Griffiths: Irish good, but how good? Some perspective on Notre Dame

admin September 24, 2012 0

By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Correspondent

We know Notre Dame at 4-0 is off to its best start in a decade and its program is ranked among the nation’s top 10 for the first time since 2006.

However, after watching Saturday night’s game between Notre Dame and Michigan, two top-20 teams at the time, I left Notre Dame Stadium wondering, “If those are two of college football’s best teams, what does that say about the state of college football this season?”

Well, one look at the preseason rankings might give us the answer. Other than Alabama, LSU and Oregon, many teams are proving to be overrated. USC started No. 1 and saw its title hopes dashed by Stanford. Oklahoma was fourth and the Sooners came crashing down to Earth thanks to Kansas State. Michigan was eighth and now enters Big Ten play at 2-2. At No. 10 was Arkansas, and today the Razorbacks sit at 1-3, losers of three straight.

Notre Dame’s poll position has been greatly enhanced by some of those aforementioned teams’ early-season struggles. The Irish started the season unranked in the Associated Press poll, but they have soared up the rankings in just one month.

No doubt at 4-0, Notre Dame is one of college football’s surprising teams this season. And just maybe the Irish are a top-10 caliber team. Their defense certainly looks the part and is putting up numbers warranting such high acclaim.

Notre Dame is currently fourth nationally in scoring defense, permitting a mere 9.0 points per game. Plus, its run defense, pass defense and total defense numbers all rank among the nation’s top-25.

We knew this Irish defense would be good and it seems to be getting better with each game. What was concerning about the Michigan game was how inept the offense seemed to be.

Perhaps such growing pains are to be expected from a unit under the direction of a first-year starting quarterback in Everett Golson. He spoiled Irish fans with his improving play against Navy, Purdue and Michigan State.

Now it seems if Golson makes a mistake, he’ll be pulled in favor of Tommy Rees. Needless to say, uncertainty at the quarterback position isn’t a good ingredient for a team with BCS aspirations.

Entering the season, Irish coach Brian Kelly had a feeling his defense might have to carry the team until the offense got up to speed. The problem is the offense is still pretty much in neutral.

Kelly knows that and isn’t denying that his offense has a ways to go.

We need to continue to get better on offense, there’s no question, he said.

We’ve left a lot of points out there that are there for the taking, and it’s not just the quarterback. It’s the right tackle or the left guard, it’s the wide receiver. We just need to gain a sense of consistency on the offensive side of the ball. We just have to hone in on everybody doing their job.

Perhaps the bye week comes at a perfect time for the struggling offense.

If the offense continues to bog down, however, the pressure will remain on the defense to continue to win games. That’s not all bad either as long as the Irish continue to do a good job of taking care of the ball.

Currently Notre Dame is fifth nationally in turnover margin with 13 takeaways and just four giveaways. This season the Irish have won the turnover battle in every game.

That statistic, along with the defensive numbers, is why Notre Dame is unbeaten as the offensive numbers tell a completely different story.

Notre Dame doesn’t rank better than 84th nationally in rushing, passing, total offense or scoring. Cause for concern? You bet.

And there’s cause for concern that the Irish have generated just 20, 20 and 13 points, respectively in their last three games.

I’m trying not to be overly critical about the Irish’s perfect start, but when a team forces six turnovers and only wins by seven points, something is wrong. That was the case Saturday night, but the Irish were happy to beat Michigan and Denard Robinson finally and they should be, ugly win and all.

So a third into the regular season, the Irish have put themselves in position to make a run at a BCS bowl.

Notre Dame has positioned itself for no worse than a 9-3 season as Stanford, Oklahoma and USC seem to be the only teams left on the schedule that have a realistic shot at beating the Irish. Without question, they’re the only teams remaining that can actually score 20 or more points against Notre Dame’s suffocating defense, a defense that hasn’t allowed more than 17 points in a game thus far.

Notre Dame’s defense is good, very good. Barring injury it will continue to be just that. And if the Irish offense gets things figured out, look out.