Charlie Weis needs to ride Jimmy Clausen's arm to victory... or he could be in trouble going forward
Don’t know if you heard or not, but there is a HUGE game on Saturday. USC, or, as they hate to be called these days, Southern Cal, is coming to town and trying to continue their recent dominance of the Irish. We all remember the crappy 38-3 loss last season, and the 38-0 loss in 2007. We all remember the 3 straight 31 point losses from 2002-2004 and the 20 point loss at the Coliseum in 2006. And, of course, we all remember the 2005 game. Makes me angry we didn’t win that game to this day. But that is the past, and as legendary Mike Ditka has said, the past is for cowards. Saturday is a new day, and past results do not matter. If they did, then ND would win since they have more victories in the series. Well, since tgiab.com will all be traveling this weekend, partying hard starting soon, etc., it seems that today is the best day to let everyone know some of my thoughts on the big game.
Why does this game matter? It matters for several reasons:
1. This one is totally unrelated to the opponent, is that ND started out 4-1 last season and ended up 7-5. That means that the second half of the season was a complete train wreck. ND cannot allow themselves to go into another tailspin. The team lost a lot of its composure after falling apart in the 2nd half against UNC last season, and ND does not want that to happen again. A blowout this weekend may lead to that fate.
2. Recruiting – ND has a ton of talent coming to campus. There are actually 22 high school seniors there, including 7 top 100 recruits, as well as many of the most talented players in the junior class. 11 of those seniors are verbally committed to ND, while 11 are potential future players. ND needs to impress those players and make them want to attend the school. A blowout loss to a team that is probably also recruiting those same players will not be helpful, while an electric atmosphere and a victory could propel ND towards a top class this season and potentially next season.
3. Charlie Weis’ future. If the Irish get blown out, then the CW death march will likely begin. This will affect those aforementioned recruits and may add to that tailspin. Charlie knows this. I expect him to use an and every motivational tool he can… maybe he gets Lou Holtz to skip his day job at ESPN to come and give the pregame speech. I don’t know. But he needs to be the OC we know he can be, and he needs to not make many of the head coaching mistakes he has made in the past. I actually like CW, but I have doubts about his ability to lead ND to anything more than a mediocre future full of ups-and-downs. I want to win all of the time. Charlie can show me he can beat the best if he can get the team ready to play on Saturday, and he may be solidifying his position with other alumni by doing so.
4. Clausen’s Heisman hopes. I’ve seen it several times already – Jimmy can win the Heisman if the Irish win on Saturday. I buy that. I hope he wins himself a Heisman against Southern Cal (I’m sure he couldn’t fall apart the rest of the season, but a win in which he looks good will put him as the mid-season front runner).
5. Ending the 7 game losing streak. Losing streaks of any length suck. Especially to your biggest rival. This one needs to end. 7 games, by the margins that they have been by, is especially annoying. It’s time for this streak to end.
6. Reemergence as an actual powerhouse. I’m not saying that one win will re-legitimizes the program, but it will go a long way to putting the Irish back where they belong. I am tired of thinking about how good of a program ND should be… it’s time for it to be that great program that it has been and will be again. I say it starts Saturday.
7. How I see it playing out – On offense, ND will be going against the best pass defense it has faced this season. That isn’t comforting, but you have to remember that USC will be going against the best pass offense it has faced this season, as well. One of those two units will do some major harm to the other team’s season stats. For my money, I think ND will pass on USC. It’ll be a mix of quick drops and screens, which will set up some long throws. Or at least that is what I imagine. Further, ND will need to establish a running game to keep the USC defense honest against the pass. Again, I think ND can do this. Weis will use some imaginative playcalling, like the Wildcat, to keep the Trojan defense guessing, and that will open up holes for Hughes and Allen. If those two can average 4+ yards a carry, then the passing game will be open and the Irish will put some points on the board.
The question that worries me more is the Irish’s ability to stop the Trojans. I expect that the Southern Cal running game will wear the Irish defense down, and fast. This is one game where the Irish need to score early and get up on the Trojans, and put more pressure on Barkley to have to throw the ball. If the Trojans can just hand off to McKnight all day, the defense will wear down fast and the Trojans will play keep away from the Irish offense. That could make for a long day. We need to defense to step up and get at least some early stops to let the offense hopefully carry the load. Then the defense needs to be opportunistic and capitalize on mistakes that Barkley seems sure to make if he is forced to win the game with his arm. Or at least that is what I’m thinking the game plan will be.
I refuse to give a final score because I’m afraid the Trojans will physically dominate us. But I also have hope that the Irish will be able to hang points on USC and will be able to capitalize on their mistakes. It’s too hard to handicap when you want to win as bad as I do. All I can say, is:
Go IRISH! Beat Trojans!
Filed under: Notre Dame
