached the apex of your career. For elite college
players, heading to to the NFL is the obvious next step. But I don't
think the same holds coaches (no matter what people like Dan Wetzel
might say). Unless you're moving from a coordinator position to a
head-coaching position, moving from college to the NFL (or vice versa)
isn't a step up or down. It's more like a lateral move. And most coaches
are not--for example--like former ND coach Charlie Weis: they don't
bounce back and forth between college and the NFL two or three times
within a three-year span. (Since leaving Notre Dame, Weis has been named
offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, offensive coordinator
for the Florida Gators, and head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks.) Partly
this is because most coaches don't have the resume that Weis does, but
partly, I'm convinced, it's a case of apples and oranges. The college
atmosphere is inherently different<i> </i> from the NFL, and some coaches simply prefer one over the other. Ain't no shame in either.<br />
<br />
Of course, no one's surprised when supercilious snot-rags like Pete
Carroll bolt for the NFL while their team's staring down the barrel of
an NCAA investigation. But odds are, if you've spent 20+ perfecting the
art of being a college head coach, probably that's your calling. And
probably you should stick with that. Like Bob Stoops, for example. (Man,
I wish we could get somebody like Bob Stoops. Though seriously,
guys--we're never gonna get the actual Bob Stoops, and that's okay. I'd
think less of him if he left Oklahoma at this point, anyway.)<br />
<br />
I don't know what's going on in Brian Kelly's head, of course. Maybe
he's always wanted to coach in the NFL. Maybe this was always his end
goal. Or maybe he really is just flirting for a pay raise.<br />
<br />
But I doubt it.<br />
<br />
Allow me to make some conjectures here that are way above my pay
grade. I surmise that BK's original end goal, in truth, was to make it
to one of the elite-level college programs and win a national
championship. Or two. Or three. Or whatever.<br />
<br />
And then he got to Notre Dame and everything was so much more
ridiculously batsh-- insane than he'd envisioned that he started to
feel like he was living in a pressure cooker all the time, and it threw
him for such a loop that it took him like two years to settle back
down and start coaching the players the way he'd ALWAYS coached the
players--and it was good enough to get them to a national championship
game.<br />
<br />
So then national championship season rolls around. And at the end of
the year, for whatever reason, the Philadelphia Eagles come a-callin'.<br />
<br />
And maybe Brian Kelly thinks to himself: holy sh*t, an escape from
all this madness? CAN IT BE TRUE? (Because let's face it: If you don't
wholeheartedly love Notre Dame's particular brand of madness, it will
eventually crush you.) But Kelly can't say anything just yet, because
National Championship. So maybe Kelly tells the Eagles, "look guys, I
got this game to prepare for, and if we win, maybe don't even bother to
call."<br />
<br />
Because if you win a national championship at Notre Dame, we will LOVE YOU FOREVER AND ERECT STATUES IN YOUR HONOR. No joke.<br />
<br />
But if you lose a national championship game....<br />
<br />
Wait, sorry, what was it Kelly thought was gonna happen if we lost?
Did he think we'd vilify him? String him up and leave him for dead?<br />
<br />
As I recall, the day after the championship, one of the headlines in
the South Bend Tribune read something along the lines of: DESPITE LOSS,
FANS FIND REASONS TO STAY OPTIMISTIC.<br />
<br />
Because who saw this season coming? Who honestly thought we'd be 12-0
at the beginning of the year? Just the team. Just the coaches. They
proved it to all of us. And they can prove it again. The pain of loss I
felt after this game was full of more disappointment than desolation. I
didn't walk away from it thinking, <i>That was it. We'll never have this chance again. </i>HELL NO. I walked away from it thinking, <i>sh*t,
that sucked--but just give us 2 years, when Golson's a junior and we've
got these kick-ass recruiting classes locked in, and we'll be right
back here. RIGHT BACK.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
And now Kelly's threatening to pull the plug. Is this what he does?
Build programs up just to cut them down? Or did he just think life would
become absolutely unbearable if we went to the championship and lost?
Right, because clearly the solution to that is to go go the PHILADELPHIA
EAGLES, who are so well-known for having kind, patient, loving,
stalwart, feel-good-family-movie kinda fans.
(Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.)<br />
<br />
If that's what Kelly thought (and I'm not saying it is, but just humor me here)--WHO THE HELL HAS HE BEEN TALKING TO?<br />
<br />
Because seriously--honestly--adverbially--there is only one actual
response when Notre Dame loses a game, ever, and it is not the Rick
Reilly response of "f*** it, I'm throwing in the towel."<br />
<br />
No, the only actual response is to stand up and sing the alma mater. The only actual response is<br />
<br />
<b>Love thee Notre Dame</b><br />
<br />
Maybe the dude's just suffering from exhaustion. But I don't know.<br />
<br />
If he can't deal with ND by now, then what-the-effing-effer.<br />
<br />
Just go.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Onward to victory</b><br />
<br />
So as to not leave things on a completely sober note: in a hysterical
turn of events, Notre Dame is still #1 in the BCS rankings. (Thanks,
computers!) Which I'm sure is another excellent reason the BCS is being
demolished. <b> </b>Technically speaking, though, the sign on top of Grace Hall could still be lit. (ha.)<br />
<br />
I can hardly think about the off-season right now. Whatever Kelly's
doing, he better do it quick. Ain't no time to waste with all those
recruits on the line.<br />
<br />
Let's Go Irish. Beat off-season.<br />
<br />
It's gonna be a bumpy ride.<br />
<br />
<span></span><br />
<em>Edit: </em>Kelly's staying.<br />
<br />
I hope he means every single word he said and it's not just a bunch of political backtracking.<br />
<blockquote>
"This week, I had an incredible opportunity to speak with one of the
premier organizations in sports about becoming their head coach," said
Kelly.<br />
<br />
"Like every kid who has ever put on a pair of football cleats, I have
had thoughts about being a part of the NFL. However, after much
reflection and conversation with those closest to me, I have decided to
remain at Notre Dame.<br />
<br />
"This decision was motivated purely by my love for Notre Dame and the
entire Fighting Irish community, the young men I have the great
fortune to coach, and my desire to continue to build the best football
program in the country. "We still have a lot of work to do and my staff
and I are excited about the challenges ahead."<br />
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
LThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04784905971889246097noreply@blogger.com1