Brian Kelly new head coach at Notre Dame

Kelly to Coach Irish: Money talks

How much hypocrisy is there in the world, and in college football?

So today Notre Dame will announce this afternoon that Brian Kelly, the FORMER head coach of Cincinnati, will be the new head coach of Notre Dame.

Now let’s start spewing moronic statements…starting with Lou Holtz.

In an interview on ESPN today, he was asked how they might do next year, with the 2010 schedule halfway done. I saw that list and saw teams like Stanford, USC, Navy, Utah and a few others. Lou Holtz said, “I think they can go undefeated if they have a great defense”

Again with the stupid remarks! This is the same idiot that said the last two years that Notre Dame would go undefeated and win the National Championship…both times he was woefully wrong!

How in the name that is good can ESPN let this idiot keep spewing forth such wicked lies! I can understand being a fan or supporter of a team, but ESPN pays him to be HONEST…not lying and wicked! This man consistently fails to give a honest and sincere opinion about the team he used to coach, but has no problem complaining about everything else…what a moron!

They also asked this “expert” of how soon it can take to turn this team around… he said it can be done in ONE YEAR.

Liar

Let’s understand, Notre Dame loses their coach, a key quarterback and receiver, has likely lost recruits due to this fiasco, with a new coach on the way that has burned his bridges along the way, to coach a new team whose former coach burned bridges himself. You really think that will turn around in ONE YEAR?

It really is a discredit to ESPN to allow somebody like Lou Holtz sit there and make lies about this team. If you can’t be realistic then you don’t need to be running your mouth. I bet Mark May and Reese Davis are vomiting over the crap Holtz is spewing.

But the damage is done, and yet in the name of vanity more damage was done than necessary. Just today I was viewing the reactions of some of those Cincinnati players, and many of them were not very positive in how Brian Kelly bailed out on them just before the biggest came the university ever had.

What I don’t understand is how the media is so blind to the clear disruption Notre Dame caused by talking to a head coach before his BCS bowl game. Why enter like a thief in the night to steal a coach from his team, when you could have waited a few weeks longer? Notre Dame has declined a bowl game, which to me was foolish, because you now forsake the extra 2-3 weeks of practice, which every team can use. Don’t tell me that there would not have been a decent list of coaches willing to take that job after January, I am not buying that, even for a screwed up university like Notre Dame.

The entire practice just seemed…unholy…from a so called religious school. I forgot, isn’t Notre Dame a Catholic university…and under such so called ideals should there also be some moral and spiritual way of going about hiring a coach? Is it righteous to sneak in a college and plop money in front of another university’s coach to lure him out? Would they not have been more righteous to simply wait until Cincinnati finished their bowl game before they made the hire official?

But it goes both ways too, Brian Kelly now looks like a sneaky rat too. Now, I don’t blame a man for wanting to coach in bigger places, and no one will argue that Cincinnati is smaller than Notre Dame as far as football history, but the way he went about it was just as sleazy as Notre Dame’s offer.

In his wake he leaves a team now torn, forced to play without their head coach. But you know, this is hypocritical because the media always likes to talk about “distractions”. When Spikes from Florida was gouging the eyes of a player and got a half of a game for suspension, that was a “distraction” to the team. When Blount from Oregon punched a guy early this season, and was suspended for a full year (to be changed later), that was a “distraction” to the team. But when a head coach bails out on his team to take the money, nobody is talking about how huge a distraction that can be.

I don’t blame Cincinnati for being upset, and it seems that the NCAA is cool with coaches not finishing their job and making that example to these kids. We get all on athletes when they want to try to go to the NFL too early or when it comes to correcting their students, but when grown men make such choices, nobody says anything. It’s becoming hypocritical for coaches to bail out on their players for “greener grass”, leaving the team, the university and fans in confusion.

Is this a good hire…how is this any different from the last 3 coaches? Lou Holtz can say all he wants about how good Notre Dame will be, the current history shows that it won’t be any different. If Notre Dame dumbs down the schedule, and put a few high school teams on the schedule, and if they make all the game at home, then I can see Notre Dame making a BCS run in the next couple of years. But with the shot they took in recruiting, the impatience of the rich alumni and the perverted tactics of this religious school…I am not holding my breath.

So Brian Kelly is the new head coach of Notre Dame…good luck Kelly, you’re gonna need a heck of a lot of that where you are going…because you won’t get much else.

No bowl for Notre Dame?

Notre Dame: No Bowl?

So Notre Dame wins only 6 games, fires their coach and now they have decided that they don’t want to go to a bowl. Is this a good thing?

Absolutely not.

I blogged a few days ago about the foolish pride of Notre Dame, and to me this further proves it. If you are too prideful to take a bowl game, and bring the revenue it adds to your school, that is foolish.

Notre Dame acts like the spoiled brat that can’t get what he wants, so he looks at the world as sour grapes. But who really is the blame for that? It is the rich alumni that pump money and control in the school…which ironically is supposed to be a Catholic school, but I am starting to doubt that now.

To me, if Notre Dame refuses a bowl, that is a terrible shame and a disgrace to the players of the team. Some of those players have stuck with this university for four years, it is only fair to at least send them out with one more win, a bowl win. I don’t care who you play, at least PLAY one more game and end your season on a high note.

Second, you also have guys hoping to make the NFL draft, you owe it to those players to give them a game to get some exposure. Every college likes to brag about how many NFL players they put in the draft, well, cowboy up and do that Notre Dame!

Third, the REGULAR fans of Notre Dame deserve to see their team in a bowl, not as a bunch of quitters and whiney babies. While it might be true that I am not a ND fan, I do realize that there are many, many fans that want to pull for this team, and going to a bowl will at least do that.

Sometimes I think people in these colleges and universities are so full of themselves that there becomes a “holier than thou” attitude, which ironically only shows their ignorance. For some reason the Irish believe that they have some birthright to the BCS and National Championships every year, but have allowed money and pride knock them off the true path of Notre Dame. Until they really take time to look at themselves, I don’t see them competing for a National Title for YEARS. They can always soften up their schedule, throw in some high schools and get a record good enough to go to a BCS bowl…but then again, that was what they tried to do this year, and it backfired.

About 50 teams will not go to a bowl this year, and every one of them would GLADLY trade places with Notre Dame and go to a bowl. Bowl games are a celebration of success and a reward for players, fans and the schools for having a successful year. If Notre Dame can’t understand that, and at least take a bowl for the fans and players, then they truly are as misguided and spoiled as we think.

The Fate of Notre Dame, part 2

The Fate of Notre Dame, pt2

I think I blogged on this before, and the answer is still up in the air.

Ok, so Charlie Weis was fired from Notre Dame, and now they are looking at a new head coach…to me if you want to ever see the foolishness of man’s wisdom, which comes to naught, here it is…Notre Dame.

Sometimes we are so smart we outsmart ourselves, to the humiliation of the rest of the nation. I think we all knew this was going to happen, but the foolishness in all this is how this “school of higher learning” and “religious” school has gone about this.

Let’s recap the last 20 years of Notre Dame football, starting with the last time the won the National Championship… 1988.

The coach of that team was (ugh) Lou Holtz. Only a couple of years after he got the Notre Dame job, he led the Irish to a National Championship, but it would appear that the rich alumni wasn’t too happy with that. Even haven gone to a bowl on New Years Day 9 straight times, there was some problems with the team. He “resigned” in 1996, but get this… he was only about FIVE games away from tying or breaking the great Knute Rockne as the most victories by a Notre Dame head coach. It was rumored at that time that a lot of these alumni didn’t want such a “holy” record broken by Lou Holtz, so there was pressure for Lou to resign. Lou Holtz had 100 victories, with 95 of those being during the regular season.

Yet this wasn’t good enough for Notre Dame, and there was heavy criticism to get rid of him…understand the foolishness of this folks…Lou Holts won them a National Championship, and outside of 1986, they had a winning season every year…it was quite obvious that he would have broken Knute Rockne’s record, no doubt about it, but the Notre Dame alumni didn’t want him to do it, so they ran him out. Sure, Lou said he resigned…but he also jumped right back into coaching shortly afterwards, at South Carolina…it implies he was never finished coaching, just forced out.

So then Notre Dame gets Bob Davie in 1997, trying to find a way to get back into the National Championship. The Irish struggled as it was ranked as high as #15 during Davie’s tenure, but failed to get the National Championship the blind Irish wanted. Strange though, because the 2001 squad received praise from the American Football Coaches Association for a 100% graduation rate…

Folks…isn’t THAT what is should be about? Graduating your players?

But no, that wasn’t good enough for Notre Dame, and with a few other problems in the university, they got rid of Bob Davie, after a 35-25 record. It was then they tried to hire George O’Leary from Georgia Tech, but some inconsistent facts in his resume forced Notre Dame to think twice, being humiliated by the scandal of getting a coach that wasn’t really on the level. In their embarrassment, they turned to hire Tyrone Willingham in 2002, and was immediately rewarded with a 10-2 season, one they had not seen in years. But problems stemmed from rich alumni for several reasons, some racist, some foolish pride. With Willingham not winning the way they wanted, and with the demand to have a National Championship, there was pressure to get rid of Willingham, especially since he was not their first choice anyway. Notre Dame would soon fire Willingham, and fearing a backlash of African American recruits not going to the school, was quick to get former Notre Dame player Tim Brown (and Heisman Trophy winner) to work in recruitment.

In 2005 Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis, a Notre Dame graduate and Offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. In an effort to spark offense and get the NFL flavor for recruiting, the rich alumn of Notre Dame felt that this would get them to the “promised land”. Like Willingham, Weis started out great, so great that in his first year the rich alumni gave him a 10 year extension…something they never offered Willingham after similar performances. They were even ranked as high as #2 in 2006, but it was shortly afterwards when Notre Dame would suffer numerous defeats. With soft schedules and weak performances, it seemed apparent that the mystique of Notre Dame had left, and exactly 5 years after firing Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame fired Charlie Weis.

Yet in the midst of these times, we have seen the foolishness of Notre Dame extremists, with former coach Lou Holtz now working for ESPN who, with a lying mouth and heart, sits there and proclaims that Notre Dame will win the National Championship and go undefeated…he said this TWO YEARS straight…and was gravely wrong both times.

This is the same university, in some sad attempt to create glory for itself and their greatness, erected a statue of Lou Holtz during a Michigan/Notre Dame football game, perhaps hoping to appease the football gods to help them…remember folks, Notre Dame is a RELIGIOUS school…where are the standards…oh I forgot, it’s in the money.

So here we stand, just over 20 years since Notre Dame won their last National Championship. Notre Dame has had over 30 head coaches. Notre Dame, in their own selfish pride, has pushed off Lou Holtz for fear of him catching Knute Rockne, fired Bob Davie who seemed to emphasize education, forced out Tyrone Willingham amidst pressure from rich Caucasian alumni who obviously were about 50 years behind the rest of the known world as far as racial relationships and equality, and today are STILL looking for somebody to coach this radioactive university.

So what is the fate of this school? Times have changed since the late 80’s, and with ESPN, Fox, and other sports channels, the regular list of college football teams like Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, Nebraska and Oklahoma no longer apply. Back then, in the late 80s, you might be able to watch as many as 5 football games per Saturday, if you were lucky. This year, when Saturday comes around, and with even basic cable, I can watch as many as 15 games a day…and we are not including the Thursday or Wednesday or even Friday games that are on ESPN from time to time. Exposure is far, far greater now than it has ever been.

To Notre Dame, this means you are not the marquee team anymore. With more visibility teams like TCU, Miami, Florida, Boise State, Virginia Tech and many others get just as much time as Notre Dame does, even if NBC does carry them virtually every week. With scholarships down to 85 and such exposure, these old school teams no longer are the great teams they used to be. This is not to say that they cannot be any longer, it just means it is much harder to get those recruits than they used to.

Remember, it has been 20 years, and that was early in Lou Holtz’s tenure, so with it being over 20 years, the times have truly changed. But sadly, the rich alumni of Notre Dame are too dead set to those “good ole days”. I can dig that, because we always value the good times once time has passed. Notre Dame didn’t realize when they forced Lou Holtz out that they would relive those glory days 20 years later…if they had, they might not have gotten rid of Lou Holtz. But that’s man’s wisdom for ya, we always think we know what we are doing…only to make a fool of ourselves.

But to me, it is worse than that for Notre Dame. To me, the idea of being a Catholic school is almost a joke, because money speaks far greater than God to them. When rich alumni can make the call on who they want for such a job as a football coach, how can you truly say you are religious? Seems to me that money is the god of Notre Dame, or at least those with a lot of it.

Perhaps…just perhaps, this is their problem. If the school would operate more like a religious school, concentrating on human values and faith in God, maybe they would get in a better position to win a National Championship. I mean, after all, they won a ton of them right? They won 11 National Championships, and two in the last 32 years…it can happen. But who am I to say such things, I am no rich Notre Dame alumni, I don’t make decisions of a religious school with my money…

I let the foolish do that, the fruit of such efforts, and the fate of Notre Dame, seems to be clearly established in what they have sown….

Should a 4-1 Notre Dame team be ranked?

Should Notre Dame be ranked now?

I was watching some of my favorite sports shows on ESPN when I listened to a story about how Charlie Weis, the head coach for Notre Dame, apparently feels that the Fighting Irish ought to be ranked.

Agree or disagree?

Should Weis keep his mouth shut or does he have a point?

Let’s review.

At this moment, if the AP poll had a top 35 list, Notre Dame would NOT be on it, with only 9 votes. If the USA Today poll had a top 30, Notre Dame would NOT be on that either, getting only 57 votes. But the great and mighty Notre Dame is 4-1, isn’t that worth a top 25 ranking?

I personally felt at the beginning of the season that Notre Dame is a lot of hype, and is a sad expression of how college football tries to force people to believe that a team is good only by name only. Granted I am not a fan of Notre Dame, and lost a heck of a lot of respect when they ran Tyrone Willingham out, and how they apparently give Charlie Weis far more credit for doing at BEST the same thing Willingham did.

Bit we do have a credible argument here. Why is a 4-1 team not even close to being recognized as a top 25 team. I mean, didn’t these same voters place Notre Dame in the top 25 at the beginning of the season, based off a paltry 7-6 record?

You guys remember last year, right? Where Lou Holtz on ESPN sat there with a bold-faced lie and said that Notre Dame would win the National Championship… mainly because the school made him an idol during the Michigan/Notre Dame game…

(hmm…idol…religious school….something not right there…)

You remember how the mighty Fighting Irish beat San Diego State, then Michigan to cement themselves in the BCS National Championship, right?

Right?

Oh wait, I forgot…they lost to Michigan State the next week. But they did beat Purdue and Stanford…oh that’s right, then they lost to UNC. And beating a hapless Washington team last year didn’t really mean anything, then they lost to Pittsburgh and Boston College back to back.

So much for that BCS Championship.

Notre Dame split the last 4 games, beating Navy, losing to Syracuse and Southern Cal before beating Hawaii. And yet, based on that performance, the voters felt that this was a top 25 team in the nation coming into 2009.

So let’s review what has happened so far.

Notre Dame beats Nevada at home 35-0, and everybody is blowing sunshine about how great Nevada is…remind me again how many bowls Nevada has won, or the last time they were RANKED?

We all saw how Michigan beat Notre Dame 38-34, so the Fighting Irish has a problem on the road. They get a home game vs. the Spartans and beat them 33-30... Reminds me of the movie, “The 300”…lots of threes….

And then Notre Dame goes on the road to beat Purdue 24-21 before winning last week against Washington at home, 37-30 in overtime.

And Charlie Weis is upset that this 4-1 team isn’t ranked.

Last year my argument against ND was that for all the talk about how good they were supposed to be, their schedule was suspect. Navy was perhaps the best team they beat last year, with all the others being cupcakes. Is it any different this year?

Consider the teams they played and beat so far, Nevada, currently 1-3. Michigan State, currently 2-3. Purdue, currently 1-4. Washington, currently 2-3. Collectively the teams Notre Dame has beaten are 6-13.…and yet this same team is BARELY beating them.

Charlie Weis whines about how they could have beaten Michigan and now be 5-0, but with the other close games, they could just as easily have been 1-4.

So now Notre Dame has Southern Cal coming to visit, and to be honest, this COULD be a game they might get, if ever they need one. A win here validates a top 25 ranking and could give them an inside track to a BCS bowl, possibly a national championship game.

But IF they lose, look at the rest of the schedule: A tough game vs. a 4-1 Boston College, although it is at home. A road game vs. 1-4 Washington State. A tough game vs. a 3-2 Navy squad. Two games vs. Big East contenders Pittsburgh at 4-1 and UCONN at 3-1. Then the season finale vs. a currently 4-1 Stanford.

We can’t be sure which 4-1 team is legit at this point, but at this moment Notre Dame has to face 6 out of 7 teams with a winning record. Last I checked, the Irish had a problem playing up to the challenge.

If Notre Dame sweeps all of this, then nobody will be laughing at the Irish. But how many close games can you win before a few fall against you? Do I think Notre Dame should be on the top 25? Based on the performance they have given, it is hard to believe they are one of the top 25 teams in the nation, but on grace I might give them #25.

If they win this game vs. Southern Cal, then they are squarely in, no doubt about it. But if they lose…looks like they might be in for a bumpy ride the next 6 or 7 games. With this in mind, perhaps it is better for Charlie Weis to be quiet and make his point on the field, rather than trying to get political about votes. Politics is how Notre Dame got rid of Tyrone Willingham, and that didn’t work out too well for them, did it?

Can Notre Dame get to a BCS Bowl?

Can Notre Dame get to BCS Bowl?

If we’re talking about getting to the BCS Championship, the answer is no, although the absolute purist would argue that IF Notre Dame wins ALL the rest of their games, they could in theory, get there.

Uh…yeah. I guess they COULD, but let’s not hold our breaths for that.

With one loss already, the question is no longer about whether the Fighting Irish will get to the BCS Championship, the priorities fall a bit. Now one had to wonder if they can qualify for a BCS Bowl game.

To do that, Notre Dame has to win perhaps all their games, and their margin for error might ONLY be one more game. With them losing to Michigan already, few see them beating USC later on.

So consider the following schedule and see where Notre Dame can finish. They would have needed a perfect season just to make a shot for the National Championship… that is gone. They might be allowed one…maybe two more losses to still get in a BCS Bowl, and they need 6 wins to qualify for any bowl.

With them falling out of BOTH polls, that hurts them a lot, but because they have a soft schedule, they might be able to climb back in. And with butt kissers like Lou Holtz pushing them, and NBC showcasing them, they have a good shot.

They’ll be playing a Michigan State team that was embarrassed by Central Michigan last week…you better believe they are looking for redemption. But this is a home game for the Irish, so I think you have to favor Notre Dame.

Purdue played well against Oregon, but still lost. They take on ND in another away game for the Irish, if Purdue has improved on any level, I think they could possibly steal a game.

Notre Dame’s next three games are home, with Washington, USC and Boston College. If ND had beaten Michigan handily, I might say that ND could be two of those three…now I can only give them Washington. If it goes this way, the Fighting Irish will be fighting with a possible 3-4 record, or as good as maybe a 5-2.

They’ll play away at Washington State, then home vs. Navy, which could be a split. Another away game at Pittsburgh, home vs. UCONN and ending the season at Stanford could give Notre Dame two wins at the end of the season. But overall, we could be looking at 8-4, maybe 9-3 at best.

Let’s add on here that they were beaten by a team that was 3-9 last year… Michigan is NOT a very good team, and Notre Dame lost to them. If this is the case, then I think some of the people gave Notre Dame more credit than they ought to have. With a 8-4 record, I can’t see how they can get a BCS Bowl game, and 9-3 would be highly questionable, but not out of the question.

If this is true, then Notre Dame’s margin for error is 2 games, having already lost one. Almost everybody sees USC beating Notre Dame, but will they lose another game this year? I think an embarrassed Michigan State team can be a problem, and an away game vs. Purdue can be tough. Add on a good Boston College team, and a Navy team that almost beat Ohio State, this will be a serious challenge for Notre Dame.

It’s going to be very tough to get a BCS bowl bid folks, no matter how much Lou Holtz kisses up to them. We’ll see all soon….

Michigan beats Notre Dame 2009

Michigan beats Notre Dame 38-34

So will Lou Holtz PLEASE shut up?

For the last two years this old man has been flapping his chops about how Notre Dame was going to go undefeated…and two years he has been wrong. Now I am not a fan of Notre Dame, but I am not a fan of Michigan since they got Rich Rodriguez. And neither team did so hot last year, so why was there so much hype about this game?

Well, we know these are two very storied programs, and amongst the top college football teams in wins all time, so I understand the value in that. But I found myself trying to figure out who to pull for, not really liking either team this year. I ended up pulling for Michigan because before Rodriguez got there, I did like the Wolverines a lot.

I watched that game and when Michigan scored with a few ticks left, we were excited in the house because a defeat would quiet all those critics who seemed to think that Notre Dame’s softer schedule should give them a National Title shot…not likely.

I remember the kickoff and how the clock only took one second off and I said to myself, “if he touched that ball, they need to take a few more seconds off!”. The clock went down to 10 ,but then they showed the ND quarterback (Clausen) tell the refs to put more time back on the clock…and they did, but then took off 2 seconds, down to 9 seconds left.

Notre Dame had time for one play, and although it was a big gain, the time ran out as Michigan won the game, but ole Charlie Weiss and the Irish didn’t like how it ended, thinking that they deserved two more seconds. The refs were quick to dash out, their word being final.

I remember hearing later on that night on one of the shows that the refs did say that the receiver touched that ball, and thus time had to be taken off. Once that receiver touched the ball on the kickoff, the clock had to run. So Notre Dame can’t complain.

Neither can Lou Holtz.

And this also means Notre Dame ought to fall from their #18 ranking down to maybe #23, or #24. I won’t doubt that some voters will still keep them up there, but being beat by a team that was 3-9 last year ought to knock them off the top 25. I mean, Oregon fell out when they lost to higher ranked Boise State, right?

So an undefeated season is gone from the Irish, and yet the season just got started. With Michigan State next, this could possibly be a toss up, even though Central Michigan stunned the Spartans in their house, I might imagine they will really get up for this game, but even so, it is still a game ND can take.

The Purdue game might be more interesting, especially after how they played at Oregon last night…or was it this morning? UNC is still ranked (slim win over UCONN) and with Pittsburgh, Boston College, Navy and Southern Cal, one has to wonder if this ND team can manage 7 wins. If we are just going on the premise that Michigan, who was 3-9, beat Notre Dame, then one might guess that maybe not much has changed with the Irish…if not, they are in for another average year.

But Michigan is not out of the water yet either. Sure they get Eastern Michigan and then Indiana, but having to play Penn State, Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State won’t be easy either. Beating Miami (OH), Wisconsin and Minnesota was all they saw of the winning side last year, but Minnesota isn’t on their schedule this year. There is little doubt that voters will slip Michigan in maybe #25 or #24, but I think it will be a short stay. Many times you see in the pros where a team is bad one year, and good the next, examples being the Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons last year, but in college you are dealing with the same group of students, minus graduating players, so the general talent is not a hyper jump of improvement. If they were 3-9 last year, it is possible they might do 5 or 6 wins.

They could be 4-0 before they see Michigan State, and with Delaware State on the schedule, they can get 5 wins pretty easy. But those games in the middle they will have to scratch and claw for…it’s not out of the possibility for Michigan to qualify for a bowl, but it would be a long shot.

So now that this game is over, let’s see if all the hype of how good these teams were SUPPOSED to be was true. One loss does not ruin a season, to be sure…but multiple ones will destroy it…and possibly one of these coach’s career.

Why does ESPN employ Lou Holtz?

Why does ESPN keep Lou Holtz?

You know, this reminds me of something that I saw on Food Network… bear with me….

I love watching some of the food challenges they have here, but there was one where they had to make bridges using their skills as chefs and bakers. One lady was so terrible at what she did one of my friends called her works, “hot mess”. So that’s what we called her…Hot Mess.

Her works were so bad, so non professional that none of the judges liked her works. I remember going online and reading some of the forums on the challenge and everybody was asking why in the world did Food Network even allow her on. One person made a comment that I think was right on the money.

The did it for the shock factor, because the very fact that people disliked it meant they were watching.

So true was this that just recently Food Network had a second challenge of bridges…and guess who was back. The one person nobody liked and criticized was back, not because she was good, but because people wanted to see “Hot Mess”.

Television feels that it has to have controversy or something you either hate or love in order to bring ratings…sadly I think ESPN feels the same way.

Now I say this knowing that I am in NC, and Lou Holtz’s son coaches at nearby East Carolina University, but I have no loyalties there. I am completely amazed at how ESPN allows somebody with no standing morals to sit there in front of the camera and say the things he says…and gets away with it.

This is the same man who last year, when asked for an HONEST opinion of how Notre Dame would do, he looked at the camera, with a lie in his heart and declared that they would go perfect, and not lose one game…this oh by the way for a man that, during one of the home games at ND, they were going to erect a statue of him to commemorate their last glory days.

I call it kissing butt.

This from a guy who, during one of the games on ESPN, with an injured player who eventually got up, said that if HE was the coach, he BETTER stay down because he cost the team a time out. Lou Holtz opened his big mouth and said that if he had a player go down on the field, he better stay down or he would made him wish he did. I remember the other guys calling the game give that “oh come on coach”, knowing that this guy said something he should not have said.

This is the same guy who has made comments about how great a leader Hitler was, making a complete fool of himself.

We can go on and on.

Folks, there is a line that is drawn between being loyal and being honest. ESPN should be paying Lou Holtz to be true to himself and to the sport, not to kiss butt to Notre Dame every year. I am not a fan of ND, but even if I was, there is no way I would have predicted Notre Dame to win EVERY game last year like Lou Holtz did.

It’s kinda like he’s that old man that you can’t stand, the one that if he says ONE MORE WORD to you, he’ll be laying on the floor counting the cobwebs on the ceiling. It’s gotten to the point that when Lou opens his mouth, I change the channel.

I don’t get it, is there that much charm in a lying old fart for ESPN to allow him to continue to do what he does. And folks, I am quite aware of Lou Holtz’s past and how great a coach he was. But he must be hell to deal with in that studio, I feel sorry for Rece Davis and Mark May. Heck, I am surprised May has not put a speed bump the old man’s head.

It’s funny that one of Lou Holtz’s quotes involved a tasteless act that involved the Clemson Tigers and his last team, South Carolina. His team got into a fight with Clemson which resulted in the decision by both schools to not go to a bowl game. Lou Holtz made a comment that both his and legendary coach Woody Hayes (Ohio State) both had their careers ended with Clemson.

Yeah…both classless acts…but Woody Hayes apologized for his.

We can argue all day about what Lou Holtz has done for Notre Dame, and all the wins and stuff, but at the end of the day, you look at the character of a man to see what he is about… and if Mark May or Rece Davis talked about all the things Lou Holtz said, there may not be a lot of respect one could give Mr. Holtz.

But ESPN seems to be trying to spin this idea of some witty old man that would be the life of the party, I mean everybody loves Lou Holtz….

Do they?

So this year the old man has predicted that Notre Dame will be playing in the BCS Championship against Florida…I can buy half of that.

He said Notre Dame would go perfect last year, with a lie in his mouth and heart… as my brother says, “ain’t nothing changed but the date”.

Guys like Mark May, Lou Holtz and other analysts are paid to be objective and credible…but this man is obviously suffering from that rare disease called Rectumkissania…

Figure out what that means…

So I will keep my remote handy and flip the channels every time Lou Holtz opens his mouth…there is nothing he can say that I would be interested in. Shame on you ESPN, you know better than that.

Why is Notre Dame in the top 20?

Why is Notre Dame inside the top 20?

Speedblog

As I speak, Notre Dame is ranked #18 on one poll, and #20 on the other.

Both polls had the Irish as #23 last week.

So one must wonder, how did Notre Dame jump 3 to 5 spots in one weekend, after playing a team (Nevada) that does not boost your cred?

At first I wanted to argue this because in my opinion, Notre Dame is NOT one of the top 20 teams in the nation, and does NOT have a strong schedule to prove their manhood. To me, it just looks like Notre Dame fixed a soft schedule in hopes that their coach can save face, as well as the university. And sadly enough, what this may also prove is that a soft schedule CAN get you in the BCS…even if you don’t deserve it.

But to be fair to Notre Dame, there is a reason why they jumped up over other teams. On one poll Notre Dame is ranked over 7 other teams. I can explain why they are so ranked:

UNC is ranked #19 because last week they were ranked #21 in the nation, while Notre Dame was ranked #23. While the Tarheels crushed Citadel, at least Notre Dame beat a Division I foe. It kinda answers why they barely jumped them in one poll, but just under UNC in the other.

Miami (FL) was not even ranked last week, and their win over Florida State vaults them into #20. Consider that Florida State, Oregon and Iowa were dropped from one of the polls, you can see how the Irish were beneficiaries of such fortune.

Georgia was ranked #13, but their loss to Oklahoma State hurt them, and it is all too easy to jump over a team that is 0-1 when you are 1-0. I wonder if they punished Georgia too much, after all they played another ranked team, but I guess a loss is a loss.

Nebraska was ranked #24 last week, and this week only moved up 2 spots. Beating Florida Atlantic was good, but that is what they should have done. Some wonder if Nebraska will ever return to the days of old, when they ran the Big 12 like a king.

Cincinnati is ranked #23, and still surprised me how a team that won 11 games can be ignored as well as the entire Big East in the first week of the year. Yet a 1-0 record finally gets them some respect…though not much.

Kansas was ranked #25 last week, only moving one spot. I thought this team was pretty good last year, what’s the deal with the low ranking? Beating Northern Colorado didn’t earn any style points apparently, which is why Notre Dame was able to put distance on them.

Missouri wasn’t ranked last week, which again surprises me after all the noise the Big 12 made last year. This week they are at the bottom of that list, after beating a quality BCS conference team. Personally I thought they should have moved a little higher, but we can’t argue too much about the first weekend of the season.

So when you look at all that, one can’t argue much about where Notre Dame is placed. Sometimes you move up by default, not that it makes you that much better. This weekend they play Michigan, and I dare say the winner still won’t prove much, it’s two bad teams with historic names playing each other. But to be honest, they are right where they need to be…for now.

Should Notre Dame start out as #23?

Should Notre Dame be #23?

Here is an interesting question that a lot of college football fans may be asking; Does Notre Dame deserve to be ranked in the top 25?

This is a legit question because the preseason rankings should reflect who the best 25 college football teams are in the nation. And it is all speculative, based on what “experts” think will happen.

But a huge part of that is based off last year’s success too, and for that reason, we have to start there. The question we have to address is, does Notre Dame deserve to be on the top 25, at #23?

We start from last year.

The Fighting Irish finished last year with a 7-6 record, capped off with a huge win in Hawaii over…well…Hawaii. Notre Dame started the season beating San Diego State 21-13...San Diego would finish the season 2-10.

Notre Dame would then have a “big name” matchup with Michigan, winning 35-17, but we all saw how terrible Michigan’s season was, ending up with a 3-9 record. To this point, Notre Dame’s 2-0 record comprised of teams who would finish the season 5-19.

Why is this important? Because to be a top 25 teams, it is more than wins, you have to be good teams, teams that you can hang your hat on. You can go 11-0 or 12-0 and seem like a great team, but if you have not played real competition, how then can you be seen as a top 25 team?

Let’s continue…

In an away game, Notre Dame loses to Michigan State 23-7, but rebounds against Purdue, winning 38-21. Michigan State was indeed a good team, but the Irish did not beat them. Purdue however, was 4-8.

Stanford was the next opponent for Notre Dame, giving the Irish a 4-1 record and starting to look like a top 25 caliber. But Stanford would finish 5-7. So to this point, Notre Dame has 4 wins against teams with losing records, and their lone loss was to a team that was above par.

This is what a lot of voters miss when they vote for the top 25, lots of times it turns out to be a popularity contest, not one where the best teams qualify. Now I will admit, 4-1 is a very good record, and with it being still early, it could be possible for Notre Dame to get a ranking out of this, but many would question the level of talent they are playing.

The next game was in Chapel Hill, losing to UNC 29-24. The Tarheels would go on to an 8-5 record as Notre Dame now slips to 4-2. But they would make up for it the next game, by playing Washington and winning big 33-7, to up the record to 5-2.

And that looks fine, but Washington finished the season 0-12.

So again, strength of schedule has to apply somewhere. Notre Dame has 5 wins, but none against teams that are average. They have two losses to teams with better than .500 records. This would be further complicated when they lost their next two games to Pittsburgh and Boston College, both winning teams at the end of the season, both winning 9 games.

The first credible win of the year comes when they beat Navy 27-21 to get their record to 6-4, but loses an embarrassing game to Syracuse 24-23 to make the record 6-5. They take the hit from Southern Cal to finish the regular season and as mentioned before, beat Hawaii.

When you look back at this, only two games give Notre Dame any credibility as being a top 25 team…beating Navy and Hawaii, but with a 7-6 record, it hardly screams of a major power in the NCAA. Yet from then to now, the voters have put the Irish in the top 25, at #23. A lot of this is based on speculation that the players that were there last year will play better this year. I won’t argue that, because that applies theoretically to ANY team, but the speculation is also clouded by preconceived thoughts of the schedule.

This year, Notre Dame starts the season against Nevada, then goes TO Michigan, home for Michigan State and away at Purdue. With 7 home games, this plays to the Irish’s favor. Add to this that Michigan State might be the only obstacle early on, and you can see how Notre Dame can be 3-1 after the first 4 games.

The next three games are at home, where they will invite Washington, Southern Cal and Boston College to their confines. The key game is that USC game, but Boston College has a recent advantage over Notre Dame. It is possible that the Irish could come out of this 4-3, or even 5-2 before traveling to Washington State to pick up another win against a team that won 2 games last year.

Notre Dame ends the season home against Navy, on the road at Pittsburgh, home against UCONN and across the country at Stanford. Notre Dame could possibly win all these games, but outside of Pittsburgh, the strength of schedule could be argued. For sake of the argument, I will say that the Fighting Irish will win 3 games out of the final four.

This means by the end of the year, Notre Dame could have a 8-3 record, and likely an invite to a BCS bowl. But is this a strong schedule? I mean, Notre Dame ought to be able to schedule any team it wants, and most teams would jump at the chance to play them, whether home or away… is this just a time to pad up numbers and put lipstick on the proverbial pig?

Granted Boston College, with 9 wins last year would indeed be a good win to take.

Navy is a pretty decent team, so I can’t argue a win against them either.

Nevada is average at best, and to me, if Notre Dame beats them, it does not make them much better.

Of the Big East teams, I think UCONN is a little overrated but a good team. I can’t argue Pittsburgh either, but also add to this that many people felt the Big East overall, was weak. Should Notre Dame beat both, I can’t argue it.

Of the Big 10 teams, only Michigan State is credible. Beating Michigan and Purdue would not really make Notre Dame seem so much better, unless both teams make some serious moves upward this year, as opposed to last year.

And of the Pac-10 teams, we know how good USC is, but Washington, Washington State and Stanford collectively had 7 wins…it would hardly qualify to me as big wins if Notre Dame wins those.

So overall, I think Notre Dame’s schedule is average. If you beat USC, then you are in the mix, but nobody sees that happening. So the question comes back, is Notre Dame WORTH the top 25 ranking?

If it is indeed based on last years performance and what carries over to this year, I guess I could see them maybe #25, or just off the radar. I clearly don’t see them as one of the elite teams, but the soft schedule just might buy them a BCS bowl. They have the schedule to get there, and I personally see them winning either 7 or 8 games. If they don’t win 8 or more, they won’t be considered in the BCS, but if they get 8, it just might be possible.

We have a whole season to see how this pans out, but the voters have spoken. Notre Dame IS one of the top 25 teams…but can they keep it?

Notre Dame vs Hawaii in Hawaii Bowl

2008 Hawaii Bowl

Hawaii vs. Notre Dame

In a bowl game that has a lot of people shaking their heads, this will be kinda interesting. This is a bowl that features two teams that have people asking, “what happened to these football programs?”

One team had huge success only a year ago, and has fallen off big time, the other known for winning, that has fallen off in the last several years. This is one of those bowls that was specifically made for Hawaii, and one that most any team would LOVE to take.

So how do these two teams stand up to one another. In most situations, it would be an easy guess to think that the great and powerful Notre Dame would be able to beat Hawaii…but is that true this year?

From the WAC comes Hawaii, a team that just last year enjoyed the best year EVER!. 12 wins, one loss, and that was in the bowl game. This team made history for the island and in the NCAA as one of a very few and select teams to go undefeated in the regular season. But turmoil came out of paradise when the head coach felt that he was not given enough support in recruiting, and decide that he would be better off somewhere else.

This story shocked the islands as they realized too late that because they never took care of the coach as they should have, and apparently held back on funding while ignoring his pleas for help. So after the best season Hawaii ever had, he decided to go in a new direction, and left for SMU. Personally, I side with the coach, and wish him well.

But in the wake, there was left a football team that was left in ashes, after such a wonderful season. So let’s look at the resumes of these two teams and see who has a chance of winning this bowl game, starting with the 7-6 Hawaii Warriors.

After coming off that historic season of 12-1, the season started rough losing to Florida 56-10. They were able to rebound for a moment, beating Weber State36-17 before the wheels came off the season.

A loss at Oregon State and a conference loss to San Jose State crippled the team only 4 games into the young season. All hopes of any BCS repeats were gone, but most folks knew that was the case from the end of last year.

At 1-3, the Warriors were playing for pride now, and a hope that they can qualify for a bowl. Strange to say even though the WAC conference games were quite young. But things seemed to change when they defeated then ranked #22 Fresno State 32-29 in overtime. Beating this team meant that there was still some shot for the WAC Championship.

Beating Louisiana Tech helped further the cause, but the ride ended when they lost at Boise State by 20. With two losses in the conference, it would be impossible to win the conference title, so they were back to just trying to qualify for a bowl. A close win over Nevada and a loss to Utah State put them in dire straits, needing 6 wins to qualify, but were currently 4-5.

Was it then fortune that Hawaii would play three of the worst teams in the Western US in New Mexico State, Idaho and Washington State? Three wins from those three teams gave the Warriors a 7-4 record and now qualified for a bowl. All that remains was to play Big East Champions Cincinnati, who were currently ranked, to prove that this team didn’t fall off the face of the earth.

But that was not to be, as they lost in a close game, and fell to 7-5.

Hawaii has had a very tough year, and if I am correct, 8 of the teams they have played will be in post season…a very tough season for any team. But of those teams, Hawaii was only able to beat 2 of them. They are 5-2 on the island, and 2-4 away, so the advantage seems to be with them at home on this bowl….

Now for Notre Dame…oh boy….

This is a football team in near complete disarray. Once revered as one of the greatest college football organizations in the history of the sport, we have seen a complete collapse because of lack of commitment to real coaching, and giving in to rich alumni. Whatever the rich people want, they seem to get, even if it completely oversteps the boundaries of what is ethical or competitive.

There seems to be an air of superiority of this team, which is technically in the Big East in everything EXCEPT football, as they seem to like to stay independent. This same mentality seems to be the downfall of this team as they have suffered numerous underachieving seasons under three different head coaches. And yet, they still have not figured out how to get back into the National Title hunt.

Coming in with an embarrassing 6-6 record, this team started out with a win vs. San Diego State and captured their first win of the year 21-13. You’d think the great Notre Dame would win that by a larger margin, but there it was. It was followed by a second win over equally failing Michigan 35-17, which had some to wonder if Notre Dame was really back, or if Michigan was really that bad.

The first true test was against Michigan State, since the first two games was at home, now the Irish had to travel to prove their record, and thus got their first loss 23-7. No matter, there was still time to make the BCS since as an independent they had special privileges should they win 8 or more games…

Adding wins over Purdue and Stanford, both being home games, started to get some people voting Notre Dame in the bottom of the top 25 at 4-1. If they could go and beat currently ranked UNC in Chapel Hill, then surely they must be respected…

But they lost 29-24, and were quickly flushed out of the elite teams of the nation. It seemed at the time that Notre Dame was only beating bad teams at home, and losing to good teams away. That trend had to change if they hoped to get in the BCS, or even qualify for a bowl.

This was easily cured by going to hapless Washington and beating the former coach of Notre Dame, and curing the illness of losing away games. Now at 5-2, the Irish were still looking decent for maybe a BCS bowl.

But now they had their first REAL test at home…playing a ranked foe in Pittsburgh, and it showed the underside of Notre Dame as they lost 36-33 in overtime. A tough match but it still seemed to prove that the schedule of Notre Dame was favored for them, and that they could not win the “big” games. This was further proven when they went away to play ranked Boston College and lost 17-0.

Now at 5-4, Notre Dame needed only one more win to qualify, but also needed to prove to the nation that this was not a team that only won against “cupcakes”. To this point, beating undefeated Washington said nothing, and the home games were against lesser foes. They needed a quality win.

This was partly achieved when they won at Navy 27-21...although they almost choked up that game as well. So now at 6-4, Notre Dame was certainly in a bowl, and now had a chance to go 8-4 and get a top 25 ranking, as well as possibly compete in a BCS bowl.

But they forgot to finish the season, and completely overlooked Syracuse, losing 24-23. Now the critics were out in full force, citing that Notre Dame was clearly not an elite team, and the criticisms caused major talk about the head coach’s job. Some thought the only thing that could salvage this year was to win the last game…over USC.

Yeah, right. They lost 38-3 and were ran out of California on a rail.

Even though half of the teams Notre Dame played will be in a bowl, Notre Dame only beat 1 of them, and the teams they also beat has a total of 14 wins (outside Navy), meaning the teams this team beat had an average of 2 and a half wins…not quite top 25 caliber.

So who has the advantage? Neither team is having a good year, but I think this bowl was a reward to Notre Dame, and a chance to sell the alumni tickets to the islands. Always rewarding the rich I see, but these bowl games are businesses. Can I see Notre Dame losing? Yeah, because they have shown nothing all year. But Hawaii has been equally disappointing. This game might actually be competitive for awhile, but if I had to pick, I might say that Notre Dame has a slight advantage since Hawaii could be in awe of the fading aura that is Notre Dame. But it could work against Notre Dame too, as teams that travel to paradise often forget the job they came to do. Notre Dame by a field goal maybe….

Notre Dame Burning

Notre Dame Burning

I know that sounds offensive, but I don’t mean that in a physical sense. But in a figurative sense, that is what is going on.

Today is Monday as we are heading into Thanksgiving, and I get to blog about the state of affairs of Notre Dame and their recent loss.

Let’s not kid ourselves, this was a TERRIBLE loss. When I blogged about ND a couple of weeks ago, I said they needed to win 6 games just to qualify for a bowl. They had Navy, Syracuse and Southern Cal left on the schedule. I really thought there was a chance that Navy could beat them, but it was still close to call. As it turns out, Notre Dame won a close game, and reached the 6-win mark to qualify for a bowl. So it seemed easy to guess that they will beat Syracuse and get 7 wins, right?

Wrong. To lose to Syracuse is bad enough, but to lose in your HOUSE to a 2-8 team is far past bad. This is an abomination. And their next game is against Southern Cal, who needs to run up the score to help themselves to a BCS Bowl, if possible.

The future is not very good for Notre Dame.

And so we ask ourselves, why? Why has the glory days of Notre Dame gone astray? Some say the head coach should be fired…I place no blame on him.

None at all. If you want to blame somebody, and if you are a Notre Dame fan, try looking in the mirror for once.

This is what happens when rich alumni who are stubborn about the world around them are allowed to lead a program. Blind people leading the blind, and they all fall in the ditch.

So why is Notre Dame going through so many problems? Why can’t they return to the “glory” days of Lou Holtz? It’s obvious Notre Dame wants those days back, they idolized that man in stone (odd, for a religious school to create such a figure…)

But personally I think the university is reaping exactly what it has sown. I do not blame the players, they were merely pawns. I do not blame the students, for they were spectators. I blame the university, from top to bottom, for letting money run the program where there should have been a religious-lead university.

Notre Dame’s last great year was 1993, when Lou Holtz led the Irish to an 11-1 record and beating Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl 24-21. You can go back to 1988 when they were perfect and won the National Championship if you want a better day. But just using 1993, that means it has been what, 15 YEARS since Notre Dame has tasted the deep sips of success? What has happened?

There are a lot of reasons, but here are two: media and selfish alumni. The media has played a HUGE role in the falling of Notre Dame, because with ESPN coming on the scene, more television coverage was being given to other Division I schools. Notre Dame was shown on NBC so we were force-fed this team, whether we liked them or not. But once more teams started getting on television, the recruitment of high school players began to change.

Fast forward to now. On any college football Saturday, I can see, with basic cable, about 20 different football games. From the SEC on CBS, to Big 10 games on ESPN, local teams like ECU on local channels, and other games on ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN classic, Fox Sports and the VS Channel. There are tons of games on, and for each game, there is a chance to promote that school and team. Notre Dame does not own the only game in town anymore.

And because of this, recruits have more choices. You don’t HAVE to go to Notre Dame, you can go to Utah, Boise State, Florida State, Arkansas, South Florida, TCU, Ball State, Central Michigan, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, ECU or any other school you want now. The playing field is getting leveled, and we also see this with the troubles of Michigan and UCLA. Teams like Notre Dame don’t OWN high schools players anymore, they have to EARN them like everybody else.

But the other big reason is money and pride, which always clouds the judgment of sports. It is a very sad fact that rich alumni with no real heart run most of the college football programs. A hateful man that does nothing for his community can have a major influence on the his school simply because he has money. For lust of pride a rich alum will pour money into a university so he or she can have a strong voice in how the program is run, even if they never took a snap in their lives, or even know HOW to play football.

This is the problem with college football, but this seems to be proven with Notre Dame. When Notre Dame got rid of Bob Davie, they were looking for another coach, and originally courted George O’Leary. Oh that would have just been TOO easy, a coach with an IRISH last name…how original.

But there were some credential issues with O’Leary, so they had to drop him and the university was now looking pretty embarrassed. How can the GREAT Notre Dame NOT have a coach. So they had to save face, and how do we do that in America? We hire an African American coach.

But Tyrone Willingham was a very good hire, because he believed not just in winning, but education. It was important to graduate players, not just use them to satisfy rich alum. So Willingham was hired, and for a moment Notre Dame seemed to have made a solid remark to the nation that truly, a man can be hired by merit, not by the color of his skin.

But that didn’t quite work so well.

Rumors started running that many of the alumni of Notre Dame never wanted Tyrone Willingham, and there was pressure to get rid of him. Notre Dame wasn’t winning National Championships either, but then again, that had not happened since 1988. But Notre Dame had one rule they seemed to always follow. They NEVER fired any football coach, and always let them finish their contract. Surely they would allow Tyrone Willingham to do the same, right?

Wrong. For the first time in this “school of higher learning”, Notre Dame fired their head football coach, from the pressure of the rich alumni. It would seem that the true belly of the school seemed to have emerged, in that unfortunately, race is still a factor in how a man is respected.

I remember the shockwaves of that day and how even the head of the university was quoted as saying how embarrassing this was to the university, not that they fired Willingham, but the actual undertone of WHY he was fired. It seemed clear that in a sport that seemed equal, the head coaching positions of such schools like Notre Dame were not reserved for people of other races UNLESS it was an emergency.

So, the Irish fired Willingham and decided to pick up Weis, from the New England Patriots. Surely a coach from a Superbowl team will take Notre Dame in “a new direction”. But the direction was no different than what they had before, and Charlie Weis could not do any better than Willingham. But yet, Notre Dame GAVE him an extension on his contract for doing NOTHING better than Willingham.

Proving that indeed, the rewards and respect of men are still based on the color of your skin…and I know I say this after our country has just made an exceptional mark in our country’s history…but I would wager it was not good news to those Notre Dame alum.

So Weis gets rewarded for mediocrity, while Willingham gets fired. But the winning is still the same. So now we come to the next to the last game of the year for Notre Dame, but also knowing they will be in a bowl. They must face a very hungry USC team that could easily put 50 points on them…and will probably feel they have to just to make conversation in the BCS Bowls.

I am not a Notre Dame fan, but I am not hating on the fans, students and players of the university. I truly feel that the failure of this school is directly tied to the school’s extreme lack of humanity, and how they seem to let money speak rather than wisdom. I thought this was a school of higher learning and of spirituality? Can’t they see the fruits of their labor was nothing but thorns, instead of grapes?

And why does Lou Holtz slurp this school when he owes no favors to them? I cannot respect a man that brown-noses one of his former jobs as if they are still paying him. I can see if he spent his entire career there, but he did not, only 10 years. Why would a man lie on national television that Notre Dame was going to go 12-0 and win the national championship? Is he a coward, afraid to say what he should, or was he looking forward to that Michigan/Notre Dame game when they would make an idol of him?

Where is the success of Notre Dame? Why has this team, which once was one of the greatest, fallen to a common oddity? Maybe it’s because they no longer focus on winning, rather diplomacy. That’s the problem with rich folks, they don’t know how to make wise decisions, and instead think that because they have money they have the right to get what they want…and I guess they are right.

This is what you paid for Notre Dame…so reap what you have sown. But you also learned something else…money can’t buy National Championships…they have to be earned.

And until the university gets that understood, Notre Dame will continue to be an average team. Of course, they might start scheduling weaker teams to boost their record, but true fans of football will know that they are bogus. So go ahead ND, call your rich folks and ask them who they want you to hire, since you can’t make those decisions yourself. Walk with the blind, and let them lead you… just be careful of that next step.

Navy vs Notre Dame

Can Navy Beat Notre Dame?

Or you can easily flip this and say, “Can Notre Dame Beat Navy”, depending on who you pull for.

This is an interesting blog because some of you who have read my blogs know that the Irish is not my favorite team, and some fans are quite fanatical about their team. It’s like you can’t say anything wrong about Notre Dame because they are holy…

Yeah, right.

But whether I like them or not, they still have to try to qualify for a bowl, after being shut out by Boston College. They need one more win, and have three shots at it… let’s go ahead and rule out Southern Cal…they AIN’T getting that one.

And Syracuse is bad enough to almost guarantee that win to Notre Dame. But before both of those, is the game vs. Navy. So the question is, who will win?

Why is this game important? For Notre Dame, they need the win like Winnie the Pooh needs honey. They need this like Smurfs need smurf berries. They need this like Scooby needs Scooby Snacks.

The Irish must win 6 games to qualify for a bowl, and right now they have 5 wins. We know that even with just 6 wins, Notre Dame will likely get a better bowl than a team like Ball State (the rich get richer). But they still have to qualify, and this game means a lot to them.

For Navy, they are already bowl eligible at 6-3, but oh what could have been, losing to 10-0 Ball State 35-23, and to then ranked Pittsburgh by 3 touchdowns… and then there is that Duke loss…

Navy is already slated for a bowl, the Congressional Bowl, vs. a low ranked ACC team (oh by the way, 8 are currently eligible). Maybe a Virginia or maybe Miami? So it is already settled for them, which COULD create some problems. Often times once you know your fate, you lose the edge to play hard. This could play into Notre Dame’s hands.

But beating Notre Dame is a feather in anyone’s cap, regardless of what their record is. So Navy would have to get up big time for this game, especially since Navy will be home, and Notre Dame does not play well on the road. Navy COULD possibly get 10 wins if they beat Notre Dame, and win their last two games of the year and the bowl.

So what else can we go on? Here are some stats:

Notre Dame is 69th in the nation in scoring, at 24.3 a game; Navy is 42nd at 29.3 This almost spells a close game, where one possession will make the difference between a win for Navy or one for the Irish.

Notre Dame is 95th in the country in rushing yards per game at 115.6. Navy is #2 in the nation with 308 yards per game rushing. If Notre Dame cannot stop the run, that option game plan is going to walk all over Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is 21st in the nation in passing yards per game at 259.4, while Navy is better than ONLY Army, passing 66.9 yards per game. We know that is by design, but does this mean Navy can stop the pass?

Notre Dame has 52 penalties for a total of 455 yards, while Navy has only 28 penalties for 246 yards… discipline will be a major factor in who will control this game. As we have already seen, the scores between the two are only one possession apart.

Well, if it comes down to that, then let’s look at the kicking game:

Notre Dame’s kicker has made 27 of 27 extra points, and have made 8 of 15 field goals…ouch. His longest was 48 yards, which is good, but he is 4-8 when it comes to field goals between 40 and 49 yards. He’s automatic from 20-29 yards, making 3-3 but after that, it kinda gets dicey. What this may spell out is that Notre Dame does not have a very good kicking game, making only 5-12 outside the 30 yard line. If it comes down to a field goal…watch out.

Navy’s kicker has some interesting stats as well. He is 29 of 30, which puts him on par with Notre Dame’s kicker. But he kicks 14-16, much better than his counterpart. His longest field goal was 49 yards, one yard longer than Notre Dame’s kicker but we are not going to argue one yard this way or the other. What IS interesting is that he has NO field goals attempted from 1-19 yards, so this tells us that Navy does not believe in giving up a shot for a touchdown. But from 20-29 yards he is perfect at 6-6. From 30-39 yards out he is 5 of 6...not bad at all. Further, he is 3-4 from 40 to 49 yards out. This seems to be a pretty accurate kicker and someone you want when you need a last second field goal.

So having said all that, who has the advantage? Will Navy play “down” since they already have a bowl locked up, while Notre Dame plays with everything to gain? Will Notre Dame run into a problem they have had all year, in losing away games and to better competition? Will Navy look at this game as a great accomplishment in beating Notre Dame and possibly winning 10 games this year, or will Notre Dame play “up” and qualify for a bowl? Lots of things to be seen on this game.

So…who will win? The stats say this will be close, maybe by the foot of a kicker, but hey, when does the games ever go by what the stats say?

The Fate of Notre Dame

The Fate of Notre Dame

Sometimes it is interesting to see how things play out with teams of controversy. Case in point: Notre Dame Football.

There are many fans of the Irish, but I have a hard time pulling for a school that seems to embody the parts of college sports that the media are afraid to talk about. Most novice fans forget that Notre Dame is supposed to be a religious school, but if you asked the average person that, they would be very surprised.

So in that “spirit” of education, I always thought the business of sports should reflect the school, and the foundation of the school…but I don’t believe it to be so. Personally speaking, I think Notre Dame Football is just as biased as the worst of Division I schools, and the football world saw this several years ago when this school hired Tyrone Willingham.

I personally think the process of how they shamelessly ran him out is an invisible cord to the REAL problems of our country, one we are too cowardly to talk about. But in any case, they fired Willingham and brought in Charlie Weis. In a few sub-par seasons, and less than what Willingham gave them, the Notre Dame alumni decided that he DESERVED a raise…

For WHAT?

But it didn’t matter, he still got one. And Notre Dame tried to soften their schedule to make their record look better, perhaps to fool the BCS that they were worthy of being in a big bowl, even if they did not play any real tough games.

That seemed to be the plan, wasn’t it?

So at the beginning of the college football year, we had to suffer through Lou Holtz’s prediction of what he felt his former team would do. With a smile on his lips and a LIE in his heart, this cat says on NATIONAL television that he believed Notre Dame was going to go 12-0 and compete for a national title.

How can anybody LIE about a religious school like that? I mean, I am not perfect in any stretch of the imagination, and I know every school is guilty in some aspect of some under-the-table stuff, but come on!

But he never took that back, this cat actually sat there and said Notre Dame was going 12-0. Oh wait, now I remember… they were going to honor him during the Michigan/Notre Dame game with a statue…so naturally he had to brown nose the university he used to coach for…

In other words, kiss butt.

I thought Lou Holtz had more pride than that. But that was the idea, that Notre Dame might finish 12-0. I remember watching his lie on ESPN and wondering why Mark May or Lee Corso didn’t reach over there and feel his forehead. The man was obviously sick.

But I looked at the schedule myself. At the beginning of the year, I felt that it was possible that Notre Dame could win 10 games, not because they were that good, but because the schedule was that soft. This was their design, to play weaker teams, sprinkle a tough team here or there to validate the record, and whine about deserving to be in the BCS hunt.

But you have to let the year play out.

Now, let me pause here to some of you who may be die-hard Notre Dame fans. I say to you that I am a very big sports fan, and I love college football. I also know that we all have teams we favor over all others. And I know that even as I can talk about Notre Dame, no Division I college football team is immune from criticism. NO team operates so cleanly that they are pure. I could just as easily jumped on Southern Mississippi, Nebraska, Kansas State, Clemson and others. But today I am just talking about the Irish. I don’t have a problem with the school per se or the basketball team, which I have watched many times, but I just don’t agree at all how terrible they run the football program, when this is supposed to be a “religious” institution.

You will know them by their fruit…do credible colleges and universities hire a man known for graduating his players, and then fire him before his contract is up? Do credible colleges and universities play “damage control” by hiring an African American former player to help recruit, knowing the backlash that was coming upon them? Do credible colleges and universities extend a man’s contract who has done nothing more for the university than the coach they fired?

So here we are, looking to see how great this Notre Dame team will be. The win the first game vs. San Diego State 21-13...so what. The second game was against a problematic Michigan, who had that unearthly embarrassing loss to App State last year. I actually thought Michigan could beat Notre Dame this year, but Michigan forgot how to hold on to the ball, and lost 35-17. So now there are whispers that maybe the Irish is pretty good this year.

But then they had to play away from home against Michigan State….and lost 23-7. So now Lou Holtz’s prediction was now in the gutter about Notre Dame going undefeated. But the Irish had two more home games, beating Purdue 38-21 and Stanford 28-21. At the moment they were 4-1, with all wins coming at home.

Then came the unexpected game…UNC. Nobody expected the Tarheels to be better than last year, as they were now ranked for the first time since cavemen walked the earth. An away game for Notre Dame against a quality team spelled their second loss, losing 29-24. Now it was getting serious because if Notre Dame kept losing, they could not even whine about getting a BCS bowl. The National Championship was out, and now a BCS bowl might be out as well.

The Irish gets their first win on the road against lowly Washington…a cruel spit in the face for the man that helped build Notre Dame until they kicked him out, by a score of 33-7. But then came some reality in their first home loss of the season, losing to a surprising Pittsburgh in overtime 36-33.

So now Notre Dame sits at 5-3, being off the radar for every top 25 poll in the nation except those that slurp the Irish. How they can get any votes is beyond me, but they got some.

And that brings us to yesterday, when Notre Dame loses another away game to Boston College 17-0, dropping their record to 5-4. And now with 3 games left, the Irish must now await their fate. No National Championship to shoot for, no BCS bowl to shoot for, and now the Irish must fight just to QUALIFY for a bowl.

Such a big drop from the perfect record Lou Holtz tried to prophesy.

Now Notre Dame has to scramble to win 6 games and qualify…and the next game is an away game vs. Navy. Notre Dame has not done so well when they leave their friendly confines, winning only one game on the road (Washington).

And yet, we examine your wins…San Diego State, currently 1-9. Second win against a 3-7 Michigan team. Third win vs. a 3-7 Purdue team. Fourth win vs. a 5-5 Stanford team and your fifth win vs. a 0-9 Washington team.

Total record of your wins, 12-37. Or an average of 2-7. These are the wins you picked up, but when it came to competitive games, you faltered. And yet this was the design, the “smoke and mirrors” that you created, that if you run the table on these teams, you would be deserving of such an honor as the National Championship.

No Notre Dame, this does not make you champions…you have to EARN it like everybody else.

So now you must travel TO Navy, to do something you are not good at doing, winning on the road and winning against a team with a decent record. And we are not quite sure what team we shall see in Navy; the team that lost to DUKE or the team that beat ranked Wake Forest. On paper, it seems that Notre Dame is doomed to lose, but we have learned too many times that this does not make it so. But to be sure, the Irish has their work cut out for them.

And should you lose that, you get the home cooking by having a 2-7 Syracuse visit you, so it appears that you may well get your wish of post season play, although most won’t glance your way in the uber-soft schedule you created for yourself. If the goal was to create a soft schedule to get to the post season, mission accomplished.

But your final game is against USC, a team that has been crying for a chance to get in the National Championship…and you will be an example to them. Southern Cal desires nothing more than to get in the BCS, and if that means hanging 50 points on you, so be it…and it just might be deserved.

It just might be justice that one of the icons of college football is stepped on like a common bug, as one team reaches up for glory, while the other shamelessly attempts to create false glory by putting old garments on new clothes. Notre Dame football could have scheduled almost any team in the country but opted to find the softest schedule they could while still trying to impress voters. That didn’t work out at all, losing 4 games to this point, and finding out that maybe, just MAYBE the rich alumni of Notre Dame’s ego can’t buy winning seasons.

I don’t blame the students of ND, it’s not their fault. I don’t blame the players of ND, it’s not their fault. I can’t even blame the coaches, it’s not their fault. I blame the university, from top to bottom. This is the fate of a team that listens more to rich alumni who apparently make decisions with their wallet rather than their faith…

And I thought this was a religious school…oh well, somebody better pray that Notre Dame wins 6 games, or else it’s another failed season. Something that may be an indication of things to come for this school.

Notre Dame football: contenders or cowards?

Notre Dame: Cowards or Contenders

Today is Saturday, and soon the nation will be swamped with college games from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As a very heavy fan of college football, I intend to watch every game I can get. From 12 noon to as late as 1am, I will be watching football, football, and every now and then…football.

But because I have a blog, I like to pull out some subjects from time to time and make discussion. Before I do, I want you guys to understand my mentality. I am a fan of sports, but greater than that, I am a fan of humanity. Nothing must undermine the human element of the sport, otherwise the sport itself is a farce. You can “hate” your favorite nemesis, but remember that every team has people, and every person has a story. My favorite teams have people that do foolish things (RAIDERS) so I have no problem pointing that out just as much as I would a team I do not pull for.

Case in point…Notre Dame Football. My title of this blog begs the question; are they real contenders or cowards?

Today Notre Dame plays Michigan State and if the Irish win today, they will be 3-0 and obviously “popping their collars” about being one of the elite teams in the nation. They defeated San Diego State (big whoop) and a very poor Michigan team who REALLY let me down.

There are a lot of teams I pull for, but one I have lost faith in is Notre Dame. I understand that there are a lot of rich alumni that will support this school, but to me, I just find a lot of hypocrisy in how the school operates. I mean, the mere idea that they are an Independent school (as far as football) seems to suggest that they are “too good for any conference”. I realize that is subjective, but hey, it’s MY blog.

Second, I really think Notre Dame showed their true colors in how they treated Tyrone Willingham. This man believed STRONGLY in educating his players and building a good squad. But Notre Dame had no problem getting rid of him in short order, not even giving him a chance to get his recruits to learn the system. Then they turned around, hired Charlie Weis and GAVE him an extension when he had proven absolutely nothing to the university.

What kinda message is Notre Dame sending? It’s almost like they are saying, “a Caucasian coach, even if he is under par, is better than a black coach, even if he stands for everything college football ought to be about”.

I am sure Notre Dame fans don’t like to hear that…but isn’t that EXACTLY what happened?

Yeah, that sounds subjective, but they sure tried to cover it up by hiring Tim Brown to work for the recruiting, to try to “keep in touch with the black athletes”. Again, sounds subjective, but hey, it’s MY blog.

Third, Notre Dame has done everything they could to eat at Dunkin Donuts every Saturday…in other words, they are going out of their way to make their schedules as soft and sweet as a freshly baked donut. Last year they beat 3 teams; UCLA, Duke and Stanford. This year they have they scheduled San Diego State, a team with a losing record. The beat Michigan, a team in obvious turmoil. Today they play Michigan State, which should be their toughest challenge so far. 5 of their remaining games are against teams with an under .500 record, meaning they are almost guaranteed a bowl game right now.

It’s not the players fault, they have to play whomever is on the schedule, so I don’t blame them. It’s the university’s fault for scheduling these poor games to rack up wins. I noticed the moment Rutgers started getting good, Notre Dame took them off the schedule.

I remember watching ESPN and listening to “Dr. Lou” (Lou Holtz) and they asked this former coach of Notre Dame to predict how Notre Dame would finish. With a smile on his face, and a lie in his heart, this man DARED to say that Notre Dame would finish 11-0.

You tell me how a team that finished 3-9 last year is going to jump to an 11-0 finish this year. It amazed me how Lou could sit there with a straight face and lie about that, while kissing the butt of Notre Dame at the same time…

Oh, that’s right, he was going to be honored during the Notre Dame/ Michigan game with that statue…so he had to play the butt-kissing role. I thought Lou Holtz was a better man than that. He sold out on his principles for a moment of fame.

All these things factor to the [damaged] mystique of Notre Dame. I know every college football team has some ugly skeletons in their closet, but Notre Dame seemed to prove that if you have money, you can do anything you want…even if it is wrong. I have to wonder if they REALLY wanted Tyrone Willingham there, or did they hire him just to help recruit more black athletes?

So is this team a real contender, or cowards looking for the easiest way to claim fame? Lou Holtz gave that silly prediction with the assumption that Notre Dame could beat USC…that didn’t make sense at all. Purdue is a tough team but the have to play Notre Dame at South Bend. Boston College and Navy are both away games for ND, and could be hard.

Michigan State lost to California 38-31 in that away game, then beat Eastern Michigan 42-10 and then Florida Atlantic 17-0. They have the advantage of being home, and the extra advantage of having beat Notre Dame last year 31-14. And any team walking around with a zero in their loss column is a target, even after 2 or 3 weeks. Everything is there for Michigan State to take this game, and in truth, the NEED to. With the Big 10 schedule the way it is, this very game could decide if Michigan State will even make it to post season…yeah I said it after only 3 games!

Consider that you must win 6 Division I wins (yeah I know the NCAA a more complicated name, but it’s my blog!). IF Michigan State wins today, they would have a pretty good chance of winning enough games to get to a bowl. With teams like Wisconsin, Penn State, and Ohio State on the schedule, I can’t see them beating them, not right now. It IS conceivable that if Michigan State beats Notre Dame today, they can extend their record to 5-2 or 6-1 before they see Ohio State. But if they lose, it could be the tell-tale loss that prevents them from going to a bowl.

In short, this is a very important game that Michigan State MUST have. And it’s hard to tell if they have a chance, because let’s face it, the two wins won’t impress anybody outside the state of Michigan. But it is still a winning record and that builds morale.

So now here comes Notre Dame, coming to try to get a 4-0 record and start whining about “we should be in the top 10”. Will the Spartans allow it? Or will they say to us that immortal phrase from Dennis Green…

“They are who we THOUGHT they were!”

We’ll see…I bought a Michigan State hooded sweater from Steve & Berry’s last week…maybe I oughta wear it…even if it is 70 degrees here in NC!