Duds
Weis: I can't point the blame more at any one else for this loss. Allen was killing it, and Jonas Gray gets 3 carries for net zero yards and a crucial fumble. Worse was the clock management at the end of the game. I'm aware that Clausen may have checked to Tate's fade route and that if Shaq ran a better route, we would probably have won. However, it makes no football sense to take those risks when we can call three consecutive run plays (throw in a screen if you want to pass) and give Michigan's rookie quarterback no timeouts and short clock to drive the entire field. Kudos to Charlie for putting up a lot of points, but his clock management at the end of games boarders on the inept.
Special Teams: Tausch missed his first collegiate field goal, and poor pursuit angles combined with a missed tackle gave UM seven free points on a kick return. I will be interested to see OC Domer's breakdown of average starting field position; I have a feeling Notre Dame lost this pivotal statistic Saturday.M.O.E.s: To borrow a stat often used at Blue Gray Sky, major offensive errors killed the Irish on Saturday. Holding penalties and dropped passes jerked our offense to a stop. A missed blocking assignment aided in causing the Jonas Gray fumble, and Allen stepped out of bounds on what would have been a vital touchdown.
Defense: I tried to narrow this down into secondary and front seven, but the problems I noticed were largely the same in both. On too many occasions, defenders either took a bad pursuit angle to the ball, incorrectly played a route, or displayed the same poor tackling we saw against Nevada last week. If anyone wants to argue in favor of our defense, keep in mind that we just let a freshman quarterback complete 70% of his passes and average over 5 yards per carry.
Studs
Jimmy Clausen*: JC gets the asterisk here because if I find out that he checked out of a run to throw a deep ball to Tate, all of his statistics are shrouded by a terrible awareness decision. That being said, Jimmy has yet to throw a pick this year, and he would have probably put up more than 330 yards and 3 TDs if it weren't for some of the M.O.E.s mentioned above. The best aspect of Clausen's performance, however, was his ability to reinvigorate a stagnant offense that was 11 points down in the fourth quarter and put the team in position to win.
Michael Floyd: Michigan had no answer for Floyd on Saturday. Registering over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns in the first two games, this guy is a freak of nature. Fortunately, he should be back for MSU this weekend.
Armando Allen: With 139 yards on 21 carries, you wonder why Jonas or Robert were ever in the game. Allen showed speed to the outside, vision on the inside, and bounced off of would be tacklers for most of the game. After scoring the go ahead touchdown in the final minutes and following with a 2 point conversion run, Allen's penalty put an unfortunate damper on an otherwise spectacular game. It's unfortunate that such a minor hand gesture (I'm not even talking about the bird) could have such a large impact on the outcome of a game...
Offensive Line: Allen and Clausen didn't do it all by themselves. The O-Line put together one of its better performances against a quality opponent in recent memory. 5.1 YPC against a team like Michigan is a solid effort.Closing Thoughts:
Overall, I think our offense put together a good game. Key errors, however, kept the performance from being dominant. If ND can play smarter football on offense for the rest of the season, we should be able to move the ball well against our opponents. The defense, on the other hand, showed why most Irish fans listed our front seven as a weakness during the offseason. The youth up front was unable to make the proper reads and too slow to react. The veterans continue to move too slow (or in the case of Brian Smith, over pursue) to contain the opposition. This side of the ball must improve if Notre Dame wants to beat MSU or Pitt, let alone USC.
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