Anyone who has attended multiple games at Notre Dame Stadium keeps a personal record of wins and losses while they were there.
My mother, for example, has a horrible record as an attendee—Notre Dame has lost every game that she’s attended. Previous to last season, I had a 4-0 record as an attendee—however, the last game I attended was last year’s game against Navy.
Understandably, I was a little leery about attending Saturday’s game against Stanford. This game had all the makings of an upset surrounding it: trash talking, a duo of very productive opposing running backs, and Notre Dame coming off a decent win against Purdue. My voice is just now starting to return.
This week, rather than writing my regular article of general observations and suggestions for the coaching staff, I am going to point out several things that had a significant effect on the fans in the stadium and in return affected the players on the field.
It’s a very unique experience watching a game in person. Most of my perceptions of the game were more emotionally based rather than cognitively based. Thus, I have also reviewed the game on television to round out my experiences and perceptions of what went on during the game. So, without further ado...
The Good
Jimmy Clausen
What we saw at the beginning of the season from Jimmy was just a flash of what we would see from him later. Hopefully what we see from him now will only be a small flash of what he will be towards the end of the season.
He continues to put up career-high numbers every game and is now starting to put up numbers as a sophomore that Brady Quinn did his junior year. However, there are still things to improve about his playing.
First, he is still being spooked by blitzes. I’m sure that eating dirt a few dozen times last year has nothing to do with that. Additionally, he is still holding onto the ball too long to try to make plays where there aren’t any. He should be throwing the ball away about three seconds earlier when he can’t find an open receiver.
This will come back to hurt him if he can’t learn to throw the ball away instead of forcing a play where there isn’t one.
Defensive Playmakers
Pat Kuntz, Kyle McCarthy, David Bruton, and Brian Smith—all of these players had a significant impact on the way the defense performed during the first half of Saturday’s football game. They made big plays when the team and the fans needed it the most and were a big part of why Notre Dame was up 21-7 at the half.
Now, if only they can continue to do this throughout the season and do it through a whole game (more on that later). Unfortunately, they only seem to make plays inconsistently.
Wide Receivers
This unit has improved drastically from the beginning of the season. At the beginning of the season, Golden Tate was a novelty and had yet to be discovered by opposing defenses. Now they have an understanding of his playmaking abilities and have covered him very well.
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3 months ago
i have a tip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Y7yjxJVlc
watch it, funny stuff
3 months ago
Wow, thanks for the link. I have seen it, but it's just as funny now as it was then - not. Thanks for the feedback on my article, though.
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