Smells Like Roses

Not even Irish fanatic Lou Holtz awarded "helmet stickers" to Notre Dame on ESPN's College Game Day Final, his counterpart Mark May adding,

"If you don't protect the ball, you can lose to just about anyone, and that was proven in Southern California on Saturday. USC and UCLA entered with a combined record of 8-1. Their opponents were a combined 1-8. But USC and UCLA lost because they turned over the ball 12 times and had a turnover margin of minus-11. That'll get you beat every time."

Saturday's battle on the gridiron was one of the scrappiest I've ever witnessed at the college level, but when your team's 0-5 and looking very realistically at 0-8, a win is a win. Clearly this game was lost by UCLA and not won by Notre Dame. Or was it? Charlie's Nasties hopes that some insight brought with this edition of Duds and Studs can help you decide.

Duds:

No downright duds this week except maybe McLeod Bethel-Thompson and UCLA coach Karl Dorrell, but it's no secret that the Irish offense was pretty stagnant Saturday. ND averaged under 12 yards per drive, and the long drives that they did have (27, 23, 44 yards) all ended in punts except for one (29 yards) that resulted in their second field goal, but this can be better attributed to starting at the 40 yard line after a 4th down John Ryan sack. I give the offense credit for their ability to run the clock (32 minutes time of possession) and avoid turnovers, but when facing an actual defense (sorry Purdue fans), Notre Dame still struggles to orchestrate respectable drives, and for now, that is something to improve on.

Studs:

Brian Pollian / Brandon Walker: As mentioned before, special teams are critical to winning close football games. Pollian must have been able to draw some motivation from me calling him out in a post last week because the special teams looked pretty solid; there were no broken coverages on kickoffs or punts, and blocking was relatively decent on returns. It was absolutely paramount, however, that the Irish were finally able to convert all of their kicking attempts. Give Walker some credit for giving ND some momentum after getting those first three points; it would have been ugly if Notre Dame got the ball at the UCLA's one yard line and came away with nothing but a blocked field goal.

Jimmy Clausen: Nothing too special, but his ability to manage the team efficiently after we had the lead definitely helped us to win the game. For now, as long as he avoids turnovers, he'll be okay in my book.

James Aldridge: The unsung hero of this week, Aldridge was able to run the ball 22 times (albeit for only 52 yards) in the win over the Bruins. It is comforting to know that Weis has the confidence to give a true sophomore that many carries in a game where ball control is so important. Aldridge's familiarity with running between the tackles will pay big dividends to this football team over the next two years.

Trevor Laws: In case you haven't noticed, this guy is the best player on our defense. Linemen in the 3-4 front usually don't draw a lot of attention because it isn't the most glamorous position, but Laws has been able to consistently dominate his man (and often men as he is double teamed) on the way to pressuring the quarterback and blowing up running plays at the line of scrimmage. His timely pass deflections, stops (including one sack), and constant presence in the backfield helped to rattle an already green quarterback.

O yeah, there was this senior Maurice Crum Jr. that played pretty well, too.

In conclusion, just because the game was sloppy doesn't mean that the Irish didn't work hard enough to earn the win. Hopefully the players can carry some of this momentum into town for the BC game this week. Speaking of Boston College, who would've thought that they would be ranked higher than USC when we played them? O well, I guess that's sports for you.

Go Irish. Beat Eagles.