Pat -- I think you mean "single game passing yardage mark" not "single season."
Paul | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 10:16 am | #

Thanks Paul.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 10:51 am | #

Should Mayes' career reception yards be 2552 instead of 2152?
Nathan | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 11:28 am | #

Confirms what we know: defense has to improve. Good news, if we were the statistically average defense next year in most respects we would actually improve. Here's to mediocrity!
Thundershaker | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 11:35 am | #

Good stuff, as usual. Thanks.

I like to see the fact that our Punt Return average went up by 3.3 yds/ret. That doesn't sound like much, but the big difference is the 2 Zibby TDs that aren't listed on that stat sheet.

I also like the Fun Fact. I think if you look at the schedule and figure out who's coming back for those teams, it really will work out favorably for the Irish. I don't think we'll be the best team in the country next year, but I could see us being the best team on our schedule next year. I could easily see us running the table and having a showdown of unbeatens (provided USC holds up their end of that deal) in LA to end the year.
Tom S | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 11:42 am | #

Thanks Nathan. Actually, it's 2512 yards. I transposed the middle two numbers by mistake.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 12:06 pm | #

Could some of the increase in yardage given up be attributable to field position? Our scoring defense did not change significantly, so maybe opponents needed to travel farther to score, resulting in increased yardage.

One could look at average opponent starting field position year over year to test this theory. If it holds, then it could be from performance in the punting game, but it would also be influenced by our own increased scoring as many more opponent posessions would have started after a kickoff as opposed to a punt.
Eric M. | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 12:39 pm | #

Eric,

I agree. Yards don't mean a lot to me because of the reasons you state. I don't put a lot of stock in yards/game and stats like those because there are many reasons why they may be more or less. Same goes for offense. Few yards/game could be an indication of D and spc. teams setting the O up with good field position.
Doug | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 1:07 pm | #

Thanks for posting something. I was starting to worry that the Hunter Smith post was your swan song.
As the off-season deadzone begins encroaching on the lives & minds of Irish fans everywhere, we'll pretty much read anything ND-related. If you saw fit to publish a breakdown of what brand underwear the members of the coaching staff wear or players' favorite foods, I'd probably consider it worthwhile reading. Keep up the great work.
Andrew | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 2:42 pm | #

I'm gonna say 61% boxers, 25% tighty-whities, and an even split for coaches and players with the final 8%going to boxer-briefs and another 8% goin' straight out commando NASTY. I think we all know what category Charlie falls into.



P.S. I sicken myself with boredom.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 3:03 pm | #

I hope Quinn never sets the single game mark; ND lost to 'SC in 1970 38-28.

So this got me wondering: what is the all-time record of teams where their QB passes for 500 yards or more vs. games where that doesn't happen? I have to think teams are worse off when their QB goes over 500 since they're probably playing from behind. I know there are a couple programs that have won this way (Houston in the 80s, Hawaii a little bit, Texas Tech now), but this kind of lack of balance can't be good for ones record.
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 3:15 pm | #

Did Derrick Mayes do well in the pro's?
Andy | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 4:00 pm | #

I hope we land Sam Young. Rumor is he can kick-off out of the end-zone.

The kick-offs were a reallllll problem. I went outside the other day and without any training, practice or exercise in 14 years, I could get it to the 10 yard line. Sadly, my paperboy returned it 90. She's quick you know.
Yago | Email | Homepage | 01.18.06 - 4:55 pm | #

Please dear god bring unto us a Sam Young. T minus 1 hour 12 minutes.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.19.06 - 3:11 pm | #

Prayer answered. YES!!
Jake | Email | Homepage | 01.19.06 - 4:40 pm | #

Sam Young is Irish. I know that some of you were praying the rosary today!
The Contrarian | Email | Homepage | 01.19.06 - 4:42 pm | #

CHA-CHING
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.19.06 - 4:56 pm | #

Nice job on yet another thorough number crunching session. I don't know what your day job is, but you might want to try to get paid for this!

Man, those #'s against tOSU still give me heartburn 2.5 weeks later. I try to comfort myself with the fact that we return something like 17 starters, but then I'm sobered by the realization that many of those are members of the current bumbling defensive unit.
scott | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 8:43 am | #

Come on now, scott, I don't think "bumbling" is being quite fair to our defense. I thought that overall they performed admirably well this year in damn near every game. They consistently came up with big plays and turnovers when they needed to. Yeah, they got burned badly against tOSU, but it wasn't because they weren't prepared or anything. Our defense simply doesn't have the overall speed to hang with tOSU's players. Note that Pat shows that 269 of those 600 some yards came on 4 plays, equaling 44% of the yardage. While it may seem dumb to say "look what happen if you take away those plays" I think it does help to keep things in perspective as far as how bad our defense COULD have been this year with 6 new starters. I think we are going to see a much better defense next year.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 9:02 am | #

Well, perhaps bumbling was too harsh (I'm a bit grumpy before the morning coffee kicks in 100%). However, as I look back on the season honestly, there were numerous moments in EVERY game (save for syracuse when CW was giving 3rd team seniors a chance to play) when I
found myself shuddering thinking what a top 5 offense do if the BYU's, Stanford's, and Tennessee's of the world could (at times) hit on multiple big plays and move the ball with ease.

Turnovers are nice and all, but I think any defense that depends on opportunistic takeaways to bail them out is bound to get torched at 2-3 points in the season. Think Ty's "Return to Glory", Alabama's 8-0 start this year, etc. etc.

That said, I'd like nothing more than to eat a healthy serving of crow a year from now for trashing on our D!
scott | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 9:28 am | #

Good News!!!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/c...t-spt- nd20.html
Remster '97 | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 9:44 am | #

I do agree with you on some of those points Scott, and I know that terrible feeling throughout games where you always feel the next play is gonna go 70 yards. Yet overall I don't feel that was indicative of bad play. I think Minter realized that he had a slow defense to work with, and that part of that whole "bend but don't break" mantra we heard all year was indicative of Charlie and Minter adjusting their defensive scheme to what this group of individuals were best suited to play in that would be successful. It really makes a lot of sense, I think. All we've heard from Weis is that he adjusts his offensive schemes to what suits his players best, similar to what ND has done with a slow defense. If you're slow, you give up the little plays in order to avoid the big ones. I think that as Charlie brings in more of his guys that EVERY year we are going to see the face/style of our offense and defense change drastically depending on who's playing.

P.S. I am not trying to argue with you Scott, I know you realize all this. I just have nothing to look forward to in life now that ND's season is over and my denial is ebbing away. Pray for the BG game to come soon.
Brad | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 12:00 pm | #

Brad, I'm also struggling with the prospect of 7.5 months without ND football. I tried to fill the void by following the recruiting stuff, but in the end it just made me feel kind of... icky. I hit rock bottom a few nights ago when I realized I blew off an entire evening that I could've spent playing w/my son, relaxing w/my wife, or getting ahead on my work, to instead cyber-stalk the latest move of
an 18 year old kid from Oklahoma who happens to play a mean defensive tackle. Pathetic.
scott | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 4:20 pm | #

Scott:

We are all pathetic for spending so much time on these blog thingies....


-
Pat O'Bleary | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 6:05 pm | #

I don't know, boys, I'm optimistic about what another year of seasoning with our D will do. I pointed out in another strand that on a couple of those big plays, it wasn't that the ND defensive player was slow, it was poor technique or just a flat out mistake:

The replay showed Wooden on Ginn's TD catch in the first that he was peeking into the backfield the whole way and NEVER turned to run until Ginn was already 10 yards behind him. It looked to me like he was expecting Safety help over the top (ie Two Tampa). BOTTOM LINE: Blown coverage/mistake by Wooden or the Safety. Wooden showed plenty of speed against Purdue and Michigan with TD savings tackles.

Ginn Reverse: Talley pinched down too far and didn't contain. Then there was some outright shoddy tackling at the end. BOTTOM LINE: The tackling will improve next year.

Holmes' bomb TD: The replay showed Ndukwe biting on the play fake (as he did all year) as Holmes ran right past him. He'll either have to learn, move to Apache, or find the bench, but I'm not convinced that one was because he was too slow.

Ginn 44-yarder in the 3rd: Absolutely atrocious tackling by Wooden.

Pittman 60-yarder: Everyone in the box trying to stuff the run, questionable tackling.

BOY!! This feels pretty good; all those big plays can be rationalized away with 2 1/2 weeks of perspective!

How many days until the 2006 opener?
Irish Rat | Email | Homepage | 01.20.06 - 6:53 pm | #