Interview with Chris Zorich

I have been to every Notre Dame USC game that has been played in Los Angeles since I was a new born.I was born in 1957 so it been a great ride.I love this game every year win or lose. But what I saw this time was an embarressing lack of effort of the Offensive Coaching Staff and O-Line and the lack of heart and hustle. The tackeling was horrible too for a lot of the game. It has become so bad that Tom Hammond and more so Pat Haden were actually laughing at this Notre Dame teams lack of effort and care and listless. You can not use the word quit here. Because that would mean this team had started to play great to begin with. This never happened Saturday.This Irish Staff and Team did not show up.

From you candor Aaron I feel that you speak the best by far about Notre Dame of the web sites. You do not go into blasting other schools or coaches and or other teams or players. You focus on Notre Dame and what needs to be done with Notre Dame. It is a mature grown up way to debate and it also means you do not suger coat things.

I wonder if Coach Weis ever got in a fist fight in his life. That is what football is and that is what the leader of the team needs to remember. It is not an x and o's game. That is basketball. Not football. When a young man gets into a fist fight he is most likely going to get tagged real hard a few times in the mouth. Most likely knocked down to the ground too. That is why fist fighting was okay for boys in the olde days. Because if you got you ass whipped in the begiing you learned to get back up bloody lip and nose and to fight back. I am not a great Coach at all. But even in Coaching my Pop Warner teams you had to teach the kids that in football you are going to get blasted on every play by your opponant.That the team that wins or that the players who are going to get to play the most are the ones who get back up after getting knocked down to bounce back up and still make a tackle or block. Our guys are getting knocked down on plays and staying down. That is from Coaching and over all attitude. The Offense Line hits like little girls playing patty cake. Lets face it they have not guts. Teams simply hit them once and then run around or over them on every single play. That really when it comes down to it if you like to hit and be hit then football is for you. It seems like Weis likes to Coach football where the players don't get hit. To finesse their way thru.
If the kids don;t like contact then they should not play football. David Bruton loves contact. Trevor Laws loves contact. Marurice Crum loves contact,Kerry Neals loves contact,Darren Walls loves contact,young Mr.Smith loves contact. That is coming from our new DC. Thank goodness for him.

Who on offense loves contact? Assap Swapp should be a pulling guard. He has hands of concrete. He is not a RB/FB.

Hey Brady Quinn liked contact.So did,Terry Hanratty, Joe Theisman,Tom Clements,Joe Montana ,Steve Buerlien,Tony Rice & Rick Mirer, even Julius Jones did as QB's. They led with their guts and made the most of their talent.
Where is the team leadership on this team?

They were team leaders and no one ever questioned their teams heart and wanting to play football the way it has to be played to win. Smash Mouth and 100% effort. Notre Dame has always been known for playing with heart and passion. Where is it.

This team owes it to the School,Fans,Coaches,Alums and their scholarships to play with 100% heart and effort and hit someone. They will be remembered for quitting on Saturday by true Irish fans. Can our Irish find their guts and beat a good Navy team. Or will Weis add a loss to Navy to his resume that is adding up in the wrong column. I tell you this . Navy will play with guts and passion,no matter the talent level differnce.

My USC friends think ND quit Saturday. I had two brothers at the game with friends and I was talking to them via cell phone and they are both Double Domers and they were right. The old 77 team could suit up and have at least got a TD or two.

Does this team care anymore? Charlie you had find a way to fire up your team. Losses happen. The talent might be down. But you knew this three years ago. You should have made things a lot better than this. You need to get out in front of this and not write this season off. You have a bye to find yours and the teams guts. You had better be hitting for two weeks in practice. Or some team with a 30 to 50 pound weight diffence with no 4 or 5 stars players is going to come into Notre Dame Stadium and kick your ass between your shoulders. When that happens then the manure will really be flying with your name on it.

Find your Guts 2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. You have guts. Right next to your heart. Make it happen and Go Irish

Aaron and Johnny,

I love your service with this new blog. I write to ask you, Aaron, two questions that could follow up on Coach Pagna's comments about the OLine that came out last week in the "Southbend Tribune." When asked to reflect about our woes on offense, the venerable teacher stated:

' ''I've said it over and over, they have size, they have speed, they have talent. What is it they lack?."
Pagna said it's tied to blocking schemes. Too few. Too simplistic.
"That's why you've got no running attack," Pagna said. "Frankly, all you do is block one-on-one. As a defensive lineman, that doesn't challenge me. Hell, I'll fight the guy in front of me all day long, and I'll win my share.
"However, if I have to worry about being trap-blocked, being double-teamed, somebody posting me, somebody driving me, somebody reaching me and hooking me, somebody cutting me off, all the various blocks that come into play, now I'm not nearly as aggressive on defense as the teams have been against Notre Dame this season.
"There might have been eight to 10 blocks we used to work on with our linemen daily, because you needed all of them. And I think truthfully, whether Charlie wants to admit it or not, by him eliminating the contact part of the sport early on this fall and in the spring, it's cost him. Now he's trying to go back and do the physical part, and it's kind of late. These blocking schemes, the physical stuff, the offensive problems aren't something you can fix in the middle of the season. It'll be an important offseason for Charlie. [. . .]" '

What do you specifically surmise— outside the lack of batting practice— that we are failing to execute with technique, with stance, or with schemes?

And, how much of this failure is actually on coaching?

Thank you, Aaron,
--Aidan

It is pretty clear by now that charlie worked under Bill Belichek's direction and only under his direction. charlie has no idea how to prepair for an upcoming opp. or how to fix what is broken. THE OFFENSIVE LINE !!!. This is were you come in LOU. charlie can't make correct decisions on his own. He needs to work for somebody not for himself. The defense has been making improvements every week. Thanks so much Corwin.The defense is headed in the right direction and will be an awsome unit in the near future. But charlie needs a lot of help,LOU.

GOD,Notre Dame,Country
Mike

Something needs to be done. Coach Weis is clueless with this young team. They are not 38 points worse than USC. We can't keep blaming Davieham for this debacle. There are plenty of coaching decisions to put blame on as well. I don't think that Lou would be in this situation. I feel embarrassed for the team. I feel let down by all of the "tough talk" from Coach Weis. I don't believe the excuse that the "talent level isn't there" Running the ball would help. Not in the 4th quarter but in the 1st quarter. To heck with the NFL style passing game, this is college ball. We need to pound the ball and punish the opposition. I did love Digger's Pep talk. God, after that speech I wanted to go and fight people! I would bet dollar's to doughnuts that that speech was more than Charlie ever gave. May the Holy Mother help us.
God Bless and Good Night All
Mike Clifford
AKA Papaglyde