SB Nation User Blog: mhb

Notre Dame Over Depaul: 1-0 Feels Pretty Good

mhb — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:04:14 -0000

Not an earth-shattering win, but any road win in the Big East is worth celebrating. 26 and 16 for Harangody, but with Tory and Kyle Mac going a combined 8 of 22 from the field Zach Hillesland stepped up with 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting and grabbed seven boards. Solid games from Ayers, Peoples and Zeller as well, but the team still can't defend, especially the middle of the zone.

Have fun tonight, Irish fans. If you drink, don't drive. If you drive, don't drink. If you do neither, I don't really care.

LUKE WANT BALL!

Separated At Birth?

mhb — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:27:49 -0000

You decide.

Rob Kurz FTW

mhb — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:17:23 -0000

...actually the Golden State Warriors lost.

BUT, it wasn't Rob Kurz's fault. Check the statline:

	Minutes	FG	3PT	FT	REB	AST	BLK	TO	STL	PF	Points
Rob Kurz	15	4-4	1-1	1-1	1	2	3	0	1	1	10

Way to go, sir. I hope Monta never comes back and Nellie never goes to AA.

Final Coaches Poll Fun

mhb — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:36:59 -0000

USA Today has a nice flash site for the final coaches poll that can be found here.

Particularly fun is putting your mouse over a team and seeing how varied the votes they received were. Here are a few interesting notes:

Bama only received three third place votes: Bobby Bowden (who does he coach?), Urban Meyer and Crazy Uncle Howard Schnellenberger. Mike Richt showed plenty of conference love and placed Florida at #1 and Bama at #2.
Chris Peterson did his best to bury the Big Ten. He voted #6 Penn State tenth, #10 OSU eleventh, #18 Michigan State twenty-third which was one spot lower than he ranked #20 Northwestern even though the Spartans thrashed the Wildcats in Evanston.
Masochist Watch: Mack Brown voted Florida #1 and his Longhorns #2. Frank Beamer put his Hokies twenty-third, four spots lower than their #19 ranking.
Insult to Injury: After taking the MAC title from previously undefeated Ball State, Turner Gill left them out of the top 25 completely.
Charlie was almost spot on with his ballot. He put USC, Michigan State and Pitt one spot higher than the rest. Wonder why.
What does it take to impress Ty Willingham? Apparently losing to Kansas and getting blown out of the water by Oklahoma. Ty put the #23 Missouri Tigers at #11.

...and finally, the Douche-Bag of the Week award goes to...

Gary Pinkel! Dearest Gary voted #7 Utah, #9 Boise State and #11 TCU at fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth respectively. Then he placed his 9-4 Tigers at #18 (still 7 spots lower than Ty). Teams he felt were better than #7 Utah: Ohio State, Georgia Tech, Oregon, OK State, Georgia, Michigan State and Cincinnati. He also dropped Ball State completely (which is debatable) and ranked Boston College ahead of Virginia Tech (after the Hokies beat the Eagles 30-12 on Saturday in front of literally dozens of fans in Tampa). You suck, Gary Pinkel.

YOU'RE all about the ball(s)!

Notre Dame Bowl Possibilities: Eternal Sadness Edition

mhb — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:59:16 -0000

I started writing this article 45 minutes ago. Since then I've discovered that ND might not be in line to go any bowl if we finish 6-6 because NCAA regulations may state that a 6-6 team cannot take the spot of a team with a bowl tie-in. I've also read that ND is in the pool with the Big East no matter what. All in all, until I hear back from Notre Dame Sports Information, I have no idea what's going on.

All I want for Christmas

Irish Prove Their Patriotism, Try To Give Game To Navy

mhb — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:14:09 -0000

Look, my girlfriend is in the Navy. Her sister is in the Navy. Their father and grandfather were also in the Navy. I've got nothing but respect for the Navy...

BUT FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T PUT IN YOUR BACK-UPS WHEN YOU'RE ONLY UP 20 WITH NINE MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME!

As I started to write this I couldn't remeber exactly how much time was left when we put Sharpley in. I thought it was 7 minutes tops. Then I went back to espn.com's play chart and OH MY GOD THERE WAS STILL NINE MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME!

EXPLETIVE! EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE!

The worst thing is that this erases in the minds of the media everything ND did before those final nine minutes. We destroyed them. And all game the announcers are talking about how Navy never quits. THEN WHY DID WE?

I understand that Weis doesn't want to embarrass the academies, but these are men you're playing against, not fifth-grade girls. Taking out your best players doesn't not make other teams feel better. It does make them angrier. And that's fine when you're up 28 with under 5 to play because you're opponent probably has his scrubs in too, but not when they've still got their starters. It's not like things were getting out of hand.

Also, we've apparently never practice how to get an onside kick. The game is over. Navy might've gotten an extra timeout, but they definitely got an extra yard on 3rd and 3 with under a minute. Here ends the live-blogging.

This is not a fire-Charlie post. This is not a Charlie-will-never-suceed post. I still believe Weis is going make this team better and better and better and better. However, all week we heard about how Charlie has never been a head coach before and is still learning. Thanks for illustrating, Weis.

I will say this: If this near snatching of defeat from the jaws of certain victory doesn't teach Charlie to stomp on his opponents' throat when their down, then he never will.

Take this as a valuable lesson, Charlie. It very nearly could've been your last.

Five Turnovers.

mhb — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:32:50 -0000

Let's run through just the first three:

Second quarter, 3rd and 7 at the 50 following ND's first non-penalty first down, and Jimmy tries to throw into vacuum-sealed coverage. Pick returned for a TD. That hurts.
Second quarter, 30 seconds left,1st and 20 following a monster of a hold from Dan Wenger as ND is putting together its first solid drive of the game, and Jimmy misses badly on a throw he never should've attempted anyways. Momentum going into halftime...killed.
And yet, it's not. Coming out of the half, the Irish hold BC to -3 yards on it's first three plays, but then Tate fumbles the punt and gives the ball back to BC who score seven plays later.

I know we didn't look good on offense in the first half save for a couple of spots in the two drives that ended in picks, but these three turnovers represent a 17-21 point swing. Even if Aponavicius didn't go all Walker (Brandon Walker Classic, not New Brandon Walker) and miss two easy field goals, eliminating these turnovers would still put ND within one score. Hell, even after Tate's fumble makes futile the D's earlier stops, they still came out and held BC to a FG attempt after Eric "Slow and steady wins the...OH GOD! WHERE'S THE BALL!" Maust's second blocked punt in two games.

What comes next: Good defense from both teams for the next four drives until BC punts to ND's 10 with 18 seconds left in the 3rd. We get the ball back. We're moving. Mike Floyd draws a PI. Clausen scrambles for five. He hits Hughes for five. Floyd runs across the field for thirty. And then? Bad throw by Jimmy. Game over.

But it's not game over. Defense forces a three-and-out. Great punt by BC and it's ND ball, first and ten at their own twenty-five with 10:45 to play. We start moving again. Comeback time until 4th and 1. Sighs.

But God bless 'em, the defense comes through again and gets another stop. 5:30 left, ND ball. We're moving...and another bad throw and we're not moving anymore. Game over.

A few things to ponder before slitting your wrists, calling Jon Gruden, sacrificing family members to the Gods of Football or posting on Irish Eyes, NDNation, et al:

Five turnovers lead to, at the very minimum, a 23 point swing. The sixth and seventh "turnovers" come from the missed fourth-down opportunities. Those resulted in at least another 6 missed ND points. Assuming no TDs from the offense, competency from Aponavicius and another solid performance from Walker, turnovers and "turnovers" cost ND a 21-9 win.

Look: we were 3 and 9 last year. We've got the same team minus a bonehead safety, a competent center, an NFL caliber TE and a projected All-American corner and plus one helluva freshman WR, a decent and improving right guard and some promising new defenders.

We're young and inexperienced. Not just on the field, but on the sidelines. Read this article from BGS. CW may have already linked to it, but here it is again. Inexperience leads to bad throws. Inexperience leads to muffed punts. Inexperience leads to only giving each back six carries. Inexperience (and maybe a little arrogance) leads to a coach calling only the fourth down plays.

Talent and time build good football teams. We've got the talent on the field. We keep bringing in more talent. It's not like our coaches are talentless, they did have other jobs before they were chosen to come to ND. We need time. They'll get it. And here's a newsflash: We might not compete for a national championship next year. But I believe that we'll be a darn fine looking football team. And the year after that. And the year after that.

Final aside: If you want to fire a football coach, wait until after the game is over to call for his head. Not when the team you care about is still in the game. The team works for you all week in practice. We all can support them for at least three hours.

Go Irish. Beat Midshipmen.

Pass Right

mhb — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:13:25 -0000

Three years ago, Notre Dame traveled to the friendly confines of Husky Stadium to face Washington in a game that pitted something old against something new. Everyone now knows about the first play called by Notre Dame on offense after Chinedum Ndukwe recovered a Washington fumble on the Notre Dame three-yard line, but here's a reminder.

It's kind of an awkward piece, and I'm certainly no great Tom Rinaldi fan, but the story is a great look at how much Charlie Weis cares about those who follow Notre Dame football, something that was missing in the three years prior to his arrival.

GO IRISH! BEAT HUSKIES!

Irish > Trees

mhb — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:13:50 -0000

Also, 28 > 21. Solid win for the Irish. Sloppy fourth quarter, but we passed last year's win total. Victory.

Stuffing the Spartans: Why First Down Matters

mhb — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:45:01 -0000

Weis and Co. have touted the importance of winning first down this year, but, in facing a power back like Javon "Puttin' Other Teams Defensive Coordinators Through The" Ringer, winning first down on the defensive side of ball is extremely important if the Irish are to win their first road game of the season.

In Sparty's first three games they have faced "First and ten" seventy-nine times (excluding the series against Eastern Michigan when the second team took the field and the end of the Cal game when, being down so many points, Brian Hoyer was given the greenlight to run and gun to his heart's content). Fifty-nine times they ran the ball, mostly by handing the ball off to Ringer. The chart below details how those rush plays turned out.

Length of play	Occurences	Times the set of downs ended in a first down
Negative-0 yards	7	2
0-3	14	8
4-7	24	18
8+	14	13
	TOTAL	TOTAL
	59	41

Most impressive about these stats is the number of times Sparty rushed on first down for four yards or more. Almost 65% of the time MSU gained 4+ yards by carrying the rock on first down. Considering that 65% is the regarded as an excellent completion rate for a QB, and that the State averaged 6.5 ypc on runs of 4+ yards, Sparty's first down rushing game is like having an extremely efficent second quarterback on the field.

The number of first downs that culminated from first down rushes of 0-3 yards is skewed by several of those rushes coming from first and goal situations as well as MSU being bailed out by opposing team's defenses commiting personal fouls or interfering on the pass.

As evidence of the Michigan State commitment to the run, the Spartans have only thrown the ball 18 times on first down. See chart below for more detail.

Length of play	Occurences	Times the set of downs ended in a first down
Comp. of 0-5 yards	0	0
Comp. of 6+ yards	8	8
INC/INT	10	5 (3 from penalty)
	TOTAL	TOTAL
	18	13

The rates are unremarkable, and while State doesn't throw very often, a disturbing trend emerged, particularly in the last two games against Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic. In the first sixteen first downs against Eastern Michigan, MSU ran the ball 14 times (the two throws were an incompletion and a 17-yard completion on the first play of the game). However, the 17th first down was a play-action pass completed for 29 yards. After rushing on three more consecutive first downs, another play-action pass for 29 yards. Even in a monsoon, State was able to complete a 47 yard bomb off play-action following run plays on 19 of 22 previous first-downs.

What have we learned. Michigan State rushes the ball very effectively on first down. That effectiveness leads opponents to drop their guard, leading to one or two deep completions per game on first down. Against Cal, the Spartans threw on first down seven times, again, not counting the end of the game when they threw by necessity, and they lost. That's not to say that was the reason, but in the last two games MSU has established their identity as a run-first team, and a good one at that.

How do the Irish win? Stop Ringer on first down. I realize that sounds like saying the answer to solving global warming (if it even exists, Communists) is to stop everyone from using fossil fuels, but if ND can stop the run early and get a few scores a la the Golden Bears, this young team could be on its way to it's first 3-0 start since Weis took the reins in 2005.