Interesting that the feeling of the online groups, Scout, Rivals, NDNation posters etc is that we should defeat the Air Force easily. That they are Navy Lite. Even John Vannie is predicting a ND win, but we are the underdog on the betting line. I fear Air Force. While they have lost to Navy, they at least statistically have a much better defense and they have a good running attack plus this year they throw the ball a little more than they had under Fisher DeBerry. Then throw in that we are starting Jimmy Clausen who has been banged up for a month and hasn't played and I don't see any reason for the optomism. I of course hope they are all correct and that our offense under Clausen shows some real life in both the running game and the passing game and that being the 2nd week we've faced the option that our defense will do a better job than they did against Navy. Terry
Good the weather is going to be great tomorrow, I can go ahead and play golf tomorrow afternoon!! :? :?
At 1-8 I would say there is nothing for an Irish fan to really "fear" at this point. Still time though for Weis to lay some groundwork for next season and that's all I would hope for if I were an Irish fan. If that doesn't seem to be the case I would think Weis has some serious issue remaining as Irish coach if next season is not a winning one.
Terry..... <t>You said it so I won't but embarrassed doesn't even describe my feeling watching this program.<br/> The whole bunch is just playing out the year and you can see it in their body language. That is sad.</t>
I've always love the USAFA offense, back to Dee Dowis and the Morgan Boys at QB. It's always been precise and high speed. I have a new USAFA kid to add to those Falcons I salute, that kid with #1 on his back. It's hard to chroncicle though how bad our team is, we had every possilbe physical advantage over both Navy and Air Force. Even given the lack of talent in our Jr/Sr classes we should have no problem beating those teams. These losses fall on the shoulders of Charlie Weis and Corwin Brown. They are great recruiters, but the X and 0 seem to be lacking on game day. Ordinarily I would have expected that after a rough start that we would improve a little each week and by this time of the year our team would start looking good and we could extrapoliate that into a good year next year with 8 or 9 wins. The way things look right now I can't see us cracking .500 next year either, and the supposed return to the elite in 2009 is becoming more of a distant dream. While I highly doubt Charlie will be fired at the years end and i guess that's fair, his first 2 years bought him some good will. But turn up the burners on his seat for next year. I doubt if we beat Duke and no way we go on the road and beat Stanford. He has the dubious privlidge of being the coach of the worst ND team in history, the first since 1944 when we had no players to lose to 2 service academies, the first to lose 9 games in a year. He has a mountain to climb to regain credibility. This year is making me long for the days of yore when Bob Davie roamed the sidelines. :cry: :cry: :cry:
Ron Zook took over certainly no more talent and probably less talent than did Weis and we know what happened at the Shoe today in year three of the Zooker's regime.... :shock:
No doubt that is true and even though Zook has recruited well, based on the Scout and Rivals rankings CW has out recruited him in their 3 years. But Zook's teams have gotten progressively better and play with emotion. Charlies team peaked with the USC game in 2005 which was the last time I saw a CW coached team come out of the gate with fire and passion.
Zook's team lost to a terrible Iowa team a few weeks ago. He gets the BC award for a big upset in a mediocre year award.
You know Mike I really thought that with 2 weeks off to prepare for Navy, who's defense just had given up almost 60 points to a 1AA team, that our offense would finally get healthy. That we would control the game on offense, we had bigger, stronger, taller, faster athletes. Not one single Navy player would have even been considered by ND for a football scholarship and probably none of them would have even been preferred walkons. Reality bites.. Oh yeah did you see that North Texas put up 49 points in the first half vs Navy today? Navy did score 73 on them and win 73 -56. We probably couldn't beat North Texas. I'm actually at a loss to think of a Div1A team that we could beat. I don't think we could beat either Baylor or Iowa State. I don't think we'll beat Duke.
When you drop passes when you're wide open, when you fumble the opening play and are supposed to be a high draft choice, when you tackle like a powderpuff team, you are a losing football team. When you run a 7 yd. out in a third and 8 situation you're a losing football team. When you're QB's are blitzed by the free safety and no one gets anywhere near the rushing defender, you're a losing football team. I have some issues with the coaching staff but mostly, I think that these players are just awful. I watched the game but quite frankly, I didn't care. The sooner our fifth years, and seniors move on the better. It must be nice to get a free ride with so little talent.
Mike I'm starting to wonder if we have the mother of all overated recruiting classes. I haven't seen more than a couple of freshmen or sophs who look to me like they are ready to step up. Brian Smith looks good as does the Neal kid. None of those OL's give me any hope. Clausen did make a few throws today but nothing that makes me say wow he's really comming on. The thing I worry about Clausen is that 1) he was already 19 when he got to ND 2)he's had every possible adavantage in developement as a QB and 3) and he played in HS for a team of all-stars essentially that had so much more talent than the other teams he played that he's maxed out his potential. At this level he won't have any of those advantages. Again I hope to god I am wrong.
Terry Funny think, Clausen is about the last of MY worries. He's been under assault all season. He hit Grimes in the hands twice in a row today and the "experienced" receiver dropped both of them. He made a nice throw on the run today and he might be pretty good if he had receivers who a. know where the first down marker is and b. know how to break off a route and get open. And if he can't do it, hopefully Crist can.
hmm <r><QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> That is like saying you miss the sweet melodies of Nero.<br/> <br/> I think our staff has carried much of the blame this year but this loss is on the kids. Time after time, the kids were in a position to make big plays and did not. <br/> <br/> How many times did you hear the announcer say 'That screen was set up to go for more yards than it did.' I lost count after the 3rd and they were right. We have 3 or 4 guys out in front blocking, but one guy runs around them to make the play. JEEEEEZ, play the damn game.<br/> <br/> Grimes is not good. He single handedly killed one whole drive by himself.<br/> <br/> I don't see what all the hand wringing over Clausen is about. When Quinn missed passes as a youngster, and Lord did he miss some, he threw ankle burners about 6 in off the ground. Its actually something he did all tru his career. Charlie found a way to reduce the number of grass burners. However, Clausen is time and time again hitting the likes of Grimes and West in both hands, center of the chest and they drop the ball. Good grief. Play the damn game.<br/> <br/> I can't even count the times that we had the right defense, and the LBs don't fill the gap to blow the play up. Play the damn game.<br/> <br/> Of course there is the whole 'well Charlie is responsible for the team' mantra and he will be the first to admit that.<br/> <br/> Still, as a player...play the damn game.<br/> <br/> When Davie and Ty were there, we often watched the game wondering WTF we were doing. We were out of position, or running plays over and over that didn't work.<br/> <br/> WRT this game, I defy anyone to break down the tape and tell me any different than those kids weren't in position to make a positive play over and over tonight, but did not. At some point in time, you gotta put on your big boy pants and play the damn game.</r>
On the positive side I had 2 birdie putts of over 30 feet on the back nine today to save my round!!! Terry