On Second Thought...

Let me first say one thing.  Last week I ranted about the whole "Crank me up" thing going on.  This week, on second thought, I'm in love with it.  Maybe its a little corny for a bunch of upper-class Notre Dame students to be chanting the name of a rap song, but the defense loved it.  Hell, the whole team fed off of the newly created momentum starter.

Yesterday I got cranked up big time.

For the second straight week, my opinions of the game have changed within 24 hours.  Last week, I couldn't wait to criticize our team until I slept it off.  This week I wanted to come on here and call the Irish the greatest team we've had in over a decade.

Today I think differently.  I know I ripped on John Saunders as much as the next guy for his comments about Notre Dame getting six gift turnovers from Michigan.. but didn't we?

Jimmy Clausen still cannot look off a defensive back.  Virtually every pass play I could pick out his target and I'm not a trained defensive back nor was I within fifty yards of him.  Against a good defense that just won't work.  He needs to either look straight down the field and show nothing or he needs to look to the opposite field and turn just before his pass.

I understand that several plays (namely the deep pass to Golden Tate) were situational check offs, but the fact of the matter remains that he needs to improve in disguising his vision.

Now for the Defense.  Quite frankly I'm ecstatic with their 2005 Chicago Bears-esque play.

Although I detest the "bend but don't break" mentality, I love ball-hawking and this squad is perfoming that perfectly.  They did a great job with their pursuit angles and everyone is looking to pop that ball loose.  Even though those first two fumbles were completely unforced errors by Michigan, the other four were the product of agressive defensive play.

On the other hand, however, this team might be too agressive for its own good.  Sam McGuffie and the Wolverine offense seemed as if they could run at will (at least until they got into the red zone).  They didn't read the counters and traps very well and sure as heck looked like fools when trying to tackle him (also like the Bears).

To end on a high note, I did see three good things yesterday.

First, I love the fact that Jimmy Clausen is obviously a team leader now.  Maybe its not evident on TV, but from what I have seen, the team believes in this kid and trusts him to do his job when they need him most.

Second, and something I have seen in a few years, the Irish back ups couldn't be more supportive of their starters.

Third, and possibly most importantly, I want to say thank you to the other 70,000 fans at the game yesterday.  A week ago I would have guessed that the majority of Notre Dame Stadium would have been empty after that monsoon in the second half.  They were loud and it was actually more rare to be sitting than standing.  Awesome.

Overall- great win.  I won't take that away from the Irish.  They did what they had to do, when they had to do it, over and over again.  Did Michigan give us gifts?  Yes, but Notre Dame created their own Christmas on Saturday.