The Beeze's 2011 Notre Dame Football Preview

I figure I better get this done since the Irish kick off their season Saturday...And in case you don't know, that guy above, Manti Te'o is going to be a big factor again this year...

Te'o, (133 tackles last season) leads a Notre Dame defense that showed steady improvement throughout last season...And the heart of the defense is Te'o and his fellow linebackers...Playing in the 3-4, he is joined in the middle by Carlo Calabrese, a run stopping machine...Seniors Anthony McDonald and David Posluszny add depth at middle linebacker...Sophomore Kendall Moore hopes his play on special teams will help get him in the rotation...

Senior Darius Fleming and sophomore Prince Shembo will be the starting outside linebackers with senior Steve Filer getting plenty of time in the rotation...Junior Dan Fox hopes to see more playing time either at the middle or outside, after having a great spring...

As good as the Irish look at LB, they look just as good at quarterback...


Dayne Crist will once again be the starter, no matter how much Irish fans fell in love with Tommy Rees late last season...Crist and his skill set are perfect for coach Brian Kelly's offense...Much of the playbook went un-used when Rees had to step in...While he is a excellent passer, he lacks the all-around athletic ability of Crist...Of course Crist has to stay healthy, something that has happened the last couple years...

If injury strikes, Rees, while he has experience, may not be the guy, as Sophomore Andrew Hendrix, who has the strongest arm of the bunch, is breathing down his neck...Hendrix is also a very tough and physical runner...Behind him is Freshman Everett Golson who is the fastest and most athletic of all the QB's...

With Armando Allen, and Robert Hughes now gone, the bulk of the running back duties fall to Cierre Wood...


Wood has a great speed, and excellent vision, and should do well in the spread...For the tougher yards, that Hughes pounded out, the Irish will look to Jonas Gray to be tougher, and hold onto the ball...But the Irish are thin at RB...Freshman Cam McDaniel will most likely be the third back on the team, and will get a look on kick returns...

At Wide Receiver, the Irish will look first and foremost at Michael Floyd...Floyd of course needs to stay healthy for once, and stay out of trouble...Personally I was disappointed that he wasn't hit with a tougher punishment for his latest DUI...

Behind Floyd is TJ Jones, and play-maker, Theo Ridick...Seniors John Goodman and Deion Walker need to step up this year...While undersized, Robby Toma (5'9", 175) seems to make all the tough catches, and makes a nice slot receiver...

Tyler Eifert is looking to be the next in a long line of excellent ND Tight Ends...Fifth year senior Mike Ragone is trying to comeback from countless injuries...Look for Sophomore Alex Welch to get some looks this year...

The Offensive Line is loaded with experience, and depth...Junior left tackle Zack Martin is one of the best in college football...He'll be joined by Chris Watt on the left side...Senior Braxton Cave anchors the line at center...Next to him on the right is seniors Trevor Robinson, and Taylor Dever...The Irish have 3 seniors to work in the rotation, including the versatile ANdrew Nuss...The Irish also have 5 freshman and a couple of sophomores waiting in the wings...

Lead by senior ends, Kapron Lewis-Moore and Ethan Johnson, the defensive line should be just as good as the linebackers...Junior Sean Cwynar will start at Nose Tackle, but Hafis Williams and Louis Nix will get plenty of playing time...But the player to watch, is early enrollee DE, Aaron Lynch, (6'6", 260) who by all accounts was the most impressive player in the spring game...


While, raw, the Irish coaching staff love his skill and athletic ability...Another top recruit, and DE, Stephon Tuitt (6'5", 270) could also find his way into some playing time...

Now we come to the Secondary, which will be lead by fifth-year senior, safety, Harrison Smith...


Smith is an intense, hard hitting, athletic player who was the teams second leading tackler last season...He needs to be even better this year, if the Irish defense is going to continue to progress...Playing the other safety spot will most likely be Zeke Motta, who stepped in when Jamoris Slaughter went down with an injury last year...Slaughter should still get plenty of playing time, and may be the teams nickel back, since the Irish are so thin at corner, and having played corner in the past...

the Irish have two excellent corner backs in Robert Blanton, and Gary Gray...Both have plenty of experience, quality cover skills, and both play the run very well...But behind them is youth and inexperience...Sophomores Bennett Jackson and Lo Wood need to really step up, or the Irish could be in trouble, if either Blanton or Gray get injured...

As for special Teams...the Irish have an excellent kicker in David Ruffer...Freshman Kyle Brindza will push for kick-off duties, and to take the punting job, as he has shown to have the teams most powerful leg...The Irish have plenty of talented players to use in the return game...Look for Theo Riddick and Bennett Jackson to get the first cracks at it...

I expect 10 wins this year...The Notre Dame schedule is not a walk in the park...They open Saturday against a good USF team, that has an underrated, multiple-threat QB in B.J. Daniels...And lots of team speed on the defensive side of the ball...This game should give us a good read on what the Irish really has as a team...

Stay tuned...

Go Irish!

The Beeze.

Are You F**king Kidding Me?

I'm pretty sure that's what Coach Brian Kelly said to Michigan State head coach, Mark Dantonio after the Fighting Irish's loss to the Spartans Saturday Night...Why? Let me tell you...

It seems for the past ten years, every game between these two teams is a down to the wire battle...Always a back and forth, whoever has the ball last wins type of game...Saturday's game was shaping up to be the same...

The Irish got on the board first with a touchdown pass from Dayne Crist, to Michael Floyd...The Spartans answered back in the second quarter and even though both teams moved the ball pretty well, the game went to halftime tied at 7...Then the 3rd quarter happened...

MSU's Edwin Baker scored on a 56 yard run...Crist answered back with a ten yard strike to Tight End Kyle Rudolph...Then MSU freshman running back Le'Veon Bell took one in for 16 yards...The Irish drove back down again, and Crist hit Theo Riddick with a 15 yard TD pass...Riddick had a nice game, 10 receptions, for 128 yards and the TD...

Then the Irish defense nutted up and held serve...(Look at that, I just used a Tennis term) In the fourth quarter Crist hit Floyd again on for a 24 yard TD pass...The Spartans responded with a 24 yard TD pass from Kirk Cousins, to B.J. Cummingham...The Irish got the ball back, and were stopped on a fourth and one on their side of the 50...I really thought that call was going to cost ND the game, and make me truly hate Brian Kelly...The Notre Dame defense has had trouble closing games, and now they needed to make some big plays, and they did...Shutting down the Spartans and pushing them back into their own end of the field...Both teams would get the ball one more time and exchange punts...Then it was on to overtime...

Notre Dame got the ball first, and the Spartan defense stepped up again, and made them settle for a field goal...Now the pressure was on the Irish defense again...Now I'm pacing around the living room...trying my best not to wake the rest of the house...Win or lose, I'm going to make some kind of noise...

So what happens...The Irish defense shows up big, and pushes the Spartans back...Now they are lining up for a 46 yard field goal, with an inexperienced kicker...The call that Dantonio makes next can only be described as the 'I have balls 10 times bigger then you' call...FAKE FIELD GOAL...Holder, Aaron Bates takes the snap, takes a couple steps right, pulls up, and throws a 29 yard pass to tight end Charlie Gantt for the game winning touchdown...And I puke in my soup...

My hope of the Irish winning a minimum of 8 games is quickly slipping away...Turning the ball over 3 times and giving up 477 yards(274 passing, 203rushing) is going to beat you more times than not...

Crist finished with 369 yards passing, and the 4 touchdowns...He completed 32 of 55 passes...Floyd had 6 receptions for 81 yards, and 2 TD's...Rudolph caught 8 for 80 yards and 1 TD...Armando Allen caught 6 passes for 70 yards, and carried the ball 13 times for 71 yards...

There is plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense keeps getting beat for big plays...Some on the ground and some through the air...The corners are good, but the safeties seem to get beat deep...The biggest problem the defense has had is finishing games...Well they played well in the 4th and OT, but got beat down in the 3rd...So now the goal has to be for the defense to play a complete game...

Seriously, I need to puke...I don't know if I can handle another long, painful, season...Oh, and Mark Dantonio, great call...I hate you!

Later, The Beeze.

Irish Fall to Michigan...Okay They Fell To Denard Robinson

In what may have been the most exciting game on Saturday, I had to watch my Fighting Irish lose to rival Michigan...By Michigan I mean the one man wrecking crew that is Denard Robinson...

The Irish defense gave up 532 total yards to Michigan...Robinson threw for 244 of those yards, and 1 touchdown...and he rushed for 258 of their 288 yards on the ground...Oh and added two touchdowns on the ground...

The Notre Dame offense put up 535 yards of total offense, which is a bit surprising since starting Quarterback Dayne Crist was out for most of the first half after losing vision in his right eye on a one yard touchdown run...The lack of depth, talent, and experience at QB showed...But Crist let his team back from a 21-7 deficit in the second half...Late in the 4th quarter Crist connected with Tight End Kyle Rudolph for a 95 yard touchdown strike...The Irish were up 24-21...It was time for the defense to do what they couldn't do under Charlie Weis...It was time to finish...

But Robinson wouldn't be denied...He lead the Wolverines on 72 yard game winning drive...Michigan goes up 28-24 with 27 seconds left...Notre Dame has one last shot...I guess the defense still needs to work on that finishing thing, huh?

Crist quickly moved the Irish into scoring position...With six seconds left he had one shot at the end zone, but didn't give his talented group of big receivers a shot for a jump-ball...Instead he sailed the ball into the Michigan band...

Another bitter loss to Michigan has ruined another weekend for me...That said, watch out Big-Ten...Looks like Rich Rod has his QB and system in place...Everyone in Michigan was ready to shit-can this guy, but I think that has changed after last weeks win over UConn, and now this win over ND...Now the question is how far can Robinson take this team? Another question...Are the teams in the Big-Ten ready to try and stop this guy? Denard Robinson is going to make things a little more interesting...

For the Irish...Watching this game film won't be fun...Something tells me it's going to be a tough week of practice for the defense...

Later, The Beeze.