The weekly Irish Blogger Gathering, well uh… gathers (still kicking myself for naming this thing oh so many years ago) and we are as high as a hillbilly hunting ginseng in the Smokey Mountains. The Irish are 5-0, and despite the “imminent” news coming about the Frozen Five, are marching towards playoff contention as they are now ranked #5.
Upsets and TRAP GAME TRAPS aren’t nearly as rare as a Blood Moon, and in fact, they happen all the time. The IBGers have out little discussion in hopes avoiding all of that mess. You can check out their written word (and poetry, I might add) here:
Here we go…
Ryan Ritter, Her Loyal Sons: This is the second week in a row which Golson has had some struggles with protecting the ball both in the air and on the ground. As he is arguably the heart of the ND offense, are you worried about the struggles? Do you think he’ll be fine? Or is your temperature somewhere else on the scale?
I am worried, and if it wasn’t for an extremely well stocked liquor cabinet, I would be itching myself like a heroin addict looking for the next score of smack. DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME EVERETT?
I suppose I could use fanboy logic and blow off Syracuse as no biggee because his head just wasn’t into it, and then say that Stanford’s defense was really, really good and the weather sucked ass, and we still won… but the time for that reasoning is over.
Golson has some serious issues with protecting the football, and it’s the fumbles that concern me far more than the interceptions. Interceptions are going to happen, and you hope that they come in single digits every other week or so, but fumbles can be prevented. Golson has a history of putting the ball on the ground and that scares the shit out of me. This offense runs best when Golson is allowed to run QB draws, QB runs, and of course his scrambles. All of that gets a giant question mark if he can’t stop fumbling.
This is kind of an easy fix, and more emphasis should be placed on ball prtoection this week and every week forward. At least during the Stanford game you could see Golson finally protecting the football on a run. It was a bit exaggerated, but at least it shows that he is thinking about it, and hopefully that is the norm going forward.
Aaron Horvath, Fighting Irish Athletics: Last week’s win over Stanford was an ugly one – dropped passes, fumbles, etc … – but it was still a victory. Going into the UNC game at 5-0 and in the top-5 in the coaches poll with #1 Florida State awaiting the Irish the week after, what three things does Notre Dame need to do this week to ensure they don’t look ahead to a possible showdown in Tallahassee?
It starts with the coaches. I know we all generically say these “trap” games are caused by “looking ahead” but it’s my experience that the players are fairly tuned in each week to what they are doing and more importantly, doing what they are told. The coaches must make sure that they keep the focus on the task at hand and don’t change things too much. Don’t be weird, by putting too much focus on this week. Stay chill. [insert Bull Durham interview cliche’s]
Mike Coffey, NDNation.com: No shortage of commentary about the inclement weather last Saturday. Not counting that game, what’s the worst weather in which you’ve ever watched a Notre Dame football game live?
I “only” started going to Notre Dame games back in 1997, but (as far as I can remember in the mental state that I get in) Duke 2007 and Utah 2010. Were awful. I’ll go with Duke 2007 as the worst, because that season was just the worst and I went to every home game that season. The rain never stopped and the cold was well… cold. It’s the only time I can remember going to the bathroom at halftime to just hang out. The heat was magical in that bathroom. I was dressed like I was ready to go to spring break right afterwards, so that didn’t help matters at all. I’m older and wiser now (and Notre Dame doesn’t suck anymore).
Frank Vitovich, UHND: It’s now been two games since the OL was completely reshuffled. One game was a against a blitz happy team and another was against the #1 ranked defense in the country. So far the results have been mixed with OK pass protection but not stellar run blocking. Have these two games given the new look line great experience and we’ll see the benefits moving forward or have the two challenging experiences not given them the time to settle into their new roles and do you think the line will get better than what we’ve seen?
I really don’t see it. I suppose 150 yards against a really good Stanford run defense is okay enough to wait and see more, but I just don’t know. Maybe it’s a lack of emphasis in practice, or the scheme just isn’t that great more than the players or the alignment- or maybe it’s all of those things. At any rate, I don’t expect the Irish to WOW me at any point this season with their rushing numbers. They still might, but I don’t expect it to. I just don’t know what is going on and I am unwilling to blame just the coaches or just the players at this point. It all looks like one big mess and a mess that needs to be at least swept up a little bit as we move forward in the season.
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My “question” to the group and to you was to call all y’all out with your poetry skills:
Hello poets. Hello wannabe hipsters- here is your chance to step up to the mic at your favorite coffee house and let your creativity shine. I need 2 haikus from you. One about last weeks incredible victory, and one about this weeks game against North Carolina. I’ll sit down and listen [grabs cup of ridiculously weird coffee blend and pours in bourbon].
