Upon Further Review (Week 12)

When Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling
 
Nothing is going well at Notre Dame these days.  There is even a rumor that a group on a religious pilgrimage to South Bend saw teardrops falling from the eyes of Touchdown Jesus.

Things are so bad that quarterback Jimmy Clausen was sucker-punched by an angry fan in a local restaurant on Sunday. 

A Notre Dame fan. 

The latest word is that the shiner he sustained won't keep him from playing at Stanford on Saturday, where he and his teammates are likely to get more of the same.

But, if the alleged experts are correct, it appears the Charlie Weis era is coming to an end.

The Notre Dame faithful seem to feel they have a divine right to a superior football team, but they keep picking the wrong guy to lead the reformation.  Since 1996, when Lou Holtz departed after eleven seasons with a 100-30-2 record, his three successors have combined to go 91-65.

Under Weis, the Irish are 1-11 against ranked teams, and currently 35-26 overall, which means not only do they fail to win the big games, but they sometimes struggle to win the little ones. 

Something has to change.  And soon.

The alleged experts tell us that Notre Dame's reputation alone will always provide a strong pull for recruiting, but I'm not sure that's true.

Think about this for a minute.  If you are an eighteen year old senior in high school now, and you probably didn't really start consciously watching college games on television until you were twelve or thirteen, that means your first meaningful memories of Notre Dame football were seeing them suffer through seasons of 5-7 (2003) and 6-6 (2004), and then watching them fire their second coach in four years.

Meanwhile, USC, Florida, Alabama, LSU, and Texas have been racking up wins and owning the airwaves.

Weis may or may not have been the wrong guy for the job, but Notre Dame has really been led down the wrong path by the people above him.

Meddling from the university president and its board of trustees has made the job of athletic director at Notre Dame a difficult one. When Tyrone Willingham was fired after just three seasons, it was against the wishes of then athletic director Kevin White. It is interesting to note that he was the first Irish coach in 47 years to be fired before his initial contract had expired. 


From 1914 to 1987, Notre Dame had a total of six athletic directors. When Jack Swarbrick was hired last year to take over for White, he became the fourth AD since '87. If you count George O'Leary, who was fired just five days after his hiring, when it was discovered he had taken some creative liberties with his resume, Weis is the fourth football coach hired since Holtz left.

Something's clearly not right.

Cutting Weis loose will be expensive - the buyout on his contract is rumored to be as much as $18 million - but the cost isn't purely financial. Notre Dame's reputation has suffered along the way, and continues to suffer. It's not the dream job it used to be. Already, Florida's Urban Meyer, once thought to be a prime candidate, very quickly, and very publicly, removed his name from any further speculation.

Several other names have been tossed around, and it will be interesting to see what happens, but, however it turns out, Notre Dame fans had better hope that the next guy is one that can make them happy for a long time, because, right now, Irish eyes aren't smiling.

The Bone Head Call of the Week

I've thought for a while that LSU coach Les Miles was a dunderhead, and I have said so.  Saturday, he went out of his way to prove it.

If you didn't see the loss to Mississippi, you missed some of the most inexplicable clock management ever committed by an alleged coach.  It was so mind-bogglingly dumb, that it's hard to even explain.

With 1:17 remaining, LSU scored a touchdown to make it 25-23.  The two point conversion failed, but the Tigers recovered the onside kick.

After completing a pass to the Rebel 32 yard line, LSU, almost unbelievably, went backwards 16 yards on the next three plays - an incomplete pass, a sack for a nine yard loss, and a screen pass that lost seven yards.

But here's the really unbelievable part.  Facing a fourth and 26, coach Miles allowed 17 seconds to tick off the clock before somebody somwhere on the LSU sideline realized they hadn't managed to use their last timeout.

There were nine seconds left.

After the timeout, quarterback Jordan Jefferson miraculously completed a pass to Terrance Toliver at the Ole Miss five yard line.  The first down momentarily stopped the clock, but, with no timeouts remaining, the Tigers scrambled to the line of scrimmage hoping to spike the ball and kick a field goal.

There was one second left.

A)  You can't spike the ball with one second left.

B)  If they hadn't allowed the 17 seconds to tick away earlier, there would have been plenty of time to line up, spike the ball, and kick the winning field goal.

At first, Miles said he "thought" they had called a timeout.  Then, he admitted that he "didn't know what to do" after precious seconds had ticked away.

The game ended in pathetic confusion when the ball was whistled ready for play at the Rebel five, and the lonely second ticked away.

If anybody in Baton Rouge is wondering, I'd gladly take $3 million a year to stand on the sidelines looking like a deer in headlights.

I don't look good in purple and gold though...

My Crystal Ball Says...

...that I know what will happen in this week's key games. Always remember that I'm right, and your team sucks.



#25 California at #17 Stanford - Head coach Jim Harbaugh has Stanford playing with attitude.   They are getting a bit obnoxious about it too.  It's kind of like the bratty little middle school kid down the street that starting taking steroids and working out, and showed up in high school ready to kick your ass.  ESPN.com's Ted Miller says their style of play may even be going a bit beyond the rules.  On his Pac 10 blog, he writes, "There are a few more pokes and grabs and punches in the pile-up and scrum at the line of scrimmage than in the past when Stanford suited up."  But nobody seems to care about that if your name isn't Brandon Spikes.  Note to all the alleged experts who spent two weeks villifying Spikes:  check Dictionary.com for the word "hypocrite" and then get back to me.  After scoring a total of 106 points in the last two games, Stanford has become the new favorite topic in the college football world.  The fact that those points came against Oregon and USC makes it particularly intimidating, especially if you're a California team that managed only a field goal against both of those teams.  The Golden Bears will be without running back Jahvid Best who is still out after suffering a concussion two weeks ago on one of the scariest plays of the year.  Shane Vereen has been an adequate replacement for Best, but quarterback Kevin Riley is mistake-prone, and Cal's defense is lousy (71st in total defense).  The Stanford offense has turned into a juggernaut behind Toby Gerhart, the nation's third leading rusher. All of this points to a Stanford win.  And possibly a hefty dose of eye gouging.  Fear the Tree.

#11 Oregon at Arizona - I've watched Arizona play once this year, in last week's loss at California, and I was not impressed.  How this Wildcat squad managed to beat Oregon State and Stanford earlier in the year, I have no idea.  Oregon is 6th in the nation in rushing offense, and LaMichael James has 100 or more yards rushing in each of the last five games.  But Arizona is a respectable 21st in rushing defense.  Wildcat quarterback Nick Foles has somehow put up some decent numbers, but, to me, he is most notable for his Bonehead Play of the Week back in Week 6,  Both teams are still alive in the Pac 10 race.  Both need to win out.  Arizona plays well at home - their three losses all came in road games - but I think the  Ducks win the game, and also win the competition to see which team has the ugliest uniforms.

#8 LSU at Mississippi - For some reason, Mississippi seems to be a popular pick here.  Even the oddsmakers in Vegas have the Rebels as a 4 point favorite.  I don't get it.  LSU may not be flashy, but they still have great athletes.  Their only losses came at the hands of two of the top three teams in the land.  One thing is certain; they will tackle Dexter McCluster better than Tennesee did.  Speaking of Tennessee, have I mentioned recently that Lane Kiffin is not only a classless loudmouth, he's a lying classless loudmouth?  I did?  Good.  Anyway, let me throw out some amazing statistics for you.  LSU's offense may be rather pedestrian, but their defense has allowed only three rushing touchdowns this year.  That ties them with Florida and Texas for tops in the nation in terms of fewest rushing touchdowns allowed.  And they continue to improve;  they haven’t allowed a touchdown on the ground in their last six games. Also, it should be noted that LSU has prevailed in each of their last four trips to Oxford, which will mean absolutely nothing this Saturday, but it sounds like I know what I'm talking about when I say that.  Or type it.  Mississippi is a team that doesn't play well when saddled with expectations, and everyone seems to expect them to win this one.  I don't.  I think a healthy Jordan Jefferson at quarterback (he missed last week's game against Louisiana Tech with a sprained ankle) can avoid the Rebel pass rush, and I think the Tiger defense will return Jevan Snead to the state of mediocrity he was enjoying before the Tennessee defense rolled over for him.  Speaking of Tennessee, have I mentioned that Lane Kiffin is a lying, classless loudmouth?

Kansas at #3 Texas - Mark Mangino is immense.  What I mean to say is he's immensely proud of the turnaround he has managed at Kansas.  A team that was a perennial doormat in the Big 12 suddenly found itself at 12-1 after the 2007 season, and proud owners of an Orange Bowl victory. And you better believe he is proud, or he will thump you in the chest, and berate you in front of your teammates.  But, after a 5-0 start to this year, the Jayhawks have now lost five in a row, and, suddenly, they stink.  A visit to Austin, Texas is not likely to provide a cure for stinking.  The Longhorns have been, rather quietly, issuing a good old Southwest-style beatdown to everybody they have played.  They continue on the collision course that, in all likelihood, has them meeting the winner of the SEC Championship game for all the marbles.  Everybody knows about Texas QB Colt McCoy and his darling roommate Jordan Shipley.  You probably don't know that Kansas signal caller Todd Reesing has some pretty respectable passing numbers too.  It won't help.  Kansas will continue to stink.  And Texas will continue to issue good old Southwest-style beatdowns.  At least until they play for all the marbles.

Florida International at #1 Florida - The key question in this game is, if you're Urban Meyer, how long do you leave Tim Tebow out there?  You don't want him to spend an entire Saturday on the sidelines getting rusty when you have the Seminoles coming to town next week for a big rivalry game.  But, let's face it, the Gators could probably win this game with me playing quarterback.  Florida fans would like to see future star John Brantley get some work.  Florida International is coming off a big win over the North Texas Mean Green and... Okay, okay.  Forget the hype.  This is likely to be horrible, one-sided game that will be about as interesting as watching paint dry.  One thing I have learned is that, when I need something interesting to say, I find an obscure, but fascinating statistic.  The SEC blog on ESPN.com tells us, "The No. 1 team in the AP poll hasn't lost a November home game to a team with a losing record since 1961. That year, a 2-4-1 TCU team knocked off No. 1 Texas in Austin on Nov. 18."  The FIU Panthers are 3-7, and not likely to add another footnote to the college football history books against the Gators this weekend.