Disappointment on top of Disappointment

This ND team will go down as underachievers in my view and the poor bowl game performance was the icing on the bad cake of football 2011. The simple analysis is that you cannot turn it over 3 times to even an average team and expect to win. At the same time we had the opportunity to win or put away the game and refused to do it. It was actually a pretty lousy game for both teams.

The offense was so dismal that our two TDs came on a fumble recovery and a circus catch by Floyd that probably should have been another Rees interception. Our QB play is holding us back and losing ball games, time for Kelly to coach up one of these guys in time for prime time next fall. I expect Rees to be #3 in the depth chart, in fact he may never take another snap at ND. How Kelly gave up so quick on Crist and put the team in the spot to live or die with Rees this year seems weird. The best guy for the job spent the fall on the bench. Take away HALF of our turnovers and we have 3-4 more wins; simply have to address that.

Yes, the D had a couple breakdowns in the second half but I cannot complain about giving up 18 points; we should have been able to score 20. The changing of QBs, some strange play calling and trying to move it on a good defense combined for a lousy day on Offense. No rhythm at any point in the day except the first drive of each half. Momentum was non-existent.

Like the Colonel, I feel much worse about the team right now than I did a year ago. We need another good recruiting year and to improve in many facets of the game. Penalties, turnovers and special teams would be good places to start.

Bowl pageantry notes: FSU has a very fine band and pretty classy fans. One gets tired of "the chop" pretty quick, but the best solution to that problem is to give them less to chop about. At the pre-game battle of the bands, the FSU band played a very cool warmup song with some great lower brass and bass drum Indian themes. They have a very good sound. The ND band looked and sounded great before and during the game and had the more popular half time show. The band was quite busy with appearances and performances on this trip; with the exception of one quarter of football they seemed to have a really good time.

First sellout in Champs bowl history; 68,000+ attended the game on a beautiful evening. Traffic around the reserved parking lots was a nightmare; theta clearly do not know how to handle big crowds.

So now we move on to the season of hope and look ahead to 2012. I do not think Kelly is any kind of lovable savior anymore. I do think he will build the program over time while modernizing it with a bunch of things that may be needed but that I do not particularly like. Those few aggravations will be a small price to pay if we can see a team that plays it best more often; win or lose. We have to stop beating ourselves.

GO IRISH! BEAT NAVY!

8-5. Seriously?

Some suggested alternative titles for this post:

1. A New Way to Lose

2. Wish I knew who our starting QB is going to be.

3. Run game? What run game?

4. How/Why did we let their O-line off the hook?

5. Why haven't we recruited an O-line that just kicks ass? (Related to #4)

6. You mean Red Zone turnovers aren't good?

I'm voting for #4.

Our QBs threw some amazingly bad INTs, but I really feel like we could have blitzed for the first 3 quarters non-stop and forced EJ Manuel permanently into a non-comfort zone. In the second half he was able to throw it up for some amazing receptions by his receivers (although the lying on his back catch did not look like a reception on the replay).

Nevertheless, the game was ours for the taking, but we decided not to take it. We still need to find that killer instinct when we're ahead against better than mediocre teams. We could have done some real damage, psyche-wise, after we went up 7-0. But we couldn't come closer than a missed field goal attempt to put more distance on our lead prior to halftime.

And then when we went up 14-0, I figured the D would keep on doing the straight rush and innovative stuff they showed early. But for some reason, we kinda laid back, much to our detriment. We haven't had great cornerbacks in 20 years; we can't lay back. But we did, and allowed FSU's receivers to make another ND opposing QB look like a star. Oish.

I'm sorry to say I felt a lot better about our team this time last year than I do now. Hopefully, we can be better next year than 8-5. But I'm not on that bandwagon yet.

Don and Nina, hope you enjoyed your trip to Orlando. Hope Angela had a great senior year bowl trip.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT NAVY!!!

The Colonel

Half Time Report

Well, I've seen prettier halfs, that's for sure. Feels like the QB shuffle we're doing is not allowing us to get in to a rhythm, and we're really not trying to run the ball at all. I knew we'd miss Jonas Gray!

The turnovers negated with us getting 7 points right away after another (!) red zone INT. Ouch.

We could be ahead by 10 or 13 by now, but oh well. I don't think FSU can adjust if we keep the defensive pressure on. We should never rush less than 4 on passing downs. If we can score right out of the gate, we can make them feel a little desparate given their inability to get in the red zone.

Don, the fake punt spot could have gone either way, so we'll take it!

Ruffer's miss wasn't as close as it looked on replay. It was going right the whole way, never had a chance. Hope that doesn't bode ill for the second half. It's close now, so field goals may, as Godfather predicted, prove crucial.

So let's win the second half and the game.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT SEMINOLES!!!

Chance for Ruffer to be the Hero today

We are enjoying the sun in Orlando, should be a nice day for football though we are prepared with layers for the cooler temperature in the evening. Seems like a good turnout of Irish fans in town; will know for sure at kickoff. Expect maybe 60-40 crowd in favor of FSU but not sure.

Pep rally was pretty lame again. No one from Alumni office or football team; just cheerleaders and band. It was in a mall square so the band sounded great but when Ken Dye is the MC you know something is weird. ND band performed at Universal Studios and we caught them at the rehearsal at a local high school. Today there is a short parade, then pre-game tailgater. Visited the ND HQ hotel and was disappointed to find that there is no travelling bookstore here due to licensing conflict with Bowl game. It is all about money as usual.

Band will redo its "top gun" halftime show. Two quick songs and march off to the Victory March; don't blink or you may miss it. FSU band is actually BIGGER than Band of the Fighting Irish so they must make quite a sound. Interesting that FSU band will go first at halftime.

As for the game, I expect it to be a good one that features domination by both defenses. FSU will cause our QBs trouble and I expect Hendrix to get more playing time and see more success than Rees due to his mobility. I also think our defense will hold FSU to modest success so not expecting a high scoring affair. Press thinks both of these teams could be in the top ten next fall so this game has a little more buzz than usual in Orlando.

I am having a tough time picking a winner to be honest. I am hoping the Irish come out with an attitude after a poor game at Stanford and win the line of scrimmage but we better not get down early. Could be a snowball effect if we fall behind. Have to pick the Irish though in a close one. Field goals may make the difference so let's hope Ruffer is ready to go.

ND 23, FSU 20

GO IRISH!

Seeing Red (or Cardinal)

Well, we had some fun banging away in the crow's nest of Stanford stadium on Saturday. The performance on the field was disappointing; by the time we got our act together Stanford was up by 3 touchdowns and we could not catch up.

Why did we lose? In my view some combination of the following factors made the difference. Our offensive line did not play well, led by a particularly bad day at Center - Mike Golic. He clearly got flustered though we should remember he was second string all year. We had the wrong cleats or the wrong cuts; how many times did our skill players stumble or slip? One slip cost us a touchdown. Bad Tommy showed up with several poor throws and he was blitzed effectively in the first half. Of course we have to give Stanford credit for a solid game on both sides of the ball; Luck was very good and burned us to open receivers throughout the game.

Bright spots? Defense played pretty decent and had a number of stops and two turnovers. We held Stanford to its lowest point total of the year. Floyd put his name in the record book again with the most receptions in a season. He closed out a great career. Hendrix showed some real talent and we may have a real QB derby on our hands. I just don't see Tommy leading us to a BCS bowl much less a win over a quality team like Stanford. We need more from that position.

Looks like we are a lock for the Champs Sports Bowl so...

Go Irish! Beat Seminoles!

Time for some bad "Luck"

The only way we win today is if somehow Andrew Luck has a bad day. Maybe he eats a bad egg this morning, cuts him self shaving, stubs his toe, whatever. But we need him to have an off day. We also need our boys to kick it up a notch and play their very best.

One of the frustrating things about this game is the feeling that we actually could win, but the logic that we probably will not. Seems like both teams have some things to play for but Stanford has been much more consistent this year. The talent gap is not as great as it may appear and I think we will make a game of it.

Of course the Ginocchio, Wussler and Guarino tribes will be supporting the team with our band alum music so maybe that will put us over the top.

Have to pick the Cardinal today. Champs Sports Bowl here we come!

ND 31, Stanford 42

Go Irish!

Prediction Recap

The Colonel made mention of our recent accurate call (the Maryland game) so that reminded me to look back at my preseason predictions to see how things played out. I was really hoping to be 11-0 or 10-1 at this point in the year but that is not how the ball bounced (literally!). Anyway for fun here are my original guesses with updated comments.

Potential Laughers: (prediction 5-0, actual 5-0)
Purdue – Turned out to be a laugher.
Air Force - laugher, though the Falcons came in highly touted.
Navy – Laugher, finally put these guys in their place.
Wake Forest – Not a laugher, more of a a dogfight. Deacons are good.
Boston College - Way too close for my taste but we got the W.

ND should Win: (Prediction 3-0, Actual 2-1)
USF – I called this game right, but 5 turnovers killed us.
Pittsburgh – Close game again but we tough it out on the road
Maryland – This was easier than I expected, should have been in the laugher category

Pick-em: (Prediction 2-1, Actual 1-2)
Michigan – man, we should have won this one but we did not. Absolutely on target with my "pick-em" guess.
MSU – Best performance of the year was needed big time back in September, easier than expected.
USC – Darn the Trojans, they out played ND and we helped with a few crucial turnovers again.

Should lose: (Prediction 0-1, Actual TBD)
Stanford – was hoping this would be a classic and it may still be if we play up to our potential. Stanford got thumped by Oregon but can still be unstoppable. Just want us to play well and see what happens.

So my 10-2 is obviously way off but 9-3 would feel real good at this point.

Go Irish.

On Again, Off Again

My brilliant wife hit the nail on the head about the Irish this year and I quote "The team is an every other week team in 2011, unfortunately we have to play every week". Another head scratcher yesterday as we played mediocre on offense but we able to sneak out of the stadium with a win. My son reminded me that a lousy win on Senior day is much better than a lousy loss so we will take it.

Tommy continues to regress every once in a while; should have been intercepted another 2-3 times in addition to the one he tossed. He also was force to throw it way out of bounds a couple times. BC threw all kinds of innovative blitz packages at Tommy and he was out of synch all game. Maybe he will improve a lot next year, but he just does not strike me as a championship caliber QB. On the post game radio show, Reggie Brooks pointed that thanks to our stout defense, we just need a QB who does not lose the game. Tommy has been right on the edge a few times (including a couple we lost). Brian Kelly gets testy when asked about it and talks about how Rees is 12-2 as a starter but I think he forgets the point that other players bail him out often.

Defense played another good game and considering the hurt or sick players I guess we have to be OK with the victory. A Weis team would have folded like rice paper. David Ruffer earned his scholarship yesterday and Floyd looked pretty good. Nice to close it out at home and achieve 8-3 so far. Been a while.

Anyway, this team will probably go down as one that fell short of expectations and potential UNLESS they surprise us with a huge upset next week. Do not see it happening right now but on the other hand if we play our best we can make it interesting. If we follow our on again, off again pattern we may play well. Stanford will certainly be favored but this will be the first game all season we are the underdog. Perhaps that fact will serve as some inspiration. Jonas Gray might be done for the year and that will hurt our chances a bit but Wood and Atkinson will be OK.

Special day for us yesterday with Angela performing in her last home game show. The half time was terrific with the band Chicago, enjoy it on NBC.com. Weather cooperated enough for late November so even though the game was a drag, we we pleased to be dry and warm.

Let's go out on a high note! Looking forward to seeing the Guarino and Wussler families in California.

GO IRISH! BEAT CARDINAL!

Eeking Onward to Victory

Well that was too close for comfort. Thought we were done playing down to our competition.

We nearly got beat by a punter; it felt like every possession started inside our own 10 yard line. Five of them did, and another started on our 12. Our average start, excepting our last possession where they had to go for it at their 48, was our own 18 yeard line.

So that had something to do with the low score. They talked a lot about BC's defensive scheme taking away the medium and long passes, and that they did. And a lot of the air seemed to go out of our collective spirit when Jonas Gray went down in the 3rd quarter. Hope their wrong about a torn ACL, but they're probably right. Doesn' help going in to Stanford, that's for sure.

The defense was on its game today, fortunately. Their last TD made things way too interesting, but giving up 1 TD per half is more than decent.

I guess will take the W, expecially since it was BC we beat.

Speaking of BC, Oklahoma State sure messed things up for them by losing last night. Which team that's already lost to LSU will get a chance for a rematch? Or will LSU lose as well, throwing everything into a bigger tizzy?

Settling in for SC/Oregon now. If SC figures a way to win, we're going to have to admit that both they AND Michigan are pretty darned good teams. UofM really stomped on Nebraska today.

Ramping up for the big weekend in Northern California. Listen for us as you're watching the game.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT CARDINAL!!!!

The Colonel

Erase the Eagles

Here's hoping for another easy one today. I realize it's BC, but boy, they're bad this year. We were 24 point favorites, last time I looked. Don't know that we'll cover, but you never know.

Godfather and I came pretty close to the right score last week, so let's see what can happen this week.

I'm going with the same score as last week, just covering the spread.

ND 41, BC 17.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT EAGLES!!!

Th Colonel

Go USA!

Notice Tony's "signal caller" ND cap in this photo. Don't you wish you had one? This pic was taken right after the concert on the steps (lawn) and you can see how beautiful the weather was in D.C. It got cool at night but we were dry and adequately bundled.

Terrific balance from the offense, defense and special teams last night. A very nice all around performance and it is hard to find something not to like (except maybe the Jumbotron headache).

Tommy was 30 for 38 and could have been even better without a few dropped passes. Floyd had a quiet 9 catches, Jonas Gray is a stud, we had a pick 6, and our 3rd down conversion rate was crazy good (10 of 16!). We had several long sustained drives gobbling up time and yardage and answered the bell every time Maryland showed some life. We are looking good.

Stanford had to go and lose which will put a big dent in our BCS dreams. Even if we beat them it is hard to see how we make the top 14 although we did sneak into the AP and Coaches poll today. I doubt we will be in the top 25 for the BCS. Our defense still struggles with the intermediate pass; Stanford is likely to make us pay for that weakness. But I think we will give them a heck of a game if we play our best. As for BC, I really expect us to stomp them soundly next week. Trivia question: when was the last time the Irish record stood at 7-3 or better during the season?

The "Shamrock Series" events made for a nice weekend. The pep rally by the Washington Monument and the concert on the Capital Lawn were very unique experiences. ND is doing a nice job with these things. Expected to see more Maryland fans in the stadium. But ND fans clearly were a solid majority of the 70,000 in attendance. Have to say that FEDEX field did not bowl me over considering how new it is. We had great seats and the sight lines would good but the amenities and service staff seemed pretty average. The Maryland band has a lot of fun during the game but that may because the football team is stinking it up this year.

Go USA!

Go Irish! Beat Eagles!

You Cannot Boo The Flag!

Enjoying a great weekend in DC. About to head to the stadium for a tailgater. Fantastic pre-game concert on the Capital Lawn earlier and the weather is terrific. Be sure to catch the halftime show on the internet; will be the same as Navy but with a bit more patriotic flair including a joint number with the Maryland band.

Anyway the Irish should win handily today and I expect us to play well. But I do think Maryland will be ready and make it interesting for a while.

ND 40 Maryland 21

Go Irish!

Let's Have an Easy One

So this should be a cake walk. Favored by 20.5, we've done very well against teams when we're large favorites this year. Maryland showed some signs of life early in the season, but hasn't put up much of a fight as of late.

So that might make this a trap game if they are considering this their bowl game, but I don't think so. The talent mismatch is just too much.

I hate to say it but we could probably turn the ball over 3 times and still win today.

Here's hoping that doesn't happen, we beat the spread, and might actully creep back into the Top 25 in a poll or two depending on who loses ahead of us.

ND 41, Maryland 17.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT TERRAPINS!!!!

Moving On

Not sure if we saw a sloppy win or a gritty performance or both last night but once again we get the W against a good team on the road. I will take it.

There were a lot of banged up players and our team did improve as the night progressed particularly on defense. The running game actually helped us put it away at the end, how nice was that to see? Nice to see us adjust at half time and shut out another team that came to play. Key stat = they crammed 36,000+ into the 31,000 seat stadium.

Tommy made another couple of bad throws but happily Wake Forest coughed it up at a critical time so our -1 in turnovers was not a death blow this time around. Just about every key player made a one big play in a close game; Tommy, Floyd, the running backs, Lynch, Tuitt, Smith, Gray. A lot of people could have shared the game ball.

The next two teams we face are both 2-7 right now. We just gotta win those two right?

Go Irish! Beat Terrapins!

Hang on to the Ball!

If we can keep the turnover ratio down for a change, we should win tonight. Wake Forest will be playing like this is its "game of the century" like every other first time opponent of ND. You can bet their stadium of only 31,000 will be rockin' unless we put them in their place early. Have to watch that we do not let them hang around for too long and gain confidence. The Demon Deacons have a prolific pass attack that will test our dbacks and safeties. I will be interested to see how our pass rush performs against a more traditional offense again.

The run game will be key against an undersized team, I expect our backs to have a good day and that will open up some nice lanes for passing as the game progresses. Expect us to put up lots of points again. But we have to avoid the turnovers! Did you hear that Tommy?

November is our month. Spread is 14, I will go with that.

ND 40 Wake Forest 26

GO Irish!

And USC lost too!

This schizophrenic team put together another terrific performance again yesterday. Yes, it was Navy and probably not a great Navy team but the Irish did play well. It was a laugher (can you say Wave in the second quarter?) and I was very impressed with our defense. The offense produced a lot of points but Tommy was not completely in synch as evidenced by the turnovers and several poor passes. It was nice to see Dayne in there leading a scoring drive too.

I am excited about the young studs we have on defense and some of the subs on offense look pretty good too. The future shows promise though there is a lot more to accomplish this season. We have a few interesting games left on the schedule and no pushovers in my view. Wake beat FSU on the road, Maryland has had some moments and then BC just knocked off Maryland. So anything can happen. Stanford looks very very good as expected.

Trojans lost in OT to Stanford. Always got to root against USC and I certainly want Stanford to be as highly ranked as possible when we face them regardless of the outcome. That final game will be the only time we are not favored in 2011 so maybe the team can use it as motivation when the time comes.

The Irish will be off to the great state of North Carolina this coming week.

Go Irish! Beat Deacons!

Trying to Get Back Up

Good Day All

Sorry for my absence last week, attributable to many things. I tried writing a rosy pre-game prediction, but I just had a bad feeling about the game and didn't want to predict a loss. Too bad I was right.

Another reason is that I wasn't able to watch the game live. We had a HS event Saturday evening, so I had to DVR the game. Listened to some on the radio, followed the rest on espn.com. I haven't watched the game yet.

Any truth to the talk out here in LA that we quit at the end? Multiple SC players quoted as being surprised we gave up, didn't use timeouts, etc?

Anyway, on to today's game. Trying to get excited, but the 3 losses already are preventing that, for the most part. My 8-4 prediction is on thin ice, which is really depressing. And if SC lays an egg against Stanford tonight, that will hurt more. That will make three teams we lost to who aren't what I would call excellent.

Speaking of laying an egg, Wisconsin has to be kicking itself--MSU looks TERRIBLE against Nebraska today.

So yes, we should beat Navy today, although I'll be surprised if we cover the 20 point spread. It will be interesting to see what the crowd mood is today.

By the way, the rock music during last week's game really sounded bush league on the radio. Hope that was a one time occurrence. Put it in storage with the green jerseys.

If the defense stays in their lanes, it will be difficult for Navy to score, so I'll say Irish 27, Navy 10.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT MIDDIES!!!

The Colonel

Let's Get Back in the Saddle

Time to jump back on that horse and start another long win streek tomorrow.

Irish favored by 20 so once again the odds makers know we have a lot of talent but forget that we stink in turnovers. Do that against Navy and they will make us pay for it.

I am expecting a solid performance as Kelly was kicking some butt in practice this week. My prediction:

ND 35 Navy 17

Go Irish!

Not Ready for Prime Time

Well that was a bummer. Obviously not what I expected but as they say you have to throw out the records with these rivalry games. I don't feel that the Irish were flat on Saturday night nor do I feel that the Trojans had a lot better talent. But USC played better for sure. The Irish have not developed the mental toughness that championship teams have. Hopefully they will down the road.

Why did we lose? The 50,000 foot level analysis boils down to a few key things. First, USC had a great offensive scheme and moved the ball at will most of the night gobbling up yards and the clock. Second, our top players on offense did not play great when needed. And of course, losing the turnover battle 3-0 did wonders for our chances. As a side note, no turnover comes at a good time but we sure seem to pick our shots when they can do the most damage. How about a 10 or 14 point swing when we fumble at the 1 yard line again? Absolutely unbelievable.

The much hyped night game, new gold helmets and rock music crowd pleasers did no good at all. Yes, it was loud plenty of times. Every USC 3rd down was preceded by "Crazy Train" music and they pretty much converted every 3rd down. There you go. USC won the line of scrimmage on offense and our offense sputtered throughout the night. No one play made the difference but they did pretty much what I expected on offense. The difference was our lack of offensive production and the turnovers.

Maybe now I know what Brian Kelly saw in Dayne Crist that caused him to switch to Tommy early this year. I love the kid but he has a mental block. Simply cannot drop that snap. And Tommy cannot make the big throw downfield or move well. How many passes of his were tipped or batted down? Our long term solution at QB is probably going to be named Andrew or Everett next year.

Where do we go from here? Several beatable teams on the schedule before Stanford but in reality anything between 7-5 and 9-3 gets us into the Champs Sports bowl. We have some work to do for sure and 8-4 looks the most likely but only if the team bounces back from this showing. I think they will.

Hoping all those top recruits on hand this past weekend see that we need more talent in the lineup and not that we folded in a big game. Actually we did not really fold and still had a good chance in the 4th quarter but those turnovers killed us. I think the Colonel is likely to agree that we have to put this one on the players. They did not play well and the result was appropriate against a very good Trojan team. We will have to start that string of victories against them next year again.

GO IRISH! Beat Navy!

Big Win Coming

I really like the vibe this week; so much so that I am predicting a comfortable victory. For the first time in a long time the Irish actually have a better team than the Trojans and I think our talent edge may last for a while. USC will take a while to recover from its NCAA sanctions and if we win tomorrow we will be impressing all the blue chip high school recruits in attendance.

The talent difference overall is why the odds makers have us favored by NINE. But the intangibles are even more persuasive. ND has been building up to this event all year. The new Gold helmets, the night game, etc. We are going to see a fired up team and fired up crowd tomorrow. Other factors include the fact that Tommy played horrible at USC last year and we need to win out to get a chance at a BCS bowl. All USC is playing for is pride and the chance to ruin our season. Not enough. The Trojans have a couple key players banged up as well. And while it will be a nice October day, by halftime the temp will be down in the 40s so those California boys should be shivering pretty good. The stars seem to be aligned.

USC is still a good team and they will score some points. But we will score a lot more. Winning the line of scrimmage will be key throughout the game. Part of me thinks my next statement is crazy but most of me says it is going to happen.

ND 40, USC 20

GO IRISH!

BCS Busters

Open week so feel obligated to babble on about Notre Dame football and news of the week.

The first BCS poll standings came out on Sunday; ND is not in the top 25 yet. We will be after knocking off USC. I believe we have to get into the top 14 to make a BCS bowl and we certainly will if we win out as many other teams will fall from grace as the season progresses. At 8-4 or 9-3 the Irish will end up in the Champs Sports bowl on Dec 29th in Orlando to face an ACC opponent. I am selfishly hoping for the Fiesta Bowl but lots of football left to be played. Wake Forest and Maryland are looking like pretty good teams which means we are going to have to earn every win but also means we will climb up the polls with a string of victories.

Lots of articles and blogs about noise in the ND stadium this week. With a whole day of drinking to help, I think we can count on a loud crowd this weekend. The 2005 USC game was one of the loudest ever, no question. ND fans have it in them, we just need something to cheer for and this year we do. I really do not want to be just like every other place though a little more enthusiasm a little bit more of the time would be nice. The topic of Jumbotron has come up again; I think it would be a huge mistake. It is a huge distraction and headache maker most places I have been though ND might be a little more tasteful with it. I would rather hear the band and visiting bands (except USC) than any rock video.

The big game is a few days away. I watched USC beat Cal, was not that impressed. I think we could beat them soundly but of course you have to throw out the records and expect the Trojans to be ready. Irish favored by NINE in the paper today. NINE! I am often wrong but the odds makers usually get the talent equation right. Nine would be nice!

GO IRISH! BEAT TROJANS!

Now you see it.....

Here are some photos from yesterday. 

First - the flyover.  It was extremely cool - not too fast, but definitely stealthy!!

Now comes the interesting part - as it passed overhead, it really just became a two-dimensional line.  This next photo has the B2 Bomber in it, if you look REALLLLLY closely.




It's about a third of the way down from the top.  Very neat - the thing just disappeared!!!






And of course, all of us with the Sudler Trophy after the game!!

I wish that you all could have been there also - we ALL won the trophy!!

We were sitting on the home side, a few rows under the press box (in the shade!).  I was sitting next to two rather large folks dressed head to toe in brand new Notre Dame gear - hats, football jerseys, seat cushions, etc.  On a hunch, I asked if this was their first visit to ND - it was!   They were from Australia and had come to the states for three weeks to drive around and see the United States.  They started in NYC and stopped in Pittsburgh and then made their way to ND for the game.  It's neat to think that of all the stuff that there is to see in the US, ND football made the short list.  The guy was a former football player (high school and beyond) and it sounded like he was some sort of coach now.  He asked a lot of questions about how TV affects the play of the game and things like that.  They were definitely ND fans, but just sat quietly throughout the game...it got me to thinking about how overwhelming 'Game Day' can be to the uninitiated. I did my best to make him feel like one of the ND family.

To that end, I always stand during the band performances (both ND and the AFA) and I cheer and clap.  I also wear a button of Angela in her band uniform (see above).  After the half-time show, I turned to him and said, "My daughter's in the marching band!"  His response, "Yeah, I got that..."

So, welcome to new ND friends, and cheers to all of us former bandies - we did well and earned some recognition yesterday. 

Go Irish, Beat Trojans!!

Lookin' Mighty Good

OK, the B2 Bomber fly over was fantastic! Best fly over ever. Quite a machine.

Oh yeah, the Irish also flew over the Falcons quite nicely. As The Colonel stated, it was not as close as the score considering the two late TDs in mop up time by Air Force. Defense gave up a lot of yards but clearly had a "keep it in front of you" mentality and really made Air Force work for it. Consider they had to go for it on 4th down five times and threw in a few trick plays to try to mess up the Irish. We made a lot of good plays on defense against a very talented offense.

But our offense is the story. EIGHT touchdowns. SEVEN different guys scored. We ran and passed well and scored fast. This was the dream day for the Kelly system as everything was clicking. Really fun to watch and I have to say there was a bit of "the good old days" feeling in my heart. I am sure I said that before but it has been 15 years since we had this type of juggernaut offensive day. No turnovers again and took it away twice which really helped. Most points ever in ND stadium, the second historic game of the season. Unfortunately the first one was all about a storm.

Tommy continues to mature. He made several good throw aways when the play was not there instead of forcing one into coverage. He made a couple bad reads and also still cannot always zip it in to an open receiver but overall very solid. More important is the murderers row of skill players we have on offense. No team can defend the combination of Floyd, Eifert, Riddick, Wood, Gray, Jones and now a kid named Hendrix. Pittsburgh came close to shutting us down but then Eifert burned them at the end. I simply do not think it can be done. The skill guys block great too (except for Jones) which makes the other skill guys successful. And don't kid yourself, Kelly threw Hendrix in there to mess up the USC game planning. 111 yards rushing on 6 carries and 4 for 4 passing. Be afraid, be very afraid Trojans!

I feel very good about facing USC in a couple weeks. We are going to win.

Been waiting to type this for many months:

GO IRISH!! Beat Trojans!!

I Think We Just Scored Again

Quick, when’s the last time there were that many points scored in a football game at ND Stadium?

Um, never.

OK, when’s the last time we scored 59 points? That would be 1996, when we beat Rutgers (my state university) 62-0 in Lou Holtz’s last game as head coach.

Wasn’t much doubt on this one, was there?

Although I’m sure Navy was taking notes on how to run on the Irish. Had a little trouble with the option today, I would say. 363 yards rushing is nothing to sneeze at, for sure. And they actually had the ball longer (not unexpected) and outgained us by 5 yards (a bit unexpected)

No turnovers for us, and the offense was really humming on all cylinders. Going 6 for 6 TDs in all our first half possessions is quite a feat. Wonder when the last time was we did that (I’m not going to try to figure that one out).

So we end the first half of the season at 4-2. I’m sure Godfather won’t bemoan the woulda-shoulda-couldas, so I will. WE SHOULD BE 6-0 AND IN THE TOP 10!

There, got that out of my system. My pre-season prediction hinged on the Michigan game, where I said if we lost to them, we’d do no better than 8-4. Still could go that way, I’m afraid, given the unpredicted loss to USF. But I also said we’d lose to either MSU or Pitt, which didn’t happen. So now, the “lever game” occurs in two weeks, in South Bend, against Southern Cal. From what I’ve seen of the Trojans so far this year, we could score 59 points again. But Barkley’s a good QB, so they might score 49! But you know what, I’ll take a 59-49 win!

We do have several things in our favor going in to this week. We have a week off to prepare, they don’t (They play Thursday this week). We’re at home, they aren’t. Our offense is really in overdrive; their defense has given up over 40 points in each of its last two games. It could snow! (You never know in northern Indiana).

Let’s enjoy the week off. No super huge “games of the century” Saturday, so enjoy the baseball playoffs. Then we can ramp up for hopefully a good start to the second half of our season.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT TROJANS!!!

The Colonel

Rocktober

Last year we waited until November to turn our season around. Hopefully we'll use October this year as our springboard to a successful year. And hopefully the B-2 bomber will be the only piece of the Air Force that will be lying high today.

We can expect that USAFA will run the ball a lot. They AVERAGE over 360 yards rushing for game. The AVERAGE almost 7 yards per carry and the AVERAGE over 50 rushes per game. Mantei might have 40 tackles today!

The key is the lineman and the line backers staying in their lanes, not breaking discipline, and forcing long yardage situations on 2nd and 3rd down. While they're rated only 112th in passing, it's not for poor statistics, just lack of attempts. AF isn't an anemic passing team, averaging almost 15 passes per game and over 10 yards per attempt, but it's definitely not what they want to be doing today.

One advantage we might have is that we haven't played AF since 2007. So most, if not all, of the USAFA players have never visited ND. Might be a small edge in the "mystique" factor. Never know.

We obviously out-talent their defense with our offense. Again, discipline is the key. The Cadet defense will be fired up, and if they make some early big plays, they'll think they can play with us. No early turnovers for us, good blocking in the running game. I can't find what USAFA's average time of possession is, but I'm guessing with all the running, they eat up the clock. So if our defense is having trouble, our offense may have one or two fewer possessions each half than we're use do to score.

Here's one we should win, all the factors would indicate. But as these big guy vs little guy games usually go, we need to be in control and score points, make some key stops on defense, and take a double digit lead into half time. Otherwise AF will come out in the second half knowing they've stayed with us for 30 minutes, so why not another 30?


I think our defense has the discipline to keep AF in check, for the most part. Don't think we'll beat the spread, but we'll win.

Irish 34, Falcons 20.

GO IRISH!!!!! BEAT FALCONS!!!!!

The Colonel

B2 Bomber

Yeah baby, the fly over tomorrow afternoon is going to be a B2 Stealth Bomber. I am totally psyched to see that. Be sure to watch the beginning of the game cause I am guessing they will show it or at least a replay of it. Today they dedicated the new Dan Devine statue at the stadium and Vagas Ferguson along with Jerome Heavens spoke at the pep rally. Let's hear it for the 70s!

One other important game note: be sure to watch the halftime show on NBC.com as tomorrow is the presentation of the Sudler trophy to the ND band. Should be a big deal for the Band of the Fighting Irish.

Latest line is 15-17 for the Irish tomorrow. Always hate those big spreads but again our guys should carry the day by winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Air Force is not only an option team and I do expect they will score some points but we will score more. One of the things I will be watching for this week is how the team has matured after a solid all around performance last week. I am hoping we have turned the confidence corner and will play consistently well going forward. Other points of interest will be special teams. Will Kelly put in some new wrinkles to get more production from the third phase of the game? What about Theo Riddick? That guy has too much talent to be so quiet on offense. Would like to see him get more touches. I expect Floyd to have a monster game and absolutely eat up the Falcon secondary. The final big story line will be to see the dline performance, particularly Lynch and Tuitt, against the Air Force attack.

So my prediction is ND 30, Air Force 17

Go Irish!

Nothing new under the sun

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/10/05/mxp-diaz-ohio-marching-band.hln

CNN thinks Ohio University has something new going, but apparently they never did get to see the results of our dance committees at ND. Remember dancing in the Ice Bowl (Cotton Bowl 1979?)

Oh, and I pick ND in a close one, 21-17 over Air Force this weekend. No particular reason, I'm sure Godfather & the Colonel will have better thoughts on the game than I do, but I haven't called one yet this year, so thought I'd do it now.

Go Irish!

It Wasn't That Close

Kudos all around. Except you, special teams. Go sit in the corner and think about what you did wrong. Don't come back until you've got it fixed.

No turnovers, only 1 TD given up on defense, and great sweeps all night long in the running game. And I haven't mentioned Michael Floyd yet. A good night, fer shur.

There was really no comparison between the two teams. We thought we had a QB controversy, but at least we have a modicum of confidence in our QBs. Neither of Purde's is very good. And it's great to see our receivers out-classing the opponent's secondary routinely.

At the beginning of the game, the announcers were talking about how Purdue's punter led the league in punting yardage, but he hadn't punted enough times to be considered in the standings. Purdue punted 7 times; I'm guessing he's probably in there now!

Trap game coming up, with the Falcons of Air Force coming in with their wacky flex bone offense. I'm thinking this year we finally do have the "stay in your lanes" discipline on D that we'll be able to handle them without too many problems.

If we keep playing like this, we'll be favored every week until Stanford. I saw we got a few votes in AP, but none in the Coaches' poll this past week. We'll have to get to at least 5-2 (maybe 6-2) before we crack the Top 25. Although if we get more weeks like this where 8 Top 25 teams lose, that could accelerate. But one game at a time, I know.

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT FALCONS!!!!

It feels good to laugh

Okay, we got the laugher I was hoping for last night. It was so relaxing that my son and I strolled back to my car during half-time and watched the end of the game at the hotel here in LA. We actually missed a touchdown while in transit.

Truly a complete game on both sides of the ball. Terrific balance on offense, stout run defense, five different guys scored, and, wait for it... NO TURNOVERS. OK, Tommy threw a couple scary passes and our special teams were dismal again but Kelly needs something to yell about! We now know how good we can play and have to adopt a no excuses policy from now on. Plenty of good teams on the schedule ahead but we have the talent to beat any of them.

Floyd got back into the offense and from my vantage point we tossed in a few new wrinkles into the play calling. Was sorry that Riddick was out of the action but all the other skill positions shined. Despite being down a couple players on the dline we still played great defense. What should we work on? Well punt returns to start; long snaps would be another thing. Special teams may become a factor later in the season so we have to improve there. Surprised to see Crist in there but Kelly said Dayne wanted to play despite the mop up situation. He threw a nice screen pass that should have been a BIG gainer if Atkinson had not tripped. Nice to see the back ups get some playing time in any case.

Fan notes. We watched the first half at the LA club game watch in Hollywood. Nice turnout of a youngish ND crowd including some subway alums. There was an older guy present that ran down the room with an Irish flag after every score. He also brought his trumpet and Timpressed us with ALL the school songs (including #4) with all the right notes. That was something. Exciting moment of the game was when we missed a catch in the end zone and one of the Purdue big bass drum dudes was taunting Eifert. The ref threw a flag and we thought we had witnessed our first band penalty but it turned out to be showboating by the Dback.

Now we have a winning record and I am hoping we are on a roll. Air force is no pushover but once again we should win. Then two weeks to prepare for the Trojans. I like the vibe.

Go Irish! Beat Falcons!

Can we have a laugher please?

My pre-season analysis had this game as our first "easy" game. The pundits seem to agree because the spread is around 12 points. Once again, this is a game we really should win.

Would really like to see a clean game today. No turnovers and no killer penalties would be a good start. I feel like we have an idea how good this team could be but I am still not sure how really good they are. There probably will not be a lot of major adjustments before the bye week so I expect we will see a lot of the same solid defense but shaky offense today.

Things I would like to see include the following. Can we exhibit the killer instinct and put the game out of reach early? If we get far ahead, who will come in as mop up QB? Barring an injury, Tommy is now the guy so there is some possibility we might see Golson or Hendrix in order to start developing the next guy. The offense has not been super creative due to Tommy's limitations; would like to see us go past page 10 in our 100 page play book sometime. Expect to see some new wrinkles when we play USC.

Expect Purdue faithful to be rocking on national TV (don't I say that every week?) until we put them in their place.

Let's win big!

ND 35 Purdue 14

Go Iirsh!

"Not an Instant Classic"

I think I have Brian Kelly's quote from his post-game press conference accurate in my title and it really hits the nail on the head. Tough game to watch yesterday. Neither team could seem to get anything going. On my way out of the stadium, some Pitt fan was talking to his friend and said: "I have seen the greatest college game ever (did not specify) and now I have seen the worst." Great praise indeed.

OK, so it was a W and we were happy to get out of town with a win after that performance. The defense played well. Six sacks, only allowing 12 points, holding a good RB and QB in check most of the time. Making big plays at the end. Shembo was a stud and may have saved the game a couple times. We have a real pass rush and the young studs on the line make me excited about the future. Our running back's were impressive. I particularly liked some of the hard headed short yardage runs by Wood. Our 3rd down plays have improved quite a bit. Eifert came up big with a career performance when it was obvious they would double Michael Floyd all day.

Passing offense is another story. Kelly will keep saying things like Tommy wins and he is a young QB still learning. But he looked bad all game yesterday, I would have liked to see Dayne get a chance just to mix it up. Yes, Tommy was 8 for 8 in the last drive. But at that point I was just thinking we better score now or the season is lost. The Chicago Trib reporter pointed out that one need only compare Dayne Crist's first half against USF to Tommy's first half against Pitt to see neither one did great. Tommy came close to throwing 2 or 3 additional interceptions beyond the one he did toss. Have to give Pittsburgh some credit for throwing all kinds of new defensive formations at us but they still were ranked very low in defense and we could not put points on the board (again). Two more turnovers for Tommy and we could only eek out 15 points despite 400 yards of offense. Very disconcerting.

Hoping this was an aberration because it felt worse winning than the first two losses felt in some ways. We still have a lot of work to do in my view. A good season is still very possible, would like to see us play a clean game with fewer penalties and turnovers because this type of play will not cut it against USC (or Navy or Air Force for that matter).

One week at a time.

Gameday notes: Feel sorry for the Pitt band because mostly they sit around and watch loud music videos with the rest of the stadium during the breaks. Seems a shame. The big student number at the end of the 3rd quarter is Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". That could easily be played by the band but instead we have to hear the original blasted over the PA system. What a waste.

Go Irish! Beat Boilers!

Tulsa Redux?

My crack research staff reveals that most of Tulsa's coaching staff has migrated to west central Pennsylvania and has taken up residence at the University of Pittsburgh. All hail the spread offense. Remember that loss? Ugly.

But ND freshman Aaron Lynch is predicting (publicly!) that the Irish will get double digit sacks, so I guess we're OK, huh? Freshmen.....jeesh

Looks like the Panthers have a pretty balanced attack, actually. A back averaging 140 yds per game and a QB throwing for over 200 yards a game. Of course he has more INTs (4) than TD passes (3), so that bears some watching.

We're favored by 7 and the over/under is 54. Take the Irish and the under.

Oh and it's too darned early for football. 9 AM just ain't fittin'.

IRISH 31, PITT 20

GO IRISH!!! BEAT PANTHERS!!!

Smash Pitt

Since Pitt has decided to desert the Big East, I think we should provide them with a big kick in the pants tomorrow.

ND 35. Pitt 17.

Go Irish! Beat Panthers.

A Step Ahead

We were definitely a step ahead of the Spartans most of the day, and the victory felt like a decent step ahead for the team. While Godfather refused to wallow in "what-ifs", I'll go out on a limb and say that we should have won all three of our games by the same 31-13 score we witnessed Saturday. Yes, I'd like some nice Irish Cheddar cheese to go with that whine.

Oh well, onward...

I "took it easy" on Saturday--I didn't take any notes, so I don't have any arcane statistics for you. I didn't stay glued to the screen for every down and distance. Speaking of down and distance, NBC still waits too long before flipping off their stupid logo to go to the down and distance on the screen. Annoys the heck out of me! I know I'm watching NBC, for goodness' sake. I want to know, sooner than 1.5 seconds before the snap, how many yards we have to make for a first down.

But I digress.

A kickoff return for a Touchdown--seriously??? Is Halley's comet on its way back? Holy moly, that was a sight for sore eyes.

Yes, Tommy made some sophomore mistakes, but as Don noted, not at critical times, and they didn't turn in to critical big plays like 99 yard fumble returns for TDs. Announcers did a good job illuminating that if Floyd is coming up big, that draws attention away from the Riddicks and Joneses on their patterns.

And the defense did play well. I just still long for the days when names like Zorich and Stonebreaker were called out seemingly on every play. For a good reason. Maybe I watch the opponents' offense too much and don't watch our defense enough to se where what we're doing right vs what they're doing wrong. I just know that it doesn't feel like we have any true studs. Te'o is advertised as the real deal; perhaps I'll have to watch my DVR of the game and isolate on him. Just not feeling it.

So, we've nine games left on our schedule. We should be favored in at least 7 of them. Stanford definitely not, and Southern Cal, we'll see what happens between now and October 22nd. Hope the students all come back from break for that one!

Not to look ahead (but it's fun), but if we keep taking steps ahead, rather than behind, and beat what could be a 6-0 USC team, that could put us back in to the Top 25. The Trojans have Cal the week before us and Stanford the week after. We have a week off before the game. OK, I'll stop looking 4 weeks ahead now...

So the best 1-2 team in the country moves on to Pittsburgh. I believe the curse of living on the West Coast will be against me. Looks like it's a 12 PM eastern game on ABC, and our ABC affiliate doesn't do 9 AM games. So I'll hopefully be able to find it on the web somehow. We'll see.

Looks like Pitt pulled defeat from the jaws of victory agains Iowa. 24-3 lead near the end of the third quarter. They lost by 4. Sound familiar? Let's see how they recover. We did fine this week. Their turn? Hopefully our talent will forestall that. Haven't looked at the spread, but I'm guessing we're 4ish point favorites.

Trivia question: when's the last time, during a game when the band actually got to play at halftime, that it didn't play the Victory March? Glad they got to play a second show, but those of us in TVland didn't get to see the second one. Glad everyone stayed to watch too.

Have a good week all. Hope springs eternal after a good win, doesn't it?

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT PANTHERS!!!!!

The Colonel

All About the Defense

We had kind of lousy seats yesterday; literally the first ND fan seats to the right of where the MSU families sit in section 12. The MSU fans were very nice and classy. Glad we were winning most of the game as that cut down on the noise from the MSU fans and band. There was a lot of fruitless standing in our area so not a really great place to watch the game and much of the action ended up in the North end. The ND band got a good view of the big plays in the game, we did not. So I feel a little under informed on specifics yesterday; hope to see a replay on TV in the next couple days.

It is apparent that our defense accomplished two big things yesterday. They completely shut down the MSU run game and they avoided the big game changer plays. The intermediate passing game hurt us a bit, but hey 13 points is a heck of a day. We have some stud freshman making contributions already. The offense was solid if not great. Balanced run/pass attack, a couple long drives and game buster kickoff return. The mistakes are still too great. We were fortunate that that turnover battle was close but again 3 is too many. Lots of penalties again but the good news on both fronts is that the mistakes were not always at critical moments. Of course that statement excludes the muffed punt by Goodman which could have been a big problem.

Anyway, a beautiful day in South Bend and the ND band got to perform TWO halftime shows as they brought out the USF halftime show after the game. Very nice to see the entire student body and a fair number of other fans stick around to watch the long post-game and enjoy another performance.

We knew this team had the talent to beat just about anybody. Good to see it finally happen. I am not going to wallow in the "if only" game about the first two losses and instead focus on the future. We have several beatable opponents coming up and can turn this season around with a string of victories. Let's do it! We will be in Pittsburgh next Saturday to watch that one.

Go Irish! Beat Panthers!

Down and Out or Angry and Ornery?

We'll get a good view into the perseverance of the Irish today. Have two very very painful losses been an unrecoverable kick in the gut (I was going to go lower, but hey, this is a family show) or a lesson in take a beating, get up and keep fighting.

I'm guessing the latter, but Godfather's post (short, but sweet) reveals another key indicator. Lose the turnover battle, lose the game.

I"m done predicting scores for now; just hoping for a W.

Type to you later...

GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTY!!!

Turnovers will tell the tale - more than 1 and we will lose. Go Irish!

More Painful than Last Week

I’m writing this one while it’s raw. Really raw.

But I don’t know where to begin. The 4 turnovers, giving us 9 in two games? Giving up pass completions of 43, 77, 40 and 64 yards? Plus another 39 yard run? Giving up 28 points in a fourth quarter where we also intercepted a pass in the end zone, so it could have been 35? Having a 3 point lead with 30 seconds to go and the opponent on their own 20, and yet still losing?

“Well Sherman, what did we learn tonight?”

“Gee, Mr Peabody, we learned that when an offense can’t keep the ball and a defense likes to watch passes sail over their heads, losses will tend to mount.”

“Very good, Sherman.”

For about 3 ½ quarters, I was sure we were the better team. Now I’m not so sure. We’re 0-2, they’re 2-0. They’ll probably beat Ohio State this year; we’re in Nowheresville. Again.

And yes, grudging kudos to the Wolverines--they didn't blink when they were down 14-0 in the first half and 24-7 in the second half. Give credit where credit is due.

Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

Sorry, needed to get that out of my system. Catharsis and all.

I think I hit the lowlights above. All the good things I was going to say will have to wait for another week, I’m afraid.
One more thing to lament: our defense has NO playmakers.

On to more important things. Wish me luck as I perform at my church on timpani tomorrow for two performances of Brahms’ “A German Requiem” to commemorate 9/11. Three timpani, no waiting.

Oh, yeah, and, um, go irish, beat spartans. Can’t muster up too much excitement for that yet.

The Colonel

Finding a Way to Lose

Listening to the post-game radio show on UND.com right now. I love these guys cause they agonize after a loss more than I do (and that is something).

There is no joy in Mudville. I am so down in the dumps I am not going to sleep on it and look at the stats. The only stat that matters is the score. We lost. We have a better team. We should not have lost. Four turnovers, multiple blown coverages in the second half. How did we lose this game? How did we let them go 80 yards in 28 seconds?

Unbelievable. I will never give up on the Irish but boy right now it is hard to see how we turn this around against MSU.

Go Irish. Please.

Another county heard from -

I haven't had much opportunity to gather thoughts about ND football yet this fall, and I know it's the second half of the second game, so I'll keep this brief.
We listened to the first half of tonight's game as we returned from the Syracuse game and I cringed when I heard the phrase 'throwback uniforms'. Now that I'm seeing them on tv, they aren't too bad, but it seems every time the guys wear something other than the traditional uniforms, we have trouble.
We are making far too many mental errors. Interceptions, fumbles and penalties are game killers and we're just proving that. Fortunately, Michigan is screwing up as well (just had an INT, so we have the ball again.) Good thing Michigan is helping us out there.
From what I've heard and the little I've seen, Tommy Rees is performing well. Don Criqui compared him to Joe Montana more than once in the early plays of the first quarter, and I'm eager to watch the recording to see if I can see the resemblance.
Why on earth does it take so long to get plays called in from the sidelines? That kills us. A staff on its toes will be able to get the plays called in swiftly. Criqui said that the coaches were not calling in plays 'with alacrity' - what a phrase! I'd just like them to get the lead out and get going. Criqui also said Rees was changing plays at the line frequently, so at least it seems Rees can think on his feet and make decent decisions.
With less than three minutes to go in the third quarter, it looks like ND will hold off Michigan. I hesitate to give a prediction since I'm so late coming to the game. I'll try to get in before game time next week.
One last comment. Bob & I had the pleasure of meeting Floyd Little, SU '67 and Denver Bronco running back this afternoon at a Syracuse University pre-game party. He is a great gentleman and an asset to SU's football program. Always fun to cross paths with someone like him!

The Ghosts of Musco

The Godfather, as usual, is spot on in his assessment that this is a "State of the Program" game. All the momentum from last year's streak has fizzled. We failed at home in our season opener, largely in part due to mistakes that a veteran team should not make. Can you really believe we gained over 500 yards of offense and lost to a lesser team? Amazing. As Michaleen Oge Flynn would say, "It's Homeric!"

That would not portend a favorable outcome walking in to The Big House for the first night game ever against probably their greatest non-Big 10(12) rival.

OK, how many of you got the title reference? 29 years ago, in the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium, we, with the help of Musco Lighting, beat Michigan 23-17. It was a dangerous day--the only time in my four years the band was able to tailgate!

(Aside: good thing we never did midnight drummer's circle. Consciousness would have been a plus, yes?)

OK, enough fun. How can we win, and will we win? Those seem to be the key questions facing our boys in white tomorrow evening.

Don's post definitely covered several points. The two I focus on are: win the turnover battle, and contain Denard Robinson. In one way I'd differ with Godfather--I want Tommy Rees to play to win, not play to "not lose". He has to avoid getting laser eyes for Michael Floyd on every pass play, so distribution will be key for him.

On defense, containment is the absolute key. Linemen must "stay home", in their assigned lanes. No stupid late hit penalties, either in bounds or on the sidelines.

WE CAN AND SHOULD WIN. If we lose tomorrow, I won't predict victory again until after we actually win a game!

Wait, wait, do you see my final score prediction coming???

IRISH 23, WOLVERINES 17. September 18, 1982 Redux.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT WOLVERINES!!!

The Colonel

EVERYTHING is riding on this game

Just to add a little more drama to the upcoming football game, I have decided that there is more at stake here than just another win or loss. It is a major turning point for the Irish season and for the program overall. If we lose, the Irish faithful will be questioning whether we have the right coach. We will question if we have the right players. We will question if a small, high academic standard school (like Stanford!) can actually field a winning football team. And worst of all, we will question whether our passionate belief that Notre Dame can and should be different is a belief we should retain.

OK, so those of you that are thinking I am a nutcase and this is only a football game have a reasonable argument. It is pretty simple in the end: clean up the turnovers and we will play a great game and beat Michigan. Actually that is the formula for victory tomorrow. Let Michigan make the mistakes and get flustered this time around. After two last minute losses in 2009 and 2010, it is certainly our turn to get a W against those guys. Tommy Rees merely has to "not lose" the game and we should be competitive. Then we need to avoid the big mistakes, contain Denard Robinson and away we go. Easy right?

I think we are going to pull it off. Actually most experts have us favored by 3 or 4 points. Therefore my prediction:

ND 28, Michigan 20


Go Irish! Beat Wolverines!

When it Rains, It Pours

When I predicted the Michigan game would be the game changer for the season, I certainly wasn’t coming at it from the viewpoint that we’d be 0-1 and already needing a win to salvage a season. So I was right, but for the wrong reason.

Like Godfather, I don’t know where to start regarding how to explain what we saw, some of us from the comfort of our own homes, some scurrying back and forth to take cover from dangerous conditions. Thank goodness we’re not talking about any casualties in the aftermath. But as I remarked to someone on Facebook this week, that game was weirder than the Navy OT loss when the sprinklers turned on. And that was a weird, weird game!
I think I have my one sentence explanation, and I’ll restrict it to the players: A veteran team played like a bunch of untested freshmen and sophomores.

How to explain four (!) defensive personal fouls, all by upperclassmen? Four of the five TOs were committed by upperclassmen. The fifth was a TJ Jones’ fault, not Tommy’s. (2 sophomores). Our “can’t miss” field goal kicker from a year ago badly pulls a 30 yard attempt.

AND WHY DON’T WE HAVE EVEN A DECENT PUNTER??????

I don’t think we have a QB controversy; I say give it to TR. Dane looked like he was going to cry on the sidelines in the second half. Tommy has that “juice” that keeps the team in the flow. He was able to find #3 at least 10 times in the second half (Sorry, I missed part of the game after it resumed the second time. Had to go find it on the web. MF might have had more than 10 catches in the second half).

Statistics definitely lie about this game. We outgained them 508 to 254—yes, we doubled their yardage.
Personal fouls aside, the defense did pretty well, too. The one time we needed a “hold” in the second half, we managed to have a late hit and a pass interference call in the end zone to keep USF’s drive alive for what turned out to be the winning drive.

I’m glad Don did a good job praising USF and Skip Holtz. I’m too torqued to give them credit.

So what do we lay on the coaching staff? I’ve seen a lot of discussion as to why Coach BK didn’t pick his starter sooner and let that person get more reps than the backup in the summer. I’m not sure that was a big issue. And I can’t say I had much of a problem with the play calling either. So yes, they maybe should have found a way to pull a Cher and slap Nicholas Cage in the face with a fierce, “Snap out of it!” during the first half. But this was really a game that came down to execution, and the coaches don’t fumble, throw INTs, miss field goals or commit personal fouls (Woody Hayes aside). This one falls on the players in my books.

So off we trudge to Ann Arbor for the first night game in The Big House. Gee, the UofM faithful won’t be too stoked, will they? An historic game, a chance to totally send our season reeling, etc. We face a tough task, my friends. Oh yeah, and our defense probably still has nightmares about Denard “Shoelace” Robinson. A tough task indeed.
Well, I must sign off now before I go on another rant. Here’s hoping our boys in blue can shake this one off. Ain’t going to be easy though.

GO IRISH!!! BEAT WOLVERINES!!!

The Colonel

Pick a Theme for This One

So many potential themes for the analysis this week, I will try to limit it to just a few for you. Wow, what a day! I thought four hours was too long for a game. Just goes to show you.

1. Mental mistakes galore.


2. QB controversy?


3. Coaching has to take some blame.


4. An historic day.

The story of this game is simple in some ways. Five turnovers, too many critical big penalties, dropped passes, missed field goals, lousy punts, etc. No one wins with that kind of day. More frustrating is that many parts of ND's team clicked vs. USF. We held them to 2 0f 14 on 3rd downs, won first downs 27 to 20, won yardage by a fair margin and the list goes on. But our team was simply not mentally prepared for the bright lights which is incredibly frustrating. Riddick, Crist, Gray, Turk, Jones and several others made mental mistakes that cost us (and made them at incredibly bad times). Absolutely brutal. We should have beat USF easily. One of the big frustrations is that no one (on offense of defense) could seem to make a big play or bail out another player's mistake in the first half. Somebody make a play!

Crist gets yanked (probably a good call) and now has to deal with this deep scar. Maybe it will not matter if he stays a backup but we may need him again. In my view, the ceiling is higher with Dayne but boy he looked bad yesterday and Tommy simply makes fewer mistakes. Is that going to be good enough? Got to figure Rees starts at Michigan and he is less likely to get flustered at that big game. Just do not see us as a BCS team with Rees at the helm. Remember he threw two interceptions yesterday despite many good throws along the way. Maybe my expectations are too high.

Here is my problem with our coaching. First, the team was not mentally prepared for the opener. Why the heck not? USF = no turnovers, modest penalties, made a lot of key plays. They were ready for the opener and had all the extra emotion of the Holtz saga, first time at ND, etc. We played like I expected USF to play; flustered. Second coaching problem, get your team to shake it off. The air got let out of the balloon with that fumble recovery on the first drive. But hey guys, it is 3 minutes into the game! Put it aside and play some football. Instead we got tentative and sloppy. Have to give USF coaching some credit, particularly "weathering" the 2nd half storm that could of had ND turning things around in a hurry. While ND did not quit, we dug a deep hole in the first half and fell short. One other comment about Skip Holtz. He almost got choked up in the post game interview and had so many nice things to say about ND. The guy is a class act.

Finally have to say a few things about the weather and suspensions. Man, it was hotter than hell all day up to half time. First time they let the ND band shed the heavy jackets in the stands. Then the skies open and no halftime show! Then we sit around for 2+ hours wondering what the rules are about complete games. I had my son on the phone doing research for me. I have to say part of me was thinking this really was divine intervention to either get ND a do-over OR get their act together in the locker room. Then another suspension late in the game. Are you kidding me? As all you loyal readers know, it always stinks to lose. Layer on unbearable heat, dangerous storms, an endless day and you really have a doozy. Trying to look at the bright side that we were part of history. That is something at least.

What do we expect to see next week? Really have to think about that one. Last year's team responded well to adversity a couple times, hope this one can do so as well. Playing Michigan up there at night really makes it more interesting. A win puts us back on track for a good season, losing would be a real blow to the program but will certainly be the odds maker's choice.

Prediction later next week.

Go Irish! Beat Wolverines!

Heavenly commentary on ND team?

For those of you at the game, my sympathies. I don't like the look of the weather, but it sure looked better than our guys did in the first half.

Unfortunately, we have no more control over the team than we do over the weather. Here's hoping for a better second half, whenever it gets played, than the first half we endured.

My 16 year old son groaned last week when he heard Crist would be the starter and he thinks Tommy Rees would have been a better choice. Who knows? And would it hurt to try?

Welcome Back My Friends...

To the Show that never ends…will we like the outcome this afternoon? I think we will.

Signs are positive moving in to the 2011 season, and there’s no really big reason to think the Irish won’t take care of business against South Florida. There will obviously be some first game jitters, but that will occur for both teams, and having the game in the friendly confines of ND Stadium will help us in that regard. And you know, I’d really like it if the team could make our home field a place people don’t want to visit. We were only 4-3 at home last year. 3-3 in 2009. 4-2 in 2008. And let’s not forget (no, let’s do) our wretched 1-6 home record in 2007. 6-1 in 2006. So over the last half decade, we’re That’s 18-15 over the last 4 years. Um, a little less than impressive, to say the least.

So today let’s start on the road to 6-0 at home.

It won’t necessarily be an easy game, but we should win. Both our offense and our defense should be improved this year, and the special teams have nowhere to go but up. Godfather has stated it’s pretty darned hot out there today. Our depth will help us in this regard as well.

I’d love to see a game where we win the toss, defer, and the defense begins dictating the action. Force a turnover or two, be stingy, scoring drives that get held to field goal attempts, etc. And the offense needs to work on balance, balance, balance. A few long sustained drives that result in TDs. Go for it on fourth down a time or two (successfully).

Godfather has us hitting 30 points this week. That would be nice. I’m going to go a little lower, but we’ll still cover the 10 point spread in today’s LA Times. Irish 27, Bulls 16. You heard it hear first!

Band question for those who have been going to campus a lot lately” Since when does the band where their uniform hats out to Saturday morning practice?? Looks REALLY dumb. At least on YouTube it does.

GO IRISH!!!! BEAT BULLS!!!!

The Colonel

I Must Be Crazy

Yes, I'm back on line, trying to figure out this new Blogger format and user interface. Some things I like, some things I don't, but I'm able to work around the things I don't like.

So I've read Godfather's season preview, and damnit, he's got me feeling optimistic. I don't like that. Although I will say I was satisfied with our "mid-teens" rankings in most of the polls. I'll tell you that Chris Dufresne, who's the college footba writer for the LA Times, actually has us 11th. He's a pretty straight shooter, even when it comes to ND, so we'll see.

There are three big reasons I think we'll be markedly better this year:

1. Godfather got one of them and that's the "coaches know the players, players know the coaches" angle. I've heard him say that in multiple interviews. I think we have mature upperclassmen, and so for them to return this year to a "we know the routine" atmosphere is big.

2. Second, "the streak", if I may be so bold. I'm guessing it hadn't been since '88 when we went 4-0 in November AND won our bowl game. (I keep telling myself I'm going to look this up but I still haven't). This was HUGE considering where we were sitting at the end of October. The heartbreaking losses to Michigan and MSU, never really being in the Navy game, the inexplicable loss to Tulsa (!)--WOW. Who predicted 5-0 after that?? Not me for sure.

3. DEEEE----FENSE!!! We will, for the first time in recent memory, have, I think, a difference making defense. Last year's unit gelled in time to propel "the streak"; it should be better this year.

OK, I just thought of a fourth reason. I know I predicted each the last several years that we'd lose at least one game we shouldn't lose. I think, given the above, that we won't do that this year. Nothing like a loss to Air Force or Maryland out of the blue will occur this year.

Here's hoping that the Stanford game is actually worth some marbles for both teams. I, like Don and Amy, will be playing "Let's Go" and "Rock" til our wrists fall off, urging our boys on to a win. I think Stanford will stumble somewhere along the line and won't be undefeated. How about the Irish?

Of course, per my last post, if we los to Michigan, 8-4 is the best we'll do. BUT WE'RE GOING TO BEAT MICHIGAN!

So I said at least 10-2 in my "if we beat Michigan" email, and that was before I read Don's 10-2 prediction. So call me the copy cat, I'm going with 10-2. I don't see us beating Stanford out there, especially if they have National Championshp hopes. And we'll lose to either MSU or Pitt. BUT WE'RE GOING TO BEAT MICHIGAN!

I'll post my game 1 preview in the morning. Sleep well, Irishmen (and ladies). Things are looking up!

GO IRISH!!! BEAT BULLS!!!

The Colonel

Michigan Summer

All For completeness' sake, I'm posting the email I sent out the other night so I don't lose it. Greetings All I don't have a detailed pre-season forecast written yet. I am way behind on thinking about the whole season. Whirlwind summer (in a good way). All I can say is, our season hinges on the Michigan game. Why do I say this? Because every time I park my car, it's next to a car with a Michigan sticker. Every time I walk through a mall or down at the beach, I see people wearing Michigan garb. For the last 4-6 weeks, it's been Michigan, Michigan, Michigan. It's obviously a sign. As the Michigan game goes, so goes the season. Presuming we beat South Florida, if we beat Michigan, we're looking at 10-2 or better. If we lose, it's 8-4 or worse. You heard it here first. Muck Fichigan! (But first, beat the Bulls) The Colonel

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Trying to successfully post something here. Have not been successful this week. Let's see if this works.

Crist Coming Out Party

Skip Holtz Resume: ND football player, ND graduate, Asst. ND Coach, other stuff..., 0-1 against ND as coach.

That's right, the Bulls fall to the Irish on Saturday. Spread in our paper is 10.5 in favor of the Irish which seems a little crazy. USF has a good team and coach; they will come to play. But I think we have too much in our arsenal for them. Weather could be a factor as rain seems to be probable.

I am so psyched for this season that I have to ratchet down my optimism for this prediction. There is a possibility we could be REAL good but of course what the Irish do on the field will tell the tale. I expect a very good game from Dayne Crist.

My Prediction:

ND 30, USF 17

Go Irish! Beat Bulls!

More than a feeling….

With less than 4 weeks to go till kickoff, it is time for the outrageous pre-season predictions.

Remember the Boston song? I know my ND football predictions tend to be on the optimistic end of the spectrum but this year the evidence points to a very good season for the Irish. I am predicting 10-2 with a good shot at a BCS bowl this year. See the details below.

Why will the Irish be better this year? There are three big reasons why we will do well in my view.

1. Brian Kelly keeps saying the players know the coaches and the coaches know the players now. His track record shows that he will get a significant jump in production in Year 2. The learning process is in the past for the team and the coaches.
2. Depth of talent at every position. The only real question marks are running back and the receivers but with Floyd back on the roster this will not be an issue. We have two battle tested QBs (with 2 more in the wings), veteran defensive backfield, better D-line, better O-line, strong linebackers. The list goes on. There will be injuries but the depth factor is most important with the “next man in” philosophy and the fact that the subs will push the starters to play their best.
3. Confidence. This team clearly changed its mentality at the end of last year and now believes it can win any game. We saw this on the field with many dominating moments against Utah, USC and Miami.

So how do I get to 10-2? With only two teams ranked higher than ND so far, the Irish could possibly be favored in all games this year depending on how the season progresses. But there are 3 clear tough games on the schedule. I am giving myself a break and not being super precise but have broken the games into four categories below.

Potential Laughers: (5-0)

• Purdue – kind of troubling that our first “easy” game comes in October but the Boilers really stink. We win easy.
• Air Force – The Falcons are no push over but I think we are back to the days when a bigger, stronger, faster ND squad consistently beats the service academies.
• Navy – How can I pick this as a laugher considering Navy spanked us the last couple years? Because is time to end this nonsense, that is why.
• Wake Forest – Do not expect much trouble here.
• Boston College – The Eagles are in a down swing, they will play tough and we need to watch for a look ahead to Stanford but home venue and Senior game will help put us over the top. Let’s not repeat 1993.

ND should Win: (3-0)

• USF – A very good team and well coached by Skip Holtz. They will provide a formidable opening opponent. But Opener hype and visitor gawking will help to overcome the challenge. Irish win.
• Pittsburgh – Wannstadt is gone as head coach which should scare us but with the switch and the talent gap we should win this one.
• Maryland – ND road show takes over our nation’s capital! A decent team with a good new head coach. Figure they will still be in the learning curve and we will be on a roll by November. Good game, but we win. The Maryland Band barely nosed out the ND band for the Hawaii Five-O challenge last year so watch for a halftime smack down.

Pick-em: (2-1)

• Michigan – Expect us to beat the Wolverines with the coaching change and personnel confusion but night game and national TV make this a toss-up. ND band will be there to make the difference!
• MSU – Very good team, well coached, play us very tough. Glad this one is at home.
• USC – Still very dangerous, while on the downswing will have the usual speed and pride on display. But the time has come to beat these suckers on our turf. Night game adds some drama.

Should lose: (0-1)

• Stanford – have to pick this as a loss and it hurts to do so as I will be there to watch and play “Let’s Go!” throughout the game. Even with a coaching change, Stanford brings a very talented team to the field and this game is likely to be very important for bowl selections for both teams. Should one or both teams be undefeated (getting ahead of myself again) this could really be a game for the ages.

So that is my two cents. Agree, Disagree, critique my logic and let me know what you think.

GO IRISH. Beat Bulls.

The Season of Hope

Well, we're right in the middle of what I like to call "The Season of Hope".  That time of year when anything is possible - the Irish can do no wrong and everyone says that they're on their way to at least 10 wins.  It's my favorite time of year. After the first game, all of that goes out the window.

In the meantime, I attended Football 101 again this summer - maybe it was football 201?  This year I was able to go with my daughter, Angela (all guests have to be 21 or older). Here are some fun photos and facts from the evening.  This year there were twice the number of women at the event - 600 instead of 300.  We were on the outside practice field for the activities - not the in the stadium. 

We broke into groups and did some passing and kicking drills as well as an obstacle course.  Then we ran a few plays.  It was a blast - the players were there to help, but mostly the coaches were running the activities.  It was a warm night, but it didn't stop us from having fun.

If you look closely, you can see that Angela is running the ball to the end zone, while I am about to tackle the two large men holding the foam cushion!!

Once we finished outside, our group went into the Gug for all kinds of interesting talks.  We heard from all of the coaches again - Bob Diaco is still a crazy man, but the defense is looking strong.  We had a tour of the locker room - looks pretty much the same as last year.  We saw the training room and the weight room and then we went into the players' lounge.  Tommy Rees and Dayne Crist demonstrated some very cool software that they use on Friday nights before games.  It's like Madden Football, except that it's customized for Notre Dame and the opponent that they will meet the next day.  Plays are programmed in by one of the assistant coaches and the two of them play it and try to score above 90%.  They said that it really does help them prepare for the game.  I thought that it was very neat.

If you look at the wall behind the screen...there's the band!!  Face it, that's the most important part of the weekend!

That's all from me.  Enjoy the season of hope.  I know that I do.

The Curious Case of Michael Floyd

Well, I just sent in my very large check for the football lottery which makes me think it is time to start blogging about Football 2011. Hope to be at all the home games and make road trips to Pitt, Maryland and Stanford this fall. We will look forward to seeing you Irish fans at those games!

During our sabbatical from football blogging, a bonehead by the name of Michael Floyd got pulled over on a DUI as you have surely read. You remember him, the guy that passed on a lower round draft in the NFL to finish his senior season at ND and prove he is the best receiver in college football. The story is still unfolding but now there is a possibility that he may not have the chance.

In a stunning departure from recent history, ND's Residential Life office punted on a punishment for Floyd and moved the drama to the football office; in particular to the desk of Brian Kelly. Similar or lesser offenses by ND athletes have resulted in semester suspensions or similar punishments. Perhaps all the facts are not yet out. For example, Floyd pleaded not guilty to the DUI at his first court appearance. But this will be an interesting saga however it plays out over the summer.

Here I portray the possible outcomes to this story with my odds on each one.

1. Floyd is dropped from the roster and never plays another game for Notre Dame (0%). There are some of even the most diehard fans that are suggesting this is the right thing for Kelly to do if for no other reason than proving ND does not put up with this kind of behavior. This was Floyd's third drinking related incident in college and even worse it was a DUI which we all know is often attached to many young adult deaths.

If this was going to happen it probably would have happened by now. Of course Michael could do something else stupid this summer but I am guessing he is on a pretty tight leash and knows he has one foot off the team as it is. Kelly is unlikely to severely hurt his NFL prospects by throwing him in the supplemental draft or free agent market.

2. Floyd is suspended from the team for several games this fall (25%). Given the severity of the incident, previous history and Kelly's own statements about what he expects from his players the penalty may surprise some people and cover more than a token suspension. Kelly is just the kind of guy ("next man in") that may want to prove no one is bigger than the team. Floyd is probably the best player at Notre Dame, a huge offensive weapon and would clearly take significant pressure off our developing quarterbacks. How sweet would it be for Kelly and for the psyche of the team to win the first 3 or 4 games of the season without Floyd on the field? With road games against Michigan and Pitt (both with new coaches) and winnable home games against South Florida and MSU I can see this scenario coming to fruition. Actually this is kind of what I hope happens. It would shut up a lot of the ND haters, build an "us against the world" mentality like we saw in late 2010 and most importantly help to teach Floyd an important lesson of accountability.

3. Floyd is suspended for the opener against South Florida but suits up in time for the second game at Michigan (65%). This seems to be the consensus pick in the blogosphere and among sports writers so far. ND will be able to say it punished him while still giving the young man a chance to redeem himself on and off the field. We do want the kid to get his degree as well.

My concern about this scenario is that it is barely a jump above "slap on the wrist" in terms of punishment and will rightly be perceived as a token action by Notre Dame. Many will see this type of punishment as proof that ND is just like many other football powerhouses that look the other way when star players run afoul of the law. One can make an argument like that if in fact Michael only sits out one game. We will never know all the things going on behind the scenes but there is no question the team is better with Floyd on the field so this is probably what will happen.

4. Floyd blows his current penalty box agreement and leaves ND (10%). I had to put this in as an option because Michael has shown he is not the sharpest tack in the box and might just disappoint his fans and his friends by blowing it again. Unlikely but possible.

However this plays out, it will teach us something about Notre Dame, Brian Kelly and Michael Floyd. It may also be a significant factor in the arc of the season for the Irish this fall. Never a dull moment!

Go Irish! Beat Bulls!

One Top 25 Listing We are Glad to Miss

Check out the cover story of SportsIllustrated this week if you have a chance. Kind of scary and disturbing but not all that surprising....

THE TOP 25 (2011 Football)
The number of players on each team in the study who were found to have police records

SCHOOL, PLAYERS CHARGED, SI PRESEASON RANK
1. PITTSBURGH, 22, 16
2. IOWA, 18, 6
2. ARKANSAS, 18, 23
4. BOISE STATE, 16, 3
4. PENN STATE, 16, 19
6. VIRGINIA TECH, 13, 10
7. WISCONSIN, 9, 11
7. OKLAHOMA, 9, 12
7. FLORIDA STATE, 9, 25
10. MIAMI, 8, 15
11. OHIO STATE, 7, 2
11. FLORIDA, 7, 7
11. OREGON, 7, 8
11. USC, 7, 17
15. ALABAMA, 5, 1
15. NORTH CAROLINA, 5, 13
15. CINCINNATI, 5, 18
15. UTAH, 5, 22
19. NEBRASKA, 4, 9
19. GEORGIA TECH, 4, 14
19. OREGON STATE, 4, 20
22. LSU, 3, 21
23. TEXAS, 2, 4
24. STANFORD, 1, 24
25. TCU, 0, 5

I Like Mike

As correctly noted by the Colonel, Michael Floyd's return for his senior season is extremely good news. I am a bit surprised but was leaning toward him coming back because the common wisdom indicated he would not be a first round NFL pick. Next fall he will enter the season with his name on the Heisman watch list.

Anyone who has watched Michael play, particularly this past season, knows what a huge impact player he has become. The big plays and great catches are only part of the story. He has become a great blocker and you will see many big play making blocks by him when halfbacks or other receivers break a big one. I think that is one of the things that will make him highly desired in the NFL. When he is on the field, defenses have to adjust by rolling coverage over to him which of course opens up things for other offensive weapons. Though his speed is not top of the line, his strength, hands and ability to position his body lead to many big catches.

How many guys on recent Irish teams can single hand idly win the game? Maybe Clausen and Quinn of course but after that it is tough to say. How many times has Floyd already been that guy? Look no further back than the Sun Bowl to find an example. Remember the Michigan loss in 2009? Floyd had to go to the bench with a minor injury during the final series. If he is in there, Clausen completes the 3rd down and the Irish run out the clock (maybe Weis even survives as head coach). Remember how bad we looked at the end of 2008 when he was hurt? The Irish have been a completely different team when Floyd is in the lineup and considering the talent building around him I expect a very potent attack next fall. Floyd will graduate with most of ND's receiving records in his pocket.

In other ND sports news, we are staying in snowy South Bend this weekend. Wanted to see a hockey game but BOTH Friday and Saturday were sold out despite the students being away on break. They need a bigger arena (oh wait, they are building one). Both ND bball teams look strong and are pretty much locks for the NCAA tournament in my view. The women went right to the wire with UConn last week with a real shot to win at the end. The men imploded at Marquette last week but that is the only bad game they played this year. Both teams very entertaining to watch when you can.

Hey, we got a few votes in the final 2010 football polls though fell short of the top 25. Sports Illustrated has us as #24 in its early look at 2011. Being in the top 25 has a nice ring to it, it has been a very long time.

GO IRISH.