Andy

It's safe to say that BG has become a consistent player. He is having just as many nights as usual where he shoots the lights out (back to back 40-point games bear witness to that), but when he's off, he's not near as bad as when he was off last year. He gets to the line. I've been very encouraged. I just hope Skiles is ready to start Ben again soon.

Good. That rule was going to cause all sorts of problems.

I can. Florida won all the games it had to and absolutely destroyed what was unanimously considered the best team in the land. If you expect every college football champion to beat every other contender for the title, we'll be playing games year-round.

ND holds off a late run to beat WV 61-58, and the ESPN2 cameraman showed more close-ups of Kyle McAlarney than anyone. Ball State...sucks. 4-11 now.

I personally enjoy reading Simmons, but there are more that a few people who find his incessant pop culture referencing and writing style to be annoying, so I put him on there. I think he's entertaining, but a terrible analyst of sports. He's good with the NBA, but he doesn't know anything about football that hasn't been spoon-fed to him by fellow Patriots fans, and he's even worse about baseball. Nevertheless, he's the only sportswriter that is a must-read anytime I see that he's written something new.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but apparently ND contacted UCLA's d-coordinator DeWayne Walker about joining the coaching staff. He declined, but this might finally signal the end of Rick Minter, the man most responsible besides Ty for the ND defense getting so thoroughly outclassed three times this year.

I wish the Hawk would get in. BTW, Vets' Committee ballots are out in February, and I'm sure Santo will be unjustifiably passed over again.

Hinrich sucking offensively is pretty much a given every 2nd or 3rd game. I have no idea what his diehard fans see in him. I blame this on Ben Gordon being denied the ball on 4 or 5 consecutive offensive possessions after he'd hit 3 or 4 shots in a row in the 4th. At one point we were giving it to Sweets instead of BG. Simply no excuse whatsoever for doing that.

Buck. No one else can make a championship sporting event seem so boring.

He writes for MSNBC.com. He's a favorite of Fire Joe Morgan because of his blatant Yankees bias and stupid platitudes and metaphors.

why should we just assume rice and dawson were clean if we're assuming gwynn and ripken might be cheaters? We shouldn't necessarily, but if you're doing this specifically about the Steroid Era, and he claims he is, then you should evaluate the other candidates at least. If he wants to cast doubt on everyone, say so.

Sticking with HatGuy. Did you see the sheer stupidity of Dr. Z's All-Pro team though? He picks Brees for MVP (ludicrous in itself), then doesn't put him as his All-Pro QB. He omits Julius Peppers from his defensive line on the basis that he's been 'worn out' this season, and refuses to give Robbie Gould an all-pro slot because he hasn't attempted a 50-yarder this year. He's rising up my list.

It's also worth noting that this clown's blank submission also penalizes guys like Andre Dawson, Jim Rice and other deserving players that aren't in the Steroid Era that he himself defined as 1993-2004.

Aren't most of these SEC teams competing for recruits though? It's like rooting for teams on ND's schedule for me - yeah, I want ND's schedule to look better, but if Michigan or USC, who are constantly competing with the Irish for recruits keep winning, ND's chances of getting those players also fall to an extent. It's a double-edged sword IMO.

with that logic, brady quinn should definitely be a day 2 draft pick too. it's not like troy smith always sucks in big games. in fact, this is the first time he's laid a giant turd during a big game, he usually plays amazing. no one could have done well with the kind of protection he got today. The same could be said of Brady Quinn against Michigan and USC (he actually got decent protection against LSU, that game's more on him).

In the actual poll, OSU remained No. 2, then LSU, USC and Boise State. ND was 17th.

Yes, getting throttled by good teams does not prove much. Needing to come back from down 3 scores against a bad team doesn't prove much either.* * - You can't have it both ways. Either GT sucks (ND beat them on the road while everyone else not named USC was playing I-AA caliber teams) or they're good (they almost beat WV). Pick one. Both teams narrowly beat GT. Notre Dame got whacked by the ranked teams it played. West Virginia split Louisville and Rutgers. Their ability to actually beat a ranked team makes them more qualified IMO. You mean the ranked teams that didn't beat anyone else other than each other. The computer polls (the only one without a dog in this fight) had ND ranked over WV by a higher margin than even the polls did. That should (but, I'm sure, you will find a way to say that it doesn't) mean something. Also of note: ND not only DID beat a ranked team this year (Penn State) but they clobbered them, whereas Big Ten "powers" OSU, Michigan and Wisconsin all got a game from the Nittany Lions until late (granted, Michigan and Wisconsin were in Happy Valley, but ND beat PSU by more than those two teams combined). But please, keep on saying ND hasn't beaten a ranked team if it makes you feel better.

Yes, getting throttled by good teams does not prove much. Needing to come back from down 3 scores against a bad team doesn't prove much either.* * - You can't have it both ways. Either GT sucks (ND beat them on the road while everyone else not named USC was playing I-AA caliber teams) or they're good (they almost beat WV). Pick one.

Schedule rankings: ND - 19 WVU - 42 It's worth noting that if the reverse was true this board and most of college FB fans would be howling even more than they currently are.

My dad's an alum, my mom has been a fan since birth, and all of my grandparents and most of my aunts, uncles and cousins all root for (and some have also gone to) ND. I couldn't stop rooting for them if I tried. We have free will, learn from the mistakes of your family. I could say the same for you, MSU fan :D

and run-on sentence . . . ND did not deserve a BCS berth this year. they played three good teams and got annihilated by all three. Funny how no matter how obvious I make it that I'm kidding, ND haters feel the need to attack the Irish anyway after kidding comments. This treatment is getting ridiculous. oh poor you. Ouch, and from a mod at that. I'm with NDI here, people are a little ridiculous. And as a mod I think you should be held to a little higher standard. please clarify what you are talking about. He made a point about ND and I refuted it. I'm just teasing on the last part. And I am not a mod. anyway, its not a personal attack - or not meant to be. That's what I'm saying - IT WASN'T A POINT! I was just making an elaborate joke, helped out by the coincidences of ND and OSU playing in the same bowl last year and both losing in similar fashion and by the same score to SEC teams in bowls this year. I wasn't making any sort of judgment on the Sugar Bowl. I can't believe my parenthetical finish to the post didn't make it obvious enough that I was joking. Simple solution: stop rooting for Notre Dame And for those discussing Texas, McCoy was injured in the last drive of the aTm game. Snead came in and immediately threw a pick to seal the game, but there's a strong chance they would've lost that game with him. My dad's an alum, my mom has been a fan since birth, and all of my grandparents and most of my aunts, uncles and cousins all root for (and some have also gone to) ND. I couldn't stop rooting for them if I tried.

and run-on sentence . . . ND did not deserve a BCS berth this year. they played three good teams and got annihilated by all three. Funny how no matter how obvious I make it that I'm kidding, ND haters feel the need to attack the Irish anyway after kidding comments. This treatment is getting ridiculous. oh poor you. Ouch, and from a mod at that. I'm with NDI here, people are a little ridiculous. And as a mod I think you should be held to a little higher standard. please clarify what you are talking about. He made a point about ND and I refuted it. I'm just teasing on the last part. And I am not a mod. anyway, its not a personal attack - or not meant to be. That's what I'm saying - IT WASN'T A POINT! I was just making an elaborate joke, helped out by the coincidences of ND and OSU playing in the same bowl last year and both losing in similar fashion and by the same score to SEC teams in bowls this year. I wasn't making any sort of judgment on the Sugar Bowl. I can't believe my parenthetical finish to the post didn't make it obvious enough that I was joking.

Congratulations to the Gators, especially FloridaCubbie and any other Gator fan on the board. Talk about a resounding win.

and run-on sentence . . . ND did not deserve a BCS berth this year. they played three good teams and got annihilated by all three. Funny how no matter how obvious I make it that I'm kidding, ND haters feel the need to attack the Irish anyway after kidding comments. This treatment is getting ridiculous.

This Midwestern tradition-laden football team that played in the Fiesta Bowl last year and lost 41-14 to an ubertalented SEC team this year with a Heisman contender at QB thanks largely to crappy defense and O-line play proves definitively that they didn't deserve this BCS berth. (Complete sarcasm BTW)