From The Cheap Seats
*First and foremost, thank you to Mike Frank and his staff for the opportunity to write my thoughts during the season again this year, and to anybody currently reading this sentence! I genuinely feel lucky to be able to share my thoughts with so many people with whom I have so much in common. Except for looks. I'm not calling any of you ugly.
*I suppose that I am optimistic by nature, and I offer as evidence the fact that I was fairly sure that I was taking home the $740M Powerball last week, and I go into each Notre Dame Football season expecting good things. I go all-in with my heart and leave my head (and the past 20-plus years of evidence) out of it until the first negative play of the season, then I begin cursing my existence. But I love the Fightin' Irish, and since the team is undefeated in 2017, I will ride the momentum of good will into week one. Such is the life of a fanatic who can't wait for the season to begin and feels like this week is as close to my childhood excitement was during the week leading up to Christmas.
*With every major advancement in technology, we gain so many things but as a natural consequence of progress, we lose some things along the way. Social media is a wonderful thing for this generation, and people born into this age will not ever miss life before social media. One aspect of culture that I see fading away is our collective ability to tell stories. It's an art I always appreciated, and I covet this skill in people even more today. I bring this up because there is a treasure that is a part of the ISD family now, and he is Bob Chmiel. I dare you to listen to the man tell a story and not feel like you have been transported to the day and time of the story he tells. What a gift.
*I am not here to stump for ISD staff members, but have you caught the latest episodes of Power Hour. Jaime is so understated but his analysis is fantastic. Is there anything better than hard-hitting football analysis without the every-other-sentence resume drop that you get from so many analysts? "Well, that play happened when it was 3rd-and-12, and from my three years as a college football player, I know that is usually a passing down." No thanks! I find Mr. Uyeyama to be very refreshing, and I have totally gotten used to and have begun to admire the Canadian accent.
Further, Mike's other partner in crime is the earnest Matt Freeman who puts in a ton of time into his craft (read: stalking Justin Yoon) and has an understated manner of speaking. I don't think that anybody can doubt his honesty when it comes to his assessments. He doesn't laugh at his own jokes; Neither does Mike or Jaime, but I often do! And he definitely never kisses up to the boss. This might or might not actually be a transcript of a conversation between Mike and Matt:
Mike: Man, I enjoyed my breakfast this morning!
Matt: No you didn't.
And so it goes...Bottom line is that I had some skepticism about the next generation of Power Hour, but I now I feel like they are "my guys."
*So let me get this straight, Kevin Stepherson is cleared, except that he is not. He is not suspended, but he might be. He could play on Saturday, but he won't. Got it.
*I have a good feeling going into this game against Temple. I firmly believe that the offense will rack up a ton of yards. Specifically, I believe that they will move the ball at will between the 20's. If the scoreboard operator is adding one more point to the home team's score after Justin Yoon's kicks and not three, I will feel like the Irish will have a turnaround season. If the redzone ills are not resolved in Notre Dame's favor this year and without the Will Fuller-type home run hitter on offense, Yoon might have more field goals this year than Bonzie Colson.
*The other question that I have is hopefully closely related. If Lou Holtz had the left side of the line that Notre Dame does this year, he would have the public address announcer tell the crowd that on 3rd-and-2, the running back will be getting the hand off and running to the left. "Stop it if you can." Does Brian Kelly believe that his kids can live up to those type of expectations? If so, has he instilled that belief in the offensive line? Players take their cues from their head coach. They just do. The kids on the O-Line will not believe fully in their abilities to dominate until they believe that Brian Kelly believes in their abilities to dominate. Right? My Stepherson logic was clearer. Until Kelly takes his press conference praise of the offensive line into the play calling (regardless if he is calling the individual plays) on Saturdays, the line will be about potential and getting set in Pass Pro on 3rd-and-2 with the game hanging in the balance rather than being about the pure dominance their talent suggests they can provide.
*I am not one for predictions because they insinuate that I know more than the average person who has to wait-and-see, which I do not, but I am going to make one prediction for the upcoming season. By the time January roles around, Alex Bars will be fielding many questions as to whether he plans to come back to Notre Dame rather than taking a shot at the NFL.
*Brandon Wimbush acts like a leader. He is confident but not cocky. He is measured in what he says but still shows emotion. And oh, he has as many physical skills as any QB has had in years and years. I am more than excited to see what he brings to the table this season.
*Notre Dame names seven captains, Temple counters with 23 starting QB's. Let the chess match begin! Okay. It is four. I'm not sure that I believe that there is no lead horse, but if there isn't, I would even lay the points to take the Irish.
*Man do I hate Temple! Has anybody ever said that? I want the Irish to roll over the Owls, but it is hard to build up any manufactured contempt for the kids from Philadelphia. Just the same, I will accuse somebody of a late hit early and the game and get fired up.
*Aside from the QB (which is true for most every team except for the Temple-Four), I think the single-most important player for the Irish to keep healthy and playing at a high level in 2017 is Jerry Tillery. I am open to giving Tillery a clean slate this year. I got to close to him for my own good during Showtime's "The Season." It turned me off, but that can't really be fair. I will forget what I think I know of him and look for a kid with a high motor to combine with his unquestionable physical gifts.
*It might be mean-spirited, but until the back end of the Notre Dame's secondary lives up to the meaning of the term "safety," I will refer to them as the crossing-guards. People in uniform escorting strangers to their destinations (the end zone in this case). When the ball carrier erupts to the third level, I feel anything but safe. Okay, that is definitely mean-spirited. I need to put my pom-pom uniform back on.
*Equanemious St. Brown has had a very quiet off-season and fall camp. That is such great news! He is a star in the making and the fact that he has seemingly chosen to let his play create his star status is a great sign. My money is on the young man to have a breakout season, which it would be if he impacts every game with his production or from the attention he draws from the opponents that allows the yards and TD's to go to his teammates.
*I want to follow the December early signing period for a few years before declaring a good thing for Notre Dame, but I have to think that it is.
*Notre Dame was first with the forward pass, last with the video board. I'm okay with that, but I look forward to seeing replays when I am in Notre Dame Stadium.
*It's Game Week!