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In conjunction with the midseason Notre Dame football story in Friday's Journal Gazette, Insights is getting in on the midway action, assigning grades for the Irish, currently at 4-2 and facing the always-difficult Idle this Saturday, all day.
Going to break the report card up into four separate posts: The overview. Offense by position group. Defense by position group. Special teams by different areas (coverage, returns, field goals, punting).
OFFENSE
GRADE: B
Why: Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen is maturing, setting career-highs week after week and showing why all the recruiting services and almost every college coach figured he'd be a can't miss prospect. Now, he's becoming a very good college quarterback. He has extremely talented targets in freshman wide receiver Michael Floyd, sophomore wide receiver Golden Tate and freshman tight end Kyle Rudolph. All four players will likely end up in the NFL one day. Floyd is particularly special, looking like an almost lock to be an All-American before he leaves South Bend. The passing game is in the top 20 nationally, which should probably be expected of any team Charlie Weis coaches. The grade drops because the running game has been suspect, ranked 109th in the nation and still not seeming to find its niche. Charlie Weis' declaration of pounding the ball before the season started didn't help matters to point out that the Irish still can't run the ball with any efficiency.
DEFENSE
GRADE: C
Why: The hiring of Jon Tenuta from Georgia Tech in the offseason was supposed to bring an aggressive, blitz-happy scheme that led to a lot of pressure, a lot of sacks and a lot of distressed quarterbacks. Well, that hasn't happened. Notre Dame ranks tied for 100th in sacks, with only six BCS teams having as few or fewer sacks per game than the Irish. Notre Dame has been mediocre against stopping the run (63rd), not great in allowing passing yards (231.33 yards per game) and are 108th in tackles for loss. The defense has been good in keeping quarterbacks from being efficient (30th) and are holding teams to 20.67 points per game. The grade is what this defense is. Average.
SPECIAL TEAMS
GRADE: D+
Why: The kickoff and punt coverage units have been good. The punting has been consistent. Kickoff and punt returns have been average. Two things, though, bring this grade down. The first is that Notre Dame coaches Charlie Weis and Brian Polian went to Virginia Tech and Frank Beamer -- the guru program for special teams -- in the offseason and the units haven't been that much better. Secondly, and more importantly, the field goal kicking has been abysmal. Sophomore Brandon Walker is 2 of 8 and since this is the most visible area of special teams, it drags the entire unit's grade down a full letter. The fact that Ryan Burkhart, another scholarship, can't beat out Walker sends alarms out as to what it would take to get a consistent field goal kicker in South Bend.
COACHING
GRADE: B
Why: Charlie Weis and offensive coordinator Michael Haywood showed they are able to adapt mid-season, switching to more of a pass-happy, shotgun, three-wide offense when it became apparent running the ball to set up the pass was not going to work well with the personnel Notre Dame has. Plus, credit the coaching staff for playing youngsters, including freshman cornerback Robert Blanton, Floyd and offensive guard Trevor Robinson, all three of whom have shown quick progress. The defensive coaches -- although their scheme has been questionable considering its stated goal of getting to the quarterback -- has shown the ability to develop talent (read: Blanton, freshman defensive end Ethan Johnson, sophomore linebacker Brian Smith). Still, some questionable decisions abound. Why did it take so long to go to the current incarnation of the Notre Dame offense? Why did Notre Dame start so slow in the season-opener? (Remember, the Irish were quite close to losing that game and if they had, what would have happened then...) Also, the decision to not kick the field goal early in the fourth quarter against North Carolina was questionable, but it is tough to fault Weis for his decision-making since Walker hasn't been consistent and Weis thought he needed a touchdown. But overall, progress has gone as expected, if not exceeded what could have been initially thought at the season's outset.
Agree? Disagree? Send your comments to mrothstein@jg.net or drop your thoughts below.
