ESPN College Football Preview 2008

Originally Published: August 15, 2008

Notre Dame looking to turn the corner after disappointing 2007 campaign

Comment Email Print Share

By Graham Watson
ESPN.com
Archive

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Charlie Weis doesn't want to hear about 2007.

[+] Enlarge

Matt Cashore/US PreswireCharlie Weis is making big changes that he hopes will turn his program around.

Wipe it off the books, tear out the pages in the almanac; Navy still hasn't beaten Notre Dame in 43 years. To Weis and the Irish, 2007 might as well have been a figment of their imaginations.

"We're not saying one word about last season," Weis said before the team's opening day of fall camp. "It's August 2008. There is not one word. You will not hear one word out of anyone about 2007. It's August 2008."

Who can blame Notre Dame for wanting to forget the school's worst season since 1963?

The Irish struggled to 3-9, had the nation's worst scoring offense, allowed an NCAA-worst 58 sacks and were near the bottom in several other national offensive and defensive categories.

Freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen spent much of the season hobbled because of his porous offensive line, and the running game averaged 75.25 yards per game, which was 50 yards fewer than any of the past 60 seasons.

The Irish opened the year 0-5, with every loss coming by double digits. The 3-9 campaign was the first losing season since 2003, and only the 13th in school history.

Although significant changes have been made to separate this Notre Dame team from the 2007 version, there's no telling whether any of them will make Notre Dame better than it was a year ago.

Sixteen starters return from last year's team, including nine who made appearances as true freshmen last season. Nine of the top 10 players from the nation's worst offensive line also return, as does Clausen and the team's three leading rushers.

But does a year older make this team a year better?

The bulk of the schedule is built to instill confidence and ensure success for a youthful team that hasn't experienced much of either. The Irish will clash with six teams that had losing records last season: San Diego State (4-8), Stanford (4-8), North Carolina (4-8), Washington (4-9), Pittsburgh (5-7) and Syracuse (2-10), and none will provide an accurate picture of whether Notre Dame is an improved team.

The answer to that question might come in the second week of their season, when the Irish host Michigan -- and even then, it might not be cut-and-dried.

Michigan is one of two preseason ranked teams on the Irish schedule, the weakest in Weis' four-year tenure, but the Wolverines are a question mark with a new coaching staff and a new system.

However, there are tangible steps this team can take toward restoring its fabled tradition, and they're both on offense.

[+] Enlarge

Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesJimmy Clausen returns for his second year as the Irish's starting quarterback.

Clausen -- the nation's No. 1 recruit in 2007 and the supposed savior of the Irish program -- is the player face of this program, and oftentimes last year, he was its goat. He put on 20 pounds this offseason, got a new haircut (which is no haircut at all), and said he's ready to assume the role of Notre Dame's full-time starter.

"You get a lot of praise when you're the quarterback of Notre Dame winning games -- you get too much praise, you know, and then when you lose a game, you get too much blame about it," Clausen said. "That's what I like. That's why I came to Notre Dame. You're in the spotlight at all times."

While Clausen might be the focal point of this team, it's the offensive line that will make or break the Irish's hopes for a successful season. Weis waxed on about their size and strength, as each lineman has bumped his weight to more than 300 pounds. The offensive line was bowled over by opponents, which was a result of size, strength, youth, skill and injuries.

"You know, I think that we wanted to make sure that the one thing we did was put ourselves in a position where we could compete physically on the interior parts of the offensive and defensive line," Weis said. "The one thing you have to do is let them play physical at the point of attack. … I'm interested to see how much the size and strength correlates to performance on the field."

Brawn is not the only component that is going to make Notre Dame successful; the brains of the operation needed to recognize his own flaws. Weis relinquished his play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, who has never called plays full-time before. He added veteran defensive coach Jon Tenuta to coach linebackers and help with the team's new defensive scheme. The new scheme will work from the Irish's 3-4 base, but it will use a hybrid player as an extra linebacker to create a more blitzing attack.

Weis has taken a backseat role to spend more time with his players and become the kind of coach he feels this team needs to be successful.

Another bad season, and looking forward might mean looking for a new coach.

"Usually for any football player at any level, the single most significant jump as a player comes from your first year playing to your second year playing and we have many, many players in that group," Weis said. "So it's just a question of how many of them can make that significant jump at the same time. That's what I'm excited about."

Graham Watson covers college football for ESPN.com.