O.K. the long off season is ending and we have the first game of the season at hand. obviously the Irish are heavy favorites in this one but if history has taught us anything, ND cannot take anyone for granted. Temple has a new coach, new QB, and new TE converted to LT. ND starts with a veteran at QB who has lots of question related to past performances, lots of questions in a promising but mostly unproven but seemingly talented stable of RBs and WRs. Good skill and depth on both OL and DL which is probably the major reason ND should win comfortably. I did say SHOULD.
Well I'm eagerly awaiting the game. I of course don't know what to expect, I'm hopeful that it will be like last years opener vs Navy. But I would not be shocked if we came out flat, a lot of these types of games all across the country will have some of these teams scaring top 25 programs. Happens every year. Mainly I do expect a win and hope that we don't have any injuries and are 100% for the next game!
After that South Fla. game a few years ago, I'm never going to take the opener for granted. You never know when Mr. turnover will rear his ugly head.
Ah yes...I remember that '95 season opener vs powder puff Northwestern, Irish were lead that day by your favorite QB gip!
The Irish are a 28.5 point pick last time I looked. Smart money says take Temple and the points. The Irish typically play down to the competition, especially early in the year. But I am bucking the tiger and saying lay the points and bet the ranch on ND. The Irish are huge up front on both lines and have what should be a dominating defense. And the wild card is that Temple has short defensive backs . Good luck with that. ND covers . Irish 44 Temple 10
If we give up points in any other form than a long field goal or a pick 6, I'm going to be pissed. I think our offense has been working on things we're going to spring on people (deep fade to Robinson, Carlisle on inside seam routes from the backfield) that I think we'll see in a few weeks, but not this one. This game should be placed on the shoulders of the OL and rammed down Temple's throat. I would like to see us rush for 200+ yards to show upcoming opponents that we're ground based... Thanks for starting this Tim! Go Irish
We shall see. I would not be shocked if he were the leading tackler this year. He has the most of anyone on the team at the moment career wise.
I'm glad it's all worked out for Carlo that he could play his whole career at ND. There was a time when the word was that he would not be offered a 5th year and that he would end up at B.C. or some place like that. It'd been hard seeing play for B.C. I am a little worried that Jarrett Grace has not been able to step up and take charge as a starter, instead Fox will be the starter and Grace will be the backup. Kelly said that all 3 (Carlo, Fox and Grace) will play a lot but I really thought Grace would step out of Mant's shadow and be the man at his position. Not sure why he hasn't, he's played and he's a Jr so it can't be that he's too inexperienced and doesn't know the defense. Everybody seems to be worried about Safety, the loss of Nicky Barratti seems to be bigger than I thought it would be for a true sophmore. Collinsworth is a solid player and he seems to be battling Shumate for a starting job but Kelly hasn't been esp gushing in their praise.
Carlo hung in there. I think the coaches got a new appreciation for him last year. He's not the fastest and his coverage skills are suspect but between the ends he is stout and he when he hits you the message is delivered. He did a lot of the dirty work for Teo the last couple of years and still managed to make 141 tackles. His shining moments were the 4th down stop against Stanford and the goal line stand against USC.. To really appreciate C4 you need to watch him when he does NOT make the tackle. You almost always find him busting up the the lead block at the point of attack. He has his degree under his belt.... he is playing with house money now.
Depth Chart for Temple. WR: TJ, Robinson WR: Daniels, Smith LT: Martin, Bivin LG: Watt, Harrrell C: Martin, Hegarty RG: Lombard, Hanratty RT: Stanley, Elmer TE: Niklas, Koyack, Welch WR: Brown, Onwualu QB: Rees, Hendrix RB: Atkinson, Carlisle OR McDaniel OR Bryant DL: Day, Rochell DL: Nix, Schwenke DL: Tuitt, Jones OLB: Shembo, Williams ILB: Fox, Grace ILB: Calabrese, Moore OLB: Smith, Councell CB: Russell, Wood S: Collinsworth, Shumate S: Farley, Hardy CB: Jackson, Luke
This actually cleared up some stuff for me. Boundary vs. Field Notre Dame's defensive nomenclature can be confusing at times, but the basis of the designations is merely in its alignment. Unlike in the NFL, college football's hash marks are split far apart. Rarely is the football marked in the middle of the field to start a play. When the ball is placed on a hashmark closer to the sidelines, that's the boundary. The "Field" is therefore the vast open space that exists between the ball and the opposite sideline. Farley, the "Cat" linebacker (Prince Shembo), the Will" linebacker (Carlo Calabrese), and the boundary cornerback (Bennett Jackson) play to the near side hashmark, or "boundary" while the field safety (Austin Collinsworth), the "Drop" linebacker (Jaylon Smith), the "Mike" linebacker (Dan Fox) and the field cornerback (Keivarae Russell) operate in greater space to the wide side, or "field." (Joining them on the field side is defensive end Stephon Tuitt, dubbed the "Stud" position by head coach
Here come the Irish! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/FE9D2SJ5Xt4" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Not much to see against Temple. Kelly didn't show much and shut things down early. Next week's game @ Michigan will tell the tale. Some thoughts... 1. No turnovers. 2. There's real depth on this team. 3. Seniors where we need 'em...and in depth. 4. A whole bunch of true freshmen played and they looked great. My favorites were the two running backs, Bryant and Folston. 5. The kicking game sucks. I don't know which is worse, the punting or the field goals, but I do know that Kelly has one week to figure it out, or we'll be sorry... 6. LB Jaylon Smith looked OK out there, but sometimes he and Grace were caught in between play actions. Their inexperience was showing. 7. ALL the running backs looked good. Amir Carlisle is a special weapon. 8. Troy Niklas is a nuclear weapon: nearly 6'8" and he can catch, run and block... 9. Chris Brown is becoming quite a WR and he's a burner. 10. T.J. Jones looks fast and confident out there. 11. OL fine with no mistakes. 12. Louis Nix did NOT look good. Is he trying to be our Clowney? :roll:
As is my custom, I will follow Jim's format: 1. Zero turnovers is fantastic 2. Lots of depth and Kelly's uses most of it. 3. Not as excited about senior play overall but in spots, yes 4. Couldn't agree more. Fresh legs late are a blessing. 5. Kickoff depth was great. Coverage was average. Punting horrendous. Punt returns, well, anything better than 1/3 of yard is step in the right direction. 6. I was watching with a crowd but did not notice Smith played, which may not be a good thing. He's a freshman. Carlo looked a step slow. Fox still makes most of his tackles downfield. Grace needs experience. 7. Agreed. 8. Nicklas is special. What a tank. 9. We have a really good set of fast WRs with height, speed and ups. But I would like to see more quick slants or skinny posts where they get a cance to run with the ball. That would make the entire team look faster. 11. O Line looks great. 12. D-Line looks overweight and slower. Nix spent the offseason developing his Chocolate Thunder persona and eating. You can't put 30 lbs on in one year and maintain quickness. Ditto Tuitt who put on 20 lbs because of post surgical inactivity.
Is anyone else concerned that we gave up 362 yards to a team not named Michigan, something we did only twice last season (Oklahoma and /Alabama)? At times - not the entire game - we had a solid pass rush which forced the QB to hurry his throws, but when he had time he threw to receivers that we were not covering well. Mike Mayock pointed out that they were using play action because our MLBs were continuously biting and leaving the middle open. With all the hyped talent and returning seniors, I expected much more from our defense in the first game. We have a ton of work to do on defense and special teams in only a week if we expect to compete with Michigan.