Another week, another win, and of course, it’s time for another breakdown of the Cowboys offensive effort. While the Cowboys came far from “lighting up” the Eagles, they continued their now four week trend of solid offensive effort. Over these past few weeks, it’s quite clear that the secret to offensive success is to rely heavily on Romo. If Romo can spread the ball around, not turn the ball over, and make plays, the Cowboys win.
Then there’s also that Miles Austin guy.
So what about this week? Did Romo continue to drive the offense against the Eagles or was there another reason for the Cowboys success?
As I enter what will now be my 100th post to this blog, I seem to be back right back where I started when I launched NDTex.com. My first real post of substance followed the debacle that was last year’s ND/BC game in which the Irish were blanked by the Eagles. I tried to take a step back and figure out just what direction this program was taking. Of course that also meant taking a hard look at Weis, which followed soonafter my initial post.
Now here I am once again, on the heels of yet another embarrassing loss, this time to Navy, and wondering once again just what to do with Weis.
It isn’t hard to figure out why the Irish dropped this game at all. Notre Dame turned the ball over constantly, with three of them coming in the red zone. We missed two field goals, and our defense at times looked as if they have never seen the triple option offense. You cannot win games playing in such a sloppy manner and that is exactly how upsets happen.
We left 6 points on the field without a doubt with the missed field goals. If you can assume at least a field goal on our three red zone turnovers, that is another 9 points, meaning a total of at least 15 points. Now let’s go on the other end of the spectrum and say we kick a FG instead of going for it 4th and goal, Clausen doesn’t fumble, and we don’t have an INT off Floyd’s back. Let’s give the Irish 2 TDs and the FG there, add on the two missed FG and you have 23 points left on the board.
Put those points on the board and you have something between either a scary win or a near blowout.
So now I’m left trying to play the blame game and needing to figure out where exactly I should be pointing the finger. Weis has definitely provided more than enough ammo to justify his removal and there is simply no doubt about it:
2 losses to Navy
Loss to Air Force
Loss to Syracuse
All said embarrassing losses were at home
0-5 against USC
2007, the 3-9 season
2008 season
Current defensive woes
No true “signature” win
The evidence has become overwhelming, especially when Navy’s head coach and one of Weis’ own players both took his “decided schematic advantage” and said this about it:
“I really hope this doesn’t come across wrong,” Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said, “but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year, because we knew they’d line up the same way.”
Translation: Notre Dame employed the same type of defense it did in last year’s 27-21 victory, and Navy was expecting it.
“They out-schemed us,” Irish nose tackle Ian Williams said, “and I think they just played harder.”
Yeah, that’s not good no matter how you slice it. I couldn’t spin that in a positive light for Weis even if I wanted to.
But even with the defensive miscues, as I pointed out above, ND simply threw away tons of points. Even with the subpar defensive play, those points could’ve meant a victory. And even without those points, we still had a chance to pull out another last minute victory.
So the question becomes: was this just simply a bad game or is this all just a further indictment of Weis’ current failures? And if ND doesn’t fall on their face, are we even really talking about Weis’ job security in the earnest that the majority of ND nation is right now?
The problem is, I’m not even sure how to answer that question. If we win out, you can look back at the season and say we lost three games because of one bad drive against Michigan, a slip against USC, and a complete brain fart against Navy. In this scenario, how bad does a 10-4 season with a Gator Bowl win against a solid ACC team really look? It’s far from ideal for sure, but it would be far easier to make an argument in that case that our last two seasons have built off of each other and ND is on the right track.
However, on the other end of that spectrum, if we drop one or two of our remaining games, a 8-4 or 7-5 regular season record doesn’t look so hot, regardless of the bowl result. The reason is, you look back on the season in that case and you go the other direction, looking at all the games we won and seeing just how close we were to not even being bowl eligible. In this scenario, ND looks like nothing more than a stagnant and mediocre program.
And now you have a wrinkle that no one was initially thinking about: Clausen and Tate possibly leaving early. There is no doubt in my mind, a Weis firing means they are gone. Clausen is already likely going to be hard to convince to come back as it is, and Tate’s stock seems to be rising every week. It’s going to be near impossible to keep them around on a coaching change.
Then you have to worry about the state of the current recruiting class. Chris Martin, the key defensive centerpiece in the class has already said he is keeping his options open should a coaching change hit ND. Should Martin leave, who follows after?
With the likely combination of Clausen and Tate leaving early, and with recruiting likely getting shot right in the foot, there is no doubt: firing Weis is a complete reset button to this program.
We now end up in a catch 22 situation that is our worst nightmare. Do we give Weis yet another chance and hope that we are indeed going the right direction or do we blow it all up, risk possible repeats of 2007/2008 or another horrid coaching era ala Willingham? In other words, should we deal with the devil we know, or some unknown devil we don’t?
Every time I think of this, I can’t help but think of Auburn who was in a similar situation to us. Tubberville was doing decent, but he wasn’t producing the results that everyone was hoping for. The result: fire Tommy, hire a coach that could barely win at Iowa State, and now Auburn is struggling to find their identity. They have an offense that can’t make up it’s mind on whether it is the best thing since sliced bread or the biggest comedy of errors and their defense, once always feared and constant, is now a joke. There is absolutely no telling where Auburn is going from here because of their coaching change.
That is the same grim reality that faces Notre Dame.
I look at the usual suspects of supposed replacements for Weis and on each name I come to same conclusion each time: there is no logical hire that would be an improvement over Weis. For some, I can’t see them leaving their current jobs to the pressure cooker that is ND. Take Brian Kelly. Why leave Cinnci when it looks like you can dominate a week Big East and are toast of the town? There is no guarantee Kelly can repeat the same results for the Irish in the least, so why would he take a risk when he has no ND ties. John Gruden won’t be coming because ND is a step down, and I can’t see him not going for a NFL job. How is trying to fix the ND situation more appealing than another shot at NFL glory (especially when many heads will be rolling this year in the NFL)? We could hire another Holtz, but I’m not sure that name will travel that well from East Carolina. Tubberville is available, but I’m not even sure if he’s seeking coaching jobs, much less one like ND.
Simply put, firing Weis will open up a hole that I do not believe we can adequately fill. Despite all he has done to justify his removal, I still believe it would cause more harm than good for ND’s future. I don’t want to see ND try to recover from a gigantic recruiting gap after we have worked so hard to fill it. Fortunately for Weis, and unfortunately the rest of our sanity, the recruiting and talent angle is still too much to ignore. I’m not sure how he is doing it, but Weis is still stocking ND full of talent all across the roster and this must continue no matter who is coaching at ND.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Weis is definitely the man for the job; however, I don’t think a better man for the job is available for us right now. Just because firing Weis would be justified, doesn’t mean it is what is best for the program. What good does it do to fire Weis and hire in some sub-par replacement that makes us wish we had Weis back? Answer: None.
So until Brian Kelly starts mentioning that ND is his dream job or Gruden starts dropping constant ND references on Monday Night Football, I’m going to stick with the devil I know patrolling the ND sidelines.
I would like to congratulate the Yankees on their World Series win, and give a big pat on the back to all Yankee fans. I mean it’s been 9 long years since you won your 26th World Series. You poor, poor bastards. And I know your team has been trying their little hearts out, I mean just look at the payrolls from your last World Series win (2000) to now:
I just don’t know how you can possibly stick with a team that has struggled for so long. Your team has spent more money than any other club in baseball consistently since 2000. I mean, for crying out loud in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 you spent well over $50 million more than the 2nd highest paid team in the league.
I’m not sure how y’all stuck through that kind of pain. Y’all are truly a shining example for baseball fans throughout the world.
So congrats to the Yankees and all Yankee fans, you’ve earned bought it (finally).
It has been quite a nice stretch of few days for Irish fans to say the least. For the first time since the home opener against Nevada, Notre Dame finally beat the living hell out of someone.
Now yes, Washington State is awful. I know this and I have no illusions that this will translate to a BCS victory or something crazy like that. But the Irish came in to a game that was being touted as some kind of psuedo-bowl game. Not only that, a game in which you have everyone just knows you are going to crush the Cougars. It was the classic setup for the Irish to come out completely flat and leave us all wondering “why in the world is this game so close?!”
However, the exact opposite happened. Notre Dame put on a display of their superior talent and never let up on the Cougars. It is the exact kind of effort you want to see and expect to see in this kind of lopsided match-up.
Now there really isn’t much to say about the game in all honesty, but there were three big things that stood out to me in Saturday’s matchup. The first two are Weis’ two plays of the game:
Let’s start with Golden Tate’s amazing catch. First off, this guy is playing in some other universe right now. Remember back when we could complain about Tate dropping passes? Ever since Floyd went down, that has been a distant memory. Tate has been nothing less than a vacuum as of late. Just take a look at that play and try to break down the insanity you just saw. He goes up for a jump ball against not one, not two, but three defenders. He then is able to out-leap all of them and get his hands on the ball. Then he is able to come down with the pass while all three defenders are trying their damnedest to rip it away. They fail, Tate succeeds, and my mind is blown.
Then you have Ragone’s play on the blocked extra point. In the big scheme of things, does this play really matter? Probably not. It would be very easy for everyone on the Irish FG squad to jog the play out and think “so what…two points won’t matter for them.” And that could be a play in which Washington State gets a huge momentum swing, rallies the troops and gives everyone their sidelines the single thought of “we can do this!”
But no, Ragone flew down the field and saved the two points. Not only that, Ragone got up excited after the play and the rest of the team came out to congratulate him as well. What this shows me is that the entire team was fired up and ready to stomp on the Cougars.
The final thing that stood out was Weis literally chewing out his entire team after they were comfortably in the lead. Seems he saw the edge that was demonstrated by Ragone’s hustle play was quickly fading and I’m sure he very eloquently reminded them that the game was far from over. That is definitely the kind of attitude you want from the head coach. Sure it is great you are destroying your opponent, but you can’t let heads grow too big before the final whistle.
Just take a look at the ND/USC game. USC was destroying us. Now, I don’t want to take anything away from our boys in the least, but there is no doubt USC aided us in our comeback: soft play, lack of effort, and complete lack of discipline helped spur a near upset.
Weis saw the edge slipping, and went to get it back. He didn’t want a win, he wanted to continue stepping on Washington State’s throat until the final whistle. Kudos to him.
Now shifting gears ever so slightly, Charlie Weis had a lot of news on the injury front from his press conference today. There was lots of good news, but also a little bit of bad news as well, so let’s get that out of the way first.
Dayne Crist is now out for the season with a torn ACL. It is a rough break for Crist to only get to see a little playing time and then get injured on what was more or less a freak accident. Thankfully though, we still have a reliable backup in Evan Sharpley, so it isn’t like the cupboard is bare. Also, WR John Goodman has now been moved into #3 on the depth chart at QB as an emergency plan (he played QB in high school). So yes, the news is not good, but folks, this is why you continue to recruit QBs like we have — you never know what will happen.
Now for the good–no not good, great news: Michael Floyd has been cleared to play against Navy this weekend. Now Weis later went on to say in his presser that Floyd would not be “in every play”, but I’m sure very few Irish fans really care (I sure don’t). Floyd is not a requirement for the Irish to beat Navy, but it sure won’t hurt and would serve as a great game to ease him in because we will definitely want to be full strength for the game against Pitt.
To wrap up Irish injury news, Weis also said Robby Paris will return this Saturday; however, Allen is still day-to-day. If you want to check out Weis’ presser, you can do so over at und.com.
To close, with the Irish becoming bowl elidgible with this win, and with the overall BCS picture becoming slightly more clear, it is time to start making some predictions of where the Irish will end up this season.
First off, I’m going to make this statement right now: get the BCS out of your head. I’m not joking, get it out of your mind right now.
As a recap of our current contract with the BCS, the Irish must be in the top eight of the BCS in order to receive and automatic bid, and folks, with our week schedule, and our only possible signature win being a possible defeat of Pitt, things don’t look good for us. Currently, we sit #22 in the BCS, #19 in the AP poll, and #21 in the coaches poll. It will be very hard for the Irish to climb up into not just the top 8 for the automatic bid, but even the top 14 to be considered at-large eligible. We will not only need to win out, but also receive some help from the teams above us to have a shot.
Let’s be realistic here, the Irish do not have a good shot.
In order to better figure out where the Irish can land though, I will need to actually project the BCS bowls as the bowl selection system works on conference tie-ins and crazy selection orders. So with that said, here are the usual BCS bowls and their conference tie-ins:
BCS Championship: #1 BCS vs. #2 BCS Rose Bowl: Big Ten Champ vs. Pac 10 Champ Fiesta Bowl: Big 12 Champ vs. At-large Orange Bowl: ACC Champ vs. At-large Sugar Bowl: SEC Champ vs. At-large
Rules for At-large: Big East champ, must be taken in one of the at-large spots. Also, if a non-BCS conference team is ranked #12 or higher in the BCS, they also gain one of the at-large bids — only one team may receive such an automatic bid.
The only other rules to keep in mind is that if a bowl loses their conference tie in to the BCS title game, they will have the first pick at a replacement team — trying to stay to tradition they will try to stay in the same conference, but if they can’t, they will pick an at-large team. Furthermore, only two teams max from the same conference can be selected to the BCS (there are exceptions, but they won’t happen this season). Finally there is a set selection order to fill in the remaining at large bids. This year it will be in the order of: Orange, Fiesta, and then Sugar.
Now looking at this season, two of the at-large spots will be taken by the Big East champ and a BCS-buster as both TCU and Boise State are both comfortably in the top 12 of the BCS and at least one will definitely remain there. Now, looking at the remaining schedules, I project the following:
BCS Title Game: #1 Florida vs. #2 Texas
This means the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl lose their conference tie-ins and will be able to select replacements. However, the ACC champion will remain as well as the Big 10 and Pac 10 champs. This means the Orange bowl has a team locked and the Rose Bowl is locked. The remaining slots will then be filled in the following order: Sugar (BCS #1 replacement), Fiesta (BCS #2 replacement), Orange (at-large), Fiesta (at-large), and Sugar (at-large). So if you were able to follow that mess, hopefully you can follow my logic in projecting the following:
Sugar: Alabama vs. Penn State Fiesta: Cincinnati vs. Boise State Orange: Georgia Tech vs. TCU Rose: Iowa vs. Oregon
My shakiest selection is Penn State, as who knows what is going on with the Big Ten week-to-week, so I could see a different at-large being taken. I selected both BCS-busters of TCU and Boise State because one must be selected automatically and the other will finish far too high in the BCS to ignore over other marginal one and two loss teams much further down.
So with that mess out of the way, where does that put ND?
Most ND fans know that the Gator Bowl as a tie in with the Irish if they aren’t playing in the BCS. Some may even be aware that this is the final year that the Gator Bowl can select ND as their contract will move to a SEC/Big 10 match-up next season. The Gator’s usual tie in is ACC vs. Big 12/Big East/ND; however, according to their website, since this is the last year of the contact they will select a Big East team or ND.
But here comes the other wrinkle: the Cotton Bowl, a match-up that pits the Big 12 runner up vs. a SEC team, has the right to select ND over a SEC team once within the next three years. Should the Irish go 10-2 or 9-3, they definitely would be an attractive selection over what would be the fourth best SEC team at best (the Capital One bowl gets the next best SEC team after the BCS, Cotton gets the next best SEC-West team).
However, while the Cotton Bowl would likely love to bring ND down to Dallas, and as much as I would love to see a ND bowl game in my backyard, if the Irish win out, I don’t see it happening. From my understanding of this crazy system, the Gator Bowl has the first pick of Big East teams or a non-BCS-bound ND before the Cotton Bowl selects their SEC representative that ND can replace. So the Gator has to look at whether or not to take ND or select a non-BCS-bound Big East team over them.
The only team that could even likely replace ND would be Pitt, whom we play in just a couple of weeks. Should ND fall to Pitt, the Gator would likely take Pitt team over ND as they will be a higher rank and have a head-to-head edge on us. In that case, ND would likely fall to the Cotton Bowl so they can cash in their ND replacement clause while they still can.
So if we are to assume ND can win out their schedule, I project ND to play in the Gator Bowl come January; however, should ND fall to Pitt, I will project them for the Cotton Bowl — it all hinges on that game. I will continue to monitor the bowl picture as the season progresses from here on out, and hopefully now that we got the complicated matters out of the way, I won’t have to write nearly as much!
As promised, I am going to keep readers of this blog in the loop on my writings on DallasProSports.com. Also, I wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I am actually committed to regular schedule now there (shocking I know). Every Tuesday morning, my “Romo Friendly” Offense article will appear and every Friday morning my contributions to the fantasy panel will be posted. Each morning, I will also post a quick preview and link here as well to ensure it is well advertised.
So without further ado:
Another week has passed and has brought us yet another successful victory for the Cowboys. The ‘Boys completely dominated on the offensive side of the ball once again and Romo seemed to have his way with the Seahawks. Last week, I attributed similar success primarily to the great play of Romo. So was this yet another week when the “Romo Friendly” offense became the “Romo Driven” offense?
Folks, it is that time again to do a general catch-up post! I figured now would be a good time to do this because to be honest, I really don’t have much to say about ND’s game this past Saturday against Boston College, nor do I really have much to say on a preview against Washington State to justify an entire post. However, if that is what you came here for, feel free to skip down to the end of the post for a ND quick-hit.
There are several other things to catch up on that are of interest to me. The Cowboys played surprisingly well this week, the Stars season is well underway, the Mavs have kicked off their season, the Evil Empire is in the World Series against the City of Brotherly Shove, and Microsoft released a little something called Windows 7. That’s quite a bit to run through, so let’s just get to it.
Dallas Cowboys
You may (or likely may not) remember that I have been writingfor DallasProSports.com on both a fantasy panel as well as doing a weekly article on the “Romo Friendly” offense.
Save for Twitter, I have been doing a really awful job at promoting my work. I assure you though, that I have indeed been writingmyopinionsontheoffense. So you can check out all my opinions on the offense there; in fact, writing those articles has been the reason I haven’t bothered to say much on the ‘Boys in this space. I will be sure to actually remember to post here when my articles go up.
Beyond the offense though, I will say the defense is, thankfully, improving from the looks of things. Ware finally seems to be getting back into the swing of things, and the secondary looked like it could actually defend something as well last week. This trend must continue because what we all should have learned from the past couple of years is that a Cowboys team 100% reliant on Romo and the offense to bail the team out flat out doesn’t work.
Dallas Mavericks
I went from being extremely excited about the new pickups of Shawn Marion and Drew Gooden to being extremely concerned after their defeat to Washington in the first game of the season. The main reason being that I saw absolutely nothing different from the Mavs in that game than I did last season.
It was the same old, same old: play small and jack up threes when we trail. Also, defense is optional.
I’m hoping that won’t be the same story for the whole season. I do believe the Mavs have improved their team this year, but until our overall attitude of how to play changes (i.e. DRIVE THE FREAKIN’ LANE!), we will continue to struggle.
Dallas Stars
Well, what a difference a coach does make. While I’m not going to say we are Cup bound, Stars hockey is a hell of a lot more fun to watch this season. We have a lot of young kids and a very wide open style of play, meaning far more scoring than I can ever remember seeing.
I wish I could actually give more hockey insight than that, but beyond knowing the rules of the game, I am pretty much only able to give “Hockey for Dummies” type commentary.
One thing to watch this season though is the play of Marty Turco. Last season he took a lot of abuse from fans and media about his play severely declining. I do believe Marty is one of the better goaltenders in the NHL, but the season he had last year simply can’t be repeated if we want to be a solid playoff team — you need your goalie to be a wall.
Last year Turco turned in 2.83 GAA (goals against average), and thus far he is sitting at 2.26 GAA (just as a reference, two seasons ago, Marty finished at 2.32 GAA). Much better to say the least thus far. Hopefully last season will prove to be the exception and not the first warning of a declining Turco.
World Series
I’m going to be very quick on this one: I hate the Yankees. I can’t believe A-Rod is actually hitting clutch in October. Seeing Teixiera playing in the World Series is making me sick.
Go Phillies!
Windows 7
Hey, remember those few times I actually wrote about technology in here? Yeah me too. It’s really been a while. Mostly that is due to the fact it is football season and it takes far too much of my attention span as far as writing goes.
However, I must say at least a little something on Windows 7 (as I’m not sure if I’ll actually spin out a full-blown post during football season). First off, it is nothing like Vista.
Let me repeat that another way: We have a new Windows Operating System that doesn’t completely suck like Vista.
The first thing that popped out to me was the amount of resources the system was using at idle. Vista was very infamous for sucking the life out of RAM (memory) and processor power by just having the so-called “great” Vista features active like Aero and Index Searching. Windows 7 has removed whatever was severely bloating Vista as very little strain is being placed on the system in comparison.
So what does that mean? In short, quicker performance for just about anything that you want to do. Initial startups are quicker, opening programs takes far less time, etc.
The other great touches that I’ve encountered so far are the, dare I say, intuitive additions to Windows 7. The new taskbar helps decrease what is usually extreme clutter on the desktop and allows you to get to you want even quicker than alt-tabbing. Programs/windows open, now group to an icon on the desktop. Say you have five Word documents open and three Windows Explorer windows open, along with whatever you are looking at on the web. Well, simply hovering over say the Word icon will open up a small window dubbed “Aero Peek” that will show small window previews of all five documents along with their titles, allowing you to quickly and easily select the one you want to view instead of jamming on alt+tab until you finally highlight the right document you want, or trying to remember the exact window/document name from the old taskbar groupings in XP/Vista.
There are even shortcuts that use window positioning to automatically maximize, minimize, and compare windows. Want to compare two open windows? Drag one to the left side of the screen and it pops into place, filling the left side. Then drag the other window to the right side of the screen, and it fills the other remaining 50% of the screen. Want to minimize all the junk on your screen and just focus on one window? Shake the window you want and away goes everything else.
I’m not used to Windows working like this at all — it is almost as if they stole some Apple programmers.
Granted, I haven’t had too much time to really run into many problems yet, but it is something I am keeping an eye on. Compared to Vista though, this is a freakin’ walk in the park.
Notre Dame Football
Now for the ND football talk!
The game against Boston College was just more typical Irish football this season: play to the level of your opponent and decide the game at the end. Also, give all of ND Nation a freakin’ heart attack while doing so.
Clausen and the offense played very well. BC’s game plan was the same as last season: cover the deep play, give up the short passes. This time around, Clausen did a superb job taking exactly what BC would give him and not force the ball downfield needlessly. While it made for a very low scoring game, it was the right way to attack them. Credit both Clausen and Weis for this one folks.
Defense though — oh dear Lord…what has happened? Getting a lot of tunrovers was very nice, as was actually hitting the opposing QB for a change, but the secondary still looks awful. Harrison Smith looked lost anytime he was dropped back as a safety, and even had coverage issues when he was lined up at LB. The rest of the secondary (save for McCarthy) isn’t exactly making major plays on a consistent basis either.
However, the best positive note on defense: Mantei Te’o — see ball, see player with ball, hit player with ball, wash, rinse, repeat.
Final note on BC: can we punt? Seriously, I don’t think we got a punt past 35 yards. That is flat out AWFUL, especially since this punters are on scholarship. This isn’t like Mike Leech pulled someone out of the stands after a punting competition. Yeesh.
Now to preview the Washington State game…
…
…uh…yeah I got nothing. Honestly, I don’t even care if they are trying to dip into the ND kryptonite and starting a freshmen QB. They are awful — end of story. This game shouldn’t be close. Crist should be starting in the second half and Sharpley should be the QB as time winds down.
Now will this likely happen? Your idea is as good as mine.
Seriously, how in the world do I preview games for a team that seems to take a sick pleasure in torturing its loyal fans? It boggles the mind.
This game should be an obvious blowout on paper. Therefore, let’s expect the game to go down the wire yet again right?
However, I will not be watching this game live. It will sitting at home on my DVR as I will be attending a wedding of a good friend of mine (PS: you know you are a great friend if I go to your wedding on a day I had tickets to go watch ND play — in Texas no less!). So Saturday night, I will be throwing myself into a black hole (that may or may not include an open bar) and pretending my phone and the Internet do not exist as I want to experience the heart attack first-hand.
So if you were looking forward to any commentary via Twitter on the game, apologies, there will be none. Nor will there be a prompt post on my postgame thoughts as well.
…oh man, prompt posts in this blog…that’s a good one…
