Looking back...
The great thing about the internet is that once somebody writes something, it's there for good. In 100 years, my great-grandchildren will be Googling their last name, only to find out how big of a nerd I was with this blog shortly before being named head coach at Notre Dame. Anyways, last summer I made some bold predictions, which turned out to be some of the dumbest stuff ever written...even dumber than The View's Sherri Shepherd. Let's just get this over with:
Bold Prediction #1: Konrad Reuland will have more receptions than John Carlson
Konrad Reuland transferred in September and John Carlson was our leading receiver. This has to be the dumbest prediction I've ever made, although I contend that my reasoning was okay. I thought Carlson would be double teamed throughout most of the games and that someone else would be able to take some of his catches. It turned out that we didn't have a QB who felt the need to pass the ball to Carlson and with regards to Reuland, good luck elsewhere.
Bold Prediction #2: There will be three true freshman starting by the end of the year
Aha! I got one right. By my count, 7 freshmen started at some point this season (Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Robert Hughes, Duval Kamara, Ian Williams, Brian Smith, and Kerry Neal), which is still pretty unbelievable for a Division I school - and unlike most schools, we don't count redshirt freshmen. Assuming we can put together some kind of offensive line, the young guys on the offense should be really fun to watch over the next few years. Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Hughes, and Kamara all looked terrific at times for freshmen and when you throw in guys like Mike Ragone and Golden Tate, you've got some weapons there. It's sad, but encouraging for the future, that we relied more heavily on freshmen than seniors.
Bold Prediction #3: Mark May will make some asinine prediction about us losing our first 6 games
Mark May, you were wrong again. We lost our first 5 games before somehow pulling off a win versus UCLA. Try again next season, Mr. May.
Bold Prediction #4: Corwin Brown will be mentioned in several coaching searches following the season
The Brown euphoria has slowly worn off, although I still think he had a decent first season as defensive coordinator. We were ranked 43rd in defense this year, which was higher than last year and pretty good considering how bad our offense was and how much more they had to be on the field. We were terrible in rush defense, coming in at 95th in the nation, but that can be expected with middle linebackers the size of safeties. Overall, I still believe that Corwin Brown was an excellent choice and I do believe he'll be a head coach in short order. He's too talented of a coach and a recruiter (has to be one of the best in the nation) to not get a shot somewhere down the line. Now if we could only find an offensive coordinator like that...
Bold Prediction #5: Armando Allen will be the most electrifying player ND has had since the Rocket
I've admitted it before, I have a man-crush on Armando. He was decent this year, which is to be expected of a freshman - even the heavyweights like Joe McKnight weren't exactly lighting the world of fire. He was outshined by fellow freshman Robert Hughes, but looking to the future, those two, along with Aldridge, should form a fantastic rotation of running backs. If we can't run the football with those guys, Latina should be sent for the peewee leagues.
Looking back at the post I made in July, there were a number of comments from our readers with their own predictions. Our friend Dan had these predictions, which actually turned out to be pretty good (2 out of 3):
1. Aldridge will have more carries than TT in the last 6 games of the season.
2. Crum will not be the best LB on the team by the end of the year.
3. Tom Coughlin will get fired and Weis will be rumored to get the Giants job.
Aldridge didn't have a problem outdoing TT's 9 carries over the last 6 games (4 of which went for touchdowns...don't get me started), Brian Smith and Joe Brockington both outplayed Crum in my opinion, and the only one he hasn't gotten right (and probably won't) is the last one. Meanwhile, CW came through with these predictions:
1. The Irish win in Michigan- The Wolverines just seem a little overrated and a little vulnerable going into the season. Granted, a lot of this depends on how the Irish youth rises or falls, but I think it's winnable.
2. Darrin Walls starts at corner by mid-October- As I have no faith at all in either Lambert or Wooden. I wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised, though.
3. Tom Zbikowsi is a first team All-American- He was third team last year after being pretty awful most of the season, so why not?
Let's see how he did. We lost 38-0 at Michigan, Darrin Walls started the first game I believe, and Tom Zbikowski was probably nowhere near an All-American list this year (although I think he played pretty decently all things considered). 1/3 for Mr. CW.
I'm not sure what these predictions say about us except that it might mean that Notre Dame kids are dumber after they graduate than they are at the beginning of their education. I blame the booze. And the bad seasons of football.
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