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ND loses to BYU

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Buckeyehead said:
I disagree. I hope scUM blows them off the field.

Not only would ND beating scUM hurt the Big Ten's conference strength, I want it to really mean something WHEN the Bucks beat scUM in November.
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I know that it's always debated but I like it when scUM loses to anyone. yeah it would look better for the big ten if they won but a scUM loss would be nice, IMHO.
 
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It wasn't that bad of a performance for the ND offense.

They did have the same number of rushing yards as they did punts (11).

Think Ty's starting to worry about that out clause in Urban Meyer's contract that includes ND? (It also includes tOSU and TSUN).
 
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No more excuses

Willingham needs offensive revival -- and soon -- to survive at Notre Dame

Posted: Thursday September 9, 2004 11:13AM; Updated: Thursday September 9, 2004 11:21AM
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Brady Quinn and the Irish offense struggled against BYU.
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<SCRIPT>if(cnnEnableCL){if(!(location.hostname.indexOf('cnn.com')>-1)) {cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','/.element/ssi/sect/1.0/misc/contextual/story.html','');}else{ cnnAddCSI('contextualLinks','http://cl.cnn.com/ctxtlink/jsp/si-story.jsp','category=sihome&url=http:/\/robots.cnnsi.com/2004/writers/stewart_mandel/09/09/notre.dame/index.html&desccharcnt=80&site=cnn_si_dyn_ctxt&origin=si');}}</SCRIPT><IFRAME id=iframecontextualLinks style=\"VISIBILITY: hidden\" name=iframecontextualLinks align=right src="http://cl.cnn.com/ctxtlink/jsp/si-story.jsp?domId=contextualLinks&time=1094750062072&category=sihome&url=http://robots.cnnsi.com/2004/writers/stewart_mandel/09/09/notre.dame/index.html&desccharcnt=80&site=cnn_si_dyn_ctxt&origin=si" width=0 height=0></IFRAME></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The first year, it was the growing pains of learning a new system. The second year, it was the growing pains of a freshman quarterback.

In this, the third year of the Tyrone Willingham era at Notre Dame, there are no more excuses for the Irish offense. So why, Golden Domers are asking, did things look so painfully familiar in Saturday's season-opening 20-17 loss at BYU?

"I think we were all very disappointed," said Willingham after his team produced just 276 yards and one offensive touchdown against the Cougars. "I felt comfortable in my belief that this would be a good, solid, total offensive performance for us. I had great respect for BYU's defense, but I felt like we would be able to come out and have an excellent performance and have a balanced attack, and we didn't do it. I'm disappointed."

You're not alone, Coach. Coming into the season, the ever-demanding Notre Dame faithful were cautiously optimistic about the Irish's prospects coming off last season's 5-7 debacle, but never did they envision things starting off with a loss to a non-BCS team that went 4-8 last year. BYU is a much-improved team, as the season will likely bear out, but a far cry from many of the opponents still awaiting the Irish, starting Saturday with No. 8 Michigan.

If Willingham's rump was feeling a little toasty before last weekend, he's now sitting on a four-alarm fire heading into the most important game of his tenure to date. The Wolverines have become a barometer of the program's roller-coaster ride under his watch -- ND's 25-23 upset of then-seventh-ranked Michigan in the game two years ago provided a glimpse of a possible resurgence, part of an 8-0 start to Willingham's debut campaign, while last year's 38-0 loss in Ann Arbor was the signature moment of a downward spiral that has seen the Irish lose 10 of 15 contests for the first time since 1959-60.

At the heart of the problem is an offense that, in Willingham's first two seasons, ranked 108th (2002) and 90th (2003) out of 117 teams nationally, made all the more puzzling considering Willingham's Stanford teams were usually highly productive moving the ball. Upon arriving in South Bend, Willingham and offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick warned that replacing Bob Davie's option-based system with their version of the West Coast Offense would be a slow process (Diedrick has said they were operating at about 25 percent the first year) due both to its complicated nature and lack of appropriate personnel.

But Notre Dame is hardly the first school to go through such a transition, and others have shown it doesn't have to be so treacherous. Michigan and Tennessee both operated smoothly last weekend with freshmen at the helm, as Irish starter Brady Quinn was last season, and West Coast maven Bill Callahan has installed his entire package at Nebraska, which had been running the option for decades.

"When you look at a system that's outside of something that you're most familiar with, there seems to be some mystery attached to it," said Purdue head coach Joe Tiller, who had instant success installing a radically different offense, "when in fact, it really is pretty simple."

The Irish's struggles against BYU had less to do with scheme than execution. The Cougars run an aggressive, blitz-happy defense -- one that ranked 14th nationally in yards allowed last year -- and Notre Dame's blockers struggled at times to stave off the pressure. ND, playing without starting tailback Ryan Grant (hamstring), flat out couldn't run the ball, netting just 11 yards on 21 carries.

With no help to speak of, Quinn finished 26-of-47 for 265 yards, producing on one big play, a screen pass that receiver Rhema McKnight broke for a 54-yard touchdown, while misconnecting on others.

"We saw some flashes of what our offense would like to do this week [against Michigan]," said Quinn, a sophomore from Dublin, Ohio. "There were a couple nice plays, one big play by Rhema and some success with the short-to-intermediate routes."

The fact is, Notre Dame does have the personnel at this point. The Irish have three athletic receivers in McKnight, Maurice Stovall and converted QB Carlyle Holiday. Quinn was a highly recruited prospect two years ago, including by this weekend's opponent ("We wanted him very much to come to Michigan," said Wolverines head coach Lloyd Carr). Grant, who's expected to return Saturday, was a 1,000-yard rusher two years ago. And while the offensive line is still a sore spot, four of the five starters are in at least their second year.

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Willingham was asked why he remains confident that his offense will work.

"Because I can honestly say that I've seen it work," he said. "Our defense has shown itself to be pretty good. And yet, I've seen us have success against our own defense. I think I have a fine quarterback in Brady Quinn. I have a good receiving corps in Rhema McKnight and Holiday and [tight end Chase] Anastasio and guys in that group. I have a great deal of confidence that we will be successful."

For his sake, Willingham better hope that success begins this weekend.
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What stood out to me about this game was the rushing yards for Notre Dame....that is sad and we thought we had problems running the ball.
btw What is really the big deal about selling out 105,000 with a city the size of Columbus?? Should be pretty darn easy!
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:stupid: ......that is a moronic comment chief......
 
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NOTREDAMECHIEF said:
uuh No it is not!! A city the size of Columbus should easliy sell out your stadium!
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the size of the city is only part of the equation - a bigger contributor is the rabidness of the fans. Yes, Columbus is ~1.6 million metro, however buckeye fans nationwide feel the urge to make a pilgrimage to Ohio Stadium for a game. Case in point, I live in Tampa and my wife and I have already made plans to fly up the weekend of the UM game - and I don't even have tickets to the game. USC and "this U" are perfect examples of schools in much bigger cities than Columbus (LA metro is easily five times as large, Miami is over double), have highly successful teams, and consistently don't sell out their games. Hell, USC goes so far as to put up a tarp over the bad seats they don't sell so the Coliseum doesn't look quite so empty. Miami advertises tickets to their games down here - there was an TV ad that ran this Spring advertising season tickets starting at a fairly low price. I know of quite a few buckeye fans that got their Fiesta Bowl tickets by giving money to Miami for right to buy tickets from their allotment. In short, buckeye fans care and will go to any lengths to see their team play, THAT is why we never have a problem selling out Ohio Stadium..
 
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27 You really have not a clue do you??

To answer your comeback the answer is called options and diversity!

USC has the whole west coast full of options and diversity along with at least 3-4 other major college football teams to contend with.

Miami- AHHH Options, tons of diversity and FSU, Florida and adding to the diversity part a ton of retired folk.....

NY Yankees -Well the city of NY for one, diversity and the NY Mets and the fact that they play like over 100 game seasons while OSU has 11-12.

OSU - Not nearly the options, not nearly the diversity and bascially the only game in the state on saturday.

WOW NOW THAT WAS HARD TO FIGURE OUT.....
 
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nd....i would advise that you leave this discussion be.....you have no point...

how do the steelers sell out their home games???? did you see the fact that tosu travelled 100,000 people to arizona for a bowl game??

let this one die...im sorry your team absolutely sucks again....i mean they suck....good news for you is that urban meyer will be trolling the sidelines next season....that will start the domers back to the top ten....willingham was a very, very, very bad choice.....
 
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27 You really have not a clue do you??

To answer your comeback the answer is called options and diversity!

USC has the whole west coast full of options and diversity along with at least 3-4 other major college football teams to contend with.

Miami- AHHH Options, tons of diversity and FSU, Florida and adding to the diversity part a ton of retired folk.....

NY Yankees -Well the city of NY for one, diversity and the NY Mets and the fact that they play like over 100 game seasons while OSU has 11-12.

OSU - Not nearly the options, not nearly the diversity and bascially the only game in the state on saturday.

WOW NOW THAT WAS HARD TO FIGURE OUT.....
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then why did you say a city the size of columbus should sell out easily. you didnt bring any of that other shit up. that was my point.

i knew what your answer would be and you walked right into it, because you are an idiot.

too easy drill sargent, too easy.
 
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NOTREDAMECHIEF said:
uuh No it is not!! A city the size of Columbus should easliy sell out your stadium!
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I see CHUMPMEISTER has returned to his ways. The limited population if South Bend was never a factor in ND sellouts before, so why should it be now?
 
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I wish there was a way for both programs to lose... At least one of the teams has to lose, that is a water is half full kind of answer...

regarding the crowds, both programs have a large fan base, and sell their stadiums out... lets just leave it at that...

Options or not, it is still sad that such a dominate team like Cryami cannot sell their stadium out (and it isn't thaaaaaat big) when they have been so good for the last two decades... I'm still floored by that...
 
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