The Back Corner Fade

I can’t think of one question that makes me happier than “are you ready for college football to begin?” Oh, you best believe that I am, and with what the Irish are rolling out there, I’m even more excited than I normally would be. We’ll get to our guys here in a minute. What do we know heading into this season?

For starters, the college football landscape as we know it has officially gone the way of the Dodo bird with all the comings and goings of conference realignment. This really will be the last season that conferences will look like they did when most of us were growing up. Just the thoughts of all these must watch games coming in the next few seasons: Cincinnati vs BYU, Rutgers vs UCLA, Oregon vs Maryland. Awesome stuff! Let’s not even get into the sports not named football and the travel involved. Is Notre Dame heading in this direction? Time (cough “money” cough) will tell.

Looking at the season itself, shocking, but look who the prime-time players are: UGA, Ohio State, Alabama, and even with that brutal schedule they play, and the Khaki Crusader missing the first three slobber knockers against Iowa Pre-Flight, and a couple other tomato cans, Michigan has the team to beat and everyone else is just playing second fiddle. I have to say, if there was a year that it might look totally different than everyone thinks, it may be this one. UGA replaces a ton (not to say they don’t have monsters waiting in the wings,) OSU is breaking in a new QB, two new tackles, and Ryan Day is just an average coach, Alabama has QB issues and a new OC (ahem,) and Michigan, well, it’s Michigan. They’ll cluck it up.

So, does ND have a chance to sit at the big kids’ table by the beginning of December? Obviously, time will tell, but I think they’re close. Really, really close.

Having the ACC’s all team leading passer in Sam Hartman was a huge boon for the program, and it sounds like he’s stepped right in and become a guy that the fellas admire and will ride with. It really says a lot about Hartman not only as a player, but as an individual, that he can be in town with his new teammates for a half a year and be named as one of the captains. The biggest question with Hartman is how has he adapted to a new system and how has he meshed with the group of inexperience, albeit talented WR’s. He’s also never been under the lights on the big-time stage like he will against OSU, USC, and at Clemson (he played there once and it didn’t go well), but this kid has seen it all and done a great deal with nowhere near the talent around him that he’s about to go to battle with.

I love what we’re hearing about the rest of the offense as well. Yes, losing Logan Diggs to the Barney Rubble Fam-a-ly is a blow, but we should hope that Payne and Price will continue to develop and be more than capable when Big Audric needs a blow and be more than that by contributing to the offensive production. Oh yeah, having the chance to run behind Alt and Fisher should be fun as well. If the interior line can develop, God help the opponent in the 4th quarter.

We also should be excited about the transformation the receiving corps has made. Remember last year at this time when they were scrambling for able bodies at WR after Avery Davis went down? 12 months later and they have more potential than they have had at this position in years. Is it the stable of potential 1st rounders that OSU has? No, but it could turn into a top 20 group by the year’s end.

Looking at the defense, expressions have flown around like “massive and athletic defensive line” and “having two lock down corners.” When was the last time we’ve heard that? Maybe one or the other but never in the same grouping. Let me wipe off the rose-colored glasses for a second, but this is as excited I’ve been about a defense in many, many years. Marcus Freeman came to ND with a goal of making the Irish defense a fast and athletic one. He’s well on his way and it hasn’t taken him or Al Golden long to develop it. By the end of the year, you may even name your new puppy “Aztec” with some of the fun and disruptive blitz packages that will come from that personnel grouping. We probably won’t get the full look of it against Navy just due to the scheme they run but look for Tennessee State to be the test subject of Mad Dr. Golden’s new toy.

Normally, I write about some of the bigger games around college football for the coming week. Being as it’s “Week Zero” (incidentally, that was the name of the cover band Mike Frank played bass for in the mid-90’s covering the classics of the Violent Femmes and the Fine Young Cannibals) the ND game is really the only game worth mentioning. I had some deep thought on the big UTEP-Jacksonville State banger, but I decided against it at the last minute. Let’s just get to the good stuff….

Notre Dame travels across the pond to Dublin for the annual pain in the posterior, I mean game against the Naval Academy. ND obviously has the advantage of being able to put in extra prep for the triple option, which isn’t normally the case with the game being in the back half of the season,  and one would think that would serve them well. The last two times they have played Navy early in the year with the extra time, the games have been beat downs.

Brian Newberry is the new admiral of the Navy football team replacing Ken Niam….Nuiat….ah hell it doesn’t matter anymore, and he will bring a defense first mentality to go along with the option. Navy returns the majority of their defense which gave the Irish fits in the second half last season sending everyone and the goat after Drew Pyne. We should expect much of the same this season. Navy simply can’t sit back and play a bend but don’t break defense. They don’t have the horses to do it.

It’s always the same formula when it comes to the option: got to take away the fullback, keep them off schedule by making them go 3rd and plus 5, etc., etc. Bottom line is stop them two or three times and this should be over. We’ve heard so much about how good the Irish defense looks in camp, now go out play sound, assignment football and overwhelm them on overwhelming talent.

The Navy series over the past 20 years is either an Irish blowout or some real nail biters. Rarely have these games been comfortable 21-point wins. Even with Navy returning so much on defense, I have a very hard time believing that they can stop ND with any consistency. If they try the full, cover zero blitz against a skilled and veteran QB like Sam Hartman like they did last season, this could very well turn into laugher early, and I have a sneaking suspicion it will. ND 45-20.

Offensive Pick to Click: Sam Hartman: 275 yards and 3 TD passes.

Beast of the Week: Marist Liufau: 9 tackles and a sack.

Beat Navy.