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Here is an excellent post from NDNation which highlights ND's youth and inexperience compared to other major programs. 1-7 is 1-7, but I'm unwilling to write Weis off until these guys get a chance to learn and develop.
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The problems that Notre Dame has encountered in 2007 are not solely related to the youth of the roster. Coach Weis and his staff made a terrible error by not having full contact practices until after the Michigan game. It is likely the most damaging error that Weis has made in his football career. When you're record is 1-7 you deserve almost all the criticism, valid or imagined, that you get.
There are, however, other factors at play. One is the schedule. Jeff Sagarin currently has it rated the 2nd most difficult schedule in the country.
Another is the lack of seniors, both on the team and in the starting lineup. For all intents and purposes this team is missing an entire class of players. Notre Dame has a total of 16 fourth and fifth year seniors. USC has 28. Boston College has 17 fifth year seniors alone.
Here is how the breakdown of starts compares between the Irish, Boston College, USC, and Penn State. Those teams are the highest ranked of ND's opponents.
I am working on getting the data for Michigan, Georgia Tech, etc. But I can tell you with the utmost confidence that those numbers will look a great deal like what I'm about the show you.
The numbers are the amount of starts that players in each class have accumulated thus far in the season:
NOTRE DAME - eight games played
Fr - 15
So - 48
Jr - 45
Sr - 21
5th- 47
SOUTHERN CAL - seven games played
Fr - 5
So - 22
Jr - 36
Sr - 39
5th- 52
BOSTON COLLEGE - seven games played
Fr - 7
So - 19
Jr - 24
Sr - 12
5th- 92
PENN STATE - eight games played
Fr - 1
So - 25
Jr - 57
Sr - 79
5th- 14
Put another way, each team has started these amounts of fourth and fifth year seniors per game:
ND - 8.5
PSU - 12.88
SC - 13
BC - 14.86
And here is the average number of starts per game for freshmen and sophomores:
ND - 7.9
PSU - 3.25
SC - 3.9
BC - 3.7
STARTS:
NOTRE DAME OFFENSIVE LINE
Fr - 0
So - 16
Jr - 16
Sr - 0
5th- 8
SOUTHERN CAL OFFENSIVE LINE
Fr - 3
So - 3
Jr - 1
Sr - 11
5th- 17
PENN STATE OFFENSIVE LINE
Fr - 1
So - o
Jr - 8
Sr - 29
5th- 2
BOSTON COLLEGE OFFENSIVE LINE
Fr - 7
So - 0
Jr - 5
Sr - 4
5th- 19
Also, at QB here is how the starts shake out:
NOTRE DAME
Fr - 6
So - 1
Jr - 1
Sr - 0
5th- 0
USC
Fr - 0
So - 0
Jr - 2
Sr - 0
5th- 5
PENN STATE
Fr - o
So - 0
Jr - 0
Sr - 8
5th- 0
BC
Fr - 0
So - 0
Jr - 0
Sr - 0
5th- 7
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