SEATTLE — Washington defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, a long-time NFL coach, says Notre Dame’s offense under fourth-year coach Charlie Weis looks familiar.
And for the Huskies, it can’t be too encouraging that Notre Dame’s offense resembles those Weis coached as the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, a team that won three Super Bowl titles in four years while Weis was there.
“It’s very similar,” Donatell said. “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.”
The quarterback Weis is developing at Notre Dame is sophomore Jimmy Clausen, considered the nation’s top quarterback recruit in 2006 out of Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, Calif.
Clausen took over the starting quarterback job last season as a true freshman, and after going through some struggles last year, he is starting to thrive under Weis’ system in his second season. Clausen has completed 61.64 percent of his passes for 271.83 yards per game, ranked No. 14 in the nation.
Weis has seen a lot of change in Clausen, noting that his quarterback went from 194 pounds last season to 220 pounds this year. But the change is more than just physical, Weis said.
“All the physical attributes are much improved from where they were at this time last year,” Weis said. “But probably, without a doubt, the two things that I see the most significant progress are his mental pickup of our offense and his leadership. Because his leadership is something that really has grown more this year as the year has gone on and at a faster pace than even I might have expected. You know, he’s really turned into a guy that the offense turns to. Before he just happened to be the guy playing quarterback.”
Good quarterback play is nothing new to Weis, under whom Tom Brady went from little-known NFL backup to Super Bowl-MVP-winning, record-breaking, super-model-dating, star quarterback.
The new and improved Notre Dame quarterback and offense will provide a major test for a struggling Husky defense. The Irish spread the ball around to a number of young but talented receivers, often emptying the backfield and using five receivers. That’s not exactly an inviting look for the Husky defense.
The Huskies have allowed opponents to complete a ridiculous 72.5 percent of their passes. No other team in the country has allowed a total higher than 67.12 percent. The Huskies rank dead last nationally in pass efficiency defense thanks to that number, and also because they have given up 18 passing touchdowns and had just two interceptions.
“We know that and we know that’s a challenge to us,” sophomore safety Nate Williams said. “We’re definitely ready for that challenge and we accept that challenge. We still have a lot to prove to all of our critics, the media, our fans and everybody, that we’re a physical and a good secondary that can stop teams from putting up big numbers like they have. We just have a lot to prove and we’re going to go out there and play hard on Saturday.”
And while the secondary will be blamed should Clausen have a big day, a big part of stopping the pass is getting pressure, which the Huskies haven’t done enough this season. Daniel Te’o-Nesheim recorded three sacks against Arizona, but those are the team’s only three this season.
“Yeah, I think that’s always the easiest place to start, pressure,” Donatell said. “Pass rush, making (the quarterback) speed up when there is some coverage.”
Asked if he has any specific memories of coaching against Weis, Donatell, who was the defensive coordinator for both Green Bay and Atlanta, said there weren’t. Instead he remembered his impression of a Weis-coached offense.
“Boy, they’ve got excellent knowledge and command of their systems, so we respected that,” Doantell said. “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.”
And Notre Dame reminds Donatell of those offenses? Uh oh.
The one bit of good news for the Huskies secondary is that this week will mark the first time all season that the secondary will have some semblance of continuity. Four different people have started at safety alongside Williams this season, which has made it nearly impossible for the secondary to get comfortable together. Victor Aiyewa, the projected starter during spring ball, is finally back from a groin injury, and will play his third straight game and make his second straight start this week.
“It’ll feel good, because we were working together all last week and then we played together, then all this week, so I think the momentum that we’re going to carry from last week and work with through this week’s practice,” Williams said. “I think we’ll do pretty good on Saturday.”
They’re going to need to be pretty good on Saturday. Otherwise, Clausen and company will become the latest offense to pad their stats against the Huskies.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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