IBG: Law of the Land

The Irish Blogger Gathering is back for another season. Domer Law blog took the honors of starting us off this year. Here we go:

1. My season preview included music video footage for each position group. What song or video do you feel typifies this year's Notre Dame team heading into the season? Embed a youtube or other similar video if possible.

I don't know why
All the fiction of your sleeping
Doesn't visit you awake
I don't know how to get your storybook sunrise
To follow you above your cloudy day

May all your visions turn to gold
To have and hold

I decided to go with an unreleased Audioslave song, Turn to Gold. The songs lyrics take the listener into a time of uncertainty and anxiety as the protagonist attempts to rise out of his dark past into a promising situation, which is more or less what Notre Dame is trying to do this season. Also, the song says the word Gold a lot.

2. Post a picture that to you portrays the attitude of this year's team and discuss.

I struggled surfing around Google images for this question, but I finally landed on some version of the running man. The mantra this year is “Show me;” the players aren’t looking back at 2008, but are pushing themselves forward to excel in 2009.

3. What do you perceive as the team's biggest weakness heading into the season?

Even though it is a hugely complicated answer, I’m going to go with the running game. Notre Dame should be able to throw the ball well, defend the pass well, and should improve on special teams this year (I can't wait to see Theo Riddick return kicks). However, running the ball and defending the run have many question marks heading into the season: Will Allen emerge as a dominant back? How will the O-line handle the offseason musical chairs position switches? How will Verducci and Alford impact the running game? Can our young D-linemen play above their age? Will Hart be able to get his players to penetrate and make the big plays? I am more optimistic about our offensive running game, but the number of question marks make it a glaring weakness in my eyes until I see that they are answered on the field.

4. With the exception of the 1990s, Notre Dame has won a National Championship in every decade since the 1920s. What are the chances (a) that Notre Dame wins a championship this year, and (b) if not this year, when do you predict the next championship for the Irish?

A) Gotta go with a harsh 0% here. I still see us losing to USC, and even if we make it to the national championship game, the top teams (which will be starting Heisman winning QBs instead of true freshman) would be too much to handle.

B) Is there any other answer than next year? The offensive and defensive lines will still be a little weak, but everyone else should be back, so why not?

5. Nevada runs the Pistol offense, Navy the Triple Option, and Michigan the Spread Option. Which offensive scheme do you think is the most difficult to prepare for, and why?

I have always thought that while Weis may be an offensive coach, he has been ahead of the curve with understanding how to stop the various spread offenses in college football: get speed on your defense. Through recruiting, it is clear that the Irish have acquired LB speed at DE, fast speed at the linebacker positions, and quick, hard hitting DBs that can make solid tackles. Therefore, I would say defending the option attack, which takes place in the trenches, is probably a little harder for Notre Dame to prepare for because the slow developing plays are counterintuitive to what our defense was recruited to do: run and hit.

6. Is Colin Capaernick the best quarterback we'll see this year? If not, who is?

He’s got the numbers to back it up, but I’m going to go with Jake Locker of Washington. A dual threat quarterback like Capaernick, Locker is such a tough guy that when he injured his hand last season his coach played him on defense. I also feel that going up against teams like USC every year hardens a quarterback a little more than (not to slight the Bronco’s too much) Boise State. However, Capaernick is definitely in the top three quarterbacks the Irish will face this year and it will be fun to watch him on Saturday.

7. Prediction time. We have to get on the record before the season kicks off. Give me:
(1) Overall prediction for wins/losses.
10-3
(2) Projected bowl game and result.
Orange Bowl loss to Virginia Tech
(3) Predicted final ranking.
#9
(4) Best player on the team.
Sam Young
(5) Heisman trophy winner.
Tim Tebow
(6) National Champion.
Florida
(7) Prediction for Nevada game, including score.
Notre Dame wins in a shootout 37-24

Our UAV is ONline!

Hey all,

While a summer drought is inevitable for any college blog, usually the Nasties crew tries to start picking it up during training camp after we have a chance to get back on campus, see some of the players, and watch coaches interviews. However, our battle with Comcast to get internet hooked up in our lovely South Bend house took a little longer than anticipated.

Fear not, though, because we are pumped and ready for another Irish football season. Keeping with Weis' theme of "Show me," I'll refrain from saying what to expect out of this blog in the coming months and focus my energy on getting some decent material up.

Go Irish!

Pedro vs. The Shark

Tonite is the first game Notre Dame great and Cubs pitcher Jeff "The Shark" Samardzija will start. He has seen bullpen experience before, but he starts in place of the injured Zambrano (probally over reacting to a stubbed toe). And he will face none other than your WORLD CHAMPION PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES hot off an extra innnings shallacking of the cubs last nite. And who is Jeff squaring off against? Pedro Martinez. In his first start of the season, he hopes to bounce back from surgery and a general lack of enthusiasm from being with the Mets. Go Phils!!!

and here is something else which needs to be added along

Baseball Fantasy Camp with Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins - watch more funny videos

4 Reasons for Success that Aren't Being Talked About

Over the long summer months where football news shows up less frequently than nice beer at a dorm party, there have been a number of articles predicting an Irish improvement from the 2008 season. These theories have mainly centered (especially in the national media) around a soft schedule combined with returning experience, but I'm going to try to make a case for success by pointing out a few other things:

Ready to go:

From extra practice to hitting the weights, the team seems to have put itself in the position to play great football this year.

Jimmy Clausen flew Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, and Kyle Rudolph out to his crib in Cali to run through the passing tree eight hours a day for an entire week. Critics have questioned Clausen's ability to step up as a leader, and this is one piece of evidence that suggests improvement in that area.

Its no secret that freshman are disadvantaged when playing against seniors, especially in the trenches, but Notre Dame should finally find themselves on the positive side of that mismatch. Weis said that over the 4 years his linemen have been at school, their numbers in the core weight exercises (bench, cleans, squats) have increased 50%. To put that in perspective, a freshman entering school benching 350 should be maxing out at 525 his senior year (which would still only be enough to tie Braxton Cave, who has allegedly bulked up this summer).

They will pumps the iron!

Depth Charge:

Over the past two seasons, a significant portion of the lineup was determined out of necessity (i.e. lack of options), and this year, we are finally starting to see the benefits of consistent recruiting pay off with some quality competitions in training camp. We have seven legitimate DBs, 3 full rotations of offensive linemen, and a good mix of linebackers, just to name a few. Beyond creating some good competition, this will help mitigate damages against major injuries this season. Even though the Irish are entering camp 100% healthy, having quality backups to fill the gaps once the inevitable attrition sets in should result in at least one more win than if the roster was top heavy with talent.

To Hell with the Committee:

2005/2006 saw an effective passing game mixed up with consistent running by one Darius Walker. In 2009, Charlie has made it very clear that Armando is the guy, and while Hughes and Co. may be mixed in, it should be more in a relief role than a 'lets surprise the defense' chess move. The combination of Allen at tailback with a blocking Aldridge should give Weis the schematic flexibility he wants without forcing him to show his hand. Last season, formations with Schwapp or Hughes in the backfield generally meant inside while Allen meant outside or pass. Now, for example, Aldridge and Allen can come out in a strong formation, Armando can motion out as a receiver, and Weis still has the option to 'Impound It' with #34.
Armando Allen will lead the Irish ground game in 2009
Spread it:

In the 2005/2006 seasons, Notre Dame aired it out with 3 quality receivers, but beyond Mo Sto, Shark, McKnight, and Grimes, the position talent fell off pretty rapidly. Pardon the phrase, but the Irish now have a stable of receivers, giving Charlie the option to really air it out if he so desires. Ignoring the steady hands of Kyle Rudolph, Notre Dame could put out a five wide set consisting of Tate, Floyd, Kamara, Parris, and Goodman - and even if some of these five fall short of expectations, a hungry Deion Walker and Shaquelle Evans should ensure that there are plenty of quality options.

25 Days until kickoff. Go Irish!

WE GOT PRINCE!!!

We got Prince.......... Shembo

But ya, Prince Shembo, a nice LB recruit- and if you dont think I jumped at the chance of showing a picture of Prince serving pancakes, you are mistaken.

(Maybe a preview at the recuit in the NDH for breakfast)

Work has been tough now that its winding down for the summer, but the Nasties crew will be back to full force in the coming weeks with practice starting up.

Some Photos of ND in Summer

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, taking it easy, and gettin ready for the college football tailgate season through 2 a day grilling sessions and various pork product eating contests. 

A few quick things....

Through my job this summer in DC, I have been thrown into alot of new situations meeting some higher up executives and what not, and one thing which the topic of conversation always go towards is ND football. It seems that everybody knows something about our program and has an opinion on it (mostly favorable) and can't wait to hear what a bigger fan than themselves has to say about the upcoming season even if they aren't big sports fans. This is something which I don't think Michigan can attest to on a national level.

Our buddy Rusty went through campus on the first week of July and took some pretty cool photos of the stadium and campus (****notice the green****). And with the first game some 6 weeks away it looks like it is going to be beautiful on campus, especially with the band going through the new Law School arch. 

I guess we're gettin a new scoreboard cus this is the old one outside the stadium. If we end up with a Univeristy of Texas sized new one, I will miss the tradition, but happily embrace something that can be seen from space.

My favorite spot in town, Cheers Lounge, has again upgraded its facilities to include a signed jersey of the Bookstore Basketball team "Chris Brown's Greatest Hits" featuring Ryan Ayers. Some of you may remember the Cheers Lounge of last season, and although I loved that place, it was revamped over winter break and is now a very classy, very reasonably priced, very friendly place to go. Charlie's Nasties will surely be holding a gamewatch here come fall. 

You stay classy ND nation.... and thanks for stopping by

 

Talking Bout.. Summer

I apologize for the month long hiatus. Following a brief return to the great state of Ohio, I packed my bags and headed to the Windy City for the summer, where someone thinks it is a good idea to pay me for telling people what to do. The job has been rough on this blog though as being on the road Monday through Thursday combined with working without internet during the day (not like I have much time to write there anyway) have tapped into my expendable time that I normally use for covering the Irish.



June is normally a pretty dull month in terms of football news, but with Quinn battling for a starting spot, recruiting hitting a hot streak, and some good positions battles (finally) set to take place during offseason workouts, the summer of 2009 is off to a good start.


NFL Irish: The Browns completed their first set of minicamps last week, and from all of the reports I’ve read, it sounds like the team is going through some growing pains with another new coaching regime. Playing for his third Belichik-tree coach in Eric Mangini, Brady Quinn's accuracy in the short game may trump Derek Anderson's strong arm in the new, more conservative offense. Of course Quinn couldn't have hurt his chances of starting by wowing the new coach with his off season workout regime:

“[The weight room] was something that allowed me to propel to start when I was a freshman coming in at Notre Dame, as well as giving me an advantage in high school. Then as I've gotten to the NFL I noticed guys become limited by injuries, and a lot of injuries happen because guys don't take care of their bodies. So I've always prided myself on hard work and that's just extended into the weight room. It's something where, not only do I enjoy it, but I feel like it gives me an advantage over everyone else, because I work so much harder there and do the little things."

-Brady Quinn


I feel like too many of my previous posts have dealt with Quinn, so I'll try to mix in some other NFL Irish news as well.


Video of John Carlson talking up the next season in Seattle

Even with the departure of Matt Birk, Vikings center John Sullivan knows he still has to win the starting job in Minnesota.

...ok so when I had the idea of doing a small NFL Irish segment I thought I would be able to dig up more on the rookies (Bruton et al), but so far I haven't found anything, so I guess that will have to wait...

Recruiting: The last week has been full of Notre Dame recruiting news as the Irish have landed 4 verbal commits in the last 7 days. Highlights include QB Hendrix (who BGS points out will continue the tradition of easily memorable ND signal caller names) and 4 star DE Blake Leuders.
There are a lot of blogs that recover recruiting more in depth than the Nasties crew, so if you want to dive deeper into the new commits, I’m going to recommend a new site that I’ll soon add to the ND Blog section. The Daily Shillelagh (besides having a nice ring to it) keeps up on its implied promise and cranks out quality updates on a frequent basis.

Thats all the time I have for now - Go Irish!

Brady Quinn Head of the Class

Here's an NFL.com video of BQ drawing up the 'College Route' (click image to play):


By the way, I'm a big fan of the pump up music that starts playing when Brady hits the white board - it really shows how psyched ND students get for mental challenges (thus why I drink an EAS Myoplex after every exam).

One of my favorite ESPN.com writers, James Walker who covers the AFC North, just released his top 7 position battles from the conference. Whether because of intense competition or lack of talent, my Brownies managed to score 3 of the top 5 spots. Of course, #1 is the annual QB derby in Cleveland. Here is what Walker had to say about the former Irish QB:

"Cleveland's offensive system under Mangini is being built around a power running game and an efficient and conservative passing game, which seems to favor Quinn."

Thanks for reading. Go Irish!

Tangled up in Spring

A couple things I'm thinking about:

Congrats to Armando and RJ for taking home the spring game MVP honors. However, I think it is likely that only one of these players will step up to garner MVP type performance consistently this season. Looking at UHND's breakdown of past Blue Gold MVPs, a runningback has won the award since 2006, but none of these players (Travis Thomas, Junior Jabbie, Robert Hughes) has been able to translate a good spring into a great fall. On the other hand, the Blue/Gold MVP award has recently been a good predictor of success for young, highly recruited defensive players. Look for Blanton to team up with Walls for a great season in the Irish secondary.
All this focus on the running game sounds awfully familiar - remember about this time last year when Weis promised a power running game? The offense did pick up a lot of yards on the ground this spring, but our RBs only averaged 4.2 yards per carry; Weis himself said that number needs to be up to around 4.6 for us to be on par with the better teams in the country. Furthermore, those numbers may even be inflated with our interior defensive line and inside linebackers having little depth (and possibly less talent) compared to some of the teams we will face in the fall.

While it was nice to see Bruton get drafted to a place like Denver where he should have a shot a competing for playing time at safety, it was unfortunate that he was the lone Irish player taken. However, Weis has been working hard to get other seniors signed to rookie free agent contracts. His ability to give some of these players a shot at the NFL has to look good to recruits.
Speaking of the draft, ESPN's recent 2010 draft projections have Sam Young getting drafted 14th overall to the Bills. Hopefully Sam can have a great senior year and raise himself from his current stock as the 5th best tackle in his class.

Now off to do some work for finals, Go Irish!

Thursday Quote - Weis Likes Offense

Straight from the Tribune:
As for who Weis will be rooting for Saturday, as the newly reinstated offensive coordinator, the Irish coach made it clear: the offense. "When I'm the head coach, I cheer for everyone," Weis said. "Not when I'm calling plays. I'm a sore loser. I don't want to eat hot dogs, OK?"

Plenty to watch for in the Spring game this year. The resurgence of Robby Parris and the emergence of John Goodman (and hopefully the return of Duval) are great stories to look for at the receiver position. I'm personally looking forward to seeing the extra gear that our defense has supposedly picked up, and after watching Duncan in one on one drills from yesterday, the run blocking should also be fun to watch.

Happy BlueGold - Go Irish! ...now off to work on a business case for the rest of the day...