San Diego State Hobbling into Notre Dame Game
We hope you have tickets to tomorrow’s game against the San Diego State Aztecs, because the closer we get to game time, the more we like the odds that Notre Dame is going to come out and make a huge statement. With the latest news that the Aztecs are feeling some pain on their defensive line, the Irish offense is chomping at the bit to get out there and deliver a show.
Apparenly there are several starters on the SDSU defensive line either out or nursing injuries, which means the offensive line of the Irish will have a much easier time. Thats a really good thing. Last year the line got hammered week after week. Notre Dame gave up the most sacks in the nation, and the rushing attack was one of the most pitiful in the country. Big things are expected in the game, and the Irish will deliver. That’s right. It’s Friday and we’re going to start this season off with a bold prediction. Notre Dame wins by over 30 points. See you here on Monday.
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Setting a Standard for Victory
Much like any confrontation you enter into, you need to set up a decent strategy for success, and benchmarks by which you can measure victory. We’re of course talking about America… ‘s team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. When they hit the field this Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium going up against the San Diego State Aztecs, they will be measured not just by the scoreboard, but by how their achieve their points.
In an article by Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated, some clear objectives are set. While we won’t give away his exact numbers, clear guidelines are stated in terms of offensive productivity on the ground, in the air, and in the pocket. Defensively, the Irish need to contain the Aztec passing game, though, clearly that’s going to be nearly impossible. Containment is the key, though. Read up if you wan to score the game from the seats of the stadium or your sofa.
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Checking Out the San Diego State-Cal Poly Game
Notre Dame Blog readers are well aware that the Irish are set to play the San Diego State Aztecs for their home opener this upcoming Saturday. While the Irish are expected to roll over their Mountain West Conference foe, knowing everything about your opponent is key. The Fighting Irish coaches are no doubt looking over the SDSU game film from last weekend to detect any weaknesses that the Aztecs might have.
We did our own brief scouting from looking at some of the highlights and reading up on the game. Breaking down the stats is also helpful. The Aztecs were able to more the ball on offense pretty well when they were throwing the ball, as they raked up 352 total yards through the air (and just 27 rush yards).
On defense, the Aztecs look weakest when they are defending the run. They allowed Cal Poly rushers to go for 263 yards on the ground. If Notre Dame can establish a good running game, then they might have a better chance of winning on Saturday.
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SDSU, Michigan, Michigan State… Lose Openers
Notre Dame was not part of the opening weekend of college football, but there was plenty for Notre Dame fans to watch over Labor Day Weekend. Several of the teams which Notre Dame is slated to play this year didn’t do so well. Here we break down the opponents and how they looked in their opening games.
- San Diego State – Lost to Cal Poly 29-27
- Michigan – Lost to Utah 25-23
- Michigan State – Lost to Cal 38-31
- Purdue – Have not played yet
- Stanford – Beat Oregon State 36-28
- North Carolina - Beat McNeese State 35-27
- Washington – Lost to Oregon 44-10
- Pittsburgh – Lost to Bowling Green 27-10
- Boston College – Beat Kent State 21-0
- Navy – Beat Towson 41-13
- Syracuse – Lost to Northwestern 30-10
- USC – Beat Virginia 52-7
The stats look promising. Notre Dame will not have to play a team with a winning record until the fifth week when they play Stanford. All told, Notre Dame opponents went 5-6-1 in the opening weekend of football. This will not help their strength of schedule, but might be promising for an easier path to a bowl game this season.
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The Puppy and The General
Notre Dame is going with a 3-4 defense this year, meaning that in most situations, they are electing to have three traditional linemen in the trenches, and four linebackers behind the line. It’s not a bad option, especially in college football and especially for a team like Notre Dame, which plays a lot of different kinds of teams during the season. If you are strong at the linebacker position, and you need some wiggle room for variations of offenses that you’ll face, it might work wonders. But anyways, that brings us to our point: The Puppy and the General.
If you didn’t know already, the nickname for sophomore inside linebacker Brian Smith is “the Puppy” and the nickname for fifth-year senior inside linebacker Maurice Crum is “the General.” To find out why, you’re going to have to read the article. The two have been paired up this summer at training camp, and they will be working a lot together on the field. If the Puppy and the General can work well this season, the defense might be improved greatly from a year ago.
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Fighting Irish Men’s Soccer Preview
Are you as tired as we are of reading season preview after season preview for Notre Dame football? They all say the same thing, and yet none of them seem to say too much. Anyways, sorry about the rant. Well we have another Fighting Irish preview for you, although this time it might be a little off the beaten path. It’s a men’s soccer preview. And don’t worry- this one is as thorough as they come, and you don’t even have to have a paid subscription. It’s free when you visit UND.com.
The basic line on the Notre Dame men’s soccer team is that they’ll probably be good enough to get to another NCAA Tournament quarterfinals (their third straight [knock on wood]). The problem areas for the Irish seem to be at the front and the way back, as they lost some quality seniors to graduation at the forward and goalkeeper positions. However, the midfield and defense look as strong as ever. If you are interested in getting out to a Notre Dame soccer game this year, we suggest you take the opportunity to do so, because the Irish should be a great team in 2008-09.
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Sports Illustrated Predicts Irish Bowl Game, Ranking
Sports Illustrated.com has a couple of predictions for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the first is their preseason ranking, and the second is their bowl game finish (assuming they get into a bowl game this year- knock on wood). The preseason ranking can be found here. Basically, the sports writers at Sports Illustrated are ranking the Irish a little low this year- but never fret, the Michigan Wolverines are still just a tad lower. They aren’t in the top 25. Heck, Notre Dame isn’t even in the top 50. It’s a bummer to look at, but hey- we’d all rather the Irish earn their Top 25 ranking by season’s end. So far they haven’t done anything to deserve a high ranking.
The bowl game finish, which should have a little to do with both Notre Dame’s clout in the college football world and the preseason power rankings, has the Irish playing Oregon State in the …. Well, let’s not spoil it. Click here to see the bowl game that the Irish are expected to play in.
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Notre Dame’s Olympic Review
If you’ve been following either the NBC coverage of the Summer Games in Beijing, or the Olympic Coverage at the Notre Dame Blog, you are probably well aware that the University of Notre Dame had several former athletes present at the games. If you watched the Soccer semifinals, four Notre Dame athletes competed against one another. Several athletes won gold medals. Below, we rank the Domer athletes by their performance at the Olympics.
- Mariel Zagunis – Won the U.S.’s first gold medal at the Games, then won bronze in the team fencing event as well.
- Shannon Boxx – Won gold with Team U.S.A. Soccer. Played all 600 minutes. Assist in game winner against Canada
- Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf – Won gold with Team USA soccer. Played 510 minutes.
- Candace Chapman – Team Canada Soccer. Scored the team’s first ever Olympic goal.
- Melissa Tancredi - Team Canada Soccer. Played 177 of 310 possible minutes.
- Selim Nurudeen – Nigeria Track Team. Advanced to the second round of 110 high hurdles.
- Thomas Chamney – Ireland Track team – Finished 1:47.66, just out of qualifying time in 800 meters.
- Gerek Meinhardt – U.S. Fencing Team. Won first match in foil.
- Kelley Hurley – U.S. Fencing. Fell in first round, but still a student at Notre Dame.
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Some Independents Predictions
Mark Schlabach of ESPN has a short read for you Domer fans. Five quick hit predictions from Mark Schlabach to start off your day. We tried to give you guys an easy read as it’s the Monday of a loooong week. The week before a three day weekend like this one, there the third day of the weekend is the next Monday, is always a bit longer than usual. Anyways, about the predictions.
Mark Schlabach seems to think that the Irish will be better this season. Nothing new, right? We’ve been hearing this from the football writers for months and months. However, unlike most of the other guys who play it safe, Mark makes some solid quotas for the Irish- one has to do with a bowl and the other has to do with a Michigan game.
The article is also good for fans who think of the four independents, Notre Dame, Navy, Army and Western Kentucky, as an ad-hoc conference. Because they are usually organized as a conference in the standings, it’s easy to think of them as a sort of organized group. Will the Irish be at the top of those standings? According to Mark Schlabach, Western Kentucky will give them a run for their money.
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New Monument Honors National Championship Teams
Fans that purchase tickets to see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team in action this season will get to see a new display outside one of the five main gates leading into Notre Dame Stadium. The new sculptures, officially opened for viewing earlier in the week, are meant to honor the 11 consensus national championship teams of Notre Dame history. The sculptures are, apparently, replicas of the national championship rings, with the names the scores of the games during those seasons, and the team captains embroidered on the side of the monuments.
The addition of this monument is part of an on-going effort to immortalize the tradition and former glory of Notre Dame football. There are already of the monuments at other gates around the stadium, so if you are lucky enough to get tickets this year, or you find yourself on campus sometime soon, you ought to check them out. UND.com has a video of the new structures, so you can also check that out, if you’re a Domer fan who has left South Bend.
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