In hindsight, why did anyone expect a NC in 2006?

I threw on the 2006 opener against Georgia Tech just to see if Tenuta did things differently then (more SS/FS blitzing?). The starting line-up has some real weak spots.

DE - Abiamiri
DT - Laws
DT - Landri
DE - Talley
LB - T Thomas
LB - M Thomas
LB - Crum
CB - Wooden
CB - Richardson
FS - Zibby
SS - Ndukwe

So while there was some real starpower on this defense, there was a black hole of talent at LB and WDE.

And what happened at LB? Didn't Mitchell Thomas lose his job to Vernaglia, who then lost the job again? Were these three our starting LBs by the end of the year?

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But the chief reason that we were preseason #2 was Brady Quinn and the offense, right?

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When you write "8 returning starters," that's pretty impressive. But I look at that defense and see a giant hole. Funny how things work out like that.

Crum, T Thomas, and M Thomas - B Smith, Fleming, and Filer/Te'o

Aren't the latter all more highly recruited than their counterparts?

And whether it's Neal or KLM at RDE, both were more highly rated (and obviously more athletic) than Talley.

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Those returning defensive starters weren't exactly coveted by the NFL. Except for VA, I don't recall much hype about any of them as first or second round draft picks.

The accepted thought during pre-season 2006 was that the team would be better by default. Brady and company would score lots and lots and lots of points. The defense would improve by spending another year in the system.

Yet, neither really improved. I don't know the statistics of the offense. But they didn't look as good as the 2005 version. There was no #2 WR for the Shark. Rhema McKnight disappeared. The Michigan loss--IIRC--was blamed on the entire team having a meltdown. Quinn had a bad game, so the team folded. Both offense and defense looked bad during the USC loss. Rhema never brought his hands to LA and no one could stop Dwayne Jarrett.

The Shugah Bowl was another disaster in that the team just couldn't physically compete with LSU.

I'm very happy with what Weis accomplished in 2006. Looking back, I don't think he could have done better. Michigan was on a mission; USC was USC; JaMarcus could throw a football from Pittsburgh to the South Pole.

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LSU: 3rd
USC: 4th
Michigan: 8th

Combined record: 33-6

You could argue that we should have been more competitive in all three games, but we didn't have the horses to win any of them.

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Yep, there was a huge hole at linebacker and DE in 2006. Travis Thomas, God bless him, was a total non-factor.

On the other hand, we did go 10-3, and I can't point to a game where the defense was the sole culprit. Maybe USC & LSU, but the offense wasn't worth a shit in those games either.

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I loved his spirit, but he was slow.

Brockington - ND pro day
40-yard dash time, 4.89 twice
Vertical leap 28.5
3 cone time 7.35

Crum - ND pro day
40-Yard Dash 4.87, 4.87
Pro Agility 4.64
3-Cone Drill 7.37
60-Yard Shuttle 12.08
Vertical 28 1Z2 inches
Broad Jump 8-9
Bench Press 18

FWIW, Justin Brown ran faster 40s than Crum (4.81, 4.82).

Here are the 40 times for Tech's LBs in 2006. I found their pro day times to match up with ND's...with the exception of Guyton's numbers.

Gary Guyton
40-yard dash -- 4.47 (1st among LBs)
Vertical jump -- 36.5 (1st among LBs)
Broad jump -- 10"6'' (tied-1st among LBs)
3-cone drill -- 7.07, (tied-8th)
60-yard shuttle -- 11.57 (5th)

KaMichael Hall
4.68 seconds and 4.66 seconds, the short shuttle in 4.49 seconds and the three-cone drill in 7.11 seconds. He measured a 33 1/2-inch vertical jump, a 9-foot-2 broad jump and completed 14 repetitions on the 225-pound bench press.

Philip Wheeler
Ran the 40 in 4.73 and 4.66, had a 36 Â½-inch vertical jump, 10-foot, 2-inch long jump, 4.36 short shuttle, 7.11 cone drill, ran position drills.

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on paper this is Weis's best team.

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but I never thought we had the overall talent or depth to be a NC contender that year. I thought we'd be 10-2 during the regular season and knew from the moment the matchup was announced that we were likely to get slaughtered by LSU. I've never really believed that the team underachieved that year or that the offense went backwards. The slate of defenses ND faced in 2006 was substantially more daunting than what we went against in 2005. Personally, I've always thought that Weis got everything he could out of what he had on hand in his first two seasons.

Aside from the problems on defense we had no real viable second option at tailback and the pool of capable OL was beginning to shrink rather rapidly.

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the Polo Grounds

In hindsight, why did anyone expect a NC in 2006?

well, we had 8-9 returning starters on defense

Must have been the combination

The returning starters weren't impressive

Final 2006 rankings

I think Brockington took over for M. Thomas pretty quickly

wow...Joe Brockington

In terms of the combo of raw talent, depth and experience..

I've been wrong about A LOT of stuff the last few years...