Know Your Enemy – Notre Dame

Patrick from One Foot Down stops by.

With an actual blogger available for this week, couldn’t for the life of me find someone to represent Indiana State, sadly Larry Bird was not available, our interview with the enemy series is back this week. Patrick Sullivan from One Foot Down stops by to discuss all things Notre Dame and answer some questions I gathered from our fans. Let’s jump right into it.

Notre Dame obviously is coming off a big loss in week two that they paid over a million bucks for. What went wrong?

Well to state the obvious, you said it in your question — paying over one (1) million US dollars to be absolutely handled up and down the field, at home, by a MAC team. That’s what went wrong. Might as well save the money and make these “easy” matchups into road games in the future — at least the team would have gotten to experience the sights and sounds of DeKalb, Illinois.

In terms of what actually went wrong during the game, the conversation here is going to mainly revolve around the ND offense, which was just PUTRID. Riley Leonard would probably have been more effective passing the ball with his left hand, the offensive line got consistently worked by a guy named Devonte O’Malley and his fellow Huskie d-linemen, and the play-calling was pretty clueless at times, including minimal touches for Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, the Irish’s 1-2 punch at running back who’ve essentially been the only source of offense for Notre Dame through two games.

The offense wasn’t very good against Texas A&M in the opener, either, but we all chalked it up to Notre Dame wanting to limit mistakes, rely on their defense, and just not let A&M make any big plays via sack-fumble or interception, etc. But now, after two games, it’s clear there’s a larger issue with that unit:

On the other side of the ball, the defense wasn’t bad by any means, but this is a veteran group under 3rd-year DC Al Golden, and they’re supposed to be one of the best in the country this year. In my humble opinion, the best defenses in the country don’t allow opponents like NIU to put up 6 yards per play while forcing no turnovers, picking up 0 sacks, and allowing several huge, chunk plays that led to points or extensions of drives. And don’t get me started on not being able to clamp down on that final drive and prevent NIU from running the clock out and hitting a game-winning field goal. Woof.

I’ll stop rambling (for this question — I’ve got plenty more long-winded answers for you coming up) and just say the gist here is that, coming off a primetime week 1 win that set them up for an easy path to the Playoff, Marcus Freeman and co. simply didn’t have the team prepared for a home game against an opponent who lost to both Ball State and Southern Illinois last season. Just maddening stuff, you guys.

Which side of the football was most disappointing in the loss?

I can keep this one short — it was the offense, as mentioned above.

They were horrible, and Irish fans were expecting way more from Mike Denbrock after what he did at LSU last season. But I’m starting to think maybe, just maybe, having the Heisman winner at QB and two 1st round NFL wide receivers MAY have had more to do with that success than we all suspected.

Which unit is the strength on each side of the ball?

On offense, it’s easily the running backs, which again kind of sucks because they aren’t getting the ball enough and the offensive line for the Irish this year is just okay and super inexperienced. They’ll probably be good eventually, but as of now they’re not getting a great push or really bulldozing folks like Irish offensive lines of years past (I miss you so much, Quenton Nelson).

On defense, it’s the secondary. The defensive line was supposed to be a strength but has been really disappointing (next to no pass rush, 5th-year monster DT Rylie Mills getting bullied by guys smaller than him, etc.), and the linebackers are talented but mostly young and thus still learning how to not make mistakes.

But the secondary is really damn good — CB Benjamin Morrison is a likely 1st round pick next spring, S Xavier Watts won the Bronko Nagurski award last year, sophomore CB Christian Gray looks fantastic after just 2 career starts, and sophomore S Adon Shuler has been a fun and pleasant surprise next to Watts on the back end. Add in solid veterans like NB Jordan Clark (Ryan Clark’s son) and S Rod Heard, plus CB Jaden Mickey being pretty good as the 3rd corner, and it’s really a solid group who typically allow very little through the air.

Conversely, which unit on each side of the ball gives you pause or is a weakness? Who isn’t quite ready for prime time?

On offense it’s Riley Leonard at QB, first and foremost. He came to ND as a grad transfer with a lot of hype but very little proof from his time at Duke, considering injuries and the talent he had around him, etc. Through two games, he appears to be a pretty good runner and wildly inaccurate as a passer. He’s a tough kid and appears to be a good leader (voted a captain by his teammates), but most of us are unfortunately already very worried he simply doesn’t have what it takes for this role.

I mean, Jesus Christ:

Honorable mentions on offense: offensive line and wide receiver (although the receivers I may give a pass to, as part of their problem is not being distributed the ball efficiently by Leonard).

On defense, I would have expected to say linebacker entering the year as the weakness/position group that gives me pause, because aside from super senior Jack Kiser, that group is basically all inexperienced guys stepping into major roles for the first time. But they’ve actually been pretty good, with some of the young guys really flashing (Jaiden Ausberry was the one who did so last weekend, while Drayk Bowen was the one who stood out on tape against A&M).

Instead, it’s gotta be the defensive line. Duke DE transfer RJ Oben has been invisible out there, Mills has been disappointing (as I mentioned earlier), and despite DT Howard Cross being really good and experienced, he’s always been undersized and he can’t do it alone out there. This group has not been nearly as good as they were supposed to be, and it shows in how NIU was able to move the ball up and down the field at times. They HAVE to be better for this team to turn things around.

How does the fanbase view Freeman at this point? Notre Dame fans aren’t known as the most patient out there so I can imagine some are looking for some punishment already.

The tides are turning on Marcus, which is unfortunate because he is EASILY the coolest/most likable Notre Dame coach in my lifetime (I am 33 years old, so that’s a low bar considering we’re talking about guys like Brian Kelly, Charlie Weis, and Bob Davie). We all want him to succeed SO BAD because he’s actually fun to root for, seems to really love Notre Dame and embrace its unique qualities and challenges (instead of Kelly, by comparison, who only complained about how limited he was in recruiting), and it doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome (I let my wife type the end of that sentence, sorry about that).

When Freeman lost to Marshall at home in year 1, that was one thing. He had just taken over, didn’t really have a QB, the team was coming off an opener at Ohio State that probably drained a lot from them both physically and emotionally, etc. It was embarrassing, but we could get over it — better things surely would follow in the coming years.

We’re in year 3 of the Freeman Era, now, and this team was supposed to EASILY make the CFP. Their only real tests were supposed to be @A&M, at home against Louisville, at home against Florida State (this might be the worst game of all-time if ND keeps spiraling, considering how FSU has looked), and at USC in the season finale. Once they beat A&M, A LOT of folks were talking about 12-0 and maybe even getting that 5-seed (because Notre Dame isn’t allowed a top-4 seed).

Instead, they squandered a really nice road win over a ranked opponent with everyone watching, by laying an absolute egg at home against Northern Illinois the following week. That’s unacceptable at a lot of programs, and definitely is not acceptable in South Bend. With that said, I’m not going to start calling for Freeman’s head just yet, but just know I’m not nearly as far away from that as I thought I’d be just a week ago, and many ND fans have already started panicking and decided it’s time to start brainstorming who will be the next head coach.

These next questions I solicited from readers on both our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Your basketball team is looking pretty good this year with all the talent added. Do you think this is a make or break year for Mike Woodson?

This made me laugh out loud to myself, because you truly had me in the first half — not gonna lie. I was reading it and was like “hmm, this person must be a pretty casual follower of Notre Dame men’s hoops, because the Irish are gonna be pretty bad again next year.”

I imagine the ND football/IU basketball fans out there are going to continue to end up perpetually disappointed, as they have been since the late ‘80s when their teams last won national titles. So yes, I think this is indeed a “break” year for Mike Woodson, considering it’s year 4, he’s barely above .500 in the Big Ten while coaching the Hoosiers, and we all know that pattern won’t change anytime soon.

I think they should bring Tom Crean back, he was at least hilarious to watch.

Will the leprechaun fit in the tunnel at Ross-Ade?

In Tiller Tunnel?? Yes, but just barely — here’s an artist’s rendition* so you can really envision it**

*Me pasting two photos on top of each other in “Keynote,” which may be the worst program ever designed?

**have nightmares forever of a disembodied, screaming Leprechaun head emerging from Joe Tiller’s hallowed hallway

If Notre Dame leaves West Lafayette 1-2, can we have Marcus Freeman back on our staff?

We’ll give you guys both him and Mike Denbrock, free of charge. Just please don’t steal Al Golden, Secondary Coach Mike Mickens, or Running Backs Coach Deland McCullough. They’re the actual studs on staff.

Why are you so obsessed with us? Marcus Freeman and Micah Shrewsbury are both former Purdue assistants and are your two most prominent head coaches. This doesn’t even take into consideration Jim Colletto.

Again, that last line made me laugh out loud because I immediately was like “Who the hell is Jim Colletto?!?” Fantastic reference.

At the end of the day, we Fighting Irish are just jealous of you guys and your Neil Armstrong thing, so we’re shooting for the stars here (ayyyyyyyy) by continuously just going after coaches who’ve previously coached in West La La.

Does your insurance cover being run over by the world’s largest drum?

I would LOVE IT if that big, dumb drum could just flatten me/Notre Dame and put us out of our misery.

Rooting for this program has me feeling like the child version of Sigourney Weaver’s character in Holes.

Regardless of Notre Dame position on joining on conference, what are your thoughts on it and which conference should they join?

I would personally prefer they never join a conference, because I think conferences are largely stupid, especially nowadays when all semblance of regionality and historical rivalries have gone out the window in favor of ridiculous pairings like USC and Rutgers being in the Big Ten.

If they end up having to join a conference in order to continue gaining access to the College Football Playoff, then I think ND will likely join the Big Ten (like-minded academically, regionally makes sense, historical rivalries line up, etc.). Eat your heart out, Fielding Yost.

If you are asking me what conference I personally would choose for them to join if they had to join one, I think I’d pick something stupid and fun like forming the PAC-3 with Oregon State and Wazzu, or joining the Sun Belt or something. It would be fun playing teams like Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, etc. every year and seeing teams from a conference called the “Sun Belt” have to play in South Bend in November, plus Gonzaga has proven in basketball that if you’re good enough you can be in a horrible conference and still find success. Sign me up, Sun Belt Squad!!!

Was the road from South Bend to West Lafayette recently rediscovered? Or was it actually built specifically for this purpose? (editor’s note: He didn’t get this reference, sorry folks.)

I honestly do not understand this question — is this referring to ND not having played at Purdue since 2013 (when Tommy Rees and the Irish won 31-24)?

If so, remember how Tommy Rees went into Ross Ade and won there not once, but twice in his career, and threw for 563 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 INTs combined in those two matchups? How embarrassing!

The common narrative with Notre Dame is that they start out as this flashy team with promise but then always seem to underperform. As part of the media that covers that ramp up each year, do you feel it and are just part of the problem OR does every other ND fan truly think that they’re (sorry for the pun) God’s gift to football every season? I’ve always wondered if some pocket of the fanbase goes along with the act even though they know it’s mostly just that.

The answer is both. Every year we’ve given another season of proof that the Irish will disappoint us and break our hearts, and yet every year we all somehow get suckered into emotionally buying in because “this year is finally going to be different.” It’s delusional, but it’s what we’ve got at this point, aside from a lot of championships before I was born. And so we all, as Irish fans/writers, are Charlie Brown thinking this is the year we finally get to kick the ball, only for ND Football AKA Lucy to once again yank it away just when we truly start to believe. It’s super fun and we all probably know deep down it’s not real, but we still choose to push that belief/narrative (as any good delusional college fan base would do).

I/we in the “media” (thank you for using that term to describe me, LMAO) are a huge part of the problem when it comes to hyping up ND every year, obviously. We know ND being good sells (so does ND being bad, but not quite as much), and so the team gets pumped up and highly rated and predicted to be great super often, only to fall short of expectations.

Although, I will say that if you look at preseason ranking vs. postseason ranking for Notre Dame the last ~7 years, the Irish really have been rated pretty appropriately. There’s this unfounded idea that ND being ranked high in preseason is ALWAYS wrong, which just isn’t true considering how many games they’ve won from 2017-2023 and where they’ve actually finished recently. They’re not an elite program like Georgia or Alabama or Ohio State, but ND has objectively been a much better football program than the vast majority of the country over the last 7-8 years (except, I guess now, Northern Illinois).

Was Rudy offsides?

Let me preface this by saying that my answer is being given with the Sean Astin version of Rudy in mind, because Sean Astin rules (I like to watch Rudy make that sack and yell “and that’s for my old Gaffer!”) and because the real Rudy is apparently a major dick.

No, he was not offsides. But even if he was, that try-hard little dork was 5-foot-nothin’, a-hundred-and-nothin’, and had hardly a speck of athletic ability. They put him in on defensive line for some reason, meaning he was going up against Georgia Tech scholarship offensive linemen. If that tiny weirdo wanted to get a slight advantage by being lined up just baaaarely offsides, as a little treat, I don’t see an issue with that.

He deserved that sack, mostly because his brother for some reason stole his girlfriend while he was off getting a quality education, and because his family refused to visit him at college (despite living within a 2-hour drive) and assumed he was lying about playing football, for some reason.

Back to me asking the questions now, what’s your prediction for Saturday?

I predict I will drink 5-6 Hamm’ses and/or Miller High Lifes with my buddies Prison Mike and Luke while at the game (if any of y’all wanted to invite us to a random Purdue tailgate, we would love to show up with warm beer and plenty of smack talk we can’t back up — let me know).

Oh, you mean the game? Sorry. It’s either going to be a 24-21 Purdue victory or a 38-14 Notre Dame get-right game. Actually no, I think ND manages to win but definitely doesn’t find all the answers. It’ll be another weird and low-scoring and close one.

Let’s say Notre Dame 23, Purdue 17 in an absolute barn-burner.