Here's the USC infirmary report:
QB's
JD Booty (All Pac-10) = out
RB's
Stafon Johnson (starter) = out
CJ Gable (starter) = out for season
Broderick Green = out
Marc Tyler = out for season
Emmanuel Moody = transferred
WR
Travon Patterson = out for season
Jamere Holland = transferred
OL
Sam Baker (2-time All-American) = out
Chilo Rachal (All Pac-10) = out
Kris O'Dowd (starter) = out
Tiny Malu = out
Zach Heberer = out
Charles Brown = out
Thomas Herring = out
Nick Howell = out for season
LB's
Brian Cushing (All Pac-10) = out
Rey Maulaluga (All Pac-10) = out
Chris Galippo = out for season
DB's
Josh Pinkard (starter) = out for season
Kevin Thomas = out for season
Shareece Wright (CB) = out
The scary thing is that they still have more starting experience than ND heading into this season. It also underscores the tricky decision coaches have to make when designing practice structures and balancing depth. If you go full speed, but lose a key guy... well it's not an easy decision. Of course, I expect to see a lot of these guys play, there's always some pre-game sandbagging.
I hope the grass is long.
As for the quarterbacks... I don't much care who starts. We can't block anybody. Yeah, Sharpley could make plays, he could also throw two quick game losing interceptions. Clausen's going to be a great quarterback, he just needs a couple of hamburgers, a season to weight train and blockers. I'd start Sharpley just to even out the body blows, but I don't think anyone really has a clue as to what will happen.
ND could win this game, except for the fact that we can't, uhm, block anybody. We haven't blocked one talented team this year and that's probably not going to change say the gurus in Mike Frank's excellent (pay for) article on our blocking problems. This is from the free portion of the article:
Most linemen aren’t physically ready to perform until their third season, and most don’t know the proper techniques or have the mental mindset needed to perform at a high level in the college game.Thinking about this, if we had good recruits in our Senior and Junior class, my bet is that Sullivan, one of Turkovic/Duncan and maybe a little Young would be playing well with two more seasoned players. But ... that's not the case.
We've seen some improvements starting in game five, but that improvement hasn't been consistent. As was mentioned by other posters... Charlie's choice to practice the spread option and an unrelenting schedule probably has set back development this year. I'm resigned to the fact that we're just not going to get markedly better until it just happens.
BigEND shared this interesting take on the coaching merry-go-round:
There's a whole storyline behind this firing. All involved parties ended up worse off.I hope it doesn't get lost in the fray that our defense is exactly what we've been calling for since Barry Alvarez left (and that's a long, long time ago.) Despite our situation on the defensive line, our defense came through again and again last week. Brown has been a phenomenal hire.
The Institutions:
Pitt
A & M
Nebraska
The ADs:
Bill Byrne
Steve Pederson
The Coaches:
Walt Harris
Frank Solich
RC Slocum
Dennis Franchionne
Bill Callahan
Dave Wannstadt
In 2002, Pederson was the AD at Pitt and Byrne was at Nebraska. Nebraska and Pitt were doing relatively well in football -- Pitt was experiencing a lot of success relative to its recent (20 year) history, and Nebraska was coming off a season in which they played for the national title. RC Slocum had a solid program at Texas A & M.
At the end of 2002, A & M axed both their AD and RC Slocum after a 6-6 season. They went and hired Bill Byrne as their AD away from Nebraska. Byrne came on board and was involved in the hiring of Franchionne, although he wasn't the only one behind it. Franchionne has failed miserably at A & M and has thoroughly embarassed the school. While Byrne is safe for the time being, Franchionne's firing is but a formality now.
Nebraska went out and hired Pederson away from Pitt when Byrne left. Pederson came in and demanded improvement from Solich. Solich responded by getting one of the best DC's in the game (Pelini) and responded by winning 10 games in 2003. Nevertheless, he was axed at the end of 2003, and Pederson conducted a one man search, coming up with Bill Callahan, recently fired from the Raiders. History has shown how well that moved turned out for the Huskers. While Callahan's head awaits the axe, Solich has done fairly well at Ohio University.
Meanwhile, the new AD at Pitt didn't take a liking to Walt Harris and eventually pushed him out at the end of the 2004 season (a season in which Pitt won the Big East). Harris was pushed out to make room for Wannstache, who has been an abject failure. Harris went on to Stanford. Crippled by crappy Willingham recruiting, he lost to UC-Davis in his first year and went 1-11 in the next, himself getting fired after the 2006 season. Now he helps out at a high school in Pittsburgh.
All three schools are now far worse off today (at least in terms of football) than they were in 2002. Interesting how that played out.
12 comments:
Wait a minute. All season, you've been saying that it will take 5 games for the O line to gell and now you're backtracking...
Very interesting Scott. I agree that the Solich firing was a complete disaster and felt bad for the guy when it happened. You have to wonder why they gave Callahan an extension?
People are asking the same question of ND with their extension of Weis's contract. Okay, they've done that since the extension was announced, but now it's gaining steam.
1. gee, for some reasons, like the players on this 2007 notre dame football team, we are not at all in awe of this usc team and we are very certain that they will not have a crooked pac 10 ref crew with them to rescue them from a defeat by notre dame, as they did in 2005 when they came to south bend perfectly healthy.
2. we have made certain that too many people at the pac 10 and elsewhere have that nd/usc 2005 game film, along with the game film of the 2006 oregon/oklahoma game, and a few others.
3. there are simply too many people watching this game, and especially the refs, too closely for the refs to dare to cheat again, especially with the feds having taken an interest in bush/carroll/usc gate and the coverup.
go irish!! beat usc
I don't think having two Juniors or Seniors on the line would keep Sullivan from snapping the ball over the head of the QB/RB a half-dozen times in 7 games.
His play has gone down this year, as has the play of Sam Young. Part of being a leader and starter is to bring the play of those around you up. Not regress to their level.
I disagree on RC Slocum. He historically lost big games and recent recruiting classes were not that good. Late in his tenure, his teams were average to below-average. I didn't see anything wrong with that firing.
OK, folks, it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. Weiss' first "real" class is running away (four -- almost five -- and counting). I'm no football coach, but any idiot can see the offense has WAY more life in it when Sharpley is in, all his worts aside. It's obvious he's partial to his guy. It's also becoming more and more obvious that his New Jersey punk act is wearing thin on his players and on the campus in general with others in the athletic department and the faculty. You can get away with that cr*p when you win. He's not. Yes, the talent level is down, but 1 and six!?!?!?!?!?! Making history like that has got to fall squarely on his shoulders. I love this school and hope he succeeds -- and changes his arrogant, punk attitude. But if he doesn't, soon, he needs to be jettisoned with the two stiffs that preceeded him and the atheletic director. Our AD needs to be an ND guy or gal. Coaches do not, necessarily.
Come back Walt Harris. Please. Anybody but Wannstedt.
I'm seeing alot of comments of people going nuts and losing hope on this and other blogs, newpapers, ect.
It's not helping.
I want to win and I want excellence, but coming into this year and after the GT game I altered my expectations for this year and what a true victory would be, that being...
1) Improved fundlementals and execution.
2) Keeping the 2008 recruiting class
Bonus) 6-6 with a small bowl win.
The blocking and tackling instruction given in preseason does not appear to have been sufficient,so a "Training Camp" approach was the only sensible move, but was not going to be a cure all.
Looking at the upcoming USC game, I believe ND will have a chance (insert dumb & dumber quote here.) I would not have even whispered that four weeks ago. Some of this hope has to do with USC's dip performance over the last few weeks. If ND can pull two halves of football together and win, think how that changes things. If they lose, well, did you think they were gonna beat USC this year anyway?
Everybody wants to win right now, including me, but remember, that was #4, now #3 in the nation on Saturday. BC or not, they're a great time right now. ND played them pretty tough and you were pretty excited in that 4th quarter. Do you think ND would have been in that spot 3,4,5, or 6 weeks ago?
They're improving, especially on D. According to resources like Mike Frank, the recruiting class is holding.
Hope we all enjoy the game on Saturday.
I agree, it does not matter who starts at QB, or HB, or on the line. This game will be over by half-time. Why? USC's backups are better than ND's starters, plain and simple.
Harvey,
great outlook...most of us sain folk saw the GT game and came to the conclusion it would be a long year...But I've still enjoyed the small victories...I agree, last week was a good football performance in some facets of the game, where in some previous weeks it was hard to find anything all that good.
Did I ever expect ND to be 1 and 6...no. But, if folks know anything about the J curve in business...look out for the rebound folks. CW has made an investment in doing it right...this thing is more like a "Program" than its been in 10 years...I'm ok with Charlie learning a little while he builds...
I travel some, and always wear my ND ball cap on the plane...every person I talk to, rather the conversation starts out with ribbing, sees what I see...whats coming is HUGE for us. So why does random fan supporting other programs see it, and our "own" suffer from program myopia.
As for SC, I expect we will be competitive...
ND is experiencing growing pains, and that applies to Weis as well as the young recruits. Some WD's must be expected with the academic load these guys must carry, unlike other schools. To compete at the highest level, you need talent and dedication...before hitting the books. We all know from our pasts that that's a real tough mix at ND. Weis has proven he can recruit...and we will lose some each year to the multiple stresses...see Carufel, et al.
Now, see a defense becoming proficient, an O-Line that is improving on technique (but not performance as yet) and enjoy their learning experience this year while seeing much better in the next.
EBearr
Post a Comment