SportsPulse, an internet radio show out of LA, asked BGS to come on and talk about Brady Quinn, his NFL draft prospects and the like. I'll be on the air tomorrow around 2:15 eastern, and you can listen live via their site if you'd like. SportsPulse also put together a nifty banner ad for us:
With regards to Quinn and the draft, what should I be sure to mention?
With Year 2 of the Charlie Weis tenure officially in the books, the search is on for metrics by which to judge his performance. What numerical data can we use to check our biases and provide context? Over the long term, every Notre Dame coach will be judged by whether or not he delivered a national championship. However, while five different coaches have won national championships at Notre Dame, none of these championships was won in the coach's first two years. Thus it's too early to apply this standard to Weis.
One of the obvious measures by which to judge a coach in the first few years of his tenure is his performance relative to his predecessor. In his first two years, Charlie Weis guided Notre Dame to 19 wins. In the two preceding years, Tyrone Willingham guided Notre Dame to 11 wins. While Irish fans certainly appreciate those eight extra wins (and may appreciate the eight fewer soul-crushing losses even more), it's not clear how much this tells us about Weis at Notre Dame.
To provide context, we decided to look at the change in win totals for all the Division I coaches hired following the 2004 season. Twenty-two new head coaches were hired that offseason. Because there was such a large amount of turnover (changes at almost one-fifth of the D-I schools), we should have a decent-sized sample to examine. A Dennis Dodd article from early 2005 provided a comprehensive list of the new hires at that time, and that list is reproduced below. (Dodd's ranking of the hires is also included, for entertainment purposes only.)
| Dodd's Rank | Coach | School | Dodd's Rank | Coach | School | |
| 1 | Urban Meyer | Florida | 12 | Frank Solich | Ohio | |
| 2 | Steve Spurrier | South Carolina | 13 | Dave Wannstedt | Pitt | |
| 3 | Ed Orgeron | Mississippi | 14 | Walt Harris | Stanford | |
| 4 | Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | 15 | Dick Tomey | San Jose State | |
| 5 | Les Miles | LSU | 16 | Hal Mumme | New Mexico State | |
| 6 | Kyle Whittingham | Utah | 17 | Terry Hoeppner | Indiana | |
| 7 | Tyrone Willingham | Washington | 18 | Bronco Mendenhall | BYU | |
| 8 | Charlie Weis | Notre Dame | 19 | Shane Montgomery | Miami (OH) | |
| 9 | Ron Zook | Illinois | 20 | Skip Holtz | ECU | |
| 10 | Greg Robinson | Syracuse | 21 | Brent Guy | Utah State | |
| 11 | Mike Sanford | UNLV | 22 | Bill Cubit | Western Michigan |
| Coach | School | Wins (03-04) | Wins (05-06) | Delta | Dodd's Rank |
| Bill Cubit | Western Michigan | 6 | 15 | +9 | 22 |
| Skip Holtz | ECU | 3 | 12 | +9 | 20 |
| Bronco Mendenhall | BYU | 9 | 17 | +8 | 18 |
| Charlie Weis | Notre Dame | 11 | 19 | +8 | 8 |
| Dick Tomey | San Jose State | 5 | 12 | +7 | 15 |
| Frank Solich | Ohio | 6 | 13 | +7 | 12 |
| Urban Meyer | Florida | 15 | 22 | +7 | 1 |
| Terry Hoeppner | Indiana | 5 | 9 | +4 | 17 |
| Steve Spurrier | South Carolina | 11 | 15 | +4 | 2 |
| Ron Zook | Illinois | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| Tyrone Willingham | Washington | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Les Miles | LSU | 22 | 22 | 0 | 5 |
| Brent Guy | Utah State | 6 | 4 | -2 | 21 |
| Walt Harris | Stanford | 8 | 6 | -2 | 14 |
| Hal Mumme | New Mexico State | 8 | 4 | -4 | 16 |
| Mike Sanford | UNLV | 8 | 4 | -4 | 11 |
| Dave Wannstedt | Pitt | 16 | 11 | -5 | 13 |
| Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | 16 | 11 | -5 | 4 |
| Greg Robinson | Syracuse | 12 | 5 | -7 | 10 |
| Kyle Whittingham | Utah | 22 | 15 | -7 | 6 |
| Ed Orgeron | Mississippi | 14 | 7 | -7 | 3 |
| Shane Montgomery | Miami (OH) | 21 | 9 | -12 | 19 |
Looks like Zibby is resuming his boxing career, with a charity bout scheduled for March 6th against Kevin Murphy at the Century Center in South Bend.
'Man, I'm pumped up about this,'' Zbikowski said of fighting in South Bend. ''Most of my teammates will be there. And the Notre Dame fans will get a chance to see me fight. ''I'm not trying to go in there and just knock somebody out. I want to show off my actual skills.''The fight will benefit Hannah & Friends and might not be his only boxing match of 2007.
There has been talk of him fighting in Chicago on the undercard of a David Diaz-Erik Morales lightweight championship battle in May.After Zibby's somewhat inconsistent season on the gridiron, I'm sure some ND fans would love to see him concentrate solely on football -- "all bawl" as a certain head coach used to say. My guess is the shoulder injury he suffered against Purdue had far more to do with his uneven play last season than the few weeks he spent training for boxing. The wrinkles in the defense that Rick Minter introduced last year and where they had Zibby lining up at the snap also had an effect on his production (perhaps a topic worthy of a future post). It's going to be very interesting to see how Corwin Brown decides to use Zbikowski in the new Irish defense.
''I couldn't really see that Chicago thing happening, but anything is possible,'' Zbikowski said. ''Once spring ball starts, I'm just going to be concentrated on football.''
Michigan filled out its '07 schedule last week by adding the Washington Generals-- err, I mean, Division I-AA powerhosue Appalachian State -- as its opening home game. (You might remember Appalachian State from such college promotional videos as Hot! Hot! Hot!, sliced and diced by Orson in a classic EDSBS post).
The funny thing is, the Wolverine brass are clearly sensitive about scheduling such an obvious petit fours. They put together a fact sheet on Appalachian State that applies lipstick to a pig -- Defending 1-AA champs! Six victories versus D1 teams since 1982! Also good in basketball! -- but let's be honest: this was a win for Michigan the moment the ink dried on the contract. The fact sheet fails to mention that the Mountaineers played just one game last year against a BCS opponent, a 2-9 NC State team, and got thumped, 23-10. The opening line on the Michigan game will be north of four touchdowns.
Why is this game happening? Because the economics of college football encourage it. The expanded 12-game schedule necessitates finding additional opponents, and most teams are understandably reluctant to schedule an actual out-of-conference challenge. With the recent allowance of one Division I-AA game per year to count towards bowl eligibility, more and more big league teams are padding their schedules with cupcakes. Furthermore, unlike other competitive programs, smaller schools won't insist on a home-and-home series, thus resulting in more home games for big schools (and thus, more filthy lucre).
What's in it for the cupcakes? Cold, hard cash. Michigan, for example, is paying Appalachian State $400,000 for this game. The NYT had a good article last Fall on the phenomenon of small division schools offering themselves up to the big boys like tribal sacrifices to Kong in exchange for a ride on the gravy train.
The big money has trickled down to Division I-AA, where payouts that were between $100,000 and $150,000 five years ago are now as high as $650,000 a game. Northwestern State, a Division I-AA program in Natchitoches, La., is playing three Division I-A teams this year.And voilà, Behold, the creampuff parade: 47 games in '06 between BCS teams and Division I-AA sacrificial lambs, the vast majority blowouts. Texas Tech beat SE Louisiana, 62-0. Florida beat Western Carolina 62-0 (conveniently, a tuneup game right before FSU). Arkansas took on SE Missiouri State, and waxed them 63-7. And so on. The average margin of victory was 28 points. Sure, there's an occasional upset (Montana State beating Colorado, for instance), but the exception is so rare that it proves the rule.
Greg Burke, Northwestern State's athletic director, said the team usually played two games against Division I-A opponents. But the combination of the high-dollar offers and the threat of less state financing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were factors in making a change. The combined payout of $815,000 will account for nearly one-fifth of the athletic department's operating budget, Mr. Burke said.
Just after signing day, Charlie granted Irish Illustrated's Tim Prister a comprehensive sit-down, and this week Yahoo Sports published the three-part interview. Part I, part II, part III. It's quite a long read, but I think it's good insight into Weis's mindset as he transitions from a second season letdown and into a new beginning, with so many fresh faces among the roster and the coaching staff.
Mike Coffey had a provocative post on his Notes from the Geetar blog, speculating on why an Irish basketball team on the bubble of NCAA tournament selection might not get the benefit of the doubt from the powers-that-be. Take a gander.
One of the big changes surrounding the football program last year was the sudden rise in available media for ND fans at the official Notre Dame athletics website. From video practice reports, to press conferences, to live streaming coverage of various on-campus games, the dramatic increase in content made for interesting viewing and helped fans follow the Fighting Irish closer than ever before. With that in mind, BGS conducted a little Q&A with Alan Wasielewski, a member of Notre Dame Sports Properties and one of the driving forces behind the multimedia options available on UND.com.
To keep this post a bit shorter, we'll reproduce some highlight excerpts here. The entire interview can be read here.
On Alan and his job...
"My official title is 'Director of Digital Media' which is just another way to say that I take care of all the multimedia offerings on und.com. If it is audio or video, it crossed my desk before it showed up on the web site. My day-to-day schedule fluctuates greatly because of the weekend hours, late-night hours and different seasons. During football, it seemed I was in the office 24-7. The office in the Stadium is very nice, I have by far the best parking (since I get to drive into the concourse during the week), but since our office is immediately adjacent to the visitors locker room, I have to move operations out of my office on football Fridays and Saturdays, which you can imagine is a pain considering everything we produce on those two days."
On charging for UND.com All-Access...
"There are absolutely no plans to charge for our product at this time. The fans will eventually decide where we go in that capacity. If they continue to watch our videos and the numbers continue to increase, then there is no need to even think about a subscription service. We view this as a service to our fans - and no one wants to pay a subscription fee."
On the future of All-Access...
"The ultimate goal of Fighting Irish All-Access is to offer every available home game/event live on-line (video and audio) to our fans. What the time frame is for that goal has not been set yet, but we want to develop a broadband channel that turns into the ESPN for Irish Athletics."
On coverage of the Blue and Gold Game...
"As of this moment, there are no plans to stream the game live, or have it as a video archive (we will produce a highlight package). But, if access to the game changed, we could quickly turn around and make the game available. Of course we will be there will full coverage of the post-game, pre-game, etc. We also have practice coverage scheduled this spring as well."
The runners-up have been revealed; now for the cream of the crop. Paul from Classic Ground walks us through the list.
10. Bombing Navy
Notre Dame scored on all of its first-half possessions on its way to a 43rd consecutive win over Navy. On third and 18 in the first quarter, the Irish made it 10-0 with a 36-yard pass from Brady Quinn to David Grimes. Quinn scrambled to buy time, and Grimes made a spectacular diving catch in the left edge of the end zone. The catch was the first career touchdown for the wide receiver.
9. Lyons with a “Rudy” moment
Like Mooney-to-O’Hara in last year’s Syracuse game, it is probably a safe bet that Coach Weis’s favorite plays versus Army involved senior walk-on and “show team” regular John Lyons. Lyons, a running back from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, had not logged a second of playing time before seeing the field in the closing minutes against the Black Knights. Lyons rushed for 4 yards and 10 yards, respectively. Commenting on Lyons and the other players that got into the game late on Senior Day, Weis said: “I wanted to give John Lyons a carry...but I think the most important thing for me was to make sure I got the guys, you know, try to get those guys on the field to at least be part of that experience.”
8. The Shark glides past Mayes
Against North Carolina, All-American wide receiver Jeff Samardzija had six catches for 177 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown, a 42-yard pass from Quinn, was his 23rd career touchdown catch, breaking the school record set by Derrick Mayes in 1995. Coach Weis on the record: "I think it's pretty amazing that he accomplished it really in a year, year and a half.” Samardzija, commenting on his accomplishment: “If your teammates come over and give you a hug and say good job, it doesn't matter how many it is or what happened. If your teammates are in there with you having fun, that's all that counts."
7. Laws blocks it and Lambert returns it
DTs Trevor Laws and Derek Landri emerged as kick-blocking monsters during the 2006 season. Against Air Force, Laws blocked an Air Force field goal attempt in the second quarter. The ball was scooped up by CB Terrail Lambert, and Lambert sprinted 76 yards for the touchdown. The 10-point swing on the play put the Irish up 27-3 over the Falcons in Colorado Springs.
6. “Rabbit-out-of-the-hat play”
The Irish opened a 28-7 lead late in the second quarter against Purdue with a fake field goal. WR Jeff Samardzija, the holder on the field goal unit, picked up the ball and ran untouched for a 5-yard touchdown. According to Coach Weis, the touchdown was the result of coaching and preparation: “If they don't have the look, call timeout and we'll go out and we'll kick the field goal. But fortunately we had the look that exactly was the one we practiced on...and it worked.”
5. “Room service fumble recovery”
The Fighting Irish went into the locker room leading 20-0 over Penn State at halftime. The Nittany Lions received the second half kickoff, and 3 plays later found themselves down 27-0. On third and 2 from the Penn State 28, QB Anthony Morelli ran an option play to the right. Unfortunately for Morelli, he was sandwiched by Irish LBs Travis Thomas and Maurice Crum Jr., and coughed up the football. The ball bounced nicely for S Tom Zbikowski, and he returned the fumble 25 yards for the Notre Dame touchdown. Joe Paterno on the Irish score: “I felt we had a chance until we screwed it up real quick in the third quarter.”
4. One hand catching
TE John Carlson surfaced as an important part of the Irish offense in 2006. On the last play of a 12 play, 77 yard fourth quarter drive, Quinn rolled right on first-and-goal and found Carlson in the end zone. Carlson stretched out and snared the ball on a diving, one-handed catch. Coach Weis on the game: “The offense I thought was fairly meticulous. It's not about scoring 50 points; it's about how you feel about how you're playing.” Weis also had a comment about Carlson’s one-handed snag: “"That was phenomenal...I thought the ball was overthrown, to tell you the truth. Of course when he came to the sidelines I said, 'Two hands, please."'
3. Run-pass check
In the opening road game, at night, against Georgia Tech, Quinn led the first of many late-in-the-half or late-in-the-game touchdown drives this season. After a Tech field goal put the Yellow Jackets up 10-0 late in the second quarter, Quinn engineered a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive. With no timeouts, and just 16 second left in the half, Quinn scored on a quarterback draw from the Tech 5. Weis downplayed the “risky” or “gutsy” nature of the playcall: “It was a run-pass check with me. When you go to the line of scrimmage, if it was bring the house, which I thought there would be a good chance they would be bringing the house, we would have been throwing the ball. But he goes to the line of scrimmage. You can very clearly see that they were in a zone coverage where they were going to double receivers. There was going to be two high safeties and no one in the middle. The only guys that could end up possibly making a tackle on him were the mike linebacker on the tight end, and the will linebacker over on the X. There was a big cavity in there...It really wasn't that risky based on what the look was.”
2. “The Irish have come from behind…”
In a monsoon rainstorm, in East Lansing, the Fighting Irish were looking at another painful loss to Michigan State. Trailing 37-21 entering the fourth quarter, the Irish rallied and Terrail Lambert made two miraculous plays to help lead Notre Dame to a 40-37 victory. First, Lambert intercepted a Drew Stanton pass and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown with 2:53 remaining in the game. On the next Spartan drive, Lambert sealed the Irish win with a crazy interception as he pinned the ball against the back of a supine Spartan receiver. For his play, Lambert earned the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week from the Master Coaches Survey.
1. “Against all odds, the Irish come back!”
From the AP article: “Brady Quinn threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija with 27 seconds left to give 10th-ranked Notre Dame an improbable 20-17 comeback victory over UCLA on Saturday...It appeared as though Notre Dame had squandered its last chance to win when Quinn was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 from the Notre Dame 35 with 2:25 left. But the Irish held UCLA to three-and-out to give Quinn one last chance. Because the Irish...were able to stop the clock twice with timeouts during the Bruins' short series, they got the ball back with 62 seconds left. Quinn hit Samardzija with a 21-yard pass and David Grimes with a 14-yard pass to move to the UCLA 45. He then threw the TD pass to Samardzija, who cut inside safety Dennis Keyes at the 20-yard line. Keyes managed to knock Samardzija off balance, but the Notre Dame receiver kept his feet and made it to the end zone.”
And there you have it. Again, special thanks go to our friend Nevin for pulling the clips. You can check out more of Nevin's excellent work, including highlight reels and special video features, at Notre Dame Football Videos.
Barely two weeks after the Class of 2007 was officially wrapped up, the Class of 2008 welcomed its first recruit with the commitment of Mike Golic, Jr. The son of former Irish star Mike Golic, Junior might have set the record for long-distance recruiting calls when he called Coach Weis while on a class trip in Italy and committed to ND from the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Golic, a 6'4, 260-lb lineman from Connecticut is projected as either a center or possibly defensive tackle for the Irish and joins incoming freshman Brian Smith as another legacy son of a former Irish player. The Irish team usually has a few sons of former collegiate players on the roster -- Maurice Crum, Jr. and Dwight Stephenson, Jr. come to mind -- but it's great to get kids with such direct ties to previous Irish squads. And while Connecticut isn't exactly a hotbed of high school football, ND's last two recruits from the Constitution state, John Sullivan and Asaph Schwapp, have turned out to be very productive players. Golics high school coach, Mark Tyler, is very high on his 1st Team All-State junior and expects him to have plenty of success in college.
"He's very tough and very athletic for a kid his size," Tyler told me. "He's got great feet, everything they look for in a center."Golic Jr's only other college offer was from Connecticut, but he had recently traveled to Florida's Junior Day and according to his coach was receiving interest from schools like Michigan, Virginia, Boston College, and Penn State. But just like his father, who was the first commitment in the recruiting Class of 1981, Golic, Jr. decided to end the recruiting process early and become ND's first public commitment.
Tyler said Golic will have no problem filling out to as much as 300 pounds in the next couple of years. He wants to come into Northwest's camp in August at 280. Golic was a captain as a junior, which Tyler said is very rare at Northwest. Tyler described him as a great leader and hard worker in the weight room and on the field. "Everything he does is first class, really, top-notch."
"Offensive linemen nowadays, they want these guys to be able to bend at the hips and at the knees and at the ankles, and he's very flexible," Tyler said. "He does all that very, very well. He's got real quick feet and he knows how to get position. He's very smart. He helps make all our calls on all our line plays and actually our plays in general. He and the quarterback, they switch plays right at the line of scrimmage."
"He's done," Golic Sr. said. "I told him, if you're going to commit somewhere, you make sure you're ready. Your word has to be your word.As the co-host of the Mike and Mike in the Morning show on ESPN Radio, Golic Sr. had his son phone into the show and talk about his commitment, which you can listen to here if you have ESPN Insider capabilities.
"He said, 'This is it for me.'"
Jay's post below regarding Jim Delany's recent statements about the Big 10 versus the SEC got me thinking. Admittedly, I don't know much about Delany. I have read that he is a very influential conference commissioner, and perhaps the most powerful person in NCAA athletics. However, his writing struck me as quite defensive, and some of what he claimed seemed specious. So, I figured it was time to break out the spreadsheet and take a fact-based look at Delany's statements, two of which especially jumped out at me:
1) It seems premature for us to lower our admission standards or give up on the tremendous talent pool in the Midwest.Delany's implication is that the midwest is strong enough in football talent that the Big 10 doesn't have to look elsewhere (nor, God forbid, "lower its standards" in doing so). On this point, Delany is simply wrong. While there certainly is talent in the Midwest, it would have been virtually impossible for a team to put together a top recruiting class without pulling in players from other areas of the country. As Rival’s Top 100 showes, the best talent in the country is in Texas, California, Florida, and the Southeastern states. (SEC states in blue, B10 states in red).
| State | Top 100 Players |
|---|---|
| Texas | 13 |
| Florida | 12 |
| California | 11 |
| Georgia | 6 |
| Alabama | 5 |
| Louisiana | 5 |
| South Carolina | 5 |
| North Carolina | 4 |
| IL, MI, MO, NJ, OH, OK, PA | 3 each |
2) I love speed and the SEC has great speed, especially on the defensive line, but there are appropriate balances when mixing academics and athletics.Delany is saying that the SEC's academic standards are inferior to the Big Ten's, and this is why the Big Ten doesn't have access to the same caliber of players. However, when looking at who was recruited, and where they ended up, that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, Big Ten schools offered many scholarships to players who were also offered by SEC schools -- and most of those players simply chose SEC schools. These players did not suddenly become poor academic performers or academically ineligible to attend a Big Ten school, they simply choose another program.
| Player | Position | Home State | School Selected | Competing Offers |
| Joseph Barksdale | DT | MI | LSU | Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State |
| Eric Berry | DB | GA | Tennessee | Ohio State |
| Eugene Clifford | S | OH | Ohio State | Florida |
| Sidell Corley | DE | AL | LSU | Illinois |
| Jeremy Finch | S | IN | Florida | Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan |
| Joe Haden | Athlete | MD | Florida | Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State |
| Aaron Hernandez | TE | CT | Florida | Iowa, Michigan |
| Gerald Jones | Athlete | OK | Tennessee | Michigan |
| Ryan Mallett | QB | TX | Michigan | Alabama, Arkansas |
| Ben Martin | DE | OH | Tennessee | Ohio State |
| Michael McNeil | S | AL | Auburn | Ohio State |
| Chaz Powell | S | PA | Penn State | Georgia |
| Chris Strong | DE | MS | Mississippi | Michigan, Ohio State |
| Deonte Thompson | WR | FL | Florida | Ohio State |
| Aron White | TE | MO | Georgia | Iowa |
| James Wilson | OG | FL | Florida | Ohio State |
| Martez Wilson | DE | IL | Illinois | Florida |
| Major Wright | S | FL | Florida | Ohio State |
| Lee Ziemba | OT | AR | Auburn | Michigan |
Top plays of the year? About time. But first, a few runners-up. We huddled with Paul from Classic Ground and came up with these nine Honorable Mentions.
Darius Walker’s game-winning touchdown run on his return “home” to Georgia...
the punt return for a touchdown by Zbikowski against North Carolina...
the Travis Thomas fake punt versus Penn State...
Samardzija’s 43-yard catch-and-run versus the Spartans...
Samardzija’s touchdown on the second play of the game against AirForce...
freshman George West’s first career touchdown, planned for the injured David Grimes, on the end-around against Purdue...
Carlson’s 62-yard catch-and-run versus Michigan State...
Quinn’s 19-yard TD scramble versus Navy...
and Ndukwe's bone-jarring hit on Calvin Johnson.
As always, very special thanks to Nevin for pulling the clips. More of Nevin's excellent work can be found at Notre Dame Football Videos. Top 10 coming up.
The number one ranked Notre Dame men's hockey team clinched their first league championship on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Alaska-Faribanks. The Irish completed the sweep on Sunday with a 3-2 win in overtime. The Irish face Ferris State this weekend to close out the regular season, with the CCHA tournament starting on March 2nd and the NCCA championships on the 23rd. A few of the regular season games have been on TV here in Chicago, so keep an eye out for the Irish if you want to check them out this season.
Congrats to coach Jackson and the entire ND hockey team.
A minor development in the Zook story. Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel had a piece about Big 10 commish Jim Delany's comments that "that when it comes to procuring football players his league is more ethical and academically minded than the Southeastern Conference". (The original letter from Delany is a hoot.)
But buried in Wetzel's article was this interesting item:
Meanwhile, Big Ten coaches (not Notre Dame) spent the last six months whispering about the recruiting practices of Illinois' Ron Zook.This directly refutes what Zook & Guenther said last week to reporters. This also refutes Delany's contention to the NYT (in an unsolicited phone call) that it was "blogosphere smoke" that fueled the rumors. Furthermore, it comports with what we mentioned in the Zook rundown below, that UM had sent letters of complaint to Delany about Zook & Illinois.
Hurrah! The NCAA has decided to scrap Rule 3-2-5e. For those not up to speed on their NCAA regulations (shame on you!), Rule 3-2-5e is the one-year-old collection of regulations that were designed to shorten the length of games. Studies showed that while the games were in fact shorter last year (dropping nearly 14 minutes on average), the time saved came at the expense of actual football rather than from the interminable commerical airtime. Football games were, on average, 12 plays lighter last season.
With fans and coaches up in arms over the new rules, the NCAA Rules Football Committee decided to repeal the new regulations at their yearly meeting, currently underway in Albuquerque.
“The changes we made last year, overall, did not have a positive effect on college football at all levels,” said Michael Clark, chair of the committee and head coach at Bridgewater (Virginia) College. “Our charge is to protect the game and do what is best for college football. Last year’s game lost too many plays, but it accomplished the need to shorten the overall time it takes to play a game. The changes we have made for 2007 balance both of these issues.”The proposed changes still need to be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on March 12th before becoming the new law of the land.
In Rule 3-2-5-e, the committee altered its rule to have the clock start on the snap after a change in possession, as opposed to the 2006 rule which started the clock when the referee signaled the ball ready for play. Also, the committee returned its rules on free kicks to 2005 standards, starting the clock on kickoffs only when the ball is legally touched in the field of play.
Getting back to the length of the games for a second...for Irish fans, the NBC broadcasts have been a running source of criticism ever since the contract was signed. But credit where credit is due: the home of Dwight Schrute does a much better job of cutting down on the dead air than its peers.Reading the PT post below, it struck me how young our group of returning wide receivers are. You've got Grimes, a junior, and then three sophomores (we've got it on good authority that Chase Anastasio, contrary to what was previously reported, isn't going to return for a fifth year). While we're replacing more overall production at other positions (notably quarterback), no other position group of returners on the team is as young. 
This got me thinking about the role of John Carlson in the offense next season. In the Sugar Bowl, Carlson was sparsely used in the passing game, and he caught just one lone pass all game long. Most of the time he was lined up next to Sam Young as an extra blocker on that side of the line. But next year, we can ill afford to keep him in to block.
In fact, it's Carlson, not David Grimes, who returns as the team's leading receiver. Despite missing most of three games with an injury, Carlson had nearly as many catches as Darius Walker, and finished third on the team in reception yardage. Since we're breaking in a new quarterback and a (mostly) new running game, Carlson is one of the few returning stalwarts Charlie can count on. It's quite possible that when Charlie draws up the offensive blueprints for '07, it will be Carlson, not one of the unproven receivers, who becomes the first or second option in the passing game.
There is some precedent for this. You probably remember a tight end for the Patriots by the name of Ben Coates. (If you played fantasy football in the mid-90s, you definitely remember Coates). Ben Coates was an unheralded fifth-round draft pick out of tiny Livingstone College, and in his first couple of years in the pros he was an afterthought in the Patriots offense. In 1993, the known TE-loving coach Bill Parcells took over the Pats and installed a young tight end coach by the name of Charlie Weis. The Pats' receiving corps wasn't much to speak of (Vincent Brisby? Michael Timpson?), and Coates vaulted from afterthought to the center of attention. Charlie explains (from "No Excuses"):
[In 1993] I had the opportunity to work with two very good tight ends -- Marv Cook, a fifth-year veteran and Pro Bowler, and a talented third-year guy named Ben Coates. Marv started twelve games for us in '93 and ended up catching twenty-two passes. Ben made only four starts, but led the team with fifty-three receptions and had our second-longest catch that year on a fifty-four-yard touchdown. The difference between them was that Marv was a short-to-intermediate receiver, whereas Ben was more of a three-level receiver -- short, intermediate, and deep. We threw a number of deep balls to Ben.When the Pats drafted Terry Glenn and acquired Shawn Jefferson the passing game started becoming a little more egalitarian, but even so, Coates was the primary or secondary option for Bledsoe for a long time.
Standing six feet five inches, Coates was a long strider. Long striders usually aren't very fast, but when Ben got going, he'd run faster. Long striders also tend to have problems with the short-to-intermediate routes because it's harder for them to get in and out of breaks than it is for someone with shorter legs, but Ben learned how to use his body to get open. He would push off and rarely get penalized by the officials for doing it. He also had very dependable hands. He clicked with Bledsoe, and Drew would always look to him.
After Ben took over as the starting tight end in 1994, his catches skyrocketd to ninety-six, which at the time was the most by any tight end in NFL history. He made the first of many Pro Bowls.
I've been curious about writing this post for about a year now because I wanted to find out just how much experience and playing time we'd be losing when Brady Quinn's class finally left South Bend. No surprise, it's a lot. We're going to be young this coming season.
I changed things up a bit this year from the 2005 and 2006 versions. Rather than just show the total playing time of each player, I broke down the numbers into playing time on special teams (ST Minutes) and playing time at an actual position (PT Minutes). That way you can see which guys were out on the field gaining experience at their position and which were relegated mainly to special teams roles. All playing time numbers came from Lou Somogyi's recent list of 2006 playing times. To help illustrate the youth of the team next season, I added the class year (note: not eligibility year, but year at ND) to each player's name. As always with this post, these numbers are just rough guidelines and "for entertainment purposes only"...
The overall numbers wind up showing that 36% of the offense and 50% of the defense will be back to don the gold helmets. Needless to say, it's going to be an adventure next year with all the new faces out on the field for the Irish.
n years ago.| Quarterback | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Sharpley (JR) | 0 | 21 |
| Total | 342 | |
| Returning | 21 | |
| Difference | (321) | |
| Return Pct. | 6% |
| Running Back | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Aldridge (SO) | 0 | 21 |
| Schwapp (JR) | 2 | 21 |
| Prince (SO) | 1 | 15 |
| Jabbie (SR) | 23 | 0 |
| Total | 396 | |
| Returning | 57 | |
| Difference | (339) | |
| Return Pct. | 14% |
| Offensive Line | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Sullivan (5th) | 1 | 323 |
| | | |
| Young (SO) | 3 | 289 |
| Duncan (JR) | 32 | 52 |
| Turkovich (JR) | 0 | 23 |
| Olsen (SO) | 0 | 21 |
| Carufel (SO) | 0 | 3 |
| Minutes | 1702 | |
| Returning | 711 | |
| Difference | (991) | |
| Return Pct. | 42% |
| Receiver | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Grimes (JR) | 25 | 160 |
| Anastasio (5th) | 25 | 58 |
| West (SO) | 37 | 19 |
| Parris (SO) | 1 | 12 |
| Jackson (SO) | 36 | 2 |
| Minutes | 870 | |
| Returning | 251 | |
| Difference | (619) | |
| Return Pct. | 29% |
| Tight End | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Carlson (5th) | 49 | 288 |
| Yeatman (SO) | 10 | 19 |
| Reuland (SO) | 1 | 17 |
| Minutes | 455 | |
| Returning | 324 | |
| Difference | (206) | |
| Return Pct. | 71% |
| Defensive Line | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Laws (5th) | 30 | 283 |
| Kuntz (JR) | 36 | 46 |
| Ryan (SO) | 2 | 38 |
| Brown (SR) | 4 | 25 |
| Richardson (SO) | 9 | 12 |
| Stephenson (5th) | 0 | 9 |
| Minutes | 1297 | |
| Returning | 413 | |
| Difference | (841) | |
| Return Pct. | 32% |
| Linebacker | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Crum (SR) | 48 | 308 |
| Brockington (5th) | 67 | 201 |
| T. Smith (SO) | 2 | 25 |
| Vernaglia (SR) | 4 | 22 |
| Quinn (JR) | 71 | 0 |
| Minutes | 856 | |
| Returning | 556 | |
| Difference | (300) | |
| Return Pct. | 65% |
| Defensive Back | ST Minutes | PT Minutes |
| Zbikowski (5th) | 78 | 286 |
| Lambert (SR) | 108 | 278 |
| Wooden (5th) | 11 | 100 |
| Herring (JR) | 89 | 50 |
| Walls (SO) | 12 | 49 |
| Bruton (JR) | 28 | 40 |
| Ferrine (SR) | 56 | 29 |
| McNeil (SO) | 22 | 14 |
| McCarthy (JR) | 83 | 5 |
| Brown (SO) | 48 | 1 |
| Gaines (SO) | 13 | 0 |
| Minutes | 1453 | |
| Returning | 852 | |
| Difference | (601) | |
| Return Pct. | 59% |
Have you been following the Ron Zook v. the World contretemps that finally flared up last week? It's juicy. Put on a pot of coffee and let me catch you up.
The success at Illinois has left the world of college football abuzz with a question: How did a program that went 4-19 the past two seasons, including 1-15 in its conference, persuade so many top players to sign?Leave it to Johnelle to go off half-cocked; I laughed out loud when I read his comment. Apart from that slam, unfortunately, the article doesn't elaborate on the specific complaints against Illinois, nor who levied them, and the article ends with a shrug. Who knows?
John L. Smith, who was recently dismissed as the head coach at Michigan State, expressed a view shared privately by many rival coaches and recruiters: “If they had a winning program and all of that, it would be a different deal. If they had the greatest facilities in the world, then maybe they could sell them. But what are they selling?” He added, “Where there’s smoke, there’s probably fire.”
But Jim Delany, the commissioner of the Big Ten, made an unsolicited call to a reporter for The New York Times to say that “blogosphere smoke” was the reason for any suspicion surrounding the Illinois class. “Around signing day,” he said, “smoke does not equal fire.”
... In a telephone interview Monday, [Ilinois athletic director Ron] Guenther said the university hired an outside law firm to investigate anonymous tips and complaints about suspected recruiting improprieties, and to determine the source of rumors about the program. He said the investigation had cost the university thousands of dollars.
Guenther also said he and Illinois coaches were convinced that another university’s coaching staff had leaked unflattering personal information about recruits to a Web site. He would not name the Web site or the university, other than to say it was not a Big Ten program.
“I take this stuff so seriously,” he said. “I have an interest in the coach’s and the program’s reputation. It’s defamation of character, and it’s got to be challenged.”
Throughout his junior school year, Benn said he had considered Notre Dame his top choice, but when he felt as though the Fighting Irish coaching staff was putting too much pressure on him to commit he stopped considering the school. Once Benn orally committed to Illinois, Notre Dame assistant Peter Vaas continued to pepper Benn with text messages and voice mails, some of which Benn provided to The Post:A couple of things struck me about Goldenbach's article. First of all, it's curious that this piece would come out the same day as the NYT story. In that article, we have Illinois accusing an unnamed school of slandering its good name; in this, we have an Illinois recruit backbiting the school that came in second place for his services. The WaPo story essentially fills in the blanks for Guenther. And why would the WaPo do a story on Benn -- focusing on events that happened roughly two months ago -- just two weeks after running a lengthy profile on Benn's first week as a college student? (Benn is an early enrollee to Illinois). It's interesting, too, that Goldenbach would be the reporter to present this; over the years he's done a number of pieces on Illinois recruiting coordinator Mike Locksley (while he was in the same position at Maryland). Did Locksley encourage Goldenbach to write this?
"FYI, ILL is telling Robert Hughes that they will build their offense around him? Didn't they tell you that?
Coach Vaas," Vaas wrote Benn on Dec. 17.
Earlier that month, Vaas left this voice message on Benn's phone: "You don't want to do anything except bury your head in the sand. . . . I guess you're not tough enough to compete at the big level."
Vaas, who was let go as quarterbacks coach by the Irish after their 44-14 loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, did not deny leaving the messages. He said last night that even though Benn made his announcement on national television, that isn't necessarily a recruit's final word.
"Did he say [he was going to Illinois] to me? Did I see him on TV?" Vaas said. "There's an awful lot of rumors or innuendo out there . . . and kids change their minds after they do that. A lot of times, it depends upon what kind of conviction a kid has about a place. You know how you read between the lines? As a recruiter, I have to hear between the lines."
A Notre Dame spokesman declined to comment last night.
"For people to say those things. One, we're not going to have people like that in our program. Two, if you get to know our people, you'll realize they are not that way," Zook said. "For the most part we know where [the accusations] are coming from. It's a shame for people to throw things out there and try to take away from a great university and program."(By the way, at the Notre Dame signing day presser, Charlie Weis is asked about the Benn/Vaas story in the Washington Post. He responds:)
Illinois officials wouldn't acknowledge it, but there's little doubt they suspect Notre Dame is behind the accusations.
I think [Benn] put Coach Vaas out to dry on that one. I want to side with Coach Vaas on that one.
You ask me if Coach Vaas sent him texts. Sure, he sent him texts. You probably could go ask the kid if he committed to us beforehand, too, see what he says to that one. It comes down to those silent verbals, all that other type of stuff.
I wish Regis [Benn's nickname] well at Illinois. I don't think now is the time for him to be hanging Coach Vaas out to dry for sending him texts, because signing day for him was when he matriculated into the second semester. For guys that go midyear, the day they enroll in classes is like their signing day...
I don't think Coach Vaas was trying to do anything unethical. I think Coach Vaas was trying to give him everything he possibly could get him, to a guy who once verbally committed to us, then switched to another school. I think we should wish him well and not point a finger at Coach Vaas.
Zook actually does know where it's coming from this time. Or he thinks he does.Most importantly, in this article we get (for the first time) a hint about the source of the allegations.
He won't publicly name the school, but it might be located 90 miles east of Chicago. The one where Rockne coached.
Notre Dame?
[...]
Zook doesn't want to seem, uh, paranoid, but it's clear he believes Notre Dame played a role in the Times' story. He believes the timing of the piece—it ran on national signing day—was intended to hurt Illinois' recruiting efforts.
"I've taken a lot of criticism," he said. "All I ask is that people be fair. If we need to be bashed, bash us. I don't have a problem with that."
But he has a major problem with rival coaches whispering that he and his staff used illegal inducements in signing blue-chippers Arrelious Benn and Martez Wilson.
Asked how he keeps Illinois boosters away from recruits, the coach replied, "I don't think [booster involvement] has been insinuated here. What has been insinuated is that our coaching staff has done things. I know what's being said to our recruits."
Illinois went so far as to hire a law firm to investigate charges that it had supplied cars to Benn and quarterback Juice Williams.Gould, in the Sun-Times, has another salacious bit of gossip about Notre Dame recruiters, care of Martez Wilson's dad:
The allegations came from anonymous letters sent to university officials.
Wilson's father, Michael Whitehead, told the Sun-Times he was shocked when a Notre Dame assistant coach got into a shouting match with a Simeon [Wilson's high school] assistant at their home. The discussion centered on what Illinois football would accomplish during Wilson's time there.An old Florida beat writer, Mike Bianchi, blasted Notre Dame in the Orlanda Sentinel:
''It was like we weren't even in the room,'' said Whitehead, who was taken aback by the argument.
"This is typical Golden Dome arrogance. How could high-and-mighty Notre Dame lose a recruit to those lowly bumpkins in Illinois?Sure, Mike. Charlie doesn't work hard on the recruiting trail or anything.
As somebody who once went on a recruiting trip with Zook, I can tell you how: Because the guy works harder and cares more. I still remember that 13-day span during the May recruiting period before his first UF season when Zook jumped in a car and visited 71 high schools in the state (an average of almost six per day) and gave speeches to 12 Gator Clubs. I'm just guessing Charlie Weis isn't driving alone at midnight through the back roads of Indiana, gulping down convenience-store coffee to try to stay awake."
As soon as Guenther has the results of the law firm's investigative work, he needs to come forward and identify the source of the original postings. We're all going to find that the author has an agenda closely tied to another university.Tupper also had a blog entry along those same lines. The comments section provide a nice glimpse into the Illinois mentality about all this.
Expect Guenther to speak very soon.
While doing so, Guenther needs to strongly defend his football coach, which he will.
Then, the New York Times needs to revisit the subject, vindicating Zook and pointing a harsh finger at the real culprit. My guess is that won't happen, nor will TV personality Regis Philbin, a blithering Notre Dame mouthpiece, apologize for his comment this week ("Isn't that fishy?") made to explain why Irish coach Charlie Weis had not been able to pad an already strong recruiting class with players like Illini-bound Benn and Wilson.
And here's another thing you can count on: There will be a mad scramble of denials attempting to place distance between any school and the author of the original message. That will be fun to watch.
...And the law firm Guenther hired will uncover the real culprit and the true motivation behind these venomous accusations.
from the AJC, a note on one of the de-committing Littles, specifically Chris, who reportedly as late as 11:20am on signing day still hadn't made up his mind:
"It is hard to tell a coach from a university, 'I don't want to take your scholarship,' " said Georgia signee Vince Vance, who had to say as much to none other than Steve Spurrier. "It is kind of awkward to say that."
Ask for help if you must. Twiggs County All-American Chris Little suggests consulting your high school coach for assistance with the wording.
Little's simple, to-the-point message: "Thanks, but no thanks. It's not the place for me."
"It's better to tell them so you're not wasting their time and they can move on," Little said.
- Mike Ragone, Courier Post
"With us totally changing the defensive scheme, I hope it improves a lot."
- Aaron Nagel, Herald News
"Coach Weis called this morning and said they were moving around some of the recruits, guys who were possible (defensive line) prospects. They have guard in mind for me, which is fine. They're giving me the opportunity. It's up to me to go get it."
- Taylor Dever, The Union
''It was just the allure of Notre Dame."
- Emeka Nwankwo, Miami Herald (bonus audio here)
''I'm not one of those cocky kids who is going to say I'm going to come in and take a starting spot. I am going to come and push the older guys. If that's good enough for me to come in and play, so be it.''
- Ian Williams, Chicago Sun-Times
"I still can't believe I'm actually going to Notre Dame. Take football out of the equation and you can't beat a degree from Notre Dame."
- Andrew Nuss, LoudounPrepSports.com
It's probably safe to say that Taylor Dever is the least-known player in the current recruiting class. Even the official ND Signing Day release is rather light on information about the California offensive lineman. The truth is, Dever was inconspicuous all through the recruiting cycle...until the middle of his senior season at Nevada Union High School, when all of a sudden offers started to pour in.
For those who wonder what turn of events trigger late flurry of offers like this, in Dever's case it was thanks to a local TV announcer.
So last fall, while going over game film in preparation for a Comcast SportsNet broadcast for a high school game, Lamb couldn't stop raving about the left tackle from Nevada Union. Formidable and ferocious, he was Taylor Dever.Recruiting's often a matter of serendipity, especially for a lower-profile recruit; ultimately, it comes down to having the right person see you play at the right time. In Dever's case, that TV broadcast on September 22nd turned a high school kid with no college offers into a top prospect, with offers from around the country.
"I thought, Oh my God, look at this kid!" Lamb recalled. "I thought, That's the best tackle I've seen in my 10 years doing high school games. He's big-time."
Big-time with little notice or fanfare at that point.
Lamb tracked down Dever's father, a mountain of a man himself at 6-foot-4, after that Nevada Union-Del Oro broadcast -- one in which Lamb asked producers and camera techs to track Dever extensively -- and raved about the kid's upside.
At that point, Tom Dever said his son had generated a sprinkle of interest. Before long, it was an avalanche, thanks mostly to Dever's skills and 6-6 size, but also partly to the benefits of modern technology and the media.
Ok, then. Let's dig right in with all the links you need to catch up on the Recruiting Class of 2007.
• The official Notre Dame press release
• Charlie Weis Press Conference Transcript
• the South Bend Tribune - "Irish Signs 18, Loses 2 late"
Rank 'Em. According to the four major recruiting services, here is the final class ranking for ND's Class of 2007.
6th - Lemming/CSTVBGS Breakdowns. For those silly readers that think we know what we're talking about, here's what we said about each recruit when their commit was made public
8th - ESPN
8th - Rivals
11th - Scout
Today's the day when many months of hard work boil down to a few nerve-wracking hours. A day when fax machines become the most important piece of equipment on campuses throughout the country and employees across the nation keep hitting F5 to know the very instant when their favorite recruits transition from verbal commit to an official member of the team.
Charlie's press conference will be at noon today at und.com and once they update the site with a link we'll update this post.
Personally, I can't remember such a crazy stretch run to National Signing Day. Rumors have been flying hot and heavy the past few days and still are as multiple Irish recruits are apparently wavering on their ultimate destination. The smoke should clear soon enough, but it's still a wild and woolly end to one of the crazier recruiting years I can remember.
Update: You can check out the Charlie press conference live using this link.
National Signing Day is tomorrow so to get you in the mood, here's a trio of links to introduce the concept and execution of recruiting for those who aren't hopelessly and pathetically obsessed. (I keep telling myself that admitting it is the first step towards recovery.)
First things first. Before the recruiting process can even start, a coach needs to pass an NCAA-administered test on the complicated rules of recruiting. In order to be eligible to contact recruits, a coach must score an 80%. A practice version of the test is available online here. Can you pass it? In the interest of full disclosure, I took the test and scored 70% which suits me just fine. It's high enough that I don't feel dumb, but not so high that I feel like I'm paying way too much attention to this stuff. (ok, I am paying way too much attention to this stuff.)
Ahhhh, but coaches aren't the only ones with a big impact on the recruiting process. With the huge interest in recruiting websites like Rivals.com and Scout.com, the evaluation of recruits and the resultant "star" rankings is reshaping a booming cottage industry. And this particular niche market is becoming so powerful that it in turn is affecting not only the recruiting habits of college coaches, but also their job security as assumptions based on said rankings affect the levels of expectations for particular schools. That leads to one big question. Who are these guys doing the rankings? The Washington Post has a very interesting insight into the lives of one of the well-known recruiting analysts with a recent profile on Scout.com evaluator Bob Litchenfels. It's a worthwhile read that gives a behind the scenes peek at how the industry works and the people that run it.
Finally, while we spend tomorrow fawning over the final class recruiting rank and project these players future, it's interesting to look back and see just how accurate these rankings we love to recite actually are. Thanks to Wizard of Odds for pointing out that Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune investigated the past four years of recruiting rankings and came up with a very interesting graphic detailing the cumulative four-year recruiting class ranking and the accompanying finish in this year's Top 25. Notice that Penn State and Cal are the only two teams out of 11 that finished lower in the recruiting ranking than the Irish and still managed to remain ranked this year. Does the dropoff mean that the schools with lower ranked recruits yet managed to be ranked have better coaches? Or are the unranked/lower ranked schools with high recruiting rankings merely benefiting from name recognition in the recruiting process? Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. Still, previous recaps done on BGS (here and here) show that while there are plenty of misses among the top ranked guys, there are still enough hits to warrant paying some sort of attention to the consensus rankings.
We rarely venture away from football related topics here, but news like this is too noteworthy to pass up. For the first time in the program's history, the Notre Dame hockey team is the unanimous #1 team in the nation. Both the USCHO and USA Today polls have the Irish in the top spot after spending the past few weeks in second place. In honor of this great achievement we've fired up the #1 light high atop BGS headquarters and indulged in a few drinks in honor of Coach Jeff Jackson and his kick-ass team.
The Irish are currently 23-5-2, which is a dramatic turnaround for a team that finished 5-27-6 two years ago when Jackson was brought in to revitalize the program. Playing in arguably the worst hockey facilities in the nation, Jackson has the team playing a level never before reached in the 39-year history of the program. Helping to lead the way is goaltender David Brown who is one of the frontrunners for the Hobey Baker award, college hockey's version of the Heisman. Part of the voting process includes an online fan vote, which you can do here if you so desire.
With a season for the ages underway, a top notch recruiting class on its way, and upgrades to the hockey rink reportedly part of the JACC renovation, the future for ND hockey is very bright. But for now, let's all raise a glass to the Irish hockey team for their stellar season as they enter the stretch run to the post-season. Go Irish!
It looks like Brady Quinn has made the first major marketing move of the newest crop of NFL rookies-to-be. In a recent press release, it was announced that Microsoft and X-Box are teaming up with Quinn to provide college football fans and video game players a behind the scenes look at how players prep for the NFL Draft.
The deal will feature video clips and blog updates from Quinn starting this Friday and apparently will even give fans chances to play him via X-Box Live.
"Our gamers love football, and football players love to game," said Mike Fischer, director of U.S. Marketing for Xbox at Microsoft. "Brady Quinn exemplifies what we were looking for in an athlete: He's focused and driven, and generates a lot of excitement when he's on the field. I'm looking forward to giving football fans a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make it in the pros."It's my guess that Quinn will play against online foes in either EA Sports NCAA 2007 or Madden 2007. I'd also guess that he'll get crushed by some 13 year old kid from Tulsa who keeps running the same play over and over.
A quick thank you to everyone that voted for the Blue-Gray Sky in the recent college football blogger awards. BGS was named best blog in the Big East/ND category (that's right Big East....first we steal your bowl bids, now we take your blog awards) and finished as the runner-up for the Post of the Year award to the very deserving Orson over at Every Day Should be Saturday.
The entire list of winners can be found over at RockyTopTalk and I highly suggest you check them all out as the winners and runners-up are all high quality blogs. Of special note is the strong entry into the blogging community by a pair of blogs run by ND fans.
Fire Mark May, run by irishoutsider, won Best New Blog and should definitely be added to your bookmarks and/or RSS news reader. Fire Mark May also finished as the runner-up in the Best Gag category for the hilarious "I hate your favorite team" letter from Glenn Philips, professional referee.
Likewise, Mark May Be Wrong, a creation of Brian, Dan, and Tom, took home the Best Critic award for their on-going attempt to track the predictions of college football pundits and bring some level of accountability to the so-called "experts". Combing cold hard facts with exceptional layout and programming skillz, not to mention the always fun Suck-O-Meter, Mark May Be Wrong is a definite addition to any ND fan reading list. Mark May Be Wrong also took The Conversation concept Jay wrote about earlier in the year and turned it into a fully-fledged internets widget that makes sorting teams by different Conversation criteria a snap.
So again, many thanks to those who voted for us. And make sure to check out/keep checking out those blogs that were a part of the inaugural blogger awards. There are some exceptional writers out there covering college football and many of them aren't the ones getting press passes to the games.
It's the unofficial last day of football for the 2006 season and unless you already have a favorite team to root for, the Super Bowl tiebreaker for many ND fans usually falls to whichever team has more former Irish players.
Here's the breakdown for this year's big game:
Chicago BearsSo there you have it, Indy is the more ND-friendly team if former ND players is your criteria.
Mark LeVoir (practice squad)
Indianapolis Colts
Rocky Boiman
Hunter Smith
Jerome Collins (injured reserve)
Too caught up with worries about the defense? Concerned about recruits? Biting your fingernails over kickers (seriously...kickers?)
Well, it's Friday afternoon; time to start thinking about the weekend. Early next week is National Signing Day and there's gonna be ample time to go over the missed opportunities, the mistakes, and the challenges for next year. For now, let's remember the fun parts of last year, courtesy once again of Nevin and his fantastic highlights.
The Class of 2007 added its 20th member as Ohio kicker Brandon Walker joined Brian Smith on Tuesday in committing to the Fighting Irish. Like Smith, Walker had been committed to another school, in this case Louisville, only to change his mind and wind up giving a pledge to Notre Dame. Unlike Smith, Walker's switch came about after the head coach of his original school, Bobby Petrino, left Louisville to take over the Atlanta Falcons head job."I wasn't sure if my scholarship would be good or not," Walker said. "So I stared contacting schools that had offered me before."
A few days after Walker sent his film to ND, the Irish offered and invited Walker up to campus this past weekend for an official visit. Upon returning, Walker made the decision on Tuesday night to accept the Notre Dame offer.
At the top of that list was Pitt and Michigan State. Then came a call Walker wasn't expecting.
"It was right out of the blue," Walker said. "I was leaving the house one day and I got the call. They wanted some film on me and my mom said, 'Are you sure it's Notre Dame?'
"It turned out to be the best offer yet, and not just for football. Academically, it's one of the best schools in the nation for what I want to get into."
Irish fans might be wondering how the Irish decided to offer a kicker a scholarship when they just offered one last year. Does it mean the coaches lack faith in Ryan Burkhart? If ND needed a kicker, why wait until mid-January? Will Notre Dame ever be able to kick the ball into the endzone on kickoffs?
It seems to me that the somewhat unexpected decision by Carl Gioia to not seek a 5th year of eligibility combined with the sudden decommitment of Walker and the fact that ND has a few extra scholarships this year led to the last minute kicker recruitment. It also doesn't hurt that Walker is versatile enough to switch to punter if kicking doesn't work out.
"They put a kicker on scholarship last year. He's going to be a sophomore but I guess he didn't make the adjustments they felt he needed to make," Walker said.
"They said the competition for field goals and kickoffs is open. Their punter will be a fifth-year senior who's actually near the top of the Ray Guy (Award) list right now.
"I've kicked since fifth grade and I feel more comfortable kicking field goals. But I'll do whatever gets me on the field."
Ranked as the #16 kicker by Rivals and the #6 punter by Scout, it seems that opinions are mixed on just what Walker will wind up doing in college. The above quote does make it sound like the coaching staff is a bit worried about Ryan Burkhart, but let's not forget that many had written off Geoff Price at punter until his breakthrough season last year. You never know when a boost in confidence or tweak in technique turns an inconsistent kicker into a dependable weapon.
