You Love Us, You Really Love Us | by Jay

As promised, we sent Orson (in his finest buckskins) to accept an award that we won earlier this week. Here's the text of his acceptance speech on our behalf.

O-si-yo, Weblog Voters. O-si-yo, First Nations. We bring you peace. Your giggles carry through this hall like the call of the lonely buck for his mate. This is the native dress of someone's people, so act straight. And yes, we've got the legs to carry this off, so stop gawking unless you're willing to take the merchandise home, sailor.

We would first like to accept this award on behalf of the good men behind Blue-Gray Sky, which has traveled across many rivers and fields to find itself here under the banner of heaven today. It is a blessing to both the people of the Notre Dame tribe and to all of those who ride the fruited plains with it. They are full like a ripe pomegranate with the pride of their people. Let every asgehya and asgaya rejoice.

We would also like to state that this tribal outfit is drafty in the most surprising places. That is all.

We would also like to thank those who watered our horses and signalled their way to victory: our readers, whose posting and support was constant like the rains in the land of the skunk, deserves much thanks. Wado, friends. Also deserving thanks is EDSBS, whose two lone tribesman carry such burdens in their pants as to earn the nickname "They who need hose reel for manpipes". Again, wado, friends.

Any one else who braved the cold plains of the internet to earn our victory, much
thanks. A victory for one tribe in the nation, though, is a victory for all. Ride away then with a piece of the trophy reader, and follow it as it wanders like the goose through the clear skies of the limitless internet.

And now we are going to change into something more comfortable immediately following this speech. Like a muu-muu or something other than this glorified mini-skirt. Peace, friends.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us in this meaningless contest of mouse clicks. Now, let's rotate this prize through the blogosphere, Stanley Cup-style, and give everybody a little taste.

At our victory party at the Linebacker last night we filled our trophy Cup with Long Island ice tea, drank it down, hooked up with a couple St. Mary's girls to the dulcet strains of "I Think I Love You", and woke up in front of Oak Hill with a nasty hangover and a severe case of frostbite. The Cup, however, was still intact. We now pass the Cup to Everyday Should Be Saturday, to the land of gator chomps and jean shorts. Enjoy a full bowl of kamikazes on us, guys (but you better rinse that sucker out first).

When you guys are done with it, pass it along to another worthy sports blog, and let us know where it's going so we can update the "Where's the Cup" chain.

Do we have a consensus? | by Pat

As the awards and all-american honors keep rolling in for Jeff Samardzija, he's an easy pick for one of the most dramatic breakout years in Irish history. His rise is production and publicity has been meteoric as he transformed from seldom used "possession receiver" to consensus All-American.

But hold on a minute. You see, you can't just call yourself a consensus all-american. Despite the fact that Jeff Samardzija has been named to eight different All-American teams, he is still not by definition a Consensus All-American yet. So just what will it take for Samardzija to be awarded the "Consensus" label and become the 79th Fighting Irish player to earn this honor?

Well, to be named to the official Consensus All-American team, it appears that a player must be named as a 1st team All-American by at least three of five select All-American lists. Those chosen All-American lists are the ones produced by the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America, the American Football Coaches Association, the Walter Camp Foundation, and The Sporting News.

The fifth and final list was released yesterday by The Sporting News and Jeff Samardzija was named as a 1st Team All-American wide receiver. However, among the other four "official" lists, only one, the Football Writers Association of America, also named him to the 1st Team. That means that Jeff only nabbed two 1st team honors and therefore will fall short of earning the Consensus tag. This despite also being named as a 1st Team All-American by ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline.com, Rivals.com, and Sports Illustrated.

But it wouldn't be college football if there wasn't some loophole programmed into the system to give everyone some wiggle room. And in this case, a repeat of what happened with the 2004 team may just be that loophole. Last year, only four offensive lineman reached the 3 of 5 limit with two other lineman each being named to two teams. Rather than flip a coin, both were named to the Consensus All-American team.

That situation appears to have repeated itself with the 2005 lists at wide receiver. Southern Cal's Dwayne Jarrett was a unamious choice to all five 1st teams (another debate for another time), but the 2nd WR chosen varied from list to list. As previously mentioned, Samardzija was named 1st Team by The Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America. The Associated Press and Walter Camp foundation decided to nominated Oregon State's Mike Hass. And the American Football Coaches Association in somewhat of a surprise selected Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson. That means that only Jarrett reached the 3 of 5 limit and Samardzija and Hass tied with two selections apiece.

It then leads me to believe that, assuming they follow protocol from last year, both Samardzija and Hass will be named along with Jarrett as Consensus All-Americans. The official list will be released in early January so we'll have to wait until them for the final word. Personally, I don't see any reason for leaving either of them off the list. If Samardzija does get named to the Consensus All-American list he will be the first Irish player to earn the title since Shane Walton after the 2002 season and only the 2nd Irish player since Bobby Taylor in 1994.

the Graduatin' Irish | by Jay

The NCAA came out with its report on graduation rates yesterday, with a new calculation that takes into account transfers (the Graduation Success Rate, or GSR). Here's ND's release per UND.com.

In football, Notre Dame achieved a 96 GSR rating, with only the United States Naval Academy (at 98) ranking higher.

Here are the top 10 for football:

Institution	Football GSR
1. U.S. Naval Academy	98
2. Notre Dame	96
2. Wake Forest	96
4. Clemson	94
5. Vanderbilt	93
6. Northwestern	92
6. Stanford	92
8. U.S. Air Force Academy	91
8. U.S. Military Academy	91
10. Boston College	89
10. Rice	89

For the full report across all sports, check out the NCAA release, which features a handy searchable database of schools and their results.

Our opponents this year, by the way: Navy 98%, Stanford 92%, Washington 75%, Syracuse 75%, Purdue 70%, Michigan 68%, Southern Cal 55%, Ohio State 54%, Pittsburgh 48%, Michigan State 41%, and BYU 40%. (I wonder if the new calculation takes into account LDS missions for BYU. Doesn't look like it.)

Six Pickin' | by Jay

In case you thought the Pick Six was over...nuthin's over until we say it is. By the way, BGS = morons: we didn't realize until now that the BCS doesn't do an end-of-the-year poll after the bowl games. (Did you know that? It's one of those things you wouldn't think about unless, you know, you were setting up a pick'em contest based on poll rankings.)

The AP, of course, does have a final poll, and since we like the idea of extending the P6 until after the bowl season (you know, after Texas knocks off Southern Cal), we're switching back to their rankings. Next year we'll do AP all the way through.

Updated standings here. Blogpoller's division here.

Combo Athlete | by Pat

Coach Weis and the Fighting Irish football team gained another football recruit last week when Will Yeatman verbally committed to Notre Dame. But in a unique twist to the standard recruiting story, Yeatman committed to Coach Corrigan and the ND lacrosse program.

“I’m excited to be part of he program,” Will Yeatman said of his decision to come to Notre Dame. “I committed to coach Corrigan.

It’s funny I haven’t even talked to coach Weis yet. I’m going to call him in a little bit. He’ll probably read your article before I even talk to him.

A standout in both lacrosse and football, Yeatman plans on playing both sports at Notre Dame, but is coming into the University on a lacrosse scholarship. An All-American attackman in lacrosse and a tight end in football, Yeatman had scholarships from across the country from schools hoping he would choose them for either lacrosse, football, or both. The 6'6 255lb San Diego athlete ultimately narrowed down his list to Notre Dame and Maryland, his mother's alma mater, before selecting the Irish. As a football recruit, Yeatman drew offers from Nebraska, Michigan, Maryland, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Boston College, Duke, and North Carolina.

In the end, the offer from Notre Dame to play both sports was enough to sway Yeatman to come to South Bend.

"It's a great fit," Yeatman said. "Notre Dame is a great academic institution and it has a rich athletic tradition. I'm really excited about the prospect of playing there."

Yeatman was recruited to Notre Dame as a tight end, but other schools saw him as a possible offensive lineman. For now it's safe to assume that Yeatman will stay at tight end, especially if he keeps up with the lacrosse as it can't be too easy to gain the weight needed for offensive line when you are running around as much as the average lacrosse player. Yeatman recognizes this and highlights the positives of his multi-sport cross training.

"Lacrosse is a great sport to help with my footwork (in football)," Yeatman said. "Maybe, too, the physical nature of football can help out in lacrosse."

The expected route for Yeatman from lacrosse recruit to football tight end is a bit roundabout due to NCAA regulations on how scholarships can be awarded. Since Yeatman is coming into Notre Dame on a lacrosse scholarship, he can practice, but not play with the football team in the fall. In the spring, he will play with the lacrosse team during their regular season. However, the following fall in what will be his sophomore year, Yeatman will have his scholarship moved from a lacrosse scholarship to a football scholarship. At this time he will be free to play for the football team, as well as the lacrosse team. His scholarship though will count in the 85-scholarship limit placed on the football team.

In the meantime however, Yeatman's scholarhip will not count against the 25 per class scholarship limit imposed by the NCAA. This means that the signing of the future tight end will not affect the number of offers left for the recruiting class of 2006.

Say, mister, can you help a fellow domer who's down on his luck? | by Jay

BGS reader Jamie sends us this tale of ticket lottery woe. Enjoy.

Need One

I can’t feel more like a loser.

It’s Friday afternoon. I’m hungover and sitting in my boxers with my black socks still on from last night. And now I’ve got the chorus to Crowded House’s “Been locked out” on repeat in my brain.

Ten minutes ago, a 20-year old kid gleefully told me I was “unsuccessful” in the Fiesta Bowl ticket lottery, which is a lot like saying Kerry took silver in '04.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. See, I’m connected.

Not in a “Patrick McCartan, I-can-get-one-of-the-only-four-black-coaches-in-America-fired” kinda way, but in a “I’ve-sat-on-the-fifty-with-Chuck Lennon-against-BC and watched-the-aformentioned-coach-continue-to-believe-halftime-adjustments-are-illegal” kinda way. I can call Lou Nanni – well, I guess anybody can call Lou Nanni – and he sometimes calls me back. I’m hooked up.

Besides, I wear the jacket (see photo from the '04 USC game. The smiles tell me it was taken pre-game). At Notre Dame, we revere our athletic achievements with such reverence that we don’t have varsity letter winners; we have monogram winners (as I love to explain to anyone who will listen). I did not wrestle often. And I never wrestled well. In fact, guys on the team would get into fights over who got to wrestle me at the end of practice when they were exhausted ("I got Reidy!")

But I still earned my monogram, which is SUPPOSED to give me some juice over normal students (some of whom probably could have beaten me in a wrestle-off for tickets). Yet, the 20-year-old told me Monogram Club members got no special treatment in the Fiesta Lottery. First, I got no wrestling groupies (actually, none of us got wrestling groupies, which is a hazard of attending a school where women find guys with mangled ears unattractive). Now, I get no tickets. THEN WHY THE HELL DID I GET MY ASS KICKED EVERY DAY FOR FOUR YEARS?

Perhaps this is karma, paying me back for missing a bowl game to which I had a ticket. In December 1991, four classmates and I drove down to New Orleans for a bowl of cereal with Steve Spurrier. Ah, The Big Easy. Just thinking about that glorious trip makes me want to hurl, just for old time's sake. I have since learned that I am allergic to Hurricanes (took three subsequent trips to confirm the diagnosis; I believe in being thorough, medically), but back then I couldn’t get enough of the sugary poison. And Cherry Bombs! What heavenly host planted the seed of inspiration for a man to soak marachino cherries in grain alcohol and then sell them on the street for a dollar apiece? Alas, there is a much steeper price to pay for such nectar. I woke up New Year’s morning on the floor of an “aromatic” room in the luxurious Days Inn, stepped over ten of my fellow thrifty buddies and found the bathroom. Where I spent the majority of the next eleven hours. It wasn’t so bad, though. I mean, I eventually had nothing left to vomit, so the last 160 minutes were just dry heaves (which is a great ab workout, by the way). But at least I could see the TV from the cold tile floor, so the day wasn’t a total loss. And my mom even believed me when I explained missing the last bowl game of my college career because, “I got ahold of some bad crawfish.” But then my Uncle Gary told her that was a euphemism for too much booze. He seemed upset later when I asked my aunt about that strange blonde lady I’d seen him kissing in NYC.

All I want for Christmas is to be sitting in a Tempe hotel on January 3rd, hungover, wearing boxers and my black socks from the night before.

---

Jamie's a good friend of ours and a terrific writer. He also wrote a hilarious book about his days as a Viagra salesman.

Film Session | by Jay

In case you haven't seen this Buckeye team up close and personal this year, ESPN Classic is showing three of this season's Ohio State games tomorrow, including both of their losses:

• 9am (ET), Ohio State at Penn State (L, 17-10)
Quote from Buckeye Commentary: "Put simply, the offense was an abomination at Penn State. Some of our problems can be attributed to Penn State's D and coaching staff, but we are so easy to defend. Our arsenal of plays may reach double figures in number."

• 3pm, Ohio State at Michigan (W, 25-21)
Quote from Buckeye Commentary: "Anytime you can go to Michigan, win and roll up nearly 420 yards of offense, it's always a very good performance. The offense did just that on Saturday. From the opening drive which they promptly took 80 yards for a TD, the offense was humming for most of the day...Troy Smith and Antonio Pittman were clearly the catalysts..."

• 6pm, Ohio State versus Texas (L, 25-22)
Quote from Buckeye Commentary: "Still, the D was nearly flawless after the first 2 series of the game. Forced fumbles and 2 INTs gave the offense prime field position most of the night. All 3 linebackers were excellent with AJ Hawk showing why he's the best LB in the country. The front 4 did yeomen's work by tying up the Texas OL so they could not release to the 2nd level. There were some other breakdowns (tackling and assignments) but all in all, a good performance, one that would win most games."

Set your Tivo, and be sure to give us your armchair scouting report. (Oh, and if you want to see a really great game, '88 ND-Michigan is also on tomorrow on Classic at 7am. I bet Gillette misses again.)

Do you feel lucky? | by Jay

Starting today you can call the ND ticket office to find out if you've won Fiesta Bowl tickets in the lottery.

We're curious how everything shook out, so we threw together this highly unscientific poll. (We also posted it over on NDN, so if you've already answered there, don't double up on the response.) Only enter if you sent in an application.

Take the Poll.

Enter once per application sent on your behalf (for instance, if you and your spouse both sent apps, take the survey twice).

Results shown here: Running totals.

Thanks for the response. This poll is for entertainment purposes only and the last time we checked, it was not certified by the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse.

Hope everybody going to the game is able to come up with tickets. And if you hear of any extras, let us know.

the Edge | by Mike

Young man, there's a place you can go I said young man, when you're short on your dough

When you think about it, you have to admit that bowl season is one big bundle of absurdity. Silly bowl names (the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl! the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl! the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl!), Dangerfield-worthy bowl committee blazers, puerile (in a bad way) actions of an outraged fanbase, pissed off that no one was impressed with their marquee victory over 7-4 Fresno State (if that last bit left you wondering if something can be puerile in a good way, the answer is yes), and all manner of crazy pageantry, both sublime and silly.

With Teds' comprehensive review of the Buckeyes fulfilling our duty to provide legitimate analysis of the game, we're now free to present our contribution to bowl season inanity (inspired by the inimitable House That Rock Built). Here's our breakdown of factors that, though certain to have an impact on the game, the oddsmakers appear to have overlooked:

Category	Ohio State	Notre Dame	Edge
Heisman Trophies	Six	Seven
Distinctive Fashion Choice	Sweatervest	Hood
Distance from Ann Arbor	192.83 miles	177.73 miles
Rock/Pop Alumni	O.A.R.	Ted Leo
Gameday Tradition	Play, like, a tuba today	Play Like A Champion Today
Wide Receiver's First Name	Santonio	Jeff
Cornerback's First Name	Ashton	Mike
Apropos Wu Tang Lyric	"Rumble with patrolmen, tear gas laced the function"	"We return like Jesus, when the whole world needs us"
90's Lombardi Award Winner	Pace	Taylor
First round draft choice who said he was retiring from the NFL early to become a doctor became a...	Third-string ESPN analyst	Doctor
Artistic Alumnus	Roy Lichtenstein	Jay
Investment Strategy	Straight cash, homie	Berkshire Hathaway
Helmets	déclassé	the gold standard (Even William Jennings Bryan digs this one)
Novelty Song	The Dead Schembechlers, "Bo For 24"	Marco, "The Day The Losing Died"	Push

That looks like a 9-4-1 advantage for Notre Dame in these critical areas. Adjust your bets accordingly.