Irish Blogger Gathering: Spooky Vision Edition

1. A loss to Washington would have been spooky, but we were able to pull it out. What was your favorite part of the victory?

My favorite part of the victory wasn’t one particular play - rather, it was the almost immediate sense that the game was going to be decidedly one-sided in favor of Notre Dame. Since I started watching ND games with any regularity about six years ago, this feeling has been sorely lacking.

Indeed, this game gave me the hope that sometime in the foreseeable future, there will come a time when I expect all of Notre Dame’s games to be decidedly one-sided in favor of the Irish. I don’t expect to see that this year, but I have hope that this day will come sooner rather than later.

2. Charlie's Nasties does a Duds and Studs segment to reflect on every game. Name one player/coach that could have done better against the Huskies and one player/coach that stepped it up.

Dud: Jimmy Clausen

It’s been said before, but I’m giving my “player that could have done better” award to Jimmy Clausen. Even without looking at the stats, Jimmy seemed to have a bit of over-confidence in his ability. While Jimmy’s increased confidence is a big plus for me (nice not to have the deer in headlights look of last year), there were multiple times during the game when Jimmy seemed to move from a proper level of confidence in his ability to pick the correct receiver and get the ball where he is supposed to territory into “Hi, my name is Jimmy Clausen, and I have figured out everything I need to know about being a college quarterback” territory. It’s a fine distinction, but one that will get Jimmy into trouble against a team that actually shows up to play against Notre Dame.

I will say, though, that it’s nice to give this dubious honor to someone who, had he had this game at this time last year, would have been my Stud.

Stud: Brandon Walker

OK, so he didn’t get asked to do much. And other people had better games than he did. But with new competition breathing down his neck, Brandon went out there and did his job effectively. Sure, he gets the award more because of his improvement from “bad” to “effective,” but I will take that sort of effective play any day over previous form.

My pick was cemented when I saw a highlight of him post-game, telling the press that he is on the team to help the team win. He went on to say that, if he is not the kicker who gives the team the best chance to win, he should not be kicking, and he would be the first person to congratulate whoever could give ND a better chance to win over him.

3. Halloween involves people abandoning reality for awhile to dress up and imitate something that they are not. Pick one Halloween costume with traits you would like to see from the Notre Dame football team the rest of the season.

I’m going with Knute Rockne - the team already has the uniforms, all they need is the attitude and ability to win pretty much all the time. They will have to come up with some of those old-timey helmets, though.

4. When trick-or-treating as a kid, there always seemed to be at least one house that handed out apples. What aspect of the football team this year is the biggest apple in your candy bag (aka biggest disappointment)?

There are people who hand out apples? Man, I appreciate the neighborhood I grew up in even more, where our complaints were saved for people who only gave out one piece of candy if they gave out snack size candies. And the parents could get beers from the neighbors when theirs ran out (seriously, that’s a good reason to snag a friend’s kid and go trick-or-treating back in the old neighborhood. And people wonder why I have such a lax attitude toward drinking...).

Despite just handing out my stud pick to Brandon Walker, I am most disappointed by the kicking game of this team. After the kicking ineptitude of last year, I expected that Coach Weis’s new position with special teams, the open competition for a kicker, and the potential of finding a kicker among the student population would result in an effective, if not above average, kicking game. Obviously, I have been disappointed here.

Hopefully, I will be able to look back on my answer to this question in a few weeks and see that this was the last time that this concern was of concern.

5. This year, October 31st is coincidentally also the opener for ND's Mens Basketball team (preseason against Briar Cliff). Say a few words about one player that will make have the biggest impact on the success of the team this season (apologies to non-bball fans, but I couldn't resist).

This is sort of like my knowledge of recruiting a couple weeks ago - sure, I pay attention to the basketball team, but it’s more in the “I cheer for the team, and can name a couple players, but, um, don’t ask me much else until it gets closer to tournament time, at which point I will start paying attention.” So, like the recruiting questions, I plead lack of knowledge and defer to people who actually know something.