D Jones to D Kalb

Demetrius Jones, the starting quarterback for the Georgia Tech game who was pulled before halftime after two fumbles, did not make the bus for Ann Arbor and is reportedly enrolling at the Northern Illinois University. As I speculated recently, DJ's prospects at quarterback are looking dim with Clausen's performance and the offensive woes. I'm sad to see him go, because he what I have read about Jones paints a picture of a very talented and likable guy. I also think he could have had a good career at ND, although probably not at QB. The move seems sudden, but I am guessing this had been considered during the spring competition and he is trying to get into the fall semester in order to achieve his transfer year requirement in the 2007 season. I will wish the best to DJ unless something more sinister motives are forthcoming; I hope this decision leads to a great career, because he is sacrificing a Notre Dame diploma and a valuable collegiate experience that will be unmatched at NIU (no offense).

And with that, please meet your new third string quarterback, senior Darrin Bragg.

Only two missed blocks from starting!

Michigan Man

Things are definitely testy in Ann Arbor. You have to think a few Wolverine fans might be pulling for the Irish this weekend just to get rid of Lloyd.

91 Screaming Otters Guarantees Win!!!!

That's right, folks. 91 Screaming Otters are guaranteeing an Irish victory against Meeeechigan tomorrow at the Big House. No exceptions, no clauses, just a 100% stone cold guarantee or we will refund all moneys paid to our website.

This is what it's come to - if Mike Hart can do it, so can we. And we will back up our guarantee by shouting at our television until we mentally will our offensive line to block and their defense to shrivel into the fetal position and allow Charlie his birthright - offensive production!!

It's been awfully quiet posting this week, but one set of grumbling, over-critical, any-loss-is-intolerable blogospheres is going to get its sweet reward this weekend and the otters have spoken.

The Mustelidae family says 'Go Irish, Beat Meeechigan!'

Whither DJ?

In Saturday's game against PSU, Charlie Weis ended the quarterback derby by naming true freshman Jimmy Clausen the starter. While the offense was ineffective, Jimmy Clausen played well by all accounts and has probably cemented his position, barring injury. In naming him the starter for Penn State, Charlie indicated that Clausen's offseason elbow surgery had more impact on his readiness for the opener than his performance in pre-season practice.

Given the performance against Penn State, I see no reason not to build for the future with Clausen. This season is already facing a new set of expectations, so why not develop your quarterback of the future?

But what does this mean for Demetrius Jones? With Jones starting against GT, Charlie experimented with the spread offense with mixed results. With Clausen entrenched at QB, will we ever see the spread again? In what role will Jones be utilized?

I doubt we will see the spread because this offense is too young to run one scheme well, let alone two. With all of the youth on offense, I suspect the emphasis will be on building some basic competence and allowing the players to develop. Although the spread offenses of Michigan and Appalachian State exploited Michigan, those were good spread offenses - probably not a version we could transform ND's offense into since last Sunday.

And where does Demetrius Jones go from here? If we are going to run a passing offense, it seems that Sharpley is more suited to the backup role based on his performance from Georgia Tech. However, Jones showed flashes of playmaking ability that can't be wasted on the bench. How will Charlie get him on the field? Will he play at all this weekend or is he destined to be a third string QB and future transfer?

I wouldn't mind seeing us take another stab at the spread against a defense like Michigan to see if it could be effective and give DJ a shot at redemption. If not that (and I would understand the reasons from a preparation standpoint not to get fancy), I would at least like to see some creativity in trying to get a playmaker on the field. Would DJ accept a role as a receiver / running back in certain packages? Let's hope that the two fumbles are not the last we hear of a very talented player.

Hope Revisited

Only 361 days until the 2008 home opener against San Diego State! I have accepted that the rest of the season will serve mainly as an opportunity to develop our young talent in preparation for next year's campaign, which is not a bad thing. The number of freshmen and sophomores who are going to play this year along with the incoming class of 2008 means that there may be a good times ahead.
Beyond watching our players develop, I have re-evaluated what I think is possible to achieve in this down year.

1) Beat Michigan State. We need to end this home loss streak. Now. I actually like the Spartans and would like to see their program revive. Living in Michigan, I share their distaste for the Wolverines and have a good rapport with my Spartan friends. The early results look pretty good for MSU with D'Antonio; while the opposition has not been first rate, they have been physically dominant and the program has developed a blue collar attitude that is the antithesis of John L. Smith. This should help prevent the self-destructive tendencies and I am thinking they have a decent chance of competing for the Big Ten this year. Respect aside, I want to end their streak in our stadium.

2) Beat BC. Everyone remembers 1993 when the Eagles knocked off ND to deprive us of the national championship. The only two Div 1-A football catholic schools resume their rivalry which has generally been a bigger marquee game for BC who plays with passion against the Irish. This year, the table may be reversed in that the Eagles will be favored and the Irish will be playing for respect. Beating them at home would notch a respectable win and serve as a catharsis from 1993.

3) Beat Michigan. Until Saturday, I wouldn't have thought this possible. Even now, it is a tall order because if we can't move the ball we could get blown out and face the indignity of restoring some hope to our rival before they start the Big Televen season. Likewise, we have the ability to pound a nail into their coffin with a win. It will be weakness on weakness when our offense faces their defense - if we can win this battle, we have a chance because I am liking our defenses chances against UM offense more in their current doldrums and with a freshman QB. If Hart and Long have lingering bumps and bruises from Saturday, our defense might play well against UM if they can only get some rest between drives.

4) Win a bowl game. That's assuming we make one, which would require six wins. If we do it certainly won't be a top tier bowl so maybe we could actually break our string of losses. I would be quite happy with the Motor City Bowl against the MAC champ if it meant we could get that monkey off our backs as well. I'd say we should drop down to Div 1-AA this year, but I think we would get blitzed by App. State.

For the rest, I would hope to win the four November games, which would still gives us a shot at seven wins. With what I have seen, I will be happy if we win six games and make the bowl. I am less hopeful about Purdue, because we will have to score some points to beat that team and I haven't seen it yet. Purdue will also have the revenge factor, but it would now be in the category of 'Big Win' if we get it. Bleh! I am not even going to entertain hopes of beating USC or UCLA. Perhaps we should keep out our young players from those games to avoid injuries and let the seniors and walkons start.

Friday Q, meet Sunday Q

The transformation from the hopeful, Friday version of Quixotehan and the Sunday realist version of Quixotehan occurred sometime in the third quarter of last night's game against Penn State. The flashes of opportunity by the defense mired in a constant string of three and outs by the offense. The catalyst for the conversion - the offensive line. When they weren't getting penalized for false starts or holding, they failed to establish any control of the offensive line in either drive blocking or pass protection. There are very few defenders being driven out of holes and the linebackers are making plays untouched. When in pass protection, the offensive tackles (especially Duncan) are diving at the ankles of the defensive ends in a futile attempt to chop block. This provides Clausen roughly 1-2 seconds for the end to step over the tackle and pressure the QB. And the penalties . . . oh, the horror.

Friday Quixotehan, Sunday Quixotehan

The hopeful Friday Q would like to remind Sunday Q that this OL is very young. With the exception of Sullivan we are playing 2 juniors and 2 sophomores. These are true years - most other universities would report them as 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen because they would redshirt linemen as a matter of course. This line is very young, but are also gaining valuable experience.

More to come from Sunday Quixotehan as a rewatch the game and give my thoughts on all of the Irish units performance. My quick take was that this could have been a much different game with even marginal OL play: the defense was stout before they tired late, the special teams provided good field position (and a PSU score), and the team intensity was improved over the first game. Clausen made good decisions and showed potential to direct the offense - if only we could have avoided all of the costly mistakes and gotten some offensive momentum from time to time.

Nittany Bidet

A loyal reader (thanks, mom) sent this photo in from the road on her way to Penn State. I wouldn't want to see the facilities reserved for opponents. I'm guessing that this was taken just outside Beaver stadium.

I'm gaining confidence (delusions?) that tomorrow will be a day to make us proud. The offensive line has masterfully used the Georgia Tech game to lull all future opponents into believing they are a spineless bunch just so they can lay the wood the rest of the season in dominating fashion. The team will stun PSU and we can all forget the first game of the season (any Michigan fans with me?)

Go Irish!

Hope Returns

Well, it has taken five days but hope has finally returned after last Saturday's debacle. Blue Gray Sky helped by posting this analysis which made our prospects seem much better and the chance of improvement more possible (91SO Motto 'dedicated to directing you to better websites'). I also decided that I should resign myself to reliance on hope rather than reason this year or it would be a long season.

With that said, I am predicting an upset of Penn State which will return a shimmer to the eye of Irish fan. The upset will come from a strong defense and a serviceable offense, not pretty but providing something to build on. So put on your lucky shirts and hats this weekend and don't forget to say a few devotionals. And if you're going to the game, don't forget to reference the handy 91SO Penn State Traveler's Guide for safe travels.

Clausen to Start

Freshman phenom, Jimmy Clausen, has been given the opportunity to start next Saturday's tilt against Penn State. Happy Valley hospitals have already requested for Mr. Clausen's insurance information to be on file.

Better get one of these, Jimmy!

Ouch

Well, that was painful.
The Irish suffered their worst home opening loss and fell to Georgia Tech 33-3 on Saturday. There wasn't much good to take out of the loss, although the final result contained a certain amount of snowballing. Even at halftime, I felt that we had a chance if we could just get calmed down and make a few breaks.
The one clear conclusion is that our offensive line was thoroughly dominated by the Bees. A certain amount of that is due to GaTech having a very good defensive front seven - but the Irish line looked totally ineffective whether it be run blocking or pass protection. It seemed like ND hasn't been doing much live blocking drills, because the Bees actually kept playing after the initial contact whereas the Irish blockers were expecting blocking sled behavior.
The defense gave up a lot of running yards, but played good redzone defense in the first half. I won't take much away from their performance because our complete lack of an offense left them on the field, demoralized.
Similarly, I think that the Demetrius Jones gameplan was the right way to attack this defense. It didn't work due to turnovers but there were some early encouraging flashes. The fact is that this line couldn't protect a drop back passer or blow open holes, so why not try deception in the running game? Good luck to Jimmy Clausen this weekend - unless the OL goes through some serious learning, he better be throwing the ball after a one step drop.