Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made it clear Tuesday that he knows what he’s going to be going against when his team plays the University of Washington Saturday.
Weis opened his press conference by running down every position on the Huskies, adding that Washington has been dominant at home (never mind that they’ve lost seven of their last nine at Husky Stadium) and offering that he has talked to some coaches who were on the UW staff last year. He offered statistics and sizes on most of Washington’s key players.
Yes, the Irish will be well prepared when they play the Huskies.
Weis said quarterback Isaiah Stanback “is athletic, has a big arm, last week he showed how he can run an efficient game.”
He said Craig Chambers is “somebody who won’t sneak up on us,” and added that they have to be weary of Corey Williams.
Of the offensive line, Weis said, “It’s a big offensive line, there are no small guys.”
He was impressed with the defense’s performance last week against Idaho, thinks Manase Hopoi “is pretty good,” and said “they’re strong up the middle, especially on defense, including the two safeties.”
Oh yeah, by the way, he also has the playbook Notre Dame used last year. That doesn’t mean much for the Husky offense under Tim Lappano, but it could be a real advantage for the Irish offense, which will be going against a defense led by UW coordinator Kent Baer, who held the same job at Notre Dame last year. He’s also familiar with Lappano from their days in the NFL.
Of course, Weis won’t need too much help putting up points. The Irish are averaging 33.3 points and 446.7 yards a game. Notre Dame averages 162 yards a game on the ground thanks to sophomore Darius Walker, who has 320 yards. Quarterback Brady Quinn is completing 59.8 percent of his passes for 854 yards and nine touchdowns. Four different players have at least 12 catches, led by tight end Anthony Fasano’s 15. Five of Jeff Samardzija’s 13 catches have gone for touchdowns and Maurice Stovall is averaging over 18 yards a catch.
“The whole offense that I’ve been brought up under, you don’t worry about making stars,” Weis said. “You throw to the open guy. It keeps everyone involved because you never know who’s going to be the star of the day. Quarterbacks are taught to read plays based on two things: coverage and progression.”
“He gives you a variety of formations,” Tyrone Willingham said. “He keeps you off-balance with what he’s doing, what he’s thinking. He’s unpredictable. He’ll do some things in positions where other teams wouldn’t do them. So it’s his variety, and he’s quite brash with his play calling. And he’s got a talented group of players. It makes things tough.”
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