IBG: Fredo Scar is Weak and Stupid Edition

1. Coming off a very difficult loss to a rival that has now beaten them eight straight times, Notre Dame faces another that’s beaten them six straight. Can Notre Dame end the losing streak against BC or will the combined weight of the USC loss and recent history against the Eagles be too much to overcome? Allow me to explain.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned this season, it’s not to question the heart and tenacity of this football team. They are pissed that they let the SC game slip from their grasp, and with it, their title dreams. They need someone to take their frustration out on, and BC’s six-game streak is largely undeserved—they’ve gotten lucky and caught the Irish at the perfect time each of those six games to continue to eke out wins.

Not this week. We’re gonna pound on them like they are our worst enemies. I don’t want to see anything but snot bubbles.

2. Not unlike Notre Dame’s defense, BC’s offense has been pretty erratic this season. While in their most recent win, they rolled up 480 total yards and scored 52 points; in their two losses, they’ve averaged 109 yards and 11 points. Which BC offense and which ND defense show up on Saturday? Why?

I think that the BC offense has feasted on some weak defenses. That said, statistically our defense, especially versus the pass, is pretty weak at this point. However, the BC pass offense is hardly a threat, ranked 106th in passing offense.

BC tries to make their plays on the ground, where the Irish have been amazingly stout, shutting out the nation’s best rushing offense (Nevada), and holding Michigan ( eighth best rush O) and USC (22nd best rush O) well below their season averages on the ground as well.

I like the matchup here, and think the Irish defense will look good against the BC offense.

3. Does anyone seem primed to have a Robby Parris-like breakout moment against the Eagles? If so, who is it and why?

I like Robert Blanton, Gary Gray, and Darrin Walls. BC is a weak team passing the ball, and I think they’ll be playing from behind for much of the day. The corners will be facing receivers that are not nearly as athletic or talented as the ones they’ve been struggling against all season. There is no Keith Smith (Purdue, 11th), Blair White (Michigan State, 25th), Damian Williams (USC, 28th), Aaron Valentin (Purdue, 65th), or Anthony McCoy (USC, 94th) on this team that will burn us through the air.

I expect one or more of them to step up in this game, possibly with multiple picks.

4. It’s been an and up-and-down year for Boston sports. After a strong start, the Red Sox folded in the second half of the year. The Patriots, meanwhile, seem to be on the upswing after a 59-0 dismantling of Tennessee. For their part, Boston College has seemed as though their season could go either way. Ultimately, will the Eagles be the Sox or the Pats?

Neither. BC is BC. They’ll finish at or around .500, and possibly go to some low-to-mid level bowl game, where they will end up playing someone else nobody cares about. Wash, rinse, repeat.

We just need to stop this habit they have of unceremoniously ruining our promising seasons (’93, ’94, ’02, ’04). We can still have an excellent year, and a major beatdown of a decent BC team would go a long way into convincing people that we are a force to be reckoned with, and last week’s near miss was not a fluke.

5. While most Irish fans refer to BC as “Fredo”, tell me which other cinematic character you would compare the Eagles.

Scar from Disney’s The Lion King .

He’s the unworthy little brother of the great and majestic King of the jungle, Mufasa. He is bitter and jealous, and will stop at nothing to bring down the King. He takes his greatest pleasure from destroying the happiness of a brother who represents all that is good and right in the world.

His successes at killing his brother (’93 upset) allowed him a brief (six game) reign as the usurper to the throne. But now, after a period of exile (Davieham), the rightful heir to throne has returned to take his place.

Rightful Heir: 42
Usurper: 21

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Why Notre Dame Couldn’t Beat Michigan

1. Coaching

I’ve been a pretty staunch Charlie Weis supporter, right up until the Syracuse debacle of last year. And I still think with his work ethic, we could eventually win a championship if he continues to make the changes needed as he recognizes them. But Saturday’s loss can be laid at the feet of the coaching staff first and foremost.

Weis is a gambler, and frequently makes decisions that don’t make sense if you step back and look at the big picture. For a coach that comes from the NFL, he sure hasn’t learned much about winning games.

I have not heard a single rationale defense of why we were throwing a pass with the ball and the lead with two minutes left in the game. It’s just inexcusable. Good teams are able to run the ball on first and second downs, and then keep the defense guessing on 3rd-and-short as we try to move the chains and end the game.

The fact that we threw a pass on second down in that crucial situation is flat out the wrong call.

And that wasn’t his only mistake. Numerous times we had difficulties getting the play off. As the self-named offensive coordinator, it is Coach Weis’ job to make sure that the play gets in to the QB with plenty of time before the snap.

The unnecessary timeouts and delay of game penalties came back to haunt us in a game that came down to the wire.

2. The Officiating

I really hate to complain about the refs. Other than the Bush Push, which mostly upset me because of the magnitude of the game, my general position is that you play the game with the calls that are made, and that if you play well enough to win, the officiating won’t change that.

Not so on Saturday.

I watch a lot of football, pro and college, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a game in which the officials appeared to be actually biased.

There were, by my count, five unequivocal pass interference penalties against Michigan that were not called. And they were often in critical situations that changed the game.

Especially on the ill-advised second down pass. Call that interference penalty, and the Irish win. Talk all you want about “letting the players play” but these penalties exist for a reason and you CANNOT allow a team to consistently hold one of the receiver’s arms back while the pass is in the air.

I’ve also rewatched the play where Sam Young was called for holding on Kyle Rudolph’s 79-yard catch, and there was no hold. It was a spectacular block that drove the defender into the ground.

There was also the missed call on the Armando Allen TD. I watched that play in HD on a big screen, and the sideline view of that play clearly shows that Allen did not step out. There certainly was nothing resembling indisputable evidence to overturn the call on the field.

And don’t even get me started on the two seconds run off the clock on the kickoff. And don’t give me the BS about how rare it is for a last second Hail Mary to work—I saw the Broncos pull off a stunning win on Sunday, and Green Bay also had a last minute pass play that made the difference in the game.

And with a wideout like Golden Tate—we may not have won, but we should have had the chance.

But what really pissed me off—and the reason that I think that the refs were biased—was how the refs blew Coach Weis off at the end of the game and sprinted for the tunnel, not even considering taking a second look at the clock.

If it was only one, two, or even three of those problems, I could deal with it. But what I saw out there was clearly home cooking. Notre Dame was repeatedly and systematically robbed of its advantages in this game by the refs, and it cost the Irish the game.

If this game were reffed by a truly neutral officiating crew (say, from the Big 12?) the Irish win this game handily—by as many as 20 points.

3. Fundamentals

I almost appended this to the coaching segment above, but I saw a clear lack of fundamental breakdowns by Irish players in this game. Poor tackling especially killed us, and it allowed an inferior team to hang around in a game they had no business hanging around in.

Tate Forcier, if he bulks up, will eventually be a very good quarterback for Michigan. But he’s not a superstar in the making, and certainly not a phenom.

We made him look good by taking poor angles and arm tackling. Forcier slipping from the grasp of ND defenders was not because he’s a beast who reads the defense well, it’s because the ND players who were put in the right position by the play call and didn’t have the fundamental skills to make the play.

And that, again, falls on the coaching staff. For all of the talent and experience we trotted out on the field, these players should not be making those kind of bone-headed mistakes.

A classic example was on Forcier’s TD run, where the safeties did not shuffle down the line with the ball, and Kapron Lewis-Moore over pursued, did not break down and failed to keep his hips squared to be able to make the tackle, or force Tate back inside to the defense.

4. Michigan

I wanted to put this section in to give Michigan credit.

While they got plenty of help from the refs and Notre Dame repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot (much like Michigan did for us last year), ultimately they did what they had to do to win the game.

With two minutes left in the game, they drove down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown with little time left on the clock. They had a good game plan, and with a couple of breaks, put themselves in a position to win the game.

And they did.

Final Analysis

No excuses. We were 24 points better than Michigan, but we lost the game because we apparently still don’t know how to win.

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