The Back Corner Fade
As the final gun sounded and the players gave their good-bye hugs to each other in Jerry World, the reality set in: Notre Dame isn’t there yet.
Yes, I think we all believed that beating Alabama was going to be a tough assignment and the stars were going to have to line up perfectly for the Irish to pull it off. Like the majority of you, I thought that the Irish played very well and certainly with a lot of heart and more want-to than they did against Clemson two weeks prior.
The bottom line is when you have a 3-star freshman CB (who I believe is going to be a very nice player) guarding the Heisman Trophy winner while our WR’s couldn’t even crack the 2-deep at Alabama, you’re going into a gun fight with a knife.
Notre Dame drastically needs to upgrade the talent at the skilled positions. That has been the “talk” of the Irish Sports Daily Boards the last week and I couldn’t agree more. The program right now is in great shape. The culture is there, the toughness, both mentally and physically, are there, they just need game-changers (simple as that, I know.) While it’s nice to have guys who can get you that big catch on 3rd and 4, they need the fellas who can blow past someone on a 1st and 10 play action, and a QB who can hit them 40 yards down field with accuracy.
This isn’t a knock on Ian Book or the receiving corps. I can’t thank them enough for the amazing job they’ve done the last few season. They are a huge part of this turnaround and they will always be remembered fondly by the vast majority of the Irish faithful. The fact remains, Notre Dame simply will be a Top 5-10 team with the type of skilled athletes they have now. If they want to compete with the Big Boys, they have to do a better job with the truly elite HS kids.
After our tussle with the Tide, Ohio State completely dismantled Clemson in a way that I don’t think anybody could see coming. After the first quarter, Clemson not only didn’t have answers on defense, but couldn’t do much with the offense either. Justin Fields made himself a lot of money in that game, and another big outing in the Championship Game and maybe vault past Trevor Lawrence as the first QB and possible #1 pick. Fields showed me something and I’m sure many of you as well: he’s a tough, tough kid. After James Skalski, Clemson LB, and future “bad guy henchman” in Jon Cena action movies, hit Fields I thought that was it. He kept coming and coming in obvious pain. That’s an easy guy to play with. Alabama has their hands full with Ohio State. They obviously are well-rested and healthy. Playing half the games as anybody else does have it’s advantages.
On a side note, Trevor Lawrence waved good-bye to the Clemson faithful as he waved while he was lifted on the wings of angels as he left Howard’s Rock and ascended into Heaven.
Texas A&M is too much. Not only did they have to survive a shoot-out with offensively depleted North Carolina, a few of their beat writers actually had the audacity to say they still should have been in Notre Dame’s spot. Let me help you out, Aggie Guy: You lost to Bama by 28, ND lost to them by 17, you were in an out-and-out dog fight with a team that had over 300 yards of offense out the door. YOU STILL gave up 27 points to said team. We know, we know, you’re being disrespected. Funny, don’t you have to be respected first before you can be disrespected? If you’re not respected in the first place, I guess you don’t matter much. Sweet dreams, Aggieland. What the hell does “Gig ‘em” mean anyway?
On to the National Title Game. There will be points. Lots and lots of point. At the time of writing this, there was some talk of delaying the game due to a COVID breakout with the Buckeyes (cough, Justin Fields ribs, cough.) If OSU plays like they did against Clemson, they have more than a shot. Alabama’s offense is awesome, no question, but I was more than impressed with the Buckeye defense in the Semis and again, if they play like that, there’s no reason they can’t take down Saban’s boys.
In the end, I think Alabama is the better team. Their offense is as good as I’ve seen since, oh wait, it was just last year with LSU. I wonder how much influence Sark heading off to Texas is going to have with the game-planning and how much time he can spend with the Tide as opposed to having to recruiting and whatnot for his new gig with the Horns. If I were a betting man, oh wait, I am, I’m taking the over in what should be a great game. Alabama 45-38.
Looking ahead, you have to be excited for the 2021 season. The Irish should, on paper, be very solid again. I feel a lot better with the addition of Wisconsin transfer, Jack Coan coming in, and think he’ll provide a steady hand with a young offense. No, this isn’t like getting Justin Fields or Joe Burrows (although who knew he was going to be that good) coming to town, but Coan is a capable QB who has won games and has been through the battles.
I think the defense on paper should again be very solid pending whoever the new DC might be. There is talent there and enough to match up with any team on the schedule.
In this age of transfers all over the board and not knowing yet who all is coming and who all is going, I think the foundation of this team is excellent and it should make for another fun season like the one we just had. Sure, it didn’t end the way we wanted with the two losses at the end of the season, but the fact that they went to the ACC Championship game and went to the BCS Semi’s was a welcome distraction for what was a truly sad year. I can’t thank those kids and coaches enough for those 3 hours on Saturday to step away from the world and give us a welcome relief from the day to day.
Well, that’s a wrap for the 2020 Season. It was a pleasure to write these articles and I appreciate each and every one of you for reading my drivel. We’ll do it again next year, and I can’t wait to see the boys with the gold helmets invade Tallahassee.
Thank you and God Bless You all.
God. Country. Notre Dame.