What now?

Notre Dame football is in a very poor position right now, obviously. A few streaming thoughts about the state of our program following a beat down by the Air Force Academy this past Saturday:

1. "Things are never as good or as bad as they seem." Lou Holtz

We have young talent, and more coming in with this recruiting class. A lot of young players need an offseason or two before things "click". I certainly hope that is the case with our talented freshman and sophomore classes. I expect them to get better this offseason, significantly better.

2. Firing Charlie Weis is not an option. Think about it, then move on. Nothing to see here folks. Firing Weis would set back our program 10 years, and dissolve quite possibly the greatest recruiting class in the history of Notre Dame. We inked him to 10 years, and whether we like it or not, we are tied to him as a football program. As he goes, so will we.

3. Jimmy Clausen is improving. Hard to point that out with the state of our offense. Against a subpar Air Force defense, Clausen completed 55% of his passes, which didnt include 5 drops that were WR miscues. He had 260 yards, 3 TDs, and no interceptions or fumbles. At the end of this year, he is starting to look like what we expected. I think he is more poised and accurate than Brady Quinn was at the same age. Above I said that our program is tied to Weis. We are also tied to Jimmy - if he's not playing or not playing well, so will be the state of our program.

4. Weis has messed this season up considerably, and gets the largest slice of the "blame pie". He has been teaching calculus to kids that need addition and subtraction learning. He did not transition his coaching to a style thats better for younger, more inexperienced players.

5. This is only Weis's 4th year as a head coach at any level, and his first with a "young" team. Weis has been served a boat load of the Patriots famed "Humble Pie" this season; lets hope that he has learned and will adapt with all the lessons he hopefully has learned this season. For example, I hope that he realizes that in college football, its more about talent and execution than it is at the pro level, where talent and experience are relatively even. In the pro game, X's and O's are much more important with the playing field more even. Not so in college.

With an easier schedule in 2008 (remove Georgia Tech, Penn St, UCLA, & Air Force, add San Diego St, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, & Syracuse), and young talent that should improve, there is no way Weis shouldnt win 7 games next year. If he doesn't win 7 next year, fire him. That wont happen though, as I think you can take 8-4 or better to the bank next year. Mark it down.

Crazy 8's

The Titans looked great for 3 quarters, and then for 50 seconds.

Somehow the Titans beat the Texans 38-36, after blowing a 25 point 4th quarter lead. The game was won on the foot of journeyman Rob Bironas, who kicked an NFL record 8 field goals from distances of 29, 52, 43, 25, 21, 30, 28, and 29 (for those of you keeping fantasy points scored at home, thats 27.5 for a kicker!).

The Titans looked better than the two previous weeks, which is a good sign. They have not really played well after the bye week 3, but they did on Sunday mostly. The defense continues to pressure the QB and be extremely aggressive, getting turnovers to help our offense sans-Vince Young. Kudos to Kerry Collins, who made some fantastic throws all day, especially in the game-winning drive. Also kudos to the long snapper and field goal place holder, who gave Bironas the 8 opportunities to score.

Beating the Texas and the Jags losing puts us at 4-2, holding the 2nd place spot in the division with tiebreaking wins over the Jags and Texans. We have a few easy games coming up at home that we need to win. I think 10 wins gets us in the playoffs, assuming we are second place in our division of course. That means 6 more wins out of our last 10 games. Definitely doable.

Recruiting Help

Too bad Notre Dame is struggggglllllling a bit. Instead of blabbering about excuses and discussing how we played, I think stepping back is the only way to digest this season.

So I will start with a question - how does a program recruit new players to come play for a 1-7 team that ranks dead last in nearly every offensive category, and not much better in defensive categories? You sell playing time, and simply ask the recruit, "Well you tell me, do you think you can get out there and make a difference next year?" Recruits are listening.

The Irish picked up our #WR target recruit over the weekend (Michael Floyd), and can likely land 3 more top 100 recruits. This recruiting class, if it keeps going and holds together, will be the greatest recruiting class in the history of Notre Dame. Scout.com and Rivals.com both have the class firmly entrenched at the #1 ranking. Its really amazing considering how the season has gone. The recruits responding the way they have tell me that Charlie does know what he's doing, and these kids and their parents recognize that.

Eventually the tide will turn, and I think that historically this season and maybe a part of next season will be remembered as the fire that forged our program into the future. I really hope that I'm right . . . certainly something good must come out of this season, which has been nothing but a disaster. To take the big picture view is the only hope for this team, and for Irish fans.

Titans Wrapup

Yes, the Titans lost to the Bucs. I was pretty emotionally spent from the ND game on Saturday to feel too down, but I couldnt help but remember my fear going into the bye week in a post two weeks ago - that we would go flat and lose some of the offensive chemistry we had. It appears that has come to fruition, as our offense performed very inconsistently and is turning the ball over.

The bright spot is the defense, which continues to hold teams in the teens. Certainly we have only played one high power offense (the Colts), but the Titans defense has performed admirably.

Yes, we gave up a 70 yard drive for the game winning field goal on defense. However, two things come to mind there:

• Our defense played great the whole game, so 13 points by the other team should be low enough bar for our offense
  
• Jeff Garcia through a critical pass on the drive when he was arguably across the line of scrimmage

I've searched YouTube and cannot find video footage of the play. It was so close that it at least should have been reviewed, being in the last minute of the game and on a critical third down conversion. No replay occurred, and the Bucs were in position to kick a game winning field goal.

The offense was largely stagnant the entire game, but having Vince Young out with an injury most of the second half didnt help either.

Next week the Titans play at Houston in a huge game for both teams. Winning this game will give the Titans a legup over all division teams except the Colts, as winning the AFC South is likely impossible and a wild-card birth is more likely this teams goal. With the game being in his hometown, I bet Vince Young will play and play very well.

Dirty Laundry

"Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down
Kick em when theyre up
Kick em when theyre down

You dont really need to find out whats going on
You dont really want to know just how far its gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry "

Thank you Don Henley for that magical song, "Dirty Laundry".

In a game that the Irish were going to need some breaks to win, the Irish got very few and came up short, losing to #5 ranked (now #2 in the BCS) Boston College 27 - 14. A flag happy officiating crew certainly didn't help either.


A few notes from the game, which the Pope attended:



- Our defense played well, especially given the short field our offense gave them on two drives (more on that later). Matt Ryan took the checkdown receiver on nearly every pass, and handled our blitz very well. We gave up very few big plays, and even scored a TD. More pressure on Ryan would have been the only realistic improvement our defense could have made in the game, but certainly they were blitzing and at least trying to rattle the QB.



- It might just be bad karma from the 4th and 9 play in 2005, but its time for Ambrose Wooden to see the bench and not the field. The guy continues to be around the play and make tackles, but on receivers that he failed to cover. I might be picking on him too much, but I get an awful feeling whenever I see #22 on the field or around the ball.



- The stadium was loud in the second half. I was happy to see Irish fans cheering and feeling that a victory was never in doubt until 5 minutes to go in the game.



- A few huge officiating calls that proved to be the difference between an overtime game or even an outright win for the Irish:

• Geoff Price's knee being called "down" during a low, botched snap on a punt. The punter was never pressured and booted a solid 45 to 50 yard punt, only to have the ball marked where he caught the snap. The drive for BC resulted in a TD, given the very short field they had due to the play. Ive said time and time again, the NFL rule of being down only when another player on the defense tackles or touches a player while down needs to be applied to college. This was ludicrous as he was simply trying to balance himself to catch the snap, which he did. The real problem might be with the rule, but none the less Price's knee touched the ground for just a split second, and the call never should have been made.


• Excessive celebration after the Irish closed the gap 20-14 after a defensive touchdown on an interception return by true freshman Brian Smith [Note: After the game the Pope saw Brian Smith and Gary Gray at Buffalo Wild Wings on Grape Rd. The Pope gave Brian a blessing for his big play and noted that he liked the "Asian Zing" buffalo sauce.] The Irish team piled up in the end zone, celebrating the score as a team. However, the officials saw this as excessive. They should have seen the Pope in the parking lot before the game, who would have been penalized for excessive drinking. Either way, we gave BC the ball on our own 40, promptly resulting in another TD out of their 3 total.


• 4th & 1, 5 minutes to go in the game, the Irish score a touchdown on a play action pass to Robby Parris. The gutsy call pulled the Irish to 27 to 21 after the extra pt . . . but no, holding was called on the play by LG Mike Turkovich. Thats a tough call to make on a play that certainly was the play of the game. I haven't been able to see the replay, but I hope it was a blatant tackle/hold, because anything less likely would not have affected the play and thus should have not changed the game. The Irish would have kicked off to BC with 3 timeouts in a 27 to 21 game with 5 minutes to go - and the stadium would have been rocking. Instead, the Irish had to go for a 4th down and 10 and came up short.


• 3rd and 12 one play before the call above. Evan Sharpely amazingly escapes pressure to deliver the ball to Carlson for what looks to be a 12 yard gain and a first down. The spot is then reviewed up in the booth, which was the first booth review of a spot of this type I had ever seen in a college game. The officials move the ball back a half of a yard, setting up the 4th and 1 mentioned above. This was only wild because a) it happened back to back with the above terrible call and b) Ive never seen a spot review that the other team or an official on the field did not request.


• My favorite officiating move of the game was in many ways the most telling. Irish Tight End John Carlson stepped back from the line to go into a standard motion in the backfield, which tight ends do probably 40% of the plays on the Irish offense. The flag-happy referee immediately through a flag, jumping the gun on what he thought was a false start. He then picked up the flag and corected his mistake. Despite his correction, he still looked like a complete idiot that was obviously throwing flags at everything.
• Referee quote of the day on the stadium loud speaker: "Please put Nyinne Teeehnn on the clock." I'm from Tennessee so I guess I cant make fun.

To be fair, the Irish had a few roughing the passer penalties in our favor that were very likely bad calls. The officials did not blow this game, but they certainly didnt provide the Irish much of a chance given how ineffective our offense and especially rushing game performed.

I wish the officials would eat their dirty laundry after that game.

Winning Ugly

Despite the big first win for the Irish, I certainly did not fail to notice another big win by my Tennessee Titans. In years past, the Titans would never have won that football game yesterday against the Atlanta Falcons. Read here for a good summary of the game.

After the way the Titans played in weeks 2 and 3, nearly beating the Colts and thumping the Saints on MNF, I wished out loud that the Titans did not have a bye week in week 4 - we were playing too well to take a week off. I was correct, and we certainly looked rusty out there against the hapless Falcons. Vince Young was not all there, and the offensive line did not have the power they showed in weeks 1-3. The defense picked up the offense though, and made enough big plays and key stops to give us a W in a game that would have been an L to 75% of NFL teams. Very very very rarely can you win any football game in which you turn the ball over 5 times. Just ask UCLA.

We have to be pleased with a 3-1 start at the quarter mark of our season. The only issue with early byes is that there will be a week later in this season where we are tired, and could use a rest. Hopefully we have used our bye week and gotten good rest and can stay focused the next few weeks.

Hitting Refresh

It has been 322 days since the Irish last experienced the feeling of victory. Let that sink in . . . the last win was November 2006 against Army at home. This game certainly wasn't pretty (from what I hear - more on that in a minute), and the stat line was atrocious, but the way college football is going this season, we'll take it.

This was the first Irish football game that I was unable to watch on live TV in quite sometime. ABC opted to regionally televise the Irish, preventing most of the country from getting the game broadcast without pay per view. My thumb is still sore from hitting refresh on my blackberry countless times, on a night that saw a refresh of the Irish Football season.

Yes we had 140 yards total offense. Yes, we beat up on their third string walk on QB after we knocked out their starter. Yes, the Irish forced 7 turnovers. And yes, I was utterly confused when refreshing the play by play sequence on my blackberry, especially when we recovered a fumble at the UCLA 1 yard line, and then had 3 offensive plays for a loss of 7 yards (certainly UCLA had the ball and was advancing right?)

I don't care. A win is a win (El Kabong doesnt care either).

The reality is that the Irish are a 1-5 football team that doesn't do anything great and certainly will be favored in only a few more football games this season. Right now, par for the course would be 5-7, which might even be a longshot right now. Despite all this, I can only name a few victories more satisfying than this one, and certainly no victory more satisfying since maybe Pittsburgh or Purdue in 2005.

Beating Boston College or USC would be huge upsets, and the Irish are going to need some bounces in our favor to contend in either game. But the way this college football season is going, nothing will surprise me. Congrats to the Irish on avoiding tying the longest losing streak in Notre Dame history, and knocking the "monkey" off their back.

Enjoy highlights of the game from Oldie, via youtube:

Divine Diatribes - Irish week 5

There are many different emotions that I feel after this week's Irish loss to the Boilers. On one hand, we are 0-5, and really havent had a chance to win any of the games (arguable). We have given up at least 30 points in every game, and our rushing attack hasn't really had a great game yet. We are atrocious on third down offense, and our third down defense gave the Boilers 6 first downs because of stupid penalties. We also gave up a 3rd and 27 on defense that almost caused my HDTV to become injured.

On the other hand, the Irish outgained the very good Purdue offense in yards for the game. In the second half, after a Weis halftime tirade, we won the half 19-10. We saw the emergence of a playmaker in WR in freshman Golden Tate (pictured) and Duval Kamara. Our defense essentially shut Purdue down in the second half, throwing out the poor special teams field positions and the crazy 3rd and 12 penalties to keep their drives alive. We showed spark, fight, and had some big passing plays. We looked like the team that I expected for this year - a bend but not break defense with an improving offense that could keep us in 75% of our games.

I sure hope the second hand feelings end up being reflective of what we see the rest of the year. We have 3 more tough opponents in a row, and many it would be nice to steal a win (or two) from those guys. Not likely though, unless our special teams and defensive penalties drastically improve, while improving our play across the board on offense and defense.

Go Irish, beat Bruins.

Unfortunately the Titans were off this week. With as hot as we've been, I kinda wish we could have played someone this week and gotten another win. Next week we get the Falcons, so we should be able to win that game if we play like we can.

"All Aboard the 3:10 to 0-8 . . . "

Three things were readily apparent after the Notre Dame game on Saturday:

1. The team improved and might have had its best performance all around.

2. We were still decidedly beaten by Michigan St.

3. We are on the "3:10 to 0-8" train.

It was nice to see us run the ball with some authority at times. We were falling forward and had a few big runs by freshman and sophomore backs. A few decent passes also by Clausen. Still overall subpar pass protection, although improved.

The biggest factor right now, is that we are giving the opposing offense a short field. Fumbles, bad punts, and poor coverage on kickoff returns gave Michigan St a short field and resulted in scores. The Irish have not given up an 80 yard drive all year (when the opposing team starts at the 20 yard line).

One bright spot is that our defense is playing very well against the pass, holding QBs to right at 50% passing, and very few deep pass plays. The problem is that teams are running the ball more on us, so those passing stats are a little skewed of course. Its nice to think that if we can get a lead and force the other team to pass, I think our pass defense is better than in the past.

We play this weekend at 11am Central time, which Notre Dame rarely does. We typically play in primetime slots on ESPN, ABC, or NBC, at 3pm or 7pm. Purdue is going to score near 40pts, and I think its going to be a very very difficult game to win. More difficult to win than Michigan St, most certainly. I hate to say it, but the Irish are heading for 0-8 without a pretty unlikely upset.

Divine Diatribes (Irish & Titans)

Well, at least the Titans played hard and had a chance to win the game in the end against a great opponent. Being an Irish fan right now is not just painful, but excruciating. Its difficult to focus at work honestly.

Here is a comparison of the two games, Notre Dame @ Michigan and Tennessee Titans vs. Indianapolis Colts:

• The Titans played hard every snap of the game, making some key plays to keep the game winnable. The Irish made many key plays, but for the other team.
  
• The Titans are coached by stud, Jeff Fisher, who typically always has his team ready to play. The Irish looked like they were coached by Ty Willingham for the first time in Charlie Weis's tenure.
  
• The Titans converted on third downs, and stopped a few third downs on defense. The Irish barely made it to third down, on offense or defense, as our offense would fumble and our defense went ahead and gave Michigan first downs on second down.


• The Titans made me proud to be a Titans fan, although disappointed by the outcome of the game. The Irish made me embarrassed to be an ND fan, dreading work Monday morning or any public interaction with people.

For the Titans, we need to keep getting better and focus on running the ball, which will keep us in every game. For the Irish, I am utterly clueless as to what we should do. Coach Weis has them back in training camp mode, so hopefully they will respond to getting beat down in practice by the coach. That better work, or we will be heading for 0-12.