Season in review - report card

[lattedatte]

QB - A

Quinn never won the big one at ND but his stats do not lie. He had the weight of the world on his shoulder's from the word go. I'm going to miss this kid, bad. Wish we had more talent around him, especially at RB.

RB - C

DW is a nice player. Schwapp got hurt.

WR's - B

Again stats do not lie. But I think Shark and Rhema underachieved, big time. A 3rd receiver wasn't ever fully developed.

TE - B+

Carlson was a pleasant surprise and sorely missed in the USC game. His blocking needs work.

O-line - D

Wow, huge disappointment this year, never was able to get a ground game going and gave up way to many sacks this year. Penalized at key times as well. Horrendous year for the o-line.

DT's - B+

Landri had a huge year, most improved player in my eyes. Laws was adequate.

DE's- F

ABI should be embarrassed to put on that uniform. He consistently got shut down by average OT's against the pass. Terrible, I can't wait till he is gone. Frome was just as bad. Both were ok against the run.

LB's - F

Moved a RB preseason to LB says it all. Brockington has been a pleasant late season surprise. Crum shouldn't be a MLB at this level.

CB's - B

For all the gripping about the secondary the CB's improved a ton this year. They were having to cover WR's for longer than should be physically expected because the DE's couldn't cause any pressure. They also made some nice plays (Mich St.).

S's - F

Zibby underachieved so badly or this grade would be a D. He was consistently out of position and never made any huge plays. Duke did improve against the pass and was excellent against the run.

K - F
P - B
Had a nice year at times and pretty much won the Ga Tech game.

Coaching - B

CW has a lot to learn but I wouldn't want any other coach.

 

[NDOM]

QB - A

Quinn never one the big one at ND but his stats do not lie. He had the weight of the world on his shoulder's from the word go. I'm going to miss this kid, bad. Wish we had more talent around him, especially at RB.

RB - C

DW is a nice player. Schwapp got hurt.

WR's - B

Again stats do not lie. But I think Shark and Rhema underachieved, big time. A 3rd receiver wasn't ever fully developed.

TE - B+

Carlson was a pleasant surprise and sorely missed in the USC game. His blocking needs work.

O-line - D

Wow, huge disappointment this year, never was able to get a ground game going and gave up way to many sacks this year. Penalized at key times as well. Horrendous year for the o-line.

DT's - B+

Landri had a huge year, most improved player in my eyes. Laws was adequate.

DE's- F

ABI should be embarrassed to put on that uniform. He consistently got shut down by average OT's against the pass. Terrible, I can't wait till he is gone. Frome was just as bad. Both were ok against the run.

LB's - F

Moved a RB preseason to LB says it all. Brockington has been a pleasant late season surprise. Crum shouldn't be a MLB at this level.

CB's - B

For all the gripping about the secondary the CB's improved a ton this year. They were having to cover WR's for longer than should be physically expected because the DE's couldn't cause any pressure. They also made some nice plays (Mich St.).

S's - F

Zibby underachieved so badly or this grade would be a D. He was consistently out of position and never made any huge plays. Duke did improve against the pass and was excellent against the run.

K - F
P - C
Had a nice year at times and pretty much won the Ga Tech game.

Coaching - B

CW has a lot to learn but I wouldn't want any other coach.

I guess I would have to agree with that report card. Especially Abiamiri and the offensive line. All veterans too.

 

[Master Guns]

Zibby should come back. He was not the same after the injury. Had some decent returns tonight.

 

[UNTITLEDPROJECT]

Season isnt over.

 

[scooper]

I'm still too emotional to do a report card.

 

[Pete]

I don't know about the grade on Victor, he was held virtually on every play this season

 

[ND_Ownz!]

Our cornerbacks get a "B" ???
what are you smoking?

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I don't know about the grade on Victor, he was held virtually on every play this season

That's not true. A few months back I showed where he was not held and was compeltely dominated during the Purdue game. DOMINATED.

 

[NDOM]

Our cornerbacks get a "B" ???
what are you smoking?

Actually overall the Corners played pretty good. I would have graded them a C+

 

[lattedatte]

I don't know about the grade on Victor, he was held virtually on every play this season

Is Victor your nickname for Landri, becuase that is the only way I agree with you. I'll give you three game to back and look at Michigan, GT and USC. He disappeared in each game, really go back and watch. He had an unreal game in each of the last two years against Stanford, thanks for that Abi.

 

[BGIF]

4 - F's and a D doesn't compute to a 10 win season.

That wouldn't cut it even in the Big East would it?

 

[lattedatte]

Actually overall the Corners played pretty good. I would have graded them a C+

I actually was going to but Lambert winning the MSU game, got the university 13 million so I bumped them to a B....

 

[Freeman Ara]

Didn't Abiamiri finish the regular seasson with like 11 sacks? Thats pretty good in my book, put another doninate DT or DE with him and he wouldn't be dopubled on like every play. How do the CB's get a B? I think Mario Manningham is still running wide open back in South Bend somewhere. And as far as Zibby, because our LB's are so weak he was basically playing SS/LB at the same time. The OL did suck...like Sam Youngs future though.

 

[lattedatte]

4 - F's and a D doesn't compute to a 10 win season.

That wouldn't cut it even in the Big East would it?

I expect much more from my team.... Sure we won 10 games against only one ranked opponent and struggled against UCLA, Stanford and MSU... Those grades compute quite nicely.

And can you please drop the Big East shit. ND is my team.

 

[Freeman Ara]

Is Victor your nickname for Landri, becuase that is the only way I agree with you. I'll give you three game to back and look at Michigan, GT and USC. He disappeared in each game, really go back and watch. He had an unreal game in each of the last two years against Stanford, thanks for that Abi.

Umm, thought you said he got shutdown by average OL's all year. Michigan probably has one of the top 5 OL's in the country and USC always has talent, GT I'll give you he disappeared in that game. But you yourself said it was a shame that we couldn't put more talent around BQ, I think the same could be said about VA. Is he Julius Peppers? No, but he doesn't have much help in the pass rush either.

 

[lattedatte]

Sacks By Game Ua-a 9-2
Gt - 0
Psu - 1
Um - 0
Msu - 1
Pur - 0
Stan - 3
Ucla - 1
Navy - 2
Nc - 2
Af - 0
Army - 0

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

Our receivers definitely deserve a D. I'm sorry but if you've got the best QB in the country and you're completely shut down in the biggest games you play in, something's wrong. It's not the QB... no, it's the route running and the catching.

And guess what? That's pretty much the only thing you do as a wide receiver, lol.

 

[tedwick]

Our receivers definitely deserve a D. I'm sorry but if you've got the best QB in the country and you're completely shut down in the biggest games you play in, something's wrong. It's not the QB... no, it's the route running and the catching.

And guess what? That's pretty much the only thing you do as a wide receiver, lol.

it's a season reportcard. if it were for the USC game, then they'd probably get a D. On the season, McKnight and Shark were one of the more prolific recieving duos in college. McKnight had some dropsies over the season and Shark wasn't as "money" as he was last year. But I'm not sure how you can grade them any lower than a B on the season.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

I actually was going to but Lambert winning the MSU game, got the university 13 million so I bumped them to a B....

well...4.7M, but yeah...same thing. ($13M was last years contract...we get less now)

 

[Freeman Ara]

Our receivers definitely deserve a D. I'm sorry but if you've got the best QB in the country and you're completely shut down in the biggest games you play in, something's wrong. It's not the QB... no, it's the route running and the catching.

And guess what? That's pretty much the only thing you do as a wide receiver, lol.

I don't think the WR's deserve a D. Something I noticed in both big games this year where they struggled(UM,USC). During the game tonight and during the Michigan game the announcers alluded to the fact that Weis had become predicatable, and it tonights case said that Carroll actually told his defense that Weis runs the same plays now as he did at New England, to the point where USC's Db's were able to recognize certain plays by formation presnap. I think Weis might becoming a little predictable, even I know the draw is coming on third down. Its not easy to get open when the defense knows what your running before you run it.

 

[BGIF]

I don't think the WR's deserve a D. Something I noticed in both big games this year where they struggled(UM,USC). During the game tonight and during the Michigan game the announcers alluded to the fact that Weis had become predicatable, and it tonights case said that Carroll actually told his defense that Weis runs the same plays now as he did at New England, to the point where USC's Db's were able to recognize certain plays by formation presnap. I think Weis might becoming a little predictable, even I know the draw is coming on third down. Its not easy to get open when the defense knows what your running before you run it.

I heard that also. And when you watched the replays the USC defense almost always seemed to be in position. By the critical word in that commentary was he runs the New England plays to the same depth (yardage). He may run the plays from different sets to confuse the intial reads but the receivers are running to the same places they did before.

Not a defense of our OLine but of the 29 sacks this season quite a few of them came with 5 seconds or so after the snap on "coverage sacks". With McKnight, Samardzija, Carlson (most of the season), and Walker how do teams get coverage sacks? How do they maintain coverage so long? I can understand UM and USC doing it - sometimes, but how does the likes of the Army secondary do that?

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

Yeah, they don't deserve that terrible a grade, I was just pissed at the time. I've cooled down a lot, though.

Receivers can only be asked to do so much, particularly when the O-line/runningback aren't getting the job done. So when that's the case---and in the big games it has been---the offense becomes 1-dimensional and receivers find their job gets a hell of a lot harder. And it was especially true today because in addition to all this, Carlson was injured, and he was the closest thing we had to a 3rd receiver.

With that said, I'm surprised McKnight/Samardzija were able to put up the numbers they did against UM/USC.

I'll give them a B only because I can't give them an A.

 

[iam3r3rd]

How is Price a C? He was 5th in the nation in punting before the USC game. That's about as individual a stat as there is in college football.
How is the RB a C? Walker averaged 5 yard per carry on the year (or at least that was the stat they showed in the USC game). He got over 1,000 yards.
We didn't get much production out of our FB position though.

 

[Master Guns]

Our receivers definitely deserve a D. I'm sorry but if you've got the best QB in the country and you're completely shut down in the biggest games you play in, something's wrong. It's not the QB... no, it's the route running and the catching.
And guess what? That's pretty much the only thing you do as a wide receiver, lol.

Very big drops last night. Shocking. McKnight did not want to take any hits.

 

[lattedatte]

How is Price a C? He was 5th in the nation in punting before the USC game. That's about as individual a stat as there is in college football.
How is the RB a C? Walker averaged 5 yard per carry on the year (or at least that was the stat they showed in the USC game). He got over 1,000 yards.
We didn't get much production out of our FB position though.

I changed it to a B. Thanks for the info, I was overreacting to the SC game. I won't change the RB though, I think Walker is B but collectively the RB's are C.

 

[njuneardave]

I don't think the WR's deserve a D. Something I noticed in both big games this year where they struggled(UM,USC). During the game tonight and during the Michigan game the announcers alluded to the fact that Weis had become predicatable, and it tonights case said that Carroll actually told his defense that Weis runs the same plays now as he did at New England, to the point where USC's Db's were able to recognize certain plays by formation presnap. I think Weis might becoming a little predictable, even I know the draw is coming on third down. Its not easy to get open when the defense knows what your running before you run it.

every coach runs the same plays. noone knew weis's playbook last year... he was a first year HC.... which means people can't gameplan against him. Carroll was just skwaking at the mouth. His team played decent. WE HAD 404 YARDS. FOUR HUNDRED AND FOUR. His defense did NOT shut our team down. We had dropped passes at critical times. If you think 404 yards against a top-tier defense is unacceptable, you are ridiculous. We had the SAME number of yards as USC's O had against us.

Check it out for yourself...

 

[jerseyborn1971]

Very good posts by everybody. I am a minimalist who is not as versed in the technical aspects of football. After a solid decade of really stinking up the joint, 10-2 and going to a BCS bowl for the 2nd year in a row looks pretty good to me. Especially when those 2 losses were to the 2 teams fighting it out to see who goes to the National Championship to play the team we lost to previous to them.

I want a national championship as much as the next guy, but going 19-5 and 2 BCS Bowls with a new coach inheriting a team that went 6-5 is ok with me.

 

[jiggafini19]

Zibby should come back. He was not the same after the injury. Had some decent returns tonight.

My dad was telling me he read that one NFL analyst says Zbikowski will go in the top 20 come April's draft.

What am I missing? A safety that doesn't have an INT all year?

Is this a special teams move?

 

[jerseyborn1971]

My dad was telling me he read that one NFL analyst says Zbikowski will go in the top 20 come April's draft.

What am I missing? A safety that doesn't have an INT all year?

Is this a special teams move?

Maybe he'll just stand next them while they're "on the phone" at the draft and threaten to punch them if they don't call his name.

 

[FleaFlicker]

My dad was telling me he read that one NFL analyst says Zbikowski will go in the top 20 come April's draft.

What am I missing? A safety that doesn't have an INT all year?

Is this a special teams move?

No offense to Zibby, but if he DOES go that early, I will be remarkably surprised. I'm not sure how NFL scouts could be seeing something that we don't... the people who have watched him for the last few years...

Ndukwe had a MUCH better year than Zibby. I've said it time and time again, I think Zibby could be a really good LB, he is a little under-sized, but could put on a few pounds, and he can hit like a truck. He practically plays LB already, and he would have nice speed at that position.