Category Archives: football

ND at Michigan: Save your comparisons, please

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All people could talk about after ND’s 17-10 victory was Knute Rockne and Ty Willingham (2002 version). Maybe we could talk about how the Irish have gone from receiving 13 votes to a top 10 ranking instead. Maybe we should talk about next week’s contest against Michigan State. Thankfully, that’s Charlie’s opinion. I’m thrilled that we beat Michigan, I-stuck-my-hand-in-a-ceiling-fan-and-didn’t-notice thrilled. But I don’t want one win or one good season. I want a program.

The Good:

  • The opening drive was a masterpiece.
  • DL getting their hands in passing lanes.
  • The secondary must have been doing something right back there.
  • Takeaways in the red zone.
  • Special teams contained Breaston, and Fitzpatrick squeezed that FG through the uprights.

    • The Bad:

  • After early success, the offense essentially disappeared.
  • Fumbles.

    • The Ugly:

  • Michigan student section throwing trash onto their own field. Oh yeah, and onto the visiting recruits. Nice!
  • I neglected to mention how hideous “The Shirt” is this year. I mean, they’ve been bad before, but this is ridiculous. I can tolerate the yellow, but can’t we just have a block ND or leprechaun on the front?

    • In other news, it was a battle of good coaching vs. poor coaching in Seattle. Cal’s QB Joe Ayoob rebounded from an 0/10 performance last week to hang 4 TD’s on Washington. With the amount of talent that graduated from Cal last year (Rodgers, Arrington, MacArthur, Lyman), this season will tell us if Tedford really is devine.

    ND at Pitt: It’s only one game

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    It’s only one game, but we got the win against a pretty decent team on the road and looked good doing it. I was predicting a final score of 35-28, which wasn’t too far off the mark. Obviously next week’s contest at Michigan will be a tougher test for Charlie and co.

    The Good:

  • Quinn – 18/27 for 227 yd, 2 TD / 1 INT, 0 sacks; Walker 20 rush for 100 yd, 3 rec for 57 yd, 2 TD; Fassano – 4 rec for 57 yd
  • Samardzija’s diving TD catch was a beauty.
  • The O-line controlled the line, setting the table for the rest of the offense.
  • Solid running by Powers-Neal and Thomas and getting Wolke in the game. We are thin, and keeping Quinn and Walker healthy is a priority.
  • D-line shut down their running game and got after Palko (5 sacks).

    • The Bad:

  • Quinn’s INT was pretty ugly.
  • DB’s got torched on Pitt’s first TD, and again late in the game but the receiver couldn’t haul it in.

    • The Ugly:

  • Penalties. Lots of them. 10 for 94 yd to be exact. Illegal substitutions were supposed to follow Ty to Washington.
  • Quinn still spends time outs like a sorority girl with daddy’s credit card.
  • The bar hosting the game watch doesn’t know how to work its high-definition TV.

    • It’s only one game, but in the Andy Malec philosophy of football, the first game sets the tone for the season.

    In other news, Cal steamrolled Sacto St., but lost their QB to a broken leg. Ouch.

    Spoils of War

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    Now, it seems like a completely different season, but Notre Dame did defeat Michigan this fall, and in so doing, I earned the following:
    [Spoils of War]

    I hate to listen to a Michigan fan’s advice about my football team, but I’m inclined to agree.

    Black Saturday

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    I thought Friday night would be the low point of my sports weekend, as I witnessed Mark Mulder continue his second half implosion, forcing the A’s to win Saturday and Sunday in order to make the playoffs. Notre Dame also had an opportunity to prove to the nation that the BYU debacle was a fluke. So much for that. Crunch time turned into chump time. ND couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities, and Purdue scored at will in the second half, dropping the Irish to 3-2, and the bottom of “others receiving votes.” After watching the ND disaster, Odie and I failed to find a bar in San Francisco that would show the critical A’s game. The solemn faces on the BART told us all we needed to know, as the bullpen blew a solid performance by Barry Zito, and ensuring that I won’t attend a post-season game for yet another year. My sports sanity now lies in the hands of Cal football (ESPN #7, at USC Oct. 11) and the Twins (AL Central champs, ALDS starts at NY Oct. 5).

    Notre Dame football: Crunch time

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    It’s been 3 weeks since the Mormon Mauling, and after that game, I made the following statement:

    The only team we will beat this year is Stanford. Not even Navy.

    Apparently, Tyrone Willingham heard me. It’s been three weeks, and since then we have three wins. These weren’t fluke wins either. These were solid performances, capped by a 38-3 dismantling of Washington. Now, I’m not ready to say that Notre Dame is a powerhouse, but the offense is coming around to complement an always stingy defense. Next week’s contest against Pur-don’t will be the key. A win against the Boilermakers (ESPN #15) and their top ranked offense (50 ppg) will put the Irish on firm ground heading into the soft part of the schedule (Stanfurd, Navy, BC). And I’ll eat my words.

    College football

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    The preseason college football AP rankings have come out, so I just thought I’d make a couple of observations:

    1) Georgia and Texas are ranked in the top 10 again. Georgia even got 5 first place votes. A bad season by them puts them at the top of the list.

    2) Cal received 744 points. That’s 743 more points than ND. If Cal finishes this season in the top 15 and ND is unranked, I’m buying season tickets next year.

    3) I keep reading about how ND is playing a killer schedule. Well, according to this poll, there are 4 games against ranked opponents: Michigan, Purdue (and we know they’ll drop out), Tennessee, and USC. I don’t see a killer schedule. I see a schedule that IF they get by Mich in week 2, things might come together, and they could make a run at a NC. It’s only a killer schedule because ND likes to play State, Purdue, and BC like they’re the freaking ’88 49ers, ’87 Edmonton Oilers, and ’27 Yankees. If ND doesn’t put it together, see point 2.

    4) There is only one team on the Cal schedule ranked higher than them: USC. We both know that for some reason, USC has trouble with the Bears, but they might have a little extra something this time around since the Golden children cost them half a NC. October 9th, mark your calendar.