10 Must Do List for 2008!!!!

[jonesman]

I posted this info before but made a couple changes and added number 10. Since the season is completely over, CW is now working on 2008 which makes this relavant. Further, since we have seen the door given to about half the college coaches these last few days, Charlie better know that in 2008 there will be no air conditioning in the kitchen. His Super Bowl rings, two BCS appearances, offensive genius and transformation of Brady Quinn are all OLD news that not a sole cares about anymore. For 2008, he will be on that list of coaches on the hot seat. The nation is not expecting him to win the national title in 2008, but he better demonstrate major improvement and a better grasp of developing college players. What many will be pointing to is the fact that NFL coaches continue to fail at a high rate in college. Callahan, Galey, Wandstadt. The Poodle is about the only one to show lasting success and I believe much of his has been purely the freaky good talent he brings to USC and his kid like persona. CHUCK, WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU AND PRAYING FOR YOUR SUCCESS IN 2008, DO NOT LET US DOWN!!!!!!!!!!


1. Win 9 Regular Season Games - This is important because we must show the rebuilding is almost complete and ND again is winning the games that they should. I will tolerate 8 wins if the losses are close.
Reasons This IS Achievable>>
SCHEDULE: If you look at the 2008 schedule, it has been softened and there are only two teams on the schedule where we will be underdogs. Maybe two that we will be a pick um. W's -(San Diego, Pit, Navy, Syracuse, Stanford, N. Carolina, Washington, Purdue), Pick-ums(MSU, BC), L's(USC, UM). As for the W's, these are all programs that should never beat ND. I know that Carolina and Stanford are on a bit of an upswing with new coaches, but if those guys can get there programs to a level higher than ND in two years CW is in trouble. BC loses many many starters, so they should drop a notch. USC will be loaded as usual, but UM loses Henne and Hart which will be huge. 8-4 can be excepted IF these are very very competitive losses or due to significant injuries. 7-5 or worse will signal the end.
ROSTER: We are going to be returning almost complete starting line-ups. On offense, we will have 2 QB's with extensive playing time. The RB's and FB's return as a whole and at RB we will have the more depth and talent than the last 10 years. The OL will be all upper classmen and all have started at a minimum a full season. The back ups will be talented and big. At TE we lose a talented Carlson, but we return Yeatman who is a great blocker, Ragone who will stretch the field and bring in the number 1 rated freshman. WR will have both speed, size and experience. With Parris, Tate, Kamara, Grimes, West, Hord and whatever talented freshman comes aboard, the cupboard is FULL. On Defense, we basically lose two starters. Laws who will be a big loss and Zibby who will be replaced by a bevy of talent. The safety position is freakin loaded. Bruton will be the leader. McCarthy, Harrison Smith, Gaines and the incoming class will have ND the envy of many because of our talent level here. At CB, we will be able to line up with any receiving corp around. Walls, McNeil, Gray, Prince, and Lambert if he decides to return will be rock solid. OLB is a position on the rise. With Neal and Smith having a year to grow and get stronger, they should dominate. Ryan and Mo Richardson will give us a change of pace and depth. Add in Fleming and wow were deep. ILB will probably still be anchored by Mo Crum and Toryan Smith, however guys like Paskorz, Filer and McDonald will all be providing depth and talent. DL will have the only major hole to fill, Laws. Kuntz will be bigger, stronger and more at home at DE. Brown, Hand will hold down the other DE with support from Ethan Johson and Cwynar. NG will be anchored by Ian, but he will loads of help from Omar, Newman, Hafis. Special Teams finally should be an asset. We have a good FG kicker in Walker. Whitacker has shown good ability on KO's. Maust was good while substituting for Price. We have very capable return people.

2. Beat WASHINGTON - He better not lose to Ty after 4 years of rebuilding ND or the media and anti ND folks will go crazy with the CW is worse than Ty biz.
Reason this is achievable>> We have a better level of talent at ND. If you look at both rosters, there are far more 4 and 5 star athletes on ND's roster. Further, if CW cannot out coach Ty next season, the Mark May's of the world will have his head on a platter.

3. No More One Sided Losses - One sided losses tend to put CW in the bucket of Ty and Davie. Lou never got slaughtered like we are making a regular habit of. Even when Brady was here, we received beatdowns from OSU, LSU, UM, USC.
Reasons this is achievable>> For the first couple years that CW was at ND the excuse in the big losses was that ND did not have the speed and talent to stay with the programs like LSU, OSU, USC. Well, there is only ONE program on our regular season schedule that will have us out manned, USC. But, the talent gap between ND and USC will have closed dramatically. Further, if CW is the offensive guru he claims, then after 4 years with these kids that should shine thru.

4. Go Bowling and WIN!!!! - Every ND fan is tired of hearing that we are 0-forever since our last bowl win. Furhter, CW has gotten thumped in both bowls.
Reason this is achievable>> We should finish the season with 3-4 losses which means no BCS. That is good because we are a year away from whooping the LSU's, Florida's and OSU's of the world. We will end up in a second tier bowl like the Gator. This will pit us against a mid level program which we better start dominating. I actually hope we do NOT end up winning enough to get into a BCS because we tend to get a bad match-up which spells disaster. I want us to wait until 2009 when we will be loaded and be able to dominate. ND cannot afford another BCS debacle where we lose and get battered by the media.

5. Make Coaching Changes over 2008 winter!!!! - Einstein says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Latina, BYE BYE
Reason this is achievable>> Well this decision is in CW's hands. It is obvious that certain positions are underachieving. OL and special teams are two in particular. We cannot stand pat with underperformers. CW has shown the moxy to make changes in the past, so I think this one is easy.

6. Close out 2008 Recruiting Class!!!! We have the number 1 ranked class and are a fav with several remaining prospects.
Reason this is achievable>> He already has 21 super commits. He only has to add a few pieces at WR and OL. I am not even going to hold him accountable if we have another Little incident in this class. Recruiting is soo crazy that I expect someone to de-commit just to make it a typical recruiting season. But, CW must also close on atleast two of our WR prospects and one great OL player to make this class complete. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

7. Top 10 Recruiting Class for 2009!!!!!!! CW will have his hands full filling this class since there is no great season to talk about and kids will see a depth chart filled with youth.
Reason this is achievable>>> Kids should be really excited now that talent has returned to ND. Further, CW has demonstrated that he will play the best play regardless of age. Finally, he will not have to add huge numbers so he should be able to fill the smaller number of spots. This will mean we will not be number one in recruiting, but if we are getting top caliber athletes to fill out holes that is what matters.

8. Demonstrate Player Development!!! In 2005 I think we all thought that CW could elevate players. In 2006 the players did not take the next step. In fact, most would argue that some players level slipped. OL play got worse. In 2007, the play has been very dissapointing. Not just inexperience, but mistake ridden.
Reason this is achievable>>> With about 9-10 starters returning on both sides of the ball, improvement should be very evident. Further, many of these kids have spent atleast 3 years in the program.

9. Show me "NASTY"!!!! Part of showing Nasty is playing hard for your coach and bringing enthusiasm to the field. You have to want to play hard for the coach. There have been some games where the kids absolutely did NOT play for CW this season.
Reason this is achievable>>> When a player is comforable in a system, they can fly around the field and play with aggression. Brown is starting to show that with the D. They are starting to get comfortable which is resulting in aggression. Now, CW must show that his O can do the same. Especially the OL which should be at a point of dominating people next season.

10. Demonstrate Flexibility!!! Charlie needs to show that he is learning how to coach college kids and learning the college game, not just trying to bring the NFL to South Bend.
Reason this is achievable>>>> He has seen that his NFL way got them into big trouble this season. His soft contact practices, complicated schemes cost them this season.

[johnnd05]

Nice post. But this:

Lou never got slaughtered like we are making a regular habit of.

... is not true: Her Loyal Sons » What Does It Mean To Be “Competitive?”. Holtz lost his fair share of games by 2 TD+ margins.

[jonesman]

Do you remember this many lopsided losses by Lou???? I think not. We have been soundly beaten in both bowls. We have taken 2 straight beatdowns by both UM and USC. We also have taken beatdowns by teams like Purdue, MSU and PSU.

[Moostache]

The margin of defeat is sometimes misleading...

Take the 2005 Fiesta Bowl loss....34-20....2 TD loss, yet for as bad as ND played in that game, the score was still just 27-20 with a couple minutes and change to play before Smith made the plays on consecutive 3rd downs and then Pittman broke the long TD run to seal it.

THAT "beat-down" is markedly different than the 2006 USC game where we entered as #6 (10-1) against #3 USC (9-1) looking to avenge the Bush Push and stamp our season as a success regardless of bowl outcome...well, didn't go so well....down 28-10 after pissing away chances in the first half...eventually "closed" to within 37-24 under 2 minutes and then gave up a TD return on an onside kick to lose 44-24.

Many ND fans talk about those two games as if they were equal beatings....they were not. In the Fiesta Bowl, there was a plausible chance that a turnover COULD have tied the game or even given ND a chance to win it with a 2-point conversion...in the SC game, the only thing we could have hoped for was not just one but TWO successful onside kicks, TWO TD drives and TWO conversions to win the game...obviously a much different beast.

Take a couple of 2007's "beatdowns" as well....Say 33-19 to Purdue....well, that is one of the losses that stings the most to me this year simply because it was there for the taking in an epic comeback fashion. I believe that with Brady Quinn (or a similarly experienced QB) at the helm in the second half of that game that ND WOULD have overcome the 23-3 halftime deficeit to win it. At any rate, it did not happen and many people look at the margin of defeat only and assume that ND was blown out the entire game by Purdue - which is not true because every Purdue fan I know (my dad is a class of '66 PU alum and I have many friends from PU classes cira '92-'94) has since admitted they were scared shitless that at 26-19 ND would actually get the ball back and win the game 27-26.

By contrast to the Purdue game, take PSU or MSU from 2007. The offensive futility in those games made it seem like a 14 point lead was really a 140-point lead. By teh early 4th quarter of either game you could see the result getting only one thing the rest of the way...WORSE.

The differences in score differential between Purdue 2007 (-14), OSU 2005 (-14) MSU 2007 (-17), USC 2006 (-20) and PSU 2007 (-21) are fairly close in terms of scores needed to tie or have a chance to win (PU/OSU were 2-score games; USC, PSU and MSU were 3-score games), but if you look at each game closer you can see that 14 point losses look a whole lot different than 17 points.

*also meaningless is the opponent's "rank" at the time of the game...for instance right now would ANYONE take BC over USC on any field? BC's ranking at the time of the ND game was #2! USC at kickoff was #13! No way if that an accurate reflection of reality now....a lot of talk has been tossed around about Weis not beating "top teams"....well, if you mean top teams in year end bowl games (the only ranking that matters really), then no, he has not yet beaten those teams....but overall talk of records versus top-25 is a meaningless stat among many....

[goldandblue]

Good post Moostache

[solo]

Originally Posted by johnnd05

Nice post. But this:



... is not true: Her Loyal Sons » What Does It Mean To Be “Competitive?”. Holtz lost his fair share of games by 2 TD+ margins.

ND has lost by 17+ points 102 times. Weis has 10 of those. Holtz has 9 of those (but over 11 years).

ND has lost by 21 points 60 times. Holtz 3, Weis 6

ND has lost by 25+ points 39 times. Holtz 1 Weis 5

Weis is losing big at an alarming rate whereas Holtz's big losses were at a much more normal rate. I think that was the point of the original posters statement.

[solo]

Originally Posted by jonesman

I posted this info before but made a couple changes and added number 10. Since the season is completely over, CW is now working on 2008 which makes this relavant. Further, since we have seen the door given to about half the college coaches these last few days, Charlie better know that in 2008 there will be no air conditioning in the kitchen. His Super Bowl rings, two BCS appearances, offensive genius and transformation of Brady Quinn are all OLD news that not a sole cares about anymore. For 2008, he will be on that list of coaches on the hot seat. The nation is not expecting him to win the national title in 2008, but he better demonstrate major improvement and a better grasp of developing college players. What many will be pointing to is the fact that NFL coaches continue to fail at a high rate in college. Callahan, Galey, Wandstadt. The Poodle is about the only one to show lasting success and I believe much of his has been purely the freaky good talent he brings to USC and his kid like persona. CHUCK, WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU AND PRAYING FOR YOUR SUCCESS IN 2008, DO NOT LET US DOWN!!!!!!!!!!


1. Win 9 Regular Season Games - This is important because we must show the rebuilding is almost complete and ND again is winning the games that they should. I will tolerate 8 wins if the losses are close.
Reasons This IS Achievable>>
SCHEDULE: If you look at the 2008 schedule, it has been softened and there are only two teams on the schedule where we will be underdogs. Maybe two that we will be a pick um. W's -(San Diego, Pit, Navy, Syracuse, Stanford, N. Carolina, Washington, Purdue), Pick-ums(MSU, BC), L's(USC, UM). As for the W's, these are all programs that should never beat ND. I know that Carolina and Stanford are on a bit of an upswing with new coaches, but if those guys can get there programs to a level higher than ND in two years CW is in trouble. BC loses many many starters, so they should drop a notch. USC will be loaded as usual, but UM loses Henne and Hart which will be huge. 8-4 can be excepted IF these are very very competitive losses or due to significant injuries. 7-5 or worse will signal the end.
ROSTER: We are going to be returning almost complete starting line-ups. On offense, we will have 2 QB's with extensive playing time. The RB's and FB's return as a whole and at RB we will have the more depth and talent than the last 10 years. The OL will be all upper classmen and all have started at a minimum a full season. The back ups will be talented and big. At TE we lose a talented Carlson, but we return Yeatman who is a great blocker, Ragone who will stretch the field and bring in the number 1 rated freshman. WR will have both speed, size and experience. With Parris, Tate, Kamara, Grimes, West, Hord and whatever talented freshman comes aboard, the cupboard is FULL. On Defense, we basically lose two starters. Laws who will be a big loss and Zibby who will be replaced by a bevy of talent. The safety position is freakin loaded. Bruton will be the leader. McCarthy, Harrison Smith, Gaines and the incoming class will have ND the envy of many because of our talent level here. At CB, we will be able to line up with any receiving corp around. Walls, McNeil, Gray, Prince, and Lambert if he decides to return will be rock solid. OLB is a position on the rise. With Neal and Smith having a year to grow and get stronger, they should dominate. Ryan and Mo Richardson will give us a change of pace and depth. Add in Fleming and wow were deep. ILB will probably still be anchored by Mo Crum and Toryan Smith, however guys like Paskorz, Filer and McDonald will all be providing depth and talent. DL will have the only major hole to fill, Laws. Kuntz will be bigger, stronger and more at home at DE. Brown, Hand will hold down the other DE with support from Ethan Johson and Cwynar. NG will be anchored by Ian, but he will loads of help from Omar, Newman, Hafis. Special Teams finally should be an asset. We have a good FG kicker in Walker. Whitacker has shown good ability on KO's. Maust was good while substituting for Price. We have very capable return people.

2. Beat WASHINGTON - He better not lose to Ty after 4 years of rebuilding ND or the media and anti ND folks will go crazy with the CW is worse than Ty biz.
Reason this is achievable>> We have a better level of talent at ND. If you look at both rosters, there are far more 4 and 5 star athletes on ND's roster. Further, if CW cannot out coach Ty next season, the Mark May's of the world will have his head on a platter.

3. No More One Sided Losses - One sided losses tend to put CW in the bucket of Ty and Davie. Lou never got slaughtered like we are making a regular habit of. Even when Brady was here, we received beatdowns from OSU, LSU, UM, USC.
Reasons this is achievable>> For the first couple years that CW was at ND the excuse in the big losses was that ND did not have the speed and talent to stay with the programs like LSU, OSU, USC. Well, there is only ONE program on our regular season schedule that will have us out manned, USC. But, the talent gap between ND and USC will have closed dramatically. Further, if CW is the offensive guru he claims, then after 4 years with these kids that should shine thru.

4. Go Bowling and WIN!!!! - Every ND fan is tired of hearing that we are 0-forever since our last bowl win. Furhter, CW has gotten thumped in both bowls.
Reason this is achievable>> We should finish the season with 3-4 losses which means no BCS. That is good because we are a year away from whooping the LSU's, Florida's and OSU's of the world. We will end up in a second tier bowl like the Gator. This will pit us against a mid level program which we better start dominating. I actually hope we do NOT end up winning enough to get into a BCS because we tend to get a bad match-up which spells disaster. I want us to wait until 2009 when we will be loaded and be able to dominate. ND cannot afford another BCS debacle where we lose and get battered by the media.

5. Make Coaching Changes over 2008 winter!!!! - Einstein says the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Latina, BYE BYE
Reason this is achievable>> Well this decision is in CW's hands. It is obvious that certain positions are underachieving. OL and special teams are two in particular. We cannot stand pat with underperformers. CW has shown the moxy to make changes in the past, so I think this one is easy.

6. Close out 2008 Recruiting Class!!!! We have the number 1 ranked class and are a fav with several remaining prospects.
Reason this is achievable>> He already has 21 super commits. He only has to add a few pieces at WR and OL. I am not even going to hold him accountable if we have another Little incident in this class. Recruiting is soo crazy that I expect someone to de-commit just to make it a typical recruiting season. But, CW must also close on atleast two of our WR prospects and one great OL player to make this class complete. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

7. Top 10 Recruiting Class for 2009!!!!!!! CW will have his hands full filling this class since there is no great season to talk about and kids will see a depth chart filled with youth.
Reason this is achievable>>> Kids should be really excited now that talent has returned to ND. Further, CW has demonstrated that he will play the best play regardless of age. Finally, he will not have to add huge numbers so he should be able to fill the smaller number of spots. This will mean we will not be number one in recruiting, but if we are getting top caliber athletes to fill out holes that is what matters.

8. Demonstrate Player Development!!! In 2005 I think we all thought that CW could elevate players. In 2006 the players did not take the next step. In fact, most would argue that some players level slipped. OL play got worse. In 2007, the play has been very dissapointing. Not just inexperience, but mistake ridden.
Reason this is achievable>>> With about 9-10 starters returning on both sides of the ball, improvement should be very evident. Further, many of these kids have spent atleast 3 years in the program.

9. Show me "NASTY"!!!! Part of showing Nasty is playing hard for your coach and bringing enthusiasm to the field. You have to want to play hard for the coach. There have been some games where the kids absolutely did NOT play for CW this season.
Reason this is achievable>>> When a player is comforable in a system, they can fly around the field and play with aggression. Brown is starting to show that with the D. They are starting to get comfortable which is resulting in aggression. Now, CW must show that his O can do the same. Especially the OL which should be at a point of dominating people next season.

10. Demonstrate Flexibility!!! Charlie needs to show that he is learning how to coach college kids and learning the college game, not just trying to bring the NFL to South Bend.
Reason this is achievable>>>> He has seen that his NFL way got them into big trouble this season. His soft contact practices, complicated schemes cost them this season.

GREAT POST. I agree 100%