Welcome to another installment of the Irish Blogger Gathering, or IBG if you wanna get all nasty about it. This week, Clashmore Mike provides us with 4 powerful questions that has me wondering if this team is drunk off their ass on Jolly Rancher spiked Zimas (Despite reports of Zima production being dead, someone, somewhere is brewing this “thing”). I’m not sure, but we may find out soon enough. On to the IBG…
1. Notre Dame is currently 4-5 with three games left in the season. First, are you surprised by the wins and losses so far? And second, given how the Irish have played, what is a realistic expectation for the remainder of the season?
Navy and Tulsa just killed my bubble with a laser-guided shit-missile. No matter what else would have happened this season, I would have said that the Irish would finish no worse than 7-5, and on their way to a bowl game. Now, that is the best the irish can possibly do with 3 games remaining against Utah, Army, and U$C.
All three of those games present a unique challenge that is only magnified by the insane amount of injuries that Notre Dame has piled up this season. So realistically, the Irish should finish 5-7, but if they can find a way to overcome tremendous oddsa against them in either the Utah or U$C games, than 6-6 is within reach. HELLO Pinstripe Bowl! 7-5 would be a 10% chance.
2. A little report card in the spirit of the bye week. What player or position unit has been the biggest surprise of the year and what player/position unit has been the biggest disappointment?
I’m going to think outside of the box a little bit- but not that far out… The biggest surprise has been how solid of a job Zach Martin has done this yer while playing left tackle. Has he been perfect? No. But for being a redshirt freshman, he has come in and done a very good job. To be honest, I truly thought that this would be the weakest link along the offensive line, and the offense in general, so, he gets my nod for biggest surprise.
The weakest link, it has turned out, was the much more experienced interior of the offensive line. In particular at both guards. I can accept some mistakes from Braxston Cave, as it is his first year starting, but Chris Stewart and Trevor Robinson have not been getting the job done. Their lack of physical play can be directly linked to how the run game has remained stagnant. Watch those two get manhandled by EVERYONE that the Irish have played thus far. Very, very disappointing when you think about how much potential is there for the both of them.
3. Defensive coordinator Bob Diaco caught plenty of flack after the debacle against Navy, and rightly so. But his unit bounced back with arguably their best performance of the year against a prolific Tulsa offense. So which version is the real Diaco? Is it the one that had no answer for Navy? Or is it the one that had his troops prepared against Tulsa (and most other Irish opponents)?
I think the answer lays somewhere in the middle- but in an optimistic way. Did Diaco totally fuck up against Navy? With out a doubt. Has the defense had more “moments” in a positive way this year than it has in the past 5? I think so. Don’t let the yardage fool you into thinking this defense is completely awful. It isn’t real good, but it has been serviceable and if the offense would have been plugging along- than we would have 2, maybe even 3 more wins than what we have.
The outside linebackers have severly underachieved from what the expectations were this year, but as this team continues to transition itself from the 4-3 to the 3-4, I think we should see faster play from the edge, because they will know what they are doing.
Diaco is a young coach, and he, along with the rest of the staff, have turned this unit into a much more physical group. The proof is the play on the edge from our corners, and the fact that our middle linebackers are getting most of the tackles, not the safeties.
Time. Time and a few cold Zimas will tell the tale of Bobby Diaco and his 20 man triple-blitz package.
4. Off the heels of a near miss against Air Force, Utah was undressed by TCU in their first “real” test of the season. Are the Utes pretenders and does Notre Dame have a shot at winning Saturday? What will be the key matchup next week in South Bend?
This has been the main question I have been asking this week on Subway Domer. How good is Utah, really? Their schedule and statlines scream BADASS, but their actual reality whispers something else. Their 3 toughest games thus far have been against Pitt (an OT win), Air Force (a 5 point victory), and TCU (where the Utes flat-out got destroyed). So, you can see the dilemma.
And just when I was about to say, “paper tiger” I am reminded about the last 5 years of Utah football proving everyone wrong. They are mutant-gorilla-ninjas. They play physical, and they play fast because they have had the same system on both sides of the ball for 5 years. Duh.
The biggest thing to watch for, is if Notre Dame will be able to stretch the field vertically in the passing game. You can pretty much figure that the running game is going to be less than useful, so we have to do it in the air. Rees has to be able to throw an accurate ball that goes farther than 10 yards- or we are fucked. Luckily, I actually think we will have a decent gameplan in place and be able to do some things. I’ll go ahead and call it… IRISH win 27-20. That’s noetic science bitches.
