ND 4 games in

[Terry in Crapchester]

The good news (sort of) is that we're 3-1. The bad news is that we just as easily could be 1-3 right about now. Two of those wins were ugly, but we just have to take 'em and move on.

Far and away, the most disappointing unit so far is the offensive line. With four returning starters on the O-line, I expected much better from this unit provided that we stay injury free, which so far we have. We have been completely unable to establish any semblance of a running game, and opposing defenses are getting too much pressure on Quinn without blitzing. This unit definitely has to get better.

Our defense is entirely schizophrenic, although in whole it has played better than I had expected. So far the defense has had 2 1/2 very good outings (Ga Tech and PSU, plus second half against BabsU), and 1 1/2 horrible outings (Michigan and first half against BabsU). And even while we didn't have a good defensive outing against Michigan, I tend to put that one more on our offense. We needed a long drive to get our defense a breather, but it never came. We're not getting torched by the pass the way we did last year. On the downside, our run defense, especially the last two weeks, hasn't been for shit.

Quinn definitely hasn't played up to his potential, and to use Killian's words, has looked like ass at times. He has been pressured much more this year than last, although that's not on him. Against BabsU, he started out looking like ass, and in fact just flat out missed a few open receivers early in the game. He finished strong, however.

Walker is the true head-scratcher for me. He doesn't seem to be doing anything different than he has in the past, but the production just isn't there this year. Perhaps his style of running just isn't meshing with this offensive line. Walker's not a real quick hitter, he's more inclined to wait behind the line for the line play to develop, then run to daylight. This line seems to be opening a small whole in the beginning, then allowing it to close quickly. In that regard, perhaps moving Thomas to LB was a mistake, as his running style might be a better fit with this line.

Special teams have been a mixed bag. Price has been an outstanding punter. Zibbie is an excellent punt returner, although he had some trouble handling the ball yesterday. And we're even getting the occasional touchback on kickoffs, something that has been far too lacking at ND as long as I can remember. However, Gioia has been less reliable than I would have hoped, missing two FG's against Ga Tech and an extra point against BabsU. The latter is particularly concerning, since the bad weather apparently wasn't a factor -- the snap and spot were both good, Gioia didn't look to have any problems with his plant foot on the replay, nor did the wind appear to carry the kick.

And I think it's time for the media to lay off the "genius" tag for Weis. He's been outcoached -- badly -- in 2 1/2 of the 4 games we played this year. The call on the 2-point conversion was extremely curious, given our difficulty in establishing a running game. And I think he needs to revisit the coin-toss strategy of taking the ball no matter what. ABC's prime time crew this season is ridiculous, but they did make one good point last night -- under those weather conditions, perhaps it's better to take the wind and play defense. Doing the opposite helped to put us into a whole we almost never got out of.

We're definitely still in contention at least for a BCS bid, although right about now we're not playing like a BCS team, or even a Top 25 team for that matter. But the schedule gets a little easier from this point forward, and the 4th quarter comeback against BabsU is the sort of thing that can give a team a much-needed jolt of confidence. Hopefully we can use this to launch an improvement.

[PSUFAN]

Rack the ND fans on this board. Line after line of quality posts.

[the_ouskull]

Yeah, I mean except for their being Notre Dame fans... :D

the_ouskull

[Mississippi Neck]

Notre Dame in a nutshell:

Top 10 Offense

Southland Conference Defense

[StrandedTexan]

Five Things We Learned This Weekend
1) That Notre Dame is headed to the Sugar Bowl. As flawed as that team is, you can pretty much script the rest of its season. The Irish are going to beat their next seven opponents fairly easily. And they’re going to get crushed by USC. That puts them at 10-2; Sugar gets first choice of at-large teams this year. The only remaining mystery is how much they’ll lose the bowl game by.

LOL I read that on cnnsi too. The worst part is: Mandel's prolly right.

[Killian]

Notre Dame in a nutshell:

Top 10 Offense

Southland Conference Defense

Stick to the drive by posts, they suit you well.