Notre Dame Notes

by Nestor on Oct 3, 2007 6:23 PM PDT in Football

Thanks to Dorrell just like last year, there is not much excitement around a game, that many of us had circled on our calendar when it got scheduled during Donahue's later (mediocre) years in Westwood.

I am as fired up about UCLA taking on an 0-5 Notre Dame team, as I would get for a pre season games against San Diego State. As we have mentioned multiple times, a victory in this game will mean "nothing" in terms of the big picture take on UCLA football. A blowout win in this game will not erase the stain of the debacle in Salt Lake City. And considering we are more than 20 point favorites, anything less than a blowout win, will be considered as a huge let down in BN.

And if you just take a cursory look at the numbers, you'd realize what a mistmatch this game is on paper. Still with all that out of the way we have Dorrell and Notre Dame no matter will always be Notre Dame, when it comes to college football. There is no way UCLA should lose this game. And if somehow Irish manage to break their winless streak, that will most likely be one of the final nail in Dorrell's coffin at the Rose Bowl.

So with that in mind lets take a look at the Notre Dame D:

Bruin Offense	07 Rank	Per Game	Irish Defense	07 Rank	Per Game
Rushing Offense	27	199.40	Rushing Defense	107	210.00
Pass Offense	60	225.20	Pass Defense	7	145.80
Pass Eff. Offense	63	122.61	Pass Eff. Defense	60	121.31
Total Offense	39	424.60	Total Defense	52	355.80
Scoring Offense	39	32.40	Scoring Defense	96	33.20

Looking at these numbers, the obvious note that stuck out to me was the Irish pass defense that is ranked number 7 in the nation. It wasn?t making any sense to me. So I emailed CW our SBN colleagues who runs the wonderful Irish blog ? Rakes of Mallow ? to see if he had any answer. CW fired right back with this explanation:

Those numbers are that good simply because no one has needed to throw on us due to the undersized defensive line and slowness of the linebackers. Zibby (Tom Zbikowski), (Terrail) Lambert and (Ambrose) Wooden are all still awful in coverage, although David Bruton and Darrin Walls are showing flashes. If someone wanted to throw on us, they most certainly could, but it just hasn't been necessary yet.

CW?s frustration with the Irish secondary was also evident in his Purdue game recap:

Our "veteran cornerbacks" still can't cover anyone, but until we get a few more recruits in who don't have broken arms, I suppose they have to play. It must be difficult to have obvious physical ability, go to practice, play in games and never improve over the course of two or three seasons. How do you give up a 3rd and 29? (Answer: Press coverage on 3rd and 29, taking away the quick slant for a first...wait, no, they'd have twenty more yards to go)

Now its going to be interesting how the clown combination of Dorvell schemes against the Irish defense. The obvious answer is to run the ball right down their throats. But here is the deal. We know Markey is 50-50 and Bell may be banged up as well. I?d hope this would be the perfect game to break in Moline with few carries and also try out Ramirez.

But if Bell is not completely healthy, and Dorell?s joke WCO scheme is resorting to same ole same old run up the middle crap in first and second down, it will once again create a lot of pressure not just on Olson but on the offense in 3rd and long situations.

I know we sound like a broken record here, but it would be nice to get Olson to throw some medium range passes (15-20) yards on second and third downs to get him comfortable or perhaps to get him to roll out and move the pocket.

If there was a time for the UCLA offense to get clicking in all cylinders, and work out all of its kinks by playing mistake free and balanced offense, this is the game to do it. Moving on to the Irish offense.

You think the Irish defense numbers are mediocre, take a look at their ?offensive? stats, stacked up against our much hyped defense.

Bruin Defense	07 Rank	Per Game	Irish Offense	07 Rank	Per Game
Rushing Defense	16	88.80	Rushing Offense	119	30.40
Pass Defense	100	272.60	Pass Offense	106	164.40
Pass Eff. Defense	56	119.40	Pass Eff. Offense	100	107.39
Total Defense	55	361.40	Total Offense	118	194.80
Scoring Defense	56	24.60	Scoring Offense	118	9.20

Well just going by sheer numbers Notre Dame offense has been a disaster. Their offensive line has been a total mess which has been unable to open up holes for any kind of credible running attack, while not providing any protection for their embattled and inexperienced quarterbacks.

5 games into this season Notre Dame has given up an astounding 29 sacks on pace to break last year?s mark of 37 sacks.

However, despite their troubles, the Notre Dame offense has shown some sign of life notably in their passing game against the Boilermakers:

From Sportsline.com:

The passing game started to come around, with young receivers such as David Grimes, Robby Parris, George West and Golden Tate becoming more involved. Notre Dame's 377 yards passing against Purdue was its best total since it had 432 against Stanford on Nov. 26, 2005.

WR Golden Tate, a true freshman, had three catches for 104 yards and a touchdown against Purdue, and that doesn't begin to describe the degree of difficulty of some of those receptions. He made a leaping snag in the end zone for a 25-yard score in the fourth quarter. Earlier, he had catches of 36 and 43 yards. Looks like he needs to be on the field more. He is the first freshman at Notre Dame to get 100 receiving yards since Derrick Mayes (two catches, 100 yards) against Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 1992.

More on the improvements in Notre Dame?s passing attack from CW at Rakes:

The second half passing attack was straight out of 2005 and 2006, with Duval Kamara and Robby Parris taking the place of Maurice Stovall and Jeff Samardjiza while Golden Tate was some awesome hybrid of Matt Shelton and Rhema McKnight. There's also this crazy thing we did where we "Threw it to John Carlson", who repeatedly carried three or four defenders up the field for extra yardage while making sweet catches on fourth and goal. Much lauding has been done towards Tate, and justifiably so, but Kamara and Parris were also running great routes (or Purdue's secondary is that bad) and catching most everything thrown their way. If there is someway to combine the running attack against Michigan State and the passing assault versus Purdue, we might have ourselves something resembling an "offense" coming down the stretch.

The question heading into Saturday?s game is who will be the Irish QB. Obviously for the folks in Southern California there is lot of interesting in seeing Jimmy Clausen. However, Clausen injured his hip last Saturday, and right now its not clear who is going to start:

"He's supposed to be set and ready to go,'' Weis said. "I have to see that. Some guys are set and ready to go, and they don't play for another two weeks. Other guys are set and ready to go, and they're ready to go that day. I'm going to have to see how it goes visually on the field."

Now in terms of who works better for the Irish, I refer you to our friends at Blue Gray Sky, which IMHO is the best college football team blog in the internets. Jay over at BGS has a must read post on the Irish QBs. Now I urge you to read the entire post, but the first three paras. really stuck out to me:

Towards the end of the Purdue broadcast, the hyperbolic Andre Ware "climbed the ladder" to make this observation:

"We've got an interesting situation developing at quarterback for ND. Sharpley has come in and he looks tremendous. And the players are responding to him."

Setting aside the silly notion that the other Irish players played harder for Evan Sharpley, Ware's comments still didn't jibe with what I was watching. Sharpley was definitely solid in relief, but was he a stark improvement from Jimmy? Up until Clausen came out of the game (for the last time), my impression was that he hadn't been playing so poorly.

Again read the whole entry in which Jay masterfully breakdown on the pros and cons of both Irish QBs, but man that paragraph stuck out to me for some reason but I can quiet put my finger on it. ;-)

Anyways I think it is safe to say the entire BN is expecting a defensive Bruin domination on Saturday. The win over hapless Oregon State has reignited the Walker hyper machine ? again. From the LA Times today:

No need to wake up those echoes as the Bruins prepare to face Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl on Saturday, though linebacker Christian Taylor recalls things differently.

"That is very admirable that he takes the blame, and I respect him for doing it," Taylor said. "But I can't let him. If we don't miss two tackles on that [last] play, we win the game."

Indeed, the Bruins were so passive at the end of that game it actually accented how aggressively they had played the rest of the game.

A reputation was born.

"If all you do is run, they load up the box," said Oregon State Coach Mike Riley, whose team was limited to 248 total yards Saturday. "If you try to beat them passing, they'll blitz you to death. You can't be one dimensional."

That attack strategy was honed in the NFL, where Walker spent nearly a decade as an assistant learning from Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick and Joe Gibbs.

Yeah, that "attack strategy" looked so effective against powerhouse teams like Stanford, BYU, and Utah (and that's just this year).

If UCLA defense really has gotten it groove back, then it should not only beat Notre Dame, it should DOMINATE their offense, holding them to single digits, and then come out and beat up the Cal offense two weeks from Saturday.

The fact that UCLA?s defense given its edge in talent and experience should dominate the Irish is not the question, the question is whether Walker will be able to deliver against teams like Cal, WSU, Arizona, and Oregon ? that do not run conventional NFL offenses. If Walker's D delivers against those teams, then he will be worthy of the hype which he hasn't live up to at this point of the season.

Bruins need to deliver a dominating win this Saturday, and anything else will be considered as let down. We will have more on Irish through the week.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

ND is like the last day of a long vacation

before the real season starts with Cal. There is no suspense about this worst ND team in recent history. I think any good jr. college football team could give ND a battle.

KD's bragging that he answered the bell for the UW game is a lame statement that insults any thinking fan's intelligence. No less insulting was DG statement that he liked KD's adjustments in the 2nd half of the OSU game. These kinds of statements are really annoying.

Let's see KD answer the bell for Cal.

by bluegold on Oct 3, 2007 8:16 PM PDT reply actions

I think if DG paid . . .

good money for a football coach like Howland is now going to make, maybe we'd be more excited about this game, mainly 'cause we wouldn't have KD here.

by TheStick on Oct 3, 2007 10:22 PM PDT reply actions

Cannot predict this one

Usually I have a feeling about how we will do on any given Saturday, but this game is throwing me.

The line is roughly 20-21 points. Purdue beat ND by 14. Purdue, although 5-0, has not played anyone this year. Honestly, Purdue's schedule thus far has been about as cupcake as you can get.

Being favored by 21 points means that the game really should not be very close. But then again, UCLA is simply not a dominating team this year.

Vegas usually gets it right, or close to right. That means we should win the game handily. So, I'm just going to go with Vegas on this one.

But wouldn't it be nice if we actually played a decent 1st half this game? For some reason, we keep sleepwalking through every 1st half. Perhaps we are not focused or motivated enough to start each game. That couldn't be because of the coaching, could it?

You come out slow against a good team (Cal, Oregon, ASU, SuC) and you will never be able to come back.

Not only are we inconsistent from game to game, we are inconsistent from half to half.

That's all about the coaching, folks.

by Barnes2JJ on Oct 3, 2007 10:40 PM PDT reply actions

The line has nothing to do with what Vegas thinks

They just set it to what will make the betting even out for both teams. They are playing to the betting publics perception of the programs. A lot of people see scores like 40-14 and don't bother looking past that to see how unimpressive that game truly was.

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Oct 4, 2007 3:50 AM PDT up reply actions

This is all true

I realize that about the line and yet...it seems that the final score of a game tracks the line more often than not.

It's just my theory and I could be wrong. But I've seen too many games where the line was 7 points, for example, and the final score was a difference of roughly 7 points.

But what you say is true.

by Barnes2JJ on Oct 4, 2007 5:17 AM PDT up reply actions

UCLA and Vegas

Think about how many times UCLA has screwed up the spread in the last five years. It's uncanny. This is the WORST team to bet on. However, what was the score at OSU before the fumblitis hit them? 14-12. What was the spread? 2. In favor of OSU.

by tasser10 on Oct 4, 2007 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Is this proof that

Perception is reality?

BTW- Why is the ad at the top of my page for TrojanUpdate.com?

by SuperBruinMan on Oct 5, 2007 11:30 PM PDT up reply actions

Loss to ND = Last Nail in KD Coaching Coffin

As always, a great analysis of the upcoming match-up with ND. I too am disappointed that the excitement I had for this game over the last ten years or so since it was scheduled has dissipated quite a bit. Instead of being another potential program defining moment, it now just offers the opportunity for another Bruin embarrassment. There is no upside for UCLA with this game.

I must take exception to your reference that a loss to ND on Saturday "most likely be one of the final nail in Dorrell's coffin at the Rose Bowl." That nail should have been hammered in at Utah. Any additional embarrassing performances by this football team should just be adding more nails to what we all hope is KD's UCLA coaching career coffin. How many more nails does that damn coffin need before it is put in the ground?

by Bruin77 on Oct 4, 2007 8:46 AM PDT reply actions

When you have as many lives as KD

Nails alone don't do it -- you have to weld the damn coffin lid shut.

by bluegold on Oct 4, 2007 9:31 AM PDT up reply actions

Silver bullet

wooden stake, garlic, whatever it takes.

I'm speaking metaphorically, of course.

by Barnes2JJ on Oct 4, 2007 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions

What will it take?

How many more Utah's will it take to send KD packing?

by Bruin77 on Oct 4, 2007 11:30 AM PDT up reply actions

even if we had a good coach,

unfortunately we are playing an 0-5 team, which is hard to get excited about.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Oct 4, 2007 1:19 PM PDT reply actions

It'd be a different type of excitement.

If we had a good coach against an 0-5 team, the game could still be exciting, even if not in the normal sense. It may not be the "Wow, this is going to be a great, tense game here. I wonder who will win!" type excitment, but it could be a "How many points are we gonna rack up this week?" type of game, where we fully expect to win by a large margin. With Dorrell, that second type of game just doesn't happen.

by jaffa on Oct 4, 2007 1:41 PM PDT up reply actions

You're missing the point

If we had a good coach, ND would be another step to an undefeated UCLA season, competing with other undefeated teams for the right to the BCS title game.

The would be exciting to me, regardless of the calibre of the competition each week.

by bluegold on Oct 4, 2007 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions

If We Play Well and Score Big

The law firm can get some experience.

Ramirez and Moline can carry the ball.

Rashaan can get some time.

IF CTS* doesn't leave the starters in like he did in Utah.

sjh

*the CTS is for Fox. Hope he's having a good time.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Oct 4, 2007 2:30 PM PDT up reply actions

It is unfortunate

If I was still living in the LA area, I'd have made this game one of the sure appointments on my calendar. It's too bad that the game comes up when ND is struggling and, well, we all know the state of the UCLA program.

How much does it suck that two of the premier institutions of higher learning, both with long and proud athletic traditions, have to meet on the field of play in such a situation. I would have preferred to see a game with both teams at their best.

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Oct 4, 2007 1:36 PM PDT reply actions

This is not a given

I don't care how bad ND is, this game is no gimme. The ND players have nothing to lose, playing a "good" team away in their rebuilding year. How many times were we hit by the Lavinoma and killed streaks and records? Anything is possible under this pisspoor coach.

by tasser10 on Oct 4, 2007 2:08 PM PDT reply actions