The Sound of Running Feet for the Exit

Hear that?!

It’s the running of Notre Dame’s 2011 football recruits scared feet, high-tailing it for other opportunities. Mostly away from what appears to be a Football Program in freefall.

We are down from 20 to 17 recruits and it is expected others will follow and no one sane will jump on board now after the fiasco Saturday.

The head scratching, mind numbing, bonehead call play with 45 seconds left in the game probably will be the final straw for the so called class of 2014.

You be the Notre Dame head coach, yeah come on you can do it, no experience necessary:

Trailing 28-27 with 45 seconds left on the clock. You are sitting at the Tulsa 19 yard line between the hash marks. Third down, one time out left, with a Groza semifinalist sitting the bench, 18 for 18 in field goals. What do you do? Well of course, order up a pass into the end zone to the perennial double-teamed Michael Floyd. What have you got to lose?

Just the game.

Ten Burning Questions About Notre Dame Football

1.  Are enough prayers being offered to Our Lady to get us out of this fix?

2.  Is the medical staff being paid by salary or the number of patients they treat?

3.  What other way can the Team figure out how to lose?

4.  Does Brian Kelly ever get hoarse?

5.  If Manti Te’o didn’t overrun half the plays would he have 100% of the tackles?

6.  Can anyone relate to what Tommy Rees is going through right now?

7.  The Team has two weeks to get out of the tank and prepare for what obviously is their Bowl Game.

8.  Do the trainers have enough crutches and boots?

9.  Can anyone other than Charlie Weis and Brian Kelly relate to what Brian Kelly is going through right now?

10.  Is there anyone else still on the bandwagon besides me?

7-5, 6-6, 5-7 ??

Yes, it’s a given, the Notre Dame Football season is tanked. Not quite as bad as the morons over at NDNation would have you believe, but trashed and broken just the same. No one is jumping out of basement windows or cutting their wrists with dull butter knives yet, we still have four games to go in a season that started out with such high expectations.

Many are walking around the now quite battlefield and bayoneting the wounded.

The Fighting Irish have not gotten any breaks. Be it injuries, some questionable referee calls, turnovers, bonehead play calling or drive-killing penalties. You can’t judge heart, desire, determination, love of the game, team loyalty, toughness, and all the other adjectives that make up a winning football program from a television set in the comfort of your living room. You have to be at practice, stand in the corner of the locker room and judge with your gut. So we shall leave all that to other pundits and experts.

We are not convinced that Dayne Crist can run a Kelly type offense anymore than Ron Powlus could run a Holtz-Davie offense. But we’ll leave that too for the experts.

Our arm chair (actually a LazyBoy) take is quite simple: NO OFFENSIVE LINE.

We back that up with two statistics through eight games.

Number of sacks allowed: 16 ranked 65th.

Rushing offense: 112.13 yards per game ranked 98th.

We at Subway Alumni Station are not convinced that Notre Dame can beat Tulsa, thus we are going with 5-7 to finish the season.

Navy Victory Notre Dame Fleet and Season Destroyed

I had just purchased a new 42” plasma TV and was afraid I would launch the remote through the screen so I turned off the Notre Dame – Navy game when it was 35 -10.  Father forgive me.

Here Comes The United State Navy

I like the Naval Academy and the midshipmen, I really do. In fact, just this spring I visited Annapolis for the first time with my wife and three kids who we were babysitting for the day. That completed my personal sweep of visiting all three military academies, sorry Coast Guard, you do not qualify.

Now naval officers are something else. Worked in a Joint Command for three years and got to know a bunch of swabbies and basically thought them arrogant, especially a certain three-star admiral.

If I was told once, I was reminded a 100 times, the United States Navy can fight a war all by itself thank you very much. It has its very own ground fighting force in the Marines, its own ship launched air force, and of course a bunch of ships to float around in.

Let’s move on before I really get started.

Navy The Football Team:

As in the past, Navy uses the passing game after they have scared you to death with the triple option and lulled the safeties and corners to sleep. Then they throw a mid-range pass or two. They have a 50-50 of success. Navy is 39 of 78 with four TD’s and for INT’s. Needless to say, they rank 117 out of 120 in passing.

Navy ranks 7th in the turn-over category. Recovered nine fumbles and made four interceptions while only putting the ball on the grass twice along with those four interceptions. That number 2 is huge considering how much the quarterback flips and tosses the ball to the trailing back.

Rushing, Navy is where you’d expect them to be, 9th, averaging 259 yards per game.

Total defense is a respectable 27th compared to Notre Dame’s hot and cold defense at 82nd.

Alexander Teich in six games has returned kick-offs 15 times for 395 yards and a 26.33 average, which ranks him 32nd. No Notre Dame Player shows up in the top 50 individual returners in NCAA statistics.

Gary Myers made the top fifty in punt returns (48th) averaging an anemic 7.39 yards per return. What am I saying? Notre Dame has only returned 8 of 45 punts and Goodman nor Allen show up in the statistics.

Navy has allowed 7 QB sacks, Notre Dame 15.  Of course you had to catch him first.

Another typical Navy statistic, in six games they have been penalized 27 times for an average of 37 yards. While Notre Dame started out with few penalties, they now after 7 games have 36, averaging 48 yards per game.

It will be interesting to see if Kelly wins the toss and elects to take the ball with all injuries to his skill players.

BTW, Jonas Gray is listed as probable with a sprained knee. Guess that’s why he didn’t play last week.

Gee, with Michael Floyd struggling through a hamstring injury, Kyle Rudolph out of the year, Theo Riddick walking around with an ankle cast and Armando Allen with his hip flexor, the receiving corps is down to those Next in Guys that Coach Kelly keeps talking about. Where is Shaquelle Evans when you need him?
For that matter will Duval Kamara show up?

I fear a nail biter.

The Cut Block or Chop Block

This Saturday, Notre Dame will again face Navy, the triple option and the infamous cut block.
The cut block is basically the same as the chop block and in many coaching circles it is considered a dangerous block that can cause serious injury to the knee and ankle.

Years ago I remember Lou Holtz ranting and raving against Air Force for cut blocks which he considered illegal.

Here’s some good info:

Cut blocks are legal mainly in the open field. This allows the defensive player an opportunity to avoid or hurdle the block. The main area in which a cut block is not legal is in the trenches at the line of scrimmage.
Now, it's obviously very easy for an offensive lineman to make a block on a defensive lineman by chopping him at the line of scrimmage. But with the amount of injuries that have occurred over the years from cut blocks, rules have changed making the cut block at the line of scrimmage illegal and will result in a penalty.

Cut blocks are also illegal to perform against a player that is already engaged in a block with another player. Meaning, if I'm a wide receiver or offensive lineman or running and I’m looking to make a block for someone, I can not intentionally go at the feet of a defender who is already being blocked.

Most triple option teams employ the cut block out of necessity because of lineman size differential and inability to go toe-to-toe with superior size and strength. Defensive ends, linebackers, and laterally pursuing linemen are the likely targets. Although safeties and cornerbacks had better be prepared like good boy scouts. The option is ideal for cut blocking since it is moving away from the line of scrimmage and into the open field.

Of course we all remember the debacle last year: Navy 23 –Notre Dame 21. It was the undoing of Charlie Weis and the unraveling of Corwin Brown. It’s also when I fell or jumped off the Weis band wagon. Anyway, Corwin worked with the defense along with John Tenuta, both had goofy titles to confuse the fact that Weis couldn’t make up his mind on a defensive coordinator or a defensive scheme.

So, after the embarrassing loss, Brown took it upon himself to call Navy Coach Ken Niumatalolo and complain bitterly about his boys being blocked by cheap cut blocking that endangered his players safety and well being. Niumatalolo wrote it off as sour grapes and Weis jumped all over Brown for going over his head.

So we shall see. It was interesting that Kelly recently revealed that Notre Dame has been spending 20 minutes at practice all year preparing for Navy and Army who employ the triple option and cut block when necessary.

Go IRISH Torpedo Navy!

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Notre Dame versus Western Michigan University -- Opportunities Galore

The Fighting Irish first have to overcome the stigma and bad ju ju of being 23+ point favorites over the Broncos.

Secondly, they must contend with a nothing to lose, upset minded, trick-play happy Team that can cause problems especially if ND is flat and decides NOT to put WMU away.

Opportunities Galore

** Rest injured running back Armando Allen.

** Rest injured right tackle Taylor Dever

** Get tight end Mike Ragone into the mix early and often.

** Build a lead and send in quarterback Tommy Rees and a play package set.

** Use a four wide-out set without a tight end with Floyd, Riddick, Goodman, and Jones.

**  Let kick returner Theo Riddick have a go at a return.

** Get Cierre Wood on the field and out of his funk.

** Build a lead and get more players on the field.

What did we miss?

Blogger Note:  Western Michigan is my almer and mater. 

Pass the Salt Please

Well it’s not often here at Subway Alumni Station (SAS) that we eat crow.

We had a little fun with Coach Brian Kelly before the season here.

The below picture was taken during the Pitt game. Wow. Way to go coach! Go IRISH!

A Notre Dame Amateur Assessment at the Mid-Point in the Season

Three and Three, the football season’s half over for the IRISH, who’d have guessed? A murderer’s row of a start, a little luck that’s been missing for years and it should be 5-1 for Notre Dame.

What’s gone right? What’s turned to cow pies? What’s to look forward to in the last six games and a possible bowl bid?

Gone Right.

A tenacious DEFENSE, long play mistake prone but won’t quit. Gang-tackling with a vengeance and is learning fast.

A field goal kicker that has been sorely missed during the Weis Era.

A punter who is getting better and more consistent.

A quarterback growing up fast.

Punt coverage.

Kick-off coverage.

Cow Pies.

Punt returns.

Kick-off returns.

A hot and cold offensive line. Who will show up Saturday to block against WMU?

A bevy and stocked troupe of running backs that has turned into a committee of one.

Some head-scratching offensive play calling, use of time-outs and exercise of the challenge.

Drive-killing dropped passes and penalties.

A game plan that didn’t work against a certain quarterback from Ann Arbor.

Disappointment in one All-American receiver.

An all season nagging injury and now season ending for one for an All-American receiver.

Look Forward.

A quarterback that’s only going to get better.

A beatable USC.

A big challenge with Utah.

Is the current Irish coaching staff smarter that the previous regime in defending against the option-wishbone of Navy?

A field goal kicker who by the law of averages is going to fail.

A kick-off and a punt return for touchdowns long overdue. Again,  because of the law of averages.

An offensive line that will shine against the four cupcakes on the schedule.

A receiving corps that will step up to the plate for the last seven games.

Learning how NOT to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

BLOGGER NOTE: The lag in reporting was due to a six-month relocation to Florida for the winter. Obtaining internet access and setting up the subway station took longer than expected. Go IRISH.

Notre Dame vs. Boston College Prediction

Remember our favorite Russian Spy? Look here.

Well Anastasis Kushchencko put this one in the win column.

Of course she got Michigan and Michigan State wrong.

Comments anyone?

Are You Going to Watch the ND vs. BC Game?

Well apparently, the SAS staff is going to have to huddle around the computer monitor to watch the Notre Dame – Boston College Game. Bad enough it is on at 8:10 EDT. Way past our receptionist Sylvia’s bedtime by the way.


Signed up with ESPN3 (http://espn.go.com/espn3/).

Luckily, we have a DSL provider that is part of the ESPN3 feed.

Have not been very happy with Line Streaming in the past, but it is better than being shut out.

Bet if ND was 4-0, they would be on ESPN2 on the East Coast at least. Heck, I’d even suffer through Boob Davie and his goofy color commentary to watch the game.

If you are not going to get the game televised and most of us are not because of competing games, try ESPN3.

Robert Hughes Moves Up on Depth Chart to # 2

The title sounds great, but what does it mean?

** Cierre Wood is in a running funk.

** Jonas Gray is hurt.

It means Notre Dame needs:

*** A running back who can block.

*** A back that is sure handed with the short pass.

*** A back that is so hungry to play he’d go through the line twice at a Soup Kitchen.

*** A back who in the open field puts fear into the hearts of safeties and cornerbacks.

This is a smart move by Kelly.

The speculation all week has been whether he will let Crist run in certain situations.  We hope so.  Who is he protecting Crist for U$C?

We hope to see more of the Leprechaun as well.

Weis had Hughes run east and west. That was probably the stupidest thing for a 245 pound running back to do unless he’s got a full head of steam catching a pass coming out the backfield. Then he should still head North.  We shall we.

Notre Dame has not been two dimensional since Darius Walker. Its time. We are overdue.

Blog Notes

Davaris Daniels is recruit number 20. Son of Philip Daniels, defensive end for the Redskins. His mug shot is on the right side of the blog.

Daniels will be the ninth player on the Notre Dame roster with a famous football father.

Way to go Davaris and Coach Kelly.

Updates have been made to the College Football Street Thug Watch. View here.

Quarterback – University of Notre Dame

The issue at hand for Brian Kelly as Boston College looms; play Dayne Crist as a true Quarterback leading a true spread offense.

Thus, fish or continue to cut bait.

Cutting bait has proven futile as a 1-3 start has painfully been noted thus far. Remember that our lone victory (W-23-12) was over a mighty Purdue Team that now has succumbed to Toledo (L-31-20).

Kelly has a number of opinions to salvage the season (if you have failed to notice, we have played 25% of the schedule).

1. Continue to nurse, protect, and mature Dayne Crist while every defense in the nation will now rush 3 and drop 8.

2. Activate the QB run with the draw, option, roll-out/scramble to add true dimension to the spread.

3. Rotate in Nate Montana who can run.

4. Truly insert the Wildcat or what Kelly calls the Leprechaun. (Sssspt, Allan is a very good short passer).  Why it was introduced and not used more during the Stanford game is a mystery.

5. Screens, reverses, double reverses, Statue of Liberty, delayed draws, lob to the running back in the flats, the old hidden ball trick, blab, blab. Anything other than what our running game has shown thus far. Anything to disrupt the defense. Come on please Brian.

6. Dink passes to a two TE, two WR set with the RB involved. Fast. Very fast. Quit going through the read progression while our OL tries to desperately work and cannot hold. They have not shown they can do it. Gee, 4 against 3?  What's that all about?

Where is all this young-blood, hungry coaching that we thought had arrived at Notre Dame? They can’t figure this out?

We are not sure Kelly has the personnel to run the spread. Look at Rich Rodriguez at UM; it took him three years to recruit what he wanted.

Go IRISH

Kelly’s Challenge -- Notre Dame vs. Stanford

No one on the SAS staff noted the time of the Kelly Challenge.

No one on the staff taped the game.

Reprimands are in order and were issued.

The official Notre Dame play-by-play statistics do not include coach’s challenges.

Maybe they should.

We think it happened in middle of the first quarter on a referee ball-spot that gave Stanford a first down.

Are we wrong?

Kelly lost the challenge.  He lost a time-out.  He had no more challenges for the rest of the game.  Stanford was awarded a first down.

That’s not what is important.

College coaches get one challenge.

The unwritten rule, the conventional wisdom, the common sense, the smart coaching philosophy says “SAVE IT FOR SOMETHING IMPORTANT”

Here are the three examples of when most college coaches decide to challenge a call:

1. WHEN IT EFFECTS THE SCORE.

2. WHEN IT EFFECTS A CHANGE OF POSSESSION BY INTERCEPTION OR FUMBLE.

3. VERY LATE IN THE GAME WHEN IT EFFECTS A CRITICAL DOWN AND DRIVE.

Those that have Brian Kelly’s private e-mail, please pass this on to him.

GO IRISH. BEAT THE EAGLES

A Change in Direction For This Young Notre Dame Blog

 

The original purpose of this blog was to provide a forum for the former Blue-Gray Sky bloggers to continue gathering on game day to comment and actively participate live during each game. That obviously has not happened.

We will continue to write, report and provide information, insight and often overlooked aspects of college football and The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in particular.

Comment and criticism are always welcome.

Notre Dame vs. Stanford Unknown Statistics and Miscellaneous Numbers



Some things we didn’t know until we reviewed the statistics.

Watching the game on television is more informative than sitting in the stadium. When Tommy Rees replaced Dayne Crist during the Michigan game everyone in the stands frantically called family and friends to find out what happened. Almost no one got through because the cell phone systems were overwhelmed. Yet, as it turned out, NBC was right on top of the situation.

Even watching the game on television can leave you wondering about certain situations. The stats answer a lot questions and many times reinforce what you assumed.

Here are a few:

** Our Punting game is inconsistent again this year. Ben Turk averaged 32 yards, including one pooch inside the 20 yard line. Turk is not on the NCAA list of top 50 Punter List.

** Nick Tausch kicked the on-side kick near the end of the game, it went seven yards.

** Cierre Wood did not participate at running back.

** Notre Dame started with two wide receivers (Michael Floyd and Theo Riddick) and two tight ends (Tyler Eifert and Kyle Rudolph).

** 56 Notre Dame players saw action.

** Senior Duval Kamara did not play.

** Coming into the game, Stanford was 100% in the Red Zone. They still are, going 7-7.

** Including Tausch, Steve Paskorz and Andrew Plaska saw action for the first time.

** Including Kamara, Jordon Cowart and Patrick Coughlin were also benched for the first time.

** Dayne Crist is ranked 50th in passing efficiency with 137.61. (Terrance Cain of Utah is ranked 1st with 192.50).

** After four games, David Ruffer is ranked 14th in field goals. 7 for 7 1.000 1.75 per game.

** Notre Dame is ranked nationally 88th in kick off returns with a 19.56 average. (As if we didn’t know, heh?) 

** Notre Dame is ranked nationally 103rd in total defense.

** Manti Te’o leads the nation in tackles. 26 solo, 28 assists for 54 and a 13.50 average per game.

Post Mortem Notre Dame vs. Stanford

This post mortem writing is getting a little tedious.

Guess I can sum it up in nine (9) words. 

We stunk worse that a week old dead carp.

Blue Line to Notre Dame Stadium - September 25, 2010

GAME ON! GO IRISH BEAT THE CARDINAL !

Televised by NBC

Forecasted Weather: at Kick-Off (3:40 EDT):

Partly Cloudy

Temperature:  62 degrees

Wind:  NW - 13 MPH

Team Captains:

Chris Stewart - SR - OG

Ian Williams - SR - NG

Injuries to Starters:

None Reported

Predicted Game Breaker Play:

ILB Manti Te'o sacking and putting a serious hurt on QB Andrew Luck

Las Vegas Odds:

Notre Dame + 5

Week Four and the Mighty Big Ten

The Big Ten (Eleven) soon to be Twelve is a scheduling joke.

Take a look first at a sample of what BCS caliber big name Teams are doing this week and look who the Big Ten is playing. Obviously the Big Ten is wanting to maintain their domination over the MAC.

Miami vs. Pittsburgh

Boston College vs. Virginia Tech

USC vs. Washington St.

Alabama vs. Arkansas

UCLA vs. Texas

South Carolina vs. Auburn

Oregon St. vs. Boise St.

Stanford vs. Notre Dame



The shame/sham schedule of week four:

Perdue vs. Toledo

Michigan vs. Bowling Green

Michigan St. vs. Northern Colorado

Wisconsin vs. Austin Peay

Iowa vs. Ball State

Northwestern vs. Central Michigan

Ohio St. vs. Eastern Michigan

Indiana vs. Akron (this could actually be a good game)

Minnesota vs. Northern Illinois

Penn St. vs. Temple

Illinois is off preparing for Ohio St. next week.

Nebraska is going to fit right in with the Big Ten, they play mighty South Dakota St. this weekend.

5 Ways Notre Dame Can Beat Stanford – 5 Ways Notre Dame Can Lose to Stanford

Gerard, our graphic artist and picture guy found an old wooden horse trough at a flea market. After some minor repairs and caulking he threw it in the back of his pickup and met the entire staff out at a private farm. We tested the water holding worthiness by spreading two layers of bottled Dos Equis and 40 pounds of chipped ice in the trough. We are happy to report that the purchase, repairs, and utilization worked perfectly.  This may become a fall weekly event.

The matter at hand was the debate over the Notre Dame – Stanford Game.

It is expected to be a close no-holds-barred affair with plenty of scoring.

5 Ways Notre Dame Can Beat Stanford

**  Punt and Kick-off Return Teams Need to Have a Break-Out Afternoon


**  Dayne Crist Continues to Improve Both in His Progession Pass Reads and Accuracy

**  Stopping/Limiting Andrew Luck on Rushes, Scrambles, and Long Passes.

**  No Coaching Bone-Head Decisions

**  Develop a Running Attack to Take Pressure off Crist

5 Ways Notre Dame Can Lose to Stanford

**  The Personnel Situation at Safety is not Corrected and Continues to be Exploited

**  Turnovers Especially in the Red Zone Continue to Haunt Notre Dame

**  The OLB Positions is not Improved or does not Becomes More Productive i.e. Neal 2 UA’s, Fleming 7 UA’s after 3 Games

** The Defense Continues to Give Up the Big Play

**  The Offense Cannot Sustain Drives and Score, thus Failing to Give the Defense Needed Respite

Anatomy of a First Class Jerk Coach - Jim Harbaugh - Stanford

No wonder Jim Harbaugh is perceived by many as a total jerk. The idiot is paranoid and possessed by success at any cost even running up the score and trampling a luckless opponent. Below is a short article concerning the status of Ryan Whalen and Harbaugh’s take on secrecy and scoring points. Both responses are a little over board.

This is the same coach that refused to shake Jimmy Clausen’s hand two years ago in South Bend.

Fortunately, in life, what goes around comes around. Opposing coaches have very long memories when their Teams are unnecessarily abused.

Stanford football notebook: Receiver Ryan Whalen likely out for Notre Dame

By Elliott Almond
San Jose Mercury News
Posted: 09/21/2010 06:12:19 PM PDT
Updated: 09/21/2010 10:06:49 PM PDT

Ryan Whalen, Stanford's leading receiver the past two seasons, has a dislocated left elbow and probably won't play Saturday against Notre Dame.

Wearing a shoulder sling Tuesday night at practice Whalen confirmed the injury but said he hopes to return soon.

Coach Jim Harbaugh had declined to reveal any information about the injury that occurred in the first quarter of No. 16 Stanford's commanding 68-24 victory over Wake Forest last weekend. Whalen, a senior from Alamo, fell awkwardly on his left elbow after a catch.

"As soon as I tell you you're going to tell Notre Dame," Harbaugh said at his weekly news conference.

Why does it matter?

"I'd want to know about the status of every player on their team, what percent they are, how many plays they are going to play. That's valuable information," Harbaugh said.

Whalen has 10 catches for 113 yards and one touchdown this season.

"Wales is the leader on offense for us," quarterback Andrew Luck said. "He's been there and done it all at Stanford. It will be a serious blow if he's out for a while. But we've got guys who step in and fill that role."

One of those shoring up the receiving corps is Chris Owusu, who made a successful 2010 debut against Wake Forest after missing the first two games with a knee injury. He caught three passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

Inside linebacker Shayne Skov also returned from an injury to play for the first time last weekend. Skov reportedly suffered from an infected knee but declined to provide details about the injury.

"It took me a couple weeks just as a precaution to make sure I was ready to go," he said, adding he'll be fine the rest of the season.

Harbaugh had no regrets about challenging an official's call with 5:25 left and the Cardinal leading 68-24.

"I thought he caused a fumble and we recovered it," Harbaugh said of the play in which a Wake Forest runner was ruled down before losing a fumble. "Guys are in there and it's very important game time for them. We thought there was a fumble; it's as simple as that."

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The Leprechaun versus the Tree

The Stanford mascot is now unmasked. When the Bobcat (Ohio University) mugged the Buckeye (Ohio State) the entire staff here at SAS became curious about what the heck is the story behind the goofy Stanford Tree? We thought the Buckeye mugging was bazaar, ha. 

Is the Tree traveling to South Bend Saturday?

Is the Stanford Marching Band daring to show up as well?

We hope so.

As it turns out, the Bobcat had it in for the Buckeye all along. What a crazy story.

Sure, The Stanford band is a little weird; Notre Dame even suspended them in 1991 for a couple years and the Band was also disciplined 1997.  All for some offbeat antics in South Bend which they willingly share with other schools over the years as well.

Also, remember the infamous end of game episode with the University of California in 1982, what a hoot.

The Stanford Tree is the unofficial mascot of Stanford University. Stanford's team name is "The Cardinal," referring to the vivid red color (not the common song bird as at several other schools), and the University has never been able to come up with an official mascot which adequately conveys the fierceness and sporting prowess it had hoped to symbolize with that particular shade of sanguine. This fact creates a void not typically found at schools with less-abstract symbols for their sports teams, and into this unfulfilled void the Stanford Band has insistently thrust what is one of the United States' most bizarre and controversial college mascots. The tree regularly appears at the top of internet 'worst mascot' lists.  You know they got to love it.

So....... Go IRISH Beat the Tree?

Or........Go IRISH Beat the Cardinal (actually a color)

How can you get serious about all this? Probably pretty easily since The Tree beat us last year and the Cardinal is ready to do it again this year.

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YIKES the 3-0 Stanford Cardinal look formidable, at least on paper.

Coming to South Bend Stanford is 3-0 and ranked 16th by the AP.

The victims thus far:

Sacramento St. 52-17

UCLA 35-0

Wake Forest 68-24

This is the same Team that last year pummeled USC 55-21in the Coliseum and beat the Irish 45-38.

They lost a close one to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl 31-27.

They are averaging 51 points a game, scoring with 10 passing touchdowns and 10 rushing.

Quite a balanced offense averaging 242 yards rushing per game and 233 yards passing.  Lot of players are getting there hands on the ball.

QB Andrew Luck is no slouch:

PASSING      GP-GS  Effic    Cmp-Att-Int   Pct   Yards  TD Long  Avg/G

Luck, Andrew  3 - 3    192.3    45 - 70 - 0    64.3   674     10    81     224.7

Luck is legitimate early Heisman talk.

13 receivers have been involved in the mix, 7 catching passes for touchdowns.

Scoring has been spread around thanks to lop-sided wins and bench clearing.  15 players have scored touchdowns.

Notre Dame transfer Nate Whitaker is 3-3 in Field Goals and the longest is 22 yards. What’s that tell you about Stanford constantly knocking in the Red Zone? He is 18-20 for PATs

On the defensive side, 35 players have been involved in making tackles on defense and special teams.

Accentuate the Positive

The warriors have long since ceased fighting and withdrawn from the field of honor. Some of us were inclined to have then walked the battlefield and bayoneted the wounded. Time is now to accentuate the positive and move on.

Go IRISH beat The Cardinal.

**  With his sixth reception on the night, Armando Allen moved into first place all-time on the Irish receptions record for running backs. He bested the previous school record of 109 held by Darius Walker (2004-06).

**  Dayne Crist continued to improve and set career-highs in completions (32), attempts (55), passing yards (369) and touchdown passes (four). The four TD passes is tied for sixth-most in ND single-game history. No Notre Dame quarterback has ever thrown for more TD passes in his first career start on the road.

**  Crist’s 32 completions rank tied for the fourth-most in single-game ND history and his 55 attempts rank as the fifth-most in single-game Irish history.

**  With 18 career TD catches, Michael Floyd is now tied with Maurice Stovall (2002-05) for sixth on the Irish all-time TD receptions list.

**  Kyle Rudolph hooked up with Crist for a 17-yard reception in the first quarter. He moved into fourth place on the all-time receiving list for Irish tight ends on the grab.

**  Armando Allen averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

**  Ben Turk punted five times for 181 yards averaging 36.2 yards per punt and placed three within the 20 yard line.

**  David Ruffer kicked off five times, averaging a respectful 67.2 yards per kick, including one touchback. He is 10-10 kicking field goals going back to 2009.  David is also perfect with extra points.

**  Manti Te’o had his second consecutive 10 + tackle effort.

**  Theo Riddick has arrived; he had 10 catches for 128 yards and one touchdown.

Notre Dame on the verge of being TANKED?

No not this kind of tank. Tanked as it quiting. The Fighting Irish are in danger of becoming “Tanked”.


The Sanford Cardinal is up next at home.

They beat Sacramento St. 52-17, UCLA 35-0, and Wake Forest 68-24. They beat us last year 45-38 a game in which we could have won, but played similar to our eight losses over two years.

When a football team “Tanks,” a number of dynamics emerge. Each player reacts differently. Some continue to give 100% simply because it is their psychic. Others quit or no longer consider the Team important and resign themselves to next year.

Some Always But Below the Surface Subtle Signs:

**  Players go through the motions at practice.

**  Player private emphasis is not to get hurt either during practice or in the game.

**  Some players will even fledge an injury.

**  Skill position players on offense and defense become more concerned with building individual statistics than the good of the Team.

**  Coaches become frustrated, more demanding and critical. Players start to be thrown under the bus.

**  Players get benched for unspecified reasons.

**  Seniors just want the season to end.

**  Transferitis even crosses the minds of the red-shirts and younger players, although being “Tanked" is rarely the reported reason.

**  Players who for various reasons have not cracked the starting lineup or made special teams decide they do not want to become a part of the losing debacle.

**  Number two players on the depth chart quit pushing the number one guys.

**  Short tempers, fights, irritability within the Team increases.

**  Polorization of the Team occurs which can take many forms such as elitism, seniority, racism, and macho tenacities.   

**  Players are no longer eager to talk to the media.

Only the most experienced and understanding coaches can deal with a Team on the verge of Tanking. We shall see. 

Looking at the last four games in 2009, Charlie Weis talked about keeping the Team from "Tanking", but like a lot of his talk, that's all it was.

Go IRISH, beat the Cardinal.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions, what picture to use as a tease for my whining and complaining concerning the disaster in East Lansing?


Obviously, I went with the infamous play clock expiration that the Big East officials totally ignored. That was not the reason Notre Dame lost, but most pundits over at NDNation where I snitched the picture seem to think so.

I could have gone with a Butterfinger candy bar to portray Michael Floyd’s slippery hands causing two fumbles in the red zone in three games. If he doesn’t straighten things around, he is going to be forgotten as an All-American candidate and other post-season awards.

How about a hard-charging-running picture of Armando Allen to help remind Coach Kelly he still has not established a running game to take pressure off Dayne Crist.

Maybe a photo of a pensive Cierre Wood with a question mark drawn over his head to signify the tentative kick returns and runs from scrimmage he displayed Saturday night.

How about a film clip of Yogi Berra saying “déjà vu all over again” to point out once again our defense could not hold a lead.

A silent movie clip of the Keystone Cops running around. Just like the two delay of game penalties and three time outs called because Notre Dame could not execute the hurry-up/no huddle offense.

Thought about simply using a big “8 and 35”. For eight losses in two years (so far) by a total of 35 points.

Or finally, a bandwagon with guys jumping off.

Green Line to Spartan Stadium - September 18, 2010

This is the 100th Posting on Subway Alumni Station

GAME ON! GO IRISH BEAT THE SPARTANS !

Televised by ABC/ESPN2

Forecasted Weather at Kick-Off (8:12 EDT):

Cloudy

Temperature - 62 degrees

Wind - NNW - 8 MPH

Team Captains:

Kyle Rudolph
Ian Williams

Injuries to Starters:

Jamoris Slaughter - Jr. - Safety - Will be used only in an emergency

Las Vegas Odds:

Notre Dame + 3.5



Notre Dame Player Participation Trivia

Current number of players on the roster - 103

Number of players who saw action against Purdue – 55

Number of players who saw action against Michigan – 58

Played against Purdue but not against Michigan: Clelland, Golic, J, McCarthy, Slaughter

Played against Michigan but not against Purdue: Golic, M, Montana, Nuss, Posluszny, Ragone, Rees, Toma

Jackson Watch: Freshman Bennett Jackson had an unassisted tackle against Michigan to bring his kick-off special team participation total to 4-1.

Notre Dame - Michigan State Prediction

So, the current Vegas spread is Notre Dame + 3.5

John Vannie over at the NDNation crowd says ND 34 – MSU 24

So much for the spread.

Is this a good time to take the 3.5 points and call your corner bookie?

SAS texted, e-mailed, twittered, wired, called Anastasia Kushchenko, a.k.a. Anna Chapman and finally got a bold prediction from the infamous knock-out Russian Spy. Who is Anastasia? Where have you been you not so Red - Blooded American for the past three months, somewhere in East Lansing?

Did you check her out: http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978496274

Anastasia is convince it will be shoot-out: Notre Dame 41 – Michigan State – 18

What do you say Swami?

Do any of you dare to give SAS a prediction?