November 2008 Archives

The Patriots, 23-3 in Foxboro since 1993 when the kickoff temperature is south of 34 degrees, galloped to a 7-0 lead as Mike Vrabel picked off Ben Roethlisberger on his second attempt of the game at the Pittsburgh 14 and Sammie Morris banged it in three minutes into the game. Horrid pick by Big Ben.

Given that Plaxico Burress was carrying a loaded, possibly unlicensed weapon in a place that serves alcohol and that said weapon was discharged in public, jail is a real possibility.

After doing some research, it's most likely that Burress will be charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third or fourth degree. The difference is, if it's in the third degree, it's a felony. If it's a fourth degree, it's a Class A misdemeanor. The fact that it appears Burress was not intending to commit a felony with the weapon on Friday night will likely put him closer to the misdemeanor charge. As for discharging the weapon, that would automatically add five years to the sentence if Burress was in the process of committing a felony.

Burress has retained attorney Benjamin Brafman to defend him. The Newark Star-Ledger's Jenny Ventras reports that Brafman addressed the media today and said Burress will, in essence, surrender to authorities.

"We will make arrangements for Mr. Burress to be present when required," Brafman said. "He's not running away from this. He intends to deal with this responsibly, and we hope it works out in the end. I would ask that the public, the Giants, the media and everybody else withhold judgment. He's presumed innocent, hasn't been convicted of anything, and we have a long road ahead of us."

This from an alumnus of Notre Dame as well as Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, who happens to be CEO of his company:

You know, the papers say the buyout is $12 million. How much was ND paying for head-coaching when they were paying Davie, Willingham and Weis at the same time? (Another Irish coach) used to always bitch about that.

The $12 mil would be amortized over the life of the deal, i.e., 2 mil for next 7 years. Therefore, if you found another coach at $2 mil, you're actually paying Saban money, but hopefully to the next Saban.

The bottom line is that from a business perspective, the cost of Weis's contract is a sunk cost. No matter what you do, you're paying that money in some form or another. You have to make the decision based on what incremental costs can you incur to make yourself better? If there are no costs that can do that, then you do nothing. If there is some cost, such as a better coach, the only decision is whether his incremental cost is worth the expected improvement.

Lee Corso does not understand this, but I guarantee you (Notre Dame Executive Vice President and Finance Chair) John Affleck-Graves does...

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James Aldridge ripped off a 15-yard gain on the last play of the 3rd quarter to get Notre Dame its first first down of the evening. Half the stadium gave the Irish a standing ovation. Pity. What a horrible emotion.

Aldridge and the Irish rushing attack should have been doing this all year. He's a big back who should be thriving. I've never understood, short of injury, why he cannot gallop like this every Saturday.

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Brandon Walker kicks a 41-yard field goal so that the Irish aren't blanked two consecutive seasons by USC. It was 69 points in a row for the Trojans before that play. The last Domer to score against USC: Jeff Samardizja.

I'm headed down to the field and then the interesting post-game interview sessions. Thanks for reading, everybody.

The most compelling reason to still be watching this game is to see whether or not the Irish earn a first down (even if only by penalty) this evening. I mean, can you imagine not getting one first down an entire game?

I'm not attempting to be negative here, only stating facts: Notre Dame scored 35 points in its very first half with Charlie Weis as coach. Tonight they are in danger of being shut out both on the scoreboard and in the first down category.

Lou Holtz was shut out once in eleven seasons (by that year's national champion, at Miami). Ara Parseghian was shut out once in eleven seasons, and that game actually ended in a 0-0 tie (and again, it was at Miami). Charlie Weis is in grave danger of being shut out for the second time in the past four games.

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USC has now scored 69 unanswered points versus the Irish dating back to the 4th quarter of 2006.

Brandon Walker just kicked off to begin the second half. Hope you weren't in the loo for that, as it may be the last Notre Dame kickoff you see in the Coliseum until 2010.

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Pat Kuntz vomited in the first half and apparently ESPN's cameras kept trained on him as he did so. Last week it was a snowball, this week it's intrusive cameramen. Kuntz just cannot catch a break on the sideline.

Notre Dame just received its first show of sustained applause in the Coliseum tonight. Why? Because it was for the marching band, and they formed an outline of the United States. Who's going to boo that?

The band also, in an earlier number, spelled out "BON JOVI" while playing one of his tunes. Will they never learn? And by the way, let's talk about the Bon Jovi curse. When JBJ walked outta Notre Dame Stadium on Oct. 25th, the Irish led Pitt 24-17. All downhill since then.

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USC's band is now playing and the P.A. announcer just noted that the Trojan motto back in 1979 (?) was "Win one for the fat guy". As in, then head coach John Robinson. That made our ears perk up. As one writer begged, "How about 'Get a first down for the fat guy'?"

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First half stats.

Notre Dame

minus-6 rushing yards

15 passing yards

9 total yards. NINE!

And zero first downs. (O of 6 on 3rd down).

USC has the best defense in the nation, no argument. But that output is putrid. And when you consider what Charlie Weis's claim to excellence happened to be when he arrived in South Bend.

A good friend, an Irish alum, just texted to make this observation: "Sam Young is the poster child for the Weis era: huge hype, no development, actual regression."

Sadly, I cannot disagree with him.

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The question is this: Has Cierre Wood decommitted yet?

USC is up 21-0 with 4:38 to play in the first half, but the greater story is that the Irish still are yet to gain a first down tonight. Difficult to fault the Irish defense when their offense is simply not showing up.

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Oh, do the Trojans have athletes. On ND's last series, Yourmando Allen cut a run outside. Against any other team it would have been at least a 7-yard gain. But any other team does not have Taylor Mays playing free safety. The 6-4, future NFL first-rounder has sizzling closing speed, and stopped AA for a gain of 2 yards.

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After Clausen threw a pass over the middle into double coverage that was picked off, Joe McKnight took the next play 55 yards to the barn. It was the longest USC rush from scrimmage this season.

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Then there was the swing pass to Stanley Havili, who ran up the right sideline, then cut it back against the grain to the opposite hash before being dragged down. And Havili plays fullback. No coach emphasizes cutting back against the field to its players better than Pete Carroll. Honestly, if they ever did a Smear-The-Queer national championship, USC, Oklahoma and Florida would be my top three-ranked teams.

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USC just picked up a 3rd-and-15. The Irish are totally outclassed, as the Trojans are about to make it 28-0 at the half. For your records, the worst defeat in Notre Dame history was 59-0 to Army in 1944. But that was during World War II, when rosters were not representative of the schools--and the service academies were loaded. The worst Irish loss in peacetime? 58-7 to Miami in '85. 

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Most representative, or at least iconic, play of the first half: USC is flagged for excessive celebration on a punt return for a TD that was called back for a Trojan clipping penalty. So they were flagged for excessive celebration on a play in which they did not even score.

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Pat Forde, seated next to me, reminds me, "Shades of 34 years ago...Notre Dame went up 24-0 just before halftime." Do the Irish have an Anthony Davis on the roster?

USC strikes first on a 79-yard drive that featured Mark Sanchez going 6 for 6 passing and a pair of 3rd-down conversions. The Irish defense looks decent, but as has been the case all season, they're not getting any pressure on the quarterback.

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USC kicker David Buehler, Buehler? has booted two kickoffs into the end zone (actually, the second sailed beyond it, and there's no wind) for touchbacks in the first quarter. That's one more touchback than the Irish kickoff team has had all season, and that one squibbed into the end zone.

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The TD was the first the Irish defense had allowed in the first quarter since the Purdue game on Sept. 27.

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Kyle McCarthy now has 100 tackles this season.

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2nd Quarter: The Irish just made their first 3rd-down stop, after consecutive USC screens to Joe McKnight lost 10 yards. Mark Sanchez has attempted 11 passes thus far, and all have been caught. Ten have been caught by Trojans, and the 11th by Irish DB Robert Blanton.

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7-0, after one, and the Irish have yet to get a first down. With that type of production, they cannot be that unhappy with the score. Charlie may have to get a little more creative in the passing game. Like Eastern Michigan-creative, where quarterback Andy Schmitt attempted 80 passes yesterday (completing an NCAA-record 58). But you know what? The 3-8 Eagles beat the 8-3 Chippewas. 

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Big cheer here as the scoreboard shows Oregon 30, Oregon State 10 in the 2nd quarter. Really? In Corvallis?

Everyone's favorite former walk-on, Mike Anello, is being carted off. Anello was hurt while making the tackle on Notre Dame's first punt of the eveing. His left leg is already in an immobilizing cast, so it looks pretty serious.

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Freshman Robert Blanton jumped a slant route and picked off Mark Sanchez's first pass of the evening. On the ensuing Irish drive ND, facing 3rd-and-2, brought in Mr. Obvious Short Yardage, James Aldridge. No gain.

That's really all this comes down to for Notre Dame.

I was standing just outside the tunnel as the Irish ran back inside following pre-game warmups. A USC fan shouted, "WORST ERA OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL EVER!"

Sadly, he is correct. No two-year stretch has ever been worse than these last two. Then figure in that the Irish have already had three coaches this decade (four, if you count George O'Leary) and that they have lost their last nine bowl games. Notre Dame is in the midst of its darkest period ever. And you wonder if these men in the gold helmets can reverse that trend this evening.

It seems so unlikely, but I'll go back to one of my favorite movie moments ever, from the final scene of Say Anything:

Ione Skye: "Nobody thinks this will work."
John Cusack: "You've just described every great success story."

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On the other hand...Ty Willingham's final game as Notre Dame coach was.....a loss at USC.

                             Lou Holtz's final game at Notre Dame head coach was....a loss at USC.

                             Dan Devine's final regular-season game as ND head coach: a loss at USC.

                             Ara Parseghian's final regular-season game as ND head coach: a loss at USC.

As Charlie Weis headed back into the tunnel following warm-ups, he was serenaded to the derisive chants of "Ten-year contract!"

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Trojans win the toss, defer until second half...

Greetings from the L.A. Coliseum, people. Sorry for the delay. Technical difficulties (and that's really what they were).

Let's begin with the Quote of the Year, the 2008 team's epitaph that also serves as a classic Yogi-ism, even if it did come out of the mouth of Jimmy Clausen earlier this week: "We've been consistent here and there."

As my buddy asked last night, Isn't that the same as being...inconsistent?

I was driving over to the Coliseum earlier this afternoon with Guest List Markazi and we pondered variations on that quote:


"With me it's always black and white...except when it's gray."
"Am I ambivalent? I'm not sure."

Anyway, from a pregame perspective, it's hard to glimpse this contest as potentially gruesome. You've got a USC defense that allows exactly one touchdown per game and that is 1st in the nation in both pass defense and pass efficiency defense. Add the fact that the Irish are minus one of their two deep threats, Michael Floyd, and you say to yourself, "They'll have to run the ball."

Except that the Irish are 91st nationally rushing the ball.

The only real solution is that Notre Dame will have to play better-and the Trojans worse--than they have all season. It's difficult not to see it as a foregone conclusion. It's like casting Jack Nicholson in a film with a beautiful young actress who is massively insecure and has abandonment issues with her dad. We all know where that story is headed.

Then again, as Dr. Lou said on ESPN earlier today, "That's what's going to make it such an amazing story when Notre Dame wins."

The Giants have all been pretty much on the same page in trying to defend their Super Bowl title this year.

Except for Plaxico Burress. He's not even on the same page, in the same book or within five blocks of the same library.

Nope, Plax -- who apparently went Barney Fife on himself Friday night -- is following his own program in 2008.

Shot himself. In the leg. On accident, as the kids would say.

I ask who among us, if given three guesses to name the recipient of a bullet in the leg Friday night, wouldn't have made Plaxico choice one or two?

I'm aware this is the portion of the program when we're supposed to cover our mouths, gasp and thank goodness Plaxico's OK. We're supposed hold off on the head-shaking and snickering for a day or two while the situation marinates.

Sorry. When you engage in consistent stupidity you forfeit the empathy that's afforded to those who don't do dumb stuff on the regular. If, say, Matthias Kiwanuka, Eli Manning or Amani Toomer shot themselves in the quad, real shock and concern would follow. How? Why? Will he be OK? 

With Burress it goes right from, "Will he be OK?" to "Moron."

How will this affect the 10-1 Giants who have been the league's best team this season? Not much. They're by now accustomed to the minor dust storms that Burress kicks up. As one Giant told me on the day New York beat Seattle 44-6 (Burress was suspended that day), "Do you think anyone gives a (poop) if he's here or not?"

Burress has done a nice job bungling the goodwill he engendered in 2007. That was when he played well and in pain, seemingly growing up and leaving behind the brooding, mumbling, image-conscious persona he cultivated at Michigan State, Pittsburgh and in his early days with the Giants. He caught the game-winning touchdown in a Super Bowl that will be discussed for decades.

But now, when people see that replay of him cradling the winning catch against the Patriots, they'll remember that within a year, Burress had become a pain in the posterior to the Giants and a pain in the thigh to himself.

It's also worth noting that Burress' behavior since getting the new contract he agitated for (a two-year extension to the six-year, $25 million deal he signed in 2005) does nothing to help the rest of his colleagues in the NFL. The trump card management holds over labor in the NFL is that contracts are not guaranteed. When a player like Burress gets a new deal then proceeds to pee all over the organization that gave it to him, it hurts all players. It's bad for business.

Burress, it's already being speculated, will only be laid low for a short period with his gunshot wound.

And now, as details emerge that Burress was in a Manhattan night club when his gun went off, he may also be laid low by the authorities. Toting heat in a place serving alcohol without a license and discharging a firearm in public are - generally - frowned upon activities in New York around the holidays.

Illegal possession of a weapon carries a mandatory 3.5 year jail sentence in New York, though there's little doubt a star football player will be able to wiggle off that hook whether because of his celebrity or the weight his employers can swing around.

On the bright side for Plaxico, he won't have to travel far with his bandaged leg to visit NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in his Park Avenue office to discuss the incident which could very well end up in a suspension.  

That could take a while to play out. But whether Burress contributes much or not to New York remains to be seen. Given the way New York's played with his intermittent 2008 participation it probably doesn't matter much. This season, the Giants seem pretty bulletproof. Even if Plax's thigh isn't.

One of the many things Bill Belichick has disdain for is pregame chest-thumping. He held forth on that Friday in a morning press conference in advance of Sunday's matchup with the Steelers.

"You can go in there and beat your helmet against your locker before you go out on the field, hold hands, chant, kick chairs and break blackboards, but as soon as the ball is snapped you do your job better than they do theirs or vice versa," Belichick testified. "After a couple plays, it might be after one play, it is really about execution. What team can do what they have to do better than the other team. No just individually one-on-one but collectively as a group. You get into situational football, field position, clock management, changing personnel groups, substitutions, calls and adjustments. That to me is what the game is about. I think you can go in there, take a sledge hammer and break up the cinder blocks, but I don’t think that helps you block them. I don’t think that helps you tackle them. I don’t think it helps you do what you need to do from a football standpoint. If you can’t do that then I think the rest of it is minimal."

The topic arose because - for the second year in a row - Steelers safety Anthony Smith "guaranteed"  a victory over New England. Like the one last year (which didn't pan out) Smith's guarantee came with caveats and wasn't terribly incendiary.

But still, it's out there and chances are good that Patriots players who were informed of Smith's boast won't know it was mildly worded. Belichick was asked if he's had to ask players to tone it down on his teams.

"I think in general what we all need to do is focus on what our jobs are and do that. There are a lot of potential distractions out there, stuff gets said and we all know what kind of stuff happens. Sometimes they can be distracting and I am not saying that we don’t feel them or it isn’t a burr in your saddle, but in the end you have to put all of that past you whether you are on the giving or receiving side, I have seen it go on both ways, and go out and do your job. That is really what it comes down to."

Belichick himself is wise to what's said in the days leading up to a game. Joey Porter, who talked a good game leading into the Pats-Dolphins matchup last week got an indirect jab from Belichick when the Pats coach discussed the work done during the week by linebacker Vince Redd who was honored for his work emulating Porter's style in the days leading up to the game.

"Last week (Redd's) role was really Joey Porter," said Belichick. "I thought he did a real good job on him, whether he had one tackle in the game or whatever it was (Porter had one tackle, a sack). I think we were well prepared to play him."

Asked if Redd also talked a good game as Porter does, Belichick quipped, "Yes, he kicked the dirt."

The Longhorns just defeated Texas A&M, 49-9. Mack Brown and the kids are probably more elated over the fact that they remain in the race for the BCS championship game, but the victory also means that Texas moves ahead of Notre Dame into 2nd place in all-time wins with 831. The last time that the Irish were neither No. 1 nor No. 2 on the all-time wins list was 76 years ago.

Great way to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend for the Notre Dame football program.

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Best sign at the Lone Star State Rivalry on Thanksgiving night: "JORVORSKIE LANE ATE MY OTHER SIGN."

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Caught a Friday Night Lights episode the other night--inexplicably, I've never seen it--and heard my new favorite expression for scoring a touchdown: "He's in the barn!"

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I wonder if Jason Whitlock will wake up Friday morning and decide to write a column criticizing Chris Fowler on his performance in the ESPN Turkey Bowl.

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Classic Dr. Lou during halftime of the A&M-Texas contest, addressing Mark May: "I'm thankful for you and I love you and...I'm thankful for the troops. And I wish you were with them."

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Today's Abe Lincoln bit of tid (for those who haven't been following, I'm reading me a book on the 16th president and thought I'd share some of the more interesting bits of tid): Thanksgiving had been celebrated after the harvest for more than two centuries, but it was never a formally recognized holiday until Lincoln made it so in 1863. Lincoln did so in part to recognize the sacrifices made in the Battle of Gettysburg, which took place in July of that year. In fact, the Gettysburg Address was given on Nov. 19, 1863, just days before the first Thanksgiving.

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Interesting name one friend passed on to me in terms of the possible candidates Notre Dame should look at in case they make a change. This coach was on the field when Lou Holtz suffered the most ignominious home loss (or so it was thought that afternoon) of his tenure in South Bend. Any idea who it is?

(Answer after the jump) 

Pete Fiutak of College Football News always says something worth reading, and today's column is no different. Fiutak makes the argument that Notre Dame needs to hire the man whom it let get away four years ago, Florida head coach Urban Meyer.

Whether or not you agree, what intrigues me is this: What if Meyer had come to Notre Dame after Ty Willingham was let go, and what if he had been able to land Tim Tebow after his first season? Can you imagine how much more famous Tebow would be had he wound up in South Bend? I mean, the Notre Dame quarterback devoting his spring breaks to doing missionary work in the Third World? Tebow in a golden helmet just might have been able to win a Beano Cook supply of Heismans.

Then again, had Tebow ended up in South Bend, he might have had fewer photo ops such as this or this. And, besides, with he and BQQB sharing a locker room even for just a year, there definitely would have been some Derek Zoolander-Blue Steel vibes going on.

As for the fate of Charlie Weis: first, take no credence in what any Irish fan says before Saturday evening regarding whether he should remain in South Bend or be fired. The result at USC is going to be very influential, even if people insist otherwise.

If the Irish give the Trojans a fight--and by that I mean lose by fewer than two touchdowns--it will be perceived as this team having played hard for its coach. Recall that it was only three Saturday nights ago that they were thoroughly embarrassed by an offensively limited Boston College squad.

However, if the Irish trail by four or more touchdowns entering the fourth quarter, then how do you imagine ESPN commentators Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge are going to be spending that final half hour or so of air time? 

They sure as shootin' aren't going to be discussing the defensive adjustments Corwin Brown (or is it Jon Tenuta?) needs to make. They'll be forced to opine on Weis' future as a montage of scenes (the 58-7 loss at Miami in '85, the 41-10 loss here at USC four years earlier) are shown, as a shot of a perturbed and helpless-looking Weis is broadcast to the nation.

That's why everything prior to Saturday night--from stories on Weis' future to possible candidates to every last person's opinion on whether Weis should stay or go--is moot. What happens at the Coliseum is pivotal--even if they say it ain't.

By the way, Stewart Mandel had a trenchant and very accurate riff on SI.com regarding the amorphous reportage and pronouncements that drown all these type of stories in utter ridiculousness. I laughed when I read it because less than half an hour earlier someone had told me what their source inside the Notre Dame athletic department had told them Tuesday morning. 

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Talking to WCVB in Boston today, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said his damaged left knee is doing well but video taken at a charity Thanksgiving event showed the pronounced limp with which the quarterback currently walks.

Brady, who had the ACL and MCL blown out in the first quarter of the Patriots first game was serving Thanksgiving dinner along with girlfriend Gisele Bundchen and other Boston celebrities at a downtown event put on by the charity Goodwill. 

Speaking in generalities as he signed autographs, Brady said, "I'm doing great. Good to be out here today and serving all these wonderful people. Just hanging out, resting and eating lots of turkey, Doing well, doing well."

Brady had surgery performed by Los Angeles surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache to repair the ACL and MCL in early October. The MCL was tightened and the ACL was repaired with a part of Brady's patellar tendon. An infection developed in the knee soon after and the process of flushing the knee from infection was started. A source told me in October the knee was "very bad."

The infection caused Brady to lose a significant amount of weight. Meanwhile, the current concern is whether the infection may have compromised the repair work done. If it does - and an examination of the knee's repair work will happen in the coming days - the repair work will be undone, the knee will be reflushed, scar tissue caused by the infection (Brady's range of motion is seriously limited) will be removed and -- after a six-week period -- the surgery will be performed again. With a six-to-nine month recovery period from surgery, Brady may not be ready for the opening of the 2009 season if the worst-case scenario happens.

If you log on to espn.com right now (2:55 a.m. Eastern time...and what are you still doing up?), you can hit the NCAA link and find not one but two pieces written in the past 24 hours about a 6-5 college football team. That program, of course, is Notre Dame. So now the countdown begins as to how soon we'll read a story on espn.com in which the author expresses irritation, even outrage, at how Notre Dame always hogs the spotlight. As if John Heisler puts these scribes up to posting these columns.

Gene Wojciehowski, based out of Chicago, parrots the argument that the five-year commitment that Notre Dame once gave its coaches (and followed through on) is what made the school different. "Now it's like everyone else," he writes.

So, apparently, everyone else has a 94% graduation rate for its football team, as the latest NCAA Graduation Success Rates state that Notre Dame does.

Apparently everyone else does not offer football scholarships to junior-college transfers.

Or one-year prep school transfers.

Apparently everyone else does not offer majors such as "General Studies" (which, when you think about it, is a paradox, since a major is by definition a concentrated field of study, but hey, why allow logic to interfere with a good thing?).

So, yes, Gene, if that is all true, then Notre Dame is exactly like everyone else.

Tyrone Willingham was a good man and a sub-par head coach at Notre Dame. Recent reports out of Seattle suggest that that scouting report is still accurate. Notre Dame had never fired a head coach before his five-year contract expired, but after three seasons, with the performances declining nearly as swiftly as the caliber of the recruiting classes, Notre Dame decided it had seen enough. Why waste two more seasons of everyone's time? And, I'm sorry, but they did pay him for those two years still on his contract, didn't they? And Willingham even landed another job while he was collecting that severance pay. It was like the Peter Principle on steroids.

Charlie Weis is not a minority and he can be somewhat of a blowhard at times (as can I) and so it's easy for many a columnist to imply, without coming right out and alleging it (unless you're Jason Whitlock), that Notre Dame has a racial insensitivity problem. Before they do that, they may want to read this book.

But, okay, that was a long time ago. What about now?

What about now? Well, about now athletic director Jack Swarbrick and the power apparatus that make such decisions have one mandate: To do what's best for the future of their school's football program in adherence with the school's principles. It isn't to appease sportswriters, many of whom (let's face it, guys) have a thinly veiled bias against the school, as if firing Charlie will convert any of them anyway.

And I imagine that Swarbrick is more concerned with creating an environment of academic and athletic excellence (right now they're batting .500) than with making sure a coach gets all the years on his contract.

Pat Forde ends his column with a similar call to arms:

Notre Dame fans have piously and pugnaciously insisted for four years that their school dealt with Ty Willingham fairly in firing him after three seasons. Well, it's time for deeds to back up words, and for Weis to be treated to the same fairness Willingham was. 

Pat Forde is a friend of mine (and he really is dashing!), but I just fail to find the logic in that. Here's an analogy: You're the head coach. Your starting quarterback tosses eight interceptions in his first three games and you decide to bench him. His replacement shows similar signs of struggle but you feel that he has greater potential. You have seen enough to convince you that he's the quarterback to lead your team in the future.

Now, what happens when your new quarterback tosses his eighth interception in just his third start? Must you bench him? After all, that's what you did to the other QB? Or do you say to yourself, "Is benching this quarterback in the best interests of my team?"

If it isn't, then are you really doing your job as head coach to bench that player simply to silence your critics?

Understand me: I'm not saying that Notre Dame should not examine terminating Weis after this season. And I imagine the volume on this topic is going to be turned up to Max after Saturday night as opposed to it subsiding. Because all signs point to this being a rout.

But you base that decision on what is in the best interests of your program. And the next time you fall in love (10-year deal, ahem), maybe you go on a few more dates before you get married.

...Rather than blather about a potentially 6-6 Notre Dame squad's bowl prospects, I'll just post this video of the best song from U2's worst album to introduce the latest development.

That is, Notre Dame, you're not the only one staring at the Sun Bowl. Here's the deal: If the Irish lose to USC (they began Monday as 29-point underdogs) and Rutgers beats Louisville on December 4th, Notre Dame will be told to pass the old El Paso. The upside is that they'll likely end up in a much more tourist-friendly locale, such as San Francisco (Emerald Bowl, so named because San Francisco is the Emerald City...no, wait, that's Seattle; never mind), San Diego (the Poinsettia Bowl), or Honolulu (Hawaii Bowl).

Pat Haden said on our pregame webcast last Saturday that he thought Notre Dame, at 6-6, should bypass a bowl invitation. I agree. But they won't. The fact is that there are five to ten bowl games that are legitimate honors and the rest are just there as an extra game for teams to play, with the added practice time that comes with it, and extra tourist revenue for host cities to collect. Reward? Basically, your reward as a student-athlete for going a very unspectacular 8-4 or 7-5 or even 6-6 is having to put in about three more weeks of practice (sandwiched around finals week and Christmas) in exchange for a trip to possibly Detroit or Toronto or Shreveport. Woo-hoo!

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Originating to you live this time from the familial compound in Sun Lakes, Ariz. This is the third different time zone I've blogged from today. It's like a time-warp blog.

A few letters I've received in the past 24 hours that I'd like to share with you. Such as this one from Jonathan:

"Okay, in every measurable way, Weis is doing far worse than Willingham was when he got fired. Weis has had an extra year to work, had a better team to work with, has had more favorable publicity and recruiting atmosphere, has had more support from the school, and has played an easier schedule. And yet he's still doing worse. I don't see how you can't say that either Willingham's firing was unjustified, or Weis needs to go now."

It is true that should Notre Dame lose next Saturday at USC (the Irish are 29-point underdogs) that Charlie Weis will have a worse won-loss percentage in South Bend than both Bob Davie and Ty Willingham did when they were fired. My question is this: Why is Ty Willingham's performance in South Bend the litmus test for whether or not Weis should retain his job?

There are, I find, two camps into which the "Fire Weis" crowd fall: 1) Those who loathe Notre Dame and 2) Those who want Notre Dame to succeed and believe that Weis is not the answer.

Of the former camp, there is a further subdivision: 1) Those who will never be convinced that Willingham's firing was anything but racially motivated and 2) those who just have always hated Notre Dame for its "self-righteousness" and want to trap the Irish in their own supposed hypocrisy. And I suppose those two groups are not mutually exclusive.

Any decision that Notre Dame, or any other football program, makes on its head coach should concern itself with one principle: What is in the best interests of the university? Notre Dame should not fire Charlie Weis to appease the self-appointed pharisees who feast on schadenfreude, nor should they do so to allay concerns that Weis is getting preferential treatment as opposed to Willingham (I know this is an old argument, but I'll raise it again: Is Notre Dame more racist for firing Willingham than the 100 or so FBS schools who have never hired an African-American head football coach?)

 Even if Ty Willingham were 11-0 this season instead of 0-11, it should have no bearing on Weis' job status. What matters is this: What is in the best interests of this university and its football program in the near future? Keeping Weis or firing Weis?

If you want to make an argument that Weis should be fired because the school is better off without him, make that one. Using Willingham's situation as your point of delineation, however, is irrelevant. You can argue that it isn't fair in your mind that Weis is being given more latitude than Willingham was, and I might agree with you. But an older child may argue that the youngest is receiving more attention than he ever did. What are the parents supposed to do? Stop giving the baby of the family as much attention? Circumstances change, but the role of the parents is always to do what's best for the family.

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Rothstein has Charlie Weis' reply to the question as to his big-picture future at Notre Dame verbatim on his blog. I feel for Weis in the sense that I'm sure he hates losing, as well, but that is a question that deserves a more succinct reply, no?

Will this team be better next year? Of course they will. Look at the number of starters that will be returning. The question that is not being answered, though, is this: Is this team as good as it should be right now? 41 yards on 28 carries against one of the nation's worst rushing defenses suggests that it is not.

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The Colts' long drive that made it 17-10 with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter culminated in a four-down sequence at the San Diego goal line that crackled with drama.

To review:

First and goal, Dominic Rhodes is stopped in the Indianapolis backfield for a loss of 1.

Second and goal, a shovel pass to Rhodes goes nowhere.

Third and goal, and before the play Indianapolis takes a time out -- its second of the half. Rhodes goes off the left side but is stopped short of the goal line. A helmetless Stephen Cooper celebrates.

But wait.

The Colts go for it on fourth down. Indianapolis lines up in an empty backfield. Manning finds Rhodes on the quickest of slants for six.

Can the Chargers answer?

An ominous statistic for San Diego backers: the Chargers this season are 1-6 when trailing after three quarters.

1. McNabb Benched...What's It Mean?

Donovan McNabb gets his job back this week against the Cardinals. But he might want to start searching his basement for boxes because after Sunday's benching against the Ravens, the Eagles icon appears close to having to clear out his desk in Philly. You don't come back from this kind of humiliation at this stage of your career. Not in the same city. Not when it comes just days after the football-watching world was given cause to question whether McNabb was really as sharp as he's been given credit for being all these years. Andy Reid threw McNabb overboard in an effort to jumpstart the season. Now he's helping him back into the boat since backup Kevin Kolb also sucked? What if Kolb looked, ya know, capable? What then? Meanwhile, it will be interesting to watch the legion of McNabb rumpswabs in the media pogoing to his defense - mostly former players - who are fundamentally unable to distinguish between criticizing the player and criticizing the man. Guys. It's all right to speak your minds and judge objectively and without agenda. McNabb's a big boy. He can take it.    

2. What's Matt Cassel's Future?

A couple weeks back, I sidled up to Matt Cassel and asked him if he had thought at all about what his performance will mean for him next year. He looked at me as if I'd just asked him to sniff glue with me in the parking lot. "Haven't even thought about it," he said. Well, terrific. So much for planning. Of course it's occurred to the boy that he's a free agent at the end of the season. And it's also likely he's realized that if JaMarcus Russell and Alex Smith can sign $50 and $60 million deals on spec and fall flat on their faces, a player with actual NFL experience that's playing like a borderline Pro Bowler should be able to command even more dough than them. There's been speculation in New England that the Patriots should franchise Cassel. They don't plan to. First, it would be an affront to the NFLPA and a clear violation of the spirit of the franchise tag. Second, it sends an awful message to the rest of the locker room if you're willing to keep a player from playing and making the money he's in line for with a BS move like the franchise tag. As for how he'll play at his next stop, it's worth noting that he's throwing to the most gifted wide receiver in NFL history, one of th best slot receivers I've ever seen and playing for arguably, the best coach of the modern era. His next stop might not have those bases covered.

3. How Many Job Openings Are Going to Emerge?

Let's see, Andy Reid's in the conversation now. And Romeo Crennel surely is as well. All three interim coaches. And Tony Dungy and Mike Holmgren could both be stepping down (Holmgren definitely is). And then there's Rod Marinelli's job in Detroit not to mention the possibility, however unlikely, of Marvin Lewis and Herman Edwards being relieved. That's a lot of job openings, folks.

4. Who's Your MVP?

There are more than a half-dozen players who can be included in the conversation for league MVP. I've got Brett Favre. Matt Cassel. Albert Haynesworth. James Harrison, Justin Tuck. (I'd say the Giants whole OL if I could), Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Kurt Warner. Drew Brees as well, although MVP should only go to a player from an average to poor team in exceptional circumstances. It's a fascinating talking point, no?  

5. Should the Lions and Cowboys on Thanksgiving Tradition Be Scrapped?

Yep. Make the whole Thanksgiving Day slate flex games. With captive audiences from one side of the country to another, the networks deserve to be able to serve up better and more intrguing holiday fare than the same tired franchises every season on the last Thursday in November (this is aimed more at the Lions, Cowboys fans). Instead it's Lions vs. Titans? Oh. My.

The Chargers appeared to take control with a nine-play, 89-yard drive, going ahead, 10-3 -- only to see the Colts come back and tie it with under a minute to go on a pick play that freed Anthony Gonzalez for a wide-open reception.

Not surprisingly for a tied game, the halftime stats are just about even: 53 rushing yards for Indy, 49 for San Diego; 133 passing yards for Indy, 148 for San Diego.

For the Colts, a loss would be, well, a loss.

For the Chargers, the season hangs in the balance.

The Colts put together a 12-play, 62-yard drive but managed only three points.

The Chargers: well, San Diego did manage one first down -- on the last play of the quarter, a Philip Rivers heave down the left side to Malcolm Floyd for 31 yards.

This was a defensive 15 minutes and after those 15 minutes it's clear what the two teams' defensive strategies are:

- The Colts are keying on Tomlinson.

- The Chargers are bringing heavy pressure on Peyton Manning on every passing down.

Pre-game introductions are typically so much noise and fury. For once, here tonight in San Diego, they produced a fascinating development: LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers' all-world running back, broke out of the inflated Chargers' helmet in the southwest corner of Qualcomm Stadium and tore through the lines of teammates with what looked to be his characteristic speed.

You know, the speed that had marked LT's play before the first half of this season, when he was slowed by nagging injuries.

If LT is on, the Chargers are -- just to be obvious -- way more formidable. Dating to his rookie season in 2001, when Tomlinson runs for more than 100 yards, San Diego is 36-11.

(Live from Gate H-6 at O'Hare International Airport)

Just finished listening in to Charlie Weis' Sunday presser. But before we discuss that, let's talk about this man. In the last two games he has blocked a punt and caused a fumble. He is the smallest Notre Dame football player (smaller than even the punter and field goal kicker) to see any regular game action. He is tied for tenth in the team in tackles (22, or 2 per game) despite playing just a handful of snaps all season long on defense. He has forced two fumbles, recovered another, and blocked a punt.

If you were to base a team Most Valuable Player award based on impact per play, he might just be the MVP of the Fighting Irish this season. He is shorter, I think, than the 5-10 at which he is listed. He is a remarkable athlete, though, let's not take that away from him. 

But he is a kid who walked onto this team. He was not recruited, unlike all the four- and five-star studs on the roster. He was a kid who just loved football and probably Notre Dame, as well. He had desire. Persistence. Will. And it shows every play in which he is on the field.

And so my question is, How come Charlie Weis cannot get more of his roster to perform like Mike Anello?

I understand there's a difference between being an impact player on special teams and on offense or defense. And certainly Anello is not the only playmaker on this squad--names such as Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, David Bruton, Pat Kuntz, Mo Crum and Sergio Brown come to mind. The play that Toryan Smith made on the fumble recovery was terrific (and, yes, the facemask to Gary Gray should have been called and would've given the Irish a first and goal at the 3 and well, who knows?).

But what the Irish (Do they really deserve the "Fighting" modifier at this point?) lack are players who make plays when it truly matters. And you can talk about talent. You can talk about inexperience. But two of the players most responsible for Syracuse's win yesterday were a former walk-on quarterback, Cameron Dantley, and a true freshman tailback (Antoin Bailey). In bitter cold weather, on the road, these two made the plays that mattered to win the game.

It's not about talent any more. It's not about inexperience. It's about Coach Weis finding the means to get more of his four- and five-star recruits to play the way that Mike Anello does. The way Chris Zorich did. And Derrick Mayes. Etc.

(I saw Zorich on the field about 15 minutes after the game yesterday. He just looked at me and shook his head. His face said it all. I read, "How can you play for Notre Dame, how can you play football, and not just leave every drop of effort on the field?")  

Tom Coyne of the A.P. re-broached the "Why are you fit to be coach?" question, and while I was unable to write quickly enough to quote Coach Weis verbatim (that will appear on a transcript in a few hours, hopefully), he essentially said, "Last year we were a crummy team. This year we're a decent team, not a good team, but a decent team. And next year we have the chance to be a pretty darn good football team."

A few more items...

--Weis was asked about next Saturday's nemesis, Pete Carroll, and he praised Carroll for being able to recruit a stable of outstanding talent and, perhaps more importantly, keeping them all happy (Two words: Sorority girls!). (Woo!). As an example, Weis cited Marc Tyler (Jimmy Clausen's high school teammate), "a guy we really wanted, and he's a 4th-string halfback there."

--More on his job status: "I can't worry about my job status. I'm the head football coach and that's what I intend to be."

--On whether a 6-6 Irish squad should go bowling: "The downside of not going to a bowl game is all the practices that you miss. Hey, no one's jumping up and down (about our record)."

--On the snowballs being launched at the sideline from the student section, Weis was strangely, and overly, diplomatic: "I was taken back by it to tell you the truth. Maybe it was meant in fun. But it's a dangerous thing. I wish that it could have been avoided."

Donovan McNabb's been benched. Digest that for a moment.

Why, you ask? 8 for 18 for 59 yards with two picks and a fumble. How's that. And a 10-7 deficit that just got turned into a 12-7 deficit when McNabb's replacement Kevin Kolb got nothing done on his first possession and the Ravens blocked a punt for a safety.

So we can all but blow out the dimming candle that is the Eagles playoff hopes and now try to make sense of where they go from here with their franchise hood ornament being handed the indignity of a benching. And not just a benching at any old juncture but a benching when the Eagles former Pro Bowler spent a week getting assailed for not knowing that NFL games could end in ties.

The Eagles, at least in my experience around the team the past few seasons, are extremely loyal to McNabb. And that loyalty could be seen this week as players like Brian Westbrook leapt to McNabb's defense on the "tie game" brouhaha. So for them, benching McNabb could seem like grinding his face in the dirt when he's already down.

And for head coach Andy Reid, who's already under the gun himself, this seems like an effort to move away from the player who's been there through every one of Reid's successes and failures as a head coach.

Believe this, the Eagles team that enters the locker room this afternoon when this game ends will be a far different one than the one that exited it. It's a page-turning in Philly.

JETS @ TITANS

It's not been Kerry Collins' day in Tennessee so far. Late in the first half, the Titans quarterback is 7 for 21 and the Titans defense is to be thanked for the 10-3 score at the break. Two forced fumbles on Brett Favre - one recovered on a strip-sack by Jevon Kease - have buoyed the Titans who are trying to overcome Collins' uneven start. It's 10-3, Jets at the break and New York's got to be feeling good about how its secondary is making things hard for Collins heading into the second half in a huge game for the Jets.

PATRIOTS @ JETS

New England's should have its foot on Miami's throat right now but it's only 17-14 at the break because Miami's turned two New England turnovers into touchdowns. CBS flashed the stat that opponents have managed just 13 points on 13 New England turnovers before today. Randy Moss hasn't gotten a lot of looks but he did turn a short curl into a touchdown with a nice run after the catch which is not his forte. New England's squelched the Wildcat offense so far.

EAGLES @ RAVENS

Donovan McNabb's having an awful week. Three turnovers by No. 5 have put unusual stress on the Philly defense and the Eagles are lucky to be down just 10-0. First, McNabb was sacked and turned it over on the Baltimore 24. On Philly's next possession, on third-and-1, McNabb got picked again and, if it wasn't for the Iggles defense forcing Baltimore into a fourth-and-37, there would have been a field goal attempt. McNabb was picked on the next drive as well and it got to 10-0 on a tremendous touchdown catch by Daniel Wilcox. Will Demps took a kickoff back 101 to save from halftime face. This ain't gonna shut anybody up in Philly.

VIKINGS @ JAGUARS

Jack Del Rio's head must be ready to pop off. Minny got up 14-0 on a bad snap that turned into a touchdown and, three plays later, another touchdown after the Jags fumbled the kickoff. The Jags have scored 10 unanswered after falling behind 17-0.

BUCS @ LIONS

Another head ready to pop off? Rod Marinelli's. His winless Lions got up on the Bucs 17-0 and then Tampa reeled off 21 straight. It's 21-17 at the break.

Maybe we are all wrong, but sitting here on Sunday morning in my hotel room, it's difficult to look ahead to next Saturday night's game in the Los Angeles Coliseum (in prime time! and nationally televised!) and not see ominous signs pointing to 58-7 in 1985 at Miami and 41-10 in 2004 at USC.

Those, as you know, were the final games of Gerry Faust's and Ty Willingham's tenures.

Here's the difference: This time there's no Urban Meyer out there. Unless it's Urban Meyer. Perhaps the Florida head coach would feel sated after a second national championship in three seasons. Florida Today columnist Peter Kerasotis suggests as much in this column written last week. On the other hand, Urban Meyer did use the Notre Dame offer to leverage a better deal out of Florida four years ago. Might this just be a ploy to wrangle a contract extension out of UF.

You're going to love this, Irish fans. Guess the author of the following quote yesterday evening:

''When you feel like you've got a game won and you just need one play and you don't get it done, it's tough."

The author of that statement? This man.

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You're Manti T'eo, high school linebacker from Hawaii. More than one recruiting site rates you as the No. 1 prep linebacker in the nation. You visit Notre Dame and you are exposed to 1) 20-degree weather, 2) a football team that cannot put away a dead carcass of an opponent and 3) students pelting the home team, their own classmates, with snowballs.

If you're him, don't you pull the Risky Business "Looks like the University of Illinois" line out of your pocket? Pronouncing "Illinois" as "U-S-C", of course?

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Really, Notre Dame students? Really? Throwing snowballs at the football team? And these, by the way, were students sitting in the senior class section. Nice. I hope someone informs Ethan Johnson and Pat Kuntz exactly who was responsible and that they're able to handle that matter without official university procedure.

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The best Jimmy Clausen could offer ollowing the game was, "It's college football. Anything can happen on any Saturday." Wow. I"m not worried about Clausen's arm half as much as I am about his head. Perhaps he feels much worse than he allows to the media, but what he (or his handlers) may fail to understand is that the media is simply a conduit to the fan base. Clausen may see a bunch of middle-aged, poorly dressed white dudes when he speaks a line like that, but he's actually speaking to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fans.

They want anguish. They want pain. They want to believe that the quarterback of the Notre Dame football team, the person who has the job that almost every last one of them coveted or covets at some point in their lives, feels as badly about this loss as they do.

Quotes such as that one? All they do is add fuel to the fire that Clausen came to Notre Dame simply for the Robot Genius tutorial session and nothing more. Fans want to believe that Clausen is more than just a mercenary. There's little to demonstrate yet that he isn't.

You felt Brady Quinn's pain when the Irish lost to USC (in 2006...and 2005...and 2004...and--what's the point?). Losses such as yesterday's remind you just how rare and special BQQB and Jeff Samardzija were, actually. Samardzija will rip it up on the diamond for the next decade perhaps, but it would have been fun to see what he could have done in the NFL. 

Ever since the Irish failed to score a TD after first-and-goal at the 5 (which would have made it 27-10) I've had the feeling that they will lose this game. Not rooting against them, just the feeling that they'll lose.

This looks awfully bad for them.

Notre Dame just drove zero yards in three plays for a field goal.

The Irish had one nice scoring drive this half that began 68 yards from paydirt and culminated in their bread-and-butter play, a Go! route to Go!lden Tate Warrior. That one a 46-yarder.

But the Irish also had drives that began at Syracuse's 23, 24 and 5 yard-line in the 3rd quarter and only scored a total of 3 points. Good teams don't waste that many opportunities.

Toryan Smith is showing the coaching staff that he might should've been a starter, or at least playing more, before this. T. Smith recovered a Curtis Brinkley fumble, ran a few yards, and made a perfect pitch to Gary Gray for an extra 15 yards. If nothing else, T. Smith brings a lot more fun to the gridiron.

So, we were wondering whether the carbon neutrality was responsible for the heavy condensation in the press box. And then I was wondering what carbon neutrality actually is, and whether I can be barium neutral or einsteinium neutral. Will any element do?

So, according to Wikipedia, carbon neutrality is this. No, wait. That's not it. It is this.

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Notre Dame has started its two second-half drives on the Syracuse 23 and 24 yard lines and they have zero points to show for it. The Irish are literally squandering Golden opportunities. Oh, and they've already wasted two of their timeouts.

Halftime here in the rapidly fogging press box--there's maybe some hot-and-heavy action going on by the hot dog counter?--, it's halftime. Paula and her husband John and I are chatting and Paula (alias, "The Smart One") just offered that Notre Dame, before that last-minute drive, had just 61 yards passing in the first half.

I remind you, this is against a Syracuse defense that is 104th in yards allowed and 106th in points allowed.

And, as always this season, Notre Dame's bailout package is named Golden Tate. No one makes better plays on poorly thrown balls. In fact, perhaps Jimmy Clausen intentionally underthrows them (I doubt it) because those plays are more successful when he does.

Tate now has seven TDs on the season (tied with Michael Floyd for most on the team) and he has now surpassed Floyd by one catch for the team lead in receptions (48).

Also, Rothstein just stopped by and don't ask how this came up, but it's not kosher to eat meat and cheese together. I never knew that. No cheeseburgers if you're Jewish? Can we get a ruling on that?

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I'll blame Greg Robinson for Syracuse being down at the half. The Cuse got a big first down with just over a minute remaining on a 3rd-and-4 pass over the middle to Nick Provo (that play has been there all game long). The Irish had used two timeouts earlier in the series, hoping to get the ball back with enough time to mount a drive.

So 'Cuse gets the first with about 90 seconds left, at about their 45. Robinson--well, you can't blame him for taking chances at this point, what does he have to lose?-- puts Cuse into its two minute O, and a couple of incompletions later they're punting to the Irish without having used much clock time. In fact, Notre Dame still had one timeout remaining (which they never used).

If Robinson had just run the ball on those three plays, it would be 10-6 Cuse at the half and receiving the kick to begin the second half.

Final note on all that: With 9 seconds left and one timeout in their pocket, Notre Dame had the ball on the Cuse 35. You figure Charlie can chuck it anywhere, burn the timeout, and have Brandon Walker kick a 3rd field goal.

Instead, they throw the Go! route to Golden Tate. It worked, but if it had not, the timeout wouldn't have mattered and the Irish would be searching at a 52-yard field goal with two seconds left. Lucky it worked, and you have to admire the moxie, but that was quite a risk.

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Just two penalties (one on each team) called in the first half. Three penalties called on Syracuse in the first four plays of the second half.

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It is early in the 3rd quarter, and no exaggeration, it's totally "The Fog" here in the press box. I'm officially throwing a flag on the Notre Dame staff for Excessive Condensation. 

John, Paula's husband, just said, "This football game's unwatchable."

I'll assume he means the fogged-up windows.

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Two penalties the entire first half. Five penalties in the first three minutes of second half. You think somebody might be overcompensating?

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With 6:48 remaining in the first half, Syracuse leads 10-3. The Orange are simply outplaying the Irish all over the field. Quarterback Cameron Dantley, whose dad is arguably the greatest hoopster in Notre Dame history (or maybe it's Austin Carr...and maybe Luke Harangody is in the top seven on that list)...where were we? Yes, Dantley has been outstanding. He completed a 23-yard pass on 3rd-and-9 from the 20 and has three completions of 17 or more yards.

The only aspect of the game where the Irish have been better thus far has been on punt coverage. But then, Syracuse has not yet had to punt. David Bruton made a signature David Bruton play, the type he seemed to make every week when he was a sophomore gunner.

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Now, on what will likely be their final drive of the half, the Irish offense has oused from its slumber. Better blocking, better passing, and AA (Armando Allen) has made sharp, decisive cuts. And now ARTHUR JONES nails James Aldridge in the backfield. That's the Orange DT's 3rd TFL of the first half. The Irish had to settle for a 45-yard Brandon Walker field goal. Well, at least his job is secure Walker has now made 11 of his last 12 field goal attempts, and in less than ideal conditions, which is to say cruddy weather.

With 2 minutes before halftime, Syracuse leads 10-6....

...on Senior Day

...with a lame-duck coach

...with a 2-8 record

...with the 114th-best total offense

...with the 104th-best total defense

The Cuse is leading, 10-6.

Which reminds me of a book that mentions their handle in its title.

Before the game Paula Faris, when I asked her to name Notre Dame's MVP thus far, only half-jokingly said, "Mike Anello."

She may be right. Certainly no one on Notre Dame does more with less. Anello, who's about 5-9, maybe 5-10, made yet another special special teams play just now. After the Irish went three-and-out on their opening drive, Anello did his gunner job to perfection, beating coverage and being close enough to Syracuse's punt returner to say, "Mail gram for Mongo!" when he caught the ball.

Anello stripped the ball and John Ryan recovered for the Irish on the Cuse 23. After another moribund three-and-out, Brandon Walker connected on a 34-yard field goal to make it 3-0.

Walker has now made 10 of his last 11 field goals. And Irish fans are getting to see what a difference Mike Floyd makes for this offense, even when he doesn't touch the ball.

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Irish stopped on 4th-and-2. Notre Dame's new play-caller, a Mr. Weis, deserves credit for at least infusing some imagination into the playbook: ends around (or is it "end arounds"?) to both David Grimes and Golden Tate and a screen pass to Kyle Rudolph, who absolutely plowed over the Cuse's Dorian Graham thanks to a 65-pound advantage. Graham fell backward, but slowed Rudolph enough to keep him from getting the first.

So far the Irish lack consistency in their attack. The Orange offense has actually looked better...and Cameron Dantley has yet to throw an INC, I believe. Also, the Cuse would be leading now if their halfback had a better arm. Tight end Dan Sheeran was wide open and had to dive backward just to catch the ball for a 25-yard gain. There was no Irish defender near him.

Oh, and freshman defensive end Ethan Johnson, who was not wearing his helmet on the sideline, got nailed by a snowball thrown from the stands. Tough crowd.  

It's weather such as today's that is the reason USC only plays here in mid-October. Pat Haden talking smack, but he's up in the press box. Sideline reporter Alex Flanagan is also a SoCal resident (and an Arizona native..as am I...as is Haden, for that matter), but she's being a trooper today. She's down there on the sideline for the entire game.

Also on the sideline: super-recruit Manti T'eo of Honolulu. I wanted to ask him where he bought his coat. I can't imagine there are any good winter coat stores in Hawaii.

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By the way, did you see that they're updating "The Year Without a Santa Claus" and basing it entirely around cult favorites Snow Miser and Heat Miser. I still remember being a little kid, seeing them for the first time and the epiphany that that caused. Oh, so this is what they mean by camp humor. I was like, Buh-bye, Burl Ives.

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Season-ending episode of True Blood tomorrow night, which is totally worth seeing. My favorite touch of last Sunday's show was the old man at the counter eating pie who pronounced it "vampers". Great subtle touch.

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Last Woo! Girls reference of today. Can we trace the origin of Woo! Girl'ing back to the B-52's "Love Shack", which has a few parenthetical 'Woos!" thrown in?

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Michael Floyd wearing a navy-blue sweat suit. He is walking with his left leg extended, as if it's in a splint. Don't be surprised, though, if Brian Smith returns in time fo USC.

Four minutes before game time. Sergio Brown, Brian Smith and Ian Williams are standing in the northwest end zone corner, yanking their arms and exhorting the students to crank themselves up. Sergio Brown is the team's Most Valuable Crank Yanker, so to speak.

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Syracuse wins toss, defers to the second half. Irish to receive on south end.
 

Greetings from the Notre Dame press box. Let's begin with the temps, which are anything but bon. It feels like the dead of January here today: slate-gray sky, 18 degrees, snow on the ground (the field has been cleared, but not so much the stands...expect to see a flurry of snowballs in the student section today). There's no wind, so the passing game will only be affected in terms of receivers' ability to catch thrown balls.

But trust me, it's cold.

It's the kind of sub-freezing, perma-frosty morning here where, when you were a student, all you thought about was making it through your morning classes and hoping that the dining hall would be serving chicken patties (!) for lunch.

After dinner last night at Bruno's (it's out of the way, but if you ever visit South Bend, you have to make it there) Rothstein and I went to the JACC, where the men's basketball team's game at Loyola Marymount was being shown on closed-circuit. We expected--I don't know what we expected--but there were, when we arrived just before halftime, no more than two dozen people inside watching.

I thought there'd be at least that many viewers there just to escape the cold. "Rothstein," I said, "we used to get more guys in my buddies' triple to watch ND hoops games when I was here."

(Which is true...What I didn't add is that we used to get more guys in that triple to watch "Cheers".)

(Ted Danson, my hair-style hero, ever since 1984).

Anyway, the men won but looked underwhelming. Kyle McAlarney failed to score and even though the winless Lions (was this the first time the Christians were favored vs. the Lions?) were without head coach Bill Bayno (ill) and their leading scorer and rebounder, Vernon Teel, after six minutes (ankle), the Irish never really put them away. In fact, LMU was within 3 with seven minutes left to play.

Fortunately for Mike Brey, ND's hands team recovered the onsides kicks in the waning moments.

Meanwhile, the N.D. women's soccer team beat Minnesota in an NCAA 3rd-round game outside here last night. That must have been brutal. Night time, temps in the low 20s, snow on the ground.

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Game Outlook: With the chilly weather (five space heaters on the Irish sideline for senior day), I expect the Irish to attempt to do anything possible to build a two-touchdown lead and then run the ball copiously. Am curious to see how Syracuse back Curtis Brinkley (106 yards per game) fares. Everyone around here remembers how Javon Ringer and LeSean McCoy ran against the Irish, not to mention what the outcomes of those games were.

Keep your eyes on No. 49, Toryan Smith, on defense. Last week the junior came in for injured LB Brian Smith and was terrific, notching a team-high 10 tackles. Today he gets his first start of the season (he had two starts in '07) and before the home crowd. I'm curious to see how much of an impact he'll make.

On offense, I wonder how Florida native Armando Allen will adapt to this weather, even though he has now been through two South Bend winters. Local kids James Aldridge and Robert Hughes have the better builds and more history in weather like this. It's about holding onto the football on a day like this. Don't be surprised if the latter two get more than their normal quota of carries. 

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Glamour Emergency: I got a two-bed room this time, meaning that America's Guest didn't have to sleep on the floor. But the wild-maned scribe, who can be heard on this clip, endured a semi-catastrophic loss when his hair-gel exploded this morning (was the weather to blame?). Ironically, when I spread this news to our friend Brian Hamilton, who was en route to South Bend from Chicago at the time, he was listening to Hair Nation on Sirius.

Here we go, people...

Michigan (3-8) at No. 10 Ohio State (9-2), Noon, ABC

            Rest easy, Michigan fans. There is no band named “Dead Carrs”, though a member of The Cars is deceased…as Rich Rodriguez stares at his offensive depth chart and sighs, "You're all I've got tonight." Napoleon Dynamite’s prey of choice has never lost five straight to the Buckeyes.

            Woody-not-Harrelson 38, Bo-not-Derek 10

Tennessee (3-7) at Vanderbilt (6-4), 12:30 p.m.

            Rothstein believes that Rocky Top has a win-one-for-the-Fulmer mentality. I believe that we could solve our financial crisis by legalizing and then taxing most vices. And I’d add a special “Autobahn lane” on all interstates where, for $100, you can drive whatever speed you like (this is also known as “all roads in Montana”). As for football, Vandy will beat the Vols in Nashville for the first time since 1982, the last year they went bowling.

            Nashville 19, Knoxville 17        

Syracuse (2-8) at Notre Dame (6-4), 2:30 p.m., NBC

            Another team that favors the color orange whose coach has been shown the door. The most exciting development involving Syracuse football this season is that two of its players opened a hookah bar (“Did you say hooker bar?”). Reportedly the Cotton, Gator and Sun Bowls are still interested in the Irish, and Notre Dame has agreed to play in all three. Hey, they’re Notre Dame; they’ll do what they like.

            Adrian Dantley 27, Cameron Dantley 3

Washington (0-10) at Washington State (1-10), 3 p.m., FSN

         And the Washington Wizards are 1-9. Different sport, different Washington, but the same result.

         Puget 21, Palouse 10

Those of you who awake each Friday morning eager to read the "SuperSerious SuperSaturday SoothSaying" picks, I must implore you to wait. Due to circumstances entirely within my control--i.e., my absent-mindedness--, I left my laptop powercord (which in no way resembles these power chords) at our offices in Stamford, Conn., and needed a save via our Most Valuable Employee at G.E., Laura Harrington (honestly, it goes Ebersol, Harrington, Fey in my rankings).

That unforced error led to my having no 'puter access until just now, when I am about to board a flight to Chicago. So, with Rothstein's help, I'll file them later.

In my attempts to conform to G.E. guidelines, I do promise that all of my picks this week will be carbon-neutral. And I won't stop there.

For those of you who are fans of 70s baseball players, my picks will also be Carbo-neutral.

(and if you prefer Mexican getaways, it will be Cabo-neutral)

For those who are dieting, my picks will be carb-neutral.

If you are on the fence regarding the Big 3's possible $25 billion bailout, my picks will be car-neutral.

You say you don't want to talk about Proposition 8? My picks will also be Ca.-neutral.

TV might be one of the hardest industries to figure out "how to do it". How do you start? Where do you look? Who out there can give some insightful advice? I've always been compelled by people's stories and career paths, the most interesting part being how it all happened. When I graduated college, I couldn't find a job right away. I spent a solid four months sending out resumes and working as a substitute teacher. (That's a whole other post, let me tell you.) Easily, I had some free time on my hands and I spent most of it reading anything within my grasp about the different paths people in the industry took to get jobs. I still do it. In fact last night I met up with one of my producers and a friend who works with us at NBC to watch the Steelers-Bengals game. Somehow we got on the subject of books and somehow I confessed to reading AUDTION by Barbara Walters. Note to the ladies, boys + Barbara = non-stop ragging on you. Granted I can see why they wouldn't read it but I see it as researching the industry I'm in.

Today I was on Deadspin and clicked on a story about ESPN's Michele Tafoya. She did a podcast for ON THE DL. If you have any interest in sports, TV, you're a woman wanting to work in both, you're a guy who likes her, whatever it may be I suggest to take a listen. She's pretty open and has very interesting things to say.

Now if you have an interest in just being entertained... watch Matty Blakes show this week. He manages to get the whole work crew in on his act, which is a talent in itself. Both Clifton and Ed (our co-workers) dress up in the most ridiculous pilgrim outfits. It's pretty funny.

You're a college football fan. And dangit, you want a playoff. And just about everybody that you know does. As does most everyone in the media. But there are still idiots out there (such as this blogger) who want to deny you that joy.

Okay. Do me this favor. Don't send me your 14-paragraph plan for how to institute a college football playoff. Instead, please reply by answering these simple questions.

Before I get to them, a little background on myself. I've covered college football for more than 20 years for just two publications: Sports Illustrated and this site (and loved every minute of it). I attended a (one-time) major college football powerhouse and understand the environment at such schools. I played a varsity club sport (rowing). And I had the same major and the same GPA as Florida State safety Myron Rolle (you'll understand in a bit why I mention that). So here are the questions:

So this week a Notre Dame student had the type of smart-alecky, double-secret probation inviting, mischievous-yet-ultimately-harmless idea that was at one time commonplace here (any old South Quad types remember "Happy New Day" outside Dillon Hall?). The idea was to get 8,000 lei's and "find a way to pass them out" to fellow Irish students to wear to Saturdays' game against Syracuse.

The reason? Honolulu native Mant'i Teo, one of the nation's most highly regarded prep linebackers, is making an official visit to Saturday's game. And so it was thought that Teo (who, in keeping with the present rule, would be compelled to change his surname to Smith were he to accept a scholarship to play LB for Notre Dame) would feel more welcome if he looked up into the student section and saw thousands of future classmates clad in lei's. Because the weather certainly wasn't going to feel very welcoming.

FLOWERY BRANCH - "With this football team, nothing's been documented," Lawyer Milloy pointed out Wednesday afternoon. "The reason we're here is because of hard work, dedication and loyalty to each other. Our team is so young, it probably doesn't understand what point in the season we're in. And I think that's a good thing."

The point Milloy and the rest of the Atlanta Falcons have reached is their first "make-or-break" game. Sunday, the 6-4 Falcons host the 8-2 Panthers. A loss probably means the Falcons have no chance at the NFC title and will face an uphill flight to secure a playoff spot.

A win only guarantees that more make-or-break games await.

"It's huge," said Falcons wide receiver Brian Finneran. "It's not only a division game but it's against a team that's 8-2, on a roll and coming off a few wins in a row."

The Falcons - the NFL's biggest surprise of 2008 along with the AFC's 6-4 Dolphins - figured to be a few seasons away from causing a ripple after the franchise cratered in 2007 with the Michael Vick-Bobby Petrino 1-2 nightmare punch. Being overlooked wasn't a bad thing for Atlanta, Milloy believes.

"There were no expectations from Day 1," he said. "I think there are distractions when you have a team on paper that's supposed to do very well because a lot of times, those teams don't. I'd rather be part of a team that works hard and does its business. A team that knocks out one win after another and then at the end they realize, 'Hey, that was easy. Now we have a chance for the big trophy.' " 

To even conceive of playing for something bigger, Atlanta has to clear the mental hurdle of not getting over-amped for Sunday's game.

"It's something we addressed this moring in our team meeting," Falcons rookie head coach Mike Smith told me in his office this afternoon. "This is week 12 of the NFL season. It's our 11th game and one of 16. It's just part of the process for us. It's a divisional game, which carries more importance and heightened excitement, but this has no different bearing than game 1, game 2 or game 5. We always talk about the process and this is another step in the process. We don't want it to become bigger than it really is."

For a veteran of 11 Falcons seasons like linebacker Keith Brookings, it's good to have a big game this late in the season, period.

"It's really nice to be playing for something in November," he said.

Back in 4th grade, I bet my buddy Garrett five bucks on a St. John's-Seton Hall game. High stakes - that was like two weeks allowance. Anyway, I had the Johnnies (they might have still been the Redmen back then), no spread, and they were at home. This thing was in the bag. Only $40 more and Super Mario 3 would be mine.

But then Danny Hurley hits a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to send it into OT, and you can guess what happened in the extra period. Seton Hall wins the game, I lose five bones. So the dangers of gambling hit home at an early age. That, and I saw the movie Parenthood.

Anyway, with the exception of fantasy sports and suicide pools and NCAA brackets and the occasional drunken "Dude, 10 bucks I sink this shot!" (Beirut), my bets are kept to a minimum. Usually.

And after what happened this past weekend, how could you feel safe gambling?

Exhibit A: Saturday night, USC leads Stanford 45-17 with 3 seconds left. The spread was 23. Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh sends his field goal team out so he can "get the last points," but everyone watching knows it's because he and Pete Carroll hate each other. So Carroll calls timeout to put his field goal block unit on the field because everyone knows he and Harbaugh hate each other. But as play resumed, Harbaugh sent his regular offense back out so he can "get the last points," but everyone knows it's because he and Carroll hate each other. Naturally, Stanford scores a touchdown on the last play of the game and covers the spread. Wild.

Exhibit B: The end of Chargers-Steelers has been well-documented. Troy Polamalu's fumble returnd for a TD gets reversed because of an errant illegal forward pass call. Steelers don't cover even though they should have. Millions of dollars go to the wrong people. And if you don't think that the league is aware of gambling, then how come a meaningless TD from a won-loss standpoint was reviewed?

So what was the bigger gambling moment of the weekend (season)?

1. Did we overestimate the Chargers or are they star-crossed?

Star-crossed. The Bolts are now 3-6 and their six losses are by a total of 27 points. Three of their losses have been by two points or fewer. They got screwed by the officials in their loss to the Broncos in Week 2. They got victimized by a buzzer-beater in Week 1 by Jake Delhomme and the Panthers. They got handed the most absurd schedule in recent memory - why would a West Coast team ever be sent to play a regular-season game half a world away as San Diego was when it played in London? It's a shame because the Chargers - overall - are a team that's good for the league. Well-managed by A.J. Smith, generally well-coached by Norv Turner, stars who are a credit to the league (a former Philip Rivers critic, I like his maturation now). But someone must answer for the failure of the Chargers running game which is 26th in the league and averaging 93.1 yards as a team per game. Two years ago, we were all wondering if LaDainian Tomlinson might be the best back ever. Now he's a JAG? And don't say it's his toe. I've seen too much acceleration from LT when he decides to turn it on for that to be the pat excuse.

2. The Leader in the Coach of the Year Race?

The AFC East has two legit candidates: Tony Sparano and Bill Belichick. The AFC North has John Harbaugh. The AFC South has Jeff Fisher. The West...ummmm...Cable Guy? Naaah. Over in the NFC, there's Coughlin and Zorn in the East, Mike Smith, John Fox and maybe Jon Gruden in the South and Ken Whisenhunt in the West. At this point, it's gotta be Sparano. That team was a tremendous threat to go 0-16 last year. They finished 1-15. Now they're 6-4 and it's because Sparano's gotten them to play hard and smart and has allowed assistants like quarterbacks coach David Lee to have the latitude to put in things like the Wildcat Offense and an offensive coordinator in Dan Henning who's comfortable enough to let guys do their jobs without peeing on his territory,  

3. Better Chance: Titans Unbeaten. Lions Winless?

The Lions have a treeeeemendous opportunity to complete the 2008 regular season without a triumph. Much better than the Titans chances of going unbeaten. Now, psychologically, it's harder to go winless than it is to be perfect. At some point, raw, primal pride is going to kick in for enough of the Lions and they are going to take somebody to the mat. Being a member of the only team to complete a 16-game regular season without a win is something that will eat at you in your rocking chair when you're 82. The game I'd love to see the Lions win if they do indeed get one? Thanksgiving Day against the Titans. Epic. Here's the rest of the Titans schedule: v. Jets, @ Detroit, v. Browns, @ Houston, v. Steelers, @ Indy. And the Lions, they have three consecutive home games (though at this point, it's hard to say that's a good thing). They play Tampa, Tennessee and Minnesota before heading to Indy and then closing the season at home against the Saints.

4. Anyone wanna hear my OT Plan?
Matching possessions. Same as "win by two" in a game of pickup hoop. That would alleviate the "team that wins the toss wins the game" issue (and that's been happening more and more in recent years) but it wouldn't bastardize the game by using the college overtime rules. So if I get the ball first in overtime and score a touchdown, I still have to kick off to you and allow you to have that possession to its conclusion. If I stop you on a three-and-out, you punt to me so that the continuity of the offense-defense-special teams aspect of the game isn't erased. If I score, game's over. If I don't and you score on your second possession, I still get a chance to match. Caveat: If I get the ball first, score a touchdown and opt for an onsides kick that I recover, the game's over. Gimme some feedback on this.

5. Why'd The Cowboys Win?

Character guys stepped to the fore at Washington. As I mentioned in my column Friday after visiting Valley Ranch, they were the key to  Dallas success. They needed to seize control of the team's personality from T.O. and go blue-collar on everyone and - thanks to Jay Ratliff and Marion Barber - they did.

My friend Jeff Carroll of the South Bend Tribune made the most trenchant point I've seen of the Navy post-game columns. Jeff led off his column reminding readers that after winning two years ago in this very stadium (M&T Bank) versus this very opponent (the Middies), Weis was badgered by a reporter (or a Navy fan who'd infiltrated the room) for leaving Brady Quinn, alias BQQB, in the game in the fourth quarter.

The final score of that one? 38-14.

In short, you're never going to please everyone as a coach.

In the past few days I've received letters from readers wondering whether I'm being too harsh on Coach Weis. To a large degree, I agree with them. First of all, Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops and Mack Brown and Pete Carroll and Mike Leach never get lambasted for running up the score. Or at least we never hear a question from the media at those games regarding that issue.

Charlie, meanwhile (and I was not at this game, so I don't know who asked it), gets asked how come he allowed the Irish to run a fake point at U-Dub with a 24-7 lead. That is a ridiculous question.

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With the score 11-10, Steelers and no time left on the clock the Chargers tried to pull a Cal-Stanford on their final play from scrimmage. Eventually, one of the lollipopped laterals got slapped from the air by Troy Polamalu and returned for a touchdown.

Humorous play? Sure. Unless you had a financial interest in the Chargers (wink). The spread was between 4 and 5 depending on where you found your number. The touchdown pushed all those Chargers winners into losers and - given the silent millions placed on NFL games around the country - had to cause a large number of clickers to be fired through flat screens. Never mind the defensive scores impacting fantasy football players who likewise have combined millions on the line.

Then, a booth review. And the touchdown, which to the naked eye seemed legit, was overturned. Without sufficient explanation. All that was said was that it was an illegal forward pass and that the touchdown was disallowed.

It smelled fishy.

So I rewound the tape and saw that the initial lateral that went from LaDainian Tomlinson to Chris Chambers was released by Tomlinson at the 25 but - because of Tomlinson's momentum - was caught by Chambers at the 27. Tomlinson's momentum carried him to about the 30 by the time Chambers caught the ball so it looked like a legit lateral but it wasn't. It was a forward lateral.

Better explanations are needed. Adding to the confusion was the referee announcing after the review..."There was an illegal forward pass on the previous play. The penalty is declined. Touchdown."

He put both hands in the air. Then stopped and yelled, "Nope!" And put both hands out to the side and jogged off.

Then when the teams were lining up for the extra point, the ref announced. "The illegal forward pass would have killed the play with no time remaining on the clock. The game is over."

Ryan Grant told me shortly after Sunday's 37-3 demolition of the Bears that his Packers had just passed through a "defining moment" in their 2008 season.

"This was real big," Grant told me. "This puts us right back in the race."

It certainly does. It's now a three-way tie at the top of the NFC North between the Pack, Bears and Vikings. All are at 5-5 and the Bears and Packers lead the way with 3-1 division marks. The Bears now have the head-to-head edge in their favor as well.

"We knew we needed to have this one," said Grant who pounded out 145 yards on 25 carries for the Pack. Green Bay lost its last two by a total of four points and really couldn't afford to drop another one.

But, Grant insisted, "We weren't questioning ourselves. We responded well. Sometimes you get your back against the wall and find out what you're all about when you see how you respond. This was a defining moment for us. We had to decide if we were going to go forward or not. Guys stepped up. To be able to do that, to the level we did, shows what we're about.

After Green Bay's former quarterback led the Jets to a big win the other night, external pressure vwas perceived to be on the Pack and QB Aaron Rodgers. Even if it didn't register with the team itself.

"We play for each other and our coaches," said Grant. "People outside of us can't have higher expectations than we do as a team. We respect that people have opinions, but we can't get caught up in that."

After one of the great offensive line performances of 2008, I spoke with Giants left tackle David Diehl.

First thing I wanted to know: How'd it look to watch Ahmad Bradshaw go 77 yards against the vaunted Ravens defense in the fourth quarter of the Giants 30-10 win over Baltimore.

"It was awesome for us to watch," he said with a laugh. "We have an offensive line that plays with a lot of confidence, that plays hard and scratches and claws and we have three great backs that run with heart and talent. To see that hole open up is awesome and to see those three running backs and the way they play - unselfish, cheering for each other and pulling for each other - a play like that makes all of us feel good."

That 77-yard burst that ended on the Ravens 2 salted away the win on a day when the Giants ran for an ungodly 207 yards on 33 carries against the proud Ravens defense. Baltimore - led by the still-imposing Ray Lewis - was allowing just 65.4 yards per game on the ground entering the game.

Clearly, this game would come down to whether New York - which ran for 419 in its previous two games against the Cowboys and Eagles - could do it against the Ravens too. They proved they could.

One good thing about this matchup was there wasn't any BS posturing heading into this one.

Circle December 22 in red. That's the day the Bears and Packers get together at Soldier Field for a game that could easily determine who goes to the playoffs in the NFC North.

After today's 37-3 bludgeoning administered to the Bears by Green Bay, both teams are now 5-5 overall and 3-1 in the division. The Vikings, meanwhile, just lost to the Bucs and are 5-5 as well.

The Vikings are 2-2 in the division.

The Lions, at 0-10, don't appear to be a real threat for the playoffs at this point.

With 66 seconds left, facing third-and-18 from the Denver 45, Falcons rookie quarterback Matt Ryan just launched a would-be heart-stopping bomb to Roddy White. White, a step past a stumbling Marquand Manuel, lost concentration while trying to get his feet down on the right edge of the end zone. White dropped it bringing up a fourth-and-18.

Tell you this, Ryan and the Falcons are damn entertaining. I'm headed there later this week to get an up-close look at the refurbished Atlanta franchise.

Pass falls incomplete on fourth, by the way. Atlanta's going to lose 24-20 and make next weekend's matchup with Carolina vital to their NFC South hopes.

Thoughts on Saturday's game:

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Michael Floyd entered the Navy game with 46 catches, and Golden Tate with 43. Navy entered with one of the lowest-rated pass defenses in the nation. Would you ever have thunk that Floyd would leave the game with 46 catches and Tate with 43? And that the Irish would win anyway (in what should have been a 34-7 romp, by the way?)?

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After listening to LB Toryan Smith in the post-game interviews, I'm beginning to wonder whether he's a backup simply because he's too glib and entertaining and the Irish are worried about his quotability. Toryan on his excessive celebration penalty when diving over the goal line to score on a punt block return in the first quarter: "They tell you to act like you've never been there before, but I acted like I'll never be back."

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Jimmy Clausen has now thrown six interceptions since his last touchdown pass, the fade to Golden Tate with a little over five minutes remaining in the Pittsburgh game. Still, 15 of 18 tells you that Clausen is listening to the coaches and taking the underneath stuff when a defense drops seven. The only Clausen pass that touched the ground on Saturday was the INC fade route in the end zone he tossed to Tate just before halftime.

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Do you realize just how much more dramatic the game would have been if Brandon Walker misses that 4th quarter 36-yard field goal in the rain? What 24-21 would have meant on that final Navy drive? Walker, by the way, has connected on nine of his last ten. Aloha, David Ruffer.

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My first question to Charlie Weis this afternoon, if they call me, will be regarding Navy's timeout situation in the second half. Did they get away with an extra one? The thing is, Navy challenged a play or two in that fourth quarter and I lost track of how many they had used. But it sure seemed as if they got away with a little chicanery in the closing seconds, calling that timeout and having the refs give it to them.

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Armando Allen has now led the Irish in receiving in each of the past two games (9 catches and 7 catches). He has 42 grabs on the season, just one below Tate. Michael Floyd leads the team with 46 but I'd say his season total is complete. The sophomore could become the first true running back to lead the Irish in receiving since Allen Pinkett did so in 1983. 

Saturday night. My good buddy Mark Beech of SI and I are headed northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike through a driving rain storm. Somehow, I'm not exactly sure how, we pick up the closing minutes of the USC-Stanford game on radio in Pine Barren country.

What happens in the closing minutes is fascinating. And warrants investigation.

1. Who Will Singletary Blame This Week?

Two games into his head coaching tenure, Mike Singletary has blamed his team and players for a whipping by the Seahawks and has blamed officials for a bad spot at the end of a loss to Arizona. The Niners play the Rams this week. Wonder who Singletary has in his sights if the Niners fade to 0-3 post-Mike Nolan. Meanwhile, Singletary hasn't yet been given enough credit for his pretzel logic after he dropped his pants at halftime of his first game at the helm. Instead of saying he could have made his point differently and leaving it at that, he instead has lamented the passing of the days when the locker room was a sacred place and what happened there stayed there. When the boss pulls his pants down in front of grown men in the work place - regardless of the nature of the job - the boss is forfeiting his right to call the workplace "sacred." Never mind that telling the media the team is full of players who are cancers is a far more egregious breach of keeping things "in-house."

2. If Cowboys Survive It Won't Be Because of Character

Spent two days in Dallas this week covering the Cowboys. During the team's 45-minute access periods on Wednesday and Thursday, the locker room was slightly less businesslike than a preschool. Sequestered in a room that was off-limits to the media, a large (or at least it sounded like it) group of Cowboys engaged in uproarious games of dominoes. The intensity of the games was illustrated by the high volume yipping and yapping and occasional victory laps by players happily gloating about wins. The only player of note that made himself readily available to the media was offensive tackle Leonard Davis who sat at his locker for most of the access periods and satiated the questioners who inevitably show when a team is 5-4 but is supposed to be a whole lot better. Bobby Carpenter was also available both days. Other than that, of the 90 combined minutes of access time, the players hid. Strong teams have lead players that articulate a team's mindset and act as point men for the media. It's a necessary part of the job. But the would-be stand-up guys on the Cowboys - Bradie James, Zach Thomas, Davis, etc. - are tamped down. The team's alpha dog, Terrell Owens, the most individualistic player in the NFC, is in it for TO. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for the rest of the team - Tony Romo included - so you end up with a team where accountability is a mirage. Cowboys-Skins tonight. Fascinating to watch. So do it.

3. Heart Says Ravens, Head Says Giants

I think Baltimore can hold down the nasty Giants running game that is the backbone of their success. I just don't think Joe Flacco is going to make it through an afternoon of battling Justin Tuck and Co., without making more than a few major mistakes. I love what the Ravens have done under John Harbaugh and I think it's fascinating to see Ray Lewis still playing at the level he is. I just don't think the Giants can be taken down on both sides of the ball by this team.

4. Might Not Be Pretty For Big Ben

After last week's three-pick performance in a loss to the Colts, Ben Roethlisberger got pretty well roasted in The Burg. Stubborn, slow to react and predictable were the lamentations. Now, with a desparate and underachieving Chargers team coming in, Roethlisberger's going to be under the gun to perform even with his damaged shoulder. If he struggles, the boo-birds could be out for a guy who - by most any measure - is one of the top five or six quarterbacks in football.  

5. Packers On The Ropes
Packers fans watched Brett Favre lead the Jets into first place on Thursday night. If the Packers lose to Chicago on Sunday, they'll be two full games behind the Bears in the division and will have an uphill fight to win the NFC North. They'll also have a 3-5 conference record which, given the competitiveness of the Wild Card fight, will almost certainly come into play when the tiebreakers kick in. In short, whether it's true or not, Favre loyalists will be beating their chests about Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy blowing it.

Right now there are hundreds of thousands of Notre Dame fans asking the same question: "What the.....?"

You've lost two straight games, you're up 27-7 in the 4th quarter, and you've got a 1st and goal at the 2 yard-line. But, you know, you have such great respect for Navy that you'd hate to rub it in. So you allow your second-string offense to run a pair of desultory dives, then on 3rd-and-goal at the 5, you fumble away the ball.

Fast forward a few plays and now Navy trais 27-14 and has the ball on the Irish 1 yard line. Now they just scored.

It's 27-21 and it all comes down to an onsides kick. Navy recovered the onside kick--this after David Bruton roughed the kicker.

Navy now has a first-and-ten at the Irish 41 with 1:21 to play. Plenty of time to score.

If the Irish lose this game, it is ALL on Charlie. I don't know how he would recover from this. Honestly, I don't.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

Just an absolute deluge came down midway through the 4th quarter, sending fans scurrying to the exits. That and the 20-point deficit.

Third quarter: deluge of Irish rushing yards.

Fourth quarter: deluge from the heavens.

The real story of this game was the Notre Dame defense. Navy, with less than 3 minutes remaining, is 0-11 on 3rd downs today. The Middies will have been held to a season-low rushing yards, as they have 113 at the moment and their previous low was 194. Finally, the Middies have just one pass completion on seven attempts, for 10 yards. That's going to make Notre Dame's pass defense look better in the national stats.

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I understand getting subs some playing time, but today, as with the Washington game, Charlie is squandering a stellar defensive effort in the closing minutes. The Irish would have pitched a shutout versus U-Dub were it not for the backups, and Navy is threatening to score again--they just did, as I typed that-- to make it seem like a closer game than it has been.

Shun White, Navy's best rusher, just scored from 24 yards out. Does it matter? You tell me. Sure, the Irish are still going to win, but as long as the Middies keep their first-team offense in, shouldn't Charlie keep at least some of his starting defenders in the game?

Earlier in the quarter, the Irish had a first-and-goal at the 2. In three plays they lost three yards and then fumbled and lost the ball. That was with an all back-up unit and a formation that screamed that they were going to run the ball right over center. I don't get the point of that. You don't need to call gadget plays when you're up 20, but just how compassionate do you need to be?

The Irish picked up their lunch pails at half time and now lead Navy 24-7 on the strength of--wait for it....wait for it a little more--dominant run-blocking (do not adjust your TV set).

Since halftime, Notre Dame has run 14 plays, twelve of them rushes, and scored two touchdowns. Notre Dame has run the ball twelve times for 96 yards this quarter. That's a higher total this quarter than they've had in four individual games this season.

If you're a Notre Dame fan, this is a welcome new wrinkle in the offense. I'm not sure if I've seen this O-line create such large holes for the rushing attack since Weis arrived.

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A few other items: The Irish have kicked off three times this half, and Navy has yet to return the ball beyond the 20. And this is, of course, without getting a touchback.

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Both of Clausen's passes this half were completed behind the line of scrimmage. Both were passes to Armando Allen, who could very well be the team's leading receiver for the second consecutive week. A third pass, or what every one of us considered a pass except for the official scorer, resulted in an 11-yard gain for David Grimes.

**********

Sergio "Crank Me Up!" Brown has some nice special teams tackles today. Sergio is channeling his inner Anello today.  

*******

The reward of having read all of Phil Nickel's playoff proposal (previous item, first comment), which may be the longest comment I've ever received, was this sentence in the final paragraph: I have tried to avoid a lot of details so as to lay out the ideas more clearly.  

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

Brandon Walker just kicked a 36-yard field goal. He has now converted nine of his last ten. 90%. Not bad. And it's beginning to rain. Irish lead, 27-7, early in the 4th quarter.

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

Notre Dame had 107 rushing yards in the 3rd quarter. That's more rushing yards than they had in the Michigan State, Stanford, North Carolina or Boston College games entirely.

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My good buddy Mark Beech is here for Sports Illustrated chronicling the Charlie watch (in fact, we drove down together). Something tells me that this column won't be as long as it might have been if the Irish lost.

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Navy is now 0 of 10 on 3rd down conversion attempts today. 

What do Michael Floyd, Brian Smith and my internet connection have in common? They all went out in the first quarter. The bad news for Irish fans is that only my web access is coming back today. Floyd and Smith were just wheeled off together with just under five minutes remaining before halftime.

The fabulous freshman wide receiver injured his left knee on the third play of the game, blocking on a rush by James Aldridge. After that he sat on the bench, his knee first wrapped and then later his entire leg immobilized.

Smith seems to have hurt his right leg at some point late in the 1st quarter. With just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter, both were carted off on the same cart. At best, then, this would be a Pyrrhic Victory for the Irish today. You can make the argument that they just lost their best offensive player and their best defensive player.

Other first half notes in this 7-7 game as we approach halftime:

1) Notre Dame, which had not punted once in Charlie Weis's first three games against Navy, has already punted three times in the first half.

2) Navy, which had scored on its first drive of the game in each of its first nine games, went 3-and-out on their first series versus the Irish.

3) Robert Blanton started at cornerback for the Irish today (Terrail Lambert, yet another casualty, was injured during practice on Thursday). That makes him the 6th true freshman to start for the Irish this season.

4) Jimmy Clausen had his first pass of the game intercepted, and then a pass late in the first half intercepted. That's six interceptions and no touchdown passes in the past six quarters. The Irish offense has not scored a point in the past six quarters, and just one in the past eight.

5) Up until the Irish allowed a TD on Navy's drive late in the first half, the defense had completely shut Navy down. The Middies had gotten only two first-half first downs, one via a 4th-and-1 when they went for it and the other via their only completed pass, a 9-yarder.

6) David Bruton has had two fairly easy interception opportunities that he has failed to hold onto.

7) Mike Anello blocked the punt on Navy's 2nd possession. Toryan Smith picked it up on a high bounce and ran it in 14 yards for a TD. Smith, No. 49, made a showboat dive across the goal line and was flagged for it. The ref originally called the penalty on a No. 9. That number seems to get more credit than it deserves. Last week's game notes gave the Irish' only sack to tight end Kyle Rudolph, No. 9.

8) On Notre Dame's last offensive play of the first half, Clausen attempted a fade route in the end zone to Golden Tate that dropped incomplete. It was Clausen's first pass of the half that was not caught by someone, either an Irish wideout or Navy's Ketric Buffin (two picks).

Now, before my internet dies again, I'll file this... 

Good morning from the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Noon time start here for the Navy game and you will not find a single person in the press box who is not fired up about that. Okay, maybe one or two of the writers under age 30 who stayed out late last night are unhappy. But I'm not expecting to see them before 11:30 a.m.

Five facts about the Irish and Navy:

1) Notre Dame has never had to punt against Navy since Charlie Weis has been coaching. You wonder if Eric Maust brought along some homework.

2) Armando Allen had nine catches last week at Boston College. That's a record for an Irish running back in one game, and it's also an indicator of how defenses have decided to allow the underneath stuff as long as Michael Floyd and Golden Tate Warrior don't beat them deep. Judging from Notre Dame's point total last Saturday, it's a shrewd strategy.

3) Golden Tate Warrior has eight catches of 30-plus yards this season, which ties Jeff Samardzija's 2006 total. The Irish had four such catches as a team all of last season.

4) Jarod Bryant, the Navy QB, is the 4th backup quarterback the Irish have faced in the past five games. Right now the Irish are 1-2 versus those backups. Oh, and Syracuse QB Cameron Dantley (yes, Adrian's son) got hurt last week. Don't yet know if he'll be healthy for next Saturday's titanic struggle.

5) Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated has a good piece on how Charlie Weis is dealing with this week's criticism in the media--namely, by ignoring it.

As I type this, Notre Dame is warming up, doing calisthenics. As they do so, Navy's injured starting quarterback, Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, is running out onto the field to shaked Charlie Weis's hand. The two are talking amiably.

 "Hey, Coach, sorry we had to end that losing streak and put additional heat on you last year."

"Don't sweat it, kid."

I love Matt Damon. Maybe not as much as Sara Silverman does, but I love him. I love his problem-solving ability. His deductive reasoning aptitude. Whether he's telling off my old high school football teammate, Scott Winters, in the bar scene from Good Will Hunting or the dude from the NSA ("Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot..."). Whether he's solving calculus problems in Professor Lambeau's office or crafting oil pipeline solutions in a sand dune for Prince Nasir in Syriana.

An excellent film, Syriana, by the way. Not a great makeout film (like, say, Frost/Nixon), but compelling. And nothing is more watchable than the scene between Nasir and Damon's Bryan Woodman in which our hero literally crouches down and draws a line in the sand to provide one great idea as Nasir's new "economic advisor". This happens right after this spirited monologue:

But what do you need a financial advisor for? Twenty years ago you had the highest GNP in the world, now you're tied with Albania. So, good job. Your second largest export is secondhand goods, followed closely by dates for which you lose five cents a pound. You know what the business world thinks of you? They think a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's exactly where you'll be in another hundred years- so on behalf of my firm, yes, I accept your money.

(I promise...there's a football-related point coming)

IRVING - Contrary to popular belief, quarterbacks don't decide who gets the ball, the defensive coverage does. Or should. Certainly, there are occasions when a quarterback looks for his favorite target but if said target is blanketed, bracketed and otherwise taken away, the quarterback SHOULD go elsewhere.

There was a line of questioning directed at Tony Romo today that seemed to assume he'd be looking to feature Roy Williams in their first game together.

Asked if it might be Williams' "turn" this week, Romo said, "I don't know that it's .. we'll see the coverages they play and who's open. if Roy is open, he will get the ball, if someone else is open they'll get the ball. Coverages will dictate stuff, it's the guy that I see that I can get the ball to, that will be the guy."

Romo also attempted to quell expectations about hitting the ground running with Williams.

"You have to understand (tight end) Jason Witten could walk off the street and I would know what he is going to do just cause he thinks the same way on the football field. He feels a guy with leverage here hes going to do this at this time. I think Roy has a little bit of that in him. He will understand when to come out of a break. There are going to be times when I thought he was going to out a little faster. They will pop up for sure. But what are you going to do? That is part of the learning process. Hopefully it doesn't happen at the wrong time."

IRVING, Texas - At around 12:15 p.m., Terrell Owens danced into the locker room at the Dallas Cowboys Valley Ranch Training Headquarters and - pointing to the knockoff boxing belt around his waist - started jibber-jabbering at high decibels about being the champion of one thing or another.

Unintelligible. It was later explained to me that receiver Roy Williams brought the belt with him from Detroit and, according to Dallas Morning News chronicler Tim McMahon, Williams has "been getting his ass kicked in dominos since he got here" and, as a result, no longer was in possession of the belt.

Now, Terrell Owens had it. And as he spun and wiggled a few feet away, my otherwise pleasant conversation with Leonard Davis about distractions had been...distracted. Davis tilted his head at Owens and smiled in the universal language of "See what I mean?"  

Before I spend too long considering that, not only do these multimillionaires wear boxing belts around their waists and conspicuously carry on about a kids game but that I FLY 1,000 MILES TO BEAR WITNESS TO IT! we'll move on.

Upon arriving at the Valley Ranch comples, a seemingly upper-class neighborhood within Irving, I saw a line of cars near the entrance to the facility. It stretched about a quarter-mile n each direction away from the entrance. Chris from K104 in Dallas slammed his trunk shut, smiled and said, "All this for a 5-4 team?"

Locker room access was just beginning when we entered

Owens spoke first. When ESPN's Ed Werder asked a question about Fred Smoot believing his Redskins "exposed" the Cowboys in the first meeting between the teams, Owens demanded, "Next question."

Werder said Owens has been doing that to him since the first Washington game when the Cowboys were beaten 26-24 at Cowboys Stadium.

Another media guy said he wants Werder to ask Owens, "When will you answer my questions?" so that when Owens answers, "Next question," he's trapped. The Wisdom of Freddie Solomon.

Eventually, Owens did field the question about Smoot's alleged "exposure" comment harvested by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.

In response, Owens said, "I wouldn’t say they exposed us, we just didn’t play well. You look at the score, we lost by two points. There were some opportunities that we missed. If that’s the case I can say we exposed him the last time we played when I scored four touchdowns. It is what it is. We’re not worried about what somebody says. If he needs to say that to get himself hyped for this game then so be it, we’ll be ready."

It really is a tempest in a teapot, as Smoot's comment was, in essence, Dallas was coronated prematurely. Which they were. The exposure wasn't that Dallas is bad but that they are not unstoppable. And they ain't.  

As Owens spoke, his new book, "Has Anyone Seen My Shirt? I Believe I Misplaced My Shirt" which he promoted this week on David Letterman was conspicuously displayed above his locker.

Another scrum materialized around Roy Williams who seems quite pleased to be the center of attention in Dallas.

I busted in on a high-stakes political conversation Dallas Morning News writer Todd Archer was having with linebacker Bobby Carpenter. I apologized for the intrusion and peppered Carpenter with a litany of questions. He was very good. Which you'll see in my Tony Romo and Big Scene Cowboys stories later.

One tidbit I'll throw out is that, Carpenter and many of the Cowboys feel cleansed heading into this week.

"Bye weeks help out," he said. "If you're struggling, it gives a chance to go look at things and dissect them. It makes it feel like a new season coming up right now. We're a game above.500 and we know we have a seven-game season in front of us."

.

Charlie Weis opened Tuesday's presser by announcing that he'd be calling the plays on Navy. While that news surprised nobody, one of the prime reasons behind the decision did.

Offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, who was given the play-calling reins before the season began, suffered a death in the family on Friday (Weis would not specifiy who it was and said he felt that that information was up to Haywood to divulge). The funeral is this Thursday. Weis expects Haywood to join the team in time for Saturday's game in Baltimore, but does not know when.

Also, Weis was asked whether he'd call the plays from the sideline or from the booth. He replied, "The only way I would go upstairs is if my legs were hurting me too bad. Have I at least broached the subject? Yes."

In other words, that may happen. Weis said he'd inform the media if he decides to do that before Saturday. I think that he should. Everyone on that bench needs a fresh perspective, and Corwin Brown is the kind of sideline ass-kicker that may just ignite the spark this sideline needs.

Navy has attempted 60 passes all season. In nine games. That averages out to about 6.5 passes par game, fewer than two per quarter. I don't understand everything about the gaps, etc., but I'm always mystified as to whether there isn't a way for a defense to take more chances and just dare Navy to beat you by passing. Blitz the gaps. Keep nine men in the box and have man coverage on the two wides. Basically, blow up the play before Navy has a chance to get it started. The most Navy has thrown in a game this season? Eleven times. And they lost.

Omitting the overtime win last week against Temple, Navy's three most prolific passing games (11 attempts versus Ball State, 10 attempts versus Duke and 8 attempts versus Pitt) have one thing in common. All three games were losses. And those are the Middies' only losses.

It seems simple, but as a defensive coordinator shouldn't you do everything possible to invite Navy and their 5-10 (or so he's listed) QB Jarod Bryant to pass the ball? If the Middies can beat you through the air, God bless 'em. But is it really that impossible to overstack your defense to defend the option and compel the Middies to air it out? 

1. Why don't I care about passing yards?

Drew Brees remains on pace to break one of pro football's most celebrated but, ultimately, meaningless records. Single-season passing yards. Late in the third quarter Sunday, Drew Brees was 12 for 24 for 128 yards for the Saints and New Orleans trailed 27-6. Then in the fourth quarter alone, Brees threw for 294 yards and finished the day 31 for 58 for 422 yards with two touchdowns and three picks. The effort now puts Brees on pace to shatter Dan Marino's single season record for passing yards (5,084). Brees is averaging 332 passing yards per game and he's on pace for 5,312. Meanwhile, in the last 90 seconds, Brees had a 95-yard interception return against him and a meaningless 32-yard touchdown pass as time expired. Passing yards - as we've been shown in recent years - are a by-product of game situation. If you're behind, you're throwing more and racking up garbage-time yards. That results in priapism for fantasy football aficionados. But it is no way to measure whether a quarterback is actually helping his team, y'know, win games.This isn't a criticism of Brees, who I think is a remarkable and underrated player but merely a reminder that, when Chris Berman's sputtering all over himself in Week 14 about Brees' breaking a hallowed record, it's really a hollow one.

2. Is It Time To Officially Clean House?

Another week of games, another body-length list of screw-ups by officials. And if I thought this week was going to be different (which I didn't) I was reminded of official ineptitude at the game I was covering on the Patriots first play from scrimmage. Matt Cassel threw high to Randy Moss. The ball glanced of Moss' fingers. Ko Simpson bumped Moss. Simpson got called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness. Absurd. Later, I watched officials try to alter the Chiefs-Chargers game by calling a horsecrap pass interference on Clinton Hart at the Chargers 1 with 41 seconds left. A loss by the Chargers would drop them to 3-6. Not to be too overdramatic but coaches and players lives could feasibly be altered by another loss and here was an official obviously guessing there was pass interference. Fortunately for San Diego - and even more so for the officiating crew - the Chiefs scored but failed to close withn one point but failed on the two-point conversion and San Diego escaped. Meanwhile, the Packers lost by one to Minnesota in a game where Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was called for a phantom illegal forward pass that resulted in a safety. Guys, when in doubt...Call. Nothing. It's time for a complete overhaul of the entire roster of officials and a public audit of how they do their jobs.

3. Would Steelers Be Better off With Byron While Big Ben's Ailing?

No. After Pittsburgh's 24-20 loss to the Colts in which Ben Roethlisberger threw three picks at home with a shoulder proclaimed to be 80 percent of normal strength by Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, there's predictable wailing that Byron Leftwich, who directed a win against the Skins earlier in the week, should be playing. And while Roethlisberger was flutterballing as he went 30 of 42 for 284 yards, the fact is Pittsburgh had other scapegoats in addition to Big Ben. Replacing him against the Chargers this week would be a week too late. Leave it be.

4. Who's Screwed Now?

Bills. Browns. Texans. Saints. Buffalo's now 0-3 in the AFC East and trails the Pats and Jets by a game. And they have too much Wild Card competition to be optimistic about that entryway into the playoffs. The Browns trail the Ravens and Steelers by three full games and are at 3-6. Dun. The Texans stuck a fork in themselves by getting thrashed by Baltimore. They're 3-6 and in the same Dun boat as Cleveland. The Saints aren't coming back in the suddenly cutthroat NFC South where they trail the Panthers, Bucs and Falcons and are 4-5.

5. If They Played Today, Would The Titans Beat the Giants?

The great synonym matchup of the 9-0 Titans and 8-1 Giants would go to...Tennessee. And I know I'm in the minority there and I also admit freely the Giants are waaaayyyy better than I believed they could be in 2008, I don't think New York would run with such impunity on Tennessee and it is their devastating rushing attack that's carrying them above all else right now. And that's all I'll say for now.

As a public service, this is all that you need to know about the BCS the rest of the season. There are only THREE teams to worry about making the national championship game. Any two of these three are in:

1) The winner of the SEC Championship Game

2) The winner of the Big 12 Championship Game (as long as it's the Big 12 South rep, which it'll be...I refer you to the 2005 game, Texas 66, Colorado 3)

3) USC....which could put the worst hurt on Notre Dame that Irish fans have seen since pre-Holtz days.

--The feeling here is that the Trojans will need to pitch two shutouts in their final three games (@ Stanford, Notre Dame, @ UCLA) and that the Big 12 must finish in a 3-way tie for Pete Carroll to have any shot.

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Listened in on the Sunday afternoon (late afternoon) presser with Coach Weis yesterday. All's I can say is, "Hang in there, Charlie."

I know that I wrote a column advocating that Weis take a respite in order to have the much-needed surgery on his leg--and, peripherally, to release some of the pressure that is currently weighing down his young football team. But of course he will not. And I believe that tomorrow we'll hear that Charlie has taken back the play-calling responsibilities from Mike Haywood.

The wolves are not yet at the door, but they're in the front yard. Weis and the Irish need a solid win on Saturday in Baltimore. To me, the No. 1 thing they must do is get over this Overdog Complex. What the best Irish teams have done is enter a game with a swagger: yes, we know that we're Notre Dame, we know that you loathe us, we know that we garner inordinate amounts of attention and--for a smallish, private university in Indiana--inordinate amounts of blue-chip recruits.

Tough.

But these Irish, and too many teams of the DavieHamWeis era, get weighed down by this. You know what they resemble? That pampered pure-bred that comes into contact at the dog run with a dog one-third its size. And the tiny mutt comes up and sniffs it and growls and the purebred just raises its head back in a docile manner. You can smell the fear.

If you're a fan of a good story, you have to love that B.C. head coach Jeff Jagodzinski called a meeting last week and asked for a show of hands from players of his that had been recruited by Notre Dame. And then only two players raised their hands. And, well, did it make a difference on Saturday night?

You realize, by the way, that Navy represents likely the only win these Irish will get against a team with a winning record all season. And that's assuming the Irish win, which I am not.

FOXBORO - It looked so good for the Bills a month ago.

They were 5-1 after knocking off San Diego on October 19. Three AFC East games were on the horizon and Buffalo's chance to show they were for real had arrived.

Three losses later, the Bills are 0-3 in the AFC East and staring up at the 6-3 Patriots and Jets having lost to each of them. They're tied with the Dolphins but - since they lost to them as well - the Bills are actually the fourth place team in the division.

The Bills will now need help - probably lots of it - over the season's final seven weeks if they're going to get to the playoffs for the first time since losing to the Titans in the Music City Miracle game back in 1999.

"The week after we beat the Chargers everybody was pretty high and talking about being 5-1," said Bills center Duke Preston. "That's the nature of the NFL. As fast as we got out to a good start, that's how fast it can go away."

Or be thrown away, which may be the more apt description in the Bills case. After whipping two more interceptions Sunday, Bills second-year quarterback Trent Edwards has turned it over seven times in the three losses (five picks). He's in a bad way.

"It's just little mistakes here and there, honestly," said Edwards. "The mistakes that we weren't making earlier in the season, we're now making for some reason."

Bills coach Dick Jauron is sticking by Edwards.

"You don't want your quarterback to turn it over," he explained. "But I think we have a quarterback. I really like this guy. I think he is going to be a real fine quarterback. To start the season, he played so unlike a young quarterback that now, whenever he makes an error, we think there is something wrong."

Well, the issue is that there is something wrong. Whether it's Edwards' three-quarters delivery (I know, it was fine when they were 5-1) or a crisis of conidence that's making him push the ball instead of driving it and causing it to sail, he is not playing with great confidence. Nor does he seem to be getting great protection.

Player after player in the Patriots locker room chalked up Edwards' iffy performance to the early heat New England applied on the pocket.

In theory, Buffalo's schedule gets a little easier now. They have the struggling Browns at home, they play at Kansas City and then host Buffalo before playing three of their final four against AFC East opponents. In order for the next round of AFC East matchups to mean anything, however, Buffalo has to get right. Right away.

Late in the third quarter, New Orleans has managed just two field goals and Drew Brees - on pace to set a record for passing yards this season - has completed 12 of 24 for 128 yards with a pick.

Ryan meanwhile is 16 for 21 for 248 yards and 2 touchdowns. This was a game in which the Saints could have drawn even with Atlanta and put just a smidgen of heat perhaps on the Panthers. No such luck.

Atlanta's going to be 6-3; New Orleans falls to 4-5.  

The Titans' fullback was leveled by the Bears' Lance Briggs after dropping a low pass midway through the third quarter.

Hall lay on the grass, face down, for several long moments.

Then got up, walking off the field under his own power.

I spent much time explaining why this game would be so high-scoring. Reasons included the losses in the Bills secondary, the Patriots stout defensive front and the need for both quarterbacks to come out gunning to exploit those limitations.

Hasn't happened that way. It's 10-3 at the start of the second quarter and although New England's made an effort to work the ball down the field to Randy Moss in particular, the longest completion of his 5 for 53 is a 19-yard dart along the sidelines.

Patriots outside linebacker Adalius Thomas has gone to the locker room apparently with a left arm tweak. He's been replaced by Pierre Woods. The Bills - in a play that people from Buffalo couldn't have loved - just tried to run wide on third-and-goal from the 4. That's a tall order against a 3-4 defense. Fred Jackson lost three yards. The Bills settle for a field goal.

It's 10-3.

Given a short field, after a 29-yard punt return to the Bears' 22 by Chris Carr, the Titans made it a 7-7 game on a 10-yard Kerry Collins to Bo Scaife touchdown pass midway through the second quarter.

At which point, for the game, the Titans' rushing line looked like this: 10 attempts for a total of minus-3 yards.

For the half, the Titans finished with minus-5 on 13 carries.

As time expired, the Titans' Rob Bironas, he of the "I can make a 60-yard field goal," missed from 49.

The second quarter was, for both teams, a slog. Not pretty to watch.

New England's up 7-0 helped in no small measure on their first drive by a flag thrown on Bills defender Ko Simpson after he bumped an airborne Randy Moss.

The situation: On the Patriots first play from scrimmage, Matt Cassel threw over the middle for Moss who had the ball glance off his hands. Simpson, taking no extra measures to seek out Moss and not even lowering his shoulder but checking Moss, drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.

It's off the rails now. Officials are prone to throw a flag first and let the league office sort things out (see Tuck, Justin and his hit on Brooks Bollinger last week). The league hides behind the player safety issue, saying nobly that they'll always put the well-being of players first. Bullcrap. The game is predicated on violent hits and every snap puts 22 players' health in jeopardy. That's the lure of the game and the ability to mete out physical punishment is what sets players apart and puts asses in seats and eyes on flatscreens.

If Pro Bowl style play is what the league is after, they're getting closer to it all the time.

Rex Grossman marched Chicago 75 yards in 14 plays for an opening-drive touchdown.

Quarterback controversy in Chicago!

Fascinating turn on that drive: the Bears going for it on 4th and 1 at the Tennessee 15, the field goal a seemingly sure thing. Matt Forte ripped off eight yards and, three plays later, the Bears got a TD instead of that FG, Rex throwing to Forte on a 5-yard pass.

The Titans, with under a minute to go in the quarter, went for it on 4th and 1, too -- 4th and 1 inside the 1. No go.  Ahmard Hall fumbled and the Bears took over at their 2.

The Titans came into the game at a league-best plus-10 in turnover margin. The fumble marked Tennessee's first in 16 quarters.

Kyle Orton was throwing on the sidelines!

Thus went the breathless broadcasts this morning on local Chicago radio.

Big whoop. Orton has been designated the Bears' third quarterback; Rex Grossman will get the start.

Thus the question: Which injury is likely to play the bigger role in today's game between the Titans and Bears? Orton's ankle strain? Or Kyle Vanden Bosch"s strained groin? The Titans' defensive end was declared inactive just moments ago.

Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck, with cracked rib cartilage, is due to start the 106th straight game in his career.

Cracked rib cartilage. That's got to hurt.

Back to it at this space after months away because of the Olympics and Olympics-related projects, and from a perch this morning in the press box at Soldier Field, above the southeast corner of the field, the field looks to be in horrible shape.

I mean, dreadful -- especially between the hashmarks. The worst of it is appears to be between midfield and the big "Bears" logo on the south end of the field.

It's beyond me that conditions at an NFL-sanctioned event can look like this.

FOXBORO - I wheeled into Gillette Stadium for today's AFC East showdown between the Patriots and Bills at about 8:50 this morning.

Never do I arrive at the stadium this early because - until they start giving us pregame locker room access - I'm content to share my Dunkin Donuts coffee, chocolate chip muffin and Boston Globe in the company of...me.

But today I'm doing an NFL Network hit from the field at 10:30 a.m. (a segment they call Word On the Street) and I always do an hour with WEEI in Boston on Sundays before the game (unless I misplace my phone). So my plan was to do the EEI hour across the street from the stadium from 9 to 10 then scurry across to do the NFL Network hit. But then I got scared the walk (it's a long walk through traffic, etc) might take me too long so I decided to go to the press box, kill 90 minutes, do the NFL Network thing from the field and THEN go to EEI.

As a result, I have the chance to listen to a guy in the press box testing the phones. He stands stock still. A gray phone on the third level of the press box rings. He scurries up to it. "Visiting PR?" The guy on the other end must tell him that's good, that's what he was calling. The guy in the press box hangs up. A gray phone in the front row rings. He pounds down the stairs..."NFL observer?" He hangs up again. And so it goes for about five more phones.

Next a phlegmy, crackling voice emanates from the speakers in the press box..."TEST...test...TEST...brrrghhfffmmm, TEST, 1, 2...hear me....? OK....brrrrgghfffmmmm" Sounds like he's been doing the press box speaker test since Jim Nance and Joe Kapp were prowling for the Pats.

Clusters of stadium workers in flourescent colored coats move slowly to their stations like packs of grazing herd animals. They stay close together, shoulders bent forward, many cupping huge styrofoam coffee cups.

The fall foliage in the distance has burned through from its yellows and oranges. Now the remaining leaves are a spent dark rust. The trees that have gone completely bare look like gray shrubs. By March, I'll wonder what it's like to have leaves on the trees again and start conjuring them in my head. By June, the leaves will be green and full and I'll remember how bleak it felt when they were gone.

But it's nice here, the sky a Carolina blue and the sun bright. The dew from a foggy night in the 30remains as the temperatures push past 50 and fans in the parking lots whip footballs, spark grills and crack their first beers.

It's a good job I have.

Sunday morning thoughts and observations following Saturday night's 17-0 listless defeat at B.C.:

1) Surely a few Notre Dame fans noticed that ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit declared Florida, coached by one Urban Meyer, as the best team in the country in the aftermath of all the games played on Saturday. And it's difficult to argue that at worst the Gators are one of the nation's top three teams. That has to sting.

2) Nothing gives an offense confidence like being able to consistently gain yardage on the ground (See, Notre Dame's 3rd quarter versus Purdue). But the Irish are 95th nationally rushing the ball and failed to have a carry go longer than 12 yards--and that was after the game had been decided--against a defense missing its key piece (linebacker Brian Toal). Yes, defensive tackle B.J. Rogge played like a future NFL starter and maybe he is, but 66 rushing yards total is feeble.

           And nothing underscores that like going to visit Navy next week. The Middies are 2nd in the nation in rushing offense with 308 yards per game and, despite probably having no offensive player who could start for the Irish, are 6-3. Anyone who is simply assuming an Irish victory next Saturday is still stuck in 1991.

3) He may not be Charlie's favorite hair-metal rocker, but Axl Rose once wrote some words for a song entitled, aptly, "November Rain", that may be applicable this morning:

'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain

And I was serious in the column I wrote last night that it could be an effective remedy for all involved if Coach Weis dealt with his severely injured knee immediately and left the day-to-day coaching of this team to his assistants for the next few weeks. To listen to Weis last Tuesday, he noted that the knee is in poor shape but that it is difficult to find time in the schedule to deal with it because immediately after the regular season ends, recruiting season--and the incumbent travel--begins.

It's like this: When you're the head coach at Notre Dame, you never really have a two-week block to just blow off life until perhaps early July. Especially if ESPN is inviting you to roasts of Mike & Mike in Atlantic City in the deda of winter.

Right now this team seems mentally fatigued. And I imagine the players are all a little sick of their head coach this minute. Why not deal with a serious leg injury that demands attention and hand the keys to the team to a Corwin Brown or even John Tenuta for the next two weeks against an average foe and a sub-standard foe? Mike Haywood calls the plays anyway, no? Weis might be surprised at how liberated his team feels--and, truly, he could be extending both his personal life span and his career life span by consenting to surgery and bed rest for a bit.

To quote Axl once more:

Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

4) This is a team staring seriously down the barrel of 6-6. These Navy players know that they can beat the Irish--since they have. Despite having one of the nation's most porous pass defenses, the Middies can counteract that flaw with clock-munching possessions that shorten the game. And if the Irish lose in Baltimore, well, listen up: USC has, minus its loss at Oregon State, allowed 30 points total in eight games this season. Right now, on this morning, is there anyone who thinks the Irish can score more than 7 points at best at the L.A. Coliseum on November 29th? By the way, USC has shut out the Irish in consecutive seasons before: the years were 1932 and 1933. 

5) If anyone had asked me where Africa was, I would have fared just as poorly. My response would have been, "Track 10, Toto IV." 
 
  

Some post-game, post-column thoughts:

1) The November rain, the utter absence of any kind of fighting spirit, the head coach who seemed powerless to inspire his team...it all reminded me of one of Gerry Faust's final games as Notre Dame head coach in 1985. The Irish traveled to State College on November 16th and were trounced 36-6.

      While it remains to be seen in which direction the Weis era will head from here--Faust's would conclude two games later with an even more depressing loss, 58-7 at Miami-- this program is badly in need of a character win. You don't learn much about yourself by beating U-Dub and San Diego State.

2)  45 passes, 21 rushes. That's the play breakdown for the Irish. Notre Dame's leading rusher, Armando Allen, had 24 yards. Until Notre Dame can run the ball, they will not be a successful team.

3) Let me put it bluntly: Notre Dame needs an infusion of bad-ass. You're not going to out-scheme your way to a top 25 ranking, much less a national championship. You need to win the wars at the line of scrimmage and to believe that you can do so. Boston College defensive tackle B.J. Raji's beatdown of Eric Olsen in the 2nd quarter may be the most emblematic play of this season for the Irish.

4) You sit there and wonder, Aren't these players sick and tired of everyone celebrating at their expense? The record may appear respectable, but how long has it been since the Irish won a game that really mattered? Aren't they tired of always being the nail and never being the hammer? You'd like to see some good old-fashioned anger. Some heart. Right now it just isn't there.

5) In his post-game presser, Charlie Weis lauded the effort of his defense. Granted, they really only allowed one long scoring drive, for a field goal, tonight. But they were also facing the second-most limited offense they've faced this year. BC had nobody on offense as good, supposedly, as Golden Tate or Michael Floyd or even James Aldridge.

17-0, BC, after three.

The two big plays of the third quarter involved punts to Golden Tate:

1) After the Irish defense held B.C. to 3-and-out on the Eagles' first drive of the second half, Golden Tate stands at midfield waiting for the punt. ESPN's Mike Patrick actually says, "This could be the first good field position Notre Dame gets all night." Moments later, Tate attempts to make his first cut before actually catching the punt. Fumbles it. B.C. ball.

2) Later, Tate fields a punt at around his own 20. Makes a few nice cuts right and seems to have only one defender left to beat. Then teammate Leonard Gordon tried to block the guy, cutting across and in front of Tate. Instead, he simply got in Tate's way and forced him out of bounds. Tate was irate, spiking the ball. Corwin Brown ran up the sidelines and got in Gordon's face.

Jimmy Clausen just threw his 3rd pick of the evening, one play after a nice 31-yard catch-and-run by Michael Floyd, which was Notre Dame's lone bright spot of the evening. The interception took place in the end zone.

At the half, Boston College 10, Notre Dame 0

1) The Irish' leading rusher is Jimmy Clausen...with 9 yards.

2) B.C. allowed 27 points in a loss to Clemson last week, and 45 a week earlier in a loss to North Carolina. Tonight, and yes, it's raining, they've shut out the Irish in one half.

3) An inauspicious homecoming for Charlie Weis thus far...Notre Dame fans have to hope that the night game, the rain, will augur a 2nd half such as the Irish put together in East Lansing in 2006.

4) Why is Clausen having so much trouble finding open receivers? Because B.C. is rushing just three down linemen and getting pressure. The Irish, conversely, rush five and get no more pressure.

5) The symbolic play of the evening, if not the past two seasons: B.C. defensive tackle B.J. Raji blows up Eric Olsen on a running play and the pair barrel into running back James Aldridge seven yards back, knocking him over for a seven-yard loss. Rogge wasn't even trying to make the tackle, he was just trying to get penetration. And he sure did. That play sums up how the Irish are exactly the opposite of what Weis promised they'd be: "a nasty football team".

6) Safety Kyle McCarthy, as usual, is having a solid game. He's the unsung hero for the Irish this season.

7) I promised to do a push-up for each point scored tonight. By either team. I've only had to do 13 push-ups in the past 90 minutes. No wonder my MMA career is going nowhere.

8) You just wish that the Notre Dame players would just relax, have fun and play as if they were it were recess.

If you had "Pass reception by Asaph Schwapp" as Notre Dame's longest play on offense through four drives in your pool, congratulations!

Jimmy Clausen hit the senior fullback--his first rush or reception of the season-- for a 10-yard gain on 3rd-and-12--on Notre Dame's previous drive. The longest gain of the night for the Irish was a 15-yard penalty, roughing the passer.

Now, on their 5th drive, Schwaap just had his first carry of the season. Whoa! Then again, he is from the Hartford area. This is a sort of homecoming.

Clausen, on 3rd-and-6 from midfield, just overthrew Kyle Rudolph and the ball fell into the hands of B.C. DB Paul Anderson, who made a brilliant 70-yard return for a touchdown.

10-0, BC.

The Eagles have begun 3 of their 4 drives inside Irish territory, but only have 3 points offensively (and that field goal came from the drive that began on their own 17). Yet, with an offense that has no discernible weapons, B.C. is still up 10-0 midway through the 2nd quarter.

Listen, I have friends like you. Notre Dame fans. Notre Dame alums. Long-suffering types. And I know, I just know, that they're sitting home this very minute. They're giving up on the season. They're--I hate to say it--giving up on Charlie Weis. I'm not saying that's me. I'm just telling you what I know is going on in dens and basements and bars all over the country right now. Irish? Yes. Fighting? They don't deserve that modifier right now.

If Weis doesn't want to lose the fans, or even his players, he's going to have to stir his players up.

**********

A few more items:

1) Do you see how B.C. is able to string every Irish rushing play outside? The Irish aren't quick enough to turn the corner, and they're just not tough enough to run between the tackles. They will never be a successful offense if they cannot win a majority of what amounts to in-game hamburger drills.

2) If you're a Notre Dame fan, aren't you getting sick of hearing how Michael Floyd or Kyle Rudolph or Jimmy Clausen is "a talented young player"? If the Irish have so many talented young players, how come they're down 10-0 and absolutely feckless on offense? Where are the talented young players on either line of scrimmage?

3) Mike Patrick had the line of the evening thus far, after Todd Blackledge's piece on dining out at the local Italian eatery, Comella's. Blackledge had sampled a meal called "Grandpa's Mess", and Patrick opined, "You know, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable ordering Grandpa's mess."

4) My good friend Marguerite Schropp is a St. Mary's alum. She married a guy from Boston College named Tony. If only she'd waited and married Asaph Schwapp, she could have been Marquerite Schropp-Schwaap.

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

Notre Dame just blitzed again. Watch their linebackers on a blitz. They look a couple of 5'7" guys standing on the floor at a concert, looking for an opening through which to see the lead singer. It looks so futile.

Yes, I am being critical. They deserve it.  

Mike Patrick just informed us that Boston College quarterback Chris Crane aspires to be a physician. That could make him the second-most famous Dr. Crane ever to come out of Boston, no?

**********

Then again, Chris Crane suddenly looks like an NFL quarterback. Only Notre Dame can do that for a QB. I mean, geez, I know that you're watching the Oklahoma State-Texas Tech game--and I hardly blame you--but why are the Irish so painfully average? And why is that you can count the big hits their defenders make in a game on one hand? Or, on one finger?

********

This Irish defense plays as if they're worrying too much about where they should be, as opposed to attacking. And they're just not that fast. But I watch linebackers such as Harrison Smith and Brian Smith on pass plays and when they blitz, they seem to get caught up in a worse traffic jam than the one I was in not long ago.

If you're watching the Irish in October, you're thinking to yourself, they're the perfect ACC team for 2008. They should finish anywhere from 7-5 to 5-7. And I keep waiting for them to play with a sense of enthusiasm, of fun. Will someone crank them up?

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

B.C. is the most anemic offense, in terms of playmakers, that the Irish have faced this season outside of Washington this season. But their offense has looked far more crisp than Notre Dame's in the first quarter.

Oh, and we've seen far too many flags on both sides of the ball so far, no?

3-0, Eagles, after a short field goal.

...Is she the only on-air talent at ESPN whose last name is a homonym of a pro team?

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

Just heard Lou Holtz discussing the Penn State loss: "If you're a coach, this loss will haunt you for the rest of your career." How ironic to hear Dr. Lou say that just moments before Notre Dame and Boston College kick it off.

Also, Rece Davis (whom I LOVE...and not just for those chipmunk cheeks) just noted that the Nittany Lion loss just underscores how ridiculous it is to whine about the BCS and the need for a playoff before all the games are done. Can I get an, "Amen?" Hallelujah, Rece!

***********

From the Notre Dame game notes: Michael Floyd is just 57 yards shy of setting the freshman receiving yardage record at Notre Dame. He already owns the freshman receptions and TD receptions record.

***********

Bruce Springsteen's son, Evan, is a freshman at Boston College. If the Boss is eating hot dogs in the press box right now...well, just kill me.

Greetings from Cambridge. Not Newton--Cambridge.

Was it a U.S. general or a college football coach (it was probably both) who once said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail"? Actually, I just looked it up and it turns out it was THIS GUY.

Anyway, I failed to prepare properly this evening. Though I thought I had. Ordinarily I'm the first or second writer in the press box each week--and one of the last to leave. It has little to do with industriousness or diligence...I simply love complementary carbonated beverages!

So tonight I walked out of my hotel room a few minutes before 5 p.m. for this evening's 8 p.m. kickoff from Chestnut Hill. Plenty of time, right? After all, Alumni Stadium is located just six miles west of my hotel lobby. And I'd been to B.C. before for a football game (long time ago) and know that it's in a residential area. But somewhere, surely, there was pay parking.

That was my first mistake. Not taking the T, or a taxi. Should've taken the T. You could see inside the T cars. They were jammed with excited fans--a veritable Boston T Party.

Anyway, after nearly two hours of suicide-inducing traffic and no available parking--I mean, none, and I saw at least three cars being towed, I decided to cut my losses and head back to the one place in Boston I knew I had a parking spot: my hotel. Sure, I could head back out to Newton and be in the press box by the 2nd quarter, but why miss a snap? The game is being televised.

So let's watch the Notre Dame game on TV together: we can riff on the announcers, the commercials, and whatever happens to be airing on other networks (such as NBC). I really would love to be at the game, but trust me, you don't wanna go out there again. B.C.'s traffic grid just isn't made for major college football. Honestly? I stopped in at the Roxbury Latin vs. Buckingham, Browne & Nichols (not a law firm; not a Fleetwood Mac solo project) high school game during my run along the Charles this morning and they had more non-permit parking. 
By the way, BB&N is located just off the Harvard campus but their uniforms mirror LSU's. Is that why Andrew Hatch transferred where he did? And by the way, BB&N is a powerhouse and their meanest hitter, at least while I was watching, was a kid named Farkas. I mean, you hear "Farkas" and don't you think, collision?

HEY, WHAT DOES A GUY HAVE TO DO AROUND HERE TO GET A DIET DR. PEPPER?

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

Not bitter at all, but it's Saturday morning and I believe that referee from the TCU-Utah just threw another flag on the Horned Frogs.

Seriously, did you get a chance to watch that game from Salt Lake City on Thursday evening? Three times in the second half, including on the Utes' game-winning drive, a play transpired, and then afterward--I mean, well after the whistle had been blown without a flag being thrown--the umpire stepped in to toss a yellow flag on the Froggies. I'm not saying all three overrules weren't correct, I'm just wondering why the head referee was the only guy doing his job, the Mark Wahlberg's Staff Sergeant Dignam of the crew, as it were.

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

And I don't know if you had a chance to watch Nevada at Fresno State on Friday night ("sorry, Dubs, I was out busy having a life"), but if you're a Notre Dame fan, I wouldn't pencil in a win for the Irish 2009 home opener just yet. The Wolfpack beat the Bulldogs 45-21. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick runs the Pistol offense, which looks a lot like Michigan's spread offense, except that the tall (6-6), rangy Wolfpack QB looks a lot like Terrelle Pryor doing so.

       Meanwhile, tailback Vai Taua, who began the season as Luke Lippincott's back-up befoe the WAC's leading rusher suffered a season-ending injury, gained a career-high 263 yards on 28 carries (so, yeah, nearly 10 yards per rush). Kaepernick, Lippincott and Taua will all return next season when the Wolfpack and their terrific, seen-it-all coach Chris Ault open their season in South Bend on September 5th.

         And the Irish thought San Diego State was a handful. Nevada, it turns out, will be the biggest hurdle to Boise State's undefeated season this fall. The Broncos visit Reno on Nov. 22.   

 *****************

Woke up early on Saturday here in Cambridge, Mass., and did two things: 1) first, I snuck over to MIT and solved the ridiculously difficult Calculus problem the differential equations professor had left on a bulletin board in the hallway (turns out someone had simply forgotten to carry the dx/dy....it happens) and then 2) I caught my first-ever glimpse of Cindy Garrison.

Have you seen this gal? She's the distaff Bear Grylls. Garrison is the double-barreled host of a Saturday morning ESPN show called Get Wild!, in which she tramples the globe fearlessly in search of crocodiles and tigers and the like. Turns out that she grew up in northern California and Oregon, then went on a Botswana safari with her dad and liked it so much she wound up staying for six years. She looks like what you'd get if you were to cross an Oakland Raiderette with Crocodile Dundee.

That said, Cindy Garrison is not my latest crush. No, San Antonio Spur Gregg Popovich is. First of all, I love the beard. Second, I love that he hack-a-Shaq'ed Shaq in the first five seconds of the Spurs' season-opener against the Suns as a sort of "gotcha!" Finally, I love his reaction last night after Tony Parker (you know, the same Tony Parker who scored 55 points the other night in Minnesota) sprained his ankle against the Heat and Pop was asked, "Will losing Parker force you to change some things on offense?"

Pop didn't explode. Instead, he just sort of smiled incredulously and asked, "Is that a serious question?" Love the Pop. Dig the Pop. Even if his Spurs always tear out my heart (I'm a Suns fan) each spring.

1. Can Buffalo stop its AFC East skid?

Consecutive losses to the Jets and Dolphins and now a game at Gillette against a Patriots team that beat them in 2007 by a combined 94-17. The once 4-0 Bills are better than they're showing at 5-3 but they may not have a chance to convince anyone of that if they roll over in New England. Should be the game of the day Sunday.

2. Can the Eagles Outflank Spagnuolo?

Last year, Donovan McNabb got sacked 15 times by the Giants as one of their former assistants, Steve Spagnuolo, unleashed a torrent of pressure as Giants defensive coordinator. Now, McNabb's much more mobile than when he was last year as he was coming off a knee reconstruction. Can McNabb and the Eagles make up ground on the rampaging Giants in an SNF home game. Yep.  

3. Where Will the Fines Come From?

This week, Justin Tuck got pinched for $7,500 for tackling Cowboys quarterback Brooks Bollinger. I'm all for player safety (have you seen all the horse collars on jersey necks that have gone uncalled this year?) but, even though Tuck got flagged, nobody in the NFL offices could see that everything he did was within the rules? He was within a step of Bollinger when Bollinger released the ball. There was no helmet-to-helmet. It was merely a tackle. It's gotten a little absurd.

4. Lions Have a Shot

Jack Del Rio's made the Jaguars vulnerable this week with what appears to be a kneejerk crackdown on his players after a loss to the previously winless Bengals. Del Rio sent linebacker Mike Peterson home during the week creating an Us vs. Them mentality within the Jags locker room since Peterson is one of the team's respected vets. Now Jacksoville - 3-5 and 0-2 since coming off their bye - has a Lions team that just signed Daunte Culpepper and is going to have a spring in their step to get its first win and avoid being the NFL punch line for the ages.

5. Lord Byron or Big Ben?

Ben Roethlisberger missed practice Wednesdsay and Thursday and may wind up being a game-time decision against the Colts. If he does play but shows limited effectiveness against Indy, will Mike Tomlin go to Byron Leftwich? Tomlin made comments this week alluding to Roethlisberger's tendency to hold the ball to long and noted that Leftwich got the ball out quicker (even with his 6-to-12 o'clock arm motion). Is there something more afoot in Pittsburgh?

THURSDAY

No. 12 TCU (9-1) at No. 8 Utah (9-0), CBS CSN, 8 p.m.

Call it a hunch, but I see the Horned Frogs jumping out to an early lead, say, 13 points. No, maybe more like 10. Then I see those troubled Utes scrapping their way back into the contest. Maybe Louie Sudoku (oh, you know who I mean) makes a couple field goals for Utah, and maybe Ross Evans, who’s only missed two field goals all season, misses a pair. Utes go on a late, game-winning TD drive. Call me nuts, that’s just what I see transpiring.

            Mormon Tabernacle 13, Cowgirl Hall of Fame 10

My friend Roy, who is perhaps the biggest Florida State fan I know, passed along this story to me today. It was written by Stewart Mandel, whom I had the chance to meet back at last years Big East Tournament when we sat next to each other during the game. The subject is Myron Rolle, the FSU safety and pre-med student who holds a 3.75 G.P.A.

Oh yes, and a Rhodes Scholar finalist.

But what happens when education clashes with sport? The dilemma: 32 spots and a chance to study at Oxford OR play, this your final season, in the game that will (most likely) decide the ACC Atlantic Division? Maybe you are wondering why there has to be a choice? Can't he just have both? Sure...

Except both are decided on the same day.

Read here... to learn what decision Rolle makes. And then pass it on to athletes who perhaps are in search of what a true role model should be.

Would you want your teammate to make the same choice?

While trying to locate a saloonery in Manhattan that has CBS College Sports Network so that I can watch tonight's TCU-Utah game.... (and wondering just how many phone calls ESPN's switchboard will be receiving this evening from fans wondering how come they're not airing it...and whether switchboard operators still look like Lily Tomlin and plug thingies into holes)...

Tough week for many Texans: George Bush formally becomes a lame duck at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and their beloved Longhorns and Colt McCoy informally become the same due to events in Lubbock. What a finish, though. Have you ever seen a team kick off from its own 8-yard line? Heck, at that point you may as well commit a third and fourth excessive celebration foul (or call one on Chris Fowler) and kick off from your own 2.

Anyway, I love Colt McCoy and still would have no problem with him winning the Heisman, but I doubt that he will. Just like I doubt that the Longhorns will even advance to the Big 12 Championship game. Here's why:

1. Redskins Helmet Situation

Sweet, home field advantage! Or, not so much. It was bad enough that the Redskins were playing in front of a partisan Pittsburgh crowd Monday night in Landover, Maryland. Then the coach-to-quarterback communications went on the fritz, according to a Washington Post report by old friend Barry Svrluga. "It was unbelievable," said Skins coach Jim Zorn. "Our guys work really hard to try to make that a flawless and seamless operation. But at a critical time in the game, I don't want to have to worry about it, and it happened. And it just didn't happen. It continued to happen."

2. Jim Brown Says LT Treated Like "A Product"

If you choose to cynically read the words of legendary running back Jim Brown in a very good Q&A with Sam Adams of the Rocky Mountain News, you'd probably be inclined to dismiss them as the rantings of a grumpy old man. Or you could see them through the prism of a man who's been deeply involved with the game continuously for a half-century that also happens to be (very arguably) the best ever. Either way, Brown shoots from the hip.

On Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, Brown points out that he's not as dominant as he could be. "(The Chargers) keep him out of preseason games and make him like a product, where they save him and are protective.They do all kinds of things that we didn't want to do. I didn't want to sit out the preseason, sit down and all of that stuff."

Brown also points to the affluence of NFL players as a reason for recidivist behavior. "You have a lot of showmanship and a lot of money. And you see all the guys that are sacrificing their careers because they want to go to bars and strip clubs, or get into fights. They keep doing it over and over, and you wonder how can that be when the game is so great, they make so much money and get so much publicity. There must be something missing, and I think it might be the fact that we played football strictly for the game, strictly because we loved it and that was it. We didn't play it for the money. Now, I think, they have to play it for the money and it just doesn't resonate in their hearts the same way."

3. 'Force Field' Jenkins Explains His Terror

Finally, Mike Jenkins of the Cowboys has explained why he acted like Giants running back Derrick Ward was covered in plutonium during Ward's 17-yard touchdown run on Sunday. From Tim McMahon of the Dallas Morning News (via Pro Football Talk), Jenkins explains he thought he had help.  On Sunday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told me "On any play, I don't ever make a decision just on the face of it. We'll obviously look at that play and look at it hard. I saw the one that he scored on too (a first half interception return for a score). I'll take one for the other."

Which means he'll take 7 to give up 7....a wash. I think Jerry would like to have that assertion back.

So many of my predictions so often fail to pan out ("The Love Guru is Oscar gold!" "Washington will shock the world and beat  (Team Name Here)" ) that I, like you, have lose faith in them. But a month ago I got one correct, predicting that in the first week of November we'd have Bama at No. 1 and Obama as president-elect.

 Although the former senator from Illinois almost blew it on Monday evening by advocating, in his interview with Chris Berman---let's take a moment and get our heads around that concept, shall we? The next president's last national televised interview as a regular citizen was with the guy who gave us Bert "Be Home" Blyeven--for a playoff in college football. I defer to President-elect Obama's ken on almost all policy matters, but in this situation, let's remember that this is a man who graduated from Columbia the same year in which the school began its 44-game losing streak.

There was a lot worth watching on television last night: historic moments from the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix (located just one mile east of my high school) and Grant Park in Chicago (located just 1,762 miles east of my high school). And I'm sure the Chicago Bulls are delighted with the Obama women this morning, don't you think?

Still, one of my favorite moments came from The Daily Show/Colbert Report broadcast. As hosts John Stewart and Stephen Colbert sat at their anchor desk, Larry Wilmore (billed as the show's "Senior Black Correspondent") approached the set with a tape measure.

"What are you doing?" Stewart asked.

"Whatever I want," replied Wilmore. 

...As in what was this weekend and my sports teams.

I should never have done it. Even while I was doing it, I thought to myself: "Jinx." Then I went and did it anyways. When FSU beat Virginia Tech, I got excited. I looked at the rest of the schedule and counted games the Noles could and should win. I had us beating GT, Clemson, BC, close call with Maryland and then losing to Florida (see I was trying to be realistic). Shoulda known betta!

Saturday afternoon (ME: getting ready for a wedding, darting between the bathroom and the TV): FSU takes a loss to Georgia Tech after fumbling the would be game winning touchdown in the final minute of the game. Sigh. A brief stint in the Top 15 is over, now back to clinging to the bottom of the Top 25.

Switch to the Fighting Irish.. ND lets the game get tied in the fourth. After four OT's, FOUR!, and Brandon Walkers missed field goal, Pitt's kicker makes it and wins. My motive? The weekly ND shows are much easier to do when the Irish win.

Saturday night (ME: attending a wedding, pestering my roommates boyfriend to check for scores on his phone): I rooted for my "other" college football team- Texas. All looked pretty decent right up until Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree connect to create one of the most unforgettable moments in college football. One second left and plus seven...for Tech.

Sense a pattern here?

Sunday afternoon (I get home from doing Fantasy Fix and turn on the TV to see stats for Sage Rosenfels): Immediately I text Gregg and learn Matt Schaub of the Texans busted his knee. He's out, Sage is in. Not that I have a problem with Sage or that I expected them to beat the Vikings, but we were on a three game winning streak!

Now before you tell me "Well maybe you should like better teams..." the loss (all of them) is bad enough. And so a new week begins...

Switching to baseball... I made sandwiches with Ryan Howard on Friday.

The Question is, Why?

           One of my two loyal readers (non-relative division), Thom B., wrote in this morning and, as he usually does, read my mind. For the past couple of days I've been feeling as if I only hit it to the warning track (or maybe it was just a nubber up the first-base line) with Saturday's column on Notre Dame's loss to Pittsburgh.

          Why? Because I enumerated ad nauseam the Irish's many home losses in tight games over the past decade and a half, but I never answered the crucial question: Why? In fact, I never even posed it. I plan to do that within the next 24 hours via one of my patented rambling essays that will cull from various influences, be they the standard Aaron Sorkin or Cameron Crowe film quote, a passage from an article by the late, great David Foster Wallace, and who knows, maybe even a lyric from a Lucinda Williams song. At this point, the only thing I can promise is that I will not be cribbing any ideas or quotes from Gary Unmarried.  

        Know this, though. It's not an X's-and-O's thing. And it's not a scholarship issue, or an elevated achademic standards (!) issue, not even a coach-in-over-his-head issue. But it is systemic. And it will continue unless Charlie Weis, the 2nd-best coach Notre Dame has had since Ara Parseghian retired, begins to recognize his fatal flaw.

       And, by the way, I know that this team is on the way up. That they will be a Top 25 team next season, and possibly even a national title contender the year after that. And if you look at the 2009 schedule you will see that both Washington and Washington State (who lost their games this weekend by a combined 114-0 score) are on the schedule. In fact, let's get this out of the way right now:

2009 NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Nevada................Win, though Colin Kaepernick may be the best player the Irish face in their first five games

@ Michigan.........Win, though this will be tight

Michigan State.....Win, and big

@ Purdue............Win

Washington.........Win, and Jimmy Clausen atones for his 2008 performance in Seattle with a 350-plus yard day

USC...................?????

Boston College.....????

Washington State (in San Antonio).........Win

Navy..................Win

@ Pitt................???? (LeSean McCoy is eligible to turn pro after this season)

Connecticut.........Win

@ Stanford.........???? (You just know that one of these years Harbaugh is going to knock the Irish off)

Conservatively, then, eight wins. At least. Anything less would be a tremendous disappointment. Tremendous.

1. What's Up With the Jaguars?

"The engine ain't runnin' right," Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson told the Florida Times-Union's Mike Wright after Sunday's humiliating loss to the previously winless Bengals. Yeah, well, it's more than the engine, Mike. It's the brakes too and Jacksonville's headed downhill at a Bridge Out sign with no sign of being able to take control. Last week, it was the Browns feeling good about themselves after playing the Jags. This week it's Cincinnati. Next week...(gulp) Detroit?! This is a team that was good enough to knock off the Steelers in the playoffs last season. A team that went into its bye week buoyed by a win in Denver. Now they're 3-5 and in dire straits since the AFC Wild Card race is led by teams that are two full games up on the Jags at this point.

Said Peterson: "We haven't taken control of a game yet.I'm talking about where we intimidate running backs, where they know they're fixin' to get hit, we're gonna trash talk and if your fingers are down on the ground, we'll step on your fingers. That's what I call (having) that dog, man. We don't really have that dog in us right now for whatever reason."

When the dog's got no bite, the man holding the leash usually has to answer for it and Jack Del Rio - despite having had good success with the Jags - will have some s'plainin to do if this keeps up. The Jags are too talented to be this bad.

2. Patriots-Bills or Giants-Eagles...Which Game's Bigger?

There's a handful of good matchups this weekend but the two prettiest are in the East...Buffalo at New England and the Giants at Philly. Mama Peacock has the Eagles-Jints and it's got more starpower but for cutthroat need-to-win, I like the Pats and Bills. Both teams are 5-3 and New England is facing its first threat to Divisional supremacy in years. If anyone's going to knock them off, it's Buffalo. And while the Pats and Bills both lost Sunday, neither played poorly overall. It was a simple fact of both having to pay high costs for subtle mistakes (or in Buffalo's case, repeated red zone inadequacy). While we're on that topic, if you're the Patriots and you have Matt Cassel entering the final year of his contract, how hard do you try to retain him. And if you're Matt Cassel, are you looking to cash in on what you've done this season and get a starting job elsewhere?

3. Which Coordinators Make the Jump?

To me, there are three guys standing out as ready to make the jump from coordinator to head coach. First is Jim Schwartz, the Titans defensive coordinator. He was in the mix for the Redskins job last year but didn't get it. Now, he's calling the shots for an 8-0 defense in Tennessee doing nothing to hurt his candidacy. Second, there's Steve Spagnuolo in New York. The guy exudes confidence and his schemes calling the Jints defense are just nasty. Finally - and he's probably still too young - you have to look at the work done by Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel and marvel. He's got Cassel running the show, he's lost LaMont Jordan, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris from the running game and still the Pats are playing this well. The kid's remarkably talented. It's no coincidence either that all three are under three of the most organized and consistent head coaches.  

4. Taken No. 1 Doesn't Mean You're No. 1, Does It?

In the array of potshots Al Davis took at Lane Kiffin during his scorched earth press conference, one of the lowest blows was airing Kiffin's misgivings about JaMarcus Russell. Davis said Kiffin didn't want him. Davis said Russell was going to be a star. Guess who looks closer to being right? Yeah, the guy out of a job. Russell led the Raiders to three first downs Sunday against the Falcons. He threw for a grand total of 91 feet on 6 of 19 passing. In five of his eight starts he's completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes and in three of those he's been under 40 percent. This is a guy that Davis HAD to have. A guy who's making more than Tom Brady. People think the Niners screwed up with Alex Smith? JaMarcus is making Alex Smith look like Johnny Unitas.

5. Browns, Jags, Texans, Chargers...Do Any of These 3-5 Teams Have a Shot?

I'm going to say the only one with a prayer is the Chargers and that's because they can still win the West. Otherwise, the other three are all dead because there's too much Wild Card competition.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave a stark evaluation of his team after Sunday's 35-14 loss to the Giants.

"I'm not looking through rose-colored glasses as to where we might be at the last game of the year whether we're watching it on television or playing in it," said Jones, a star-shaped diamond stickpin affixed to his lapel being the only thing with a little shine to it in a morose postgame locker room.

Speaking for a long stretch to waves of reporters, Jones said his 5-4 Cowboys can't expect injured quarterback Tony Romo to be a cure-all when he returns from his broken finger.

"Romo can't hit the ground running as if he's been out here completely healthy and be coordinated with Roy Williams, Terrell Owens and (Jason) Witten. He can't be as effective as he could have been if he'd been playing straight through. That's gonna be a real challenge. But we can be a better team."

Asked if he was shocked by the Cowboys dip since a 4-1 start, Jones said, "It's disappointment. I'm disappointed we've got the uphill battle we've got. I'm not in shock by any stretch of the imagination. I'm disappointed and I know it's gonna be harder for us to get where we want to go now that we're 5-4 than if we were 6-3. But I know things that happened to our team can happen to all the other teams. A lot of teams deal with them and do them well. The team we just played dealt with their challenges last year and won the world championship. And that's the role model of what you hope for."

Jones said, if he were guaranteed the playoffs and had to give up trying to win the division, he'd take that trade. He added, "But I'm a gambler."

Jones also said he was happy with the effort he's seen from his team.

"Very (pleased)," he stressed. "Later in the game I saw a tired defensive football team out there. I've seen that before at all junctures when you're getting run out. And I've seen when you get behind the other team put all the pressure in the world on and make you look like dogs."

I asked him about the play on which rookie corner Mike Jenkins backed away from contact as New York's Derrick Ward scored on a 17-yard burst.  

Jones saw it unfold and added, "On any play, I don't ever make a decision just on the face of it. We'll obviously look at that play and look at it hard. I saw the one that he scored on too (a first half interception return for a score). I'll take one for the other."

1. What's Up With the Jaguars?

"The engine ain't runnin' right," Jaguars linebacker Mike Peterson told the Florida Times-Union's Mike Wright after Sunday's humiliating loss to the previously winless Bengals. Yeah, well, it's more than the engine, Mike. It's the brakes too and Jacksonville's headed downhill at a Bridge Out sign with no sign of being able to take control. Last week, it was the Browns feeling good about themselves after playing the Jags. This week it's Cincinnati. Next week...(gulp) Detroit?! This is a team that was good enough to knock off the Steelers in the playoffs last season. A team that went into its bye week buoyed by a win in Denver. Now they're 3-5 and in dire straits since the AFC Wild Card race is led by teams that are two full games up on the Jags at this point.

Said Peterson: "We haven't taken control of a game yet.I'm talking about where we intimidate running backs, where they know they're fixin' to get hit, we're gonna trash talk and if your fingers are down on the ground, we'll step on your fingers. That's what I call (having) that dog, man. We don't really have that dog in us right now for whatever reason."

When the dog's got no bite, the man holding the leash usually has to answer for it and Jack Del Rio - despite having had good success with the Jags - will have some s'plainin to do if this keeps up. The Jags are too talented to be this bad.

2. Patriots-Bills or Giants-Eagles...Which Game's Bigger?

There's a handful of good matchups this weekend but the two prettiest are in the East...Buffalo at New England and the Giants at Philly. Mama Peacock has the Eagles-Jints and it's got more starpower but for cutthroat need-to-win, I like the Pats and Bills. Both teams are 5-3 and New England is facing its first threat to Divisional supremacy in years. If anyone's going to knock them off, it's Buffalo. And while the Pats and Bills both lost Sunday, neither played poorly overall. It was a simple fact of both having to pay high costs for subtle mistakes (or in Buffalo's case, repeated red zone inadequacy). While we're on that topic, if you're the Patriots and you have Matt Cassel entering the final year of his contract, how hard do you try to retain him. And if you're Matt Cassel, are you looking to cash in on what you've done this season and get a starting job elsewhere?

3. Which Coordinators Make the Jump?

To me, there are three guys standing out as ready to make the jump from coordinator to head coach. First is Jim Schwartz, the Titans defensive coordinator. He was in the mix for the Redskins job last year but didn't get it. Now, he's calling the shots for an 8-0 defense in Tennessee doing nothing to hurt his candidacy. Second, there's Steve Spagnuolo in New York. The guy exudes confidence and his schemes calling the Jints defense are just nasty. Finally - and he's probably still too young - you have to look at the work done by Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel and marvel. He's got Cassel running the show, he's lost LaMont Jordan, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris from the running game and still the Pats are playing this well. The kid's remarkably talented. It's no coincidence either that all three are under three of the most organized and consistent head coaches.  

4. Taken No. 1 Doesn't Mean You're No. 1, Does It?

In the array of potshots Al Davis took at Lane Kiffin during his scorched earth press conference, one of the lowest blows was airing Kiffin's misgivings about JaMarcus Russell. Davis said Kiffin didn't want him. Davis said Russell was going to be a star. Guess who looks closer to being right? Yeah, the guy out of a job. Russell led the Raiders to three first downs Sunday against the Falcons. He threw for a grand total of 91 feet on 6 of 19 passing. In five of his eight starts he's completed fewer than 50 percent of his passes and in three of those he's been under 40 percent. This is a guy that Davis HAD to have. A guy who's making more than Tom Brady. People think the Niners screwed up with Alex Smith? JaMarcus is making Alex Smith look like Johnny Unitas.

5. Browns, Jags, Texans, Chargers...Do Any of These 3-5 Teams Have a Shot?

I'm going to say the only one with a prayer is the Chargers and that's because they can still win the West. Otherwise, the other three are all dead because there's too much Wild Card competition.

After throwing a perfect ball that was one-handed along the sideline for a 28-yard gain on third-and-5, Brad Johnson followed that up by throwing a slant intended for Terrell Owens that was picked off by Corey Webster and returned to the Dallas 27.

For New York...K Lawrence Tynes, CB R.W. McQuarters, RB Danny Ware, CB Kevin Dockery, LB Gerris Wilkerson, T Adam Koets, WR Mario Manningham, DE Jerome McDougle.

For the Cowboys...QB Tony Romo, RB Felix Jones, CB Quincy Butler, CB Terence Newman, G Kyle Kosier, G Joe Berger, T Doug Free, WR Isaiah Stanback.

At 3:30 in the East on this Sunday, we have the Jets up 13 on the Bills, Detroit up 3 on the Bears, the Bengals up 8 on the Jags, Cleveland up 7 on Baltimore, KC up 11 on Tampa, Minnesota up 7 on Houston (I guess that's not a surprise), Arizona up 24 on St. Louis and Tennessee up just 3 on the Packers (although I like GB to pull that one out).

The biggest stunners are the Bengals over the Jaguars and the Chiefs up on Tampa. Two teams with playoff aspirations getting whacked by hapless teams when they should be hitting their stride? Hmmmph.

A forensic analysis of the Notre Dame loss to Pittsburgh:

--Notre Dame scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than six minutes remaining on a fade route to Golden Tate. During the ensuing TV timeout, Jon Bon Jovi decided it was time to bonzo outta there (he has some experience with beating traffic out of sold-out arenas, after all). As he walked past the student section, he saluted them with a tip of the marching band hat he'd been given at halftime. The students threw a wall of adulation back his way.

Then Notre Dame allowed the game-tying touchdown. And failed to make a single key play down the stretch. Jon, Jon: never say goodbye. Never say goodbye.

(During the game, by the way, my brother, who was born not 15 miles from where Bon Jovi was born and is just one year older, texted me the order: "Pull his wig off!")

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I happened to be watching right guard Chris Stewart as he was trotting onto the field for Notre Dame's first offensive possession of overtime. The 340-pounder just fell to the turf and had to leave the game. From what I saw, it seemed as if his right knee buckled a bit. As if he might have hyper-extended it. Don't know exactly what happened yet--Charlie didn't either--but it didn't seem like a cramp. It seemed like a knee.

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Bon Jovi may have left early, but props to the Notre Dame marching band for the most courageous performance in the teeth of extenuating circumstances I've seen since the Faber College marching band found themselves bunched up against one another in an alley.

During the first overtime, about four sprinklers went on in in the north end zone (the action on the field was taking place on the south end). They sent fountains of water skyward for about a full two minutes, and one spray headed right toward the tuba section seated behind the north end zone. The band never stopped playing, though. If anyone is compiling a Great Moments in Marching Band History tome, this incident needs to be included.

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The Golden Tate circus catch highlight reel just keeps getting longer. Yesterday's effort was his best yet, a 47-yarder on a Go route in which either of two Pitt defensive backs who touched the ball first should have intercepted it. Neither did, though, and when the second, Dom DeCicco, batted the ball into the air, Tate caught it without ever breaking stride. He was falling, though.

Just as impressive was the 31-yard grab that he made on Notre Dame's go-ahead TD drive in the 4th quarter. Tate caught a slant-in, then stopped on a dime and reversed field toward the outside, leaving the Pitt defender looking for his undergarments. And that is why it's somewhat criminal that someone so uniquely talented only touched the ball once during all four overtimes.

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The Irish entered the game leading the nation in kickoff return coverage despite being only one of two schools in the top 20 that had yet to record a touchback. Then again, you could make the argument that the Irish hold opponents to shorter returns precisely because they never do outkick their coverage on kickoffs. After all, the stat is based not on where the return team ends up beginning its drive (which, when you think about it, is far more pertinent in determining how effective your kickoff coverage team is as a whole) but on how many yards the ball is returned.

Anyway, the Irish finally recorded a touchback yesterday, with the benefit of a wobbly, corkscrew kick that rolled the final 12 yards into the endzone.

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Michael Floyd: 10 catches for 100 yards and 2 TDs. That gives him 41 catches on the season, shattering the freshman record of 32 set last season by Duval Kamara (who has 13 catches this season in a reduced role thanks to Floyd's and Tate's emergence). Floyd's seven TDs lead the Irish as well.

 By comparison, Jeff Samardzija, who holds every meaningful Irish career receiving record, had a total of 24 catches and zero touchdowns after two seasons.

Let's give a conservative estimate, that Floyd catches a total of 20 balls in Notre Dame's last four games (below his season average of 5.12 per game). That would give him 61 catches on the season (I'll ignore bowl stats for now...probably prudent, don't you think?). That total would put Floyd, a true freshman, in sixth place on the school's single-season receptions list:

1) Jeff Samardzija, 78, 2006 (senior year).............. QB: Brady Quinn

2) (Tie) Samardzija, 77, 2005 (junior)......................QB: Quinn

         Tom Gatewood, 77, 1970 (junior year)...........QB: Joe Theismann

4) Maurice Stovall, 69, 2005 (senior year)...............QB: Quinn

5) Rhema McKnight, 67, 2006 (senior year).............QB: Quinn

Obviously, Floyd is way ahead of the curve. The only question is whether he'll remain all four years. Talent-wise, there's no need.

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 Is it just me, or are Notre Dame's defensive players better open-field runners than all of their offensive counterparts save Golden Tate? Raeshon McNeil had a pretty 43-yard run (and yes, fumble) after his interception yesterday, which is second only to the 47-yarder Robert Blanton had verus Stanford. And up-back Harrison Smith is averaging 29 yards per carry on a pair of punt fakes this year.

Sure, it's easier to run the ball in the chaos of an INT (against offensive players), but the aforementioned four plays all went for more yardage than the longest run from scrimmage this season of ND's three leading tailbacks. The longest from that trio is Armando Allen's 21-yarder.

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Sure, safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy deserve credit for yet another monster effort on Saturday. Bruton finished with 16 tackles and McCarthy 15 in the loss to Pitt (all stats totals abetted, obviously, by four overtime periods). The pair are both averaging more than nine tackles per game and are both in the top 25 nationally in tackles.

What's good for their self-esteem, though, is bad for the Irish. Of the nation's top 25 tacklers, six are DBs. The four others play for New Mexico State (103rd in scoring defense), Louisiana Tech (62nd in that category), Kent State (97th) and San Diego State (111th; by the way, only Idaho has scored fewer points on the Aztecs this season than the Irish did).

The Irish are much higher on that list--38th--and would be even higher were it not for the four overtimes yesterday. Still, it's a sign that too many plays are getting past the first line of defense when your two safeties are by far your leading tacklers. 

Finally, Notre Dame is the only school with two players in the Top 25 in that category.

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Brandon Walker: four field goals in the first seven games. Four field goals versus Pitt. The sophomore is now a respectable 10-15 on the season. And if the Irish offense cannot score a touchdown on four consecutive drives that begin at the opponents' 25, then you certainly cannot hold Walker accountable.

2nd-and-goal at the 3 in the first overtime. How badly do the Irish wish they were back at that moment? Three plays to gain three yards. If the "pound 'em" offense were ever going to make an appearance, that would have been the place.

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I understand that Jimmy Clausen doesn't want to be sacked, but once he turns the corner on a scramble, isn't it better to just run upfield out of bounds and gain even one yard than to throw it into the boosters' seating area? Still don't understand that one.

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LeSean McCoy: The best offensive player Notre Dame has faced this season.     

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Two days before the presidential election, and I think it's non-partisan to state that one candidate has a slight edge in the polls over another. Two days before the presidential election, and while three BCS conference schools remain undefeated, I think it's non-partisan to state that one school has a slight edge in the polls over the two others. Which is why someone somewhere needs to post a headline that reads:

O! Bama!

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Notre Dame alums flinch at the mention of "David Gordon", the B.C. kicker who ended the Irish dream of a national championship in 1993 with his 41-yard field goal (and, yes, the team that won the title that season had as many losses as the Irish, one, as well as that loss having come to the Irish and life's not fair blah blah blah...). True Domerologists, though, will recall that on B.C.'s game-winning drive, Eagle quarterback Glenn Foley threw a limp pass right into the arms of Irish linebacker Pete Bercich, a terrific player who went onto a solid NFL career. Bercich, somewhat inexplicably, dropped the ball.

There are many plays in a game that determine the outcome, of course, but I've always had a knack for remembering dropped interceptions that come back to haunt you. Which is why, on the penultimate game of last night's shootout in Lubbock, my heart sank for Longhorn freshman defensive back Blake Gideon.

Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell was on the run, and could have just tucked it, but instead he tossed a throw into the left flat about eight yards downfield. The spiral, perfectly placed, ricocheted off the Red Raider receiver's hands and up into the air behind him. It was a soft wobbler, the kind of easy pick that defensive backs pluck in drills each day in practice (punctuating the interception by shouting, "Oskie!").

This time, though, the ball fell right through Gideon's arms. For a moment I thought he'd actually snared it between his calves (how ironic would that be for a Longhorn?!?) but the replay showed that the ball had fallen through his arms, bounced off the turf, and then been caught 'tween his legs on the rebound.

One play later, Harrell wised up and tossed a dart to the best wide receiver in the country, Michael Crabtree, who showed why. Texas Tech wins. Guns up!

If Gideon makes that pick (there were 8 seconds left), Texas is still No. 1 and Colt McCoy has just about wrapped up the Heisman Trophy. He doesn't, though, so now Tech is the last unbeaten school in the Big 12 South and folks get to argue whether Harrell or Crabtree is more deserving of the Heisman (though I still believe the winner will be the QB who leads his team to the Big 12 championship).

Anyway, I feel for Gideon. After all, he must be extremely talented if he was on the field as a true freshman that late in the contest. Everyone makes mistakes, but some loom larger than others. If you go onto Gideon's bio page on the Texas athletics website, you'll notice that near the bottom there's a place where he's asked to list some of his favorite things. For "Favorite Cartoon Character", Gideon has listed "Charlie Brown".

Augh.   

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Car-wreck enthusiasts must be gobbling up those Apple Cup tickets (November 22nd in Pullman...and really, College Gameday, that's where you should head that weekend). On Saturday Washington and Washington State were outscored 114-0 collectively by USC and Stanford, respectively.

In case you're wondering how close each northwest school came to scoring: the Huskies had a 92-yard drive in the 4th quarter that began on their own 2-yard line. So there they were on the USC 6--at least assured of a field goal--but then Ronnie Fouch tossed an interception.

As for the Cougars, they missed a 44-yard field goal once and another time advanced to the Stanford 23 before tossing a pick.  

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Purdue beats Michigan on a hook-and-lateral play with 26 seconds left. Northwestern beats Minnesota on a 48-yard interception return with 0:12 remaining. Michigan State outlasts Wisconsin via a game-winning field goal with 0:07 remaining. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame slug it out for four overtimes in South Bend before the Panthers win 36-33. See how much fun the Midwest is when its Top 25 schools (Penn State, Ohio State and Ball State) all take the day off?

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This just in from a friend. The final score of the biggest game of the weekend, you may already know, was Texas Tech 39, Texas 33. And the over-under from the guys in Vegas? 71.5 points. That's why they're geniuses.

1. How Does Commander Asscrack Negotiate the Bye Week?

I guess we now know why – when every team is under an edict to interview a minority candidate for every open head coaching position – Mike Singletary’s phone didn't ringing off the hook last offseason.

Quite a performance by Iron Mike in his first week with the conch. We all saw him go all batspit in his first postgame press conference, apologizing to 49ers fans and lacing his team after a horrible performance (the coaching staff apparently had no impact on the outcome). This week we learn that Singletary felt his team would be inspired to play better if it saw his bare ass during intermission of the Niners loss to Seattle.

Chew on that for a moment (the idea, not Singletary’s bare ass). What’s the thought process that leads to a moment like that?

“Listen, they’re killing us on the edges, we need to get better contain and O’Sullivan may have to come out. I think I might show the boys my ass. Maybe that’ll get ‘em going.”

Now that news leaked that Singletary introduced Ol’ One Eye to the team, he’s on the prowl to find out who the leaker was. He alleges that what happens in the locker room should stay in the locker room. Ironic. I’m pretty sure some of his players feel that calling members of the team “cancers” and singling out players for in-game humiliation as Singletary did last week would be better done behind closed doors as well.

This is not something the great coaches do. Lombardi? Landry? Don Shula? Bill Parcells? Dick Williams? Nevermind. Pat Summitt? 

Singletary’s opportunity to put his tumultuous first week in the rearview mirror doesn't come until next week. The Niners are off today. My greatest current fear. Singletary employing visual aids in the locker room to illustrate how pleased he is with his team’s performance .

2. Is This Comeuppance Week for the Titans?

On Monday, the Tennessee Titans showed the entire country – in prime time – that they are for real. Their 31-21 hammering of the Colts helped them move to 7-0 and slayed all the dragons of national doubt the Titans have been railing about. They accomplished something. And that often leads to an exhale. As resolute, focused and self-deprecating as Tennessee has been during this run (when asked what 5-0 meant to him, linebacker Keith Bulluck said, “We can still finish 5-11), if there is any week they’ll let down, it’s this one. And the sometimes explosive Packers have the right recipe to pull the upset – coming off a bye, healthy and having been a decent (2-1) road team so far this season.

Check out the rest of the picks I made this week right here. 

3. Colonel Sanders…Secret Recipe For Colts?
There were times last week when the Tennessee Titans were up against it on third down and Kerry Collins went right down the middle of the field to pick up the necessary yardage. Bo Scaife, Tennessee tight end, was the main beneficiary. There were catches Scaife made that – if Bob Sanders were on the field – Scaife wouldn’t have made. It’s that simple. Everyone’s wondering what’s wrong with teams like the Colts and the Chargers…they’re missing two of the best defenders in football, Sanders and Shawne Merriman respectively. This week, Sanders is back for the Colts in their critical SNF game with the Patriots. Wes Welker’s quietly having a brilliant season for New England with 49 catches and at least six in seven strraight games. Sanders is a mirror image of Welker – short, waterbug quick, explosive. Can he keep up with and/or neutralize him? And if so, can the Colts diminished DBs (Marlin Jackson’s now lost for the season, Kelvin Hayden’s just back from injury) keep up with Randy Moss? This could be a throw, throw, throw game for the Patriots even as bad as Indy’s been against the run. Sanders will be a focal point.

4. Brooks Bollinger…Kidding, Right?
The Cowboys are mulling using Bollinger in Giants Stadium against Justin Tuck and the boys? Even if the idea was slapped down during the week, that it’s been brought to the table for discussion is alarming. Or maybe I’m underrating just how bad Brad Johnson’s been.

5. Miami at Denver and Baltimore at Cleveland

The Chargers have to be rooting hard for Miami today. If the Dolphins can help keep Denver within striking distance for San Diego – which is on its off week – then the five-loss Chargers will still have a shot in the AFC West with Denver slipping to 4-4. Never mind the implications for the Broncos who’ve been beaten by Jacksonville and New England in their past two games. Huge game for them. Then there’s the surprising Ravens who can drop the Browns to 3-5 and get a two-game edge on them in the division if the Boys of Flacco can win in the Dawg Pound.

BONUS STOOOORY

Another win by the Rams is, to this reporter, a complete and utter repudiation of everything Scott Linehan stood for in St. Louis. How does he watch these games?

Just finished writing the column and I'm sitting here in the Notre Dame press box, waiting for my work spouse, Rothstein, to finish writing. A few thoughts that failed to make the column:

--Missed opportunities or bad plays. I called out Harrison Smith for his portentous personal foul in the 3rd quarter, but these blown chances also need to be mentioned:

1) The overthrown ball to Michael Floyd, wide open in the end zone, on the first play of the second overtime.

2) Notre Dame has 2nd-and-goal from the 3 in the first overtime, and they lose one yard in the next two plays.

3) Pitt faces 4th-and-6 late in the game and completes a fade route for the game-tying touchdown, the same play it had tried on the previous two downs.

4) Pitt has 2nd-and-14 from the 29 in the 3rd overtime, and they get a first down. 

5) The Irish have 3rd-and-4 from their 47 on their final drive of the game, with enough time to score. In the next two plays the Irish call all three of their timeouts and gain a total of three yards.

It should be noted that Dave Wannstedt beat Charlie Weis in spite of himself. All of us watching wondered why he didn't use the direct snap to LeSean McCoy even more, or why he allowed QB Pat Bostick to throw as often as he did. Wannstedt is a nice guy--he's the first coach who has ever come over and personally said hello to our little "Irish Live" pregame show--but he owes much of this win to a reliable kicker and the awesome awesomeness of LeSean McCoy. The sophomore sported a Superman t-shirt--for reals--beneath his shoulder pads, and it belongs.

Finally, while this Irish team is far improved over last season's, I'd like to add a "Yea" and a "Nay". The "Yea" is for the fact that the coaching staff and the players for the most part seem organized. They don't make many mental mistakes, which was a staple of Ty Willingham's teams. This Irish squad doesn't squander timeouts or call plays that leave you shaking your head for their utter lack of logic. On the other hand, the Irish have now lost two games in the past three in which they clearly had the superior talent. Call it fear, call it motivation, call it inspiration, but Lou Holtz was able to wring more inspired efforts out of his Irish teams than Weis has been able to do thus far. While most coaches would pale in a comparison to Holtz, he is familiar here and that is why I mention him.

I've written this before, but I'll say it again: the distinctive aspect of the 2005 loss to USC is that that Notre Dame team played over its heads for the entire game. USC had the superior talent, but the Irish figuratively punched them in the mouth the entire game and played with that spirit that this school likes to believe it patented.

That was an extraordinary effort, and no one should expect it to happen on a regular basis. The fact is, though, that I haven't seen a Notre Dame team play a game anywhere near that inspired since. Notre Dame usually beats the teams it has more talent than while losing to the ones it has less talent than. And while the Irish are susceptible to a loss against a slightly less talented opponent (today; North Carolina; Navy last year), I cannot recall the last time they beat someone who had more talent than they do.

That, I believe, is what everyone who follows this team wonders about them. Do they have it in them to rise up and pull off an upset? Because while the plays that Michael Floyd and Golden Tate make are tremendous, they are a product of their gifts, not their inspiration. Great teams, great players make plays when they need to be made. That's why Jeff Samardzija belongs in a class by himself when it comes to Irish players of the past decade. We're still waiting for someone else to step up when it matters most. 

How again did Pitt allow 54 at home last week to Rutgers?

By the way, Irish fans, don't get too psyched about the defense: Pat Bostick is the third consecutive backup QB the Irish have faced (Cameron Sexton, UNC; Ronnie Fouch, U-Dub). And, like you, I'm wondering how much longer the Irish are going to allow Pitt to remain in the game until it bites them in the keester. After all, LeSean McCoy (a.k.a. NotColt McCoy) will eventually break a long run. And this is about the time when the Irish commits a turnover, no?

Remember the first half? After McNeil made his pick, giving the Irish 1st-and-10 at the Pitt 13? I said to Paula Farrrris (that's for you, Teddy), "Ten to one that the Irish call a fade." "Okay," she said. The next play was a fade pass to Golden Tate. Paula smiled. "You didn't say ten what."

Still, why is it so predictable?

On one hand, you have to be impressed with how this team almost utterly devoid of seniors stays in every game and wins most of them so far. On the other, Notre Dame has yet to play a really good team this autumn. Again, Pitt...lost 54-34 to Rutgers at home last week. The Irish could have, should have, put this one away earlier. Instead, we're beginning the 4th quarter with Pitt down just a TD and in Irish territory.

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Notre Dame: 7 yards of offense in the 3rd quarter

Notre Dame led 17-3 at the half. Here in the pressbox, Rothstein, Hamilton, the Fabulous Teddy G(reenstein), Paula and I were discussing the 3rd quarter. I opined that if the Irish scored first, this one was over.

Fast forward to Pitt's first possession: On 3rd-and-9, the Panthers complete a 5-yard pass. The Irish are sky-high and the D is psyched that they made the stop on Pitt's opening series. Then a flag flies in the secondary. Harrison Smith committed a personal foul. Fifteen yards, and the drive survives. He had a good excuse, though: His hair was in his eyes.

Anyway, now Pitt has scored a TD (ballsy call by Wannstache, the pass play on 4th-and-1 at the 41) and it's 17-109. Mo (last name Mentum) has totally swung the Panthers' way.

Paula, when she's not bickering good-naturedly with Teddy G. about how he once misspelled her name in print ("It's Faris with one 'R'"), reminds me that Pitt has yet to lose on the road this season and the Irish have yet to lose at home.

Raeshon McNeil just intercepted a second overthrown pass (and I just realized that my previous blog was never saved...too bad, it was an all-time classic)

We have a tight game here in the Bend. 3-3 in the 2nd quarter.

Michael Floyd already has three catches, giving him 34 on the season, which breaks the freshman record (32) set last season by Duval Kamara.

The flowers that usually adorn the planters behind both teams' benches have been taken out for the winter, thus denying Bon Jovi the opportunity to lay anyone down in a bed of roses. If he stays at the Morris Inn, though, he can still sleep tonight on a bed of nails.

Pitt has yet to gain a first down through three offensive series. After one quarter, LeSean McCoy has just five yards. Armando Allen has 45.

By the way, when Bon Jovi strode onto the field about 30 minutes before kickoff, Bruce Springsteen was playing on the loudspeaker.

Greetings from South Bend....

Sorry we fired up ye ol' Bloggin' Machine a little late today. I guess my scoop that Pitt QB Bill Stull won't be starting loses some of its lustre.

On the Notre Dame sideline today: Former Irish wideout Jeff Samardzija and Jersey rock icon Jon Bon Jovi. The writers are already haggling over what would be the most groan-inducing Bon Jovi reference to make. Will the Irish win in a "runaway"? Go down in a "blaze of glory"? Is Samardiza here because he can "never say goodbye"?

Personnel matters: David Grimes hasn't stepped on the field yet. Armando Allen is not returning kicks or punts. Golden Tate is doing both, with an assist from James Aldridge on the kickoff.