IBG – Dreaming Big in 2011

The Irish Blog Gathering returns for the 2011 with the first installment for the new season.

For those of you unfamiliar with the IBG, each week a Notre Dame blog comes up with a set of questions and a panel of esteemed Irish bloggers answers them on their individual websites.  The IBG is entering it’s third season now and is the brain child of Subway Domer.  The pre-season edition this year is being hosted by Her Loyal Sons – head over there to see some of the other responses once you’re done here.

1. Go to youtube, pick a song that a) applies to your life in some way and b) will serve as the unofficial 2011 Fighting Irish Football Anthem. Extra points if you entirely avoid any band with members born in Ireland. Disqualification for any use of Freekbass. Embed the video for that song in your answers and explain why it’s so fitting under both qualifications A and B.

I saw this montage a few years back and watch it every now and then when I need a quick sports fix.  Aerosmith’s “Dream On” is an appropriate theme for the 2011 season too because Notre Dame has a chance for a great season this year if everything falls into place for them.  This song also reminds me of the movie Miracle – one of the greatest sports movies ever made along with Hooosiers and Rudy.

2. Now that you’ve got your unofficial anthem rocking the home office, predict the single biggest play, positive or negative for the Irish, that will occur this season in a Notre Dame football game. Color this prediction with situation, players involved, opposing team, and even weather conditions. It’s the pre-season. Let’s see what your imaginations are doing.

Dayne Crist drops back to pass.  He scrambles right to avoid the blitz from STANFORD PLAYER NAME and spots Michael Floyd breaking free from coverage round the Stanford 20.  Crist fires a strike to Floyd who hauls in the pass, stiff arms the Stanford safety and trots into the end zone to give Notre Dame a 28-24 lead over Stanford with less than a minute remaining to complete an undefeated regular season.

How’s that for dreaming?

3. I’m a fan of the cinematic hit, “Kicking and Screaming.” I know, it’s a film you all love too. So naturally we’d all like to re-live that moment when they’re playing “Would You Rather.” So let’s do so: Would you rather suffer a humiliating loss to Michigan this year, or a humiliating loss to Southern Cal? Why? And stop eyeing that chicken across the street, perv.

Yikes. Hopefully the idea of losing badly to either USC or Michigan this year stays in the hypothetical, but if I had to pick which I could endure more I’ll go with USC for practical reasons.  My feelings towards either of Notre Dame’s top rivals aside, a humiliating loss to Michigan would be much tougher for Notre Dame to overcome on the recruiting trail.

Michigan is doing very well on the recruiting front under new head coach Brady Hoke and a big win over Notre Dame in prime time could push their class to the next level and could derail Notre Dame’s.  On paper, this is a game that Notre Dame should win.  Despite suffering the last second loss to the Wolverines last year, Notre Dame will enter this year’s game more highly ranked and in the second year of the Kelly Era while Michigan will be breaking into new offenses and defenses this year in year one of the Hoke era.  Simply put, Notre Dame has to win this game and just cannot even come close to suffering a humiliating loss at the hands of Michigan to keep the positive momentum from the end of 2010 going.

When it comes to USC, the Trojans still have a lot of very talented players on their roster and a humiliating loss to them would at least be a little easier to overcome from a recruiting standpoint.

After being practical here, I remembered that I’ll be at the USC game this year and now for selfish reasons I might have to change my answer here.

4. Great teams require leadership, and with Notre Dame being the only truly national college football program in the country, a great Notre Dame football team requires national leaders. So pick one. Name a player on the Irish roster in 2011 who will lead the nation in a particular, official NCAA category. Also specify how much he’ll lead the nation by indicating his national rank in that category. Note: You must be predicting this leader to finish at least as high as 10th in the nation in your chosen category. Bonus Points: Don’t pick David Ruffer – the best player on the Irish Roster.

Ok, the easiest choice here would be Michael Floyd in any major receiving category.  Yards, catches, touchdowns – take your pick. I’m not going to take the easy route here though so I’ll go with Darius Fleming – tackles for loss.

Fleming has led the Irish in tackles for loss the past two seasons and now that he is finally getting the chance to enter a season without having to learn a new defense, his comfort level should allow him to elevate his game even more.  Both Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco have been singing Fleming’s praises in the early stages of training camp. If what both of the Irish coaches have said is any indication, Fleming is in store for a monster season at a position designed to create big plays.

5. You’ve already done more parsing of Brian Kelly’s words than is healthy since he first took a podium in this pre-season. What’s the single most surprising thing he’s said in that time?

I was most surprised by Kelly saying that Bennett Jackson has had “moments of greatest” at corner already in camp.  It’s not surprising that Jackson could be a great player – he’s a truly gifted athlete who was a standout on special teams last year.  What is surprising is that he is making an impact this soon after changing positions from wide receiver to corner in the spring.

I’ve written a bit this pre-season about how the depth at running back has me concerned and I feel the same way on the defensive side of the ball at corner.  After Robert Blanton and Gary Gray, Notre Dame is really short on experienced depth at the position.  Lo Wood played some corner last year, but other than him Notre Dame only has Jackson and the freshmen providing depth.

If Jackson can continue to impress the coaches and get more consistent along the way, it’ll go a long way in shoring up one of the few holes the Irish defense may have in 2011.

Not to get too far ahead of myself with the 2011 season still three weeks away, but in looking ahead to 2012 when Notre Dame will have to replace both Gray and Blanton it makes Jackson’s development that much more important this fall.