F
FleaFlicker
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Very Nice article that I found. Extremely well thought-out.
LOS ANGELES—As Charlie Weis waited outside the door of the Notre Dame locker room following its 44-24 loss to Southern California, Pete Carroll was receiving hugs and congratulations from one Trojan-affiliated person after another as he worked his way up the tunnel in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Before Carroll reached the USC locker room, Weis stopped him, shared a few whispered comments in his ear, and off Carroll was again, smiling from ear to ear and soaking up the reality of USC’s 33rd straight victory at home, 20th November win against no losses since Carroll’s arrival, and fifth straight victory over the Irish by an average margin of four touchdowns in four of them.
After Weis shook the hand of the Notre Dame band director who had brought 75 students to offer some sort of rebuttal to USC’s incessant brass barrage, the Irish head coach walked through the doorway to be with his team.
The scene captured the essence of the moment. Carroll’s sheer elation; Weis’ graceful, humbled state. Carroll’s I’m-on-top-of-the-world demeanor; Weis’ this-is-reality pose.
Neither Weis nor the Irish players were willing to admit that the outcome was anything other than a one-shot deal, the result of a 60-minute game on the road on Nov. 25, 2006, one team simply being better than the other team at this given moment, at this point in time.
“The first thing we better do is worry about the next game and evaluate in the off-season,” said Weis, when asked if the outcome showed just how far apart the programs are.
“Now is not the time to be evaluating (where Notre Dame stands in relation) to USC. Those types of evaluations should not be done right after your regular season. Those types of decisions are the ones you have to sit back and reflect upon in January and February.”
“They played better than us today,” Brady Quinn said. “That’s flat-out it. We were unproductive in the red zone. We had turnovers we didn’t convert and that didn’t allow us to gain the momentum we had from getting those turnovers.”
Added safety Tom Zbikowski: “We can play with anyone in the country. We just got out-played and we didn’t execute the way we should have.”
That’s the way Weis has trained himself to think and the way he was trained to think by his mentors. He has conditioned his players to think along the same lines. That’s a good thing. You don’t want to deny reality. But anyone who has ever coached and has been in the arena can relate to that.
Step back from the situation, however, and remove yourself from the “us against them” mentality. Throw all the factors into a hopper, mix them up, and dump them out in front of you to study and examine objectively, as free of bias as possible.
Notre Dame stayed relatively close in this game because Weis is an excellent coach who finds ways and inspires his troops to remain competitive as the cheering throngs wring their hands in agony.
But this game was similar to the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. The scoreboard said it was close, and in this instance (contrary to the Ohio State game), the stat sheet was nearly identical. Yet you always knew that the Trojans were one play away from cracking the whip and seizing the momentum.
“We really felt in command the whole game,” Carroll said.
Carroll should know. He has seen how his Trojans have responded to adversity before. USC absent-mindedly nibbles on adversity like an afternoon snack.
In some respects, USC is fortunate that it wasn’t trailing at halftime with John David Booty making ill-advised throws in consecutive series. In other respects, Notre Dame is fortunate it wasn’t trailing by three touchdowns at halftime since the defense allowed the Trojans to score in each of their first three series, and the offense fumbled inside the USC five on a hit that shouldn’t have been fumble-inducing.
“I felt frustrated in the first quarter, but remember, you can’t panic when things go bad, (otherwise) the game is over early,” Weis explained.
Weis has taught his team how to think and play that way. That’s why one gets the impression that the Irish are still in the game. Emotionally, they are still in the game.
But the reality is that the 20-point differential was about right. That’s about how far apart these two programs are at the present time. One might be inclined to be a bit more forgiving were in not for the 26-point loss to Michigan earlier in the season.
Clearly, USC and Michigan are among the elite teams in the country, along of course with Ohio State. Sure, the Irish have won 10 games this year, which means that Weis has brought Notre Dame to a level where they can almost always defeat the teams they should defeat. That will get you to a whole bunch of BCS games and keep you in the hunt for the national title in November.
But they’re not an elite team. They are a BCS team because 10 teams go to the BCS and not all 10 teams are elite teams. In fact, even with the one-sided loss to the Trojans, the Irish are almost undoubtedly headed to the Sugar Bowl to take on the Florida-Arkansas winner in New Orleans on Jan. 3. (More on that Monday, Nov. 27.)
Should Irish fans be angry that Notre Dame is not an elite team like Michigan, Ohio State and USC? Probably not if you’re grounded in reality. The Irish are basically the same team in 2006 that they were in 2005, which means they are better than 2004 and 2003, but still not an elite team and not much improved over the initial surge of 2005. That may be disappointing, but the building process takes time.
Weis came into Notre Dame and instilled such a positive, upbeat frame of mind that imaginations began to run wild. National title aspirations started creeping into the psyche of Irish fans because with one loss at the end of November, that qualifies Notre Dame to dream about national titles.
But that doesn’t make Notre Dame a legitimate national title contender, not with a soft running game, a secondary that can’t match up with elite receivers, and an overall special teams corps that is not good enough to win a tough game on the road.
The fact is Notre Dame is not good enough to beat USC on the road right now. While it may be painful to admit that, the reality of that statement shouldn’t cause heart palpitations.
The Irish played a great game last year in nearly knocking off the No. 1-ranked Trojans. In fact, one could argue that it was the best game Notre Dame has played in the Weis regime. One could also argue that in the 18 games since that 34-31 loss to USC, the Irish haven’t come close to duplicating that performance.
Why? For one reason, they’re not nearly as good as USC. Secondly, the sum of the parts on defense is not nearly as good as the individual value of those parts. That’s a coaching deficiency that has to be rectified by a) improving those individual parts, b) finding better parts to replace the current parts or c) finding better teachers to get the point across.
When Weis arrived at Notre Dame, he said that the quickest way for a team to make improvements was through special teams. To be sure, the special teams have had their moments.
In 2005, Tom Zbikowski was a big key. In 2006, Derek Landri has been the star performer, along with punter Geoff Price. But special teams as a whole have not made Notre Dame a better football team. In fact, Notre Dame lost more special teams head-to-head battles than it won in 2006.
Against USC Saturday night, the one constant—the punter—had a poor night, allowing the Trojans to take advantage. Desmond Reed’s longest punt return of the season had been 11 yards. Before the first quarter was over, Reed had a 43-yard punt return.
Notre Dame’s kickoff coverage is terribly inconsistent. Its kicking as a whole has been mediocre at best. The ultimate indictment on the performance of the special teams came on Notre Dame’s onside kick when trailing 37-24 with 3:31 remaining. The Irish still had a chance.
The kicker’s onside attempt bounced right into the hands of Brian Cushing, who had no one in front of him to make the stop and sailed 42 yards for the score. Obviously, the Irish hadn’t exactly fine-tuned this aspect of the kicking game.
So add it all up: a running game that has no consistent pop, a quarterback that has been sacked 30 times in 12 games, dropped passes in the biggest game of the year, no lead blocker without the injured fullback, no weapon at tight end due to injury, a defense that does not maximize its parts, a defense that too often tackles poorly, a secondary that can’t shut down big-time receivers, and shoddy special teams.
Go ahead, add it all up, and what you come up with is a 10-2 team headed the Sugar Bowl. That’s not too bad, is it?
Because you have such a good head coach, because you have such a good group of kids who have bought in to the head coach’s mantra, and because you had a schedule that flattened out, you have a team almost undoubtedly headed to New Orleans for a football game on Jan. 3.
Perhaps Irish fans should be thankful that Notre Dame has won 19 games and lost just five in the last two years.
The critics who have complained all along that Notre Dame is not an elite team just yet were absolutely correct. Perhaps they could have been more diplomatic in their description, but they were correct. Notre Dame is not an elite team.
Irish fans shouldn’t be angry in the aftermath of the 20-point loss to USC, unless of course you demand a better job by the coaching staff, which is fair when you consider that the Irish really are not an improved version over last year’s team. And even then, one could argue that the staff has maximized a group of players who were 11-13 in 2003-04 and then 19-5 over the next stretch of 24 games in 2005-06.
Back-to-back BCS bids is a far cry from 11-13.
Now, if you want to talk about moves Weis could make with the coaching staff and personnel that could improve the team…That’s for another discussion and story. One you might be able to read on Irish Illustrated in the next 24 hours or so.
(Please note: IrishIllustrated.com senior editor Tim Prister will return from Los Angeles Tuesday. Look for his Tale of the Tape no later than Wednesday.)
LOS ANGELES—As Charlie Weis waited outside the door of the Notre Dame locker room following its 44-24 loss to Southern California, Pete Carroll was receiving hugs and congratulations from one Trojan-affiliated person after another as he worked his way up the tunnel in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Before Carroll reached the USC locker room, Weis stopped him, shared a few whispered comments in his ear, and off Carroll was again, smiling from ear to ear and soaking up the reality of USC’s 33rd straight victory at home, 20th November win against no losses since Carroll’s arrival, and fifth straight victory over the Irish by an average margin of four touchdowns in four of them.
After Weis shook the hand of the Notre Dame band director who had brought 75 students to offer some sort of rebuttal to USC’s incessant brass barrage, the Irish head coach walked through the doorway to be with his team.
The scene captured the essence of the moment. Carroll’s sheer elation; Weis’ graceful, humbled state. Carroll’s I’m-on-top-of-the-world demeanor; Weis’ this-is-reality pose.
Neither Weis nor the Irish players were willing to admit that the outcome was anything other than a one-shot deal, the result of a 60-minute game on the road on Nov. 25, 2006, one team simply being better than the other team at this given moment, at this point in time.
“The first thing we better do is worry about the next game and evaluate in the off-season,” said Weis, when asked if the outcome showed just how far apart the programs are.
“Now is not the time to be evaluating (where Notre Dame stands in relation) to USC. Those types of evaluations should not be done right after your regular season. Those types of decisions are the ones you have to sit back and reflect upon in January and February.”
“They played better than us today,” Brady Quinn said. “That’s flat-out it. We were unproductive in the red zone. We had turnovers we didn’t convert and that didn’t allow us to gain the momentum we had from getting those turnovers.”
Added safety Tom Zbikowski: “We can play with anyone in the country. We just got out-played and we didn’t execute the way we should have.”
That’s the way Weis has trained himself to think and the way he was trained to think by his mentors. He has conditioned his players to think along the same lines. That’s a good thing. You don’t want to deny reality. But anyone who has ever coached and has been in the arena can relate to that.
Step back from the situation, however, and remove yourself from the “us against them” mentality. Throw all the factors into a hopper, mix them up, and dump them out in front of you to study and examine objectively, as free of bias as possible.
Notre Dame stayed relatively close in this game because Weis is an excellent coach who finds ways and inspires his troops to remain competitive as the cheering throngs wring their hands in agony.
But this game was similar to the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. The scoreboard said it was close, and in this instance (contrary to the Ohio State game), the stat sheet was nearly identical. Yet you always knew that the Trojans were one play away from cracking the whip and seizing the momentum.
“We really felt in command the whole game,” Carroll said.
Carroll should know. He has seen how his Trojans have responded to adversity before. USC absent-mindedly nibbles on adversity like an afternoon snack.
In some respects, USC is fortunate that it wasn’t trailing at halftime with John David Booty making ill-advised throws in consecutive series. In other respects, Notre Dame is fortunate it wasn’t trailing by three touchdowns at halftime since the defense allowed the Trojans to score in each of their first three series, and the offense fumbled inside the USC five on a hit that shouldn’t have been fumble-inducing.
“I felt frustrated in the first quarter, but remember, you can’t panic when things go bad, (otherwise) the game is over early,” Weis explained.
Weis has taught his team how to think and play that way. That’s why one gets the impression that the Irish are still in the game. Emotionally, they are still in the game.
But the reality is that the 20-point differential was about right. That’s about how far apart these two programs are at the present time. One might be inclined to be a bit more forgiving were in not for the 26-point loss to Michigan earlier in the season.
Clearly, USC and Michigan are among the elite teams in the country, along of course with Ohio State. Sure, the Irish have won 10 games this year, which means that Weis has brought Notre Dame to a level where they can almost always defeat the teams they should defeat. That will get you to a whole bunch of BCS games and keep you in the hunt for the national title in November.
But they’re not an elite team. They are a BCS team because 10 teams go to the BCS and not all 10 teams are elite teams. In fact, even with the one-sided loss to the Trojans, the Irish are almost undoubtedly headed to the Sugar Bowl to take on the Florida-Arkansas winner in New Orleans on Jan. 3. (More on that Monday, Nov. 27.)
Should Irish fans be angry that Notre Dame is not an elite team like Michigan, Ohio State and USC? Probably not if you’re grounded in reality. The Irish are basically the same team in 2006 that they were in 2005, which means they are better than 2004 and 2003, but still not an elite team and not much improved over the initial surge of 2005. That may be disappointing, but the building process takes time.
Weis came into Notre Dame and instilled such a positive, upbeat frame of mind that imaginations began to run wild. National title aspirations started creeping into the psyche of Irish fans because with one loss at the end of November, that qualifies Notre Dame to dream about national titles.
But that doesn’t make Notre Dame a legitimate national title contender, not with a soft running game, a secondary that can’t match up with elite receivers, and an overall special teams corps that is not good enough to win a tough game on the road.
The fact is Notre Dame is not good enough to beat USC on the road right now. While it may be painful to admit that, the reality of that statement shouldn’t cause heart palpitations.
The Irish played a great game last year in nearly knocking off the No. 1-ranked Trojans. In fact, one could argue that it was the best game Notre Dame has played in the Weis regime. One could also argue that in the 18 games since that 34-31 loss to USC, the Irish haven’t come close to duplicating that performance.
Why? For one reason, they’re not nearly as good as USC. Secondly, the sum of the parts on defense is not nearly as good as the individual value of those parts. That’s a coaching deficiency that has to be rectified by a) improving those individual parts, b) finding better parts to replace the current parts or c) finding better teachers to get the point across.
When Weis arrived at Notre Dame, he said that the quickest way for a team to make improvements was through special teams. To be sure, the special teams have had their moments.
In 2005, Tom Zbikowski was a big key. In 2006, Derek Landri has been the star performer, along with punter Geoff Price. But special teams as a whole have not made Notre Dame a better football team. In fact, Notre Dame lost more special teams head-to-head battles than it won in 2006.
Against USC Saturday night, the one constant—the punter—had a poor night, allowing the Trojans to take advantage. Desmond Reed’s longest punt return of the season had been 11 yards. Before the first quarter was over, Reed had a 43-yard punt return.
Notre Dame’s kickoff coverage is terribly inconsistent. Its kicking as a whole has been mediocre at best. The ultimate indictment on the performance of the special teams came on Notre Dame’s onside kick when trailing 37-24 with 3:31 remaining. The Irish still had a chance.
The kicker’s onside attempt bounced right into the hands of Brian Cushing, who had no one in front of him to make the stop and sailed 42 yards for the score. Obviously, the Irish hadn’t exactly fine-tuned this aspect of the kicking game.
So add it all up: a running game that has no consistent pop, a quarterback that has been sacked 30 times in 12 games, dropped passes in the biggest game of the year, no lead blocker without the injured fullback, no weapon at tight end due to injury, a defense that does not maximize its parts, a defense that too often tackles poorly, a secondary that can’t shut down big-time receivers, and shoddy special teams.
Go ahead, add it all up, and what you come up with is a 10-2 team headed the Sugar Bowl. That’s not too bad, is it?
Because you have such a good head coach, because you have such a good group of kids who have bought in to the head coach’s mantra, and because you had a schedule that flattened out, you have a team almost undoubtedly headed to New Orleans for a football game on Jan. 3.
Perhaps Irish fans should be thankful that Notre Dame has won 19 games and lost just five in the last two years.
The critics who have complained all along that Notre Dame is not an elite team just yet were absolutely correct. Perhaps they could have been more diplomatic in their description, but they were correct. Notre Dame is not an elite team.
Irish fans shouldn’t be angry in the aftermath of the 20-point loss to USC, unless of course you demand a better job by the coaching staff, which is fair when you consider that the Irish really are not an improved version over last year’s team. And even then, one could argue that the staff has maximized a group of players who were 11-13 in 2003-04 and then 19-5 over the next stretch of 24 games in 2005-06.
Back-to-back BCS bids is a far cry from 11-13.
Now, if you want to talk about moves Weis could make with the coaching staff and personnel that could improve the team…That’s for another discussion and story. One you might be able to read on Irish Illustrated in the next 24 hours or so.
(Please note: IrishIllustrated.com senior editor Tim Prister will return from Los Angeles Tuesday. Look for his Tale of the Tape no later than Wednesday.)
