The state of Notre Dame football.

[heater]

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I guess it's possible that southern schools are track powers and recruit from all over the country, but I highly doubt it

[/ QUOTE ]How is this not possible if they are the established track powers?

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Here's the geographical breakdown of the top 8 100 meter sprinters from 2006.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Name School Home state

1. Xavier Carter LSU Florida
2. Walter Dix Florida St. Florida
3. Demi Omole Wisconsin Wisconsin/born in Nigeria
4. Travis Padgett Clemson North Carolina
5. Jamaal Charles Texas Texas
6. Churandy Martina UTEP Netherlands Antilles
7. Tyrone Edgar Texas A&amp;M England
8. Leroy Dixon South Carolina Indiana
</pre><hr />

4 kids from the South, 2 from outside the US, 1 from the North, and 1 who immigrated from Africa to the North. Is it a perfect scientific study, of course not, but the evidence is pretty compelling that world class speed originates primarily from the South.

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If you call this "pretty compelling" evidence, I'd like to see what you consider to be weak.

[heater]

Three of the ten fastest female 100m dash times ever are held by women born in Los Angeles. You know what that means?

[Dudd]

On further review, I'm retarded, carry on.

[Bigdaddydvo]

Unfortunately for us Irish fans, the planets aligned perfectly for an awful season this year. The principle factors I identify are:

1) Minimal contribution from the JR and SR classes, leaving the majority of work up to FR and SO classes, with a handful of 5th YR SRs in the mix.

2) Weis's decision to focus on schemes (as he would with a veteran college team or an NFL team) vs. fundamentals (e.g. blocking, tackling, competent special teams)

This is certainly a distressing time for Irish fans, and I frankly expected a better team performance and more tangible improvement by now before the season than what we have currently achieved. But I think we'll be OK for the following reasons:

1) Weis learns from his mistakes. He understands it was dumb to try to hastily install a spread offense vs GT w/players not prepared to execute the scheme. He further understands that foresaking fundamentals during the spring and fall camps has had disasterous consequences, and has adjusted accordingly. The most maddening thing about being a fan during the Willingham era was HIS TOTAL INABILITY AND RELUCTANCE TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. Whether at the Meta level (firing ineffective coaches) or during the game (never making halftime or other in game adjustments) Think of the loss to Boston College in '02 (a 20-6 halftime lead that was blown), or being competitive for 1 quarter vs USC in '04 before until Carrol systematically dissected his stagnant scheme. Washington fans are getting sick of this too with 2nd half meltdowns vs. Ohio State and UCLA.

2) His recruting has been excellent. Barring a couple last minute defections, these year's freshmen were a solid top 5 class (still ranked around #8) We currently have the #1 class of 19 studs heading into 2008, which might be the finest defensive recruiting haul in Irish history (safe to say we can use the help on the defensive side of the ball). Contrasting Charlie and Ty, CW has 19 recruits committed at the end of Sept of his 3rd year, whereas Ty had maybe 14 before the bowl game began.

3) Charlie is a tireless worker who regularly puts in 100 hour weeks, never foresaking work to get his team best prepared for the next game. For Willingham, OTOH, If it's a choice between visiting a blue chip recruit and sneaking in a quick 9 holes, rest assured TW will choose the latter. One Seattle sportswriter recently remarked "how little Ty works for being a head coach." Rest assured his laughable work ethic will catch up with him sooner than later in Washington (which is sad because I've always liked the Huskie program)

In summary, this is one ugly season, but many things are happening behind the scenes to ensure the longterm health of the Notre Dame program. The Davie/Willingham disease infected the program for nearly 10 years, and expunging their influence from the program isn't a one or two year process. Once the pain of growing through this year's team is over, expect to see a solid Irish team regaining national prominence. If during '08 and '09, you see a couple of 7-5 or 6-6 teams, I'll be the first to call for Charlie's head. Until then, his relatively strong '05 and '06 performances and excellence on the recruiting trail earn him patience from Irish fans like myself.

[MyTurn2Raise]

heavy, heavy rumors that the Irish recruiting class will be imploding.....hrm...that's too harsh, but fall to around #10 when all the dust settles

that is still very good

[Bigdaddydvo]

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heavy, heavy rumors that the Irish recruiting class will be imploding.....hrm...that's too harsh, but fall to around #10 when all the dust settles

that is still very good

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No one has backed out yet, but it's undertandable why Irish fans might be sweating given how this season is going. I'd like to get some more offensive line help in this class. Plus WR Michael Floyd would be a huge boon if we can snag him (he'd play almost immediately)

[NozeCandy]

I think you can pretty much book a few defections at this point.

[MyTurn2Raise]

bye bye backup TE

from another forum
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FWIW, this guy was a 5-star, the #2 ranked TE in his class, who also had offers from USC, UCLA and Miami.

It will be interesting to see where he turns up.



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[Thremp]

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bye bye backup TE

from another forum
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FWIW, this guy was a 5-star, the #2 ranked TE in his class, who also had offers from USC, UCLA and Miami.

It will be interesting to see where he turns up.



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Yeah, this is like USC losing a RB.

[MyTurn2Raise]

true...but SC is at a different point

ND seems to be building negative momentum