November 2006 Archives

About Tom Brady's step-through past Brian Urlacher for a while. He just executed it during a New England touchdown drive that made it 17-10 with 8:22 left.

It was an 11-play, 73-yard drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass to Ben Watson. The drive was highlighted by two freelance plays by Brady. The first was a 40-yard completion to Watson on third-and-3. The second was an 11-yard scramble in which Brady locked up 1-on-1 with Urlacher and, for whatever reason, the linebacker didn't attack. Brady simply stutter-stepped around him. And when you're as slow as Brady, it's a profound stutter.

A pass interference call on Patriots corner Artrell Hawkins while defending Bernard Berrian netted the Bears 45 yards and put them in business at the New England 6. Next, corner Ellis Hobbs got called for defensive holding and then Cedric Benson scored.

The Hawkins interference call was a stretch. He'd turned his head back to the ball and extended his arm to find the receiver - a legal maneuver - but got called for the costly penalty

It's now 10-10

Rex Grossman's last two throws have hit the hands of Patriots corner Ellis Hobbs. Life was better and safer when he stayed away from him and threw at Asante Samuel. Might be a reasonable course of action heading forward.

FOXBORO - New England's up 10-3 at the break but the Bears have to feel like things coulda/woulda/shoulda been a lot different.

They had a successful field goal wiped out by penalty to be replaced by a blocked field goal. Two iffy pass defense plays by the Patriots on the same drive went uncalled (one in the end zone), on the next drive, they fumbled at the New England 7.

Of course, New England can play the same game since they were going in to score when Todd Johnson drilled Pats tight end Ben Watson at the end of the second New England drive and the ball popped out and was picked off by Charles Tillman.

Later, Pats rookie Laurence Maroney fumbled at the Bears 11.

Looking into the second half, the Pats have lost linebacker Junior Seau and tackle Ryan O'Callaghan while Chicago is possibly without safety Todd Johnson who was shaken up.

Patriots linebacker Junior Seau, who's been terrific for New England this season after being coaxed out of retirement, just left the field with his right arm in a compression cast. I'm not a doctor but it could be a hairline fracture of the ulna nerve with a side dish of nerve damage. Again, not an expert. We'll of course have to wait for the swelling to go down before he can go for an MRI but the prognosis is for him to return - maybe - during the playoffs.

Again, not an expert opinion. It might be a knee.

Rookie running back Laurence Maroney just popped over from the Bears 1 to make it 7-0 New England and cap a 92-yard drive.

This was the first drive of the game that didn't end with a turnover.

Ryan O'Callaghan, the Patriots right tackle, appeared to leave the field with a shoulder injury. Now in for him is second-year man Nick Kaczur.

Every time a coaches' challenge is announced, it's funny to hear the mumble that passes through the press box.

It's a collection of "Heclearlyhadposs...onhiswaydown..emptyhandrule...lookrightthere.nothisknee" mashup of know-it-alling.

Anyway, following up on the Pats turnover, Rex Grossman had gotten the Bears to the New England 7 before he dropped the football on the next play which is not what you're looking for.

So now the game is tied at 0 and the stupid turnover contest is also tied at 2.

Lance Briggs just stone-stopped Pats running back Laurence Maroney then - adding insult to ineffectiveness - took the ball out of his arms for the second forced turnover of the first quarter for Chicago, at the Bears 11. The Pats first turnover came at the Chicago 1.

That mantra just bounced off the walls of tenements and brownstones in and around Chicago as the Bears came away from a long drive with zippity doo-dah.

After the Tillman pick, Chicago ran 15 plays and moved to the Patriots 22. Twice there seemed to be assessable pass interference penalties against New England -- the second on Ellis Hobbs in the end zone -- but both went uncalled.

Then, after Bears kicker Robbie Gould made a 40-yard field goal that got wiped away by a false start, the Patriots blocked the second attempt

FOXBORO - We're four minutes in and so far Rex Grossman's been picked by Pats corner Asante Samuel and now Tom Brady's been picked by Charles Tillman.

The Brady interception was damaging since it was in the hands of tight end Ben Watson when safety Todd Johnson delivered a blow that sent the ball sailing into the air where Tillman came up with it to snuff out a Pats scoring chance.

1) Tom Brady will get the time from his offensive line to exploit the Cover-2 of the Bears (or Tampa 2 or Chicago 2 or whatever).

2) New England really needs this game to prove to itself that it still has the will to decalre its home field sacred (if plastic) turf by winning a game against a decent team at Gillette Stadium.

3) The Bears aren't going to be in a position to deal with a defense as potent as New England's and Rex Grossman will be reduced to a quivering pile of jell-o with a face mask and a hand towel.

FOXBORO - Reasons the Bears will win...

1) The Patriots wideouts have shown time and again they struggle getting quick separation from corners. Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher are decent ones who play up in your grill. Combining their physicality with their pass rush, Tom Brady's in for a day of tough throws.

2) This game could come down to special teams play and the Bears have made a ton of big plays in the return game this season. Coincidentally, the Pats have allowed some long returns. Now New England's normal punter, Josh Miller, is on IR and Ken Walter, a former nondescript booter, is back to do the punting.

3) New England has lost three games at home this year, all against decent teams Chicago fits that description.

FOXBORO, Mass - We're about 15 minutes away from what should be the day's best game.

And I hope so because I've been looking forward to actually cover a game since they started playing 'em on Thursday.

Inactive for the Patriots today are Rodney Harrison, Chad Scott and Eugene Wilson, all DBs. For the Bears, corner Dante Wesley, linebacker Darrell McColver and defensive tackle Antonio Garay will all sit.

I don't know why yet--maybe they've informed you on TV, but we in the press box are oblivious--but Chinedum Ndukwe, one of the Irish' leading tacklers all season, hasn't played in the 2nd half. He's standing on the sideline right now, talking to John Carlson.

To the commenter who asked how come everyone is slipping: the grass is a little slick out there, yes, but I also think overwhelming speed can have that effect on players.

ND just made a big stop on 3rd-and-1.

By the way, I'm wondering how many Michigan fans are pointing out that the Wolverines were up 34-14 at the half on the Irish in South Bend, as opposed to SC being up 21-10 at home.

ND currently has 3rd-and-2 at SC 7. It's got to be 2-down territory.

First play: Darius just shy of first down. ND has to go for it on 4th.
Second: Hand off to Aldridge, who BARELY gets first down. In fact, USC is challenging the spot on the field.

ND wins challenge, USC loses its 2nd timeout of the half. Will that matter later? Probably not, but we'll see.

Just before the last play of the half, I skirted from my seat and made some nice cutbacks in order to beat my counterparts to the men's bathrooms. There are only two urinals here (things they don't teach you in journalism school...which is why I never went...which may be painfully obvious to you) so I used my 2-minute drill skills and was in there first. By the time I zipped up, a fellow scribe, at least five or six deep in line, spotted me and simply said, "That's a pro move right there."

Okay, so it's 21-10 at the half and there's nobody here who thinks that the Irish have more talent or speed or size than the Trojans. But that's no surprise. Considering how inconsistently the Irish offense has looked, Notre Dame is lucky to be down 11.

Quinn, for example, is 8 of 23 for 109 yards. Part of that is USC's fantastic secondary, led by safeties Kevin Ellison and Taylor Mays. Quinn wisely has tucked it and ran--he's got a great burst of initial speed, though he's prone to tire after the first 50 yards, as we saw--four separate times, which is why he's ND's leading rusher with 79 yards.

Notre Dame followers should take heart: the passing game cannot look much worse.

The second half holds great interest besides the obvious reason. USC is a devastating second half team, usually. On the other hand, Notre Dame has survived the inital onslaught, has adjusted to SoCal's speed, and is gaining confidence as the game goes along. If I had to choose which pattern will hold, though, it's USC's 2nd half dominance.

A few things that I'll be curious to see in the 2nd half:

1. Will Weis--who on the game's 2nd offensive series used Konrad Reuland, James Aldridge and Chase Anastasio at various points-- give Travis Thomas a few carries in the wake of Darius Walker's ineffectiveness since getting injured after his fumble?

2. The Irish basically had three turnovers, if you include the punt block, in the 2nd quarter but only converted 7 points out of it. The Irish will need their defense to keep making the big plays.

3. Quinn's feet have been Notre Dame's most potent weapon thus far. Weis will need to get McKnight and Samardzija more involved in the 2nd half.

I know, I know. Genius insights.

USC is doing a halftime promo for Wells Fargo where, if a student can kick a 50-yard field goal he wins $10,000. Way to go out on a limb, Wells Fargo. And for that they get signage. I'm not a bank, but I'm happy to put up 20G if Carl Gioia kicks a 50-yard field goal tonight.

From my buddy Billy: "Has Clausen changed his mind yet?"

From my college pal Ferris:

"Our secondary sucks!

Couldn't "Mr. New England" have put #83 into the secondary for this game?

McKnight looks like "McMoss" with that attitude out there.

Oh....and Montana's wife is hot."

Me: Notre Dame whiffed big time by failing to capitalize on those two interceptions. And they're all at fault:

McKnight, though he made a great catch on the game's opening play, has dropped two slant patterns.
Quinn has missed on two potential TD passes on 4th down (to McKnight, on the game's opening drive, and to Samardzija on the recent 4th down.

A few other thoughts:

Jeff Samardzija may be an All-American, but he needs to catch more than quick screen outs in big games.

Every time Southern Cal hands off the ball, I bet Charlie Weis breathes easier.

The really impressive thing about Southern Cal's performance thus far is that the Trojans are beating a senior-laden Notre Dame team with mostly freshmen and sophomores. Of the Trojan impact starters, only outside linebacker Dallas Sartz and wide receiver Steve Smith are seniors.

Brady Quinn was nearly sacked on 3rd down and scrambled for 60 yards, the longest run of his career. The Irish, who have done one thing right this game--convert 3rd downs--were looking at 3rd and 8 when Quinn raced down the center of the field, and then toward the left sideline before being caught from behind by Terrell Thomas.

Steve Quinn just blocked a USC punt.... Quinn tosses to Marcus Freeman, TOUCHDOWN Irish.

21-10. Maybe, just maybe, this is a little like the bout in Rocky. Apollo Creed nearly KO'd Balboa in the opening round, but the Stallion survived the initial onslaught, took it 15 rounds...and lost. But at least he made it a close fight.

Thus far John David Booty is the better of the number 10's, but it's early. Booty looked scarily accurate on that opening drive.

Anyone else notice that ND wasn't as fortunate on its 4th-and-9 on its opening drive as the Trojans were on theirs in the closing drive last year?

New wrinkles thus far for ND:

1. Zbikowski returning kickoffs
2. Travis Thomas was in the backfield on the 4th down play
3. Cornerback Leo Ferrine was in on the first play

Desmond Reed just returned Price's punt 45 yards. ND is in trouble.

Alan Abrahamson just said, "They should just go for it right down the middle right now" and seconds later Booty play-action passed to Steve Smith who caught it inches short of the goal line between the hash marks.

Booty just threw his second touchdown pass to Dwayne Jarrett, a 6-yarder.
SC is doing what the experts predicted: shredding the Irish secondary. If Booty gets that kind of time tonight, it's only going to get uglier. The Irish just don't have anyone who can stick with Jarrett.

Wonder how Charlie Weis, a Jersey native, feels about Jarrett, another Garden Stater, inflicting this damage.

Wow. How cool is this setting? Honestly, I'm lucky to be here. There's just so much energy inside this place. Cancel the Mausoleum riff.

Anyway, I went down to the field from about 3:30 to 4:30 local time. Only spotted two celebs, but one of them was a monster: James Caan. That's the old dude on "Vegas" if you're younger, and Sonny Corleone to the rest of us. Also, David James Elliott from J.A.G.

In the not-famous-but-I-stand-out-anyway division is James, a 27 year-old former Notre Dame studenjt now residing in Hollywood with his brother. James is decked out in Notre Dame gear from head to toe, but he's sitting in the USC student section I alluded to in the previous post. I told him that he's my new favorite masochist.

"Thanks," he said.

When I asked him if he was packing heat or just a fatalist, he smiled. "I have the utmost confidence in the USC security force," he said.

But why sit there, in the midst of the most aggressive (and hostile) USC fan section, just begging for abuse? "I got student tickets," said James, "but there was no way I was going to this game without wearing my Notre Dame gear."

So here's the first email I received when I turned on my 'puter upon arriving here at the L.A. Coliseum this afternoon. It's from my dark and twisty friend Billy:

I feel like the spaced out kid in Almost Famous who says to the Cameron Crowe character outside the hotel in Manhattan, "It's happening. It's all happening."

--Arkansas loses.
--West Virginia loses again, completely exposing that conference. (I almost wrote "Big Least" but I'd like to think I'm a tiny bit better than that)
--Florida wins, but looks terrible.

In my pea-brain we've got our other semi-final game tonight.

And then we'll have a couple weeks of either:

USC: "You had your chance"
Michigan: "You lost to freakin' Oregon State"

or

Notre Dame: "You had your chance"
Michigan: "Shutup, we killed you guys"

Really, though, isn't this fun? It happens every autumn. In late October you hear the critics talking about how we need a playoff because all of the unbeaten teams and someone's going to be left out. Check out the number of unbeaten or one-loss teams as of October 21st (and the number of losses they now have):

UNBEATEN

Ohio State...........0
Michigan..............1
USC.....................1
West Virginia ......2
Louisville .............1
Boise State..........0*
Rutgers................1

One-Loss

Texas......................3
Tennessee..............3
Auburn....................2
Florida......................1
Notre Dame..............1
Cal............................3
Clemson...................4
Georgia Tech...........2*
Arkansas.................2
Oregon.....................5
Nebraska..................3
Wisconsin................1
Boston College.........3
Texas A&M...............3
Wake Forest..............2*

games in progress at the moment.

In other words, things have a way of settling every year by the time you've christened your Turkey Trot T-shirt with salsa stains. What is never taken into consideration enough is that come November, the air gets thinner for the schools in the national title hunt. And so a team such as West Virginia has to realize that it will make South Florida's season to upset the Mountaineers in Morgantown, which is exactly what they did.

The other aspect: let the ENTIRE regular season play out before you start moaning about the inherent unfairness of the BCS system. Because as it stands now, there are three schools with a legitimate shot at meeting Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, and there's still one week left to play. Believe it or not, in college football they really do settle things on the field.

L.A. MAUSOLEUM UPDATE

It's 3:11 p.m and the only players on the field thus far are four Notre Dame special teams players (Carl Gioia, Geoff Price, Bobby Renkes and Ryan Burkhart). They've been on the field for seven minutes. Traveler, USC's equine mascot, was out here about 45 minutes ago getting in some light trotting. Hank Goldberg has installed him as a 2:1 favorite to win at Santa Anita tomorrow.

Clear, beautiful skies above. A light breeze is blowing. From our press box vantage on the stadium's southern side, you can see the HOLLYWOOD sign...and I believe with my high-powered binocs I just spotted Ryan Phillippe at the gates of Reese Witherspoon's home begging her to forgive him.

One very cool thing USC does is allow a special student spirit section into the Mausoleum half an hour before anyone else. They occupy two entire lower sections behind the Trojan bench between the goal line and the 30. Right now they're boosin lustily as Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija and a few other Irish players loosen up near the east end zone.

3:18 p.m. The entire USC squad enters the Mausoleum from the northeast corner in their scarlet sweasts. Pete Carroll, looking spiffy in a gray suit, leads them. Now the entire team is assmebled in a circle at midfield around the SC ("Simpson Casualties"?) logo.

3:20 p.m. The SC students have broken into a "Go Play Baseball!" chant directed at Samardzija. A little more creative than Michigan State's "F___ You, Irish!" pregame cheer.

Okay, that was uncalled for. Unsportsmanlike, NBC blogger, loss of wireless service for five minutes.

FRIDAY'S ACTION

How much fun to watch was Friday's Texas-Texas A&M contest (unless if you were Colt McCoy's mom)?

A few observations on that one:

1. A&M QB Stephen McGee, who never slides at the end of a run, may have a short shelf-life, but he's everything that's right about college football.
2. ABC's Brad Nessler had a pretty good line about 280-pound Aggie running back Javorskie Lane: "Javorskie Lane is more like HOV lane."
3. So, if you were paying attention, A&M had an O-lineman named (Yemi) BAbalola and Texas had a linebacker named (Rashad) Bobino. I think Nessler missed a huge comedy opportunity by not doing sone one-on-one analysis there: "Babalola blocks Bobino!"
4. If you were following and, unlike me, devoting entirely too much time to sports and not enough to family the past few days, you noticed that Stacey Dales-not-Shuman was the sideline reporter for the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night as well as the s.r. at the A&M-Texas game on Friday. She's fast becoming the platinum-blonde Erin Andrews.

Okay, it's 3:31. I'm going to make my way as close as I can get to the field (armed with disposable camera) to see what celeb photos I can snap (totally transparent excuse for Song Girl ogling, I know).

Be back soon.

He went 25 for 39 for 216 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Respectable numbers, one would think. But, as is so often the case with passing stats, they don't tell the story of what reportedly was Jake Plummer's final start this season for the Broncos.

The Broncos lost to Kansas City, 19-10 tonight and Plummer gave enough evidence - coupled with his ongoing string of ineffectiveness - to make Mike Shanahan's move to Jay Cutler make sense. Amid the avalanche of checkdown throws Plummer made that had no prayer of gaining significant yards (but counted as completions!) came two plays in particular help make the point.

On a third-and-8 from the KC 12 with Denver trailing 10-0 late in the first half, the Broncos set up a wide receiver screen to the right to Rod Smith. But Plummer took his eyes off the shotgun snap, had it hit him in the belly then - with an awkward grip - flung a quacker out to Smith who (to his discredit) dropped it.

The other messed up play was a third-and-5 from the Denver 41 when they were trailing 16-10 and absolutely needed a first down. Flushed, Plummer had tight end Steven Alexander open but threw short and wide, basically salting the game away since Larry Johnson was running like a diesel for Kansas City.

There were plenty of drops for Denver tonight - running back Damien Nash had a key one on Denver's second-to-last drive when he inexplicably kept his hands low while running a checkdown route and didn't get them up in time to make a catch - but Plummer played edgy. And he acted edgy, getting into it on at least two occasions with Shanahan on the sidelines.

Going forward, you have to wonder how helpful the palpably pissed-off Plummer is going to be for Cutler. It looks like a poisoned environment in Denver and the Broncos suddenly look like the most dysfunctional "good" team in the AFC. Their NFC kindred would be the Giants, of course.

This blog is hunkering down after a well-executed Thanksgiving, 2006.

This blog, its spouse and offspring got to Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA, Earth) mildly behind schedule, ate, drank and was fairly merry while keeping an eye on on the early games. We timed it up nice, watching the first game and-a-half then bolting just before halftime of the Cowboys pummeling of Tampa Bay.

Now this blog is back at his desk after one-hour nap, rested and ready to deliver the goods with the Friday Blitz and have it done by the end of the night.

I'll be getting in-depth on Brian Urlacher's season-to-date for the Bears and the impact the Patriots expect him to have on what is easily the most anticipated game of the weekend at New England. We're staying home to cover that one at 4:15 p.m.

Quick impressions from the early games....

1) Miami's given itself a chance. Now at 5-6, they play nothing but AFC teams the rest of the way - Jacksonville, New England, Buffalo, the Jets and the Colts. The road games are at Buffalo and Indy and, with Indy in the finale, Miami may catch a break if the Colts aren't playing for any kind of playoff seeding.

2) The second touchdown pass from Tony Romo to Terry Glenn in the Dallas-Tampa game showed the kind of plays a team can install and be successful with when it has a quarterback as athletic as Romo. Taking the snap at the Tampa 2, Romo pivoted to his right and threw a flare/screen to Glenn that Glenn quickly turned into a score by burrowing in. The ball was hitting Glenn's hands at about the same time most quarterbacks would have been releasing it. He's just exceptionally quick with his feet and with such an economical throwing motion where the load-up to the throw is so short, the ball gets out accurately and in rhythm.

Terrific day (duh) for Romo with five touchdown passes.

Meanwhile, Kansas City is going to have to make some plays over the top of this Broncos defense. It's 3-0 right now halfway through the second quarter and Denver is loading up the box to stop Larry Johnson. But Trent Green looks very comfortable and now Johnson is finding running room.

Denver's ineptitude on offense is putting too much heat on the Broncos defense.

Two amusing anecdotes from the day on the Cape.

When Kelly Clarkson was singing the anthem for the first game, this blog's wife, Erica, was standing watching closely (she likes her American Idol alums). So this blog made eye contact and stood up, busting chops that she seemed to be standing for the anthem. Next thing I know, another person stands up. Then another. Hands start going over hearts and we had a strange little "This is our country" moment. Kinda funny.

Later, when Cowboy Jason Witten got run out of bounds and knocked into a Cowboys cheerleader, this blog commented, "Whoa, he ran into the cheerleader."

"Did he nail her?" asked this blog's father-in-law.

"I don't know about that," this blog replied. "But he ran into her when he went out of bounds."

So I caught the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" the other night and if you haven't seen it yet, get a move on (That's right, a guy from NBC's website is endorsing a CBS show.). It's in its second season and while the love story between the two main (read: good-looking) characters isn't all that, the writing is terrific, as is Neil Patrick--wait for it--Harris. Yeah, Doogie Howser.

The running gag on Monday night's episode was Barney ( Harris) and Marshall (Jason Segel) calling a "slap bet", which is so genius I cannot believe I've never heard of it before. Basically, if you lose the bet, the other guy gets to slap you across the face as hard as he wants. They even installed Lily (Alyson Hannigan) as Slap Bet Commissioner", to make rulings on disputes, and of course, it is a position of great power.

Conceits such as "slap bet" are the reason I'm high on HIMYM (yeah, I'm going ahead and acronymizing it; problem with that?). It's a lot closer to the New York City (or, I'm sure if you live in any big city in your 20s) Iifestyle I had in my 20s than "Friends" ever was. We never did "Slap bet", but there were similar such bets in the bullpen at Sports Illustrated while I was there. For example, we once bet J.B. Morris, a gregarious reporter who is now the college football editor at ESPN the Mag, that he couldn't eat an entire ball of party cheese (the kind that's layered with nuts) in half an hour. J.B. won the bet--and wished he hadn't.

Another cool thing about HIMYM: the characters hang out in a bar, which is what single people in their twenties in big cities do. And they live a little recklessly, which we also did. I recall one freezing January night when my best friend at SI, Tim Crothers (who personality-wise is an exact clone, as opposed to an inexact clone, of Barney) and i were hanging out at McSorley's on the Lower East Side when Tim found $450 on the floor. The bar was jammed and we had no idea who dropped the cash, though Tim did make a somewhat decent effor to find the person who lost it.

Well, after ten minutes (or maybe it was one) we gave up. By now it was after midnight. So what did we do? We called as many friends as we could on a payphone (pre cellphone era) and vowed that we were not going home that night until we'd spent all of Tim's new-found riches on beverages. And--this is what's so great about your twenties--at least eight or ten friends came out and met us. That was one of the better nights I ever had in Manhattan, and it seems like the kind of thing you might see on HIMYM.

By now, you've seen Cowboys punt returner Terrence Newman get blasted during Sunday's win over the Colts. But the guy who ripped Newman as the ball arrived -- decleating him -- was Kelvin Hayden. If you watch the replay (if it's still out there) watch Hayden as he gets up. Looks like someone just hauled him out of the bathroom and directed him to the door after last call. He got it worse than Newman did.

Vishante Shiancoe and Tom Nalen, take a bow. You've brought ligament-endangering dirty play to the forefront in the past 24 hours.

On a running play during the first quarter of tonight's Jags-Giants game, Shiancoe -- a New York tight end -- just went low on Jacksonville safety Donovin Darius about 20 yards down the field, cutting the right knee of Darius without even bothering to give a pretense of going high.

Last night, Nalen - the Broncos center - dove at the knees of Chargers defensive lineman Igor Olshansky on a spike play. Rotten move.

It'll be interesting to now see what happens in the wake of these plays of boldfaced filthy play. If you're a defensive player, and you go at a quarterback (many of whom are as big as some of the linebackers coming to get them), and slide from his waist to his knees as he wriggles loose, you get flagged and sometimes fined.

Where's the protection for the relatively faceless defenders? Absent, generally. Well here's a gift-wrapped chance for the league to step forward and show the NFL's defensive players - linemen in particular - that their knees have some value too.

Hold it....

Dallas just stiffened on fourth-and-goal from their 8 with 3:00 left while holding a 21-14 lead. Now they have the ball back and just got a big run from Marion Barber and a personal foul face mask for a 35-yard play. The ball's at the 43.

If the Boys hold on here, they'll break Indy's perfect season,

The Colts are on the ropes. Dallas is now up 21-14 having scored on consecutive drives as Tony Romo's heated up significantly in the second half. He's 8 for 9 for 101 yards.

With just 37 seconds gone in the second half, Aaron Glenn broke up a pass intended for Marvin Harrison and linebacker Gary Burnett made the pick then got off the carpet and returned it 39 yards for the touchdown.

It's now 7-7 with a litle less than 29 minutes of football to be played.

Get this: the Colts just tried to squib a kickoff after scoring a TD with 16 seconds left. The front line of the Dallas return team knocked it down and recovered at the Dallas 44 with 8 seconds left in the half. Then Tony Romo got a 28-yard gain to Terrell Owens to give Dallas a crack at stealing three points before halftime with a 46-yard field goal.

He missed. And with that, he'd missed two field goals in the first half and was booed to kingdom come as he strode slowly to the locker room.

Well-designed play in which Peyton Manning pumped to an underneath receiver Aaron Moorehead running an out on the left side while Reggie Wayne went straight for the flag. The pump drew the coverage, leaving Wayne wide open for an easy 22-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left in the half.

A commercial featuring Mike Vanderjagt just ran on the stadium big screen. And the Cowboys fans booed the snot out of his image. On the sidelines, Vanderjagt merely smiled.

Cowboys tight end Dallas Clark was running a short slant on the goal line on third-and-goal when he got knocked down just as Peyton Manning threw. The pass wound up in the belly of Roy Williams who returned it to the Cowboys 6.

So there's still no score with 7:56 left in the half.

Former Colts kicker and current Cowboys kicker Mike Vanderjagt just pushed a 43-yard field goal attempt off the right upright. In case he was unclear on the result of the pla, Colts defender Raheem Brock walked over to tell him he missed it.

Now the Colts are inside the Cowboys 20 after a 15-yard completion to Marvin Harrison, a 15-yard roughing the passer call and a 17-yard run by Joe Addai.

Dallas just ran a pump-and-go up the right sideline on first-and-10 from the Indy 31 that got picked off and really never came open. Bad idea by Dallas QB Tony Romo who should have checked off of Glenn.

To who, I'm not sure but when Romo went to the sidelines, Bill Parcells was waiting for Romo to gesture down the left sideline at a route he must have felt was a better option.

Indy's going three-and-out, though and the Cowboys will get the ball with about 30 seconds left in the half near midfield.

And Terrence Newman just got horizontalized while coming up to make the catch on an Indy punt.

It was a fumble and it's not looking like it's on a clip to be 35-31.

Jay Ratliff just had a strip-sack of Peyton Manning at the Cowboys 43. There's a challenge under way to determine if Manning's had was coming forward before Ratliff got there.

There's 4:14 left in the first quarter, it's 0-0.

Indy tight end Ben Utecht just got his organs rattled making a catch on second-and-16 for about 10 yards, getting wrapped up by Bradie James then finished off in the sternum by safety Roy Williams.

He had that gradual, "That hurt...ohh, that really hurt....I think I have to stay down..." rollover reactions to the collision.

To George Willis from Newsday in New York sitting to my left with Dallas facing third-and-10 at midfield.

"Let's see what they do with Freeney. Parcells was talking about teams double and triple-teaming him."

Dallas gave no help to Flozell Adams at left tackle and Freeney went right around him for a strip sack.

Two plays later, Bradie James forced a fumble on Marvin Harrison at midfield so no blood.

I'm saying the final here is 35-31, Dallas.

The Boys took two plays to move to midfield - a screen and a run by Julius Jones.

IRVING, TEXAS - Bob Sanders, Gary Brackett and Brandon Stokely are all down for the Colts.

I didn't know the Cowboys had cheerleaders!

Or is it moron on the early games?

I'm not buying on the Bengals. I know they pummelled the Saints today (they're up 31-10) but that just gets them to 5-5 and I've felt N.O. was a little fraudulent all year and poised for a face plant. The Saints, meanwhile, are going to be 5-4 and -- with Carolina handling St. Louis to move into a tie for first in the NFC South with N.O. and Atlanta dropping to 5-5 courtesy of the Ravens, I still like Dallas and Carolina to emerge as the NFC's best teams.

Ripping through the early games...

Philly is dead. It doesn't take a PhD to tell Donovan McNabb's going to be gone a while. Now they're getting their collective heads caved in by Tennessee and are going to drop to 5-5 after a 4-1 start.

It looks like the Chiefs are going to duck out of a huge embarrassment by scoring late to take a 16-13 lead over Oakland at home. If it stays that way, the race for the second AFC Wild Card spot looks like it will come down to the Jets, Jags and Chiefs with KC on the inside track. San Diego or Denver will almost certainly get the first Wild Card. Oh, and Trent Green is 9 for 16 for 102 yards in his return game. I still don't like the move to switch to him from Huard.

Pats running back Corey Dillon muffed a handoff from Tom Brady in the first quarter at Green Bay then appeared to start bitching on the sidelines at running backs coach Ivan Fears.

We'll see how long Dillon stays on ice with rookie running back Laurence Maroney getting a bundle of carries since Dillon's drop.

Dillon's going to do something stupid before the season's out.

With 14:48 left in the second, Donovan McNabb just threw on the run as he was going out of bounds and seemed to have blown out his right knee while planting/sliding on his way out of bounds.

He took a little brush from Tennessee's Kyle Vandenbosch but it didn't appear to impact the play.

The Eagles are 5-4 and trailing the Titans right now, 7-3. McNabb threw a horrendous first-quarter pick in the end zone.

IRVING, TEXAS - I've never been to Texas Stadium before. Three impressions:

I've never witnessed a quieter tailgate scene. Maybe I was just out there too early, walking through at around noon central for a 3 p.m. game. Maybe I was in the quiet zone. Maybe I made everyone uncomfortable.

Or maybe they're just damn quiet.

Second, the 34-year-old stadium is showing it's age. Can't touch its toes. Achy in the morning. A little doughy in the middle. Honestly, it's surprisingly rundown given the nice way it presents on the TV. The shell is rusty as hell when you look up in the rafters and the parking lots pretty chewed.

Three, it's still cool as hell to walk into a place you've spent hundreds of hours watching on television, a place you get a certain reflexive emotional reaction when you see it appear on your tube and experiencing it first hand letting your eyes fall real time on whatever you want.

I'm being facetious here--I'm hoping by now that's implied-- but maybe Charlie's abandoned Brady Quinn's Heisman campaign (Troy Smith was 11-15 in the 1st quarter) and getting an early start on Darius Walker's '07 Heisman movement.

Walker now has 134 yards rushing with 9:46 left in the 3rd quarter.

Our ND stringer, Ken Fowler, calculated that Quinn's 1st quarter passer rating (3 of 6, 1 int.) was 19.7. Since then, though, Quinn is 13-15 and has tossed three TD passes.

Army came into the game No. 3 nationally in kick returns and they move up to No. 2 after today. It's the one thing about their offense that is fun to watch.

My snitch in the stands tells me that the public address announcer is not giving updates on the Michigan-Ohio State contest. She's wondering if that's a directive from Charlie. Hey, if the fans are already here, they're the last ones you need to worry about. I mean, these people have already pledged their allegiance. Does someone think they'll hear the score and go, "What?!? Michigan's playing Ohio State today? TODAY!?! I had no idea. Let's bolt."

I'm like an ugly Jann Carl here today at ND. We've got various sports celebrities on hand whose limo drivers must have gotten lost on the way to Columbus. Former Indiana Pacer/Philly 76er George McGinnis is here, as is Detroit Tiger manager Jim Leyland. I kid you not. He's sitting right behind me here in the press box. And, no, he's not lighting up.

The press box snoring came to a halt a minute ago when someone said, "Michigan scored!"
So, if you're checking, Ohio State, with the nation's No. 1 scoring defense, allows 7.8 points per game. And the Wolverines scored in the first two minutes.

Jerry Palm just told me that he heard someone on ESPN say earlier this week that Michigan-Ohio State is the game of our lifetime. "Its the game of my daughter's lifetime," says Palm, "but she's eight months old."

A few moments ago the press box announcer informed us, "Gioia's extra point attempt was not blocked, it was just shanked."

Quinn just hit Rhema for an 8-yard TD pass. The line is giving him all afternoon to find his receivers.

By the way, in terms of personal achievements, as we head to the half:

Darius Walker is one yard shy of his second consecutive 1,000 yard season.

Samardzija has overtaken McKnight as ND's all-time leading receiver. Shark has 161 career catches, and Rhema has 159, I believe. Both have a TD catch.

It looks as if Charlie Weis sees something with his vertical passing game that he does not like. Since Quinn's interception, the Irish have either handed off to Walker or dumped short passes to him. On one pass attempt, Quinn looked Samardzija's way, but he was well covered. He threw underneath to Walker for a gain of 15.

I don't know how much the absence of John Carlson (he's standing on the sideline in a green 89 jersey, blue ski cap, and blue sweats) is hurting the Irish' attack, but Samardzija and McKnight have not been open at all thus far. This against the 89th rated pass efficiency defense in the nation. Then again, Army is 111th versus the run. Darius Walker could wind up having his best game (153 yards, twice, is the high thus far) of the season.

Back in 1977, when Dan Devine broke out the green jerseys for Notre Dame's game with Southern Cal, the fashion switch sounded like a good idea. But ever scince then, the Irish are like 0-for-forever wearing the green. I don't know why Charlie Weis tempted fate by having his players suit up in the green this afternoon.

I cannot recall all the times the Irish have donned green jerseys in the last 20 years or so, but I am fairly sure they have never won in them. In 1985 Gerry Faust had the Irish come out for the 2nd half against USC in green, but ND was already up by at least three touchdowns at the time. Since then? They lost at the Gator Bowl and at the Fiesta Bowl wearing green. In 2002, Ty Willingham's first season, the Irish were 8-0 when they went green for the Boston College game. They lost. Last season, the green jerseys were worn for the Southern Cal game. Great game, sure, but Notre Dame lost.

So that's at least 0-4 the last four times they've gone green.

So far, after nearly 14 minutes, Notre Dame is losing 3-0 and Brady Quinn's interception-free streak (226 passes) has been broken against a defense that entered the game with only three interceptions all year. Also, for the first time this season, Notre Dame did not receive the kickoff. I'm expecting an ebola outbreak on the ND sideline in the 2nd quarter. Or Tom-Kat to call off the wedding.

You can't blame the jerseys, of course, but you question the reasoning. Maybe Charlie wanted to stay in sync with '77, his senior year, when ND lost a game in September and rallied to win the national title. Maybe the seniors wanted to exorcise the green jersey curse. But, after warming up in the Navy blue jerseys, this just seemed like a bad idea. Senior day is enough of a distraction.

Consider this a plaintive wail for assistance from you, the commenters, today. I'm quarantined here at Notre Dame Stadium for the senior baccalaureate mass-kicking of Army. The Black Knights have about as much of a chance of knocking off the Irish as the Black Knight did of knocking off King Arthur. For your enjoyment:

Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin
He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp,
Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken,
To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin!

Anyway, where we? Oh, yeah. Notre Dame vs. West Point, or as I like to call it, Mary v. Army. Not only are we sequestered here (I'm seated next to BCS guru Jerry Palm, so if you have any questions you'd like me to pass along, just send 'em in), but we've been told that the press box TVs will not be tuned to Michigan-Ohio State. I mean, there are dudes serving 25 to life who'll be watching that game today, but not us.

So, if you can, send in your thoughts, reactions, greatest hits from Columbus to me. Any news, any observations (e.g., "Is Derek Jeter chatting up Bonnie Bernstein?") As Lumbergh would say, "I'm going to need you to help out on Saturday...that would be grrreeeeaaat." Because you're all that Mr. Palm and I have today.

Thanks

When I was a child the television universe was riddled with variety shows in much the same way the current landsape is soiled with the refuse that is reality TV. There was the Flip Wilson Show. Sonny & Cher. Donny & Marie. Carol Burnett. A little singing, a few sketches, an opening monologue. Basically a white-bread version of Saturday Night Live.

The cream of the crop, in my eyes, was the Carol Burnett Show, which in this pre-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players galaxy was the only one that even hinted at being subversive. Besides, Harvey Korman and Tim Conway were just plain funny. Maybe the worst one, or certainly the most forgettable, was the Hudson Brothers. I cite the Hudson Brothers occasionally and people look at me as if I just said, "Did you see that Nancy Pelosi made the cover of Maxim?"

I mean, genuine disbelief. Anyway, the Hudson Brothers really existed. Check 'em out:

http://www.stuckinthe70s.com/images/tb1274hudsonspu.jpg

Tell me that the guy on the bottom left doesn't look uncomfortably identical to Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) in "Anchorman".

The reason I bring this up is that I believe there should be a show called "The Hubbell Brothers". I have five friends, all brothers between the ages of 36ish-7ish-8ish and 51ish (plus their brother-in-law, the frequently cited in this space Mike McCollow), who spew so much pure sense all the time that they deserve their own show (as if it could be any worse that "Twenty Good Years").

For example, tonight I was trying to think of something unique and intelligent to offer up about tomorrow's Michigan-Ohio State game ("You can't spell bowl without 'Bo'", for example?) when, through brother Billy (brother No. 4 on the list), I was relayed this gem from brother Joe (brother No. 3). See, Billy, who works at a well-known cable sports network somewhere in Connecticut, was discussing with Joe the possibility of a rematch between the Wolverines and Buckeyes in January when Joe said something that was, well, Schembechlerian (and I'm trademarking that word).

Joe's reaction to a January rematch in Glendale: "Man, I hope not...whoever loses tomorrow
should have to live with it for the rest of their lives."

Absolutely. Any talk of a rematch compromises the integrity of tomorrow's game. It's a special game because it took 22 victories in 22 contests over the past eleven or so weeks for these two schools to arrive at this point. It wasn't easy to get here. So when the guys with the funky blue and yellow helmets meet the guys with the funny silver helmets with the 20-cent decals on them tomorrow, it SHOULD be the biggest game of their lives. And whoever wins shouldn't have to prove it a second time six weeks from now. When Don King runs college football, we can do it that way, but not yet.

Meanwhile, brother-in-law Mike and I had a chat earlier Friday evening about the punk band The Dead Schembechlers. Sure, classically bad timing on their part, but as Mike noted, they could not have handled it any better. First, they announced that they'd disband, and then on their web site (which is currently receiving so much traffic--probably from sportswriters desperately in search of a lede--that you cannot even access it) they said that they'd donate all their proceeds to a charity of the Schembechlers' benefit.

All of which led Mike to say,"They're a punk band and they've handled it better than any pro organization would have."

Me: "Yeah. I mean, it's not as if the band renamed themselves University of Phoenix Stadium. Or the sound went out during the middle of their set."

Mike: "Absolutely. What does that tell you when a punk band has more class than an NFL franchise?"

Me: "As if we should be surprised."

And so, yeah, I think there should be a show entitled "The Hubbel Brothers (+ Mike)". And if the show calls for a musical number or two, I'm sure they'd be up for it.

You might say that TRAVIS THOMAS is my favorite Notre Dame football player. He's not the best guy on the team, but he may be the most selfless. As you may know Thomas, a senior tri-captain (due to his special teams play), moved from backup tailback to first-string outside linebacker this season due to a lack of depth at the position.

Thomas is a better running back than he is a linebacker, and I'd love to see what he could do if he had one 20-carry game for the Irish. I'm not suggesting that he'd be better than three-year starter Darius Walker, a junior who like Thomas has one year of eligibility remaining after this one, but I'd be curious to see what he would do.

Thomas is a good soldier who, under a different regime might be tempted to develop an attitude. For whatever reason, though, he never complains, not to the media at least.

All of which is why I feel even worse about Travis Thomas Thursdays. See, the way ND has it set up, Charlie Weis meets with the media for about 45 minutes on Tuesdays at noon. Charlie's the headliner.

Then, on Wednesday, we get a double-bill of Tom Zbikowski ("How has boxing helped your football and vice-versa?") and Brady Quinn ("When is the last time you've spoken to Tom Brady?"). Not as good as Charlie, but the one-two punch, no pun(ch) intended, is satisfying.

By Thursday, we're pretty full and only then do they give us Thomas. This works poorly for a number of reasons: 1) Travis doesn't box or play pro baseball or have a sister who's married to the klick-klack guy. 2) He's somewhat soft-spoken, 3) Anyone who's ever attended a fill-in-the-blank-apalooza knows that you put the warmup act first. No one's gonna stick around 'til the very end for Guster, know what I'm saying?

The final reason is that because after ten weeks, we all still only have three questions we'd like to hear him answer:

1) Why the heck are you not freaking playing running back?
2) Will you return for your fifth year?
3) If they don't let you freaking play running back next year, will you return?

That's all we want to know. That's all I want to know. However, the answers to those questions will always be:

1) I'm just trying to help the team.
2) I'll worry about that when the season ends.
3) See No. 2.

And so Travis Thomas Thursdays have worse attendance than your 3 p.m. Intro to Philosophy class on the day before Thanksgiving. But I try to attend, just out of deference to Travis. Today we had what was I think our seventh consecutive cloudy or rainy day in South Bend (I mean, it wasn't a "Panic Room"-level deluge, but it did rain all day, and a general lethargy has settled over the community. So it was that when I showed up for Travis' 11:30 a.m. "presser", there were only two other reporters there: Tim Priester of Blue & Gold magazine and the immortal Jeff Jeffers of WNDU (all of us Domers, by the way).

But here's the funny part. Because of a meeting with a professor, Travis blew us off this time. So the three of us, plus Notre Dame's two amiable football SIDs, Brian Hardin and Michael Berch, sat around for 20 minutes shooting the breeze. As we left the auditorium at the Goog, I looked at Jeffers and said, "I think that's the first press conference this season that I didn't ask a stupid question."

That made Hardin laugh.

(Okay, I realize that wasn't a grade-A anecdote, but gimme a break; I'm in Month 3 of Stranded in South Bend)

A long time ago, soon after the acquittal of O.J. Simpson, a writer friend and colleague of mine at Sports Illustrated was approached about conducting a one-on-one interview with Simpson. My friend, who ultimately did not do the interview, made one stipulation: "That he not kill me."

In the wake of today's news that O.J. is peddling a book entitled "If I Did It, Here's How It Happened", I wonder just how much lower we can all sink. Anyone associated with Fox, which will air a two-part interview on November 27 and 29th, or ReganBooks, which will publish the trash, should really be questioning the ethics of their leadership. NBC, according to the story on the associated press, was offered the interview but declined.

I'm so glad we've got Jordan McDeere running our network.

So here's my question. Let's say someone saw O.J. in public. And let's say that someone took him out. And I don't mean for a drink. What kind of punishment would that person receive? I'm hoping it would be a parade.

So yesterday an astute reporter (not me, but you probably guessed that from the adjective) recalled that Charlie Weis had a brother who attended West Point, and asked him about it. And that elicited the most personal and illuminating anecdote Weis has provided this season. Here's his reply, concerning his younger brother Peter (one of three younger brothers Weis has):

I remember his pleb year, going into that Eisenhower Hall, sitting there with a bunch of those plebs, sitting at a table. I'll give one Army story.

But I remember that distinctly, as well as going to a Marshall Tucker Band concert there, as well, that same weekend.

I love that story. But I do wonder once big brother left, whether those first-class cadets exacted a littel revenge on Peter Weis and his classmates. The other curious thing is to imagine Charlie Weis in his early twenties singing along to "Heard It In A Love Song". That would be cool.

Clinton Portis is going to be down three to four weeks after having a pin inserted in his hand and Jason Campbell is going to make his first career start at quarterback for the 3-6 Redskins who are seeing this 2006 season go slooooowly down the tubes.

The Redskins have lost four out of five and the one they won -- that bizarro win against Dallas last week -- does little to engender confidence that this is a team headed in the right direction under head coach Joe Gibbs.

Antwaan Randle-El's managed 248 yards from scrimmage this season on 18 catches and 13 carries -- not exactly the production you'd want from a guy you handed a six-year, $27 million free agent deal to.

Then there's Brandon Lloyd, acquired from the 49ers and given a $29 million deal. He's got 15 catches.

And the Redskins pass defense has allowed a league-high 17 touchdown passes (tied with New Orleans and Tennessee), a stat that can be easily traced to an almost non-existent pass rush (13 sacks in nine games). Only Tampa Bay, with 12 sacks, has failed to disrupt quarterbacks more.

Given the dough The Daniel has doled out to offensive coordinator Al Saunders and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams -- reportedly $4.6 million per season between them -- and the $25 million for five years he gave Gibbs, it's worth wondering how patient Snyder will be over the next month-and-a-half as a Redskins team that never showed an ounce of life starting in the preseason goes to flatline.

Meanwhile, the Skins host Carolina on the 26th which means Campbell doesn't have an easy road ahead of him in his first two starts.

At last, a movement I can believe in.

Last night, Studio 60...when Danny (Bradley Whitford) asked the flight attendant if the plane could go any faster, I was waiting for Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber) to yell back from the cockpit, "This baby hums compared to those prop jobs I flew outta Nantucket back in the day."

I'm estimating four episodes until the obligatory Joshua Molina-in-an-Aaron Sorkin-production appearance on Studio 60.

My recipe for Studio 60: Take Mr. Sorkin's axes to grind and divide by three. Next, add two sketch comedy members who are 1) funny and 2) human trainwrecks. Finally, create an inexplicable gladiator character to be played by the national treasure that is Kevin Sorbo. Trust me, it'll work.

Oh, and have you heard about this new neurosurgeon drama on CBS that they're calling "Three Pounds"? They're totally missing it. It should run on Mondays at 9 p.m. and be called "What About Brain?"

(I'm bowing right now...now, blowing kisses to the audience...now, bowing once more)

Kinda cool that the date when the entire national championship race was thrown open was 11/11. Cuz, you see, there' so many number ones there...

Okay, moving on. The greatest link in college football, besides the Jenn Sterger advice column on SI.com ("Dear Jenn, I'm a 40 year-old single male living at a Marriott Residence Inn. What advice can you give me?" "Dear John: That depends. Are you wearing pants right now?"), has to be this one:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/onlinenews.ap.org/collegefootball_rankings/voters.php?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME

That's the AP voters run-down, providing the names of the AP voters and their ballots. Endless fun.

And what have we learned?

1) Wisconsin is the Cooper Manning of the Big Ten
Cooper, the eldest of the Manning brothers, is rarely mentioned as compared to NFL QB siblings Peyton and Eli (a congenital spinal condition ended his college career shortly after he matriculated at Mississippi). Similarly, Wisconsin, despite being 10-1, is in less than one-third of the voters' top ten this week.
It's as if with Ohio State and Michigan both being 11-0 and ranked 1-2, voters felt as if they needed to spread the wealth among other conferences.
Wisconsin and Notre Dame both have one loss, to Michigan. The Irish were embarrassed, 47-21, at home, in a game they never led. The Badgers, with a 36 year-old rookie head coach, lost 27-13 in Ann Arbor in a game where they twice led. That does not prove at all that the Badgers are better than the Irish--indeed, it's a matter of opinion--but here's what's interesting. Of the 65 AP voters, only two (Aaron Fentress of the Portland Oregonian and Bud Withers of the Seattle Times) ranked them ahead of the Irish. 63 of 65 voters rank Notre Dame ahead of Wisconsin despite them virtually having the same record (ND 9-1; UW 10-1) and a loss to the same team, with UW's being unquestionably higher in quality.
It's not that those 63 voters are wrong...or right. It's just that, given the evidence, I'm surprised there's such a consensus in either team's favor.

2) ND stands for "Need Defense"
It doesn't matter how many points Notre Dame scores against Army this Saturday--though anything fewer than 35 in the first half will be a surprise--as long as they pitch a shutout. In all of Notre Dame's easy victories this season, the defense has allowed garbage-time touchdowns that, to voters who don't have an opportunity to watch all of their games in person, erode confidence in the Irish's ability to stop a big-time program.
Penn State: a potential 41-3 win becomes 41-17 after allowing two TDs in the last six minutes.
Purdue: The Boilermakers put up 21 and play the Irish even (7-7) in the second half.
Stanford: Over a five-game stretch between Sept. 30 and Nov. 4, the Cardinal scored one offensive touchdown. It came against the Irish (on a trick play, but so what?).
Navy: Irish defense played a fantastic 2nd half. No criticisms, here.
North Carolina: 45 points on offense looks good. Allowing 26 points on defense to a one-win team doesn't. 45-7 would have been much more impressive. Well, duh.
Air Force: Again, allowing a pair of 2nd-half TDs watered down the score. 27-3 at the half. Very impressive. 39-17 at the end of the game? Not so much.

It isn't that Notre Dame was in danger of losing any of those contests, but voters see a defense that is anything but national-championship caliber. They see another "617 yards in the Fiesta Bowl" debacle. And who can blame them? Charlie Weis' defense has yet to hold an opponent to single-digits in points in 22 career games.

Almost all of the voters had the Irish listed between 5th and 9th this week. Only Stewart Mandel of the SI.com has them out of the top nine, at No. 10. Five voters put the Irish at No. 4 while two--Steve Warden of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and Robert Gagliardi of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle--rank them at No. 3, directly behind Ohio State and Michigan. Warden and Gagliardi either skipped church on Sunday or they really believe in the Irish. Gagliardi assured me that it's the latter.
"I still see a pretty powerful offense there," says Gagliardi, who has voted in the AP poll three different years. "Of course, I got an email today from someone in Wisconsin (he has them 15th) telling me I don't know anything."

I get that same email every week. Crafty writer, though, he always switches his email address.

But, should all the cards fall Notre Dame's way--USC beats Cal, and ND beats USC--the Irish may still not advance to Glendale. And it could be because another one-loss team with a defense that clamps down on bad teams gets there instead.

Cincy needs a TD and a 2 to tie this one at 49. They are at the Chargers 15 facing fourth-and-10.

On second-and-10, Bengals wideout Chris Henry had a drop. Then Palmer threw for no gain.

...by Rivers. Flushed on third and goal and running out of room he shot-putted a touchdown pass to Brandon Manumaleuna to perhaps seal this amazing game.

CINCY - The Chargers are in clock-killing mode right now and Philip Rivers has been excellent in the second half as San Diego's popped up 35 points since the break.

Rivers is currently 22 for 33 for 305 yards and two scores. The clock is rolling to less than five minutes and San Diego leads 42-41.

This is the first time since 1983 that San Diego erased a 21-point deficit in a game. And the Chargers trailed by 21 on two occasions today.

CINCY - Chargers safety Marlon McCree just blew up T.J. Houshmandzadeh well before the ball arrived, separating TJ from his helmet and his senses. He was down for about two minutes before being helped to his feet. He remains on the sidelines with 8 minutes left and San Diego up 42-38.

Coming into this game, LT needed three scores to equal Jim Brown's mark of 15 scores in three games. He's scored four times, setting the record.

CINCY - All the Chargers seem to need is one stop ....and no sooner was that phrase typed than Shaun Philips just strip-sacked Carson Palmer and take over at the 10 with a chance to....and they just went ahead...

It's about to be 42-38 San Diego after trailing 21-0 and 28-7.

CINCY - Every time I go out to watch the other games and try to catch up on the rest of the league, this one threatens to get interesting.

Now, after a 46-yard bomb from Philip Rivers to Malcolm Floyd it's 28-21 with 9:08 left in the third.

Corner Deltha O'Neal hurt his shoulder on the TD pass and has gone for X-rays so the Cincy secondary will probably be compromised.

Cincy went 71 yards in 14 plays and got a key third-and-18 completion to T.J. Houshmandzadeh to set up a Chris Henry touchdown.

We'l catch you up on all the preposterous offensive numbers Cincy is hanging on the Chargers defense once he half ends.

Chad Johnson has 7 catches for 117 yards and a touchdown so far today. Last week, after catching four passes for 32 yards, he was near tears in a postgame interview with NBC's Bob Neumeier and later said he was being treated like a hood ornament.

A blow to the Chargers hopes of coming back -- wideout Eric Parker was just ferried from the San Diego sidelines to the locker room. He injured his neck and his return is questionable.

LaDainian Tomlinson just busted in on a 9-yard draw to make it 21-7. The Chargers went no-huddle for the six-play drive. There's still 5:27 left in the first half.

...aren't exactly announcing themselves as teams to fear today.

San Diego's getting demolished 21-0 in Cincinnati and the Titans are ripping the Ravens tongues out 26-7.

So for these two teams that are 6-2 and contending to enter the AFC's elite along with Indy, Denver and New England, this is alarmingly bad.

Oh, and let's not let the Jags off the hook either. Losing to Houston. And while we're at it, Kansas City down 13-0 to the Dolphins.

Hmmmph.

CINCY - Chad Johnson just got loose on a first-down play from the Bengals 49 and got wide open - wiiiiiide open - scoring an easy 51-yard touchdown.

After the score, Johnson merely handed the ball to the official. No Riverdance. No mini-golf. No nothing. And as appalling and immature as Johnson's postgame meltdown was last week after the loss to Baltimore, you have to give him credit for realizing that his is a "no screwing around" Sunday.

If Cincy's going to focus on football, uh-oh.

CINCY - Surgical drive by Cincy capped by a Rudi Johnson sweep to the left from 3 yards out.

Say this, if the Bengals don't hold this lead, it will be an interesting postgame locker room

CINCY - Carson Palmer's 6 for 6 for 99 yards so far....

The disciplining of Rudi Johnson lasted for a series. He got the first carry of the Bengals second series and went 7 yards.

Chad Johnson, by the way, just caught a 17-yard pass followed by a ridiculous one-handed catch by tight end Tony Stewart.

The Bengals are on the move again with 3:40 left in the first.

CINCY - The Chargers just got a terrific throw and catch from Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates on third-and-11 near midfield. In the early-going San Diego seems to not have much flow to its offense.

The Bengals just went down the field on San Diego. The key plays were a 19-yad completion to T.J. Housh... and a 27-yard completion down to the San Diego 3 that went to tight end Reggie Kelly. Fullback Jeremi Johnson scored the touchdown.

There's 9:57 left in the first.

Linebacker Landon Johnson looks to have a leg injury. He was down for a minute after a third-down play on San Diego's first drive and just left the field with assistance.

His backup is Caleb Miller.

CINCINNATI - LaDainian Tomlinson has 11 touchdowns in his past four games. If he scores three today, he'll tie Jim Brown for he most touchdowns in a five-game stretch with 14.

Tomlinson has five touchdowns in three games against the Bengals.

CINCINNATI - For Cincy, WR Reggie McNeal, S Kevin Kaesviharn, LB A.J. Nicholson, LB Brian SImmons, C Rich Braham, OT Levi Jones, WR Kelley Washington....

For San Diego....CB Cletis Gordon, SS Andre Lott, FB Andrew Pinnock, WR Greg Camarillo, TE Ryan Krause, DE Luis Castillo and LB Akbar Gbaja-Biamila.

CINCINNATI - Rudi Johnson is going to sit out the start of the game for disciplinary reasons. He was late for a meeting this week.

Chris Perry will start in his place.

Just more evidence of a key Bengal letting his teammates and coaches down during what everyone considers an absolutely pivotal week.

CINCINNATI - It's not San Diego weather here, that's for sure. The sky is battleship gray and the temperature is in the 40s with light drizzle floating around as the 6-2 Chargers try to come in here and steal one from the 4-4 Bengals.

Folks should already be taking the Bolts seriously, but if they win this one without two of their three best pass rushers -- Shawne Merriman and Luis Castillo -- that's a tribute to their resourcefulness.

Castillo was downgraded to out on Friday with an ankle injury. Merriman is serving the first of a four-game suspension for performance-enhancers.

--Air Force has its own student body cheering section (they're the dudes in blue T-shirts standing in front of the uniformed Cadet Wing) and they're officially known as "Section 8". Reason No. 467 as to why college football is better than the NFL. I know it's a different military branch, but in deference to M*A*S*H wouldn't it be cool if all of them wore dresses instead? Or would that be considered whatever Section it is that gets you booted from the military for being homosexual?

--Penn State is opening up its biggest can of whupass all season without JoePa. The Nittany Lions are beating up on Temple 47-0. I'll have to double-check this, but Penn State is being coached by the former mayor of Los Angeles today, which is even stranger when you consider he's been dead for eight years (fill in your own Paterno joke here).

--Arizona 24, Cal 20, late in the 4th quarter is creating a buzz in the box. Press box, people. ND will already move up in the polls this weekend, what with Auburn and Louisville losing. If Cal loses, too, the Irish could climb as high as 6th.

--Wisconsin's going to finish 11-1 this season. They won at Iowa today with a backup quarterback...and thanks to a Hawkeye receiver dropping a key 4th-down reception with 2 minutes to play. The Badgers will be the best team not to make a BCS bowl, because there's no way the Big Ten is going to get three schools in.

--Darius Walker has more than 160 yards rushing today (I don't have the exact count). James Aldridge, meanwhile, has put on about 15 miles on the stationary bike on the sideline.

Okay, this is an unofficial count by me in the booth, but since late in the 1st quarter Air Force has run off 39 plays on offense to Notre Dame's 4 (counting punts). In that span the Irish have outscored Air Force 7-0.

CSTV must be hating Fisher DeBerry right now. I can see them sending a note to the Air Force sideline: "Nobody tuned in to watch Chinedum Ndukwe form tackle!"

Poster EW (old buddy Eric Williams) just wrote to flag my mom for "excessive parental blogging". That frequenter commenter, Phyllis, is my mom. She hasn't learned about having a posting alias, yet.

COOL MOMENT: You know how there's no cheering in the press box? Well, the superintendent's box is adjacent to us, and the sound insulation quality isn't so good. Anyway, the Air Force cheerleaders just entered the box and performed a cheer (at the very same moment BQQB was tossing a 23-yard TD pass to Marcus Freeman).

So there's no cheering in the press box, but adjacent to it? Go nuts.

I don't think I've ever seen this. Air Force's offense has run 30 plays in the 2nd quarter. Notre Dame's offense has not been on the field yet. And there's just 1:15 left in the half.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame has outscored Air Force 7-0 in the 2nd quarter thanks to Terrail Lambert's 76-yard blocked field goal return. It's Lambert's 2nd TD of the season.

Air Force just went for it on 4th down (their 31st play) and failed to convert, so the Irish offense will not be shut out for the entire quarter.

We interrupt this football game blog to provide a music note.

Reportedly, Guns 'n Roses canceled a show in Portland, Maine, after they were informed that they would not be allowed to drink onstage. The band likes to drink beer, wine and Jagermeister during performances. When Axl and the gang learned this, they stuck to their guns (and roses). Instead of compromising their standards and playing dry, they canceled the show.

For what it's worth, when I heard this news I was sitting inside an airport watching the cold November rain.

I can already hear Tommy Tuberbville's post-game comments. He'll utter something to the effect that it's too much to ask anyone to go undefeated in the SEC (or even finish with just one loss) and that's why today's loss against Georgia is just one more reason that we need a playoff.

I love the SEC. I've been to every stadium and agree that in terms of atmosphere, no other conference comes close. And maybe the SEC does have more NFL prospects year in and year out than anyone else.

But here is my Why-the-SEC-Needs-To-Zip-It analogy: You have no right to say you're the tougest kid in the neighborhood if you never leave your own block.

By my count, the great and awesome SEC have played six teams out-of-conference this season who are from BCS conferences. The results?

1. Georgia "pounded" Colorado, one-win Colorado, in Athens 14-13.
2. Kentucky lost to Louisville, 59-28.
3. Arkansas lost to Southern Cal at home, 50-14.
4. Auburn beat Washington State at home, 40-14.
5. LSU beat Arizona in Baton Rouge, 45-3.
6. Ole Miss lost at Missouri, 34-7.
7. Tennessee beat Cal, 35-18.
8. Vanderbilt lost 27-7 to Michigan in Ann Arbor.

(Still to come: Florida plays Florida State, Georgia plays Georgia Tech, and South Carolina has Clemson.)

So that's 4-4 out-of-conference record against major schools. Of the teams that lost to their SEC opponents, Cal (8-1) and Washington State (6-4) have winning records. Cal, Michigan, Southern Cal and Louisville are top 25 opponents. The Wolverines, Trojans and Cardinals won by at least three touchdowns.

There's some truth to the fact that SEC teams beat up on one another, but the best measuring stick of how you compare to other schools nationally is to play them. The SEC has just ONE quality win against non-conference opponents this season, and that's the Vols' beatdown of the Golden Bears.

You're an SEC school. You have four non-conference games. No one's saying they all need to be difficult, but at least one of them should be. To the schools' credit, they do seem to have received the memo to play one quality opponent out of conference. And the other three, at most every SEC school, are less opponents than they are victims. So you have three gimmes, plus the SEC bottom-feeders.

Until the SEC can do better than 1-3 against Top 25 opponents, I don't know how they can complain about receiving the shaft.

Michigan beat one top ten team out of conference (Notre Dame) and will have to have beaten two top ten teams in conference (Wisconsin, Ohio State) in order to get to the BCS title game.
Ohio State beat one top ten team out of conference (Texas) and will have to have beaten Michigan to get all the way to the BCS game.

College football is a No Whining zone. And no one forced the conference's ADs to create the SEC Championship Game, so none of us want to hear about that, either.

So, yeah, I'll be moving down to Gulf Shores as soon as the season's over.

Who needs television? Besides the obvious answer, "I do", since I work for a television networkery and web sitery.

Anyway, if you're for any reason unable to get CSTV this afternoon, don't worry. I'm at Falcon Stadium just north of Colorado Springs right now and, due to the extra needs of those who follow the Fighting Irish, I am extra-predisposed to "Blog Like A Champion Today".

Quick weather report: It's partly cloudy and dry here. You'll see fans in winter coats, but it's not too cold (easy for the wuss in the press box to say). I'm guessing it's in the high 40s right now, with very little wind. Good football weather.

Read on, McDuff.

Holy Jughandle! New Jersey's a player in the national title race. It's bonnes temps for the Bon Jovi crowd. They were dancing in the dark last night in Piscataway, and why not? The Scarlet Knights just knocked off No. 3 and previously unbeaten Louisville.

I credit C. Vivian Stringer, the Scarlet Knight women's hoops coach. Before Stringer entered the ESPN booth with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit in the 2nd quarter, the Cardinals were up 25-7 and Rutgers looked outclassed. I was waiting for that blimp shot of the Empire State Building to show a white flag being waved from the observation deck.

Then C. Viv appears and four plays later, Rutgers' Ray Rice scores on a terrific counter pitch play (a play that should be run much more often in college football; Notre Dame has run it once this season, on a 4th down versus Stanford, and it worked beautifully) from 18 yards out. The Scarlet Knights outscored Louisville 21-0 after C. Viv appeared. Her attendance should be mandatory when Rutgers plays West Virginia on December 2nd (besides, they don't have a game between November 24th and December 4th, when they play Duke). A few other Rutgers-related thoughts after, as the kids say, "the jump":

By most anyone's measure, Eric Mangini has done a terrific job with the Jets this season, taking a team with attitude and injury problems and surpassing expectations at 4-4.

But Bill Belichick, Mangini’s former boss and mentor, would rather hold forth on Britney and K-Fed than lob Mangini a verbal bouquet.

Today, as the two teams began preparations for their meeting in Foxboro on Sunday, Belichick parried specific questions about Mangini's work by speaking in generalities.

"What's Mangini's imprint on the Jets?" Belichick was asked by the New England media.

"I think it's a very talented team," said Belichick before going on to specifically mention nine players by name and four more by position.

He was asked the same question during a conference call with some New York writers.

"The Jets have been a strong, competitive football team ever since I've been here," said Belichick. "We've played great games with them, whether it was Al (Groh), Herm (Edwards), Eric (Mangini) or whoever, the two teams are very competitive and the games usually come down to the last possession, right down to the wire. That's the way it was the last game, that's historically the way it's been."

Belichick went on to mention that some of the schemes in place this year are different. And he credited the work of Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff.

Mangini went to the Jets during the offseason one year after being elevated to defensive coordinator of the Patriots. He and Belichick worked together in Cleveland and New York in the mid and late 90s. After Mangini left the Patriots, the relationship between two of Wesleyan's most famous alumni has been chilly.

Speculation initially had Belichick peeved at Mangini for taking a job against Belichick's advice. But there have since been whispers that Mangini was courting Patriots employees to go with him to New York while he was still on the Pats payroll.

After the two teams met in the season's second game, their postgame handshake was limp and brief. There's not much evident affection between the men at this moment either.

Is that unusual? Yes. Before the Pats faced former protege Nick Saban - whose touted Dolphins team trails the Jets by two games in the AFC East - last month, the Patriots head coach was effusive.

"He can do whatever he needs to do and he's not afraid to do any of it. That's why he always has good teams. That's why he's a good football coach, because he has a good way of reading his team and knowing what it takes. Last year (Miami was) sitting here at 3-7 . Everybody was shoveling dirt on them, too. They come back and win the next six games, after they lost to Cleveland up there. That was it. That was the end of their season. They couldn't beat Cleveland. They come back and win the next six games, including us. You can never count (out) Nick Saban. You can never count the Miami Dolphins out of anything."

And last year, he was even more syrupy.

Finally, when someone asked Belichick why he wasn't mentioning Mangini, Belichick said, " think the Jets are a good football team. He's the coach, I think he's done a good job with them. I have a lot of respect for him."

Was that so hard....

As you already know, Miami Hurricane defensive tackle Bryan Pata was shot to death last night in the parking lot outside of his apartment building. I never met Bryan Pata and I have not covered a Miami Hurricane game in years. But I am a sportswriter, and Miami is a high-profile program, and it's been especially in the news this season--for all the wrong reasons.

And so here is what I know: I don't know.

Over the course of the 24-hour news cycle, there is tremendous pressure--especially at one high-profile cable network--to opine on all matters related to big-time sports. There's Cold Pizza, where Woody and Skip always have to have an opinion, and there's Mike & Mike, who also have an opinion, and then there's Rome is Burning, and there's Around the Horn, and Pardon the Interruption, and here's what I think: whether or not you're paid to give an opinion, unless you personally knew Bryan Pata, or unless you have some relevant information about his death, then if you're talking about this on TV all you're doing is rubber-necking.

You don't know.

I was 13 years old. It was a quiet Friday night. My teenage sister was out and my older teenage brother, a freshman at Arizona State, was also out. The phone rang, and my dad answered it. In the next 15 to 20 seconds my dad, for the first time in my life, was unrecognizably panicked. I'd never seen him like that before, and I haven't since. My brother had gone to a party and, if you don't mind me omitting the details, was assaulted and nearly died.

When I watched the video of Bryan Pata's mother arriving at the crime scene last night, crying out, "My baby!" and--bizarrely--wearing her son's replica jersey, I am reminded of that Friday night. I am not a parent, and so I cannot even begin to imagine the grief that Pata's mother must be feeling this evening.

But I do know enough to say that his death is a tragedy and not to derive any greater meaning about the state of the Miami football program from it. Today is a very sad and a very trying day for anyone on the Miami football team, for anyone within the Miami family. If you work at a sports outlet and know any of them personally, the best thing that you can do is send your condolences.

If you don't know them, the best thing you can do is zip it. Or, if you're so inclined, say a prayer.

There are journalists in Miami right now who are investigating the story as the murder that it likely is, and they are just doing their jobs. But if you're sitting in a television or radio studio a hundred miles or more from Coral Gables and you haven't been to a Miami practice or game in years, then maybe you can honor the player, his mother, and the team by simply not fulminating about things which you really don't know.

My brother, I am happy to say, is now 45, married, still cannot beat me in basketball, and has three of the most beautiful and smartest daughters you'd ever want to meet. I cannot imagine what my life would be like without him, my sister-in-law and my three nieces. And so I cannot imagine the pain that Ronette Pata, Bryan's mom, must be feeling this evening.

I remember a certain high-profile baseball analyst who was fired by ESPN last summer over an embarrassing alleged transgression. And I remember absolutely no one at ESPN providing a single on-air opinion about what happened. And, whether they like it or not in Bristol, that was news.

As is this. But it's also a far more grave situation. So, maybe this time, instead of opining about how Pata's death relates to any gun-related incidents from last summer, or an on-field fight last month, maybe, unless you have proof that his death is in any way related to those events, maybe you just keep quiet and wish Miami the best.

Former Syracuse and current Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony pulled $3 million off his wad and threw it at Syracuse University yesterday to pay for a new basketball facility that will bear his name.

And before I get to the funny, sad, ironic quote he delivered, I'll first say that Syracuse more than got its return on whatever it invested in Anthony who led the Orange to a national championship. The millions that flow to a school because of that exposure -- TV-wise, marketing wise, merchandise-wise -- is a nice tradeoff for two semesters of free classes and whatever dough (ahem) went into recruiting Anthony.

He is not an example of the kind of athlete that sucks at the soul of a university. The ones that take the scholarship without bothering to put up a charade that the education that his "fellow students" are paying $120,000 for is important to him.

However, when Anthony made his grant, he said, "The six months I was there, I had a great time."

And I just think that's so damn funny.

So, crazy as it sounds, someone at the home office made a mistake. On the headline on our home page that directs you to this blog, it reads, "Not even the fastest Lance". In fact, Lance Armstrong WAS the fastest of seven Lances who entered Sunday's New York City Marathon. He was not the fastest Armstrong, but he was the fastest Lance.

And, again, if you read yesterday, you know that I'm giving Lance props for his performance on Sunday. Is it the best that he could do? No, but he's out there being the American version of Bono (saving the world, meeting supermodels, etc.) and if you want to put his time in perspective, here's a little math for you.

There were nearly 38,000 runners who finished the race. Among that group, Lance finished in the top 2.4%. Sure, that's not as good as he does on a bicycle (top .0001%), but then the two sports use entirely different leg muscle groups. Runners have overdeveloped quads (and girlieman arms, like mine; actually, I became a runner simply to justify my Bugs Bunny-like arms) while cyclists usually have great calf muscles...which, as Johnny Drama knows, chicks dig more.

So the top American finisher in Sunday's New York City Marathon was Peter Gilmore, who apparently did not wear his pirate outfit while running a 2:13. See below:

http://carryonline.com/

The top American finisher, in terms of publicity, was of course Lance Armstrong. The seven-time Tour de France champion finished in 2:59:37 and remarkably, still took grief for it. On the popular runners web site "Letsrun.com", a poster started a thread entitle "Lance Sucks" (that has since been taken down), while another runner with a better sense of humor started one that read "I AM VERY HAPPY THAT I'VE RUN A FASTER MARATHON THAN LANCE BUT DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHOW IT".

Okay, sure, Lance wasn't even the fastest 35 year-old Armstrong in the race on Sunday (some dude named Terrance Armstrong from New Jersey finished in 2:30:23). And, I, too, have run a faster marathon than Lance (by 23 seconds). And I was 38 at the time, not 35. But it wasn't my first marathon and it wasn't New York City (a difficult course). And unlike one runner on the site who called Lance a bum because he'd run a 2:47, I'm not about to extrapolate that this means that I could have won 8 or 9 Tours de France, dated--and dumped-- Sheryl Crow, and made a kickass cameo in "Dodgeball".

If you don't believe Lance was clean during the Tour de France streak, that's one thing. And, yes, having the likes of Alberto Salazar pace you at 7-minute miles is like having Bill Nye tutor you for your 7th grade earth science test. On the other hand, Armstrong knew that, as a world-class athlete he'd be under tremendous scrutiny running the NYC Marathon, and by finishing under 3 hours--a goal that many life-time marathoners never achieve--he more than did himself proud.

Meanwhile, every poster on letsrun.com, deep down, knows that if Lance devoted a year to marathoning the way he did cycling, he'd probably get down to about a 2:45. Or maybe even below 2:40. Which is sick.

I have a friend who ran her first marathon at age 35. She was thrilled to break FOUR hours. Eight years later, she's the two-time U.S. women's masters marathon champion. If she could do that, I think Lance, given the time and the inclination, could be the U.S. men's masters champ.

But, seriously, if you were Lance and your choices were putting in 90-mile weeks or saving the world from cancer while partying with Matthew McConaughey, what would you choose?

Maybe he was coached beforehand about what to say, but as a runner you can't help but love everything that Lance said after the race. Such as, "That was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I've ever done". Personally, I don't believe him. Dumping Crow--who sorta trumped her ex by appearing on the Country Music Awards on Monday night--had to be tougher.
Then he said something that every marathoner can appreciate even more: "I wanted to break three hours. But if you told me with three miles to go you're going to do 3:05, I wouldn't have cared."

When everyone was scoring touchdowns....it's degenerated a bit for both offenses as the New England defense has tightened up some by exerting more heat on Peyton Manning and the New England offense has, for whatever reason, seemed to go away from a running game that's been pretty effective....with three picks by Brady and a fumble by Corey Dillon AND a missed field goal by Stephen Gostkowski, New England's fortunate to be down 24-17....make that....27-17 as Adam Vinatieri drills a field goal from 31 yards away.

Junior Seau, who should have stayed back on Dallas Clark with no downfield help behind him instead of going for a pick he had little chance of making resulting in a completion down to the Pats 3....and Marvin Harrison who just made one of the great catches you'll ever see, deadening a short bullet from Peyton Manning with one hand, pirouetting and securing the ball while dragging his feet for a touchdown to make it 24-14.

New England's in a peck of trouble, it would appear...

Colts linebacker Gary Brackett has a hamstring injury and his return to the game has been termed doubtful.

Brackett is the Colts middle linebacker. His backup is Rob Morris.

Gotta love the stop-action close ups being provided. I think it makes me change my mind....but I'm enjoying this review...how about you....really snappy work...

Sure looked like Corey Dillon and Raheim Brock both had the ball when they hit the ground which would negate the fumble...Watching it on the big screen right now....

The drive-extending hands to the face call that was just whistled on Mike Vrabel seemed trumped up. But the illegal contact call on Asante Samuel in the first half that helped set up a field goal I'm buying.

Now on comes Adam Vinatieri -- with boos raining down -- to attempt a field goal...and he missed it from 37....huge hold for New England which has so far made too many mistakes but is lucking out...

Anybody seen a punter yet?

Not just on the scoreboard but also in terms of possessions.

Since the Pats had two turnovers in the first half and received the opening kick, Indy now has the opportunity to go two scores up....let's see what happens....

Ooop, 36-yard pass to Marvin Harrison on the first play of the half.

The Colts didn't get in because the Patriots gave Asante Samuel some help.

With second-and-goal from the New England 3 and less than two minutes left in the half, Peyton Manning looked to his right where Reggie Wayne was working on Samuel. But the Pats dropped outside linebacker Rosevelt Colvin back underneath where Wayne was running his route and had Samuel stay behind Wayne. So Wayne was bracketed by the two defenders and Manning had to put extra air under the ball to get it over Colvin.

On third-and-goal from the 3, safety Artrell Hawkins immediately went out to Wayne along with Samuel and had him covered as he ran in in-cut along the back line of the end zone.

That's what Reggie Wayne's got in his last four quarters of play dating back to last week in Denver when he had 9 for 126 in the second half.

He's this week making Asante Samuel his Darrent Williams.

FOXBORO - There's going to be a nice tidy organization to this game it appears.

You either score or you don't. You don't kick it away and play the field position game and hope your defense holds.

The Colts offense is too good to expect that. The Indy defense is too bad to expect that. It so far appears to be a race to score as quickly as possible.

And that makes it easy to follow. And fun for the whole family.

FOXBORO, Mass. - I don't care if Deion "Night Train" Bailey is playing corner, when the quarterback has time to let a talented receiver run his entire route, the defense is in a position where it has to HOPE for a misfire. Otherwise, it's going to be a first down.

Reggie Wayne is feasting right now -- as he did last week in Denver -- because Asante Samuel is under orders to play off of Wayne and not let him get deep. The idea is to hope the rush gets there before the pattern is over but New England isn't getting enough heat with its rush that's leaving Samuel exposed.

The other option for mangling timing is then to jam at the line which the Patriots are not doing yet.

The Pats were close to a three-and-out on the first Indy drive using the passive pass defense strategy but Indy converted. Ever since, it's not working out.

We'll see if the Pats shake things up or just get something fixed with their rush.

So when the Patriots went for it on fourth-and-3, were they showing a disrespect for the Colts defense feeling that 3 yards was an easy get or were they showing high respect for the Colts offense believing that TDs must be matched with TDs?

I believe the latter.

FOXBORO - I think it's going to be harder for the Colts offense to stop the Patriots than it will be for the Pats to stop the Colts.

Not that either will be easy. Which makes unforced operator error (i.e. the pick Brady threw on the first possession) that much more important to steer clear of. When something MIGHT be open but is a little dicey, it's not like there won't be more chances later.

...when you say, "Faulk and Maroney" really fast. Because that's what the press box announcer just said and it made me smirk.

FOXBORO - The Patriots had Indy in a third-and-15 from its own 27 and had Manning all but sacked when he stepped out of a Richard Seymour sack, scurried to his right, stood in while Rosevelt Colvin launched himself at him and threw way downfield where Marvin Harrison and Dallas Clark were converging.

Harrison caught it for a 44-yard gain and a first down at the Pats 29.

New England got the pressure with just three rushers. They're coming with quickness and strange presnap looks to try and shoot gaps instead of just trying to ram through.

Harrison, shaken up on the long pass, appeared to have hurt his shoulder on the tackle.

He remains on the sidelines.

FOXBORO - New England had a terrific drive in progress with first down at the Indy 34 when Tom Brady sidestepped a blitz and went downfield to Doug Gabriel. Brady seemed to expect more downfield than he actually had since Antoine Bethea was cruising over the top and made the pick in the end zone.

Bad play.

Peyton Mannng on the big board doing his Sprint Commercial (Maybe like Peyton Manning maybe) and the crowd booed the snot out of him.

FOXBORO - Denver learned last week that a four-man rush doesn't get it done. If New England thinks that kind of pressure is going to be significant enough to unnerve him, they should think again.

We'll spend time breaking down the New England coverages possession-by-possession to try and see what they're coming in trying to accomplish with their pass defense. We bet on a combo of jamming/redirecting for the wide receivers and blitzing on nearly every down.

The absence of Colts' No. 3 wideout Brandon Stokely is going to play a bigger role than normal tonight because he's so often a thorn for the Pats defense.

FOXBORO, Mass. - The first Colt that appeared jogging from the tunnel got booed lustily by the pro-Pats crowd. Then the crowd realized it was Adam Vinatieri and changed to cheers. At which point much of the remainder of the Colts team trotted out.

To cheers.

Well-timed.

FOXBORO, Mass. -- This game can be boiled down to a simple matchup. Either the Patriots get heat on the quarterback and make him and his receivers uncomfortable.

Hey look, my co-worker Pink is singing on the big screen here in the stadium. I should e-mail her.

FOXBORO, Mass. - Let the record show that Dan Klecko was the first player on the field tonight. The Colts defensive lineman traipsed across his former stomping grounds and -- surprise, surprise -- it didn't peel up under him.

The turf -- which was formerly green-painted sand until it was resodded last week -- looks like it'll hold up for a few minutes.

Despite lobbying from some Boston Globe folks it's damn cold. I said it was 37 degrees, they said it wasn't nearly that cold. Then my man, Brian Costello from the New York Post checked weather.com and the temperature was actually 34.

Fortunately, I'm not one to gloat so I'll keep their inaccuracy to myself.

My astute editor Barry, whose favorite band is "Suicidal Tendencies" (no, wait, that's his favorite tendency), notes that Jeff Samardzija's new record of 23 career TD catches is somewhat "bogus". Derrick Mayes, who held the record with 22 career TD catches, also had four TD receptions in bowl games. Bowl-game statistics were not included with career stats when Mayes played, but they are now. So actually Mayes has 26 TD catches.

On the other hand, Samardzija has no bowl TDs. So, as far as the regular season goes, it's Shark 23, Mayes 23.

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

George West just replaced Jeff Samardzija, who had just replaced Tom Zbikowski, at punt returner. This was all on one play. And then West fumbled and lost the punt.

I cannot remember the last time Notre Dame has looked both so bad and so good in the same game.

You can't even talk about playing in the national championship game when your pass defense is this bad. UNC freshman wideout Hakeem Nicks, who did not start, entered today's game with 336 receiving yards and one TD. Right now he has 170 receiving yards (a UNC frosh record) and two TDs this quarter.

Cornerback Terrail Lambert got burned badly on the 2nd TD. He was behind Nicks when he caught the ball--Nicks was looking back at QB Joe Dailey at the time--never turned his head, and then made a feeble grasp at Nicks, who ran away for a 72-yard score. Earlier in the 3r quarter, on 3rd-and-10, Nicks caught a 42 yard pass over Lambert (although the coverage was good on that play; Nicks just made a great catch).

But this continues to be the greatest flaw of a far-from-championship-caliber worthy ND team. The Irish have now allowed 10 completions of 35 or more yards this season. You think Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett won't be adding to that number in three weeks?

So the Chicago halftime show just concluded. The best-selling band in American history (after the Beach Boys and the Eagles) played two tunes, "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "25 or 6 to 4".

Blog buddy Greg Auman wondered if they'd play, "Brady, What A Big Surprise". Me, I'm just happy they didn't play"You're the Inspiration", which I think I heard 9,574 times on U93 as a student here.

Give it up for ND band director Ken Dye, or whoever thought of the idea that was used during "Does Anybody Know...". As Chicago was playing, the ND band arranged themselves digitally to give the actual time of day. For posterity's sake, let it be recorded that Chicago played the song at 4:27 and 4:28 p.m.

Press box companion Jerry Palm, an Indiana resident who's not a fan of the state's decision earlier this year to switch to using Daylight Savings Time, contends that "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is?" should become Indiana's state song.

The press box is probably half-filled with non-working press (a term some might consider a redundancy) this afternoon. In other words, a lot of VIPs sought shelter and ND was nice enough to provide them with it. Anyway, when Tom Zbikowski scored on his 53-yard punt return, a lot of visitors here went wild. "No cheering in the press box," the press box announcer warned.

"Why are they cheering?" asked my new pal, Jerry Palm, pointing at the glass that encloses us. "Nobody can hear them, anyway."

UNC just abused Terrail Lambert on their opening drive of the 3rd quarter to score again. UNC completed a 3rd-and-10 pass for 42 yards, prompting smart dude Jimmy Donaldson to wonder if every one of ND's opponents has had their longest pass of the season against the Irish. Answer: No, but it sure seems that way.

UNC placekicker Connor Barth (with that name he MUST go into game-show hosting) just had his 2nd PAT of the day blocked. Entering today's game Barth had not missed a field goal or point-after attempt all year and Notre Dame had not blocked one.

The writer to my left, the smart dude who asks all the good questions, may be the only person in the stadium who has attended the last three North Carolina-Notre Dame games. He's here today. In 1975 he attended the 21-14 Notre Dame win in Chapel Hill because he was stationed in Norfolk in the Navy. And in '71, the 16-0 Irish win in South Bend, he was a junior at Notre Dame.

Also, as an undergrad, he saw Chicago play at the Athletic & Convocation Center. Now he's about to see them play with Notre Dame's band at halftime.

I find him fascinating, I must admit.

As bad as it looks, Notre Dame's defense has held the Tar Heel offense to less than 70 yards this half.

I'm wondering if that'll be the Oakland Raiders' new motto should they draft BQQB next spring. Then again, the Raiders have won two in a row, so maybe their playing themselves out of this sweepstakes.

Sitting to my right is BCS guru Jerry Palm. I asked him if what we're watching is Charlie Weis' first real blatant attempt to win BQQB the Heisman. "It's futile," he says, and I mostly agree (Troy Smith has to really blow against Michigan to lose it, because too many voters made up their minds after Sept. 16th). Still, with 6:33 to play in the first half, here are BQQB's numbers:

15-22, 249 yards, 3 touchdowns. The drama lies in seeing when Weis shuts him down.

Meanwhile, the running game looks anemic...again. Is the answer better blocking, or giving Travis Thomas or James Aldridge a series or two?

Defensively, Victor Abiamiri and Derek Landri are having terrific games. Abiamiri already has two sacks.

I'm sitting next to a writer from the Providence Journal who asks me, "What do you think of Zbikowski as a pro?"

And I respond that I think Zibby will make a terrific safety in the NFL. As I say that, No. 9 overcommits on a run on the weak side and North Carolina's Ronnie McGill races past him for a 35-yard gain. Four plays later Jesse Holley catches a 12-yard pass right in front of him for a touchdown.

The writer stares at me. "And you've seen every game?" he asks.

Um, yeah. Don't ask me any more questions.

Wait, he has another one (and I should note he's an ND alum): "Can you tell me why Notre Dame's only run the ball once so far in two series against the worst (actually, the 115th out of 119) rushing defense in the country?"

They're not very high on their running game?, I say.

"Well, wouldn't this be a good day to work on it," he says.

I don't like this guy. He makes too much sense.

John Carlson just scored. That's his 5th catch already today. I know that he had Anthony Bavaro-Fasano ahead of him for three years, but what a waste that John Carlson is really only getting one year as a starter. Carlson, who likely will break Ken MacAfee's single-season receptions record (maybe by the end of today), has a year of eligibility left but with the type of season he's been having, and since he'll graduate next May, he's gone. At least you'd have to think so.

But what do I know? I thought Tom Zbikowski would make a great pro.

By the way, last week: Brady Quinn last week: 18-25 passing, 295 yards, 3 TD passes. Brady Quinn this week after one quarter: 11-16, 148 yards, 2 TDs.

Okay, we've seen this all before:

1. Notre Dame receives the opening kickoff (9th time in 9 games)
2. Notre Dame comes out in a no-huddle offense (I'll say at least five of the first nine games).

As for the drive itself, Quinn completed four passes to four different receivers: John Carlson, Darius Walker, Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight (his 80th career TD pass).

If Charlie takes the brakes off, Quinn could have a career day versus North Carolina's defense. We'll see.

If you're keeping score on the Tom Gatewood watch (157 career catches, No. 1 all-time):

Rhema McKnight: 150
Jeff Samardzija: 145

I'm now living at a local Marriott Residence Inn, so on game day I hit the "Maximum Occupancy, 80 Persons" sign in the breakfast room before heading out the door. It's a little tradition I hope to continue.

Listen, it's hard NOT to look past today's game with North Carolina when Notre Dame's next two opponents, Air Force and Army, are playing one another on ESPN on the eve of the game. Air Force won 43-7, but Army simply handed them the game...badly. The Cadets fumbled on Falcon 1 yard-line early in the game, had the fumble returned 98 yards for a TD and from there on it was simply a blitzkrieg. The Cadets, who entered the game with the most turnovers (26) in the country, had five more in the first half. It was 43-0, Falcons, at halftime.

I doubt Erin Andrews had to cover that nightmare.

So, what to glean? Air Force, and option QB Shaun Carney, will give Notre Dame a test next week in the game most of us won't C-STV. But Army is going to be bad. The big battle will be between Charlie Weis, who will attempt to make the Army-Notre Dame game the shortest, in terms of actual time, in his tenure, and NBC, who has to sell soap in order to pay for my luxurious lifestyle.

Okay, apologies for getting all "Poseidon Adventure" on you, but there's got to be a morning after in college football, and on this one, after weathering a late night and an even earlier morning (it's no fun when your magnetic room card don't work at 2 a.m., followed by receiving a drunken dial), here's a bleary-eyed thought or two on last night's West Virginia-Louisville game:

1. The Louisville fans should be extremely proud of themselves this morning. Pizza Hut Stadium was a Black Sea of fandom, except for the two segregated West Virginia sections, which were bathed almost entirely in yellow. The fans were boisterous but, from what I could tell from standing on the sidelines during the 4th quarter, they were also entirely cool. In fact, before the Mountaineers' final possession, WVU quarterback Pat White stared into the stands and a few L'ville fans in the first few rows were clapping toward him and telling him that he'd played a great game--which he did. They weren't being snide or sarcastic. They meant it.

2. This may only matter to me and my ill ilk, but Louisville sports info dude Garrett Wall deserves a press box game ball. Before the game a number of us dimwit writer types had trouble accessing the 'ville's wireless internet system. Sometimes you sit in a press box and the 'tude that comes with telling someone that is, "not my problem". Wall was the exact opposite. He hurried right over to help and when he sat down in front of my laptop, it felt as if he were Captain Kirk and my compooter the Enterprise. I knew he was going down with that ship. Solid job, Garrett.

3. Steve Slaton and Pat White are just sophomores??? Whoa. If WVU's defense can improve (at one point in the game my bud Billy e-mailed to say that the Mountaineers were making Notre Dame's D look like the Chicago Bears), then this team is national-championship caliber.

4. Woke up this morning to yet another ESPN-sponsored argument (on Mike & Mike, whom I like & like) about how come we need a playoff. If ESPN weren't going to benefit more from that than just about almost anyone else, I might buy the integrity of some of this posturing. And, in the spirit of election week, I'd kill for some equal time on the airwaves to argue my position.
Anyway, a few thoughts:

A. West Virginia and Louisville are tremendously entertaining teams, but I don't think either one of them could either beat Michigan or Ohio State, or that either would be the best team in the SEC. Maybe not even the second-best team.
B. One of Greenie's main points is that there is a line of demarcation by which we all can agree that some teams would not deserve to enter the ring against, say, Ohio State. As an example he cited Notre Dame. I agree that Ohio State would likely beat the Irish, as they did last January. But has he thought about this? Surely, before last week he'd say that USC deserved to be in the ring against the Buckeyes. And then USC went and lost to an unranked Oregon State team. So if USC belongs in the ring against Ohio State, then so do the Beavers.
And that is why saying that a playoff is more fair makes my head spin. Because, in any one game, the Beavers could defeat Ohio State, just as in one game George Mason could defeat UConn in hoops. The beauty of the college game is that your worthiness is based on your body of work from the entire season.
C. The suits at ESPN or Fox or any network, even this one, would have hyped up last night's battle of unbeatens just as much if there were a college playoff. But, I'm sorry, the game would not have had the same electricity. The stakes would simply not have been as high. That is the point that these dudes in their offices-larger-than-my-apartment suites never seem to take under consideration.
D. As my friend Moose said the other day, "When are they just going to let you run everything?" From your lips to God's ear, Moose.

This has already been a wildly entertaining game. You wanna know two things that all classic college football games have in common?

1) The final score has both teams scoring in the 30s (or maybe one point above or below0
2) The last quarter makes you forget everything that happened the first three.

I have a feeling we're headed toward that type of finish. And, even though as I write this, UofL is about to punch it in to go up 37-21, don't worry, Mountaineer fans--excuse me, UofL just scored as I was typing. Michigan State was up 37-21 in the 4th on the Irish and WVU was down by 17 in the 4th last season. On the other hand, the Mountaineer secondary needs to start making some plays. Brian Brohm must already have gone over 300 yards tonight. He had 207 at the half.

So all week long the U of L folks have been imploring Cardinal fans to come clad in black to this evening's game and designating it "Blackout Thursday". So what happens? About two minutes in to the 2nd half a bank of lights go out here at Chuck E. Cheese Memorial Stadium and now the field is dimmed. It's not exactly a blackout, or even a brownout...but you know, Louisville's Trent Guy just returned a punt 42 yards for a TD, and now it's beginning to resemble a Blowout.

30-14, Louisville. But, as every Mountaineer fan can tell you, it was 24-7 Louisville early in the 4th quarter last October in Morgantown. The final on that one: WVU 46, L'ville 44, in triple overtime.

By the way, I'm sitting next to Eric Sorenson, who writes for CSTV.com. The last game both of us attended was the Notre Dame-Michigan State game. After L'ville went up 30-14, we both looked at one another as if to say, "I love you"....wait, no, that wasn't it at all! Eric's married. And, I'm not that kind of Gay. Guy! Guy! I'm not that kind of Guy (between Louisville's William Gay and Trent Guy, I'm more confused than the teenage son on "Still Standing" (Has anyone ever referenced "Still Standing" in a blog? Even in a "Still Standing" fan blog?).

Anyway, what I meant to say is Eric and I looked at one another as if to say, "Here we go again." Sure enough, West Virginia, with Steve Slaton on the sideline the entire series, just drove 91 yards for a TD to make it 30-21. Best play: QB Pat White, starting on the Cardinal 37, takes the snap, scrambles all the way back to his own 42 (that's 21 yarsdds behind the line of scrimmage), avoids Amobi Okoye, and then runs all the way to the Card 28 for a first down. He must have been the best kid on the playground for "Smear the Queer", as we used to call the game.

Wondering if WVU will bring back Slaton on their next series. Even though he's fumbled twice this half, you have to think Rich Rodriguez will.

By the way, one nice tactic by L'ville's defense: bunching up linebackers Nate Harris and Malik Jackson right over center and blitzing, which sorta blows up any handoff or QB keeper WVU might like to try. It's worked a lot in the last two quarters.

Last season Rutgers visited Louisville on the first Thursday of November, stomped on the Cardinal logo at midfield prior to the game, and promptly got destroyed, 56-5. One year earlier East Carolina also put some beak under their boots, and lost 59-7. Earlier this season Miami also went bird-braining and lost 31-7.

So tonight West Virginia played it smart. Not only did the Mountaineers not stomp on the Cardinal, but according to one of my press box co-conspirator, WVU had grad assistant guarding the Cardinal during pre-game warmups. That's right. The Cardinals were not guarding the Cardinal. The Mountaineers were.

But then, Louisville's been more than just simply dominant at Domino's Stadium the past three years. The Cards have won 15 straight, and while none of the opponents have been mistaken for a top ten team (at least not before this evening), check this out. In those 15 games the Cards are averaging

50.9 points per game!

...and they've allowed

16.0 points per game

A couple of years ago--no, wait, it was ten years ago...where does the time go?-- I spent three days at a high school coaches conference where they did nothing but discuss the single-wing offense. All these high school coaches ran it and all of them had great success--in part because nobody else they played ran it and thus, no one had much practice defending against it.

Watching West Virginia's offense, with QB Pat White lining up in the shotgun and always a threat to run, and with tailback Steve Slaton the only other back in the backfield, it reminds me of the single wing. It helps to have two backs who are as fleet as White and Slaton. White wears No. 5 and Slaton No. 10, so I'm sure I'm not the first sportswriter who's remarked that West Virginia nickels and dimes opponents to death.

Ba-dum.

So, after a series of wrong turns, dead ends and one-way streets not going my way--after driving 80 minutes to go less than 2 miles, all my fault--I have arrived at Little Caesar's Stadium. It's cold but clear outside, perfect football weather. All of the Louisville fans are clad in black (they're calling it "Blackout Night" here) while the peeps from Morgantown they, well, to quote Chris Martin, "they were all yellow".

It feels like a playoff game here. That's because it is. College football sprinkles its playoff games throughout the season. They're not worried about chronological order. I know that I crossed the line of sounding like a demagogue about this a long time ago, but it's worth pointing out just one more time : No. 3 West Virginia at No. 5 Louisville, on November 2nd, that's definitely a playoff game.

Tonight's loser will still have four games left, but that team knows that its chance for a national title will be over. While the winner will be one step closer. The loser from this game on will just be playing for the best bowl they to which they can tender an invite, which is a better consolation prize than a Spiegel catalogue gift certificate.

So my NBC (nothin' but cheerful) editor, Barry, gave me the go-ahead to drive down to Louisville to cover tonight's game against West Virginia. This is how long it's been since I've covered a game in Louisville: It was a pair of high school games and the quarterbacks of note were Tim Couch and Chris Redman.

Do you really believe that the Cardinals and Mountaineers are two of the five best teams in the nation? I don't. I think that West Virginia may be, but I'm not sure I buy Louisville minus Michael Bush and with a shaky Brian Brohm. I wish Bush were playing.

These two, as you know, played a classic in Morgantown last season. Alas, the game took place simultaneously with the USC-Notre Dame game, as well as the Penn State-Michigan nailbiter. I missed it, as did most college football fans. That day--October 15, 2005--has to be the best afternoon of college football of at least the last five years.

Anyway, it's sunny and cold in the 'ville right now. I'll try to blog some from the game tonight.