Kenny Pickett vs. American Football 8h ago. Bender: Oklahoma's D faces test against Bears. American Football 20h ago. Michigan vs. Penn State odds, prediction, betting trends for Big Ten East showdown. College rosters are comprised of raw, talented athletes who may or may not become complete football players. Most outperformed their peers at the high school level via sheer athletic ability rather than football acumen.
Thus, in order to develop, the players must benefit from good coaching tutelage. Most of this falls on the staff as opposed to the head coach.
However, the head coach is primarily responsible for practice regimen, and assigning disproportionate amounts of time to developing fundamentals is a grievous error. But these players are the integral pieces of a precision passing offense, Weis and his staff have yet to show he can develop offensive linemen or the pieces needed for an adept running game.
Additionally, these players already had at least two years under a previous coaching staff. Against the more talented defenses in the NFL an effective running game is nearly impossible to achieve. Each year a few teams manage a potent rushing attack, but the run is mostly a secondary weapon used to keep defenses honest. There are fewer and less substantial adverse outcomes associated with running the ball.
Moreover, the probability of said outcomes is far lower than in the passing game as running the ball is a considerably more facile proposition. A running game controls the clock, takes pressure off the quarterback, and opens up the play-action pass.
It creates favorable down-and-distances that result in better third down efficiency. It allows teams to move the ball on a short field, something that directly correlates to an increase in red zone scoring.
Whether he fails to realize the importance of running the football or is unable to successfully implement an effective rushing attack is irrelevant. The negative corollaries are readily apparent even to the most casual observer. This was never more evident than at the start of the season.
In other words, he chose a complicated offensive scheme over execution predicated on simplicity. Much of his coaching approach that was successful in contributed to the demise of the Irish in A more experienced college head coach may have prevented this. If you wanted to slide them around some, I am not going to fight you.
I realize giving up at the top kind of defeats the purpose of ranking things but my soul is essentially broken at this point, and knowing what I'm going to have to write for these games has left me a cold, empty shell of a man. On that cheery note, let's continue. Total and complete suffocation at the hands of a decent but by no means great Boston College team.
The Eagles were solid in , division champs but they weren't "Win , force five turnovers and earn the only shutout in the history of the series" good. This was an offensive abomination, as Clausen played perhaps his worst post game with four picks, including one returned for a touchdown. This was also th sixth straight win by BC over the Irish and their last, thankfully. You might be surprised, but Notre Dame was outrushed to 66 and didn't run a single play in the Eagle red zone.
Just a total system failure from the offense on a night the defense played fine BC had only yards of offense. An underrated and oft-forgotten embarrassing classic. The game that ended the year winning streak, a triple overtime loss that saw Notre Dame attempt a two-point conversion run with Travis Thomas that everyone in the Stadium knew was going to fail except for Charlie Weis.
Let's go back to the end of regulation for a moment, with the score tied at Notre Dame had the ball at the Navy 24 with 45 seconds to go.
It was 4 th and 8, so do you try a field goal from 41 yards? You certainly do not. You elect to have Evan Sharpley attempt a pass, and then this happens. Ram Vela out of nowhere. Robert Hughes' brother was killed earlier that week and his first quarter touchdown run and ensuring celebration with his teammates might have been the highlight of the season. Navy was decent that year in Paul Johnson's final season before he took the Georgia Tech job but this was a very winnable game. The one positive?
It led to my favorite Stuffing The Passer tune :. I know a lot of people want this to be higher because it ended the streak, but considering Navy won three of four in the series starting with this game so it's not like that run would be approaching fifty games this season. A win here would have just delayed the inevitable.
Something that gets lost in discussing this game is how the Wolverines ended this season: , ranked in the top twenty with a bowl win over Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer.
Yes, they came into this game with a loss to App State and a blowout at the hands of Oregon, but this was the start of a pretty night little rebound. For those who think this game should be higher, you have a lot of ammunition.
The first snap wasn't catchable. Michigan outgained Notre Dame , 25 first downs to 10, on the scoreboard. Jimmy was battered and broken, an entire game and season summed up by this photo.
And the guy who was going to start at quarterback - Demetrius Jones - didn't make the trip, which in hindsight was an incredibly wise decision on his part. Completely demoralizing in every way, which is impressive considering the first two games of this season were also blowout losses. I think this game was the first time Rakes ever got linked to on Deadspin original recipe with Leitch and everything , so that's fun.
I've gone back and forth on the placement of this one but honestly think it might be the worst of the Michigan losses because 1 It came against a Wolverines team that didn't even make a bowl and 2 Made the world think Tate Forcier was a Heisman candidate for a couple weeks.
Maybe he did, but no one at our table was paying attention. We made it out to the hotel bar just in time to see Forcier break everyone's hearts. Pretty cool tactical decision by Weis late in this one to attempt two passes instead of forcing the Wolverines to take their last two timeouts, which proved very useful on their final drive when they needed both of them after a sack and a short completion.
Relevant notes: Golden and Floyd combined for 16 catches, yards and three touchdowns while Armando Allen had yards on the ground. Big thanks to Jon Tenuta for this one.
When polling friends about this list, a lot of people were steadfast that Michigan was the worst, which leads me to believe they do not remember this game. Notre Dame was and ranked second in the country and they were completely and totally destroyed, losing and it was not that close.
Pick a phase of the game and Michigan dominated in it, battering Brady Quinn and picking him off three times, running Mike Hart wherever he wanted to go and sending Mario Manningham on lonely explorations of the Irish secondary.
Yes, the '06 Wolverines would go on to reach number two in the nation and play in the Rose Bowl where they lost, because they're Michigan but this was such an embarrassing performance. Notre Dame lost on Senior Day to a team that had already fired its coach.
What do you even say to that? Some notes:. I don't think anything is more embarrassing than this Syracuse game, but as you can see, there was quite a bit of competition. The one thing this exercise did was make me realize how fortunate we are to have a competent team with a competent coaching staff.
If you are for some reason not enjoying the Irish, why don't you re-read this and realize just how far Notre Dame has come as a program. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Filed under:. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Without further ado Three things about this before we move on: 1 People who think Vince Young should have received the Heisman over Reggie Bush in are only focusing on the Rose Bowl, which you might remember takes place after the Heisman voting.
Let's just do some quick hits: was such a weird season that Boston College was and number 4 in the nation coming into this game. A Brian Smith pick six off of Matt Ryan made this in the third quarter, which felt amazing before BC eventually won The Eagles went in - their best season in the last couple decades - and ended it playing against Michigan State in a December 28 bowl game.
Sparty only led at the half which in felt like we had just won the national title. The Irish were held scoreless in the second half and Michigan State won , but Notre Dame did have a lead so another small positive. Golden Tate Runs Deep was discovered during this game, which again, felt like heaven after the offensive woes earlier in the year. USC won , yes, but it was only late in the second when things started to unravel. The Trojans were with two losses by a combined 8 points. My friend Patrick and I got a photo with the Song Girls after this game, so it will always have a fond place in my heart.
Here's how the rest of the drives went: Clausen fumble. Clausen interception. Some really weird fumble thing where I'm pretty sure Mike Floyd was down but they didn't call it and UNC ran out the last 11 seconds. Sorry for the poor quality, but here's the pick six to start the second half: 11 Michigan State Just a miserable no show performance where a Notre Dame team got absolutely bullied in East Lansing, losing and giving up yards rushing on 39 carries to Javon Ringer.
Here are the rushing stats for that game not counting in the various sacks of Clausen, which netted yards : James Aldridge: 4 for 13 3.
Three things make this less acceptable in hindsight: 1 USC was and number six in the country coming into this game, but were starting a true freshman Matt Barkley and only went the rest of the regular season before beating Boston College in the Emerald Bowl. It led to my favorite Stuffing The Passer tune : I know a lot of people want this to be higher because it ended the streak, but considering Navy won three of four in the series starting with this game so it's not like that run would be approaching fifty games this season.
Some notes: Syracuse had fired its coach before the game started.
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