3 Plays

Poor coaching of the fundamentals rarely changes "next year" when players have more experience, or more big time recruits fill the roster. These 3 plays from the Syracuse game in particular convict Weis and his staff of something I am not sure he can repair or change - the inability to teach fundamental football skills to young players.


Play 1 - 1st quarter, 3rd down and 4, third play of the game. Irish try to convert a third and medium with a pass from the shotgun.





The middle linebacker blitzes and hits Clausen completely untouched. Actually, there was not even an attempt to touch him. Inexplicably, left guard Eric Olsen does not even look the potential blitzer, instead helping out Turkovich, the left tackle. Errors like this typically occur when an offensive lineman has to choose between two blitzers to block, not whether to block anyone at all. This mental error for a junior this late in the year falls on the coaching staff, period. I hold Olsen accountable, but ultimately the teacher should be good enough to guide a pupil away from such simple yet potentially disasterous mistakes like this one. Weis is GUILTY AS CHARGED.


Play 2 - 1st Quarter, 4th and 2, in Syracuse territory. The Irish go for it with a goalline formation running play.





Its not a bad move to go for it, considering how long the field goal try may have been. But when the offensive line misses assignments (who is #67 attempting to block?) or just getting blown up (can I help you up off the ground former 5 star recruit #74 Sam Young?), there is just FAIL written all over the offensive line play and the playcall. Even if the aforementioned players make their blocks, the safeties would have likely snuffed the play out for a 1 yard gain, at best. Either the players are poorly coached and do not have the mental and physical tools to execute the play, or Weis should have known better and passed the ball. Either way, Weis is GUILTY AS CHARGED.


Play 3 - The first defensive play after play #2 above. Syracuse goes for the jugular after their big defensive stop.





Syracuse uses the running back in the shotgun, fakes a handoff, and then throws a pass downfield. I realize these plays can be difficult to defend. A good coaching staff realizes that a "nothing to lose" Syracuse will try to improve its longshot status of winning this game via trick plays or big shots down the field. What better time to try a big play than after your defense just made a momentum grabbing stop? Football people know that gaining a large chunk of yards or scoring a touchdown right after your defense gets a turnover can multiply the momentum just gained tenfold. No one knows this as well as Charlie, who routinely calls a play action downfield pass on the first play after a big interception by the Irish. If a coach had simply mentioned, "Watch the big trick play or deep pass", I would imagine the defense would have been defended this play. The Irisih defense was completely unprepared and this play should have been an easy touchdown for Syracuse. Weis is GUITLY AS CHARGED.


I realize that there are numerous other good examples of plays from the game that I likely missed. I also realize that players don't always play like they are coached. But at some point, we have to realize that good teams like Florida, Oklahoma, and Alabama don't have many plays like this. Bad teams do. And when Notre Dame is considered "bad", someone has to be held accountable.