Biggest Surprise?

[military_irish]

who does everyone feel is the biggest surprise on the team? both good and bad. i was sitting here trying to figure out the biggest surprise and really i couldn't think of just one.
like all the key players i figured would be good like clausen, floyd(when he was out there), tate, rudolph.

but if i had to pinpoint just one player for the good it would be allen, just because he has turned into a back that will get that extra yard no matter what it takes. he may not be that burner that we had hoped for but if he can be dependable to get the most out of all his carries than thats fine with me. and i still think he could turn on a second gear once he breaks into the open field.

and i don't like to be a negative toward the team but i guess if i had to choose the player that had been disappointing would be blanton. just because he looked like that corner we needed. but then i do realize he is still a sophmore and is still learning so i still have confidence that he will turn out to have a pretty good career. just from what i saw last year til this year, don't seem like he is that playmaker that is needed in the defensive backfield, yet.

 

[NDisme]

Bad surprise is Hayseed for sure.
Good is i guess the way AA is running

 

[Irish4Life09]

easily the most disappointing is harrison smith. i am wondering how he received a D1 scholly from anyone, let alone us.
most surprising would be robby parris.he's been playing really tough, and has really helped us with floyd out.

 

[johnnykillz]

Best Surprise: Improved run offense, as featured through spring.

Worst Surprise: Armando not seeing the field and cutbacks. His north and south is fantastic, but I worry about his longevity relying on strength in running, where he's greatly improved, but his lack of using the field laterally on making plays. To me, the difference between AA and GT are vision and lateral movement. I am also disappointed in Robert Hughes inability to break big tackles and punch in big runs. I feel AA is harder to bring down and GT x2 compared to Hughes these days. I know elusiveness has a lot to do with broken tackles, but come on. Mass * Acceleration = Force. Let's harness that.

 

[DomeX2 eNVy]

Biggest "good" surprise is the teams heart and how they battle to the end and believe in themselves.
Biggest "bad" surprise is "Third". Thrid quarter letdowns; Third and long defense; and "Third" game against a freshman quarterback to get a win (even though he was 25 years old).
Biggest "WOW" surprise are the heart attack games. I didn't think 6 of the first 7 games would be decided in the last 100 seconds.
Alternative "good" surprise is shutting out Nevada and keeping the pistol in check. Kapernick ran for 260 last week against (then 6-1) Idaho.

 

[BearGB]

All of these are very true.

I think for me, the biggest surprise the last two weeks has to be the run defense. I know that we game-planned kind of heavily for it, but even still out d-line and linebackers have stepped up big against two very stout running offenses (USC because of the big boys and Joe McKnight, and BC because of Montel Harris). This has only been two games, but the line's ability to hold it's ground and the linebacker's newfound ability to tackle has been a pleasure to watch. It is making offense's one-dimensional - the only problem is we have no answer to that other dimension yet.

Even though there has been a lot of well-deserved criticism of Harrison smith recently, I do believe that he is a talent. He played terribly at safety. However, having physically been on the sidelines before a game watching him, he is one of the better athletes I have ever seen - as far as speed and the ability to jump through the roof. I really hope he gets his confidence back, discovers how to think in the middle of a game, and is able to be a contributor to this defense at his linebacker role.

 

[We_Are_ND]

Biggest surprise: Jimmys swag. Enough said.

 

[jason_h537]

Best surprise: KLM
worst: Hayseed, but i aint giving up on him yet

 

[The Polish Irishman]

Best: Tate, I knew he was very good, but didn't know he is great.

Worst: Secondary, thought like everyone else they would be the strength of the defense.

 

[phork]

Biggest Surprise: How Tenuta hasn't torn off any reporters heads yet. Those interviews posted on Rivals just make me laugh. He sits there because he has to and you know damn well he hates it. Then the reporters go off and ask some stupid question. Pure comedy.

 

[HereComeTheIrish]

Kapron Lewis-Moore to be sure. He's become a beast....a ways to go, but the potential to be very Justin Tuck-like....

 

[irishtrain]

We are all to informed to be surprised but the best move has been sliding Robinson in next to Young. For the last 5 games it may well be Sergio Brown dealing at safety.

 

[BGIF]

Best Surprise: Olsen's move to Center.

Do we credit Olsen or Verducci for solidying the OLine?

Or do we credit Weis for making the coaching change?



Least Pleasant: Wenger's play at Center (preseason)

He was to be the keystone of the OLine in '08. An wasn't expected to lead the OLine's comeback in '09, and '10. Was the problem with the '08 OLine Latina or Wenger at Center?

Here's hoping a year working under Verducci helps him become the player he was expected to be and he has a Senior year like Luke Petitgout had vaulting him into a First Rounder.

 

[jason_h537]

Best Surprise: Olsen's move to Center.

A move so good most forgot about. Which is a good thing

 

[TDHeysus]

The Olsen move has been huge, easily one of the best moves of this season. Maybe thee best. Trevor Robinson's play is also a part of that equation. A new center to lead(olsen), and the overall talent lvl of the oline went up(robinson) - a win, a win.


Biggest Good:
Jimmy Clausen - I have been blown away by his play since the first Nevada snap. His footwork, ball distribution, check offs, laser accuracy, arm strength, consistancy, decision making; then playing thru injuries, leading team to winning TD's - amazing.


Biggest Bad:
The defense as a unit - disappointing. kind of a sock in the gut when you think about what the offense went thru to get to this point(from '07 till now).

 

[Brown]

The pass coverage is poor for more than bad DB play -- the lines lack of pressure would allow any D1 QB to have a field day, and we've witnessed that first hand.

Good surprise: Gotta go with the obvious: Golden Tate. He's been one of the best players (at any position) in college football, and really didn't get abunch of recruiting hype -- I believe he was a consensus 4 star.

As for bad, I can't say the defense, because they allowed a lot of big plays last season too and were generally pretty bad, although I did expect them to progress a lot more than they have.

But, I'd probably go with Harrison Smith. He is the best athlete on the team with his size and 4.3 speed -- who was VERY highly regarded coming out of HS. With many offers to the best programs in football and was one of the bright spots on the defense in '08. I didn't expect him to be struggling this bad in his 3rd year.

 

[undirishnut]

Biggest negative surprise: The secondary. I never would have thought we would be struggling this much with the athletes we have back there. These kids ARE good athletes, but they're missing a HUGE piece of the puzzle.
Biggest positive surprise: ATTITUDE! This team has it. This team believes. They believe in each other. They believe in their coaches. They play until the end because they don't want to disappoint their teammates. They're not in it for themselves; they play for each other.
I'll admit I haven't been sold on Clausen until this season. I watched him play at SC last season and Stanford the year before. From his body language at those two games I was convinced that he was using ND as a stepping stone to a Heisman and the NFL. His teammates were nothing more than pawns to get him there. But that kid's changed…he’s a leader now! And the team rallies around him. Sure this team struggles at times. They've lost a couple of games, but they FIGHT!! That's the one and only reason we are 5-2 instead of 1-6.

 

[tankjeep]

The pass coverage is poor for more than bad DB play -- the lines lack of pressure would allow any D1 QB to have a field day, and we've witnessed that first hand.

Good surprise: Gotta go with the obvious: Golden Tate. He's been one of the best players (at any position) in college football, and really didn't get abunch of recruiting hype -- I believe he was a consensus 4 star.

As for bad, I can't say the defense, because they allowed a lot of big plays last season too and were generally pretty bad, although I did expect them to progress a lot more than they have.

But, I'd probably go with Harrison Smith. He is the best athlete on the team with his size and 4.3 speed -- who was VERY highly regarded coming out of HS. With many offers to the best programs in football and was one of the bright spots on the defense in '08. I didn't expect him to be struggling this bad in his 3rd year.

seriously, is that what he was clocked at? cuz i just don't see it.

as far as biggest surprise: for me, is the offense and the way it has handle the loss of floyd.

as far as biggest disappointment: the db's. harrison smith had all this hype, but really hasn't shown me a thing. i think the move to lb will hopefully get his confidence going, but i don't see where he got it back against bc. the wsu should do the trick.

 

[fitz_bu47]

The most pleasant suprise is definitely the running game, don't know if its the change in AA, the move of Olsen, or Verducci....I think a combo, but I love it...The last couple of years watching the big uglies get dominated made me want to kill somebody....Hate to pile on a kid, but I was really expecting big things from Harrison and the secondary...but I think they still have potential to be pretty good next year, Harrison won the Thorpe next season on my NCAA dynasty, so there is hope.

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

The most pleasant suprise is definitely the running game, don't know if its the change in AA, the move of Olsen, or Verducci....I think a combo, but I love it...The last couple of years watching the big uglies get dominated made me want to kill somebody....Hate to pile on a kid, but I was really expecting big things from Harrison and the secondary...but I think they still have potential to be pretty good next year, Harrison won the Thorpe next season on my NCAA dynasty, so there is hope.

You have got to be kidding me (Thorpe Award).... Harrison Smith has been absolutely terrible this year. I don't want to kick him while he's down either but cmon, truth is truth, and the truth is this kid has SUCKED this year.

AA and Jimmy are the good so far this year. If we continue to grow and get better at the run game then I will throw in the front 7 into this mix as well. I know they were suspect for a few games, but I really think they are starting to gel in a really really good way. Our LB core could be the best in CFB next year...

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Disappointments- making David Shinskie look like Andre Ware, Ben Turk's punting last week. Not gonna sell out Hayseed, only because he lives in Alumni.

 

[GoIrish41]

Good - OLine
Bad - Inability to stop anyone in critical situations

 

[JefMaj]

Worst - is the nachos at the stadium come in a bag. It was bad enough last year when they quit putting melted cheese on a tray of nachos with Jalepenos, but now a bag of nachos and a commercially prepackaged tub of cheese that sometimes isn't even melted when you peel back the tinfoil. Yuch!!!! And what's with the no more fly-overs???

 

[IrishAlum1997]

Worst - is the nachos at the stadium come in a bag. It was bad enough last year when they quit putting melted cheese on a tray of nachos with Jalepenos, but now a bag of nachos and a commercially prepackaged tub of cheese that sometimes isn't even melted when you peel back the tinfoil. Yuch!!!! And what's with the no more fly-overs???

That sucks about the nachos. They were pretty good at the Alamodone when we went to the AA game in 2008. It's what convinced my kids to go to the game, so I had best not get no nachos in a bag. This is Texas, dammit!

 

[GDomer09]

Good - Golden Tate's multi tasking arse.
Bad - Our Secondary by a landslide!!!!!

 

[BGIF]

seriously, is that what he was clocked at? cuz i just don't see it.

...

Harrison's Smith's Rival Profile listed him with a 4.38, 40.

Armando Allen's Rival Profile listed him with a 4.31, 40.

 

[weisbank4]

Nick Tausch - 11 straight field goals? 11 straight extra points was a small miracle here for the past 10 years!!!

 

[sportallyr]

Nick Tausch - 11 straight field goals? 11 straight extra points was a small miracle here for the past 10 years!!!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I have been impressed the most this year by Tausch. It's been a while since I've had confidence in our field goal unit, and never with a freshman kicker. Gutsy call by Charlie Weis, but it has paid huge dividends so far this year. I have also been pleasantly surprised by Kapron Lewis Moore and Manti Te'o (knew he'd be good...didn't realize he'd be so good so early).

I have been the most disappointed with Harrison Smith, Darrin Walls, Raeshon McNeil and Robert Blanton. I don't want to call out the entire secondary because Gary Gray has shown a little bit the past 2 weeks and because Kyle McCarthy has already won 2 games for us this year (Michigan State and Boston College) with late clutch interceptions. Ian Williams has been a disappointment for 2 years now after a great freshman year. I think he'll get much better as the rest of the D-Line gets better.

 

[Riddickulous]

Biggest Positive Surprise: Eric Olsen. Having an outstanding year at center.

Biggest Negative Surprise: The secondary. Worst unit I have ever seen.

 

[kmoose]

Good - OLine
Bad - Inability to stop anyone in critical situations

Seriously? Did you miss the Washington game or something?