Week 2 Reaction - Lost Me Pot O' Gold.

 

A Notre Dame fan goes through some clearly defined psychological stages after a tough loss.

1. Disbelief:  "I can't believe this is happening."
2. Denial:  "This must be a terrible nightmare.  Did we just lose to an unranked Michigan team?  What?! A freshman QB just single-handedly beat us?"
3. Projection:  "The Big Ten officials were ridiculous!  THEY cost ND the game!"
4. Isolation:  "Don't talk to me!  I'm going home and going to bed... this stinks."
5. Reasoning:  "We were the better team, we moved the ball at will, we just shot ourselves in the foot one-too-many times."
   
6. Acceptance. "Well, it was a close game and Michigan was better than I expected.  It's time to move on and beat the Spartans."

After 2 days of riding the emotional roller coaster described above, I am ready to react to Saturday's loss.

I found some of "me gold" this weekend.  The offense proved that they are a force to be reckoned with.  I was looking for a solid running attack from the Irish, and I found it with a career-high 139 yards from Armando Allen.  Michael Floyd demonstrated again that he is one of the nation's elite receivers.  Jimmy had a solid day with 336 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.  He played well with the exception of a few errand long-balls early in the game.

Here is what I didn't find in "me pot" on Saturday.  A defense that contained well and stopped the run.  A few costly breakdowns swung the momentum in Michigan's favor, especialy when a freshman QB was allowed to jog into the endzone from 31 yards out.  I didn't expect to see a breakdown on kickoff coverage either, considering that has been a strong suit for the Irish.  However, I did expect better play from our secondary.  We gave up a few crucial pass plays that were a result of coverage breakdowns; most notably the game winner in which newcomer Tate Forcier made Darren Walls look like the freshman.

Needless to say, I was disappointed that we lost that game.  To quote two of my co-workers, who happen to be Michigan fans, "Notre Dame was the better team, they just kept killing themselves with penalties and missed opportunities."  That is what makes the loss hard.  We should have won that game, but costly penalties plagued ND throughout.  We killed our own momentum. Dropped passes and an untimely misque hurt as well.  Some of those things are expected, just not all at once, in a game of this magnitude.

As a result of the loss, Charlie Weis is facing the usual criticism from the average college football fan.  Most people are upset with his playcalling, especially at the end of the game.  Domers and Charlie-haters alike shouldn't rush to judge that aspect of is performance Saturday.  If you read the notes from his presser following the game, he defends why he called 2 passing plays on 2nd and 3rd down when the clock needed to be run out.  Armando Allen left the game with an injury to his thigh.  Anytime it was an obvious running down and ND fielded a RB other than #5, Michigan stacked the line.  After all, Armando was the only Irish rusher giving them trouble.  Charlie recognized this and opted to call a pass play that had been open all game.  Unfortunately Golden Tate was pass interfered with... uh hemmm... "defended well" and Tate wasn't able to haul it in.  This all makes sense.  Just a missed opportunity, or a bad "no-call", either way it could have meant a first down and the game would have been over.  The problem with the following play was 1 of 2 key players in the "pitch and catch" was sitting on the sideline.  If Michael Floyd is in the game at that point, its a first down.  I do question why we were throwing to a freshman in that pressure situation.  The only other questionable play call, a terrible play call in my opinion, was the QB draw on our first offensive series.  Please don't run that again Charlie.

I do have to question Weis' ability to prepare his team for a big game.  Senior center Eric Olsen admitted "We had a little bit of a sloppy practice on Tuesday, and even Wednesday."  This is inexcusable and Weis should take the blame for it.  Olsen concluded ""We'd lose focus at times. In their minds, guys are just trying to survive practice, get through it, it's just another practice. We've gotta use every rep in practice as a way to get better. It translates directly into the game."  Olsen is right.  Practice doesn't make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  Jimmy Clausen reportedly addressed the team in the locker room following the loss.  Let's hope that the Fighting Irish can rally behind the words of their QB and have a good week on the practice field.

All in all, ND fans are left waiting to see if their team can rebound.  Will they show some resiliency and bounce back with a victory at home?  Will ND's defense improve their ability to stop the run, which is currently ranked 88th in the nation?  Will Charlie motivate his team in practice this week?  I think so.  I hope so.

We will see.

Until then, Go Irish!

Week 2 Reaction - Lost Me Pot O' Gold.