1. The first thing I noticed was the attitude of the players and staff on game day. In the not-so-good ole days of Weis; his leadership lacked the "spunk" they needed. Instead of playing like it's a job, the squad seemed like they were having the time of their life, and excited to play the game and do well and win.
2. Conditioning, conditioning, and more conditioning. The whole roster (with the exception of a few) is in the best shape of their lives, thanks to strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo. The system Longo gives the players is a top secret matter, but the results are no secret at all. Saturday's game almost seemed like the past five years, when the third quarter comes, the players are too fatigued to finish strong. It seemed that they were falling into this same rut once again, but I was pleased to see the team pull through, and finish like a Notre Dame team should. Kudos to coach Longo!
3. I was impressed by Crist's first career start. He didn't force any passes, but there were two times where an interception was almost made. Dayne seemed a little uncomfortable at times, and it showed in four sacks. But I give Crist the benefit of the doubt that he is a noob, but still clear headed; not making too many mistakes.
4. I was surprised from the amount of rushing plays the Irish carried out, coming from a pass-first offensive style. I won't bitch about it, 25 carries between Armando Allen and Cierre Wood for a total of 151 yards rushing--great compared to previous years with rushing woes. I liked the way the Irish controlled the tempo of the game, slowing it up at times, and also marching down the field when they needed to.
5. I knew this defense would be improved from last season, but Saturday's defense performance was solid to say the very least. The secondary didn't allow any passes over 16 yards (haven't been able to say that in a while). I was surprised in the blitz packages that defensive coach Bob Diaco had ordered. I had first thought that Diaco's philosophy was primarily to contain the opposing offense, rather than a more aggressive approach. The D-line seemed hungry to sack Purdue's QB Robert Marve, and flushed him out of the pocket too many times to count. Corners Gary Gray and Darrin Walls seemed to be everywhere creating havoc wherever they went, even making tackles for loss on corner blitzes.
6. I am most proud from the performance of the special teams. Great return coverage, great returns, great field goal kicker in David Ruffer who, by the way, is now a perfect 8 for 8 on place kicking in his collegiate career, including a 46 yard goal. We knew that Ruffer had a hell of a leg, but accuracy we were not so sure about. It seems that the friendly competition for the number one spot from teammate Nick Tausch--last year's starter did David good. I was pleased to see plenty of the freshman class get involved on special teams, making key blocks and tackles; it is exciting to see the next batch of starters begin to develop and flourish.
I wish I could go more in depth than this, but shit happens. If you have any questions about Notre Dame Football, feel free to ask via a comment, and I will give you an answer, or at least my scholarly opinion; Peace Domers!
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