Purdue Wrap Up/MSU Preview
UHND.com - Eric Sims
September 18, 2000
Notre Dame, Ind - When that football left Nick Setta’s foot with two seconds to go on Saturday, my heart began to ache and my spirits began to sink. It looked as though it had to sail right—it had to—but, as if one of the ghosts of Notre Dame stadium blew it to the left, the ball snuck inside the right upright and the Notre Dame team stormed the field victorious
The Fighting Irish are now 2-1 and have a very legitimate shot at a major bowl bid. The pundits will say that Purdue handed the Irish the game or that our offense is too bad to make any serious BCS challenge this fall. The only thing that matters at this point is the win/loss column, and the Fighting Irish have notched two quality wins against ranked opponents and took the best team in the nation to overtime.
Now let’s get down to business, and that begins with this weekend’s clash up in East Lansing. The Spartan’s have had our number over the last three seasons, and the current euphoria over the last second triumph over the Boilermakers could quickly vanish if we don’t go up there and take care of business.
What are we going to need to beat the Spartans? Below I offer my not-so-expert analysis on what it will take.
Michigan St. was very impressive last season, and, on paper, they clearly look weaker in most spots this year. I don’t know a whole lot about their team, but I did get a chance to watch them in their opener against Marshall. I thought Michigan St. looked very strong and very physical, but they didn’t seem to have a whole lot of team speed. Their biggest losses from a year ago were at wide receiver (Gari Scott and Plaxico Burress), quarterback (Bill Burke), linebacker (Julian Peterson, Mike Austin, and Shawn Wright), and in the secondary (Amp Cambell and Aric Morris). In short, their biggest shoes to fill are in the skill positions where speed is of greatest importance.
I didn’t get a chance to watch the Missouri game Saturday night, but I was certainly not impressed with the final score. Missouri had gotten whipped at the hands of Clemson the week before (62-9), and the most glaring difference between the teams was speed. Missouri hung close with the Spartans and even appeared to outplay them at times, but ultimately the better team won 13-10. Statistically, Michigan St. had a poor night in all respects, giving up over 200 yards passing and throwing for a poor 10-24. Sure, the game was on the road and they were probably looking a week ahead, but it was nonetheless an unimpressive outing.
I think that we have a speed advantage going into this game, and I think we need to take advantage of it. Offensively, I can understand why the play-calling was so conservative against Purdue. However, if we just line up and run it into the Spartans, we will lose. They want us to do just that. They would love to win the game by controlling the line of scrimmage and pounding away with T.J. Duckett. I think that Kevin Rogers has to and will open it up a little bit this weekend. As I mentioned before, State gave up 242 yards passing to Missouri and lost the two best members of their secondary from last season. Regardless of what many outsiders may think, Notre Dame has a talented and speedy group of receivers, and we must get them the ball down the field. The Spartans will surely start out the game with eight guys in the box, and we are going to need to spread them out. I would suggest coming out in three wide receiver sets and trying to throw the ball—this will force their defense to play us honest and will open up opportunities to run the ball later.
Defensively, I would basically do to the Spartans what the Boilermakers and Cornhuskers did to us. I don’t know what the status of quarterback Ryan Van Dyke is, but Jeff Smoker played this weekend and played a good portion of the Marshall game. Smoker is a true freshman, and I would go after him at every opportunity. T.J. Duckett is a big, bruising tailback in much the same mold as Ron Dayne. He won’t get a lot of big runs early, but they will pound you and pound you and eventually pound you to death. They lost a lot of talent at receiver, and our cornerbacks and safeties played surprisingly well against the vaunted passing attack of Purdue—much of which was in man-to-man coverage. I think we can and should line up in man-to-man on the corners and stack the line in anticipation of the run. In passing situations, I would bring it and go after Smoker at every opportunity. One of the biggest keys for a defense is to try to dictate to the offense as to what they should run. Against Purdue, by playing tight man coverage, we took Purdue’s short passing attack away from them and they consequently had a rather poor offensive performance. Michigan St. wants to beat you running the ball, and I think we should try to make them beat us throwing it. If they beat us with their passing, fine, but I don’t want to see Duckett beating us. Judging by our run-stopping performances against A & M and Nebraska, I am confident that we can shut down the Spartans.
I think Notre Dame has probably had the best special teams unit in the nation thus far, and we will once again need a superb effort. Again, I think we have a speed advantage and I imagine that we will have a few opportunities to break returns against them. This game will probably be relatively low scoring, and in those type of games field position is key. If we can win the battle of field position, we will win the game. However, this will be easier said than done, as punter Craig Jarrett was First Team Big Ten a season ago and netted an amazing 40.2 yards per punt. If we can break a few big ones, we will win.
From the standpoint of the big picture, this football game is every bit as big as the last three have been. A win in this game puts us in the Top 15 nationally headed into a bye week with three wins over ranked opponents. A loss will allow the vultures to once again being circling over Bob Davie’s head and will leave the players emotionally distraught with two weeks to think about it. We all remember what happened two years ago in East Lansing, and a repeat would be devastating.
After the last second win against the 12th ranked Purdue Boilermakers, the Irish have to be oozing with confidence. The defense and special teams have been outstanding and there is no reason to think that they will not continue to be so. However, we are going to have to start moving the ball if we want to keep winning. If we can become somewhat of a force on offense, running the table and an elite bowl bid are very possible. I think these Irish know what is at stake this weekend, and I think they will be every bit as focused, determined, and inspired as they have been for the last three weeks. My prediction: Irish win by two touchdowns.