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"Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out on the green plain below". Grantland Rice, October 19, 1924

Irish grounded by the Air Force

Mistakes and Lack of Leadership Doom Notre Dame

For Notre Dame fans, the recent loss to Air Force bore an eerie similarity to nearly every other loss this season. Mistake after mistake doomed the Irish once more. Expecting to see the Irish offensive line to dominate only to endure another day of watching the QB pick himself up off the ground after yet another sack had to be disheartening to most fans.

Incompetence was evident in nearly every phase of the game from dropped passes to missed blocks to questionable execution on defense. The offense couldn’t consistently run the ball against a defense the O-line outweighed by more than 40 pounds per man. The wide receivers, David Grimes in particular dropped far too many passes, the offensive line couldn’t keep Air Force from pressuring and sacking Jimmy Clausen all day, the defense fell apart after halftime, and the Irish hurt themselves with sloppy turnovers. From the coaching standpoint, when the run was working Weis elected no to stick with it and when passes were called there were too few times the plays were actually designed to go downfield.

There are some that say that the game wasn’t even close but after dissecting the play of the Irish and considering the situations and effect each mistake had, I think it was simply a case of needing someone, anyone, to step up and make a play. This is where leadership on the field is sorely lacking. The Irish don’t seem to have that guy or two you can depend on when things are getting tight.

So, let us have a look at those critical mistakes Mistake #1 was right out of the gate on the very first play of the game when Clausen threw the ball to Carlson 25 yards downfield, hitting him with a perfect pass. Carlson caught it and then proceeded to fumble the ball giving Air Force the first chance to score. Plus, an attempt to grab momentum at the outset was lost. The defense did hold Air Force to a field goal, though.

Mistake #2 came on 3rd and 8 from the Air Force 47, Clausen dropped back to pass. The Falcons come with a corner blitz, and even though the Irish were in max protection mode, nobody picked it up and Clausen never had a chance. Travis Thomas was looking for something up the middle with nobody protecting Clausen’s blind side. The first drive was killed by a fumbler, and the second with a sack. Not off to a rousing start.

Mistake #3 came on the very next ND drive where, despite excellent field position after forcing an Air Force punt from their own end zone, three consecutive rushes by Allen netted but one yard so the decision was made to go for it on 4th and 9. It was a good decision which I had no problem with. The Irish were on the Air Force 37 so it was probably far to kick a field goal and too close to pooch punt especially considering Geoff Price was out with an injury so the punter would be kicking for the first time in a game. Again, though, the Irish failed to protect Clausen as Air Force called another zone blitz on us sending a linebacker through the middle and blitzing a safety as well. Clausen didn’t have a chance.

Then came a real killer of a mistake. Mistake #4 occurred after the defense made great stop forcing another Air Force punt. It really doesn’t matter if it was Clausen’s or Schwapp’s fault on the handoff because the end result was the ball popping free and Air Force’s John Rabold taking it into the end zone to make it 10-0.

The Irish did then manage to generate enough offense to tie the score at 10 with some effective running and controlled passing. Even so, it sure seems they could have been up 14-10 had they not had a frustrating series of plays from the Air Force 11.

First the Irish call a play-action pass that misfires time to set up because the OL can't seem to protect the QB and Clausen had to throw the ball away. Next is a fade route to Grimes in the left corner that Air Force had well-covered. Then came one more pass that Clausen threaded the needle to Robbie Parris just across the goal line but was broken up by the Air Force defense. The ball was catchable if Parris had been a bit more aggressive going after the ball. The Irish settled for a FG making it 10-3.

After another great stop by the defense the Irish offense put together another scoring drive resulting in a Notre Dame touchdown on a nice fade pass to Carlson in the right corner of the end zone.

Unfortunately, this is where the mistakes really start to pile up and hurt the Irish.

). With only about two and half minutes to go in the half, the Irish defense is looking for another stop but suddenly they seem to have forgotten everything that was effective earlier in the half. Twice on the drive the middle was left completely uncovered resulting in first downs keeping the Air Force drive alive. These would be Mistakes 4 & 5. Mistake #6 would be getting completely fooled by a reverse that ended in a touchdown by Air Force.

Even so, with 1:09 until the half, and the offensive efficiency the Irish had shown on the last two drives, there was every reason to believe Notre Dame could at least get in position to try a field goal. Here came Mistake #7. On the first play Clausen was sacked on a delayed middle stunt up that the O-line failed to pickup for an 8 yard loss. That, essentially, was the end of the first half.

They simply need someone to grab the proverbial leadership mantle and make a play.

Mistake #8 may have been the biggest of all. Air Force had the ball 3rd and 3 on the ND 33 The Falcons break the huddle and receiver Mark Root splits out wide with nobody covering him. Not a safety, no cornerback nor a even a linebacker picked him up. It was an easy pitch and catch for an Air Force first down. This kept alive a drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Quintana in end zone making the score 24-10.

Down two touchdowns the Irish really need to answer this challenge with a touchdown of their own. The drive started with promise on a quick pass to Grimes, and a nice pitch to Aldridge for seven yards and a first down. Then Grimes drops a sideline pass that hits him in, of all places, the hand. Then he dropped another pass over the middle that hits him in the chest that would have been a first down. These are Mistakes #9 and #10 that cost the Irish a chance to sustain a drive, grab the momentum and possibly score.

Eventually Air Force scores again making the score 31-10. But to the credit of the Irish players they kept fighting putting together two nice scoring drives around an Air Force field goal. The screen pass that has been pretty much non-existent all year suddenly began to work when thrown to Junior Jabbie. The Irish quickly gained 13 yards, 8 yards, 12 yards, and 18 yards, a total of 51 yards on screen passes between the two drives. Both drives ended in Clausen touchdown passes, one to Grimes (who finally hung on to the ball) on a picture-perfect fade, and the second to Allen on a swing pass featuring a nice look-off from Clausen. It is now 34-24, with about 8:00 left in the game.

The Irish defense held Air Force forcing a punt giving them a chance. Again, the O-line let them down. Outweighing Air Force nearly 40 pounds per man, they were unable to move them one yard -ONE STINKING YARD - on a fourth down QB sneak. Notre Dame gave up the ball on downs, Air Force scored on the short field making the final score 41-10.

Again, the Irish had no one step up and make a play. Push them ONE STINKING YARD and the drive stays alive, a touchdown is a distinct possibility and the difference would suddenly be just a field goal.

This is the fourth or fifth game where experience and leadership were lacking. With better first half play against Purdue, no holding call negating a touchdown against Boston College and grimes not dropping passes in the Navy game and who knows what the season would have been like?

2008 Goals and Aspirations

Actually, some of these could and should be used for the last three games this year.

1. Win the last 3 games of 2007.

2. Make sure that changes made in 2008 are influenced by what took place in 2007.

3. Put the players in full pads every day of practice and especially in games.

4. There should be part of every practice that concentrates on hitting, to simulate game conditions.V 5. I would like to see the media back off a bit and not write every word a coach or player says.

6. Control the hits on the quarterback in practice but get rid of “red shirts” that overly protect them.

7. No more green jerseys ever! That one has been far overdone. Besides Zbikowski, Turkovich, Schwapp, Vernaglia, among others don’t sound that Irish anyway.

8. Develop a goal line strategy to get into the opponents end zone and out of your own. You only need a half dozen or plays, plus a few plays for 2-point conversions. Considering the importance of field position, this can be the difference between victory and defeat.

9. Running backs setting up 7 or more yards deep behind the bline of scrimmage simply taqke too long to reach the line. by then the zone blocking is neutralized. This also holds true for the “I” formation going into the end zone. It takes far too long for these plays to develop. Quick hitters would be much more effective.

10. We need ot run more misdirection and counter plays to slow down pursuit.

11. Use more two back sets. The backs can be the 4th and 5th receivers, ball carriers, or blockers for pass protection, a major weakness that needs addressed.

12. Experiment with multiple blocking schemes that force defensive people to be blocked straight on, outside in, inside out, trapped, doubled on, etc. Make the defense guess rather than having the offensive line constantly on their heels. The linemen will love it and the ground game will prosper.

13. No more 7 on 7 drills. The games aren't played be 7 on 7. Simulate real game conditions.

14. Prepare the first team and the second team equally.

15. Draw on the experience and wisdom of the assistant coaches. The public never hears from them making one wonder if the head coach does.

16. The best and quickest players belong on defense, with few exceptions.

17. The QBs are allowed to call audible and become very effective at it.

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