I don’t want anyone to miss our hard hitting analysis on what ails Jimmy Clausen, so I recommend reading that interesting article first.
To start off, it should be known that I always try to remain optimistic. I am also a huge Illini fan, so I like to give their sports programs a shout-out as much as possible. With that said, I am combining the two things to show why I am still at the stage where I am “buying” Charlie and the Irish instead of “selling” them.
The optimist in me sees this ND team as having the potential to be the Illini team from 2006… The team only won two games (we better win way more than that, because otherwise we have a new coach next year), including only beating one Division 1-A team. It even lost to a Syracuse team that was already showing how bad of a coach Greg Robinson is. However, the team was more competitive and found more confidence every week of the season, and by the end they probably would have beaten the teams like Syracuse who beat them early in the year. They stayed close with an OSU team and were the closest game that team played until their shootout with a very good UM team (and, of course, before they got blown out by Florida). They led at Wisconsin until they choked it away in the 2nd half. They led at PSU but ran out of gas.
The Juice was loose in 2007, thanks in part to his experience running the offense in 2006
However, the next year they went 9-3, losing to UM, Missouri and Iowa (and then getting dominated by USC in the Rose Bowl). The team ran every scheme well and the offense was dynamic and the defense was opportunistic. Most importantly, most of the team members were vital contributors the year before and their experience showed. I think that ND could work out the same way. However, I need a better record than 9-3 to be happy with the progress next year. We won’t lose many people that contribute from this years team. Therefore, I say BCS or bust next year. Anyway, the 2006 Illini relied heavily on freshman Juice Williams running the spread option. His inexperience was very apparent in several games as he was yanked early on occassion in hopes that his performance wouldn’t ruin his confidence for future games. This year, the Irish are couting heavily on Jimmy Clausen to a pass heavy pro-style offense. While he got some experience last season, a majority of his experience was running for his life so that he wouldn’t get sacked. This year, he is learning that second part: learning the offense. ND also is very young still. While it may not seem that way since we have been hearing all of the same names for at least a year, just check out this break down of the depth chart. The way I read it, and I could be wrong since it was just a glance, but we are losing two players from our starting offense (Grimes and Schwapp, as I believe that Turkovich has another year of eligibility) and four players from our starting defense (Kuntz, Crum, Bruton and Lambert, as I believe McCarthy has another year of eligibility). Of the players listed above, the loss of Bruton is the only loss that truly scares me because I think he is one of the best players on the team. Most of these guys have young, possibly impact, players behind them. They will know the system by next year. Back to my comparison to the 2006 Illini, ND has started better than that team did. MSU is no Syracuse. ND can still win 8-9 games this season, and I don’t think anyone truly expects them to finish with only 2 or 3 wins. Therefore, I have the expectation that the team will improve week to week and beat teams like Stanford, Navy and Syracuse. My final discussion point with the Illini: At the time, you could tell that the Illini was on the cusp of having a great season and possibly establishing a solid program. At ND, it is still hard to see that. However, our goal is not just to have a solid 2009 but to reestablish the program as the power it should be. I can see the pieces lining up for that to be the truth. That is, as long as we can show the improvement that the 2006 Illini showed.
While I still worry about the coaching as I have had many of the same reactions as rsand did in his MSU recap, I remain upbeat. If I wasn’t clear enough earlier, I guess I’m staying optimistic right now, though I guess you should ask if I still feel the same way after the Purdue game…
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