Q&A with Her Loyal Sons

Following up on our Q&A with Her Loyal Sons earlier today, domer.mq of HLS was kind enough to answer five of our questions about the Fighting Irish. Big thanks to HLS for the excellent answers and for starting this Q&A exchange in the first place. I do regret that it did not turn into an OBNUG-style poetry throwdown, but perhaps we shall save that for our future BCS matchup, awww yeah.

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1. We've read how important this game is to Notre Dame in regards to the bowl-loss streak, finishing with a winning record, and serving as a launching pad for 2009. After a recent vote of confidence from the administration, is Charlie Weis' job really in danger if the Fighting Irish lose this game?

I don't think losing the game would make Weis' seat any hotter - can that dial go up to 11? There's been a lot of speculation that Weis could lose his job despite the administration's vote of confidence if he were to lose this game, but I think most of that speculation comes from ND fans who are just looking for any opportunity to hope for a new "big name" to come in and "return ND to glory. Again." Really, if ND loses this game, it'll make the off-season even worse than it probably already will be, since it'll just leave an even worse taste in the mouths of fans. Plus a loss might make finishing out an excellent recruiting year even tougher for Weis. Still, it looks like, contingent on certain offseason activities (read: staff changes), Weis will be the ND HC in 2009 barring some sort of really big black mark on the program like allegations of illegal activity by players or staff or something off the wall. Weis actually works very hard and is pretty tough on kids who run afoul of the law, so I wouldn't expect such a thing to occur.

Still, to lose this game really hurts Weis because then there will be practically no optimism about the 2009 campaign. ND fans by nature tend to look for things upon which to hang their hopes, but the way this season will have ended by losing 3 in a row would make optimism a rare commodity.


2. Who are some of the key players we should be watching for on both offense and defense? Who are the game-breakers?

Against ND's offense, Hawaii had better always communicate with one another about the whereabouts of Golden Tate. As a wide receiver, he's already shown the ball-skills and speed to get deep passes despite the very best efforts of defenses. There were times when I've wondered why on earth the defense wasn't giving him more of a cushion on that deep TD pass, then you watch the replay and realize the defense was giving him what would have been more than enough cushion for most really good receivers. Tate's got the sort of speed to make ESPN shut up about ND lacking speed at all, and the coaching staff has been looking for new ways to get him the ball besides just passing it to him.

Also on offense, if he's back to full health, freshman wide receiver Mike Floyd looks like he could one day be called the best wide receiver in the history of ND football. No joke. He's not as fast as Tate, but he's plenty fast, and even as a freshman he has the height and build to simply block out any cornerbacks attempting to make a play on the ball. He can also leap out of the stadium. His presence makes it nearly impossible for ND not to call fade routes to the end zone as soon as the Irish are within the 30 yard line, much to the chagrin of ND fans thirsting for more "creativity" in play-calling.

On defense, one particular freshman has shown a certain knack for making big plays: Robert Blanton. He came onto campus with enough "swagger" to rival Charlie Weis, but he's actually managed to back it up. It seems like offensive coordinators have spotted his number on the field and decided to test him, often with disappointing results. He can and will get beat on occasion, but the kid's just, pardon the term, a "baller." If Hawaii decides to throw a slant his way, look out. He loves those. If you got a chance to watch his TD return of an INT against Purdue, wherein he must have run 120 yards to return the ball 47, you'll understand what I mean.

Also on defense, watch out for Pat Kuntz. This kid will be playing his last game ever for the Irish on the DL and his love for creative coifs is rivaled only by his love for sacking the QB. His stats wont blow you away, and he tends to get "over excited," resulting in a personal foul or two, but if anyone on the Irish squad knows how to get fired up, it's Pat. When a Stanford OL promised to stonewall the Irish this season, Kuntz took that quite personally and became a one-man wrecking crew (he even recorded an INT). I'm hoping in his last game he turns the mean-streak up to over-drive.


3. Notre Dame's offensive line has improved significantly over last year. What are some of the reasons why? Better players? Better schemes? Quicker decisions by Jimmy Clausen?

Well, I think a lot of ND fans would find the statement "improved significantly," to be contentious, but as the stats go, yeah, at least in pass protection, they're much, much better. While we were worried about ND's left tackle position coming into the year, Mike Turkovich has actually managed to be a dependable, if not spectacular, body guard for Clausen's blind-side. Meanwhile, Clausen is making much better pre-snap reads. For about half the season he was even managing to bait the defenses into giving up their blitz plans during his cadence on a near-regular basis, though that seems to have been figured out and mitigated by ND's last few opponents. It also helps that the line which was so young last year is now much more experienced this year.

Still, ND's rushing game has managed to be pretty pathetic this year, which has hurt the passing game. 3rd and short causes much heartburn among ND faithful because it's seen as an almost inevitable 4th and short. The OL just doesn't seem to play "fast and hard," meaning the OL seem a bit confused about what to do with their zone blocking schemes. The offensive guards fail to get to the second level to make a block on the LBs about as often as they manage to get a body on someone, and it really only takes a few misses to look really bad during a game. In fact, after doing a little analysis, we've found that the Irish rushing attack of 2008 is worse than it was in 2007. This season, the ND RB stable of Allen, Hughes, and Aldridge averaged 3.39 ypc against an average rushing defense rank of 63rd while in 2007 that same group averaged 2.02 ypc against an average rushing defense rank of 39. So perhaps the numbers look better at first glance, but when you really consider the quality of competition, the numbers don't look so swell.


4. Charlie Weis says he'll be calling the offensive plays tomorrow. Have you noticed a significant difference in the team's strategy, execution, energy, etc. when he's calling the plays vs when offensive coordinator Mike Haywood is calling them? Do you have a preference?

Frankly, it's really tough to say. Since Weis took over playcalling, ND has only scored 27, 21, and 3 points and gained 340, 332, and 91 yards against Navy, Syracuse, and Southern Cal respectively. Not exactly record-breaking. On the plus side, we saw some good things happen like Weis realizing ND could run all over Navy for the last 30 minutes of game time (something Haywood never seemed like he would appreciate), but on the negative side we saw Pete Carroll and the SoCal defense absolutely own ND for an entire game despite a lack of "current game film" for Weis. So one has to wonder, is Weis getting sort of "figured out" by college defenses?

I don't think anyone's going to really outsmart Weis, but Weis can and will outsmart himself on occasion, and there are some "bread and butter" plays and tendancies that even Brock Spack could see coming from a mile away these days, probably because, despite Weis' best efforts, you can't fit an NFL playbook into a college work week.

I probably still prefer Weis over Haywood since Haywood still seemed to be grab-bagging with the play-calling right up to and through the Pitt game. While Weis can, as mentioned, outsmart himself, he does seem to recognize what's working better and faster than Haywood. And Weis will stick with something if the defense doesn't stop it (particularly if it's a pass play).


5. What is your prediction for the game?

I've become a bit of a schizophrenic ND fan while running HerLoyalSons.com. The catharsis that has been made available by our blog makes me cheer for ND harder with my heart and analyze ND with even more scrutiny with my brain. But I'm gonna give in to my fanboy side here and pick ND to win a close game (which would really, really help the fairly young Irish squad "learn to win"). ND's offensive strength looks like it matches up really well with Hawaii's defense, particularly if Mike Floyd is back catching passes, and ND's defensive backfield is quite capable of making some big plays against Hawaii's offense. As is almost always the case with ND, one way or another, turnovers will tell the story. If ND wins the turnover battle, I'd look for the Irish to win by a rather uncomfortable 10 points.