:: Notre Dame Football ::
Fighting Irish head into Big House
Notre Dame brings stepped-up play against embattled Michigan ... series dates back to 1887, features two winningest programs in college football history
Sept. 11, 2009
Coming off a 35-0 steamrolling of Nevada, Notre Dame heads into "The Big House" in Ann Arbor to take on a Michigan team that had been reeling from a 3-9 2008 season, weathering allegations of scandal, and adjusting to a second year under Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez. In Michigan's first game, the Wolverines topped Western Michigan, from the MAC, 31-7. In the Broncos' previous game, last year's Texas Bowl, the Rice Fighting Owls beat Western Michigan 38-14.
Against Notre Dame, Michigan leads the overall series 20-15-1. But a string of Michigan wins came in the 1800's. These games included the very first Notre Dame football game in 1887 when a group of Notre Dame students, who were just learning the rules, scrimmaged the Michigan varsity and made a game of it.
Looking at the two teams last week, at random moments in video, it appears Michigan might have overtrained a bit, and be a step slower, while Notre Dame is looking very sharp, and has a burst of quickness, fluid speed, and unhesitating studied technique like the Irish have not shown in a long time. Recall that, under Charlie Weis, Notre Dame now has a fully rebuilt program across four class years for the first time in nearly fifteen years (and has some pretty sharp fifth-year seniors as well, developed to their maximum).
It is difficult to say how Michigan's game plan will change up for Notre Dame. Nevertheless, after Michigan fans were shocked with the 3-9 result in Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez's debut season, it seems unlikely Michigan would have sandbagged much against Western Michigan, except perhaps to some extent in the second half.
Rodriguez left, under what turned into a cloud, what had been a top-10 program at West Virginia. Apparently due to his radically different spread offense and coaching style, Michigan began hemorrhaging key players under Rodriguez. He also dismantled almost entirely a Michigan coaching staff that had had a fair amount of continuity dating back to the Schembechler era, had gone to bowls for decades in a row, and had handed Florida a New Year's Day bowl loss in their last game prior to Rodriguez.
Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis, however, has pointed out that programs under Rodriguez usually show dramatic strengthening in his second year on the job. In this case, Rodriguez's second year has started off with allegations of NCAA violations for off-season workouts, and personal accusations against over a land deal back in West Virginia. Rodriguez's attorney apparently has argued the coach himself was the victim of a pyramid scheme, but it also has emerged that one of the land deal's organizers also had been temporarily banned from being a football booster at another school due to alleged irregularities.
When Notre Dame is on Offense
Expect to see Notre Dame shoot the lights out throwing the ball, and expect to see a suprising vitality in the Notre Dame running game, with a big running back switching to the fullback spot, and Notre Dame's line-smashing ground attack producing enough of an extra burst, beyond what had been Western Michigan's leading rusher's 3.1 yards per carry against the Wolverines, to help move the chains.
Michigan's defense gave up 263 yards passing against the Broncos, although that included 73 yards on one play in the second half, Western Michigan's sole touchdown. The Wolverines did snag two interceptions on what was still 22 of 38 passing by the Bronco quarterbacks. Perhaps more interesting, however, was that the Bronco's leading receiver was able to average around 20 yards per coach on 7 catches, implying that the Michigan secondary might have some difficulty stopping a particular receiver even if they know to key on him.
On the ground, Michigan held Western Michigan to just 38 yards rushing on 24 carries, an anemic 1.9 yards per carry. However, that included negative rushing yardage by the quarterback, included sacks, and the Broncos leading rusher averaged a little more than 3 yards per carry.
In Notre Dame's 500-plus-yard offensive performance against the Nevada Wolf Pack, Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen established himself as the top-rated passer in the nation, taking the rightful lead in the early Heisman race. Clausen was 15-18 for 315 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions. Clausen averaged roughly 17 yards per attempt, was not sacked, and had roughly one in every four passes go for a touchdown. Clausen's quarterback rating of 303.67 leads the country.
Clausen's prime target against Nevada, Notre Dame sophomore wide receiver Michael Floyd, leads the nation in receiving yards, after hauling in four catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns, 47.25 yards per catch, scoring a touchdown for every 0.75 catches
Notre Dame's entire receiver corps may turn out to be the top unit in the nation, with junior speedster Golden Tate just as capable as Floyd of having a world-beating day. And sophomore tight end Kyle Rudolph, a Mackey Award candidate, is almost as much a deep threat as Tate and Floyd. Still fleet-footed and athletic, Rudolph has now beefed up to 6-6 260, after playing at around 6-6 245 as a freshman, and being recruited at 6-6 225. Duval Kamara, Robbie Parris, and others add size, speed, and good hands to the receiver unit, and Receivers Coach and Assistant Head Coach for Offense Rob Ianello has quietly turned into one of the better position coaches in college football, as has Tight Ends coach Bernie Parmalee.
Michigan might have difficulty stopping a passing game with multiple key threats. Weis also apparently has toyed with the idea of introducing one or more freshmen speedsters into the mix so that opponents cannot key on Tate, for example, without leaving other "burners" open. And Floyd, Rudolph, and the rest do have great speed as well, in addition to size. Even with the 5-11 Tate included, the average height of the Irish receiving corps is about 6-4.
One somewhat quiet asset for the Notre Dame receivers is that, as is the tradition at Notre Dame, the receivers are the complete package, include not just speed, routes, technique, and hands, but blocking as well, which plays into both runs after the catch and the running game. One long Floyd touchdown resulted, in part, from Tate throwing a seemingly low-key but perfectly timed, perfectly placed open-field block.
Notre Dame's running game appears to be recharged, with Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis, returning to offensive coordinator ( as Michigan alum Corwin Brown also relieves Weis of some head coaching duties, serving as associate head coach), complemented by new Running Game Coordinator Frank Verducci and new Running Backs Coach Tony Alford.
The Irish ran for 178 yards and a touchdown against Nevada, on 41 carries at a healthy 4.3 yards per carry. Fot the Irish it would be helpful to have the running game be at least a productive component of the offensive package against the Wolverines, which should be the case if Michigan gave up more than three yards per carry against the leading rusher for the MAC's Broncos.
Armando Allen and Michigan native Jonas Gray provide a fleet-footed one-two punch, combining for 129 yards on 16 carries, at over 5 yards per carry between the two of them. Allen had somewhat heavier yardage, while Gray had a slightly higher yards-per-carry average. Weis commented that there's not much of a drop-off from the #1 to the #2 at halfback, and that Gray came in never being daunted at having to compete with other top backs.
One new development with the Notre Dame running game is that halfback-turned-fullback James Aldridge is still out with an injury, suffered against Nevada, and big, bruising halfback Robert Hughes. Notre Dame will need Hughes to be a good blocker, a kind of tight end in the backfield, but his added presence as an effective runner or, perhaps rare receiver, is as intriguing as Aldridge.
Hughes, who is around 240 to 250 pounds, has the body type and running style to be a solid, Jerome Bettis-style running fullback. Hopefully in the Weis offense he also can be the big blocker that is needed in the fullback slot.
One interesting twist in the Notre Dame - Michigan dynamic, of course, is that Michigan's new Defensive Coordinator is former Syracuse Head Coach Greg Robinson, who upset the Irish last year.
Notre Dame on Defense
Expect to see a swarming Notre Dame's defense, including a rotation that has the most quality depth in years, including some top freshmen cutting their teeth fairly rapidly. The Irish defense could swarm a talented but still inexperienced and developing Michigan offense paced by raw talented freshman quarterback Tate Forcier.
Blitz-happy Assistant Head Coach for Defense Jon Tenuta undoubtedly will be dialing up maximum chaos to throw at the young Wolverine signal-caller. And one interesting twist on the Irish defensive scheme is that, while the Irish claim to have switched back to a 4-3 personnel grouping, on the depth chart, instead of simply having two defensive tackles and two defensive ends, the Irish have a nose tackle, defensive tackle, and one defensive end, with another defensive end slot filled by one of two 250-pound linebackers.
Weis apparently is very impressed with the entire package of Smiths, Brian Smith, Toryan Smith, and Scott Smith, but also anticipated playing freshman sensation, and defensive national player of the year as a recruit, Manti Te'o, more and more on a game-by-game basis.
Te'o had some strong plays against Nevada, in which he showed field vision, closing quickness that combined speed with instinct, and outstanding tackling technique that betrayed an excellent sense of timing and leverage. Te'o had been a quick large-safety-sized linebacker as a recruit, at around 6-2 225, but in the off-season and fall camp bulked up to a more prodigious linebacker-sized 6-2 250, while continuing to show a lot of fluidity and top speed. Notre Dame's strength and speed coaching appears to be among the best in the country, as does the work ethic of its young recruits.
Now, in an apparent bend-don't-break scheme, the Notre Dame defense did give up 153 yards rushing against the Wolf Pack, a little more than 5 yards per carry and Michigan's spread offense did pick up intense yards, ypc against Western Michigan. One point Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis made in a recent press conference is that Notre Dame has enhanced its team speed on defense. Team speed, incidentally, was a hallmark of Notre Dame's last consensus national championship squad under Lou Holtz.
While Michigan played three quarterbacks, its starter continues to be fleet-footed freshman Forcier who appears to be at least a competent passer, completing about half his passes against Western Michigan albeit with an interception to go with three touchdowns.
Special Teams
Despite Rodriguez reportedly bringing in more speed and athleticism for his spread offense (although truthfully Michigan already had top talent before he got there), Notre Dame arguably has greater potential for big playmakers to break loose on special teams, whether it is return men or gunners.
Notre Dame is featuring a fairly good freshman at kicker, who was perfect on extra points, but who still might have some freshman jitters. Nick Tausch slipped on a kick-off, but did manage to still get off a cognizable kick that got a ways down-field with some height. Weis commented favorably on Tausch's hang-time generally, although it would be good to see Tausch show his leg strength fully by coming through on a rumored ability to get kick-offs in the end zone for touch-backs.
Notre Dame's long-snapper specialist Jordan Cowart has looked good, but he still needs to beef up his frame to make Weis more comfortable at using him on place-kicks as well as punts.
The Notre Dame - Michigan Series and Notre Dame Lore
Michigan and Notre Dame are the top two programs all-time in college football in terms of winning percentage. As mentioned above, Michigan leads the series 20-15-1, but that includes a string of Michigan wins in the 1800's. Notre Dame has won the most national championships in college football, including the relatively modern development known as the AP poll, as well as the multiple national championships Notre Dame won before the AP poll existed, including under Notre Dame Head Coach Knute Rockne, the winningest coach in football history.
Notre Dame also has won more Heisman trophies than any other school, seven, in addition to having multiple players before the Heisman was started in the late 1930's who would have won yet more Heismans had it been around, such as one or more of the famed Four Horsemen, or George Gipp, the greatest all-around player to ever play the game.
Interestingly, Gipp was from the state of Michigan, specifically the rugged, windy Upper Peninsula where he rested in peace until his grave was disturbed over some kind of dispute involving who was related to him, with an ESPN film crew on hand.
Notre Dame continues a series with Michigan that dates back to the start of Notre Dame Football in 1887, but has had long lapses coinciding with Notre Dame beating Michigan and Michigan dropping them from the schedule. The first such lapse was when still-fledgling Notre Dame Football started beating Michigan in the early 1900's. Interestingly enough, it was reportedly around that time, when Notre Dame did not yet have its current nickname, that after an especially rough game between Notre Dame and Michigan, presumably with Notre Dame winning, some Michigan fans reputedly made a disparaging remark about "those fighting Irish."
At the time, the statement apparently was intended as an anti-Catholic racial slur.
But little did its makers realize they were giving Notre Dame a nickname Notre Dame would wear as a badge of honor, that in years to come, when Michigan lost to Notre Dame, they indeed would be losing to The Fighting Irish.
The series continued to be in hiatus when Notre Dame was introducing the forward pass under Jesse Harper, beating national powers. And it continued to be in hiatus when Notre Dame was coached by Knute Rockne, the winningest coach in football history, winning multiple national championships and fielding some of the greatest all-around players to ever play the game, such as George Gipp, the Four Horsemen, and the Seven Mules. The series also continued to lapse in the 1930's when Notre Dame was coached, for the most part, by former Four Horseman Elmer Layden, who coached the Irish to monumental wins over Ohio State, and later left to become Commissioner of the NFL when Notre Dame hired Frank Leahy.
Yet in the 1940's, when Notre Dame had one of the most successful dynasties in sports history under Leahy, the second-winningest coach in college football history, and Army was the other main juggernaut of the day, Michigan considered itself a national title contender. However, when Michigan finally scheduled Notre Dame again, in a two-game series in the early 1940's, Notre Dame blew out Michigan both times, including at Michigan Stadium. A would-be legendary Michigan coach reputedly yelled at Leahy afterwards that Notre Dame was the dirtiest team he had ever seen, and that Michigan would never play Notre Dame again.
After decades of reported cajoling by legendary Notre Dame Athletic Director Edward "Moose" Krause, a former Leahy assistant coach and former Rockne player, Michigan agreed to resume the series, somewhat sporadically at first, in the late 1970's.
Somewhat understandably, with Notre Dame's rich tradition, and a long history of dramatic match-ups against the likes of Southern Cal, Alabama, Army, Penn State, and Miami of Florida in their "Bad Boys" era, to name a few, only in recent years has Notre Dame begun to view the game with Michigan as something approaching a rivarly.
For Michigan, however, losses to Notre Dame quickly became a competitive stumbling block, and a source of rivalry-like emotion almost as soon as the series resumed. With a last-second Notre Dame field goal made ... a last-second Michigan field goal blocked ... in what was supposed to be #1 vs. #2, back-to-back Notre Dame kick-off return touchdowns ... ricocheting Notre Dame passes near the goal line ... inexplicable Notre Dame offensive explosions .... and Michigan has had its share of bafflement against the Irish.
Notre Dame Heads into the Big House
The Fighting Irish are heading into Michigan's semi-subterranean 100,000-plus-seat stadium in Ann Arbor that legendary sportscaster Keith Jackson dubbed "The Big House."
Weis has theorized that renovations to Michigan Stadium, including some kind of deck, could make it louder than in the past. He indicates Notre Dame will go with a silent count when in the shot-gun.
But it will not be possible for Notre Dame Football to face its biggest crowds in history, since Michigan Stadium is actually not big enough for that.
The biggest crowds ever to watch college football were back in the day during the Rockne era in the old configuration at Soldier Field in Chicago. Crowds of 116,000 to 120,000 packed in to watch the Fighting Irish take on Southern Cal and Navy. From time to time Michigan has listed "top crowds" at its stadium, but a closer look usually reveals some modification to the claim, such as the inclusion of the term "NCAA" as in, biggest crowds to watch an NCAA football game. The NCAA did not yet exist when Rockne was leading his boys before the biggest college football crowds in history.
Conclusion
Tune in for a great game that showcases the new gold standard in NFL-style passing at the college level, and a traditional battle in the trenches.
Key Words: Notre Dame Football, Fighting Irish, Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, Nevada Football, Nevada Wolf Pack, Michigan Football, Southern Cal, USC Football, Michigan State Football, College Football, Quarterbacks
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