Senior Day

There are several senior players who will still have a year of eligibility left that will be able to be seniors (the 5^th year kind) in 2013.  Some will not play again, some will play and take full advantage of that fifth year, but not in South Bend, much like Dayne Crist and Mike Ragon who took their 5^th year talents to Kansas, and Brandon Newman who went to Ball State.  Some will be asked back and/or will choose to come back to have an opportunity to play one more year for the Fighting Irish.  The following are seniors who have a year of eligibility left:  Carlo Calabrese (linebacker), Tyler Eifert (tight end), Dan Fox (linebacker), Jake Golic (tight end), Zack Martin (offensive line), Tyler Stockton nose guard), Chris Watt (offensive line) and Cierre Wood (running back).

For those who have played their four years and will be moving on for sure we offer our thanks and best wishes:  Braxton Cave^ (center), Mike Golic Jr.^ (offensive line), John Goodman^ (wide receiver), Kapron Lewis-Moore^ (defensive end), Dennis Mahoney^ (offensive line), Dan McCarthy^ (safety), Jamoris Slaughter^* (safety), Blake Breslau (safety), Jordan Cowart (long snapper), Nick Fitzpatrick (wide receiver), Zeke Motta (safety), Grant Patton (defensive end), Theo Riddick (running back), Chris Salvi (safety), Will Salvi (cornerback), Matt Tansey (offensive line), Nick Tausch (kicker), Manti Te’o (linebacker), Robby Toma (receiver), and Ben Turk (punter).

*Applying to the NCAA for a 6^th year.

^Fifth Year Senior

When many of these young men came to South Bend, I am sure they had dreams of playing in the NFL someday, but like any sport the chances of going pro are slim.  However, Notre Dame does have a rich tradition of getting their players to the next level.  According to the NFL, 471 Notre Dame players have been picked by NFL teams since the draft began in 1936, including 63 first round picks and five first picks overall.  Many more found their way onto pro squads through invitations to training camp, free agency, etc.  The Irish also boast ten alumni in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and 36 who have won a Super Bowl.

Looking back at the careers of these young men, it is obvious that success has come in different ways and at different levels.  As their final season comes to a close, several are on award watch lists representing their hard work.

Braxton Cave, Sr., C: Lombardi Award Watch List, Outland Trophy Watch List, and Rimington Trophy Watch List

Tyler Eifert, Sr., TE: Mackey Award Semifinalist, Lombardi Award Watch List, Maxwell Award Watch List, Walter Camp Award Watch List, College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Tight End (11.11), College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Tight End (10.22), College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Tight End (10.14), and College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Tight End (9.9)

 

Kapron Lewis-Moore, Sr., DE: Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List

 

Zack Martin, Sr., LT: Lombardi Award Watch List and Outland Trophy Watch List

 

Zeke Motta, Sr., S: Thorpe Award Semifinalist

 

Theo Riddick, Sr., RB: Hornung Award Watch List and FBS Independent Offensive Player of the Week

(10.22)

 

Manti Te'o, Sr., LB: 2012 National Scholar-Athlete by the National

Football Foundation, Maxwell Award Semifinalist, Bednarik Award Semifinalist, Butkus Award Semifinalist, Lott Trophy Quarterfinalist, Lott IMPACT Player of the Week (10.29), College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Linebacker (10.28), FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week (10.22), College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Linebacker (10.22) Lott IMPACT Player of the Week (10.22), Lott IMPACT Player of the Week (10.15), FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week (9.25), Bednarik Player Of The Week (9.25), Lott IMPACT Player of the Week (9.24), FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week (9.23), Lott IMPACT Player of the Week (9.17), FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week (9.17), Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week (9.16), College Football Performance Awards Honorable Mention Linebacker (9.16), FBS Independent Defensive Player of the Week (9.2), Lott Trophy Watch List, Butkus Award Watch List, Lombardi Award Watch List, Bednarik Award Watch List, Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List, Walter Camp Award Watch List, and Maxwell Award Watch List.

 

Ben Turk, Sr., P: FBS Independent Special Teams Player of the Week (9.17)

 

Cierre Wood, Sr., RB: Maxwell Award Watch List, Doak Walker Award Watch List, Nominated for Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week (10.8)

 

As we say goodbye and reflect on these young men as football players, true fans realize that there are college football players and then there are college football players at Notre Dame.  Below is from the 2012 Notre Dame Football Media Guide and I believe it speaks to what makes the Notre Dame student-athlete unique.

Developing the Complete Student-Athlete

 

Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly and the University of Notre Dame football program are committed to developing each student-athlete in five core areas: intellectual, social, spiritual, skill and physical. These five components combine to give Notre Dame’s football players an enriching education and knowledge base to be successful on the football field and a contributor to their community off the gridiron.

 

Intellectual Development: The University of Notre Dame expects the best out of its student-athletes just as it does of every other student on campus. Notre Dame has had unprecedented academic success among its athletes, including its football players. Since 1962, 98.8 percent of football players who have stayed at Notre Dame at least four years have graduated from Notre Dame.

 

Social Development: With all 50 states and more than 100 nations represented, the University of Notre Dame is one of a handful of universities with a diverse and international student body. Members of the football team are active in groups and clubs on campus and in the South Bend community. Located 90 miles east of Chicago and 45 minutes from Lake Michigan, the University is positioned a short drive from one of the best cities and lakefronts in the country.

Where are we know?

Most teams play their best against Notre Dame and everyone circles the Irish on the calendar when the schedules come out.  As the season wears on, teams see their match up with the Irish as their Super Bowl the game that can make or break their season, especially those teams who are average or are having a below average season, like Pittsburgh, Boston College and Wake Forest.  Notre Dame is different than any opponent a team plays and it shows in their efforts every week.

Many saw the games against Pittsburgh, Boston College and upcoming Wake Forest as tune ups for the Southern Cal and beyond.  After escaping by the skin of their teeth and an underwhelming win over B.C., Wake Forest at 5-5 could be the toughest “tune up “yet.  I’m not saying that the Irish aren’t learning and growing with these games, they’re just not doing it in the manner we had envisioned.  Nobody saw Notre Dame Being 10-0 this deep into the season, but no one thought (either at the beginning of the season or after eight games) that we would be having these issues with the likes of Pitt and Boston College.

After the Oklahoma win, the Fighting Irish looked crisp and clean, with only one penalty in the game on a defensive offside call where Louis Nix knocked their quarterback on his tail.  Since that win, Her Loyal Sons are playing like an entirely different team.  Brian Kelly talked about his team needing to play with the head of a champion.  That head is currently somewhere else.  Don’t get me wrong, there have been good plays to be sure, but they have been offset by penalties, mistakes and sloppy play.   Play like that against better teams, such as USC and even Wake Forest will land a mark in the loss column for sure.

The most important game is always the next one, and if you don’t believe me, ask Alabama or any team that you thought would win out.  Kelly has done a good job keeping this team grounded despite all “the noise,” and at 10-0 we have to believe Kelly has control of the situation.  At the same time, we are talking about 18-22 year olds in a very unique and unfamiliar situation.  Veterans on the team are now at a place they were hoping to be at when they signed with Notre Dame, and the younger players have never been on this kind of stage before (and no, winning a high school state championship is in no way even close).

This program is not run like a traditional undefeated, 10-0, #3 ranked team.  Brian Kelly has his “process” and it’s working.  The players have bought in, the coaches have bought in as have the fans (including this one to a point).  However, many poll voters have not.  Many in the media knock Kelly’s Irish for not being flashy enough or offensively dominant enough, especially against weaker teams.  Over and over, I hear comparisons to Oregon and Kansas State and how they have scored on offense to gain their “style points.”   In contrast, Notre Dame gains their “style points” on defense and has not given up the points like Oregon (22.3 points per game, including a high of 51 against USC) and Kansas State (17.7 per game including a high of 30) compared to Notre Dame’s 11.1 points per game with a high of 26 in three overtimes. 

Notre Dame’s defense outshines the defenses of both Kansas State and Oregon and if pollsters, fans and the media recognized that a little more, the Irish would be more prevalent in the National Championship conversation.  Let’s take a more in depth look at defensive statistics for these teams.

Season Cumulative	Notre Dame	Kansas State	Oregon
Total Yards Allowed	2952	3501	3777
TD’s Allowed	8	18	27
Points Allowed	111	177	223
Sack / Yards	31 / 213	27 / 174	24 / 138

I like the big plays, I want Golson to scramble for big yardage, for Atkinson to return a kickoff 99 yards for a score or Wood to break tackles for a 50+ yard touchdown run.  Make no mistake, the Irish are capable of all of that and more, but this team reminds me of a saying:  It is the steady drip that wears away the rock not the big splash. 

Notre Dame has the steady drip, and we’ve also got a “big splash” player in Manti Te’o, who I would take over any offensive weapon on any team in the country.  If you think otherwise, watch these video clips, and very little of what you will see is about being a great football player, but rather, about being a great person playing football.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdAmbTzt7rE&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao109a38uVY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_P1rcOAwEA&feature=related

Previewing Wake Forest

Previewing Wake Forest, it’s hard to see how this is going to be much of a match up.  Pittsburgh had some very good players who put it together for a great game to take the Irish to the brink and Boston College had the motivation of the Holy War to make the games at least competitive.  The Demon Deacons are a below average looking team with not a lot going for them against the third ranked team in the country.  With wins coming against the likes of Liberty (by three points), North Carolina (by one point), Army, Virginia and Boston College, it’s hard to believe they will be striking fear into the hearts of the Fighting Irish this weekend.  Meanwhile, taking beatings of 52-0 from Florida State and 37-6 from N.C. State should help the confidence of any undefeated 10-0 team.

Statistically, this 5 -5 Wake Forest team is very non-intimidating.  As I scroll down their collective numbers from this season compared to their opponents’ numbers, Wake Forest has simply underperformed.  Head to head, the Demon Deacons lose (to name a few) the following statistical categories cumulatively - scoring/points per game, first downs (both rushing & passing), yards rushing, yards passing, total plays run, and time of possession.  They do have the edge in a few categories, including 4^th down conversions (53%), red zone scoring (91%) and red zone touchdowns (74%).  Even though these are impressive, it’s like being too little too late.
 

Individually, the Wake Forest players are no more impressive or intimidating.  Starting at quarterback, Price has a 55.4 completion percentage with 1,965 yards (196.5 yards per game), 12 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.  Good, but not great stats ten games into a season with a .500 record.  Initially, you are impressed with seeing he has gained 164 yards rushing until you slide down the page and see he has also lost 174 yards on the ground for a net of -10.  Note: Price does have two rushing touchdowns.  The running game is as solid as any decent team in the FBS, with two primary backs - Harris (607 total yards, 4.5 yards per carry with 5 TD’s) and Martin (394 total yards, 4.2 yards per carry with 5 TD’s).  They have mixed it up on offense by having five different players throw at least one pass including one from a receiver (who connected for a touchdown) and four (three completions on four passes) by a running back. 
 

It’s on the defensive side of the stat sheet that Wake Forest makes themselves look more respectable and helps make sense of the 5-5 record.  Their defense boasts 68 tackles for a loss, 23 sacks (for 170 yards) 9 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries and 1 blocked kick.
 

We all know stats only tell part of the story, but for Wake Forest it’s no best seller.  The Irish may not beat the Demon Deacons by 50 points (although they could), but they definitely have more on their sideline and in their huddle to beat this team on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, giving the Notre Dame seniors a well-deserved send off on Senior Day.
 

Bonus Wake Forest Notes:
 

This is only the second meeting of Wake Forest and Notre Dame, and will be the first in South Bend, making them the 70^th different team to face the Irish in South Bend.
 

If Tyler Eifert has five catches on Saturday, he will pass Ken MacAfee to become Notre Dame leader in receptions by a tight end.

November 17th

On Saturday November 17^th when the Irish take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons it will be the 14^th game Notre Dame has played on this date (currently 9-4), but none have had a more interesting twist than this one.

November 17^th 1928: Notre Dame loses to Carnegie Tech, 27-7, in a shocking upset. The game, played 84 years ago before a standing-room-only crowd at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field, is legendary. Notre Dame came to Pittsburgh undefeated and with a super-stingy defense that had not yielded a single point in eight games. A national championship seemed to be well in hand with only two games remaining, Tech and USC. Conversely, Tech, which had fallen to Notre Dame the previous four years in a row by a combined score of 111-19, brought a 6-2 mark into its final contest of the season. The Irish were such heavy favorites that head coach Knute Rockne chose to stay in Chicago to attend the Army-Navy game at Soldier Field, and left the team in the hands of his top assistants. It was a move he would regret. This was the first home defeat for Notre Dame since 1905, when the Irish lost to the Little Giants of Wabash College, 5-0.

Source: Notre Dame Game Notes – Wake Forest

Boston College No Frills Win

First, kudos to Boston College Quarterback Chase Rettig who was as good if not better than advertised and will be playing on Sundays in a couple of years.  A definite improvement on the prior week’s overall performance, but there are still a lot of concerns heading into the home stretch.   As Notre Dame pushed their way up the field and scored early in the game, I was surrounded by Irish fans cheering as if they had just won the Super Bowl and I was thinking to myself (and allowed to those around me) “don’t get too excited; this is what you’re supposed to do against a 2-7 team when you are 9-0. 

Let’s review some points of interest from a less than stellar, underwhelming and unimpressive 21-6 victory over Boston College.

Manti Te’o had a season low five tackles (but did record his sixth interception of the season).

Lost fumbles by both George Atkinson and Theo Riddick.

Eight penalties for 65 yards including one on a long Theo Riddick run, breaking momentum and spirits.

Icing on the cake was having DaVaris Daniels break his clavicle, putting him out of commission for the final two regular season games (although he is expected to be back for a bowl game).

On the bright side, Notre Dame capitalized on all three of its trips to the Red Zone and went an impressive 11-14 on third downs.  Prince Shembo had three sacks (ND had five total), four tackles for a loss (for a total of 29 yards) and a fumble recovery.

Sure, overall the Irish had a solid game statistically - if they weren’t laying a 2-7 team.  This does, however, seem to fit this Irish team very well, just win and they do.  Whether you say they are playing up or down to their opponents’ level or that great teams just find a way (anyway) to win, they are 10-0 and poised for more.