How would rainy weather @ ND affect Denard/offense?
The weather forecast for Saturday at Notre Dame is "Showers" but also "plenty of sun":
http://weather.yahoo.com/united-states/indiana/university-of-notre-dame…
If it does turn out to be a rainy day, or even a wet grass field, this will presumably affect Denard's ability to cut etc (but perhaps not his straightaway speed), somewhat neutralizing our best weapon. Anyone else with more expertise than I have thoughts on this?
September 7th, 2010 at 5:41 PM ^
Hes fast enough to avoid raindrops. No one else is.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
The best answer on here!!
September 7th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^
Denard would just have to slide through the mud really fast until he gets into the end zone
September 7th, 2010 at 5:46 PM ^
...RR will deploy the slip and slide drill this week?
Could be... could be...
September 7th, 2010 at 7:33 PM ^
Man, between that and Barwis Beach, those football players have it made. And all the chocolate milk you can drink...
September 7th, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
Like RR said in his presser, "It always rains when we play Notre Dame in South Bend." The last time we were there it effected us greatly, as we turned the ball over in almost every way possible. One thing the rain does is put an emphasis on a clean handoff on the zone read. Obviously the skill players need to take care of the ball and focus on racking up the first downs, which will lead to great T.O.P. and allow our defense to rest. If it does rain hard I would say it favors us because Kelly likes to whip the ball around. Either way Denard will be a factor and will make big plays.
September 7th, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
There can still be lightning when it rains..
September 7th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^
YEEAAAAHH
September 7th, 2010 at 5:44 PM ^
The answer which you seek, can be found here:
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/extended-south-bend-weather-forecast
September 7th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^
So now we get twice daily weather reports. Mod time usage improvement...not.
September 7th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^
It could go in any direction. The 2006 OSU game was played on a horribly slippery field and both offenses had huge days. Sometimes you see offenses turn into mistake-prone messes, but other times you see defenses really struggle to cover the field. It's hard to say.
September 7th, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^
True, and then the 2007 OSU game was played on a horribly slippery field and both offenses were attrocious.
September 7th, 2010 at 5:49 PM ^
See Morgantown, West Virginia weather between August 30 and December 10th.
For a more local consideration, it sure didn't slow down GVSU's spread option offense in Allendale, MI very much.
Plus, Denard is probably well-used to playing football in the rain (Deerfield Beach, FL / Ft. Lauderdale area).
September 7th, 2010 at 5:55 PM ^
See Morgantown, West Virginia weather between August 30 and December 10th.
For a more local consideration, it sure didn't slow down GVSU's spread option offense in Allendale, MI very much.
Plus, Denard is probably used to playing football in the rain (Deerfield Beach, FL / Ft. Lauderdale area).
September 7th, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^
With Kelly's spread in place and the WR/TE combo of Floyd and Rudolph I would almost welcome rain. We are going to be able to run but if they have trouble throwing and we can key on Allen I think the advantage swings even further!
September 7th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^
all runners rely on cutting, so if it rains, i think it hurts both teams equally. ND relies more on vertical routes and when it gets wet and the ball is slippery, it can be harder to make long and accurate throws. our empahsis on shorter routes and blocking could be an advantage. however, in my anecdotal opinion, these weather/scheme predictions rarely hold true and most of the time the team that plays better wins, regardless of whether they're a run first or pass first team in better weather.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:21 PM ^
September 7th, 2010 at 6:48 PM ^
fwiw, kelly likes the glass cut very low. he said so last week prior to the purdue game. it will be a fast track.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:23 PM ^
Denard walks on water, obviously
September 7th, 2010 at 6:32 PM ^
Looks good up on a wall too.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:43 PM ^
How great would it be if a Michigan fan managed to get up on that roof and rig up Denard's face over that mural on Saturday?
September 7th, 2010 at 6:25 PM ^
Rain could actually help Denard a bit. He knows where he wants to go, but the defense doesn't. Its already hard enough to try to read and react to where he is going when the ground is dry, but if its wet the defender will have a harder time trying to make a break towards him.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:30 PM ^
Net effect would be to help him. He may slip a little but the guys trying to chase him will be slipping more. He knows where he is going - they don't.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:45 PM ^
...soak their balls to simulate likely game conditions.
September 7th, 2010 at 8:07 PM ^
I'm no skill position guy, but I like my balls soaked once in a while too.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:45 PM ^
If anything Denard is used to running/throwing in the rain. I'm unsure about football season, but the weather in FLOrida is almost always rainy. Also Denard is used to Grass/dirt so the conditions definitely shouldn't be our biggest concern.
September 7th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^
I don't worry so much about Denard in particular, but I worry that it could slow him down/make him slip up. In the big scheme of things, the defense might slip to, so that's not much of an issue.
However, my bigger concern would be the running backs and return game, where... HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL.
September 7th, 2010 at 7:10 PM ^
we worry about the weather as it gets closer to Saturday? We all know the weather forecast changes on almost a daily basis.
September 7th, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^
I think our offense showed against Uconn that we can run up the middle as well. I just watched the first half of the Uconn game again, and boy, Shaw was running really hard. His YPC wasn't great due to a lot of 1 / 2 yarders in the 4th quarter, but I was really impressed by his performance all day. He was definitely over-shadowed by DRob
September 7th, 2010 at 8:13 PM ^
Go Blue!!! You haven't seen nothing yet.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^
...you need to get used to the fact that this Michigan team is not the same type of team we knew in the past. Almost any SEC team would walk into a matchup out of conference and know that they are the faster team. The news flash here is that this Michigan team is as fast, if not faster than every team in the esss-eee.seee. We're not playing Wisconsin on Saturday - we're playing another team that is transitiioning to a speed game. The difference is that they are less of a complete team than Michigan.
So you can run and tell that, ho- ho- ho- ho- home boy
September 7th, 2010 at 10:04 PM ^
sorry double post
September 7th, 2010 at 10:03 PM ^
There will be a big ass rooster tail in the air behind #16 if its raining
September 7th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
It would certainly help us. If ND can't throw the ball effectively, they will not win.
September 8th, 2010 at 3:48 AM ^
I want the WIND.