Connecticut News, Notre Dame News, Raphielle Johnson, Uncategorized

UCONN – NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL PREVIEW

A Look at the Notre Dame Two-Deep Roster as Charlie Weis Firestorm Continues

By Raphielle Johnson

Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between Connecticut and Notre Dame, and if you remember the days of watching Yankee Conference football at Memorial Stadium then you know how special this is. The future of head coach Charlie Weis is the national subplot on Senior Day in South Bend but the Huskies get an opportunity on national television to pick up their fifth win of the season. The question: can the Connecticut secondary hold its own against the vaunted Notre Dame passing attack? If so they’ll have a shot at heading back to Storrs with the win. No major injuries for UConn outside of those already deemed to be season-ending while the Irish will be without the stellar tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Offense

QB 7 Jimmy Clausen (Jr.)
13 Evan Sharpley (Sr.)

RB 5 Armando Allen (Jr.)
33 Robert Hughes (Jr.)

FB 34 James Aldridge (Sr.)
86 Bobby Burger (Sr.)

Clausen is the clear star of the Notre Dame backfield, which is both a testament to his production and the lack thereof from the running backs. The junior from California has thrown for an average of 305 yards per game, completing 67.4% of his passes for twenty-one touchdowns and four interceptions. He isn’t a threat to run and teams have been effective when applying pressure to him. If Lindsey Witten and company allow him to stand in the backfield and pick out receivers it could be a long day for the Husky secondary.

As for the running backs Allen leads the team in rushing with 591 yards on the season, good for an average of nearly seventy-four yards per game. But he only averages less than fifteen carries per game, and Robert Hughes gets fewer than eight carries per game. They’ll get the ball but not as often as the receivers, two of the best in the nation.

X 23 Golden Tate (Jr.)
18 Duval Kamara (Jr.)

TE 83 Mike Ragone (Jr.)
86 Bobby Burger (Sr.)

Z 3 Michael Floyd (So.)
82 Robby Parris (Sr.)

Tate and Floyd are the guys who the Huskies will need to account for on every play; Floyd missed five games with a broken collarbone but still averages twenty yards per reception. Golden Tate leads the team with seventy-four receptions for 1,172 yards and eleven touchdowns. Coach Weis also won’t hesitate to get Golden the ball via reverses or other trick plays; he’s that important to their offense. Kyle Rudolph’s injury likely means that receivers Robby Parris and Duval Kamara get more work on the passing game. Tight ends Ragone and Burger have combined for four receptions for forty-four yards this season.

LT 72 Paul Duncan (Sr.)
77 Matt Romine (Jr.)

LG 59 Chris Stewart (Sr.)
51 Dan Wenger (Sr.)

C 55 Eric Olsen (Sr.)
51 Dan Wenger (Sr.)

RG 78 Trevor Robinson (So.)
51 Dan Wenger (Sr.)

RT 74 Sam Young (Sr.)
Taylor Dever (Jr.)

This is an experienced group but they aren’t exactly world-beaters either; you could argue that Cincinnati’s got a better unit than the Irish. They’ve given up twenty-one sacks this season, a number that would rank fifth in the Big East. Notre Dame isn’t the best at running the football, ranking in the eighties in rushing offense but this group’s primary job is to keep Clausen upright.

Defense

LDE 89 Kapron Lewis-Moore (So.)
53 Morrice Richardson (Sr.)

DT 9 Ethan Johnson (So.)
79 Hafis Williams (So.)

NT 95 Ian Williams (Jr.)
98 Sean Cwynar (So.)

RDE 56 Kerry Neal (Jr.)
46 Steve Filer (So.)

Notre Dame ranks 83rd in total defense and they’ve had issues both on the ground and through the air. Ethan Johnson is tied for the team lead with three sacks on the season and he’s a tackle; the ends haven’t been particularly effective at applying pressure. Notre Dame ranks 72nd in rush defense (153.20 yards per game) and 68th in sacks per game (1.80), and those are areas that the Huskies can exploit with backs Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon. And in order for Notre Dame to pressure Zach Frazer into mistakes they’re likely going to need to rely upon the blitzes dialed up by defensive co-coordinators Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta.

SAM 45 Darius Fleming (So.)
22 Harrison Smith (Jr.)

MIKE 58 Brian Smith (Jr.)
49 Toryan Smith (Sr.)

WILL 5 Manti Te’o (Fr.)
58 Brian Smith (Jr.)

Three of Notre Dame’s top four tacklers are linebackers with Brian Smith leading the corps with fifty-eight stops and 5.5 tackles for loss. He also has the lone interception by a non-defensive back for the Irish. Manti Te’o is a star in the making on the weak side while Harrison Smith is third on the team in tackles on the strong side. Fleming leads the team with 11.5 tackles for loss and splits time with Harrison Smith. This is a group that can run and they will be used to blitz on many occasions but the Huskies have already seen a solid linebacking unit in North Carolina so they should be fine.

LCB 4 Gary Gray (Jr.)
8 Raeshon McNeil (Sr.)

FS 28 Kyle McCarthy (Sr.)
15 Dan McCarthy (So.)

SS 31 Sergio Brown (Sr.)
26 Jamoris Slaughter (So.)

RCB 12 Robert Blanton (So.)
2 Darrin Walls (Sr.)

This is the most-maligned portion of the Notre Dame defense but they’ve got one of the better safeties in America in senior Kyle McCarthy. McCarthy, who led the team in tackles last season, once again leads Notre Dame with seventy-eight passes while also defending nine passes and picking off five passes. But Notre Dame ranks 85th in pass defense and the overall quality of this group has a lot to do with that. The corners aren’t the fastest and they play a lot of zone due to the blitzing scheme, which could mean good days for Marcus Easley and Kashif Moore just to name two receivers.

Special Teams

K 40 Nick Tausch (Fr.)
48 David Ruffer (Jr.)

P 35 Ben Turk (Fr.)
43 Eric Maust (Sr.)

PR 23 Golden Tate (Jr.)
5 Armando Allen (Jr.)

KR 32 Theo Riddick (Fr.)
21 Barry Gallup, Jr. (Sr.)

Notre Dame is going back to the freshmen in the kicking game, and outside of Tausch making fourteen of seventeen field goals they haven’t been very good. The punters head into Saturday’s game averaging 35.4 yards per punt, resulting in a ranking of 112th in net punting average. Eric Maust will handle the kickoffs and the Irish have a net average of forty-two yards per kick. Golden Tate is the dangerous return man, averaging sixteen yards per return. Riddick and Gallup Jr. handle the kick return duties, and in an area that the Huskies have had trouble with in recent weeks the freshman averages more than twenty-three yards per return.