The last time that Notre Dame could not run the ball at all was in the 1965 Michigan State game, which they lost 12-3.  The difference is that the team had no passing game and faced Bubba Smith and Harold Lucas in the D-line, the largest and most fearsome pair of defensive tackles on a Spartan team that evolved the following year into the team the Irish tied in the The Biggest Game of Them All.  That Irish team faced an all time great college team, and so had an excuse.  This Irish team……

Well, this Irish team did not show up.  True their physical bodies came out of the tunnel, and in fact the student body formed a tunnel for them all the way from the Basilica to the Stadium in an unprecedented show of support.  Maybe too much support??

This team now looks a lot more like the 1965 team that finished 7-2-1 or the 1987 team that finished 8-4 than a top ten or even top twenty team.

This is one of the six worst blow outs in ND Stadium and this writer has been at four of them and is tired of this kind of football.  Irish fans believed that the past had been banished.  Instead the Banshees returned again to Our House.

It took a team effort to beat Penn State the way the Irish did, and it took a team effort to lose so ignominiously to the Wolverines!!  In all phases of the game except punting and kickoffs, the Irish were woeful and not really any better than under Davieham! 

Questions:

§        Where is the intensity?

§        Where is the mental focus—why all the penalties committed by veteran players?

§        Where is the offensive genius?

§        Where are the adjustments during the game to counter the defense?

§        Where is the pass coverage?

§        Where are the adjustments during the game to counter the offense?

§        Where are the sticky fingers from last year’s pass catchers?

The critics are back to complaining about inadequate speed and inadequate talent, but that does not explain the dozens of mental mistakes of omission and commission, nor does it explain the Irish being in the wrong coverage to prevent against the deep ball time and time again!  Much of the blame here must go to Rick Minter and Bill Lewis, the Defensive Co-ordinator and the Defensive Backs coaches.  Once again, just like after the Fiesta Bowl, we must question the wisdom of entrusting the D to Minter.  Case in point: Hart gained big yardage on cut backs consistently, yet the Irish never really adjusted.

Then there is the uninspiring and unimaginative offensive.  One of our correspondents was convinced that Charlie would be very very aggressive and would blow the Wolverines over.  What happened is that Charlie played a dink and dunk game much of the time, never throwing a post pattern in the entire game.  He persisted in going with fades, which too often were covered like a blanket by the Michigan defensive backs.  Their coverage was the best we have seen in a long time.  We think we miss Maurice Stovall more than we realize.  As good as McKnight looks at times, he does not have the raw size and physical ability to go up and get the pass in a jump ball situation.  Jeff Samardzija has not gotten into rhythm this year partly because Brady has not either and partly because of the coverage schemes.  He ran against two defenders for the first three quarters without the Irish flip flopping or going into motion or doing anything to free him up for a catch.

Is Charlie over-rated or will he be able to fix what went wrong?  His magic touch has not been evident this year—not even against Penn State.  Something is missing.  The sync is not there.  The rhythm is not there.  The great catches are not there.  Too many passes are in the dirt or over thrown or even thrown behind the receiver.  The imaginative plays are not there.  This is not 2005 and more’s the pity.  Last year when the Irish fell behind, they became a White Tornado.  This year when they fall behind, they have become a mere whisper of their former selves.

Drew Stanton is a formidable quarterback—much better looking at the outset of the season than Henne.  The Irish then have a big challenge this week to fix some intensity, focus and coverage problems.  As one writer has put it, this next game is a MUST WIN for the Irish.

Charlie