DAILY DOMER: "IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY...

How will Yeatman's loss affect Notre Dame? Right now true freshman Kyle Rudolph is No. 1 on the depth chart and his classmate, Joe Fauria, who has yet to appear in a game for the Irish, is No. 2. Charlie Weis has had three games in which to burn Fauria's redshirt and he has not done it yet, which tells us he sure would like not to.

Seems to me that there is a way in which he could avoid doing so. I don't know if you've noticed this, but the Irish aren't all that interested in fooling people offensively. They pass out of five-wide sets and they run when there are two backs in the backfield.

And you may also have noticed that the Irish have a glut of talented wideouts. Six, to be exact. With the bye week upon us, perhaps Weis could begin working in 6-5, 220-pound Duval Kamara more as a tight end on obvious passing downs. When this idea was suggested to him, he noted that in a three-point stance Duval may not be as effective a blocker.

So don't have him block. Tackles Matt Romine or Trevor Robinson could play tight end on obvious running plays.

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Another point to be made on Jimmy Clausen's behalf--because the media seem to at best, grudgingly give him kudos. Terrelle Pryor was the most highly sought-after prep recruit in the nation last year. As you know, the dual-threat quarterback signed with Ohio State. Like Clausen, Pryor is starting at quarterback as a true freshman. Unlike Clausen, Pryor is surrounded by ten returning starters who just happened to play in the BCS national championship game a year ago.

So how is that Ohio State offense humming? Right now they are 108th in the nation in passing offense and 94th in total offense. And this while three of their seven opponents have been Ohio, Youngstown State and Troy. And a fourth, Purdue, held the Buckeyes without an offensive TD last Saturday despite coming into the game last in the Big Ten in scoring defense.

Two weeks earlier, by the way, Clausen and his Irish went for 38 against the Boilermakers.

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"It was 20 years ago today..."

No better date in Notre Dame football annals, in terms of memories, than October 15th. Twenty years ago today the most dramatic Fighting Irish game of my lifetime took place: Notre Dame 31, Miami 30. And three years ago today the next most dramatic game at Notre Dame Stadium occurred: USC 34, Notre Dame 31.

I missed the first game (my college girlfriend, the inscrutable by cute-able Cubi, insisted on visiting me in New Mexico when she had a pair of tickets for us...INSANITY!) but made the latter one. As I type this on a brilliantly beautiful autumn afternoon in New York, I am struck how similar the weather is today to both those days.

At the time that Notre Dame-Miami game was somewhat overshadowed by what occurred later that evening. Do you know what that was? Kirk Gibson's game-winning home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers against Dennis Eckersley and the Oakland A's in Game 1 of the World Series.

What a bygone era that was...when the Dodgers could make the playoffs with a bunch of no-names and a prodigal slugger from the American League. Hmm.

By the way, that Catholics vs. Convicts classic provided my old Dillon Hall co-habitant Tony Rice with the first of his three Sports Illustrated covers in less than three months' time. Has anyone besides Michael Jordan ever gotten that much SI cover-age in so brief a period? Anyone who never played a down in the NFL, NBA or MLB?

Finally, how loathesome would I be if I did not also mention that October 15th is the 42nd anniversary of the birth of the funniest Irish athlete (both by nationality and by school) I've ever known, Michael Smoron. This is a man who used to psyche himself up for cross-country meets by guzzling Cherry 7-Up and blasting Gregorian chants in his room. Happy Birthday, Smo!