Irish Blogger Gathering… Frank Means Business

Welcome to the weekly Irish Blogger Gathering- A.K.A the IBG. This weeks Gathering is hosted by Frank over at UHND.com Blog. If you read his blog regularly, and there should be no reason that you aren’t, then you know how serious Frank is with everything that comes Fighting Irish football.

That’s why this weeks questions made me chuckle when I read them. Not because there is a lot of comedy to them- in fact, it’s because there is none. Usually, these little Gatherings consist of around 5 questions with one or two of them either having a bit of comic relief, or “cute.” Not Frank. It’s all business…

 1. The obvious question for the week, how does Notre Dame deal with the loss of Michael Floyd? What wide receiver steps up? How, if at all, does the offense change?

How do they deal with it? They just deal with it. They have to, because there isn’t much choice outside of curling up into a little ball and crying like Dick Rod when he’s caught cheating.

I think Duval Kamara finds some redemption this week. Not only was Floyd an every down threat- he was money inside the redzone. The redzone is exactly where Notre Dame needs Duval to step up and perform. Redzone play is what was supposed to separate Kamara from most WR’s in the country, but he struggled last year to progress from a very good freshman campaign. I’m predicting 2 TD’s here people. Book it.

I don’t think the offense does change from a playcalling standpoint, but it does lose some playmaking ability- no doubt about it. Notre Dame has been rushing the ball very well so far with Armando Allen, so if I were calling the plays- I would lean a bit more on the run game to set up the playaction pass to help the “other” wide receivers get open so they can make the big plays. Rudolph should be used as much, if not more than he was last week. But, like I said… I don’t think the offense will change much at all as far as the playcalling is concerned.

2. After seeing three games from Notre Dame in 2009 have your expectations increased, decreased, or remained the same?

I thought that this team was going to go 11-1 with the one loss coming at the hands of someone other than U$C. So we got robbed lost to Michigan. That should still mean that my prediction is on target for the time being. However, I really thought the defense would be playing much better then what they are showing right now. So with a soft defense and no Mike Floyd… my expectations have decreased some.

3. The last two years against Purdue a Notre Dame player has had their breakout game. In 2007 it was Golden Tate and in 2008 it was Armando Allen. Who do you think could have their breakout game against the Boilermakers this year?

There are going to be some opportunities to breakout against Purdue on both sides of the ball, but in all likelihood- it will be another offensive player. I can’t really put Kamara in this category since he has essentially already “broke” out. Plugging another WR in this question would be playing to the odds.

How about… Jonas Gray. Blasphemy you say? Armando Allen is tearing it up, you say? Well, Allen is a bit banged up, and I think Gray will see a few more carries this week, and against Purdue, he breaks a long TD run. Just a hunch.

4. How would you grade the three new coaches on this year’s staff based on the first three games?

• Frank Verducci (A). The protection of Jimmy Clausen and the production from the run game are enough to make this grade, but Frank did something else too. He was bold enough to move players around and he has these guys playing with an edge. With what we had… I’ll change that to an A+.
• Tony Alford (B). Alford has a lot of talent to work with in the backfield. The job he has done with Allen and Allen’s decision making has been crucial- but he gets this grade because I’m not sure what the other backs, notably Robert Hughes, are really doing. When Allen is out, the production suffers and the pass protection/ blitz pick-up regresses.
• Randy Hart (C-). If this seems a little cruel, so is being forced to watch a defensive line get swallowed up like the last beer in the fridge. The defensive line has been struggling this year and has been the weak spot of the defense. With a blitz happy scheme- that cannot be the case. There is time to correct the problems, and I think they are correctable, so this grade could and should get better by the end of the year.

5. Your thoughts on Golden Tate’s stage dive into the Michigan State band? Was he trying to avoid running into the band? Was the whole thing intentional? Little of column A, little of column B?

You can never really know what Golden Tate is scheming thinking. I’ll take him for his word- yeah right. If he knew, or not, he leaped into a marching band. I love it. Tate, you truly are… Golden.

6. How has your opinion of the Notre Dame schedule changed from how you felt about it in the preseason?

I wasn’t knocking the schedule much, but i sure wasn’t defending it much either. With Notre Dame, their tough schedules end up a bit easier, and their soft schedules end up a bit tougher. It’s like that with a lot of teams really. However, I do think the schedule is becoming a little bit more respectable with Washington and UConn winning. How long will that last though? I’ll hold back judgment until mid-season. Too many cupcakes for too many teams early in the season. What the fuck is going on with Nevada though? They are probably going to be 0-3 after their game against Missouri this week. ouch.

7. Should Jimmy Clausen be getting more hype for the Heisman?

Absolutely. As well as he has played, like being pretty much the best quarterback in the country right now, the loss to Michigan hurt his chances. However. He is very much in the discussion by the talking heads, and if he continues to play well without his best WR and BEATS U$C… then he will really start to climb. I’m happy with his stature at the moment- but I expect more as well.