Sparty Wins . . . Again

Make it 9 wins in their last 12 meetings with the Irish. To say the Spartans have our number would be pretty spot on. Man I miss Jonelle Smith . . .

 

Michigan St beat the Irish 23-7 on Saturday. My predicted close loss for the Irish was not fully correct, but I did predict a losing effort for the Irish in a winnable game. It was winnable, although the Irish clearly did not deserve to win. Here are a few straight from the hip thoughts about the Irish:

• Rushing Offense  -  Awful by the Irish. How this year's team managed fewer yards rushing against the Spartans than the 2007 team (40 yards vs 150 yards) is baffling. No matter what running back, we could not get any headway. The coaching staff better fix this soon. I hope its fixable  -  because it really looks like our guys are just getting beat.
• Brandon Walker and the Irish Kicking Game get an F-. Absolutely embarrassing and awful. See the rest of my post, and you will hear a tone of not being upset but positive criticism and a belief in what we are doing. I have patience in all aspects of the 2008 Irish, except no longer in the kicking game. The left footed kicker never even gets close to making a field goal, and his ball hooks every single time. If walker makes one or both of the missed field goals on Saturday, more pressure on the Spartans might have benefited the Irish defense and changed the game. Put someone else in, anyone, because this kid has proven over and over again that he CANNOT kick. Period.
• Defense  -  Looked very solid with an A grade to the defensive backs, B grade the linebackers, and a C to the defensive line. Up until the late 70 yard run by Ringer, we had held him to 130 yards on 35 carries, which was acceptable. The defensive backs continue to defend deep balls perfectly (Raeshon McNeil - I'm looking at you  -  nice defense yet again on the deep pass in the end zone) and the safeties are playing lights out. Against the pass, we are as good as we have been in 10 years, easily. Against the run, we lack the big talented bodies on the line right now. But we are much closer to stopping the run and solidifying the defense than we are to effectively running the ball on offense.
• Passing Offense   -  Looked fantastic at times, but inconsistent. We you cant run the ball at all, passing the ball is more difficult. This is what faced Clausen and the Irish and I think we had no trouble moving the ball on the Spartans. Freshman Michael Floyd and Sophomore Golden Tate are already fantastic players and will make the Irish a good passing team this year, and a great team in the years to come. I predict in 2010 (2 years) that the Irish passing attack will be the best in the history of Notre Dame. I think Clausen could be like Brady Quinn, although we don't know yet. The big key is that the WRs will be the best collection of WR talent ND has ever had, period. Samardzija and Stoval were good, but these guys are younger, faster, and will be better.

The Irish are now 2-1. After the Michigan game, the koolaid drinking gained a lot of momentum with Irish fans, who began to raise their expectations quite a bit. I think in the back of some fans' minds, there were images of riding into the Coliseum at Thanksgiving to take on the Trojans, both teams sitting at 11-0. That's ridiculous in two ways. First, 11-0 heading into the last game is crazy. Second, to even think the game with USC will be a close or barely competitive game is absurd. Am I the only sane Irish fan around?

 

Coach Weis said, "You are what you are  -  and right now you're a 6-6 football team", when he was hired. Well, its an objective gut check time for the Irish fan base. WE are what WE are, and I think the following:

• 1 year removed from being a 3-9 team, hapless all over the field
• Very young all over the field; against Michigan, all 5 touchdowns were scored by true sophomores
• 2-1  -  with a chance to win the one game we lost
• Likely favored by Las Vegas in at least 5, maybe 6 of the 9 remaining games (I presume we are favored against Purdue, Stanford, Navy, Syracuse, and @Washington ; not favored @ North Carolina, @ Boston College, or @ USC; tossup being at home against Pitt)
• And most of all  - still on pace for a bowl game, the only logical goal for a team recovering from an awful season

I predicted 7-5 back in my preseason prediction. Yes, I predicted the Irish to be 2-1 at this point also, but with a loss to Michigan and a victory over Michigan St. Nonetheless, we are still on pace for the Meineke Car Care Bowl bid that I predicted. Miami is slightly above pace to meet us in that bowl game, but anything can happen.