SB Nation - Robby Parris

Another Whining Doh!mer

Paragon SC — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:51:48 -0000

USC safety Taylor Mays got blindsided today by Congressman Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on NFL head injuries.

Lungren, a Notre Dame alum, first talked about former Oakland Raiders player Jack Tatum setting the bar for hits designed to injure. Then he moved on to complaining about Florida quarterback Tim Tebow being rushed back from a concussion, and finally to Mays.

The congressman didn't identify Mays by name, but said while attending a Notre Dame game a couple of weeks ago he "saw a headhunter on the field" rip the helmet off a player. Listen to his comments here (at about the 2:38.00 mark).

Lungren also got his facts wrong. He said there was not a penalty called on the play, but there was. On the play he was referring to, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed a pass to Robby Parris, who had his helmet knocked off when Mays hit him from behind. Mays was called for a personal foul, which moved the ball from the USC 16 to the 8 with less than a minute left.

Yeah, and that penalty was deemed "questionable" by the Pac-10.

This guy is clown and he thinks he has few more important things to worry about...

Doh!

The Holy War and the Big Finish

Brian @ BCI — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:05:24 -0000

More photos » by Santiago Flores - AP

3 months ago: A new billboard facing the Notre Dame campus is shown on Aug. 31, 2009 in South Bend, Ind. The billboard, offers a not-so-subtle reminder to Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis that the past two seasons have not been up to the standards of the storied Fighting Irish football program. (AP Photo/South Bend Tribune, Santiago Flores)

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Brian: Jeff is already on his way to Austin this weekend to participate in the Livestrong Challenge (good luck Jeff!) so you are left with me and my thoughts on tomorrow's Boston College-Notre Dame game. Let's take a look at the matchups on both sides of the ball ...

Boston College Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense. While we all know about BC's offensive woes on the road at Clemson and at Virginia Tech, the Eagles' offense is much further along now than they were in week 3 or even as recently as week 6. Last week you could see Dave Shinskie and the Eagles offense rebound from the poor performance in Blacksburg and expose a lifeless NC State defense, particularly in the run game. Luckily for the Eagles tomorrow, Notre Dame's defense - while not as punchless as Tom O'Brien's unit - is still not very good. The Irish rank 63rd in the country in rush defense, 96th in pass efficiency defense and 104th in total offense. Sobering numbers. I think there is something to be said for the Irish playing deep into the fourth quarter in each of their first 6 games - the defense hasn't been able to stop much of anything.

In the running game, with Josh Haden unavailable, the Irish will likely focus on Montel Harris this week and on containing him. Hopefully Rolandan Finch can fill in for the injured Haden. The onus will certainly be on Dave Shinskie and the offensive line to give Shinskie time to work. The Eagles may be facing a bit of an uphill battle on the offensive line without the services of starting left tackle Nate Richman, who was seen with a walking cast on his left foot. Jon Tenuta runs a blitz-happy 3-4 package that the offensive line will have to pick up quickly if the Eagles have any chance of moving the ball. The offensive line has played fairly poorly in both of our road games, but something tells me they will have it together more this weekend. The Eagles have a tendency to get up for this game. If the Eagles can get the ball in space past the blitzing Irish front 7, they should have success moving the ball.

In the receiving game, BC can't afford as many dropped passes as they had last week, especially with the weather forecast for tomorrow. (Seriously, what is up with the rain following me to BC games this year? Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame?!). Jordon McMichael is back in the lineup which is a good thing.

Boston College Defense vs. Notre Dame Offense. While I have a hard time trying to hold back vomit when I hear about Jimmy Clausen and his Heisman campaign, Clausen is a very good quarterback. Notre Dame is very much a pass first, run second offense, and Clausen has plenty of weapons in the receiving corps to burn the Eagles through the air. The Irish will be glad to have the services of Robby Parris, who injured his right knee, hip and ankle on Notre Dame's fake field goal attempt in the fourth quarter against USC. Thankfully, Michael Floyd - who is by far the Irish's best offensive weapon - will still be out this weekend. The go-to receiver will be Golden Tate and Kyle Rudolph is also a threat at the tight end spot. While Clausen won't burn you with his legs like Tyrod Taylor or Russell Wilson, he can definitely find his spots as a more pure-pocket passer a la Riley Skinner or Christian Ponder.

While you will undoubtedly hear all about Boston College's struggles on the road this season, I think you will see the Eagles put in a much better performance on the road in South Bend this weekend. The game with Notre Dame always seems to bring the best out of BC. Also, having been to both Notre Dame Stadium, Lane Stadium and Death Valley, Notre Dame Stadium is certainly the least hostile of those three environments. With the weather forecast calling for plenty of rain and a high in the mid-40s, I expect a low-scoring, methodical (read: ugly) affair, with neither team pulling away until late in the fourth quarter.

Big Finish

Jeff: In HD's article on BC-ND today, Jim Ramella - a huge fan of the movie Rudy - is quoted as saying, "I mean, who didn’t want to go to Notre Dame as a kid?" Ramella said. "There’s no movie about Boston College." Your thoughts?

Brian: Give it some time, Ramella. I'm sure a movie could be written about The Miracle in Miami or Herzlich's story in the next few years. Besides, Rudy is overrated as a movie. That's right. I just went there.

Brian: The city of Charlotte - led by former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl - is selling Swofford and league officials on the idea of keeping the ACC Championship Game permanently in Charlotte. Your thoughts?

Jeff: It's probably the right thing to do but why not wait to commit to Charlotte until after next year's game at least. The problem is that if next year Clemson ends up playing Virginia Tech in Charlotte, of course it would sell out. We really need to see how Charlotte would do if BC played Miami or a matchup similar to that.

Jeff: HD has now jumped on the Eagles bandwagon and has BC playing in the ACC Championship Game. Some sort of reverse jinx going on here?

Brian: I don’t know. It seems like she changes her mind every week, and she’s had too many back-handed compliments about BC for me to take her seriously.

Brian: The Wake Forest blog Blogger So Dear came out with his 2009-2010 basketball preview and has the Eagles finishing 10 of 12 in the ACC regular season standings and staying home come tournament time. Really? Your thoughts?

Jeff: What happened to the Eagles finishing 3rd or 4th in the conference and perhaps being ranked nationally?

Jeff: Blue and Gold Illustrated writes that the Irish’s six game losing streak to BC is a streak on par with Notre Dame losing four straight to Northwestern (1959-62) and four straight to Air Force (1982-1985). Your thoughts?

Brian: Losing to Northwestern and Air Force four straight years is way worse than losing six (or potentially seven) to the Eagles. C'mon now.

Brian: DeLeon Gause will honor the memory of Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard, who was stabbed to death on Saturday night. This weekend Gause will wear Howard’s No. 6 instead of his normal No. 9. Gause and Howard competed against one another in high school in Miami. Straight class, no?

Jeff: Yep.

Jeff: You're heading to the game tomorrow. Are you gonna try to hang out with all the students in the RV lot? Or are you going to realize you are too old and they don't want you there and do your own tailgate?

Brian: I'm only a week older than you are dude. Are you suggesting you can't hang and tailgate with students anymore?

Brian: Last one, you’ve already sold your prediction rights to Rakes of Mallow, so no more predictions this week. In Bob Ryan’s article this week talking about the BC-Notre Dame series, he suggests that if BC loses this week, Notre Dame would be more likely to reschedule the Eagles. Agree?

Jeff: I want to say no because I would hope that they are not that shortsighted that one game result will make a difference in rescheduling the Eagles. Had they won the last six I think they would have already signed a deal.

Pick 5

Brian: Last week I knocked the cover off the ball going a perfect 5-0, while Jeff struggled and turned in a 1-4 performance. Up 9 games with half a season to go, pressure is on to keep my 9 game lead on Jeff.

Boston College (+8) at Notre Dame
Georgia Tech (-5.5) at Virginia
Wake Forest (+2.5) at Navy
Central Michigan (-8) at Bowling Green
Iowa (0) at Michigan State

Jeff:

Arkansas (+6.5) at Mississippi
Clemson at Miami (-4.5)
Penn State (-4.5) at Michigan
Louisville at Cincinnati (-18)
Oregon State (+21) at USC

Mid-Term Report Card: Grading The Irish On Their Bye Week

CW — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:16:38 -0000

More photos » by Michael Conroy - AP

3 months ago: In this photo taken on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009, Notre Dame center Eric Olsen lines upp against Nevada during an NCAA college football game in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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There is obviously gigantic room for debate on almost all of these positions, but this is what I'm starting with. I went back and forth on a lot of them, but since they are just completely arbitrary grades, be gentle. In general, I think I was very demanding with the offense and a little more lenient with the defense, with games later in the season being weighed as more important, especially with young players.

Quarterbacks: A

I think this is the only legitimate grade here, right? James Clausen currently has the highest passer efficiency rating in the country. He leads the country in yards per attempt, has twelve touchdowns to two interceptions (one of which was a Hail Mary-type throw at the end of a first half, the other a perfect toss to Armando Allen that was volleyball set right to the defender). He is moving around in the backfield a thousand times better than last year, feeling the rush, avoiding it and stepping into the pocket to deliver smart bombs. With all of the natural biases and hatred harbored against him (some of his own doing, like the entire College Football Hall of Fame thing, some not), he has forced himself into the Heisman conversation and onto Kiper's big board. He's led four consecutive fourth quarter comebacks (the first of them forgotten after a failure to run out the clock and Forcier's counterpunch), he appears to be an awesome tutor and supporter for his understudy, his teammates seem to absolutely love him and he has great celebrations, from understated fist pumps, to jumping into a lineman's arms, to simply flashing the guns, like he did after the touchdown pass to Rudolph.

The only bad things I can say about Clausen at this point are that he was erratic in the first quarter against Michigan before settling into cold-blooded killer mode (which he did by halftime when he gave his team the lead) and that awful lateral/pass that got returned for a touchdown against Washington. Really, that's about it. He hasn't missed a beat with the loss of Michael Floyd, and as long as he's in the game, Irish fans can feel very good about their chances.

As far as his back-up goes, Crist has done a great job in relief, even though all of the bubble wrap hasn't even been removed yet. He led a bunch of great drives in the Purdue game and showed off his arm in mop-up time versus Nevada. Evan Sharpley continues to look astute on the sideline and I'm very confident in his ability to come into a game and handle business if need be.

Running Backs: B+

I originally had this as a "B," but then I started thinking about how Armando Allen was a top fifteen rusher before Purdue and how he simply destroyed Michigan. Or how successful the Wildcat was against Michigan State in the red zone, including that touchdown pass from AA. Then how even though Allen couldn't go late against the Huskies, Robert Hughes put the team on his shoulders and just cranked out tough yard after tough yard, including the critical two-point conversion (probably) and game-winning touchdown. Hughes was attempting to shed his "Thunder" label earlier in the season, but has embraced his role as a power guy - a quick one, but not a dancing back - and made a statement to fans and the coaching staff that he's back.

Save for a few young mistakes, the help in pass blocking has also been very good, assisting the offensive line in their efforts to protect QB1. You'd like to see Jonas Gray a little farther along (his fumble versus Michigan was a killer), but Theo Riddick has shown some pop as a freshman (admittedly, on a scant seven carries). When you consider that the starting fullback has been out since the opener and both Allen and Hughes are averaging over five yards a carry on the season, I think the "+" is acceptable here.

Wide Receivers: A-

This should probably be a straight "A" for the absurd efforts of Golden Tate and the late St. Michael Floyd (COLLARBOOOOONE), but I'm knocking it down a little bit because A) No one has clearly stepped up to replace Floyd opposite Tate and B) Every time they show St. Michael on the sideline in civilian attire, a little more of my heart breaks. (Plus I'm trying to be overly pessimistic here to get street cred with the dregs of the messageboards.)

Michael Floyd was on his way to an all-world season when his fragile clavicle betrayed him. He would get an A for his efforts so far this season, because from his absolute domination of Nevada to the gravity-defying touchdown against Michigan, he was perfection. Following a few dropsies in the Michigan game, Golden Tate took it upon himself to double his efforts in his wingmate's absence, catching the winning touchdown against Michigan State, switching to a running back/Wildcat to help out Crist against Purdue and setting up the touchdown in overtime against Washington. Versus the Huskies, Tate had ten touches for 275 yards of offense, which is patently absurd. His sweat glands also seemingly secrete some sort of grease that makes him impossible to wrap up and tackle, which is a handy talent for a receiver to have.

After the very top of the depth chart, things get a little hazy. Almost as if the stats were trying to prove my point for me, Duval Kamara, Robby Parris and Shaq Evans each have seven catches on the season. Parris has a touchdown, Evans has been steadily trending upward (4 for 34 in the last game) and sadly, Deion Walker hasn't gotten much burn at all. Tate and Kyle Rudolph force the defense to pay a lot of attention to two players, so it would be nice if this second tier could really take a step forward against Southern Cal, either collectively or with one lone wolf taking the leap and wrestling control of a starting spot.

Tight ends: B+

Kyle Rudolph has two go-ahead fourth quarter touchdowns in the last two weeks and is simply an impossible match-up against most teams. (Sadly, Southern Cal can just throw Taylor Mays on him, which could be the most interesting showdown of them all on the 17^th.) Rudolph's run blocking could be a little more dominant, but he's such a force in the passing game, I can honestly say "Who cares?". Bobby Burger has done a great job in his role as back-up tight end/H-back/fullback, although he's not really a threat in the passing game at this point. (He also had a bad false start at the goal line versus Washington which was very much not good.) The lack of fun, sexy Mike Ragone times - or really any depth at the position - is troubling, and why this group also takes slight nick.

Offensive line: B+

I'm not going to even pretend like I can explain to you the particulars of how an offensive line works, why this one is working well or what the great individual plays have been, but I can say this: after the debacle of the last couple years, this line is significantly better in every capacity. How much of that to credit to Coach Verducci and how much goes to the natural maturing process of young linemen, I have no idea, but I'll take it. Clausen has been kept clean most of the season - there have been some issues at the tackles with speedy defensive ends on obvious passing downs - and the running game has oscillated between "perfectly effective" and "absolutely dominant," so I couldn't be prouder. The tackles have struggled a little, but you can't say enough about the interior of the line just consistently dominating up the point of attack. Some unnecessary false starts and certain plays just falling apart from the word "go" knock the grade down a little, if only because they are very much avoidable and unacceptable for a veteran corps.

Defensive line: B-

This was going to be a lot lower before the Washington game, but after the trio of goal line stands, I have to heap some credit onto the guys up front. There is a definite trend upwards in the last two games, as the unit helped to suffocate a good Purdue running attack before repeatedly stone-walling Jake Locker. After having only two tackles the entire season prior to last Saturday's game, Kerry Neal had seven against the Huskies. KLM had another seven, while Ethan Johnson had five. Everyone up front has a handful of tackles for loss, and again, I think every Irish fan is pretty happy with how things are moving over the last couple games.

This unit is extremely young, but you can see lights starting to click, as Ian Williams is shedding blockers at the point of attack and the Johnson/KLM combo becomes more and more active. John Ryan has even gotten into the act, with a sack, a tackle for loss and a deflected pass. Bonus points tacked on for Johnson's extra point block versus Michigan State, which cancelled out one of the few Nick Tausch miscues of the season. There is a long way to go, but there are positive signs that the opponent's offensive line is going to have more and more difficulty as the season progresses. (Hopefully.)

Linebackers: C-

Again, trending upward, but there have just been too many missed tackles and not enough big plays to justify a high grade here. Some of it could be the youth attempting to adjust to Tenuta's scheme, but the blitzes aren't getting there, and when they do, there seems to be a strong aversion to wrapping up. (Brian Smith's shoulder block on Polk late in the Washington game is a perfect example of these troubles.) Barely anyone finishes runners off, and pass coverage is not what you would expect with a bunch of very athletic guys out there. In Tenuta's scheme linebackers are supposed to shine, but that is not happening through five games.

Before an injury hampered him against the Huskies, Darius Fleming was slowly starting to emerge, with seven tackles for loss and two sacks. Brian Smith has been solid, although he hasn't approached the ceiling some Irish fans thought he had in the preseason. The shining, sparkling gem of the group is Manti Teo, who had his reins loosened considerably against Washington and responded with ten tackles. As Tate, Floyd and Rudolph took the receiving corps to the next level, hopefully Teo can lead the advancement of the linebackers to an elite unit. The talent is there, but until tackling becomes more certain and coverage tighter, this group will have a lot of room for improvement.

Kyle McCarthy: A

Remainder of the Secondary: D

First off, let us bask in the glow of McCarthy's season thus far. Forty-nine tackles, three picks (one of which saved the Michigan State game, another turning the Michigan game in Notre Dame's favor), two passes broken up and a huge (CLEAN) hit on fourth down to end the Washington game. McCarthy's season has been so good that when he didn't dive to catch Locker's fluttering pass near the end of regulation, everyone was surprised and/or disappointed. He almost never misses a tackle, wrapping up perfectly every time - and there are a lot of times. He's almost always in the right place at the right time and without him, this Irish team would almost assuredly be well below .500.

The rest of the secondary? Not so good. Whether they're having the same troubles as the linebacking corps in adjusting to Tenuta's scheme, or simply being instructed to play soft coverage, there just have barely been any plays made by the defensive backfield. Outside of McCarthy, the unit has two picks on the year and many, many more misplayed balls that turned potential interceptions into big plays for the opponent. Tate Forcier and Kirk Cousins both looked like Heisman candidates against the Irish, and Joey Elliott wasn't far behind. Notre Dame is 105^th in the nation in pass defense, (linebackers struggling with coverage have assisted with this number) and with McCarthy's sterling play, that's simply unacceptable. Going into the season this is the unit many Irish fans had the most faith in, and so far in 2009, that trust has not been justified.

Special Teams: B

On one hand, Nick Tausch has been nearly perfect in his role as placekicker, basically winning the Washington game with his foot. On the other hand, there are still no touchbacks on kickoffs, kickoff coverage has not been stellar and punting has been so bad that Weis had to make a switch before the last game. Theo Riddick has shown a nice burst in the kick return game, but really the only good thing consistently happening on special teams is the marked improvement of the place-kicking. This was originally lower, but after so many seasons of the field goal kicking being an adventure, there's a nice bump for consistency in that realm.

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There is a lot to talk about here, and this is just an attempt at being a conversation starter. So please, play nice, use YouTube/stats whenever possible, and most importantly, enjoy your weekend.

UHND provides an Irish Scouting report

BoilerTMill — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:51:51 -0000

As mentioned earlier this week,t he official opponent preview is a little bit different. The noted Notre Dame blog. UHND.com offered to provide a scouting report on the Irish as long as I provided them a Purdue report. Frank Vitovitch posted my report over at his site this morning, and what follows here is his outlook on the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame's Offense

The Irish offense suffered a major loss when star wide receiver Michael Floyd broke his collarbone in the second quarter of last weekend's Michigan State game. Floyd was approaching uncoverable status after catching six touchdowns in his first nine quarters of football this year. Floyd's absence deals a major blow to what was quickly becoming the most explosive Irish offense in the Charlie Weis era.

Last year when Michael Floyd got hurt and missed the final two and a half games, the Irish offense really staled and was unable to sustain drives. The difference this year for Notre Dame is that the Irish actually have a running game to fall back on. Armando Allen has run for more than a 100 yards in back to back games after eclipsing the century mark just one time last year. That one time was against Purdue when he ran 17 times for 134 yards. Allen's been a much different back this year. He's run much tougher and is getting more yards after contact than he ever has in his Irish career.

The Notre Dame offensive line is vastly improved this year as well. The line, under new OL coach Frank Verducci, has officially only allowed two sacks in three games this year. Considering Notre Dame set a NCAA record for sacks allowed in 2007, that is quite a turn around.

Floyd's absence won't deter Notre Dame from passing the ball though. Junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen is having an excellent season so far and has been extremely accurate. Clausen has completed 62 of 91 passes for 951 yards with 9 touchdowns and zero interceptions ranking him second in the nation in quarterback rating. It's not just Clausen's stats that are impressive this year though. He's stepped up his game in all aspects including his leadership. Clausen was voted a team captain this year and showed a lot of heart playing most of last week with a very noticeable limp.

Clausen was injured against Michigan State and has a case of turf toe this week. All signs are pointing to Clausen playing this weekend though. He was limited in practice Wednesday, but is expected to fully participate Thursday. The Irish will then evaluate how Clausen responds. Based on Weis's and Clausen's remarks this week though, they fully him #7 lining up under center this weekend.

Assuming Clausen plays, he will still have star receiver Golden Tate to throw to. Tate has had back to back 100 yard games and has scored three touchdowns the past two weeks. Tate is one of the best deep threats in the country and despite a couple drops the past two games, he normally has great hands. Tate has developed into more than just a deep threat though. He is very dangerous with the ball in his hands and with Floyd out, I expect Weis to try and get Tate the ball in space much more than he's been in order to let him make some plays after the catch.

Tate received a lot of attention and double teams last year when Floyd was hurt and I expect teams to do the same to him this year until Notre Dame shows they have other options in the passing game.

Notre Dame has a lot of options to replace Floyd with. Junior Duval Kamara and senior Robby Parris are listed as the co-starters at Floyd's z-receiver position on the Notre Dame depth chart. Both are solid options, but neither are the deep threat that Floyd was. Kamara though is a huge target for Clausen and is tough to cover with a corner because of his size - 6'5"220 lbs.

The x-factor at receiver for the Irish with Floyd out is freshman Shaquelle Evans. Evans is one of the fastest players on the team and has pretty good size for a freshman at 6'3", 200 lbs. He's seen a little bit of action so far this year (2 catches for 15 yards), but Weis hinted that his role could expand now that Floyd is out.

Also helping to fill the void left by Floyd will be tight end Kyle Rudolph. The sophomore tight end is coming off a career high 95 yard receiving day and is very tough to cover one on one with a linebacker. He is going to have to become a much bigger part of the passing game for the Irish.

Notre Dame has also used the wildcat formation quite a bit this year. Against Michigan State, the Irish scored two touchdowns out of the wildcat - one on an Armando Allen run and another on an Allen to Robby Parris touchdown pass. Even before the injury to Floyd, Notre Dame used the wildcat quite a bit with Allen lining up under center.

If Clausen is unable to play this weekend or gets injured worse during the game, Notre Dame will turn to sophomore Dayne Crist. Crist is a former five star recruit who has picked up the offense well in his second season. If he has to play for any extended period of time this weekend though, it will likely drastically affect what the Irish are able to do.

Notre Dame Defense

The Irish defense has been the Achilles heel for Notre Dame this season. Jon Tenuta's blitz happy defense has been getting gashed for big yardage all season and has nearly allowed game winning drives by opponents in back to back weeks. Two weeks ago against Michigan the Irish defense let freshman Tate Forcier march the Wolverines down the field for the game winning score in the final seconds. Last weekend they nearly let Michigan State's Kirk Cousins do the same before Kyle McCarthy came up with the game and possibly season saving interception.

Notre Dame's been susceptible to both the run and the pass at times this season. Against Nevada and Michigan, the defense gave up large chunks of yards on the ground. That changed last weekend when Notre Dame allowed Michigan State to throw for 354 yards while limiting them to 105 on the ground.

The biggest problem for Notre Dame has been the pass rush or rather the lack thereof. Jon Tenuta's defense requires a lot of blitzing and so far this season, those blitzes have been largely ineffective. The rush has only gotten to opposing quarterbacks four times in three games which has left the Notre Dame secondary very vulnerable. The secondary should be a strength for the Irish defense this year, but the lack of a pass rush has really put them in some unfavorable situations.

Tackling has been a major issue for the Irish defense as well. Notre Dame has missed a ton of tackles this season and has shown some poor fundamentals. Notre Dame's linebackers specifically have done a poor job of wrapping up and making stops this year. The top two tacklers amongst the linebackers for the Irish, Brian Smith and Toryan Smith, have combined for just 25 tackles in three games.

There were, however, a few glimmers of hope for the Irish in an otherwise dismal defensive performance on Saturday. Defensive tackles Ian Williams and Ethan Johnson started to emerge a little bit and were getting nice penetration on running plays. Johnson, a converted defensive end, really struggled the first two weeks but started to come on a bit last weekend.

The Irish secondary also was in position to make some big plays last week, but just couldn't come up with them. Senior cornerback Darrin Walls had two sure picks bounce off his hands. As did fifth year senior safety Ray Herring on the game's final drive. Sophomore Robert Blanton had an opportunity for a fourth quarter interception that he failed to come up with as well. So there have been plays to be made for the Irish defense - they just haven't been making them. Most of these plays have come on the few instances when the Irish pass rush has put some pressure on the opposing quarterback.

Tenuta's scheme is very much a high risk/reward system which makes coming down with turnovers when they are there extremely important.

Notre Dame played a lot of different personnel last week which could suggest that they are still looking for who the best players are. Based on the defensive performances the past two weeks, it wouldn't be surprising to see some personnel changes this week. One such move could be getting Manti Te'o, the all world linebacker recruit, onto the field more.

Even with some personnel changes though, the Irish defense remains a major cause of concern for Notre Dame. The Irish will live and die by how much pressure they are able to generate on opposing quarterbacks this year and so far, they haven't been able to generate a whole lot of it.

Notre Dame Special Teams

Notre Dame was one of the best kick coverage teams in the country last season, but this year they are breaking in a freshman kick-off man in Nick Tausch. At timesTausch has had problems getting his kicks deep enough which has resulted in some big returns - most notably Darryl Stonnum's return for touchdown two weeks ago.

Tausch has been a little shaky place kicking as well. He missed an extra point against Michigan State and missed his first collegiate field goal attempt - a 28 yarder against Michigan. Since missing the 28 yarder though, Tausch is 4 for 4 with two of his kicks coming from over 40 yards.

In the return game, Notre Dame will look to get speedy freshman running back Theo Riddick the ball as often as they can on kickoffs. Riddick has a really nice burst and has had a couple nice looking returns already. If the Irish can create a seem for him to run through, it looks like he has the extra gear to exploit it.

Final Analysis

This weekend will show just how good of an offense the Irish have. It's impossible to replace someone with the skill of a Michael Floyd, but Notre Dame has enough talent at the skill positions to be able to get by much better than they did a year ago. I could see Notre Dame coming out in a spread out five receiver set like they did against Michigan State this weekend to spread Purdue out in an attempt to keep them from focusing too much on Golden Tate. I also think we'll see more of the wildcat this weekend to try and keep Purdue off balance.

This game will come down to which defense shows up for Notre Dame. Will the one that shut out Nevada and got to the quarterback or the one that got torched the last two weeks make the trip to West Lafayette? If it's the latter, this game will likely follow the script of the last two Notre Dame games - a high scoring affair decided in the fourth quarter.

Thanks for stopping by, Frank. Frank was also kind enough to provide some game wraps of Notre Dame's previous three games, as well as an outlook on how the Irish offense will adapt to losing Michael Floyd.