So who would you want playing corner for us right now? ND fan's expect every player perfect....you can argue that if the D-Line and LB's were getting pressure on the QB the secondary wouldn't look so bad. Look at the D-Line and LB's guys like Carter and Taylor had...
I for one am not expecting the perfect player. I would love to have one, but it's evident we do not. What I'm expecting is consistent improvement week to week. From the first week of 2005 I can't really say we've done that in any facet of the game. Yeah I know some days the offense or defense put up top 5 numbers. BUT, we have yet to really pound a good defense or stop an efficient offense in 1.5 years. What I don't understand is how UCLA's DC changed the defense over one Summer with talent arguably worse than ours. I don't think it's really fair to blame minter right now because the offense is just as inconsistant. I think it has to do with motivation above all other things which is Weis's responsibility.
It's amazing how different we play when it matters. Miraculously the o-line can protect Quinn, the defense line can really get in an opposing QB's face, the linebackers fill the holes, safety help is where it ought to be -but only when it matters.
Look 2 plays after the MSU fight, the push the defense gets on Stanton is completly not what you would expect of our line. Look at the final plays against UCLA, the line learns the opposing team wears different colors than their own.
Look at the final plays against Stanford last year, UCLA this year- the defense actually wants to sack the QB. ( yes I know the offensive mindset is different then, but there are SEVERAL occurences every game where the QB has MORE time and we still don't get in the same area code to tackle him )
<rant> well more so than above
I really just wish we used our weapons more efficiently. We have arguably the best WR tandem in Div1a with a TE that's no patsy. Shark made quinn look a lot better lasy year than he was, grabbing balls that should have been in the stands and turning them into touchdowns - stovall did the same to some degree. We just aren't catching those breaks because quinn isn't getting deep balls remotely near them. We aren't opening up any vertical passing game, which puts more pressure on our line which then gets blitzed 2/3 of our plays. This blitz also shuts down the all-american-mediocre-but-a-good-guy back dwalk. We play into our own weaknesses and we force ourself to struggle... over ... and... over... and.. over.
You see the defense succeeding because they have no single strong weakness. Our coverage looks pretty mediocre beacuse our line is pretty mediocre. If you put our DB's with UCLA's line you all would be hoping Lewis and Minter stay for another year. All in all the defense is playing how they should be, with our inexplicable lack of motivation. Why did UCLA improve so much over one year, and we can't? I dunno, this is Notre Dame??
I think I'm just disappointed because I read here and there, well everywhere, that ND is unstoppable - and although I know this is not true, it crawls into my subconscience and I become an idiot. These 'wins' aren't making things better, all they do is give us more false confidence that we are UBER-AMAZING. BUT stealingshrimp, "GREAT teams know how to never give up"...great teams don't look like ass for 3 and half quarters over and over and over. I hope Weis realizes we aren't deserving of these wins and positively uses that to address the problems and make the players understand them and correct them- otherwise USC is going to be another 31 point blowout - but wait they look alot like us right now - inconsistant and opportunistic. Go service academies and UNC. (air force may be tough, navy would be a 50/50 game if their QB was still afoot).
