pdf of wsu insider

Photo illustration by Ian Gavlick & Andrea Archer

When it comes to the 2009Irish, it’s the journey, not thedestination.I hate clichés, so it pains meto start a column with one asmuch as itpains you toread it, butbear withme. Hey, atleast I didn’tuse one like“Defensewins cham-pionships.”Thatthoughtshouldcause moreNotreDame fans to cringe, consid-ering the Irish don’t rank inthe nation’s top half in passdefense (117th), total defense(97th) or scoring defense(64th).Sorry, I couldn’t resist.But anyway, the Irish willenter the AlamodomeSaturday 5-2, right wheremany prognosticators pre-dicted at the season’s begin-ning. But would you say thisseason has gone as expected?My point is that to evaluateNotre Dame solely on whereit is — with five wins and theNo. 23 spot in the BCS stand-ings — would miss the boaton what’s more important,which is how Charlie Weisand Co. have gotten there.If you’ve been halfway cog-nizant over the last twomonths, you know NotreDame’s last six games haveall gone down to the wire, forbetter or for worse. Watchingthe Irish has been as exhila-rating as it’s been maddeningand as climactic as it’s beenunpredictable.But isn’t that why we watchin the first place? If thesegames were a sure thing, col-lege football fans across thecountry wouldn’t spend adozen autumn Saturdays withtheir eyes glued to the televi-sion.I’m still puzzled at how ateam with such a dominantpassing attack can be so con-sistently inconsistent whenthe offense is given thechance to bury a reelingopponent in the second half. Istill can’t understand how asecondary with as many tout-ed, experienced players asNotre Dame’s can makefreshmen quarterbacks looklike calm, cool and collectedseniors as they shred softcoverage. And I can’t evenfathom why it takes until the

fourth quarter’s final minutesfor the Irish to play their bestfootball, week in and weekout.Seven games into the sea-

son, it appears this is theNotre Dame team we’ll see allyear. But if we’ve learnedanything about this Irishteam, it’s to expect the unex-pected.In most respects, this is

nowhere near the biggestgame on Notre Dame’s sched-ule. The Irish have no tradi-tional rivalry with theCougars and are nearly 30-point favorites over the Pac-10’s worst team, and on aweekend full of major collegefootball match-ups, this oneisn’t getting much nationalattention. But in a way, those facts

make this game even moreimportant. Other than theobvious need to beatWashington State, NotreDame also needs to dominateto build momentum for itsfinal four games, all againstbowl-bound teams with win-ning records.“Obviously we’ve shown

some resiliency at the end ofthe game,” Weis said Tuesday.“[But] we haven’t played afull 60-minute game acrossthe board, either. And thisgives us an opportunity to tryto do that. We’d like to get ontop of them early and go hardfor the whole game and see ifwe can’t put a game together— a full game together onoffense, defense and specialteams — where you can walkout of the game with every-one gaining confidence.”But back to that cliché: it’s

the journey, not the destina-tion. There’s still a lot of foot-ball to be played, and theIrish have plenty ahead ofthem, including an outsideshot at a BCS game if theytake advantage of both wherethey have been and wherethey can still go from here.Nothing would fast-trackNotre Dame’s journey morethan a dominating perform-ance over a Washington Stateteam that is, by far, the worston the Irish schedule.And considering what the

Irish have done over the lasttwo months, that would beanything but cliché.

The views expressed in thiscolumn are those of theauthor and not necessarilythose of The Observer.

Contact Matt Gamber [email protected]

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 2 Friday, October 30, 2009

ND in dire need ofdominant showing

Matt Gamber

Sports Editor

COMMENTARY

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Calling Saturday’s contestan “offsite home game” forNotre Dame is more than justsemantics, at least for recruit-ing purposes.Because the Irish are tech-

nically the host team in SanAntonio this weekend, theyare permitted to offer recruitstickets to the game. They maynot, however, talk to therecruits after the game likethey would after a normalhome game at Notre Dame,Charlie Weis said at hisTuesday press conference.According to Irish recruiting

analyst Mike Frank, theWashington State game willbe an important opportunityfor several of the top highschool juniors in Texas to beexposed to Notre Dame foot-ball, in person, for the firsttime.“So many of those guys

down in Texas know onething, Texas,” said Frank, whoruns the ESPN-affiliated irish-sportsdaily.com. “If you don’tgo to Texas, it’s which otherschool around the area do youend up going to? There’s cer-tainly a lot of talent in thestate, but [Texas coach] MackBrown has done such a greatjob of locking up the talentdown there before anyone caneven find out about them.”Because the Irish coaches

can’t actually speak with play-ers, and because most, if notall, the players set to attendare only juniors, Notre Damewon’t expect to gain anything

near a commitment afterSaturday, Frank said. But itmay give the Irish program ahead start in recruiting play-ers in the Lone Star state.“With this game, players can

come find out a little aboutyou, watch Notre Dame play,watch the fans. Notre Damefans are unique — veryfriendly, very cordial, verywelcoming,” Frank said. “Thatputs a very positive image ofNotre Dame out there for a lotof the players in Texas to get achance to see what NotreDame is about. It’s a placethey have heard of but don’tknow a whole lot about.”And while the players in

attendance won’t have thebenefit of touring NotreDame’s campus and experi-encing all that is game day inSouth Bend, Frank said justwatching the team on the fieldshould be enough to piqueinterest for several of the highschool juniors.“The players get a chance to

be around that whole NotreDame experience and get anidea of what the team isabout,” Frank said. “It’s achance for Notre Dame toshow there’s some athletes uphere too and we’re just a fewaway from competing with thebig dogs down [in Texas].”Though the class of 2011

will be the main focus thisweekend, the Irish staffenjoyed one major recruitingwin this week with the com-mittment of Giovanni Bernard,a four-star running back outof St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.),the nation’s No. 1 high schoolteam.

“He runs a lot like [formerIrish running back] DariusWalker. He’s really instinctiveand has great vision and avery nice burst,” Frank said.“The one thing he does thatDarius didn’t really do is runfor power. He’ll run some guysover, and he’s got a lot of abil-ity catching the ball out of thebackfield.”Bernard might also help theIrish gain committments froma few of his highly toutedteammates. Defensive backsLamarcus Joyner and CodyRiggs and offensive tackleBrandon Lindner are also highon Notre Dame’s list of priori-ties.“[Lindner’s] a guy I thinkNotre Dame’s got a real goodshot at,” Frank said of thefour-star prospect. “I think hereally likes what [offensiveline coach Frank] Verduccihas done with the line andlikes the progress they havemade.”Frank also said Notre Damehas a good shot at the five-star Joyner, but probably notat Riggs, who has Florida andGeorgia as his leaders.“[Joyner’s] one of the mostexplosive players in the entirecountry,” Frank said. “He’s agreat corner back who lovesto hit, has incredible accelera-tion and is just a really explo-sive player. I’m not sure if he’s100-percent qualif ied forNotre Dame yet, but he’s pret-ty close and hopefully thatwon’t be a road block forhim.”

H.S. juniors to flock to AlamodomeBy MATT GAMBERSports Editor

Contact Matt Gamber [email protected]

RECRUITING

When the Irish coaches toldArmando Allen and GoldenTate in the spring that theteam would install plays fromthe Wildcat formation, Allenand Tate looked at each otherand laughed.“Like, ‘Are we really doingthis or is it a joke?’” Allensaid. “But when we looked atthe playbook, there it was, theWildcat.”That’s one new role forAllen. He’s filled others thisseason, too, evolving from ashifty scat back his freshmanyear to a powerful yet explo-sive runner who averages 4.9yards per carry this season.Aside from physical improve-ments and running backscoach Tony Alford’s practicetechniques, which contributedto his play, Allen’s improve-ments came in the stereotypi-cal Notre Dame fashion: he gotsmart.“In high school the playsaren’t as difficult as they arein college,” he said. “You playthe game but you don’t under-stand the game. I think under-standing the game helped meout as a running back.”

Learning curveAllen rushed for 1,095 yardsand 12 touchdowns as a juniorat Hialeah-Miami Lakes HighSchool in Hialeah, Fla., eventhough he missed three gamesbecause of injury. In the pre-season before his senior sea-son, he broke his fibula andmissed the season.Allen watched tape of gamesof himself in previous seasonsand realized that since thebroken leg he was leaving hisknees low, making it all theeasier for defenders to tacklehim. This offseason, he ranstairs to improve his kneedrive.He also gained 10 poundswithout losing speed.“I think that’s a tribute tohim as a young guy who wantsto get better,” Alford said. “Hewants to do things right. He’shis own worst critic.”

Alford wants big plays out ofhis running backs, he said, andhe said he’ll be needing somemonsters, not 12-yarders.Allen has been on the cusp ofbreaking away a few times thisseason when the last man inhis way snagged an ankle ashe flew by, and Alford said thesolution is simple.“Pick your feet up,” he said.

“It’s not rocket science. Pickyour feet up.”And Alford has stressed that

principle in practice.“We’ve worked on that a lot.

They have a lot of drills nowthat requires us to pick ourfeet up or we’llfal l ,” Allensaid. “We’vedone a prettygood job at it inpractice wejust have totranslate i tover to thegame.”P h y s i c a l

training, how-ever, won’t suf-f ice. To suc-cessfully imple-ment the skillsacquired inpractice, Allen said he neededto learn how the defenderwould attack him.“If you know a person the

only way they can bring youdown is by grabbing your feet,then automatically your mind’sthinking pick your feet up,” hesaid.Getting inside the defender’s

head helped him elsewhere aswell.“I’m not just getting the ball

and running left and right, Iunderstand where this ballshould go and the type ofthings my defenders would tryto do to bring me down,” hesaid. “It helped me out as arunner.”

Spring trainingThe Irish averaged 3.3 yards

per carry last season, and crit-ics of the program made surethey knew it. Allen took it toheart.“We understand that part

that we have a lot of talent,but from the outside looking in

nobody really knows howmuch talent that we have,” hesaid.Allen took it upon himself to

display that talent. He askedAlford for tips to work on dur-ing the spring and summer.“I said here are some things

we need to work on and hetook that to heart. It wasn’tsomething magical that I did,”Alford said. “The kid wants tobe good. He was asking, ‘Hey,what can I do better? Whatcan I improve on?’”That improvement is evident.

In six games, he’s rushed for514 yards and three touch-

downs, goodfor 85.7 yardsper game. Lastyear, he rushedfor 585 yardsall season, anaverage of 45per game.Like any

smart runningback, he’s gothis offensivel ine’s back.Sick of hearingthe crit icismfor how thelinemen could-

n’t block when he saw themworking hard every day, hebuckled down to prove thatthey could.“When I see those guys

working hard every day,” hesaid, “whether i t ’s in theweight room or on the field,we kind of take that to hearttoo.”The Wildcat formation

helped improve the look of therunning game, which is aver-aging 3.7 yards per carry thisseason. Despite Allen andTate’s doubts, the Wildcat wasreal. Once they started run-ning the plays in practice andpicked up good yardage, theteam started taking it serious-ly.It also started a debate

between Allen and Tate as towho got the glamorous posi-tion.“I think when you’re the

Wildcat guy you’re kind of likethe quarterback,” said Allenslowly, smiling. “That was thebig debate.”

Catching a snoozeThat’s Al len’s hobby. He

sleeps whenever he canbecause of how tough NotreDame’s practices are.“Whether it’s 10 minutes or

20 minutes, you can alwayscatch me trying to get a nap,”he said.Outside of football , Allen

focuses on his family. Hechecks in with his parents andbrothers often. He said he’shumble by nature: Whenasked about individual goalsagainst Washington State,which is currently 114thagainst the run and allows 215rushing yardsper game, hedemurred. He also

d e m u r r e dwhen askedabout hisbiggest weak-ness — hehemmed andhawed for aminute, then,“Can we come back to thatone?”Again, Allen is smart. He

referred to Washington Stateas a “trap game” despite its 1-6 record. He knows that on theroad — or at home, as thecase may be — anything canhappen.“It real ly doesn’t matter

where we play,” he said. “Wecould play in the street. Weplay at our field, their field,just going out there and beingfocused and understanding theimportance of no matter whowe play, we’re playing thefootball game.”

A leg full of problemsAllen’s had bad luck with

injuries since high school. Hebroke his wrist in the firstgame of his freshman year and

missed half the season. Hemissed the three games in hisjunior season and his entiresenior season. This year, he’s struggled tostay healthy while battl ingankle, knee and thigh injuries.His ankle has bothered himall season and kept him out ofthe Purdue game. AgainstBoston College, he took a hel-met to the side of the left kneethat knocked him out of thegame, but coach Charlie Weissaid it was still his ankle, notthe knee, which currentlybothers him.Allen wasn’t too optimistic

about hisc h a n c e sa g a i n s tWa s h i n g t o nState thisweekend.“I ’m justgoing with i tday by day,” hesaid. “I showup to practiceevery day like I

normally would and see howthat goes, see what they allowme to do.” He called himself day to day. If there’s a week where hemight get some time off, this isit, because edge-of-the-seatvictories notwithstanding,Notre Dame is expected to pileup a big lead againstWashington State. Al lenwouldn’t be happy with that,but he has faith in his cowork-ers in the backfield.“There’s never a week whereI’m okay with not playing but Ialso know that if that was thecase we have great athletes toget the job done,” he said.A smart response from thesmarter running back.

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, October 30, 2009 page 3

Mind game

Contact Bill Brink [email protected]

Junior Armando Allen has become a smarter — and better — running backBy BILL BRINKSports Writer

PAT COVENEY/The Observer

Irish running back Armando Allen sings the alma mater with his team-mates after Notre Dame’s season opening win over Nevada Sept. 5.

“I said here are somethings we need to workon and he took that to

heart. It wasn’t something magical that I did. The kidwants to be good.”

Tony AlfordIrish running backs coach

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Allen busts through the line during Notre Dame’s 34-27 loss to USC on Oct. 17. Allen rushed 12 timesfor 51 yards against a Trojans defense that is among the best in the country against the run.

“Whether it’s 10 minutes or 20 minutes,you can always catch

me trying to get a nap.”

Armando AllenIrish running back

HEAD T The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 4 Friday, October 30, 2009

Irish Offense vs. Cougars Defense

Charlie Weishead coach

5th season at Notre Dame

career record: 34-23

at neutral site: 3-2

against WSU: 0-0

Notre DameFighting Irish

Record: 5-2AP: 25 Coaches: 25

Finally, a week where Jimmy Clausen canprop his turf toe up during the fourth quar-ter, where Armando Allen can nurse hissore ankle and where the defense doesn'thave intercept a pass to seal a game. Saywhat you want about the pass defense orthe playcalling but it won't matter, becauseClausen has to be salivating over thismatch-up. So, by the way, are Dayne Crist,Jonas Gray and John Goodman, who willsee lots of second-half snaps after Clausen,Golden Tate and Kyle Rudolph blast open abig lead. The one statement that can bemade in this game must come from thedefense, who has a chance to dominate an

opponent like they haven’t done since Nevada.FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 34, Washington State 10

Finally this will be a game that doesn’tcome down to the final minutes. It shouldbe a happy Halloween and trip to SanAntonio for the Irish, who face aWashington State team that has no realthreats and holes everywhere on defense.The Notre Dame offense should be able toscore however they want to, and the onlything that might stop Jimmy Clausen fromputting up Hawaii Bowl numbers might beWeis putting in Dayne Crist. Look for theNotre Dame offense to run the ball earlyand often and for the defense to come upwith several turnovers. Overall this shouldbe a great game to gain momentum and

hopefully learn how to put inferior teams away.FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 40, Washington State 10

Jimmy Clausen and GoldenTate have been two of the bestplayers in the nation regardlessof position, and should lead theNotre Dame passing game to ahuge day. Robby Parris appearsto be out for the game so it willbe interesting to see if anotheryoung receiver will take advan-tage of the opportunity.

The Irish also should have greatprotection against the pass rush, asthe Cougars have just seven sacks allyear. This should be a great recoverygame for a pass blocking unit thatstruggled at times against USC andBoston College. With time to throwand weaknesses in the secondary,Clausen should have a field day.Washington State’s pass defense is

abysmal, allowing an average of 284yards per game. The Cougars do haveeight interceptions, but have beenpicked apart by quarterbacks far lesstalented than Clausen.This should be a huge mismatch forthe Irish, hopefully leading to someDayne Crist throws in the secondhalf.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Despite nagging injuriesArmando Allen ran the ball verywell against Boston College andshould be in for another big gamesin San Antonio. Robert Hughes alsoshould be fine after taking a big hitto the head on a goal-line carry lastweekend.When healthy the running attackhas been one of the biggest

improvements of this Notre Dame team.The Cougars have given up 215 yardsrushing per game, so there should beopen running lanes for Allen andHughes to run through. The Wildcatcould be an effective changup but maynot be necessary if the Irish offense isrolling.Washington State’s top tacklers are all

in their secondary, a familiar problem

for the Irish. Even worse, the Cougarswill have to be wary of play-action withweapons like Tate and Rudolph, and willnot be able to help in run support. The Cougars will have to choose to keyon the run or pass, and the pass seemsmore like with Clausen under center. Ifthat’s the case, it could be a career dayfor Allen and Hughes.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Charlie Weis has the lux-ury of being able to leanheavily on the running orpassing game against aporous Washington Statedefense. It will be interest-ing to see if Weis looks toestablish the run early orspreads out the Cougarsand puts up points quickly.

Jon Tenuta shouldbe dial ing up hisusual set of bl i tzesagainst a WashingtonState offense that hasstruggled all seasonto put up points .Expect a few take-aways for the Irish.EDGE: NOTRE DAME

As a freshman NickTausch has been every-thing most recent Irishkickers have not been— accurate and consis-tent. For the first timein the Weis era there isa dependable legaround to put threepoints on the board.

Ben Turk struggledagainst Boston College andEric Maust should get somepunts against the Cougars.Theo Riddick and Barry

Gallup continue to do a solidjob returning kickoffs, andGolden Tate had a nice puntreturn against the Eagles.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Sept. 5

Sept. 12

Sept. 19

Sept. 26

Oct. 3

Oct. 17

Oct. 24

Oct. 31

Nov. 7

Nov. 14

Nov. 21

Nov. 28

Nevada — W

@ Michigan — L

Michigan St. — W

@ Purdue — W

Washington — W

Southern Cal — L

Boston College — W

Washington St.

Navy

@ Pittsburgh

Connecticut

@ Stanford

2009 Schedule

ND PASSING

Statistical LeadersND OFFENSEQB JIMMY CLAUSEN

100-148, 1544 yds., 12 TDRB ARMANDO ALLEN

71 rush, 365 yds., 3 TDRB ROBERT HUGHES

30 rush, 158 yds., 2 TDWR GOLDEN TATE

33 rec., 602 yds., 4 TDTE KYLE RUDOLPH

21 rec., 267 yds., 3 TD

WSU DEFENSESS C. NWACHUKWU

35 solo, 1 INT, 1.5 TFLFS XAVIER HICKS

23 solo, 1 INT, 2 TFLDE TRAVIS LONG

20 solo, 4 TFL, 2 sacksLB MYRON BECK

17 solo, 2 INTCB BRANDON JONES

25 solo, 2 TFL, 1 INT

Head-to-HeadND OFFENSEScoring: 30.00 ppg (36th)

Total: 438.43 ypg (15th)

Rushing: 132.57 ypg (76th)

Passing: 305.86 ypg (11th)

Turnovers against: 5 (2nd)

Fumbles lost: 2 (4th)

Interceptions: 3 (10th)

Sacks Allowed: 15 (71st)

T.O.P. for: 32:14 (16th)

WSU DEFENSEScoring: 37 ppg (115th)




Turnovers for: 19 (10th)

Fumbles rec.: 11 (6th)

Interceptions: 8 (41st)

Sacks: 7 (112th)

T.O.P. against: 32:13 (90th)

Jon TenutaDef. CoordinatorAssistant HC

Corwin BrownCo-Def. Coord.Associate HC

ND RUSHING

NDSPECIALTEAMS

Bill Brink

ManagingEditor

NDOFFENSIVE

COACHING

Michael Bryan

AssociateSports Editor

HEAD TO HEADThe Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, October 30, 2009 page 5

Cougars Offense vs. Irish Defense

This game should be a lot of treat withoutmuch trick for Notre Dame, right? It’d benice if, for once, it could be that easy. I thinkthis is a case where the Irish are just toomuch better than the Cougars, and despiteNotre Dame’s best efforts to play subparteams down to the wire, Washington Statejust isn’t good enough to hang around forlong. I’d like to see Clausen, Allen and Tateall get their numbers and then get out — goenjoy some Halloween candy on the sideline,just don’t get hurt. Even moreso, I’d like tosee the defense show the potential to shutdown an offense and shut the door on anythoughts of an upset early by coming up with

turnovers that will kill Washington State’s morale.FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 45, Washington State 13

It could get interesting if the Irish decideto make this one another nail-biter.Fortunately, that really shouldn't be thecase. Even though they’ve had troublewith freshmen quarterbacks this season,expect the Irish defense to contain, if notcompletely shut down, Jeff Tuel and theWashington State offense. On the otherside of the ball, a balanced attack will leadNotre Dame to a big early advantage. Afinally healthy Armando Alllen should havea big day on the ground, and, most impor-tantly, Notre Dame will finally face a passdefense even worse than its own. JimmyClausen — and hopefully Dayne Crist —

should have a big day as the Irish win handily.FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 42, Washington State 10

Paul Wulffhead coach

2nd season at Washington St.

career record: 3-17

at neutral site: 0-0

against ND: 0-0

Washington St.CougarsRecord: 1-6

AP: NR Coaches: NR

Sept. 5

Sept. 12

Sept. 19

Sept. 26

Oct. 3

Oct. 10

Oct. 24

Oct. 31

Nov. 7

Nov. 14

Nov. 21

Nov. 28

Stanford — L

Hawaii — L

SMU — W

@USC — L

@ Oregon — L

Arizona St. — L

@California — L

@Notre Dame

@ Arizona

UCLA

Oregon St.

@ Washington

2009 Schedule

Statistical LeadersWSU OFFENSEQB M. LOBBESTAEL

49-105, 475 yds., 2 TD

RB DWIGHT TARDY

57 rush, 186 yds., 1 TD

RB J. MONTGOMERY

37 rush, 180 yds., 1 TD

WR JARED KARSTETTER

24 rec., 337 yds., 3 TD

WR GINO SIMONE

23 rec., 243 yds., 1 TD

ND DEFENSESS KYLE MCCARTHY

32 solo, 1 TFL, 3 INT

FS HARRISON SMITH

18 solo, 1.5 TFL

WLB BRIAN SMITH

18 solo, 4 TFL, 1 sack

SLB DARIUS FLEMING

7 TFL, 2 sacks

DE K. LEWIS-MOORE

11 solo, 3 TFL, 1 sack

Head-to-HeadWSU OFFENSEScoring: 15.14 ppg (116th)



Passing: 221.14 (55th)

Turnovers against: 20 (113th)

Fumbles lost: 10 (104th)


Sacks Allowed: 35 (120th))

T.O.P. for: 28:47 (90th)

ND DEFENSEScoring: 24.14 ppg (64th)


Rushing: 127 ypg (50th)


Turnovers for: 15 (38th)

Fumbles rec.: 6 (57th)


Sacks: 12 (75th)

T.O.P. against: 27:46 (16th)

Todd SturdyOff. Coordinator

Chris BallDef. Coordinator

True freshman Jeff Tuel will get thestart at quarterback for WashingtonState over Marshall Lobbestael, whostruggled early in the season. TheCougars have put up decent pass num-bers, but much of that can be attrib-uted to throwing the ball often whileplaying from behind. The two havecombined to throw ten interceptions,and have not received much help from

their offensive line. Washington Stateis dead last in the nation in sacksallowed per game, giving up 35through seven games. The Irish secondary is vulnerable

though, giving up 380 yards throughthe air to Matt Barkley and USC andletting Boston College convert manylong third downs. Communicationerrors have hurt this unit and Notre

Dame has been unable to stopopponents on obvious passingdowns.The Irish defensive l ine has

improved but has struggled get-ting pressure on passing downswithout bringing extra blitzers.The secondary needs to tighten upits coverage against the Cougars.

EDGE: EVEN

The Notre Dame defensive line hasdramatically improved against therun over the last several games,effectively limiting strong rushingoffenses in Boston College and USC.Younger players like Kapron Lewis-Moore, Mant i Te’o , and EthanJohnson appear much more comfort-able against the run and getting intothe right position.

On the other side, the WashingtonState rushing offense has been virtu-ally nonexistent, averging just 72yards per game. Redshirt sophomoreLogwone Mitz will get the start inSan Antonio, but Dwight Tardyshould also play several series. TheCougars have not run the ball oftensince they’ve been trailing almostevery game, but have only averaged

2.2 yards per carry when theyhave.Darius Fleming and the line-

backing corps have improvedtheir tackling in recent gamesand relieved some of the pres-sure on the secondary to assist inrun support.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Paul Wulff and the WashingtonState staff have struggledmightily during his first twoseasons, but at this point it’shard to tell how much of thatis the coaching versus the per-sonnel. The Cougars have anumber of upperclassmenstarting and lack experience atmost positions. The offensive

gameplans have beenlimited by trailing everygame and defensivelythe Cougars are givingup nearly 500 yards pergame. Overall this is astruggling program try-ing to get back torespectability.EDGE: NOTRE DAME

Nico Grasu has been ansolid kicker for theCougars, converting six often field goal attempts thisseason.Punter Reid Forrest maybe the best player on histeam, averaging 43.8yards per punt including14 inside the opponents’

20-yard-line. Forrest has beenbusy as the Cougars strugglemoving the ball.Jeffrey Solomon and the

Washington State return gamehave been very average, andhave not had any returns over38 yards despite returning 36kicks.

EDGE: NOTRE DAME

WSU PA

SSING

WSU

SPECIALTEAM

S

WSU RUSHING

WSUOFFEN

SIVE

COACHING

Matt Gamber

Sports Editor

Sam Werner

AssociateSports Editor

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERpage 6 Friday, October 30, 2009

To say things haven’t beengoing well for Washington Statethis season may be a bit of anunderstatement. The Cougarsare 1-6 and haven’t looked anybetter than last season’s 2-10campaign.The lone bright spot, though,may be the play of freshmanquarterback Jeff Tuel.“[Tuel’s progress] is good,”Washington State coach PaulWulff said in a press conferenceafter the Cougars’ 49-17 loss toCalifornia Oct. 24. “I think he is

on a good pace. He needs thehelp around him. The receiversare young and the O-line isyoung, but all the parts need todo their job. The other 10 guysneed to do their job, and he isonly going to get better.”The Cougars began the sea-

son with an apparent positionbattle between senior KevinLopina and sophomoreMarshall Lobbestael, but bothwere ineffective in WashingtonState’s first three games beforeTuel entered the picture.Tuel made his debut in

Washington State’s 27-6 loss toUSC. Since then, he has thrownfor 662 yards, four touchdowns

and three interceptions.“Obviously for an 18-year old

playing his first football gamehe did a great job,” Wulff saidin a press con-ference afterthe game. “Heshowed greatpoise. Therewere some mis-takes but he dida nice job of notforcing throwsor eating theball or just taking off and run-ning. He showed a lot outthere.”After a promising first game

against the Trojans, Tuel suf-

fered a hip pointer againstOregon in his first collegiatestart. The injury knocked himout for the rest of the game

against theDucks, but thef r e s h m a nreturned nextweek to leadthe Cougarsagainst ArizonaState.Even thoughthe Cougars lost

that game 27-14, Tuel’s pro-gression continued. Last week,against Cal, Tuel had his mostimpressive game to date, pass-ing for 354 yards and two

touchdowns and no intercep-tions.“Tuel can actually get itdone,” Wulff said in a pressconference after the game. “Ourprotection has not been great.At times when we have had[good protection] we have beensuccessful; when we didn’t, itbroke down. We have so manyyoung guys playing at receiverthey just haven’t been workingtogether long enough. Theyhave been together three orfour months. As we mature weare going to get a lot better.”

Freshman QB Tuel gives Cougars hope for future successBy SAM WERNERAssociate Sports Editor

Contact Sam Werner at [email protected]

“Tuel can actually get it done.”

Pat WulffCougars head coach

After weeks of struggling inpass coverage that concludedwith 380 yards through the airfor Matt Barkley and USC, theNotre Dame secondary neededsome changes.Beginning with the BostonCollege game and leading intothis week’s game againstWashington State in SanAntonio, the Irish made per-sonnel changes on the depthchart.Junior Harrison Smith, whohad been the starter at freesafety, moved down to outsidelinebacker and also played asa nickel backagainst theEagles. Smithhad four tack-les, includingone tackle fora loss and aforced fumblein his new role.“He playeds i gn i f i c an t l ybetter,” coachCharlie Weis.“He’s had some good produc-tion in the secondary, it’s justthat his confidence has gottena l i tt le bit shaken, so wemoved him down into a com-fort zone to regain his confi-dence.”Following the Boston Collegegame, Smith was listed as aco-starter at the Sam line-backer position with DariusFleming, who has frequentlymoved to defensive end innickel packages. Smith said his experiencelast season at outside line-

backer made the move an easytransition. “I’ve been therebefore. I mean I played safetythe first half of this year, butI’m using last year’s experi-ence,” Smith said. “You do alot of the same stuff and youblitz a lot, so it’s not too differ-ent.”Smith said he was comfort-

able with the change and couldrotate between positions.“At this point, wherever the

coaches want me to play iswhere I’m going to play, so I’mfine with that.”With Smith moving to line-

backer for the foreseeablefuture, senior Sergio Brownhas taken over the starting jobat free safety. Brown had been

primarily usedas a nickelback in cover-age and blitz-ing off theedge.“ [ H a r r i s o n

Smith] sort off l i p - f l o p p e dwith Sergio,”Weis said.“With Sergiogoing back into

his posit ions and Harrisongoing down there working atSam along with Darius andthose other guys.”Defensive coordinator Jon

Tenuta said the change bene-fits both Brown and Smith.“Harrison, the first time he

got in there he knocked theball loose. The guy’s a tremen-dous athlete and I’m going touse him more and morebecause he’s an outstandingblitzer,” Tenuta said. “Sergiodid a good job, he’s been thenickel for us from two years

and playing in space so thealignment is a little different attimes, but he did a good job.”Brown had four tackles, a

forced fumble and a passbreakup against the Eagles.Also seeing significant time

at free safety was sophomoreJamoris Slaughter, who camein at t imes for Brown.Slaughter has seen time atboth the corner and safetypositions early in his career.“Jamoris is a guy that we’re

going to cross train and crosstrain at both corner and safetythis week. We’re going to lookat him in both positions, you

know, because he’s been sucha sound tackler,” Weis saidbefore the game againstBoston College. “So we’regoing to take a good look atseeing if we can’t get him onthe field some. Not as a starterbut we’re going to see if wecan’t work him there.”At the cornerback position,

junior Gary Gray has solidifiedhis role as a starter alongsidesophomore Robert Blanton.Gray had a crucial interceptionin the fourth quarter againstBoston College.“I think Gary has played

more because he was the one

guy that recently that as hestarted to get some time hasbeen really competing for theball,” Weis said. “I think thatthat one of the areas that, youknow, I ’ve been saying weneed to be competing for theball and Gary’s been compet-ing for it.”With the Irish currently117th in the nation in passdefense and allowing 282yards per game, Tenuta andthe Notre Dame secondaryhope the changes show results.

Defense hopes position changes are answerBy MICHAEL BRYANAssociate Sports Editor

The Observer � IRISH INSIDERFriday, October 30, 2009 page 7

Contact Michael Bryan [email protected]

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Irish safety Sergio Brown eyes the line of scrimmage during Notre Dame’s 37-30 victory overWashington Oct. 3. Brown is one of a number of defensive players to have shuffled positions recently.

Halloween costume this year?

We don’t really have much since we play that

night. But I’ll probably go out as a ninja. That’s

what I used to do when I was little.

Favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

I was Captain Hook once, that was good. And

... oh. One time, me and three of my friends

were the Spice Girls. We did it pretty big.

Favorite Halloween candy?

Snickers.

Biggest fear?

Probably drowning.

Scariest movie?

The Strangers. I couldn’t drive home after that.

Which is worst: spiders, snakes or clowns?

Spiders.

“We moved [HarrisonSmith] down into a

comfort zone to regainhis confidence.”

Charlie WeisIrish head coach

Friday, October 30, 2009The Observer � PAID ADVERTISEMENT

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