It isn’t over yet. Not only has that been the theme of the last five games I also think it is the theme for the season as a whole. There are no two ways about the end result of the game yesterday. To say it was a tough loss to take is an understatement. It was emotionally brutal. As a Notre Dame fan USC is the quintessential antagonist. They are a really good football team with a highly successful and very shady coach. They are constantly shrouded in rules violation controversy yet nothing ever comes of it. They also have an extremely annoying tendency to be smiling and joking while they beat you. It doesn’t get any more damn annoying than that. I loathe the Trojans in the same way I loathed Miami in the late 80’s for the same reasons. They are the current Darth Vader of college football and for me that is exacerbated by the fact that they are Notre Dame’s biggest rival. I can’t wait to see ND beat those bastards again and damn if it didn’t almost happen yesterday. I was really hoping this post would have a different feel but it is what it is. Therefore I will discuss it in the manner which has been dictated by the outcome of the game. I haven’t watched the game again yet and I may not it was too brutal.
As for the game itself the Irish offensive line got worked over pretty good for the first three quarters. USC was able to get pressure by only rushing 3 to 4 and dropping 7 to 8 into coverage which made things very difficult for Clausen. Despite this Clausen, Golden Tate and Robby Parris were outstanding. Those guys hooked up for several key completions in tight coverage with a combination of deadly accurate throws and amazing catches. Those three kids in particular left it on the field yesterday. The defense had a tough day but was able to buckle down at key points in the game holding the Trojans to two field goals in the 2nd quarter and forcing a turnover that got the Irish back in the game in the 4th quarter. Overall the front seven did a pretty good job against the run but was generally unsuccessful getting pressure on the quarterback. The combination of USC’s stout offensive line and some very effective play action left a vulnerable Irish secondary on an island and they got worked over pretty good. Harrison Smith had a particularly rough day.
When the Trojans went up 34-14 with 13 minutes left I’ll be the first to admit that I thought that was it. But the team didn’t think that was it and they put together a pretty amazing comeback. If you told me that Clausen would have a first and goal at the 5 with 3 shots at the end zone to tie the game I would have bet my house that the Irish would convert and ride that momentum to a thrilling overtime victory. But it didn’t go down like that this time. Rudolph almost made a great play on the first jump ball and Tate got jammed at the line and never really got out of his break on the 2nd one. The final play was the same high low route combination that the Irish converted on 4th down to beat Purdue only this time Rudolph was on top and Kamara was underneath. Kamara slipped coming out of his break and the Trojans escaped as a result. If Kamara doesn’t slip coming out of his break this post might have an entirely different feel to it.
So where does that leave the Irish? It leaves the Irish in the exact same position as the 2005 squad at 4-2 with 6 winnable games left on the schedule. Inevitably a few of those will end up being challenging but they are all winnable nonetheless. From my perspective to make any declarative statements or final determinations about this team or the state of the program right now would be very premature. There is still a lot of football left to play and plenty of opportunities to keep progressing in a positive manner. They will need to take it one game at a time and getting back up for BC next week will be very telling of how this season is going to shake out. I will be in the stadium next week to watch the Irish face the opportunity to get things back on track.
I said last week that I would make an effort to remind myself that all would not be lost or gained based on the outcome of the USC game and I still believe that remains true. One could argue this team is two plays away from 6-0. The counter argument is that they are three plays away from 1-5. Like all things the truth is probably in the middle and that happens to be exactly where they are. This offense is good enough to trade punches with just about any team in the country and the defense remains a work in progress. In the mean time I remain mindful of the fact that there are only a handful of starters out there that will exhaust their eligibility this season. We are still witnessing the final stages of a program fighting its way back into prominence. It never happens fast enough but two years removed from 3-8 the progress is undeniable and I still believe the program will get there very soon. I try to remind myself that at the end of the day I’m just another passionate fan on a couch that needs to try and enjoy the ride.
Offensive Game Ball- Clausen, Tate & Parris. What an outstanding display of talent and intestinal fortitude from all three of those guys.
Defensive Game Ball- Gary Gray. Six tackles and a key pick that got the Irish back in it. Gray is the best corner on the team right now. Manti Te’o also quietly had 8 tackles and Brian Smith was disruptive. Kapron Lewis-Moore also continues to show up. I really think KLM has the potential to develop into a Justin Tuck/ Victor Abiamiri type force at DE.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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13 comments:
Nice post. The Irish are close to getting over the hump. Go Irish.
Sorry about that one boss. I know it had to be a heart breaker, been there and done that before. I have been on the fence as to whether or not the Irish were on their way back but they proved themselves to me yesterday. I know moral victories suck but that was an impressive come back and they were right there.
I'm not sure that SC isn't as good a team as there is this year. Yes, they have had their usual shit a watermelon loss that I can never explain other than the fact that the Hollywood factor trips them up. They damn sure have the most talent IMO. SC drips with 5 star recruits like no one else.
I am calling 10-2 and a possible BCS bowl game. That will take most of the sting off this loss.
Lots of football to go Pard.
Harrison Smith should be on the bench. He is absoulutely their worst defender, and misses more tackles than anyone. Why are we throwing to Duval Kamara on the last play?????!!! He is a 3rd string receiver at best, and has more drops than any other receiver! Run the same play to Rudolph for Christ Sake!
Clausen is too good for some of these receivers. He threw a perfect ball, an NFL ball, and Kamara isn't talented enough to handle it. Michael Floyd doens't slip on that. A good receiver doesn't slip on that play. Period. That's what talent and clutch play is all about. It's a choke. Ever see Michael Jordan slip on the last play of the game?
Finally, we wasted 16 seconds after the Parris be-heading because of FrontButt! He should have had them ready for the play !
Good post - This team has heart and the front 7 on defense keep improving. Unfortunatly the DBs are giving up career games for every opposing QB. Harrison Smith and Walls are carving a bust of the BC freshman QB as I type for induction into the Hall of Fame by the 4th Quarter of next week's game.
Anon asks why we're throwing to Duval Kamara on the last play. Well, the fact that he's the third receiver might have something to do with it. In case you didn't notice, the guys on the other side of the ball were pretty good yesterday, and I'm not at all convinced that anyone else was going to get open. Full credit to SC for forcing us to take our least-desired option there.
Good post.You are right, the program is turning a corber. They are a better team than last year and that team was better than 2007 (what isn't). The problem here is that the program was in such decay the battle has been all uphill. Only this year are we able to field strong recruits as upperclassmen. They did show me that they can play with top teams.
I have said this many times before, Harrison Smith should not be playing free safety. He has no instinct when ball is in the air. It's been 6 games and he has not had one INT. He tackling is poor and often takes bad angles. I say bench him and turn him back into a linebacker.
Dear Charlie, why are u throwing the ball to Kamara on the last play of the game. You also messed up because u should have kicked that field goal.
That's what poor coaching does, instead of winning games, Charlie finds more ways to lose.
Nice post..
I will be very interesting to see how the Irish play on Saturday...I checked this morning and we are favored by nine against BC..I am not much of a bettor but I would gladly take a 1point win right now and get ready for San Antonio...I hope I am wrong but BC scares the heck out of me!!
Anon at 9:32, I agree about BC. They are beatable and our guys have shown so much grit this season. I just believe the young men who wear the blue and gold on Saturdays in the Fall will be up for the game.
Ted
I was there Saturday and I was there for the '05 heartbreaker too. Maybe I'm just bad luck.
"It never happens fast enough but two years removed from 3-8 the progress is undeniable and I still believe the program will get there very soon."
I agree, Whiskey. I know everyone is talking about how bad the D sucked, and rightfully so, but we knew that coming in. My primary gripe is that our O was non-existent in the first half. If offense does anything in the first half, we probably win that game. We all knew we'd need our offense to pull us through, and they would have if they'd have shown anything in the first half.
I too was disappointed with the play of our veteran O-line. I know it's USC, but our O Linemen are highly touted and USC shouldn't be able to get such consistent pressure with 3 and 4 rushers.
Still, we were in a position to win that game. I don't think it was a "moral victory" and I think we should eliminate that term from our lexicon. But I do take a lot of comfort in the fact that even though we got jabbed nearly to death in the first three rounds, we almost won by knockout in the fourth.
Keep up the good work, Whiskey.
Thanks for all the comments. Obviously a tough loss for everyone to take. I will be there in person this Saturday for BC. Let's hope the Irish are successful in breaking that streak!
Question: Anyone know what happened here: After Parris got his head knocked off, their were 35 seconds left. We got a first down, and there was a penalty. However, the clock started before the ball was snapped. Isn't it supposed to start at the snap when? If not, why didn't Charlie know that and have them ready right when the clock started? They were still in the huddle, and didn't snapt it till there were 19 seconds on the clock, wasting 16 VERY VALUABLE seconds. It would have given us one more play. What happened??
My hunch is just another of Charlie's game/clock management f-ups.
The previous poster is right about clock management. After the first down and Robbie got his head taken off, Charlie should manage the time better as we lost precious seconds. When will Charlie ever "out-smart" someone and win a game ?
Looking at the regression of our secondary, we need to fire Brown first before Charlie.
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