Happy Halloween! | by Pat

A Happy Halloween to all Irish fans! We here at BGS hope you have a suitably scary day and hope that your costume is well thought out. We hear that extra candy is given out to those who dress as Irish football players, be you child or adult. On the other hand, beware of tricks and dirty looks if you dress up like fans of Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue, or Southern Cal.

If you are still looking for a costume, we hear the Tommy Z costume is popular. So much so that Coach Tiller is using it. Of course, some costumes don't take much in the way of equipment, while some require a few props. In a pinch, classic Disney creations like Mickey and Goofy are always popular, while some opt for newer characters like The Mighty Ducks. Personally, I'm putting the finishing touches on my costume, as I plan on going as the luckiest man in college football.

Whatever you do, have a great night and be on the look out for cranky old men and things that go bump in the night. Enjoy!

Navy Game Photo Galleries | by Pat

Check out this week's game photo galleries at the following links: the South Bend Tribune, Irish Illustrated, Blue and Gold Illustrated, Getty Images, and the AP photo wire.

This week's photo highlights the 2nd half Irish defense. After playing like a sieve in the 1st half and allowing 210 rushing yards the Irish D buckled down and held the nation's #2 rushing attack to 61 2nd half yards on the ground.

There's also a nice shot of Justin Brown, in his first action of the season, sacking the Navy QB and forcing a fumble. Kudos to Brown.

Game Time! | by Pat

Rush'n Attack | by Pat

With the game only a few hours away, we still had a few questions about this Navy squad so we shot over some questions to Mr. A, writer of the Navy blog Pitch Right and the Navy section of the AOL FanHouse Blogs. Mr. A does a great job covering a program that doesn't always get major media attention.

On to the questions...

1. First things first. With starting quarterback Brian Hampton out, Kaipo Kaheaku-Enhada and Jarod Bryant are both expected to see some time under center. Which one do you expect to play more and what can you tell us about these two sophomores? Do you have a preference?

I expect we will see Kaipo to begin the game. Coach Johnson has said several times that he feels like Kaipo has a slight edge in ability and experience, although hasn't ruled out playing both quarterbacks for that matter. Obviously I'm not as well informed as the coaching staff, but from what I've seen Jarod actually looks more composed then Kaipo is at this point. A lot has been made about Kaipo's athletic ability ( 4.4 speed, Vick-like quickness), but it really hasn't translated into on-the-field success. Granted he didn't get much help against an extremely good Rutgers defense, but he almost looks tentative running the option. Conversely, Jarod's statistics against Rutgers don't do justice to the way he played. He has a good sense of presence in the pocket, and does an excellent job coming off reads and making checks. He's not lightning fast, but he can read defenses on the option and isn't afraid to cut up-field or pitch it. Despite his size (5'10, 187) he has a tremendous leg drive and is able to grind out the tough yards you need to run this option attack. Remember, he was Mr. Football in the state Alabama in 2004, and helped lead Hoover High to a state championship while John Parker Wilson was injured. Obviously I'm a fan of Jarod, but I think if Kaipo can play within himself and stay calm he can do some good things.

2. Brian Hampton has scored 10 of Navy's 19 rushing touchdowns. Which player do you expect will most pick up the slack? Which one do you think will have the biggest day against Notre Dame?

Conventional wisdom would tell us fullback Adam Ballard or slotback Reggie Campbell, although one needs to understand that there really aren't "go-to" guys on this Navy team. That's not to say there aren't guys with clutch ability, but rather that this is a team designed around a system that doesn't put the emphasis on individuals so much as it does team execution. I actually expect the Navy defense to have a decent day, in particular the linebacking corps. Tyler Tidwell has been quiet so far this year, and I expect to see him at least try to get to Quinn a few times during the game. I'd also look out for MLB Rob Caldwell (Lombardi Award Watch List, Indiana native) and OLD David Mahoney. Both of these linebacker splay with a tremendous grit and energy and don't often miss tackles. On offense, Ballard or one of the other fullbacks needs to get the ball a good 20-25 times during the game in order to back Notre Dame's defenders off of the edges. Likewise, Reggie Campbell and the slotbacks are going to have to get north/south at every opportunity they get. I expect Ballard to have a decent day and for Campbell, who was virtually shut-out of the game two weeks ago, to get some quality touches.

3. The shutout loss to Rutgers was the first time Navy has failed to reach double digits in points since the 2004 Notre Dame game. Did Rutgers do anything different defensively to slow down the Navy rushing attack or was the injury to Hampton really that devastating for the Navy offense?

Well, for starters the Scarlet Knights had two weeks to prepare for the game. Anytime you're playing a particularly unique offense that certainly helps. I think people need to step back and look at this Rutgers team though, I mean there is a reason they're ranked first nationally in total defense. After watching them dominate Pitt last week, I think we've got to assume they have a very real shot of finishing with 10 or 11 wins. The injury to Hampton was significant in terms that it took the rhythm away from the offense and probably led to a loss of focus from the team, but I think Rutgers would have won anyway. Just saying they're fast doesn't do justice to the way Rutgers played defensively two weeks ago. They reacted with such precision and quickness that Navy's blocking scheme could never get under it's feet, and did a very good job covering both the quarterback and pitch man on option plays. They say discipline and assignment football wins against the option, but with the way Navy is passing right now significant penetration is really all you need. As an aside, I've noticed some fairly sloppy tackling by Notre Dame's defenders over the year, and I think this is something Navy can take advantage of. It's very difficult to tackle 5'6 Reggie Campbell and 5'8 Zerb Singleton because of their low center of gravity, while nobody under God's green earth is going to take Adam Ballard down on their own.

4. Coach Johnson has had a bye week to get ready for this game. Coach Weis said that last year Navy did different things on offense and defense from what they had shown on tape. Do you think Johnson might try to mix things up a bit more this year, especially considering the QB situation, or do you think he will just try to get the new guys used to running the normal offense.

That's tough to say. I thought Johnson would have mixed it up several times this year, including last week, but that really wasn't the case. I'm a big fan of trickeration myself, but so far this year we've only had one reverse and one fake punt. I have long thought of Johnson as one of the ballsiest (pardon my language) Head Coach's in college football, but his play-calling has been somewhat reserved this year. Part of that is just poor execution, but one has to wonder if Navy just doesn't go all out in a game nobody expects them to win anyway. Considering the way Navy's O-line has played in pass protection, I think he may throw some wrinkles into the passing game, but I don't think the offense will get too funky. Maybe some draws and freeze option stuff, but that's not really exotic and he's been doing those all year anyway. Remember, it's an offense based on execution, not talent. If he has confidence in the players, there is no reason to play the game any differently.

5. Finally, we know they are annoying, but we have to ask about the coaching rumors. Paul Johnson is a very good coach and as with most good coaches, his name is going to continue to pop up when jobs, such as the North Carolina gig, open up. What are your thoughts on Coach Johnson's future with the Naval Academy?

Ideally a guy like Coach Johnson would stay around forever, but as you said his name will be coming up for a variety of jobs. He refused to address the job at Carolina the other day, but I don't think he'd take the job even if UNC's AD offered it to him. Johnson gets a ton of support from the media and the alumni and hasn't been criticized once in his current tenure at the Academy. He has a substantial salary (which hasn't actually been made public) and gets to coach one of the nation's most storied teams. I don't know enough about who he is as a person to make the kind of judgment call about when or even if he goes, but I expect to hear his name thrown around more and more as vacancies start opening up.

Thanks for some excellent answers Mr. A. In what appears to be a lopsided game, there are still some interesting questions to be answered. He makes some great points about the Navy offensive option system being one that relies on execution and not individual talent. For that reason I expect Navy to be fairly successful on offense, despite the new QB. On the other hand, most of the execution part of the option attack starts with the QB's read of the defense. Will the inexperience at that position hurt the Midshipmen? Will Notre Dame defenders -- especially the revamped linebacker lineup -- wrap up Navy runners and avoid the shoulder tackles that too often this year have resulted in missed tackles? Will the ND offensive line be able to keep the excellent Navy linebackers away from Quinn for most of the game? Will Navy be able to execute their game plan of tackling Rudy whenever he gets the ball?

Statistically Speaking - UCLA | by Pat

I don't want to push Pete's excellent post too much further down the page, so this will be brief.

Blitzkrieg. The Irish turned up the pressure against the Bruins with the most number of blitzes run all year long. I imagine the combination of ND staying in the 4-3 and not the nickel most of the game as well as the presence of the inexperienced Pat Cowan under center contributed to the increase. The frequency of 2nd down blitzes blows away anything seen thus far this season.

Down	# of blitzes	# of chances	Percentage
1st	8	23	35%
2nd	15	21	71%
3rd	8	15	53%
Total	31	59	53%

Season Long Running Totals

Click here for up-to-date numbers goodness.

Notre Dame vs. Navy, 1967: A Respectful Legacy | by Pete

As a senior at Notre Dame last year, I wrote a column about the ending of the 2005 ND-Navy matchup, and the mutual respect that rightfully exists between the two programs, which you can read here.

The response was overwhelming; I received over 1200 e-mails about that column, mostly from Naval Academy graduates, current Midshipmen, and their loved ones. Messages from Mids came from as far as the Middle East and Tokyo, all reiterating the wonderful respect that exists between these two programs and reminiscing with stories of ND-Navy matchups from years past. One e-mail, from Lieutenant Gerry Motl, told his story of playing in South Bend against a Rocky Bleier led Notre Dame squad in 1967. With his blessing, here is that story:

(Click on any picture to get a larger version)

1967 Navy - Notre Dame Football Game

As background, I played defensive halfback for Marquette High School where we won the 1963 Milwaukee Catholic Conference Championship with an 8-0-1 record. I led the team with 44 1/2 tackles and tied for most interceptions.

Although not recruited by the Naval Academy specifically to play football, I did receive a football recruiting letter from Rip Miller, the Naval Academy Director of Athletics. Rip was one of the “seven mules;” the line that blocked for the famous 1924 Notre Dame “Four Horsemen.”

Marquette was rated the number 3 Catholic team in the state after tying Number 2 Prairie du Chien Campion.

Appleton Xavier was rated number 1 based primarily on the performance of Rocky Bleier, an All-Stater and, I believe, high school All-American. He was famous in high school circles and well known to me even then.

Shortly after arriving in Annapolis, I become friends with a classmate, Jim Rather, since we were both from Wisconsin. I learned even as a plebe that Jim had been Rocky Bleier’s Quarterback at Appleton Xavier during the 1963 season!

Four years later, I was a solid second-stringer on the Navy football team as we prepared for our game against Notre Dame.

The November 4th, 1967 game was the seventh game of the season for both teams. Navy’s record was 4 and 2 with victories over Penn State, Michigan, Syracuse and Pitt but losses to William & Mary and Rice.

Notre Dame, the defending National NCAA champion, was 4 and 2, boasting stars such as Terry Hanratty, Jim Seymour, Bob Gladieux and Rocky Bleier. Rocky Bleier from Appleton Xavier was now team captain and a star at Notre Dame!

As the Navy team left the Pep Rally in Tecumseh Court to head for South Bend, I bumped in to Jim Rather. He said to me, “Gerry, say hello to Rocky for me if you see him.” I told Jim that I would.

We flew to Indiana from Baltimore and ended up staying in Elkhart, Indiana. I remember that Elkhart was in a different time zone from South Bend. To be honest, I can’t even remember if we worked out in Notre Dame Stadium before the game. I do know that my entire family and all my Dad’s friends from Felty and Joe’s Bar would be attending after driving down from Milwaukee….a total of 12 fifty yard line tickets in Section 10.

On game day, we took a bus to the stadium to get ready for the game, missing all of the Notre Dame hoopla that I have since become familiar and learned to love. The game day program, as I was to learn later, featured Jim Crowley, one of the Four Horsemen, and Rip Miller on the cover! An interesting coincidence!

We went through our normal pre-game routine and I recall that we had called our first offensive play in the locker room…basically a pump-fake pass to Rob Taylor on a curl pattern, Rob’s favorite play. We were sure Notre Dame would commit on the fake and that Rob would turn up-field for the touchdown.

We entered the field to start the game before a sold-out crowd of 59,075. We lost the toss and Notre Dame elected to receive the kick. Since I was on the kickoff team, I would be on the field for the start of the game. As we huddled before the kickoff, I could see the top of Touchdown Jesus and thought how neat it was to be a Catholic boy from Milwaukee playing against Notre Dame!!

As we lined up for the kickoff, I counted up Notre Dame formation to identify the Notre Dame blocker assigned to block me…a jersey starting with a 6…a guard. As a defensive halfback, I didn’t worry too much about a guard!

A crescendo rose as we kicked off. I recited my normal Memorare prayer on the kickoff as had been my custom ever since high school. I raced down the field closely watching my assigned blocker. He was fast, much faster than I expected. He got into my body space despite my efforts to avoid him and he knocked me down. I got up quickly and saw the ball carrier approaching. I tackled the ball carrier who fell down on his back with me on top of him. We were covered with other players. I opened my eyes and found myself staring at the face of Rocky Bleier. As players un-piled, I said, “Rocky, Jim Rather wanted me to say hello for him.” He immediately replied, “Really, say hello to Jim for me.”

The game proceeded. When Navy finally got the ball, we executed the Rob Taylor pass play that we had pre-planned. Notre Dame was looking for this play, one of our favorite patterns. It was executed perfectly. The Notre Dame defensive back committed and then Rob turned up field…but the pass was overthrown by John Cartwright!

Navy got off to a good start with the score only 7-0 Notre Dame after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Notre Dame scored 28 points…which set the stage for us bench warmers to play in the second half!

I remember at least three plays. The first was a play where the Notre Dame back took a handoff and blew through the Navy defensive line. I came up to make a picture perfect tackle…until the ball carrier literally bowled me over backwards. He went down…primarily tripping over my body!

In the fourth quarter, it started to snow like hell. As my sister later told me, the crowd began to chant “Ara, stop the snow!” A wide receiver flanked out on my side. It was snowing so hard that I could hardly see the quarterback. There was no way he was going to throw my way…and he didn’t. As Notre Dame moved toward our goal line, I made a tackle and caused a fumble. We (Wade Roberts, I believe) recovered and avoided another Notre Dame score. As it was, in my first and only Notre Dame game, Notre Dame scored the most points against Navy since the series began under Knute Rockne in 1927!

After the game, I met my family outside the locker room. This was a short visit since we were flying back to Annapolis right after the game. We flew back to Baltimore, took a bus to Annapolis and even had a chance to go into town before returning to the comforts of Bancroft Hall late that evening.

In his book, Fighting Back, Rocky wrote, "Against Navy, I played the finest game of my college career - fifty-nine yards and two touchdowns rushing, a thirty yard kick-off return and a twenty-seven yard punt return."

In 2002, Rocky inscribed the following in a copy of Fighting Back:

Gerry - Here's to old times and some great memories - especially against Navy - just kidding.

There's a few things I remember in my life and the '67 Navy game is one of them - especially when you don't expect to hear Jim Rather's name in the middle of a pile up.
I hope life is treating you well.

Best Wishes Always,

Rocky Bleier

Poll Position - Week 9 | by Jeff

I really don't know why I'm bothering with this week's edition of "Poll Position." With every Top 10 team going into the weekend as a double-digit favorite, don't expect too much movement in the BCS. Of course as we saw last weekend, sometimes movement occurs in the BCS for no real reason at all, but Clarlie already covered that in his press conference.

Despite the recent drop in the BCS, the Irish are still well positioned for a BCS bowl as either an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection. However, the hopes of playing in the National Championship game are growing dimmer by the week. November has quite a few top matchups and rivalry games, but ND gained no ground at all in the BCS throughout all of October and may be running out of outs.

#1 Ohio State vs Minnesota (Buckeyes by 27)
#2 Michigan vs Northwestern (UM by 34)
The Buckeyes and Wolverines appear to be on a collision couse for a spot in the National Championship game.

#3 Southern Cal at Oregon State (Trojans by 13)
Southern Cal looks beatable, but not in this game.

#5 Auburn at Ole Miss (Tigers by 17)
Auburn has a decent shot at the BCS title game without winning their division of their conference. I think the last time this happened, Nebraska got spanked by Miami in the Rose Bowl.

#6 Florida vs Georgia (Gators by 14)
Georgia is staring a 2-5 finish squarely in the face.

#7 Texas at Texas Tech (UT by 11.5)
After winning a squeaker at Nebraska, the Longhorns and their banged-up defense face another tricky test on the road.

Although below ND in the BCS standings, Tennessee and Rutgers both lead the Irish in at least one of the BCS components, so a loss by any of two probably helps out the Irish a bit.

#11 Tennessee at South Carolina (Vols by 5)
Can Spurrier get a signature win?

#14 Rutgers vs UConn (Rutgers by 18.5)
Yes, the Scarlet Knights lead ND in the computer rankings, but their schedule is about to get much tougher.

And most importantly...
#9 Notre Dame at Navy
The service academies always play tough against the Irish, and even though Navy lost their starting QB, I don't expect this game to be any different.

I'd Like to Thank the Academies | by Pat

As Notre Dame gears up to face all three service academies in the next four weeks, the predictable catcalls about the Irish schedule from opposing fanbases and certain sections of the media are growing louder.

Putting aside the silliness of some of these debates, I did get a bit curious as to just how often ND has played all three academies in the same year. Dialing up the trusty Macor Notre Dame Football database, I did some digging. Before you read the answer, take a guess. How many times in the past 25 years would you say the Irish have played all three service academies in the same year?

The answer, as it turns out, is three. The years in question are 1983, 1985, and 1995. That's right, ND has not faced all three service academies in the same year in eleven years and only once since Lou Holtz took over head coaching duties 20 years ago. I would have guessed a higher number. Over the entire 119 year history of Notre Dame football, the Irish have played all three service academies in the same year eight times. In addition to the three years mentioned earlier, the Irish hit the military trifecta in '69, '73, '74, '77, and '80.

The main reason for the low number is the fact that ND only started to play the Air Force Academy in 1964, eight years after the Falcons started a football program. All time ND is 21-5 against Air Force and has won two straight. Against the Army Black Knights, Notre Dame is 36-8-4 and on a 12 game win streak. And the current Navy win streak of 42 is pretty well-known while the Irish are 69-9-1.

What the Brock is Cookin' | by Jay

Looks like Joe Brockington has finally, officially nailed down the other starting linebacker spot. Brock again started at strong side linebacker (his third straight game). Said Charlie:

"When Joe stepped in so admirably, the logical thing to do was to leave him in there and try to work it out with both guys being on the field at the same time," coach Charlie Weis said. "It's Joe taking advantage of his opportunity and the staff finding a way to have them both on the field."

And he had a great game, posting 7 tackles (his career high). Although he's a senior, Joe's got another year of eligibility, too. Wonder if he'd stick around for next year.

Here's a nice piece on JB from the Elkhart Truth.

UCLA Game Photo Galleries | by Pat

This week we have some truly excellent photo galleries. Check them all out at the following links: the South Bend Tribune, Irish Illustrated, Blue and Gold Illustrated, Michael Kim, Getty Images, and the AP photo wire.

I think the easy choice for picture of the week is the above shot taken by the always excellent Matt Cashore. The photo is included in the Irish Illustrated gallery if you want to see a bigger version. There are plenty of other great shots this week though, including Terrail Lambert's interception, Derek Landri's game ending sack, and this week's sentimental pic of the week of Weis and Quinn together after the game.

Also, I updated the most recent BGS Fan Photo Galleries. The link can be found on the right sidebar. Thanks to all those who sent in pictures. Only a handful trickled in for the MSU and Stanford game, but there's a pretty good shot of Chris Zorich on his chopper in there. The UCLA gallery turned out great I think. I took my trusty camera around with me to capture some of the pre-game festivities around campus and took a few game shots from my spot right behind the south goalpost. We also received some fantastic sideline pictures of Samardzija's race to the endzone. Check them all out. And if you have some great pictures, especially of the Purdue game since we don't have any for that game, send them in.

Point of Order | by Pat

I've seen this mistake in enough articles that I think it warrants a brief public service announcement.

Despite what some sports journalists might claim, Notre Dame will not be paid $14 million dollars for an appearance in a BCS bowl this year, should they be invited. Sure the $14 million dollar reception! or $14 million dollar interception! proclamations make for good copy, but they are also factually incorrect.

Under the new BCS rules, enacted in April of 2005, Notre Dame will receive the same $4.5 million dollar conference share as any other BCS team. If the Irish fail to notch a BCS bowl bid, the team will receive approximately $1.3 million from the BCS -- a figure similar to what all non-BCS teams from BCS conferences receive-- as well as the bowl payout of the game that selects the Irish. The Gator Bowl is a likely destination if the Irish fail to land a BCS game and has a $2.5 million payout, which combines with the $1.3 million to give ND a grand total of $3.8 million.

That means that Jeff Samardzija's fantastic 45 yard yard catch and run on Saturday was not a $14 million dollar play, but rather a $700K play. Not quite as attention-grabbing is it.

While we're on the topic, here are the new revised rules for ND and the BCS. Notre Dame has to win nine games and be ranked 12th or higher in the BCS poll in order to be eligible to be selected. If the Irish win nine games and end the season ranked 8th or higher in said BCS poll, they are an automatic selection, akin to the conference champ from the six BCS conferences.

One to Enjoy | by Pat

There's plenty of time to dissect the finer points of the UCLA game, from the new linebacker starting trio, to the subpar offensive line play, to the fact that the Bruins might just be the first team I've seen that brings two mascots to a game (Joe and Josie Bruin). But for now, let's focus on that final, stunning drive and give ourselves just a few more hours to indulge in the euphoria surrounding the incredible win.

Continuing his excellent play breakdowns, House Rock Built has the final sequence mapped out. Follow along and get the who, why, when, where, and how as Brian spells out the latest surgically precise drive by the Irish.

Then check out this superb game tape breakdown by the fine folks at UND.com. Footage from NBC cameras and the ND sideline cameras used by the coaches is spliced together with excerpts from Weis himself describing the final plays and the brilliant Don Criqui radio call of the final score.

As I said earlier, plenty to talk about from this game. Close wins over average opponents are never fun, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the thrilling ones. For now, we're going to sit back and enjoy.

Odds & Sods - Dwight Clay Edition | by Mike

One chance. The final drive in yesterday's game was only the latest in a series of masterful 4th quarter drives produced by the Weis-Quinn combination. Since Weis arrived, Quinn has engineered a late touchdown drive in every game in which the Irish have been within a score in the final minutes - MSU '05 (down 38-31), USC '05 (down 28-24), Stanford '05 (down 31-30), and UCLA '06 (down 17-13). Quinn's numbers on these drives are staggering - 13/14 for 236 yards, with 2 passing TDs and 1 rushing TD.

Made you look. A frustrated UCLA fan took the time to take some screencaps of the final touchdown. These caps reveal Quinn's moxie, demonstrating his recognition of UCLA's defense and what it would take to clear UCLA defender Eric McNeal out of Samardzija's path. As you can see, the pump fake draws McNeal (#2) to the center of the field and Samardzija streaks right by him.

Beautiful.

Time out. The final 2:20 of the game bore the unmistakeable stamp of Charlie Weis. That 2:20 saw the game management and confidence whose absence was so galling during the eight years in the desert. Even with the new clock rules calling for the clock to start on changes of possession, the Irish were able to force UCLA to give up the ball with over a minute left because they still had all their timeouts at that point in the game. Throughout the Weis era, the offensive play calls have gotten in very quickly. Consequently, Quinn does not have to waste timeouts because the offense can't get the play off in time. It wasn't simply luck that the Irish had all their timeouts at that point in the game. And although all the timeouts had been used by the time the Irish offense retook the field, the Irish offense came out with a confidence that belied the urgency of the situation. Opposing fanbases whine endlessly about Weis's arrogance, but it's that very attitude that instills confidence in his players in such situations.

Trying to find a balance. Though pigmentation inevitable leads to Samardzija being saddled with the "possession receiver" label, Samardzija's 45-yard game-winning touchdown was the fifth touchdown reception of 40-plus yards in his career. One of the reasons for that impressive number is that Samardzija is simply faster than many believe. Another reason is Samardzija's exceptional balance, balance that is truly incredible for someone with his lanky frame. Samardzija has repeatedly left smaller, supposedly more nimble, defenders stumbling to the ground while cutting upfield following a reception. The touchdown that left a confused heap of Purdue defenders on the sideline last year is another classic example.

The way we get bye. Heading into Saturday's game, I was eager to see if any personnel shakeups would emerge from the player evaluations that reportedly took place during the bye week. In particular, I was interested to see if any changes would be made to the offensive line. Against UCLA, the Irish employed the same lineup as in the first half of the season. This suggests that (barring injury) the same line will be used for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, the line continued to have many of the problems that have plagued it all season long. On the other side of the ball, Notre Dame used a new trio of starting linebackers. After his promising performances filling in for the injured Travis Thomas, Joe Brockington retained a starting spot upon Thomas's return. The result was Notre Dame's most impressive performance against the run all season, holding UCLA to 26 yards on 28 attempts.

Prove yourself. While much of the game was frustrating to watch, a few Irish players impressed in their increased roles. Joe Brockington recorded a career-high 7 tackles. David Grimes quietly recorded a career-best 8 catches for 79 yards, including a 14-yard reception on the final drive. Terrail Lambert continued his improvement, grabbing his third interception of the season during the first half.

Gameday! | by Jay

No picture today, as we're all at the game. In fact, it's 6:30 AM, and we're just waking up in South Bend, about to head over to the lot to start tailgating.

Goooo Irish! Beeaat Bruins!

the Bruins of My Expertise | by Jay

...to borrow a line from John Hodgman. Herewith, an Index of Complete World Knowledge, Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order, by Us, the Blue-Gray Sky, Professional Writers, in the area of matters pertaining to Notre Dame, UCLA, and Most Other Subjects, inspired by NBC.com, and to be continued and expanded upon by our Gentle Readers in the Section of Commentary.

Category
Colors	Blue & Gold	"True" Blue & Gold
National Championships, Football	11	1/2
National Championships, Hoops	0	11
Campus Landmark	the Golden Dome	that one place from Revenge of the Nerds
Haunted Building	Washington Hall	Pauley Pavilion
Average Snowfall	70.9 inches/year	Snow?
Record vs Southern Cal	42-30-5	27-41-7
Defensive Scheme	Bend, Don't Break	Fly to the Ball
NFL Influence	Weis (Pats, Giants, Jets), Bill Lewis (Dolphins)	Dorrell (Broncos), DeWayne Walker (Redskins, Giants, Pats)
Favorite Lou	Holtz	Alcindor
Metrosexual QB	Brady Quinn	Troy Aikman
Fibs	"the University of Navy scares the hell out of me"	Pat Cowan was "coughing up blood"
Highest Potential, unreached	Arnold Ale	Arnold Ale
Vaulted to #1 in 1988 When	UCLA lost	ND beat Miami
Jim Colletto	Horrific Offensive Coordinator	Pretty Good Line Coach
Nobel Prize Winners	Do we have any?	9
Cult Hero Who Died an Early Death	Jesus	James Dean
NFL Placekickers	John Carney, undrafted, 403 career FGs and counting	John Lee, 2nd-round pick, 8 career FGs
Best Gameday Tradition	the marching band "step-off"	Hitting Urban Outfitters on the Promenade
Health Care	the Infirmary ("What you need is a good bleeding")	the world-famous UCLA Medical Center
Musical Alums	Umphrey's McGee, Ted Leo	Linkin Park, Jim Morrison
Average Walking Time from Dorm to Stadium	5 minutes	not yet attempted
Sci-Fi influence	a Genius Robot	George Takei
Ritzy Neighborhood bordering north side of campus	Roseland	Bel Air

Poll Position - Week 8 | by Jeff

The BCS standings came out this week, and the Irish debuted at #8, slightly lower than projected. ND is still very much in the hunt for a BCS game and very far in the background of the national championship picture. There are few match-ups this week that will help the Irish other than our own game against You See LA. But there are several teams packed closely together in the BCS standings, so it is very possible that we will see minor reshuffling over the next couple of weeks based on small changes in the polls and computers.

#1 Ohio State vs Indiana (OSU by 31)
The Hoosiers beat the Hawkeyes, but the Buckeyes will be a different story.

#4 Michigan vs #15 Iowa (UM by 13.5)
Was Iowa looking ahead to Michigan?

#5 West Virginia at UConn (WVa by 22)
West Virginia feasts on one more cupcake before preparing for Louisville.

#7 Louisville at Syracuse (Cards by 17)
Brohm struggled against Cincinnati, and on paper, Syracuse should be a tougher challenge.

Although below ND in the BCS standings, Texas, Tennessee, and Cal all lead the Irish in at least one of the BCS components, so a loss by any of these three could help out a bit.

#9 Texas at #21 Nebraska (Horns by 6.5)
Probably the most compelling matchup of the weekend. The Horns proved themselves against Oklahoma, so I can't imagine Nebraska providing too much of a threat.

#10 Cal vs Washington (Cal by 22.5)
Without their starting QB, Washington's promising season may come to an end.

#11 Tennessee vs Alabama (Vols by 11.5)
One thing that seems to have proven out this season, SEC East > SEC West.

And most importantly...
#8 Notre Dame vs UCLA
With the bye week now over, the attention must again focus on the most critical task at hand: beating UCLA.

Powder Blue and Gold | by Jay

Our friend John is both a Domer and a Bruin. He sends us his thoughts on UCLA football history and the upcoming game this weekend. Enjoy.

This Saturday, many UCLA fans will be in the somewhat unusual position of rooting against Notre Dame in football. Although there's no special affection between the schools, UCLA followers always cheer for the Irish at least once every year -- when they play Southern Cal. That became clear to me near the end of the first USC-UCLA football game I attended, in November 1986 -- my first semester at UCLA Law School after graduating from Notre Dame. Terry Donahue's Bruins were putting the final touches on a 45-25 rout of Ted Tollner's Trojans, when the UCLA band taunted Southern Cal by playing the Notre Dame Victory March. The majority of the Rose Bowl crowd roared in approval, anticipating an Irish victory the following week at the Coliseum. (ND had to overcome an 18-point deficit to edge Southern Cal, 38-37.)

If UCLA has a beef with Notre Dame at all, it's probably over the issue of which team is USC's main football rival. I was ridiculed when I insisted to Bruin fans that the ND-USC rivalry was bigger than UCLA-USC. Geography supports UCLA's claim, but history is on ND's side: the Irish and Trojans began their series three years earlier and have played three more games against each other than UCLA and USC. Of course, ND-USC games usually are more meaningful to national rankings as well: UCLA has won only one national championship in football, a split title in 1954 (Ohio State won the AP poll, while UCLA took the coaches' vote), and is a distant second behind Southern Cal among Pacific-10 schools in winning percentage.

Saturday will mark only the third gridiron meeting between Notre Dame and UCLA. The first two matchups were Notre Dame wins at home in consecutive years. Irish football was at its lowest ebb in 1963 under interim coach Hugh Devore, as ND won only two games for the third time in eight years. Ironically, both wins came against teams visiting from Los Angeles in back-to-back weeks -- 17-14 over USC and 27-12 over UCLA. The Bruins also were down in 1963, finishing 2-8. Both teams appeared to be improved as they entered the 1964 game -- ND was 3-0 and UCLA was 3-1 -- but only the Irish proved to be for real. They blanked the Bruins, 24-0, en route to a 9-1 season under first-year coach Ara Parseghian. UCLA stumbled to a 4-6-1 finish and made their own coaching change at the end of the season -- from Bill Barnes to the innovative Tommy Prothro, who led the Bruins to a surprise Rose Bowl title and consecutive top 10 finishes in his first two seasons in Westwood.

Most of the nation, including Notre Dame, sees UCLA as a basketball school, which is understandable since UCLA has as many NCAA men's basketball titles (11) as Notre Dame has football championships (both numbers are tops in their respective sports). Indeed, ND has met UCLA in basketball 45 times, including every season from 1966-67 through 1995-96 and twice a year from 1971-72 to 1982-83. (UCLA leads that series, 27-18.) Notre Dame plays a cameo villain in the lustrous UCLA basketball tradition; in 1974, Digger Phelps' Irish team ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak on a last-second shot by Dwight Clay in South Bend.

But UCLA has a strong football tradition as well, even though they're usually in the shadow of the Trojans. UCLA got a late start -- the school opened its doors in 1919 and joined the Pacific Coast Conference (the predecessor to the Pac-10) in 1928. UCLA was humiliated in its first two games against Southern Cal, 76-0 in 1929 and 52-0 in 1930. The schools didn't meet again until 1936 (a 7-7 tie) but have played every year since, and twice annually during 1943-45. USC leads the series 41-27-7 and has won seven in a row, although UCLA won the previous eight and dominated the series in the 1950s, 80s and 90s.

UCLA's glory years were from 1949-57, under coach Red Sanders. The Bruins were 66-19-1 (.773) in that era, including the split championship in 1954. UCLA also enjoyed success and Rose Bowl wins over Prothro (1965-70), Dick Vermeil (1974-75) and Donahue (1976-95). The Bruins last contended for a national championship in 1998, when Bob Toledo led them to a 10-0 start and Pac-10 title. But a porous defense cost UCLA a chance at the first BCS title, as they lost the regular-season finale at Miami, 49-45, and the Rose Bowl to Wisconsin, 38-31. Four years later, in 2002, UCLA endured its fourth-straight subpar year, leading to Toledo's ouster. The surprise choice to replace Toledo was Karl Dorrell, who then was receivers' coach for the Denver Broncos and had no head coaching experience at any level.

Many have drawn comparisons between Dorrell and Tyrone Willingham, in part because of their race (they were the first African-American head coaches at UCLA and ND, respectively), their limited coaching experience before their first head-coaching jobs and the timing of Dorrell's hiring, on the heels of Willingham's 10-2 debut season at Notre Dame. Their three-year records were virtually identical -- Dorrell was 22-15, Willingham 21-15. But while Willingham was fired, Dorrell received a contract extension after his third season. This may be due to the differences between Dorrell's track record and Willingham's. The Bruins' record improved in each of Dorrell's first three seasons, peaking at 10-2 in 2005 -- although the two losses were blowouts that would even make Willingham blush (52-14 to Arizona and 66-19 to the hated Trojans). Unlike Willingham, Dorrell has made numerous changes to his coaching staff. Under first-year defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker, UCLA's national ranking in total defense has shot up from 113th in 2005 to 9th this year (it was 2nd before last week's 30-20 loss at Oregon). And unlike Willingham at Notre Dame, nobody has ever accused Dorrell of being out of place at UCLA -- he was a star wide receiver for the Bruins from 1982-86.

Saturday's trip to Notre Dame is probably the biggest road trip in UCLA football history. That's not really saying much -- other than Rose Bowl games (played in the stadium UCLA has called home since 1982), the Bruins' only major bowl trips were to the Fiesta in 1985 and the Cotton in 1989 and 1998 (all UCLA victories). And next year's Notre Dame-UCLA game might be an even bigger deal -- it will be ND's first-ever road game versus the Bruins, and it hasn't played in Pasadena since the 1925 Rose Bowl, when Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen lead the national champion Irish to a 27-10 win over Stanford. But make no mistake, UCLA's most important game every year is against Southern Cal. And for UCLA, the most important similarity between Dorrell's tenure in Westwood and Willingham's in South Bend is that both started 0-3 against the Trojans. Dorrell's long-term job security ultimately will depend on whether he can break UCLA's seven-game losing streak in that series.

Dropping in on the Conversation | by Jay

With the first BCS standings finally out, it's probably a good time to jump back into the Conversation and see where we are. Remember, the chief codicil of the Conversation is that we judge a team simply by what they have proven on the field this year. This is not a Power Ranking. This is not a discussion of "nine times out of ten, team A would beat team B." There is no speculation on the future allowed, and no lingering, hangover reputation from last year permitted. We don't rank teams by perceived strength, how they played, "style points", or how many scores they ran up against an inferior opponent. Generally speaking, we're trying emulate the other major American sports, where subjectivity, whimsy, and irritable bowels by grumpy human pollsters have no bearing on a team's fortunes. We're striving for simplicity here -- a common sense snapshot of which teams have accomplished the most so far.

This is best measured by an arcane statistical metric called Wins. (Radical, huh?)

(By the way, the fellas over at MarkMayBeWrong have been keeping tabs on the Conversation week-to-week with posts like this. Recently they posted a kickass, interactive table of all the data on wins and losses to date in the college football season; feel free to use it as a reference through the rest of this post. They've also taken the initial idea behind the Conversation and added a few wrinkles of their own, including an emphasis on which teams have done better than .500 against BCS competition and a tier system that divides teams into three groups. Great stuff.)

So the other night I sat down, poured myself a Jameson, pulled up the game results, and took a look. Here's my methodology. See if this makes sense.

The first thing I wanted to do was pare down the list of 117 Division 1-A teams to a reasonable number of teams that have actually "proved something". I know we got a little pushback on using BCS competition as a baseline from some commenters in the inaugural post, but you have to start somewhere. The vast majority of top college football talent flows each year from the high schools and into the 65 BCS conference teams (plus Notre Dame), so generally speaking, beating a BCS team would qualify as a "quality win" for our purposes. (A good non-BCS team can still get into the conversation, but only if it has proved something against BCS competition).

So the first thing was to look up how many wins each team in Division 1 has against BCS competition, and some interesting details immediately began to bubble up. As we know, almost every team has played six or seven games so far. And yet out of all those teams, only 42 have 2+ BCS wins so far. That seemed like a pretty good natural cutoff.

The next step was to try and get a relative measure of strength of schedule for each of these teams. Keeping with the basic precept that Wins are uniquely important, I looked at opponents wins and losses for each team and came up with this simple tally.

for Team X...
Give one point for every BCS win.
Subtract a point for every loss (BCS or otherwise).
Give one point for every BCS win by a team that team X has beaten.
Subtract one point for any loss by a team that team X has lost to.

This rewards a team for beating good opponents, while penalizing a team for losing to poorer ones. I added it up, then sorted the teams by point total. There were 21 teams that had at least a +4 in the points column; again, that seemed like a good natural cutoff.

team	Record		Bonus		Points
	BCS Win	Any Loss	Opp W	Opp L
Southern Cal	6	0	+13	0	19
Michigan	6	0	+12	0	18
Auburn	5	1	+12	-1	15
Ohio State	5	0	+10	0	15
California	5	1	+9	-1	12
Notre Dame	5	1	+8	0	12
Arkansas	3	1	+9	0	11
Florida	4	1	+9	-1	11
Clemson	3	1	+7	-1	8
Tennessee	2	1	+8	-1	8
Wake Forest	5	1	+5	-1	8
Louisville	4	0	+3	0	7
Oregon	4	1	+5	-1	7
Georgia Tech	3	1	+5	-1	6
Rutgers	3	0	+3	0	6
Texas	3	1	+4	0	6
West Virginia	3	0	+2	0	5
Boston College	2	1	+6	-3	4
Missouri	3	1	+3	-1	4
Nebraska	3	1	+2	0	4
Wisconsin	3	1	+2	0	4

Of course this is just the initial, rudimentary index, and doesn't take into account the best indication of relative value: head-to-head matchups. Each one of these 21 teams have proven enough to get into the Conversation, but there a bunch of games within the top 21 where teams have already played each other. These actual, battle-tested wins should always reign supreme when comparing teams -- we don't want a situation where, say Arkansas has beaten Auburn yet ends up below them in the ranking. That would be a travesty. Let's look at the win chains:

Southern Cal > Arkansas > Auburn > Florida > Tennessee > Cal > Oregon
Southern Cal > Nebraska
Michigan > Notre Dame > Georgia Tech
Michigan > Wisconsin
Ohio State > Texas
Boston College > Clemson > Wake Forest

This is where it gets fun. This is where the jigsawing starts. We need to splice those chains in amongst each other, but keep the win order intact. Luckily we don't have any circular series yet (where team A beat team B who beat team C, who in turn beat team A) so it's a little easier. (How are we going to handle those conundrums in the future? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.) We also have four teams who have not played anyone else in the Conversation yet: Louisville, Rutgers, West Virginia, and Missouri. Where to slot them?

I'm still moving around teams like so many Scrabble pieces, so I'll throw it out to y'all. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: come up with a sensible way to rank these 21 teams, holding true to the relative strengths of schedules, and keeping those head-to-head win chains intact.

Statistically Speaking - Stanford | by Pat

Freshman on Parade. 18 different freshman played against Stanford, the most all season and one of the largest number of freshman in a single game in recent memory. So which freshman are seeing the most action? Here's the breakdown on number of games played so far.

6 games: Sergio Brown, Richard Jackson, Raeshon McNeil, Darrin Walls, George West, Will Yeatman, Sam Young
5 games: Munir Prince, Morrice Richardson, John Ryan
4 games: Toryan Smith
3 games: Eric Olsen, Robby Parris,
2 games: Ryan Burkhart, Jashaad Gaines, Konrad Reuland
1 game: James Aldridge, Matt Carufel, Nate Whitaker
0 games: Zach Frazer, Barry Gallup, Leonard Gordon, Demetrius Jones, Paddy Mullen, Luke Schmidt, Chris Stewart, Kallen Wade, Bartley Webb, Dan Wenger

Blitzkrieg? I slacked off a bit on the blitz tally from the past few games, so let's catch up on the last three games.

Michigan State

Down	# of blitzes	# of chances	Percentage
1st	7	30	23%
2nd	6	24	25%
3rd	3	15	20%
Total	16	69	23%

Purdue

Down	# of blitzes	# of chances	Percentage
1st	6	32	19%
2nd	6	20	30%
3rd	3	10	30%
Total	15	62	24%

Stanford

Down	# of blitzes	# of chances	Percentage
1st	5	21	24%
2nd	6	19	32%
3rd	1	10	10%
Total	12	50	24%

Clearly it seems as if the Irish are dialing back the blitz frequency. I'm sure the injury to Travis Thomas didn't help, but there is a noticeable lack of blitzing in the past few games as compared to earlier games in the season.

Season Totals

Opponent	Blitz %
Georgia Tech	44%
Penn State	40%
Michigan	30%
Michigan State	23%
Purdue	24%
Stanford	24%
TOTAL	31%

Season Long Running Totals

Since the table was getting a bit crowded, I moved it to its own webpage. You can check out all the season long stats, right here.

Upon Further Review - Week 6A | by Dylan

Despite not playing a game this week, the Irish depth chart took yet another hit when it was announced that Ronald Talley was taking his leave of the team. While we’ve been assured by Coach Weis that it was not a disciplinary action and that the decision was mutual, it’s definitely a puzzler. While Talley may have been dissatisfied with his playing time this year, he was certainly on track to start next year, at least if you go by the current depth chart. It seems like a curious decision, especially when you consider that he cannot play for another Division 1-A school until the fall of 2008. Whatever the reason, we wish him well and hope he finds a situation more to his liking.

What can you say about the Miami Hurricanes? They made a run at respectability under Butch Davis and seemed to have found a steadying, aww-shucks influence in Larry Coker, but that got shot all to hell on Saturday. Once a ‘Cane, always a ‘Cane, I guess. In an act of supreme inhospitality, the ‘Canes invited the Florida International University They-Have-A-Football-Teams? to the Orange Bowl for some work on the speed bag. Forget the question of why Miami would play FIU in the middle of their conference schedule, but what kind of derangement is in evidence when the ‘Canes feel the need to curb stomp Florida International University? Miami really sucks this year. Shouldn’t they have tried to represent for the thug life against a more worthy target? It was like watching Luxembourg nuke Andorra. Oh, well. It’s just one more sign that the CFB universe is aligning itself on its proper axis. Notre Dame is legit again, and Miami is a team of embarrassing sociopathic criminals.

The best story of the week was the Indiana victory over Iowa. It was the Hoosiers’ biggest win since 1987 (a game against Michigan which I attended as a freshman, pre-transfer), but not just because the hapless Hoosiers only get to celebrate in this fashion once a generation. Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner, mere weeks after his second brain surgery in 10 months, guided his team to an improbable (to say the least) win. I’ve always hated the Indiana basketball team, but I have a soft spot for the football squad. Good for them. They deserve it. We'll see what Iowa can do to redeem themselves and justify Brian at mgoblog’s earlier top 2 ranking. Whoops.

Didn’t you used to be Garrett Wolfe? The Northern Illinois running back’s celebrity stopwatch hit 14:59 on Saturday when he pounded out 25 yards on 18 carries against directional powerhouse Western Michigan. Who will be the next darling of the talking-head doofi? Well, king of the dipshits Dennis Dodd (who bears an uncanny resemblance to a clean-shaven Tobias Funke) has decreed that a freshman linebacker who has played in one game is one of the top 5 Heisman candidates. Lordy, that is some new brand of stupid. Good work, Dennis. Dork.

ND fans got a taste of things to come with the release of the initial BCS standings this week, as Harris poll voters and computers made fantastic leaps of illogic, vaulting and dropping teams with wimsy and a distinct distaste for Notre Dame. It’s how you end up with Auburn leapfrogging ND while Florida fails to fall below. Idle Notre Dame fell a spot while idle Tennessee held steady (one spot ahead of Florida, who beat them, in the Harris poll) and idle Georgia Tech moved up two. Arkansas, eight days after whipping Auburn, finds itself ranked 10 spots behind them. Go figure.

After a week of hearing blather on SoCal talk radio about how Ty Willingham has done such a great job of maximizing the talent on his Washington team, being ahead of the rebuilding curve, and throwing a scare at USC, the Huskies promptly lost to Oregon State. If any sportswriter or other media-type happens to meander past this page, remember this if you remember nothing else. Tyrone Willingham is 4-3 now, and that’s the type of performance you can expect as long as he’s coaching, wherever he’s coaching. He will occasionally beat someone you think he shouldn’t (like UCLA), teasing you into thinking he’s “turned it around”, and then he will lose to someone he should beat easily (like Oregon State) if his team were really that good. I understand the need to sell magazines and drive hits to your website, but just make up some other bit of nonsense and run with it. Ty is terrible and ND was right to ditch him. Can we go on to the next thing now?

Speaking of Southern Cal, they’ve beaten Washington State, Washington, and Arizona State by six, six, and seven points, respectively. I want them to win the rest of their non-ND games to maximize Notre Dame’s BCS bounce, but they’re going to be lucky to finish with less than three losses.

So on to UCLA on Saturday, and a BGS/EDSBS summit in the Stadium Lot. If Jay, Teds, Pat, and I have anything to say about it, Stranko and Orson are going to be dinged up come game time.

Go Irish!

Taking Inventory -- the Defense | by Pat

Okay then, the review of the offense is done, time to move on to the mid-season review of the defense. Protective goggles on, everyone.

• MVP - Maurice Crum. This one was a tough call. Victor and Zibby are possibilites, but I think Crum has been the most consistent defensive player -- and that's a credit to his instincts, as he's undersized, and often fighting through traffic at his new middle linebacker position.

• Most Improved - Mike Richardson. Spending most of his time as a nickel back covering the slot receiver, Richardson has stuck to his man like glue and has been excellent in run support. He's the best open field tackler on the team. And if Richardson is 1A on the Most Improved List, Terrail Lambert is 1B.

• Top Newcomer - Travis Thomas. Does it say more about Travis or the other linebackers that TT was able to slide right into that starting linebacker spot? I'll give Travis the credit for now. His speed and enthusiasm are a big lift for the defense, and the whole unit seemed a step slower when he was out against Purdue and Stanford.

• Biggest Surprise - I'll offer two surprises, a positive and negative. On the debit side: the inability of the defensive line to put a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks not named Trent Edwards is surprising, especially considering the veteran players on the line. Credit: the sudden development of depth in the secondary -- Lambert, Walls and Herring -- has been a very pleasant surprise.

Now, on to the position reviews...

Defensive Line. A sort of "the whole is less than than the sum of its parts" type of year so far. Victor, despite being double-teamed (and held) like no player I've ever seen is having a great year. Landri, with his ability to penetrate and disrupt, and Laws, with his non-stop motor, have increased their impact on the game by more than doubling their tackle numbers from a year ago. At the right defensive end position, Frome has done a good job keeping contain on some of the mobile QBs and Talley was getting better against the run. But as a whole, the defensive line has been slightly disappointing. There just hasn't been a consistent pass rush from the quartet, and oftentimes the opposing QB has too much time to throw the ball. I do expect that to improve as we face more inferior offensive lines -- the Stanford game is proof enough of that -- but I also think that such talented individuals as we have should be able to make a better overall push. The right defensive end spot is still the big bulleye for the opponent running game, and needs to stop being shoved around and start shoving back.

As far as the backups go, Travis Leitko has quietly been having a solid year moving the pile and getting his hands up into the passing lanes during his limited time on the field. Freshman John Ryan has made a surprise appearance on the depth chart as Victor's backup at defensive end. Ryan really hasn't done much yet this year, but the fact that the coaches trust him enough to send him out there when Victor needs a break is a good sign for his future. Classmate Morrice Richardson has the quickest first step of any of the defensive lineman on the roster, and I really hope he gets more chances this year to duck that shoulder under the reach of the opposing left tackle. With the loss of Talley, it will be interesting to see if Justin Brown and/or Dwight Stephenson will finally get onto the field. Derrell Hand has been M.I.A. so far with injuries. Getting him back and some game time experience would be nice for next year.

Linebackers. A big concern coming into the season and, quite frankly, still a big concern. ND has played the nickel or dime in a vast majority of the defensive snaps this year, with an extra defensive back replacing the third linebacker. That alone says much about the staff's faith in the Irish linebackers. Mo Crum still looks undersized playing in the middle, but is having a very productive year. Travis Thomas's lack of size makes it easy for offensive linemen to run him out of the play, but his speed has been a real asset, especially in blitzes. Mitchell Thomas and Anthony Vernaglia have had some guest appearances as the 3rd linebacker but neither have really shown that much during their time on the field. Vernaglia has been getting some more time lately, which I suppose is a sign the coaches are encouraged by what they see in practice. Hopefully his play late in the Stanford game is the first step towards increased production on the field. With more ground-oriented teams on the horizon he'll have plenty of chances to make an impact. Freshman Toryan Smith has had only a small handful of snaps so he's still a big unknown. Will he get more of a chance in the second half of the season? Or will ND stick mainly with the nickel package and Crum and Travis Thomas as the lone linebackers?

Secondary - The slimmer Ndukwe is definitely faster and he's filling up the stat sheet, but now and again he still finds himself out of position. Up until his injury, Zibby was having a great year. I expect him to return to form against UCLA. Playing as a safety/linebacker hybrid at times, he's been pretty good against the run. Ambrose Wooden is another player slowed down by some injuries. He's been up and down this year mixing some great plays with a few noticeable gaffes. No one on the team went from goat to hero faster than Terrail Lambert. As he gains confidence, I expect a strong second half of the season from him. Darrin Walls has looked like a freshman out there a few times, but you can also see a whole lot of athleticism and potential. Ray Herring also did an admirable job filling in for Zibby and let everyone know that strong safety will be in good hands next year. Backups David Bruton and freshman Raeshon McNeil and Sergio Brown have had some bright moments on special teams, which bodes well for their future.

And a couple of special teams notes...

Punting- Probably the biggest surprise is new starter Geoff Price kicking like an All-American. He bailed out the Irish in the first few games when the offense was shaky. Hopefully he won't have to come off the bench too much during the rest of the season, but it's great knowing he's there if needed.

Kicking game. Six games into the season and the kicking situation is still an unknown. ND is only three of six on field goals and missed a pretty big extra point against Michigan State, even if it didn't ultimately matter. Gioia has struggled on the long kicks; he's 0 for 2 outside of 40 yards, but he's been a fairly solid 3 of 4 inside the 40 yard mark. Bobby Renkes started off the season with some quality kickoffs and now it seems the torch has been officially passed to freshman Ryan Burkhart, who had a few big boots of his own against Stanford.

Bottom Line? It looks like the defense is improving over last year's version, but they still haven't put it all together. The dreaded big play is still a problem, although it is nice to see that the D is being a more aggressive with its blitzes. For the rest of the season, it will be interesting to see how the sudden departure of Ronald Talley affects the line play. And I hope the backup defensive tackles can start to contribute more so that Landri and Laws aren't wiped out by the season finale in L.A. With the strong debut by Herring, I wonder if he will start appearing more in the backfield in a modified dime package that has Zibby moving up into a more linebacker-oriented role. As for those linebackers, Mitchell Thomas and Anthony Vernaglia should have great opportunities to showcase their stuff against the ground attacks of Navy and Air Force. It will be a great test of their discipline and linebacker instincts. The grumblings about the performance of the defense are growing louder but some dominant performances against weaker competition will go a long way to quieting them.

And then there's that November 25th game that should provide a strong test.

Pick up Six | by Jay

Finally some movement in the Pick Six! The AP Top 10 had a shakeup, and so, of course, did we. Georgia & Iowa? Gone. Auburn? Busted. Boise climbing back up. And Georgia Tech (13th): king of the preseason unranked. Group F (with other popular picks like Boise, Arkansas, and Wisco creeping up) is finally having some impact on the standings.

Here's the Pick Six. Our lone champeen, with a commanding (for the P6) four-point lead, is Ryan Harris' Pancake House (109 points). Only the Nebraska pick is preventing RHPH from having a perfect score. As for the Lo-splitters, there's about six guys bailing water down in the hold, all with 22 points.

The Champ is Here | by Jay

The first BCS rankings are out. Here's how ND stacks up.

Coaches Poll: 8th
Harris Poll: 10th
Computers: 7th
-----
Overall: 8th

Seems reasonable to me.

Some other teams' rankings make no sense at all, however. A couple of doozies:

• West Virginia is ranked 4th by Harris and the Coaches, but only 14th by the computers.

• Texas is 5th by Harris & Coaches...15th according to the genius robots.

• 6-1 Clemson, having played and beaten nobody special (and losing to BC), is down at 16th for the computers. The fickle humans must have been impressed with their 63-9 demolition of Temple: they rank the Tigers at 12th, ahead of more deserving teams like Arkansas and Oregon. Boston College logically checks in at 20th.

• Auburn > Florida > Cal > Tennesse > Arkansas. Say whut? As one astute poster over on ND put it:

Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, California. I know you have to look at the whole season, but all these teams have one loss, and: Auburn beat Florida, Florida beat Tennessee, Tennessee beat Cal. I mean, it's right there.

I'd also point out that Arkansas beat Auburn and only has one loss (to a top-3 team) but I wouldn't expect the pollsters to actually start over with their rankings. Nope, it has to be "Well I had this team here, and they lost so I'll drop them 7 spots, and this team wasn't ranked and had a big win so I'll stick them around 18."

Now we see the violence (and prejudice) inherent in the system.

Buh-Bye | by Jay

It's been a hectic six weeks -- flying to Atlanta, hitting the home games, the Spartan spectacular, and a wedding down South last weekend. Finally, a Saturday to camp out and watch some football from around the country (and work on some of the posting backlog I have in draft mode right now). I have Gameday on in the background this morning, and it's wall-to-wall Tebow. Tebow-Tebow-Tebow. Tebow. Tebow.

My viewing sched (thank you, ESPN Gameplan):

12pm: flipping between Syracuse at West Virginia and Minnesota at Wisconsin. Curious to see what Steve Slaton is all about; despite the near-weekly Thursday appearance of the Mountaineers this season I haven't seen him yet. Minny-Wisco is strictly sentimental, as I come from hardy Midwestern stock and seeing these two earthy giants club each other is more fun than the smorgasbord at Shakey's.

1:30pm: Rutgers at Navy. I can't believe it, but this has the potential to be the best, most competitive game of the day. Maybe I'll flip over to the Northern Illinois game to check out Garrett Wolfe, but probably not.

3:30pm: UCLA at Oregon. Things I'll be watching: new starting QB Pat Cowan, the statistically-relevant UCLA defense (and how Oregon attacks them), the Bruins cheerleaders. Ohio State at Michigan State is going on at the same time, but I expect a blowout. I'll probably also take a gander at Mizzou (6-0) versus Texas A&M during the commercials.

7:45pm: Florida at Auburn. A high-flying, back-and-forth roller coaster, or another couple of SEC offenses gumming each other to death? Given the way the Tigers were exposed last weekend, I have to think the Gators are going to roll. Tebow.

8:00pm: Michigan at Penn State. Mother Irony would have Penn State beating the Wolvies, in a 40ish to 20ish blowout. The perfect circle. I don't think it's going to happen.

8:05pm: Mets at St. Louis. Let's go redbirds.

First beer in a couple of hours. Pull up a chair.

A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That | by Pat

With no Notre Dame game today, here's a smattering of stuff to keep you afloat.

• Tucked in at the bottom of the football section of UND.com is a list of 2006 Award Candidates. Ten players -- Quinn, Abiamiri, Zibby, Samardzija, McKnight, Carlson, Landri, Harris, Walker, and Price -- with links to each one's accolades. Even though the links are somewhat hidden, it's nice to see ND acknowledge some of the better players on the team who could & should be up for post-season honors (without going too overboard).

• NBCSports.com has really been ramping up the coverage of Notre Dame football this year with plenty of articles and multimedia. There's a great collection of videos ranging from the Dillon Pep Rally to Charlie Weis: The High School Years, a story on the local hype surrounding Jimmy Clausen, a status report on UCLA and other ND future foes.

• They also have a fun, 20-Questions style interview with two alums each week, one from ND and one from that week's opponent. ND guys include Phil Donahue, Jerome Bettis, Reggie Brooks, Aaron Heilman, George Wendt, Pat Garrity, and Bob Golic. Opponent alumni include poker player Phil Gordon, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star Ted Allen, and former New York Jet linebacker Greg Buttle, among others. Here's the link to the Golic interview; the links to all the other interviews are on the sidebar. Don't miss this Golic quote about Charlie.

Q. You overlapped at Notre Dame with Charlie Weis. Did you know him at all?

A. I knew Charlie very well. We lived in the same dorm, Flanner, and he lived down the hall from me. At the time he basically had nothing to do with football other than he knew some of the players and he would help make sure we had beer after the game.

• ESPN college football writer/blogger Bruce Feldman put out his own Midseason Top 100 Players list. For my money, Feldman's got a better grasp on college football (and more specifically, the talent at each school) than just about any other national writer out there. Anyway, the full list is here (subscription).

Here's the rankings of the ND players as well as ND opponents. It's pretty crazy that ND has already faced 15% of the nation's Top 100 players only half-way into the season and will face 20% over the course of the season. Plenty of Michigan names on the list.. Dwanye Jarrett was left off the list since he's missed a few games with an injury.

Notre Dame
7. Brady Quinn
66. Victor Abiamiri
78. Rhema McKnight
90. Jeff Samardzija
96. Darius Walker

Opposing Players
1. Calvin Johnson - WR, Georgia Tech
4. Alan Branch - DT, Michigan
13. Mario Manningham - WR, Michigan
14. Anthony Spencer - DE, Purdue
18. Phillip Wheeler - LB, Georgia Tech
19. Mike Hart - RB, Michigan
25. Lamarr Woodley - DE, Michigan
28. Dan Connor - LB, Penn State
31. Leon Hall - CB, Michigan
36. Paul Posluszny - LB, Penn State
40. David Harris - LB, Michigan
49. Chad Henne - QB, Michigan
60. Jake Long - OT, Michigan
63. Drew Stanton - QB, Michigan State
73. Steve Smith - WR, Southern Cal
74. Tony Hunt - RB, Penn State
76. John David Booty - QB, Southern Cal
79. Justin Hickman - DT, UCLA
80. Rey Maualuga - LB, Southern Cal
83. Sam Baker - OT, Southern Cal

• UND.com has an excellent video, "Era of Ara", a documentary that spans the first 10 years of Ara Parseghian's time as head coach of the University of Notre Dame.

• Another Senior-type bowl pops up this year for NFL hopefuls. The first ever Texas vs. The Nation Bowl will feature the best players with a Texas connection (either high school or college) versus the best of the rest. Sort of an odd way to set up a bowl game, but I guess they wanted a special angle to distinguish themselves. I have to figure a few seniors with Texas ties (Morton, Renkes, Leitko) might make this game, as well as some of the other seniors considered in the Top 15 at their position (the prereq for filling out The Nation's team).

Eight is Not Enough | by Pat

At this stage it's probably unfair to speculate on why Ron Talley left. But we can speculate about the thinning depth chart at defensive end.

As for the immediate impact of Talley leaving, Chris Frome has looked pretty good after returning from his knee injury, so thankfully we have a quality starter already in place. I would guess that we will see a lot more of Morrice Richardson on passing downs. Hopefully Justin Brown will start to make some appearances as well. It would also be great if ND can get some of the backups like Ryan, Kuntz, and Hand (assuming he's healthy) into games like they did against Stanford.

Looking ahead to 2007, it's not a pretty sight.

Position	5th year	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Freshman
DE	-	Justin Brown	-	Kallen Wade John Ryan Mo Richardson	Justin Trattou Kerry Neal
DT	Trevor Laws D. Stephenson	-	Pat Kuntz Derrell Hand	Paddy Mullen	-

Lots of blank space, especially in the upperclassmen ranks. Next year Trevor Laws could turn pro, even though he has a potential 5th year option. Even worse, Stephenson and Justin Brown haven't even played in a game yet this season. The same goes for Hand, Wade, and Mullen. Mo Richardson is still listed as a linebacker on the roster, but I think with Talley's departure he's going to stay at defensive end.

Not all is lost, and I don't mean to be too doom and gloom. I think that the younger players, like Morrice Richardson and John Ryan, are pretty talented and can quickly develop into quality players. And the incoming recruiting class is still a work in process, with multiple talented defensive ends and defensive tackles still interested in the Irish.

As for Talley's recruiting classmates, there are only 8 left on the team out of an original class of 17. Ten players have actually left the team, but Junior Jabbie did return for this season. Two players, Darius Walker (RB) and Maurice Crum (LB), are full time starters and three are part-time starters and quality backups, Terrail Lambert (CB), Anthony Vernaglia (LB), Leo Ferrine (CB). The final three, Darrin Bragg (WR), Junior Jabbie (RB), and Justin Brown (DE), have not played in a game yet this year.

Talley's Out | by Jay

Pretty surprised to hear that Ron Talley left the team. Nobody has any specifics yet; the official release from the University only says that the decision was "mutual." The SBT contacted Talley for a short statement wherein he confirmed his departure.

"I went to class this morning," Talley told The Tribune via cell phone. "I had a 15-minute meeting with coach Weis this afternoon. We went over a couple of things, and at the end both parties decided it was best to go ahead and split."

Talley said he plans to finish the semester at Notre Dame, then look for another school. Unless he transfers to a school below the Div. I-A level, he will have to sit out next season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules. He would then have one year of eligibility remaining.

"I have no idea where I'll end up," Talley said. "I haven't really had a chance to give it much thought."

Not much more to say about Talley at this point. Maybe we'll find out more on Monday at Charlie's presser.

Poll Position - Week 7 | by Jeff

The Irish have continued to creep up the polls since the Michigan debacle, thanks to solid play, the schedules of other teams, and a few upsets. On September 29th, ND was 11th in the BCS and 14th in the coaches poll. Today, the Irish stand at 6th in the BCS and 8th in the coaches poll. For all practical purposes, ND is in a tie with Tennessee and Texas for the number six BCS spot, with the three teams seperated by .0074 points (a little more than 1%). Maintaining this position is critical, as a top 8 finish guarantees ND a BCS bowl spot.

Climbing five to seven spots in two weeks was somewhat lucky, and the path forward from here is likely to be much more difficult. There are a few matchups which should give the Irish a bump in the polls (West Virginia at Louisville on November 2nd, for example), but not many. However, with solid play throughout the rest of the season and at least five more victories, the BCS is very realistic. Unfortunately, the Irish are far out on the fringe of the National Championship picture, and a lot of upsets will have to occur before we start talking about playing on January 8th.

Since the Irish are off this weekend, we can all engage in a stress-free weekend of scoreboard watching and rooting for the underdogs.

#1 Ohio State at Michigan State (Ohio State by 14.5)
The Buckeyes are unlikely to cushion Sparty's annual freefall. To borrow something Lou Holtz said (about Rodney Peete): It appears that the only thing that will stop Troy Smith is graduation.

#2 Florida at #11 Auburn (Auburn by 1)
A road game against a wounded Auburn team could spell trouble for the Gators, but don't expect a loss here to drop the Gators more than 3-4 spots.

#3 Southern Cal vs Arizona State (USC by 18.5)
The Trojans are looking very beatable these days. Let's just hope that the Irish are the ones doing the beating.

#4 Michigan at Penn State (UM by 6)
The first of a tricky two game stretch for the Wolverines. How will they play without Manningham, and can Penn State step up to the challenge?

#5 West Virginia vs Syracuse (WVa by 25)
The Mountaineers open conference play against perhaps the worst team in the conference.

#6 Texas vs Baylor (Horns by 29)
Baylor is surprisingly undefeated (2-0) in confernence play. That ends tomorrow.

#7 Louisville vs Cincinnati (Cards by 26.5)
Petrino may use the second half of this game as a scrimmage for Brian Brohm, so this one could get ugly.

the Podcastin' Irish | by Pat

For those who are avid readers of Irish Eyes, you already know about the interesting and insightful talk on ND football and recruiting featured on Mike Frank's "Power Hour" podcasts.

But if you haven't tuned in yet, today's a good day to start. Mike snagged his biggest interview to date and will sit down to talk shop with the bossman himself, Charlie Weis. I suspect they'll spend most of the time talking about Charlie's new book, "No Excuses" (I wouldn't expect any scoop on the recent Greg Little non-announcement announcement, or if Charlie's started to leave empty packing boxes in Rick Minter's office).

The show starts at 3:30 pm (EST) and you can listen live by clicking here or here. If you missed it, an archived copy will show up here shortly.

In the meantime, you can check out an excerpt from Charlie's book here. My favorite part is Weis describing his first phone call conversation with Kevin White.

We beat the Browns, 42–15. On Tuesday morning, as we began game planning for our next opponent, Cincinnati, Kevin called to say he wanted to come to New England to interview me.

“When do you want to do that?” I asked.

“Today,” he said.

“Great.”

“When are you available?”

“Any time after midnight.”

“Excuse me?”

“Any time after midnight.”

And from there it goes on to describe the interview that started off Charlie's return to Notre Dame, a process that started at 12:30 A.M at the Westin Hotel in Providence, RI.

Taking Inventory: the Offense | by Pat

We've hit the halfway mark of the season and the Irish are enjoying a much-needed bye weekend. With six games under their belt, here's my armchair take on the First-Half Irish, position by position. I'll start off with the offense. But first, a few medals.

• MVP - Brady Quinn. Sure, he had a rough game against Michigan. But Quinn has been the driving force in every win, especially in the close Georgia Tech game and the incredible comeback against Michigan State. As he goes, so goes our season.

• Most Improved - John Carlson. His blocking is still inconsistent, but no one really expected him to surpass Fasano's contributions in the passing game this quickly. He's got the best hands of a tight end that we've seen in a long time, and he can motor, too.

• Top Newcomer - Sam Young. The obvious choice. He's pretty much the only new starter and a freshman to boot. Oh yeah, he's pretty good.

• Biggest Surprise - The lackluster play from the interior of the offensive line to start the year.

And a recap of the offensive positions...

Quarterback. Quinn had a slow start to the year -- slow, relative to Heisman-level expectations -- and he's been rattled when subjected to constant pressure, especially up the middle. But he seems to be back in his 2005 groove, making sharp, accurate passes and smart decisions with the ball. With a few more games against lesser secondaries, he should be in top form for the matchup with the Trojans. The Heisman isn't lost, but Quinn is going to have to earn it now with superior play, especially in L.A. The backups are still a question mark; so far they've done little more than look over Quinn's shoulder during sideline conversations with Weis.

Running Back. Despite ND being in full-fledged passing mode for nearly two whole games this season, Darius Walker's rushing stats haven't lagged: he's still on pace for 1,000+ yards. Some Walker critics have raised the volume this year, but I'll gladly trade his lack of flash and top-end speed for his heady running, great hands, solid pass blocking, and reliability in holding onto the ball. At the backup, Munir Prince hasn't broken many tackles this year but hopefully he will start to get a few more meaningful carries, and maybe even a few receptions, each game. The debut of James Aldridge was a bit of a surprise and while we should keep in mind he was running against the backups of the nation's worst run defense, he looked pretty good out there. Good enough for me to be content with leaving Travis Thomas on the defensive side of the ball for the time being.

Fullback. Losing Asaph Schwapp for the year hurts, but so far the only real drop-off with new starter Ashley McConnell is in tough-sounding names. There are still a few missed blocks here and there, but Asaph was guilty of that too. Looks like the now-patented Weis off-season diet plan success story count is up to three now with the slimmer McConnell joining Stovall and Ndukwe as the latest player to benefit from shedding unecessary extra weight. Against Stanford, tight end John Carlson came in as a fullback a handful of times; will he be a fixture in the backfield going forward? Freshman Luke Schmidt might make a late season appearance, but I think a hand injury has slowed down his acclimation to college football.

Tight End. Filling Anthony Fasano's shoes was a big challenge coming into the season, and so far John Carlson has made a spectactular impact on the offense. He's not quite the blocker Fasano is, but he's got flypaper hands and the speed to be a deep threat down the middle of the field. Carlson might be playing himself into a first day draft pick; now we'll have to sweat out him returning for his 5th year. Marcus Freeman has been pretty quiet so far, but when Quinn has thrown the ball his way he's made the catch and looked good doing so. Will Yeatman and Konrad Reuland have picked up some garbage time minutes but both look pretty big and athletic moving around out on the field. I think tight end at Notre Dame is in good hands for the foreseeable future.

Wide Receiver. The dynamic duo of Samardzija and McKnight are excellent. Although the Shark has disappeared at times as teams bracket him on the field, and McKnight dropped a few easy passes early on, both have been very dependable of late, and have shown growing chemistry with Brady as the year has unfolded. The lack of a dependable 3rd wide receiver is still somewhat worrisome; David Grimes has been in and out of the lineup with an injury, and while Chase Anastacio's downfield blocking has been excellent, so far he's been quiet as a pass catcher. ND has four very strong receivers in Samardzija, McKnight, Carlson, and Walker, but I'd still like to see just one more receiver consistently contribute on the offense, if only to give us more peace of mind for next season. If I had to guess, I'd say that Anasatcio is the closest to making a regular contribution.

Offensive Line. It's sad to say, but overall, the OL has been disappointing. There have been too many missed blocks and not enough push in the running game. They can really turn it on and dominate a defensive line at times (see Stanford), but it's rarely a game-long consistency. For such a veteran line, they haven't quite lived up to the lofty expectations set for them, especially the interior of the line. One possible exception is Ryan Harris who has been very consistent and is really doing a solid job in both the run and pass game. At right tackle, the major question mark on the offense coming into the year, Sam Young came out of fall camp the starter and so far he has looked great for a freshman. He has a very, very bright future. Even better is the recent trend of subbing in Paul Duncan for a few series a game, who has more than held his own in competitive situations against Michigan State and Purdue. The dual benefit of not wearing out Young early in the season while at the same time building depth and experience for next year is quality coaching. As for the rest of the backups/freshman, it was great to see Turkovich, Olsen, and Carufel all get in there towards the end of the Stanford game. At this point I think we might have to wait a year to see Bartley Webb and Chris Stewart, whereas I expect to see center Dan Wenger in there once he gets that cast off his hand. Hopefully Olsen and Carufel get some more PT since they just might be starting next season.

Bottom Line? I was surprised at how shaky the offense looked at the beginning of the season, but everything seems to be in fine form now, especially the passing game. Conservative play, "taking what the defense gives you", and dominating the time of possession seem to once again be the hallmarks of the Irish offense. Sam Young and John Carlson have been fun to watch, and I can't wait to see more of Prince and Aldridge. For the rest of the season I see the offense getting better and better as it fine-tunes itself against weaker competition before the big showdown in L.A.

The quotable Charlie Weis | by Pat

Heading into the bye weekend, Charlie opened up a bit with his Tuesday press conference and touched upon a lot of topics from the defense to the freshman to recruiting. If you have the time, you can watch the whole thing here. The transcript is available here and is a great read. Here are some highlights.

On the plan for the bye weekend.

Now, on Wednesday towards the end of practice, there's going to start to be a mass exodus of coaches because you can only send seven of the 10 coaches on the road at one time, the nine assistants and myself are the 10, and only seven of them can go out there. During the season you can go out for six days. Two of the days we're using are going to be Thursday and Friday of this week. Now, some of those guys will get to see a game on Thursday and a game on Friday. Some of the guys will just go to schools on Thursday and go to schools on Friday and see a game. Some of those guys will see two games on Friday where there's an afternoon game on Friday and there's a night game on Friday. But the coaching staff will be out.

On field goal kicking

One stat that probably, as I wrap-up my initial comments, one stat that kind of surprised me more than any, this year we're three for six on field goals, but I was not cognizant until I went back and looked at where the field goals take place, that from inside of 40 yards, Carl is three of four. The two misses - he has two misses between 40 and 50. Anything less than 40 yards, he's three out of four, where last year in that 30 to 39 range, we were two of three. This year we're three of four. Last year we kicked two short ones at this time. This year we've had no attempts from that same area.

I think part of those stats when I look at them are the fact that I'm asking him to kick a couple longer field goals than we were kicking at this time last year.

On the freshman quarterbacks

I think that both those guys are night and day improved over when we got 'em, okay? Just the mannerisms of running the huddle is night and day improvement.

But I think on different weeks they've both showed their wares. What we do is we have one of them, even though they don't get any reps, one guy during the week, when the one guy is the lead guy on the show team, the other guy is up watching Brady the whole week. If Demetrius has the show team for the week, then Zach is up along Evan and Brady going through the offense for the entire week. If Zach has the show team, then Demetrius is up for the whole week.

We have a whole plan of attack so that those guys aren't just show team players, they're show team players like every other week. We've gotten the benefit from both them playing where they get almost every rep on the show team for the week, plus them also being coached with what we're doing and how we're doing it.

On if he wants the defense to be more aggressive

Well, yes and no. Sometimes Rick hates when I'm saying, Bring it, bring it. Yeah, I actually do have a clicker. I am actually on the defensive headset, contrary to popular opinion, okay? I don't say as much as I do on offense, obviously. But, you know, I'll correct a personnel once in a while. Doesn't happen very often. I'll tell everyone to quiet down so Rick can talk. There's a lot of things going on there. I'll give a hash mark or I'll say, Big screen down.

The defensive coaches, they basically run the show there. Just sometimes I'm the one who gets antsy in conjunction to how I'm thinking on offense more than them getting antsy.

On Sam Young

He's one of those guys who just keeps on getting better every week. He does. He keeps getting better every week. From the first game to the fifth game, all's he's done is getting better, to the sixth game, is get better every game. That's what you'd hope for. A lot of people talk about the wall, like the freshman wall. He actually is playing better each week. That's the furthest thing from his mind, I'm sure.

On why all of those BGS letters go unnoticed.

I ask not to be given the mail. How is that? I only answer mail as it pertains to more personal issues, somebody dying, somebody sick, some kid's going through a tough time, his dad is in Iraq. Those are the type of things. Those are the ones that I ask for. I really don't care what people think positively or negatively because what can I do about it? I can't change their opinion. My job is to try to do as best as I see fit to run the program accordingly.

What will happen, if I read them, I'm going to start getting mad at people I don't even know. You think about it, I just can't spend the time and energy doing that.

On running up the score for the polls.

I don't know, we went from 12 to 8 with a 31-10 victory over a team that was 0-5. Usually you'd say yes, but it didn't pan out this week. This week you thought we would have dropped eight spots the way things are going.

Is there a little influence of me on that vein? Yes. But I really think it's disrespectful, not only wrong, it's disrespectful to play a game to run the score. I really think it's disrespectful. I'm always going to think that way.

Now, are there Notre Dame fans that are going to say, God, I wish he'd go score another two touchdowns? My wife and son want me to do the same thing. Just so you know, they're not alone. Just tell them they have supporters in my own house.

On James Aldridge

The fact that he came out of the game with those few touches not being sore, that means now I can give him more. You have to make sure you can give him what he can handle, first of all. I wanted to try to get him eight touches in the game. I got him four. I wanted to get him eight in the game. Unfortunately the game really wasn't put away yet. I wanted to make sure the game was put away.

It was a nice day. The field was firm. My intent was to give him eight touches. Four was enough where I could get him in the training room, they could go check on him, see where he was. He came out of the game pretty good, pretty well. I think that means you can up the ante a little bit.

On recruiting and only having 9 verbal commits.

What if the number is a lot more than that? Maybe it is.

First of all, the only reason they're public is because they say so. When a kid tells me, yes, we cannot say anything to anyone, for two reasons. Number one, it's not our right. Number two, you risk the kid, the kid who already has given you his word in private, getting turned off by the fact that you wanted to make it about you, not about him, even though that's illegal. So nothing's ever coming from me. Nothing's ever coming from us.

If the word comes out, it's never coming from us anyway. So what's the difference between a public commit and a non-public commit? It's whether the kid wants to tell somebody or not. That's the only difference. People don't know how many people we have that are coming here. We could be done. We're not, but we could be (laughter).

On Quinn and the Heisman

Let's see where he gets drafted in the NFL draft. There's been a lot of Heisman Trophy winners that have been terrible NFL football players. Let's see where he gets drafted. If he gets drafted up there top one or two, makes $50 or $60 million, I don't think I'll be too upset.

On the perils of getting in to work before dawn in the summer.

No. I have had some interesting things, though. I'll end on this one. I have had a couple of interesting - probably the most interesting one I've had so far were guys on reunion weekend trying to steal my golf cart at 4:30 in the morning coming back from the bars. I looked at them and I said, What the hell are you doing? We're trying to steal the golf cart. I said, It's mine. I actually put them on my golf cart and drove them over to the dorm and piled them into a garbage can, got them back there. I have had some - when you come in early, you do - there are some interesting things that you see walking in early in the morning.

the Ka, the double | by Jay

Working on some notes from the Stanford game. In the meantime, here's something interesting from the NY Times on the man who will forever be Charlie's doppelgänger.

Stanford game photo galleries | by Pat

This week we have galleries from UND.com, the South Bend Tribune, Irish Illustrated, Blue and Gold Illustrated, Era of Ara (Irish Eyes - password: ie) Getty Images, and the AP photo wire.

John Carlson's one-handed grab of Brady Quinn's pass in the endzone is my pick for photo of the week. This AP photo by Darron Cummings is a good shot, but I also recommend you check out the one taken by good old Era of Ara. Good stuff.

Game Time! | by Jay

Stanford Gut-Check | by Jay

Ordinarily I would offer up a Flashback post right about now, talking about some grand game of years past where the Irish battled mightily and ended up victorious. So let's go waaay back...way back to November, 2005. Stanford was 5-5 going into the ND game last year, had just been whipped by Cal, and had lost to Div-1AA U.C. Davis earlier in the year. So last year before the Stanford game in Palo Alto we wrote this:

So we've come to the end of the season, and there's just enough left for one more turkey sandwich, one final helping of cranberry sauce, one last slice of pumpkin pie. We're off to Stanford to trim the Trees and ice a BCS bowl, and there's not much more to say about this game other than we should win it, and handily...

Still, most Saturdays against [Stanford] there'd be a chance for a letdown, and maybe even a 'trap' game for us. Stanford's got some movable parts on offense and a heady coach that usually would give us fits, and there's that little tradition of Stanford de-pantsing a good Notre Dame team from time to time.

Tomorrow won't be one of those games...I wouldn't be surprised to see a thorough domination, the first complete game we play all year.

Thorough domination? Most complete game we'd play all year? Heh. Edwards and backup QB Ostrander sliced us and diced us, TJ Rushing returned an 87-yard kickoff for a touchdown, and Brady threw two costly picks, one deep in Stanford territory, and another that led to Stanford TD. We needed a last-minute comeback drive and a Darius Walker touchdown with less than a minute to go to knock off Leland.

So, what to expect today? We know how lousy this Stanford team has been. They're 0-5. Their woes are legion. I wouldn't be surprised to see a thorough...maybe the most complete...

No, I'm not going to say it.

Tree Hugging | by Jay

In prepping for the Stanford game, I still find myself asking the question "why did we give up so many yards to Purdue?" I think a variety of culprits reared their ugly heads in our game against the Boilermakers.

• For starters, the Purdue offense isn't too shabby, and Brimley knows how to put together a game plan. Purdue in recent years has had total offenses ranked 25th, 13th, 65th, and 7th. The Purdue offensive line is tremendous, and will likely send four or five guys to the pros. While we got some pressure occasionally, they didn't give up any sacks, and Painter wasn't knocked around very much. Plus, the Boilers have good skill position players in Bryant, Sheets, Keller, Lymon, and especially Painter, who looks like a good QB on the rise. I think a lot of ND fans, myself included, sort of pooh-poohed the Purdue offense coming into the game, but out of all the "second-tier" opponents on our schedule, it wouldn''t be that surprising if Purdue compiles the most yards against our defense this year.

• Injuries & substitutions. Missing Wooden and Travis Thomas, and having to play guys like Brockington in his first start puts us at an immediate disadvantage. Also, Zibby got knocked in the head on that punt return, and clearly wasn't himself the rest of the game. Which was a factor, but doesn't excuse...

• Poor tackling by our defense. Are the effects of playing so many tough games in a row taking their toll on endurance? Or is it just lack of concentration? Quite a few times against Purdue (and throughout the year) we've had guys bounce off instead of wrapping up.

• Inability to cover their second wide receiver (Lymon) one-on-one. Our game plan seemed to be: minimize Bryant (41 yards), Sheets (47 yards), and Keller (36 yards); see if a freshman wide receiver can beat us. And beat us he did, to the tune of a ND record (238 yards receiving). We did such a great job on the main playmakers, but when we face a team with a variety of weapons like Purdue, we need to be able to clamp down on the 3rd & 4th options just as much as the first. Oftentimes that boils down to a mano-a-mano matchup (Walls versus Lymon, for instance).

• Failure to limit the big play, especially the 88-yard TD right before the half. Without that whiffed tackle, the complexion of the game changes and the statistics don't look nearly as beastly. But even so, Purdue had successful passes of 39, 23, 26, 40, and 22 yards in the game.

• Prolonging Purdue drives with bad penalties. 'Nuff said.

---

What can we expect from Stanford?

There were high hopes for Stanford on offense this year, returning its quarterback (the talented Trent Edwards), a leading running back, both its receivers, its entire offensive line and its tight end, and the Cardinal hoped to improve on their 99th-ranked offense in '05. But injuries have hit hard. Both senior receivers Mark Bradford and Evan Moore are out as is starting center Tim Mattran. Running back Anthony Kimble suffered a concussion against Washington State, but he should be back on the field tomorrow. As a result, Stanford is averaging only 12.6 points per game so far this year against decent competition (Oregon, SJSU, Navy, WSU, UCLA). It's been spiralling downwards all season, finally hitting rock bottom against UCLA (166 yards total offense, 2.8 yards per play).

Shall I go on? They rushed for 28 yards on 31 carries against Wazzou. They have two rushing touchdowns all year. Their most experienced remaining receiver, tight end Matt Traverso -- who notched 7 catches for 85 yards and 1 touchdown against ND last year -- doesn't have a single reception so far this year. As Pat noted below, they've given up 21 sacks, which equates to about 12% of the time they drop back for a pass. Edwards has thrown six interceptions; only about twenty teams have more. The Cardinal are 81st in time of possession (28:57 per game). In fact, the only spot where they best the Irish O is in third down conversion rate (36%, 78th to 33%, 96th).

Bottom line: this is not a good offense. It is not anywhere near Purdue's offense. It is not even last year's Stanford offense, which put up 336 yards against the Irish.

Poll Position - Week 6 | by Jeff

The Irish made it through week five with what they needed most. The team got it done on the field, rolling to an early lead and fending off any chance of a comeback. While the team certainly needs to improve in several areas, ND is well positioned for a BCS spot, currently estimated to be #10 in the BCS standings. A top eight finish in the BCS standings gets the Irish an automatic qualifier, and nine wins coupled with a top 14 finish qualifies any team to be an at-large selection.

This weekend is a little unusual for the Irish, as three of the four teams below ND in the rankings play three of the five teams above. So, it is very likely that losses by #7 Texas or #9 Georgia will have no impact on ND’s spot in the coaches poll, as those games might vault #13 Oklahoma or #14 Tennessee over ND in the polls. In theory, it is possible to actually lose ground, since a 2-loss Texas team might still be ranked ahead of the Irish if they lose a close one to Oklahoma. #16 Cal has perhaps the least potential to jump over the Irish with a win over #11 Oregon, as Cal's blowout loss to Tennessee is still relatively fresh in the voters' minds.

As an aside, where would you rank a 4-1 team that lost solidly at home to Ohio State, crushed a 1-AA opponent, beat Iowa State by three scores, and whipped a couple of lesser opponents? Well, if the team's name is Iowa, you rank them 19th. If it is Texas, you rank them 7th. I don't know what will happen in the Red River Shootout this weekend, but I suspect this Saturday will reveal the extent of the Vince Young hangover.

October should sift out what is going on in the SEC, as there are four games (and thus four losses) among Florida, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee in the next four weeks (and more in November). So, I’m not sure it really matters to ND who wins among LSU and Florida at this point. A Michigan State win over Michigan could be a first step in the marathon trek to get back into the National Championship picture, but I’m not holding my breath. In any case, the Michigan vs Michigan State, Texas vs Oklahoma, and Florida vs LSU games all start at 3:30 EST, so I’m hoping the Stanford gamewatch has a couple of extra TVs going.

#6 Michigan vs Michigan State (UM by 15.5)
The Spartans blew their chance at ending their annual collapse last week.

#7 Texas vs #14 Oklahoma in Dallas (UT by 4.5)
The Oklahoma D vs a freshman QB? I have a tough time seeing how Texas will compete in this game, which means the Longhorns will almost certainly win.

#8 Louisville at Middle Tennessee State (Cards by 32.5)
With a quarterback from Paducah, how could the Cardinals possibly lose this one?

#9 Georgia vs #14 Tennessee (Vols by 2.5)
Georgia had better pick up their game, or the Vols will roll in this one.

#10 LSU at #5 Florida (LSU by 1)
Break out the popcorn and lock the kids in the basement, this should be a great one.

#11 Oregon at #16 Cal (Cal by 5.5)
For the second straight week, the best chance for the Irish to gain a spot in the coaches' poll occurs directly above ND in the polls.

And most importantly...
#12 Notre Dame vs Stanford
It is absolutely critical for the Irish to win this game and continue to improve on both sides of the ball.

Medical Rounds | by Jay

Looks like Schwapps on a Plane has been grounded for the season with surgery on his knee. Per the Observer:

Notre Dame sophomore fullback Asaph Schwapp will have surgery on his left knee today and miss the rest of the season, Irish coach Charlie Weis said Wednesday.

"From watching him today, he's not going to be able to play [this season]," Weis said. "The question isn't if we'll have to have him in to get fixed, the question is when. By having [the surgery] now, you have a chance at having him back for spring [practices]."

Ashley McConnell has been playing FB since midway through the Penn State game, so he's already got three games under his belt. Also of note, Charlie said freshman Luke Schmidt might move into the mix as a backup to McConnell. Schmidt was one of those intriguing recruits whose size (6-3, 252) didn't automatically make you think of a classic tailback, although he played that position exclusively for his high school team. There was a lot of speculation that he would make a better FB/H-back type for ND. Looks like that's where he's heading.

Other news from the DL:

• Travis Thomas will probably rest his sore ribs again versus Stanford. Noticeable in the practice video from yesterday was some footage of the 4-3 alignment, with Toryan Smith and Steve Quinn practicing at MLB and Mitchell Thomas, Mo Crum, and Joe Brockington on the outside. Something to look for when we take the field against the Cardinal.

• Bobby Morton's in the same boat as Travis, and may or may not play against Stanford after leaving with an injury in the Purdue game. By the way, there's a good piece on Morton and his recently passed away father by John Walters (who is now writing for NBCSports.com).

• David Grimes is getting healthier, according to CW.

• Ambrose Wooden looks "close to starting" against Stanford.

• Bobby Renkes took all his usual kickoffs in practice this week.

Pixacatto Six | by Jay

(Like Officer Tim McCarthy, I've resorted to recycling my best post titles for the P6.)

Talk about stasis. The AP Top 10 is virtually unchanged from three weeks ago; 1-8 has been exactly the same for three weeks running, with only Georgia & LSU swapping spots at 9 & 10. The bottom part of the ranking had some reshuffling, with Virginia Tech and Iowa dropping down.

Here's the Pick Six. Group F (Unranked) is still not having any impact on the contest yet. The overall leader at 93 points, FourthandNine (heh) is garnering zero points from the unranked slot. Wyndycity and Davikowski are still vying for the booby prize, now joined in the basement by ILuvLloydCarr with 26 points apiece.

Statistically Speaking - Purdue | by Pat

Sacked. It seems that so far this year, the Notre Dame defense has had trouble generating a pass rush. After getting 31 sacks last year, ND is on pace so far this year to hit 19. Not good. But is that completely the fault of ND's defense, or have they faced a group of teams effective in not letting up sacks? The correct answer is likely a combination of both, but to help quantify ND's performance, here is a table highlighting the percentages of all opposing team pass plays that have turned into sacks. The first column gives the season total of sacks given up by the team. Next is their number of pass attempts in all games this year. Following that is the percentage of those pass plays (pass attempts + sacks) that resulted in a sack. Next is the number of sacks allowed in the game against the Irish. The last column is the percentage of pass plays that resulted in a sack for the Notre Dame game alone.

Team	Sacks	Pass Att.	% of Att.	Sacks (ND)	% of Att. (ND)
GT	5	126	3.8%	1	4.2%
PSU	5	165	2.9%	2	4.9%
UM	7	114	5.8%	2	9.1%
MSU	11	137	7.4%	3	13.4%
PU	3	179	1.7%	0	0.0%
STAN	21	153	12.1%	-	-
UCLA	8	123	6.1%	-	-
NAVY	6	47	11.3%	-	-
UNC	4	117	3.3%	-	-
AF	4	22	18.2%	-	-
ARMY	5	135	3.6%	-	-
USC	7	146	4.6%	-	-

As you can see, ND has done a better job sacking the other team than their season average, which includes the results of the ND game. Now, that doesn't mean that ND all of a sudden has a good pass rush. There are statistics and then there is reality. But it does show that at least the Irish aren't getting stonewalled by offenses that otherwise let up more sacks on average. Well, expect for the Purdue game that is. 46 pass attempts without a sack is pretty bad. Purdue is one of the best in the nation at preventing the sack, but still. I do think that ND missed out on the speed of Travis Thomas at linebacker.

Relief does appear to be just on the horizon as the Stanford team has to this point allowed a whopping 12.1% of all pass plays to result in a sack. Put another way, Stanford has allowed more sacks in their 5 games than Georgia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, and Michigan State have in their collective 20 games combined.

For those interested in the Irish sack allowed numbers, ND has given up 14 sacks already on 197 pass attempts, which calculates out to a 6.6% sack/pass attempt percentage.

One last note of clarification. While I counted pass plays as pass attempts plus sacks, there is the fact that called pass plays that resulted in a QB scramble aren't counted. That additional factor would skew the numbers a bit, but honestly I'm not about to comb through opposing team play-by-plays trying to figure out if a QB run was designed or not.

In triplicate. Against Purdue, Notre Dame's three rushing touchdowns were scored by three different players; Darius Walker, George West, and Jeff Samardzija. The last time that Notre Dame had three different players rush for a touchdown in a single game was 2001, when Carlyle Holiday, Julius Jones, and Terrance Howard each rushed into the endzone in a 27-16 Irish win over the Trojans of Southern Cal. The last time ND had two wide receivers rush for a touchdown in the same game was the 2000 matchup against Air Force when David Givens and Joey Getherall each ran one in.

Catching On. It's obvious that the new pass friendly Irish offense will be re-writing the record books for the next handful of years. But it's still impressive how quickly that is happening. Rhema and Samardzija are flying up the receiving charts, but the real surprise is Darius Walker. With 32 receptions already this year, Walker is only 25 receptions away from passing Malcolm Johnson for 10th all-time. At his rate, he should pass Maurice Stovall at the end of this season or early next year and, unless the offense radically shifts next year, Walker could leave Notre Dame as the leading receiver in school history.

Most Pass Receptions

1	Tom Gatewood	157	1969-71
2	Jim Seymour	138	1966-68
3	Tim Brown	137	1984-87
4	Rhema McKnight	135	2002+
5	Maurice Stovall	130	2002-05
6	Derrick Mayes	129	1992-95
7	Ken MacAfee	128	1974-77
7	Jeff Samardzija	128	2003+
9	Tony Hunter	120	1979-82
10	Malcolm Johnson	110	1995-98
	Darius Walker	85	2004+

More records falling. Speaking of Walker, his 146 yard game against Purdue has moved him up in the all-time rushing record book ahead of George Gipp. Walker is now #7 all-time and only 54 yards from Phil Carter's #6 spot. If Walker wants to claim the all-time spot, he's going to have to average 94 yards a game rushing for the rest of his career (that includes bowl games). That will be difficult, but is certainly not impossible.

Season Long Running Averages

Offense

Category	GT	PSU	UM	MSU	PU	2006	2005
Yards Per Rush	3.5	3.1	0.2	2.8	3.2	2.9	3.6
Avg. Yards per PA	6.5	8.0	4.9	8.9	8.3	7.2	8.7
Avg. Yards per PC	10.7	11.5	9.6	15.9	10.9	11.5	13.5
Pass Completion %	61%	69%	51%	56%	76%	62%	65%
3rd Down Conv.	7/16 (44%)	5/13 (38%)	2/14 (14%)	1/11 (9%)	8/14 (57%)	23/63 (33%)	90/184 (49%)
Rushing Yd Avg.	138.0	110.0	4.0	47.0	138.0	87.4 (100th)	147.08 (55th)
Passing Yd Avg.	246.0	287.0	241.0	319.0	316.0	281.8 (11th)	330.24 (4th)
Quinn Passing Eff.	114.91	163.91	92.2	170.3	3.5	139.6 (41st)	158.40 (7th)
Total Offense	384.0	397.0	245.0	366.0	454.0	369.2 (45th)	477.33 (10th)
Scoring Offense	14.0	34.0	21.0	33.0	35.0	30.2 (34th)	36.67 (8th)
Time of Possession	35:25	33:11	26:04	24:21	38:01	31:24	32:51
Red Zone TDs	2/3 (66%)	4/6 (66%)	2/2 (100%)	2/2 (100%)	5/6 (83%)	15/19 (79%)	38/55 (69%)

Defense

Category	GT	PSU	UM	MSU	PU	2006	2005
Yards per rush given up	4.2	4.8	2.9	5.8	5.1	4.5	3.9
Avg. yards per PA	5.8	5.5	10.0	6.1	8.7	7.2	7.7
Avg. yards per PC	11.7	9.4	16.9	12.7	17.3	13.5	14.6
Pass completion %	50%	59%	59%	48%	50%	53%	53%
Quarterback sacks	1	2	2	3	0	8	31
Rushing yards against	119.0	158.0	120.0	248.0	92.0	147.4 (79th)	132.33 (34th)
Passing yards against	140.0	225.0	220.0	140.0	398.0	224.6 (91st)	264.6 (103rd)
Passing Eff. defense	112.75	107.8	186.64	124.6	5.8	139.7 (38th)	121.41 (53rd)
Total yd. against	259.0	383.0	340.0	388.0	490.0	372.0 (63rd)	396.92 (75th)
Scoring Defense	10.0	17.0	33.0	30.0	21.0	26.4 (88th)	24.5 (53rd)
Red Zone defense	2/2 (100%)	3/4 (75%)	4/4 (100%)	2/2 (100%)	2/3 (66%)	13/15 (87%)	31/41 (76%)
Red Zone TD defense	1/2 (50%)	2/4 (50%)	2/4 (50%)	1/2 (50%)	2/3 (66%)	8/15 (53%)	23/41 (56%)

Turnovers

Category	GT	PSU	UM	MSU	PU	2006	2005
Interceptions by ND	0	1	1	2	0	4	13
Fumbles forced/recovered	0/0	3/2	0/0	2/1	1/1	6/4	20/11
Turnovers gained	0	3	1	3	1	8	24
Had intercepted	0	0	3	1	0	4	8
Fumbles/Lost	0	1/0	2/2	3/1	0	6/3	17/6
Turnovers lost	0	0	5	2	0	7	14
Turnover Margin	0	+3	-4	+1	+1	+1	+10

Special Teams

Category	GT	PSU	UM	MSU	PU	2006	2005
Kickoff Return average	39.5	13.0	22.6	24.8	20.0	24.1	19.0
Kickoff Return avg. allowed	17.5	13.2	14.8	20.0	21.8	17.6	21.2
Punt Return average	7.5	2.0	4.0	25.0	2.0	7.2	14.1
Punt Return avg. allowed	8.0	6.0	16.0	15.0	0.0	10.5	6.4
Net Punt avg.	41.6	44.0	39.9	41.1	45.7	41.3	36.1
Kickoff avg. / Touchbacks	64.7/1	59.1/2	60.0/0	60.1/2	58.0/0	59.9/5	59.3/10
Field Goal Att./Made	0/2	2/2	0/0	0/0	0/1	2/5	12/18

Under the Hood | by Pat

Maybe it's been this way since the beginning of the season, but the AP Poll has gone totally transparent, with the ballots of all 65 voters available for public digestion.

While it's interesting to look at how the various voters slotted ND, keep in mind that the AP Poll doesn't figure into the BCS calculations anymore. That being said, it is interesting to see where ND, ranked #12 overall for the third consecutive week, ended up on the individual ballots.

As you can see from the chart, ND received 23 11th-place votes out of the 65 total AP voters. The next highest total was 12 10th-place votes, and then 11 12th-place votes, and then a smattering of votes as high as #9 and as low as #19. The results form a somewhat lopsided Gaussian distribution that really isn't all that unexpected this early in the season, especially for a team with as many question marks as ND.

It is interesting to see the effects of the outliers. The way the AP vote works is that a team gets 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second, and so on all the way down to one point for a 25. Notre Dame finished with 921 points, only 23 behind #11 Oregon. In this week's vote, Craig James of ABC slotted Notre Dame at #18 and Steve Phillips of WBIR-TV in Knoxville gave ND a #19. Had a few of those extreme votes been a little closer to the consensus, ND would have picked up an additional 17+ points; nearly enough to leapfrog Oregon for #11.

Anyway, the (admittedly minor) point of the example isn't to show that ND deserved the 11th spot over the Ducks, but to show that the difference between the teams in the poll is rather thin. If but a few of the voters harboring second thoughts about ND change their mind, ND should continue to move up in the polls.

Upon Further Review - Week 5 | by Dylan

This week went just about as expected for the Irish, with perhaps one touchdown less on offense and one more allowed on defense. Despite racking up a bunch of yards through the air, it took a horribly missed tackle by Tom Zbikowski for Purdue to avoid a 35-14 thrashing at the hands of the Irish. Purdue had to settle for being soundly beaten by a score of 35-21.

Has Notre Dame’s defense looked shaky? Sure. The secondary has continued to allow receivers to get behind them and the front four has been less than dominant. But what did we expect? Other than pure wishful thinking, there was no reason to expect this defense to be spectacular. How would one realistically gauge the chances, against the toughest schedule in the country, of a unit with one returning linebacker and a true freshman at cornerback? With two starters out, as was the case against Purdue?

Would anyone really care if we all woke up tomorrow and Rick Minter were not the coordinator? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean he should be fired, either. We are shorthanded, and have actually not played that badly on defense, all things considered. What is the hackneyed phrase used to assess coaching acumen? Ah yes, making adjustments. How has Minter’s defense adjusted during the first five games? Pretty damned well. Georgia Tech (the same Georgia Tech that scored 31 on Va. Tech Saturday) scored 10 points in the first half against ND, none in the second half. Michigan’s offense scored 27 turnover-fueled points in the first half and scored two field goals after that. Michigan State scored 24 first-half points, six second-half points. Purdue scored 14 before the break and 7 after.

What does that all mean? It means that ND has given up too many points in the first half this year, which can be attributed to a number of factors, coaching being just one of them. If ND’s offense had played even average football in the first halves of the Michigan and Michigan State games, the defense would look much better. Despite being given no room for error in three of the five games, the first team defense has given up 12 points in meaningful second-half play, 19 if you count Purdue’s final score. 12 points in five games. Let’s wait and see what this team looks like when it can actually run a 4-3, when second and third best linebackers aren’t a backup tailback and a starting safety, respectively.

While it’s been beaten to death and it’s not charitable to take pleasure in another’s suffering, I’m really enjoying the MSU debacle. There are about 85 threads of karma wrapping around John L. Smith’s neck right now, and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. I actually feel sympathy for (some of) his players. They deserve better than that blabbering, paranoid idiot.

The only thing I can say for certain about this year’s National Championship picture is that ND does not factor in it. Unless the Ohio State-Michigan and Louisville-West Virginia games are wiped out by meteors, I don’t see how ND can make it into the top two in the BCS, even with a season-ending win at Southern Cal. I hope I’m wrong, but there are too many obstacles, some of which are already evident, the most glaring being the obvious bias against ND in the “human” polls. Texas lost badly at home against the best team in the country. Notre Dame lost badly at home to what might be the second-best team in the country. Texas has beaten North Texas, Rice, Iowa State, and Sam Houston State. Notre Dame has beaten #18 Georgia Tech on the road, Penn State, Michigan State on the road, and Purdue, all of whom had not lost a game until they lost to ND. Of course, it follows that Notre Dame is ranked five spots behind Texas in both the AP and Coaches’ polls. Texas should not even be in the top 25, unless the voters think that Vince Young is still their quarterback. Let them beat somebody, for pete’s sake. Of the one-loss teams, ND and LSU should be 1 and 1-A in the rankings. However, anyone who thinks a one-loss Notre Dame would be ranked ahead of a one-loss Auburn, Florida, or Michigan at the end of the year is kidding himself.

Did I mention that Texas played SAM FREAKING HOUSTON STATE?!? In week five?

There’s not much else to say, really, about the week that wasn’t. There were some near toe-stubbings, but, alas, Miami, Georgia, Nebraska, Southern Cal, and Auburn escaped with their loss columns intact. Egregious cupcakery gave way (in most cases) to conference play. Not a lot of grist for the mill, you know?

Onward to face Stanford, a team that would probably lose to Oaks Christian.

Go Irish!

Purdue game photo galleries | by Pat

This week we have galleries from UND.com, the South Bend Tribune, Irish Illustrated, Blue and Gold Illustrated, Era of Ara (Irish Eyes - password: grapenuts) Getty Images, and the AP photo wire.

No obvious candidates for picture of the week. I'll go with this one of Darius Walker taken by AP photographer Michael Conroy. It's a good summary of how the game went as Darius was just a step too fast for the Purdue defense all day. (or, as some other Irish fans might say, just a step too slow to break away completely). I will say though that perhaps the coolest photo is the one taken by Matt Cashore of Rhema making a reception over a Purdue player in the driving rain. It's photo #12 in the Irish Illustrated gallery. Check it out. And yes, he did catch that pass.

Odds & Sods - Hum Drum Edition | by Mike

Here comes a regular. What does it mean when a 14-point victory over Purdue doesn't inspire particularly strong feelings in either direction? It means another trace of the Davie-Willingham era is being purged. While neither Davie nor Willingham ever managed a double-digit victory over the Boilermakers, Weis's squad just recorded a two-touchdown victory and the talk of most Irish fans seems to center on the areas that need improvement. A return to normalcy?

The dump off. Throughout 2005, Notre Dame's offense leaned on the screen pass. Heading into the Purdue game, opponents this year had rendered the Irish screen game largely ineffective. Against Purdue, Darius Walker's 219 yards of total offense included 73 yards receiving on 9 receptions, with much of those receiving yards coming on screens. It's too early to say whether the Irish screen game is really back or whether the success was simply due to a weak Purdue defense, but it was comforting to see the Notre Dame offense finally executing this staple again.

Get it together. Despite a dropped would-be touchdown pass, Brady Quinn and Rhema McKnight finally seemed to be on the same page. Weis mentioned that he had devoted considerable practice time this past week to communication and timing between Quinn and his receivers. The move paid off, as Quinn and McKnight ate up Purdue's young corners on the out route. McKnight hauled in a career-best 10 catches for 120 yards. Perhaps most importantly, three of those receptions came on third down, keeping drives alive in a way that the Irish had been unable to do against Michigan and Michigan State.

My first mine. Showing the wear and tear that comes with playing legitimate opponents exclusively in the first month, several Irish players sat out with injuries. As a result, several players recorded career firsts. Joe Brockington garnered his first career start due to the injury Travis Thomas suffered on the final play of the Michigan State game. Freshman George West's first career rush was also his first career touchdown, as he took an end-around in for the score in the first quarter. Weis noted that the play was originally designed for David Grimes, but with Grimes out with an injury, West's number was called. With Bobby Renkes also nursing an injury, freshman Ryan Burkhart recorded his first game action when he handled the Irish's first kickoff of the game. Though not necessarily attributable to injury, Chase Anastacio grabbed his first reception of the year and Jeff Samardzija recorded his first career rushing touchdown.

So much beauty in dirt. In 2004, Michigan came back from a 17-point 4th-quarter deficit to beat Michigan State in triple overtime. The Spartans went 1-3 in their next four games. In 2005, Ohio State scored 14 unanswered 4th-quarter points to beat Michigan State. The Spartans went 1-4 in their next five games. Given this history of implosions, an intelligent MSU coach would have responded to Notre Dame's comeback win over Michigan State by making sure his team focused on the next opponent. Johnelle Smith is not an intelligent coach. Rather than mentally preparing his team for Illinois, Johnelle engaged in baseless ranting about his team's loss to Notre Dame. The stupidity of the content of Smith's rant was matched only by the stupidity of focusing on a past opponent. The result was entirely predictably. Smith managed to lose a homecoming game to a member of the Big Ten's Troika of Ineptitude, a team that hadn't won a conference game in two years and hadn't won a road conference game since 2002. If ever there were grounds for a player mutiny, surely they exist in East Lansing.