Buzz Around Team Camps 9/30/08

Here's the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for Tuesday, September 30th:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

Two days after earning his first victory at San Diego State, redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Lindley picked up his first honor from the Mountain West Conference. Lindley, who set MWC and SDSU records for most passing yards (433) and touchdowns (four) by a freshman in a 45-17 victory over Idaho, was named Offensive Player of the Week, the first freshman quarterback to earn that award since 2006.

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

The biggest comeback in Michigan Stadium history couldn't erase mistakes made by the University of Michigan football team - and coach Rich Rodriguez talked about them all at his Monday news conference.

There was the slow-to-start offense, which didn't score until the third quarter. There were problems - again - among the team's return men, who lost two fumbles. The offensive line failed to block effectively in the run game most of the afternoon, and technical issues with quarterback Steven Threet's delivery contributed to his 2-of-10 first-half passing. But one thing Rodriguez and his coaching staff didn't see during the game or in film review was this: any quit.

"I told the team that the worst thing somebody would tell you is that you're soft or lazy," he said. "If you run the wrong route, have the wrong technique, make a bad decision or something, that's not good. We can get those corrected, but if you're soft and lazy, that's something you can control every day in every game."

Michigan State via http://www.ap.com
<

blockquote>Former NFL draft bust Tony Mandarich says he used steroids at Michigan State and faked a drug test before the 1988 Rose Bowl. He also said during an interview on "Inside the NFL" that will air Wednesday on Showtime that he did not use steroids in the NFL but was addicted to alcohol and painkillers.

Kicker Gets Noticed via http://www.mlive.com

Thanks to his career-high 16 points, a career-most four field goals and a career-long field goal last Saturday at Indiana, Michigan State kicker Brett Swenson was named one of the Lou Groza Award's Top Three Stars of the Week.

Swenson made kicks from 45, 48, 45 and 32 yards in the 42-29 victory. He also converted all four extra points.

Purdue via http://www.purdueexponent.org

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller is working on a way for his team to stop playing nickel ' even if it's just for a couple plays.

The Boilermaker defense has played a nickel defense, which has only two linebackers, on almost every play of their first four games this season. This comes from a lack of depth at linebacker. The Boilers already had a problem at the position before the season began, but after senior Jason Werner had surgery on his back, the problems worsened.

Though coach Joe Tiller is confident Werner will enter the lineup at some point this season, he's looking for other solutions at the same time. One guy Tiller is looking at is sophomore Nickcaro Golding.

North Carolina via http://tarheelblue.cstv.com

North Carolina strong safety Trimane Goddard has been named the Football Writers Association of America/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for games of the weekend of Sept. 27.

Goddard, a 5-11, 195-pound senior from Robersonville, N.C., made eight tackles, intercepted two passes and broke up another in the Tar Heels' 28-24 come-from-behind victory at Miami. On the final play of the game, Goddard intercepted a pass in the back of the end zone after knocking it out of the hands of the intended receiver. Earlier in the game, Goddard returned an interception 35 yards.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Asked Monday how he keeps himself going in the midst of what he has acknowledged is one of the toughest professional situations of his life, Tyrone Willingham said he reviews previous successes.

"You look at all the things you have done in your life, and every now and then go back and count your successes," the Washington coach said. "And I've had quite a few successes since I was born. Waking up this morning was one of those, and it's not bad."

Waking up with his job intact, some might say, would be another. While Saturday's 35-28 loss to Stanford increased speculation about Willingham's future, UW athletic director Scott Woodward said his stance hasn't changed and that he doesn't foresee making an in-season coaching change.

"I'm obviously not any happier about the situation," Woodward said Monday. "But we are going to assess it at the end of the season and I'll discuss it then with [UW president Mark Emmert], and we are on the same page with that."

Willingham — 11-29 in his fourth year as UW's coach, with the Huskies 0-4 this season — left no doubt at his weekly news conference Monday that he thinks he still is the man for the job. Asked how he would sell himself to someone wondering why he should keep the job, Willingham said: "Because I have the enthusiasm for it. The focus, the concentration for it, and I'm still very much into what I'm doing."

Later on his radio show, when asked if he had considered resigning, Willingham responded, "Nope," and said he thinks a turnaround is ahead.

"I am still very enthusiastic and optimistic about our football team and the things we can do," he said.

Boston College via http://www.boston.com

Some coaches will break down films and use statistics to determine the pecking order of their depth chart. Boston College football coach Jeff Jagodzinski is going to use something else.

"It's more of a feel thing,'' said Jagodzinski in a conference call with the media this afternoon when he was asked about how he planned on using his quarterbacks in this week's Atlantic Coast Conference game against North Carolina State. "It will depend on how the game is going."

Jagodzinski said that fifth year senior Chris Crane will remain the starter, but that redshirt freshman Dominique Davis will also get playing time.

The routine the past two weeks has been to insert Davis late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter. In both instances the Eagle' offense responded positively. In Saturday's 42- 0 win over Rhode Island, Davis came in near the end of the first quarter in a scoreless game. By the half, BC had a 28-0 lead as a Davis-led offense produced four touchdown scoring drives in the five series he was in the game.

Navy via http://www.hometownannapolis.com

Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada smiled and laughed at jokes while riding a stationary bike following yesterday's practice on Rip Miller Field.
Judging by his attitude and the way his legs were moving, one got the impression the hamstring injury Kaheaku-Enhada suffered on Saturday against Wake Forest wasn't as severe as the original one that sidelined the signal-caller for four weeks.

Kaheaku-Enhada partially tore the hamstring during an intra-squad scrimmage on Aug. 9 and did not return to the playing field until the Sept. 13 game against Duke. Losing its starting quarterback for a similar stretch at this point in the season would be devastating for Navy.

However, Kaheaku-Enhada confirmed after yesterday's practice that he "tweaked" the previous left hamstring injury and hoped to play in this Saturday's showdown against service academy rival Air Force.

"It's definitely not as bad as before. There's no swelling this time, which is a good sign," Kaheaku-Enhada said.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

With his team visiting the Coliseum on Saturday, Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti has been watching videotape of USC's upset loss to Oregon State and likes what he sees. Especially the performances of the Beavers' offensive and defensive linemen, who dominated in the trenches for much of the game, and diminutive running back Jacquizz Rodgers.

"I thought Oregon State attacked them pretty well," Bellotti said. " 'Quizz Rodgers, in all honesty, it was unbelievable how he got through some of those holes."

The Ducks are not like Oregon State in that they don't employ the same schemes and don't have a 5-foot-7 starting back who can sneak through narrow spaces. Still, Bellotti expressed interest in the way Oregon State used straight-ahead running, quick passes and judicious blitzing on defense.

"Obviously," he said, "we're looking at that as a blueprint for success."

Different Southern Cal Team? via http://www.conquestchronicles.com/

How many times have we heard that in the first few weeks of the season? The leadership is different, the talent is better and they just give you a different feel….. Right.

I don’t know how many times I read that and I don’t know how many times I shook my head while saying to my to myself its way too early yet to be making those proclamations. We "heard" it from all the pundits on T.V. and "read" it in all sorts of publications. We have been burned by this before like in 2005 when the World Wide Leader proclaimed the 2005 Trojan team "the best ever" or whatever the heck they said.

As has been said a million times, these are 18-22 year old kids and all this hype and attention that we shower upon them might be a bit too much especially when they have barely got out of the gates in this young season.

Notre Dame vs Purdue Highlights

Here's one last look at Saturday's 38-21 victory over the Boilermakers.

Something Is Not Adding Up

One glaring stat that went unnoticed on Saturday's 38-21 Fighting Irish win was Joseph Fauria's DNP, coaches' decision. It wasn't that Fauria was not ready, but Coach Weis and the Notre Dame coaching staff still want to preserve a year for the heralded freshmen from California. I'm not sure about you, but something is not adding up.

It makes me wonder if the Irish coaching staff knows something good is going to happen at the Tight End position and that someone is going to be coming back, as in, Will Yeatman. Because if Joseph Fauria is Notre Dame's current # 2 Tight End, there is no reason to hold him back at this point of the season. The depth at the position is paper thin, and the Irish are using offensive linemen lined up as tight ends to be extra blockers. Even if Luke Schmidt is healthy, Fauria should still be seeing action. More importantly, one of the top five players Notre Dame needs on the field at all times is Kyle Rudolph. The Tight End position has been completely decimated that ND is throwing in a freshman (Fauria) who the coaching staff had no intention of playing this season. There are a lot of valuable guys on this team, but Rudolph is one of those players that the Irish can least afford to lose to an injury. If he does go down, the Notre Dame offense will be a spread offense, chucking the ball everywhere across the field.

I'm hypothetically speaking, but if Yeatman is indeed done like many have speculated, including myself, then Fauria is in there. Let's get him in there at # 2 behind Kyle Rudolph. He's got a lot of raw talent and can provide the offense and Jimmy Clausen another weapon. Unfortunately, there's a lot more to this story which some of the coaches at the football offices in the GUG cannot say, but have been speculated among others across campus.

There's a few story lines that have not been developed yet, including the other side of the story besides the SBPD, NDPD, and the Indiana Excise Police. On campus there have been rumblings about the excessive force of the police at the Lacrosse Party raid:

1.) Several student-athletes that were taken into custody were not given a breathalyzer test. The police just ASSUMED they were drinking. Which might actually be the case, but it's the principal of the matter. Innocent until proven guilty, right?

2.) Several injuries occurred during this raid. Don't you find it interesting that if Will Yeatman could have played last Saturday, he wouldn't have been able to because of an injured shoulder. Hmmmmmmm..... There has also been reports from other students that there were some broken noses and injured wrists due to the handcuffs in this raid as well.

3.) Neighbors near and next to the house, who were innocent onlookers were forced back into their homes. Doesn't an individual have a rite to see what's going on from their own property?

4.) Probably the most glaring issue to this saga, is that it has been 9 days, yes 9 DAYS since this raid, and yet no official report by the Police has been released to the media or the university. Very interesting indeed!

While trying to get into the head of Coach Weis, there is no reason why you should hold Joseph Fauria back unless there's a chance Will Yeatman might be coming back soon. Remember there's a big difference between allegations and charges; so we shall see how this all plays out.

Notre Dame vs. Purdue Replay

Enjoy the game, commercial free, courtesty of NBC Sports!

Pre Game Show


First Quarter


Second Quarter


Third Quarter


Fourth Quarter

Post Game Presser

Coach Weis addressing the media after the Irish's 38-21 win over Purdue.

IBB Report Card: Purdue

What a difference a good week of practice can provide a team. After trailing the Boilermakers 14-7, the Irish put it another gear outscoring their intra-state rivals 31-7 the rest of the day. More importantly, though, is the Irish got the confidence running the ball effectively to a tune of 201 yards.

It doesn't matter that Purdue's defense was giving up chunks of yardage on the ground, because 1.) They were giving it up to spread option teams (Oregon and Central Michigan), and 2.) They could stop the Notre Dame passing attack either!

A complete game, a complete pounding on the ground, and a complete butt whoopin to Joe Tiller's last visit to South Bend makes this Irish report card a permanent fixture on the IBB fridge!

Offense
What a way to break the third quarter scoring drought, eh? Not only did Notre Dame produce 21 points in the quarter, but they did it convincing fashion that the Boilermakers really didn't have an answer for defensively. The Irish racked up 476 yards in what was quite possibly one of the best played games by the offense in the Weis era.

QB: A
Jimmy Clausen is getting better each week, and it showed on Saturday against the Boilermakers. Clausen put up impressive numbers (20-of-35 for 275 yards and 3 TDs), but most importantly, 0 interceptions. Every move and decision he made turned to be precise and accurate. Clausen looked off receivers, hit secondary routes, threw pinpoint passes, eluded defenders in the pocket, and took control of the Irish offense to perfection!

No, it's not the haircut, Jimmy is starting to become the prognosis all the recruiting analysts said he would be.

RB: A
All week, the word on the street was that the Irish had no running game, and needed to find its identity on offense. Well, I think Notre Dame kick started their running game and are well on their way showing the nation that their identity is a well balanced offense.

Notre Dame almost matched their year total in yards rushing (234) with their 201 explosion on the Boilermakers. Armando Allen had his best day in an Irish uniform with 134 yards and one touchdown. Allen provided the spark on the first drive in the third quarter by breaking off huge runs, including his 15-yarder to give Notre Dame the lead for good. He finished the game with a 7.9 yards per carry average.

James Aldridge (8 carries 35 yards) and Robert Hughes (9 carries 26 yards) got into the mix with some strong runs. Hopefully this will be the preview of what to expect the rest of the way from the Irish run game.

FB: A-
It will not show up in the stat sheets, or highlight reels anywhere, but Asaph Schwapp provided Armando Allen with some great lead blocks in the third quarter. For that and that alone, Schwapp deserves a top grade. If he can do this game in and game out each week, the Irish running game will be on solid footing.

WR: A
Where should I start? There were a lot of great performances from the Irish wide receivers that made Purdue Defensive Coordinator Brock Spack think deja vu all over again. Michael Floyd became only the second Notre Dame freshman to have 100 yards receiving in a game (6 catches 100 yards) since Derrick Mayes did it against Pittsburgh in 1992.

Golden Tate was simply golden as he hauled in five receptions for 64 yards, including six yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 14 before intermission. Tate's 38 yard reception in the fourth quarter helped set up the final scoring drive for the Irish and put the final nail into Purdue's hopes of making a comeback.

Senior captain David Grimes showed no ill effects of a bad back with four catches for 65 yards and a pivotal 30-yard score on 4th and 7.

The only mark against the Notre Dame receivers was the performance of sophomore Duval Kamara. He only had one catch for five yards and had the case of the dropsies on a perfectly thrown pass. Whatever the problem is, Kamara will get it fixed and help to the Irish cause this season.

TE: A-
Saturday was the coming out party for Kyle Rudolph. Not only did he provide a spark catching the ball (3 receptions 35 yards), he was instrumental in providing holes for the Irish running backs. Rudolph helped seal off Purdue defenders on consecutive Armando Allen runs in that first scoring drive of the third quarter.

Rudolph capped off his fine performance with a 5-yard score to put the Irish up two scores.

Trevor Robinson filled in nicely for double Tight End formations to help give the Irish ground game another big blocker up front. It worked, and should see more of it in the coming weeks.

OL: A
The hogmollies up front worked their tails off all week and it paid off big time. When they needed to get a yard, the line up front forged ahead and pushed the Purdue defense back. Sam Young looked his best, as did, Chris Stewart.

What was equally impressive was their pass blocking. The line gave Clausen ample time to find open receivers, including secondary receivers. The Irish were good in picking up the Purdue pressure and limited the Boilermakers into one sack on the day. After last week and last season, that is a major improvement!

This game will be the measuring stick the rest of the way for the offensive line to strive for. There's no reason Notre Dame can't run the ball effectively against their remaining opponents, except USC. But after the way the Trojans lost to Oregon State, who knows.

Overall Offensive Grade: A high A-

Defense
Notre Dame's defense gave up plenty of yards once again to Purdue's highly explosive offense (462 yards), but once again the Boilermakers came away with an "L". The Irish held the Boilermakers leading rusher, Kory Sheets, well below his season average to 89 yards. They also limited the big play by only giving up a 33 yard run by Sheets in the first half and a 54 yard touchdown to Desmond Tardy in the third quarter.

When counted on, the Irish defense has been stepping up.

DL: B+
The Irish defensive front is one of the main reasons why Purdue didn't have too much success running the football. Patrick Kuntz lead the Irish with six tackles, while Ethan Johnson made the most of his first career start with two stops and a quarterback hurry. Ian Williams also had two tackles for Notre Dame.

LB: B
Once again the inside tandem of Maurice Crum (six tackles) and Brian Smith (five tackles) paved the way for the Irish linebacking crops. Harrison Smith provided great coverage on passing situations, including two, key fourth down stops.

Steven Filer and Darius Fleming both got in at crucial times of the contest and will be looked upon to be more of a factor during the remaining games of the schedule.

DB: B+
If it wasn't for the fine play of freshman Robert Blanton, the defensive backfield would have had a lower grade. With that said, the turning point of the contest was Blanton's 47-yard interception return for a touchdown. With the Irish down 7-0 and just missing on a 31-yard field goal, Notre Dame was needing a spark to help pick up the team. Blanton provided it in a hurry by bobbing and weaving his way through traffic for his first career score. He becomes only the fifth freshman in ND history to return an interception for a touchdown.

David Bruton lead the Irish with six tackles, while Blanton and Kyle McCarthy had five stops a piece.

Overall Defensive Grade: B

Special Teams: B
One of the key factors of the game was how well the Notre Dame kick coverage could contain Purdue's return game. Coming into the game, the Boilermakers were second in the nation in kickoff returns, while Desmond Tardy was tops in the land. Saturday, not only did the Irish contain the Boilermakers (13.9 return average), but Tardy did not have a single return!

Eric Maust had another solid day punting the football, and Bradon Walker finally connected on a field goal this season. And his 41-yarder couldn't have come at a better time by putting the final points on the board squelching any notion of a Purdue comeback.

Coaching: A
Charlie Weis and Mike Haywood called the perfect game. 35 passes and 34 runs couldn't have turned out any better. All season long so far, Weis has wanted to have a balanced offense, and Saturday he got it from his offense.

Defensively, the Irish limited the big play, stopped their running game, and forced Painter into completing short passes before blocking their way into the endzone. Notre Dame did pressure Painter into some hurries that caused several incompletions.

Overall Grade: A- (3.64)

Notre Dame showed a lot on Saturday. They proved they are a lot stronger than most people think and showed they have tremendous confidence and heart. After losing the way they did to Michigan State and facing the adversity of the off the field problems with Will Yeatman all week, the Irish shut everyone up in a big way.

The momentum is building up as they should keep the pedal to the metal against a pesky Stanford Cardinal team lead by Captain Comeback Jim Harbaugh. If the Irish can maintain a consistent running game by their trio of backs, and dominant the air with their plethora of receivers, this season is going to be one to remember as the start of their return to upper echelon of college football.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/29/08

Here's all the weekend filled Buzz Around Team Camps for this Monday, September 29th:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

Far too often defined by similar terms, San Diego State isn't spending an inordinate amount of time apologizing. Dropping their first two games by an average of four points before failing to board the bus for a Week 3 game at San Jose State, the Aztecs alleviated a fair measure of irritation Saturday by posting their biggest win against a Football Bowl Subdivision team since 2005.

In drubbing Idaho 45-17, SDSU emptied its offensive closet, finishing with 603 yards, the most since compiling 632 in a 41-40 loss at Hawaii in 2002.
Already possessing a passing game that one day could cause major headaches, coach Chuck Long was more interested in the status of a running game seemingly running in place. After three games, some of it due to the number of passes they had thrown – the Aztecs were averaging just 34.7 yards on the ground, second-worst in the nation among FBS teams.

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

Steven Threet's first half against the ninth-ranked University of Wisconsin football team was forgettable. His second-half recovery was something Michigan fans will never forget. After throwing two interceptions, losing a fumble and completing 2 of 10 passes for minus-7 yards through two quarters, Michigan's redshirt freshman led the Wolverines to the biggest comeback in the history of Michigan Stadium.

"I'm proud of him," Michigan offensive coordinator Calvin Magee said. "Steven never hung his head; he just kept playing."

For Threet, the first half was a bad combination of off-target throws and turnovers. In the second half, he protected the football and completed enough throws (10 of 21, with a touchdown) to carve into a 19-0 deficit. He also showed a burst of speed on the ground, taking off for 58 yards on a designed run play, and finished with a team-leading 89 rushing yards.

The result for Michigan was a 27-25 victory that evened the team's record at 2-2 overall, and put the Wolverines at 1-0 in the Big Ten.

Michigan St. via http://enlightenedspartan.com/

The Javon Ringer show rolls along, as MSU put away a pesky Indiana squad, 42-29 today. MSU is now 4-1 and on a bit of a roll but can work on tackling drills this week before they face Iowa. But, bottom line, MSU made the plays when needed to come away with the victory. Too damn many dropped passes by all the receivers, with both Mark Dell and Blair White the WORST offenders dropping passes on third down. As the game wore on, however, Ringer and the offensive line became stronger... and Ringer busted out for a late 32 yard run to help seal the victory. Ringer ended with 198 yards on a career-high 44 carries, and one TD. Hoyer (14-26-261 2 TDs, 0 INTs) had his best outing of the year, and though he had a few bad decisions on a series in the second quarter, he hit on the plays he needed to help MSU to victory. Dan Fortener at safety played pretty well, yet the defensive line had a tough time in a shootout. Nearly 1,000 total yards between the teams... but MSU wins.

Purdue via http://www.jconline.com

Purdue football fans, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Running back Kory Sheets will be ready to go this week against No. 6 Penn State. Sheets was helped off the field in the final minutes of Saturday's loss at Notre Dame, but coach Joe Tiller announced Sunday that it's not serious. Nothing more than a shoulder popping out of joint (easy for me to say, right?).

"His shoulder didn't totally dislocate, it slipped on him," Tiller said before practice. "He's sore. He won't practice today but I expect him to practice on Tuesday.

"He had this as a sophomore. It's never gone completely out on him. I don't understand it other than the fact that that's good."

With Sheets' partner in crime the past two years at running back, Jaycen Taylor, already out for the season with a knee injury, the Boilermakers can ill afford to lose Sheets.

Stanford via http://www.paloaltodailynews.com

A three-year starter at Stanford, Anthony Kimble accepted being relegated to a backup role with the emergence of Toby Gerhart. Given the opportunity to be the showcase back again Saturday night, Kimble took full advantage.

Kimble ran for a career-high 157 yards, including an 83-yard dash early in the second half as Stanford took advantage of an injury to Washington star quarterback Jake Locker in the Cardinal’s 35-28 win over the Huskies.

Kimble took over for Gerhart midway through the first quarter when Gerhart went to the sidelines with a mild concussion and responded with the best game of his career, averaging more than 10 yards per carry and scoring a pair of touchdowns.

"It hard. I started for three years, but Toby has been doing a great job," Kimble said. "It was frustrating to a point, but as long as we win ... it's understandable."

North Carolina via http://www.newsobserver.com

Quarterback T.J. Yates may be hurt, but North Carolina's bowl dreams remain healthy because of junior quarterback Cameron Sexton and senior safety Trimane Goddard. Sexton threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns and Goddard grabbed two fourth-quarter interceptions to seal a 28-24 come-from-behind victory at Miami.

It was a feat that seemed unlikely, what with Yates, last year's runner-up for ACC Rookie of the Year, out for five more weeks because of a fractured left ankle.

"[This game] says a lot, but it is not our season,'' receiver Brooks Foster said. "We have a lot more to go."

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Word from Washington Sunday was that no official diagnosis would be made on how long Jake Locker will be out until he saw a hand specialist this morning. Unofficially, the word is he likely will be sidelined six weeks or so after suffering a broken right thumb, meaning the keys to the offense will be turned over to redshirt freshman Ronnie Fouch.

Locker, who is right-handed, was hurt while throwing a block on a reverse for receiver Jordan Polk, appearing to hit his thumb on Stanford safety Sean Wiser. Huskies offensive coordinator Tim Lappano called the injury "a freak thing" and said Locker was hoping Polk could score a touchdown on the play.

A Change Is Coming via http://myespn.go.com/blogs/pac10

After the Huskies lost at home to Stanford to fall to 0-4 on the season, it's fair to project another lost season, particularly with QB Jake Locker -- the lone star on the team and its unquestioned leader -- going down with a broken thumb. Coach Tyrone Willingham is now 11-29 as Washington's coach and it seems like even he admits things aren't turning around. "I keep asking myself every day and every night, what is it that hasn't allowed us to turn that thing over to click it to get it going right?" he told the Seattle Times. "Because I believe we have the team that can get it done. But for some reason we are not." Losing Locker is a huge problem going forward, but the biggest issue is the Huskies look even worse on defense than the 2007 unit that ranked as the worst in program history: Stanford gained 466 yards of total offense, 103 more than in any of its first four games. Guess how many sacks the Huskies have this season? Zero, a uniquely bad number among FBS teams.

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

It was a come-from-behind win against one of the worst teams in Division I football, but Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt wasn't offering excuses. Wannstedt was happy with this victory, but more than that he was relieved. He had seen his season almost dissolve in front of his eyes during a nightmarish first half at the Carrier Dome.

But he and his staff kept their poise, stuck to the most basic of football and allowed their players to use their physical superiority. The result, after a monumental scare, was a 34-24 win yesterday against absolutely hapless Syracuse. It's a sad thing to see what has happened to Syracuse, once a national football power and more recently a Big East power. No more. With this loss, the Orange are 2-20 in their past 22 Big East games. The announced crowd at the Carrier Dome was 27,549, but there were less people than that in the building.

Navy via http://www.hometownannapolis.com

Ronald Reagan was just beginning his second term as president, the Cold War was still ongoing, "The Cosby Show" was the most popular program on television and Madonna had just burst onto the music scene.

The year was 1985, and it also featured a notable win for the Navy football team, a 17-13 upset of 20th-ranked Virginia. The Midshipmen would go another 23 years without beating a ranked opponent.

Fullback Eric Kettani and an opportunistic defense brought that lengthy streak to an end yesterday, leading Navy to a 24-17 victory over 16th-ranked Wake Forest before 33,173 stunned spectators at BB&T Field.

Syracuse via http://www.syracuse.com

Four brilliant individual plays and a couple of coaching decisions open to second-guessing placed a thick haze over the Syracuse University football team's 34-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon in the Carrier Dome. It is time to clear the air. Syracuse lost its Big East opener for this simple reason: It got dominated at the line of scrimmage. With a rebuilt offensive line that had struggled in its first three games, the Panthers pushed SU's front seven all over the field. With a defensive front seven that did not bother to blitz one time in the second half, Pitt shut down the run after intermission.

End of story.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

USC players gathered Sunday for the first time since losing at Oregon State, their place in the college football landscape changed but not as badly as some feared.

The Trojans tumbled from No. 1 to ninth in the USA Today coaches' and Associated Press media polls and debuted at No. 7 in the Harris Interactive Poll. The coaches' poll, the Harris poll and computer rankings are used to determine the Bowl Championship Series standings, which come out for the first time next month.

"Big picture-wise, we're still in good shape," quarterback Mark Sanchez said.

Georgia and Florida were among other highly ranked teams that fell in the polls after losses. Both dropped eight spots, the same as USC, in the AP rankings, Georgia from No. 3 to 11th, Florida from No. 4 to 12th. The coaches' poll has the Bulldogs tied for 10th and the Gators at No. 13.

IBB Weekly Motivator: Week 27

It doesn't get any better than this, does it?

Classic Moments in the Notre Dame - Purdue Series

Here's a little stroll down memory lane. Sit back, relax, and enjoy some of these moments in the Notre Dame - Purdue series:

1964


1966


1977


2005


2006


Golden is Thy Name

Notre Dame vs. Purdue: Tale of the Tape

Non-conference rivals will battle for state bragging rights this weekend, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish host the Purdue Boilermakers in South Bend. Purdue, a member of the Big Ten, is set to play its final non- league tilt before diving into what promises to be a challenging conference slate. The Boilermakers currently own a 2-1 record thanks to a hard-fought 32-25 victory over Central Michigan last weekend. The lone loss to date came against Oregon in overtime. As for Notre Dame, its first loss of the season came last Saturday against Michigan State in a 23-7 final. The Fighting Irish, a FBS Independent, suffered through a dismal 2007 campaign, but the team plays a very favorable schedule this season. A victory over the Boilermakers could very well begin a lengthy winning streak for the Irish, who may not face a ranked team until the season's final contest against current No. 1 USC. Notre Dame owns a 51-26-2 series lead over Purdue, which includes a 27-11 record in South Bend.

Purdue is averaging 33.3 ppg and 384.7 total ypg this season, as the offense has done a solid job overall. While seven of the 10 touchdowns scored by the offense have come on the ground, it is the passing game that accounts for the majority of the club's yardage. Quarterback Curtis Painter has a big-time arm, and he has completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 754 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Greg Orton is the leading receiver for the Boilermakers, as he has 16 grabs for 197 yards and a score. As for the ground attack, Kory Sheets has racked up 352 yards and six touchdowns while averaging a stellar 5.7 ypc. Against Central Michigan last weekend, Purdue was held below 100 yards rushing, but Sheets still finished with 91 yards on 17 carries while reaching the end zone twice. Painter threw for 261 yards on 27-of-36 passing, and the offense did just enough to beat the Chippewas.

Considering that Purdue is yielding 22.3 ppg and 427.0 total ypg, there is room for improvement defensively. The Boilermakers are surrendering just under five yards per rush and 192.3 rushing ypg. While they are holding opposing quarterbacks to fewer than 10 yards per pass completion, foes are still posting 234.7 ypg through the air. With six takeaways and six sacks, there have been a decent number of big plays made by Purdue. One impressive stat worth pointing out is that opponents have scored touchdowns on only 6-of-16 trips to the red zone. Anthony Heygood leads the Boilermakers with 29 tackles, and he has intercepted a pass to go along with a forced fumble. The Purdue defense had its hands full last week against Central Michigan, which finished with 26 first downs and 440 total yards. The Chippewas passed for two scores and ran for another, but the Boilermakers came up with a pair of key interceptions while limiting CMU to 3-of-13 success on third down conversion attempts.

Notre Dame attempted 22 running plays against Michigan State last week and gained a grand total of 16 yards. Because of that ineffectiveness, the pressure fell on Jimmy Clausen to make plays with his arm. The sophomore quarterback completed 24-of-41 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown, but he was sacked three times and threw a pair of interceptions. Michael Floyd led Notre Dame in receiving with seven catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. Considering that the Fighting Irish are averaging only 21.0 ppg and 286.7 total ypg, there is plenty of room for improvement offensively. Like last season, the ground attack has struggled, mustering only 78.0 ypg on an average of 2.6 ypc. Clausen has completed a modest 57.3 percent of his passes for 626 yards and six touchdowns, but he has thrown six interceptions. Golden Tate has emerged as a weapon in the passing game, as he has 15 catches for 303 yards and two touchdowns.

Michigan State made a commitment to pound the football on the ground at Notre Dame, and the Irish yielded 203 yards on 43 attempts, an average of 4.7 ypc. Both offensive touchdowns scored by Michigan State came on the ground. While Notre Dame allowed fewer than 50 percent of the passes that it faced to be completed, Michigan State did average nearly 12 yards per connection. With zero takeaways and only one sack, there were a glaring lack of big plays made by Irish defenders. Opponents are generating 17.7 ppg and 359.7 total ypg against Notre Dame through the first three outings of the season. The Fighting Irish have been better against the pass than the run, but there is room for improvement in both areas. Keep an eye on Kyle McCarthy, as he always seems to be around the football. McCarthy has 33 tackles to his credit, and David Bruton is close behind with 30 stops. The fact that Notre Dame has one sack in three games is unacceptable.

In what figures to be a close game from start to finish, give a narrow edge to the Irish. The Boilermakers are more balanced offensively than Notre Dame, but Tiller always finds a way to mess it up in South Bend.

Notre Dame 24
Purdue 20

Purdue Injury Report
Tight end Kyle Adams (9/21, knee surgery) is questionable
Linebacker Jason Werner (9/18, back) is expected to miss 2-3 weeks
Running back Jaycen Taylor (8/19, right knee surgery) will miss the entire season

Notre Dame Injury Report
Wide receiver Barry Gallup Jr (9/24, undisclosed) is questionable
Center Mike Golic Jr (9/21, disciplinary) will miss Saturday's game
Tight end Will Yeatman (9/23, disciplinary) will miss Saturday's game
Safety Jashaad Gaines (9/12, personal) is out indefinitely
Cornerback Darrin Walls (8/27, personal) will miss the fall semester
Tight end Mike Ragone (8/23, left knee surgery) will miss the entire season

Team Leaders
Receptions: PU Orton (16), ND Tate (15)
Rec. Yards: PU Orton (197), ND Tate (303)
Rushing Atts: PU Sheets (62), ND Hughes (40)
Rushing Yds: PU Sheets (353), ND Hughes (142)
Pass Atts: PU Painter (114), ND Clausen (96)
Pass Comp: PU Painter (68), ND Clausen (55)
Pass Yards: PU Painter (754), ND Clausen (626)
Comp %: PU Painter (59.6), ND Clausen (57.3)
TD passes: PU Painter (3), ND Clausen (6)
INTs: PU Painter (3), ND Clausen (6)

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/26/08

Catch up on the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for this Friday, September 26th:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

Not even the brightest minds in sports marketing could find an easy way to sell tickets to a game like this. San Diego State vs. Idaho?

Both are among the nation's “Bottom 10” teams and will engage in the “pillow fight of the week” tomorrow when they play at Qualcomm Stadium, according to ESPN.com. SDSU owns the nation's second-longest losing streak (six games) and ranks in the nation's bottom 20 – out of 119 teams – in seven major statistical categories. Idaho (1-3) ranks among the bottom 20 in eight.

So how can SDSU (0-3) convince people to go to this game? One way is to pay them. SDSU is giving out 5,000 cards worth $5 each in free gas. But after those are given out before kickoff, how do you get the fans to stay?

Michigan via http://www.michigandaily.com

Six bold predictions:
(#1) Redshirt freshman quarterback Steven Threet will complete 70 percent of his passes and throw for at least 200 yards Saturday. Lost amid six turnovers, Threet was excellent in South Bend. His rapid development will continue against a Wisconsin secondary that has quietly struggled this year.

(#2) Sam McGuffie will look human. Expectations for the freshman phenom running back will return to reality after he has fewer than 80 rushing and receiving yards combined.

(#3) Michigan will win 14-9. Last year, the Wolverines entered Big Ten play 1-2 and hosted a top-10 team. Michigan beat a solid, but slightly overrated Penn State team. Substitute the Badgers for the Nittany Lions, and you have an almost exact replay this year.

(#4) Junior wide receiver Greg Mathews will double the amount of receiving yards he has for the season. That means he'll rack up at least 100 yards, which is all he has been able to muster in two games while hampered by an ankle injury. With Threet's increasing offensive production and Mathews' continued recovery, the two will explode against the Badgers.

(#5) Nick Sheridan sees game time. It's obvious Threet is the starter, and if he hadn't cramped up late against Notre Dame, Sheridan wouldn't have played. But it's still early enough in the season that if Threet falters — or if Michigan is comfortably ahead or far behind by the end of the game — Rodriguez will give Sheridan another chance. Expect one of those three to happen.

(#6) Wisconsin will win 20-17. The Wolverines will continue the same pattern they have in both home games this year: start strong and fade in the middle. After showcasing its ever-improving offense, a lackluster third quarter will be Michigan's downfall.

Purdue via http://www.purdueexponent.org

This Saturday when Purdue travels to South Bend, Ind., coach Joe Tiller will get one more shot at beating the team that he says helped "jump-start" his program.

Although coach Tiller stresses that every game on the schedule is important, it cannot be ignored that his first win as head coach at Purdue back in 1997, a 28-17 victory against the Irish in Ross-Ade Stadium, really set the stage for his run toward becoming the winningest coach in Purdue history. Yet even while denying the extra importance of this game, Tiller cannot deny the significance of playing on a national stage.

"Well, every game is important. I've said that multiple times," Tiller said. "I say that because we treat this game like all of the games that we play in that they're important. The difference is, let's not kid ourselves, we're playing on a different stage."

North Carolina via http://www.newsobserver.com

Mike Paulus has a stronger arm than Cameron Sexton. Sexton is more mobile than Paulus. But for all their differences, North Carolina's backup quarterbacks have one important quality in common as they try to replace injured starter T.J. Yates on Saturday at Miami: They have something to prove.
"Mike, this is going to be his first go-around out there, so he has to prove what he can do,'' senior receiver Brooks Foster said. "Cam, he has a little experience, but T.J. took his job, so he's got to go out there and see if he can get his job back. So it should be a good competition."

Coach Butch Davis has said both will play against the Hurricanes.

Washington via http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com

Here's a brief synopsis of Tyrone Willingham's Thursday session with the media

--- It's likely sophomore OLB Matt Houston will unseat junior Joshua Gage and make his first start this season on Saturday against Stanford. Gage, who has seven tackles, has started all three games. Houston has played in every game and has four tackles.

--- Willingham said senior receiver Chancellor Young suffered a bruised knee last week and will miss the next couple of weeks.

--- The coach said Chris Polk's shoulder surgery on Wednesday went well and he should be released today. Willingham is hopeful Polk will return for spring drills.

--- When asked if the team had a sense of urgency, he said: "We have a very good conference and it's been good for a long time, but in a lot of those years, the champion has had one loss (and) we've got ours already. There's no room for us to error. ... Everyone would say across the country, (USC) seems to be the clear leader. Other than that you could say maybe anyone could emerge in those other spots. We'd like to be in one of those spots."

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

Pitt's defense was supposed to be among the best in the country this season, but the Panthers have provided only a glimpse of the dominance they believed they were capable of.

The Panthers have been very good at times -- in the fourth quarter of a 21-20 win against Iowa and in the second half in a 27-16 win against Buffalo -- but they've also had some lapses and have given up some big plays.

Pitt (2-1) is giving up an average of 21 points and 321 yards per game but has 11 sacks and allowed 3.5 yards per rushing attempt.

Syraucse via http://blog.syracuse.com

The Syracuse University football team will finally get a respite, albeit a brief one, from the spread offense that has so befuddled it. Thank goodness the Pittsburgh Panthers looked to the NFL ranks – as did SU athletic director Daryl Gross – to find a head coach back in 2005.

Enter Dave Wannstedt, who once blocked for the legendary Tony Dorsett at Pitt and returned to his alma mater following stints as the Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys and head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins.

Like SU coach Greg Robinson, Wannstedt arrived with strong defensive credentials. Like Robinson, he installed a pro-style offense. And like Robinson, he will enter Saturday's noon Big East opener in the Carrier Dome with a losing record in his tenure as a college head coach.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

So much for the greatest team ever. Likewise for the best team of the Pete Carroll era.

Top-ranked USC looked anything but the part Thursday night, falling behind Oregon State by three touchdowns in the first half then rallying before falling short in a 27-21 defeat that put a serious crimp in the Trojans' national championship plans.

A delirious crowd of 42,839 at Reser Stadium and a national television audience watched Oregon State upset the Trojans here for the second time in three years.

"We weren't ready to do what we needed to do," USC Coach Pete Carroll said. "We felt like we had great preparation, we thought we did everything like we needed to and then when we're out there it just didn't feel like it."

On Reser Field Woes via http://www.latimes.com

Two years ago USC could blame a failed two-point conversion pass attempt for its confounding and confusing loss here to Oregon State.

On Thursday, there was no single moment it could point to as the reeling Trojans tried to sort through the whys and wherefores of their stunning 27-21 loss to the Beavers at Reser Stadium, now affirmed as their personal house of horrors.

No. 1 USC shocked by Oregon State, 27-21Trojans are done in short order
Trojans are beaten, and beaten up
"I've been here before," USC quarterback Mark Sanchez said, forcing a smile. "This state ain't too good to us."

As fans ran through the stands and onto the dewy grass, ignoring the public address announcer's emotional pleas to not "make fools of yourselves on the national stage," the Trojans trudged off the field beaten for the first time this season and not exactly sure what happened.

IBB Watercooler 9/25/08

There's a lot to cover during Purdue Week in the IBB Watercooler.

Emotions Still High: After tasting their first defeat of the season, Notre Dame settled on moving forward and not dwelling on the past. Jimmy Clausen said it was a difficult thing to do last season because of how the season went. This year it's a whole need attitude and it will definitely show up this Saturday against Purdue.

Beefing up the Offensive Line: With the Irish down one Tight End, Coach Weis has been tinkering a bit with possible combinations. Several players, besides the usual suspects (Kyle Rudolph and Joesph Fauria; Luke Schmidt has been hurt this week), have been lining up. Trevor Robinson is one that has been added into the mix to create an unbalanced line or tackle eligible plays.

The Tackle Eligible play is most often used around the opposition's goal line. Normally, offensive tackles are ineligible to catch forward passes. However, if they line up on the end of the offensive line and report to the referee prior to the play that they are eligible receivers, they may catch passes.

Here's a diagrammed formation we could possibly see:


This is the same formation above, but one which Coach Weis used his first season:


Advantages: Having an extra eligible receiver can be important in short-yardage situations. In these situations, the offense will sometimes put lots of big bodies right on the line of scrimmage and try to simply use a power run to get the little bit of real estate it needs. Thus, it may line up an extra tackle -- because he is big – on the outside of the formation. Defenses do not expect such a big player to run downfield and catch passes, and usually concentrate on the players who usually make the catches.

Drawbacks: Offensive tackles seldom catch passes, and are more likely to drop the ball if it in fact comes their way. If a defender bothers to cover them, they will probably not be open for the pass. In addition, whenever a tackle reports to the referee as an eligible receiver, the referee will announce it over the stadium's PA system (though having a tackle as an eligible receiver often enough may make the defense ignore this).

Here’s an example of how a Tackle Eligible play works:



We could see Weis putting out some old Patriot tricks, a la Mike Vrabel, against the Boilermakers.

The Love Shaq: The word has spread around campus that Shaquelle Evans will be here for his official visit. Several dorms (Carroll, Alumni, Dillon) have come prepared as they will have signs hanging for the prized recruits tour of the campus.

What to expect:
1.) A surprise last minute guest for tomorrow night's Pep Rally.

2.) A confirmation date of an official visit by a top recruit.

3.) A resurgence in the running game.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/25/08

Here's the Buzz Around Team Camps for this Thursday, September 25th:

Michigan via http://www.freep.com

One of the top uncommitted prospects in Michigan for the class of 2009 is Detroit Cass Tech's Thomas Gordon. The PSL star has seen his stock rise significantly the past few weeks and he recently earned scholarship offers from both Michigan State and Michigan. Prior to this weekend, Gordon had indicated that he would make his decision after his team plays arch-rival Detroit King on Friday. However, last Sunday, Gordon told Rivals.com that he was going to move his decision back until after his senior season and take official visits to both the Spartans and the Wolverines. That has apparently changed and Gordon is now set to announce his decision this Friday after his game, to which kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. Gordon will select between the two in-state schools. Gordon is rated the No. 91 athlete in the nation for the class of 2009 and will likely play safety in college.

Purdue via http://www.jconline.com

Joe Holland's mother and father both graduated from Notre Dame. So did his grandfather. As a youngster, Holland watched a lot of Fighting Irish football. You could say that the former star at Chatard High School in Indianapolis comes from the ultimate Notre Dame family. At least it used to be.

"I tell ya, as soon as I got the offer from Purdue, all the Notre Dame stuff was stripped down out of my basement and quickly replaced with Purdue stuff," said Holland, now a redshirt freshman linebacker with the Boilermakers.

"My grandpa's office at his house used to be filled with pictures of Joe Montana and other Notre Dame legends. ... And now, I saw his office this summer and it is completely filled with Purdue stuff. Everything, wall to wall, is Purdue."

North Carolina via http://www.newsobserver.com

North Carolina wide receiver Brandon Tate had 15 games to develop a comfortable rhythm with T.J. Yates. Now he and the rest of the Tar Heels' offense must quickly do the same thing -- with two different quarterbacks. Coach Butch Davis said Wednesday he will probably play redshirt freshman Mike Paulus and junior Cameron Sexton at quarterback at Miami on Saturday.

"We're preparing both of them to be ready to play, and then we'll decide as the week goes along which one of them will actually get the start," Davis said.

Washington via http://www.sfgate.com

Few days go by in Seattle without a discussion about Tyrone Willingham's future as the Huskies' head coach. And this week, with Washington coming off a bye, the topic is back with a vengeance. The Huskies are 0-3 after losses to Oregon, BYU and Oklahoma - all Top 25 teams at the time (Oregon has since dropped out). And the view from up north is that an 0-4 start, with a home loss to Stanford on Saturday night, would be a disaster, sealing Willingham's fate as a soon-to-be-fired coach. If the Huskies lose to the Cardinal, who are 3 1/2-point underdogs, it will be the first 0-4 start of Willingham's coaching career. Willingham said Tuesday he hopes his team's first three games, perhaps the most difficult opening stretch in the country, will be useful over the final nine games.

Ty's Old Team via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

In a week when there are more questions than ever about the future of Tyrone Willingham at Washington, he again comes face-to-face with the school where he once seemed to have all the answers. There aren't any recruits left on the Stanford roster from Willingham's seven years there. No coaches remaining on the staff. But he still has legions of devoted former players and friends in Palo Alto, many of whom will watch with mixed emotions as the Cardinal plays the Huskies on Saturday in Seattle. They know what a loss could mean for Willingham.

Pittsburgh via http://www.pittsburghlive.com

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt placed mousetraps around the Duratz Athletic Complex this week, as a motivation tool for the Panthers (2-1) to avoid falling into the "trap" of looking past Saturday's visit to Syracuse (1-2) with the ESPN televised Oct. 2 game at No. 12 South Florida (4-0) looming. "You need to get your feet back on the ground and make sure we get the focus back on what we've got to do and not get caught up in records," Wannstedt said. "I tried to educate them on the history of Pitt playing Syracuse; how difficult it is playing them in the Carrier Dome over the years. They recruit the same kids we do, so let's not be fooled about this. We've got to go up there and play a heck of a lot better than we played last week."

Boston College via http://www.boston.com

It wasn't a ""Win one for the Gipper ""speech. But it wasn't bad. And it served its purpose. At halftime of last week's game against Central Florida, Boston College linebacker Brian Toal had seen enough. The Eagles were trailing 7-3 and the fifth year senior knew that another loss would doom not only the Eagles' day, but send their season spiraling.

Not acceptable thought Toal, who said something about it to his teammates. "I don't talk much,'' said Toal before the Eagles' practice this afternoon. "But I felt something had to be said. We were down 7-3 and it was at a point in our season and in that game things were either going to go our way or go Central Florida's way.''

The game went BC's way as the Eagles' broke loose in the second half with a 31-0 outburst which translated into a 34-7 win. ""I'm not saying my speech had anything to do with it, but we did respond in the second half,'' said Toal. ""It was a pretty decisive win. It was an important win.''

Navy via http://www.sportingnews.com

Navy will play in the 2010 Poinsettia Bowl if it has the required six victories. Navy has played in the San Diego bowl twice since it started in 2005. The Midshipmen played in the inaugural game, beating Colorado State 51-30, and again last year, when it lost 35-32 to Utah. Shortly after the bowl was founded, officials said they wanted to get Navy into a rotation of playing in the game once every three to five years. Bowl officials said discussions are under way with the Mountain West Conference to continue sending one of its top teams to the Poinsettia Bowl in 2010 and beyond.

Syracuse via http://www.syracuse.com

The Syracuse football team is seeking revenge this weekend when Pittsburgh visits the Carrier Dome for the Big East opener for both teams. Last year at Pitt, SU was trailing 20-17 with just a few seconds to go when quarterback Cameron Dantley threw a 'hail Mary' that could have won SU the game.

"Knowing what we went through last year and have the taste of knowing we were so close is going to carry on us through this weekend and really push ourselves over the edge," SU senior captain Bruce Williams said this week.

Southern Cal via http://www.ocregister.com

So it turns out the "0" in Pac-10 is actually a typo. It's really only the Pac-1. After a devastating opening month that has left the Pac-10's national reputation severely damaged, USC opens conference play tonight at Oregon State the only league team currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. Only Oregon at No. 22 joins the Trojans in the Coaches' Poll. "I think we had bad weekend," said USC coach Pete Carroll referring to the weekend of Sept. 13 when the league went 3-7, including 0-4 against the Mountain West. "I don't think the conference is down." But when it comes to the Bowl Championship Series perception is often reality, and nationally the Pac-10's reputation has never been lower. The Pac-10 is held in such low regard that conference's image could keep the Trojans out of the BCS National Championship Game even if USC finishes the regular season undefeated, said some voters in the Harris Interactive Poll that is part of the BCS rankings formula.

Legal Troubles of a Recruit via http://www.latimes.com

A Compton judge today sentenced football recruit Maurice Simmons to four years in prison for his part in a robbery. Simmons was found guilty of felony robbery, assault with a firearm and the misdemeanor of allowing someone to bring a gun into his car. A probation officer had recommended that Simmons receive probation, citing his potential as a college football player.

It's Time to SHAQ Up! Evans Making Official Visit This Weekend

The Ingelwood, CA, product will be making his official visit this weekend, as the Notre Dame campus welcomes one of the highly sought receivers of the 2009 class. This will be Evans' first visit to the campus and to the Notre Dame football experience.

The Notre Dame family is ready to welcome Shaquelle and the Evans' party to South Bend. Let this be a start to another great recruiting class for the Fighting Irish!

Here is a snippet of his evaluation from ESPNU's Todd Luginbill:

"Big, fast and exploisve are the three words that best describe Evans. He is a true difference-maker in the return game and moves like a smaller, quicker receiver in the open field. Has good size and has room on his frame to get even bigger. Shows an explosive surge off the ball and eats up a cushion quickly. Uses his body effectively to shield defenders from the ball. He isn't afraid to go over the middle and can catch in traffic. Has big, soft, strong hands. Can pull the ball away from defenders when fighting for it in the air. Can catch over his head and pluck on the run. He's a smooth and fluid route runner and shows some explosiveness out of his breaks. Possesses a good feel for finding soft spots in zone coverage."

Here's are some highligts of Shaquelle Evans in action:

Spirit of Notre Dame

Here are some classic moments of Notre Dame football. So if you have 20 minutes or so to spare, sit back, relax, and Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame!

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Keys to the Game: Purdue

A true test of one's team is how well they react to adversity. The ineffectiveness in the ground game, turnovers, and off the field distractions is going to test the mettle of the Fighting Irish on Saturday. After a disappointing loss at Michigan State, Notre Dame will look to bounce right back against intra-state foe Purdue.

The Boilermakers, meanwhile, have their own share of troubles too. Joe Tiller almost took their senior leader, Curtis Painter, out of the game before eeking one out at the last minute against Central Michigan.

Rivalry games are always heated and have tons of emotion. Saturday will be no different.

1.) Establish Identity Quickly: From the opposite of last week when Notre Dame tried to run, Charlie Weis and Mike Haywood need to chuck the ball all over the field. With David Grimes coming back and Michael Floyd looking more like a veteran than a freshman, Notre Dame will have plenty of weapons to throw at. Golden Tate will once again have a field day against the Boilermakers.

Purdue is 89th in the country in Defensive Pass Efficiency giving up 234.67 yards a contest. Defensive Coordinator Brock Spack has yet to get a handle on stopping the Irish passing game. Heck last season Jimmy Clausen and Evan Sharpley had over 300 yards passing.

2.) Kick Coverage: Purdue is the second-best kickoff return team in the country, as they have the top returner in the land in Desmond Tardy (40.25 per return avg.). If the Irish kick away from Tardy, they'll have to deal with Kory Sheets (30.5 per return; 20th in NCAA).

So far, Notre Dame has done a magnificent job of getting to the returner. Gunner Mike Anello and senior David Bruton are usually the first two at the scene, and look to do more of the same on Saturday.

This could definitely dictate the ever important field position.

3.) Run Defense: Notre Dame's defense will once again be tested by one of the Big Ten's finest. Kory Sheets, who is averaging 117 yards a game, is currently 12th in the nation. Last week the Irish held Michigan State's Javon Ringer in check for over three quarters of the game (124 yards and 3.4 per carry average) before his last scoring drive that catapulted him over the 200 yard mark.

If the Irish are going to be successful on Saturday, they have to limit Sheets to short to mid range runs. Currently the Irish are 74th in run defense by giving up 144.3 yards a game and 4.33 yards per carry, while giving up only 4 rushing scores. A good ballpark number for Notre Dame's defense to shoot for is 130 yards rushing total by the Boilermakers. If they can do that, the Irish secondary and pass defense will take care of the rest.

On the flip side, Purdue is 99th in run defense as they give up a tad under 200 yards a game (192.3). Well we'll leave that for another day and time, don't you think?

4.) No, No, to T.O.: As in win the turnover battle. Both Notre Dame and Purdue are 57th in the land in turnover margin at +0. We've seen how turnovers can either win a game (Michigan) or lose a game (Michigan St.) for the Irish.

Jimmy Clausen needs to break the string of two interceptions a game. It should start on Saturday against Purdue's defense. If the Irish can get a defensive score, it will bode well for Notre Dame to remain undefeated at home.

5.) We Must Protect This House!: Next to the Pittsburgh game, this is the hardest remaining team on the home portion of the schedule. Notre Dame and the Stadium need to show a lot of emotion and rattle the Boilermakers from the get go.

So far this week, the Irish have been very upbeat in practice and are ready to roll heads come Saturday. They are ready to do their part, the question is, will the Notre Dame faithful do theirs?

Purdue has not had much success in Notre Dame Stadium in the first place, so why not help contribute to the cause.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/24/08

Catch the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for Wednesday, September 24th:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

If the union of Bob Elliott and Mike Nelson is to achieve the desired result, the first order of business might be to improve the lines of communication.
One day after San Diego State football coach Chuck Long announced that the two would share the responsibility of making the defensive play calls, neither of the two assistants was willing to discuss the arrangement after yesterday's practice.

While Nelson, who was rehired at SDSU this year as the team's defensive line coach, refused an interview request, Elliott offered only a “no comment” when asked about collaborating with a coach who worked with him for two years at Iowa State in 2000-01.
On Monday, Long said he wanted Nelson to assist Elliott in the play-calling while Elliott, 55, underwent treatment for an undisclosed illness. In 1999, Elliott received a bone marrow transplant while battling polycythemia vera, a form of cancer in which bone marrow becomes hyperactive.

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema knows what it's like to beat Michigan in Ann Arbor. He just hasn't done it as a coach. During his playing days, Bielema was part of the Iowa team that edged the Wolverines 24-23 in 1990. Since becoming a coach - first as an Iowa assistant, and now with Wisconsin - Bielema hasn't tasted victory in Michigan Stadium.

He and his team will get another chance Saturday when Big Ten play opens. The No. 8 Badgers (3-0) are favored over the Wolverines (1-2), but Bielema anticipates seeing a better Michigan team. Especially with the Wolverines and coach Rich Rodriguez having a bye week to prepare.

"He's a good coach for a reason," Bielema said on Tuesday's Big Ten teleconference. "With young players, you have the ability to make the most improvement in a shorter period of time. ... Usually when you surround good football players with good coaches, they get improvement."

Turnovers aside, Bielema said he thought Michigan's performance in its Sept. 13 loss at Notre Dame was notable for several reasons: The offensive line played its best game of the season, the Wolverines identified their quarterback (Steven Threet) and their top running back (Sam McGuffie).

"We haven't beaten Michigan in Michigan since 1994," Bielema said. "I'm excited and I know our kids are excited about the opportunity to go to Michigan and see what happens."

Purdue via http://www.indystar.com

Purdue coach Joe Tiller has acknowledged he considered replacing starting quarterback Curtis Painter during Saturday's 32-25 victory over Central Michigan. Tiller told Painter he had one more series to improve his play or backup Joey Elliott would replace him.

"We thought Curtis was underperforming," Tiller said Sunday. "We actually told him -- I don't like surprising guys, particularly if they're veteran players -- that we'd go with him one more series and that's it. We need some productivity.

"He hurried some throws. His mechanics were OK, but his decision-making was off."

Painter responded by connecting with Aaron Valentin along the sideline for a 57-yard gain. That led to a 2-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Tardy. He later wrapped up the scoring with a 2-point conversion completion to Greg Orton.

"Late in the game, it's like he was back in rhythm again," said Tiller, who added that he didn't think the threat necessarily led to Painter's improved play.

Painter was not available because Sunday's practice was canceled.

Stanford via http://www.gostanford.com

Here's a sampling of some of head coach Jim Harbaugh's comments from today's Stanford football media luncheon as the Cardinal prepare to meet Washington Saturday night at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

On Washington Quarterback Jake Locker
We've faced some pretty talented quarterbacks in the first four weeks and Jake Locker, in my opinion, is the best of all of them. He's a runner a lot like Toby Gerhart. He has a big and powerful lower body, speed, the ability to make you miss and he can shed tacklers. If I wasn't coaching against him, I'd be a lot bigger fan. I really enjoy watching him play. He keeps you off balance with the pass and has the ability to pick up big chunks of yardages with his legs. He's an experienced guy, now.

At the same time, you have to account for everybody else. Last year, Luis Rankin, along with Locker, accounted for quite a bit of rushing yardage against us. He (Locker) poses a huge threat. He's a great football player.

On Defending Washington
The toughest team to defend are the ones who can run and pass. You can't focus too much on taking one of those away. If a team is one dimensional, you have a better shot of shutting down what they do well. When a team does both things well, like Washington does, it makes it tougher.

On Washington
They were impressive against BYU, a very competitive, ranked team. They had a chance to win that ballgame. Oklahoma got some short passes that turned into huge gains. It was almost like our Arizona State game where a few plays in the game really made a huge difference.

There were parts of the Oklahoma game where they were stopping the run, getting pressure on the quarterback and contesting passes. There were a couple of others on short passes where Oklahoma shed the tackle and then ran 60 yards down the field. Plays that should have been short turned into big.

On Tight End Konrad Reuland
Konrad's ready to play, but there are guys in front of him, like Jim Dray, Austin Gunder and Coby Fleener. Right now, I wouldn't say he will have a big impact (on Saturday), but that can change in a couple of weeks.

North Carolina via http://www.tarheelblue.com

Leave it to an offensive lineman to provide the simplest, most accurate explanation of Carolina's offensive task on Saturday at Miami, when the Tar Heels roll into Dolphins Stadium without T.J. Yates. Either freshman Mike Paulus or junior Cameron Sexton will start at quarterback--as of Tuesday afternoon, the decision still hadn't been made. But whether it's the freshman Paulus or the junior Sexton, left tackle Kyle Jolly knows exactly what the offensive gameplan will be.

"We have to give the quarterback as much time as we can, and we have to run the ball to take the pressure off him so he doesn't have to win the game with his arm," Jolly said.

He's exactly right. If only it was just that simple. Sexton hasn't thrown more than one pass in a game in nearly two years--he attempted 10 passes against Wake Forest on Oct. 28, 2006. Paulus, meanwhile, has nine career throws--three of them have been completed to his teammates and two to the opposition.

It's unlikely that Miami's new home, Dolphins Stadium, will be as inhospitable as the Orange Bowl, which had all the charm of a condemned apartment building. But either Sexton or Paulus will still be facing a hostile environment, which means Jolly's prescription for Saturday success is essential.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

The Washington Huskies have already played 10 true freshmen, thought to be the school's most since freshman eligibility was restored in 1972. Whether UW will play any more this year figures to be determined in the next week or so. UW offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said Tuesday at least three freshman skill players who have yet to see action this season could still play — receivers Cody Bruns and Anthony Boyles and running back Terrance Dailey.

"Pretty soon it's going to be time to either put the shirt on them or play them," Lappano said, referring to possibly redshirting the players to preserve a year of eligibility. "But right now they've got our eye, and we are going to have to make a decision maybe by the end of this week [on] what is going to happen."

All three impressed last week when the Huskies had a bye and conducted some substantial scrimmaging.

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

On Monday, Wannstedt attributed Pitt's inconsistency to lack of execution and failure to take advantage of opportunities. Senior receiver Derek Kinder, who leads the team with 11 receptions and has Pitt's only touchdown reception, said the offense is only a couple of plays from having a breakout game.

"That's exactly it: We are at a point where it is all execution," Kinder said. "When we went back and looked at [the videotape], there were a couple of plays where, if we made one block, LeSean [McCoy] would have been one on one with a safety and that's what we want. And really it is just little minor things like that, things we can really clean up, and it is not really play-calling or anything like that, so everything is looking promising."

Syracuse via http://www.syracuse.com

In a rare move, Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross called ESPN.com unsolicited to defend himself on the record and talk about the football program. About head football coach Greg Robinson, Gross told ESPN's Ivan Maisel Monday night, "It isn't working out. It's very disappointing...He has some work to do out in front of him."

Gross has taken even more heat than usual lately: He was booed during the Penn State game, ESPN's Lee Corso blamed Gross for the downfall of the football program at the end of a College GameDay segment on SU, and Gross was negatively portrayed in a recent Orange County Register article.

As the Post-Standard's Donnie Webb points out, Gross has become a lightning rod for the contempt of fans who are fed up with the decline of the football program. Gross says he accepts responsibility for the failures of Syracuse football. "The 800-pound gorilla is football. We've got to fix that. We know that," Gross said.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

Quarterback Garrett Green moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart this week, but whether that comes with a seat upgrade on the team charter to Oregon today remains to be seen.

"If I had a nice window seat, I could fall asleep," Green joked after Tuesday's practice. "I'd love it. But I'll probably be smashed between two linemen."

Green, a junior, is not complaining. He vaulted ahead of redshirt freshman Aaron Corp and sophomore Mitch Mustain to become starter Mark Sanchez's backup for Thursday night's Pacific 10 Conference opener against Oregon State. Green said his experience as a safety and receiver gives him an advantage when running the offense.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/23/08

Here's the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for this Tuesday, September 23rd:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

San Diego State coach Chuck Long said yesterday that the team's defensive play- calling responsibilities will be shared between coordinator Bob Elliott and line coach Mike Nelson until further notice while Elliott undergoes treatment for an undisclosed illness. Long said Elliott will retain his title of defensive coordinator while continuing to coach the team's inside linebackers. Elliott, 55, received a bone marrow transplant in 1999 after battling polycythemia vera, a cancer condition in which bone marrow becomes hyperactive. Elliott, who was not made available for comment yesterday, said in an interview with the Union-Tribune in 2006 that his cancer had been in remission with the exception of a brief setback in 2001.

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

All is still not well for the University of Michigan offensive line.

The Wolverines had hoped to get injured left tackle Mark Ortmann back for Saturday's Big Ten opener against Wisconsin, and he might be ready. However, Ortmann -- who is coming off a dislocated elbow -- has yet to practice in full pads, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday.

If Ortmann can't play or is ineffective, it's unclear whether his backup, Perry Dorrestein, will be healthy enough to compete. Dorrestein, who played competently in his first start against Notre Dame, injured a knee last week in practice in "kind of a freak thing," Rodriguez said.

"We thought he'd be out, but we were encouraged by his progress," the coach added. "It looks like Perry may be able to play as well. We'll know that in the next couple of days."

If Michigan must turn to a third left tackle, here's one option: The Wolverines could shift right tackle Stephen Schilling to the left side, and give the next tackle in the pecking order -Â true freshman Patrick Omameh - his first game experience on the right.

Michigan St. via http://www.greenandwhite.com

Now is when Michigan State hopes a season-opening loss at California pays dividends.
The 3-1 Spartans, coming off Saturday's 23-7 win over Notre Dame, begin Big Ten play Saturday against 2-1 Indiana (noon, ESPN). IU's Memorial Stadium may not be the wildest of environments, but it's MSU's first departure from the comforts of home since the opener. And the road is never easy.

"At least we've gained experience in that environment," MSU coach Mark Dantonio said today. "So hopefully we can continue to press forward and understand what it's gonna take to play at that level, to win."

The latest depth chart saw no significant changes. Safety Kendell Davis-Clark (shoulder) does not appear again this week and is not likely to play.

The Hoosiers are coming off a humiliating 42-20 home loss to Ball State, but pose danger with versatile quarterback Kellen Lewis.

Stanford via http://www.paloaltodailynews.com

Result: Beat SJSU 23-10 Grade: B

Comment: The grades-within-the-grades include a "C" for the offense in general, a "B" for the running game and a "D" for the passing game.

Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard completed less than 50 percent of his passes against SJSU and connected on just two throws of 25 yards or more, and one of them was to himself (a deflected pass that he caught).

That was good enough to beat the Spartans, but it probably won't be good enough to win four more games and might not be good enough to win this week.

Yet if Coach Jim Harbaugh thought freshman quarterback Andrew Luck was the answer - the difference between mediocrity and locking up a bowl bid - Luck would have played by now.

The matchup: No team in the country has played a tougher schedule than the Huskies, who had a bye last week to recover from three consecutive losses to ranked teams (and Pacific-10 Conference officials).

Stanford's only win of the '06 season was in Seattle, while Washington dominated last year behind a running game that churned out 388 yards.

The good news for Stanford is that the man responsible for 255 of those yards, tailback Louis Rankin, no longer wears purple. Now all the Cardinal has to do is stop Jake Locker.

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

Pitt's three touchdown drives in its 21-20 victory against Iowa totaled 29 plays, 207yards and an average of 7.14 yards per play.

The Panthers also had 11 first downs on those drives and possessed the ball for nearly 13 minutes. It was the Panthers' offense at its best.

But besides those three drives, the offense was a complete non-factor as it mustered only 67 yards on 30 plays (2.23 yards per play) and had only two first downs on their other 10 possessions, not counting the three kneel-down plays at the end of the half and game.

The Panthers failed to get a first down on eight of those 10 possessions, and the two possessions in which they did yield a first down lasted only four plays. Pitt had seven three-and-out drives, including a stretch of six consecutive possessions that failed to get a first down, and one other possession ended when tailback LeSean McCoy fumbled on the first play.

Navy via http://www.hometownannapolis.com

Navy's football team didn't have much time to enjoy Saturday's thrilling upset of Rutgers. By Sunday morning, coaches were back at their offices Ricketts Hall reviewing tape of an even more formidable opponent - 16th-ranked Wake Forest.

Many of Navy's players got a sneak preview of their next challenge on Saturday night, watching Wake Forest improve to 3-0 with a 12-3 win over No. 24 Florida State. The Demon Deacons forced seven turnovers and got four field goals from All-American kicker Sam Swank to prevail in that early-season showdown among Atlantic Coast Conference contenders.

"We told our guys: 'As great as that game was last week, it's over.' We've got to move on," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, adding that Wake Forest is "good in all phases. They're well-coached, they're disciplined and have good athletes who have bought into the system. We've got our hands full, but we're going to come to work and see what happens."

Syracuse via http://sports.espn.go.com

Syracuse athletic director Dr. Daryl Gross said Monday that the Orange football team has yet to show the "obvious progress" necessary for Greg Robinson to remain as football coach beyond this season. "It isn't working out," Gross said of Robinson. "It's very disappointing … He has some work to do out in front of him." The Orange are 1-3 this season as they prepare for their Big East Conference opener Saturday at home against Pittsburgh. Robinson, in his fourth season at Syracuse, has an overall record of 8-31. "He isn't going to do anything right now," Robinson, referring to Gross, said Monday night. "I know that. But let me tell you something, we just need to win. We're capable of winning. People don't know it."

Southern Cal via http://www.pe.com

It seemed like the perfect plan -- timely, necessary and doable. Coach Pete Carroll was all over this one, even before his USC Trojans kicked off their season opener. Two early bye weeks in September would give USC time to shore up its thinnest, youngest group: the offensive line. That's where USC's top freshman recruits, the highly touted and physically gifted Tyron Smith, of Moreno Valley, and Matt Kalil, of Corona, happen to play. Only that's not the way it's gone down. Not after fifth-year senior Jeff Byers came back from an illness 10 days before the opener. Suddenly the Trojans' starting left guard was feeling better, and so was the offensive line. "It's no coincidence," Carroll said. As it turns out, these offensive linemen weren't as inexperienced as they looked on paper, many having made starts a year ago as one veteran after another was injured.

A Trojan Returns via http://www.latimes.com

Senior Josh Pinkard has not started a game for USC since the 2006 opener at Arkansas, where he played safety and suffered the first of two knee injuries that forced him to miss nearly two seasons. But Pinkard will return to the starting lineup Thursday at Oregon State, replacing cornerback Shareece Wright, who could miss six weeks because of a fractured vertebra, Coach Pete Carroll announced Monday.

The Subway Alumni Show Preview

Catch the latest from Sprout and Eric this Wedensday on The Subway Alumni Show (http://www.thesubwayalumnishow.com)

Notre Dame vs. Michigan State Highlights

Not too many highlights from last Saturday, but there is still light at the end of the tunnel for this team and the 2008 season!

Notre Dame vs. Purdue Preview: The Early Edition

Maybe this well help the Monday blues! Before this crew does its little preview, the Irish Sports Report show gives a little recap on other Notre Dame fall sports too. So sit back and enjoy:

IBB Report Card: Michigan St.

No need to panic yet Irish Fans. The wheels have not come off and neither has the spirit of the Fighting Irish players. Yes, the 23-7 loss at Michigan State did bring back some memories of the 2007 season. However, there are some positives that should show the Irish faithful, 2008 is not over by a long shot!

First things first, Notre Dame has to find its identity on offense. It shouldn't take very long, because the Irish are a pretty good passing team. Jimmy Clausen led Notre Dame downfield several times. In fact, out of the Irish's five drives that were 20 yards or more, four of them resulted in miscues (interception, fumble, and 2 missed field goals). If the Irish made good on at least half of these, we could possibly talking about Notre Dame being 3-0 for the first time since 2002.

Offense
The Irish had virtually no running game, as they finished with just 16 yards (0.7 ypc) as a team. Plus costly mistakes in scoring situations made it look worse than what it was. While Notre Dame took advantage of six Michigan turnovers in last week's victory, the Irish were victimized by three of their own against Michigan State. Notre Dame threw a pair of interceptions, one in the Spartans' end zone and another inside the Irish 25-yard line, and also fumbled at the MSU 25-yard line after marching down the field. Michigan State turned those three turnovers into 10 points.

QB: C
Clausen's stats were alright (24-of-41 for 242 yards 1 TD 2 Int). At one point in the second half when he was guiding the Irish down the field he was 13-of-16 with one touchdown. Unfortunately, both of his interceptions were costly as they were intended for Duval Kamara. The one in the endzone really shouldn't have been thrown as there were two defenders covering Kamara. The second one was actually a poor route run by Duval.

Jimmy is still having the penchant of locking on to his receivers from the get-go. If he can look them off and connect with secondary receivers more frequently, his average of two interceptions a game should decrease.

Clausen, once again, hung in there and put up a A+ effort. It's just too bad that effort doesn't count in the win column.

RB: INC
The longest run of the day (24 yards) belonged to a wide receiver (Golden Tate). As for the actual running backs, James Alridge had the most success running the ball (4 carries for 13 yards). Robert Hughes and Armando Allen had a difficult time as well. Allen did, however, become a safety valve for Clausen with five receptions for 20 yards.

Notre Dame didn't get a chance to implement some of the running plays they went through in practice earlier in the week, but they did have three plays when Allen lined up in the slot, while Alrdige was the primary running back.

The real reason for the lack of running well be addressed when we hand out the offensive line grade.

FB: C
Just another average day for Asaph Scwapp and Luke Schmidt. When they were in there blocking, both held their defenders in check and didn't let any get a whiff near Clausen.

TE: C- (during the game) F (after the game)
The 3 catches for 31 yards production by Kyle Rudolph (2-29) and Will Yeatman (1-2), are still not anywhere near the standard Anthony Fasano and John Carlson set in Weis' first three seasons. Rudolph did have some nice catches, but his blocking needs to improve dramatically if the Irish want to salvage their running game. He was open on a few occasions, which Clausen will see in game films.

Yeatman was the better of the two in blocking, and in getting in trouble with the South Bend Police. This could possibly be the last time we see the young man in any Irish uniform. It's too bad, because Will is really a good kid that just made dumb college kid mistakes, hence therefore the failing grade.

WR: B-We're witnessing two great Notre Dame receivers in Michael Floyd and Golden Tate. Floyd would have a better performance if it wasn't for his fumble at the MSU 14 yard line. Overall, he led the Irish in both receptions (7) yards (86), and touchdowns (1). What can we say about Golden Tate that hasn't already been said this season? His five receptions for 83 yards looked great and will be counted on to do more as the season goes on.

Robby Parris made his presence felt, while the same could be said of David Grimes' absence. Notre Dame will need to have their whole receiving arsenal healthy and ready against the Boilermakers on Saturday.

OL: D
Allen Pinkett's assessment during the postgame show was right on the money. Whoever you put in there at running back, they will not be effective. The Irish offensive line was just not physical to push any of the Michigan State defenders off the line and create any significant holes for their running backs. The only lineman that looked steady and consistent in his blocks was Chris Stewart. Stewart graded out the highest of all the Irish lineman and will only get better as the season goes on.

The Irish did excel in pass blocking for the most part, but did have some mental errors (Sam Young personal foul penalty, fumbled shotgun snap, and some missed blocks that resulted in sacks).

It's back to the drawing board this week for John Latina and his lineman! This unit is better than that, and they will have games where the Irish have success running the ball. Hopefully that game will be this Saturday against Purdue.

Overall Offensive Grade: C-/D+

Defense
Notre Dame gave up over 200 yards rushing and two scores to State's Javon Ringer. With that said, it was 13-7 game with nine minutes remaining. The Irish defense kept Ringer in check, allowing just 124 yards on 32 carries (just 3.9 per rush) before he ripped off a 63-yard burst and capped the long run with a one-yard scoring plunge late in the fourth quarter. On that game-sealing drive, Ringer rushed seven times for 77 yards.

What was also impressive was when the Irish held the Spartans out of the endzone and forced them to kick one of their three field goals.

Overall, the defense didn't have too bad of a game. If it wasn't for defending a short field on one series and being on the field for long periods of time, Notre Dame is improving behind the Corwin Brown-Jon Tenuta project.

DL: C-
Ian Williams led the defensive front with six tackles, while freshman Ian Williams had two pass break ups. Pat Kuntz and Justin Brown had two tackles apiece for the Irish. For the most part, the defensive line held up during goal line situations and kept Ringer in control for three quarters.

Notre Dame will be giving up some rushing yards, but it will not be that drastic like Ringer's totals the rest of the way.

LB: B-
Brian Smith just keeps getting better and better after each game. He tied for the team-high with 10 tackles, forced one fumble, and had a great tackle on Javon Ringer behind the line of scrimmage.

Maurice Crum had eight tackles, while Harrison Smith was all over field for six tackles.

DB: B
The Irish pass defense limited their first two opponents to just over 55% completion percentage entering last Saturday's contest. Notre Dame improved upon that average after holding Michigan State starting quarterback Brian Hoyer to just 46.2% (12-for-26) on the afternoon.

Once again Irish safeties, David Bruton (10) and Kyle McCarthy (9), were leading the way for Notre Dame.

Terrail Lambert had a few breakdowns in coverage, but held his own against a good fast receiver in Mark Dell.

The Irish secondary only gave up two passes over 20 yards on the day.

Overall Defensive Grade: C+

Special Teams: D-
Brandon Walker is still 0-fer on field goals this season. His 51-yarder had the distance, but was way off the mark, and his second miss was due in most part to a horrible snap and hold.

Eric Maust recovered well after his first punt set up Michigan State's first field goal. He got his average back to a respectable 40 + yards and pinned two inside the 20 yard line.

Weis will probably have to spend some more time with the kicking game this week, as Walker's lack of consistency in games will open up a battle between him and Ryan Burkhart for Purdue Week.

Coaching: C-
The game plan was there for the Irish to execute. Costly turnovers and the Irish defense being on the field a lot proved to be the final straw on that one.

From here on out, Weis and Company have to
1.) Stick to finding their identity on offense
2.) Stay positive and upbeat (they fought to the very end on Saturday, which wouldn't have been the case last season)
3.) Be the smarter team and limit their mistakes

Overall Grade: A high C- (1.9)

If Notre Dame can get a handle on those mistakes, there's still no reason the Irish can't go 7-5 or 8-4 on the season. Well see how they adjust against a decent Purdue squad on Saturday.

There are still a lot of arrows pointing up for this team with a emerging receiving corps, an improving Jimmy Clausen, and an opportunistic defense. I really believe games like last Saturday will be few and far between because of this team's heart and determination is so much greater than last season.

Turnovers are costly, and the Irish paid the price for them. Today is the start of a new week and new opportunities. Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, but today is like a gift, because it is the present!

GO IRISH!

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/22/08

Here's the latest Buzz Around Team Camps from this past weekend for this Monday, September 22nd:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com/

So much for the benefit of a bye week. San Diego State, whose defensive front has been riddled by injuries to the point of ridiculousness, got more bad news over the weekend when starting nose tackle Ernie Lawson was diagnosed with mononucleosis.

Coach Chuck Long said Lawson, who was already playing with a nagging foot injury, will be out for at least three weeks.

In addition, defensive end Eron Moses, who missed all of last season after having surgery for a broken toe on his right foot, is sporting a protective boot on the same foot and is out indefinitely.

The Aztecs, who concluded fall camp having lost defensive linemen Neil Spencer (shoulder) and Avery Williams (knee) for the season, lost starting defensive end Tony DeMartinis for the season in the opener against Cal Poly. SDSU has since lost four other defensive linemen to injuries for extended periods of time. Defensive end Ryan Williams, who was expected to fill the vacancy left by DeMartinis, has not played since Week One after suffering two concussions. Redshirt freshman defensive end Michael Snead (knee), who did not participate in fall camp, has yet to play this season.

Though the absence of the 6-foot-3, 300-pound Lawson is a blow, it also comes at a time when senior tackle Siaosi Fifita (knee) and true freshman tackle Jerome Long(ankle) are returning to the lineup. Fifita's return allows Jonathan Soto, who had been filling the void left by Fifita, to return to his normal position of defensive end. It also allows Russell Allen, forced to take Soto's position, to move back to his strong-side linebacker spot.

The Aztecs, off to their second 0-3 start in two years, resume play at home against Idaho on Saturday.

Michigan via http://www.michigandaily.com

In "Ask the Experts," Daily football writers will answer your questions. If you have a question that you would like answered, send it to varsity2k8@umich.edu.

What are the difficulties in adjusting to the spread offense?
Everybody talks about how hard it is for a quarterback to adjust to Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's spread offense, but that's not the biggest concern on offense. The biggest concern is the offensive line. There are four new starters this year. More than any other position, experience is a huge factor in the development of offensive linemen.

As we've seen this year, a running back can come in and make an instant impact. But I've never heard of a freshman phenom offensive lineman. It takes time. There is a huge difference between high school and college, and linemen need time to adjust.

It's common sense, but without a decent line in front of him, the quarterback won't have time to pass and the running back won't have room to run.

Will Michigan make a bowl?

The Wolverines need at least six wins, and maybe seven, to make a bowl. Before the season, I thought that despite all the transition, the 33-year bowl streak was almost sure to continue. But after losing two winnable games, Michigan's bowl hopes have slipped a bit, especially with both Minnesota and Northwestern within two wins of bowl eligibility. As long as Michigan beats Toledo, it will still have to win four Big Ten games. However, the dramatic offensive improvement between Miami (Ohio) and Notre Dame suggests this team could win at least five more games this season.

Purdue via http://www.jconline.com

Joe Tiller stood in front of his players and made the announcement. Suddenly, they jumped out of their chairs, and three of them ran up and hugged their coach.

Part of the celebration following Purdue's thrilling 32-25 victory Saturday over Central Michigan? Well, sort of.

The announcement wasn't made in the post-game locker room. It was made Sunday in the team's Mollenkopf Athletic Center meeting room. Tiller had called off Sunday's practice. And told them more could be coming.

"I told them we'll put a policy in for the balance of the year, and we'll call it Victory Sunday," Tiller said. "By that I mean, if we can win a football game, then we won't practice on Sunday.

"We'll still have our (Sunday) meetings, and we still want to take advantage of (watching) the game tape, and make sure they're all healthy. But we won't practice."

One of the hopes, since the team routinely has Mondays off, is to keep the players' legs fresh. And to improve their psyches.Now, all they have to do is win, baby, win.

Stanford via http://www.paloaltodailynews.com

With quarterback Kyle Reed in charge, San Jose State's no-huddle spread offense can be confounding for any defense. Even the bright guys wearing Stanford uniforms seemed a bit bewildered early Saturday night while Reed completed 16 straight passes and the Spartans took a 10-0 lead.

There's a reason those players got into Stanford, however. Once the Cardinal figured out how to stop the scheme, they had no trouble rolling past their nearest rivals.

Tavita Pritchard passed for 159 yards and rushed for a touchdown, and Stanford's defense dominated the final three quarters as the Cardinal rallied from a halftime deficit to beat San Jose State 23-10 in the Bill Walsh Legacy Game.

North Carolina via http://www.dailytarheel.com

For nearly three quarters, North Carolina cautiously straddled the line between success and failure. There were some missed opportunities, some penalties, some turnovers — but none of it mattered.

Defensively, the Tar Heels contained dual-threat quarterback Tyrod Taylor and forced two turnovers as Virginia Tech (3-1, 2-0 in the ACC) failed to establish any semblance of an offense.

Offensively, UNC confidently moved the ball down field with an array of end-arounds, slants and posts. The stat book read heavily in UNC’s favor in total yardage and starting field position, and it seemed another rout was in the works.

Then North Carolina sophomore quarterback T.J. Yates suffered a left ankle sprain on a third-quarter sack and exited the game. With redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Paulus at the helm, momentum swung toward the Hokie sideline and all of those miscues and points left on the field proved too much to overcome.

The Tar Heels’ tight-rope walk came to a crashing conclusion as Va. Tech rallied for a 20-17 win Saturday at Kenan Stadium.

Washington via http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com

The first line for the Stanford game is out and the Huskies are favored by three-and-a-half points. For what it's worth, being a home favorite hasn't been a good thing for the Huskies the last few years.

They were 0-2 as a home favorite last year --- favored by three against Arizona and six against Washington State, each games UW lost straight up --- and 0-3 against the spread in 2006 (but 1-2 straight-up). In fact, UW is 2-4 straight-up as a home favorite under Tyrone Willingham and 1-5 against the spread (and hard to believe the Huskies have been favored only six times in 20 home games since he took over as head coach).

The only time UW has beaten the spread as a home favorite under Willingham is the Idaho game in 2005 when UW was favored by 13 and won 34-6 in what was his third game as head coach.

Boston College via http://www.boston.com

The Boston College football team's 34-7 win over Central Florida Saturday made the Eagles 2-1 entering Saturday's game against Rhode Island. That will be the last rest stop of the season for the Eagles, who showed signs of offensive life in the second half as they overcame a 7-3 halftime deficit.

In a conference call yesterday, BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said the defense definitely has carried its share of the load.

"The more you play, the more you learn about our team," said Jagodzinski. "I thought the defense did a fantastic job. It was put in precarious positions and answered the bell. We found a little bit of offense in the second half."

Jagodzinski said backup quarterback Dominique Davis, who came in twice in the first half in place of Chris Crane, will continue to get snaps. "He made some good decisions, and it's all a learning process," said Jagodzinski.

Jagodzinski said Crane will remain the starter for now, but he would like Davis to get approximately 20 snaps each game for the remainder of the season. In addition to praising Davis, a redshirt freshman, Jagodzinski lauded freshmen Montel Harris, a running back who had 112 yards on 13 carries, and Donnie Fletcher, who had an interception at the cornerback spot.

Syracuse via http://media.dailyorange.com

Three Syracuse University students have found a way to wear their disappointment in football head coach Greg Robinson. Seniors Josh Shaw, Shawn O'Donoghue and Mike Zahler started making T-shirts this year that read "Greg Robinson Farewell Tour." The shirts have a list of this season's game dates and locations on the back. "We had the idea a while ago to support our team by creating these shirts," said Shaw, a newspaper journalism and policy studies major and former Daily Orange staff writer. "We're all seniors, so we have been here through Coach Robinson's tenure. We feel like there is nothing we can do about our bad football season, but for the people who are still around, it's time for a change." The three have sold nearly 200 shirts - printed by Holy Shirt company - to students and tailgaters. Publicity has stemmed from their Facebook group of 73 members and word of mouth.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

USC Coach Pete Carroll is disciplining cornerback Shareece Wright for his role in an incident that led to his being charged with felony resisting a police officer, but the junior will play against Oregon State if cleared medically to do so, Carroll said Sunday. Carroll declined to specify the nature of the disciplinary action.

Poor Attempt at Humor via http://www.latimes.com

The joke answer is that USC ought to consider joining the NFC West because that way we could officially say pro football has returned to Los Angeles. There's no smoke to this fire. USC is stuck with the Pacific 10 Conference, just like the Pac-10 was stuck with USC all those years when Paul Hackett was coach. These things tend to go in cycles, and right now USC's is on "heavy load." The Pac-10, honestly, could not have had a worse two weeks if Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were in charge.

From Stacked to Depleted

If the loss to Michigan State wasn't bad enough, Notre Dame now has to deal with big hit to their offense. According to the South Bend Police and the University of Notre Dame,

"Irish tight end Will Yeatman and center Mike Golic Jr. were among 41 people arrested on misdemeanor alcohol charges at a South Bend home early Sunday, police told the Associated Press. Yeatman, 20, and Golic, 18, were charged with being minors consuming alcohol.

The fallout could be more significant for Yeatman, who was arrested in January for operating a vehicle under the influence and entered an agreement that a drunken driving charge would be dropped if he stayed out of trouble for a year. Yeatman was suspended from both the football and lacrosse teams for the entire spring after that incident.

In a statement released Sunday night, Weis said he is "looking into the matter."

Since this is Yeatman's second alcohol related incident within a span of 8 months, his days on the Notre Dame campus are pretty much numbered. As for Golic Jr., he'll sit out the rest of the semester and beg for leniency not from the university's Student Affairs judicial board, but from his parents. Definitely don't want to be in the Golic household right now, that's for sure.

Now back to the bigger issue at hand. At the start of fall camp, Notre Dame's deepest and highly anticipated units was the Tight Ends. After the loss of Mike Ragone to a season ending knee injury, it was up to Yeatman to pave the way as the most experienced tight end, while freshman Kyle Rudolph would learn as he goes. Well as of today, Rudolph will have to cram a lot more into his repertoire because Yeatman was the better of the two in blocking. And the way the offensive line has performed in run blocking, it does not bode well for the Irish.

First to get the call in place of Yeatman will be Luke Schmidt, the Fullback/Tight End hybrid that has seen action in both spots this season. Schmidt does has have great hands and can hold his blocks when called upon. Will he be the spark to help turn the Irish's run misfortunes into success, who knows?

Freshman Joesph Fauria will most likely shed his redshirt year and be asked to speed up the pace to give the Irish a third tight end option. Fauria has been used so far this young season as a scout team offensive lineman. So maybe his experience in blocking will provide another wide body along the offensive front. He'll also create a big presence in the middle of the field for Jimmy Clausen.

This is the first real test of mettle for this young, but spirited Notre Dame squad. If Saturday's contest did reveal something, it showed that the Irish will not back down and fight to the end. And that's a sign of Charlie Weis and his players turning the corner in the right direction. This week and the remaining season will show that Notre Dame has brought back the fight in the Fighting Irish!

IBB Weekly Motivator: Week 26

The Irish will be tasting a hearty victory come Saturday when they host the Fighting Brimley's of Purdue!

Notre Dame at Michigan State: Tale of the Tape

It isn't even October yet and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish can match their win total from a season ago in East Lansing this weekend, as they lock horns with the Michigan State Spartans. In what turned out to be a disastrous 2007 campaign, the Irish finished just 3-9, with their second and third wins coming in late November. What a difference a year makes though, as Notre Dame has already posted two victories and it is still only September. The 2008 campaign began with a 21-13 victory over San Diego State, which the Irish followed with an impressive 35-17 beating of Michigan last weekend. The win over the Wolverines exacted some revenge for a 38-0 loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor a season ago. It also stretched Notre Dame's winning streak to four games dating back to last year. As for MSU, it opened the season with a 38-31 loss at California, but the team has rebounded nicely from that setback. The Spartans kicked off their current three-game homestand by downing Eastern Michigan (42-10) before blanking Florida Atlantic, 17-0, last weekend. The shutout last weekend was the program's first since 1999. The all-time series between Notre Dame and MSU is led by the Irish, 44-26-1, but the Spartans won last season's meeting by a 31-14 score in South Bend.

Offensively, the Irish took advantage of several miscues by Michigan and scored four touchdowns despite gaining just 260 total yards. Notre Dame gained 113 of those yards on the ground, a nice follow up from the opener, when it posted 105 rushing yards in a win over SDSU. While the rushing total isn't going to gain national recognition, it is a big improvement from the mere 75 ypg the team averaged a year ago. Robert Hughes led the way last weekend, as he posted 79 yards and a pair of scores on 19 totes. It was a solid effort by Hughes, who had 54 yards on 16 carries in the opener. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen managed the offense well last weekend and he threw for 147 yards and a pair of scores on 10-of-21 attempts. He was picked off twice though for the second straight game and that is an area he will need to improve upon. Still, Clausen has already thrown for five touchdowns, two shy of his total from last season. Golden Tate has been one of his favorite targets in the early going and he led the Irish with four receptions for 127 yards and a score last weekend. It was the second straight positive effort for Tate, who also paced the team with six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown in the opener. The offense line has even been impressive for the Irish, allowing no sacks through two games. That is a big accomplishment for a unit that gave up a whopping 58 sacks a year ago.

Despite allowing 388 total yards to Michigan last weekend, Notre Dame's defense was outstanding. The unit came up with countless big plays, finishing the game with six forced turnovers, including a 35-yard touchdown on a fumble return by Brian Smith. The Irish were also sound in their opener, when they limited SDSU to 345 total yards, while creating two turnovers. While generating turnovers hasn't been a problem for Notre Dame, getting to the quarterback has been a different story. Through the first two games, the Irish have only one sack to their credit and that was an area they struggled in a year ago as well. David Bruton paced the defense against Michigan with an all- around effort that consisted of 15 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception. Kyle McCarthy, who had 14 stops in the opener, added 10 tackles last weekend.

In a game slowed by tough weather conditions, the Spartans used 259 yards on the ground to defeat FAU, 17-0, last weekend. MSU, averaging a healthy 192.7 rushing ypg on the year, ran the ball 58 times in the win compared to just 15 pass attempts. Javon Ringer continued his fast start to the season with a career day that consisted of 282 yards and two scores on 43 carries last weekend. It was another stellar performance for Ringer, who has totaled 498 yards and nine scores on the ground through the first three games. Quarterback Brian Hoyer wasn't needed much last weekend with the success on the ground and he threw for just 88 yards and an interception. For the season, Hoyer has passed for 557 yards and a touchdown, but with defenses focusing more on the run, he should easily improve on those numbers. Mark Dell has become his favorite target, leading the team with 13 receptions for 320 yards and a touchdown.

After being torched for 38 points in an opening loss at Cal, the Spartans have yielded just 10 points over their last two games. In a shutout effort last weekend, MSU limited FAU to only nine first downs and just 225 total yards. The unit was stout against the pass, allowing FAU to throw for only 143 yards on 8-of-34 attempts. The defense, which is yielding 389.0 total ypg on the year, also record a pair of turnovers after generating just two miscues through the first two games. Eric Gordon had six stops in the victory last weekend, giving him a team-high 19 tackles for the year.

Notre Dame is off to a fast start, but this will be a tough task, especially since the game is in East Lansing. The Spartans have a few weapons on the offensive side of the ball in Ringer and Bell, but the Irish have made significant strides on the defensive side since last season. It may be close throughout and could be up to the special teams at the end. Make it eight times now for the road team in this series!

Notre Dame 31
Michigan St. 30

Michigan St. Injury Report
Wide receiver Mark Dell (9/15, ankle) is probable
Wide receiver B.J. Cunningham (9/15, bruised knee) is probable
Safety Kendell Davis-Clark (9/15, shoulder) is questionable
OL Arthur Ray Jr. (8/22, left leg surgery) will miss the entire season
Wide receiver Deon Curry (9/15, back) is questionable
Linebacker Jon Misch (8/30, foot) is expected to miss 3-4 weeks
Safety Enrique Shaw (8/14, personal) has left the team
Safety Roderick Jenrette (8/14, personal) is out indefinitely

Notre Dame Injury Report
Safety Jashaad Gaines (9/12, personal) is out indefinitely
Cornerback Darrin Walls (8/27, personal) will miss the fall semester
Tight end Mike Ragone (8/23, left knee surgery) will miss the entire season

Team Leaders
Receptions: MSU Dell (13), ND Tate (10)
Rec. Yards: MSU Dell (320), ND Tate (220)
Rushing Atts: MSU Ringer (104), ND Hughes (35)
Rushing Yds: MSU Ringer (498), ND Hughes (133)
Pass Atts: MSU Hoyer (75), ND Clausen (55)
Pass Comp: MSU Hoyer (33), ND Clausen (31)
Pass Yards: MSU Hoyer (557), ND Clausen (384)
Comp %: MSU Hoyer (44), ND Clausen (56.4)
TD passes: MSU Hoyer (1), ND Clausen (5)
INTs: MSU Hoyer (2), ND Clausen (4)

The Anthony LaLota Chronicles

Since word first spread about Anthony LaLota's second guessing of his decision to Michigan (IBB Watercooler 9/18/08), I've been bombarded with plenty of mixed feelings. First from Irish fans, it has either been, yes I hope he changes his mind, or that I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. To you doubters, I can understand your thinking; how could I know all of this stuff?

All I have to say is trust me on this. But as proof, I'll give you some materials that I think you'll like to see:

--- On Fri, 9/19/08, Pete Sampson wrote:

From: Pete Sampson
Subject: Re: Anthony LaLota
To: xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.com
Date: Friday, September 19, 2008, 1:20 PM

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. I get so many e-mails about "I heard a rumor that I think is true!" that's it's hard to sort through what's worth looking into and what's idle web chatter.
When I talked to Stockton last night he said that LaLota told him about three weeks ago that he was going to Michigan and that "I knew I wasn’t going to be able to persuade him." regarding getting him to come to Notre Dame. Not sure what would have changed exactly, but I'll look into this with some of my sources at the Gug.
-Pete

And here's the kicker, are you ready?

--- On Fri, 9/19/08, Pete Sampson wrote:

From: Pete Sampson
Subject: Re: Anthony LaLota
To: xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.com
Date: Friday, September 19, 2008, 1:54 PM

Got got a text from ND that they're hearing some of the same stuff on LaLota.
I'll keep you posted if I hear anything new there.
-Pete

So you can decide for yourself folks. My sources close to the situation wouldn't say something this bogus if it wasn't true. Remember we're dealing with young kids who change their minds at the drop of a hat. There could be a lot of things behind his second guessing (right fit, playing time, friends?). It's still a long way away from National Signing Day, and you can never know what will happen.

Trev Alberts Believes in the Irish

Mark May's old College GameDay buddy is liking what he sees in Notre Dame.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/18/08

Here's the latest from the Buzz Around Team Camps for Thursday, September 18th:

San Diego St. via http://www.signonsandiego.com

In light of his team's near-drowning experience last week at San Jose State, San Diego State coach Chuck Long has thought better of changing horses in midstream.
Rather than peppering an opponent with short and intermediate passes as they had the first two weeks of the season – albeit without winning outcomes – the Aztecs sought to achieve a greater degree of offensive balance.

It was an alteration that culminated in sheer frustration, as the Aztecs, beaten 35-10, ran the ball 17 times for 6 yards. Though that total can be viewed as somewhat skewed given the four sacks absorbed by quarterback Ryan Lindley, it also raises significant concerns about SDSU's running game, which ranks 118th among the nation's 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

After averaging 52 passes in their first two games – a 29-27 loss to Cal Poly and a 21-13 defeat at Notre Dame – the Aztecs attempted little more than half that many (29) against San Jose State. It was an approach that produced 146 total yards, the fewest by an SDSU team since Oct. 18, 2006, when it managed just 87 yards in a 52-0 loss at TCU.

Michigan St. via http://enlightenedspartan.com/

Looks like Big Ten Tailgate is coming to East Lansing at the Sparty Statue, this Friday at 8:30 pm... Fire up the booty, we're gonna paaaarty like its 1999! From the BTN's Mike Vest -

"‘Tailgate’ Travels to East Lansing: This week, Big Ten Friday Night Tailgate presented by Nissan gets a taste of the local campus flavor at Michigan State as the Spartans and their fans get ready for Saturday’s game against Notre Dame. Airing at 8:30pm ET on Fridays, the irreverent, off-beat show visits a different Big Ten campus each week to capture the collegiate atmosphere leading up to game day. Michigan State students are encouraged to participate in the live segments of this week’s show which will take place at the Sparty Statue. MSU football players Adam Decker and Kyle Smith will compete in the popular “Teammate Game.”"

Purdue via http://www.jconline.com

Before the season began, Joe Tiller said he thought it would take awhile for the team's inexperienced receivers to get in the groove.

Keith Smith (10) and Desmond Tardy (8), along with the veteran of the group, Greg Orton (13), have accounted for all but two of the receptions made by the wide receivers.

"I still believe (it will take time)," Tiller said. "But I like the way Des played on Saturday. That's the first time since he's been here that he really looked comfortable to me on the field.

"I think between he and Keith Smith, we've got two very capable inside receivers. And I think we need to get the ball to them more. But the guy that I'm looking for to break out one of these Saturdays is (first-year junior college transfer Aaron) Valentin. I think he has way too much talent for the amount of productivity we're getting out of him right now."

Stanford via http://www.paloaltodailynews.com

The 2008 Bill Walsh Legacy Game, set for Saturday at Stanford Stadium, features a twist on the position closest to Walsh's heart. San Jose State, which would never be mistaken for a quarterback factory, is thrilled with the play of starter Kyle Reed.

Stanford, the school of Brodie, Plunkett, Benjamin, Elway and Edwards, has four quarterbacks but no good options as its season comes perilously close to slipping away. Good thing for the Cardinal that Coach Jim Harbaugh is a former NFL quarterback. He needs every ounce of expertise to extricate Stanford from its quandary.

"We'll evaluate all options too as we go through the week of practice," Harbaugh said Tuesday. "And in the game, all options will be available."

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

The startup time will be roughly zero," Emmert said as he permanently shifted Woodward from vice president of external affairs to commander of athletic hysteria. This isn't an easy job. The football program might need a bulldozer soon. The effort to get state funds to renovate Husky Stadium is full of trap doors. Every decision Woodward makes will come with a kind of scrutiny he has never experienced. And whenever he makes a mistake, a sizable portion of the fan base will mock his Southern drawl, recall this awkward AD search and cast off Woodward as a Louisiana interloper who couldn't possibly grasp the mystical concept of being a Husky. At his introductory news conference Wednesday, Woodward spent much time navigating questions on how to fix Huskies football. To me, he sounded pitch-perfect, acknowledging flaws, expressing his desire to do what's necessary to have a winning program and creating breathing room for a maligned coach who has begun the season 0-3 but still has nine games left on the schedule… The startup time will be roughly zero," Emmert said as he permanently shifted Woodward from vice president of external affairs to commander of athletic hysteria. This isn't an easy job. The football program might need a bulldozer soon. The effort to get state funds to renovate Husky Stadium is full of trap doors. Every decision Woodward makes will come with a kind of scrutiny he has never experienced. And whenever he makes a mistake, a sizable portion of the fan base will mock his Southern drawl, recall this awkward AD search and cast off Woodward as a Louisiana interloper who couldn't possibly grasp the mystical concept of being a Husky. At his introductory news conference Wednesday, Woodward spent much time navigating questions on how to fix Huskies football. To me, he sounded pitch-perfect, acknowledging flaws, expressing his desire to do what's necessary to have a winning program and creating breathing room for a maligned coach who has begun the season 0-3 but still has nine games left on the schedule.

North Carolina via http://www.newsobserver.com

As North Carolina running back Greg Little continues to learn the running back position, he already has realized a valuable lesson this season.
"You can't hit a home run on every play," he said. "But if you just try to get a base hit, then another base hit, then another, the home run will eventually come."

It has been a somewhat frustrating lesson to learn through the season's first two games. The Tar Heels are 2-0 entering Saturday's game against Virginia Tech, but Little -- who made the transition from wideout to tailback during the second half of last season -- has gained only 108 yards on 32 carries.

It's not the start the sophomore imagined after gaining 247 yards in the final two games of last season, but he still thinks he can reach 1,000 this year.

"If you look at a 1,000-yard back, they're consistent throughout the whole season,'' he said. "That's what I need to be."

To that end, he has been working on hitting holes faster, making stronger moves and finishing runs. He says he feels physically good and thinks his early-game 2- and 3-yard gains have helped pave the way for longer runs by backup Shaun Draughn (15 carries, 74 yards) in the games' later stages.

"I feel like we can outman teams in the fourth quarter because we're mentally and physically conditioned to do that,'' he said.

Boston College via http://www.bostonherald.com

When Matt Ryan left for the NFL and Chris Crane was installed as the starting quarterback at Boston College, anyone with an ounce of perspective knew that the Eagles offense might not quite resemble the highly effective aerial attack it was last year.

But in the Eagles’ 19-16 loss to Georgia Tech on Sept. 6, the glitches in the passing game were all too apparent. Crane acknowledged last week that, for whatever reason, he and his receivers were not on the same page. As such, much of BC’s off week was aimed at rectifying that problem in preparation for Saturday’s home game against Central Florida.

Time will tell how productive the week was, but right now the quarterback and receivers feel they’re back on the same wavelength. Wide receiver Brandon Robinson said there was the matter of playing more relaxed, something that was also addressed.

“I think with this off-week, we got real comfortable,” said Robinson, who has just three catches for 36 yards in the first two games. “Everyone was really upset with the loss. . . (but) I think everyone was a little uptight and we weren’t playing as loose as we usually play.”

BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski said having his quarterback stay loose is not only a priority but a necessity.

“He doesn’t need to worry about consequences with me, he just needs to go out and play,” said Jagodzinski. “With the quarterback, you still have to make the right decisions, but you never want him to go out and play scared.”

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

USC Coach Pete Carroll reiterated Wednesday he would take a wait-and-see approach regarding Shareece Wright's status in wake of the starting cornerback's legal problems. Wright entered a not-guilty plea through his attorney Wednesday to one felony count of resisting a police officer during a party he attended in his hometown of Colton over Labor Day weekend. His attorney said Wright had returned to Colton for a goodbye party for his friend Luis Alvarado, who, according to a mutual friend, was deployed by the Marines to Iraq on Wednesday. Neighbors had complained to Colton police about the party being loud, Juarez said, and officers arrived with a police dog, ultimately using a Taser on at least one of the partygoers. Although three individuals were arrested at the scene for resisting a police officer, Wright wasn't, but he was ultimately briefly detained by Colton police last week and was charged by the district attorney. Wright's attorney said the player was charged for not leaving his friend's home. The player told police he had a suspended driver's license -- which was confirmed at Wednesday's hearing -- and had been drinking. Ruben Morales, a friend of Wright, said Alvarado's mother told police she wanted Wright to spend the night at the party home, informing the officer, "He stays here."

IBB Watercooler 9/18/08

Get the latest around the IBB Watercooler for Michigan State Week:

Defensive Looks
Finally, a more conventional style of offense the Irish will be facing this week in the Spartans. With that said, several Notre Dame defenders have been giving more reps in preparation for Michigan State's running attack. Most notable, Ian Williams, Steven Filer, Kallen Wade, and Steve Quinn.

Both Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta wanted to add more strength and speed to their lineup and it has shown so far this season. Look for a few more wrinkles on defense on Saturday. State will try and pound it all day long, since the Irish still haven't found the penchant of shutting down the run effectively. However, Notre Dame has done well with stopping the run up the middle behind the likes of Pat Kuntz, Ian Johnson, Williams, and others.

Offensive Wrinkles
What we've seen so far from the Irish offense has been for the most part really good. The offensive line has yet to give up a sack, Jimmy Clausen has been making good decisions, and we have a home run threat in Golden Tate. So what about the running game?

Well Charlie and Mike Haywood have dipped more into the playbook this week as the Irish will indeed pound the ball. Look for all three backs to play on Saturday, as well as, a pleasant surprise too! I don't want to let the cat out of the bag on this one, but I'll explain more tomorrow during the Football Friday Chat at 3:30 E.S.T.

Enthusiastism is still brewing
Usually the Irish have pretty much laid an egg against Michigan State after beating Michigan the previous week. Charlie Weis is making sure this will not be the case on Saturday. He has basically started where he left off in the locker room against Michigan. Once the media has left for their mandatory 20 minutes of practice, Weis has let loose.

For folks who thought Weis was not motivating his players, trust me, he's getting them ready for battle. The players have been focused and are itching at the chance to get to the Spartans.

LaLota rethinking his decision?
Maybe it is premature decision making on his part, but Anthony LaLota is having second thoughts about his allegiance to Michigan. A little birdy in the GUG Complex this week said LaLota congratulated the Irish coaches and said he will be in contact with them soon. He also wished Coach Weis a speedy recovery on his blown out knee as well.

LaLota's Hun School teammate and ND solid verbal commitment, Tyler Stockton, has been giving Anthony more grief after the Irish's 35-17 dismantling of the Wolverines too!

There's still a chance
As in, we still might see a Manti Teo sighting in South Bend fairly soon. Teo is making arrangements to come up to South Bend this fall and see the Notre Dame experience. Tentatively, Teo is looking at the the Oct. 4 Stanford game or the Nov. 1Pittsburgh weekend as his official visit.

According to sources close to Teo say USC, ND, and BYU, in that order, are his preference of choice. Let's keep our fingers crossed and wish for a great Notre Dame Football experience for Teo when he visits South Bend.

What to expect
1.) One or two more freshmen to play on Saturday.

2.) More than one running back in on some offensive formations.

3.) A possible verbal decommit swaying to the Irish.

Let's Speed Up the MSU Process

One thing is for sure, Michigan State always is up for the Fighting Irish. Another is that the Spartans pull the El Foldo after starting off hot. While the Irish try to make it eight in a row for the visiting team winning in this series, Notre Dame will help speed up the El Foldo process with a hard fought and close victory over the Spartans.

Now for your enjoyment, here's a look back at the MSU seasons of the past:

Dive Right In

Here's some more sights and sounds of a Notre Dame home Football Weekend. This time it's the Pep Rally Intro.

"I Cannot Be Stopped"

Watch out College Football World, the emmergence of a wide receiver is developing before our Irish eyes. Golden Tate is not only leading the Irish in catches, yards, and receiving touchdowns, but he is 13th in the country in receiving yards per game (110.0) and 23rd in all-purpose yards per contest (153.0). All this after a freshmen year of catching only six balls and basically running one route patten.

Golden has exploded on the scene so far this early season because of his playmaking ability and his explosive burst past defenders. Here's to some more GOLDEN MOMENTS from #23!

Keys to the Game: Michigan State

There is a lot of momentum for the Irish heading into East Lansing on Saturday. Before the season started, this was one of the two games, Southern Cal being the other, where I felt the Irish would lose. After last week's 35-17 game, I'm not so sure anymore.

Michigan State lost to a heartbreaker at Cal, whom by the way, lost to a weak Maryland squad. Plus the Spartans beat up Eastern Michigan and Florida Atlantic. So who knows? Speaking of what the heck, MSU is a 8.5 favorite. I'm still shaking my head over that.

Anyway, here are a few keys for the big matchup with the Spartans:

1.) Contain the Run: If Notre Dame can hold MSU and Javon Ringer to 150-160 yards rushing total, it will become more manageable for the Irish to prevail.

2.) Force Hoyer to throw: Don't get me wrong, Brian Hoyer is a solid quarterback, but if the Irish can force him to throw, Notre Dame will be ready. The Irish secondary is the best unit on this team so far.

Hoyer is only completing 44 percent of his passes so far, while State's only receiving threat, Mark Dell has only one touchdown to his name.

Look for the Irish to pin their ears back, put some pressure on Hoyer, and rattle the Spartans into some mistakes!

3.) Pick apart the MSU D: This is something the Irish have been waiting for, a deep receiving corps. Better yet, a potent, receiving corps that can stretch the field vertically, and have a home run threat to boot too! Who is MSU going to concentrate on? Tate, fine, we've got Michael Floyd, Duval Kamara, David Grimes too! It's definitely a good problem to have.

4.) Maintain the offensive line MOJO: Is it possible for the Irish to come away with another game without giving up a sack? It's possible, but MSU's defense is really good. A 2 sack minimum would be great for the Irish to succeed offensively.

5.) Pound it well: This is a game where we'll most likely see all three running backs play. If the Irish get the running game going, Notre Dame will have a better shot of converting more third downs. All the talk so far is the Irish poor percentage of third down conversions.

Right now the Irish are averaging about 3.2 yards per carry, as Robert Hughes is average over 4 yards per run. Last week, Notre Dame had 4.0 yards per carry going into the the fourth quarter against Michigan. It dipped down, however, because the Wolverines knew the Irish would run and kill the clock.

6.) Special Teams: So far the Irish have been great in kickoff and punt coverage, but not so great in field goals. If this game comes down to the kicking game, Brandon Walker will have to step it up big time. So far this week, Coach Weis has been putting Walker in some pressure situations.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/17/08

Catch the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for this Wednesday, September 17th:

San Diego State http://www.signonsandiego.com

The Aztecs, coming off a 35-10 loss at San Jose State on Saturday, are 0-3 for the fifth time since 2000. Competitive in their first two outings, games decided in the latter stages, the Aztecs offered little resistance against SJSU, surrendering 476 yards while managing only 146 yards in total offense. SDSU's lone touchdown came on a 28-yard interception return by Aaron Moore just before halftime, with the Aztecs trailing 21-0… “I believe there's been progress,” Long said of the program. “We just haven't seen it in the win column yet. There are things getting done behind the scenes. Our offseason program is now up and running. It needs to be nurtured and built upon, but that's a great start. Again, it hasn't shown up in the win column, but I believe we have the makings of a good football program.

Michigan via http://www.freep.com

After Saturday's impressive performance as the starter at Notre Dame, redshirt freshman Steven Threet secured his job as Michigan's quarterback. Threet's greatest progress from the Miami (Ohio) game to Notre Dame came on the longer passes, the ones he missed wildly against the RedHawks. At Notre Dame, he was far more accurate, connecting on 16-of-23 for one touchdown and even hit a couple in the second half driving rain -- a time when the Fighting Irish barely even tried to throw the ball. While Rodriguez said recently that he would like to have one quarterback emerge and take the reins of the job, as Threet has done, he's not entirely pleased.

Rich Rod's Presser via http://www.freep.com

First-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez thinks he has a good handle on his football team, even though it is 1-2. "After three games, I know where we're at," Rodriguez said Monday at his weekly news conference. "I know where we need to go. I just hope we can get there. That doesn't make it any easier. Some of the problems we have didn't happen overnight and they're not going to be solved overnight." "You're not going to solve inexperience in three games. You're not going to get faster in just eight months. You'll get a little faster, but I know what our problems are. Now we've got to try to fix them as fast as we can."

North Carolina via http://www.news-record.com

The developing themes outside Carolina are twofold: one, Virginia Tech might not be that good; and two, UNC might finally have the athletes to compete with the national programs that haven't been standing still for 10 years. Davis isn't about to make this game any bigger than any other on the schedule. "This is the next game," he said Monday. And the next season. Last year, UNC went through still another rebuilding year, losing six times by a touchdown or less on the way to 4-8 in the first season under Davis. He endured it and won the respect of his players by not changing plans in midseason, by not blaming his players or the school's history or the strength of the schedule. Davis went 4-8 and took it like a football coach. He is 2-0 this year in Chapel Hill, a dangerous place to be judging from history. Hopes have been raised quickly, and expectations are suddenly rising. The stadium will be filled Saturday, and most everyone inside it will be expecting a Carolina win. Coming off the Thursday night 44-12 dismantling of Rutgers, it's suddenly football season in Carolina. Davis knows his team is close. He knows he has the athletes, and he knows the athletes can play.

Pittsburgh via http://postgazette.com

When the Panthers (1-1) play Iowa (3-0) at noon Saturday at Heinz Field, it could boil down to the ultimate battle between quickness (the Panthers' defensive line) and size and strength (the Hawkeyes' offensive line). Pitt's defensive fronts have not fared well in past games against teams that feature big offensive lines. Notre Dame gained 275 yards rushing against Pitt in 2005, and Michigan State had 335 yards rushing in 2006. But Wannstedt believes his philosophy of building smaller, quicker defensive lines is a sound one and Saturday the unit will have another chance to prove it. On paper, that battle looks like a mismatch, as Iowa's starting offensive line averages 6 feet 5, 296 pounds. That means the Panthers' defensive front is giving away a little more than 2 inches and 21 pounds per man.

Syracuse via http://news10now.com

After losing the first three games of the season by a combined 11 touchdowns, with one of those losses coming to Akron, the rumor mill's at full speed regarding Greg Robinson's potential replacement as SU football coach. The latest is concerning a guy who's still holding down a job as a head coach in the NFL, although maybe not for long. Add Lane Kiffin to the list of potential future candidates for the potential future coaching vacancy at Syracuse University. The coach of the Oakland Raiders, 33, is reportedly close to being fired by SU alum Al Davis, after Kiffin told the media last week that his defensive coordinator and Davis were working against him. If Kiffin is canned, the thought is he would be free to take over at Syracuse right away if the Orange decided to make a mid-season move. Kiffin was the offensive and recruiting coordinator at USC while SU athletic director Daryl Gross was there.

Possible Candidates via http://collegefootball.rivals.com

With the clock ticking on Robinson, I am guessing Syracuse A.D. Daryl Gross already has a short list of candidates in mind. In fact, if he's really smart, he sent out feelers weeks ago knowing the time may come this fall where changing coaches is a real possibility. I fully expect Syracuse to hire a coach with these two qualities: 1. Offensive background. 2. Young. In fact, I will be stunned if that isn't the template Gross uses. My only question: How vital will head-coaching experience be, given that Robinson had never been a head coach before. Frankly, I don't think a head-coaching background is mandatory, as long as a school hires a coach who has ample experience as a coordinator at a "Big Six" school. With that criteria, here is my short list of candidates, listed alphabetically: Edsall: Yes, he has a defensive background. However, Edsall, 50, is a Syracuse alum. He has a good situation at UConn. Would he want to leave a program he has so much invested in to rehab Syracuse? That seems doubtful. Buffalo coach Turner Gill: Gill, 46, a former Nebraska quarterback, would become a hot commodity if he can lift the Bulls to a bowl. Oregon offensive coordinator Chip Kelly: A New Hampshire native, Kelly, 44, understands – and can teach – offense. He'd be perfect for so many reasons. Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley: A primo recruiter with myriad Eastern Seaboard ties, Locksley, 38, is showing his coaching skills by developing quarterback Juice Williams. USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian: Sarkisian, 34, is one of the hottest commodities in America, but it just doesn't look like a good fit for him. He has no ties to the area and likely will sit tight in SoCal and wait for a much better job. He'll get it someday. By the way, Gross is a former USC assistant athletic director.

The importance of winning vs. Northeastern via http://www.uticaod.com

Syracuse University absolutely has to win this football game. “It’s a very, very important game for us,” Greg Robinson said Tuesday, before his team began to prepare for Saturday’s game with Northeastern at the Carrier Dome. “There is so much at stake. We need to gain momentum. We need to play well. We need to win. It’s a very, very meaningful football game.” All true, especially with Pittsburgh arriving Sept. 27 for the opening of the Big East season, but it goes beyond that. Northeastern is a member of the Football Championship Subdivision, a step below the big time, and a loss to the Huskies would be devastating to the Orange on many levels.

Southern Cal via http://www.dailynews.com

USC learned a couple of important lessons Saturday night, especially regarding quarterback Mark Sanchez. Although most of the Trojans already won Rose Bowls, demolished Big Ten opponents and won marquee games over the past few years, Sanchez was always a bystander. But the 35-3 victory over Ohio State provided his first chance to compete in a major event and succeed. "To learn how to play in a big game was important for me," Sanchez said. "We did a great job shutting out the attention and hype. That taught me how to play in a big game. It was a big test." Sanchez threw four touchdown passes but was not pleased with his overall performance, which included an interception and a sack on fourth down. "I missed some passes, I can't really put my finger on it," he said. "I just need to look at the film again. I'm my toughest critic. Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited about the win."

It's a Numbers Game

The most important numbers after last Saturday's win over Michigan were 35-17 and 2-0. Here are a few more heading into the Irish's clash with 8.5 point favorite Michigan St.:

110 - As in the number of yards receiving per game Golden Tate is averaging

13 - National Ranking Tate is for Receiving Yards

5 - Fumbles recovered by the Irish this season

12 - Average number of tackles Kyle McCarthy is making per contest

6 - Notre Dame is ranked in fumbles recovered

5 - National rank Kyle McCarthy is in tackles

22 - National Ranking the Irish are in Turnover margin (+2)

10 - Number of tackles David Bruton is averaging this season (20th nationally)

23 - Is where Golden Tate is nationally in All-Purpose Yards (153.0 per game)

115 - Yards per game average rushing for opposing offenses

27 - Notre Dame's rank nationally is scoring defense (15 ppg)

41 - Pass Efficiency Defense ranking for the Irish

20-2 - Notre Dame's record when leading at the half under Charlie Weis

5 - Votes received by the Irish in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll

4 - Out of his last five games dating back to last season, Clausen has thrown multiple touchdowns in a game

3 - Scoring drives off of opponents turnovers (all touchdowns)

Football Friday Chat 9/19/08

The excitement is in the air for another great Notre Dame victory. Why not get a head start with the Irish Band of Brothers' Football Friday Chat. Please stop by and take part this Friday, September 19 in the IBB Chat Room. Friday's topics will include the latest news surrounding the upcoming matchup with Michigan State, recap of Notre Dame's win over Michigan, keys to the rest of the season, and the buzz surrounding ND's 2008 opponents. Also will have some special guests with us, Sprout and Eric from The Subway Alumni Show (http://www.thesubwayalumnishow.com/)

The chat starts at 3:30 p.m. EST or 2:30 CST and you can join by either clicking on the IBB Chat Room link on the right hand side of the IBB blog page or by typing this URL: http://client11.addonchat.com/sc.php?id=292584

Hope to see everyone there, and as always, GO IRISH!

Here's a little something to wet your appetite from Sprout and Eric. Also, remember to catch an all new episode of The Subway Alumni Show this Wednesday (http://www.thesubwayalumnishow.com/)

Go IRISH Go!

Take in the sights and sounds from a glorious Notre Dame Football Saturday! Enjoy

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/16/08

A few coaching seats are sizzling for this edition of the Buzz Around Team Camps for Tuesday, September 16th:

San Diego State via http://www.signonsandiego.com

Three games. Three losses, two of which have come at the hands of Cal Poly and San Jose State. The Aztecs have had numerous chances to hire successful, established coaches in the past, but seemingly drop the ball each and every time. Let’s recount: Jeff Tedford, Dennis Erickson, Rick Neuheisel… When the Aztecs hired current Coach Chuck Long, Florida State Head Coach in Waiting finished second. That’s a bad track record. Chuck Long’s tenure looks to be nearing a close. No names yet – but SDSU needs a splash hire to resurrect this dying program.

More on Chuck Long via http://www.signonsandiego.com

Chuck Long understood there would be no quick fix. He understood that resurrecting a program mired in the muck of nine straight nonwinning seasons would demand a passel of patience, a ton of tenacity and the grit to grind it out in the face of heavy flak. He also understands that those who would prefer to see his head on a plate are part of the process. "Anybody who goes into the coaching profession knows that's going to be part of the deal," said Long, whose San Diego State football team is off to its second 0-3 start since his arrival three years ago. "You know you're going to get reaction from people, but I try to spin it in a positive way. To me, at least it shows that there's passion out there. I know there are people who are upset right now, but at least there's passion. And that's a lot better than if they never said anything at all and just went away and you never heard from them again."

Michigan via http://www.nj.com

Former Holy Spirit High School star Marcus Witherspoon, one of the state's top-rated players last year, has transferred to Rutgers from Michigan and will be attending classes beginning Monday, the Press of Atlantic City reported in its Saturday editions. The 6-2, 225-pound freshman linebacker will be eligible to play immediately, according to the report. Witherspoon originally failed to be declared eligible by the NCAA Clearinghouse and was sent home from Michigan in August. He then took a required course to regain his eligibility. But first-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said last week that Witherspoon was ineligible and would never play at Michigan as a result. According to the Press report, ex-Holy Spirit coach Bill Walsh said Friday the NCAA then investigated the issue and found Witherspoon eligible to play. Witherspoon told the paper he still isn't sure what happened at Michigan.

Stanford via http://www.azcentral.com

Chandler Hamilton wide receiver Drew Terrell chose Stanford over Arizona State and it had nothing to do with the Sun Devils' shocking loss Saturday night to Nevada-Las Vegas. "He made up his mind before the game," Hamilton football coach Steve Belles said. Terrell, 6-foot, 180 pounds, who had seven scholarship offers from major colleges, has 12 catches for 106 yards in three games this season. He has carried the ball seven times for 46 yards. He led Hamilton last year with 47 catches for 786 yards. He caught seven touchdown passes. Terrell had narrowed his choices to Stanford and ASU this summer. He had made unofficial visits to both schools.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

It will take a near miracle for Huskies Coach Tyrone Willingham to retain his job in 2009. A loss in two weeks to Stanford would likely signal the unofficial end to the Willingham era. A search would begin in earnest (if it hasn’t already) for Ty’s successor. The early read in this job is that the search will begin with Don James protégé and current Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel.

Preparing for their Bye Week via http://www.kitsapsun.com

With a bye week ahead, the Huskies now must lick their wounds after an 0-3 start and hope that Saturday's loss was, in fact, rock bottom. But a loss in two weeks to Stanford would represent a new low. One Tyrone Willingham can't afford to experience.

Busy Bye Week for Huskies via http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com

The Huskies will be off Saturday, but it doesn't mean they won't do anything this week. Instead, the team will practice, with an eye on making what is obviously some much-needed improvement. Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, asked what he would look for during the bye week, said: "I'll be interested to see what went on up front (against Oklahoma). Be interested to see who did what up front. We didn't get much going (against OU), but nobody has knocked them off the football. We spread them out because we thought our one-back was our best chance. Receivers, we play 3-4-5 of them anyway, so I don't know if that is going to change much. The tailback position, I think David Freeman is the guy but we'll play a couple of other guys, too.''

More about golfing guru Willingham via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

The Huskies will now have two weeks to try to do that before returning to action Sept. 27 against Stanford. Two weeks to prepare for a game that looms pivotal for the Husky football program, and specifically, the future of head coach Tyrone Willingham. The Huskies are now 11-28 under Willingham, and 2-12 since a 2-0 start to the 2007 season that seemed to herald a turnaround… Some have even wondered if it's possible there could be an in-season change of coaches. All indications, however, are that Willingham will be given the entire season to turn things around. In-season coaching changes are fairly rare in college football, if becoming a little more common, done usually in cases of team mutiny or other such issues.

Excuses of why UW is losing via http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com

UW defensive coordinator Ed Donatell asked fans and media to remember the schedule when looking at the gruesome numbers. "You've got to keep that in perspective when you look at that thing,'' he said. True, although I sense a number of readers of this and other Husky boards aren't feeling real warmed by that thought in the fourth year of Willingham's rebuilding project. UW now has to win six of nine to get to a .500 record, and bad as the Pac-10 looks, that still won't be easy. If you figure there's no way they win at USC, that means winning six of the other eight, a level of consistency that at the moment is hard to project from this team.

Syracuse via http://www.syracuse.com

Change is coming – and it’s not courtesy of Barack Obama. There’s no need to recount Greg Robinson’s failures as a head coach. They are too numerous to list and, at this point, they really don’t matter. Syracuse will have a new coach in 2009. The early frontrunner is said to be Illinois Offensive Coordinator Mike Locksley.

Uncertainty of Beating Northeastern via http://www.auburnpub.com

Greg Robinson will not be the head coach of the Syracuse University football team in 2009. The Orange aren't running the table. They're not winning the Big East and they're not making a bowl game. That is certain. What isn't certain is whether the Orange can beat Northeastern, a Division I-AA team. This, right now, isn't the low point. A loss to Northeastern, that would be.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

USC cornerback Shareece Wright has been charged with felony resisting a police officer in connection with a party in Colton last weekend. Police detained Wright at the scene, but he was not among several people arrested in the early morning hours on Sunday. The San Bernardino district attorney subsequently filed charges against him and three others. This week, Wright said he had attended a party for someone being deployed to Iraq. The Colton High alumnus declined to elaborate. At the time, Carroll said the junior would not face team discipline. "We went through the whole thing," Pete Carroll said. "We understand what happened."

IBB Report Card: Michigan Game

The pieces of three Top 10 recruiting classes is coming together nicely, don't you think? Notre Dame's 35-17 dismantling of Michigan had plenty of highs, but still some concerning lows. However, anyway you slice it, Notre Dame is building momentum heading into a big game at Michigan State on Saturday.

Offense
For the second week in a row, Notre Dame did not give up a sack. This is the first time since the 2003 season that the Irish had consecutive games without giving up a sack. Compared to last season where the Irish already gave up double digit sacks, I say they are much improved.

QB: B
Clausen's numbers weren't flashy whatsoever (10-of-21, 147 yards, 2 TDs and 1 int), but he did all the little things to help win the game for the Irish. His play action fakes were superb, including the Golden Tate touchdown toss. Plus he got rid of the football when he was pressured. Clausen is starting to be the quarterback everyone touted him to be out of high school.

RB: B
H-U-G-H-E-S!!!!! Robert had another workman like day with his 81 yards on 19 carries and two scores against the Wolverines. I'll take a 4.26 yards a carry any day! James Aldridge was the other compliment back for the Irish offense as he powered his way on Notre Dame's last offensive scoring series in the second quarter. He finished up with 9 rushes for 31 yards. Alrdidge averaged 3.4 yards a carry.

FB: B+
You might be asking yourself, why such a high grade for no production? Well, the fullbacks, especially Asaph Schwapp, were instrumental in providing protection for Jimmy Clausen passing and leading the way for their running backs. If Schwapp didn't lay out that Michigan defender, Robert Hughes would not have easily scored on Notre Dame's first touchdown. Maybe we'll see a run or a catch out of the backfield in the next few games with Luke Schmidt.

TE: C
Like the fullbacks, Will Yeatman and Kyle Rudolph helped with the pass protection for Clausen. Unfortunately, when the ball was tossed their way, they didn't get the grab. Rudolph is still a work in progress, but his blocking was much improved from the San Diego State game.

WR: A-
Notre Dame finally has that game breaker they have been sorely missing for a long time. Golden Tate once again provided the electricity with his 4 catches for 127 yards, including his 48 yard touchdown grab in the first quarter.

Michael Floyd made two catches for 10 yards, but was big in providing blocking downfield. Duval Kamara made the most of his only catch for the second Irish touchdown of the day.

OL: B+
Even though Notre Dame didn't have a lot of rushing yards (113 yards total), the offensive line held its own against the highly regarded Michigan defense. All week long you were hearing how spectacular Michigan's defensive line was, and how they were going to create a lot of problems for the Notre Dame offense. All you have to say is zero, nada, zilch! No sacks was the key number for the offensive line.

Trevor Robinson is going to be another Irish All-American when he is finished here in South Bend. His play for the injured Chris Stewart was phenomenal, especially going up against a supposed NFL First Rounder.

Sam Young, Eric Olsen, and Dan Wenger made some huge holes for Hughes and Alridge to run through. Plus they kept the pressure off of Clausen to find the open receivers.

Overall Offense Grade: B

Defense
The Irish defense still has some problems of stopping the running game, as Michigan's Sam McGuffee finished the day with 159 yards. Plus the defense didn't do a great job of tackling, which was evident in McGuffe's touchdown jaunt. Hopefully they will stress this because Javon Ringer is a heck of a back.

Now to the good stuff: Notre Dame held Michigan to 33% on third down conversions, only gave up three drives of 20 yards or more after their last score in the second quarter, and had great pressure which resulted in numerous turnovers. And that my friend was the key to the ball game.

DL: B
Michigan didn't have a lot of success running up the middle, and that was because of the three headed monster of Patrick Kuntz, Ian Williams, and Justin Brown. Brown led the defensive front with 4 tackles, including two for losses, while Kuntz had three stops.

Ethan Johnson once again looked like the real deal, even with one tackle.

LB: B
I had some mixed feelings about this unit because of some sloppy tackling, but Brian Smith made up for it with another great game. Smith led the linebacking corps with six tackles, two fumble recoveries, including one for a touchdown. Maurice Crum had five stops for the Irish.

Steve Quinn looked good when Crum went down with an injury, while Darius Fleming was flying around all over the field. He'll be force much sooner than anticipated.

DB: B
Once again this unit didn't give up the home run ball, but did have some lapses on a few passes. David Bruton played like David Bruton: AWESOME. He led the Irish with a career-high 15 tackles and one interception. His fellow strong safety, Kyle McCarthy had another double-digit day in tackles with 10. Although both Bruton and MCarthy led the Irish in tackles for the second straight week, Notre Dame's scheme allows them to do so with their constant blitzing and positioning on the field.

Gary Gray and Raeshon McNeil are the future of the Notre Dame secondary. This unit just exudes confidence, and why shouldn't they? They can go toe-to-toe, with almost any receiving corps in the nation. That's how good they are.

Overall Defense Grade: B

Special Teams: A-
Too bad they don't have an award for Special Teams player of the year, because if they did, Mike Anello would be the winner hands down. Anello had three tackles, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery that set up the second Irish touchdown. The Notre Dame gunner is just gunning his opposition!

Eric Maust averaged 43.8 yards per punt, including two which were downed inside the 20-yard line.

Coaching: B+
Charlie Weis and Co. had these guys ready for Michigan. The emotion and intensity was at full throttle from the opening kickoff and didn't let up at all. Plus they prepared for the weather element by stressing to jump on the Wolverines early. This was a game that showed halftime adjustments were made on defense.

Weis showed a lot of emotion and moxy throughout the game. We are witnessing an evolution of a Head Coach in South Bend!

Overall Grade: A High B (3.12)

Teams show their biggest improvements from week one to week two, and this game proved it. After a slow start against the Aztecs, Notre Dame had a statement game against the Wolverines. One thing is for sure, the Irish are much better than 2007. Now we'll see how much better when they go on the road for the first time this season against a tough Michigan State squad.

If the Irish can win at East Lansing, Notre Dame will be heading full steam into a slate of games where they will be favored.

Finally, Michigan made a lot of excuses and said that the better team didn't win. Well, better teams don't make excuses. The BETTER TEAM won on Saturday, period! Both teams played in the same elements, and Notre Dame made fewer mistakes, took advantage of miscues, and played with more heart and determination.

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/15/08

Catch up on the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for Monday, September 15th:

San Diego St. via http://www.goaztecs.com

Kyle Reed scored three touchdowns and completed his first 12 passes as San Jose State defeated San Diego State 35-10 on Saturday night.

Yonus Davis rushed for 143 yards and a touchdown as the Spartans (2-1) won at home for the 14th time in 16 games. Reed was 20-of-25 overall for 178 yards and an interception. David Richmond caught eight passes for 83 yards.

Freshman quarterback Ryan Lindley was held to 140 passing yards and was sacked four times as the Aztecs (0-3) lost their second straight to San Jose State.

Both teams were coming off competitive road losses to storied programs last week, the Spartans losing at Nebraska and San Diego State losing at Notre Dame.

Davis rushed for more than 100 yards for the first time in nearly two years. He was awarded a hardship exemption after missing all but a few minutes of two games last year. The sixth-year senior, who rushed for 1,007 yards as a junior in 2006, climbed into fourth place on the all-time rushing list with 1,984 yards.

The Spartans scored on three successive possessions within 11:08 of the first half to take a 21-0 lead.

Reed's 2-yard run with 2:45 left in the first quarter started the scoring. A key third down completion to Richmond set up the score.

Davis highlighted a seven-play, 89-yard drive with a 35-yard scoring jaunt early in the second quarter and Reed scored on a four-yard run five minutes later.

Aaron Moore picked off Reed's pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown with less than two minutes left in the first half.

Lane Yoshida's 36-yard field goal late in the third quarter made it 21-10 but Reed and backup quarterback Myles Eden each rushed for a score in the final period.

The Spartans outgained San Diego State by a 476-146 margin, the fewest total yards allowed by San Jose State under Dick Toomey. The Aztecs were held to six rushing yards.

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

They looked rattled - the kids during the game and the coaches afterward. And there was something very unsettling about that last part.

Say what you will about the Lloyd Carr era, but there was never a hint of doubt. Michigan was Michigan, and one game wasn't going to change that.

One game still won't change that, not even as Saturday's mistake-filled 35-17 loss at Notre Dame hammered home the fact the Wolverines are in danger of their first losing season since 1967.

But Rich Rodriguez put the present moment into perfect context when he blurted out a pretty much unsolicited promise in his postgame press conference.

Michigan football will be back, the first-year coach said. Michigan football will be back, he added a second time. With that came the unspoken acknowledgment that Michigan football somehow needs to be back. And that its coach viewed it that way.

It was the sort of thing you never would have heard from Carr or Bo Schembechler after a single loss - no matter how bad - but then there were a few other things that fit that category Saturday. Like tight end Carson Butler being thrown out of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct or Michigan assistant coach Tony Dews getting into a verbal confrontation with a fan en route to the team bus.

Michigan St. via http://enlightenedspartan.com/

My God did it pour today. The ES was shivering, soaked to the bone late in the second quarter when Florida Atlantic took over deep in its own territory. Poor Rusty Smith (FAU Quarterback). At that point, the heavens opened up and poured buckets onto the field, reminiscent of the Katrina-like conditions in the MSU loss to ND two years ago (the end of the JLS era). It rained so hard, on third down when Smith rolled out, his 10 yard pass into the flat was knocked into the dirt five yards short... KNOCKED DOWN BY THE RAIN.

But the day belong to Javon Ringer. The senior had a career day for MSU, rushing for 282 yards on 43 carries and 2 TDs (4th best rushing total in MSU history)... singlehandedly lifting MSU to its 17-0 victory over FAU. Ringer was a stud. Both QBs, all the receivers had a very very difficult time holding onto the ball. Countless deep snaps in the shotgun, on punts, on kicks all sailed through QB and kickers hands. Receivers couldn't hold onto the ball for the life of them. As a result, FAU's QB Smith ended with awful numbers: 8-of-34 for 143 yards; Hoyer was 5-of-15 for 88 yards. The rain did not let up until the middle of the third quarter, when MSU went on a long drive led by Ringer and a deep throw (each team had just one deep pass during the game) from Hoyer to Dell, that put MSU up 17-0.

Purdue via http://boilerstation.jconline.com

Upon closer look, Purdue's defense probably played even a better game in Saturday's 32-26 double overtime loss to No. 16 Oregon than it first appeared in person.

Sure, the Boilermakers allowed the Ducks, who fell to 17th in this week's Associated Press poll, 503 total yards. But they came in leading the nation with 592 yards per game. Plus, remember that one of their touchdowns came on an 87-yard punt return (which cut Purdue's lead to 20-13), another was set up by a 72-yard run (which helped Oregon tie it at 20-20) and the tying field goal with five minutes to play in regulation was set up by a 45-yard kickoff return.

"I think the punt return probably was the game-changer, although the kickoff return flipped the field," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said Sunday. "We kicked the ball in the corner where we wanted it, and we did a poor job on our lane integrity, and that's what got us in trouble on the punt.

"If it weren't for (the kickoff return), who knows what would have happened. What was a little discouraging is that there were times when we executed that phase of the game extremely well."

Tiller also credited the defense with winning the battle in "sudden change" situations, after Purdue's offense turned the ball over.He also liked their play in first-down and third-down situations.

"We won every sudden change -- we had four of those situations," Tiller said. "If you turn it over, go out there and keep them out of the end zone. Not necessarily off the scoreboard, because sometimes a turnover occurs so close to your goal line there's nothing you can do about it. So if we hold them to a field goal, we count that as a win.

"I don't recall the last time we were this successful on first down and third down. I think we were 71 percent successful on first down, where we held them to four yards or less. That just tells me we were playing really hard. And they played well, too. Our whole defense played well."

Oregon was only 5 of 18 on third-down conversions and 1 of 4 in fourth-down situations.On the other side of the ball, the Purdue offense failed to fully capitalize on a couple of key situations.Primarily, after Brandon King's 60-yard interception return gave the Boilermakers the ball at the Oregon 26-yard line in the first quarter, they had to settle for a field goal.

The offense went stagnate in the second and third quarters, at one time having to punt on five consecutive possessions.

Stanford via http://www.gostanford.com

Ryan Christian scored the go-ahead touchdown and Steven Coleman made a key interception to help TCU beat Stanford 31-14 Saturday in a game moved up six hours because of Hurricane Ike.

Christian, who rushed for 82 yards on 19 carries, gave TCU (3-0) the lead for good on a 1-yard scoring run with six minutes left in the third.

Stanford (1-2) appeared to tie the game early in the fourth on Doug Baldwin's 49-yard punt return for a touchdown. Officials reviewed the play and determined Baldwin stepped out of bounds at the TCU 13.

Three plays later, Coleman intercepted Tavita Pritchard's pass in the end zone to thwart Stanford's comeback attempt.

Kickoff was moved up to noon because of the hurricane that hit the Texas coast early Saturday.

Despite the earlier start time, it began raining harder in the second half and winds from the outer edge of the storm gusted to more than 30 mph in the fourth quarter.

Richard Sherman returned a blocked punt 21 yards for a touchdown as Stanford rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to tie the game at 14 before halftime.

The Horned Frogs took the lead on their second possession in the second half. Their nine-play, 51-yard drive was capped by Christian's short run.

TCU's defense made another key stop midway through the fourth.

On fourth-and-1 from near midfield, linebacker Robert Henson stopped Toby Gerhart for no gain.

The Horned Frogs cashed in on Henson's play as they drove down to the 1 and took a 24-14 lead on Ross Evan's 23-yard field goal with 2:24 left.

TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, who capped the scoring with a 10-yard run, passed for 145 yards and rushed for 91 more.

Gerhart rushed for 45 yards and caught three passes for 42 yards, and Pritchard was 11-of-21 for 122 yards.

The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 14-0 lead on touchdown runs from Justin Watts and Jeremy Kerley.

The Cardinal had only 44 yards of offense on its first four drives before driving 78 yards on five plays to get on the scoreboard.

On a receiver end around, Baldwin ran 38 yards for a touchdown. Baldwin made several tacklers miss, including a nice move on Rafael Priest at around the 15 that sprung him toward the end zone.

Stanford tied the score when Mark Mueller blocked Anson Kelton's punt. Sherman picked up the loose ball and jumped over a would-be tackler to tie the score at 14 with 6:18 left in the first half.

Washington via http://www.uwdawgpound.com/

Lets start Monday with a pep talk.

Husky fans need to remember that we were playing Oklahoma on Saturday and not Iowa State. Oklahoma and USC are probably the two best teams in college football right now. I think what USC did to Ohio State could be duplicated by both teams against all the other teams in the top ten.

I think there is a very good chance that the Sooners and the Trojans will be playing for the BCS championship in January. The Huskies may be 0-3 but the three teams that beat them are likely participants in BCS bowls over the Holidays.

Nobody ever gave UW much of a chance heading into the season against Oklahoma, and Oregon playing all that youth. The controversial one point loss to a BYU team that went out and thrashed UCLA 59-0 is unfortunate, but this team can rebound.

Husky fans may not be patient with Tyrone Willingham but they need to be patient with the team because they only have an average of 2.12 years of experience across the board. They have started seven different freshman, and a record ten have played already this season. The tough lessons learned over the past three weeks will pay dividends in the future. The real question is whether Willingham will be around to see that future.

UW is headed into a four game stretch of winnable games against Stanford, Arizona, Oregon State, and Notre Dame. These are all games that Willingham and his team have to win if he harbors any hopes of returning for a fifth season.

This well planned bye week is incredibly important because it allows the team a week to heal up and emotionally rebuild for the most important stretch of the season, and probably Willingham's career.

Pittsburgh via http://www.postgazette.com

The Pitt Panthers had off this past weekend and spent the week correcting some of their problems on both sides of the ball.

This week, they'll focus on their next opponent, Iowa (3-0).The Hawkeyes will visit Heinz Field Saturday fresh off a 17-5 win against rival Iowa State.

The game was originally thought to be the first real test for the Panthers this season after two "tune-up" games, but given that the Panthers lost one of those games -- to Bowling Green in the opener -- this game is also a lot more important to their fortunes.

The Pitt coaching staff believes that it made improvements from Week 1 to Week 2 and is hoping the extra week to prepare for the Hawkeyes will mean an even bigger improvement.

Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh said that the offense fixed some of the problems that plagued it in the Bowling Green loss and spent last week working on refining some things and paying more attention to details.

"We executed better [against Buffalo] than Bowling Green]." Cavanaugh said. "We had a nice mix of run and pass. We didn't get caught off guard and I thought [quarterback] Billy Stull was more accurate. For the most part, we made improvement and that's what we're trying to do.

"But you can always get better. And the bye week helped us clean more things up. I think the key no matter what is players have to make plays and you kind of go with what is working. We have to make our possessions count and we didn't do it the first week, but we did a better job in the second week."

Although the Panthers (1-1) did improve significantly in the second game, they will have to do more if they want to have any chance to get a victory.

That's because the jump from Buffalo and Bowling Green, two solid Mid-American Conference teams, to Iowa, a powerful Big Ten team, will be significant, and the Hawkeyes will be one of the most talented team the Panthers will face all season. This is particularly true along the line of scrimmage, where the Hawkeyes are big and physical.

The Panthers traditionally have struggled against Big Ten opponents, and usually it is because they lose the battle in the trenches.

Boston College via http://www.boston.com

Boston College will come off its bye week and prepare for its next game against Central Florida on Saturday down a player on defense as Eagles Coach Jeff Jagodzinski announced that defensive end Alex Albright will undergo surgery for a disc problem in his neck and miss the remainder of the season.

"He was getting numbness all over his body and it was a reoccurring thing,'' said Jagodzinski on his weekly conference call this afternoon. "The numbness won't go away, so rather than take a risk, he will have the surgery. We anticipate it will be a six month recovery.''

Albright, a 6-foot-5 inch, 245-pound junior, will take a medical redshirt and be replaced in the starting line up at defensive end by 6-foot-3 inch, 284-pound junior Austin Giles.

"If you take a guy off your front seven, you have guys who have to step in,'' said Jagodzinski., who said that losing a starter at anytime will require a period of adjustment.

Jagodzinski said Albright suffered the injury in the loss to Georgia Tech. "It happened on a kickoff,'' said Jagodzinski.

The other members of the Eagle squad who were banged up in the loss to Georgia Tech two weeks ago are slowly getting back into playing shape. Running back Josh Haden and defensive back DeLeon Gause both are coming off ankle injuries and Jagodzinski said both were listed as probable, as was defensive tackle Ron Brace, who has had a recurring series of back ailments which have plagued him the last few weeks.

Jagodzinski also said that he would again consider inserting back up quarterback Dominique Davis into game situations against Central Florida.

"We'll see how he progresses,'' said Jagodzinski. "I thought he got better last week and we will see how it goes. You have to be smart, you have to put him in position where he can have some success.''

Navy via http://thebirddog.wordpress.com/

It isn’t time to panic yet. Well, except for EagleBank Bowl officials. You guys can panic, but only because your business is at stake.

Duke took down the Mids, 41-31, on a steamy Saturday afternoon in Durham. Thaddeus Lewis and Eron Riley picked up where they left off last year, hooking up for three touchdowns. Lewis finished with 317 passing yards, 137 of those going to Riley. Tyree Barnes led Navy with 113 receiving yards, most of which came on a 68-yard throwback screen pass that went for a touchdown. Shun White ran for 112 yards and a touchdown of his own.

The game started out well enough. Not surprisingly, Duke marched down the field and scored on their first posession of the game. But even though they scored, it was clear that Navy’s defense was playing a LOT better than it had against Towson and Ball State. Instead of receivers parking themselves between zones and catching passes without a Mid close enough to spit a watermelon seed on him, these passes were actually… contested. Occasionally Duke would try to run the ball… and they couldn’t. They ran wide receiver screens… and they weren’t automatic touchdowns. Blue Devils that carried the ball… were tackled. Were we seeing things? Was this Navy?

Syracuse via http://blog.syracuse.com/orangefootball/

Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood combined to grab 12 passes for 223 yards and four touchdowns. And get this: The two senior wide receivers spent the entire second half of Saturday's 55-13 rout of Syracuse in the Carrier Dome standing on the sideline gabbing.

"We talked about anything and everything," said Norwood, who caught five passes for 113 yards (22.6 yards per reception) and two touchdowns in only two quarters.

Norwood is part of a trio of senior wide receivers that has starred for the Lions for four seasons now. He, Butler and Derrick Williams are among the top five receivers in school history. Each caught at least 40 passes two seasons ago, the first time three receivers have done that in the same season in school history. Last season, they did it again. Saturday, they simply overmatched Syracuse's young and inexperienced secondary.

"We did notice they were a young secondary and that we might be able to take advantage of that," Norwood said. "Yeah, we did."

Southern Cal via http://www.usctrojans.com

Southern California turned the most anticipated September game in years into another Trojans' victory march.

Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, Joe McKnight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries, and the top-ranked Trojans crushed No. 5 Ohio State 35-3 Saturday night in a matchup of two of college football's most successful programs.

Ohio State played without star tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells, sidelined with an injured right foot. But moving the ball wasn't the Buckeyes' biggest problem before the Trojans made it a rout. Instead, they were done in by a handful of crucial mistakes.

A holding penalty nullified a touchdown in the second quarter, and an errant throw by Todd Boeckman was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Rey Maualuga.

By the time it was done the only question left was: Can anybody left on USC's schedule beat the Trojans (2-0) and keep them from playing for a national championship in January for the fourth time this decade?

"It worked out beautifully for us," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "Over the years, when we prepare this well and we have our guys, we're hard to beat. It doesn't matter who we play when we do that. This is what we're capable of doing, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary to get there. We had a nice night.

"If we can keep this momentum going and we can keep our playmakers showing up, we're going to be really tough. This game is a nice win, but it doesn't mean more than another game. Our players understand that. I think that's why they prepare properly."

And that's what makes the Trojans so scary good.

Lou Holtz's Words of Wisdom

His talk at the Pep Rally on Friday was PRICELESS!

Notre Dame vs. Michigan Highlights

Enjoy the latest Irish victory!

IBB Weekly Motivator: Week 25

While things may be different, the more things stay the same for Michigan and Lloyd Jr.

Go IRISH!

Rumors Galore Before Meechigan Game

With all the hoopla of the "To Hell with Michigan" comments, this heated rivalry wouldn't be complete with its bout of ridiculous rumors. Here are two rumors running around pretty fast on the Notre Dame campus:

1.) James Aldridge was upset on Saturday that he didn't play, that he drowned his sorrows with a few adult beverages and was supposedly picked up by the SBPD for a DUI.

and

2.) That David Grimes left practice early yesterday and was taken to the hospital.

As of this moment, I can neither confirm nor deny these rumors. Grimes didn't look any different when he did spreak with the media today, but you never know. So if anyone else has heard such, please post.

Notre Dame vs. Michigan: Tale of the Tape

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Michigan Wolverines will add another chapter to their long-standing, non-conference rivalry this weekend when the two meet in South Bend. Michigan lost its opener for the second straight season, falling to Utah by a 25-23 final and ruining the debut of head coach Rich Rodriguez in the process. Fortunately for the Wolverines, they were able to bounce back with a 16-6 triumph over Miami-Ohio last weekend. Michigan will be idle next weekend and will open the Big Ten portion of its schedule on September 27th against Wisconsin. As for Notre Dame, it hopes to bounce back strong after an embarrassing 2007 season in which the team won just three contests and was blown out on many Saturdays. Things did not look promising last weekend in the season opener against San Diego State, but a rally enabled the Irish to capture a 21-13 victory. This bout marks the first of three straight outings against members of the Big Ten Conference, as Notre Dame will face Michigan State and Purdue the next two weeks. Michigan owns a 20-14-1 series lead over Notre Dame, including a 38-0 romp over the Fighting Irish last season.

Michigan only managed 15 first downs and 281 total yards against Miami-Ohio last weekend. More than half of those yards came on the team's two long touchdown drives, and the offense was awfully quiet for much of the contest. The ground attack was productive, accounting for 178 yards and two touchdowns while churning out 5.1 ypc. Sam McGuffie got the majority of the carries, and he posted 74 yards on 17 attempts. Michael Shaw only carried the ball twice, but runs of 30 and 15 yards proved his explosiveness. Both quarterbacks, Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan, saw action, and Threet had a rushing score. Both Threet and Sheridan attempted 19 passes against Utah in the opener, and it appears that Rodriguez plans to use both signal callers until one emerges as the more capable leader.

Give most of the credit for last week's win over Miami-Ohio to the Michigan defense, as the Wolverines permitted just six points on a pair of field goals. Both of those field goals for Miami-Ohio capped off long drives that spanned 72 yards in 10 plays and 60 yards in 13 plays. The fact that the Wolverines were able to tighten up and force a field goal attempt rather than surrender a touchdown when the RedHawks neared the goal line was impressive. Miami finished with just 47 rushing yards on 32 attempts, and the RedHawks averaged a mere 8.9 yards per pass completion. Rodriguez has reason to be proud of his defense, which allowed 305 passing yards to Utah in the opener. Still, the run defense was sensational in that contest was well, holding the Utes to a staggeringly low 36 yards on 43 attempts. Clearly, six sacks totaling 39 lost yards helped the cause.

Through the first 50 minutes of the game against San Diego State, Notre Dame had a grand total of seven points and appeared to be on its way to another embarrassing loss. Fortunately, sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen proved to be clutch, tossing a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes. The final strike came with just over two minutes remaining, a six-yard toss to David Grimes. Clausen, a blue chip recruit who took his lumps last season, was 21-of-34 for 237 yards and three touchdowns. While he did throw a pair of interceptions, one was clearly the fault of Duval Kamara, who failed to make an easy catch. Golden Tate tallied six catches for 93 yards and a score to help Notre Dame. Despite missing three games with an elbow injury in '07, Clausen threw for 1,254 yards, which trails only Brady Quinn on the school's record books for a freshman QB. He certainly has the talent to put up big numbers here in 2008.

San Diego State attempted a staggering total of 59 passes against Notre Dame compared to just 15 running plays. The Fighting Irish allowed a mere 29 passes to be completed for an average of fewer than 10 yards per connection. Most impressive of all for the ND defense is that it blanked the Aztecs over the final 23 minutes of the contest, paving the way for Clausen to lead the comeback effort. Kyle McCarthy was outstanding for the defense, as he posted 14 total tackles, including 10 of the solo variety. Last season, Notre Dame ranked second nationally in pass defense.

Expect this game to be rather low scoring, as we give a narrow edge to the Irish based on home field advantage, Irish receivers vs. Wolverine secondary, and the intangibles. Michigan still didn't look all that impressive from week one to week two. The glass is half full for Notre Dame, as they will protect the ball better and establish the running game early to set up their passing game.

Notre Dame 21
Michigan 17

Michigan Injury Report
Running back Carlos Brown (9/7, shoulder) is probable
Wide receiver Greg Mathews (9/7, right ankle) is questionable
Guard Mark Huyge (9/7, high ankle sprain) is doubtful
Guard Cory Zirbel (9/3, knee surgery) is out indefinitely.
Wide receiver Terrance Robinson (9/7, knee) is questionable

Notre Dame Injury Report
Safety Jashaad Gaines (9/7, personal) is questionable
Cornerback Darrin Walls (8/27, personal) will miss the fall semester
Tight end Mike Ragone (8/23, left knee surgery) will miss the entire season.
Running back James Aldridge (9/7, personal/legal) is questionable

Team Leaders
Receptions: UM Odoms (8), ND Tate (6)
Rec. Yards: UM Odoms (64), ND Tate (93)
Rushing Atts: UM McGuffee (25), ND Allen (17)
Rushing Yds: UM McGuffee (82), ND Allen (59)
Pass Atts: UM Threet (32), ND Clausen (34)
Pass Comp: UM Sheridan (15), ND Clausen (21)
Pass Yards: UM Sheridan (138), ND Clausen (237)
Comp %: UM Sheridan (62.5), ND Clausen (61.8)
TD passes: UM Threet & Sheridan (1), ND Clausen (3)
INTs: UM Sheridan (1), ND Clausen (2)

IBB Watercooler 9/10/08

It's Meeechigan Week and there is plenty of excitement to go around. Although the IBB train will not be in South Bend for this game (DAMN Weddings!), we will still have our ears out for the latest around the watercooler.

Are you serious?
Already people are calling for Coach Weis' head. I'm not sure about you, but I didn't see Charlie have a ball bounce off his chest, fumble twice, botch any field goals, or go 1 of 5 in the redzone. Call it what you want, but the majority of last Saturday's ugliness falls on the players shoulders. No pun intended Duval Kamara.

As for folks asking for Skip Holtz? A little birdy got word from new AD Jack Swarbrick and he confirmed that there IS NOT a clause in the younger Holtz's contract for Notre Dame. Actually Lou, who by the way is being honored this weekend alongside his 1988 National Championship squad, would persuade Skip not to take the ND gig if it was offered. Take it from Lou, there was too much pressure and too many hands on the pot for him to run his program.

Anyway, look for Skip to head down further south next season to the state of South Carolina. I guarantee he'll be in charge of either the Gamecocks or Clemson next season.

To Hell with the Media
This whole YouTube video is getting way out of hand. I think everyone is making what Coach Weis said a bigger deal that it really is and that's, that. If Michigan wanted any motivation, just watch their game films the last two weeks. Not saying that Notre Dame looked impressive, but to say the Wolverines are going to blow past the Irish is a stretch.

As for Notre Dame, they'll have plenty of motivation. Signs of 38-0 have been plastered all over, as well as, audio of Mike Hart guaranteeing victory last season and his post game comments.

Watching Films
The Irish have gone through extensive search of game films of the Wolverines first two games, as well as, tapes of West Virginia the past couple of years. One of the contests they are looking heavily into was the Gator Bowl from two seasons ago when West Viriginia played Georgia Tech. As we all know that defensive coach Jon Tenuta was the defensive coordinator of that Yellow Jacket squad.

Tenuta and Corwin Brown have found a few more weaknesses to expose on Saturday.

Offensively, Weis and his staff, have also devised a scheme that will look a lot different that what we saw last Saturday. Once the media left after the required 20 minutes, it was on to the game plan.

Let the pounding commence.

Looking Off Receivers
Let me start off by saying that Jimmy Clausen looked great last Saturday. Besides his new hairdo, he orchestrated two great scoring drives in the fourth quarter. One area of concern, however, was that Jimmy would not look off any receivers and lock down on his target right from the get-go.

Weis and Ron Powlus have been working so far this week on Clausen's progression of receiving targets on particular plays. Last Saturday, some of the receivers he did lock on, were in fact, the secondary and third receivers on the play. But to dampen your fears, Clausen has been working a lot this week on the situation.

Wood Puts the Axe to the Rumors
Notre Dame verbal commitment, Cierre Wood put to rest rumors that he was going to take visits to other schools. He said he's a solid Irish verbal and will be in South Bend real soon to catch a game.

As for his season goes, Wood rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns of 52 and 30 yards while also hauling in a 23-yard touchdown reception in Santa Clara's 29-7 win over Mary Star of the Sea (San Pedro, Calif.), the Ventura County Star reports.
Wood did most of that damage in the first half, seeing only limited action after the break.

Wood is also being one of the top recruiters for the Irish coaching staff too. As for being got on the sidelines last week on national television with Notre Dame target Shaquelle Evans, Wood has also been confirmed to be in contact with two defensive targets: Anthony LaLota and Manti Teo.

What to expect in the coming days:
1.) Different Offensive Formations
2.) More No Huddle
3.) James Aldridge in actual game action even though there are rumors around campus that he is questionable for Saturday's game for personal/legal reasons.
4.) Suprises for Gameday involving the 1988 National Championship Squad

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/10/08

Here's today's edition of the Buzz Around Team Camps for Wednesday, September 10th:

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

There's a lot of talk about Michigan's offensive line – its inexperience, its depth and how head coach Rich Rodriguez plans to address the unit in future recruiting classes.

At his weekly Big Ten teleconference, however, Rodriguez says that the players left from Lloyd Carr's teams aren't completely ill-equipped for the new spread offense. Rather, the problem is with the line's youth.

"I think our biggest challenge has been our inexperience," he says. "I mean, you've got to teach not only new terminology, but sometimes new technique and even fundamentals. The issue with us is that we have a lot of guys who are still getting taught some fundamentals, so you gotta do that on top of teaching schemes, so that compounds the problem a little bit.

"So we've had to gear some of our recruiting toward the system to fit the pieces of the puzzle, and we've done that in this class and the next couple of classes."

On Michigan Recruiting

As Detroit Cass Tech senior William Campbell walked across the Michigan Stadium field toward the tunnel Saturday afternoon, fans noticed. "Come to Michigan," yelled one man in a white Wolverines' jersey. Until this weekend, that was Campbell's intention. But now the defensive tackle is looking at other schools in addition to Michigan. Ranked as the No. 17 player nationally by Rivals.com, Campbell has withdrawn his verbal commitment to Michigan. That didn't stop the 6-foot, 5-inch, 317-pound Campbell from attending Michigan's victory over Miami (Ohio) on an unofficial visit, however. As he walked up the tunnel afterward, Campbell said he hasn't ruled the Wolverines out. It's that he's added others to the mix. "I'm still looking at Michigan," he said. "I'm just opening up all my options right now, looking around." Campbell said his top three schools are Miami (Fla.), USC and Michigan, in no particular order.

Michigan St. via http://www.ganggreenblog.com

While Mark Dantonio can give many reasons why Michigan State won't overlook upcoming opponent Florida Atlantic, the fact is that the game is a week before the Spartans' rivalry game with Notre Dame.

But Dantonio knows that the Owls aren't strangers to BCS-level competition. And with Howard Schnellenberger – who's seen success at every coaching stop – at the helm, along with 18 returning starters from a team that won its league title and the New Orleans Bowl (over Memphis, 44-27) last season, the Spartans should have plenty to keep them focused.

"(A letdown) is one of the things we have to talk about as a football team, I think, from a maturity level," he says during his weekly Big Ten teleconference. "Thus far, since we've been here, we've come out every single game and played from the outset. We've come out focused, prepared and whatever happens throughout the game happens.

"But I've never sensed any kind of situation where we've felt ill-prepared, psychologically. So I'm hoping that that continues, and we will talk about that. You play'em one at a time."

Stanford via http://www.gostanford.com

Here's a sampling of some of head coach Jim Harbaugh's comments at today's Stanford football media luncheon as the Cardinal prepare to meet TCU Saturday night in Fort Worth.

On Wide Receiver Richard Sherman's Knee
His MRI (on his knee) was positive, or negative, depending how you want to look at. It was a good thing. He jogged a bit yesterday and will have a full day of practice today. We'll see how it responds today and then tomorrow.

It's his patella that has been bothering him. There is no tear. He's working very diligently in rehab and on strengthening his quad. He's strengthening all of those muscles around the knee--the calf, the quad and hamstring--and everything that connects to protect that joint.

It's just something he is managing right now and he is doing a great job.

On Utilizing Two Quarterbacks Against TCU
It's possible. We'll take a look at how they are practicing. Like last week, I didn't alert you (the media) that Jason (Forcier) would be playing in the second quarter and I don't anticipate on alerting the media what the plan is for this Saturday. (laughter)

We are pretty much sticking with one guy and that's Tavita. Going into the Arizona State game, we wanted to see the other guys and get them some game experience. That was the plan. We're allowed to do that. (laughter)

Tavita, in terms of seizing the job, has done that. He is the starting quarterback. With that being said, the other guys (Forcier and Loukas) have talent that we want to be able to use at times. It (using more than one quarterback) doesn't diminish Tavita by any means.

On the Arizona State Game
It was a game that a few plays made a huge difference in the game. That (the interception on the first drive of the second half) was one of them. I talked to the team about sticking to the things that we do well. We have to stay in our realm, whether it's play calling or trying to force plays.

I thought our team was very competitive outside of a few big plays that made the difference in the game.

It's part of the process that we are in trying to become a championship-caliber team. It starts with being competitive. The next step is winning games, which we have done. Then, to be able to win games consistently would be step three.

We are a good football team that has the ability to consistently win games when we play our best. That's where we are at right now.

On the Play of the Secondary
I've watched our defense now four times against Arizona State. There were a few big plays that led to a big difference in the ball game. The coverage was really tight at times when they got completions. The tempo of the blitz and pressure on the quarterback was right there and they still got completions. There were a few other big plays that led to points, but there were also six-seven throws into the end zone when they were inside the 10-yard line that we turned them away from scoring. We also had an interception, a sack and a fumble.

When Carpenter was hitting those throws in tight coverage with pressure on him, his confidence build and he started taking some more chances that he might not usually take in that rhythm. Then we start taking some chances we wouldn't take when that's going on.

The way we were playing, it could have been a tighter ball game.

There were a lot of good signs from the game that should me we can cover, get to the quarterback, intercept footballs and cause turnovers.

On Tight End Jim Dray's Comeback from Last Year's Season-Ending Left Knee Injury
Dray will be back this week. He made the trip last week and will most likely make the trip this weekend. Last week he was out there in a yellow jersey going through some individuals and 7-on-7's. This week, we'll step that up.

Possibly (on making contributions Saturday). A lot of it will depend how he practices this week. He has to get strength back in his legs where he can run at this level. He's a little slowed right now, but you have to understand he really didn't have off-season conditioning. His knee was healing. It's going to take time to get those legs back underneath him.

Just because he's cleared for football doesn't necessarily mean he's back at the level he was last year. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks he'll get back to the point he was last year.

He's should tremendous determination throughout the rehab process, doing everything he can possibly do and more. There was a real will in his rehab and recovery. He also spent extra time with Coach (Shannon) Turley in the weight room.

On TCU
They are a championship-caliber team. They win consistently. That program has been in place for many years now and it shows in the caliber of players and coaches they have and the system they run. They are an established football team.

There defense is fast and aggressive. They fly around the football and are rarely out of position. They are really good with their assignments. I've been really impressed with their defense.

On the Pass Rush
It was much improved. Clinton Snyder showed up more and got the hit, got the fumble. Pat Maynor had a sack. We were getting home and getting pressure. That's as important as getting sacks and turnovers. I thought we had enough pressure but Carpenter did a heck of a job in completing those passes."

Pittsburgh via http://www.observer-reporter.com

Under usual circumstances, Pitt would not want an open date during the third week of the college football season.

These are not usual circumstances for the Panthers.

Not only are the Panthers 1-1 after starting the year with its first preseason Top 25ranking since 2003, they have injuries at key positions and inexperience at others.

Turns out the off week could not come at a better time.

"Normally, I'm not excited about bye weeks this early in the year, but I'm excited about this bye week," Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said following a 27-16 victory over Buffalo Saturday at Heinz Field. "We have got to go out, practice and get better."

Next for Pitt is undefeated Iowa, coached by Upper St. Clair native Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes have outscored their first two opponents, 88-3.

And this is supposed to be a down year for Iowa.

Boston College via http://bceaglelog.blogspot.com

Well, that sucked. I've given it a few hours to wear off, but still... it stings. I can't really think coherently about the game just yet.

Our defense was amazing today - forcing three turnovers and shutting down a number of promising Georgia Tech possessions to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, our offense was incapable of sustaining drives long enough to spell the defense - and that spelled doom, as the defense was clearly too worn down at the end to make those last few stops.

Let's be honest - Crane sucked. He was all over the place, and made a number of really questionable decisions to go along with his inaccurate throws. And Steve Aponavicius's missed chip shot field goal at the end of the first half now looms large in my mind.

I guess if there's one thing I would have changed, it would be to keep pounding it on the ground when BC had the ball right after Georgia Tech's go-ahead touchdown. Chris Crane had one play where he rolled right and had a clear running lane, but he aired it out and overthrew Rich Gunnell to set up fourth down.

Josh Haden was injured in the second quarter and he was sorely missed for the rest of the game; inside handoffs to McCluskey on 3rd-and-5 weren't really ideal.

The team now has two weeks to lick their wounds and load up to face UCF. The offense obviously needs a lot of work. Let's hope they can figure it out, or it's gonna be a long year.

Navy via http://www.hometownannapolis.com

All indications are that Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada will start at quarterback for Navy this Saturday if healthy enough to do so.
Kaheaku-Enhada took the majority of snaps with the first team offense during yesterday's practice. The senior from Hawaii, who has been recovering from a partially torn hamstring, was in full pads and not wearing a red or green jersey indicating non-contact.

"We're going to see how (Kaheaku-Enhada) feels. This is the first time he really pushed himself. He's still getting into game shape," Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "If he can go, he's going to be the quarterback. We're going as if he's going to be ready to play."

Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper said they will give Kaheaku-Enhada lots of work today and tomorrow and see how his injured hamstring responds before making a decision whether he is running and throwing well enough to play at Duke.

Syracuse via http://www.democratandchronicle.com

This once-proud football program reached a new low under Robinson Saturday in the Dome when it was sliced-and-diced 42-28 by the Akron Zips, a team chosen to finish last in the Mid-American Conference. The defeat was the 30th in 37 games by the Orange during the Robinson Error, and things could get even uglier when they are thrown to the Nittany Lions, who will enter the Teflon-roofed big top favored by nearly four touchdowns. Unless Joe Paterno shows some mercy, Penn State might ring up 60 before the massacre is through. With regard to Robinson's firing, it's no longer a question of if, but when… With an announced crowd of 31,808 that was closer to 20,000 at the Dome Saturday, and with SU Web sites brimming with anti-Robinson vitriol, the fans have cast their ballots. G-Rob's approval rating has dipped lower than Dubya's. Well on his way to a third double-digit loss season in four years, it's easy to understand why. In an attempt to show the apathetic citizens of Orange Nation he's truly serious about reviving the 14th winningest program in college football history, Gross needs to be decisive. Barring a miracle upset Saturday, he should fire Robinson, and replace him with offensive coordinator Mitch Browning for the remainder of the season. Then, he should seriously investigate the possibility of luring East Carolina's Skip Holtz, Boise State's Chris Peterson or Buffalo's Turner Gill to SU for the 2009 season. The sleeper in this sweepstakes could be Dan Mullen, the University of Florida offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who has been the brains behind Urban Meyer's remarkable success with the Gators, Bowling Green and Utah. The only knock on Mullen is that he doesn't have head coaching experience, but he might be the most innovative offensive strategist in college football today, and he is a former SU grad assistant (1998), so he's aware of both the challenges and potential of the Orange program. Plus, he hails from Manchester, N.H., and played tight end for Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., so he has East Coast roots.

More on Greg Robinson via http://www.syracuse.com

Some fans are demanding the immediate dismissal of Syracuse University coach Greg Robinson, who is 7-30 at Syracuse and just lost to Akron 42-28 in the Carrier Dome. Here's why it might not happen, at least not yet. Teaff said protocol and history show that universities almost always do not change coaches or hire their replacements until after the season. There are rare exceptions: Arkansas fired Jack Crowe after one game in 1992, Florida fired Ron Zook midway through the 2004 season, and Baylor fired Kevin Steele with four games left in 2002. Both Zook and Steele were allowed to finish the regular season. Teaff knows of no other cases where head coaches have been fired during a season. He said there's a good reason schools wait. "A lot of times, people are fired because they're trying to get somebody better," Teaff said. "But somebody better is looking at how you handle the firing.

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

The leader of the Ohio State program fell all over his sweater vest spouting admiration for the USC program Tuesday, Coach Jim Tressel claiming he believed that the Trojans played football "the right way."

We know better. We know what the Buckeyes really think. We know, because a few days ago, one of their players told us.

His name is Ray Small. He is a junior wide receiver in his third season with the program. He leads the team in receptions, and has scored a touchdown on a punt return.

He has a reputation for being a bit of a flake, but he is not some wide-eyed freshman or bitter benchwarmer.

He is an Ohio State veteran who, in a locked-down program where everyone seems to look and sound the same, is probably not speaking only for himself.

In an interview with ESPN.com last weekend, Small said he believed USC lacked class, discipline and integrity.

"I took my visit to USC, I'm like, 'How are they successful? They're not even serious about the game,' " Small said. "Before the game, they're all going crazy. Me and [defensive end] Rob Rose was on the visit and I'm looking like, 'Wow.'

"And then the coach said, 'You better get out of here. It's 'bout to get hectic.' "

He compared that to his recruiting visit to Ohio State.

"And then I come on the [Columbus] visit and before the game, it's all quiet, everybody getting taped, coaches talking, it's the total opposite," he said.

Then he gave his evaluation:

It's "a class thing. Here at Ohio State, they teach you to be a better man. There, it's just all about football."

A better man, perhaps, unless you are Ohio inmate Maurice Clarett.

In Our Defense

After rehashing the Irish's 21-13 season opening win over San Diego State, one thing is for sure, Notre Dame's defense is going to keep them in plenty of contests. No matter how much the offense will sputter at times, the new revamped Irish defense, orchestrated by Coordinator Corwin Brown and Associate Head Coach Jon Tenuta, looks to be one of the better ones in college football.

You might be saying to yourself, it is only one game, and it was against San Diego State. True, but you can say that about how lethargic the offense looked until the fourth quarter. But let me elaborate more into why this defense is going to be truly awesome:

15 - Number of series the Aztecs had against Notre Dame on Saturday.

5 - Number of series San Diego State had against the Irish defense that was 20 yards or more.

2 - Out of the 5 drives mentioned above that were extended by penalties.

2 - TD drives off of Notre Dame turnovers.

33 - Percentage of drives lasting more than 20 yards against the Irish.

2 - Turnovers

1 - Sack

Not impressed? Well, let's look at some of the Top 25 teams' defenses and their success against similar caliber opponents like San Diego State. Below will show the percentage rate of drives of 20 yards or more, and how many scores these lesser teams had against the upper echelon in college football.

Georgia Southern (I-AA) Offense vs. Georgia Defense: 46.2% (6-of-13) 3 TD's

Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt) Offense vs. Texas Defense: 42.8% (6-of-14) 1 TD, 1 FG

Akron (MAC) Offense vs. Wisconsin Defense: 54.5% (6-of-11) 2 TDs, 1 FG

E. Washington (I-AA) Offense vs. Texas Tech Defense: 43.7% (7-of-16) 3 TDs, 1 FG

N. Arizona (I-AA) Offense vs. Arizona St. Defense: 42.8% (6-of-14) 1 TD, 2 FGs

N. Iowa (I-AA) Offense vs. BYU Defense: 46.2% (6-of-13) 2 TDs, 1 FG

This is not to mention that a few of these teams had some missed field goals and turnovers in the red zone.

As for the Irish, their defense is going to create a lot of problems for their opponents offenses. Even though Notre Dame only had one sack, San Diego State had to adjust by throwing the short to mid range passes most of the day. The three biggest plays the Irish gave up defensively were the two long shovel passes on 3rd down, and the 41-yarder that set up their first touchdown. On that particular play, the defense got mixed up and which left the Aztec receiver wide open.

Individually, the Irish secondary is the best unit, bar none. David Bruton is the ring leader, while Kyle McCarthy might actually be a better safety than Tom Zbikowski. Terrail Lambert is the veteran of the bunch and didn't really give up too much yardage, and Raeshon McNeil is going to be the lock down corner this season. The pleasant surprise coming out of Saturday was the play of Sergio Brown. He was all over the place defensively and on special teams. Brown's blocked punt set up the Irish's first score and gave some much needed momentum heading into the locker room at half. Just wait for the progression of Robert Blanton and Gary Gray. They're absolute beasts when they take the field.

The front line of the defense still needs some work, but got the job done. Patrick Kuntz, Ian Williams, Morrice Richardson, Justin Brown, and Ethan Johnson were getting into the mix and will get help as the season goes on.

As for the linebackers, Maurice Crum had his usual steady game, as was the case for anyone with the last name of Smith for that matter. Kerry Neal recorded his first interception, and John Ryan provided some much needed help on the outside.

Not too bad for the first game, don't you think?

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/9/08

Read the latest Buzz Around Team Camps for Tuesday, September 9th:

Michigan via http://www.sportingnews.com

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez plans to start quarterback Steven Threet against Notre Dame and expects Nick Sheridan to play.

Rodriguez said Monday the rotation would be similar to what it was in the win over Miami of Ohio, when Threet began the game and shared snaps with Sheridan, who was the No. 1 QB in the season-opening loss to Utah.

Sheridan, a former walk-on, has completed 15 of 24 passes for 138 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Threet, a Georgia Tech transfer, has connected on just 14 of 32 attempts for 132 yards and a score. He also has a rushing TD.

The Wolverines (1-1) have scored a Big Ten-low 39 points entering their first road game against the Fighting Irish.

Purdue via http://www.ap.com/sports

Purdue wasn't sure whether to celebrate or worry after a season-opening 42-10 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon.

The heavily favored Boilermakers struggled to finish drives, and led just 21-0 after three quarters against a Football Championship Subdivision team that went 1-11 last season.

"Overall, I thought we were pretty average," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "You get in a ballgame like this, and you watch their tape last year ... Your players watch them, and it's really hard to get too excited about them. In spite of what you tell young people, they still make their own decision. They are a much improved team."

Curtis Painter passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns. Desmond Tardy caught three passes for 112 yards and Kory Sheets ran for 81 yards and two touchdowns for Purdue (1-0).

Painter said Purdue was simply working out kinks on offense. It was the first time he'd stepped on the field without star receivers Dorien Bryant and Dustin Keller, who were seniors last year.

"I think it was maybe a normal first game," Painter said. "There's always some things that you walk out of and want to do again, some mistakes, but I think overall we did some things well. We had some good and some bad, but we made a lot of great plays."

Tiller tied Jack Mollenkopf for the most wins in school history. He has a record of 84-54 in his 12th year at Purdue, and a 123-84-1 record overall.

"It doesn't mean that much to me personally, but it's an honor to be in his class," Tiller said. "He was a great contributor to Purdue athletics."

Tiller also beat one of his former assistants. Northern Colorado coach Scott Downing worked under Tiller for 12 years at Wyoming and Purdue.

Downing had kind words for his mentor.

"He deserves all the accolades he receives," Downing said. "Mollenkopf was a good coach, but Tiller is a great coach."

Bryan Waggener passed for 216 yards and a touchdown and Ryan Chesla caught nine passes for 99 yards for Northern Colorado (0-1).

Downing enjoyed his to return to Ross-Ade Stadium, and was excited that the score wasn't as lopsided as many experts predicted. The Bears had the ball for 37:20 and kept Painter, whom Purdue is touting as a Heisman Trophy candidate, on the sideline for much of the game.

"I was very pleased and proud of the way we played today," Downing said. "We let the game get away at the end, but besides that, I thought we had a solid effort."

Purdue's first score came on Painter's 26-yard strike down the middle to slot receiver Keith Smith.

In the second quarter, Purdue's Frank Halliburton tipped a Northern Colorado punt, and the Boilermakers took over on the Northern Colorado 37. Two plays later, Sheets' 9-yard touchdown run gave Purdue a 14-0 lead.

On the Boilermakers' next possession, Tardy took a screen pass 60 yards, but Purdue was unable to score from inside the 20. Purdue moved into Northern Colorado territory six times in the first half, but led 14-0 at halftime.

Early in the third quarter, Northern Colorado went for it on fourth-and-5 from the Purdue 30, but Ryan Baker sacked Waggener and the Boilermakers took over.

Halliburton got pressure on another Bears punt after a poor snap, and Purdue took over at the Northern Colorado 34 with about 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Sheets scored again, a 2-yard run that gave Purdue a 21-0 lead with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

Northern Colorado caught a break early in the fourth quarter. The Bears punted to Purdue, and the ball bounced off a Boilermaker player's leg before Northern Colorado's C.J. Stemo recovered at the Purdue 25. Michael York made a 37-yard field goal.

On Purdue's next possession, Painter found Greg Orton down the left sideline for a 43-yard touchdown pass that gave the Boilermakers a 28-3 lead.

Minutes later, Halliburton blocked another punt, and Mike Conway's recovery and runback for a touchdown made it 35-3. Halliburton is the only player in Purdue history to block two punts in a single game, and his total also tied the school record for a season.

Northern Colorado finally scored a TD on Waggener's 3-yard pass to Jason Caprioli with 7:08 to play.

Tiller said the Boilermakers are better than they showed.

"We moved the ball really well at times, but the only real concern is that drives stalled at times," he said. "We need to score every time in the red zone."

North Carolina http://www.tarheelblue.com

North Carolina found a way to avoid the poor performances that plagued the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference during Week 2: The Tar Heels didn't play.

Its league rivals were busy losing to Middle Tennessee State or struggling with championship-subdivision teams. But North Carolina was back on the practice field taking care of its own pesky struggles while preparing for a visit to Rutgers.

Safety Trumaine Goddard said Monday the off week was a blessing because "we've got a chance to make corrections from the mistakes in the game." During a normal week, the Tar Heels would have to quickly focus on their opponent -- not themselves.

North Carolina had plenty of mistakes to fix after struggling to beat McNeese State, which gained 391 total yards and led in the third quarter.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Seemingly everyone has a strong opinion about the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on Washington quarterback Jake Locker after scoring a touchdown in the final seconds against No. 18 BYU -- pundits, coaches, even the manager of the New York Yankees.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham decided to weigh in with his thoughts on Monday, two days after giving a reserved response following the Huskies 28-27 loss to the Cougars.

His opinion, like so many others: The refs were wrong.

"I think we all know that was not the right call ... ," Willingham said. "It's an opportunity to use discretion and it was not used. The proper judgment was not used. That was not an act of a young man taunting. That was not an unsportmanlike act at all and therefore it should have been viewed in its totality and not just in the letter of the law."

Locker was flagged on Saturday after tumbling into the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown run with 2 seconds left in regulation to pull Washington within 28-27, capping a 17-play, 76-yard drive where Locker accounted for every yard either running or passing. As he rolled to his feet, Locker threw his hands in the air, sending the ball sailing upward, before beginning to celebrate with his teammates.

"To be totally honest I didn't even realize I had done it at the time," Locker said on Monday. "I got to the sideline and heard the official say there was an unsportamanlike penalty and I was like, 'Who was that on? (They) must have done something stupid.' Then he said it was on No. 10, and I was like, 'Gosh, what did I do."'

Officials immediately called a penalty, because, as a point of emphasis for officials this year, Locker violated one part of the excessive celebration rule in the NCAA rule book -- throwing the ball in the air. The penalty was assessed on the extra point, turning a chip shot into a 35-yard attempt. Kicker Ryan Perkins' attempt was low and blocked by BYU's Jan Jorgensen, preserving the Cougars' victory.

Pac-10 coordinator of football officiating Dave Cutaia agrees that it is a harsh penalty, but fully supported the call based on how the rule is written.

"Every call is a judgment call," Cutaia said. "(The official) saw the ball thrown very high in the air and made the call. I can't say the call is incorrect."

Cutaia would like to see the rule amended, so actions like Locker's don't draw as severe a penalty as players who openly taunt the opposition or showboat following plays.

"The rule, unfortunately, is very specific. ... Perhaps a rule change is in order to make it not so severe," he said.

Not that a rule change would make the Huskies feel any better, now 0-2 and with No. 3Oklahoma coming in on Saturday.

Pittsburgh via http://www.sportingnews.com

Nate Byham sees much to like in a Pitt season that, after only two games, would appear to be a disappointment to anyone not wearing a Panthers uniform.

The Panthers tumbled out of the Top 25 after losing to a Mid-American Conference school at home for the first time -- Bowling Green won 27-17 at then-No. 25 Pitt on Aug. 30, then went home last week and was beaten badly by Minnesota, 42-17.

Pitt rebounded on Saturday with a 27-16 win over another MAC team, Buffalo, yet hardly dominated the way that might be expected of a team considered to be a legitimate Big East title challenger. Pitt led only 10-9 at the half and 17-16 after three quarters, a second consecutive rough game during what is supposed to be the easy portion of its schedule.

It gets rougher now -- Iowa (2-0) is up next on Sept. 20 after easily defeating Maine and FIU to start the season -- yet Byham believes the Panthers are much better than they were when the season started.

"We have tons of room to grow," said Byham, the Panthers' tight end. "We have a bye week and time to recover and an extra week to game plan for Iowa, and we're going to go into that game and have a lot of confidence."

To Byham, a young, reconfigured Pitt offensive line played much better against Buffalo than it did against Bowling Green, and the line's performance is the single most important factor in determining the Panthers' success or failure.

Pitt was outrushed by Buffalo 125-111, yet sophomore LeSean McCoy found enough open lanes to gain 93 yards on 20 carries and score three times, his fourth three-TD game in 14 college games.

"A team can't come in here and play us and say, 'We've got to stop Shady (McCoy) and this one receiver and we'll be good," Byham said. "They have to know when they play us that they've got to cover everybody -- everyone can come out and make a play, and that's what is expected of us."

Quarterback Bill Stull looked more settled and relaxed under center than he did the week before, completing passes to seven receivers while going 22-of-33 for 241 yards.

"I'm going to be more comfortable every single day, every week," said Stull, whose 2007 season was cut short by a thumb injury in his one and only game. "Our whole offense is developing. We're excited about this."

Coaches often say a college team shows its greatest improvement from the first game of the season to the second, and Byham is convinced that happened -- if only because he believes the offensive line was that much better. The Panthers outgained Bowling Green 393-254, yet committed three turnovers and were shut out in the second half.

"It all starts with what the offensive line's going to do -- if they play good, our offense is going to play great," Byham said. "That's what happened (against Bowling Green), their defensive line got pressure and it kind of messed up the whole rhythm of the offense."

Syracuse via http://blog.syracuse.com

If there's a coach in America under more duress this week than Syracuse's Greg Robinson, it is difficult to imagine.

In his fourth season as head coach of the Orange, Robinson's record fell to 7-30 on Saturday after a 42-28 loss at home to Akron, a team that was picked to finish last in its division of the Mid-American Conference. It marked just the second time the Zips had beaten a BCS team.

"To me, it comes right down to coaching and right to me. There's no excuses for it," Robinson said after perhaps the worst loss of his tenure. "We like to think we were prepared. Obviously, we weren't."

Now Robinson has to face a week of reminders of just how great the program he oversees once was.

On Friday, former Syracuse greats Jim Brown, Floyd Little and Art Monk, and at least 40 members of the unbeaten 1959 team that won the national championship are coming to town for the world premiere of "The Express", a movie about renowned Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, the star of that championship team who in 1961 became the first black to win the Heisman Trophy.

If that's not enough, on Saturday Syracuse renews its rivalry with No. 17 Penn State (2-0), a team the Orange has played 68 times but not since 1990. And it's on national television.

"It's real important,"' Robinson said Monday. "It's an opportunity for our program. Penn State might be the most talented team we've played since I've been here. I think the players are up for the challenge. It is important for the team to show well."

Just having to focus on preparing for a ranked opponent is probably a blessing for Robinson at this point considering the extreme discontent of a fan base that's weary of the losing and wants a coaching change that is fast becoming inevitable.

"It's terrible," Robinson said, referring to the public's negative view of him. "I really have to be strong enough not to dwell on it right now. I understand it, but I can't control that. I have to focus truly on the things that I can control -- and that is to get this team to play better. That has to be my mind-set."

Before the season, Las Vegas oddsmakers figured Syracuse would be hard-pressed to win more than two games in 2008, and that prediction looks spot-on right now. Akron and Northeastern (Sept. 20), which plays at the second level of Division I, were probably the assumed victories, and of the 10 games remaining on the schedule there aren't any gimmes for a team that after two games is tied for 111th nationally in total defense, having allowed 10 touchdowns and 962 yards in losses to Northwestern and a team nicknamed the Zips.

Which means, unless there is dramatic improvement between now and Halloween, it's scary to think what might happen. It's entirely possible the seniors will be part of 39 losses in four years.

Floyd is in Good Company

Believe the hype, Michael Floyd is going to one of the all-time greats when he finishes his career at Notre Dame. Although he only had one catch in his debut last Saturday against San Diego State, it was a huge reception on many levels.

~ First off, Floyd's 22-yard touchdown reception tied the contest going into halftime and gave the Irish some momentum heading into the locker room.

~ Floyd became only the second freshmen in Notre Dame history to score the first touchdown in a new football season. The other was fullback John Browner, who ran in a score against Boston College in Notre Dame's 17-3 victory in 1975.

~ In the last 20 years, only three different freshmen besides Michael Floyd made their first career reception a touchdown. This short list includes the likes of Rocket Ismail, Derek Brown, and Derrick Mayes. Not too shabby of a list to be mentioned with for Mr. Floyd.

Here's a start to more accomplishments and victories for Michael Floyd and the Fighting Irish!

ND vs. SDSU Highlights

Although it was too close for comfort, the Irish will gladly take the win!

IBB Report Card: San Diego State

A win, is a win, is a win. And after the way last season turned out, the Irish and their Notre Dame faithful will take them any way they can get them, no matter how ugly Saturday's 21-13 win against the Aztecs was. Below is our assessment of the game by units:

Offense
The good news, Notre Dame's offensive line did not give up a single sack against San Diego State, Jimmy Clausen going 11-of-14 in the second half, including going 8-of-9 for 98 yards and two touchdowns (led Notre Dame on scoring drives of 80 and 55 yards) after trailing 13-7, and Golden Tate (6 receptions 93 yards and 1TD) emerging as a go-to receiver.

The bad news hopefully is indicative of first game jitters. Only a 105 yards rushing against a depleted San Diego State defensive front, three turnovers that resulted in both Aztec touchdowns, and 20% in the redzone (1-of-5), is not going to cut it against the remaining Irish opponents sans Syracuse.

Coach Weis emphatically said that Notre Dame was going to pound the ball with his stable of backs. While the Irish tried to establish the running game early and often, it didn't work out well, and in the second half they had to put it in the air to pull out the victory. The offensive line did have some lapses on several running plays, but did, however, create some gaping holes for both Armando Allen and Robert Hughes.

QB: B
Clausen was nearly flawless in the second half as he ran the Irish offense perfectly in the last two scoring drives. He still has the tendency to not look off receivers which could be a problem down the road. Overall he looks better and stronger.

RB: B-
The two headed monster known as Allen and Hughes had pedestrian numbers, 59 and 54 yards, respectively. Both each caught three passes out of the backfield which brought back fond memories of Darius Walker's sophomore and junior seasons. The grade could have been hirer if not for a few bad runs.

OL: C
The offensive line had it moments and its not so great moments. They looked average at best against the worst defensive front they'll face all season long. Sam Young looked more like his first season of holding his blocks and providing big holes.

WR: B+
This unit starts and finishes with Golden Tate. The receiver that was only known for a go route did it all on Saturday, including the go ahead touchdown catch. His 93 yard total would have been more if it wasn't for an apparant no catch by the officials in the fourth quarter. It's not the long ball, diving catch, rather it was the one before that play were Golden made a perfect catch and had both of feet in bounds. We can dispute all day long, but replays show differently.

Secondly, Michael Floyd is amazing. Besides his game tying touchdown grab in the first half, Aztec defenders had a hard time covering him. This is where Jimmy Clausen needs to not lock down on one receiver all the time. Floyd was open a lot.

The senior captain, David Grimes is a great completment to the Irish arsenal. He can do everything and is a exceptional leader on and off the field.

Lastly, one of the low points of the group, suprisingly, was the play of sophomore Duval Kamara. Kamara had some dropsies that need to rectified in a hurry, because the Irish won't get a lot of opportunities against a stout Meeeechigan defense.

Overall Offense: B-

Defense
Pretty much the saving grace of the Irish on Saturday as the defense applied pressure on San Diego State's Ryan Lindley all day long. They didn't give up the home run ball except for Lindley's 43 yarder to Darren Mougey that set up the Aztecs first touchdown. Out of their 15 possessions during the game, San Diego State only mustered 5 drives over 20 yards.

DL: B
It is good that Pat Kuntz was reinstated for the fall. His play, as well as, the rest of the defensive front was solid. Freshman Ethan Johnson did see some action and looks destined to be the next Bryant Young, whom by the way, was honored at halftime.

LB: B
Maurice Crum led this group with six tackles and the only sack for the Irish, while Kerry Neal provided an interception. Brian and Harrison Smith had 4 and 3 tackles, respectively. One of the signs of encouragement from this contest was that the linebackers adjusted well on covering speedy backs and receivers. The only downside was that the Aztecs converted two big third down plays on shovel passes for 15 and 18 yards.

DB: B+
The departure of Tom Zbikowski is not as sorely missed by the exceptional play of leading tackler Kyle McCarthy (14 tackles). David Bruton, Sergio Brown, and Terrail Lambert were very productive in keeping receivers in front of them and not giving up the big play. Raeshon McNeil was the lock down corner of the day and will only get better as the season goes on.

Overall Defense: B

Special Teams: B
Sergio Brown's blocked punt was a highlight, as was the play of gunner Mike Anello on the coverage teams. The Irish also had a couple nice returns, but the errors in the place-kicking game could come back to haunt the Irish if they're not corrected.

Coaching: C+
The fast start Charlie Weis has been talking about for weeks never materialized. Mike Haywood's first game as play-caller included some puzzling decisions, and the Irish didn't seem nearly as committed to the running game as they pledged to be. The addition of Jon Tenuta to the defensive staff resulted in more energy and pressure on the quarterback.

Team GPA: 2.85 B-
The Irish still have a long way to go, but they did have the poise to not let things get out of control. Yes it was San Diego State, the team that lost to Cal Poly, but Notre Dame won the game and is 1-0. Remember what the Irish were last season?

It's Michigan week, so Coach Weis and Company will be up and ready for the Wolverines, you can count on that!

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/8/08

Get the latest Buzz around team camps from this past weekend for Monday, September 8th:

San Diego State via http://www.nctimes.com

The text messages began popping up on Chuck Long's cell phone after his San Diego State football team nearly stunned Notre Dame and the college football world before falling 21-13. Among those sending messages were Bob Stoops, Oklahoma's head coach on whose staff Long served; Dick Khoury, a longtime NFL coach who lives in North County; and Brian Sipe, the former San Diego State and NFL quarterback, who is Santa Fe Christian School's head coach. "I got a lot of messages from people about how they loved the way we competed and that we did ourselves proud on a national scale," Long said. "I heard from a lot of San Diego people. I'm anticipating and hoping this will help us in recruiting, but, again, we're looking for that big win."

Michigan via http://mvictors.com

Another beautiful day in Ann Arbor as coach Rodriguez got his first win at the helm of the Wolverines. The 16-6 win was far from convincing or complete, but this win over Miami, OH was plenty good enough after last week. They were supposed to win, they did, but I think many folks were relieved to get this one in the books.

The offense made some strides, the defense kept the RedHawks out of the endzone and that’s what we needed to see. Everyone can take a breath and as the Blue get ready for Notre Dame next week.

A few takes:
* You saw a few glimpses of what this offense, and perhaps this team, is capable of if they can get players in space. That wasn’t Big Ten talent on the other team but you can see some damage being inflicted on anyone if they get the right guys in the open field. It was much more fun to watch this game, despite being up only 4 points in the fourth quarter.

* Threet missed three guys in the first half that were basically wide open and could have gone for six. That hurts. No, they weren’t the horrible tosses we saw from Sheridan last week but these guys should be able to make those throws.

* Sheridan looked a little better today although he really didn’t try to fire it down field. He took the last snap- I don’t know if that means something. With Threet’s overthrows I’m betting Rodriguez didn’t see enough to name Threet the starter and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sheridan start in South Bend. You almost get the sense that Rodriguez reluctantly started Threet today.

* After that ridiculous Utah kicker Sakoda last week, we were treated to a bionic opposing specialist once again - the RedHawk punter Richardson. He punted seven times for 377 yards, that’s a 54 yard average with a long of 74, including four inside the twenty. Dude, go away.

* McGuffie was fun to watch once he got going. Somewhere in my head I’m waiting for him to jump or backflip over somebody whenever he gets out into space. The guy is a complete android, no emotion and that’s ok with me. After that long play that set up the put-it-away touchdown, after he was tackled he tapped his shoulders indicating he needed a break and trotted toward Fred Jackson. No muscle flex, no jump and a hop, nothing. Doug Karsch asked him in the locker room about the game, he basically said, “We won.”

* Boubacar Cissoko had a couple nice kick-off returns, the first was past midfield but was sent back on an illegal block. After that run the first guy to congratulate him on the sideline was Mike Barwis

* The defense hasn’t given up a touchdown in 6 straight quarters now.

* Michigan benefited from a 15 yards roughing/hitting out of bounds penalty late in the game. If it went against Michigan people would have freaked. Those refs throw those flags in the heat of the moment and many times it’s just a case of a guy completing a tackle or momentum colliding with the runner a step out of bounds. I saw it on the big medium screen at the stadium but it look like the guy just slammed the runner down with a little extra emphasis, and happened to be out of bounds. I wish they’d wait to throw those flags, or have an out, like a 5 yard version of the penalty.

Michigan State via http://enlightenedspartan.com

Well, we didn't learn much from today's 42-10 victory over EMU ... other than this: 1) the offensive line is having a tough time opening holes to run if our passing game isn't working (#83 TE Gantt is really having a tough time run blocking). 2) the DL has ZERO pass rush right now. 3) the DBs and LBs are playing GREAT for Michigan State. 4) Brian Hoyer continues to be average (Big Bob once again reiterated: "Brian Hoyer should have his scholarship REVOKED, playing like that as a 5th year senior."). 5) Otis Wiley is a great punt returner. 6) Our DBs were out of position on a few long balls and would have been burned if not too long, but they also made great plays. 7) our running game is there, but they are slugging away for tough yards (51-231 yards on the ground, 34-133 for Ringer). 8) yes, the wideouts CAN catch if you can get them the ball (Cunningham's 3-76 were GORGEOUS -- he is MR GOLDEN HANDS)... more later.

The three stars of the game on defense for MSU: #1 Greg Jones was ALL OVER THE PLACE... #2 Justin Kershaw only guy putting pressure on the QB and tackling on the interior... #3 Otis Wiley again looking solid in safety play for most of the game.

The three stars of the game on offense for MSU: #1 Javon Ringer (5 TDs, running hard)... #2 BJ Cunningham (wow, great grabs!)... #3 Andre Anderson (8 rush, 75 yards) -- someone clue me in on the interior today, it looked like the LEFT SIDE was far more dominant than the right...

What do you think about Brian Hoyer being pulled early in the 2nd quarter after his brain fart, not hitting the open man in the right flat? Then, Kirk Cousins moving MSU all the way into the end zone for a TD... Hoyer does not look confident and one wonders why...

Purdue via http://www.offthetracks.com

Vanilla is often used to describe sporting events where teams play things very simply. If that is the case, then today was vanilla ice cream topped with vanilla sauce, served by Vanilla Ice himself. As I was driving home from West Lafayette late this afternoon I was trying to sort out my feelings for the game. It wasn’t as big of a blowout as I expected, but it was still a blowout. We struggled offensively, but we really didn’t show a lot of creativity. Defensively, we continued our maddening tendency to simply refuse to cover a hot receiver, (Ryan Chesla in this case) but only surrendered 10 points thanks to a fluke play and a drive surrendered when the game was well in hand.

Of course, as I write this Lou Holtz is using the “holding back for Michigan” excuse as the reason Notre Dame struggled with San Diego State. I do think we held back a lot with Oregon coming to town, but I also think Northern Colorado played a lot better than I expected. Both contributed to a blowout that was simply not as big as expected.

When I viewed this game on the schedule I had visions of our players running up and down the field, gaining huge chunks of yardage and scoring on big play after big play. This vision was born of the total ineptitude that I viewed Northern Colorado’s football program as having. They were certainly a lot better than I expected. Bear fans can expect more than one win this season from what I saw today.

In the end, Purdue did not play its best, but they also held back quite a bit. I feel much better than I did after the 60-35 win over Indiana State two years ago, but we must improve if we’re going to have a good season.

Stanford via http://www.gostanford.com

Rudy Carpenter threw for 345 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 15 Arizona State to a 41-17 victory over Stanford on Saturday night.

Facing relentless pressure on a 100-degree night in the desert, Carpenter completed 27-of-36 passes and threw an interception.

The Sun Devils (2-0) had won the last two meetings with Stanford by a combined score of 79-6, but this one was tighter.

Toby Gerhart's 5-yard run gave Stanford (1-1) a 7-3 lead after one quarter. Gerhart finished running for 67 yards and two touchdowns.

With 9:08 to go in the half, Carpenter hit a wide-open Michael Jones with an 11-yard touchdown pass to put ASU ahead 13-7. After a Stanford field goal in the final minute of the half, Carpenter hit Kerry Taylor for a 45-yard score to give ASU a 20-10 halftime lead.

Dimitri Nance scored from a yard out to make it 27-10 early in the third quarter.

ASU's momentum seemed to slow when Cardinal linebacker Clinton Snyder sacked Carpenter and forced a fumble midway through the third quarter. Stanford drew within 27-17 on a 6-play, 63-yard drive capped by Gerhart's 2-yard run.

The Sun Devils responded with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Carpenter hitting tight end Dan Knapp for a 2-yard touchdown with 10:43 to go in the game.

Nance ran for 75 yards and a touchdown for ASU, while senior Keegan Herring returned from a hamstring injury to rush for 59 yards and a touchdown. Herring limped off with an apparent leg injury late in the game.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh started Tavita Pritchard at quarterback but also used Jason Forcier and Alex Loukas.

Pritchard completed 11 of 18 passes for 97 yards, and he threw two interceptions that led to Sun Devils touchdowns. Loukas also was intercepted.

Stanford closed last season and opened this one with victories, and they were trying to put together their first three-game win streak since 2005. They also were bidding for their first 2-0 conference start since 2001.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Washington quarterback Jake Locker broke a tackle, tumbled into the end zone, and then harmlessly tossed the ball into the air. But the Pac-10 officiating crew flagged him, penalized Washington 15 yards, forcing Ryan Perkins to attempt a 35-yard PAT. "It really should be a no-call," Washington's remarkably composed coach Tyrone Willingham said. "But it's one that they have to call when they see it." Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano, clearly knowing the effects of that flag, followed the officials into the tunnel after the game, his screams echoing off the walls.

Pittsburgh via http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com

LeSean McCoy scored on three short runs and Pittsburgh scored two touchdowns in the second half to hold off Buffalo 27-16 on Saturday night.

McCoy, limited to 71 yards in a loss to Bowling Green last week, scored on runs of 3, 1 and 2 yards while rushing for 93 yards.

Bill Stull was 22-of-33 for 241 yards and his throwing set up all three McCoy scores as Pitt (1-1) won, leading 10-9 at halftime and 17-16 at the end of the third quarter.

The three-touchdown game was the fourth for McCoy in 14 college games. His third TD run came with 10:21 remaining and came after Stull hit T.J. Porter for 20 yards and Cedric McGee for 10 ahead of McCoy runs of 18 and 12 yards on a 74-yard drive.

The Bulls had taken a 6-0 lead on Brandon Thermilus' 1-yard TD run - Principe missed the extra point - but McCoy answered early in the second quarter by scoring his first touchdown after Stull hit Derek Kinder and Nate Byham for 15-yard gains on consecutive plays.

McCoy finished off a 63-yard drive that started the second half with his 1-yard scoring run, the first Pitt possession in which the Panthers consistently moved the ball on the ground.

Buffalo, a 13-point underdog, responded with Drew Willy's 39-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Brett Hamlin following a Pitt breakdown in coverage, but the Bulls still trailed 17-16 because of Principe's missed extra point.

James Starks, who ran for 179 yards against UTEP, ended with 20 carries for 97 yards but did not break any long runs - his longest gain was 14 yards. Willy ended 21-of-34 for 223 yards and his nation's-best streak of consecutive passes without an interception ended at 284 when Eric Thatcher picked him off with 1:26 left in the game, his final throw of the game.

Boston College via http://www.bceagles.com

Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski
On the game:
“I don’t know if there is just any one key to the game. I just don’t think that we made enough plays and Georgia Tech made the plays when they had to make the plays. We did not make enough of them obviously. We’ve got to go back and keep working on our fundamentals and learn from this setback.”

Assessing Chris Crane and the offense:
“I think we need to be more consistent as an offense and we will. It’s not just one guy. It’s the whole team. It takes all of them. We had a breakdown in protection that we got a fumble on. We missed a blitz pick up. That’s not just the quarterback. That’s all 11 guys. They have to do their job. When they don’t, that’s when
the problems arise.”

“I think they (Georgia Tech) did a good job of covering our receivers and we just need to get rid of that ball down there. We had a protection break down. When your receivers are covered, you have to scramble and make a play.”

On the rushing game:
“We used six different backs. I thought Montel Harris gave us some juice there. He had some fresh legs. Josh Haden got nicked up there. James McCluskey got nicked up. It was a physical football game.”

On Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbit:
“He made plays. He made plays when he needed to make plays. He’s a good athlete and that offense suits him well.”

Quarterback Chris Crane
On the breakdown that led to the safety:
“I had no where to go and I didn’t want to give up the touchdown if I was unsecure with the ball so I thought I got out to the one (yard line), but apparently not.”

On the failure to convert in the Red Zone:
“We did everything that we really wanted to do out on the field, but when we got to the red zone it seemed like things stalled out. It’s a lot tougher and tighter and we just need to work on it.”

On turnovers in second half:
“They started bringing pressure from the field. I tried to throw over a 6-foot, 7-guy and I didn’t realize it. (It was) blown protection. They got a sack I never even saw it coming. On the interception, I threw the ball behind the receiver and I can’t make those mistakes.”

On starting his first home-game:
“I felt fine out there. I really didn’t have any problems, no jitters. I was able to make most of the throws I wanted. I just need to work on taking the hit and putting the ball on target.”

Syracuse via http://www.watertowndailynews.com

Greg Robinson didn't get much sleep Saturday night. A disheartening defeat to an average Mid-American Conference team was the culprit behind the Syracuse University head coach's lack of energy Sunday. Even with nearly 24 hours to lament, Robinson said the Orange's 42-28 loss to Akron in the home opener still stings. "I didn't see the sun rise," Robinson said. "I don't feel good about this game. I can tell you that. It's a lousy feeling." It was the worst possible way for Syracuse to begin a four-game homestand… Everything has to be perfect for Robinson for him to salvage this season and save his job. He was under fire before the season began, and a gallon of gasoline was added to the blaze with the Akron loss. And for one the few times during his tenure, Robinson looked tired Sunday. But Robinson plans to get much-needed rest between film sessions. He said the team needs to "keep working" as a Saturday date with Penn State looms. He's more concerned about that game than he is about the future. "I really have to be strong enough not to dwell on it right now," Robinson said. "I really can't control it. I have to focus, truly, on the things I can control. That is to get this team to play better."

Southern Cal via http://www.latimes.com

USC coaches and players will watch Ohio State's game against cross-state rival Ohio University today with an eye on the quarterback situation. Fifth-year senior Todd Boeckman starts for the Buckeyes but, if last week is any indication, he will be spelled by freshman Terrelle Pryor. Boeckman is a classic drop-back passer, and Pryor is more mobile. Rotating quarterbacks present a challenge to USC defensive coaches as they devise a game plan for the Trojans' matchup with the Buckeyes on Sept. 13. Watching the game Saturday or reviewing videotape Sunday, they will look for when and how Ohio State uses Boeckman and Pryor.

IBB Weekly Motivator: Week 24

The rule, in general stinks, but funny as hell that it happened to these guys!

IBB Recruiting Update 9/4/08

Here's the latest on one of Notre Dame's West Coast prospects:

Shaquelle Evans, who was seen Wednesday night on ESPN2 with current Irish verbal commitment Cierre Wood, is one of the top receivers in the nation. This is ESPN's evaluation of Mr. Evans:

Big, fast and explosive are the three words that best describe Evans. He is a true difference-maker in the return game and moves like a smaller, quicker receiver in the open field. Has good size and has room on his frame to get even bigger. Shows an explosive surge off the ball and eats up a cushion quickly. Uses his body effectively to shield defenders from the ball. He isn't afraid to go over the middle and can catch in traffic. Has big, soft, strong hands. Can pull the ball away from defenders when fighting for it in the air. Can catch over his head and pluck on the run. He's a smooth and fluid route runner and shows some explosiveness out of his breaks. Possesses a good feel for finding soft spots in zone coverage. Shows good body control and balance. Can adjust to poorly thrown balls and is effective working the sideline. He's a vertical threat because of his size and speed. Has the wide wingspan and leaping ability to be a weapon on fade routes, especially in the red zone. Like most young receivers, he may initially struggle against press coverage when matched up with cornerbacks who are better equipped to face him. Needs to sharpen his route precision and become more crisp into and out of his cuts. Evans rates among the best in his class, regardless of position. He's a very good player and an outstanding prospect.

Evans preliminary itinerary for the next few weeks:

ESPNU 150 wide receiver Shaq Evans was in attendance for his childhood favorite's, UCLA, victory over Tennessee Monday night, hopes to take in USC's battle with Ohio State next weekend, and has an official visit planned to Notre Dame for the Sept. 27th game against Purdue.

Despite being a known UCLA-lean, ESPN's Greg Biggins reports that its not a done-deal just yet. Cal, Ohio State, Tennessee and LSU are the other programs still in the mix for No. 3-rated wideout.

Coach Weis' Expectations of Jimmy Clausen for the 2008 Season

There's no doubt 2008 is going to be a great year for Notre Dame Football!

Kirk Herbstreit on the Irish: "Me Likey"

After two minutes of unimportant talk, Kirk Herbstreit finally gets down to Saturday's matchup with the Aztecs and outlook for the 2008 season for the Fighting Irish.

Football Friday Chat 9/5/08

The clock is ticking for the start of the 2008 Notre Dame Football Season, but that won't stop us from starting early with a Football Friday Chat! Please stop by and take part in the Football Friday Chat this Friday, September 5 in the IBB Chat Room. Friday's topics will include the latest news the upcoming matchup with San Diego State, the current depth chart, practice reports,the latest on the recruiting trail, and the buzz surrounding ND's 2008 opponents. Also there will the Moderator of the Southern Cal Blog: Conquest Chronicles, on hand to field any questions you have about the Trojans.

The chat starts at 3:30 p.m. EST and you can join by either clicking on the IBB Chat Room link on the right hand side of the IBB blog page or by typing this URL: http://client11.addonchat.com/sc.php?id=292584

Hope to see everyone there, and as always, GO IRISH!

When all else fails, you can always make fun of the Wolverines

It's bad enough that Rich Rodriguez had a stellar debut in the Big House against Utah, but now this.

Here is a sign that hangs in their football complex. One would think that if they were to go through the trouble of having such an elaborate sign made, they would at least make sure the verb and the subject agree in number. What a difference an "S" makes.

See, you can go far with a Michigan degree!

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/3/08 Part II

One report is just not good enough. It's game week baby! Here's Part II of the Buzz Around Team Camps for Wednesday, September 3:

San Diego State via http://www.signonsandiego.com

In falling to Cal Poly for the second time in three years, SDSU dropped its fourth straight season opener. The Aztecs had been hoping that a revamped nonconference schedule, largely free of BCS schools, would allow them to gain confidence in the early going. “Losing is a tough thing to get through,” Chuck Long said. “The first day I was here I knew it was going to be a challenge. But I do know we're on the right track. . . . “Obviously, you want to follow everything else you do in trying to build a program, and we will build a class program where wins will follow. Anytime you have a loss or go through seasons like we did the past two years, it's tough. You want to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

Michigan via http://www.mlive.com

Upon further review of his team's season opener, University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez pronounced the offensive line's effort "below average," noted the "awful" defensive performance of the first half, talked about needing better play from the quarterback position, and pointed out the "lack of execution on both sides of the ball." "I told you all before," he said Monday. "we're not good enough to play bad and win. I don't care who it is we play. We play bad, we ain't going to win." With a 25-23 loss to Utah in the books, the Wolverines and Rodriguez can now focus on an improved performance against their second opponent, Miami of Ohio (0-1). Aside from mastering the specifics of the game plan, Rodriguez said he expects his team to do a couple of things much better: Play more physically. Play with less hesitancy.

Michigan's QB Derby

After giving his quarterback duo substantial playing time in the season's first game, it looks like University of Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez will try that tactic again in Week Two. Only this time, it could be redshirt freshman Steven Threet getting the start, and redshirt sophomore Nick Sheridan coming off the bench. Both quarterbacks attempted 19 passes in the loss to Utah, and although Threet completed a lower percentage (42.1 to 57.9) of his throws, he didn't commit a turnover (Sheridan had a hand in two) and had a slight advantage in performance. "Steve probably came out of that game grading a little bit higher," Rodriguez said. "Took the edge a little bit there. "We'll see how they execute this week in practice."

Michigan State via http://enlightenedspartan.com

The Big Green is a 21 point favorite over Eastern Michigan, according to the MGM Mirage Vegas oddsmakers. scUM is favored by 14 pts over Miami-Ohio, NW by 6.5 pts at Duke, Ohio State by 34 over Ohio, Wisky by 20.5 over Marshall, JoePa by 16.5 over Oregon State, Iowa by 27 over Florida International, Bowling Green by 6 at home over Minny... Also notable are future opponents, ND favored by 22 over San Diego State and Florida Atlantic by 13 over UAB.

North Carolina via http://blogs.newsobserver.com

Phase I of Kenan Stadium renovations are scheduled to begin after this season, and after Saturday’s victory over McNeese State, they can’t start fast enough.

Not only did a lightning strike short out a circuit board in the PA announcer’s box (the school had a spare), interfere with cable and wireless connections in the press box and delay the game in the second quarter for almost two hours — but a chunk of concrete fell into the stands around section 220, spokesman Steve Kirschner confirmed Saturday.

It landed in an area where there were no people, so no one was hurt. And the school is still looking into what caused it. But it will be fixed before UNC’s next home game, against Virginia Tech on Sept. 28, Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations Steve Kirschner said.

“An aging facility and a bad storm are not a good combination, to say the least,’’ Kirschner said.

It was just another strange occurance during a night of many. Before the game, an aerial team that was supposed to parachute into Kenan with the game ball instead landed at Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium.

Then after the game, the lone beat reporter covering McNeese State got stuck in the press box elevator for about two hours. He was eventually freed around 1 a.m.

Just another thing to fix at Kenan.

Washington via http://www.thenewstribune.com

Which brings us to the Huskies’ game this Saturday against 15th-ranked BYU. The home opener is supposed to be a thrilling and potentially memorable event for a college-football team, but the debacle at Oregon has turned this home opener into a collision-course mandate on the future of Washington head coach Tyrone Willingham. If the Huskies lose with Oklahoma looming on Sept. 13, it virtually guarantees them taking an 0-3 record into their bye week. Given Willingham’s tenuous job status – he’s in his fourth season at the UW, and the program is spinning its wheels – the notion of a “bye week” sounds ominous.

Pittsburgh via http://www.lvrj.com

A failure in his time as an NFL head coach in Chicago and Miami, Dave Wannstedt is doing even worse at the college level. Wannstedt's latest blunder came Saturday, when his Pittsburgh Panthers were upset 27-17 by Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference. Pitt was No. 25 and favored by two touchdowns. "The warm seat that Wannstedt began the season sitting on has just become blazing hot," wrote Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Not-so-super Dave's four-year record with the Panthers is 16-20, including 13-20 against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. Wannstedt has many faults, and one is that he's more conservative than a nun. In the Bowling Green debacle, the Panthers twice were inside the Falcons' 35-yard line facing a fourth down -- and both times Wannstedt chose to punt. In addition, the Panthers drove to the Falcons 20 with 37 seconds left in the first half and played for a field goal despite having two timeouts.

Here's some about other Pro, turned College Coaches, including a good review on the Irish:

WEIS GUY OR DUNCE? -- Pete Carroll and Steve Spurrier are far more successful as college coaches than they were in the NFL. But some coaches, such as Wannstedt, are so bad on both levels they should wear a dunce cap. Former Raiders coach Bill Callahan was a disastrous hire for Nebraska, and Greg Robinson, a former NFL defensive coordinator, is 7-29 in his fourth year at Syracuse. The jury is still out on Charlie Weis, the former Patriots offensive coordinator who lost his genius label by going 3-9 last year at Notre Dame. But expect the Fighting Irish to rescue Weis and win eight or nine games this season.

Boston College via http://blogs.newsoberserver.com

Quarterback Chris Crane, who waited four years for his chance to run the offense, ran for two touchdowns to lead Boston College to a 21-0 season-opening win over Kent State on Saturday night.

Making just his second career start, Crane, a fifth-year senior who spent last season sitting behind former BC star and Atlanta Falcons starter Matt Ryan, completed 12 of 18 passes for 106 yards. He scored on a 10-yard run in the first quarter, a 6-yarder early in the fourth to make it 21-0 and kept his mistakes to a minimum while directing BC's ground-heavy attack.

The Eagles, who climbed as high as No. 2 in the polls last season before finishing 10th in the AP Top 25, had little trouble with the Mid-American Conference's Golden Flashes.

Boston College took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and then turned things over to its veteran defense, which didn't allow the Golden Flashes inside its 45 until the fourth quarter and posted its first shutout since 2006.

Syracuse via http://blog.syracuse.com

The statistical numbers after the Northwestern loss seemed like a lot of other statistical numbers that have been posted here the last few years. Maybe there are some differences or clues as to the direction of things. One thing that does jump out is the running game, which basically doubled its average from a year ago. The run defense is a serious red flag, though the pass defense numbers are a bit better, especially when you consider they're against the team ranked No. 10 nationally last season in passing offense.

Of course, the only number that really matters is the Orange is 0-1. Anywho ... now serving No. ...


Category/National Ranking/Yards or Points per game
Rushing offense
2008: 76th, 122.0
2007: 118, 62.75
2006: 97, 106.92
2005: 105, 106.55


Passing offense
2008: NA,103.0
2007: 55, 229.2
2006: 103, 157.1
2005: 105, 150.8


Total Offense
2008: 95, 225.0
2007: 114, 291.92
2006: 110, 264.0
2005: 115, 257.36

Scoring Offense
2008: 92 (tie), 10.0
2007: 116, 16.42
2006: 102, 17.42
2005: 114, 13.82

Rushing defense
2008: 101, 269.0
2007: 108, 207.8
2006: 110, 185.1
2005: 97, 187.3

Passing defense
2008: 65, 215.0
2007: 102, 260.92
2006: 76, 214.25
2005: 21, 185.45

Total defense
2008: 95, 484.0
2007: 111, 468.75
2006: 107, 399.33
2005: 57, 372.73

Scoring defense
2008: 77, 30.0
2007: 104, 34.8
2006: 72, 24.6
2005: 67, 26.8

Irish Set For 400th Game at Notre Dame Stadium against the Aztecs

Besides being the first game of the 2008 season for the Fighting Irish, Saturday's contest against San Diego State will be the 400th home contest in Notre Dame Stadium. This will mark only the third time that Notre Dame has not been ranked in these commemorative games.

Overall, the Irish are 5-2 in these games with an average of 30.2 points per contest, while yielding only 12.5. A three score margin sounds just about right for Saturday's game too, right?

Below is a list of the milestone games at Notre Dame Stadium:

Game 50: Notre Dame 49 Illinois 14 (1941)
Game 100: Notre Dame 21 Texas 0 (1954)
Game 150: Notre Dame 24 UCLA 0 (1964)
Game 200: Notre Dame 48 Air Force 15 (1973)
Game 250: Notre Dame 23 Michigan St. 28 (1983)
Game 300: Notre Dame 38 Navy 0 (1991)
Game 350: Notre Dame 29 Boston College 31 (1999)

Here's to a milestone accomplishment and a year to remember, GO IRISH!

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/3/08

Catch the latest on the 2008 Fighting Irish opponents for Wednesday, September 3:

San Diego State via http://www.goaztecs.com

Head Coach Chuck Long

General Comments: "It's a new week, obviously a big week for our team and this program going to a storied place and the tradition of college football. There's a lot of excitement for our guys. It shouldn't take much motivation if you are any kind of competitor or college football player. We have a renewed enthusiasm with our football team. We are coming off a disappointing loss. We want to move on.

"Two things we have to improve on are finishing games and also turnovers. No matter who you play in this game, you just can't give the ball up five times, especially going into a hostile environment like Notre Dame. That's going to be key with the noise level."

On playing at a storied tradition like Notre Dame:
"I grew up in Chicago in Notre Dame country and have never been to South Bend. This is exciting for me as well. I'm probably going to have to give (the team) the old Gene Hackman speech on Hoosiers and get out the tape measure and show them it's just a football field. We're going to try to pump in some crowd noise this week. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you may never have this chance again. I know they'll have fun with it. I know when they get in there, they'll be a little wide-eyed, but they'll settle in."

On the play of redshirt freshman Ryan Lindley against Cal Poly on Saturday:
"We saw a lot positives in the game, starting with Ryan Lindley, who will be a special player here. He showed poise, coming back after a rocky start. Talking to him on the sidelines, there were moments I had to catch myself saying, "Am I actually talking to a freshman here?" the way he was talking to (the coaching staff). He sounded like a fifth-year senior. He got rid of the ball when facing pressure. Some of those pressures were empty sets with five wide receivers and only five blockers, when (Cal Poly) were bringing six guys. Not a lot of freshmen can see the field the way he does. He has that wide vision that is very rare. He was very impressive.

"From the second quarter on, without the drops in the game, he was probably 80 percent (completion percentage) throwing the ball and about 490-500 (yards) throwing. That gives you a bit of an idea. From the second quarter on, he got his poise and was on fire the rest of the day. We're going to build on that and that is exciting for our staff."

On the team's defense against Cal Poly:
"Defensively, we had our rough moments. But we had two things that didn't happen last year. We had six three and outs on defense and they were only 2-of-13 on third downs. Our third down production wasn't that good last year, so we improved in that area."

On improving the running game:
"We really didn't give it a lot of attempts. It's really not fair to say we don't have a running game. We felt going (into last week) that we had to throw the ball to win the game and we did that. We got our team in position with a one-point lead to win it. We do have to run the ball and we want to, but we have to give it more attempts. The times we did run, we had some pretty good production."

Senior linebacker Russell Allen

On going to Notre Dame Stadium:
"This is going to be a neat opportunity for us. We are really excited about going out there and getting to play a football game, but this is a business trip for us and we know that going in."

On how the Notre Dame tradition might affect the team:
"We will find out when we get there, but we have made some big trips before. I've been to Ohio State and Wisconsin and Darren (Mougey) went to Michigan when he was a freshman. For the most part we know what it is going to be like, but like I said, it's a business trip. We are going in there with the attitude of getting a win."

On the defensive line:
"It's been tough. Those guys (defensive line) have had some hard times going through training camp and then obviously a couple more injuries during last week's game, but they are tough. They are going to work hard to get back out on the field and we know they will. We know we can count on them."

On moving on from last week's loss to Cal Poly:
"(Cal Poly) was definitely a tough loss, but it is a long season. We have 11 more games to play and this week we move on to Notre Dame. We can take a lot of things from that game, both positive and negative. We saw a lot of bright spots and things that we are going to do well this year, as well as a lot of things that we need to improve on. That is going to be the key. If we can take those things and learn from them, then it can still be a successful year for us."

Redshirt freshman quarterback Ryan Lindley

On what changed after a slow offensive start vs. Cal Poly:
"I think as an offense we got into a rhythm. Guys started clicking and we started passing the ball around. We were getting good timing with the routes and the offensive line was playing very well. I kind of put a lot of it on my shoulders as far as I have to get things generated. I started a little slow and as soon as I got back into it we got things clicking."

On Notre Dame sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen:
"He is obviously a very talented kid and got a lot of experience last year as a true freshman. He's in a big time program and he was rated pretty highly out of high school, but I have a lot of confidence in our defense...I guess they run a little bit of the Power I, but I feel confident that our guys will handle their business out there Saturday."

On his performance vs. Cal Poly:
"Our performance is a team performance. For me, it's the offense and we got a slow start. What we need to do is put four quarters together like we put that second half together. I think if we do that, we can put up a lot of points and play some pretty good football."

On going to Notre Dame Stadium:
"It's definitely exciting, but it is all business. We are going to get out there and maybe we'll be wide-eyed on Friday when we go see the stadium, but once we hit Saturday morning and we are ready for game time, it's all business. We need to go in there and win a ball game. That's what it is all about."

On the running game:
"I have 100 percent confidence in our offensive line's run blocking and in our running backs. I think we have a lot of talent at the running back position. The way Cal Poly's defense is schemed, they stack the box and play against the run. I think we still have the power to mix it up and have a balanced attack this week."

Senior wide receiver Darren Mougey

On going to Notre Dame Stadium:
"When you first get to those big games, you get a little wide-eyed and start thinking, `wow, this is big.' But, as soon as we step in between the lines on the field, it all goes back to just playing football. It doesn't really affect you as much as everyone thinks it does. The crowd noise in certain situations does come into play, but really once you get on the field it's just another game."

On the wide receivers' drops vs. Cal Poly:
"It was frustrating. It is something that we need to improve on and not let happen again. It was the first game and for a lot of those guys, it was really the first time they were getting game experience, but those are things we need to put behind us. I'll put it on my shoulders to make sure the receivers are out there before and after practice getting extra catches and working with Ryan (Lindley)."

Michigan via http://www.mgoblue.com

There is something different about the regular Monday press conference on Labor Day. Before the presser starts, it is quieter. The beat writers are here but there are fewer TV cameras and fewer columnists. The media seems to be more sedate. It is truly an "off day" that everyone has to work. Frankly, it is a "slower" day.

When Rich Rodriguez walked in the room, the questions were straightforward and the answers were as expected. But what started as a 'slow' day for the presser is going to be a start of a fast and tough week in Schembechler Hall. "Playing faster and playing more physical" is going to be the name of the game under Rodriguez.

The U-M coach felt the team played too tentatively and reverted back to some of the issues they had early on in practice. He is also pleased that the team is conscientious and "they know what they have to do to get better."

He didn't fault the team's effort against Utah, but he reminded the press that, "We are not good enough to play bad and win. We have to play well and execute to win ballgames."

And Rich knows that's what the coaches are paid to accomplish. So, when the presser was a little shorter than usual, you noticed Rich was getting back into the trenches quickly to get the team and staff ready to play to its expectations.

More from Rich Rodriguez's presser

Freshmen: Even though 12 true freshmen played on Saturday, Rodriguez felt two more true freshmen -- Roy Roundtree and Kevin Koger -- also could see action this year.

QBs: On the quarterback side, Rodriguez also reminded the media that the QBs in this offense have to be judged on a variety of acumens. He told them that this offense requires the field general to make more quick decisions, so it isn't just how one throws the ball.

He also noted that while Nick Sheridan might have had the early edge going into the opener against Utah, Steven Threet probably has the edge right now. Though that doesn't mean Rodriguez is going to announce the starter.

Freshman Justin Feagin's name came up in the conference and Rodriguez made quick mention that he "wasn't ready to play" and he will be redshirted.

RBs: The coach also mentioned that Carlos Brown banged up his shoulder and that Michael Shaw, Sam McGuffie and Brandon Minor all saw basically the same number of reps even though they didn't run the ball an equal amount of times. He also talked about how Michigan's inability to move the ball on early downs kept the offense from utilizing the run better.

"You can't have third-and-15 and third-and-long and expect to run the ball," said Rodriguez. That, according to Rich, has to change.

Washington via http://seattletimes.nwsource.com

Since this is a football season and not an extended wake, the Huskies get to play another game Saturday. It just happens to be against an opponent more polished, more powerful and with a more stable quarterback situation than Oregon. And you thought 44-10 was depressing. If Washington doesn't show some vitality, Brigham Young will win by at least three touchdowns, a closer result than the previous fiasco only because of the Husky Stadium advantage. Unless the Huskies improve in every way imaginable, they could get booed more than a roster of Shaun Alexander clones. Now would be a good time for coach Tyrone Willingham to coax a stunner out of his mangled program. He needs a performance more dramatic than last season's home-opening victory over Boise State. In short, the message is clear: Show us something. Show us something, or prepare for detonation. Surprise us. Enthrall us. Confuse us, even. The pessimists, or maybe they're the realists, have this entire year figured out already, you know. After one game, they have determined Washington will be lucky to win three games. They have Willingham exiting early, possibly on Oct. 5, the start of the second bye week. They have a headliner for the coaching wish list, Gary Pinkel of Missouri, a Don James protégé. Only a divine turnaround, the kind that provides sports with theatrical flair, can stop them now.

Here's one for all the Tyrone supporters! via http://www.bellinghamherald.com

Washington’s loss to Oregon on Saturday not only dropped the Huskies to 0-1 on the season, it also dropped Tyrone Willingham below .500 over his 13-plus seasons as a college head football coach. Willingham went 44-36-1 over seven seasons at Stanford and then 21-15 over three seasons at Notre Dame. However, he went 11-25 over his first three seasons at Washington, which dropped him to exactly .500 before falling to 76-77-1 on Saturday. “I don’t like it,” Willingham said Monday. “I’m not comfortable with it. But as they say: What it is is what it is. We just keep working and get it back over, and we’ll get on one of these runs pretty soon that will be one of these great winning streaks.” Some Willingham supporters note that Stanford is a difficult place to win. And that he was fired at Notre Dame before he could coach a team of his own recruits. Or that he inherited a 1-10 team when he came to Washington. He was asked if those circumstances warrant any sort of mental asterisk to mitigate what is now a losing lifetime record. “I guess an asterisk usually has a definition of some defining extra circumstances to it or something of that nature,” he said. “But no: It is what it is.”… That career .500 record was used against Willingham when his job status came into question after last season. And now the Huskies’ 44-10 loss to Oregon and his sub-.500 record have renewed calls for his job only one game into the new season.

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

The beginning of the end of the Dave Wannstedt era at Pitt may have taken place this afternoon at Heinz Field as Mid-American Conference opponent Bowling Green upset No. 25 Pitt, 27-17, before a crowd of 45,063.

Southern Cal via http://www.conquestchronicles.com/

In case you missed it USC vaulted Georgia and Ohio State in the AP poll to take #1 billing . SC jumped Georgia in the USA Today's Poll to take #1 as well. I know this is not CC's idea of letting the spotlight shine on someone else, but I think this is a good thing. We need to see how this SC performs under pressure, as if Sep. 13 wasn't pressure-packed already. Bring on the Buckeyes!!!

Note: UCLA also made it into the AP poll at #23 and missed the USA Today's poll by 1 point. They played a great game yesterday and we'll also see how they respond with a little pressure on them.

IBB Watercooler 9/2/08

It's the calm before the storm as the Fighting Irish get ready to kickoff their 2008 season. So without further adieu, here's the latest watercooler talk for Tuesday 9/2/08:

Depth Chart Battles
With only a few days away, today is the last chance to make an impression on the Irish coaches as to who will start against the Aztecs on Saturday. The running back battle is pretty much set in stone as Armando Allen will get the nod over Robert Hughes and James Aldridge. But don't be surprised if both Allen and Hughes come out for the first play or series together.

A tight battle has been going back and forth between incumbent Asaph Schwapp and the multi-purpose Luke Schmidt. It's been a long time coming for the Jasper, Indiana native, but Schmidt has looked the most impressive the past few weeks.

Defensively, one of the end positions is still up for grabs between Morrice Richardson and Justin Brown. At this point, you can pretty much flip a coin, because both of them will be rotating in and out on Saturday. As for the WILL position, look for Kerry Neal to put in passing situations, while John Ryan is more of the run stopper. Because San Diego State is a pass heavy team, look for Neal to get the nod.

First Impressions
Besides scouring over films of practice and scouting Aztecs, Charlie Weis and company did have a chance to look at some of their 2008 opponents this past weekend. Just like many of the other onlookers, the staff was very surprised at some of the outcomes. The two that stood out the most to Irish coaches was Pittsburgh's home loss to Bowling Green, and North Carolina's come-from-behind victory over I-AA McNeese State.

Weis Watching Weis
Friday night Coach Weis was out watching local high school football. No, he wasn't scouting any players, he was watching his son Charlie Jr. help with the #3 Class 3-A South Bend St. Joe Indians. St. Joe played their arch rival the Marian Knights at Otolski Field. Weis, the elder, was on the Marian track with his wife Maura watching the Indians beat the Knights 28-6.

It was interesting to see that Weis did interact with several well wishers and sign a few autographs for some younger fans. This is definitely a night and day from what many in the past said about Coach Weis and his demeanor towards fans.

Recruiting News
It looks like another Jersey guy is on the Irish map. In fact he's going to be making an unofficial visit for one of the first two games. But here's a little 411 on Nyshier Oliver:

Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep DB/WR Nyshier Oliver is back on the recruiting market, he told Rivals.com. Oliver, who committed to Tennessee in June, is back to being wide open because he felt he rushed the decision.

Notre Dame immediately offered him a scholarship after he made the decision to decommit from Tennessee this week. He has a list of top schools such as Tennessee, Michigan, Boston College and Notre Dame.

As a junior, he rushed for more than 1,400 yards and 24 touchdowns, as well as intercepting four passes.

What to expect this week
1.) Another verbal commitment will be in store for the Irish. Several HS seniors are looking to pull the trigger for Notre Dame, but which one? We shall soon find out!

2.) Basic vanilla plays. Since the Aztecs had a rough time stopping the run, look for the Irish to run the ball with ease and not show their next opponent, Michigan any new wrinkles, like the 2-back set with Allen and Hughes.

3.) Pep Rally Surprises. Let's just say, show up on Friday. Trust me, you'll enjoy it thoroughly!

Aaron Taylor Resurfaces on CBS College Sports Network

Although this is a few days late, Aaron Taylor sees a promising future ahead for the Fighting Irish. I wonder what his take would be after seeing the rest of the Irish opponents this past weekend?


Watch CBS Videos Online

Buzz Around Team Camps 9/2/08

Here's the latest buzz around team camps after this wild and wacky weekend to start the college football season:

San Diego State via http://www.nctimes.com

“For openers, it was the most important contest on the 12-game schedule. San Diego State lifted the curtain Saturday night on its 86th football season hoping not to get 86'd by Cal Poly ---- again, like in 2006. Except the Aztecs did, losing 29-27 on a chip-shot field goal on the final play of the game. The Aztecs had to win this game. They had to dispose of the mighty Mustangs, a Football Championship Subdivision squad that offers fewer scholarships than SDSU but brought nearly as many fans to Qualcomm Stadium. So what if thousands of local SDSU alumni didn't show. That wasn't the story. The Aztecs' task was to prove that their decade of dismal play had vaporized, like Mitt Romney and Evan Bayh's chances as potential presidential running mates. Instead, the loss Saturday means that a dose of doubt will ride shotgun next week when the Aztecs trek to South Bend, Ind., to play Notre Dame. It's there that Irish eyes are frowning, bent on putting a 3-9 season behind them and slapping a beating on SDSU, a cupcake in the minds of those who kneel to Touchdown Jesus. The loss means that the good vibes emanating from preseason practices were as manufactured as a prefabricated house. That the summer optimism was a farce, similar to the Padres sweeping the first-place Diamondbacks, then racing back to reality. Coach Chuck Long is learning that the patience of the Aztecs' faithful --- “ that handful of people know who they are --- “ is running short. That entering his third year, the time is now to show progress, not potholes. To make SDSU football synonymous with something other than Lucy pulling back the football on another Charlie Brown kick.

Michigan St. via http://www.freep.com

Many Michigan State fans have wondered about the status of the state's top football prospect from the class of 2008, Nick Perry of Detroit Martin Luther King High School. Perry finished his senior year with a state record 36 sacks and helped lead King to the state Championship. The 6-4, 245-pound pass rush specialist signed with USC, but has yet to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse and has not been officially admitted to the university. Perry, who was rated the #1 player in Michigan by SpartanMag.com and the #2 defensive end in the nation by Rivals.com selected the Trojans over a final group of Michigan State, Michigan and Miami. If Perry does not get through the NCAA Clearinghouse, he would likely be released from his scholarship obligation by USC and could take a variety of paths. Perry could attend a Junior College, a Prep School or enroll at another 4-year school as a non-qualified athlete.

Pittsburgh via http://www.post-gazette.com

The warm seat that Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt began the season sitting on has just become blazing hot. That's because the Panthers, still in search of their first winning season under their fourth-year coach, dropped their opener yesterday, losing, 27-17, to Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference before a crowd of 45,063 at Heinz Field. The Panthers entered their opener ranked No. 25 and picked to contend for the Big East Conference title.

More on Pitt's performance via http://collegefootball.rivals.com

That appears to be the case for Pittsburgh, which ended last season with a monumental upset of West Virginia and began this season in the top 25. But the Panthers fell 27-17 to Bowling Green in their opener Saturday, and now all the questions about the direction of Dave Wannstedt's program are being asked again.

Syracuse via http://blog.syracuse.com

It's such a little thing really, but it came to irritate many. The way the Orange football team walked onto the field before kickoff as opposed to busting down the gates of hell made fans crazy, in a bad way. The team locked arms in a series of lines and walked, strolled, meandered, sometimes stopping to grunt their Haka warrior manliness. If you thought it stupid, so did others. A blog reader asked me if the walk had been axed. I asked SU director of athletics Daryl Gross. He said, and I quote, "gone."

IBB Weekly Motivator: Week 23

I guess ESPN does have a short bus for their College Gameday Crew!