Three Guys in a Basement

Can Charlie succeed in his make or break year? Here are some questions that must be answered...

Over the next few weeks and then during the season, we at tgiab.com will do our best to give you insightful analysis on the Notre Dame football team.  Our beloved Irish have struggled mightily the past two years, and before that the program has been mostly down over the past 15 years or so.  Charlie Weis was brought back to have one more chance to prove that 2005 was not a fluke and that he can motivate, dominate and win with a talented group of players.  At tgiab.com, we have many thoughts on Charlie.  While we would like to see him succeed, we remain somewhat skeptical.  2009 is the season where we hope Charlie proves our doubts wrong and brings glory back to South Bend and the Irish.  There should be no doubt that the current batch of the Irish has more talent and depth than most teams of recent vintage.  Are they going to be better than that 2005 team?  That team had promise but had not done anything of note in the previous two seasons.  Suddenly, under Weis’ tutelage, Maurice Stovall and Jeff Smardjiza became star wide receivers, Anthony Fasano became one of the best tight ends in the country, and we all know that Brady Quinn went from a player who some team might take a late round flier on and instead became a first round draft pick.

This season, Clausen is in a similar situation to Brady’s that year.  He has started since his freshman year and has taken a beating in the pocket.  He has shown moxie by taking those hits, he has shown he has the ability to make some amazing throws (Michigan last season is just one example), but he has also shown the ability to fall apart after adversity (does the North Carolina game ring a bell after he threw that pick at the start of the 2nd half?).  Will Weis be able to ride Clausen to a successful 2009 season?  Is this the year that Clausen lives up to his promise?  I know I’d sure love for him to start being mentioned in the same sentence as Tebow, Bradford and McCoy.

As for receivers and tight ends, will Tate, Floyd and Rudolph continue what they started last season?  If they do, Jimmy’s job would get that much easier.  Will someone else step up?  Specifically, will Ragone stay healthy and become the reliable second tight end, similar to Carlson in 2005?  Will Kumara, Shaq Evans or another receiver become a reliable #3 receiver?  If so, that may be something that the 2005 Irish didn’t truly have.  In fact, Matt Shelton played a crucial role on that 2005 team, and he had been little used up until that point.  Can a senior make that type of improvement, and hopefully be even more important to the offense?

These questions haven’t even touched on the running game, which is truly much more of a concern than the aerial attack.  Armando Allen, Jonas Gray and Robert Hughes all bring different styles to the running back position, and James Aldridge shoud give the team a new and hopefully different and more successful look at fullback than Asaph Schwapp was able to give the team.  But the question then comes down to the offensive line.  This has always been a bit of a weakness for the Irish in the Weis era.  Will 2009 be the first time in the Weis era when that line becomes truly nasty?  Will new line coach Verducci instill some fundamentals and nastiness into this line, allowing the Irish to sustain a strong running game?  And if he does, will Weis actually stick with it?

On defense, the secondary looks strong with Walls returning to the team after a one year absence, and many other skilled players at cornerback (Gray, McNeil, Blanton) and safety (both McCarthys, Harrison Smith, et. al.) bring real talent and experience to the back 7, likely giving the Iriish their best secondary in years.  There are many athletic players at Linebacker, and these players can and should be team leaders, hopefully highlighted by the dominant play of captain Brian Smith and star freshman recruit Manti Te’o.  The front four leaves question marks as they are very young.  However, there is hope there, too, as most of those young players are talented, and they have a new coach teaching them fundamentals.  Will Tenuta’s defense be able to be the best one of the Weis era?

These are the many questions that I have as we enter into the 5th season of the Weis era.  This year is likely make or break for Charlie (or at least should be if for some reason it isn’t).  Can he answer most of these questions in the positive?  Will Clausen make that step forward, will other step up to strengthen an already strong receiving corp, will the team establish a running game, and will the defense shut other teams down?  If so, than Weis will correct many of the problems that have plagued the team over the last two years and will earn some of the respect back that he lost during the crapfests of 2007-2008.  While I will leave our thoughts on these answers to later posts, after more practices have helped us figure out what we think about this team, I leave you with this:  I have now been a student at Notre Dame for 5 years (2001-05 for undergrad, 2008-2011 for law) and I have seen some bad teams.  However, I’d argue that least season was the worst, even though they made a bowl.  While Ty’s last season was marred by losses to inferior teams, and supplemented by wins over very good opponents like Tennessee and Michigan, last year’s ND team was destroyed by the only good opponent on the schedule (no first down until the end of the 3rd quarter?) and lost at home in one of the worst losses in ND history to Syracuse.  If the team isn’t vastly improved from that team, which was only somewhat improved from 2007, there is no way that there will not be a change at the top.  As Weis has said at the start of preseason camp, it’s time for Weis and the Irish to “Show me.”

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