The Receivers

Last Saturday Brady zinged a bullet toward Touchdown Jesus, a perfect spiral about 40 yards downfield, to a spot near the goal line where no defender could deflect it.  An ND receiver flew through the air to the ball only to evoke oohs and aahs from the Faithful as the ball slipped through said receiver’s finger tips! 

In the fourth quarter ND lined up on the ONE yard line in the South end zone with three receivers to the left while 81,000 patrons and 10 Cardinals looked that way assuming a run would follow on that side of the ball, since it was first and goal!  To the surprise of nearly all, after a fake to the left, Brady zipped a bullet to a diving ND receiver, who had run a square out into the end zone and was now in a parallel to the ground flying pose, well beyond the outer reaches of the sole defender.  As the receiver wrapped the fingers of his left hand around the pigskin, and cradled the ball as he slid across the green carpet, the crowd went wild.  

If you are among the unfortunate few who missed the game, then you would assume that John Carlson, the tight end, must have been the first receiver and Jeff Samardzija must have been the second receiver, but you would be mistaken!!  The magic of the Shark has disappeared, albeit he is now playing much better than in the first four games.  But, John Carlson has now emerged as the best pass catching tight end in at ND since Ken McAfee.  And he is better than McAfee was!  Carlson will win some All-American recognition if he continues to play so well, for he has become a deep threat and is the most consistent bright spot on the offensive side of the ball.  Meanwhile, for all of the talent and grace the Shark has, he is not quite the same receiver he was last year.  True, he is being double teamed by the defense’s nickel back, but he is not showing the same intensity and mental focus this year as he did last year.  One wonders if Cubbie bonus bucks are at work in his subconscious mind!

David Grimes remains on the injured list and is replaced by Chase Anastasio when the Irish field three wide outs.  Chase has not stepped up to the challenge and/or Brady and Charlie do not have confidence in him.  During the Purdue game he was ignored most of the time.  In fact, Charlie “invented” a new formation to compensate for this weakness on the Chase wing, and sent Darius out to the other wing in order to stretch the field.  The tactic worked as Darius caught 9 passes for 73 yards, which is a shocking number for a tailback, especially for one who gains 146 yards on the ground in the same game.  But, that same tactic exposed Brady to four sacks and repeated hurries, making the Irish look like a bumbling offensive team for one that scores so many points and controls the game.  Charlie abandoned this tactic against Stanford, resulting in much better protection for Brady as well as the final jelling of the O line.

Marcus Freeman did a first class imitation of John Carlson by going straight up the field for a 25 yard gain against Stanford.

George West, the talented freshman kickoff return man, subbing for David Grimes at wide out, opened the scoring against Purdue by scoring on an end around.  This play was sheer beauty—one of the best calls and best executed TDs of the year in all of college football.  He is very fast, but even more important he has natural football instincts.  We will see a lot of him in the next three and a half years.

D backs

Number 6, Ray Herring, played all the way at strong safety against the Cardinal, subbing for Zibby, because of bruised ribs inflicted by a Bad Boilermaker!  Herring had nearly won the starting job from Chinedum Ndukwe last Spring, but then Duke showed up so trim and lithe in August that he won his job back.  Given another chance, Ray Herring accomplished what few college players have ever done.  HE LED HIS TEAM in tackles (9) in his first game as a starter as a sophomore.

For Stanford, Charlie and Rick Minter effected another change in personnel in the secondary with Terrail “The Savior” Lambert moving from nickel back to corner back to replace the freshman, Darrin Walls, who had started against Purdue.  Both have started a game now at cornerback since Ambrose Wooden participated in a second half earth shattering tackle in the Michigan game.  Meanwhile, little known Leo Ferrine took on the vacated nickel back position and admirably acquitted himself by virtually disappearing on the field—as Charlie says that is a good thing to be able to say about a defensive back after a game!

O Line

Sam Young is the first and only freshman to start his first game as a freshman in the offensive line.  Four others have started as freshmen over the years, including Ryan Harris, but none in their first game.  The good news is that he has continued to start every game!  For the first time, he played the entire game against Stanford, but that was primarily because Paul Duncan, with whom he has shared some playing time, is on the injured list.  Sam’s play is noteworthy because the O line finally jelled in the second half last Saturday.  Charlie did cite Dan Santucci, number 50, as the O lineman who played the best, but no line plays like the Irish did on Saturday especially in the second half without a melding of all the parts.  The line looked like a smooth functioning unit from 68 rows away in the South end zone.  The coup d’grace was the 32 yard Darius run to pay dirt at the 9:25 mark of the third quarter through a cavern on the left side of the line, created by the Bob Morton-Sam Young duo!  This is the kind of play all Irish fans have been waiting for from Darius.  He ran North-South!

Kickers

Ryan Burkhart, the freshman scholarship kicker, has finally settled into a groove as he booted two of five kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.  Whether or not the injured Bobby Renkes can win back his starting job is now problematic.  This development came after Nate Whitaker had one chance at the first kickoff.  Nate may not be back for awhile given the distance and confidence shown by Ryan!

Backers

That Renaissance Man, Travis Thomas, is still out and is ably supplanted by Joe Brockington, a slightly slower but harder hitting and more traditional type of linebacker.  Against Stanford, Anthony Vernaglia emerged with more playing time than Mitchell Thomas, who heretofore had held down the strong side backer spot.  Despite the change, the strong side backer yields to the nickel back on a surprisingly large majority of Irish plays this year to the effect that the Irish are really lining up in a 4-2-5 defensive scheme most of the time.

QB

After falling from most Heisman watch lists, Brady has played so well in the last three games that he has resurfaced and is showing up on more of the lists.  More’s the pity, for it is clear that one of the reasons for the out of sync start of the season is that Brady and the rest of the team spent far too much time reading and thinking about how wonderful they are!!  Now, if Irish fans can keep Brady off the cover of SI, there is a good chance of him going to the Heisman TV extravaganza in New York in December!!

Running Backs

And in the mop up moments of the game, James Aldridge showed everyone why his debut had been so anticipated.  He ran with authority, he ran with strength, he gained yardage as he was tackled, he worked his blockers and he cut sharply, but always looked to go up the field—and he did all of this with the Stanford defense knowing the Irish would not pass.  Aldridge averaged 6.2 yards on four carries.  He will be heard from a lot in the future.  How good is he?  Based on these four plays, he could be better than people dare think!  Wouldn’t that be something!!