ND: Statement Game

My Saturday morning ritual.

This is the second time this morning I’m typing this, the first time I typed it was on the WordPress app for the iPhone while walking my dog dressed in Notre Dame garb. I lost that version when I tried to upload a photo, so let’s try again. This time at the computer drinking my morning coffee from “My Play like a Champion Today” mug.

I would not want to be any team going into Notre Dame Stadium this afternoon, because Notre Dame is going to make a statement today that they should be regarded as serious contenders for the BCS. It doesn’t matter who this afternoons opponent, the Irish are going to came at them with such a relentless and aggressive attack that Michigan State will not know what hit them.

Brian Kelly will not let up on the throttle this afternoon as the Irish will unleash two weeks of frustration upon the Spartans this afternoon in South Bend. Picture the Michigan without the turnovers run in a huddle spread offense from the start of the game; that’s what I expect to see.

I know the last three meetings have been decided by three points or less and two of those games went into overtime, who cares? The Irish will be out to destroy Michigan State today.

Prediciton: ND 44 – MSU 17

If history is our guide, ND doesn’t stand a chance against State

The 2010 play of the year was affectionately known as “Little Giants” and it couldn’t have been more beautiful for Spartan fans.  That play simultaneously propelled Michigan State to an 11-1 regular season and a B1G championship while crushing the spirit and ruining the season of the Fighting Irish. The fact that State’s Coach Mark Dantonio had a heart attack shortly after the call is testament to how taxing and ballsy that decision was.

But more than anything, the play exemplified the dominance Michigan State (2-0) has had over Notre Dame (0-2) over the better part of the last two decades regardless of circumstance, talent, coaching or even home field advantage.  Since 1997, State has taken 10 of 14 from the Irish, including six out of the last seven in South Bend, of which I was lucky enough to witness two in person.

Notre Dame comes into the game nursing substantial wounds from yet another devastating loss, this time to arch-rival Michigan, in what will go down as one of the greatest (well, let’s say most exciting) games in college football history. “Under the Lights” at Michigan Stadium for the first time ever, a superior ND squad managed to piss away a 24-7 fourth quarter lead that included two separate leads in the last two minutes.  The loss turned Coach Brian Kelly’s head a frightening color of purple and sent the Irish home 0-2.

MSU, on the other hand, comes in 2-0 after dominating performances with a combined score of 72-6.  While Youngstown State and Florida Atlantic are admittedly subpar opponents, the Spartans are riding a wave of confidence nonetheless and certainly are not intimidated by the spectre of playing in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus tomorrow.

It seems the Green & White simply has the Golden Domers’ number and there’s little to suggest that will change this year as State will walk away with yet another Megaphone Trophy.

I’ve seen this before…

It was déjà vu weekend for me in the world of football, and at this it didn’t even phase me because I’m sadly used to it. Let’s start with the Notre Dame/Michigan game.

I’ve been going to one Notre Dame game a year with my Dad for the last 32 years, so I’ve seen the National Championship team play, as well as the team that should have won the National Championship but got screwed in 1992. I was even at the Boston College game in 1992 when Notre Dame lost on a 49-yard field goal as time expired to a kicker who couldn’t kick a field goal for more than 35-yards in warm-ups. The National Championship went to Florida State, even though Florida State had lost to Notre Dame that season. Still makes no sense to me, but can’t got back in time. Needless to say, I have a lot invested in the Irish, so when they lost to Michigan again all I could do was shake my head in disgust and turn my thoughts elsewhere. I wasn’t even mad about because I kind of expected it.

When ND kept turning the ball over I felt even though the score read 24-7 that Michigan would stage a comeback. If can’t limit your mistakes you can’t win games. I was at the ND/Michigan in 2010 when the same thing happened. ND came back and took a late lead only to let Michigan score with very little time left on the clock. It was a great game, but totally deflating. When it happened again this year I wasn’t surprised or disappointed, I looked at the TV and muttered, “what new?”

The only new thing at Notre Dame since Brian Kelly took over is more gut-wrenching losses because the Irish have a good, competitive team, so they always lose by small margins. Falling to 0-2 has dashed BCS hopes, but they can still salvage the season starting with a win over Michigan State this weekend. I hope they rip off their heads and shit down the Spartans’ necks. I’m tired of losing close games let’s win some!

So we roll into the first Sunday of the NFL season, and I’m excited about the Cowboys chances this season. They got off to a great start against the New York Jets, but again turnovers cost them the game. I’m not sure which one was more crucial, Tony Romo’s fumble at the goal line or his interception that put the Jets in field goal range to win it. I’m going to go with the fumble, because if Romo holds onto the ball the Cowboys get at least a field goal, and may not have lost the game. Despite losing 27-24 the defense played well, keeping the Jets running game in check while mixing up looks to confuse Mark Sanchez.

The Cowboys excite me more than Notre Dame at the moment because they had an energy and swagger they had not exhibited in the last few seasons under Wade Philips. Part of it was the offense feeding off the dynamic play of the defense run by Rob Ryan. They held the Jets, a running team, to 45 yards rushing and 315 yards passing. The stifling run defense forced the Jets to pass more. Even the mighty Bears defense allowed 110 rushing yards on Sunday, but they won their game.

Tony Romo cruised along playing flawlessly until the 4^th quarter, but seeing Romo run an offense that called all the right plays against the last years best defense in the NFL was fun to watch. Romo, forced nothing until the pass in the 4^th quarter, which was totally unnecessary. He seems to have returned to form, which is a good sign for the Cowboys because they have a defense that is a game changer.

The fact that the Cowboys’ defense at one point had back-ups entirely playing in the secondary, and still kept a good Jets’ receiving corp. in check speaks volumes about Ryan’s defense.

I’ll stick with my prediction that the Cowboys will win the division and go 11-5, and let’s just say I’m happy I never finished up my college predictions because it would not be good right now.

In regards to the rest of the NFL, I’m 9 out of 14 against the spread this week in one confidence pool, but only 8 out of 14 straight up (Cowboys cost me.) I went with the Pats and Raiders this evening. Not a bad first week, especially if both teams win tonight.

HIT THE LIGHTS!!!

A record 115,000 fans are expected to jam into Michigan Stadium tomorrow night for the first-ever night game at the Big House. It should prove to be quite a spectacle, even if both programs are mere shadows of their former selves.

I have two predictions for the game: 1) Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly will still fucking swear at his fucking players from the fucking sidelines despite the fucking ridiculous criticism he received from the fucking media this week (but I still think he’s a douchebag) and 2) Michigan will win in an epic shootout with very little defense, 55-48.

And now for your listening pleasure…

Redo, please

You've got to be bleeping' me!

Brian Kelly has decided not to name a starting quarterback until Monday, and I think that’s ridiculous. Sure an underdog has all off-season to prepare for the opener of a ranked team, but that doesn’t mean they should win the game. Miscues and terrible decision-making on Dayne Crist’s part at QB lead the Irish into a 16-0 hole at halftime.

Tommy Reis helped the Irish out of that hole and the Irish went on to outscore South Florida 20-7 in the second half, but that was not enough to prevent them from going 0-1. It was a terrible first-half, especially for Crist, that saw everything that could go wrong, go wrong for Notre Dame. So why wait until Monday? Name Reis your starting QB before the season slips away.

I thought Brian Kelly coached teams were mentally tougher, fundamentally stronger and more disciplined than Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, and Bob Davies coached teams. You would not know this last Saturday, it was more of the same.

So now with the season in turmoil one game in, the Irish have to go play the first night game ever at Michigan in ugly green uniforms to commemorate the game. I’m not going to mention the Irish’s record when wearing green, but it’s not good. All I can say is Fuck Michigan and GO IRISH!!!!