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Dazed and confused

Well, things didn't improve at all on Saturday after the first quarter, including in the measures (penalties and errors) I forgot to mention at the time. They all got worse, except for the fact that we finally went into positive yardage on offense - but not rushing, because the numerous sacks are still negating every hard-fought gain in this regard. Does anyone out there know how to play offensive line? RW at Rakes of Mallow has a job posting for you!

Strangely, I'm not nearly as despondent or fatalistic as might have been expected after a drubbing identical in outcome to four years ago (although it did kill my mood on Saturday night). I think this is for several reasons. First, this is not our program's lowest moment. (I know that's hardly an endorsement. Bear with me.) I've been reading comments about how this was the worst game Irish fans can remember seeing for 50 years, and all I can say is -- where were you during Davieham? This is nowhere near as bad, and that has to be because of the long-term situation. Yes, this team is stinking badly in ways that we didn't expect at the beginning of the year. But it's traceable to two things primarily that we did know to expect, at least somewhat: an offensive line that is truly, horrendously offensive, and a lack of experience across the board. We knew to expect that our line would probably not be as good this year and our team was going to be younger than average because we're playing under NCAA sanction-like conditions, missing a full 15 scholarship players at the junior-senior level, thanks to the prior coach's recruiting "efforts." But these things are going to improve in the next few years, as Weis's strong recruiting classes gain experience and maturity. If we can keep the recruits we already have lined up for next year (class is currently ranked #1) the situation will improve. Thus, I just don't have the same sinking feeling as a few years ago, when it wasn't clear that many good new players were coming up. It's still embarrassing because the players should still be playing better than they are, but that explains some of the difference.

In addition, the team is making so many correctable errors that things will look magically improved as soon as they fix the errors. I'm sure that sounds simplistic, but cut out the false starts, snap the ball to the actual quarterback, don't freaking clip on special teams coverage (those last two apply to you, fifth-year seniors), and turn your head around when it appears the receiver you're covering is looking for the ball, and suddenly the team overall looks better - at the very least stops killing field position and drives for no reason. I understand the buck stops with the coach on all of these errors, and Weis has rightly accepted responsibility, but then again, I'm sure he's not telling John Sullivan to snap balls way over the quarterback's head or telling Travis Thomas to punch people. If the players themselves just played smarter, the team as a whole will have a much better chance to implement the offense.

That still leaves the offensive line, which I will agree is the worst I've seen. They need to figure out how to block better than 1-AA lines (or heck, the Oaks Christian HS line). I don't know what Weis needs to do to fix this - some have suggested he needs to run more physical practices, others have just said the players need to just wake up and decide to play. We'll see what happens with this over the next week.

Full post as published by Irish Law on September 17, 2007 (boomark / email).