Notre Dame has high expectations in year two of Brian Kelly and the Irish have a roster talented enough to achieve the goals that have been set internally and placed upon them from the outside. However, the boys in South Bend opened the year with a head scratching loss to Skip Holtz’s Bulls and no people are questioning their initial assessment of Notre Dame.
To talk us through the Irish state of mind we’ve got one of our favorites The Subway Domer here for Five Burning Questions about the Irish.
Notre Dame took a hard L in their season opener to South Florida a game, myself included, didn’t see playing out in quite that fashion. We’ll talk turnovers and quarterback controversy later, right now pull me a positive. Yes, a positive. As in what was good about that game from an Irish standpoint? What’d they do right?
There were actually a lot of positives on both sides of the ball. Losses like these tend to mask any improvement, and when you are Notre Dame, they basically get wiped out by a rabid media and fanbase.
If I must choose only one, then Cierre Wood it is. Notre Dame has to improve it’s ground game. The hope was that Kelly would make that an emphasis, and it appears he is doing that with Wood. Cierre had something like 82 yards rushing and over 30 yards receiving (from a screen) by halftime. Due to the nature of the game, Wood was unable to get many more carries in the second half and ended up with 104 yards rushing. That was the first 100 yard rushing performance by a ND player since Armando Allen ran for over 100 in an OT loss to UConn in November 2009. 2009!
And just as a sidenote: ND racked up over 500 yards offense against a defense that was considered to be the best in the Big East (which doesn’t really mean anything).
Turnovers really sank the ship and put the Irish in a position where they were scrapping to win a game most expected they’d take home as a W. We’ll skip the commentary on weather, both teams played in it, what was the most glaring issue on the Irish miscues and how does this further fuel what was one of the more hotly debated quarterback races in college football?
Jonas Gray should buy Dayne Crist a beer- nay, a liquor store. That first fumble by Gray that SF returned for a TD probably sealed the deal on Crist heading to the bench. Sure, there were other moments that counted against Crist, but if ND scores a TD on that drive, I truly believe the entire landscape of the game would have been different.
The most glaring miscue was a lot of the players complete lack of concentration and poise. Kelly had stated in the preseason that this was the most focused team he had ever coached. It certainly did show it with turnovers and a whole lot of penalties that included personal fouls. Ugh.
We’ve done the positive dance, touched on the quarterback situation so let’s look big picture now. How will this affect the Irish season. Obviously undefeated is out of the question but does it, should it, alter Irish coaches’, players’ and fans’ goal of being in a BCS bowl come January? Was the original hype of being in a lot of folks Top 20 too much?
Well, it doesn’t help. The margin of error is quite slim for ND, especially due to it’s recent past. However, a BCS bowl is still manageable. 11-1 is a shoe in, and 10-2 is likely. Can the Irish do it? Well, that’s an entirely different answer. Like, no. I think 9-3 is the most likely the best case scenario.
Despite all of that, I still think this team is a top 15 team. Notre Dame beat themselves Saturday and South Florida did nothing to lose the game. That doesn’t mean ND is overrated, they just got bit in the first week of the season. The next two weeks will tell the true tale.
Last week is done, on to the next contest, a night game in Ann Arbor. New jerseys, new “setting” and both teams want this game as a spring board to something special in 2011. I’m going to rule out the turnover-fest of opening day and expect a cleaner played game by the Irish, what should we expect this team, without all the “throw the ball to the other team” plays being called, to look like Saturday?
If Notre Dame holds on to the ball, their offense will do just fine. The Irish still have Michael Floyd and no one can stop him. The added bonus of a truly effective running game adds a security blanket for Rees who has already had wins in big game environments before.
The focus goes back to the defense, which played very well against South Florida last week. Will they be able to keep Denard in check? Will they get the turnovers needed in a game like this? I think they can, and know that they are certainly able to.
The biggest question to be answered is if the Irish can mentally get over the South Florida loss. If they can, they have a great shot at winning. If you’re looking for a prediction; Irish win 31-27.
The pressure is on Brian Kelly now, the Wolverine fans are settling into the Hoke era, simple question, right now who does this game mean more to from a purely head coaching standpoint? Take out the fans and the new uniforms and the night game element and tell me from a pure “this coach needs the win” outlook who needs it most?
With out question, Brian Kelly needs it most. Hoke is in his first year, so there is a lot of wiggle room for the Golic imposter. Kelly didn’t shoot down any expectations for this year, and after last weeks performance he needs this win to right the ship. Kelly isn’t on ANY type of seat that may be warm, but this team is. A win sets the season back on track. A loss sends it flying off of the track. For reals.
BTW- F#*% MICHIGAN!
