Some Notes about Notre Dame
As of late, I've been perusing some ND forums, in anticipation of doing some hopefully regular updates about ND, MSU, and Ohio this off-season. I figure I'd share a couple things that I've found out so far.
1) The QB battle. This battle is fairly complex as QB battles go. It seems that most Domers want Everett Golson to start, but that not many think he will. Most of them think that it's down to Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix, with Rees more likely to return as a starter. However, they think that ND will show more of a 2 QB offense so that Rees and Hendrix will be sharing a lot of time. They also believe that Golson will likely start to make more appearances as the season drags on. Gunner Kiel is very likely to redshirt this year.
Some more notes about each QB:
Tommy Rees: Has the best understanding of the offense; Excels at short, quick throws; Lacks arm strength for downfield throws and accuracy; Not very mobile
Andrew Hendrix: 2nd best understanding of offense; Stronger than Rees; Mobile; Accuracy issues
Everett Golson: Mobile; Lacks a concrete understanding of the offense; Strongest arm; Biggest accuracy issues
Gunner Kiel; Freshman; Lacks understanding of the offense
2) Aaron Lynch is back on campus. This is disaster averted for ND, he's easily the #2 or #3 player on that team and the #2 player on defense. The situation seemed to be one of homsickness and the Domer's were 50-50 on his returning.
3) Theo Riddick is moving back to RB. He was out in the slot last year, where he did decently.
4) ND is getting field turf. They think that this might be the reason why Kelly's offense hasn't taken hold yet. Apparently grass slowed down all of ND's speedy athletes and that's why they lost games. Never mind the opponents played on the same field and will get to play on the turf too. Denard Robinson says: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_xePqfTAi8
5) ND fans are delusional. Seriously delusional. I've seen them say they're going to win a National Championship this year, that Hoke and Co. are obviously paying recruits, that our recruiting class isn't really that good compared to ND's, that at least 4 or 5 of our commits will flip to ND, and it just goes on and on. I was expecting some semblance of sanity from ND fans, but dear God, they're hopeless.
I will be going into more detail in future posts so if you guys have any suggestions or areas you want me to focus on, i.e their recruiting, their defense, their offense, a certain position group, etc., let me know.
He posted on Mgoblog for a little while last year. Did he get banned? I thought we were gonna let him stick around because he's fun to laugh at.
#5 Most of them are from Indiana... probably explains everything. You should see the comments about IU basketball. Most loves ND football and those same fans are IU basketball fans too.
I wish I could explain the pathology. I really do. It's a cross between amnesia, Helsinki Syndrome, battered spouse syndrome, and good ol' fashioned homerism.
As a person with plenty of Finnish blood coursing through his veins, I deplore you for dragging Helsinski into the Notre Dame psychonanalysis fray. Call it Stockholm Syndrome and let the Swedes deal with it. :)
I blame this on Bruce Willis. According to Wikipedia,
The term Helsinki Syndrome has been used erroneously to describe Stockholm Syndrome, popularized by the movie Die Hard.
That's why I love this place so much. Random and obscure Die Hard reference: caught.
(Though for full credit, I was hoping for "As in Helsinki, Sweden")
Don't forget delusions of grandeur.
What are some of the ND Blogs? I have 8 friends from my high school who are currently attending that school and Ive never met people who are more full of shit.
There are a bunch of links on the banner at NDNation. I visited several after UTL to bask in the schadenfreude.
Has anyone here noticed that fans speculate a lot more about a "two-QB system" than coaches do? I'm not a coach, and am only speaking as an observer, but coaches seem to really want to have one guy who they can pencil in as numero uno at QB.
But, regardless, I feel the need to post this:
I don't understand how they can be pining for golson. He has no game experience, doesn't have a strong grasp of the offense, and has accuracy issues. It's not like any of those are important for success as a QB... /sarcasm.
Well seemingly talented and highly regarded quarterbacks go to ND and play like shit, so maybe ND fans are hoping a lousy one can keep Brian Kelly from having a heart attack.
Because the other two they have didn't win them a NC last year.
He doesn't have a lot of game experience. Hence ND fans can project all of their hopes on him before it's revealed what kind of player he is. Then he'll get trashed and ND fans will move on to the next guy.
It's like what happened with Andrew Hendrix. Had a good half against Stanford, but was aided by a couple crazy Floyd plays plus some bogus penalty calls. Suddenly he's the savior, except for Florida State and spring practice.
I'm not even a Michigan fan, and I'm the one who has to say this?
TO HELL WITH NOTRE DAME -Bo Schembechler
Admit it, you really are a Michigan fan.
with Notre Dame
So close, yet so far (I'm talking about you and RDT saying the exact same thing at the same time)
I thoroughly enjoy updates about ND and Ohio. Apart from Michigan football info, I feel it's always best to know about these other two teams. Know thy...
I still dont see why ND gets so many recuits they dont ever win anything and they have so many busts esp at QB. I get always on national TV but after seeing kelly's breakdown last year i cant imagine what he does with no cameras.
Where does this idea come from? Quinn and Clausen were both fantastic college QBs as upperclassmen. One was a first round pick and one was a second round pick as a true junior. They haven't torn up the NFL but it isn't like Henson/Navarre/Henne or Krenzel/Smith/Pryor have either.
Powlus was more a victim of ridiculous, unfounded expectations from Beano Cook, but really the only highly rated guy who had a shot to play and didn't pan out is Crist, and that I think had more to do with Brian Kelly naming him the starter and then benching him after one mistake in the season opener.
I think they've definitely struggled to identify talent at a number of positions in recent years under mutliple coaches, but quarterback doesn't seem like one of them.
Hold on... no problem with disliking ND, but let's be objective: Clausen became an excellent college QB: His Jr year he completed 68% of his passes for 3722 yards, 28 TDs and 4 Ints.
His biggest games were probably Michigan, USC and Stanford:
UM: 25/42 336 yards, 3 TDs 0 ints
USC: 24/43 260 yards, 2 TDs 0 ints
Stanford: 23/30 340 yards, 5 TDs 0 ints
11 TDs 0 ints in your 3 biggest games = fantastic college QB. No other way to slice it.
Quinn threw 37 TDs as a senior and just 7 INT. He won the Unitas and Maxwell awards, finished 3rd in the Heisman voting, and only lost to top-10 teams from Michigan, SC, and LSU. He took ND to a BCS bowl and had a great year as a junior as well.
Clausen threw for 3,772 yards as a junior, completed nearly 69% of his passes, threw 28 TD and just 4 INT.
The list of guys with better numbers in those seasons is very short. You are basically punishing those two guys because ND's team wasn't a national title contender (pretty sure Quinn would have traded defenses and skill position players with Henne or Leinart) and elevating Navarre and Krenzel because of what they had around them.
April 12th, 2012 at 11:44 PM ^
It depends on what your definition of "fantastic" is. If your definition of fantastic is Heisman-worthy and being remembered as a legend at his school/nationally, then I would agree that neither was RGIII, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, or Vince Young caliber. That's a pretty high bar for fantastic though.
If your definition of fantastic is one of the elite QBs the seasons you played, i.e. you could start for 115+ FBS teams, then both absolutely were fantastic. Quinn btw, did finish fourth in the Heisman in 2005, Weis' first year, I would say he was unequivocably great that year.
I agree they both fell short of the hype, with Quinn's senior season losing the three games you mentioned and Clausen only going 6-6 as a senior. That's why they aren't considered all-time greats and some of that falls on them. A lot of it falls on having a pretty horrible coach, a bad defense, and in Quinn's case his senior year, less talent that teams like Michigan, USC, and LSU.
Why were you expecting some semblance of sanity from ND fans?
I've been reading one of the Arizona Football message boards, and those people are horrible. As much as I want RR to succeed, its hard to read the stuff on that site and wish success for their school's football team!
Sorry, but I have to make sure some things are more clear
1. Correct. Basically every one wants Golson, but he hasnt stepped up. Since Rees has the most experience, he looks the best, but literally NOBODY wants him to start.
2. Lynch is back. I dont think many were to worried about him leaving. Certailny not 50/50. He is one of the few players on the team who is a beast. He didnt play against UM last year, but tore it up against MSU. Hes the real deal.
3. Riddick is back at RB but will be more of a RB/WR hybid. That allows us to put 2 players out of Wood, Riddick, Atkinson and Carlisle (Tansfer from USC) on the field at once. Excited about that.
4. Notre Dame is not getting field turf. No idea where that came from. Tyler Eifert made a sarcastic tweet about it, but the boards would be BLOWING up if ND was getting field turf. This is just not true. However, BK does want it.
5. I havent seen one National Championship prediction yet. Nobody expects to be that good. There are still some who expect BCS, but I would say the moajority expect an 8-4/9-3 season. Have not seen one post referring to Hoke & company paying recruits. Your recruiting ability scares us right now, and thats about the feelings on it. I also dont think any one expect to steal your recruits. We were working on Taco, but we have moved on other DEs. We have a great OL class of our own right now, so there not much to steal there. We really dont even go after many of the same players considering our systems are exact opposites.
It seems to me that you are visitind NDnation.com. Stop doing this. That is where ND fans are delusional, and really uniformed pricks who expect NC's every year. They think we should just pay Nick Saban and he'll come like its nothing. They are horribly delusional and represent ND in a bad bad bad bad way. Please stop going to that place.
Personally, I expect probably a 9-4 season. Rees starts the season. Defense is actually quite solid (even with the collapse against you guys last year) and just need to sure up the two CB spots. Losing MF3 hurts, and that will be a struggle. Golson really needs to get on the field. Hes the most talented to me. But we are NOWHERE near a NC contender right now. Cya sometime in late September.
Its always good to have rationale fans of rival schools posting. I look forward to more of the same out of you. By contrast, I tend to set the bar low initially so I can exceed rather than not meet expectations.
I provided the link to NDnation just so someone could find additional links in the banner there. You have to admit, Damefan makes you all look bad too.
If you want rationale, I would suggest NBC sports with Keith Arnold. He does a great job. Onefootdown.com is also phenomenal and my personal favorite. Those both give the honest perspective while also a hint of optimism. Good luck to you all this season.
Yup from speaking to some semi-rational domers, the consensus is that ndnation has devolved from a voice of the average ND fan into a holding cell for the lunatic fringe. Still the best place for unintentional comedy though.
Its a sad, sad place. As you said though, it is a place for a good laugh.
I go to Onefootdown.com and NBCsports with Kieth Arnold. I only comment on those two because that is where actual rational posting occurs. NDnations is the worst. The Rivals is good writing, but then the comments are dumb to me. It all depends for different fans, but I really enjoy the two i mentioned. They both do a great job. I havent done much with irishenvy.
April 12th, 2012 at 12:24 PM ^
I frequent IrishEnvy.com...... there has never been a single post on there about Hoke paying recruits or anything ridiculous like that. Nor anything Notre Dame winning a national championship this year unless it was someone being quite sarcastic. A poll conducted the other day shows that quite clearly with most thinking 8-4 with many thinking 7-5....
There is a thread about field turf because there's back-and-forth right now in the ND administration on whether to go forward with it. To say it's a done deal and that you got that from our board is... odd.
It seems like big portion of your post is just stuff you made up to say "oh look at those crazy stupid Domers!" I don't get it. Shrug.
They have some serious athletes in the front 7 (Te'o, Lynch, Shembo, Tuitt, Ishaq Williams, Louis Nix is a monster).
While they have senior leadership in the secondary (Slaughter, Motta), they are obviously concerned with the CB position. Luckily for Tee Shepard his heart condition was found, but this did not help ND at all.
Slaughter getting reps at CB shows that they have a problem there, Slaughter has started at safety for 2 seasons while battling injuries. They need someone to step up in the worst way out of Bennet Jackson (moved from WR to CB last year), Lo Wood, or Josh Atkinson.
I'm not sure if it matters who wins the starting job at QB, Crist won the job last year and was rewarded with 1 half of football. Personally, I hope that kid does well at Kansas, I think he got a raw deal.
Bennett Jackson has looked great. Everybody is raving about him. So basically it is Lo Wood vs Atkinson for the other CB spot.
That point on the QB could turn on to be true (sadly for us). Rees is going to look the best in camp of course, because he has the most experience. But he has the lowest ceiling of all of them. You know what your going to get from Rees. Youll beat the ok and below teams. Struggle with good teams, and lose to the elite badly. Nobody wants rees. Crist did get screwed, and all us domers wish him the best.
That kid is huge, it seems like he could play a number of positions. I remember during his recruitment he was mentioned as a TE, DE, and possibly even gaining weight and playing on the offensive line.
Niklas switched to TE this spring. The staff feels confident enough that Ishaq Williams will come through in the future, and Ben Councell (RS Freshman) has a lot of promise too. Niklas's nickname is Hercules, and as you said, he is huge. 6'7 and just jacked. Basically, we looking to the NE Patriots for inspiration on offense this year. We will be doing a lot of 2 TE sets with Eifert just catching passes, and whoever comes out behind him pass blocking. Niklas has showed a lot of promise already, and hes definetly somebody to look out for down the road.
I wonder why the poster Irish has been so quiet lately. Hopefully he's okay. His profile shows no activity over the past six months or so.
I kind of miss that guy.
I live 10 minutes from the campus of Notre Dame here in South Bend, IN (Yes there are plenty of "Blue in South Benders" around here. All I have to say is...." TA HELL WITH NOTRE DAME"
GO BLUE!! Hoke in yesterday, Hoke for today and Hoke FOREVER!!
Tommy Rees: Lacks accuracy
Andrew Hendrix: Accuracy issues
Everett Golson: Biggest accuracy issues
Gunner Kiel; Freshman; Lacks understanding of the offense
Denard Robinson: Accuracy issues, especially when throwing off of back foot
Every-college-QB-not-a-lock-to-be-a-1st-round-NFL-draft-pick: Accuracy issues.
They've recruited pretty well under Kelly over the past couple of years and should have a good team this year.
But the schedule. The first 7 of 8 games look to be quite challenging.
Whew. I was worried that the sacred grass field had been abandoned by the old-guard alumni! That's the conservatism I like to see.
8-5 sounds reasonable with that tough schedule. Hopefully Michigan pulls it off yet again. This streak is pretty nice and looks attractive on my mantel.