11.26 - Help Wanted

The good news: Notre Dame hasn't lost to a team ranked out of the top 5 since MSU's OT win last year. The bad news: Notre Dame will continue to lose to top teams until they find home run threats on offense and/or a coordinater and DL coach who can put our defense in a position to win. Notre Dame's two longest runs this year were Quinn and a fake punt. Without a gamebreaker to make teams pay for pressure, ND has to play perfect on offense to win these big games because Minter couldn't win a game of Rocks, Paper, Scissors if he was on a five second delay. Whether it's Javhid Best, Armando Allen or some other unknown name, the Irish need that speed on offense and players who chose ND deserve better coaching than Minter and Jappy (who both struggle on the recruiting trail as well.) I've defended Minter for two years, but no more. Wherefore art thou Romeo? Look at the job Weis's first choice, Charlie Strong, has done at Florida.

I find it humorous, in that painful humorous way, that we can't get one single blitz to pay off. Landri, Abiamiri and Laws will all have NFL careers. There's talent there. Our safeties are turnstiles. Our special teams are not (though it was good to see Zibby on returns.)

Congrats to Quinn, who despite a tough night, looks like an NFL QB already. I also think Clausen will be better.

Unlike others, I don't have a problem with Weis's playcalling last night. There just wasn't a lot to work with and we fell behind early. We had no holes to run to and tight coverage and pressure were taking away the short passing game. I'm usually and advocate of the run, but I think Weis was right to go over the top and his game plan could have paid off with better execution. But again, in my mind, the missing ingredient is speed -- our receivers cannot get separation against top talent. Notre Dame and USC's stats were identical last night, but SC averaged almost a yard more per play. I would have like Weis to design some QB draws for last night or at least have him think run on his drop backs. It's the one thing SC couldn't gameplan for.

My big criticism with Weis is the "Weis on fourth situation" is getting out of hand and may have cost ND points and momentum. I believe he needs to reevaluate here, but SC's defense is now very good.

Looking deeper at the problem (and I've touched on this before,) the Irish have operated on the edge of the envelop all season and the recruiting black holes that make up our Sophomore and Junior classes are, at this point, just too much to overcome when playing elite teams.

Ty's OL recruiting has absolutely killed ND, for this year and likely for next. ND has exactly two offensive linemen from two years of recruiting.

The Sophomore class has 15 players in it.

Not one was considered a top 10 recruit at his position. Only three were even in the top 20 and one of those is now gone. That Sophomore class that ranks as one of ND's worst in the past 20 years in terms of talent and numbers.

Only one player from this class plays meaningful minutes.

But it's gem compared to the Juniors.

The Junior class consisted of 17 players. Only three were considered in the top 20 at their positions. It too was considered one of the worst in the past 20 years in terms of talent and numbers.

But it gets worse.

NINE of those have already left the team, leaving a class of EIGHT players of whom exactly THREE play meaningful minutes.

That's 22 from players over two years of recruiting and not a one was considered elite, only three were recruited hard by any big name teams and together they wouldn't rank in the top 20 in any one year of recruiting.

Other schools can go the JC route to fill holes or load up on questionable athletes, ND cannot.

Given such a handicap, you wonder what pollsters were thinking ranking ND #2 to start the year.

ND needs to recruit and develop young talent and I believe that's happening. ND will have one more year of struggle, but as the talent spigot opens back up, you will see ND compete for the NC every year after, but we need the speed to get there and more importantly, we need to replace underperforming coaches, stat.

Back to back 9-2 seasons and BCS berths exceeds expectations in these eyes. Just two years ago we had a losing record. To this point in his career, Weis has a record better to or equal than Carroll, Tressell and Stoops.

Would like to keep it that way.

~ The Rock

great column...can't tell you how much i agree..
minter and oliver are disasters and you are the first person who also noted that both can't recruit.both were here at carolina..do you know how many sacks carolina had?..12...you'll note coach spurrier didn't keep either one of them.people think spurrier is "offensive obsessed"he also demands a lot from his defensive co-ordinators.last year he demoted the defensive coordinator in mid-seaso..then promoted a staffer