PTI doesn’t like the Huskies chances, and other Wednesday notes

Published 4:52 pm Wednesday, October 22, 2008

During the ESPN show Pardon the Interruption this afternoon, Tony Kornheiser and J.A. Adande (subbing for Michael Wilbon) were asked what were the chances of the Huskies beating Notre Dame. Kornheiser said 10 percent, while Adande was even less optimistic, giving the UW an eight percent chance.

Good times in Husky land, eh? Some rare national attention for the Huskies on one of ESPN’s most popular shows, and it’s to say that they have almost no chance this week.

Or, you can take a more optimistic approach like this guy:

Anyway, on to some notes from today’s weekly chat with defensive coordinator Ed Donatell.

Thoughts on Notre Dame’s offense?

“They’ve got a guy [Jimmy Clausen] that has a real strong arm and is well coached. We’re familiar with him, with Charlie [Weis] as far as the job he’s done over the year with quarterbacks and offense. He’s imaginative, he does a good job.”

Is what Weis is doing at ND a big change from what he did in the NFL?

“No, it’s very similar. Pro-style attack. He’s a guy that has the quarterback doing a lot of things. A lot of things with cadence, a lot of things with empties. He does a lot to develop the quarterback. “

Does ND offense look like any you’ve seen this year like, say, Oklahoma?

“They’re not as much no-huddle. They’re opponent specific, that’s one of the things they do from where he comes from. You don’t just look at a tape, you’ve got to look at somebody and say, ‘Do they see us like them?’ You’ve got to pick a like opponent, because they will change. That’s their philosophy. They’ve had a bye, they could be looking at a lot of things. They could be looking at their club down the road, they’re looking at their club and how they match up with us.”

How excited are you to have some continuity at safety?

“I’m excited. Very.”

Do you think it’s going to help the defense?

“I do. Continuity is a good thing. It just is at any time. More weeks, more sameness, more likeness, that helps. We talk about these offenses changing, that’s the way it is in college, but keeping the same continuity of guys no matter what, that helps us.”

Does it make sense to send extra guys after the quarterback against that offense, particularly when they go empty?

“You’re going to need more than one way to play these guys. They’re schooled. They know what the heck they’re doing. If you play them one way they’d have their way. That’s what Charlie does. He schools a guy up to know what’s going on out there.”

Teams are completing lots of passes against you (72.5 percent), is that partially because of good passing teams you’ve played?

“I think it’s a combination. I don’t mean that to avoid your question, but I think it’s a combination. Those are some good players. The kid from Oklahoma, he completes the ball on everybody and he’s got real good blockers. Until he got up against Texas that had some guys that could really cause a difference, he had all day. The kid from BYU has an experienced line and he’s throwing pretty good against everybody.”

Any specific memories of coaching against Weis in NFL?

“Not necessarily, just that that family of coaches [from Bill Parcells], boy they’ve got excellent knowledge and command of their systems, so we respected that. I thought he was, toward the end there at New England, I thought those guys were on the cutting edge and the most imaginative of the NFL offenses. They were the most unique to themselves.”

You seeing that at ND too?

“I think people are getting used to things, but I just thought they went against the grain a little bit with how they did things, and I thought it was good stuff. And he’s been able to take some of that into the college game and you can see where he’s shaping them to resemble that.”