SB Nation User Blog: mhb

Polling the Muck: 11/11/09

mhb — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:40:22 -0000

Another Coach Weis question for the people:

Poll

In what direction is the program heading under Coach Weis?

Polling the Muck

mhb — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:40:29 -0000

Let's find out the mental state of the fanbase, shall we?

Poll

Two questions: 1) Was the Navy loss the final straw for you in regards to keeping Weis? 2) Would beating BCS #12 Pitt on the road on Saturday night change your opinion?

Toryan Smith Dinged Up, Te'o To Get The Start

mhb — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:48:54 -0000

Toryan Smith Dinged Up, Te'o To Get The Start

Manti's judgment cometh, and that right soon.

It Ain't Football, But It'll Do

mhb — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:40:48 -0000

It Ain't Football, But It'll Do

Domination over Michigan is domination over Michigan is domination over Michigan. It always goes down smooth. A 5-0 win over a rival is a great way to start off the season. Congrats to the men's soccer team and its new star Bright Dike. That's his name, don't wear it out. Especially in front of girls.

Nevada's 2008 Pass Defense

mhb — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:03:37 -0000

Here's one last quick look at some telling stats on the Nevada Pass Defense:

Pass Attempts Against Per Game- 38.9 (5th most in the nation)

Pass Completions Against Per Game- 20.8 (18th most in the nation)

Completion % Against- 53.56 (24th BEST in the nation)

Yards Per Completion- 14.95 (Worst in the nation)

Yards Per Attempt- 8.01 (12th worst in the nation)

Passing TDs Against- 31 (7th worst in the nation)

Passing Yards Per Game Against- 311.62 (Worst in the nation)

Plays defended per game- 67.9 (68th most in the nation)

% of plays defended that are rushing- 42.7% (2nd lowest in the nation)

% of plays defended that are passing- 57.3% (2nd highest in the nation)

Pass Eff. Defense- 134.74 (85th in the nation)

% of Attempts Picked Off- 3.16% (59th in the nation)

% of Opponents Dropbacks that ended in a sack- 6.81% (42nd in the nation)

Analysis:
They were bad. WAC QB's weren't super accurate, but still found ways to burn the Wolfpack when they connected. Nevada was average at getting to the QB and average at picking off the ball.

Definitively, Nevada was bad at pass defense. If ND's pass offense has improved in the off-season as much or more than their pass defense has, we should dominate through the air.

We'll have a detailed look at RichRod's latest problems later, but for now here's Cartman's...

mhb — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:53:40 -0000

We'll have a detailed look at RichRod's latest problems later, but for now here's Cartman's reaction to his presser.

Blue Gray Sky Pick Six Contest 2009

mhb — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 21:03:05 -0000

Blue Gray Sky Pick Six Contest 2009

One of the easiest-to-play, hardest-to-win and most enjoyable pick 'em games of the year is back. Our friends at BGS always do a great job with this so do your research and give it a shot. Last year my entry (mhbfromrakes) finished in the top 20. Think you can do better?

Poll Dancing: Coaches Preseason Edition

mhb — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:19:04 -0000

***This is the first of what will hopefully become a recurring piece that tracks poll positions and points for all of ND's opponents in 2009.***

With the release of the first Coaches Poll of the season coinciding nicely with the start of fall practice for the Irish as well the anticipation of the upcoming season turning my Restless Leg Syndrome in full-blown Parkinsons, let's take a look at how some of those wacky coaches voted (click "USA TODAY" to reveal):

Rank	Team	Points
1	Florida Gators	1606
2	Utah Utes	1519
3	USC Trojans	1481
4	Texas Longhorns	1478
5	Oklahoma Sooners	1391
6	Alabama Crimson Tide	1264
7	TCU Horned Frogs	1193
8	Penn St. Nittany Lions	1153
9	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1013
10	Oregon Ducks	997
11	Boise St. Broncos	938
12	Texas Tech Red Raiders	916
13	Georgia Bulldogs	903
14	Mississippi Rebels	857
15	Virginia Tech Hokies	713
16	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	534
17	Cincinnati Bearcats	506
18	Oregon St. Beavers	467
19	Missouri Tigers	435
20	Iowa Hawkeyes	317
21	Florida St. Seminoles	246
22	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	223
23	West Virginia Mountaineers	144
24	Michigan St. Spartans	138
25	BYU Cougars	137

Rank	Team	Avg
1	Oklahoma Sooners	.976
2	Florida Gators	.948
3	Texas Longhorns	.930
4	Alabama Crimson Tide	.844
5	USC Trojans	.821
6	Utah Utes	.785
7	Texas Tech Red Raiders	.784
8	Penn St. Nittany Lions	.739
9	Boise St. Broncos	.698
10	Ohio St. Buckeyes	.635
11	TCU Horned Frogs	.585
12	Cincinnati Bearcats	.538
13	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	.487
14	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	.452
15	Georgia Bulldogs	.378
16	BYU Cougars	.358
17	Oregon Ducks	.340
18	Michigan St. Spartans	.287
19	Virginia Tech Hokies	.244
20	Pittsburgh Panthers	.238
21	Missouri Tigers	.163
22	Ball St. Cardinals	.146
23	Northwestern Wildcats	.138
24	Boston College Eagles	.105
25	Mississippi Rebels	.084

Rank	Team	Points
1	Florida Gators	1,466
2	Texas Longhorns	1,386
3	Oklahoma Sooners	1,358
4	USC Trojans	1,321
5	Alabama Crimson Tide	1,134
6	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1,126
7	Virginia Tech Hokies	1,020
8	Penn St. Nittany Lions	988
9	LSU Tigers	917
10	Mississippi Rebels	889
11	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	861
12	California Golden Bears	711
13	Georgia Bulldogs	707
14	Oregon Ducks	694
15	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	559
16	Boise St. Broncos	542
17	TCU Horned Frogs	461
18	Utah Utes	404
19	Florida St. Seminoles	371
20	North Carolina Tar Heels	293
21	Iowa Hawkeyes	257
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	236
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	194
24	BYU Cougars	178
25	Oregon St. Beavers	165

Couple of quick notes:

Great to see ND in a top 25 for the first time since 2006.
FLORIDA!!!!1!!!1!!
LSU making an impressive jump from the end of last season.
As far as Irish opponents go, only Southern Cal is in the top 25, but 6 appear in the "Also receiving votes" category.

Between the poll and the old guard harumph-ing about this year's schedule, our slate looks pretty pathetic this year, yeah? After the jump, take a stroll inside the numbers and let's get a closer look.

It's easy to hear the gripes from various ND fans over the schedule, but it takes a little more work to gleam what the coaches (or at least their Sports Information Directors) think. The tables below show the total number of Coaches Poll points each BCS conference team faces and the per game average. The top table covers the entire schedule, and as you can see, the Irish are not among the leaders. In fact, Notre Dame ranks only higher than Big East squads and a handful of Big Ten/ACC schools.

The second table covers each team's conference slate. Notice that there are two entries for Notre Dame: the sum next to the asterisk-ed ND is the total points from our "conference," Michigan, MSU, Purdue, USC, BC, Pitt, Navy and Stanford. From this we can see that the coaches rank ND's "conference" slate somewhere above the Big Ten/ACC and below the Pac-10. Not terrible, but certainly not elite.

Where the Irish shine, however is in the non-conference strength-of-schedule. With the 20th-ranked non-conference schedule by per game average, it should be apparent that when BCS schools are given their pick of opponents (like ND has for their whole schedule and the rest have for 3-4 games) Notre Dame is solidly in the top third. (Note: the "Notre Dame*" refers to our "non-conference" slate this season of Nevada, Washington, Washington State and Connecticut.)

A couple quick hitters:

Props to Washington and USC. Both face the other nine Pac-10 teams and combine to face ND (once each), LSU and Ohio State for four of their six non-conference games.
Pity Mississippi State more than Arkansas. Neck and neck for the hardest schedule, Arkansas faces a total of one Coaches Poll point in its four non-conference games (Troy) while the Bulldogs face 540 (Ga Tech and Houston).
Shame on the Big East. Not only do they have the weakest BCS conference, but in the 40 non-conference games the league plays (FIVE for each team!) there are only SIX match-ups with teams currently ranked in the top 25.

Final verdict: Notre Dame does not have an incredibly difficult schedule according to the coaches. No, it doesn't look good to have the 53rd most difficult schedule out of 66 BCS teams, but nationwide (in a table to large too print here), ND comes in at 59th for overall schedule. So look on the bright side: The coaches think we have a tougher schedule than 50% of the entire ~~FBS~~ NCAA Division I-A Football.

Overall schedule
Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game
1	Arkansas	5144	428.67	23	Oklahoma	2959	246.58	45	Duke	2069	172.42
2	Mississippi St.	4993	416.08	24	USC	2907	242.25	46	Florida	2031	169.25
3	Vanderbilt	4567	380.58	25	UCLA	2896	241.33	47	UNC	2009	167.42
4	South Carolina	4250	354.17	26	Alabama	2873	239.42	48	BC	1924	160.33
5	Tennessee	4249	354.08	27	Oregon St.	2833	236.08	49	Kansas St.	1906	158.83
6	LSU	4214	351.17	28	Michigan	2745	228.75	50	NC State	1805	150.42
7	Washington	4019	334.92	29	Colorado	2720	226.67	51	Penn State	1564	130.33
8	Baylor	4003	333.58	30	Nebraska	2676	223.00	52	Iowa St.	1538	128.17
9	Texas Tech	3980	331.67	31	Missouri	2672	222.67	53	Notre Dame	1538	128.17
10	Georgia	3850	320.83	32	Ohio St.	2614	217.83	54	Wisconsin	1526	127.17
11	Texas A&M	3727	310.58	33	FSU	2599	216.58	55	Michigan St.	1493	124.42
12	Auburn	3719	309.92	34	Texas	2517	209.75	56	Clemson	1471	122.58
13	Miami FL	3646	303.83	35	Ga Tech	2471	205.92	57	Northwestern	1426	118.83
14	Arizona St.	3615	301.25	36	Indiana	2421	201.75	58	Syracuse	1265	105.42
15	Oklahoma St.	3612	301.00	37	Virginia	2418	201.50	59	Wake Forest	1020	85.00
16	Kentucky	3339	278.25	38	Illinois	2391	199.25	60	Uconn	758	63.17
17	Minnesota	3267	272.25	39	Va Tech	2283	190.25	61	Louisville	688	57.33
18	Arizona	3165	263.75	40	Iowa	2266	188.83	62	So. Florida	677	56.42
19	Oregon	3160	263.33	41	Purdue	2201	183.42	63	Pitt	410	34.17
20	Kansas	3144	262.00	42	Cal	2200	183.33	64	Cincinnati	384	32.00
21	Stanford	3106	258.83	43	Maryland	2197	183.08	65	West Va	233	19.42
22	Washington St.	3102	258.50	44	Ole Miss	2089	174.08	66	Rutgers	222	18.50
Conference schedule
Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game
1	Arkansas	5143	642.88	24	Michigan	2551	318.88	*	Notre Dame*	1527	190.88
2	Mississippi St.	4433	554.13	25	Texas	2517	314.63	46	Wisconsin	1526	190.75
3	Tennessee	4235	529.38	26	Oregon St.	2743	304.78	47	Maryland	1435	179.38
4	LSU	4214	526.75	27	Georgia	2430	303.75	48	Northwestern	1426	178.25
5	South Carolina	4213	526.63	28	Indiana	2421	302.63	49	USC	1587	176.33
6	Vanderbilt	4008	501.00	29	Miami FL	2277	284.63	50	Purdue	1313	164.13
7	Baylor	3999	499.88	30	Iowa	2263	282.88	51	Michigan St.	1296	162.00
8	Texas Tech	3979	497.38	31	Illinois	2257	282.13	52	Ohio St.	1291	161.38
9	Texas A&M	3721	465.13	32	Ole Miss	2089	261.13	53	Iowa St.	1281	160.13
10	Auburn	3664	458.00	33	UNC	2006	250.75	54	Notre Dame	1538	128.17
11	Kentucky	3339	417.38	34	Oregon	2214	246.00	55	Wake Forest	1018	127.25
12	Kansas	3140	392.50	35	Virginia	1953	244.13	56	Clemson	992	124.00
13	Oklahoma St.	2904	363.00	36	Cal	2197	244.11	57	FSU	944	118.00
14	Oklahoma	2735	341.88	37	Duke	1931	241.38	58	Va Tech	910	113.75
15	Colorado	2665	333.13	38	Kansas St.	1892	236.50	59	Uconn	271	38.71
16	Missouri	2623	327.88	39	Alabama	1853	231.63	60	Louisville	271	38.71
17	Arizona St.	2908	323.11	40	Ga Tech	1764	220.50	61	Syracuse	271	38.71
18	Stanford	2908	323.11	41	BC	1727	215.88	62	So. Florida	260	37.14
19	Washington	2908	323.11	42	NC State	1723	215.38	63	Rutgers	220	31.43
20	Washington St.	2908	323.11	43	Florida	1659	207.38	64	West Va	216	30.86
21	Arizona	2905	322.78	44	Nebraska	1656	207.00	65	Pitt	207	29.57
22	UCLA	2894	321.56	45	Penn State	1564	195.50	66	Cincinnati	181	25.86
23	Minnesota	2556	319.50
Non-conference Schedule
Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game	Rnk	Team	Total	Per Game
1	USC	1320	440	24	Florida	372	93	46	Tennessee	14	3.5
2	FSU	1655	413.75	25	Arizona	260	86.67	47	West Va	17	3.4
3	Washington	1111	370.33	26	Louisville	417	83.4	*	Notre Dame*	11	2.75
4	Georgia	1420	355	27	So. Florida	417	83.4	48	Texas A&M	6	1.5
5	Va Tech	1373	343.25	28	Stanford	198	66	49	Kansas	4	1
6	Miami FL	1369	342.25	29	Washington St.	194	64.67	50	Baylor	4	1
7	Ohio St.	1323	330.75	30	Iowa St.	257	64.25	51	Cal	3	1
8	Oregon	946	315.33	31	Oklahoma	224	56	52	UNC	3	0.75
9	Nebraska	1020	255	32	BC	197	49.25	53	Iowa	3	0.75
10	Alabama	1020	255	33	Michigan St.	197	49.25	54	UCLA	2	0.67
11	Arizona St.	707	235.67	34	Michigan	194	48.5	55	Wake Forest	2	0.5
12	Purdue	888	222	35	Cincinnati	203	40.6	56	Rutgers	2	0.4
13	Syracuse	994	198.8	36	Pitt	203	40.6	57	Texas Tech	1	0.25
14	Maryland	762	190.5	37	Duke	138	34.5	58	Arkansas	1	0.25
15	Minnesota	711	177.75	38	Illinois	134	33.5	59	Indiana	0	0
16	Oklahoma St.	708	177	39	Oregon St.	90	30	60	Northwestern	0	0
17	Ga Tech	707	176.75	40	NC State	82	20.5	61	Penn State	0	0
18	Mississippi St.	560	140	41	Colorado	55	13.75	62	Wisconsin	0	0
19	Vanderbilt	559	139.75	42	Auburn	55	13.75	63	Texas	0	0
20	Notre Dame	1538	128.17	43	Missouri	49	12.25	64	Kentucky	0	0
21	Clemson	479	119.75	44	South Carolina	37	9.25	65	LSU	0	0
22	Virginia	465	116.25	45	Kansas St.	14	3.5	66	Ole Miss	0	0
23	Uconn	487	97.4

RAWWWRRR!!! RECRUITING!!! RAWWWRRR!!!

mhb — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:34:16 -0000

ESPN put out their top 150 today and left Irish fans feeling more than a little jilted.

Despite above average reviews from the other sites, the only player verbally committed to ND in the top 150 is DE Chris Martin. But he's our golden calf so I'm sure he's safe. Let's review:

Rivals- #1 ranked Weakside DE, #13 overall, 5 stars
Scout- #1 ranked DE, #6 overall, 5 stars
Everyone and their momma- #1 ranked DE, top-20 nationally, 5 stars

It follows that ESPN would rank Mr. Martin similarlEEEOHMYGAWD! Number sixteen ranked DE? 144th overall? Only four giant balls of gas? What's that I hear? Oh lord, it's Tom Luginbill's music!

A lot of feedback on Martin. We do feel he will be a defensive end in college and that's a big adjustment in our eyes. We do not see the speed, hips or flexibility to play OLB.

He is still in our 150 so we think he's a good player and like his physical measureables but felt he lacked the reactive burst, bend and potential pass rushing skills that the defensive ends ahead of him currently have.

Tom Luginbill

The former XFL coach's logic baffles. He'll be a DE, but he doesn't have the speed, hips or flexibility to play OLB. Okay? Your point is? Luginbill also ranked Al Pacino as the 144th best actor of all time because he doesn't make a very good duck l'orange.

I suppose ESPN could have been thinking of this guy:

Now there's a prospect with tenacity and a good motor.

A complete list of ND's verbal commit rankings is here. Try not to let your tears of anger and despair get into your CPU. Must've gone through 17 laptops that way in 2007.

Notre Dame Down Early 0-2 To Bemidji State

mhb — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:57:10 -0000

Catch the game on ESPN Classic and cheer on your Irish skaters. We're gonna need it down 2-0 with 7 minutes left in the first. Two flukey goals, but two goals down nonetheless.

GO IRISH!

SB Nation User Blog: mhb

Polling the Muck: 11/11/09

In what direction is the program heading under Coach Weis?

Polling the Muck

Two questions: 1) Was the Navy loss the final straw for you in regards to keeping Weis? 2) Would beating BCS #12 Pitt on the road on Saturday night change your opinion?

Toryan Smith Dinged Up, Te'o To Get The Start

Toryan Smith Dinged Up, Te'o To Get The Start

It Ain't Football, But It'll Do

It Ain't Football, But It'll Do

Nevada's 2008 Pass Defense

We'll have a detailed look at RichRod's latest problems later, but for now here's Cartman's...

Blue Gray Sky Pick Six Contest 2009

Blue Gray Sky Pick Six Contest 2009

Poll Dancing: Coaches Preseason Edition

Football Rankings

Overall schedule

Conference schedule

Non-conference Schedule

RAWWWRRR!!! RECRUITING!!! RAWWWRRR!!!

Notre Dame Down Early 0-2 To Bemidji State