I was wondering if anyone thought the Irish improved this season?

i thought individual players improved, most notably, and somewhat obviously, the freshmen who got significant time.

 

but there's no question that people like wegner, hughes, JC, kamera, neal, smith, williams, brockington, walls, bruton, even schwapp got better during the course of the year to my eyes.

The key to next season is the offensive line. Its hard to evaluate Clausen or anyone on the offense with this offensive line.

i thought individual players improved, most notably, and somewhat obviously, the freshmen who got significant time.

 

but there's no question that people like wegner, hughes, JC, kamera, neal, smith, williams, brockington, walls, bruton, even schwapp got better during the course of the year to my eyes.

 

I agree with all of those players with the enormous exception of Schwapp there BI. Honestly, I truly believe he is one of the WORST FB's we've ever had here. Another fumble yesterday. Another "we need 2 freaking feet and our 260 lbs FB BARELY gets it." He can't catch. He can't run. He's proven all year that he can't block. And he fumbles. I guess when you are that bad even the most basic success could be considered improvement.

 

I thought Kamara played great yesterday. Obviously Hughes did. Clausen not so much. The line...still very bad. I thought that Sam Young had a HORRIBLE game yesterday. Trevor Laws is unreal.

Zibby played a good game yesterday. I dont think Clausen was bad, but he needs to throw the ball away and work on his deep ball.

Schwapp is garbage...

Schwapp is garbage...

Yea, is he comin back next year? I would hate to see that.

I agree with Philly about th Oline an trying to evaluate anyone.

 

We have sort of wait till Weis talks to the Pat Guys. He then said he would sit down with coaches aplayers and evaluate them. The team did appear less dejected from some previous games and as others havsaid now know what it is to win.We get into the IF situation.

 

If the team gets more used to working as a tea, IF those, Jimmy and West go to the weight room and gains sme more musle an strengtf. If from the actual plying time their lerning curve goes up and finally IF some of the incoming recruits can as well contribute play as freshmen then it's a bright day.

 

I won't go into number of wins and losses but it's important not to dig a hole in the first half and not collapse in the second half an dand IF we lose some at least keep the score as close as is possible, avoiding those blowouts.

Schwapp is garbage...

Yea, is he comin back next year? I would hate to see that.

 

me too. I'm sorry BI, but i completely disagree with that choice. Schwapp has not improved and shouldn't have that starting job. Weis should have allowed Schmidt to try it out.

It's going to be hard to assess whether they truly improved throughout the season or if the schedule made it appear that way.

 

The team certainly played better over the last couple of weeks, but they were also up against their weakest competition. I think in some ways, that could have given them some false hope about their rate of improvement.

 

That said though, confidence is a crucial component of winning. So maybe just being victorious and seeing that they can win, has given them confidence to actually do it. So much of sports is mental....

 

There is another factor to think about, and that is the personnel changes. I believe that some of the success we experienced later in the season was a result of playing Darrin Walls, Brian Smith, Robert Hughes and some of the other younger players that weren't seeing the field early in the season.

 

When you look at individual improvement, I do believe that we have seen individual players take major steps forward. I think Jimmy Clausen is one of those players. He has taken some major strides this year, and I think that his benching is one of the best things that happened to him this year. But he does have a long way to go. He needs to learn to get rid of the ball and make better decisions sometimes.

 

I also think that Charlie Weis has improved as a coach. He has been forced to deal with some situations that he has never had to deal with before, and he has adapted. Out of all the players and coaches, I think that Charlie learned more from this season than anyone.

 

I do believe that this is a better team than the one that took the field against Georgia Tech. But they still have a long way to go. Charlie had better make the most of this off-season, because anything less than a 5 game improvement next year will probably be detrimental to his employment status.

I also think that Charlie Weis has improved as a coach. He has been forced to deal with some situations that he has never had to deal with before, and he has adapted. Out of all the players and coaches, I think that Charlie learned more from this season than anyone.

 

How have other successful NFL coaches/coordinators done their first three years as HC in college? Any history of a difficult transition?

I found this on the topic.

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/663096,CST-SPT-nd22.article

great find John

Great points.

im not sure where i read it but this quote is 110% true about Schwapp "Bicep's don't get yards". also they obviously cant block and hold onto the football

Schwapp is garbage...

Yea, is he comin back next year? I would hate to see that.

 

look, no one was harder than i on schwapp BUT look at the game film, guys! he's been blocking a lot better and was one of the key blocks on hughes' first big run.

 

yes, he fumbles too much but he's improved as blocker. i wish we on this board would look a little harder at our opinions and be willing to amend or even change them as the evidence presents itself. it seems too often we get stuck on an opinion of a guy early on and that's it. our opinion calcifies and nothing they can do short of being spectacular will change our minds.

Unfortunately I think the performance by the offense yesterday only beats about two teams on this year's schedule. Does that show improvement? I don't think it does--especially since turnovers and penalties are what plagued us at the beginning of the year. The turnovers and penalties are what killed the drives even in the GT game. We would move the ball and then have a fumble or penalty that took the offense off the field. This continued throughout the season.

 

I agree that the young players and individual performances have improved, but stringing together effective offensive drives is a rarity and luckily their kicker had an off day yesterday or the turnovers would have cost us the game. I still maintain this is a coaching and teaching problem.

 

To tell you the truth I was hoping for a much better performance yesterday and despite the win I am kind of disheartened by the overall progress of the team this year. I was hoping that the team could show better improvement over the weaker final 4 opponents. Hopefully in the off season our coaching staff will find the answer because the individual talent is definitely there and was demonstrated in the last few games.

Unfortunately I think the performance by the offense yesterday only beats about two teams on this year's schedule. Does that show improvement? I don't think it does--especially since turnovers and penalties are what plagued us at the beginning of the year. The turnovers and penalties are what killed the drives even in the GT game. We would move the ball and then have a fumble or penalty that took the offense off the field. This continued throughout the season.

 

I agree that the young players and individual performances have improved, but stringing together effective offensive drives is a rarity and luckily their kicker had an off day yesterday or the turnovers would have cost us the game. I still maintain this is a coaching and teaching problem.

 

To tell you the truth I was hoping for a much better performance yesterday and despite the win I am kind of disheartened by the overall progress of the team this year. I was hoping that the team could show better improvement over the weaker final 4 opponents. Hopefully in the off season our coaching staff will find the answer because the individual talent is definitely there and was demonstrated in the last few games.

 

fair enough, but with such young players in key spots the only thing they are going to be consistent in is being inconsistent! you have to realize that that mitigates all discussion of improvement, etc.

 

i'm sorta surprised by so many being down after this win. a win is a win, folks and considering the horrible calls mixed with the worst case of "homer field" i've EVER seen, for young struggling team to gut out this win is impressive to me. winning two in row when you had NOTHING going for you and near ZERO confidence is nothing to sneeze at, IMO...

Schwapp is garbage...

Yea, is he comin back next year? I would hate to see that.

 

look, no one was harder than i on schwapp BUT look at the game film, guys! he's been blocking a lot better and was one of the key blocks on hughes' first big run.

 

yes, he fumbles too much but he's improved as blocker. i wish we on this board would look a little harder at our opinions and be willing to amend or even change them as the evidence presents itself. it seems too often we get stuck on an opinion of a guy early on and that's it. our opinion calcifies and nothing they can do short of being spectacular will change our minds.

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly blackirish.

 

I can't speak for this board so much because I am fairly new to DD and tend to gravitate toward several different Irish sites and forums on the net. There is however one board in particular that needs to hear that.

 

I have been hard on Asaph as well, but I do agree that he has improved in the pass blocking department.

 

Still, the fumbles are unacceptable. It's partially his fault for not figuring out how to use all that strength on securing the ball a little better. And part of it is on the coaches for continuing to call his number in the running game. There have been games this season where Allen and Hughes haven't even touched the ball yet Schwapp has had several categories.

 

I have been Charlie Weis' biggest supporter, and I rarely say a critical thing about him, but his loyalty to Schwapp baffles me.

 

If Schwapp was used strictly to plow the road for his running backs, he would be considered one of the best. We would praise him weekly. But he doesn't seem to have the hands to be a regular ball carrier.

 

If that changes in the future and he makes some adjustments and learns to improve on his ball carrying, I will be among the first to congratulate him and admit that I was overly critical.

Zibby played a good game yesterday. I dont think Clausen was bad, but he needs to throw the ball away and work on his deep ball.

 

I whole-heartedly agree. I can't tell you how many times I yelled at the TV yesterday when Clausen would scramble, not find anyone downfield, and just run out of bounds for an 6-9 yard loss! I was sooo mad. Our offense struggles enough to pick up 10 yards in three downs, now all the sudden he feels the need to run out of bounds when all he has to do is throw it into the 20th row, putting our offense in an even bigger hole!!! What's so hard about throwing it away??? Is he worried about poor completion precentage or what? That absolutely drove me nuts yesterday.

 

Also, on the deep balls, his arm must not be 100% yet. It's that or he doesnt have a big time arm. He underthrew our receivers on several deep throws. To me, it seems he "floats" the ball way too much rather than throwing it on a line. Hopefully its a health thing and not a lack or arm. Time will tell.

Unfortunately I think the performance by the offense yesterday only beats about two teams on this year's schedule. Does that show improvement? I don't think it does--especially since turnovers and penalties are what plagued us at the beginning of the year. The turnovers and penalties are what killed the drives even in the GT game. We would move the ball and then have a fumble or penalty that took the offense off the field. This continued throughout the season.

 

I agree that the young players and individual performances have improved, but stringing together effective offensive drives is a rarity and luckily their kicker had an off day yesterday or the turnovers would have cost us the game. I still maintain this is a coaching and teaching problem.

 

To tell you the truth I was hoping for a much better performance yesterday and despite the win I am kind of disheartened by the overall progress of the team this year. I was hoping that the team could show better improvement over the weaker final 4 opponents. Hopefully in the off season our coaching staff will find the answer because the individual talent is definitely there and was demonstrated in the last few games.

 

fair enough, but with such young players in key spots the only thing they are going to be consistent in is being inconsistent! you have to realize that that mitigates all discussion of improvement, etc.

 

i'm sorta surprised by so many being down after this win. a win is a win, folks and considering the horrible calls mixed with the worst case of "homer field" i've EVER seen, for young struggling team to gut out this win is impressive to me. winning two in row when you had NOTHING going for you and near ZERO confidence is nothing to sneeze at, IMO...

 

Here's the problem with Schwapp though BI, for every block that you can show me that he made, I can find two where he blew it. The guy has had plenty of reps to figure this out by now. Plain and simple, either Schmidt is really bad, not up to speed, one or both, OR Charlie is just too stubborn to change the fullback spot. Again, it's not like Schwapp is good or anything. Please tell me you don't think the kid is actually good?