Trevor Laws, with 104 tackles so far this year, has tied Ross Browner for number 2 on Notre Dame's all-time tackle list for defensive linemen. If Laws can rack up 9 more tackles next weekend he'll tie Steve Niehaus for the top spot. His career represents everything the Fighting Irish (excellence in the face of adversity) stand for and he deserves to be remembered with the best of our defensive linemen.
Despite the most frustrating year in recent ND history, Laws and the other seniors played an inspired final home game while the youth movement began to take hold.
Clausen is better than Quinn at this same point in their careers despite being hit like a tackling dummy throughout the season. He hasn't just had to overcome a turnstile offensive line, but bone spurs, a stomach strain and a hip pointer. The kid has shown great leadership and poise for his situation and on Saturday really started to look like a seasoned quarterback. He stepped up in the pocket, showed much better arm strength on his intermediate passes (he still needs to work on the deep ball,) and great situational awareness. If not for drops and the throwaways, his stat line would look so much better. For a freshman battling through injuries, Clausen has really turned in a stellar first year performance. His touchdown pass to Grimes was an NFL throw (as was his dropped out pass to Kamara.) Clausen's accuracy will make him better in Weis's system than Quinn.
I've always liked the feet of Robert Hughes and it's clear he's going to be a load to handle as he matures (as if he could get any bigger.) He has Bettis-like feet and balance, a rare combination in a big man. The one thing that may hold him back is his top line speed. Armando Allen is showing quickness, but not yet the vision or top end speed in the open field. Both are very good backs that can carry Notre Dame far, but it's still not clear that either will be the breakaway threat that Notre Dame needs to soften up defenses. And let us not forget this was Duke. USC and Michigan aren't going to miss as many tackles. Still, very encouraging. Meanwhile Running Back recruit Jonas Gray is leaving some serious cleat marks on his Michigan H.S. football rivals.
Most encouraging the evolution of Coach Weis continues. He's now punting the ball when he should rather than betting like a drunk in Vegas and seems to have changed his play calling mix to take into account some of the execution issues. It's also good news to hear that Coach Weis is still looking to break down what went wrong this season and will be reaching out to the Patriots for guidance. He says he's going to look at both schematic and teaching issues -- well -- about time IMO, Weis has shown too much confidence in his ability that doesn't match up with the reality of the college game.With just over seven minutes to play and down by eight, Detroit Country Day senior running back Jonas Gray, hurt leg and all, wanted the ball in his hands to do what he does best -- make plays.
"I told coach I was hurting a little bit, but keep feeding me. I was just playing off of adrenaline and heart, and we weren't going to lose this game," Gray said.
He didn't disappoint, exploding for two long fourth quarter touchdown runs of 30 and 61 yards -- the second giving Country Day a 29-22 lead over defending Division 4 champion Zeeland West with two minutes to play.
But Zeeland West's Tyler Pike then hooked up with a streaking Travor Lake for a 52-yard touchdown pass with only 45 seconds remaining. That score resulted in a successful two point conversion and a Dux lead, but Gray's biggest impact was still to come -- this time without the ball in his hands.
Country Day coach Don MacLean looked into his bag of tricks and found the hook-and-ladder play.
With 34 seconds remaining and Country Day on its 47-yard line, quarterback Stefan Ede dropped back and found a wide-open Patrick Leary, who caught the pass and promptly pitched it to wide receiver Bennie Fowler.
With Gray downfield delivering a key block, Fowler scampered down the right sideline into the end zone, punching the Yellow Jackets' ticket to the state finals with a 37-30 win.
"We've run that play three times now for touchdowns this season. It's one of those special things. I'm just so proud of my kids," MacLean said.
The Notre Dame-bound Gray's monster day looked like this: 304 yards on 29 carries and four touchdowns.
That said(written) the solution here seems to be painfully obvious. Either find a scheme that fits with Latina and the OL talent or get rid of Latina. Latina is by all accounts beloved and a very good coach, but the fit has to be right and it isn't right now. Having green offensive linemen is a killer on offense, but, remember, our line couldn't protect or run the ball last year either. So, there's an very obvious disconnect here that's limiting everything Notre Dame does. There was so much wrong on this team this year, but most of it boils down to the offensive line. It it's a problem two years in a row, it's more than just talent. If we fix the O-line/scheme problem, we fix 90% of what's wrong with our offense. I'm not saying Latina is the problem, but it's clear the line is a problem.
And with Clausen, Crist, Allen, Hughes, Gray, Goodman, Kamara, Tate, Floyd, etc. giving ND it's greatest set of skill players in recent memory, Weis needs to take a honest look at what's not only possible, but probable in the college game. If it's his scheme, simplify it. If it's the teaching, replace Latina. If it's both... fix both. We're set for a great run, but only if we figure out how to block. I firmly believe Weis moved to solve ND's biggest previous issue by hiring Corwin. He now has to address a more inward problem that may cause him to make some tougher choices.
Without the blocking, it doesn't matter how great your scheme is or how good the play calling. Conversely, if you're blowing people off the line of scrimmage (shout out to Stewart for his progress and potential,) the play calling is secondary. Because of the lack of any seniors and only two juniors on the OL our lack of cohesion and execution is somewhat understandable, but as noted, this is two years in a row of atrocious blocking.
We don't need to win the Rocks, Papers, Scissors match-up as much as we need to with the war in the trenches.
13 comments:
Amen and Amen. The OL spent most of the games standing upright looking back at the QBs getting killed. I'm sure Charley knows this but was helpless to do anything about it.
Then there is the IQ factor. During one time out Charley said twice he wanted the play called on 3 and both guards jumped offside on 1. Is that stupid or what?
Was anyone else extremely happy to see Weis lay into Eric Olsen after he committed a false start penalty after Weis had explicitly said, (and thanks to NBC for revealing this as ND was lining up on the ball) that they would be going on a 3 count?
He took him right out of the game and let him have it. I loved it. I still love it. I think that's what this team has been missing. The fire that a head coach puts under his players. We haven't seen it since Lou and I always felt that Willingham was more of a father to his players than a coach. Always consoling, never yelling, etc.
Robert Hughes needs to touch the ball alot more next season.
Priority #1 = O. line.
Priority #1A = Special teams coach.
i agree with the comment that willingham was more of a fatherly figure or dean. he did a great job of team gpa, graduating, etc but failed in being a in-your-face tough football coach. i think that Charlie is not afraid to lay into his team (and i beginning to realize he wants to ammend his coaching techniques) when things arent right. this type of honesty and forthrightedness is something that lays the foundation for success. as for robert hughes touching the ball more, i would rather see james aldr. ,armando, and robert receive equal touches b/c i think all are very capable backs. if they all recieve equal touches then wouldnt that wear out the defense and keep the all of the backs equally fresh?
Good post and very good comments. One thing I do not hear much is the play of the defense. I know this is only the 1st year for CB. The pass defense seemed very much improved over last year. The run defense is another matter. The missed tackles, angles of pursuit were terrible. Play action and mis-direction plays have killed the D this year especially on the edge. The D has no studs at LB with very little size. In a 3-4, especially the inside LB's need to be run stoppers. IMO we have no real play-makers on D.
I always wondered what Don Maclean was up to since his American Pie days.
As for Charlie reaching out to the Patroits to try to get this thing fixed, that's all well and good, but does anyone else think maybe he should reach out to people who have been successful at the college level? People like Lou and Ara and whomever else he may have ties to? A lot of criticism falls on Charlie because he tries too much to run the team like an NFL team. Not caring about the emotional factors, etc.
Once could write books about what I don't know about football, but two things strike me about this year's Irish team:
---an inability of the offensive backs to pick up the blitz, and
---an inability of the receivers to gain any separation from their defenders.
The best post of the year - said it all in this post. All the srying about how young we were was a bunch of bull - many teams play with very young OL (i.e. USC a few years ago) - the key is coaching in practice, and hitting them with everything in a practice setting so we can make the corrections in August not in October.
Thats what Lou did - the harder the practice the easuer the game.
Much of the front 7's problem has been personnel which will be greatly improved with 4-5 LBs and 4-5 DL coming next year.
Good article, but Steve Niehaus' name is misspelled.
The OL has been awful, but so has the play calling in a lot of key situations this season. Plus, the Irish have to tackle better on defense. Having said that, the future does look bright because of the tremendous young talent and the fact that most of ND's problems are very correctable.
Accurate post. But folks, let's not fool ourselves into thinking that thumping Duke means we're on target for a Top 25 season next year. Charlie Weis needs to consult with proven college winners like Holtz and bring that teacher / enforcer presence to the sideline. He already seems to have gone soft again -- like bringing in a shrink after the UCLA game -- he's not flying the guys out to California until Friday. Underestimating Stanford's prep and intensity may prove to be a big mistake, especially for on the bubble recruiting.
u guys are crazy to be saying we have the best set of skill players in a long while. are you now vegas drunk too? the season and Weis suck. we have two wins gentlemen, that puts us at Division II skill level.
weis was awful in team management and going to brother Bill B. is not the answer. He should go to college teams, college coaches, maybe even visit APState.
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