The Fan Conundrum

No doubt coaches who make $ , , . 00 a year have a lot to live up to, but there's also no doubt that fans will judge them according to their fan emotions at the time.

Reality becomes almost impossible to find amid the chaos of fan pain. There are fans who swear ND is done forever at five games into what we knew was going to be a disappointing season. One fan suggested mid first half against Purdue that there was no doubt that Charlie Weis should hire a stronger offensive coordinator.

Well, I have doubts... a lot of them.

Those same fans will simply shrug their shoulders when things turn around and admit they were driven by their emotions "back then." But those same fans seem so "certain" now and demand a pound of flesh for their pain. There is no certainty now because we're dealing with a sick patient who's going to be on a roller coaster ride back to full form.

Look, it's part of being a fan. No diehard Irish fan can do anything but want to throw a brick through a window looking at five straight losses. But we're just coming out of a death spiral or perfect storm, where everything you try to fix causes another problem and none of them will be right until the underlying issue is fixed - which is simply time in the system for a very young team that is raw at many positions.

Some teams have part our our problems, but I've yet to come across a team in recent years that has ALL of our problems and the restrictions on JC transfers which can be used fill the void or at least provide depth. Fans will compare apples to mangos then look you in the face with their crazed eyes and proclaim, "See, X team has young offensive linemen too!" or "Y has a freshmen quarterback." No team has as few returning lettermen, smaller junior and senior classes and an overall scholarship level ten below the max AND the inexperience in as many positions. Remember we have ZERO offensive linemen in the senior class. All this while playing the number two schedule in the country (sagarin.)

So, it seems "obvious" to fans what should be done, but obvious isn't always so obvious. Kayo summarized this nicely on Cartier Field today talking about why the talented freshmen haven't played more this year:

1. Freshmen have a steep learning curve. They're more ready to play by the week. It's entirely possible that Kumara and Tate couldn't have performed in game one like they did in game five.

2. Simplifying the offense for your freshmen also simplifies the offense for opposing defensive coordinators. If everything is done at the most rudimentary level, it will be easy for an experienced defense to take inexperienced players out of the offense; and that will defeat the purpose of simplifying the offense in the first place. There's a balance to strike.

3. Missed assignments get people hurt. Ragone looked confused on the play that knocked Clausen out of the game on Saturday. Everyone else blocked down, but he took one step forward in blocking position. Nobody was there to block, but the defensive end who would have been Ragone's man had he blocked down had a free path to Clausen. Wide receivers don't have the same kind of blocking responsibility, but they cause quarterbacks to hold the ball if they don't go where they're supposed to go. It's one thing to tell Tate to run a go route, but what do you call when you have freshman at the wide receiver positions, one tight end spot, and running back? Should they all run junior high pass routed? If the freshmen don't know enough of the play book, they might have to play one or two at a time; and that will limit all of their playing time.

I am not saying the freshmen shouldn't play. I am saying there's more to it than sending all of them out there and running basic plays. Freshmen who are ready to play most of the game at the start of the season are rare. The skill position players often have the physical ability to play right away, but they have to have a base line understanding of what the other 10 guys on the field are doing, as well as what they're doing. They'll get onto the field more as the season progresses.