Week 1 Review

It has taken nearly two full days for me to physically and emotionally recover from Saturdays loss and compose a somewhat sensible assessment of this year's disappointing home opener. To sum things up, we couldn't find a running or passing game to counter Tech's blitz packages and our defense surrendered 33 points. In the defense of our defense, however, it is almost unrealistic to expect a unit to goose egg a team that enjoyed ample time of possession and excellent starting field position; even Weis admitted that his offense "hung the defense out to dry."

While the rest of campus seems to be in despair, I was able to see some signs of hope in the pounding the Irish took Saturday. Granted it may not be enough hope to win out, but I think it'll be enough to turn some heads in our next few games.

Our run defense was shaky when Choice was able to turn the corner, but at least for the first half, Corwin's unit was able to hold Tech to fewer points than they should have had given their starting field position. Our secondary seemed to be in decent form, allowing the Jackets to complete only 11 pass attempts for just over 100 yards with a 50% completion rate, which isn't spectacular, but is something to build upon. I'm confident that Brown will be able to patch up the problems in time for Penn State.

As for the positives on offense, Jones did deliver on his promise as a running quarterback; despite facing the same blitzing linebackers and porous offensive blocking, Jones was still our leading rusher. Critics bashed his ability to read defenses in the passing game, but let's be honest for a second: how many quarterbacks do you know that can release the ball in a 5 or 7 step drop when the defense is bringing the house and the receivers are all running intermediate or deep routes? My take on the quarterback situation: it doesn't matter who's back there unless there is a decent 3 step passing game or some hot route system to counter the blitz. Our quarterbacks completed an acceptable percentage of their passes (except Jones who only threw 3), the issue was that they were routinely sacked before they could get the ball off.

Armando Allen and James Aldridge looked good. I mean good. Allen averaged 8 yards per carry, but only saw the ball three times; Aldridge managed over 3 per carry, but he was hit at or behind the line of scrimmage almost every time he touched the ball. It will only be a matter of time before they start getting the touches that they need to become staples of the new offense.

Ignoring a few botched punts by Price, the special teams unit looked pretty solid. I stand by my belief that Tate and Allen will be a force to reckon with in the return game, and our field goal block unit was getting a pretty good push up front. The best surprise on special teams, however, was that our kickoff team was able to place the ball inside the 5 and hold Tech to returns at the 16 and 24 yard line. After the student practice, I was sure that the kickoffs would be our biggest special team weakness, so I was please to see some improvement.

In times like these, all one can hope for is that the team is able to build on these positives in time to stick it to Penn State next weekend. Go Irish.

If you still need to do some Irish football venting, then click on the image of this little gem I found on the Goo Tube.