Like A Breath of Fresh Air

So the Irish got their first win of the season last weekend. I'll speak on behalf of 99% of the ND followers in the country when I say, "Thank God!" Like I mentioned on my last post, a win is a win no matter how many ways you don't move the ball.

But let me tell you how happy I am to see some of the things that this team is starting to do. Let's start with the offensive line! I know that these guys could do the job but the last couple of weeks you have played as good as I could have ever hoped. I mean Purdue only got to the QB twice and UCLA is a monster on pass rush and they only got to Clausen a few times. I'll take it. You are starting to gel and form yourself as a unit. Not individual blockers trying to do your job, but one cohesive unit that makes each and every play a success or a failure.

Next is the aggressive play of the defense. Now looking at the defensive unit the first couple of weeks you could definitely say that they were always put in impossible situations and played as well as they could have given the cards they were dealt. I will agree to a certain extent, but there were so many things that were not going the way it should have, running backs getting to the corner often and for lots of yards, no pressure on the opposing QB, and not coming up with the big stops. The last couple of weeks (I know we lost to Purdue but they came to life) this defense has come to play. With the emergence of Neal and Richardson on the outside putting pressure on the QB, Kuntz learning his role better at nose and getting lots of penetration, Torrain Smith looking to punish whomever comes into his site, these guys are getting pressure with the 4 that are rushing every play. Not to mention that when they've brought pressure, they are actually getting to the QB and causing turnovers and disrupting plays. Painter only threw 1 interception coming into that game and tossed two of them in the game, and I don't even have to tell you how this defense and it's uptempo play disrupted the Bruins last week. POTW Crum can tell you about that.

Overall, I'm glad to see these things are finally happening. Aldridge is going to be our battering ram hitting the defense over and over again and when you finally get personnel in to defend him, you throw the ball right over their heads. Clausen has got nothing but confidence right now believing that he's finally lead his team to a victory. A victory that is going to propel this team forward for the rest of the season. I'd be careful right now BC, this team has it's first win and then it's coming home to play in front of a rejuvenated home crowd, on my birthday, and are going to slap you in the mouth all day long.