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."

Not yet, perhaps, but Anderson did win $200. Rainman earned $75, of which he said, "All of my winnings are going toward a kegger at 'The Raging House' (an off-campus house where friends of his live), fourteen letters, A, E, G, H, I, N, O, R, S, T, U."

THE JERI RYAN STAT

All I've been hearing all week is that Michigan State has won seven of nine against Notre Dame. Seven of nine. Seven of nine. Seven of...and then I think, okay, it's not as if I watch the SciFi Channel (although my roommate does, but he has much more erudite tastes than I do...honestly, the other night I came home and he was watching a PBS special on Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry... Me: "So that whole phlogiston theory isn't gonna fly?" Him: "Yeah, no".).

Where were we? So, it's not as if I watch the SciFi Channel, but I do recall hearing "seven of nine" before, and then I remembered:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Of_Nine

And so I'm encouraging Michigan State fans to "taunt" the Irish by toting gigantic posters of Ms. Ryan into Spartan Stadium on Saturday night. I'm just picturing Brent Musberger up in the booth contemplating a comment abou that. Remember, this is the announcer to whom Jenn Sterger owes her entire career. I always take special pride in knowing that while Jenn and I never overlapped, not chronologically nor physically, we both have been columnnists for SI On Campus.

And why should that surprise you? Check it out.

Her

http://okdork.com/wp-content/JS.jpg

Me

http://www.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/04/21/431070.html

By the way, although Michigan State has won seven of the last nine games in this series, the Irish, bizarrely enough, have won 14 of the previous 17 games at Spartan Stadium. Unfortunately, there are no Jeri Ryan-related characters bearing the name Fourteen of Seventeen, although we do know that once again she has been cast as an attorney ("Boston Public" and "Boston Legal" previously) in "Shark". On the blurb about the show starring James Woods as a sleazy Hollywood defense attorney gone straight, it simply says "Co-stars Jeri Ryan". Television gold, those three words. TV gold.

SEPARATION SATURDAY, PART 2: MEN FROM THE BOYS

We (I'm speaking in the first person plural, but you know it's really just me, right?) were happy to learn that Weird Al Yankovic is releasing a song called "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", a parody of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" (somewhere we've literally, but never figuratively, been....another story for another time, people). Made us think of our favorite drive-thru commercial of late, from Sonic, where the guy with what can only be called "Alien Finger Syndrome" drones on about what "separates the MEN from the BOYS".

Because that's what Saturday night's game in East Lansing represents for the 2006 Irish. If Notre Dame can overcome a Michigan State team that will look, as it does every year--how to put this in a way that won't get us tossed into jail like those "Game of Shadows" authors-- um, "physical", then they are men. A 3-1 record against the toughest quartet of opponents anyone is starting this season with is respectable. But, at 2-2, this team's confidence may start to ebb.

Here's my question about the Sonic ad, by the way: the guy doing all the haranguing about himself being "men" and his pal being "boys" is riding shotgun. If he's the man, shouldn't he be driving and the boy sitting shotgun?

Suzy Kolber just said, "Two real good teams...buttonheads."

Or maybe it was "Two real good teams...butt in heads?"

Or "butting heads."

Or "but in heads"

Isn't English fun?

MADDEN COMMERCIAL
Daunte Culpepper requests that I get my roll on, baby.

Hey, Daunte. Let me worry about my roll. You put down the joystick and get your overrated self right before Nick Saban makes you wear his goofy straw hat on the sidelines while you watch J-J-J-Joey Harrington play.

But we have to write our Tuesday "Crunch Time" column for the morning.

In case you're wondering, yes, everything recurring written element on the web must have a catchy name. At first, I was going to name the blog Walter or Doug but I didn't want to seem formal.

Anyway...I'll have my fingers on the blog-trigger if anything of note happens in the football game.

THE ROCKER - After delivering an ode to the hard-hitting nature of this Jags-Steelers game, Tony Kornheiser (who slays me) said, "This kinda game should be played in snow."

Chipped in Joe Theismann, "Right, with breath coming out of their mouths..."

Blink. Blink, blink.

Looks like Jack del Rio took the under. The Jags are playing for the half-closing Hail Mary with four seconds left in the scoreless first half.

THE FLOOR -- Aside from Felix Unger's MNF booth visit where he did play-by-play when Oscar froze ("He's scrambling, scrambling with the dexterity of a lizard!") most booth drop-ins are generally doomed to failure

So, with low expectations, we'll give Wade a lukewarm thumbs-up for the effort.

The one exchange that made me chortle?

Mike Tirico: "What happened with Greece (in the World Championships)?"
Wade: " We lost."

Earlier, I reported that there were reports that said Jevon Kearse had the ACL, MCL, PCL trifecta but that he'd sprained them? Now reports report that those reports were off. They're torn.

MY NAUGAHYDE RECLINER -- I'm a little tardy (I don't feel tardy - courtest Van Halen, "Hot For Teacher"). Apparently I missed a whole lot of punting. It's 0-0 and I just got in, kissed the kids and settled in with my coffee and Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Chunk cookie.

The fellas inside the box with the moving pictures just said that the Pittsburgh punt was the sixth of the night and there's four minutes left in the quarter. That's called the Rockettes offense...1, 2, 3, KICK! (get it?).

I kinda felt like this would be a low scoring game (YOUR Las Vegas total is 37 I hear). After watching both Jacksonville last Sunday and Pittsburgh at home last weekend, I feel I have a pretty good read on these teams.

HEY! Roethlisberger's back from that motorcycle accident.

9:39: Annnnnd, Dwayne Wade's in the booth. I love Dwayne Wade. Shouldn't Dwayne Wade be a booth guest for a Dolphins game, though? How far is Jacksonville from Miami. Maybe you get to siphon off any Florida products when the game's in your state.

They coulda gotten Artis Gilmore. Or Dee Brown. There's a couple of U of Jax products for you.

Hey, looky looky...another punt.

We'll blog live during tonight's Steelers-Jaguars game, taking breaks only to stunt some brain cells by checking in with Flavor Flav and the Flavor of Love. Talk about train wreck TV. There are more bleeps than words on that show. There were also more bleeps than words coming from me this morning at 5:43 when I rose in Newark to take the choo-choo back to Massachusetts. That's just bad planning on my part. In other words, I'll need a thermos of coffee and a couple of Charleston Chews to make it through tonight.

Looking forward to it.

Bad enough for Philly that they had yesterday's devastating loss to the Giants to deal with, now they'll see the lingering effects of that game as defensive end Jevon Kearse is done for the season. Kearse got his knee sidewhacked by teammate Mike Patterson. The impact angle was identical to the one Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was hit at last year against the Steelers. Harrison had the torn ligament trifecta (ACL, MCL, PCL) while it's being reported that Kearse has sprained all three.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - So far today, Tom Brady is 10 for 23 for 188 yards with a pick and a strip-sack fumble. Last week against the Bills, Brady was 11 for 23 for 163 yards with two touchdowns and a pick.

So here's a career 61 percent passer completing 21 of his first 46 passes? The notion that the Pats could withstand the losses of their two top receivers -- David Givens and Deion Branch -- and plug in new guys -- Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel and Chad Jackson -- just because they've been able to pull that off in other positions in currently going up in smoke.

And it will be interesting to see if there's smoke coming from Brady's ears after this game.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Jets just got a 46-yard touchdown pass from Chad Pennington to Laveranues Coles following on the heels of a 71-yard TD pass to Jerrico Cotchery (you'll have to see the replay on both to appreciate them) to make it 24-14 and now they just recovered a Tom Brady fumble and are inside the New England 40 early in the fourth quarter.

What a collection of crappy afternoon matchups. The Patriots are up by24 (could be 17 pending a challenge by the Pats of a Jerrico Cotchery touchdown) San Diego is up 23, the Broncos and Chiefs have managed a field goal between them and it's 17-10 in the friends and family game between St. Louis and San Francisco.

Ever since this Goodell guy took over as commissioner, parity's gone to hell. All right, it's probably not his fault but there were five early blowouts and there are two more in progress.

In addition to that, scoring is haphazardly hard to come by. There were three shutouts last week and the Bucs and Raiders each haven't scored a touchdown yet this year (but that '02 Super Bowl was an epic, wasn't it?).

David Pollack, Aaron Brooks and Jevon Kearse were all carted to their respective locker rooms during the early games.

Kearse, the Eagles defensive end, got hurt early in overtime, apparently injuring his knee while sacking Eli Manning. Cincinnati linebacker David Pollack, meanwhile, injured his neck making a tackle against the Browns. He left the field on a cart but reportedly has feeling in his extremities. For Brooks, it was really just a matter of time. After the Chargers teed off on the Raiders quarterback last week, Brooks got hurt after fumbling a first-quarter snap. It was the second fumble Brooks had on the Jets first two drives.

Staring down the barrel of an 0-2 start, the Giants pulled off a comeback that may hold up as the season's best even though there's 14 weeks of games left to go.

Eli Manning just capped New York's comeback from down 24-7 in the fourth quarter with an overtime TD pass to Plaxico Burress. New York wins 30-24. With Seattle on the schedule next week if New York lost they'd have been a good bet to go to 0-3.

Now they and the Eagles are 1-1 while the rest of the NFC East will sort itself out tonight on NBC.

Throw the Panthers in with the Dolphins and Buccaneers when considering who's in the midst of the most disappointing starts to the season.

Even though some folks in the press box at the Pats-Jets game thought Tom Coughlin should have given Eli Manning a chance to throw to the end zone and win against Philly, Coughlin made the right call.

With first-and-10 from the Eagles 17 and 10 seconds left, New York was smart to get the field goal and get to overtime.You can't mount the kind of comeback they did and then have it end because you rolled the dice on first-and-10 from the 17 with 10 seconds left.

The Buccaneers officially become my worst preseason read. I nailed the fraudulent Dolphns and the juggernaut Ravens but I thought Tampa was gonna, ya know, bring a little something.

One field goal in eight quarters qualifies as a little something, one supposes.

Ohhh, looky, looky...there's a backdoor push in progress between the Giants and Eagles where New York just trimmed the Philadelphia lead to 3 (24-21) with 3:05 left.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Looks like that Super Bowl home game people were predicting for the Dolphins is in jeopardy. The 10-point home beating Miami is taking from Buffalo is the stunner of the day so far. Now Miami is 0-2 and people are wondering what happened to Daunte Culpepper.

What? This is a guy who had six TDs and 12 picks last season BEFORE he got hurt.

There will be enough blame to go around and a huge amount of it has to go to head coach Nick Saban given the sloppy distracted effort of his team after a 10-day layoff. But Culpepper's going to come in for plenty as well.

He had a strip sack on the Fins first drive, two sacks in three plays on the second drive, a collection of illegal formations and false starts, a red zone interception and four three-and-outs in a row as the leader of the Miami offense.

Meanwhile, after barely getting beaten in New England, Buffalo is survived the inadequacy of J.P. Losman (11 for 18 for 83 yards) and is 1-1.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - There's been no contact in the pregame between Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini. Meanwhile, the Patriots have ducked into their locker room whle the Jets are about to adjourn to theirs.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Everybody's really happy to see each other so far.

In the hour since players from the Jets and Patriots started hitting the field to get ready for 4:15, former teammates are renewing acquaintances.

Patriots linebacker Larry Izzo spent time with Jets receiver Tim Dwight -- a Patriot last year -- while there were big hugs for ex-Pat Rick Lyle (now the Jets assistant strength and conditioning coach) from Matt Light and receiver Troy Brown.

Bill Belichick's oldest son also caught up with some Jets administrative personnel types.

There have been no on-field sightings of the elder Belichick or Jets coach Eric Mangini. The love will likely stop there...

As for the game at hand, Pats linebacker Tedy Bruschi has been on the field in uniform pants running around. That's a sure indication he and his busted wrist will be ready to go. Bruschi didn't have any kind of wrap on the hand when he was out here.

NEWARK AIRPORT MARRIOTT - The Bump 'n' Run is all over the Patriots-Jets game today. Took the choo-choo down last night and got to New Jersey around midnight.

With the Patriots and Jets not getting it on until 4:15, we'll be monitoring league matters from our temporary Bump 'n' Run headquarters on the fourth floor until 1 p.m. when we bug out for the stadium.

Hit me with any comments or questions anytime during the day. I'll ferret out the info for you. Now it's time for my Starbuck's large regular with a thimbleful of half-and-half and five sugars. Hey, everybody can't suffer from coffeenerdness. Some of us are simply addicts.

Tom

In the end, Mike Holmgren decides that Deion Branch is best left watching this week.

Check out the Bucs new training facility.

One last word about Michigan linebacker Prescott Burgess: I've always felt his best movie was "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek".

The only people who got that joke probably remember having met Warren G. Harding.

I'm headed down to the field to check on casualties. See you all later.

I'm scouring the Michigan media guide--it has more drama than this game right now--and it turns out that two of Michigan's standout players this afternoon attended the same high school in Ohio. Wideout Mario Manningham, who has three touchdowns on just four receptions, and linebacker Prescott Burgess, who has caught as many of Brady Quinn's passes (two) as Jeff Samardzija, are both alums of Warren G. Harding.

Harding died in office in 1923. In numerous polls presidential scholars have ranked him as the worst president in U.S. history. But, in terms of polls, Michigan is about to jump into the top seven, if not higher, so what do they care?

In two separate quarters this afternoon--the first and third--the Irish have failed to get a first down.

Scene: The Notre Dame locker room. Halftime. A student trainer approaches the Irish quarterback:

Trainer: "Here, drink this."
Brady: "What? It's 80-freaking degrees out."
Trainer: "Just down it."
Brady: "Why?"
Trainer: "It worked the last time."
Brady: "Hunh?"
Trainer: "You weren't born yet. Trust me. It couldn't hurt....Hey, anyone seen Harry Oliver?"

aaaaaaaaaand, scene.

From my quippy editor: When's the last time a No. 2 team fell out of the top ten in the first half?

Prescott Burgess just intercepted--and almost returned for a touchdown once again--his second pass of the day. Big Alan Branch forced the turnover by hitting Quinn's arm. Branch. Huge. I don't even want to see the trunk.

So, it's halftime here in South Bend and the Michigan band is performing a salute to Led Zeppelin. I am fully in favor and might I add, if you ever have a chance to read "Hammer of the Gods", a book about the history of the band, do so. It rocks.

Anyway, predictably the UM band ended with "Stairway to Heaven", a tune that begins, "There's a lady who knows/All that glitters is gold..." Playing that in the shadow of the golden dome (atop which a statue of the namesake of Notre Dame rests) is funny. Or is this just the type of irony the Irish need to jumpstart a 2nd-half comeback?

Chad Henne has played--with the exception of one play--flawlessly so far. He's 8-12 for 165 yards and three TDs in the first half. That's more yardage than he had in either of UM's first two games so far. Is Notre Dame overrated, to repeat the question that our pal Carey asked in the previous blog? Their defense is. But I wrote that last week.

If you're sitting at home and saying, "No way the Irish come back", I just have to ask: If one team can outscore another by 20 points through half a game, why can't the other return the favor? Here's my point. At the baseball All-Star break every single writer in New York City was writing how the Yankees would be fighting it out for Boston for 1st because the wild card was defintely coming out of the A.L. central. The Yankees did not have a chance of catching up to those wildcard teams.

Well, here it is September 16th and who has the best record in the American League? The Yankees. They're moonwalking home to the A.L. east title. The writers were correct. The wildcard is coming out of the A.L. Central, but nobody saw the Yankees gaining the ground that they did.

So, that's a possible scenario. But at the same time Michigan and Lloyd Carr deserve a ton of kudos. Carr just has to be sick of hearing how he is 0-3 in South Bend, how he is 0-6 in his last six road openers, or how it was Charlie Weis who turned Tom Brady into the next Joe Montana. Which reminds me: Montana attended Notre Dame simultaneously with Weis, and the two knew one another. Remember, Weis did not play football here.

Anyway, as my good buddy Austin Murphy of Sports Illustrated reminded me earlier today, there's a funny anecdote in Weis' new book, "No Excuses", in which Weis is in his first year coaching with the New York Giants. New York is about to play San Francisco, whose QB is Montana, at the apex of his fame.

Montana spots Weis on the field before the game. "What are you doing here?" Montana asks Weis, who tells him that he is on the Giant coaching staff. Montana shakes his head. "You're ____ting me."

Love that.

Hey, we were right about Michigan State '98 being the last time ND allowed 34 points in the first half. It's the little victories that count.

From the sound of the first play of the 3rd quarter, the Notre Dame student section has woken up. These 3:30 p.m. starts mean the kids are spending too much time at Kegs 'n Eggs. And it's affecting their performance.

A reader, Carey, asks, "Is it too early (in the game) to discuss the overrated nature of ND football ?"

Of course not. I have nothing else to do. They don't start paying me until Jeff Samardzija or Rhema McKnight catches a pass, anyway.

Oops, Mario Manningham just caught another beautifully thrown touchdown pass by Chad Henne, his third of the afternoon, for the Wolverines. 34-7.

Forget that headline above: Somewhere Ty Willingham is high-fiving Bob Davie.

Is Notre Dame overrated? It's hard to say that they aren't. I mean, outside of Temple and Maryland, who else has given up 34 points in the first half this season? I will say this, though: David Grimes is really getting a lot of experience as a kickoff returner today.

Are we about to watch the greatest comeback in Notre Dame history? Yeah, that's what I think. David Harris just pasted John Carlson after a 4-yard gain. And, if you had Jeff Samardzija's first catch of the day coming at 1:28 of the first half, you win.

Suddenly no one (as in me) is talking about the heat in the press box so much.

Oh, by the way, no team that has ever scored 30 points or more in this game has ever lost that game.

Irish making spirited drive to go down by just 20 at the half. Quinn's last three passes have gone for first downs.

The last time the Irish gave up 34 points in the first half? I'm asking around the press box and the best guess is the 1998 game at Michigan State.

0:24 left. David Grimes just caugh a poorly thrown Quinn pass with a balletic (use that word once a season; now's the time) step in bounds to save the play. If the Irish go into the tunnel down 34-14, well, it's always nice to have something to chat about.

Samardzija touchdown. Great catch on another bad pass.

34-14 at the half.

Mario Manningham's 69-yard touchdown catch brought back memories of another Big Ten school that had some passing success earlier this year. Not this season, but this year. Ohio State's Santanio Holmes' 85-yard TD grab in the 2nd quarter of the Fiesta Bowl, specifically. Manningham was at least 8 yards beyond Notre Dame corner Ambrose Wooden when he hauled in Henne's pass on the 28.

First Quarter Numbers:

First Downs: Michigan 4, Notre Dame 0

Passing Yards: 94, Notre Dame 3. Seriously. Brady Quinn ended the quarter 1 for 6.

As I type this Michigan is driving and daring to equal the total points Notre Dame allowed in its first two games (27) before the midway point of the 2nd quarter. Don't know what Lloyd Carr said in the locker room, but it worked. Oops, Manningham just did it again. 27-7.

Flashback time:

Third game of 2005 season: Michigan State led Notre Dame by 21 points in the 3rd quarter in South Bend.
Third game of 2006 season: Michigan leads Notre Dame by 20 points in the 2nd quarter in South Bend.

Two plays in, and Notre Dame's pristine turnover mark (zero this season) is already history. The game is only 41 seconds old, but the Irish have to worry about lethargy. Michigan's sideline exploded when Will linebacker Prescott Burgess caught Brady Quinn's tipped pass and took it 31 yards to the casa.

Some quick turnover numbers. The Irish had gone...

--2 full games without a turnover
--273 offensive plays without a turnover
--43 offensive series without a turnover

And Quinn had gone pass attempts without an interception.

(Feel free to play, or at least hum, John Lennon's "Mind Games" while reading this entry)

Last Saturday Notre Dame had little success running the ball in the first half against Penn State, so Irish head coach/Robot Genius (as the students call him) Charlie Weis tried another tactic. As he explained to the media afterward, "I'm not brain-dead."

No, he's not. That young mother in Seattle Grace hospital who's saddled with the lowest priority subplot in the season-ending "Grey's Anatomy" cliffhanger may be brain-dead, but Charlie Weis is not. He's a smart man. And that is why I think he's taken a page from the Mr. Spock playbook this week.

See, Weis understands that emotion ebbs and flows. You cannot ride a steady wave of it for an indeterminate amount of time. It's the same reason Springsteen followed the song "Born to Run" with mid-tempo "She's the One" and downer "Meeting Across The River". He was giving us a chance to catch our breath (although Bon Jovi followed "You Give Love a Bad Name" with "Livin' on a Prayer", which is why Bon Jovi's arena league team sucks...actually, I have no idea if his arena league team sucks, but I'm bloggin' here, go with it).

Anyway, Weis is wiser than to play the pep card two Saturdays straight. Last week in speaking at two separate pep rallies Weis was sensational, inspirational...celebrational, Muppetational! He ordered the freshmen to cheer when Penn State had the ball and to "shut up" when the Irish had the ball. The Notre Dame players did not exactly elicit bulletin-board worthy quotes, but Travis Thomas did talk a little smack (while wearing sunglasses) at Friday night's pep rally.

This week? Total Spock. No emotion from the players, who said nothing other than "I'm just trying to concentrate on fundamentals and techniques." Weis, at Friday night's pep rally, did not implore the students to roar during Saturday's game. So what is he doing?

It's just my theory, but I believe Weis is trying to extract the emotion from this contest. If the players rely on emotion, or on feeding off the crowd's emotion, there is the danger of a big let-down when (not if...when) the fans are flat on Saturday. Or if the team is flat, which despite the implications of Saturday's game, they very well may be.

Hey, Charlie knows this is the final hurdle until USC. So do the players. That doesn't make it any easier to get up for it. Anyone who has ever found themselves a mile from the finish of a marathon and needing only to run their average mile time to break three hours and yet still unable to do it knows what I'm saying (not that I'd know how that felt; I'm just sayin'). So instead of Charlie playing the pep card, he's playing the prep card. Preparation. Hard work.

The team on the other side of the ball could be Michigan, could be Western Michigan (no offense, Broncos). Doesn't matter. Charlie just wants his players to be methodical. To stay on an even keel. To play, as it were, without emotion.

To, in the context of the 2006 season, live long and prosper.

Nanoo-nanoo (oops, wrong alien; sorry)

JEROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY

As soon as he stepped to the microphone at Friday night's pep rally, Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis explained why it had started early. "A friend of the program had to catch a ride outta town. So why don't you join us in welcoming 'The Bus'?"
With that, former Irish and Pittsburgh Steeler running back Jerome Bettis ran out of the north end zone tunnel, wearing his No. 6 Notre Dame jersey. It looked authentic except for the fact that it had his last name printed on the back. Bettis stepped up to the microphone and after a few perfunctory comments about the N.D. fans being the best student body in the country, spoke to the fact that he was (not unlike a certain Journey song character) born and raised in south Detroit.
Okay, maybe it wasn't south Detroit--but it was the Detroit area. I'm sure there were streetlight people somewhere in his neighborhood. Anyway, back to The Bus.
"One thing I want to say: I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan," he said (See? See?). "And I hate Michigan! This is my home and it will always be my home."
And then, before the student body inside Notre Dame Stadium even got a chance to thank him, The Bus was gone.
Weis returned to the podium to explain to the fans how much of an effort Bettis had expended just to appear at the pep rally. He'd started the day in Pittsburgh, Weis said, and landed in South Bend at 5:38 p.m. Then he spoke at the pep rally and was now zipping off (presumably to the South Bend/Michiana Regional Airport) to return to Pittsburgh for an event he had to attend at 8 p.m. Then he was returning back to South Bend for Saturday's game.
It's strange. As a running back it was never so hard to catch the bus as it was simply to stop him. Now it is both.

Pats vice chairman Jonathan Kraft told Mike Felger on ESPN radio a thing or two about the Deion Branch trade and why the Pats are peeking around stacks of available money while players get out of town.

Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs started coaching against each other when Pong was edgy video game action and "w-w-w" was a sign of a nasty stutter, not the start of a web address.

So Gibbs downgrading of running back Clinton Portis to doubtful for Sunday's NBC game with the Cowboys, saying "(H)e didn't practice so we'll move him down accordingly," probably isn't going to get the Tuna to bite. Parcells knows the difference between "move him down" and move him out. Tuna will be preparing for Clint.

There will be one more injury report update Saturday and teams are required to divulge which players don't make the trip. If Portis goes through the Redskins walk-through Saturday, most likely before they leave for Dallas, he could easily be bumped back up to questionable. If Portis makes the trip AND plays after being listed doubtful, the Boys will have a beef.

Meanwhile, Portis saying, "I can't do anything but tell you to wait until Sunday. This bag is going to Dallas. "We've seen some miracle days happen," probably didn't help tricky Joe's smoke-n-mirrors act much.

BRANCH TO STICK IT OUT?

As we expected, Deion Branch is making it hard for the Seahawks to sit him down Sunday against the Lions.

Mike Sando of the Tacoma News-Trib sniffed out the details on Mike Holmgren's success challenging plays. Apparently, next time he tosses the red hanky, Hochuli and the Boys could just flip it back to him without reviewing and charge Seattle the timeout.

NAMING WRONGS

Pats fans are falling over themselves trying to coin a nickname for Corey Dillon and Laurence Maroney. Surly & Son? The Mope and The Hope? "They should be called The Doctors, or MD," said Liron Brish. "When the two are tearing up the opposing defense, the announcer can say 'The Doctors are really dissecting the defense today.' " All right. That's enough, Liron

It's the afternoon before the Michigan game. Don't even ask me to quit blogging. I was just driving down Peashway (just one block south of campus where, whenever they hold a block party, a certain resident of said street is likely to proclaim, "Did I ever tell you about the time when the team that I coached ended UCLA's 88-game win streak?"--but that's another tale for another time) and there was a Notre Dame cheerleader, in her cheerleading uniform, bicycling toward campus. I mean, Does that happen at USC? Does it?

A few Tale-of-the-Tape tidbits for you:

Famous Son of a Former Football Player

Michigan: Mark Harmon, son of Tom
Notre Dame: J.T. Snow, son of Jack
Advantage: Wolverines. Because Tom won the Heisman? No. Because of "Summer School".

Presidential Alumnus

Michigan: Gerald Ford
Notre Dame: Josiah Bartlett
Advantage: Irish. Ford never had the pilot reroute Air Force One to fly over Ann Arbor.

Showed Up, But Didn't Graduate

Michigan: Madonna
Notre Dame: George Wendt
Advantage: Wolverines. A year at Notre Dame would have done both Madonna and ND a world of good.

Nutty Alums

Michigan: Ann Coulter, Jack Kevorkian
Notre Dame: Regis Philbin, Phil Donahue
Advantage: Irish. Who gets to spend an hour a day with Pippa?

Back Off, World!

Michigan: Ted "the Unabomber" Kaczynski
Notre Dame: Steve Bartman
Advantage: Irish. Technology marches on, but the Cubs just go on reeking.

If you want to see a place where logic comes to die, visit a college football debate.

Earlier this morning I was watching "Cold Pizza" and eating cold cereal, when I happened upon one of those "First and Ten" debates that usually feature Woody Harrel--um, I mean Woody Paige--and Skip Bayless. Paige was absent today so sitting in for him was some dude with a good radio voice who, to bolster his pro-Michigan stance for Saturday's game, asked (I'm paraphrasing), "Tell me one good win that Notre Dame has had in the Charlie Weis era."

Before I answer that question, can we please create some television by-law whereby if one Woody is missing he is replaced by another Woody? Woody Harrelson. Woody Allen. Damien Woody (of the Detroit Lions). Cowboy Woody from "Toy Story". Who wouldn't enjoy this?

Also, before getting to that question, here were two other points made during the brief debate:
2) Michigan has not beaten the Irish in South Bend since 1994.
3) The Wolverines are 18-14-1 versus the Irish.

Now, I'm not as sure a tackler as Tom Zbikowski, but I'll try to tackle these points in terms of their relevance for Saturday's game.

1) The quality win that Notre Dame had? Um, Southern Cal. Oh, the Irish did not win that afternoon? True enough. I'll grant that, regardless of the Trojans' final score and the now-questionable eligibility of the running back responsible for it. Southern Cal won, fair and square.

But if this dude (his name is Erik Kuselias) saw that game and still came away thinking that Notre Dame is a sham(rock), well, what can you say? These are the same types of people who point to the fact that both Bob Davie and Ty Willingham had 9-3 seasons in South Bend and thus are equally competent with Charlie Weis.

There are no moral victories, Weis told his Irish after Southern Cal beat them 34-31 last October 15. And he's right. But there are illuminating losses. And just as Notre Dame's 24-23 loss to then No. 3 Michigan in the 1986 opener augured that the Irish were on the way back to being a powerhouse, last October's loss to No. 1 Southern Cal should have eliminated any doubt that the Irish were all hype.

Was it a victory? No. But I assume that Kuselias' point was that the Irish under Weis have been picking on nancyboys and have yet to demonstrate they belong in the top five. If he saw last October's game in South Bend, I don't understand how he can say that.

2) Give Kuselias credit for interjecting, when Crawford noted that the Wolverines have not won in South Bend since 1994, that, "It's three games." And he's right. It's not as if Michigan plays in South Bend every other year. I mean, Navy has not won in South Bend since--okay, bad example. I mean, Notre Dame has not won at Miami since 1977, but that's only five games.

The point I would make is that in all three of Michigan's losses in South Bend since 1994, they have been the higher ranked team. All three times the Wolverines have been ranked in the top ten, and all three times the Irish have been ranked either 20th or lower. In short, the Irish were hungrier and it showed.

This Saturday Michigan is the underdog. The Irish are the top five school and the Wolverines are ranked No. 11. Four times since this series resumed in 1978, the Irish have stormed out of the north end zone tunnel the higher ranked team. In those four games, Michigan has beaten the Irish once (26-24 in 1994) and tied them once (17-17 in '92). In the two other games Notre Dame won on a miraculous 51-yard field goal (29-27 in '80) and a late-game comeback, as the No. 1 team in the nation, after trailing by 10 (28-24 in '90).

What's my point? Chances are that this game will be extremely close, and that's because the Wolverines will not be playing as if they have something to lose. The Wolverines are a conservative team with a conservative coach and it shows when they're the favorites. When Michigan is down is when they're dangerous.

3) The Wolverines are 18-14-1 versus the Irish. True, and Michigan has the best winning percentage of the Irish against any school that's played them more than ten times. On the other hand, they began the series with eight straight wins before both the era of both Lloyd Carr and the car. More germane to this discussion is that these two schools have played one another basically even since the series resumed, with the Irish having a slight 12-9-1 advantage.

Saturday's game will be NBC: Nothing But Close. The popular notion is that if the Irish can start 3-0, then they will likely enter the Los Angeles Coliseum on November 25 11-0. The most difficult stretch of Notre Dame's schedule is the first three games--believe me, they may not say it, but they know it--and the Irish are 2/3 of the way there.

Have you ever seen those Animal Planet or Discovery Channel documentaries on sea tortoises (Holy Segue, Batman, what are you doing?). Those creatures have incredibly long life-expectancies, up to 75 years, but first they have to crawl from their nest up on the beach down to the surf. And there are lots of dangers that await them as they crawl that gantlet. That's the Irish schedule in '06.

The beach is Georgia Tech-Penn State-Michigan.

September 17 and a 3-0 record is the surf.

If they can reach that point, it's smooth floating for two months.

But I think I see a few very hungry seagulls hovering above. The Wolverines will play the Irish even. This game may very well come down to the writers afterward crowding around a kicker. Notre Dame's is senior Carl Gioia, who has attempted five field goals and made three. Michigan's is senior Garrett Rivas, who is 51 of 67 (and four of five this year, his only miss being blocked) in his career. Advantage, Wolverines.

Finally, here's my trivial stat that will have no bearing on Saturday's game but is fun to mention at the tailgater: post World War I, no coach in this series has won his first two games against the opponent. Charlie Weis has the opportunity to do that.

Type Like a Champion Today...

Not to worry, this item will be devoid of any references to "Freeway", "Mrs. H", or Robert Wagner (the last of whom brilliantly resurrected his career as "No. 2"). That's because we're here this minute not to discuss No. 2 for Dr. Evil, but No. 20 for Michigan.
Michael Hart

Both USA Today and the Chicago Tribune have features on the junior Michigan tailback, and I know that because I scurried over to the LaFortune Student Center this morning to bum the free newspapers you can find there. Anyway, both stories were informative, but Avani Patel's Chicago Tribune piece had one nugget that really intrigued me. According to Hart, he and some of his fellow Wolverines play cards and instead of betting money (I know what you're thinking...Sure they don't) they...well...let Mike tell you: "Instead of betting money we always bet pushups."
I'll have to find out exactly what card games they played. If it was Texas Hold 'em, for example, what defines "All in"?

Mornin'!

Smart move by the Seahawks to downplay Deion Branch's chance of playing against Arizona.

"We'll go right down to the wire on that one," Seahawks coach Holmgren told the Seattle media. "In situations like this, typically, the player doesn't come in and suit up and play right away. Typically. The young man is a different cat, now. He's in great shape but he still hasn't played football in a while. We'll see. We'll make that decision late in the week."

Bet on Branch playing. Even though he missed all of training camp and took part in just a couple of Patriots OTAs, he's an exceedingly smart receiver.

Proof? Bill Belichick, who basically feels that college passing attacks are a collection of "tear screens and go routes" often held Branch up as the most polished receiver he'd ever seen coming out of college.

When he wanted to make a point about the ability of this year's second-round pick, Chad Jackson in picking up the playbook, he praised Jackson then quickly added that Jackson wasn't as good as Branch, for instance.

According to Mike Sando at the Tacoma News-Tribune, Branch asked the Seahawks to fax them a few pages of the playbook so he could get started studying. Figuring out where he's supposed to be and when won't be a problem.

So how will Branch do with the Seahawks? That's going to be interesting to watch because the Patriots offense was tailored to his skills.

Branch's top attributes are setting up defenders in man and sitting down in coverage against zones. He's damn fast but he's off-the-charts quick meaning there isn't a corner in the league he can't get separation against.

Working against Branch is the fact he's now going to be playing in the West Coast offense. The 5-9, 193-pounder is going to be asked to work in the middle of the field more often than he ever did in New England. Also, the West Coast is a run-after-catch offense. Slants are the most important routes. Branch's bread-and-butter in New England has been curls, in-cuts, outs -- stop routes that let him use his quick acceleration to get yards after catch. When surrounded by defenders, Branch (like Indy's Marvin Harrison) often hits the ground in the fetal position to protect his body and fight another play. It doesn't look exceptionally courageous but it's smart if you're going against 600 pounds of defenders and you're 5-9. He may not have the luxury of doing that in Seattle's attack.

DUNGY KILLING FUTURE GM CHANCES?

In propping up Mario Williams in a conference call with the Houston media yesterday, Colts coach Tony Dungy threw out the names Joe Greene, Lawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith when discussing the No. 1 overall pick.

"(Steelers coach Chuck Noll) took a lot of grief for taking a young guy by the name of Joe Greene with his first pick…guys like Lawrence Taylor and Bruce Smith, they become the cornerstones of great teams. That's what they're expecting from him. To me it's a good pick. They think this is a cornerstone guy, I can absolutely see why they did it."

Bless Dungy's heart for saying so but the reality is that he should wake each morning and be thankful his offensive line is going to be accounting for Williams for the next few years instead of having his defense deal with Reggie Bush.

Meanwhile, Dwight Freeney panned the Texans' decision to move Williams around the DL.

"I think it puts him as a disadvantage. I'll come flat out and say that. If you want a guy to get better you have to have him do the same thing over and over and over. … If he does twenty different things he's going to be average. Sometimes he'll be below average, sometimes he might be a little but better."

We'll hit you back in a little while with some weekend forecasting. We'll also have half of our Irrelevant Questions for this Sunday's NBC prime-time game between the Cowboys and Redskins up front soon. Two words to bring you in for that: Jen. Walcott.

It's as if the South Bend Chamber of Commerce (or the Notre Dame Recruiting Dept.) only has a finite number of sunny days to showcase each year, and they're saving them for Saturdays. It was cerulean (I'm sorry, I heard Katie Couric use this word the other night and I'm now committed to using it to death) skies last Saturday, as it's supposed to be this Saturday, and I guess that's good.
However, we have not seen any patch of blue sky here in South Bend since before Travis Thomas decided to take a short punt snap in the 3rd quarter against Penn State. So for those of you visiting from out of town this weekend, if you find us to be Cranky McDoodles when you arrive, well, there's our excuse.

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Yesterday some reporter (not me) asked Brady Quinn if it were true what his mother, Robin, had said, that the two of them were anal... "Wow," replied Quinn. "I've really got to thank her for that one."

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Oaks Christian High School superduperstar quarterback Jimmy Clausen will make an official campus visit this weekend. Clausen (whom a prominent Michigan blogger refers to as "Emu"; hey, I just report the news), who has already verbally committed to Notre Dame, will be joined by blue chip receiver Greg Little. Last weekend another blue-chip wideout, Arrelious Benn, was on the sidelines in South Bend.
But here's the funny thing. According to recruiting guru Tom Lemming, when Benn, of Washington, D.C., went to visit Southern Cal, he stayed at Clausen's house.

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Did you catch Matt Lauer's "Dateline" interview with educator/sex offender/future Playboy pictorial subject Deborah LeFave? My two thoughts: 1) Did the segment producer even suggest using Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" as montage music?, and 2) Somewhere, you just know, Chris Hanson was watching ruefully and saying, "Sure, Matt gets to interview the blonde hottie pedophile, while I'm stuck doing sting operations on guys who still live in their parents' basements. Life isn't fair."

MOOPS

The most interesting college football factoid I've learned this week is that Ohio State wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber tent. The last two people I can recall sleeping in a tent were the dude from "Grizzly Man" and the chick from "Blair Witch Project", so I hope things turn out better for Gonzalez.

FOXBORO - The Bump 'n Run just got the lowdown from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady who was appropriately downcast during his weekly press conference about Deion Branch's departure on Monday.

"I spent a lot of energy last week thinking about it and at the end of the week it wasted a lot of my time and a lot of my energy," admitted Brady. "At the end of the week, it was a mental drain and i think it affected the way i played. I don't think i brought as much to the table as i normally could."

In a 19-17 win over the Bills, Brady was 11 for 23 for 163 yards with two touchdowns and a pick. He was sacked on the first play from scrimmage by Buffalo's Takeo Spikes and London Fletcher turned that into a touchdown.

Brady was exceptionally close with Branch who was dealt to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday. The two talked regularly throughout Branch's holdout.

"I think everybody wanted Deion here," said Brady. "As coach kinda said, 'It didn't work out.' I'm a very emotional person and the past four or five months it's been draning. In a sense I think I learned a valuable lesson last week that when something's out of your control, you can't let it drain you. Now at least i can move on and he can move on and i wish him luck."

Brady's top two wide receivers from last year are now gone. He's left throwing to San Diego disappointment Reche Caldwell (not impressive for the Pats so far), rookie Chad Jackson (a hammy's stopped him from being relevant), 35-year-old Troy Brown, newly acquired Doug Gabriel.

Branch was often held up by Brady and Belichick as the gold standard in terms of route-running and knowledge of the passing game. He also was exceptionally close to Brady.

"You develop relationships with players," Brady said. "Coaches don't have relationships. Management doesn't know the players or know what guys are like so in that sense it's probably tougher to see how players feel. We hang out. We're buddies and it goes far beyond the foortball field. We hate to see players like Deion, Willie (McGinest) and Adam (leave). And the list goes on. The point is, I have to focus on playing quarterback and I'm fully prepared to do that. I will do my best to help team win and I support the team and the organization just like I support players and their decisions.

"He meant a lot to me as a person and as a player," added Brady. "He meant a lot to this organization and this is part of this crazy deal we're associated with. I don't think i've become desensitized to it. I think it's tough every time."

The Patriots play the Jets on Sunday.

SIX FEET UNDER-WHELMING

Seven chances at six feet. Seven downs to make two yards. And Syracuse could not score, at home, against Iowa. The Orange--Is it Orange or Orangemen this week?-- trailed 20-13 in the 2nd overtime inside the Carrier Dome and had first-and-goal at the 2. And then, after a pass interference penalty on 3rd down, they got four more chances at 2 yards.

And this in the same week that it was learned that Syracuse is reportedly pushing coach Greg Robinson (who is off to a 1-12 start there) for Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year.

Sure, Syracuse played a No. 14 Iowa team dead even, but the Hawkeyes were without quarterback Drew Tate and his backup, Jason Manson, threw four picks. Not that the Orange (I've decided to go with Orange) converted any of those turnovers into points.

The real pressure comes this weekend, when Syracuse travels to play another basketball school with the same colors and the same current aura of haplessness: Illinois.

The Illini lost at Rutgers last Saturday 33-0. But at least they have the temerity to hold on to their politically incorrect nickname. Go Illini!

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Did anyone else think what I thought when they saw Michigan State wide receiver Matt Trannon take a reverse handoff from running back A.J. Jimmerson and then toss a 35-yard touchdown pass to Jimmerson against Eastern Michigan? Did anyone else say to themselves, Why are the Spartans exposing "trickeration" against a MAC school? Why do this with a 14-point lead in the first half of the second game of the season? That's like Kobe going to the 360-degree jam to get "R" in a game of HORSE with Sue Bird. Tells you that maybe Kobe doesn't have all that much faith in his jumper.

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For the rest of the week I'll keep an eye out for Lloyd Carr stories. We'll call it the "Llloyd Carr Adjective Watch". I think it's even money that we'll see "testy", "livid" and "miffed", but I'm holding out hope for SAT-level modifieres such as "churlish", "acrimonious" and, an old gem "splenetic."

Please send any Lloyd Carr adjectives you spot my way. Thanks.

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Did ABC really interrupt the Akron-North Carolina State game last Saturday for a WNBA Finals Preview? Wow. I think I'd rather have my games televised by the We than have that happen.

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The Wolverines have a running back named Mister Simpson. I think somebody's parents watched "In the Heat of the Night" one too many times, no?

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A front-page story in today's edition of The Observer (Notre Dame's student newspaper) has the headline, "Police cite 41, arrest 5 at game" (which, really, was nearly identical to the final score; but anyway...). It's a typical writeup of arrests for such misdemeanors like alcohol-consumption and whatnot (the dreaded whatnot!) but what I love most is this line, which is written totally straight: "(Officer) Johnson did not mention any marshmallow-related ejections from the stadium".

For the uninitiated, marshmallow bombardments are common in the student section. Still, I love that the writer of this piece (Maddie Hanna) recognized her responsibility as a journalist to tackle the marshmallow-related ejections issue.

Can you imagine if someone had asked Lloyd Carr that question on Monday: "Do you foresee any marshmallow-related ejections?"

Great news this morning.

NBCSports.com has given birth to a brand new baby blog. Its name is The Bump 'n Run. The name will probably cause some teasing from other, less sensitive blogs, but Bump 'n Run is strong.

Bump 'n Run is also industrious. Unlike most newborns, he's got work to do today. B&R is going to Gillette Stadium to catch up with the New England Patriots who are in a multi-layered soap opera between themselevs and the Jets, and the front office and the team.

Deion Branch may be gone, traded to the Seahawks, but the fallout will rain down in chunks today.

Quarterback Tom Brady is despondent over the move. He speaks from his locker at 11:40 eastern. The Bump will be in the crowd.

Meanwhile, Jets coach Eric Mangini -- a Bill Belichick protege who was New England's deffensive coordinator last year -- is on a conference call at 11:30.

The Pats filed tampering charges against Mangini's Jets earlier this week alleging that New York tried to facilitate a trade for Branch by going through Branch's agent, Jason Chayut, not the Pats.

The charges seem trumped up. Of course the Jets and Chayut would talk about what it would take to extract Branch from New England after they've spent time negotiating a deal. But filing the charges shows that there's some nut-busting going on between coaches and front office folks (Scott Pioli of the Pats and Mike Tannenbaum of the Jets) who have been very close friends for nearly two decades.

So our B&R plan for the day is this:

Update you at noon with quick hits from the Patriots locker room and Jets conference calls.

Get a story by Tom Curran for the front of the site by 1 p.m.

Make some league-wide calls and get you another update around 3:30.

Then Tom Curran has to get a phone call from the Redskins Adam Archuleta for Irrelevant Questions at (Gibbs willing) 4 p.m.

See you around noon.

B&R

LONG DIVISION

Okay, so I just spent ten minutes (strike that), twenty minutes (who am I kidding), the span between two Al Roker appearances doing the math, but here's what I figgered out: If Notre Dame beats Michigan on Saturday, the Irish will overtake the Wolverines as college football's all-time winningest team. Here is how it stands currently:

Michigan .7446 (851-280-36)
Notre Dame .7439 (813-266-42)

*A tie is worth 1/2 a win, so you add 18 wins to Michigan's total and 21 to Notre Dame's. God knows what I would have done if someone had had an odd number of ties.

Now, should the Irish win on Saturday, here's how it would shake down (completely coincidental term there)

Notre Dame .7442 (814-266-42)
Michigan .7440 (851-281-36)

It's all very Bowden-Paterno (or is that Paterno-Bowden?), I know. The Irish were ahead of the Wolverines for years, but squandered that edge during the concurrent Davieham versus Lloyd Carr eras.

Michigan fans know that no one has done more to prevent the Irish from joining the .800 club (in fact, from being its sole entity) than the Wolverines. While Southern Cal has more wins against the Irish, Michigan has the best record versus Notre Dame (18-14-1). The Wolverines also spoiled the Irish debut on November 23, 1887, winning 8-0.

In fact, Notre Dame's first three games were all against Michigan, and all losses: the 8-0 game in '87, and in '88, on consecutive afternoons in April, the Ann Arborites won 26-6 and 10-4. The Irish finally got off the winless wagon with a 20-0 beatdown of Harvard Prep (the infamous "Catholics vs. Colonists" game) on December 6, 1888.

Note to self: Type Like A Champion Today...

Okay, ready, kids?

BAD CARR-MA
It only took one sentence for the words "irritate" and "Lloyd Carr" to appear in the same story of Tuesday's edition of the South Bend Tribune. Staff writer Al Lesar's opening sentence reads "Discussing records seemed to irritate Lloyd Carr Monday afternoon."

The Michigan head coach's demeanor took quite a hit, as it usually does whenever he is in the company of sports media types. Consider the adjectives associated with Carr in the first three grafs (that's newspaperese for paragraphs of the piece:
Graf 1. "irritate"
Graf 2. "more sensitive than normal"
Graf 3: "indignant"

Maybe Lloyd Carr is a nice guy. I don't know. I doubt ABC's Todd Harris thinks so. But somebody at Monday's press conference actually asked Carr whether the Wolverines' victory drought in South Bend (since 1994) or their six-game losing streak in road openers would be factors in Saturday's game against Notre Dame. Why didn't they just ask him if he thinks he might have had a prettier wife if he were smarter and better-looking?