That pumped me up for tomorrow night more than anything else I've read this week, and it was written 3 1/2 months ago. Most impressive Mike, and thanks for referencing Jay.

Good thing the "phone book" is Pringles Can thick; I hope we can establish an early lead & keep a few surpises stashed for South Central and Fulmer's Furloughs.
T.D. Seymour | Email | Homepage | 09.30.05 - 10:33 am | #

Yes it is an impressive write-up by Mike. Great research on the stats. However, I'm going to disagree. I want to see ND come out and try to run the ball. Weis is flexible enough that if it's not there, he can shift things around to more of a passing attack on the fly. The Golden Gophers shredded Purdue last week because of an outstanding O-Line and a good running back. I don't know anything about the talent of the Gopher players, but I do know that this is one of the most talented and experienced O-Lines across the board Notre Dame has had since perhaps 1989. When sufficiently motivated (as they were against Pitt and Washington), they can run on anyone. Here's a little write-up I did for a couple friends earlier this week:

3-headed Monster: As in using Darius Walker, Powers Neal, and Travis Thomas to run the ball about 50 times. Purdue was supposed to have a great defense with all 11 starters back from last year, but Lawrence Maroney shredded them for 217 and Minnesota had over 300 yards total rushing. The Irish line has enough talent to dominate Purdue, but rather than giving the ball only to Darius, ND will be much more successful if they give the Boilers a couple different types of backs to deal with and continually hit them with fresh bodies. I know Charlie strives for balance, but I’d like to see 45-50 runs and only 20-30 passes in this game.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 09.30.05 - 12:31 pm | #

I think Minnesota's line is actually more proficient at run blocking, and they use a fairly complicated zone blocking scheme.

I have a feeling that Weis is going to use the pass to open up the running game. Why not? Purdue's pass defense is one of the worst in IA this year.
Bill | Email | Homepage | 09.30.05 - 2:08 pm | #