I get the most wonderful things in the mail. Earlier this week due to my status as a regular donor I received my Notre Dame Football Bowl Game ticket application in which I could request tickets for Notre Dame’s appearance in either the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta or BCS Championship Game. I am not making this up. Apparently the Notre Dame athletic department is holding on to the hope that all twenty five teams ranked in front of us lose all of their remaining games by fifty points apiece.
(In fact my only options for games that ND could possibly attend are the Cotton Bowl, the Gator Bowl (free DeBolt!), or the fabled “Any bowl not listed on this application, even if said bowl might be held in Detroit.”)
Let’s face it, like most Notre Dame fans I am rather dispirited after having to watch a second defeat to Navy in three years. It is great that we admire the students of the Naval Academy for their hard work and dedication and devotion to our country. That doesn’t mean that we should lose to them, though. And the fact is, though Notre Dame blew about a half dozen scoring opportunities in the game I can’t sit here and say that Notre Dame was the best team on the field. At some point you have to start looking at the coach.
I’m not going to get into the fundamentals here. The defense was horrible to the point of being non-existent and it has been that way for years. I don’t know why that is the case, if it is coaching or recruiting, but you would think that defense would be the hallmark of an ND team. It ties into the type of athlete we recruit. Smart, hardworking, tenacious, all of the qualities that make up a great defensive player. We might not get the best athletes but the ones that we do get should be the smartest and most dedicated guys that you could find.
That is really my biggest problem with the team. They do so many things that are the antithesis of what Notre Dame football should be about. Offensive lineman (and Jimmy Claussen) pick up stupid personal fouls. The snap count seems to be forgotten once a series. Coverages are blown and composure is lost. All of these are things that ND players should never do. We are really meant to be Navy with better athletes. We may not have the sheer talent of an Alabama but in a perfect world we would beat them through intelligence and discipline. Right now that thought seems rather laughable.
Basically I am done with the Charlie Weis experiment or as I like to call it “Life with Chaz.” He has never shown that he can beat a team that he isn’t expected to beat or consistently beat the opponent in an even match up. Sure he can develop offensive talent for the pros but they do not achieve what they are capable of in college. I just don’t see the leadership or even the creation of a team in his image. Maybe Gruden can come in and turn things around. I just hope that I don’t have to watch us lose to a team coached by Dave Freaking Waanstadt for a second year in a row.
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