Re: 2009 College Football Notebook
I figure I'll give a little preview of my team for you as some others have done here. In addition, throughout the year I'll give some inside information that might be useful (for instance, I know and hang out with many players on the team from playing basketball with them in the winter to going to parties at the football house on Saturday nights).
There are some things that many bettors would not know such as the USC and BC home games fall at the beginning/end of our fall break (Oct 17-Oct 24) and hopefully I'll be able to give some insight as to how the crowd should be, etc. For instance, I could see most students staying and getting obliterated Friday night and Saturday morning for the SC game and the crowd being out of control. But then on the flip side, many students might stay home the extra day and skip the BC game.
At any rate, if anyone has any questions about the team, just ask. I love talking ND football as much as anyone you can find. I also know there are other ND fans on this forum so hopefully they will contribute to my little preview. Will add more as the season closes in on us.
LOOK BACK
As most of you college football fans know, ND went 6-6 last year in the regular season and defeated Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl 49-21 (score was 49-14 in the 3rd Quarter when most starters were taken out).
Week 1: a sign of things to come: ND narrowly escapes losing to San Diego State, thanks to a miracle fumble on the goal line late in the 4th quarter that would have given the Aztects a 2 score lead
Week 2: ND took advantage of the home crowd, rainy conditions, and 5 Wolverine turnovers to win 35-17 over our rivals
Week 3: a disappointing loss to Michigan State in East Lansing 23-7. ND had its chances the whole game but could never put it together. A win here might have given ND a top 25 ranking.
Week 4: ND then went on to take care of Purdue 38-21 with Clausen going 20-35, 275 yards, 3 TDs, 0 ints
Week 5: Beat Stanford at home in a game that was nowhere near as close as the final score 28-21 indicates with another spectacular performance by Clausen 29-40, 347 yds, 3 TDs, 0 ints
Week 6: Then ND travelled to #22 ranked UNC with a chance to once again move into the AP top 25. ND came out of the half with the ball and up 17-9, only to have Clausen's first pass picked off and returned for a TD. They went on to blow the game and lose 29-24. Michael Floyd had the ball down near the goalline on the last play of the game with a controversial fumble/knee down call ending the game.
Week 7: ND then get back on track with a hammering of Washington 33-7 in a game that could have easily been 50-0. Washington never got the ball across mid-field until later in the game when all the starters had been taken out.
Week 8: the week where everything turned to shit. Up 17-3 going into half, Weis once again decided to sit on the lead and get away from what had worked: Clausen flinging the ball to the extremely talented receivers sophomoe Golden Tate and freshman Michael Floyd. Instead he stubbornly depended on a non-existent running game that went 3 and out for basically the entire second half. Some other poor coaching decisions (going for it on 4th down at mid-field late in the game) and some stupid penalties (Harrison Smith's personal foul on a 3rd down stop that kept alive the eventual game-tying drive) put the game into overtime where poor coaching (run off left tackle, run off right tackle, incomplete pass) and a wide open miss by Clausen to Floyd cost the game.
Week 9: apparently still distraught over the second double-digit/second half-lead blown loss, ND goes to Chestnut Hill and plays their worst game of the year to date, losing 17-0. The defense actually played quite well only giving up 10 points despite BC getting the ball near mid-field every possession.
Week 10: ND defeats Navy 27-21 in another game that was almost blown by Weis taking his foot off the gas. ND was up 24-7 going into the 4th quarter and after a fumble by freshman Jonas Gray inside the 10 yard-line, Navy scores and goes on to receive two onside-kicks in a row to give us a scare. Thankfully the third one was recovered by the Irish.
Week 11: arguably the worst loss of the decade, a 24-23 loss to Homedawg's Syracuse Orange. Up 23-10 going into the 4th quarter, Weis, clearly not having learned the lesson from the first ten games, gets away from what had been working (Clausen throwing it to his playmaker receivers) and stubbornly tries to pound the run game giving the Orange time and field position to get back into the game. Syracuse scores the go-ahead TD with 42 seconds left and Brandon Walker's missed 53 yard-field goal as time expired allowed the 17 point dog Orange to avoid their third 10 loss season in Greg Robinson's four years.
Week 12: if possible things got worse with the 38-3 shellacking put on us by USC at the Coliseum. ND failed to record a first down until the final play of the 3rd quarter and only recorded 91 yards of total offense. Enough said. Freshman Michael Floyd, arguably Clausen's best weapon was hurt as was linebacker and this year's captain Brian Smith. Still no excuse. Only player who looked like he belonged on the field for ND was freshman corner Robert Blanton who picked off a Sanchez slant early in the game and played tough the entire game. If the Syracuse game didn't already have the alums/fans/students putting for-sale signs in front of Weis' house, this game sure did.
Week 13: after being secured of his job by AD Jack Swarbrick, ND went on to manhandle a Hawaii team that had historically played tough at home (almost beat #13 Cincinatti, blew 24-10 4th Q lead)* with Clausen throwing 22 of 26 (with 4 drops) for 401 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 interceptions in 3 quarters of work. Nevertheless, it was Hawaii. Many spoke of this game being the "first of next year" and trying to carry this momentum into next year.
Now that I've lived through that painful year, I need to decompress before diving into next year.*
2009-2010 SCHEDULE
September 5 Nevada 3:30 PM ET
September 12 at Michigan 3:30 PM ET
September 19 Michigan State 3:30 PM ET
September 26 at Purdue 8:00 PM ET
October 3 Washington 3:30 PM ET
October 17 USC 3:30 PM ET
October 24 Boston College 3:30 PM ET
October 31 Washington State 7:30 PM ET
November 7 Navy 2:30 PM ET
November 14 at Pittsburgh TBA
November 21 Connecticut 2:30 PM ET
November 28 at Stanford 8:00 PM ET
