PUR-LOINED

Inveterate ND fan, alum and Chicago native Ferris (ND '88) writes in to say that he's disgusted with...are you ready for this...Zibby. Says his body language is crap today and he's the most overrated ND player ever. I'm not ready to go that far, but Zibby has been less than his usual self the past few games.

If you're hungering for a Notre Dame victory, here's some good news for you:

Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) defeated Saugus, 38-35, last night (and their QB, Dayne Crist, has verbally committed to ND.

Notre Dame Prep's (Scottsdale. Ariz.) junior varsity wiped out Washington Hig'sh (Phoenix)jayvee, 34-8, on Thursday evening. (mentioned because in effect this Irish team is its jayvee unit...it just lacks a varsity squad).

Notre Dame High School (Lawrenceville, N.J.) beat Nottingham (God help them if they're not the Sheriffs) 28-21 in their most recent game.

Notre Dame High (Niles, Illinois) beat St. Viator (Arlington Heights) 26-21.

Feel free to phone in with your own Notre Dame prep school scores, too. This site needs all the good Notre Dame football news it can get.

Armando Allen, who's putting a new spin on the term "AA Meeting" (except that he wouldn't have a 12-step program because normally he fumbles before that), just put another clip into the 2007 lowlight reel. Clausen hit him on a screen, but he was tackled for a 9-yard loss. But not before fumbling the ball and losing it to Purdue's Anthony Heygood (it was the first fumble that Heygood had "caused" in his four seasons of Appletini football).

We are two minutes shy of halftime and Purdue has already covered the spread. Which was 22 points.

I'm just trying to visualize the p.a. (production assistant) up in Bristol who's putting together the highlight package for today's game. It won't be at all about Curtis Painter's (likely) 400 yards passing and the seven different receivers he hit in the first half. It'll be another Keystone Kops segment on Notre Dame's miscues.

Is it possible to cover the Irish this season without sounding like Debbie Downer? Lord knows I'm trying.

Jimmy Clausen just threw his second bomb of the year to Golden Tate. And Tate just caught his second bomb of the year. The first one, back at Penn State, was negated due to a Sam Young hold (one of ND's more consistent plays this season). This one, a 36-yard gain, brought flags as well, but it was called defensive pass interference. Though it appeared to be offensive.

Anyway, that's two long passes to Tate, jump balls really, that he came up with. Might want to keep that one in the playbook.