Coaches Poll v3.0 | by Jeff

In 2005 and 2006, we looked at the inherent bias in the coaches poll. This is the third year that the coaches votes have been made public, and the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Getting Worse
With so much at stake this season (an automatic qualifier from the WAC, the #2 spot in the BCS, and some wrangling around the #14 spot), it is no surprise that some of the trends seem to be getting worse, particularly among conferences.

• Coaches still rate their own team about 2 1/2 spots higher than everyone else, just like they did last year.
• Conference affiliation meant much more this season, as coaches rated teams from their own conference over two spots higher, up from only one spot higher last season.
• Simply being on a teams schedule accounted for a 1/2 spot boost in the polls for the third year running.

	2005	2006	2007
Self Promoting	+1.7	+2.5	+2.5
Same conference	+1.0	+1.0	+2.3
On the schedule *	+0.5	+0.5	+0.5

* non-conference

The WAC pushed hard to get Hawaii into the BCS, with WAC coaches bumping the Warrior's ranking by over five spots. Not stopping there, they also boosted Boise State's ranking by an average of 4.8 spots. Only Dick Tomey of San Jose State was closely in line with the majority of ballots; he boosted Hawaii and Boise State by more typical numbers (+2.9 and +1.3 respectively).

Ranking Boost by Conference Voters
WAC	+5.0
SEC	+2.5
PAC 10	+2.1
ACC	+2.0
Big Ten	+2.0
Big East	+1.9
Big XII	+1.8
MWC	+1.8
CUSA	+1.6

Feeling the Love
Apparently, the Big Ten coaches wanted to send coach Lloyd Carr out with a little recognition as Michigan was ranked by five Big Ten coaches. In addition to Carr voting for his own team, Wisconsin's Brett Bielema, Indiana's Bill Lynch, Purdue's Joe Tiller, and Illinois' Ron Zook also added Michigan to their lists. And, as proof that nothing says "I'm sorry" like a vote in the coaches poll, Les Miles also gave Lloyd a nod. Apparently, rivalries mean something, however, as Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio were among the other 54 coaches who left the Wolverines unranked.

The Envelope Please...

The Brady Hoke Award is given to the coach who omits the highest rated team each year. The award is named after Ball State coach Brady Hoke, who completely omitted Arkansas from his ballot in 2006, despite the fact that they were ranked 13th in the country. And the winner is...

Beloved former coach of Notre Dame and Stanford, and current Washington coach Tyrone Willingham. Coach Willingham either didn't feel that otherwise-14th-ranked Boston College deserved to be ranked, or perhaps he stayed at ND long enough for some anti-BC bias to rub off. But, if there is anything you'd think Ty would be good at, it is keeping a correct scorecard.

The Yosemite Sam Award is given to the rootin' tootin'-est craziest coach out there who's votes least match up with the other coaches. These individuals are not afraid to blaze their own trails and are not swayed by the consensus votes of their other coaches (or apparently by actual performance on the field). This year's winner is no other than Howard Schnellenberger, who averaged three spots different than the final poll with his selections. Most notable among the former Miami coach's rankings were: Southern Cal (6 spots lower), Florida (9 lower), Kansas (6 higher), Hawaii (7 higher), Boise State (12 higher), and UConn (10 higher).

And, finally, we come to the Dan McCarney Award. In 2006, Coach McCarney's ballot differed from the final rankings in by only three total places. His 6th and 7th picks were swapped, and his #25 team was first in "other's receiving votes" section. Amazing. No one came close to Dan's acumen this season, but Sonny Lubick of Colorado State did the best, with a .8 average difference between his poll and the final tally.

Another BGS BCS Post | by Jeff

Even a Broken Clock is Right Twice a Day
When we threw out, "Anyone up for a West Virginia vs Missouri national championship game?" a few weeks ago, little did we know that we were actually predicting the current national championship matchup. Now, the real question is whether these teams will make it through the weekend. If they do, expect an entertaining national championship game with a lot of scoring. If they both lose, Ohio State and a two-loss Georgia team (that didn't win their division of their conference) will compete for the title. With one or two upsets, it may be interesting to see what kind of jockeying the coaches do this season in the final coaches poll.

Roses and Champaign
If Missouri or West Virginia lose this weekend, Ohio State will take their spot in the national championship game. If either Tennessee or Hawaii lose as well, Illinois is likely to sneak into the #14 spot of the BCS standings and qualify for an at-large bid. If this happens, expect the Rose Bowl to select Illinois to maintain their traditional Big Ten v PAC-10 rivalry. Remember that Ohio State and Illinois were 5th and 17th when they finished playing, so they'll be gaining this ground while eating cheesburgers.

By the way, if Oklahoma knocks off Missouri but the rest of the games go to form, Illinois will be the only at-large team selected. Georgia and Kansas/Missouri will be auto-qualifiers at the #3 and #4 spots, and Hawaii will qualify with a top-12 finish. That leaves only one spot left for an at-large pick and the Rose Bowl will have first dibs. This will also drive an interesting choice for the Fiesta Bowl, as they will be forced to match up Oklahoma against Kansas/Missouri (whoever finishes #4 in the BCS standings) or Hawaii. OU didn't play Kansas this year, but Missouri would be a rematch of the Big XII championship game going on this weekend. The other choice, Hawaii, is a risky proposition for the Sooners, as last season's non-BCS-conference team, Boise State, knocked them off in a thrilling game. Hawaii has the weapons to do the same.

A little on the Irish
I'm really stretching to find a silver lining for ND this year. But, the last time an Irish team finished their season with two straight wins was 15 years ago ('92). And we all know what happened the following season...

Thank you
As much as I dislike PAC-10 replay officials, this weekend reminds me of something I really like about the PAC-10. When the NCAA allowed teams to permanently schedule twelve regular season games, the PAC-10 went from eight to nine conference games, and thus moved to a true round robin. While many other teams were scheduling patsies to soften their schedule, the PAC-10 actually took a step to improve the integrity of it's conference season.

BCS Prediction. Not that I've been even remotely accurate, but here it goes again...

National Championship: West Virginia vs Ohio State
Rose Bowl: Southern Cal vs Illinois
Orange Bowl: Boston College vs Georgia
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs Kansas
Sugar Bowl: LSU vs Hawaii

I'm assuming that Oklahoma, LSU, and BC win their conference championships, and Hawaii beats Washington.

Reverse Angle | by Pat

Apologies for being a bit slow on the Stanford recap; a few real world tasks are taking priority this week. In the meantime, BGS reader John D. sent in this great reverse angle shot of David Grimes stretching out for the overturned touchdown catch.

There are plenty of ND fans discussing what ND should and could be doing with regards to filing a complaint with the Pac-10. Hopefully we'll hear something about what the University is doing when either Charlie Weis or Kevin White sit down with the media at their next press conference. I'm not so interested in ND getting a public apology or a replay official fired as I am in what steps ND is or is not taking. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm giving David Grimes credit in the BGS record books for one hell of a touchdown catch.

Stanford Game Photo Galleries | by Pat

We'll get to picking apart the game shortly. But for now, enjoy some photo galleries of ND's season finale. I'd recommend you start with the Mercury News photo slideshow of the game, which includes a nice series of pics of David Grimes's touchdown catch. The last in the series is included below. Other galleries to check out include the South Bend Tribune (including another great shot of Grimes getting his hand under the ball), Matt Cashore's pictures ($), and AP Photos. As always, if you find another quality gallery, link it in the comments and we'll add it.

As a bonus, here's the video of the crazy lateral-happy play that ended the first half.

Great Way to Go Out | by Jay

Like most of this season, it was a chippy, choppy and sloppy game today, but man, it's great to go out on a winning note. (Special thanks to Steve, Bryan and Mark, who all sent in gameday pics.) Let's raise a helmet, dance a jig, and sway to an alma mater. We won. We won!

Game on! | by Jay

the Chirping Cardinal | by Jay

I love the BMFDF of Stanford, Jim Harbaugh. I mean that sincerely. He runs his mouth, talks out of line and isn't afraid to stir the pots of the PTB in college football. But he's a blast. Earlier this year he told everyone that Pete Carroll wasn't long for Southern Cal and was only going to stay one more year. Carroll was pissed. "If he's going to make statements like that, he ought to get his information right," Carroll said at the time. "And if he has any questions about it he should call me." Harbaugh fired right back: "We bow to no man...We bow to no program at Stanford University." And then he backed up his words, knocking off #1 Southern Cal in one of the most improbable upsets of the year.

Harbaugh also mixes in some truth with his braggadocio from time to time. Harbaugh, if you recall, spent much of the spring poking the hornet's nest in Ann Arbor, railing against Michigan's academic inequities and chastising them for 1) pushing players into easy classes and then 2) failing to graduate them. Carr, Mike Hart, and just about all of Wolverine Nation savagely attacked him, branding him a Benedict Arnold, or worse: Hart even told him he wasn't a "true Michigan man." (Because ND was mentioned so many times in the Harbaugh-UM crossfire I started to keep a file of articles and links, but a BGS piece never materialized. You can catch up on the grist from my Trapper-Keeper here, if you're interested. There's some good stuff in there if you ever get in a debate about Michigan academics vis-a-vis football.) The war of words dragged on all summer, and bridges were burnt to charred embers. So when Harbaugh preemptively took himself out of the running for the Michigan job earlier this week, it was either press-conference-as-performance-art, or a genius bit of comedy, depending on your artistic tastes. I loved it.

Harbaugh's been pretty low key towards the ND game this week, which is probably the right tack to take. He knows neither team is very good, so there's no reason to get the Irish fired up with some bulletin board material. As it stands right now, his Cardinal are a 4- to 5-point favorite.

Just a Game | by Jay

Football is a sport resplendent with warlike terminology -- battles of the gridiron between two squads fighting over territory; aerial attacks; bombs, blitzes, advances and flankers; veterans in the trenches; field generals who throw bullets from shotgun formations.

Football isn't war, of course (well, unless you're Nick Saban), but sometimes it comes close, symbolically speaking. Take an innocent game between two teams, stir in a liberal helping of deep-seated regional hatred or nationalistic pride, and suddenly you've got a proxy for all kinds of latent, provincial anger and animosity. It's not just two sports teams trying to win a game; it's England and France reliving the Hundred Years' War in every soccer match between the two national teams; it's Cold War brinksmanship played out between the Americans and Soviets on an Olympic basketball court; it's Michigan and Ohio State fighting a war over Toledo (a war that Michigan surely won, Lou quipped last night, because who would fight to gain Toledo?) In an extreme example, it's La guerra del fútbol, with soccer riots escalating an actual shooting war between El Salvador and Honduras.

The "Border War" tomorrow night between Kansas and Mizzou is a prime example of a game taking on historical dimensions. In the 100+ year history of this matchup the stakes have never been so high: it's a battle of top-five squads, and both teams having a legitimate shot at the BCS Championship. But it's much, much more than that. The Jayhawks versus the Tigers is a proxy for a simmering state feud that goes back to the Civil War, a rivalry that throughout history often erupted in armed conflict.

Adam Thompson in the WSJ had a great cover story earlier this week on the Border War and all the latent ill will it's stirring up. This is what makes college football so vibrant, visceral, and sometimes terrifying: it can awaken a century-old feud and get people hopping mad like it happened yesterday. Everything comes spilling out; tempers flare; the blood boils. The game is no longer just a game.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- As the universities of Kansas and Missouri prepare to play the most important football game in their 116-year-old rivalry, trash talking is rampant here in a metropolis that straddles both states.

Yet this isn't just the usual back-and-forth about which quarterback or defense is superior. Nor is it centered on the inevitable jokes about how many Kansas (or Missouri) students are needed to change a light bulb. Rather, this trash talking is focused on which state's residents behaved more abominably amid the Civil War.

Fans "go back to the history books and start calling people names for things that started 150 years ago," says Kevin Worley, a Kansas City-based documentary filmmaker who isn't immune to that tendency himself. A die-hard Missouri fan, Mr. Worley suspects that "there's this ancestral hatred of Kansas bred in me" by a lineage traceable to soldiers who marched with Confederate general Jo Shelby.

To most of the nation, the showdown Saturday between second-ranked Kansas and fourth-ranked Missouri will most likely determine which team will play in the national championship game. (To reach that final, the victor Saturday would need to win one subsequent game.)

But to many here on both sides of the state line, the game is merely a proxy for a war that never really ended. Perhaps no other football rivalry in the nation pits against each other states that once fought as brutally as did Kansas and Missouri...

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen | by Brian

BMFDF!!

The autumn of our discontent comes to an end this weekend with the Irish hoping to make it two-for-two on west coast trips this year, this time traveling to the Bay Area to take on the 3-7 Stanford Cardinal.

The Cardinal are led by former Michigan, Bears, Ravens, and Indianapolis Football Club quarterback Jim Harbaugh, who was hired by Stanford following back-to-back 11-1 seasons as head footbawl coach at the University of San Diego. Harbaugh is not merely the coach of Stanford, he is the Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football. The BMFDF turned heads during the offseason by getting cheeky with the Alpha Dogs of the Pac-10, the Southern Cal Trojans. He first insinuated that Pete Carroll would be leaving Southern Cal for the NFL after one more year, and later declared the Trojans to be arguably the greatest team in the history of college football. The former is likely untrue, and the latter was definitively proven untrue when Harbaugh led the Cardinal to a shocking 24-23 victory over the Trojans at L.A. Coliseum.

Walt Harris shares his thoughts on

Jim Harbaugh and Ty Willingham.

Regular readers may recall that I ran into former Stanford coach Walt Harris in the company of John L. Smith in a Venezuelan rain forest during the offseason. I asked Harris for his thoughts on Harbaugh at that time, and this was his response: "HE's a waRrior-poet in the classic sense, maN. Some MEN SPeak the truth; he IS truth!!" Suffice it to say, Harris approves of his successor. I also asked Harris about former Stanford and Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham; he replied: "Mediocre coach. Lazy recruiter."

With Apologies to Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A team as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the Golden Bears' broad chest;

A tree that looks at Jim all day
And lifts its roots to run the play;

A tree that may in autumn wear
A nest of Cardinal in its hair;

Upon whose branches gold is lain
To praise it for the Trojans slain;

Teams are made by fools like me
But only Jim can make a tree.

The Gipper as the Gipper (dice,

whiskey and women not pictured)

Hail to the Chief

Both Notre Dame and Stanford possess ties to American presidents, real and imaginary.

• Notre Dame: Ronald Reagan/Josiah Bartlet

Ronald Reagan's most famous acting role came as noted Notre Dame boozer, womanizer, and inveterate gambler George Gipp in 1940's Knute Rockne, All-American. Reagan portrayed Gipp as a sweater-clad clean-cut young man who likes kittens, small children, and taking his special gal out for a malted with two straws. He would go on to use the Gipper nickname to great effect throughout his political career. Reagan eventually received an honorary degree from Notre Dame, along with his Rockne co-star, Pat O'Brien.

Jed Bartlett discusses his political
future with Dennis Hopper.

Josiah Bartlet is the fictitious Notre Dame alum-turned president on TV's The West Wing, series creator Aaron Sorkin's Emmy Award-winning tale of an idealistic staff's efforts to thwart the Republican Boogeyman. He was portrayed by Notre Dame subway alum Martin Sheen.

• Stanford: Herbert Hoover/Chelsea Clinton

Herbert Hoover was an 1895 graduate of Stanford. Hoover was president of the rowdy fraternity known as Delta House. According to the crusty old dean, Dean Wormer, Hoover had a 1.6 GPA one semester, with four C's and an F. A fine example he set! Eventually, Delta House was raided, and the fraternity shut down. Hoover recalled this incident in his memoirs: "They confiscated everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!"

Chelsea never had a chance.

Future president Chelsea Clinton is a 2001 Stanford grad. Future president Chelsea is the daughter of former president Bill Clinton and potential future president Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Musical Equivalent of Costanza Wiping Strawberries on The Babe's Uniform

The Stanford band has been, well, banned from Notre Dame Stadium since 1991, only one instance in its long history of wacky shenanigans. We here at BGS have learned that the Band of the Fighting Irish has decided to follow suit, and will unleash a halftime show this Saturday designed to get them thrown out of Stanford Stadium, going out in a blaze of glory. Details of the planned halftime extravaganza are as follows:

--- Trees from around campus will be chopped down, carried into the stadium, and burned, while the band plays Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."

--- In an homage to the Great Depression, which began under Stanford alum and benefactor Herbert Hoover's watch, the band will play a popular song of that era, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", while a band member dressed as Hoover hits the bottle hard and wanders around the field like a drunken stumblebum, lamenting the poverty and mass suicides (as pantomimed by other band members) brought on by the Depression.

--- Former Stanford and Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway will be burned in effigy, to the strains of the John Denver classic, "Rocky Mountain High."

--- The corpses of legendary Stanford coach Pop Warner and player Ernie Nevers will be dug up with rusty kitchen utensils, while the band performs a spirited rendition of the novelty song "Monster Mash."

--- Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Williams will inadvisedly build a house at midfield on the burial grounds of the Stanford Indians. Apparitions will appear, clown dolls will come to life, chairs and tables will fly of their own accord, and little Carrie Ann will disappear into a television set. In a spectacular display of early-80s cinematic special effects, the entire Stanford campus will be wadded up and sucked into another dimension, leaving Jobeth, Craig, and the Irish marching band laughing relievedly on what used to be the fifty yard line. Finally, the band will play an uproarious version of the Ray Parker, Jr. song, "Ghostbusters," and everyone will dance hilariously.

That oughta just about do it.

Prediction

Giving his final prediction of the season, here is The Blind Oracle at Bristol.

"Ditka's Bane helps a tree take root. The longest year ends in misery. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Cardinal. Stanford beats---"

[Suddenly, two shots ring out, striking the Oracle in the left temple. He falls to the floor, blood rushing from his head. The Blind Oracle at Bristol is dead.]

[From the darkness, a familiar figure emerges. It is that other purveyor of footbawl truths, that other visionary with keen insight into the footbawl ether. It is Notredamus.]

"Enough of this. Men, if you look at that Lady on the Dome, she will guide the way. The University of Notre Dame is going to win this football game by two touchdowns. Let's go!"

Happy Thanksgiving | by Pat

Happy Thanksgiving from BGS. It's been a rough year on the field, but we're still thankful for everyone who took the time to stop by and help make writing this blog a rewarding experience. We hope you have a great holiday.

Before slipping into a delightful food coma after dinner, make sure to check out a very special post on Irish Roundup concerning one young Irish fan's trip to South Bend this past weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Football | by Jeff

Ever since the Jamestown Fightin' English took on the Grand Sachem Indians in 1621, football has been an important part of every Thanksgiving celebration. Who could forget the famous halftime speech by coach Plymouth Rockne (pictured), which rallied his team to a dramatic victory over the home team. Even Canada, the 51st state, moved Thanksgiving to October 8th this year in order to celebrate ND's victory over UCLA and Stanford's win over Southern Cal. However, despite the obvious connections to ND and Stanford, there are plenty of other games this weekend that someone might want to watch just to kill a little time.

The BCS
The upset losses by Oregon and Oklahoma last week knocked out two contenders for the national championship, but the picture still isn't perfectly clear. Kansas was the big winner, as the Oregon loss ensures that the Jayhawks control their own destiny, but a couple of new contenders are edging their way into the picture. With rivalry games and conference championships over the next two weekends, there is still a lot of room for change in the BCS picture.

#1 LSU : vs R-Kansas, SEC Championship vs Tennessee (or Georgia)

#2 Kansas : vs Missouri, Big XII Championship vs Oklahoma (or Texas)
These two control their own destinies. Win out, and they are playing for the national championship, no questions asked.

#3 West Virginia : vs UConn, vs Pitt
A win by UConn this weekend locks up the Big East for the Huskies, as would a loss by West Virginia against Pitt the following week. But, winning out will keep West Virginia on Kansas' heels for a shot at the national championship.

#4 Missouri : @ Kansas, Big XII Championship vs Oklahoma (or Texas)
Missouri may control its own destiny, as the Tigers are nearly tied with West Virginia in the human polls, but a few spots back in the computer rankings. Beating Kansas would certainly close that gap, and winning a rematch with Oklahoma would put the Tigers in good position to claim the #2 BCS spot.

#5 Ohio State : season complete

#6 Arizona State : vs Southern Cal, vs Arizona
The PAC-10 and Big Ten are still waiting in the wings, but would need a lot of help to make the national championship game. The Missouri v Kansas game is both a blessing and a curse, as it guarantees a loss by a higher ranked team, but also guarantees a victory. Two more losses by LSU, WVa, and the Big XII champion could open the door for either of these teams. ASU can close the gap with OSU by winning out, but the voters would have shift votes to the Sun Devils for them to jump the Buckeyes.

---

The Thanksgiving TV Guide. In addition to those teams competing for a spot in the national championship, there are many games with BCS implications on the line over the holiday weekend:

Thanksgiving Day:

• An ASU victory over Southern Cal locks up a Rose Bowl berth for the Sun Devils, while a loss puts Oregon back in the drivers seat for the PAC-10 title.

Friday:

• LSU has locked up the SEC West, but must win out to stay in the NC hunt.

• Texas can win the Big XII South with a win at Texas A&M and an OU loss on Saturday.

• Boise State and Hawaii face off for a chance at an automatic bid in the BCS. Both teams need a decisive win in order to jump into the Top 12 of the BCS. Hawaii can gain a couple of spots over some ACC teams (possibly the UVa/Va Tech loser or ACC championship loser), but needs some upset losses by BC, Texas, Florida, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and Oregon to make a jump in the polls. Right now, the best bet for the WAC champion looks like a UConn loss to West Virginia, followed by a Mountaineer loss to Pittsburgh.

• Nouvel is taking on Blissfield for the MHSAA Division 6 championship at Ford Field. Nouvel made the championship game by defeating Montague, stopping two fourth quarter scoring drives inside their 10 yard line. Bo Themm kicked the go ahead field goal for Nouvel.

Saturday:

• Virginia and Virginia Tech face off for the right to play BC in the ACC championship. The loser might be out of the BCS completely, although Va Tech has a strong enough resume to possibly stay in the picture.

• A Tennessee victory at Kentucky earns them a date with LSU in SEC Championship. A loss will hand Georgia the SEC East title.

• UConn travels to West Virginia in a matchup that will almost determine the Big East championship. If West Virginia loses either of its last two games, UConn will win the Big East and claim their first ever BCS spot. UConn making the BCS will likely generate an automatic bid for the Hawaii v Boise State winner.

• Missouri plays Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium for the Big XII North championship.

• Keep an eye out for an upset when Oklahoma hosts Oklahoma State and Oregon travels to UCLA. A loss by either Oregon or Oklahoma kicks them out of the BCS picture this season.

• And, of course, Notre Dame travels to Palo Alto for Round II of the "SAT challenge." Stanford is absolutely a better team than Duke, but the Irish have a lot to play for. Winning the game would prevent this team from earning the lowest winning percentage in ND history (technically, this would be the second worst winning percentage as the team did not win a game in 1887 and April of 1888, their first football games).

BCS Prediction. No one ever went broke betting against me, but here's my take on the BCS Bowls...

National Championship: LSU vs West Virginia
Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs Oregon
Orange Bowl: Boston College vs Texas
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs Southern Cal
Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs Virginia Tech

I'm assuming that Kansas beats Missouri but loses to Oklahoma, Southern Cal knocks off ASU, BC beats Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship, and the Orange Bowl selects Texas over Kansas or Missouri for a better TV draw.

We're Number One
Forbes has rated ND as the most valuable college football team,, although they did misspell Coach Weis's last name. It is worth noting that the Irish football program contributed over $20M to the university's academic program, more than the next five teams combined.

Presser points | by Pat

Charlie had a number of interesting answers from last Sunday and Tuesday's press conferences. As always, I'd recommend reading both transcripts. If you're more of a Cliff Notes type, here's a quick spin through a few answers, starting with a topic that surprisingly has generated some debate among the Irish faithful: Zibby as ND QB at the end of the Duke game.

Personally, I thought it was great to see. Fans of ND and ND opponents alike have criticized Charlie for treating the team like he's still in the NFL and failing to realize his players are college kids, not professionals. So it was great to see Charlie letting the team have some fun and rewarding one of the hardest working players on the team on his Senior Day. But as Charlie explained, Zibby role's as quarterback started on a far more serious note.

Q. Zibby (Tom Zbikowski) talked a little yesterday, if I understood him correctly, that he had practiced some quarterback maybe during the bye week and so forth. I guess my question is trying to read between the lines, was Jimmy to the point physically that in that time frame Zibby was really the backup quarterback those two weeks?

COACH Charlie Weis: Well, put it like this. Jimmy wasn't ready to play, and actually Darren [Bragg] and Justin [Gillett] were running two and three in our normal stuff. So what I had to do was I had to have a package ready -- I had to have a package ready where if Jimmy wasn't healthy, and Evan went down, we needed to have something you could turn to if the regular offense wasn't getting you anything.

So the week of the bye we did -- we spent, you know, two periods, okay, putting in ten plays. So we called it the Zibby ten pack, kind of like that. So we had ten plays that he was involved in of which you saw -- let's see, you probably saw four of them yesterday: Run to the right, run to the left with two backs, and run to the right and a run to the left with one back, and then a hand off. I guess four or five plays, but that was like five of the ten.

Basically it sounds like Zibby was the emergency QB for at least the Navy game while Clausen healed up. Sharpley never went down though so Zibby wasn't needed. And when ND got up by four touchdowns on Duke, Charlie decided to let one of his favorite players take a few snaps behind a largely walk-on offensive line.

I noticed that ND wasn't the only team to let the seniors have some fun at their last home game. As pointed out by EDSBS, Boise State threw a pass to one of their senior offensive lineman (who then struck a Heisman pose and did a Lambeau Leap into the stands) and let a defensive tackle kick an extra point. It wouldn't surprise me to see these kind of Senior Day shenanigans spread to other schools and I think that's great for college football. As with most things there is a line between having fun and rubbing it in, but I don't think playing someone out of position during their last home game is anywhere near a level of taking shots at the end zone late in the 4th when you're already up by 3o or 40. As the pressure, responsibilities, and time commitments on players grow to near professional levels, I think it's great to keep some of the innocent fun of the college game intact. Just watching Darrin Bragg slide around the field just to get his uniform dirty after his turn at quarterback was a great reminder of this.

Moving on to more serious topics, Charlie addressed what his plan of attack would be at the conclusion of one of the worst seasons in ND history.

Q. Probably not going to ask a humorous question, but a couple big picture questions if that's okay. You said earlier in the press conference you said, "I probably made several mistakes this season." Why do you say that?

COACH Charlie Weis: The first thing I have to do, when you're 2-9, you have to start with you. As you go to evaluate what happened in your year, I think you always have to start with you personally. I think that you can start the other way; you can start with the players and work your way up, or you can start with you and work your way down, okay.

So I think that what I'm going to do, the 17th of December, when I'm off the road recruiting, I'm going to start that week, early on that morning on the 17th of December and go through that entire week and try to go through the entire year and evaluate what the problems were. Are they schematics; are they personnel, okay; what exactly the problems are. I'm not even worrying about fixing them yet. I want to first identify what they are, and then after identifying where they are, then you can share the blame after you've done that.

But I think unless you hold yourself accountable, it isn't like one thing; it might be a plethora of things. I really don't know yet at this point until after I've gone ahead and did a full analysis. But once I've identified what the problems are, then you can go about fixing them and some of them can be schematics. Some of them will be X's and O's and some of them might be methodologies of teaching, and there's a lot of different things that could be involved.

It's obvious that Charlie made mistakes and that this season was unacceptable. The good news is that he acknowledges that the program needs a system-wide reboot and he has plans to do so. Part of his plan involve getting a performance review of sorts from his buddies in New England.

Q. Someone pointed out there was a feature on television or interview where you were talking about spending some time with your old team in February or after the season. Just wondered what you hope to get out of that.

COACH Charlie Weis: Well, I think that I've probably made several mistakes this year and in my system. You know, the ones who know my system the best are New England, and I think that those guys would have no problem telling me what things I did right and what things I did wrong.

And the problem sometimes, you go to different coaches for some help, and they don't want to tell you what you did wrong. You know, but I want to know, hey, what would you have done different.

And I think those resources, those people, because we're close enough and have a very close relationship won't be afraid of saying to me, what the heck are you doing, and that's what I want. I want somebody to tell -- to be able to tell me, to say it like that, and I know that those guys would do that.

It's unlikely that the Pats are the only people that Charlie will talk to. They are just the ones mentioned by name in the presser. We'll probably hear more about some of these meeting as the off-season slowly crawls by. In the meantime, we can focus on more immediate concerns, such as the role of Robert Hughes for the upcoming Stanford game.

Q. Do you really need to see what James is doing in practice this week or is there a chance it will be more of a Robert Hughes week?

COACH WEIS: I think because of Robert, James might get healthy quicker (laughter). You know how that goes. I think we'll have to see. Fortunately we have some options at that position. I think when you don't have options, that's when you have more of a problem. We know Armando will always be involved in the mix. Robert stepped up nicely when James went back. We're not looking to write James off. I know when the big boy gets it rolling, I think that gets people healthier quicker.

My guess is that either Allen or Aldridge, if healthy enough, will start. But I expect Hughes to get plenty of carries. Stanford's rush defense is ranked right around were Duke was, so hopefully ND will continue to feature healthy does of the run game.

Finally, Charlie described his feelings as the team heads west for the last game of 2007.

Q. This final game of the season isn't maybe what you envisioned at the beginning of the season. A road trip, chance for the guys to be together. Does that make it a little more special, be away from other distractions, celebrate the fact you worked hard and spent the year together?

COACH WEIS: I think Thanksgiving week is always a special week regardless of who you're playing and where. It's one of my favorite holidays, not because of the food, but because of what it stands for in America. I think it's a time when these guys being together, we're a family oriented team. I think they'll feel that way Thursday when they're having dinner together over here on campus, Friday when we're making that trip, Saturday, realizing this is the last game, let's see if we can't take another step and move it in the right direction.

Senior Day photo galleries | by Pat

With a return to the win column, here are a few photo galleries from last Saturday's Senior Day win over Duke. Starting with the always excellent Matt Cashore ($), you can also find photos galleries courtesy of the South Bend Tribune, Era of Ara (password: mikefrank), RocketShark, Joe Lipka, and the AP Photo Wire. If you know of any other high quality galleries, link them in the comment section and I'll add them to this list.

Update: Make sure to check out NBC's latest concoction. They have unveiled five different 360 degree videos of all phases of a Notre Dame gameday. It's a pretty neat piece of technology that puts you in the middle of the walk to the Stadium and smack dab in the middle of the band as they march out onto the field. Have you seen the cyclorama in the JACC before games? It's like that, but with full motion video. Pretty cool.

Odds & Sods - Devil's Haircut Edition | by Mike

The big question following Notre Dame's victory over Duke is how much of the Irish victory is attributable to improved play and how much is due to weakness of the opponent.

The Middle. Filling in for injured starters, Dan Wenger and Ian Williams made their first starts as center and nose guard, respectively, and both held strong along the middle of their line. Wenger consistently got the better of Duke DT Vince Oghobaase. Given that Oghobaase is a former five-star recruit and freshman All-American, I don't think Wenger's play is diminished by the opponent. On the other side of the ball, Williams held his ground, despite the challenge of playing nose guard in a 3-4 as a freshman. Williams should give the Irish much needed flexibility along the DL next year, including allowing the defense to shift to an even-man front when needed.

This guy is a bulldozer. With a wrecking ball attached! Freshman Robert Hughes turned in one of the best performances by an Irish running back this year, gaining 110 yards on 17 carries and bulling his way to a touchdown. Of those 110 yards, more than 60 came after first contact with a Duke defender. Obviously, rushing for 100 yards against Duke is not the same as rushing for 100 yards against Southern Cal. It wouldn't be reasonable to expect Hughes to break that many tackles against every opponent. Nonetheless, Hughes showed some qualities that are impressive regardless of opponent. The vision on short-yardage plays and the balance he demonstrated are both key attributes for a running back and largely independent of the opponent faced.

Jimmy Jazz. Clausen completed 16 of 32 passes for 194 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Those numbers would have been even better but for five drops. Clausen also completed passes to eight different receivers. Perhaps the best measure of Clausen's improvement was the Irish offense's performance on 3rd down. The Irish converted on 10 of 18 third downs, the most third-down conversions for ND since the 2005 Southern Cal game. A few of these came via Jimmy's feet, as Clausen displayed a good feel for knowing when to scramble for the first down. Although he did underthrow a deep pass to Golden Tate after Tate had slipped by his man, Clausen threw with dart-like precision for most of the game. The first touchdown pass to Grimes was the type of throw that had recruitniks drooling over Clausen's play. Obviously, the Duke defense played a significant role in Clausen's success, but at least three other factors appear to have contributed to Clausen's development. First, Clausen is simply healthier than he has been at any other time this season. Clausen entered the season dinged up and then took some pretty brutal hits early in the season. Second, Clausen has the benefit of game experience against Division I defenses. Third, I think Clausen has more confidence in both himself and his pass protection. Earlier in the season, Clausen (understandably) seemed to play as if his first priority was to avoid getting sacked. Yesterday, he knew when to work through his progressions and when to bail out of the pocket and make something happen on the run. Whether Clausen can maintain this level of production against better defenses remains to be seen, but it will certainly be exciting to see what Clausen accomplishes if he can stay healthy and get quality blocking.

Carry the Zero. Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis entered the game with a touchdown pass in twelve straight games, but the Irish defense ended that streak. But for a Zack Asack scamper with 1:12 left, the Irish defense would have had a shutout. The touchdown didn't seem to bother Weis, who said after the game, "I'd rather get those kids in the game than worry about the shutout." Even if the opponent was Duke, it was still nice to see the defense put up such a solid performance.

No Confidence Man. There's a Lou Holtz quip to the effect that a fast player that doesn't know what he's doing will just run himself out of the play sooner. A player with average speed that knows what he's doing will generally beat a fast player that's not sure of his responsibility. I think this principle extends to confidence - a confident player with average speed will generally beat a faster player who lacks confidence and therefore plays tentative. One of main the problems for this year's Irish team appears to be a crisis of confidence. I can recall reading quotes from Air Force players that they could see the lack of confidence in the faces of the Irish players. This lack of confidence has led to hesitation on the field, which has led to big plays for opponents. On the game's first drive, the Irish seemed to be gaining some confidence. However, after the bizarre personal foul call on John Carlson and the ensuing missed field goal, the team seemed to have a "here we go again" mentality and proceeded to muddle through most of the first half. For this reason, I think the biggest play of the game was Eric Maust's punt in the second quarter. With the Irish set to punt from the Duke 49, Maust was unable to pull down a high snap. Yet somehow Maust was able to locate the ball, pick it up, and get a punt off before the three swarming Blue Devils reached him. The improvised punt then rolled to the Duke 20. This play saved at least 50 yards in field position. Had Duke ended up with the ball at the Notre Dame 30 - or worse, returned a blocked punt for a touchdown - any trace of confidence the Irish had could have been lost. I don't want to think about whether that would have changed the outcome of the game, but it seems possible.

That personal foul on Carlson, by the way, was positively baffling. It's unrealistic to expect officials to call a perfect game. For example, while it was clear on television that a Duke receiver committed offensive pass interference against Darrin Walls, I can understand how officials miss plays like that on the field. Things are happening at a fast pace, and officials may find themselves with a poor angle, screened by other players, or simply out of position. I'm sure similar errors were made in Notre Dame's favor at other times in the game. But the PF on Carlson defies any explanation. This was a dead ball foul after the play was over. Carlson was flagged simply for extending his arm to make the first-down signal. He did not get in the face of a Duke defender when he did it; in fact, he was still on his knees. It's also clear that Carlson did not say anything to a Duke defender, so he wasn't flagged for taunting or trash talk. Players routinely make the first-down gesture in a far more ostentatious manner without drawing a flag. I simply can't guess as to what was going through the officials head when he threw the flag. Ultimately, I guess this was just a case of getting the officiating a game between two 1-9 teams deserved.

Leaders of Men. Once again, Trevor Laws did what Trevor Laws does, which is fight to the whistle every single play. Laws's sack of Lewis, where he came up off the ground to make the play, was typical of his persistence. I don't know how the defense will replace Laws, but he seems less concerned. Speaking of the underclassmen forced into action this season, Laws said after the game, "When they grow up a little bit, come into their bodies and their positions, with that work ethic, it's going to be great." Hopefully Pat Kuntz and David Bruton will follow Trevor's example and join Maurice Crum as next year's senior leaders on defense.

Senior Day | by Pat

Deviled Dukies | by Pat

It's going to be hard to expand upon Brian's comprehensive Duke preview, covering such players as Duke QB and Duke WR, but I'm going to give it a shot. After all, this is the Blue Devils' Super Bowl.

The first personality of note is Offensive Coordinator Peter Vaas. Vaas was fired by Charlie last year along with defensive coordinator Rick Minter. Vaas, who still has one daughter at ND and one at Saint Marys, is familiar with the ND offense (or at least last year's effective version) and Charlie admitted as much.

It's a little pain in the butt, to tell you the truth, because he knows the system. He knows the system very well, is a smart coach and an experienced coach and knows the system.

Vaas however noted that whatever knowledge he has is more personnel-related that anything schematic.

In a certain context, yes. Obviously, I have an intimate knowledge of the abilities or lack of abilities of some of the players because of my involvement over the last couple years. But at the same time, I don't have any intimate involvement with the schemes and concepts they're trying to accomplish because that all changed after I left.

Vaas also had an interesting quote about the role of assistant coaches at Notre Dame, something that Irish fans have wondered about recently.

"When you get here [at Duke], you're involved in a decision-making process which [at Notre Dame] was basically a suggestion-making process," Vaas said. "Here, those suggestions become decisions on my part.... That's been a tremendous experience."

Keep in mind this is coming from a fired coach, but it's still worth noting.

Peter isn't the only Duke coach with an ND past. Head coach Ted Roof was unofficially Notre Dame's defensive coordinator, if only for a few hours.

Roof had served as O'Leary's defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech for three years when he was asked to move with the coach to Notre Dame. Roof agreed in principle to join the Fighting Irish as defensive coordinator and traveled to South Bend with Bill O'Brien and David Kelly, two other members of O'Leary's staff. ...

"I was at home and the phone rang at about two o'clock in the morning," Roof said. "When you coach college football and your phone rings at two in the morning, or I guess just if you're a human being and your phone rings at two o'clock, they're not pleasant calls. That one wasn't either."

The call was from O'Brien, and he had some unpleasant news. Revelations about falsifications on O'Leary's resume, which incorrectly stated that the coach was a three-year football letterman at the University of New Hampshire and that he had earned a master's degree at NYU, had come to light. O'Leary was forced to resign the next day, and with that development, any of Roof's dreams of coaching beneath Touchdown Jesus vanished into thin air.

While you wouldn't think there is much to worry about with a team that's won one game in three years, there are a few talented players on the Blue Devil squad worth mentioning. Sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, Armando Allen's high school QB, was thrust into a starting role last year as a freshman. Understandably, he struggled somewhat with an 11 to 16 touchdown to interception ratio. However, he's done a solid job of reversing that this season as he currently has thrown 19 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions. Only two quarterbacks in the ACC have thrown for more touchdowns. He's also riding a 12 game streak with at least one touchdown pass.

His favorite target is junior Eron Riley. Riley has 751 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns, good for 13th in the nation, and is one of the more effective deep ball threats that the Irish have faced this season. Earlier in the week, I noted the solid work of the Irish pass defense so far in preventing the big pass play. Riley will test the secondary for sure as he is 3rd in the nation in yards per catch at a whopping 21.46 yards. Not only that, but he already has 6 touchdown receptions this year over 40 yards. And 4 of those are 64 yards and longer. Expect Duke to try and hit Riley on a big pass play and get up early on the Fighting Irish.

The weak link in that plan is the Duke offensive line. A veteran unit with plenty of experience, they have still allowed 40 sacks this year, ranking 115th in the nation. If they are able to give Lewis time to throw deep or open holes for Re'Quan Boyette (36.1 yards/game), the Irish will be in deep trouble.

Defensively, the Blue Devils have a pair of active linebackers in sophomore Vincent Rey and senior Michael Tauiliili. Tauiliili led Duke in tackles the past two seasons, but so far this year he is slightly behind Rey. Despite those two though, the Duke defense has given up plenty of yardage both on the ground and in the air. If their defensive lineman and cornerbacks start making plays consistently, ND might be in for yet another long day.

Like Notre Dame, Duke has had some struggles with their field goal kicking. So much so, that they help open auditions to replace struggling one for five kickers Joe Surgan and Greg Meyers. In the end, backup freshman punter Nick Maggio took over the starting job and so far is two for two with a long of 40 yards. Let's just hope this game doesn't come down to a battle of field goals.

the Greatest Upset | by Jay

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of one of Notre Dame's all-time great victories. In one of the biggest upsets in college football history, coach Terry Brennan's Irish defeated the Oklahoma Sooners, 7-0 in Norman. The victory broke the Sooners' 47-game winning streak, which is still the longest-ever in football history.

Following is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for Maple Street Press' Here Come the Irish about some of the big Irish football anniversaries we'd be celebrating in 2007: Brown's Heisman in '87, the '77 championship, the '47 team (maybe ND's best ever), the first ND football game in 1887, and the like. The Oklahoma upset in '57 ranks right up there among the greatest of ND milestones:

Ironically, Notre Dame had also been the last team to defeat the Sooners, in the 1953 season opener. Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners coach (who had already had strung together a 31-game streak once before at Oklahoma) launched the record run after the 1953 loss to Notre Dame and a subsequent tie to Pittsburgh. Oklahoma then rattled off 47 straight victories, including undefeated seasons in 1954, '55, and '56. They had won consecutive National Championships in '55 and '56.

The Irish arrived in Norman on November 16th as 19-point underdogs. The stout Notre Dame defense never allowed the Sooners offense to get on track, stymieing them for 98 rushing yards and only 47 through the air. The game was a war of attrition, with ND finally breaking a 0-0 stalemate with a touchdown with 3:50 left on the clock. Led by their brilliant fullback Nick Pietrosante, Notre Dame drove from their own 20, setting up a third-down touchdown by halfback Dick Lynch, the only player from either team to see the end zone all day.

On the last drive of the game, Oklahoma reached Notre Dame's 36 yard line, but was intercepted in the end zone to end the game. The sellout crowd of 62,000 was stunned into silence.

Zero points for Oklahoma also ended another record for the Sooners, who had scored in 123 consecutive games. It was only the ninth defeat for Wilkinson in his Oklahoma career to date, going back to 1947.

Oklahoma had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated that very week, in what has to be one of the earliest examples of the SI cover jinx. The cover title, "Why Oklahoma Is Unbeatable", appears just below the issue date of November 18th, two days after the fateful game. Cosmic karma, indeed.

Tom Coyne has an AP piece this morning on the game, recounting some of the memories of that day:

Several members of the 1957 team said the thing they remember best about the victory was how quiet the stadium got after Lynch scored.

"The silence was deafening," then Irish coach Terry Brennan said last week.

They also recalled how thousands of Sooners fans stayed in the stands long after the game was over.

"After we dressed and came out to leave the stadium, half the stadium was full," Schaaf said. "I think they just couldn't believe it happened. That's a big memory, all those people still there. I remember that very clearly."

Left end Dick Prendergast said Sooner fans helped inspire the victory.

"When we got down there, there was a lot of graffiti on the walls and signs up saying, 'Don't feel bad, you're going to lose,'" he recalled. "It really got the team turned up."

Brennan, who is 79, said the Irish were so young when they lost to the Sooners in 1956 that he took some chances that didn't work out. He felt more confident of his team's ability in 1957 so he played the game more conservatively. He also said he got "lucky."

"In a game like that, you guess you right," he said.

It wasn't all guessing, though. Brennan described Wilkinson as "predictable."

"So I thought, 'Here's our shot,'" he said...

Notre Dame drove 80 yards for the game-winning score. Brennan said he never thought about attempting a field goal on fourth-and-3.

"Because we felt we could score. If you kick the field goal, they could still get you 7-3," he said.

When the Irish returned to South Bend there were thousands of waiting.

"The students were going bananas. It was a long night, but it was a fun night," Brennan said.

Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman had a great article and mailbag roundup this week, with lots of folks from in and around Norman writing in with their memories of the loss. Here's one of the most interesting anecdotes, from a student press box attendant who was working the game:

My other assignment on game day was to cover the Notre Dame dressing room after the game for quotes to be handed out to the reporters in the pressbox... I left the pressbox after Dick Lynch scored (with less than four minutes left in the game) and made my way on the concrete walk between the south end zone and the scoreboard to the east side of the stadium where the visiting team’s dressing room was then located.

“When I walked in, there was not a single person inside. About three minutes remained in the game. There was a large chalkboard at the front of the room. It looked as if someone had taken an eraser and wiped out the X’s and O’s from the coach’s halftime talk. Instead, the only words in chalk on the board were, “WE WON THIS ONE FOR ALL THE CATHOLICS IN OKLAHOMA.” I don’t know whether a student manager or a priest or who knows who else ran in after Lynch’s touchdown and grabbed the chalk. Or, whether it was written as the Irish were leaving the room at halftime. Berry, the words on that board must have been erased as soon as the team reached the dressing room after the game. That one line on the board was never reported by anyone.

“My recollection of what I heard Jack Ogle say on the public address system when the game ended differs with what someone told you. The crowd of 55,000 was 98% Sooner, and the silence when the clock hit 0:00 was eerie. I heard Jack say, something like, ’Folks, if this team has given you any pleasure or joy in the last five years, let it be known now.’ And at that point the crowd stood and roared as the OU team left the field. The feeling of shock that day and for several days after that are still etched in my memory. Thanks for your column. It relived an eventful day in my life.

The Oklahoman also put together this poignant video feature, which gives you some insight into just how shattering the loss was for Oklahoma fans.

Finally, our man T.J. unearthed some rare film from the big upset. This is the game-winning, 80-yard drive, capped by Lynch's run for the touchdown, and the ensuing celebration by the Irish team.

Click To Play

T.J.: This is some truly rare footage from this game : COLOR film. You never see any color film when they show clips of this game on TV. I gotta believe only a handful of us have this in the archives. Unfortunately, it is silent film and no play-by-play is known to exist.

Statistically Speaking - Navy and Air Force | by Pat

(Apologies for missing last week. Here's an all-Armed Services version)

It's a Numbers Game

• The Trevor Laws Watch continues. With 98 tackles on the season, Laws is ranked 33rd in the nation and is the only defensive lineman in the Top 100. He is on pace to break ND's single season tackle record for defensive lineman set by Steve Niehaus in 1975 (113 tackles) Laws is also tied for 6th in the nation in kicks blocked.

• One of Corwin Brown's talking points this season has been the goal of limiting big plays, or as he calls them, "explosives." While the defense has struggled against the run this season, they've performed substantially better against the pass. The following chart shows the breakdown of long passes against the Irish D in both 2006 and 2007. Two important points to note. First, the 2006 totals are for 13 games while the 2007 totals only include the 10 games played to date. Second, as the Irish have been losing regularly this year, you might guess that teams haven't had to pass as much against them. However, opponents attempted 339 passes against ND last year (26.1 per game) while at this point in the season they have attempted 273 (27.3 per game). In other words, teams have been throwing against ND slightly more this year.

• With Pat Kuntz out with an injury, freshman Ian Williams is scheduled to start for the Irish at nose tackle. He will become the 7th freshman to start a game for ND this year joining Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Golden Tate, Duval Kamara, Kerry Neal, and Brian Smith. Here's a quick breakdown of the 220 total possible starts this season (10 games, 22 positions) for ND, courtesy of the UND.com game notes. We've had more than twice as many Sophomore starts as Senior starts:

Freshmen:           19 (8.6%)
Sophomores:         60 (27.3%)
Juniors:            55 (25.0%)
Seniors:            27 (12.3%)
5th-Year Seniors:   59 (26.8%)

• Saurian Sagacity is continuing to track ND's offensive ineptitude. With the games against the service academies under their belt, the ND offense has made slight progress in its quest to avoid being the worst offense in the past nine years. To avoid that ignominious mark, the Irish must average 193.0 yards per game over the next two games. Duke currently is averaging 442.9 yards given up per game and Standford is averaging 455.3 yards given up.

• The Irish offensive line have given up a school record 49 sacks this season. That is more sacks than the defense has accumulated in 2007 and 2006 combined (33). It is almost more sacks combined that the ND offense gave up in 2006 and 2005 combined (52). The previous school record for sacks given up, set in 2002, was 38.

Gotta Have M.O.E.

Two games to note here. Against Navy, the Fighting Irish posted a 14% M.O.E rating. Not a good number, but still the 4th lowest of the season. Unfortunately, Navy's offense was much more mistake-free and their M.O.E. rating was 7%.

In the game against the Falcons, the Irish offense took a big step backwards with a 20% M.O.E. rating. The killer against Air Force were the sacks and dropped passes. In fact, it was the first game all year where the Irish avoided any offensive penalties. If you're looking for signs of improvement, in the last three games, the Irish have only committed 3 offensive penalties total after committing 14 in the first three games. Air Force tied Georgia Tech for the most mistake free offense with a low M.O.E. total of 4%.

Full season list and individual game breakdown here.

Season Long Running Averages

Get your numbers here. Hot off the press.

Let's take that first step | by Pat

ND's Annus Horribilis Continues Against Duke | by Brian

So it's come to this: Notre Dame prepares for senior day hoping to avoid a winless home campaign with a victory over Duke. This is not a matchup which, even in the best of times, would have inspired Grantland Rice-like prose, nor drinking deep the aura of the game a la George Will. With that in mind, I hereby present Blue-Gray Sky's Half-Assed Notre Dame/Duke Preview.

Famous Dukes

We were somewhere outside Barstow
when the losing began to take hold.

• Duke Ellington, jazzman
• Duke Phillips, animated character, The Critic
• Duke Cunningham, disgraced ex-Congressman
• David Duke, professional bigot
• Marmaduke, beloved dog
• Raoul Duke, gonzo journalist
• Patty Duke/Patty Duke's Cousin, identical cousins
• John Wayne, actor/patriot/founder of Duke University (see below)
• Duquan "Dukie" Weems, former student of Baltimore cop-turned-teacher Roland Pryzbylewski
• The James Madison Dukes, 2004 FCSOABM Champions---famous JMU Dukes include former NFLers Gary Clark, Charles Haley, and The Toast of Buffalo, Scott Norwood
• Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
• Duke of Earl, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
• Isaac Hayes in Escape From New York
• Randolph & Mortimer Duke, commodity brokers who like to make the occasional wager (see below)
• Tom Wopat, just a good ol' boy never meanin' no harm

A Few Words About Duke Footbawl

It's been another long year for the Blue Devils, but as we've all figured out by this point, we can't just put this game in the win column for Notre Dame. Duke is dangerous. Duke's head footbawl coach has the team focused and fired up for this weekend's matchup. Duke's quarterback is, no doubt, going to throw it several times to Duke's receivers or Duke's tight end, or possibly even to one of Duke's running backs. But the offensive weaponry doesn't stop there---look for Duke's running backs to occasionally try to run the ball through holes opened up by Duke's offensive linemen.

On defense, special attention must be paid to Duke's linebackers, but the Irish offense will also have to contend with Duke's defensive tackles, Duke's defensive ends, Duke's cornerbacks, and Duke's safeties. Each will be attempting to tackle Notre Dame ballcarriers, bat down passes, make interceptions, and so forth. Essentially, Duke's defensive game plan will be to allow fewer points than their offense scores.

And it almost goes without saying that Duke will get vital contributions from Duke's kicker, Duke's punter, and Duke's kick returners.

Looking over the roster, it appears that, while the Blue Devils are the easiest team ND has faced, their names are the hardest to pronounce:

• Greg Akinbiyi
• Zack Asack (didn't they have a hit with "Friends Forever"?)
• Adrian "Donnie" Aye-Darko
• Pontus "Give Us Barabbas" Bondeson
• Re'quan Boyette
• Evalio Harrell
• Vince Oghobaase
• Ayanga Okpokowuruk and Ifreke Okpokowuruk (of the Newport Okpokowuruks?)
• Chris Rwabukamba
• Michael "I'd Like to Buy an I, Pat" Tauiliili

Yes, it will be a long day for our old friend, NBC's Tom Hammond. By the end of the game, he'll be in such bad shape that he'll have to be put down, like one of the champion throughbreds he's so fond of covering.

Duke founder John Wayne and President
John Ford, after cavalry lessons

The Southern Cal of the East

Duke University was founded in 1948 by the actor John Wayne, who envisioned an east coast version of his beloved alma mater, Southern Cal. Under the university's first president, John Ford, the school's mission was to teach acting and train cavalry officers, both of which continue to this day. Duke's motto is Eruditio et Religio, which is Latin for "Howdy, pilgrim." The school's nickname, the Blue Devils, derives from Wayne's 1946 film of the same name, in which he played an officer with a devil-may-care attitude who leads an elite squad of flyboys into action over Holland, in support of Operation Market Garden.

An all-male school until the 1970's, the men of Duke used to spend their free time with the girls of Duke's sister school, Maureen O'Hara College. Even to this day, with Duke coed, the bonds between Duke men and Maureen O'Hara women remain strong. Duke's students continue to follow John Wayne's example of patriotism, riding straight in the saddle, and facing all of life's challenges with guns blazing. This spirit is epitomized by the Blue Devil football team, which each year bestows its coveted Rooster Cogburn Award upon the player voted by his teammates as the squad's most inspirational leader and grittiest drunkard.

"Do you think Eddie will give us cameos
in Coming to America?"

"Looking good, football team." "Feeling good, basketball team."

Are Duke's struggles as a football program a result of their environment, or are they genetically destined to fail at sports? That's the premise of a wager between immensely wealthy Philadelphia commodity brokers Randolph and Mortimer Duke. The brothers hatch a scheme in which the Duke basketball team is framed for NCAA violations, and demoted to the football squad, while the football team is given the keys to the kingdom, so to speak, and is promoted to the Good Life of Duke basketball.

In this "nature" vs. "nurture" experiment, Mortimer believes that, despite the change in fortunes, the well-bred basketball team will rise to the occasion and succeed as a football team, while the lowly riff-raff of the football team will fail no matter what opportunities are presented to them. Randolph, on the other hand, feels that the basketball team will fall apart when faced with the challenges of trying to field a competitive football team and playing in an empty stadium, while the football team will take full advantage of the tremendous opportunity it has been given, and will become a winning basketball team. A dollar hangs on the outcome.

Will the two teams discover that they are innocent pawns being used for the Dukes' amusement? If so, will they be able to turn the tables on the brothers? And will a young Jamie Lee Curtis bare her breasts? Those are questions for a better writer than me to answer.

Vitale LOVES Notre Dame football!


NO!!! The Dukies are my precioussss!

One Shill to Rule Them All

Dick Vitale is a noted shill for both Notre Dame football and Duke basketball. He was recently asked which program was more precious to him. This was his Vitale's response:

[Vitale smiles, and speaks animatedly]

"The University of Notre Dame is Awesome, baby, with a capital A! I was so honored to send both of my girls to Notre Dame, and my son-in-laws went there. I coulda gotten into Notre Dame too, baby! I got a 1400 on my SAT! Yeah, if you add my scores together---I took it twice!"

[He turns, and suddenly his face twists into an evil expression]

"NO!!! Duke basketball is where it's at, baby! Coach K epitomizes what college athletics is all about. It's like he says in the commercial, he's not just a coach, he's a Leader of Men. He learned from the best---the General, Robert Montgomery Knight."

[Vitale turns, and his face again returns to an innocent grin]

"Notre Dame football is what it's all about. Yeah, I know they're struggling, but Charlie Weis is one of the best in the business, and he will right the ship. Look at some of these youngsters they've got---Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Duval Kamara---they're Diaper Dandies, baby! And check this out, look at this---they have the number one recruiting class in America, baby! They're going to be back in a big way!"

[He turns again, and his expression is full of hatred and anger]

"OHHH!!! OHHH!!! It's the Dukies, baby! The Cameron Crazies!!! It's unbelievable!!! J.J. Redick: he's the three S's: Super, Scintillating, Sensational!!! Shane Battier: what a class act, what tremendous ath-a-leticism. And the current crop is as talented a group as Mike Krzyzewski has had. I mean, you've got Greg Paulus, he's on my All-Thomas Edison Team. He's an innovator!"

Eventually, Vitale tired out before giving a definitive answer to the question.

The Blind Oracle Looks to Cash In

Having been unfortunately accurate for an alarming number of games this season, The Blind Oracle At Bristol is looking to profit. He recently announced a plan to charge customers $9.95 for access to his prediction for this week's ND/Duke game, in what he was calling The Blind Oracle Golden Horseshoe Lead Pipe Lock of the Year. Luckily, Blue-Gray Sky's cadre of lawyers intervened, forcing the Oracle to fulfill his contractual commitments to us. Here is his prediction:

"Imagine a doormat rising up and kicking down the door. From the Triangle, the Devil went up to Indiana. The defense slaps the grass as a display of intensity. The old arena's lights go out on its darkest year. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Blue Devils. Duke beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Irish Live | by Jay

John and Tiff pulled together another nice show this week, going over the Air Force game and highlighting some of the protection breakdowns that plagued the Irish offense. I pop in there at the end to talk about the season and wax hopeful about doubling our win total this Saturday. (I feel like Stuart Smalley, or maybe Jesse Jackson: keep hope alive! Etc.)

You can check out the show here.

Looking for leadership | by Pat

As the Irish team keeps losing and the youth movement is gathering more and more steam, it was nice to hear that one of the younger players is already looking to take on more of a leadership role. Here's Charlie's take on an early morning meeting on Monday.

Not getting into one player, but it was probably one of the most enjoyable parts of my entire week, happened yesterday morning at 5:30. Yesterday morning at 5:30 I'm sitting in my office and I keep the door locked because I don't like just anyone walking in at 5:30, and my phone rings and one of the players on our team is outside. I said, oh, no, here we go again. He wants to talk to me so he knocks on my door. I thought we had another person that was looking to pack his bags and go.

And it was just the opposite. He said he hasn't slept all night. He's an underclassman. He hadn't slept all night and he felt he needed to step up and take on more of a leadership role, and he was asking for some advice on how to do that. I mean, that's the type of guys you want on your team, guys that aren't sleeping because they're worrying about how they can -- he's a regular player, but how they can step up and take on more of a leadership role. I thought that was a good way to start the week.

Later in the day, Sam Young admitted during media interviews that he was the player who met with Charlie.

"I just want the team to do well," Young said. "Whatever position I need to be in, I want to fill it."

With John Sullivan out, Young, still only a sophomore, is now the veteran leader of the line with 23 career starts under his belt. He's had a rough second year campaign, slowed by a wrist injury and a switch to left tackle. Still, it's great to hear about him stepping up to take on more of a leadership role with this young team.

BCS Rundown | by Jeff

As the BCS continues to get messier and messier, some order appears to be slowly emanating forth from the primordial ooze of one-loss teams and unusual suspects. At this point, there are five (no, three!) real contenders for two spots in the BCS championship game: LSU, Oregon, and Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri. Let's look quickly at each of these five (no, three!) teams and their remaining schedules:

#1 LSU
Remaining Schedule: @ Ole Miss, vs Arkansas, SEC Championship (vs Tennessee or Georgia)

LSU has a tough schedule to close out the season, but certainly not impossible. After feasting on some of the worst run defenses in the country, Arkansas' Darren McFadden's production was relatively contained against Tennessee's average run defense last week. With the third best run defense in the country, LSU should beat Ole Miss and contain Arkansas to make it to the SEC Championship game without much trouble. Beating Tennessee or perhaps Georgia will be slightly more problematic, but the Tigers should be double-digit favorites in that game, and are more likely to face the Vols than the suddenly hot 'Dawgs. LSU is ranked first in both polls and by the computers, and their strength of schedule looks solid for their remaining games, so winning out means the Tigers will almost certainly be in the championship game.

#2 Oregon
Remaining Schedule: @ Arizona, @ UCLA, vs Oregon St

With by far the easiest remaining schedule among the contenders, Oregon looks poised to win out and stake their claim to a spot in the BCS championship game. However, the Ducks are ranked second in both polls and number 3 by the computers (behind Kansas). So, a strong finish by Kansas or possibly even Oklahoma could send the Ducks to Pasadena instead of the BCS championship. I won't be too surprised to see some gamesmanship again among the voters in the BCS polls to give an edge to either the Big XII champ or Oregon. However, it looks like the Big XII and PAC-10 will get two teams into the BCS regardless, so at least the financial incentives for coaches to play with their votes is minimized this time around.

#3-#5 Big XII Champion
Remaining Schedules:

Kansas: vs Iowa St, vs Mizzou, Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma)
Oklahoma : @ Texas Tech, vs Oklahoma St, Big XII Champ (vs Kansas-Missouri winner)
Missouri: @ Kansas St, @ Kansas, Big XII Champ (vs Oklahoma)

The Big XII appears to be involved in a play-in tournament for a spot in the BCS championship game. For the first time, the Kansas v Missouri game will actually mean something, as the winner will take on Oklahoma for the Big XII title. Those tough games may be enough to jump the Big XII champ over Oregon and into the the BCS championship game, although an undefeated Kansas has perhaps the best shot at the leapfrog, followed by Oklahoma. Kansas wasn't even ranked in the top-25 until October 7th, so a place in the BCS championship game would be truly remarkable. A one-loss Missouri team will likely end up in the Fiesta Bowl.

The rest of the BCS
The rest of the BCS will be full of the usual controversy this season. It appears that the 10 BCS teams will consist of two representatives each from the Big XII, SEC, ACC, and PAC-10 and one each from Big Ten and Big East, regardless of who makes the championship game. Here's why...

The BCS rules require a team to finish in the top 14 of the BCS with at least nine wins to be eligible for an at-large bid. But this season, the BCS eligible teams are likely to be concentrated in just a few conferences, and BCS rules also limit participation to two teams from the same conference. So, based on today's standings, the BCS eligible teams are:

SEC:	LSU, Georgia, Florida
PAC-10:	Oregon, Arizona State, Southern Cal
Big XII:	Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas
Big East:	West Virginia
Big Ten:	Ohio State
ACC:	Virginia Tech, Virginia

The only way to fill the ten spots from these fourteen teams is to take two teams from every conference that has more than one team eligible. This means currently-fourteenth Virginia would get a BCS bid over Florida, the ASU/Southern Cal loser, Texas, and the odd man out of KU/OU/Mizzou.

While there is still plenty of football to be played, most of the jockeying around the BCS cutoff will be among ACC teams. The ACC holds the 10th, 14th, 15th, and 17th positions, with two pairs of those teams playing each other before the end of the season and the two winners facing off in the ACC championship.

The past three national champions occupy the 11 to 13 spots, and if they win out (Texas over Texas A&M, Florida over Florida Atlantic and Florida State, and Southern Cal over ASU and UCLA) they'll almost certainly be BCS eligible by the end of the year. However, only Southern Cal has a good shot at the BCS, as Texas is behind three Big XII teams and Florida trails two SEC teams. Look for Georgia to possibly claim a spot in the BCS despite not winning their division, and possibly Texas as well (especially if Oklahoma beats Missouri to win the Big XII).

Hawaii has a shot to join the big boys with a top-12 BCS finish or a top-16 finish if UConn wins the Big East, but with a possible injury to Colt Brennan and a relatively tough schedule to finish out the season, it doesn't look like the Rainbows will make it this year.

Defying logic
I'm rooting for Tennessee to win out and claim a spot in the top twelve of the BCS and above both the Hawaii vs Boise State winner and the ACC runner-up. This will make the Top 14 teams:

Big XII:	Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas
PAC-10:	Oregon, Southern Cal, ASU
SEC:	Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Florida
ACC:	Virginia Tech
Big Ten:	Ohio State
Big East:	West Virginia

Go ahead, try to fill the five BCS bowls with those teams without taking more than two teams from one conference. It can't be done. I don't know what the BCS backup plans are, but I am very curious to see what would happen in this scenario.

Now all we need are about three or four upsets to make this year a real mess. Anyone up for a West Virginia vs Missouri national championship game?

Top Gunner | by Pat

Last week before the Air Force game the Chicago Daily Southtown had a short article about walk-on punt team gunner Mike Anello. A special teams standout this year, Anello's hustle play to save an Eric Maust punt from going into the endzone was one of the few highlights from last Saturday. He was primarily a wrestler in high school, and came to ND as a regular student before deciding to try out for the team.

Anello, who ironically wrestled against Ruettiger's nephew in high school, didn't go to Notre Dame to play football, but once he decided to give it a whirl, there was no stopping him.

"At Notre Dame, athletes aren't in one dorm," Anello said. "They're spread across the campus. I lived in a room across from Travis Thomas, the running back. He kept me informed. Plus there was Nick Possley, a walk-on from Wheaton-Warrenville South. He encouraged me. I filled out the paperwork, and began working out to prepare myself."

It was January 2006.

"Tryouts began one morning at 5:30 a.m. If you were late, you were gone. There were about 42 kids the first day, and it was cut to 12 right after that. Then it was cut to seven going into spring practice."

Anello was one of the seven.

Anello toiled with the rest of the scout team members before getting his big break right before the Michigan game.

Before the Michigan game, Anello was being used on the scout punting team, playing the role of the "gunner," the guy who charges headlong toward the punt returner from the outside. Michigan lines up a gunner on each side of the line, so Anello got a workout.

So did the first-teamers on Notre Dame's punt return team. Defenses double-team gunners to assure they don't clobber punt returners. Anello, all 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds of him, was fending off blockers and making plays.

"I beat our guys three times in a row," Anello remembered.

Weis noticed.

"He'd have two guys doubling him and he'd go by them every play," Weis told Blue and Gold Illustrated. "I said, 'He's on the wrong team.' "

Just like that, Weis yelled, "Anello!" and Anello went, "Uh-oh. What did I do now?"

A few words later, Anello was a scout-turned-starter, with a spot on the Irish punt team.

On his first play as a special teamer, he tackled Michigan punt returner Greg Matthews for a one yard stop. Against UCLA he picked up another tackle and helped to down a punt on the Bruin one yard line . Facing the Southern Cal Trojans Anello held Desmond Reed to a zero yard gain and combined with Terrail Lambert to stop Joe McKnight after only seven yards. And then Saturday, he pulled off that acrobatic save to keep a punt out of the end zone.

There haven't been many bright spots this year, but Mike Anello certainly has been one.

Try the Veal | by Jay

Did you hear they recently exhumed George Gipp's body for DNA sampling in a paternity suit?

Turns out, the DNA didn't match, but they did discover something interesting: Gipp had turned over in his grave.

Post-crash Cleanup | by Jay

Sifting through the wreckage of yet another loss, it's clear there were a litany of critical mistakes in this ugly game. I'll highlight a few of them.

Mistake #1. The first gaffe was on the very first play of the game. You all saw it: Clausen darts the ball to Carlson 25 yards downfield, hitting him in the chest. Carlson catches it, turns, and is immediately stripped by free safety Bobby Giannini. It was a nice effort by Giannini, and a poor one by Carlson. I won't say this "set the tone" for the game, because we did bounce back, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

So we hand over our first possession, and proceed to give up a long drive. But then the defense clamps down. Air Force has a 1st and goal on the 1 yard line, and they rush Hall twice for no gain, then Carney on the keeper for no gain. It's a great defensive stop and the defense is clearly fired up. AFA boots a field goal, which is something of a moral victory.

Mistake #2. ND gets the ball and drives to the Air Force 47, where it's 3rd & 8. Clausen drops back to pass, AFA fires the corner on a zone blitz, and although we're in max protect nobody picks it up. Travis Thomas is looking for the stunt up the middle (which AFA used effectively later in the game), but nobody is looking outside. Clausen gets crunched and we have to punt. The first drive was killed by a turnover, and the second with a sack. We're not off to a rousing start.

(By the way, Mike Anello is my hero. On the punt coverage, he pops into frame just as the ball hits the ground, and deftly swats it between his legs and away from the end zone, downing it on the 2.)

The defense picks up where it left off, stopping Chad Hall on consecutive handoffs for 2 yards and 3 yards. Carney drops back to pass on third down, and Laws gets a paw on the pass and breaks it up. Another good effort by the defense, and it sets up a punt.

Mistake #3 comes on the ensuing ND drive. We have excellent field position from AFA punting from the end zone, starting at the AFA 38. Three rushes by Allen churn out just one yard (the last play being a fake quick pass/handoff that we've run with some success in the past), so we decide to go for it on 4th and 9.

The decision to go for it in this situation is sound. We're down 3, it's still early in the game, the ball is on the AFA 37, it's too far to kick a field goal and probably too close to pooch it (especially with Geoff Price sitting out the game with an injury). But AFA spring another zone blitz on us, dropping a lineman, looping a linebacker around through the middle and blitzing a safety as well. It's a three-on-two matchup on the left side, and Clausen has no chance.

Mistake #4 is a killer. After the defense makes yet another great stop (total yards on the last two Air Force drives: 7), Clausen muffs a handoff to Schwapp -- or Schwapp muffs a handoff from Clausen -- the ball pops up in the air, John Rabold snatches it and rumbles into the end zone to make it 10-0 Air Force. I'm still not clear on whose fault this was; it didn't look like Schwapp was looking for the handoff at all, so it's likely a missed call on his part or Clausen's. Either way, it's a self-inflicted error that resulted directly in -7 points, and killed yet another drive. That's four times we've had the ball, and four times we've tripped over ourselves.

On the next Air Force drive, the Zoomies start to move the ball a little bit. Carney surprises us for 21 yards on a QB draw right up the gut, which is a nice call considering we were focused on Chad Hall, and had shut him down the last half dozen times or so the ball came to him. Air Force makes it all the way to the ND 35, when Carney runs an option left, gets engulfed by Irish linemen, and pitches it sloppily to Hall who can't get a handle on it. ND recovers. Another nice stop by the defense.

The Irish offense finally gets on track, taking it from the ND 37 all the way down to the Air Force 11. It's a nice combo of Aldridge + Allen + some well-timed passes, and it looks like this:

N 1-10 N37 ALDRIDGE rush for 16 yards to the AF47, 1ST DOWN ND
N 1-10 A47 ALDRIDGE rush for 3 yards to the AF44
N 2-7 A44 ALDRIDGE rush for 1 yard to the AF43
N 3-6 A43 CLAUSEN pass complete to GRIMES for 7 yards to the AF36, 1ST DOWN ND, out-of-bounds.
N 1-10 A36 ALLEN rush for 9 yards to the AF27
N 2-1 A27 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF22, 1ST DOWN ND
N 1-10 A22 CLAUSEN pass complete to PARRIS for 3 yards to the AF19.
N 2-7 A19 HUGHES rush for 3 yards to the AF16
N 3-4 A16 ALLEN rush for 5 yards to the AF11, 1ST DOWN ND.

I wish more drives looked like this, because it seems like the mix we've been envisioning since the first game of the season. Schwapp even gets in on the act, throwing a great block on the first play to spring Aldridge for his long gainer. (If you don't believe me, check the tape. Asaph actually made quite a few excellent blocks in this game, which gives me hope for him yet.)

So we're on the AF 11, and it's 1st & 10. What happens next I can't qualify as an out-and-out mistake, but it's a frustrating three-play set. First is a play-action pass that never has time to set up because the OL can't sustain protection; Clausen has no time and has to throw it away. Second is another pass, a fade to Grimes in the left corner that's well-covered. Third is another pass, with Clausen threading it to Parris just across the end zone line, but the pass is broken up. You'd like to see a little more effort by Parris here, because I think the ball was catchable, but he was out-battled by the defender. Nonetheless, three straight passes after you've run the ball well for fifty yards is a head-scratcher. We kick the FG and it's 10-3.

We kickoff, and the defense responds with yet another terrific stop. This time, AFA elects to go for it on 4th & 1 at the 50 yard line. It's a handoff going right, and Trevor Laws makes a great stop.

(Have you heard of this guy Laws, by the way? He's a defensive tackle. He only leads the country in tackles by a defensive linemen, to go with his two forced fumbles, two blocked kicks, and numerous passes batted down. On any other team with a better record, he'd be a shoo-in for first team All-American. Sadly, I don't think he's going to get it.)

ND puts together another scoring drive, featuring several nice plays including a 14-yard out to Grimes, which is a route and completion I haven't seen in oh, forever. I had momentary flashbacks of Samardzija dragging across the middle 15 yards deep, and Quinn finding him open on the other side of the coverage. That's exactly what happened here, and you wish you saw more of it. The drive ends with a beautiful fade to Carlson in the right corner of the end zone. It's 10-10.

So let's review the defensive effort to this point in the game. Air Force drives are going like this:

Start	Plays	Yards	Result
A42	14	56	FIELD GOAL
A02	3	5	Punt
A47	3	2	Punt
A33	6	30	Fumble
A31	6	19	Downs

Five drives, 112 yards, three points, and it's nearly halftime. That's pretty solid. Unfortunately, it starts to unravel right here. (The defense would ultimately yield 405 yards and 34 points).

It's only about two and half minutes until the half, and if we get another stop here we can bring it into the locker room tied, or maybe even ahead if we can scrape out one last scoring drive. Instead, we give up plays of 17, 10, 15, 14, and 8 yards, culminating in a touchdown on a reverse by Air Force that made us look silly (and John Ryan looking the silliest of them all). The key to this drive (and the key to the Air Force offense for the rest of the game, really) was the first play, a 17-yard run up the gut by the fullback Jim Ollis, his first carry of the game. The Ollis carry was an option, and Brockington was playing the pitch and took himself out of the play. Nice adjustment by Calhoun to carve out the middle, which really opened things up outside later on. We'd been playing the outside pitches & runs pretty well, but that left the middle open, and Air Force took advantage of it.

So, 1:09 until the half, and on the first play Clausen is sacked on a delayed stunt up the middle for Mistake #5. The defender comes in clean, unseen, untouched, and nobody so much as shot him an ugly look on his way to sacking the quarterback. A few more plays here and there, and it's halftime, 17-10, Air Force.

---

The second half was a combination of Air Force finally getting their offense on track, and us futilely trying to play catch-up. Calhoun opens another drive with a handoff to Ollis, this time a counter-cutback that works for 15 yards. The drive also features a nifty reverse to Armstrong, and several more runs up the middle. The biggest gaffe (Mistake #6) comes on the sixth play of the drive, where it's 3rd and 3 on the ND 33. Carney breaks the huddle, receiver Mark Root splits out wide -- and nobody covers him. I mean, nobody. Nobody lines up across from him, none of the safeties roll over the top, nobody even seems to notice him. Carney does, though, and hits him for 26 yards uncontested. The next play is a play-action pass to Quintana in end zone for a score, and it's 24-10. (Quintana, man...that creep can roll.)

ND, down two scores now, really needs to answer this with its own touchdown. There's a quick pass to Grimes, and a nice pitch to Aldridge for seven yards and a first down (with another great block by Schwapp. I'm not making this up). Then Grimes drops a sideliner that hits him in the hands, then drops another pass over the middle that hits him in the chest. It would have been a first down. Cripes. Count these as Mistakes #7 and #8: unforced miscues that cost us another drive.

The next Air Force drive is looking like it's going to be another scoring effort, until Chad Hall hears a phantom whistle and inexplicably stops, and stands up on a 3rd & 1 handoff, allowing himself to be tackled. Air Force punts.

ND takes over on their own 12, but can't get untracked; there's a nice screen pass to Allen on the drive but Air Force bottles up Aldridge twice and forces a punt. Sullivan and Olsen are both hurt on this drive, and are replaced by Wenger at center and Bemenderfer at guard.

The defense is softened up now from the middle runs, and Air Force takes advantage of it. Ollis up the middle, option left to Hall, option right to Hall, and the Falcons drive all the way to the ND 38. Then, on 3rd & 8, another great call by Calhoun: a shovel pass to Hall that goes for 25 yards right up the middle. All the action is headed outside, and the linebackers flow along with it, and Carney squirts it back to Hall who jitterbugs his way down to the 13. Air Force scores on a rollout pass to the tight end Madsen in the end zone, who's seemingly surrounded by blue jerseys but not actually covered. 31-10, Air Force.

It's at this point in the game I would have expected the Irish players to call it a day. I wouldn't have been surprised in the least, and I probably wouldn't have begrudged them, either, down by three touchdowns at the start of the fourth quarter in the 10th game of the year. But the Irish respond, and put together two fine scoring drives sandwiching another Air Force field goal. The key seems to be that screen pass that has sputtered so often this year. We run it to Jabbie and suddenly it works like a charm: 13 yards, 8 yards, 12 yards, and 18 yards. Jabbie racks up 51 yards on screen passes between the two drives, both of them capped by Clausen touchdown passes. The first TD goes to Grimes on a picture-perfect fade, and the second to Allen on a swing pass featuring a nice look-off from Jimmy -- the first swing pass of the day to Allen. After the second touchdown it's 34-24, with about 8:00 left in the game. There is hope.

Air Force takes over on their own 38. Hall goes for 6 on a handoff right. On the next play, Ian Williams (playing for an injured Kuntz) busts up the middle and drops Hall for a 2-yard loss. On 3rd & 6, it's Ian Williams again, bringing down Hall for two yards. The Irish defense has regrouped momentarily, and forces a punt just when they need it most.

Unfortunately for the Irish, it would be the last glimmer of hope in the game. Clausen throws low for Parris incomplete, then flings it to Parris again under pressure for two yards. Needing 8 yards, Grimes for some reason runs a 7-yard out pattern, and it's 4th and a long 1. The Irish offense scrambles to get into position, and Clausen sneaks it, but comes up way short. I almost wish they had called a timeout here, and set something up, because the team looked confused; the play looked like a fire drill. Air Force gets the ball with a short field, rushes 7 times and gets the touchdown (41-24), and save for a token Irish drive at the end, the game is over.

---

There's a moment in the movie The Darjeeling Limited where a train comes to an unexpected halt in the middle of the Indian desert. The conductor and several passengers climb outside, poring over a map.

"What's going on?" asks one of the main characters.

"He said the train is lost."

"How can a train be lost? It's on rails."

"Apparently we took a wrong turn at some point last night."

"How far off course are we?"

"Nobody knows. We haven't located us yet."

"What did you just say? Say that again."

"We haven't located us yet."

"Ahh! Is that supposed to be symbolic?"

Until this season, I'd thought the Irish football program was on rails, of a sort, too. I'd figured the ride would be bumpy at times, but there'd be a visible path, and a lower bounds, and I expected to keep clattering along in a positive direction. I certainly wasn't expecting a season like this.

We've taken a wrong turn somewhere in the night, and we got lost. We still haven't located us yet.

Odds & Sods - Low-Flying Jets Edition | by Mike

I never actually saw the Navy game. I was traveling during the game and my DVR screwed up the recording, so I missed the game. Sure, I read the articles, perused the stats and watched the clips in Jay's breakdown, but these aren't the same as watching history unfold before your eyes.

Then I watched the Air Force game, and that told me all I needed to know.

A tip of the cap to Trevor Laws and Mike Anello, but other than that...I got nothin'.

Pre-flight Check | by Jay

Let's scramble a quick AFA preview before kickoff today...

• Air Force is 7-3 overall. The're 5-2 in conference (Mountain West). They're currently sitting second behind BYU in the MWC standings.

9/1	South Carolina St. (5-4)	W	34	3
9/8	Utah (6-3)	W	20	12
9/13	TCU (5-4)	W - OT	20	17
9/22	BYU (6-2)	L	6	31
9/29	Navy (5-4)	L	20	31
10/6	UNLV (2-7)	W	31	14
10/13	Colorado St. (1-8)	W	45	21
10/20	Wyoming (2-3)	W	20	12
10/25	New Mexico (6-3)	L	31	34
11/3	Army (3-7)	W	30	10

• The Zoomies' rushing offense is 4th in the nation, at 272 yards per game.

• Contrary to popular belief, Air Forces runs a spread option offense, and not the trademark Fisher DeBerry triple option attack. When first year coach Troy Calhoun came on board he installed the shotgun spread (similar to what West Virginia runs). The Calhoun version is still a ground-based attack, and still incorporates option plays, but the triple option is no longer the foundation. There's a bit more passing involved: the Falcons' QB Shaun Carney has already bested his passing attempts from '04, '05, and '06, and there's still three games to play.

• Chad Hall (#1) is the AFA's most dynamic player, appearing as the "Z-back" in Calhoun's offense, lining up at running back, slot back, receiver, and even sometimes at quarterback. He is the only Division 1A player leading his team in rushing, receiving and all-purpose yards, and he accounts for about half the Falcons' offense:

"I practice with the receivers," Hall said. "I start every game as the z-receiver. Technically, I'm still a receiver."

But how many receivers get 160 carries, though?

"We just call him a hybrid," Air Force teammate and roommate Garrett Rybak said. "It's easier."

Hall hasn't been easy to bring down this season. He's averaged 192.8 yards a game over his last five contests...

It took some time for Falcons coach Troy Calhoun to figure out how to best utilize the diminutive Hall, who stands a generous 5-foot-8 and weighs 180 pounds. For the first five games of the season, Calhoun used him primarily as a receiver, and he caught 25 passes for 281 yards.

The Falcons needed more explosiveness out of their offense, so Calhoun decided give him more carries against UNLV to see what he could do. Hall rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. He also caught four passes for 44 yards.

Problem solved. Since taking a more predominant role in the offense, Hall has been Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week three times.

• I took a look to see if I could find something in common in all of Air Force's three losses (to BYU 6-31, to Navy 20-31, and to New Mexico 31-34). One thing jumps out at you immediately: the three losses (and the OT win over TCU) were also the four-lowest rushing totals of the year for Air Force. BYU in particular limited the Air Force offense, clamping down on them for 133 rushing yards (more than -100 under their average) and just six points on a single touchdown all day. The yards per rush average for each game was also significantly lower in these games.

• I'd assumed the lower rushing numbers were a product of Air Force having to pass more to catch up, but that's really only the case against BYU, who jumped out to a big lead early on and force Air Force to throw (AFA had their lowest number of carries all year against BYU). But the other three games were pretty close until the fourth quarter: against TCU, Air Force got a 71 yard touchdown run late in the game to tie it up and send it to overtime; against Navy, it was a 4-point game until the 9:00 mark; and against New Mexico, Air Force actually led 21-10 in the first half.

• On defense, Air Force is ranked pretty well in Pass Effiency Defense, with a 112.65 rating (205 ypg) that puts them 27th nationally. But if you discount the game against South Carolina State -- which sports the 94th passing offense in Div I-AA -- then that ranking drops about 25 slots or so. Several teams have gouged Air Force through the air; BYU completed almost 70% and had 293 yards passing.

• If it were just about any other Irish team in recent memory, this would be a relatively easy win for Notre Dame. Stop the run, pass a little bit, and coast to a victory. This year, as we all know, is a different story: AFA comes into ND today a 3-point favorite. Sounds about right to me...perhaps even a little low.

Cue Lou | by Jay

Right about now, nobody could use a pep talk more than Charlie Weis.

"Charlie, nothing's ever as good as it seems. And nothing's ever as bad as it seems. Somewhere in the middle is where reality falls.

Now it's been a bad year. We just lost to the University of the Navy and it broke one of the biggest streaks in college football history. But we can't worry about Navy, that's in the past. It's not like they can break the streak again.

Charlie you've made some mistakes. With these young guys on the team you needed to teach them to block and tackle and that's all about practice and repetition. A fisherman without tackle dudn't catch any fish, but a linebacker who can't tackle loses football games. You've made some mistakes. But everybody makes mistakes. When Notre Dame burnt to the ground, Father Sorin said his biggest mistake was that he didn't built it big enough. And when this team has been broken down and defeated, you're going to work harder to build the team back bigger and better than ever before, because that's the only way you can achieve greatness.

Never forget you've got a family. I'm not talking about your wife and kids, I'm talking about the Notre Dame family. One of the special things about the University of Notre Dame is that they will pick you up when you've stumbled. Now when you gather 'round the Thanksgiving dinner table, do you kick out the uncle who backed over the family dog? No, you don't. He made a mistake. And poor Rover paid the price. But you stand by your family, even when they make mistakes. Our fans may be disgruntled. Hell, I'm disgruntled, Charlie. But it's because I and everybody else under the Dome want to win just as badly as you. The good thing is football fans have a shorter memory than a goldfish. People may not remember your two BCS trips as well as they should, but the beauty of it is they'll forget these losses as soon as a couple wins start popping up.

The first step in winning the football game tomorrow is believing you can win the football game. Charlie, when the big ball in New York dropped at midnight last January your coaching abilities didn't go out the window. You've had a lifetime of success and that doesn't disappear overnight. Look around you, you're surrounded by a staff that didn't come here to lose, and players that didn't come here to lose. And we know you didn't come here to lose. So look on the bright side. You're all on the same page! That's a foundation for success. You believe you can win, your coaches believe you can win, your players believe you can win. And even when the players are doubting themselves you can inspire them to win. When you squeeze an orange, you get orange juice. But when you squeeze a Notre Dame player, you get a winner, because that's what's inside us all.

Now tomorrow, we've got a challenge. The Air Force Academy is a tough and disciplined group. They execute well and they've got more heart than just about any team I've ever seen. We're gonna get their best. But you can rest easy knowing they don't get to use their jets or sidewinder missiles on the field of play. Tomorrow, they're just another group of guys in pads. And I guarantee you this: they don't have a monopoly on heart. Because if I can bank on anything this year it's that this Notre Dame team does not quit. We have players who believe. They believe in the University of Notre Dame, and they believe in their coaches. They want to win, every second of every game.

When Rockne gave his famous talk he said let's get out there and win one for the Gipper. Well, we're at 1-8 right now, so we got our One. But nobody ever said we had to win just One for the Gipper. We can win a couple more and here's how it's gonna happen.

Tomorrow I want you to find a play that's successful. And then I want you to find another one. You string a couple of those plays together and you get a first down. A couple of those and you've got a touchdown. A couple of those and you've got a win. And a couple of those . . . well that's how you get a championship. But don't forget, it all started with that one successful play.

And always remember this: You're only one win away from starting an undefeated streak. Now get out there and beat Air Force."

Bird-doggin' | by Jay

Quick update on an earlier post. We had invited Mike James of the Navy blog The Birddog to add his thoughts and analysis to our dissection of the Navy attack a couple of posts below, and he graciously accepted. I've updated the post with his notes, which clarify many of the nuances of Paul Johnson's offense and provide quite a bit of insight into how it all works. Take a gander.

Irish Seek Split With Academies | by Brian

Troy Calhoun: the strong, silent type

In the wake of a demoralizing loss to Navy, Notre Dame hopes to rebound when they host the Air Force Falcons this Saturday. It's a new-look Air Force squad, with a new head man on the sideline. After 23 years at the helm, Fisher DeBerry has given way to '50's matinee idol Troy Calhoun.

Calhoun's coaching pedigree includes stints as an assistant to Evil Genius Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos, as well as getting David Carr killed as offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans.

For the second straight week, the Irish must deal with an option offense, this time led by Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney. The Falcons average 395.2 yards per game, 272.8 of them on the ground. With 122.4 ypg passing, they are a bigger threat in the air than Navy, with the possible exception of Navy pilot Pete Mitchell. The Academy's ground game is led by 1100-yard rusher Chad Hall, with an impressive 12 rushing touchdowns on the season. Carney is second in rushing with 411 yards and three scores.

The Air Force defense, though better than Navy's, is again below most of the teams Notre Dame faced through the first eight games. They allow just under 142 ypg rushing, but are also susceptible to the pass, allowing over 200 ypg. With Top Jimmy back in the starting lineup this week, this game could be a showcase for talented freshmen Clausen, Duval "The Ugandan Giant" Kamara, and Armando Allen.

Idris Leppla, May I Have Your Attention Please?

The United States Air Force Academy is affiliated with the United States Air Force.

Beau Morgan: A Worthy Foe

Yippee ki yay, Mister Falcon.

In 1996, the Falcons came into Notre Dame Stadium and defeated the Irish 20-17, in Notre Dame's first-ever overtime game. No Irish fan in attendance will ever forget the name of Falcon quarterback Beau Morgan, who practically willed Air Force to victory.

Though Morgan completed only 5 of 11 passes for 51 yards, he rushed 23 times for 183 yards and a touchdown, picking up crucial, spirit-crushing yards seemingly every time he touched the ball. He also conducted the Band of the Fighting Irish in its halftime show The Songs of Billy Joel, performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking fan sitting in Section 28, and filled in for Officer Tim McCarthy for that day's safe driving announcement:

"May I have your attention please? This is Deputy Beau Morgan of the Indiana State Police. Whether it's driving your car back to Colorado Springs or driving your football team down the field for a winning score, it requires alertness, concentration, and quick reflexes. So remember, if you're headed for the Rocky Mountains, lay off the Busch."

For all this, and so much more, we here at BGS give a tip of the cap, and coveted Worthy Foe Status, to former Air Force quarterback Beau Morgan. He is one of only two Worthy Foes for the 1996 season, joining former Ohio State running back That Damn Pepe Pearson.

When Coach DeBerry's Career Began to Short Circuit

Fisher DeBerry and Steve Guttenberg plead
their case for using robots to the NCAA

In every coach's life, there comes a time when he realizes that the game has passed him by. For Fisher DeBerry, it happened prior to the 2006 season. Hoping to level the playing field, so to speak, with some of the big-time programs in college football, DeBerry realized that he would be hard-pressed to compete with them for the top recruits. So, he hit upon the idea of using robots to fill out his roster.

Ultimately, however, the NCAA ruled against the use of robots, citing the inherent danger involved as well as the fact that such a practice would clearly be offensive to cyborgs. Miles Brand commented as follows: "Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel....And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free, because they're made of metal, and robots are strong." I really can't dispute any of that. Chalk it up as a rare sensible decision by the NCAA.

The Government Knows You're Reading This Right Now

Dat's how da AF rolls

The National Security Agency was officially formed in 1952, after an embryonic stage of sorts which dated back to the National Security Act of 1947. The Director of the NSA, by law, must be a commissioned military officer with at least the grade of a three star lieutenant general or vice admiral. From 1999-2005, the Director was Air Force General Michael Hayden. In 2006, President Bush appointed Hayden to the post of Director of the CIA. We recently got Gen. Hayden's thoughts on this week's game, in a Blue-Gray Sky EXCLUSIVE:

"Yeah, Air Force up in dis bitch! We gonna run it down yo throats all day, son. We got luv fo' da flyers and Luvs fo' da liars. Tell Charlie to go eat another donut! You Irish 'bout ta get hit wit a LIGHTNIN BOLT!!! Peace out bitches. Dinkin' flicka."

QB Browns Alert Level Update: BLACK

Since it's been a while since the last update, I figured we'd check in on the progress of QB Browns. There really isn't much to report: the QB Browns Alert Level is ensconced in BLACK (Backup). Behind quarterback Derek Anderson, the Browns have been surprisingly frisky: they are 5-3 and are headed into a matchup with archrival Pittsburgh with first place in the AFC North on the line. They have benefitted from an easy schedule to this point: their five wins have come against teams with a combined record of 10-30, and one of their losses was to 2-6 Oakland. The schedule doesn't exactly get tougher: after this week's game in Pittsburgh, their remaining schedule is as follows (current record of each opponent in parentheses):

11/18 @ Baltimore (4-4)

11/25 HOUSTON (4-5)

12/2 @ Arizona (3-5)

12/9 @ NY Jets (1-8)

12/16 BUFFALO (4-4)

12/23 @ Cincinnati (2-6)

12/30 SAN FRANCISCO (2-6)
Total: 20-38

I'm calling my shot, ladies and gentlemen: the Cleveland Browns will go to the playoffs (where they will be promptly shellacked). But more to the point, QB Browns won't see the field this year in anything other than mop-up duty.

Prediction From the Oracle

With the Irish offense exploding last week for 44 overtime-assisted points, will The Blind Oracle at Bristol still have doubts about their ability to score? Let's find out.

"Having been weakened by one fighting force, reinforcements arrive to finish the job. The ninth plague descends from above. A flash of blue lightning, beautiful but deadly, like Lenin's goatee. Once led by a Fisher of Men, they now blaze their own path. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Falcons. Air Force beats Notre Dame 35-10."

A shocking loss | by Pat

The football game on Saturday was preceded by the horrible news of the sudden death of Ryan Shay, a former Notre Dame All-American in track and cross-country and current Olympic hopeful in the marathon. Shay, 28, died while competing in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in New York City.

Und.com has a wonderful tribute to Shay, noting his multitude of accomplishments both on the field (9 time All-American, ND's first individual track event national champion since 1952) and off (Academic All-American). It also includes many personal anecdotes about one of the best athletes to ever wear the Blue and Gold.

There is also a touching article in the New York Times about Shay, his family, and his hometown of Central Lake, Michigan.

Please make sure to read both of these tributes to an extremely impressive and inspirational individual and offer up your prayers to the Shay family.

Rest in peace Ryan.

Simple Complexity | by Jay

Instead of breaking down the Irish units from Saturday, we figured we'd look at something that actually worked: the Navy offense. Brian P. sends us this review of the Middies' triple-option attack, and shows us plenty of examples of why Paul Johnson is such a terrific offensive mind. We also invited Mike James of the Navy blog The Birddog to add his thoughts and analysis, which he graciously shared with us. His thoughts are in blue, below.

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A couple of years ago, during the preparation for a bowl game against Colorado State, Paul Johnson was asked by a reporter to describe the Navy offense:

To better understand the concepts behind the Navy football team's top-ranked rushing offense, a newspaper reporter recently asked Navy head coach Paul Johnson how many plays were in his team's playbook.

Johnson, 48, might have told him – if he had one.

"We don't have a playbook," Johnson said. "I found that if you have playbooks, they end up on eBay and everywhere else."

Johnson instead said he gives his players empty notebooks and lets them write down plays in their terms. In tonight's 7:30 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl game against Colorado State, the game plan won't even take up more than a few sheets: Navy probably won't use more than five or six different plays, Johnson said.

It's all part of a system that's so simple, it's complicated – at least for opposing defenses. Conceptually, the offense builds around one basic play – the triple option, a system unto itself that's worked so well that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick called it "one of the best running offenses of the last decade."...

"We probably run the same play over 3,000 times, and our whole offense is based off of one play," fullback Adam Ballard said. "We rep it every day, so we know what's going on."

This disciplined simplicity was alive and well on Saturday, as Navy's offense rolled down the field en route to an incredible, streak-breaking win over Notre Dame. By my count, Navy ran a total of 10 different plays during the game. They used 3 different formations to run these plays, and they had what looked like 3 different blocking schemes. That's pretty much it.

These five plays were run more than twice:

• Triple Option
• Toss Sweep
• FB Blast (which is the Delaware Wing T play)
• QB designed keeper behind the lead FB / midline option
  
• Reverse Pivot - Counter Option. (The FB option is to one side but the QB and HB option are back to the other side.)

And these five plays appeared just once or twice:

• HB option pass. (Play action pass from Triple Option look)
• FB waggle pass
• 1-yard Hitch/quick pass
• Double Option - blocking all players
• Screen pass (used once late in the second half)
  

Mike's notes: QB keeper usually isn't a designed keeper, except around the goal line or in really short-yardage situations. This is actually the midline option, where the quarterback has the choice of giving to the fullback or keeping the ball. The slotback that goes in tail motion on the play usually becomes a lead blocker for the quarterback if he reads to keep, although he didn’t have to in this game because the linebackers followed him outside. The first man lined up outside of the playside guard is the quarterback's read -- usually a 3 technique, sometimes a 4i or 5 tech. Usually he crashes down on the fullback, which is why it seems like it’s a designed QB keeper.

On the counter option, the fullback is only a decoy and is not an option on this play.

Sometimes when you run the triple option, the backside DE will cheat a little bit on the snap and play the fullback dive. One of the ways that Navy’s coaches take advantage of that is through the counter option. On the counter option, the playside slotback goes into tail motion. This gives the DE lined up across from him the impression that the play will be going the other way. When the ball is snapped, the motion slotback reverses direction and becomes a lead blocker. The quarterback fakes to the fullback in one direction to make it look like a regular triple option play. He then reverses direction and follows the motion slotback. The backside guard pulls to seal off the cheating DE from pursuing outside and stringing out the play. If the formation is balanced and the middle linebacker hesitates at all on the fake to the fullback, this should leave one man to cover both the quarterback and the pitch.

The thing about the counter option is that it allows the offense to attack the outside without reading its way there. On triple option plays, the ball won’t get outside it the quarterback reads to give to the fullback.

So it's basically a 5-play offense, with just a handful of wrinkles. The power of this simplified approach comes in the precise execution, and the sequencing of plays to set up surprises later in the game. Johnson is as wily as any playcaller in mixing and matching and keeping a defense off balance. Let's take a look.

Drive 1:



1. A 1-yard quick hitch pass. ND is geared up for the option but the CB were playing off the WR, so Navy took the easy catch for a 14 yard gain.
2. Triple Option - Blocking Scheme 1 (lineman block down inside). ND has practiced and stop the play easily.
3. Toss Sweep - Blocking Scheme 2 (the lineman loop around the outside of the DE and OLB). The play works but ND causes a fumble.

Drive 2:

First play: Triple Option, but with blocking scheme 2. So now Johnson is mixing together the 2nd play call with the 3rd play's blocking scheme to mess with the defense.

Mike's notes: Acutally, this isn’t the same blocking scheme as the toss sweep, although it looks similar. The sweep is more or less a screen play, with the playside linemen releasing to the outside. On this play, notice how the playside guard actually blocks up the middle, and does not release to the outside? The blocking here is really just a scoop block. The defensive end is lined up over the B gap and becomes the quarterback’s first read. He goes after the fullback. The tackle’s responsibility is to chip the next man lined up outside of the DE (who is the QB’s pitch key), then release to block defenders flowing to the play.

On defense, it looks like getting the MLBs to flow was crucial to Corwin Brown's scheme for getting to the pitchman. He wanted to play cat and mouse with the DE and OLB, and buy time for Crum and/or Brockington to come make the play. That is what looked to be the plan for Notre Dame on defense. Johnson quickly adjusts to this, using the new blocking scheme to make sure he can get the block on the flowing MLB by the 3rd or 4th play of the game. He loops a Guard around the end because Crum could easily beat the OT trying to block down inside on him...that is a very difficult block. No significant adjustment was made by Notre Dame in response. (Also of note: Kuntz is hurt on this first play of the second drive, and will not return for the rest of the game.)

This is correct about the Notre Dame gameplan, but the adjustment is different. The guard does not go around the end; he blocks pretty much north-south. The adjustment that Paul Johnson made was simply to bring the wide receivers in close to the rest of the formation. This allowed them to make crackback blocks on the linebacker covering the pitch. Notre Dame left their corners 6-7 yards off of the line of scrimmage, so the playside slotback had enough time to get upfield and block him. Essentially, the slotbacks and wide receivers switched blocking responsibilities. The wide receiver could take a better angle in blocking the linebacker this way. Notre Dame did adjust to this eventually, but that adjustment led to their demise.



Johnson likes this scheme and sticks with it for much of the first half. The key is that Navy is able to block the NT with just the Center. No double team is required in the middle of the field which frees up the Guard to loop around and block the LB flowing to the play. The Notre Dame DE and OLB are standing very close together and pretty much just standing still. Navy's QB is not getting hit hard. The defense is not committing to any particular option consistently so Navy has a nice mix of FB, QB and HB carries on the option plays.

Also of note, normally the option gets run to the wide side of the field unless the defense commits an extra player to one side. Johnson was faithful to this "field" side convention but added a wrinkle on Navy's first touchdown. Navy had a first and goal from the 5 yard line. Navy ran the Reverse Pivot - Split option. The FB dive option went to the boundary side and the QB reversed direction and ran the rest of the option to the field. This was the first time Navy used that look in the game and it allowed the slower Navy HB to outrun the faster Notre Dame CB to the corner of the end zone. Just a half-second delay that gets induced by getting the defense to flow one way and then coming back the other way. The timing of when that half-second could be used to the maximum effect was brilliant anticipation by Johnson.

Drive 3:



New wrinkle. On the second play of this drive, Navy lines up in a new formation. The WRs are tucked in very close to the OT's in the formation. The WBs are a little deeper in the backfield behind the WRs. Navy runs the reverse pivot - split option again, but with a new blocking scheme on this drive. This time the OT blocks the DE. This is the first time the DE has been blocked all game long, now deep into the 2nd quarter. The WR runs deep taking the CB with him. The far side OG pulls and loops around and blocks the MLB...a rather long run but he makes his block perfectly. The OLB is left unblocked for the option. The FB fake is to the right, the QB and WB reverse and come back to the left. It's a 12 yard gain even though the pitch man read his block wrong and went outside when he should have cut in.

This is a great example of the backside DE (or at least he thinks he is) biting on the FB fake on the counter option. The DE here wasn’t blocked as much as he just took himself out of the play.

The very next play, from the same formation, Navy fakes the toss sweep to the right and give to the FB also to the right. Something looks weird. I watch the play 4 times in slow motion before I see it. There it is. This was just a regular running play. Everybody was blocked by the man in front of them. So on two consecutive plays, Johnson runs at a DE while blocking him for the first time all game long. The DE is so used to standing up and watching the play as nobody touches him. Now he gets blocked straight up by a Navy lineman who weighs 50 lbs less than him, all because of a well-timed use of the play.

Next play, same look, Triple option boundary side.

Next play, same look, fake triple option, drop back pass - dropped in the end zone by the WR. ND actually had this play covered fairly well which is encouraging.

The drive ends in a touchdown to make it 14-14.

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Second Half, Drive 1:



1st Play (didn't make it into the reel for some reason; sorry about that): Triple option, give to the FB. For once, the MLB comes up strong to meet this play at the line of scrimmage. This is a good correction by Corwin Brown at halftime, but really, this should have been the plan all along. Still goes for seven yards.

2nd Play. FB Blast. No option, just a regular running play. The Navy OG crushes Trevor Laws who is nearly twice his size. Again Laws is used to standing up and watching as nobody blocks him. On this play the Guard takes two steps forward like he is blocking down on the LB like he normally does, and then he makes a right turn and basically trap blocks Laws. Again, the blocking scheme is very clever when put into the contect of what has been happening all game long.

3rd play: Toss Sweep

4th Play: Triple Option

5th Play: QB keeps and follows the FB into the dive hole. This was not an option but a designed play. The OT uses a kick out block on the OLB, the first time the OLB has been blocked all game long, and the WB blocks down on the DE, the first time he has been blocked from this angle all game long. Just a simple cross blocking scheme but it is so effective since those players have been so used to not getting blocked and they had not yet been blocked by those players from those angles before.

As I mentioned above, this was that midline option. The first man lined up over the B-gap is the DE; notice how he goes unblocked and crashes down on the fullback. The quarterback read this and just ran into the space that the DE left behind. The playside OT does block the OLB, but the slotback is blocking a middle linebacker here, not the DE.

6th play: FB Blast - everyone blocked

7th play: Triple Option - give to FB

8th play: 4th and 2 Navy gives a weird look. WB motions into backfield like an I formation and stops...normally on the option this is fluid and the ball is snapped while he is moving. Then the other WB motions into the backfield and stops forming a true wishbone. Navy is just trying to draw ND offside with a weird look. ND doesn't fall for it and Navy calls timeout.

This actually serves two purposes. One is to try to draw the defense offside. The other is to show Paul Johnson how the defense is going to line up on the next play.

9th play: 4th and 2. Fake the reverse pivot triple option and the QB keeps the ball. Everyone was blocked. The Guard kicks out the DE. The Tackle kicks out the OLB and the WB loops inside and lead blocks on the isolated MLB. This is the first look at this blocking scheme so far for the defense.

Actually, I think this was just a regular triple option play. It looks like the quarterback made the wrong read on the fullback dive, and when you do that you’re taught to just follow the fullback through the hole.

10th play: Triple option to the boundary instead of the field side for a change of pace.

There’s a numbers advantage here on the right side. To give an idea of what I mean by "numbers advantage," complete with very crude illustrations, take a look at a post from last month, here.

11th play: FB Blast. #74 of Navy takes out Trevor Laws again.

12th play: Toss Sweep. Should have been called for a block in the back but Navy got away with it. Notre Dame defense has not blown up a single play all game.

13th play: 3rd and 1 from the 5. New look. Navy goes unbalanced line with a 3rd lineman covering the tackle on the field side. The defense doesn't respond quite right but the safety sort of cheats over a bit to the formation. FB Blast look but the QB keeps and follows the FB through the hole.

14th play: 1st and goal from the 4. FB Blast. Navy uses the Guard and Tackle to double team the DE. This is the first double team of the game on a player that has been left unblocked most of the time. Dwight Stephenson is plowed back into the end zone ending up on his back. Navy gets to the 1 inch line.

15th play: FB Blast - for a touchdown. Navy misses the kick and it is 21-20.

Drive 2:

See if you can notice how Johnson picks his moments to decide to block the Irish DE and OLB. He knows that they usually aren't expecting a block, so he was able to get 2-3 valuable yards when he needed them inside the tackles by springing this trap. The option is sometimes a risky play: it can get stuffed in the backfield when you really need that 3rd and 3. But the FB wing-T play inside the tackles are much lower risk, and combined with the surprise of blocking the DE and OLB, are actually high probability plays.



1st Play: FB Blast - holding penalty making it 1st and 20

2nd Play: 1 yard hitch pass - minimal gain

3rd play: Triple Option Play Action - deep pass. Pass Interference leads to a 1st down.

4th play: FB Blast

5th play: Triple Option- FB give. This is the first option play in the last 10 plays. Navy has been beating Notre Dame using straight-up Wing T plays from 1950.

6th play: 3rd and 5. FB waggle pass for a 1st down. Great design. The WR runs a seam route. The WB motions to the other side of the field. They give the reverse pivot - split option look but the FB flares out into the empty flat.

Actually, this isn’t the counter option-look, it’s toss sweep-look. The middle linebackers bite on the fake sweep and leave the FB wide open.

7th play: Toss Sweep

9th Play: FB Blast

10th Play: FB Blast

11th play: 2nd and 9. Triple Option - give to the FB. For the first time all game long, the NT beats the single block from the Center and stuffs this play.

12th play: 3rd and 8. Triple option but with no motion by the WB this time for a new look. The give is to the FB which was a poor choice on 3rd and 8. This may be the first bad read Kaipo-Noa has made all game long.

I don't think this was a bad read; it looked like the correct one. The DE on this play is Kaipo’s give key. He kept his shoulders parallel to the line of scrimmage and didn’t go for the fullback. Maybe the play call wasn’t the best, but the read was correct. Although in all honesty, the play wasn’t a bad one. Navy is a very effective passing offense when it passes on its own terms. When a defense is expecting it on 3rd & long is not usually one of those times, and passing when the defense knows it’s coming results in a turnover for Navy way too often.

The FG attempt misses, but on the ensuing drive Navy sacks Sharpley and returns the fumble for a TD.

The two-point conversion play is interesting (sorry, no clip). Navy lines up trips right. They pull a guard away from the formation to kick out the OLB and run a double option with the FB as the pitch man. But the players are blocked at the point of attack. This looks like the Lou Holtz option.

Drive 3:



1st play: Triple Option, FB handoff.

2nd play: Finally, we blow one up. Walls come flying in on a run blitz, kills a toss sweep and forces a fumble which Navy was lucky to recover. You sort of wonder where plays like this were earlier in the game.

Remember when I said that Notre Dame did eventually make an adjustment to Paul Johnson’s new formation? This is the adjustment. Since the WRs are in tight and not blocking the cornerbacks anymore, Corwin Brown finally decided to shoot the corner. Doing so usually means that the CB will get to the ball carrier before the slotback can block him. But Paul Johnson will make an adjustment of his own that will take care of this...

3rd play: Looks like a straight dropback and a screen pass which gains a few yards. Well-covered. Navy has to punt.

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Overtime. 1st OT:



FB Waggle Pass
Triple Option - Pitch
FB Blast
FB Blast, but out of a wide formation - for a touchdown.

2nd OT:



Triple Option - QB keep
Triple option - QB keep

Then a very interesting series of events. On the previous play, the CB crashed the pitch man very hard. This was only the second or third time all game that Walls played the option this way. On the very next play, Navy changed up the blocking scheme. They came triple option but had the Guard kick out the OLB and had the WB loop inside of this block and lead up through the hole. The QB kept the ball and ran up inside of the kicked out OLB. So as soon as ND decided to be aggressive on the perimeter, Johnson simply changed the perimeter and ran the option in between the DE and the OLB. So for those who thought that Brown should have the defense be more aggressive, Johnson already thought about that and had his answer ready.

On the next play, the Triple Option - pitch was stopped for a loss. For the first time all game long, the DE prevented the OT from getting off the line of scrimmage cleanly and it screwed the whole play up. This is what we should have had our ends doing the whole game: don't let Navy get away clean, leaving you unblocked, and getting their blocks on other players. Intercept them and disrupt the play.

It wasn’t the end that blew up this play as much as it was the corner. The slotback whiffed on his cut block and the corner was able to string the pitch man out to the sideline. The OT’s assignment is the one who eventually made the tackle, but if the slotback had made his block then the pitch man would have cut upfield. The safety who made the tackle would have been blocked by the OT on the outside and unable to get back inside to make the play.

3rd OT:



Drop Back Pass - Touchdown to Campbell on a fake toss that's wide open. Navy converts the two pointer, and that's all they needed.

And here’s where firing the corner killed Notre Dame. The corner played the fake toss. The WR ran a post pattern to occupy the safety. That left the right side of the field wide open for a wheel route. No linebacker is going to cover Reggie Campbell one on one, and he ended up wide open with the corner chasing the play 10 yards behind.

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When your offense is this streamlined, not only can the players practice their execution to perfection, but the coach already knows what adjustments he is going to make based on how the defense reacts. It's interesting to note that Johnson doesn't use a call sheet during the game; he's able to keep the entire selection of plays in his head, and that frees him up to call the game by intuition as much as by calculation. Charlie Weis could probably learn something from Paul Johnson's approach, and take to heart the advantages of doing just a few simple things, but doing them very, very well.

Wearing o' the Green | by Pat

It's been open season on Irish recruits all year long, with each mounting loss providing an opportunity for opposing teams (and perhaps a few recruiting websites) to ramp up the heat on the 21 players currently committed to ND. It's still a long way until National Signing Day, and who knows what will happen. One thing I've come to accept is that there is no sure thing in recruiting and things can change in an instant.

Still, if you're looking for a sign that a kid is going to stick with ND, this is a pretty good one:

Coach Kevin Rooney held a meeting with his Sherman Oaks Notre Dame football team on Halloween, and he found that keeping a straight face was extremely difficult. Linebacker Anthony McDonald showed up as Dog the Bounty Hunter. A teammate was Scooby-Doo and another was dressed as Superman.

Then there was 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterback Dayne Crist, set to join Coach Charlie Weis next fall at the University of Notre Dame. Wearing a green top hat, green coat, green tie, green scarf and socks up to his knees, Crist turned himself into a giant leprechaun.

Very nice. McDonald as Dog the Bounty Hunter isn't bad either. The rest of the LA Times article is a fun read on ND's latest QB recruit. Included are a few quotes from Crist about his relationship with Coach Weis.

Once a week, Crist speaks with Weis on the phone. The conversations usually last 15 to 30 minutes. They also communicate by e-mail. Crist has sensed Weis' emotional ups and downs this season as Notre Dame struggles with a 1-8 record, but he enjoys learning from his future coach.

"It's a real comfortable relationship," he said. "We talk about what's going on with their week and game plan and he's interested in knowing what we're doing. He's a very emotional person. It's tough to talk to him on the phone because you can't get facial reactions. I love his personality."

the Heart of the Matter | by Jay

Mike Frank has a revealing piece today over on Irish Eyes, where he calls up former ND captain Shane Walton to talk about the Irish defensive effort versus Navy and get his take on this year's Irish squad:

Walton remains a loyal son of Notre Dame and never misses a game. He’s hopeful for the future, but says the team needs to change their attitude before they’ll win some games.

“The losses don’t bother me, it’s the way we lose,” [Walton] said. “I’m not even talking about the score. I’m talking about the lack of effort on the field. When we played, our coaches used to tell us that we played for all the people who are here right now, and you played for all those people who wore this jersey before you. I think maybe they need to be reminded of that. That’s a big burden to carry. I never wanted to disappoint anyone who wore that jersey before me. You don’t want to let those guys down. You want to uphold that tradition and be a part of the tradition that’s made Notre Dame so great over the years.”

Flotsam and Jetsam | by Jay

A couple of articles from the national scene about Navy breaking the streak: Jon Saraceno in USA Today:

As midnight approached in Annapolis, Md., a crowd gathered to greet their conquering heroes.

"It was incredible, absolutely electric watching the Midshipmen jump around," said Cmdr. John Fuller, 42, who enjoyed the revelry after returning from Indiana. "Rarely have I seen that much spontaneous enthusiasm. The town was happy, too — nothing like Boston celebrating the Red Sox, but it was special. Everyone was happy for us because the monkey is off our backs."

Jack Stem, a retired Navy lieutenant commander and a 1981 grad, was 1 the last time Navy beat Notre Dame. He watched the game with his father (Class of '61). "I can't explain it — unbelievable," the son said.

If you weren't inspired by the plucky, outmanned band of Midshipmen, or if the hair on the back of your neck didn't stand like a plebe at attention, you don't understand what Notre Dame-Navy is all about.

Vince McBeth, captain of Navy's 1986 team, flew to South Bend on Friday with Fuller, his former teammate with whom he shared a heartbreaking loss to the Irish in 1984. They toured campus wearing Navy attire, and McBeth said they were impressed by the "hospitality, friendliness and sportsmanship" shown by Irish fans.

"Every time we turned a corner, someone said, 'Welcome to Notre Dame,' " McBeth said. "Many people have argued over the years, 'Why does Notre Dame continue to play Navy?' There's a deep-rooted mutual respect. It's validation for both institutions."

If you think those Irish fans were merely happy to see a perceived patsy walk into town, you are wrong. The intersectional rivalry began in '27, but a closer relationship developed when Navy took over Notre Dame's campus to train officers and house midshipmen during World War II. Notre Dame graduates more Navy officers than any school other than the Academy.

For decades, Navy mostly served as cannon fodder for the Irish, who often blew the Midshipmen right out of the water. The Streak had become so ignominious that coaches on both sides cringed. The phrase "winless against Notre Dame since the year JFK was assassinated" had become part of the Navy lexicon.

Now it was gone forever, unlike the undying spirit belonging to those young men who made it vanish.

And then, a hyperbolic John Feinstein in the WaPo:

When the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeated the seemingly unbeatable Soviet Union in Lake Placid in 1980 en route to the gold medal, it was hailed as the most stunning upset in sports history.

It may be difficult for an outsider to understand, but the Navy football team's 46-44 triple-overtime victory over Notre Dame on Saturday may rank, at the very least, a close second to that storied miracle on ice...

The players Coach Paul Johnson recruits are frequently like Campbell and Singleton: too small for big-time programs like Notre Dame to bother with; tough kids who love a challenge and love proving they can do things that "can't" be done.

Like beating Notre Dame in Notre Dame Stadium.

The best description I ever heard of what it is like to play football at Navy, Army and Air Force came from Fred Goldsmith, who coached at Air Force: "At a civilian school the hardest part of a football player's day is football practice," he said. "At an academy, the easiest part of a football player's day is football practice."

Navy can't possibly beat Notre Dame. Except on Saturday a group of youngsters who were too small or too slow (or both) to play big-time college football did just that.

It was an incredible win for Navy, and it broke the longest running streak in division one. And it was an upset. But was it really a big upset? On par with the Miracle on Ice, even [cough]? Let's pick this apart.

In the article Feinstein paints Navy as a team of nerdy, pasty bookworms who get by on heart and effort alone, citing 5'8 Zerbin Singleton and 5'6 Reggie Campbell as representative of your typical Middie. This isn't exactly an honest portrait. Forget about the ND game; if Navy were as Feinstein describes -- a plucky band of Oompa-Loompas -- every game Navy ever won against Division 1 talent would have to be a cataclysmic upset.

Obvously, that's not the case. Feinstein makes no mention of the fact that Navy is actually a pretty good team. Since Paul Johnson took over, the Middies have actually been one of the better teams in college football, posting nearly a .600 winning percentage. If you filter out his first year where he went 2-10, Johnson is .700 over the last four years. That's 20th-best in all of division one. They've played in four straight bowl games, and last year came within a breath of knocking off Boston College (losing 24-25).

And it's not a fluke. Feinstein might want you to believe that Johnson pulls guys out of the library to cobble together a squad each year ("Hey, you with the horn-rims -- ever heard of football?"), but Navy actually does recruit players. And Johnson's option attack is a very effective system that capitalizes on all of those traits that Feinstein admires in the Navy players: heart, effort, discipline, intelligence, and yes, even talent. Frankly, I think Feinstein does a big disservice to Navy. He wants to prop up the upset as second only to the Miracle on Ice, but in order to do so he's gotta portray ND as King Kong and Navy as, well, pygmies. That's a shame.

Ending the streak was certainly a momentous (and joyous) occasion for Navy. And it's definitely a signpost for the sorry state of ND football: the canary in the coal mine just keeled over. But if we're talking strictly about big upsets, Feinstein missed the boat. If he's really looking for a ragtag bunch of amateurs who took down the Soviet Empire, all he has to do is look back to the first week of the season, when a little team from the hills of North Carolina wandered into the Big House and knocked off the 5th-best team in the country. It was the only time a ranked team has ever lost to a Division 1-AA opponent. That's truly miraculous.

Bad Notre Dame Jay | by Jay

Thanks for letting me vent.

Nutshell version: decision to forego the kick to potentially win the game in regulation equals the worst call in Charlie's tenure.

Still angry, but a little less so now. It's been a long season.

P.S. Charlie continues to..well, dissemble is not quite the word, because I think he believes what he says and honestly thinks it was a sound decision. But after being asked again:

Q. You were asked after the game about the field goal. You mentioned into the wind, and you had seen Brandon (Walker) in practice not be able to make that.

COACH WEIS: We're trying to get to the 20-yard line. So what I did is we also wanted, he felt that the best kick was from the right to right middle. So that's why on the play before that I ran stretch to the right, figuring we're on the 24-yard line. If I can get to four yards on the play, I won't get the first down, but I was -- instead of centering it, you know, he really wanted it right right middle.

So running the stretch play to the right was designed if I didn't get the first down, to go ahead and get us four yards and get us to the 20 on the right right middle to come out and kick the field goal. But we had no gain or lost yardage on the play.

And again...

Q. You said that given the yardage going into the wind, that you felt (the field goal) was a long shot. Given the way the game ended up, do you wish you had taken it anyway?

COACH WEIS: What, and missed the field goal? I thought we had a good play to get the first down. We complete the pass for the first down and you're inside the 15-yard line. Now you kick a field goal and you do win the game.

And based off of what we had said we were going to do, we did what we said we were going to do. That's why the previous play, you run the play to put it in position to get where we wanted to be to run the field goal. We didn't get any yards on the play.

That stretch play of the day was a very, very productive play for us. We were getting a lot of yards off that play, just didn't pan out on that play.

and again...

Q. This may be picking at it or something, I don't know. But how close were you to saying 41 seconds left, regardless how long a shot this is, we should just try this and try to make some sort of moment and roll the dice?

COACH WEIS: My intent was to kick the field goal on fourth down. That's why I ran the stretch play to the right on third down. But when we got tackled for a loss, I had made up my mind if we got the ball anywhere close to the 20, we were going to try the field goal. But when you're now still at the 24, 24 and a half, it wasn't a consideration anymore.

...the explanation still doesn't make much sense. Ben Ford is as perplexed as I am, and captures the bewilderment nicely:

Not sending out Brandon Walker to kick to win the game goes against at least three things that we thought we knew about Weis before Saturday:

1. He’s said on a number of occasions that his job, above everything else except graduating players and making good citizens of them, is to put the Irish in a position to win that week’s game. And in my view, Notre Dame was in that position on Saturday and he didn’t go for the win. Frankly, the discussion ends there in my view. His comments about Walker’s range and the wind (I didn’t see the flags flapping that hard against the Irish) shed some light on his decision, and if he said he had the right play called to get the Irish down to the 15-yard line and into range for a shorter kick, I believe him, but you play to win the game. Even Herm Edwards knows that.

2. Weis knows how badly this team needs a win, and how badly it needs something to celebrate, and yet he still didn’t kick when a field goal could have accomplished both of those things. The pressure shifted even more to Notre Dame’s side of the field in overtime and gave the Irish another chance to wonder what was going to go wrong next.

3. The Weis we thought we knew was a gambler, a guy who would go for it on fourth down from his own end of the field in the first quarter. Saturday, a 41-yard field goal against the wind was too much of a risk to take. What happened? I saw Walker miss two 41-yard field goals in practice last week, but I also saw him hit a 48-yarder at UCLA. Walker doesn’t need to be automatic from that distance in practice or pre-game warmups, he just [has] to make it one time on Saturday, and that seems like a gamble worth taking for a 1-7 football team. Was Weis worried about Navy driving down for their own winning field goal? If so, we saw the range the Middies’ kicker had when he came up way short on a kick of his own earlier in the game and we also saw how long it took Navy to get down the field on its other drives. Something tells me Paul Johnson was secretly thrilled about the chance to go to overtime.

Pass the Tylenol | by Jay

As overtime began, the sun fell below the wall of the stadium, shrouding the stands in darkness, and a bitter cold swept through the crowd.

And yet, even in the winter of our discontent, there were a few glowing embers. I liked the running game. I liked the return game. I thought the defense did a decent job against a tough offense. We forced two punts -- Navy had had two punts, total, over the last three game -- and held them to about 80 yards under their season rushing average (the second lowest total all year for Navy), allowing no runs over 13 yards. We made good adjustments (albeit a little late) and the corner blitz on Navy's second-to-last possession was maybe the best defensive call of the year. A perfect guess by Corwin. All told, it was an ugly, but winning effort by the defense.

The Streak is Over. | by Pat

It had to end sometime and today was that day.

Navy 46
Notre Dame 44

Congratulations to the Naval Academy.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, Charlie. | by Dylan

It tolls for thee.

Great recruiter. Great coordinator. Not a very good head coach.

Kickoff! | by Pat

Sky Writing | by Pat

It's been awhile since we've had a mixed bag style update. Here's a quick rundown on some assorted news items from the past week or so while we all wait for kickoff.

• Zibby was recently named quarterfinalist for the Lott Trophy. The award is presented by The Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation and honors the IMPACT Defensive Player of the Year. At first I was a bit surprised that Zibby made the quarterfinal cut given that Trevor Laws is the best defensive player on the team and he didn't make the list. But the award is one of the few that considers more than just on the field action.

The student-athlete is judged on both his on-field performance and his off-field performance. The Lott Trophy is the only sports award based on personal character and is appropriately named after the legendary defensive back, Ronnie Lott.

Given Zibby's generous charitable donations over the past few years -- in addition to his on the field play -- it's not quite as surprising that people around the country have noticed and want to recognize his contributions. Congrats to Zibby.

• When it comes to strictly on the field performance, Trevor Laws has been having a stellar year and is a lock for this year's Defensive MVP. ND has also started to do a little push for more national recognition for the 5th year defensive lineman. Tucked in on page 61 of this week's Navy game notes is a special section on Laws as All-American candidate. Included in a list of his accomplishments this season is a table comparing him to likely 1st Team All-American candidates Glenn Dorsey of LSU and Sedrick Ellis of Southern Cal. Trevor's numbers hold up very well compared to the two with Laws holding a big edge in tackles (67) compared to 39 for both Dorsey and Ellis. I don't expect Laws to beat those two talented players out for a 1st Team All-American spot, but Laws absolutely should be seriously considered for a 2nd Team spot.

• Sticking with the award theme, John Carlson has been named a 2007 National Scholar-Athlete by the National Football Foundation. Carlson is ND's 15th player to earn the award, but only the first since Tim Ruddy earned the same honor in 1993.

As a National Scholar-Athlete, Carlson receives an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and is one of 15 finalists for the Draddy Trophy, the award presented to the nation's top scholar-athlete and often referred to as "The Academic Heisman." Should he win the Draddy Trophy, the scholarship would grow to $25,000.

That's one heck of an accomplishment.

• From one tight end to another, Lacrosse Magazine has an interesting article on sophomore Will Yeatman that documents the non-stop work for one of ND's top dual sport athlete. It also includes his humorous exchange on the every present debate about Yeatman's athletic future.

"I was sitting in the stands for that lacrosse game, and people talking about Will behind us are saying he's going to leave lacrosse for football," Bonnie Yeatman says. "Then I go to the Blue-Gold game, and it just so happened there were a bunch of football guys sitting behind us, and they're saying Will's going to leave spring football and play lacrosse [full time]. My daughter and I were just laughing."

• Finally, let's close with a video clip of future Notre Dame player Michael Floyd. If you were wondering why so many colleges were after the Minnesota native, it's for catches like this one.

It's Hoops Season | by Pat

Tomorrow is football, but tonight marks the kickoff of the 2007-2008 men's basketball season with an exhibition game against the mighty Fighting Bees of St. Ambrose. Consider this post a helpful reminder that you can follow the hoops team all season long on top notch ND hoops blogs like Black and Green and Notes from the Geetar as well as generous helpings of hoops related content at Dome and Domer.

Also, ND will stream all home Notre Dame non-conference games live on und.com starting with tonight's glorified scrimmage so make sure to tune in and cheer on this year's squad. There is plenty of talent with two-time captain Rob Kurz, Luke Harangody (out with an injury for this game), Tory Jackson, Kyle McAlarney, and Ryan Ayers settling in as the initial starting five and it should be an exciting year.

It's also a notable year for ND hoops as in 15 days, Notre Dame's Austin Carr will be inducted into the newly opened Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dick Groat, and Dick Barnett. Make sure to bookmark or set up your RSS feeds (if you haven't already) for the previously mentioned blogs.

Anchors Aweigh | by Pat

Here's a quick Q&A with Adam from the always excellent Navy blog, Pitch Right.

1. It seems that Navy has had a few notable injuries this year and even QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada has been knocked around the past fewgames. Which injured players are not expected to suit up against ND and what is the impact of their absence?

Adam: Well defensively we're scraping the barrel right now. Losing FS Jeff Deliz and ILB Clint Sovie for the year against Rutgers was something of a death blow, and judging by the defensive play since then I think we can say that the team has never really recovered. These loses were compounded against Pittsburgh when Ketric Buffin, one of our multi-use defensive backs, went down. Buffin had already intercepted four passes when he broke his arm. As I wrote on Pitch Right the other day, the loss of those three guys is huge because A) They were all veterans on a very inexperienced defense B) They were the guys who knew how to line everyone up correctly and c) They actually tackled people. To make matters worse, there is still some unpleasant ambiguity in regards to backup safety Kevin Snyder, who was doing o.k. filing in after Buffin's injury but appears to have some undisclosed injury. Rashawn King, our best cornerback, did suffer a minor injury against Delaware but should be back for the game on Saturday. As far as the offense is concerned Kaipo did suffer a fairly serious "stinger" against Wake Forest that affected his play last weekend, but he should be getting back to full speed. The offense will have its full compliment of players, but guys are so banged up so I would not be surprised to see substitutions during the game, especially on the offensive line.

2. As we head into the part of the season where coaches start to get fired, what is your take on the near annual rumors about Coach Paul Johnson leaving Navy for so-called greener pastures? To your knowledge has he seriously considered any offers in the past and are there any potential opening this year that might result in him leaving Annapolis?

Adam: All we've heard up to this point is message board speculation, and I can't emphasize that enough. The rumors and out-of-town speculation have become commonplace, and despite renegotiating his contract last season it seems as though Navy fans are as worried as ever about the possibility. He has entertained jobs in the past, but that's all it's come to, entertaining. We'll see what happens. I don't think it's an imminent thing, but like I've said in the past it's tough to get a handle on where Coach Johnson is. We as Navy fans can only hope he decides to make a legacy of what he's got going here.

3. The knock on Navy has long been that they lack the athletes to keep up with the talented teams on their schedule. Knowing what you do about the desired traits for an effective option attack, if you could have a fantasy draft of current college football players, who would you pick to man the Navy offense skills positions and why?

Adam: You know this is a tough question to answer because I honestly believe that guys like Reggie Campbell, Zerb Singleton and Eric Kettani are everything you'd want from the skill players in this offense. It's not as easy as just saying "well, obviously Darren McFadden" because you know what, I don't think I guy like him could play in this offense. You've got to be fundamentally sound, and you've got to be willing to dive into someone's legs to block them. It takes an unselfish, highly motivated guy and on offense we have those guys. If I was going to have a fantasy draft pick, I'd much rather use it on defense where Navy's talent deficiencies are much more apparent. That all being said, I'd like to see what a guy like Javorski Lane would do in this system at fullback.

4. Finally, seventeen months ago you predicted that 2007 would be Navy's best shot to win against the Irish. Obviously the Irish are doing their part by putting a horrible offense out on the field, but as we noted in a previous post, you have big concerns about Navy's defense. What is your prediction for the outcome of the game on Saturday?

Adam: I think Navy can win, but the more I think about this game the more I seem to convince myself that Notre Dame is going to score 60 points and beat us in a wild shootout reminiscent of the Delaware game. I know a lot of Notre Dame fans are skeptical of their own offense, but when you put the competition level of both teams in perspective I think it's safe to say that Notre Dame will have it's highest offensive output thus far this season. The key for us is going to be to get those 2-3 stops in the game, and if the defense can do this I think the offense can take care of the rest. Normally I'd give you a prediction, but considering how close this game should be I don't want to do anything to jinx it. It will be close, it will be back-and-forth, and it will likely come down to the wire. That's the way every Navy game has been this season and I don't expect this one to be any different.

that Fighting Spirit | by Jay

You may have seen this article on Scout from a couple of days ago, but if you haven't, check it out. Mike James, writing for GoMids.com, talks a little bit about the Navy-ND tradition and why he holds such respect for the series. Ostensibly it's a response to a facile anti-ND screed that appeared on the same site the day before, but really, it stands on its own:

Most Navy and Notre Dame fans know the story. World War II took a huge toll on colleges and universities across the country as men of college age were called into service. Notre Dame was no exception, and the school faced a financial crisis because of it. The military had a completely different problem; the war had created a demand for officers that existing commissioning sources were unable to meet. Several service schools began to appear on college campuses and military installations; some, like Iowa Pre-Flight and Bainbridge Naval Training Center, even made a splash on the college football scene. Father Hugh O'Donnell, acting president of Notre Dame at the time, saw the military's need as a solution to Notre Dame's financial woes. He offered the school's facilities to the Army, but was turned down. The Navy-- particularly Chester Nimitz-- was far more receptive, and a Naval training center was established at Notre Dame in 1941. During the war, 12,000 Naval officers were trained in South Bend. The influx of Navy trainees saved the school.

Notre Dame awarded Nimitz, who had become Chief of Naval Operations, an honorary degree in 1946. At the ceremony, Nimitz spoke of his gratitude for the service that Notre Dame provided to the Navy, and for the officers that served under him in the Pacific fleet:

"Father O'Donnell, you sent forth to me, as to other naval commands on every ocean and continent, men who had become imbued with more than the mechanical knowledge of warfare. Somehow, in the crowded hours of their preparation for the grim business of war, they had absorbed not only Notre Dame's traditional fighting spirit, but the spiritual strength, too, that this University imparts to all, regardless of creed, who come under its influence."

Nimitz wasn't alone in his expression of gratitude. In thanks for what the Navy did for the school, Notre Dame saves a place on its football schedule for Navy-- Nimitz's alma mater-- each year.

College football has changed a lot since 1946. Once-sacred rivalries such as Oklahoma-Nebraska and Pitt-Penn State haven't stood the test of time, falling victim to a shifting conference landscape driven by television money. But Notre Dame still honors its 60 year-old promise. Adherence to a decades-old vow is far from "disingenuous," as Rohe chooses to describe the Notre Dame administration. It is, in fact, the most genuine form of loyalty that there is in college football. And don't think that Notre Dame's loyalty isn't tested, either. The Irish are under constant criticism for playing Navy. John Feinstein describes Notre Dame as a bully for scheduling what he feels is an overwhelmed Navy team each year. In a BCS world where so much emphasis is placed on strength of schedule, there are many in the media who ridicule Notre Dame for not dropping Navy. The biggest names in college football want to schedule Notre Dame; the Irish could surely make more money by replacing Navy with a higher-profile opponent. Yet Notre Dame never hesitates to renew the series, recently extending it to 2016. Notre Dame does not turn its back on the promise it made.

The picture above is care of IrishTrpt07 over on NDN, and shows Navy officers in formation on South Quad.

For some more ND-Navy love, check out a piece Pete penned a couple years ago as an editorial in the Observer. And then check out this incredible response from a Lieutenant Gerry Motl, who played for Navy against ND forty years ago this year. He scanned in lots of pictures from his scrapbook of the game, including ticket stubs, program covers, and a handwritten note from Rocky Bleier.

Peacock Prattle | by Jay

NBC (a subsidiary of the Sheinhardt Wig Corporation) hosted BGS on Notre Dame Live again yesterday. You can check out the webcast here, in which I propose renaming the program in light of this gawdawful season and brag about my wonderfully tasteful QB Browns tee. I also express some hope for a ground-based attack against the University of the Navy (as Lou would put it), an opinion which Walters doesn't seem to share.

Tiff and John also pepper in some Navy-ND video highlights from games past, chat with Mike Rothstein about the game this weekend, and go over the pronunciation of Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (Walters: "This will be Hammond's toughest game yet.") Good stuff.

Decades-Long Streak On the Line as Irish Host Navy | by Brian

Though the friendly rivals meet every year, the Navy Midshipmen have not defeated the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame since 1963, when the Middies, led by Heisman's Trophy winner Roger Staubach, defeated an ND squad which would finish the '63 campaign with a 2-7 record, ushering in the Era of Ara the following year.

Many experts in the Footbawl Arts think this could be the year that the streak ends, with the Irish struggling to a 1-7 record through the grueling first eight games of their schedule. That the streak is still alive at 43 straight is surprising, since the tag team combination of former head footbawl coaches Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham did their damnedest to end it. Four of the eight years of their tenures featured nailbiters:

* 1997: The Irish took a 21-17 lead with 5:48 following a 5-yard touchdown by Autry "Not Darnell Autry" Denson, capping off a 93-yard scoring drive. It appeared that the Irish would hold on, when on the final play, a Hail Mary connected, caught by Navy WR Pat McGrew at the Notre Dame 18. McGrew appeared to be headed in for a miracle touchdown when he was caught from behind by Allen "No Longer Vick's

Not the only Omar to
score big in Baltimore

Teammate" Rossum and pushed out of bounds just short of the goalline.

* 1999: Navy took a 24-21 lead with 5:56 lead. The ensuing Notre Dame drive was extended when, facing 4th and 10, Jarious "His Last Name is Jackson So You Shall Call Him Action" Jackson found Bobby "His Name Conjures Up No Obvious Nicknames" Brown for, oh, 10 yards and one centimeter. The Navy faithful will forever contend that the Irish were given a favorable spot. ND eventually got the winning score a few plays later.

* 2002: With the bloom off the Willingham rose following a feckless (yet verdant) performance against Boston College the week before, the Irish again looked flat for three-and-a-half quarters against Navy. Trailing 23-15 with 7:27 left, Notre Dame unleashed an offensive explosion not often seen in Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium, site of that year's game. The Irish went on a 52-yard touchdown drive capped off by a one-yard run by Rashon Powers-Neal. A two-point conversion tied the game. The Irish defense quickly forced a punt, getting the ball back with 2:19 left, after which Notre Dame got the winning score on the next play, when Carlyle Holiday hit Omar Jenkins for a 67-yard touchdown.

* 2003: Navy took a 24-21 lead with 9:53 left, after which Notre Dame drives led to two D.J. Fitzpatrick field goals: one which tied the game with 5:10 remaining, and the game-winner as time expired.

Anchors Aweigh

Mekka-lekka hi mekka hiney ho

The Navy defense is, by great lengths, the worst which ND has faced so far this season. They have allowed 305 points in eight games, including 59 last week in a loss to FCS Delaware (which is a footbawl team, not a battleship or upscale toy emporium). The Middies are averaging a stunning 459.5 yards allowed per game, and it's not as if you can only beat them one way: they're giving up 280.6 YPG through the air and 178.9 YPG on the ground.This could be the week when Notre Dame finally puts together some semblance of a balanced offensive attack.

The Navy offense, on the other hand, is its usual brand of crafty triple option skullduggery. They average an astounding 342.9 rush yards per game. The Mids feature a remarkable seven players with over 25 rushing YPG, led by quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, which if memory serves was the chant used to summon Jambi the Genie on Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Navy has only 861 passing yards for the entire season through eight games, which is par the course for them, but their typical M.O. is to try to throw the ball deep once or twice a game to exploit defenses' overemphasis on shutting down the option. It's the sort of well-timed, brilliant strategic strike which makes me feel good about the future prospects of America's fighting forces. Look for them to potentially unleash an early deep ball on Saturday, in the hopes of catching the Irish defense napping and establishing early momentum.

Navy's unorthodox offensive attack will provide an unique challenge for Notre Dame's first-year defensive coordinator, Corwin Brown. It will be interesting to see how he attacks it, particularly with the speed of exciting freshmen Kerry Neal and Brian Smith on the outsides. Though Navy's defensive woes would suggest that this should be Notre Dame's highest scoring game of the year, the defense can't assume that it can afford to get into a shootout.

The Middies are again led by head footbawl coach Paul Johnson. already in his sixth season in Annapolis. Johnson has returned the Navy program to respectability, winning 70 percent of his games over the last four years and earning a school-record four consecutive bowl appearances and four straight Commander-in-Chief's Trophies.

Mekka-lekka hi mekka chahney ho

Johnson came to Navy from Georgia Southern, where he won four straight Division I-AA National Coach of the Year awards and led his teams to two consecutive national titles. (Old-timers and college footbawl devotees will recall that Division I-AA is the former moniker of the now more tastefully-named Division I Football Championship Subdivision of Anaheim By Mennen.)

With this pedigree, he has emerged as a hot coaching candidate in the past few years, though he's been content to stay at Navy. Nevertheless, nervous Navy fans have taken to wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Hands Off Our Johnson". (The host of Pee Wee's Playhouse would have been wise to give himself the same advice.) The Navy hasn't seen such tawdry behavior since Tailhook, though the slogan is certainly preferable to the alternative, which would no doubt include some combination of the words "Johnson" and "seamen".

In Related News, Army is Affiliated With the Army

In one of the bigger headscratchers in recent memory, Idris Leppla, a senior at Barnard College majoring in political science, wrote an opinion piece for The Columbia Spectator, in which she shared her shock and concern upon discovering that her brother, a student at the Naval Academy, was in fact being trained to be part of the American military. Apparently, this Jewel of the Seven Sisters, and her family, didn't realize that the United States Naval Academy was in fact affiliated with the United States Navy:

"When I talked to my brother about why he wanted to go, he admitted that it was because he was drawn to the structure of the place—as a kid who did not want to sit around and drink beer during college, he liked the fact that he would be busy and have a purpose. I soon became comfortable with the idea of the academy, as if it would be a haven for my brother’s undergraduate career. And when people would congratulate me on my brother’s decision, it made me feel reassured.

Soon that pride turned to anger and fear: after my mom dropped him off at Annapolis, she came home with an acute sense of grief. The only thing she could talk about was how to get him out. In addition to missing his presence at home, she was scared by the extent to which her son had suddenly become the property of the U.S. Navy."

Leppla further distinguished herself as follows:

"My brother ended up liking Annapolis and he has decided to stay. While it has been difficult for me to accept that I have a brother in the military, I must allow him to pursue whatever path he is drawn toward, and he has admitted to me that he feels called to being there. However, for anyone else out there considering a career in the academy, let it be known: the U.S. Naval Academy is not an elite college; it is first and foremost a branch of the U.S. military and the prestige comes at a big price—it taxes parents, siblings, and participants if they do not understand what they were signing up for."

The political science program at Barnard must be a doozy, if Idris wasn't aware of the existence of military academies which educate and train young men and women to become officers in the military. She went on to say that she hadn't been aware that Michigan State University was a state university located in Michigan, or that George Washington University is named for former President George Washington (or, as he's known in the Barnard curriculum, White Male Slaveholding Overlord #1). Ms. Leppla's confusion isn't confined solely to colleges and universities: she reportedly didn't know that toy stores sell toys, or that TV's Real People was about real people.

While her comments have turned some heads, Idris has reportedly been praised by recent Columbia guest speaker Mahmoud Ahmadenijad for "speaking truth to power", and her name has been placed in nomination for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. As for me, I think that the Naval Academy is an elite college, and I have known since I was, say, 4 years old that it's affiliated with the U.S. Navy, and I would be damn proud to have a family member go to school there.

Go Navy, Beat Army.

(Note: These views do not necessarily reflect those of BGS and its management, though I would certainly hope that they do...unless one of those schmoehawks is an Army fan or something.)

A Humbled Blind Oracle Weighs In

After a bizarre prediction of an Irish loss in a nonexistent game last week, The Blind Oracle at Bristol is back to give his thoughts on this week's matchup.

"From the banks of the Severn comes a focused fighting force. By sea or by air, but mainly by ground, they have defeated even the stoutest of foes. Decades of anguish will soon be put to rest. Bottom line, the Irish lack the team speed to keep up with the Midshipmen. Navy beats Notre Dame 35-10."

Statistically Speaking: Southern Cal | by Pat

It's a Numbers Game

• As pointed out by, well, just about everyone, Notre Dame is currently on pace for not only the worst offense in the country, but the worst offense in at least the past 9 years of D-I college football. Saurian Sagacity has the breakdown of the numbers, but suffice to say, ND will need to average 267.0 yards per game over the final four games to avoid sliding in under the 214.0 yards per game averaged by Rutgers in 2002.

• One number that will help the Irish in their quest to avoid becoming the worst offense since 1999 is the total defense ranking of ND's remaining teams. The first eight opponents average out to a total defensive ranking of 25th place. The poor Irish offense certainly helped their overall rankings, but if you take the Irish game out of the equation, the first eight opponents still average out to 35th in total defense.

The remaining four opponents average out to 90th place, so it's not unreasonable to expect a much more improved offensive showing over the final four games. The worst defense that the Irish faced in the first four games was Purdue and Notre Dame put up 462 yards of total offense on them. Purdue's defense is currently ranked 56th. The remaining four teams check in at 53rd (Air Force), 94th (Stanford), 101st (Duke), and 105th (Navy).

• Thus I was curious to see where the Irish offense fell with regard to Notre Dame teams of years past. Currently, the worst total offense output for a Notre Dame team since 1946 is 220.0 yards per game in 1963. The Irish went 2-7 that year. The current 2007 ND squad is averaging 187.6 yards per game. By contrast, the top Irish offense was in 1970 when the Irish put up 510.0 yards per game. The top years for rushing and passing were 1973 (350.3) and 2005 (330.3), respectively.

• CFBstats has added even more number crunching capability worth checking out. Now you can sort national offensive and defensive averages by a number of categories such as home, away, grass, turf, vs. winning teams, vs. ranked (AP), and many more. It's fun to check out what kind of surprising results pop up when you start sorting. For example, ND's anemic rushing offense is dead last in the country by a sizable margin. However, when you look at the rushing offense rankings only against teams ranked in the AP Top 25, ND's rushing O did a better job than teams like Arizona, Purdue, Clemson, Texas Tech, and Wake Forest. On the other side of the ball, ND's defense is ranked 35th in the country against teams with winning records. Ultimately this just falls into the category of lies, damned lies, and statistics, but CFBstats has done a great job making sorting through piles of numbers very easy.

• Speaking of defense, Trevor Laws still has more tackles per game at 8.25 than any defensive lineman in country. Pat Kuntz not only has more passes broken up than any defensive lineman in the country with 9, he's ranked 13th in the nation, regardless of position.

• Taking another look at the all-purpose yards, excepting quarterbacks, broken down by class, here's where the team stands.

Freshmen   -  1407 yds
Sophomores -   815
Juniors    -   185
Seniors    -   124
5th Years  -   327 

• Football Outsiders and BCF Toys have updated the Fremeau Efficiency Index with a complete ranking of all 119 teams. ND checks in at 91. The article on Football Outsiders also includes a link to a more detailed google spreadsheet that includes the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency numbers for each team. The adjusted numbers take each team's offensive and defensive efficiency and adjusts them based on the national averages and opponent strengths. ND's adjusted offense and defense ranks are 116 and 55, respectively. Be sure to read the Football Outsiders article for more in-depth info.

We Want M.O.E.

The Irish offense took a step backwards against a tough Trojan defense as the M.O.E. (Major Offensive Errors) checked in at an ugly 20%. This was the highest M.O.E. score since the Michigan game, also a 38-0 blowout loss. The Irish offense lapsed back into bad habits, and the high sack total (7) was one of the main reasons for the high score. On a lone good note, ND did have the fewest offensive penalties of the entire season.

Southern Cal, on the other hand, did a good job of minimizing mistakes and notched a solid 8% M.O.E. Only Georgia Tech played better mistake-free football against the Irish this year. That is rather impressive considering the Trojan quarterback, Sanchez, was making his first road start.

After 8 games, the Irish are averaging an offensive M.O.E. of 19% while the Irish opponents average stands at 12%.

For the complete breakdown, here is the spreadsheet.

Season Long Running Averages

All season long numbers can be found here.