Davonte Neal, WR/DB/KR from Scottsdale AZ Chaparral HS is still weighing his options and Notre Dame is still in the mix. Apparently he has dropped Ohio St and Oklahoma from his list, but new Arizona HC RichRod is pursuing him strongly and two of Neal's HS teammates are going to U of A, so that may be ND's biggest competition. Getting him could help alleviate the pain of losing Greenberry or Darby. Clearly he is a big play guy that the team sorely needs.

Irish still in the running for Neal

Not quite the statement game most of us were expecting, but a win is a win. Granted Pitt is not a high quality opponent, but to be able to pull out a win on the road on a day when you play well in only phase of the game is a good sign. Unlike previous games this season, ND found a way to win this time.

Offense had a bad day, and the bulk of the blame falls on Rees with a big assist to the coaching staff. Rees played poorly. He seemed confused and his relative inexperience really showed. Both the INT and the fumble were on him. Sure he got hit from behind on the fumble, but he was not protecting the ball. But once again, when the team had to have him play well (on the winning TD drive), he was excellent. His ability to deliver in crunch time is remarkable. It seemed to me that the Pitt defense did a lot of things BK and Co had not prepared for, too, which contributed to Rees's confusion and bad day. Pitt knew they lacked the talent to stop ND, so they went for maximum confusion instead and it worked for most of the game. In the end, this should be a good learning experience for Rees. Future opponents will be doing exactly the same kinds of things as Pitt tried to day, so we will see if the Rees (and BK) will handle it better next time. So who had a good day on offense? Wood and Gray were excellent ... again. I will admit I was shocked by Gray's TD run. I knew he had some speed, didn't know he had that kind of speed. Apparently neither did the Pitt defenders, who took really bad angles and it cost them. Eifert was a beast. He was there it seemed every time the team and Rees needed him.

Defense carried the day. The defense may not be generating enough TOs yet, but I think that will come in time as the pass rush gets more effective. BTW, if the DBs learn to locate the ball better, they would have a few more INTs. The DL was solid against the run and came up with big sacks and pressures when it was needed the most. The LBs did a pretty good job, especially the OLBs, Fleming and Shembo. ILBs, Te'o and Calabrese/Fox, are effective run-stuffers but struggle in space on pass defense, although props to Calabrese for the big pass break up late in the game. The DBs played okay. Gray still seems shaken by the Michigan debacle. He has not regained his confidence, and a CB without his swagger is a problem, but there is no depth behind him, so ND has to hope he works things out. The interference call on him was more of a product of the Michigan game than anything that happened on the field against Pitt. That was good defense by Gray. It appeared that the ref was anticipating interference and "found" it. Unfortunately Gray is going to have to deal with that until he starts doing things to change his rep.

Special teams, once again, did nothing special yesterday. Ruffer had little to do, and when he finally was called on, the snap/hold got messed up.Turk was fine yesterday as were the snaps to him. KO returns were okay, no big returns but no major screwups either. Punt return continues to be a black hole. It almost seems as if they should not even bother with anyone back there (for the sarcasm impaired, yes, that was sarcasm). Twice Goodman could have called for a fair catch and elected to not even try to catch it. Neither were uncatchable punts for a decent return man, but Goodman was more worried about making a bad play than making a smart play and it cost ND field position on a day when the offense needed all the help it could get. You would think with all the talent on this team, you could find a decent punt returner.

Purdue presents ND with another chance to make a big statement, to play a complete game and come away with a total victory. The talent differential overwhelmingly favors the Irish again this week, so another squeaker victory would be disappointing.

My take ...

The game seemed to go according to plan for the Irish. Make MSU one dimensional and on offense, a balanced attack with better ball security. I would submit they accomplished all three plus the bonus of a big KO return.

Clearly the defense did its job yesterday. MSU's power run game was stuffed. They were forced to throw a lot more often that they are comfortable doing. Once the Irish got a solid lead, they went into bend but don't break mode, and the Irish defense did not break much. Sure MSU got a lot of passing yards and 1st downs, but they only got one TD, and that's the only stat that matters. It was a great team effort defensively with so many contributing so much to the effort. Blanton and Lynch were the two that stood out for me. Lynch clearly has ridiculous skills, but I still worry about his lack of size. If they continue to use him as part of a 6 man rotation along the DL, he should be fine. HSmith looked great, too. Real solid back there. I was also glad to see GGray have a good game, especially after the completion on the underthrown ball early in the game that looked a lot like the Michigan game.

On offense, the Irish established the ability to run early with both Wood and JGray gashing them early. The early INT by Rees (all on him that time) seemed to unnerve him a bit, but when they needed him to make some big throws in the 2nd half especially, he made them. He played TO free football in the 2nd half, not giving Sparty any freebies. Some of that can be attributed to more conservative playcalling by BK in the 2nd half, but again in the last TD drive, Rees had to come up with some big throws and he did. I like how Riddick and TJones are getting more attention from Rees. Hopefully the near hysterical calls to bench Rees will be silenced for a while. For the second week in a row, the OL struggled to open holes for the run game when the offense was trying to run out some clock. This worries me some.

Special teams were a mixed bag. GA III was good news/bad news on KO return. The TD was great but he looked tentative on a couple of the other returns and his ball security worries me. Punt returns continue to be a black hole, but at least no one here blamed Rees for the fumbled punt. KO coverage was fine as long as Brzinda kicked it out of the end zone. Ruffer did what he needed to do and Turk was adequate. Still a lot of improvement is needed on special teams.

Bottom line, an excellent effort in a must win game. Obviously this team is still very much a work in progress, but there is a lot of reason for optimism. At the risk of upsetting some here, Rees is clearly the right choice to be the QB. He showed he could rebound from a bad mistake (the INT) on his part and play error free ball thereafter, hopefully quieting the critics. The talent upgrade on the team is becoming more apparent each week, especially on the defensive side of the ball. This team has a high ceiling, the rest of the season should be fun to watch.

Stanford will be unveiling a dramatically different look when they host the Irish later this season. I thought some here might be curious. The link also features new looks for Ohio St, Michigan State (green and gold???) and LSU.Clearly the trend started by schools like Oregon (the University of Nike) is catching on. If Penn State ever does an alternate uniform, we will know the apocalypse is right around the corner.

Enjoy.

New unis by Nike

Taking a break from discussion of this dismal season, last weekend MLB Network's Prime 9 show featured what they called the nine best players of the 1960s. The list identified the best player of the decade at each position. For those who missed it , here is the list.

RF: Henry Aaron

CF: Willie Mays

LF: Carl Yastrzemski

SS: Maury Wills

3B: Ron Santo

2B: Pete Rose

1B: Willie McCovey

C: Bill Freehan

P: Juan Marichal

As one who came of age as a baseball fan in the 1960s, I enjoyed the show very much. Some awfully good players left out, but I cannot find fault with any on this list. In retrospect, three things popped out at me about the list.

First, how dominant the National League was. Only two AL players on the list, and most of the others considered for inclusion on the list were other NL players.

Second, three of the players, a third of the team, were San Francisco Giants. I grew up watching games at Candlestick Park and, while I was never a Giants' fan, I feel very lucky to have seen those three greats play many times. Ironically, the presence of those three greats (and some other great and very good players on those Giants' teams) only produced one World Series appearance, 1962. Arguably the best team to never win a World Series.

FInally, I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of Ron Santo. Not that he is undeserving, far from it, he was the best 3B of his decade, but I have grown accustomed to his being overlooked, so I fully expected it to be Brooks Robinson on the Prime 9 team. Good to see the Prime 9 folks got it right.

So what do y'all think?

Jordan Prestwood to ND after all


Yes. No. Yes. This surprise gives ND three of the top ten OTs in the 2011 recruiting class. This class has all the earmarks of an epic recruiting class, the kind that makes the school a powerhouse for years to come. Clearly any doubts about Kelly's ability to recruit can be dismissed, so the only question that remains is can he coach them up unlike his predecessor. Time will tell, but it sure is looking good.

Jordan Prestwood to ND after all
Coming to ND after all. This gives ND three of the top ten OT from the class of 2011. Quite the haul. This recruiting class has the look of a being an epic class. Time will tell, of course, but any doubts there were about Kelly and Co's ability to recruit are out the window, so the only question remaining will be can they coach them up to the highest level, unlike his predecessors.

Martin, a top rated DE/OLB has committed to Cal. Martin had given ND a verbal commit back in the fall, but de-committed shortly after Weis's firing. In reality, he has been an increasingly soft-commit to to ND as the season progressed. He grew up near the Cal campus and had attended Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd HS before re-locating to Colorado for his senior year. He has been rated as high as the #2 DE/OLB.