Well now we wait.....129 days and counting! A tid bit from a Sporting News Article on Jimmy Clausen. Jimmy Clausen Article I don't think Weis has a problem with working hard, he works incredibly hard at recruiting and I assume his game planning and stuff also involve a tremendous amount of effort. In short his failures haven't been becuase he's lazy or unmotivated. There are a couple of area's that are critical for him to get to the top, one of them is that he has to learn to manage the college game. He has the pro mentality with regards to scoring, which is fine in the NFL where 10-6 gets you to the playoffs and you have to play teams 2x a year. But in the college game where your poll position is subjective he needs to lay the wood to teams when he can. Also he's not show the ability to get a team ready to play the big game, exception was the 2005 USC game. The Irish were ready for USC and played very well. You might say he was ready for Hawaii, and he was but it's Hawaii. We'll know a lot after the Nevada game, Nevada is a member of a respected conference the Mtn West and they have a unique offense in the Pistol and they have played good football under the current coach. So it's not like playing Coastal Carolina, but still he has more talent, he has a veteran team with good experience, he should beat Nev convincingly if it's another San Diego State game, then I'm going to worry that he hasn't learned all the lessons he needs to learn with regard to preparing a team. If he had a track record of preparing teams for games then you could give him a pass, even guys like Tressel sometimes have openers with inferior teams who come fired up and play OSU closer than they should but he's got a track record. Recruiting is still sort of slow, I think a lot of players are waiting to see what Weis does this fall. He needs a fast start and even a loss to USC would be OK if it's a competitive game not another blow out. Terry
ND <t>Terry,<br/> <br/> I've watched the Nevada team on a couple of replays. In their bowl game maryland really took it to them even in the first half of the game when several of the UM starters were out because of a curfew violation, the game was still in hand. Once the starters were in it was no contest. The key for ND will be the Defense shutting down the Nevada QB. He will run(a lot) if you let him so you have to keep him contained and play the pass. A positive to that is if ND shuts down Nevada the Michigan game should be a piece of cake. <br/> <br/> I don't take anything for granted anymore though. Just show me!!!</t>
Terry, Your critique of Weis is right on. I might add that margin of victory is equally important in the college game.
Not sure I agree with you, Tim, but I hope you're right. I don't think any game this coming season will be a piece of cake, I'm guessing you feel pretty much the same. What is it you say? Show me?
I think he was refering more to the fact that Nevada runs a version of the Spread where the QB runs the ball a lot, that was RR's offense at WVU with Pat White. So if we can do well against a run first spread like RR's then UM will be 2 games in a row against a run first ver of the spread....more you see it the better chance you have to defend it. Which is why Navy is always tough on us, we don't see their offense except 1x a season. It was obvious last year when Paul Johnson had great success with that offense in the ACC at Ga.Tech. I saw it defeat a more talented, bigger, faster FSU...who was constantly out of position and just didn't have a clue as to how to defend it. Terry
I see. Thanks for the clarification. I did not know that Nevada runs the same offense as Michigan. I was wondering what would prompt Tim to consider Michigan a piece of cake. That was not a Tim-type comment. Now I understand that he was referring to the two similar offenses.
Nevada <r>yeah, I was just thinking that if ND handles Nevada's offense then UM shouldn't be that big a deal. I probably shouldn't have said "piece of cake" since no team on our schedule has been easy the past 2 years....anyway, Nevada's QB runs that offense better than anyone at Michigan right now for sure. If ND let's that kid run they will be in for a long day. Keep him in the backfield and just worry about the pass....Nevada will have a long day cause I'm sure ND will score some serious points that day against a not so hot defense. <E>8)</E> <br/> <br/> Charlie is on the hot seat this coming season. He's THE best recruiter ND has had since Holtz left but there will be no excuses this year. He has all the talent on hand to win 10 games. Anyone who seriously follows ND football knows that. Now it's time for some serious coaching to take hold and for these young men to play up to capabilities. <br/> <br/> I like Charlie a lot. I'm hoping with all my heart this that this is a successful season and he stays on for another 10 but......ya gotta show me something now or it will be time for a change......something I'm tired of going through</r>
I just read a synopsis of Nevada on Blue&Gold.com. They certainly have the potential to pull an Appalachian State kind of upset. If there is good news, it's that they historically have had a very leaky pass defense. They score a bunch of points, but they also give up a bunch. We've played tougher opening game opponents in the past, but this one worries me from the standpoint of the enormous pressure on us to start off on the right foot by winning convincingly.
Except for the Gators, there aren't many spread option based offenses out there that the kid from NV wouldn't play for... but he's one guy. We have to make the game about the other 21.
Irish Legacy Nick Montana has listed his top 7, still gives no favorites and says all are equal. Alabama has already recieved a verbal from Phillip Sims the Scout Networks #4 QB. So I would imagine that Nick won't be going to Alabama. There are rumours that his first choice is Ohio State but that his Mom has nixed that. He has said he wants to play in a Pro Style offense though and of the 7 listed Ohio State is the least "Pro Style" and truthfully I don't know why he'd want to go to Washington they are in such a bad state that it will take them 4 or 5 years of great recruiting to build the program back up to where it once was, I'm sure though that the presence of Steve Sarkesian is the reason he's interested. Also in that same vein I'm suprised that Tenn is not in his top seven given that Lane Kiffin is committed to a pro style offense and his back ground is like Sarkesian with Norm Chow and USC. Terry
Some fun with the Numa Numa Song and ND Football. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lKiLgOphVNM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lKiLgOphVNM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Ps....Tom do not watch this!
Too late... already watched it. Who is the goober on the web cam? Cindy and I watched that game at Pugsley's Sports Bar in Dallas with the DFW Alumni group. I had high hopes when we tied it up. Toward the end, I was wanting Jim Bob Cooter to get playing time. :roll:
His name is Gary Brolsma and he made that video and uploaded it to youtube and it just exploded in the number of views. He initally was overwhelmed by the whole thing, and went into hiding. I mean most people who watched it had that same thought as you, but millions watched it. He got over it and now has his own website and a follow up lip synch called the new Numa Numa. Go figure. :roll: :roll: edit: He didn't make that video, he made a video of himself lip synching that song and some enterprising fan used it to splice into the footage of the ND/Tenn game. Numa Numa was at the height of it's crazy popularity, in fact the ND band played it at halftime and the students did the Numa Numa in the stands. All good fun.
Mike Frank has left Scout and gone on his own, samething that Ray Hines and Gator Country did a few years ago. It's called Irish Sports Daily and the articles are free for now. Here's a link to a good article on Weis. Building a winning program
Didn't he visit Knoxville? I know he visited Austin but Texas didn't offer. They already had Connor Wood and were going to get Colt McCoy's brother. Who are your top QB targets? Jake Heaps?
Yes, Montana visited Knoxville and by his statements, it seemed that he would strongly consider Tennessee if they offered. Two of Tennessee's top targets have already committed: Phil Sims and Blake Bell. Heaps still seems to be very high on the list as does Jesse Scroggins out of California.