September 2006 Archives

BALTIMORE - Vince Young is getting his NFL cherry popped by the Dallas Cowboys defense? Ouch, doctor.

The Titans rookie is dealing with one of the nastiest pass rushes in the NFL. The Dallas 3-4 with outside linebackers DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis is going to test both Young's mobility and toughness. On the bright side, at least they're playing at home. Ahem.

No conclusions should be drawn on Young's potential tomorrow. None. He seems a solid kid with leadership skills and rare talent. Wouldn't it be great if Young's first game somehow trumped the attention for T.O., who made the trip to Tennessee and quite likely will start despite his broken finger and this week's drama.

THAT SEVENTIES SHOW

Former basketball coach Digger Phelps and famed one-sack wonder Rudy Ruettiger rode the elevator together at halftime, but that was not as cool as....

THAT EIGHTIES SHOW
...when on the way down to the field at the end of the game former coach Gerry Faust accompanied the school's most notorious (among students) professor emeritus, Emil Hofman. Emil was the Dean of Freshman Year and taught chemistry to all the freshmen here for more than three decades. To use a term anyone who's taken chem lab (as well as those who have not), Emil was the litmus test to determine whether a freshmen should remain in pre-med. He gave a quiz every Friday morning.
Anyway, when Faust (who looks great) stepped in to a pretty full elevator with Hofman, who must be around 80, he announced to no one, "This is one of the greatest professors in the history of Notre Dame."

"He ruined a lot of Thursday nights for me," I said.

Hey! Who do I think I am? Talking smack to Emil? Faust laughed, though, and Emil turned around and said, "At least I saved you the trouble of staying pre-med."

Finally, about an hour after the game there was no one on the field except four young ladies in No. 5 Notre Dame jerseys and one young man in a suit. The dapper dude was Rhema McKnight, who'd worn a 5 jersey all afternoon. He posed for pictures with the lasses. From up here in the press box, it was unclear whether they were friends, family or fans (or all three).

You know those games where the announcers say, "Absolutely nobody saw this coming"? For example, last week's Colorado at Georgia game. Well, this is not one of those games.

This is playing out, score-wise, about the way everybody who has a web site predicted it. The Irish will likely score in the 40s, while Purdue will finish in the 20s.

Also, if you happen to be a Notre Dame fan, you know those games when you feel as if the Irish are not getting any calls? This is not one of those games. The Irish have been flagged just once while Purdue has been flagged six times, one of them the most ticky-tack of late hits. To all Purdue fans who think you're getting a raw deal today, I'm with you.

That's not the difference in the game, though. Notre Dame's wideouts, especially Rhema McKnight, have had little trouble getting any separation today.

Is Carl Gioia really about to try a 47 yard field goal? He missed. Wait. Did Purdue really just get flagged again for a personal foul? At least Purdue is getting the ball.

So I hear that Pat Haden disagreed on air with my column about the Irish heading into the steamroller portion of their schedule. Dog, why you gotta be frontin'?

Unlike me, Pat Haden has a law degree, a Rhodes Scholar background, an NFL career, and a couple victories over the Irish as a quarterback at Southern Cal. But what does he know? I hear that Haden believes that UCLA will be a trap game for the Irish...and by the way, this game is a long way from over, though it bears mentioning that the Irish had as many first half first downs (22) as they've had in any SINGLE GAME this season.

Still, Mr. Haden, J.D., hear me now and listen to me later: Notre Dame will have a far more difficult time beating Navy than they will UCLA. Notre Dame will be coming off both a bye week and fall break (students are gone that week) and will be itching to play a glamorous opponent like the Bruins. The following Saturday they'll be in Baltimore against the No. 1 rushing team in the nation, a team whose players know that they'll never have to buy a beer (or swab a deck) for the rest of their lives if they end the notorious losing streak.

As for today, Purdue's 88-yard TD with a minute left in the half gave Weis the ammo he needs to rip into the Irish at the half. If the weather does not stop the Irish (it just began raining here), I don't think that Purdue will either. I see them putting up 49.

You think maybe Notre Dame is committed to the run this afternoon?

Darius Walker had as many rushing attempts in the first quarter as he did in either of the last two games. Walker gained 58 yards in the first quarter, more than he has in any of ND's last three games. And he equaled his season rushing touchdown total (1) with his 14-yarder.

With 8:50 to go in the first half, he's 21 yards short of equaling his season-high (99 yards, at Georgia Tech).

For anyone who catches our live pre-game webcast, we had a very special guest today: Regis Philbin.

It would be nice to think that we're a smoothly run operation, but in truth we lined up the interview with Reege about half an hour before he appeared. Our peerless stage manager guru, Bobby V., spotted Regis (class of '53) on the sideline and asked him to appear.

Regis contemplated the request for a moment. "NBC?" he asked. "I'll do it."

Regis rules. He had to wait to go on but he was totally cool about it. When I checked with him that he'd been a freshman in '49 when the Irish won a national title, he confirmed it.

"Thanks," I said. "I just wanted to be sure we did not look like idiots."
"I want you to look like idiots," he replied in classic mock-ogre fashion.

When Regis sat down on our set, the student section started a "REGIS! REGIS! " cheer, and he acknowledged them. He also, unsurprisingly, had great chemistry with our host Paula Faris. When she asked him if the student section had been that rowdy when he was here, he noted that they were too busy praying back then.

Regis left me starstruck. After his segment, I left the set to head up to the pressbox...totally forgetting that I was supposed to be on next. I left Paula completely high and dry. You think Regis would ever screw up like that? Hell, no. Paula was, as usual, completely cool with my screw-up (soon to be immortalized on "Webcast Foul-Ups, Bloopers and Blunders"). When I apologized via Crackberry, she blamed it on my age: "That's okay. Your first forties moment."

Two nights ago my college buddy Dave Fink, who lives in Indianapolis (and, it should be said, has finished two Hawaii Ironman triathlons, as has his wife, Heather), and I ventured out to West Lafayette to check out the scene. We hit Jake's and Brother's. The highlight for me was when one young woman approached us and asked what year I graduated college. When I told her ("1988"), she replied, "I was four."

Ouch, babe.
That's when I put my neck on a swivel and looked around to see where Chris Hanson was.

Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson on Wednesday told the New England media what he had planned for the Patriots this weekend in Cincinnati.

"Mr. Belichick, I love him to death, but he wouldn't (single cover) me. He wouldn't do it," said Johnson. "Tell him, please if he feels free, just give me a little one-on-one. I won't score. I'll stop at the one, and go out of bounds or something."

Johnson then made a request of the media during his conference call: "Can I talk trash to you guys, so you guys can relay the message?"

Told yes, Johnson launched.

"Okay good. You tell 37 (Rodney Harrison), I'm going to knock his helmet off. You tell Asante (Samuel) to make sure that he continues to have help all four quarters or his 22 is going to be 55. Is that what it looks like upside down? Wait a minute, I'm not finished. You tell Junior (Seau) when I'm done with him … never mind I'm not going to pick on Junior. That is not a good one. I could get hurt there. You tell Eugene Wilson, if he hits me across the middle, we are probably going to have to fight and get thrown out of the game right there on the spot. My last hit I'm going to take this year was in Cleveland and if anyone hits me like that again it is going down."

Today, Belichick was apprised of the comments.

"Chad is a good guy," said Belichick. " He's a good guy. I've spent some time with him. He's really an entertaining kid. He has a good sense of humor. It sounds like he was poking fun at us. That's okay."

Belichick was asked whether Johnson could play for the buttoned-down Patriots.

"I think he'd be productive for any team in the league," he said. " I can't imagine that he wouldn't be. When I went and worked him out, he was working out in LA, so I worked him out on the USC campus. Of course he came up there with his car and he had his Oregon State magnetic flag on his car on the USC campus. That kind of stuff. He's a good kid. I've spent time with him a couple of times in the offseason. He's a good guy to be around. I'm sure he meant all of those things real seriously."

Belichick was pressed on why people didn't get madder at him.

"He's not even serious," explained Belichick. "I could throw the same stuff back at him if that's really what we wanted to do."

"Tell him we'd cover him one-on-one all the time, but he pushes off more than any receiver in the league. He must be paying off the officials not to call it. We're going to have to double cover him some, not that he can get open…as much as he pushes off, we have to do something to protect ourselves. No, he's a great player. We know that."

During all those years Marvin Lewis tucked himself into bed and went off to sleep with visions of being the head coach of one of the NFL's best teams, think he ever had anything like Chris Henry and Odell Thurman traipsing through his mind.

Only if it was a nightmare. Sucks for Lewis, doesn't it? He's got a 3-0 team that is the class of the league offensively and is widely regarded as classless off of it.

Lewis talked about that yesterday on a conference call when he was asked by the New England media if he felt too much was made of his players' behavior

"No, I don't think too much is made of it," said Lewis. "I think they have a responsibility to act as good people and good citizens. We're disappointed with some of these actions and there's been some poor decisions made and there's been some things that still haven't been decided. When those things play out then it's a little but sometimes guys are put into these situations and they're completely innocent which we also have had. So that's the other part of it. It's unfortunate what has happened and we want to learn from it and not have any of them. But for whatever reason we went on a bad run and particularly with one or two people. Those people ... they have a tough road, but it has not affected our football team."

Good for Lewis for saying it matters. But come on with the not affecting the football team stuff. You walk into work and see one of your fellow employees whose performance you depend upon hung over to the 9's or with an ink-stained thumb from another night of finger-printing, it's a distraction.

Said Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer yesterday, "Coach Lewis is fed up with harping on Odell Thurman about doing the right thing at the right time and not being at the wrong place at the wrong time. At some point, I think Marvin's done with it. I saw (Thurman) clear out his locker. I think everybody saw that and realized at some point you're not going to get a second chance, a third chance, or a fourth chance."

Well, with Thurman gone there's one stooge down. What about wide receiver Chris Henry (check out his priors here)

"I've talked to him," said Palmer. "I think a lot of people have talked to him. He's just a guy who’s been in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple times. This is another incident of that. I just hope he learns his lesson, moves on and continues to make plays on the field."

Wrong place, wrong time is on the sidewalk when a plate-glass window blows out of a skyscraper. Yakking out the passenger's side window while riding shotgun to your drunken (soon-to-be-ex) teammate? That's aggravated stupidity.

How can these guys look Lewis in the face after doing stuff like this? And how can Lewis, who busted his ass, worked long nights, moved his family around the country and dealt with the unique and stomach-churning uncertainty of being a football coach refrain from punching guys like Henry in their face he sees them.

Excerpts from a conversation I had two nights ago with NBCsports.com's own Harriet Ells (HE), who oversees our video production and helps keep people sane here:

HE: "You've been in South Bend a month now, how's it going?"
JW: "You may wanna think about 'bringing me in' pretty soon?"
HE: "What do you mean?"
JW: "You know, I'm getting too close. The lines are beginning to blur."
HE: "You're starting to--"
JW: "--forget who I really work for? YES!"
HE: "Am I just the straight man here?"
JW: "It's my blog."
HE: "Go on."
JW: "I'm on THREE intramural teams."
HE: "Three?"
JW: "And one of them is women's interhall football."
HE: "What?"
JW: "It's cool, I'm like the median weight."
HE: "You need to stop that."
JW: "And I'm thinking about dropping Intro to Thermodynamics. I'm not sure engineering is for me."
HE: "You're a sportswriter."
JW: "And I'm so up in the air about whether I should study in Innsbruck or Perth next year."
HE: "We're gonna get you some help."
JW: "Listen, Harriet, I'd love to chat, but I'm late for Kaplan Review. See you later."

Until I saw Conan O'Brien's opening number at the Emmy Awards last month, I had no idea that NBC was not in first place in the prime-time ratings. In fact, you might even say that among the four major network players last season, the Peacock was The Biggest Loser.
I'm a company guy. I want to help. So I've dedicated myself to littering today's column about Notre Dame Football with as many references to NBC shows as I can. I am proposing to my editor, Barry, that he pledge $10 to "JW's Linebacker Lounge Fund" for every NBC show that I cite (although some other networks' shows may creep in the text as well). It's not quite free publicity for the network, but it's awfully close (and, by the way, I'm already up $20).

************************************************************

. After fifteen minutes of play in East Lansing last Saturday evening, the Fighting Irish looked Lost (they can't all be NBC shows). The offense had gone three-and-out three times already, the defense had allowed seven plays of ten yards or greater, and even Tom Zbikowski had committed a turnover on a fumbled punt. When Brady Quinn threw a lazy screen that Spartan end Ervin Baldwin picked off and returned 19 yards to the house (oh yeah, that's Fox), the Irish found themselves down by the score of 24 (unavoidable, sorry) to 7.
Spartan Stadium was a madhouse. Michigan State legend Magic Johnson, who is friends with fellow Michigan hoops hero Isiah Thomas, who was once gained notoriety for Crossing Jordan ($30) at the 1985 NBA All-Star Game, was in attendance. As was defensive line great Bubba Smith (How can you not be a Ray Liotta fan?), a fierce rusher whom it usually took Two and Half Men to block.
Suddenly last year's Fiesta Bowl team resembled a squad that would be grateful to land an invite to the Las Vegas ($40) Bowl. And in front of a prime-time audience, no less. This was a Football Night in America ($50) that the folks back at 30 Rock ($60) would rather forget. As Cheers (okay, $5 for a retired show; $65) rang out from the southeast corner of Spartan Stadium, where the Michigan State students were assembled, the men in the press box high above The West Wing ($70) began to wonder if someone had Kidnapped ($80) Notre Dame's supposed Heisman candidate.
Though both the Irish defense and offense sprang to life in the 3rd quarter, Notre Dame still trailed by 16 points, 37-21, at the start of the 4th. It had been 20 Good Years ($90) since a Notre Dame team had come back from such a large 4th-quarter deficit (37-20, at Southern Cal, which ended 38-37 in favor of the Irish)
The last nine minutes became a time for Heroes ($100) in gold helmets. On 4th down and 5 from the Spartan 43, Brady Quinn hit Jeff Samardzija on a crossing route that the man they call Shark (throwin' some love to James Woods) turned into a 43-yard touchdown. It was just another day at The Office ($110) for Samardzija, who would finish with seven catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns.
The Irish secondary, the Special Victims Unit ($120) of this program for years now, instigated not one but three turnovers. Safety Chinedum Ndukwe, who is close Friends ($125) with Quinn, forced and recovered a fumble at the Spartan 24. A few plays later Quinn connected with Rhema McKnight(s of Prosperity. Okay, that's a reach) for a 14-yard touchdown to close the gap to 37-33. Offensively, that was the Last Call ($135) Charlie Weis made this evening.
Then it came time for one of the defensive Scrubs ($145) to make his presence felt. Just three plays after McKnight's TD, reserve cornerback Terrail Lambert intercepted Drew Stanton's errant pass and returned it 27 yards for the game-winning score.
But Michigan State was not finished. Nor, as it turned out, was Lambert. The Spartans drove all the way to the Irish 44 with less than a minute remaining, but once more the junior defensive back displayed Criminal Intent ($155) by swiping a Stanton pass, this time to ice the game.
Immediately after the clock struck 0:00, three Michigan State players ran to midfield in order To Catch a Predator ($165) from among the Notre Dame roster who might, they thought, be conspiring to plant a flag there. The Irish, however, displayed Will & Grace ($170) after the comeback win. They simpy ran to sing the alma mater with the band and their fans before heading to the locker room to Meet the Press ($180).
And so Today ($190) Notre Dame is 3-1 and still in the hunt for a BCS bowl bid as opposed to having a disappointing 2-2 record. Sure, their No. 12 ranking is not as good as that No. 1 held by the school's women's soccer team, who play No. 6 West Virginia under the Friday Night Lights ($200) of Alumni Field later this week, but at the same time Irish hopes to compete in a major bowl have not Vanished.
So, what do you say, Barry>? Deal or No Deal? After all, it's only $210, as opposed to 90210 dollars.

Marc, a reader with a keen memory, asks the following question regarding a blog that appeared last week:

John- I'm dying to know...did those "fans" who wrote to the Observer (Tom Bradley, Ricky Moreno, Tom Dobleman, Rick King, and Kenny Cushing) saying how they make a statement by walking out on struggling Irish teams miss the MSU comeback? We're they at the game?

I don't know, Marc. Maybe they'll write another whiny letter this week and we will all find out.

Meanwhile, this week's clear favorite for "I Don't Know This Person" letter to The Observer comes from alumna Sue Grant ('77). She writes that she was saddened during the Penn State game because she was unable to get tix through the lottery (a fellow alum gave her some) and had to walk a mile and a half to get to the stadium (she didn't know about the free shuttle). Then she writes, "I didn't know by choosing to be an inner-city elementary teacher that I would be forfeiting my Notre Dame football "privileges".

"Ohhhhhhh, Mr. Gra-a-ant!"
(I know; it's a woman).

Sue, it's people such as yourself who give self-righteous do-gooders a bad name. There are a finite number of available spaces (as there were for positions in your freshman class; maybe it would have been fair if ND had not discriminated on the basis of academic aptitude). How would you have the school decide who gets the choice parking? On a sliding scale of sanctimony?

You said it yourself, Sue. "Privileges". Not rights, privileges.

One thing that you've probably noticed about the Notre Dame offense so far this season is how simple it looks. I'm not talking trick plays, such as reverses or option passes (like Michigan State's last Saturday night that went for a TD), but simple counters and traps. Even play-action passes, such as the brilliant one that Brady Quinn executed on 4th-and-1 in the second quarter in East Lansing, have rarely been seen. For an offense that has struggled more than anyone would have expected, especially in the running game, Notre Dame's has looked very basic.

Yesterday I asked two different Notre Dame players the same question: If the Irish offense is returning nine starters this season (and if the two new ones, offensive tackle Sam Young and tight end John Carlson, are more than pulling their weight), why has Charlie Weis stressed the need to simplify his offense? If this group of personnel cannot handle more sophistication--from a coach who is renowned for it--who can?

Senior guard Bob Morton chewed on that one for a long ten to fifteen seconds before speaking. "I can't answer that question," Morton replied. "I don't know. If Coach Weis says that things are simpler, that's for him to say, not me. I think every game plan's different."

Carlson, also a senior, had this to say: "Flat-out, Coach Weis knows a lot more about this offense than I do. My opinion, we're not executing as well as we need to. That's obvious in 3rd-down conversions. Until we execute, there's no reason to make it complicated."

Moles at Logan Airport just called to let us in on the news that Vinny Testaverde was in Foxboro today working out for the Patriots.

This means the Pats have now worked out Testaverde and Tommy Maddox in the past two weeks. One wonders what the great urgency is at the quarterback position. The Pats seemed comfortable with Tom Brady and Matt Cassel as their two-man team coming out of training camp.

Maybe the distress Brady showed Sunday night has the team concerned. Perhaps they feel the presence of another veteran could help to give Brady a sounding board.

When you think about it, Brady is in many ways the elder statesman on that offense. He predates every player on that side of the ball except wide receiver Troy Brown and left tackle Matt Light and he's also working under the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels, 29.

An awful lot has been put on the plate of the Patriots quarterback from running the offense to being an on-field and in-practice coach to a fairly raw set of offensive players.

The big story is this morning in Michiana is, "Who, if anyone, slapped Charlie Weis during the sideline scuffle that began after Chinedum Ndukwe's late hit on Drew Stanton in East Lansing?"

Here are my top three suspects:

1. ESPN's Mark May: It would not be the first shot he's taken.
2. Darius Walker's dad: "Tell your O-line to wake up and open a hole or two for my son!"
3. The Object of Christoper Walken's affection in "The Continental" skits on SNL: She's slap-happy and no one can identify her.

WILLINGHAM V. WEIS

As fond as the media was last week of pointing out the similarities between coaches Willingham and Weis, here is one more following last Saturday:

Both coaches' teams recovered from a 16-point deficit in their 4th game of the season to win and now have 3-1 records.

Given the Panthers and Dolphins both escaped with narrow wins, you can disregard the dire predictions of futility.

For now.

Tom

PITTSBURGH - I didn't like Miami. And I got the proof somewhere on this site (once we get the archives, they tell me). And I'm not an over-the-moon Carolina guy either. But for both teams to be on the verge of starting 0-3 after half the planet picked them to be difficult. Didn't see it. Just didn't see it.

PITTSBURGH - The Steelers were sitting pretty up by three about seven minutes ago. Now they're down by 10, 27-17.

In the space of a few plays, Steelers punt returner Ricardo Colclough fumbed and the Bengals got a 9-yard scoring throw from Carson Palmer. On the ensuing drive, Steelers back Verron Haynes fumbled and Palmer took advantage of that right away with a 30-yard touchdown toT.J. Houshmandzadeh who made a remakrable catch.

PITTSBURGH - Ricardo Colclough just fumbled a punt and immediately the Bengals cashed in with a touchdown to make it 21-17. Now the Steelers have twice had late-game blunders in their first three games. Against the Dolphins, Charlie Batch fumbled at the 1 but Pittsburgh survived. We'll see this time.

...I mean...well...I mean...where do you go from there? And it's 10-7 Miami with the Titans at the Miami 8.

Quick peek around at a few items as we push toward 3 p.m.

The Titans Keith Bulluck just went down. He's the heart-and-sould of the Titans defense. It appears to be an ankle. It's 7-3 Tennessee. Now it's 10-7. Daunte Culpepper just hit the terrific Chris Chambers for a score.

Jacksonville's now down 14-7 after blowing a coverage on tight end Dallas Clark that allowed him to cruise into the end zone.

Bengals receiver Chris Henry now has two touchdowns and a significant headache. Going over the middle, Carson Palmer threw waaaayyy to high to enry who went up and then got blasted by a Steelers corner. The Steelers Ike Taylor picked it off and now are second-and-goal down 14-10.

Jacksonville has the perfect opportunity to make a big statement and they just threw up on their shirt in the first half.

It's 7-7 but the Jags have dominated the Colts in this AFC South staredown. Maurice Jones-Drew has 87 yards on the ground, Fred Taylor has 78 but a Byron Leftwich pick, a missed Jags field goal and a punt return touchdown by the Colts Terrence Wilkins has Jax in a tie. They've outrun the Colts 157 to........10.

PITTSBURGH - This game flipped around. The Steelers just got a 48-yard field goal blocked at one end of the field right after the two-minute warning. The Bengals then went 62 yards in seven plays (two of which were spikes) and got a touchdown to Henry (again) to go into the break up 14-7.

PITT - On second down from the Bengals 23, the marching Steelers nearly had their scoring chance blown by Cincy DL Justin Smith who woulda, coulda, shoulds picked it off. We're at the two-minute warning already in this fast-moving game.

PITTSBURGH -- After going no-huddle, Cincy just tied it up with a well-thrown fade to Chris Henry on third-and-3 from the 16. Cincy went 97 yards in 8:19.

So far, Chad Johnson has just one catch for 11 yards.

PITT - In an effort to regain some control while they have the ball, the Bengals have gone no huddle and are moving it well. They've got first down at the Steelers 23 after a 9-yarder to Chris Henry with 7:59 left.

Pittsburgh has done minimal substituting as the Bengals go no-huddle

The Colts are getting trampled on the ground by the Jags allowing 120 yards in the first quarter-plus. Indy has 10. It should be at least 10-0 J-ville but, after plowing downfield on the ground, the Jags decided to throw down the field and Byron Leftwich got picked.

PITT - The Steelers had a first down play from the Bengals 6 on the first play of the second quarter. He went play action, came up to see two receivers in the route and a lot of traffic and threw it anyway. He was picked by Brian Williams. Still 7-0.

PITTSBURGH - The Bengals are in for it, it appears.

Carson Palmer fumbled on back-to-back plays on their second drive getting ripped by Clark Haggans and Lary Foote. The Bengals recovered both but Palmer was having none of it. He hit Pittsburgh corner DeShea Townsend in stride for a pick and now, at the end of he first, the Steelers are inside the 10.

PITTSBURGH -- The Steelers just went 80 yards in eight plays to make it 7-0 with 9:04 left in the first. Willie Parker scored on a 3-yard run. The Steelers picked up two third downs on the drive -- one on a third-and-10 pass to Cedric Wilson, another on a flip to Willie Parker.

The Bengals are about to field their second kickoff of the day.

PITTSBURGH - Ben Roethlisberger is settling in nicely at the start of this one. He's got two straight third-down conversions, one on a play-action rollout to Willie Parcer that picked up 13 and brings the Steelers down to the Cincy 20 with 9:52 left in the first.

PITTSBURGH - So get this, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson and Steelers linebacker Joey Porter just got to woofing at each other in the pregame.

PITTSBURGH -- T.J. Houshmandzadeh (bless you) won't start at wide receiver for the Bengals today. Chris Henry gets the start in his stead.

Also inactive for the Bengals are wide receivers Reggie McNeal, Antonio Chatman and Tab Perry, safety Dexter Jackson, linebacker A.J. Nicholson, center Rich Braham and defensive end Frostee Rucker.

For Pittsburgh, Willie Reid, Duce Stalet, Rian Wallace, Marvin Philip, Chris Komeat, Willie Colon and Tim Euhus will all sit.

PITTSBURGH - The tarp's off and the sun's out. There's a smattering of players on the field including Hines Ward and Chad Johnson who were just playing a little grabass.

The field seems slightly slick. Ward just ran an out for Roethlisberger and had his feet go right out from under him.

PITTSBURGH - Mornin'!

I'm looking LIVE at a tarp covered Heinz Field. Four hours from now the Steelers and Bengals will be swappin' paint down there.

At the moment...crickets.

I'm on the radio up in Boston on WEEIfrom 9 to 12:30 but that doesn't mean I can't blog my face off.

Here's a situation to watch as the season unfolds in Seattle.

This game is turning into a classic. Quinn just tossed his 5th touchdown pass--correction, 6th (5 for Notre Dame)--and Michigan State's offense logged off midway through the 3rd quarter. However, I thought I'd share this from my friend Moose, who just returned from her gym in Los Angeles:

David Spade was at the gym on the bike. He was not watching the game. Or any game. He was watching some cop like show on VH1. It so sucks to be dumped by Heather Locklear!

MSU's Demond Williams just took a knee after returning the kickoff six yards to the 14. I mean, I understand that MSU just fumbled the ball and that the Spartans are trying to protect the lead, but there's conservative and then there's....well, that's like wearing a condom when you're failing to master your domain.

Lambert INT and score. So that being careful idea did not work.

That is, "One-Man Wrecking Machine."

Caulcrick has five carries tonight for 93 yards, one touchdown, and three Notre Dame DBs whom he flattened worse than the bulldozer did that dude's nose in "Sleeper". Honestly, on three of his first four carries Caulcrick ran right over Tom Zbikowski, Chinedum Ndukwe and Terrail Lambert.

Caulcrick is simply a tank. Six-feet tall and 260 pounds. He outweighs the Irish linebacking unit by an average of 33 pounds per man. Not their DBs, their linebackers (I'm doing lots of math tonight). He's Michigan State's version of The Bus.

You know how some tailbacks were state track champions in high school? Caulcrick was, too...in the shot put! Seriously.

That's my latest weather report.*

It looks as if Notre Dame's "point-a-minute" defense has come to play in the 3rd quarter. In fact, the Irish front four has done a solid job of containing Drew Stanton since the end of the first quarter. Also, the Spartans hav gone three and out on their first two drives of the half.

* ("It's Raining Again")

I just spotted Brent Musberger as I was headed into the restroom. Held up one finger to indicate what my next play would be.

Which, of course, was a decoy.

Stats you may care about:

--Earlier this week Charlie Weis was asked about where the Irish were coming up short. His answer was everywhere, but he then specified, "You want to start somewhere? Start with our 3rd-down conversions."

At the half the Irish are 0-6 on 3rd down conversions.

--The Spartans were not called for a hold in the first half. That's 14 consecutive quarters (or, all season) that the opposing team has not held the Irish. I'll have to ask Mister Abiamiri, Mr. Laws, Mr. Leitko and Mr. Talley about that.

Yes, this game looks a lot like last year's:

1. Michigan State has intercepted and returned a Brady Quinn pas for a touchdown.
2. Jeff Samardzija has a first-half TD catch.
3. MSU has opened up a 17-point lead (actually, last year it was 21)

But, in another way, it resembles last week's contest:

1. The opponent was from Michigan.
2. The Irish surrendered 30-plus first half points. Last year Notre Dame never surrendered more than 24 points in the first half during the regular season (that was to the Spartans). In fact, they averaged allowing just over 9 points in the first half. It's obvious that the loss of linebackers Brandon Hoyte and Corey Mays was underestimated by all of us "experts". We should have known better. Hoyte and Mays were the team's two leading tacklers last season.
3. A junior running back from western New York is ripping the defense apart. Last week Michigan's Mike Hart (of Onondaga) gained 133 yards on 31 carries. Tonight Jehuu Caulcrick of Findley Lake has 45 first-half yards on only three carries. Moreover, on his first carry he ran right through a Tom Zbikowski tackle attempt and on his third he pancaked fellow safety Chinedum Ndukwe.

And those are Notre Dame's two leading tacklers this season.

This is the same Michigan State team that fell behind Pittsburgh 10-0 after one quarter last Saturday? Wow.

These are basically the same two offenses that took the field in this game last year. One looks a year more confident, and the other has definitely backtracked. The Irish are playing with zero confidence. They seem to have lost more than just a game last Saturday.

Michigan State is simply making all the plays. The Irish are playing as if all their girlfriends just left them for Colin Farrell. Or Mike Farrell. It doesn't matter. Right now this game resembles the Maryland at West Virginia game in primetime on ESPN on September 14th.

You think Big Ten schools aren't a little sore at all the attention the Irish have received since last October's USC game?

For what it's worth, Michigan State's offensive line 310 pounds per man. Notre Dame's defensive line averages 277 pounds per man. That's sixty-six half-pound burgers per man.

Drew Stanton just ran for 36 yards on a quarterback draw. If this keeps up, no one is making themselves more coin in the country tonight than Stanton.

I've just been informed that folks in LA can get this game on ESPN2. Don't know if that is for the entire west.

Also, someone just asked me to explain what "cornhole" means. Well, I'll leave you to go to urbandictionary.com for the definition, but it's also a popular game at tailgaters that's a little like horseshoes. The differences are that you pitch giant beanbags toward a slightly inclined board that has a hole in the middle. That's cornhole.

The Spartans are stoked.
Members of the 1966 Spartan football team that finished unbeaten are here as the school honors both their team and their best player, Bubba Smith. Smith's No. 95 was retired in a pre-game ceremony. The '66 players are wearing buttons that read "Kill, Bubba, Kill", which is how they cheered on Smith here forty years ago.
If that weren't enough, Magic Johnson is also on the sidelines. And it's only the 6th night game in 83 years here in East Lansing.

The stars (if any were visible) are with the Spartans. And they're plahing like it. Both kickoffs have soared beyond the back of the end zone. All three Spartan offensive plays on that first drive went for at least a first down. And, not only was Spartan tailback Jehuu Caulcrick's 34-yard run on MSU's first play the longest run the Irish have surrenedered all season, it was also the first time I can recall someone breaking an open-field tackle by Irish safety Tom Zbikowski.

Meanwhile, the Irish offense continues to sputter.

This could get ugly.

PREGAME FESTIVITIES

Standing outside the southeast gate of Spartan Stadium about two hours before game time. At least a thousand Michigan State students are waiting outside the gates, keeping themselves stoked with the MSU cheer:

"GO GREEN!"
"GO WHITE!"

A Notre Dame student in a blue shirt that reads "POM POM SQUAD" dares not only to wander into their midst, but he stands up on a post so that he is now looking down on them. The boos follow and I'm wondering how long it'll be before someone tries to knock him off his perch.

Sure enough, a liter plastic bottle of Gordon's Gin flies toward him. But, instead of falling from his high perch (as his football team did last Saturday), the unidentified Domer catches the bottle. That draws a few cheers. Then he unscrews the cap and starts guzzling (raucous cheers). Then he begins doing a striptease with his T-shirt. Now he's the most popular Domer in Michigan, perhaps the only popular one.

Then two Staties came by and ruined all the fun.

Yes, it's Bruce Springsteen's 57th birthday. And, yes, I'm old enough to care. One indication of the line of demarcation between young and old:

Hip people: "Back in the day"

Me: "Back in my day"

So I just arrived at the press box in East Lansing. The field is covered in tarp. I can't recall seeing a football field covered in tarp. Maybe they had a monster truck show here last night. I don't know.

Also, the scoreboard operator up here in East Lansing has a good sense of humor. We're still more than two hours away from kickoff, but the scoreboard is on and it reads: Spartans 10, Irish 10, :00, Quarter 4. Man, they do hold a grudge up here in Michigan.

Gray, overcast day here in South Bend (But, JW, the game is in East Lansing tonight!)

What??? Hunh???

Oh, I know, I know. They staged the Domer Run on campus this morning, a 3 & 6 mile run and I thought I'd take advantage of my newly acquired masters status (40-and-over) to try and win something. As I was waiting in line for my number, an elderly gentleman stood behind me wearing khaki pants and a button-down shirt.

"You running today?" I asked him.
"Nope," he replied. "I'm 87. And I've had two hip replacements. I'm just gonna walk the course."
"I'm just scoping out my competition," I said.

Fun race. As it turns out, they did not have age-group divisions, but rather undergrad, grad, alumni and off-campus. Didn't know that until afterward, though, or I wouldn't have killed myself trying to pass the one dude with more gray hair than me.

All right, so the blog fell into disuse for a day. Or four. I'm not saying it won't happen again. But I will say I don't want it to happen again.

And I will be doing much Blogeration this weekend from Pittsburgh where the Steelers and Bengals have at it.

Meanwhile, this Steve Foley Shooting story remains bizarre.

As you'll see in the link, the off-duty cop that used the Chargers linebacker for target practice said, he identified himself as an officer more than once.

Aaron Mansker then says: "(Foley is) just at the bumper, he starts reaching into the front of his waistband, lifting up his shirt and that's when I fired the first shot. There were two shots," Mansker said. Mansker said he feared for his life.

"The first thought in my head was it's a gun and I'm not going home tonight, that's all I could think of."

So Mansker told Foley he was a cop and Foley allegedly pulled up his shirt and reached toward his waistband anyway? Foley was unarmed. What was he reaching for a clump of belly-button lint? And Foley didn't realize that reaching into his waistband with a cop -- pistol drawn -- standing in front of you was a bad move?

Pulled up his shirt, huh? Doesn't quite pass the sniff test. Nor does much else in this story.

Last night Notre Dame's on-campus bar, Legends, hosted a talent show. Perhaps inspired by alumnus Regis Philbin's success with "America's Got Talent", the show was called "Notre Dame's Got Talent."

I'll be the judge of that.

The students in attendance were too young to recall "The Gong Show", a '70s daytime talent show in which acts that really blew were "gonged" off the stage (mercifully, for everyone involved) midway through their performance.

The Gong Show also introduced the world to "The Unknown Comic", a hack comedian who performed with a brown paper bag over his head. The Unknown Comic became a recurring character on the show. I've always thought a good sight gag would involve placing a large brown paper bag over a gravestone: The Tomb of the Unknown Comic.

Anyway, the show was equally split between acts that were comically bad, the average, and the crowd-pleasers. Emcee Mike Peterson, who hosts his own show on NDTV (imagine Regis with Liam Gallagher's barber), was quick with the quips and more comfortable on stage than all but one performer.

I'll save you the time, and only summarize the best and worst, leading with the latter:

WORST

1. "Taylor the Latte Boy": The young woman who sang this charming tune about a girl who has a crush on her Starbucks barrista actually had a terrific voice. However, you could have downed two venti soy double-shot macchiatos in the time it took for this song to end. "I haven't heard anything drag on like that," said one judge, "since Fr. Jenkins said a prayer before the football game at the stadium."

2. "No Money No Food" by a three-female Bob Marley parody band. Okay, this was just painfully awful. As Peterson said immediately when they finished, "I think somewhere Bob Marley is rolling doobies in his grave."

On to THE BEST, in order of how they finished, two of which were more along the lines of "Stupid Human Tricks" than talent:

3. Julie the Close-Mouthed Singer
"Late Show with David Letterman" is staging "Ventriloquist Week" all week long, and Julie would have been a great fit. She sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" without opening her mouth. The rendition was almost spooky, like something from one of those horror movies where the eight year-old girl is possessed.

2. Rainman
I never got his real name, but here was his talent: The audience would give him any word or phrase and instantly--and I mean without even a pause--Rainman would tell you how many letters were in the word or phrase and then alphabetize the letters in them.
For example: "Bengals are a dynasty."
"Eighteen letters. A, B, D, E, G, L, N, R, S, T, Y."
When Rainman first took the stage, he told the audience, "First of all, I'm not gonna lie. I been drinkin', so I may not be as sharp."
But you'd never have known it. When he'd finished his act (and he was not using plants in the audience; this was legit), he got a huge ovation. "I've never seen college kids so excited about spelling," said an awed Peterson, who then asked Rainman, "Did you just own kids in spelling bees in grade school."
"No, not the foreign ones," Rainman answered.
(Rainman, by the way, came on just before the Marley parody trio. When that act finished, one of the judges remarked, "Hey, Rainman, how many letters in 'That was terrible'?")

1. Tim Anderson, the Human Beat Box
As popular as Rainman was--and he was easily the most popular act--there was no denying Anderson's amazing vocal gifts. At first he wowed the crowd by breaking down beats, explaining that this was how he'd entertained his kids at summer camp, but that the challenge had always been to add another layer on to the beat because the kids would get bored. As his finale, he sang while simultaneously impersonating at least two different percussion instruments.
If you closed your eyes, you'd have thought there had to be at least a four-piece band performing.
All night long the judges were snarky and mostly mean, but when Anderson finished, all one judge could do was say, "You're goin' to Hollywood