Cardinal News and Notes, Irish Style

What To Do With A Lead?

Three times in the 2008 season the Irish haven’t put the game away. Against Michigan an early lead led to the Wolverines chewing yards and committing countless turnovers to preserve an Irish victory. Notre Dame was lucky the Boilermakers abandoned the run and committed remarkably untimely penalties. This week the Irish defense and special teams allowed a fourth quarter rally that nearly cost them the game.

An early lead is great, but only if you know how to protect it. The Irish have yet to close out a game in compelling fashion. With the lead, Notre Dame cannot control the ball with the running game and frequently give possession back to the opponent. It would be wise to continue airing it out, at least until something resembling a rushing attack is found.

Well, It Was Unbalanced

It took three drives of Stanford ramming it down Notre Dame’s throat before the defensive staff made the necessary adjustments to slow the Cardinal rushing attack. I say slow, not stop, because the Irish defense didn’t stop the run all day. Only a large lead and penalties forced Stanford to go to the air to play catch-up.

Stanford came out firing, using unbalanced line formations to isolate an offensive tackle on the Irish defensive ends and it worked to perfection. Against the under-sized front four Stanford ran the ball at will. It wasn’t three and four yard gains. It was seven and eight.

It is puzzling that the defensive coaching staff would take so long to make a rather rudimentary adjustment.

Presumably, the Irish staff didn’t want to expose another area of the defense. But wouldn’t it be more prudent to make Stanford beat you throwing the ball? All year they have proven they can move the football by running it. Rather than waiting to adjust to the Cardinal ground game, isn’t it more advantageous to make quarterback Tavita Pritchard prove he can beat you?

Even without defensive adjustments, the Irish linebacking corps played very poorly. Stanford ran to the unbalanced side of the line an overwhelming majority of the time. It wasn’t complicated, but it was effective. And Maurice Crum and Brian Smith failed to react quickly to relatively slow developing plays.

Emotion To Start

The questions abound. Why does it take comments from an opposing player to generate inspired play? Why does the emotional state of the Irish depend on actions of the other team? Why do Pat Kuntz and company need negative statements directed at them to finally reach the quarterback? And why is head coach Charlie Weis satisfied with this being the most fired up he has seen the team? Isn’t his job, at least partially, to have his players ready to play against every team? Shouldn’t Weis be able to manufacture motivation for the Irish?

Putting Out An A.P.B. For A Kicking Coach

One of seven. That’s what kicker Brandon Walker is for the year. Granted, only one attempt has come within 40 yards but that was a 31 yard attempt Walker missed against Purdue.

And the kicking woes didn’t just start this year. Last year the Irish converted field goals at a rate of less than 50 percent. This included 0 of 2 between 30 and 39 yards, 1 of 5 between 40 and 49 yards, and 0 of 1 beyond 50 yards.

Walker has the distance, that isn’t the problem. It’s concentration, confidence, and technique. A capable kicking coach should be able to solve this problem.

It won’t take long, perhaps even this coming weekend, for the Irish to lose a contest because of their inept kicking game.

Tell You What, I’ll Give You A Head Start

The Irish might as well give opponents a head start before the snap. In the shotgun Notre Dame has passed the ball an overwhelming majority of the time. With two backs the Irish have run the ball an overwhelming majority of the time. Only in the Ace-Trey formation has offensive coordinator Mike Haywood consistently mixed the run and pass.

Part of the reason spread offenses are so deadly is because of their ability to be balanced running the ball out of receiver-heavy formations. The formation spreads defenders sideline-to-sideline and creates lanes for running backs to pick up big chunks of yardage.

But a less obvious reason for the big offensive numbers posted by teams like Oklahoma, Missouri, etc. is their lack of formation tendency. These teams would just as soon run the ball out of a more obvious passing formation than pass out of a more obvious running formation.

Haywood needs to take notes. Defenses are keying in on the Irish. In fact, one time Saturday, the Stanford sideline yelled pass before center Dan Wenger even snapped the ball.

Man, Where Was This Offensive Line Last Year?

It is truly remarkable, and should not be understated, how far the offensive line has come since the 2007 season. The unit has gelled and is much more cohesive than any time last year. This is most apparent in the pass protection where the Irish on are on pace to surrender just over 14 sacks on the year.

Think about it, 14 sacks on the year. Many years that’s likely good for tops in the country.

But the Irish do lack proficient run blocking. And it will lose a game for them if it isn’t corrected.

Pass blocking is largely about playing together as a unit. One missed assignment leads to a breakdown in protection, i.e. it is primarily important that the offensive linemen understand the blocking scheme and work together. As such, a tremendous amount of practice time and many repetitions are needed to perform well.

As far as scheme goes, run blocking is much more forgiving. Paving the way for running backs is less about working as a unit and more about winning one-on-one battles up front. If a lineman misses his assignment it doesn’t always result in a poor run play, particularly if the play is away from him.

But if a lineman loses his one-on-one battle with the defender the play can easily falter. The Irish off-season saw every offensive linemen gain size and strength, presumably to begin winning the one-on-one battles needed to generate an effective running game. So far this season, sans Purdue, it hasn’t shown up on the field.

The offensive line wins one-on-one battles when they engage the defender. The problem lies in each individual putting himself in a position to properly take on the assigned defender.

This leads to the plausible conclusion that a disproportionate amount of practice time is being spent on pass protection. Coming off an abysmal performance in 2007 where the Irish offensive line gave up 58 sacks, it isn’t unreasonable to think the dramatic improvement is the result of a large focus in practice.

Additionally, the Jon Tenuta led defense likely helps give the Notre Dame offense exotic blitz looks in practice that help prepare them for the relatively vanilla packages they see in games. Equally likely is a scenario where the Irish offensive line isn’t challenged in practice by a relatively weak defensive front.

If this is the case, Weis must devote more practice time to the running game.

A Budding Career

Quarterback Jimmy Clausen continues to improve, not just from last season, but also from his first game this year.

Clausen has had two consecutive career days racking up gaudy numbers. His understanding of the offense is readily apparent in his pre-snap adjustments. He has pinpoint accuracy, and is spreading the ball around without forcing throws.

While there is still improvement needed in his post-snap reads and progression (isn’t there always?), Clausen is far ahead of where Brady Quinn was at the same point in his career.

Where is the rush defense?

Perhaps more alarming than the woeful running game is the inability to stop the run. The former is tolerable with the talent at receiver and quarterback and will continue to work until the Irish offensive line proves incapable of protecting Clausen. The latter is a huge liability and will lose a close game for the Irish. Notre Dame’s defense was fortunate to get three Cardinal turnovers early, helping the offense build a three score lead.

Being so inept in both areas is inexplicable and intolerable. Giving up 6.5 yards per carry to a Stanford team with far less talent is criminal. The credit must go to the Cardinal players. Much like Michigan State, the Irish defense didn’t match their intensity.

The Game Lasts Four Quarters Guys

For three quarters the Irish played fairly solid football. After seeing the Cardinal run the ball effectively for three consecutive drives the Irish defensive staff (finally) adjusted to Stanford's unbalanced line and slowed the ground game.

However, in the fourth quarter Stanford began moving the ball at will once again. And the defense wasn’t the only culprit, the Irish offense was unable to generate first downs. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s defense suffered from a lapse in intensity and concentration. Both contributed to let Stanford back in the game.

Why So Loose?

Similar to the Purdue game, Notre Dame’s secondary gave too much cushion on the outside for much of the day. The defense is going to blitz, opposing offenses are going to get rid of the ball quickly, and tighter coverage is required to stop the short, quick passing game. Double moves aren’t a threat provided the Irish defenders get home.

You Stay Classy Notre Dame

What happened at the end of the game is uncalled for. This isn’t about any specific player and it isn’t about the skirmish. Having fire, playing to the whistle, being “nasty,” are all part of the game. Grouping together and jumping up and down in unison while facing the opponents after a victory is not part of the game, it is classless and unnecessary.