College Football

I'd meant to post my own little college football preview a while ago, but got too busy.  I'm sort of glad I did.  See, I would've picked Notre Dame to go 4-4 in their first eight games, then 4-0 the rest of the way, making a mid-level bowl.  My whole goal was for ND to make a small bowl game in their rebuilding year, and then beat a crappy opponent, thus using this season to break their twelve-year losing streak in bowl games.

Unfortunately, there will most likely be no bowling for ND this year.  They're just awful at the moment.  AWFUL.  Add in the fact that they have the toughest opening schedule of any division one team, and you have a possible 0-8 start.  (Yes, SEC fans, ND does have the most difficult schedule.  Who else plays eight bowl-bound teams to start the year, including at least four who have made it into the top ten at least one week this season?) 

The ND line can't block to save their lives, the receivers can't catch, the runners have no moves, and the kicking game is unspectacular.  The offense is pitiful.  I do think the defense is doing the best they can, they just spend too long on the field.  And having just average talent, there's not much they can do to turn games around when the offense actually moves backwards or turns the ball over on every drive.  I also think Jimmy Clausen will be a baller, eventually.  Yes, after a solid first showing, he is starting to look more and more like a freshman. But I think most of that is ND's crappy play in every other area of the game.  Once Clausen has some talent around him, he should be good.  And supposedly, ND had top ten recruiting classes in '06, '07 and already committed for '08.  In fact, next year's class is supposed to be the number one recruiting class of all D-1 schools.  So things SHOULD get better.

But for right now, they suck.  I didn't even watch the Michigan game this year.  I tivoed it because I was at a wedding, but deleted it after accidentally hearing the score.  I mean, who wants to watch their team get blown out like that?  I'll continue to watch games over the course of the season--I am a fan, after all--but I couldn't bear to watch that one.

By the way, if you've read my past posts on the Irish, you'll know that I'm one of the people who think Tyrone Willingham wasn't given a fair chance and that Charlie Weiss was given an extension too early (and too big).  I'm not saying I told you so, because this season's antics don't really prove anything about Willingham's or Weiss's skills.  But I will say that people should stop looking at a single year or two to judge a coach--whether calling him genius or fool.  Charlie may be a hall-of-famer someday, but he definitely didn't prepare his boys for this season, and I think a lot of the weight of their underachievement falls squarely on his, and the rest of his staff's, shoulders.  And if it weren't for the huge contract they gave him prematurely, ND would be looking for another new coach this year.

I do still think ND will turn it around at least a little.  As a fan, I'm an eternal optimist.  They seem destined for a losing season, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if they beat Michigan State this weekend and maybe even upset someone else in one of the four games after that.  And two upsets in the next five games would probably make a 6-6 season (and a bowl game) a possibility, considering how weak ND's schedule is over their last four games.  But I recognize that this is wishful thinking.  I'm not stupid enough to put money on this idea.

At least my Hoosiers are doing well.  At 3-0 (for only the third time in the last fifteen years), and with the easiest schedule in the Big Ten, they're poised to make their first bowl game since my brother-in-law played for them in the early nineties.  That would be HUGE.  And I think it would be a fitting tribute to Coach Hep, who passed away from cancer a few months ago.  I mean, if a team can't get motivated by the loss of a beloved coach, nothing's going to motivate them.  And everything I've heard about Terry Heoppner indicates that he was a truly inspirational guy.

Now that IU has beaten their non-conference opponents, they start the Big Ten season with three Big Ten bottom feeders in a row.  If they can take two out of three against Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, which is totally possible, then they'll only have to win one of their games against Ball State, Northwestern, or Purdue at the end of the season to go bowling.  In other words, all signs are good for the Hoosiers.  I wonder if there's EVER been a year in which IU went to a bowl and ND didn't.  I don't remember one in my lifetime.

Man, wouldn't it be great to see a 7-5 IU team take on a 6-6 Irish team in a December bowl?  If they put it in Florida, I could even drive to it!  There'd only be one problem: Who would I root for?