Boy was I wrong on Notre Dame

[rbeezy32]

Well I guess I have to come out and say it. I was so so so so wrong about ND this year. I really thought we might have a chance at something before the seasonstarted. I'm tired of cocky Charlie Weis and also egotistical plays on offense. I hope eventually the talent they recruited comes through and Weis getsback to a smart coaching style. I'm just sick of watching this team play and lose to the likes of Air Force and Navy after we beat UCLA. Man what adisappointing season, I'm glad I didn't waist the money to take my wife and family back to see a game this year. Here's looking forward to twoyears from now Irish v. USC. I'll be there! What a waste of a football season for the Irish.

Well at least I can take some satisfaction in saying that I predicted Robert Meachem would be a waste of a roster spot this, unlike some of the Vol lovers onthis website.

 

[downtown43]

you guys are facing Duke this weekend, maybe you have a chance

ehhh... on second thought no. not even duke is as bad as ND

 

[rbeezy32]

If we lose to Duke this weekend, man I don't think I'll watch another game until after they finally win one. Just watch them beat Duke and then getinvited to some random Bowl Game.

Just Playin'. Hey the networksgotta get those ratings! Honestly won't be surprised if we lose to Duke too.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

Duke > Notre Dame....In basketball AND in football....

 

[dajoka004]

Duke is no slouch this year. They may have only one win, but they've played a lot of games close.

 

[rbeezy32]

Good thing I'm a UNC basketball fan then huh dre?

 

[gunna get it]

You still mad that U was WAY wrong about Robert Meachem's height and weight Bruh ?

actin like u the only one said meachem to N.O was a bad pick ...

but I'll give u credit, but time to take your medicine

Do I think they will get to the BCS Champioship game, no. But do I think they can compete for an at large bid to a BCS bowl if everything clicks for them, absolutely.

Quote:

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There is no way in hell they get near the BCS. they win 6 games, maybe 7.

---

We'll see by the end of the season. I'm telling you, this team is going to creep up on people this year.

and that is the reason right there. Michigan and USC are the two games that they will probably, all the other game are definitely winnable. Georgia Tech will be tough, but it will be at home. James Aldridge, if healthy this year will give the Irish that big back with burst that they lacked with Darius Walker. Clausen is a big time player, and might not be his freshmen year, but you never know. Weis is a great offensive mind as well. Yeah that's a lot of optimism and sure, they could turn around and only win 6 games, which is why I say if they click, they will be in the mix. We'll see where it stands at the end of the year, but I said it here first.

also note, that I hate USC, but I do think they are the favorite to win the BCS title, and Joe MacDaddy, I think we'll do a little bit better than the Emerald Bowl, we'll see you in South Bend buddy.

thanks wizard, i don't see them losing to penn state. if we get lucky and start off at 2-1, we're in good shape, we don't lose to BC @ home, UCLA will be close, but we can beat them, they usually just play tough in the pac 10, and for some reason i think we squeak by GT. Obviously everything has to go perfectly but 10-2 or 9-3 is realistic. It all depends on what this young defense does, our offense will be solid and we'll be able to put points on the board. But a couple of plays really could make or break the season

ya know we can sit here and analyze this all we want, but bottom line is everyone can agree that ND has a ridiculous amount of talent. Yes they are young, and it definitely isn't enough to get them past teams like USC and Michigan. (It would be nice if they could, but thats unrealistic) But they do have the ability to sneak up on teams that have more experience and possibly squeak by. The O-line is going to better, and James Aldridge will take pressure of the QB, he's good. Carlson will be a good safety net for whoever is behind the line, and he can catch the deep ball. Plus almost everyone here is so negative towards the age factor, but no one is really talking about Weis, this guy is a great football coach, and has a way of always changing the schemes to match the teams strengths, not vice versa. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they do again GT. It's going to be a great season none the less.

Incorrect sir, they beat Penn St. last year who finished in the top 25.

Also on defense, leaving out Brian Smith (ILB) and Ian Williams (DT) both who were on ESPN top 150 recruits.

And there is the switch to the 3-4 where we get to DE converted to LB John Ryan become a start.

And, to those who say we don't have a secondary, we have tons of depth, are two starters are returning seniors and backing them up is another senior who started at nickleback. Also, we have two sophmores Darrin Walls and Raeshon McNeil who should push for playing time.

Say what you will, but these guys will come to play, and they have something to prove this season.

---

where is this talent? show me ..

---

Top 10 in recruiting, No. 1 recruit signed on in January + upcoming sophmore class that was ranked in the top 10.

Where was Ty ranked in the top 25, well 2002 he was ranked 24th, 2003 not bad at 12, 2004 NR, 2005 NR.

Charlie's 1st 2 years and already in top 10. That says something about your coach.

Quote:

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maybe you nd fans need to come to grips that weis isnt the offensive genius that yall think he is

---

sorry, i'll let you ramble on about how bad ND is going to be this year, b/c they might be. but to say that Weis isn't an offensive genius is just plain foolish. Look at what he did with New Englad, that team wasn't the same when he left. He has a very creative offensive mind, and he was the reason ND's offense was the way it was, he might not have helped individuals get drafted, but he did bring together that offense as a whole.

Ok are we talking Tom Brady or the Pats, b/c after Weis left their offense went from above 400 pts to 370 something and their record to 10-6 from 14-2 the prev. year they won the Super Bowl. Last year, offense was still below 400 record was better at 12-4, but still 1st year that Weis was gone, not the same team.


Damn I really like that college football thread, that #!%% is like instant archives.

All in good fun!

 

[slow motion g35]

Here we are talking about how ND might have a chance against Puke,....wow how low can you go? Scouting and recruiting for ND better get things straight.

 

[meb07]

at me for being too lazzy too type out some paragraph about how ND was gonna begood this yearr. I do think that i have one really bad quote in that college football thread though

 

[ac ix]

Bottom line of my sig...

 

[gunna get it]

Meb, We all got some suspect analysis in that thread. I actually justread pgs 22-32 just now

COMEDY

 

[RyGuy45]

Charlie's last 12 games are not going so well....

@ USC 44-24 L
vs LSU 41-14 L
vs GT 33-3 L
@ Penn St 31-10 L
@ Michigan 38-0 L
vs Mich State 31-14 L
@ Purdue 33-19 L
@ UCLA 20-6 W
vs BC 27-14 L
vs USC 38-0 L
vs Navy 46-44 L
vs. Air Force 41-24 L

[h2]Out of his league[/h2] [h1]Weis' struggles prove problem with NFL-bred coaches

Stewart Mandel
SI.com[/h1]
Let's start with a fairly obvious realization: Charlie Weis is a terrible college football coach.

Sure, he looked great the past two seasons when he was leading a pair of veteran-laden Notre Dame teams to consecutive BCS bowl berths. One day in the future, he may well do the same.

But when faced this season with the ultimate test of a college coach -- the universal challenge of molding a team full of talented but inexperienced players into a cohesive and successful squad -- Weis has failed miserably. It shouldn't be entirely surprising, after all, he had no prior training.

Regardless of whether Weis' 1-9 Irish win or lose their last two games against Duke (1-9) or Stanford (3-7), Notre Dame's 2007 season will go down as one of the worst debacles ever orchestrated by a college coach. Hopefully, it will also serve as a cautionary tale to athletic directors around the country when hiring their next coach: That leading 20- and 30-something professionals to Super Bowls does not automatically render a coach capable of leading 18- and 19-year-old college kids.

"The college game is about a lot more than Xs and Os," said SuperPrep recruiting analyst and longtime college football follower Allen Wallace. "The Irish have a very intelligent coach. But this season showed [Weis] has a significant amount to learn about the college game and putting a team together."

If the 2007 season has been a learning experience for Weis, Notre Dame is footing an extremely expensive tuition bill.

In October 2005, seven games into Weis' tenure, school administrators decided they'd seen enough from the former New England Patriots guru to merit investing an additional 10 years and more than $30 million in him. Under Weis' watch, quarterback Brady Quinn had morphed from a struggling sophomore into a flourishing junior. Weis was universally hailed for his game plan and play-calling in a near-upset of then top-ranked USC. And highly ranked recruits from around the country were already falling all over themselves to play for him.

It seemed clear at the time that Weis was the perfect guy to return the Irish to glory -- and maybe one day he will. This season, however, a Notre Dame team backed with all the resources an NBC television contract and never-ending stable of donors can buy, and comprised of no fewer than 25 Rivals.com four- or five-star recruits, has not been remotely competitive against most of the teams on its schedule. While one might argue Michigan and USC have more talented rosters, Notre Dame's last two conquerors, Navy and Air Force, most certainly do not.

The coach seems as mystified as the rest of us as to how this could happen.

"The analysis that really has to take place is where, in fact, is the breakdown," Weis said after last Saturday's 41-24 loss to Air Force. "If I had that answer, we wouldn't have the problem."

The "breakdown" Weis refers to is one that's apparently taking place on a near-daily basis on the Irish practice field. Presumably, Weis and his assistants are teaching their players how to correct their mistakes, yet Saturday after Saturday, those same players go into a game and make the same mistakes.

Ten games into the season, Notre Dame's blockers still look helpless against oncoming blitzes. The running backs are still not finding the holes (if there are any). The receivers are still not running the right routes. The defensive backs are still blowing the same coverages.

Either Weis has managed to assemble a roster full of athletes incapable of following instructions (highly unlikely) -- or the coaches aren't getting their message across effectively (more likely). That's where Weis' background comes into question.
[h3]The NFL/college paradigm[/h3]
Prior to his 2005 arrival in South Bend, the 51-year-old New Jersey native had never played or coached at the collegiate level. His credentials for the job were: a) His reputation as an offensive guru; b) his anticipated recruiting cachet, what with those four Super Bowl rings; and c) the fact that he graduated from Notre Dame.

Though Weis himself claims that, "My greatest attribute professionally is as a teacher" -- how much teaching had he really had to do prior to this season? Tom Brady and Weis' other Patriots protégés arrived as fully developed professionals. Quinn and the other veteran stars Weis inherited at Notre Dame had at least played college football. Teaching guys a playbook is one thing; teaching them how to play is another.

"In the NFL, those 53 guys, for the most part, have already figured it out," said USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who spent the 2004 season as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders. "A lot of these kids coming in, they're so talented, they've gotten away with a lot of things they can't get away with in college -- a defensive end who only uses one pass-rush move, a receiver who runs the wrong routes. Those are the kind of things we have to teach our kids what to do.

"We have to be great teachers. If your technique is wrong, you'll get beat 75 percent of the time."

Poor technique is a far more plausible explanation than lack of talent -- because the Irish, while young, are plenty talented.

Weis' past two recruiting classes both garnered consensus top-10 ratings. ND's roster situation -- which includes 22 first- or second-year players on the 44-man two-deep -- is not all that different than that of 7-3 Florida, which has started 20 such players at various points this season, including sophomore stars Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.

Yet for all their acclaim as recruits, first- and second-year Irish players like quarterback Jimmy Clausen, tailbacks James Aldridge and Armando Allen, tackle Sam Young and cornerbacks Darrin Walls and Rasheon McNeil look overwhelmed whenever they step on the field. "Notre Dame has a lot of players who could have gone wherever they wanted," said Wallace. "It doesn't look like some of them have improved very much."

Notre Dame is not the first school to learn the perils of hiring an NFL-bred head coach, most of whom, like Weis, are almost robotic in their approach to the game.

Nebraska's Bill Callahan (who led the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl) and UCLA's Karl Dorrell (a former Denver Broncos position coach) are likely down to their last days. Their teams, much like the coaches, have been marked not only by their underachieving record but a visible lack of emotion. Similarly, Pittsburgh's Dave Wannstedt, a 10-year NFL head coach, is just 15-17 in three seasons at his alma mater. Georgia Tech has a modest .581 winning percentage (about the same as Weis' .571 mark) in six seasons under former Cowboys coach Chan Gailey.
"It's very interesting how success in the college game requires a much more flexible person," said Wallace. "You're talking about younger athletes who don't have as much time to learn their playbooks. They're powered much more by factors like emotion, not paychecks."
It's no coincidence that one consistent exception recently to this NFL/college paradigm has been USC's Pete Carroll, a guy who wears his emotion on his sleeve and whose success is attributed in large part to the way he "connects" with his players. (Is it any coincidence that those same methods drew scorn and two pink slips in the pros?) Sarkisian, Carroll's offensive coordinator, echoes Wallace's sentiment that Xs and Os play a lesser role in the success of a college coach.

"The hardest part, until you deal with it, is that you're managing 110 kids, and they all have their problems and their issues, whether it's their classes or their girlfriend or not playing enough," said Sarkisian. "Not every kid's going to come in and rush for 1,000 yards. They all think they will, but for the most part it's not going to happen. How do you keep them motivated? A lot of stuff goes into that."

Over the past six years, USC's coaches have shown little hesitation throwing some of their more highly touted recruits into the fire as freshmen, from former stars Shaun Cody, Mike Williams and LenDale White to current standouts Keith Rivers, Taylor Mays and current freshmen Everson Griffin and Joe McKnight. That doesn't necessarily mean the coaches throw the full playbook at them, said Sarkisian.

"We try to identify what they do best within the first four or five days of training camp," he said. "When we go into games, we try to use them in a way where they know what they're doing well."
[h3]Failure to adapt[/h3]
Through comments made over the course of the season, it's become evident that Weis -- despite knowing he'd be relying heavily this season on younger players -- was slow to adapt accordingly, and, in fact, made several decisions that showed little regard for the unique nature of coaching younger players:

• In a philosophy straight out of the NFL handbook but practically unheard of in college, Weis limited full-contact preseason practices to keep his players "fresh" for the season opener and limited "live" action during the first few weeks of in-season practices. Never mind that many of his key contributors had never played in a live college game.

Only after watching Michigan push his team around in a 38-0 loss the third week of the season did Weis institute more full-contact practices, but there's still an evident lack of physicality when watching their games.

"The pace of practice is quite a bit slower in the NFL," said USC's Sarkisian, whose team goes "full contact" nearly every day in the preseason and three days a week in-season. "We practice at a very high level. There's a lot of competition going on."


• Suiting his reputation as an Xs and Os guy, Weis spent nearly the majority of the preseason preparing solely for the opener against Georgia Tech, including installing a version of West Virginia's spread-option offense specifically for since-departed QB Demetrius Jones.

When neither the plan nor the quarterback worked in a 33-3 loss ... it was back to the drawing board for Week 2, complete with a new QB (Clausen) and a whole new plan for the players to learn. Jones wound up transferring, while Clausen and Evan Sharpley have shuffled back and forth ever since.

"[Starting Jones] was how we felt was the best chance we had to win the first game," said Weis. "But as we settled in, Jimmy was playing the best for us in practice and deserved to be the guy. And then when it got to the point where he was a little worn out, he no longer was as good as Evan being on the field."

Between the on-field battering he's taken and the constant yo-yoing with Sharpley, Clausen's already fragile, freshman confidence is presumably shattered.

• While Weis has said on numerous occasions that "I probably adapted more this year than I have in my whole coaching career," and that he's not "being closed-minded about my approach to football," there's been little evidence that Weis has tailored his strategy to the unique nature of his squad.

The most obvious example was his now-infamous decision to pass on a potential game-winning field goal attempt against Navy. While it's true kicker Brandon Walker was no shoe-in to hit the 41-yarder (he'd missed six of his previous eight attempts), it's more puzzling why he would put faith in a struggling quarterback (Sharpley) playing behind an ever-shaky line to magically convert a fourth-and-eight play.

"It was going against the wind, and in practice he couldn't make it from there," Weis explained afterward. "That's why we didn't kick it from there. That was a pretty simple one."

Notre Dame wound up allowing one of its national-worst 49 sacks on the play and eventually lost in triple overtime, ending a 43-game winning streak against the Midshipmen.
[h3]A program stain[/h3]
To his credit, a purportedly humbled Weis has not hesitated to accept the blame for Notre Dame's woes, criticizing his own job performance on multiple occasions.

"Rather than sit there and make excuses and talk about the volume of numbers in the upper classes, you just have to say you didn't do a good enough job of putting them in a position to win," he said after the Navy game. "I take all the responsibility."

Weis, however, is one of the few vested parties who will not pay a price for this disastrous season. He will still pocket his $3 million-plus for what has essentially been a year of on-the-job training.

Meanwhile, the 80,000-plus spectators who pack Notre Dame Stadium every week -- many of them traveling great distances to be there -- have wasted untold dollars and energy supporting a woefully prepared team, not to mention the immeasurable humiliation their university has suffered. Lord only knows how much money NBC has lost on its investment.

And while Weis may "know I'm going to be here for a long time," as he recently proclaimed (the fact that he's sitting on the potential top-ranked recruiting class for 2008 certainly provides some job security), it's safe to surmise several of his assistant coaches will soon be unemployed.

''I'm still feeling we're way too inconsistent in how we play," he said after last week's loss. "Therefore ... you have to evaluate the teacher and the teaching to see why [we] aren't progressing.''

It doesn't take a football savant to evaluate Weis' performance this season: He gets an F. If this were high school, he'd have to repeat a year before advancing.

Unfortunately, there are no mulligans in college football. The stain of Notre Dame's 2007 season will never be erased.

The only potential positive is that maybe now a few athletic directors might give pause before throwing money at the next hot NFL name.

 

[rbeezy32]

Yupp time to eat my words, maybe I should stick to the NFL, I was a little more on point with SOME of them. Others completely ridiculous. I'm surethere's some hilarious stuff in that college post.

 

[rbeezy32]

Also, keep an eye on Colt Brennen from Hawaii.

In regards to the Heisman

I think Michigan is a little underrated this season as is LSU

Surprises this year.

Well at least I might got two right. Way off on Michigan, but who knows, maybe Brennen wins the Heismen and LSU keeps up pace and plays for the NationalChampionship.

Man I was so off on everything else!

 

[fanatic15]

I think this video is fitting for this thread

 

[meb07]

Originally Posted by GUNNA GET IT

Meb, We all got some suspect analysis in that thread. I actually just read pgs 22-32 just now

COMEDY

This was my quote the night before game 1"

Ga tech going down in just a matter of hours. Taylor Bennett come on your nothing without CJ. Tashard "I had to transfer because i suck" Choice is overrated as they come. Demetrius Jones

">

 

[downtown43]

hold up

our offense will be solid and we'll be able to put points on the board.

rollin

 

[joe mcknight is ballin]

 

[rbeezy32]

Nice Joe, this coming from a USC fan whose Trojans lost to Cardinal at USC. Please.

 

[rolla808]

I'm still surprised at how terrible the season has gone for ND, seems like it's more than players graduating. There is no reason for them to have lostto Army and Navy.

 

[here 4 tha kickz]

Charlie Wiess should be coach of the year. With all the prestige and history at notre dame, it is an amazing feat to coach notre dame to 1-9.

 

[craftsy21]

@ gunna with all those quotes throwed back in your face... glad i made that post, that's all i can say... It's made a lot of NT'ers thinktwice about being so outlandish with their predictions, I hope.

 

[gunna get it]

What ever happened to the "Official Michigan Football season" thread.
It was Priceless.

Had the schedule all mapped out, talkin botu App St would be a nice lil tune up to get the season started

That $$!+ disappeared to like page 18 a week after Oregon game.

 

[rbeezy32]

21 - 0, might actually get a W here!

 

[the sauna]

Notre Dame will be a problem next year! .. yea, i said it...