There is just something about winning that makes you turn your head away from anything negative. You bask in the warm and glorious light that is V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. Notre Dame’s 31-13 win over Michigan State was a late coming out party for the Irish. After the 0-2 start, Notre Dame was once again up against the wall facing yet another “must win” game. It seems as if Notre Dame is constantly playing in one of those types of games.
Win or lose, you must face, dun, dun, dun; The Hangover…
Robert Blanton went crazy special forces on Sparty. With out a doubt, Robert Blanton was the MVP on Saturday. Just check out the stats for a minute:
- 6 total tackles
- 3 tackles for loss
- 1 sack
- 3 pass break-ups
- 1 PERFECTLY TIMED INTERCEPTION RETURNED 82 YARDS!
Blanton didn’t think that this was his best game at Notre Dame, but if you look again at the film and then at the stat lines- you could make a strong case to him that indeed this was. All he would probably say is, “No, sir.”
I remember when Blanton first arrived at ND and all of the reports about him were about how cocky and loud he was on the field. That excited me. A cornerback with confidence, and plays with said confidence is a dangerous weapon. However, I never would have guessed at how much of a “ND guy” that Robert would become. Everyone is gushing right now after hearing his post game comments to Alex Flannagan and to the rest of the Notre Dame media. This kid is pure gold.
Here is a little clip of him after the game:
Harrison Smith & Gary Gray say “hello” too. It wouldn’t be right to not give a big shout out to both Gary Gray and Harrison Smith. Both Smith and Gray took a lot of heat after the loss to Michigan last week. This week was a different story. Gary Gray bounced back into the player we remembered- tough, physical, and able to cover a guy one on one. Sure, Gray didn’t play a perfect game, but he played well enough with 10 tackles and 1 pass breakup to remind us why we were so excited about this defense this year.
Smith played like he was unconscious. If it wasn’t for Robert Blanton’s redzone INT, you could have made a strong case for Harrison Smith as MVP of the game. Smith had 8 tackles and 4 pass breakups. His breaks on the ball were fantastic. If there was a flaw to his game, it was that he was unable to get an INT. I’ll take every single one of those breakups though. Good show.
Bringing the Wood. Cierre Wood was expected to be a big time college running back since his days in high school. His path to “big time” has been some what of a scenic route. Wood redshirted his freshman year thanks to 3 veteran running backs that were already on the roster, and supposedly due to his lack of pass blocking skills (just what we heard). Last year, Brian Kelly talked at length about getting Wood the ball more- and then Allen got hurt.
All Wood has done since then is represent to the fullest. If anybody would start to say ND has no playmakers outside of Floyd, all you would need to do was show a few of Wood’s runs.
Wood was well on his way to a HUGE day against Sparty. The first drive alone gave him 59 yards and a sixer. However, Wood and Jonas Gray split the carries all day. Wood would end up with 61 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns, while Jonas Gray finished with 65 yards on 12 carries. If you take the worst run away from Wood, he would have had 71 yards with a 5.5 average. He’s putting in work, and the rest of the country is starting to notice.
The best thing I saw from Wood all day, was when he dropped his shoulder at the goaline to get in for the TD. We all know about the speed and quickness of Wood, and he has put that to better use this year with more decisive cuts and less wasted movement, but running with some power when it is needed fully enhances his game. I’ve seen him do it on a number of occasions this year. I’m impressed.
The growing pains of Tommy Rees. A reminder to everyone out there: TOMMY REES IS ONLY A SOPHOMORE WITH JUST 6 STARTS UNDER HIS BELT. You all know I was a huge Crist supporter. In many ways, I still feel that Crist would do just fine as the starter. However, you can’t deny Tommy Rees. He is a “gamer.”
Actually, there is a lot more to it than that, but the simplest terms are usually the best. Think about this though: Rees only attempted 26 passes against Sparty. Notre Dame’s offense looked strangely more similar to the one against U$C and Utah as opposed to how they looked against Michigan and South Florida.
The INT by Rees stung, and the fumble sucked, but he is one of those players that learns from his mistakes and at the same time he looks like he doesn’t dwell on them too much either. I like his manhood. He’s going to fuck up some more this season, but he will continue to fight. I’m on board. I can ride with this guy.
Why you no catch touchdowns no more Michael Floyd? Seriously. Floyd is now in a two game drought for endzone dancing after this 6 catch 84 yard performance. It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, but for a guy that has 31 receptions and is averaging over 132 yards a game- two touchdowns seems kind of light. The obvious answer is that both Michigan teams rolled their coverage over towards Floyd giving him double and even triple coverage at times.
Theo Riddick, TJ Jones, and in some regards Tyler Eifert were supposed to have done enough to help keep defenses honest. That isn’t exactly the case right now, and therefore Floyd is sitting at 2 TD’s.
More will come; trust me. Floyd is still making HUGE receptions to help this team win, and I’m certain no Irish fan out there has any clue as to why I would focus on something so pathetic. Made ya look!
Freshman Total Nonstop Extreme Impact Wrestling Playing-Time. We signed a pretty good class. Seven freshman made big contributions for the cause on Saturday.
- Troy Niklas got the start at DOG due to a family emergency for Prince Shembo. Niklas played well despite a few mistakes in assignment. Could have been a billion times worse, and he actually played better than I would ever had hoped. He did well.
- Ben Koyack has been doing well at tight end where the Irish, despite great recruiting, always seem to be thin due to injury. I like my tight ends to be redshirted, but Koyack will gain a ton of good expirience this year, and he may even come up big later in the season.
- Kyle Brindza is showing why he was recruited so heavily. He had two kickoffs that were called touchbacks against Sparty. Notre Dame hasn’t had a leg like that in a long time. Holla!
- Ishaq Williams is making strides, but he still has a ways to go.
- Stephon Tuitt played inside and outside on the defensive line. His size and athleticism are mutant in nature. He helped create a lot of pressure with his bullrushing.
- George Atkinson III could do nothing more the rest of the season and he would still get mad love:
Oh wait… I almost forgot about Aaron Lynch. OK, you know damn well I didn’t forget. He needed his own little dwelling. Lynch was as advertised on Saturday. Check out this stat line:
- 5 tackles
- 1 tackle for loss
- 1 forced fumble
- 1 sack
- 6 QB hurries
I wish they kept track of what player was being held on a penalty. Lynch would of had a good number there too. Michigan State had nothing on Aaron. NOTHING. Six quarterback hurries? That’s pressure, and that is a big reason why Notre Dame dominated. HELLO!
We might as well have a little chat about this defense. I told a friend of mine (Buckeye) that I wasn’t worried about Michigan State running the ball. I was more worried about Sparty going vertical in the pass game. He thought I was crazy. I told him, “our rush defense is so damn tight, yo!” He laughed me off. He also texted me in the third quarter and told me I was right.
Michigan State, a “power” team, had 29 yards rushing on 23 attempts. I know some of the negative yardage was on Cousins, but even if you take that away Bell and Baker combined for 17 carries for 53 yards. That is awful by Sparty standards, and it showed that Notre Dame is a very good rush defense.
Notre Dame did give up over 300 yards passing, but a vast majority of it was underneath stuff. It all played right into what this defense does best. It was beautiful, and I think it is only the beginning for this unit and this team. 
Finishing. This was a team effort. There were still a lot of mistakes, but I think it is obvious that as long as Notre Dame keeps the mistakes down from the catastrophic level they were hovering around, then we should see a lot of victories for the remainder of the season. Keep the faith my volatile friends, this team is just getting started.
