MSU Duds and Studs

Duds

Pass Rush: ESPN described our defense as being in "code red crisis mode," and right now, I have to agree. Poor tackling and another lackluster performance in the secondary helped Michigan State throw for 305 yards (to put that in perspective, MSU only managed 316 total yards at home last week against Central Michigan). For now, I'll put most of this blame on the pass rush. Whether we sent 3 or 7, the defense was unable to record a sack; either our front seven is worse than everyone thought or the Big Ten is that much better.
Injuries: Jimmy got tangled up, Allen and Duncan also were slow to get up at times, and we lost this guy named Michael Floyd for (likely) the season. "You can never really replace Michael Floyd, a guy that caliber of player. "He's an A-flight player," Weis said. "What you have to do is put other people in position to go ahead and pick up some of that responsibility. Having some veterans in that mix certainly makes it easier to do that." UHND has some ideas of how ND might replace Floyd's production, but it will be an uphill climb for the offense without its best receiver.

Backups: Jonas Gray struggled with pass blocking on Saturday, and after seeing a few snaps against Michigan, Shaq Evans couldn't get himself on the field this week despite Floyd's first half injury. With injury attrition setting in, the backups will need to step it up.

End of Game Clock Management: Safety Kyle McCarthey described the last series as "freakishly similar" to last week's loss to Michigan. Part of the similarity was in Weis electing to throw the ball during the last series instead of running clock. Michigan State would have been less of a threat to score a game winning touchdown without an extra 40 seconds.

Studs

Armando: Allen has my vote for most improved player right now. Previously ridiculed for going down easily, #5 has shown the ability to consistently get the tough yards this year. His pass blocking is good, he's catching the ball out of the backfield effectively, and to borrow a Friday Night Lights line, he can throw the ball, too! (Play is at the 5:12 mark, sorry its the only one I could find).
#9s: Kyle Rudolph put up a career high 95 receiving yards and Ethan Johnson blocked an extra point that forced MSU to try and score at the end of the game instead of kicking a game winning field goal. With games like that, these two are giving Zibby jersey owners a good ROI.

New Coaches: Allen is looking better than ever, and a suspect O-Line from last season is providing good protection (3 sacks all year*) and good running lanes. Its about time to throw some props to Tony Alford and Frank Verducci, who have done a great job improving the offense.

Kyle McCarthy: Kyle is the only player in our secondary that tackles well, and his interception at the end of the game was the difference maker in the ball game. Every ND fan should be thankful that this athlete came back for a 5th year.Wildcat: On the one year anniversary of the Miami Dolphins using this formation to beat the Patriots, it looks like Weis has finally cooked up something close to a schematic advantage.

Sorry for the lack of intro / outro - busy busy. Go Irish! Beat Boilermakers!

Quote of the Week... Talkin bout Practice

A few thoughts from all the Spring ball stuff thats been floating around with the start of practice this week.

I like what I've seen so far from the new coaches. Randy Hart has a very young group of defensive linemen to coach, and he hasn't been wasting any time. His drills involve a lot of energetic talking, a lot of rapid fire movement by the linemen, but most importantly, he is taking the time to correct technique. A spring a summer with Hart should have the trench men playing aggressive and off instinct.
Frank Verducci, while coming from the NFL (if you can call the Browns part of the NFL...), seems to have a good plan to mesh his coaching style with the college game. "The NFL is a more details game," Verducci explained to the media earlier this week, "whereas the college level is more about development." Adding that he hopes to teach linemen the details in a way that will "accelerate their development." What I like most about his coaching philosophy though is his expectations. Frank understands that the new techniques he is implementing may be new and mistakes may happen, but he is a guy that gets on people for repeat mistakes; that attitude will hopefully improve the consistency that Weis is hoping for this year.

My favorite coaching addition so far though has to be Tony Alford. As seen in the practice video, while the RBs carry the ball through routine agility drills, Alford is aggressively slapping at it, trying to dislodge it. The dirt on Alford coming in was that he is very intense about ball security, and while you can only tell so much from a 5 minute video clip, it looks like he doesn't plan on having his backs dropping the ball this year.

Furthermore, Alford seems to have already established a great relationship with his players, and he has instilled a mindset that will make them better. When talking to the media, Armando Allen was quick to point out how well his teammates have connected with Alford, but he also gave us this QotW gem:

"The difference between good and great is going out on the field and finishing plays. Not even in games, I'm talking about practice, walkthrough, its the little things for us." "We go out there everyday with the midset to grind, to do whatever we have to do to get better."
-Armando
That's it for now. Go Irish!

Quote of the Week: Resurrection

Try as I might to understand what's going on in Weis' head, sometimes I just inevitably end up falling short. The announcement of former O-Line coach John Latina's departure to make way for Frank Verducci surprises me; I'm not confused about the selection, but rather by the timing of this announcement.

Former Offensive Coordinator Mike Haywood was interviewing for head coaching jobs for awhile before he left, perhaps most notably when he was turned down by Houston last season. Keeping this in mind, I figured that Weis and Co. would be well ahead of the curve in selecting his replacement. In fact, I assumed that the candidate had already been chosen, but Charlie was waiting to introduce the new, revamped staff all at once.Now that Verducci's hire has been made public, it tells us that Notre Dame may not have a ready candidate to step into Haywood's role or into the D-Line coach vacancy left by Jappy Oliver. For all I know, contract negotiations may already be underway, but I'm still relatively surprised that this announcement came before we settled on an O-Coordinator.

Moving on to Verducci, though, it looks like he should be an improvement in the coaching staff. He seems to fit the classic definition of journeyman, working for four different NFL teams and taking two years off during a ten year stint, but you can't help but think that 30 years of coaching experience across D-1 and the NFL should serve him well. I like that he is reportedly an intense coach, and I like his excitement about his new job. Weis has always valued people that respect the tradition of the university, and that is where this week's quote comes from:

"I'm very excited for this opportunity and am grateful to Coach Weis," Verducci said. "Notre Dame is the one college job I pursued and is the only school I considered leaving the NFL for."

Welcome to Notre Dame, Frank. Now teach those hog mollies how to run block!