September 2011 - Irish American News

30 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” September 2011Great Expectations: The Fighting Irish PreviewBy Coleman ClarkeThe Fighting Irish head into the 2011 seasonhoping to build on the momentum of a strong finishlast year, when they won four games in a rowculminating in a 33-17 whitewash of the MiamiHurricanes that wasn’t as close as the final scorewould indicate. They bring back virtually theirentire defense intact ,as well as most of their startersfrom last year, including senior quarterbackDayne Crist, who has completely recovered from aknee injury suffered last season in a heartbreakingloss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. All reportsfrom fall camp indicate that Crist has a muchbetter understanding of the offense and is morecomfortable with his reads.Crist was able to stave off Tommy Rees, a truefreshman, who played admirably in his absencehelping the Irish to a 4-0 record in their last fourgames—in which the offensive game plan wasscaled back to suit the strengths of its quarterback.Last season, Crist attempted to assimilatethe nuances of head coach Brian Kelly’s offense,leading to flashes of brilliance followed by periodsof maddening inconsistency, which kept the Irishfrom being able to establish their offensive identityearly in the season. Kelly himself was under firefor some questionable decisions, most notablyduring the Tulsa game in which he elected to throwthe ball into double coverage instead of attemptto kick the game winning field goal.The Irish did overcome tremendous obstaclesduring the season including a humiliating loss tothe Naval Academy during which they were physicallyand mentally dominated in all facets of thegame—specifically coaching. The turning pointfor the Irish, however, may have been the convincingwin over then—No. 14 Utah—their largestvictory over a Top 15 team in over 14 years. TheIrish were able to carry the momentum from thatvictory through the remaining three games, beatingSouthern Cal for the first time since 2001.Heading into this year’s slate, the Irish, onpaper, are as good if not better than every teamon their schedule. Yes, I said as good—with theemphasis on better. They open the season againstSouth Florida and should be able to win by doubledigits. Next, they look ahead to a Michigan teamthat is rebuilding and must replace its personnelto suit new head coach BradyHoke’s traditional smash mouthoffense that has been the hallmarkof the Wolverines for years.The Irish should go into AnnArbor (the first-ever night gamein Ann Arbor) and dismantle theWolverines, who will probablykeep the game close for about aquarter or two before the talentand depth of Notre Dame wearsthem down. Michigan State will visit South Bendonce again, and may pose a formidable test for theIrish with senior quarterback Kirk Cousins, a bluecollar quarterback with decent mobility who canthrow on the run to a host of talented receivers.However, since this is a home game for the Irish,I expect them to win and pull away in the secondhalf of the contest.The rest of the schedule has the usual suspectssuch as Purdue, Navy, Boston College, Pittsburgh,and Stanford. The other teams rounding out theschedule are Wake Forest, Maryland, and Air Force.While this schedule has some potential pitfalls,there are no teams that should jump out and causealarm for Irish fans. Of course, Stanford is rankedin the top ten of the AP poll and might be the mostoverrated team in the country in my opinion. Yes,they return All-American quarterback AndrewLuck, a frontrunner for the Heisman award, butthey lose valuable personnel as well, including theman who instilled their winning ways in formerhead coach Jim Harbaugh, who jettisoned to theNFL last year. The marquee game of course willbe against USC at night, in front of what will be araucous Notre Dame crowd. This will be the firstnight game in South Bend since 1990!In addition to the Irish returning many playerson both defense and offense, with players such aslinebacker Mantei Teo and running back CierreWood, they bring in one of the most heraldeddefensive line hauls in recent years. Among someof the players snagged in last year’s class includedefensive end Aaron Lynch, linebacker Ishaq Williams,and defensive tackle Stephon Tuitt, givingthe Irish depth at many positions that they haven’thad in years. These freshmen, among many others,are expected to contribute right away and give themore experienced starts a much needed rest duringthe course of the games. With these factors inmind, the Irish should win at least 10 games toconsider the season a success.They have excellent players atthe skills positions, highlightedby wide receiver Michael Floyd,who can out jump any defenderfor a catch along with receiver/running back in Theo Riddickand Cierre Wood, who may endup being one of the best one twopunches in the country with theirability to move in space after thecatch. Throw in the mix much improved runningback Jonas Gray, with his blazing 4.4 speed andyou have a combination that will make many defensivecoaches reach for the Maalox.Wrapping up, this team still rests on the shouldersof Dayne Christ and the Notre Dame defense.If Christ can show that he is able to go through hisprogressions and check downs better this season,and can improve greatly on his consistency, inparticular, the Irish could be very explosive onoffense and difficult to contain. Head Coach BrianKelly stated in his previous press conferences thathe wants to run the ball more, which served theIrish well, particularly against USC and Miamilast season when they ran the ball down bothteams’ throats. In addition, the defense must pickup where they left off last year when they madeteams fight tooth and nail to move the ball intothe end zone. The Irish actually ended up in thetop 25 in the points scored against category bythe end of the season. They should be able toimprove upon that statistic, which would mostlikely have them playing in a BCS bowl game byseason’s end. Anything less than 10-2 would be adisappointment, considering the returning talenton this years’ team, combined with the outstandingdefensive recruiting haul for 2011.If the Notre Dame detractors are at fever pitchthis year, Notre Dame is probably winning on thefootball field.If you have an iPhone andthe Kaywa Quick ResponseCode Reader App,just scan the code belowand be taken directly tothe iBAM! website!