Notre Dame’s Overgrown Expectations
Posted on September 19, 2006
Filed Under Notre Dame Football, College Football
Here is a great summary of the overgrown expectations for this years team that were thoroughly exposed this week against Michigan.
- McKnight is a significant drop-off from Stovall. Not sure what’s up from shark, but he’s not getting separation. Stovall was our best receiver last year.
- Quinn is just off. That first interception was thrown high and behind. Mark this down. I think Clausen will be better than Quinn in this offense by his sophomore year. We have a nervous quarterback.
- We have zero game-breaking ability… which means if you’re not controlling the clock on offense, no one’s going to bail you out. We have no game-changers. We have little downfield capability.
- Our offensive line might be the weakest mentally that I’ve seen run-blocking. Here’s where we desperately needed more numbers to knock the dead weight out of there. There isn’t one OL in our junior classs. Not one. Top teams have sophomore and junior AA recruits as backups. We don’t even have a junior OL recruit.
- Darius Walker is a fine complementary back, but I watched USC’s freshmen the other night. They’re simply at a different level. I believe Walker is a good counter type back, but ND needs to land someone that causes defensive coordinators to change their game plans to control. No one respects our running game.
- We need some shutdown players on defense. Hopefully Gray is a start.
- As someone opined on Rock’s House yesterday, the Willingham “it’s okay” influence is still pervasive.
- Why do we not try to block a punt? Zibby’s a great threat, but we’re not giving him adequate blocking. If we try to block a punt we might open something up. Neither West or Grimes is that fast… both are quick.
- I see many people writing about Weis’s demeanor, good or bad, as if it matters. I believe he’s been trying to project an air of confidence whether or not there are talent deficiencies. He refuses to make excuses, but that doesn’t mean he truly thinks we’re world beaters.
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