Good summary. Given that true freshmen Neal and Smith developed rapidly last year, and we have a strong haul of freshmen LBs reporting in August (at least one of which should be as productive) Ryan will not survive as linebacker over time. In many ways, he is a poor man's Vernaglia. I see Ryan given all sorts of opportunity along the defensive line. We desperately need depth there, sooner rather than later.
Andy | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 12:28 am | #

*sigh*

My goodness, could things be any worse? It is going to be a long road back ... stopping the run was clearly one of this team's biggest weaknesses last year, and right now there are no reasons for optimism in '08. Ugh.
John | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 12:32 am | #

It's amazing how long it FEELS like it is taking to rid ourselves of depth issues. It's amazing it's only been three years under Weis that we've been attempting to do so. It feels like a decade.
Jaisn | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:43 am | #

I'm really hoping that Corwin Brown is leaving messages on that last remaining DT (Martin? The one who originally committed to Mich)'s voice mail, telling him how much he'll play next year. Shoot--at 5'10, 207, I WOULD play next year, at least some garbage minutes.
Nate | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 7:12 am | #

I hope that you mean "The cavalry will show up" instead of "calvary". I know that ND is a Catholic school and all, but we don't want anyone crucified.
Jack | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 7:33 am | #

Very nice Jack.
Pat | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 7:39 am | #

The good thing about the "cavalry" is that they might not be strong enough for D1 play every down, but at least they are all entering school in the 270 to 300 pound range. Putting them in at least adds mass to the D-Line. Heck, Darius (love that name) Flemming is in the 230 pound range and might help out this year. I think Ethan Johnson and Sean Cynwar are in the 270 and 280 pound range while Hafis Williams and Brandon Newman are in the 300-pound-contact-the-manager-if-you-see-them- enter-your-buffet range.

We are no longer asking the Kallen Wades and the Paddy Mullens on the staff to grow from 230 and 240 pounds to 280 pounds, a weight that you are hard to push around. Physiology is not a hurdle you want to add to learning the play book.

That said, we will miss Trevor Laws more than we missed Abiamiri and Landri, which from this past season was a lot. Let's hope a year in the system and the push from the new guys will help the veterans achieve more.
Sean Fitzgerald | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 9:56 am | #

Keep in mind . . . the defensive line will look much better if the OL can block and let the O stay on the field for more than 3 plays at a crack.

I haven't checked, but I bet the number of defensive plays ND had last season was monstrous, since the offense could never stay on the field.

I really think an improvement in OL is where ND can score the biggest gains for the DL.
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 10:13 am | #

May be true atepesm, but have we really improved either line this cycle?
Domer96 | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 10:19 am | #

Nate,

Martin is out. We have one last other kid we're recruiting for DL. My info is all from Irish Eyes, a pay site, so I don't want to say anymore.
Jaisn | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 10:42 am | #

The person Jaisn is referring to is Keith Wells out of Gainesville, GA. He is coming up for a visit with his mom this weekend along with Milton Knox. We recently offered both recruits and I would say our chances are slim with Wells but about 50/50 with Knox(RB who loves ND but is a soft commit to UCLA). I think the focus on the 2009 class should be both lines. I would love to fortify those spots first because of the attrition in depth.
Matt Fairchild | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 11:05 am | #

I have good money that says Kuntz will be back. I'm not ready to panic just yet since I didn't suspect that Hand was going to have a break-out year this year anyway. My guess is that Ian W. will be a monster at NT, Kuntz will do an adequate job at on DE spot and we will see a heavy rotation at the other, probably with Justin Brown taking most of the minutes. Brown was really starting to pick up his game last year. The word from practice last year was that Wade was also starting to show something. He should be ready for quality back-up time this year. My guess is that some but not all of the freshman will see limited minutes.

I'm guessing Pat may be on to something with Ryan. Very interesting times...as the old Chinese curse says...
Thundershaker | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 11:30 am | #

Comparing NCAA statistics and rankings from 2006 to 2007, ND's Total Defense improved from 65th in 2006 to 39th. Our Rushing Defense fell from 61st (136 yds/gm)to 96th (195 yds/gm). Our Passing Defense soared to 2nd from 60th in 2006.
So, credit Corwin for the improvements. Our needs are clearly in run-stopping and pressuring the passer. 2008 will be a year in which the front 7 assume those duties, until the DL matures to stand alone.
Brian | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 11:54 am | #

Was the Chris Stewart experiment so horribly bad on the defensive side of the ball that there is no way they would revisit that?
ATL Domer | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 12:13 pm | #

"Our Rushing Defense fell from 61st to 96th" ... "So, credit Corwin for the improvements."

Um, I'm gonna wait on that one.
Catz | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 12:54 pm | #

Pat:

I see you mention Sean Cwynar but no mention of Hafis Williams, Ethan Johnson or Brandon Newman. Any particular reason not to include them? Williams and Johnson are both play DE and if Johnson is as good as many say will likely see a lot of time in the upcoming season. Newman also is pretty impressive, maybe even more so than the latest 5 Star ND recruit to buy into the Urban Myth.
Eddie | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:03 pm | #

Forget that last post. Somehow I skipped over a whole paragraph before re-reading it. Doh!
Eddie | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:07 pm | #

ATL Domer - Chris "Mr. Plow" Stewart was starting to play well at right guard towards the end of the season, so he may well stay on the O-line.

Eddie - Sean Cynwar is on campus now, and given current news I guess not a minute too soon.
Sean Fitzgerald | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:09 pm | #

Domer96, i guess the key thing to remember is that it seems like time itself goes a long way to improve an o-line... i'm not saying that this is the only thing, but with such a young line last year, they can only improve, right? don't we return everyone but sully? and if i remember correctly, we had pretty highly rated o-line classes the past two years. now they just need to get in the weight room, work on technique, etc...
guyritz | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:19 pm | #

I would prefer seeing Stewart stay on the O-Line. His play was improving, as was his playing time. I also got the impression that the D-Line experiment w/ him was one of the reasons he thought about leaving ND. Don't know if that was ever official, but I'd rather the kid be happy at the position that he's more accustomed too, especially given our current need for O-linemen to step up their play.
baIrish | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 1:42 pm | #

baIrish,

I agree with you. The guy is built to play guard. He wasn't fast enough to play noseguard. Now he's playing on th eO-Line I think we will be pleased with the outcome.
Sean Fitzgerald | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 2:25 pm | #

I think the defensive statistics cited might be hiding within a greater problem. Of course our passing defense improved between 2006 and 2007 - our opponents were playing from behind in 2006, forcing them to play catch up and pass the ball. In 2007, teams were playing with a lead and able to run the ball to run out the clock.
ND Alum | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 4:16 pm | #

Ryan was way too slow for olb position. It was painful to watch his slow reaction time. He needs to bulk up and add depth to the d-line. Thank heaven for the incoming freshmen d-lineman. If there is one position that a freshman can impact the greatest without a lot of mental notes, it's the defensive line. Just tell him to shed the block and make the tackle.
BigE | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 9:50 pm | #

Just a few years ago, we didn't have enought O-lineman to field 2 teams. Now, we don't have enough D-lineman to field 2 teams. Gonna have to cancel the spring game because of not enough players. I can't believe this has happened. These are problems that USF should have, not ND. Hope the players take up lifting for lent.
wd20 | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 9:59 pm | #

Sad news in ND history...Easter Heathman, the last surviving person to witness the fateful plane crash that took Knute Rockne passed away tonight at his home near the crash site in Kansas. Mr. Heathman was aliving peace of history sharing the story of that day and adding to the legend of Rockne to all pilgrims who ventured to Kansas to visit the site.
Domer Dan | Email | Homepage | 01.29.08 - 11:35 pm | #

guyritz - Somehow I just can't get excited about returning 80% of The Worst Offensive Line Ever. I've said before: my 2 year old could have played on last year's line with no discernible difference.

But you're right, they're almost guaranteed to be better, if only because they were so awful.

I have no idea if the scheme was too hard, or there was too little experience, not enough technique or whatever. What seems obvious to me is that if I'm a lineman, I'm getting in someone's way. Too often last year, I'd see 1 or 2 linemen looking around like they were spectators. To me, the worst mistake a lineman can do is doing nothing. I don't care if you block the wrong guy, but be active and hit somebody.
Domer96 | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 11:01 am | #

Part of the issue with "improved" pass defense and worse run defense is that we got blown out so much, that teams didn't really need to throw the ball a whole lot against us.
Domer96 | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 11:03 am | #

And bingo for Domer96...Georgia Tech proved in the first game that they could run at will and other teams saw that and did the same thing. It's not like our pass defense shut down anyone, it was just the opponents seemed to be focusing on running the ball down our throat because we couldn't stop the run.

Maybe someone has some kind of statistical ability to back up my claim but thats what seemed to be happening.

The running backs that had great days is incredible:

Choice, Scott, Hart, Ringer/Caulcrick, Callender, any SC RB who touched the ball, same w/ Navy, Chad Hall, Kimble...pretty much everyone we faced.

What's the projected front 7 this year? I would guess I. Williams, J. Brown, P. Kuntz, B. Smith, K. Neal, M. Crum, and T. Smith. Whoever it is needs to figure out how to stop the run.

The defense will probably be bad again this year so maybe get Ethan Johnson, Darius Fleming and Steve Filer in there early and often to get them experience.

Someone earlier said that what will help our D the most is our offense actually moving the ball a bit and I agree with that 100%.

I'm not sure if I can remember a season that has such a wide variance of possibilities for win totals. Anything between 4 and 10 would not surprise me this year.
Jason | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 12:46 pm | #

Jason

With the schedule we have, anything fewer than 6 will be a failure.

Not to count chickens before they hatch, but we should win:

SDS
STAN
NC
WASH (or ND might as well quit Football)
PITT
Navy
SYR

And you've got to like us to win at least 1 of the following:
MSU
PURDUE
BC (they graduated a lot of starters)
Domer96 | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 4:53 pm | #

Domer 96...if I was projecting it I would say

SD St. Win
Mich. Toss Up
MSU Toss Up
Purdue Toss Up
Stanford Win
Washington Probable Win
UNC Probable Win
Syracuse Win
Pitt Toss Up
Navy Win
BC Toss Up
USC Loss

I see 4 wins, a loss, I think Washington and UNC are probable wins. I think UNC will be decent this year. Pitt should improve quite a bit w/ McCoy featured. I think there are 5 toss ups that could go either way. I'd say we take 2 of those.

I guess as of now, I'd probably say 8-4, but thats also assuming we play better. We were really really bad this year and I think the D is worse but the O is better.
Jason | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 7:05 pm | #

At the beginning of last season, I was projecting 9 wins; 7 at worst. Never, never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get only 3 wins. I too think we have the talent to win 10 games. If the coaching is as bad as last year, we will get 4 wins. I would not bet on this season if my life depended on it.
GB | Email | Homepage | 01.30.08 - 7:44 pm | #

We really need to focus on run defense this year. Good points about teams running against us when they were ahead. But we also faced a lot of opponents who were in the top 25% of NCAA teams in Run Offense, including the top 2, Navy and Air Force. Some we held below their average, some we did not.
For 2007, here are the national stats for Rushing Offense of our opponents:
1. Navy averaged 348 yds/gm, 61.85
atts/gm - v. ND, 297 yds, 63 att (OT)
2. Air Force - 299 yds/gm, 55.46
atts/gm - v ND,285 yds, 38 atts
24. Georgia Tech - 199 yds/gm, 42.15
atts/gm - v. ND 259 yds, 41 atts
25. Mich St - 198 yds/gm, 44.62 atts - v ND -232 yds, 35 atts
27. USC - 197yds/gm, 39.8 atts/gm, -
v. ND - 227, 30 atts
29. PSU - 193 yds/gm, 40.62 atts/gm - v. ND - 164, 26 atts.
47. Mich - 164 yds/gm, 41.54 atts/gm - v. ND - 289(ouch), 33 atts

57. UCLA - 151 yds/gm, 40.54 atts/gm -
v ND - 89, 38 atts
89. Purd - 128 yds/gm, 31.77
atts/gm - v.ND - 119, 26 atts
102. Stanford - 111 yds/gm, 37.17
atts/gm - v.ND - 175, 38 atts
106. BC - 101 yds/gm, 30.14 atts/gm -
v ND - 168, 21 atts.
117. Duke - 64 yds/gm, 31.33 atts/gm -
v. ND - 94, 48 atts.

Most of our opponents rushing attempts v. ND were at,near or below average.



As for the offense helping the defense, Time of Possession was:
ND - 28.03.33 min ave
OPP - 31.56.67 min ave
More than 3 1/2 minutes per game.
On 3rd Down Conversions, ND was 31.09% v. 42.16% for opponents.

We fell behind in games until Nov. Our Rushing Offense was not being established (pitiful).
gms Att Yds Ave TD Att/Gm
- Aug/Sept 5 161 152 0.94 2 32.20
30.40 (Yds/gm)
- October 3 89 121 1.36 1 9.67
40.33 (Yds/Gm)
- November 4 187 630 3.37 8 46.75
157.50 (Yds/Gm)
Brian | Email | Homepage | 01.31.08 - 12:26 pm | #

Brian

Just doing a cursory look, it seems like the YPC average for the opponents who beat us is in the 5-7 YPC range.
GB | Email | Homepage | 01.31.08 - 3:53 pm | #

Addition of Jon Tenuta from Georgia Tech as ass't head coach for defense should help the D immensely. Would be great to do to others as was done to us in the 2007 opener.
ron | Email | Homepage | 01.31.08 - 9:59 pm | #

GB,
Overall, Rushing: Yards / Attempt
- ND - 2.07
- Opp - 4.28
Rushing: Attempts - Yards - TD
- ND 437 - 903 - 11
- Opp 548 - 2345 - 20

Opponent wins:
Date Opponent Surface Result
Att Yards Avg. TD
Georgia Tech 43 259 6.02 3
Penn St. 46 164 3.57 2
Michigan 61 289 4.74 2
Michigan St. 49 219 4.47 0
Purdue Grass 42 119 2.83 1
Boston Co. 34 168 4.94 2
S. Cal 36 227 6.31 1
Navy 66 257 3.89 4
Air Force 63 285 4.52 2
Totals 440 1887 4.52 17

In ND wins, 108 458 4.24 3

In 2006, ND Rushing Ypc 3.86
Opp 3.80

2005 Time of Possession - ND 30.34
Opp 29.25
Brian | Email | Homepage | 02.01.08 - 8:22 pm | #

Time of Possession should be for for 2006
Brian | Email | Homepage | 02.01.08 - 8:23 pm | #