Andy

Between Notre Dame and the Panthers, I don't think it's possible to have an uglier 2-0 football weekend. Cam looked absolutely awful, though I'm not too surprised by that - I expected a step back. Brutal October ahead (Bears, Saints, Falcons, Skins, Vikes), I'd be thrilled if we managed to win 2 of the 5 games.

I'd have preferred to get smoked by the #1 team in the country rather than #2, so I'm not pleased with this development. It doesn't matter, of course. I will be interested to see how Keith Wenning looks against a great team after he's played very well against 3 bad ones (and not so well against USF).

The only reason I can think of is to allow coaches to use challenges on other plays. Probably under the guise of getting as many important calls right as possible.

Top 25 games ------------------------ Kentucky at (1) LSU (12 pm, SEC Network) Ball State at (2) Oklahoma (7 pm) (3) Alabama at (12) Florida (8 pm, CBS) Nevada at (4) Boise State (2:30 pm, Versus) UCLA at (6) Stanford (10:30 pm, FSN/CSN) (8) Nebraska at (7) Wisconsin (8 pm, ABC) Auburn at (10) South Carolina (3:30 pm, CBS) (13) Clemson at (11) Virginia Tech (6 pm, ESPN2) (14) Texas A&M vs (18) Arkansas – in Arlington, TX (12 pm, ESPN) (15) Baylor at Kansas State (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) (16) South Florida at Pittsburgh (8 pm Thursday, ESPN) (17) Texas at Iowa State (7 pm, FX) Minnesota at (19) Michigan (12 pm, BTN) SMU at (20) TCU (3:30 pm, CBS College) (21) Georgia Tech at NC State (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) Bowling Green at (22) West Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Northwestern at (24) Illinois (12 pm, ESPN2) Oregon State at (25) Arizona State (10:30 pm, FSN Arizona) Games of interest ------------------------ Penn State at Indiana (12 pm, ESPNU) Texas Tech at Kansas (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Buffalo at Tennessee (12:30 pm, ESPN3) Northern Illinois at Central Michigan (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Marshall at Louisville (3:30 pm) Michigan State at Ohio State (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN) Arizona at USC (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Duke at Florida International (7 pm, ESPNU) Notre Dame at Purdue (8 pm, ESPN) Ole Miss at Fresno State (9:15 pm, ESPN2) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- Houston at UTEP (8 pm Thursday, CBS College) Utah State at BYU (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Air Force at Navy (12 pm, CBS) Mississippi State at Georgia (12 pm, ESPN3) Rutgers at Syracuse (12 pm, ESPN3) Toledo at Temple (12 pm, ESPN3) Tulane at Army (12 pm, CBS College) Wake Forest at Boston College (12:30 pm, ACC Network) Cincinnati at Miami (OH) (1 pm, ESPN3) Bethune-Cookman at Miami (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Idaho at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Memphis at Middle Tennessee (7 pm, ESPN3) Hawaii at Louisiana Tech (7 pm, ESPN3) Washington at Utah (7 pm, FSN/CSN) North Carolina at East Carolina (8 pm, CBS College)

Robert Griffin III as of this moment has 13 TD passes and 12 incompletions. He's done late in a Baylor blowout of Rice, so he'll take those numbers into next week.

I don't think that was an Oklahoma TD, but for God's sake, turn around and look for the ball. Why doesn't any DB ever do that?

Even though I'm frustrated as all hell right now, that sequence was funny. I've never seen a RB do that before in my life.

I'm impressed at how every single ND o-lineman manages to commit a penalty every game. Spreading the wealth.

Rees isn't a good QB. You have to go to Crist. Crist isn't the answer. He's not accurate, and precise accuracy is exactly what ND needs for the kind of offense they run. That's what's so frustrating - when his timing is on and he's hitting receivers, Rees looks like a near-perfect fit, but he keeps making dumb decisions. Crist can't make those throws. That's why I wonder what's going on with Hendrix, who's in his 3rd year on campus at this point.

Man, Tommy Rees really likes turning the ball over. 3 complete games now, and NINE turnovers. I'm starting to wonder how far Andrew Hendrix could possibly be from being ready.

And the Pac-12 decides NOT to expand. One would think this kills the Big 12 migration...for now.

Big East's 7 remaining football members have apparently pledged to stick together (not that most of them have a choice) and be aggressive in courting new members. Just go get Temple and UCF and accept being a further weakened football league (the basketball effect would actually be worse if that happened, obviously).

I have a feeling you'll win more than two games this year. Most likely. Just saying this is one of the two we should win on paper. Brutal schedule for Carolina this year. (Actually, we had 3 games we 'should' win on the schedule but Arizona was one of them.)

Who would it be? Kansas Kansas St Iowa St Baylor Louisville Cincinatti UConn USF Rutgers TCU WVU I'd call it a slightly better Conference-USA. That conference isn't any worse than the Big East as it stands now - it's probably better, actually.

Yay, this is one of two games we should win. I imagine Gabbert will be starting against Newton.

So what are we calling the Big 12/Big East merger conference?

Pitt and Syracuse can't contractually leave the Big East until June '14 and the Big East - unsurprisingly - is holding them to that. I'm guessing a quicker exit will be negotiated somehow, but that's the news for now.

I personally quite enjoy that I can't disagree with the "ND has, has, HAS to join the B1G" groupthink that SSR and most of this and other boards have without being shredded for some sort of grudge against the conference. Yes, the B1G is not my favorite league in the universe, but Mariner's Revenge has echoed most of the reasons I have for preferring the ACC (the biggest being that they'd probably let ND keep the NBC contract). If the B1G was the best thing for Notre Dame, I'd be all for it, but there's very little reason to believe it is outside of regional convenience, and we've seen that that means damn near nothing. One thing that MR hasn't yet said but I suspect is in the works is at least one of the Michigan schools trying to drop ND entirely once the B1G goes to a 9-game schedule. Like he said, UM already wants a break from the series and MSU is taking a break from ND in 14-15 as well. This is not a good thing, but ND could easily replace them with more of the travel games that MR likes with schools that don't have as much history with ND as either of those two but at least still very much on the radar (more games against Texas, for instance, although that would be an absolute best-case scenario).

Yeah, I'd prefer the ACC if it came down to it. But I don't expect the PTB at the school to see it that way.

Top 25 games ------------------------ Missouri at (1) Oklahoma (8 pm, FX) (2) LSU at (16) West Virginia (8 pm, ABC) (14) Arkansas at (3) Alabama (3:30 pm, CBS) Tulsa at (4) Boise State (8 pm, CBS College) South Dakota at (6) Wisconsin (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional) (7) Oklahoma State at (8) Texas A&M (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) (9) Nebraska at Wyoming (7:30 pm, Versus) (10) Oregon at Arizona (10:15 pm, ESPN2) (11) Florida State at (21) Clemson (3:30 pm, ESPN) Vanderbilt at (12) South Carolina (7 pm, ESPN2) (13) Virginia Tech at Marshall (3:30 pm, CBS College) (15) Florida at Kentucky (7 pm, ESPN) Rice at (17) Baylor (8 pm, FSN Midwest) UTEP at (18) South Florida (7 pm, ESPN3) Portland State at (20) TCU (2 pm) San Diego State at (22) Michigan (12 pm, BTN – Regional) (23) USC at Arizona State (10:15 pm, ESPN) Western Michigan at (24) Illinois (3:30 pm, BTN – Regional) North Carolina at (25) Georgia Tech (12 pm, ESPN) Games of interest ------------------------ Eastern Michigan at Penn State (12 pm, ESPN2) Central Michigan at Michigan State (12 pm, ESPNU) UL Monroe at Iowa (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Georgia at Ole Miss (12 pm, SEC Network) Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (12 pm, ABC) Army at Ball State (2 pm, ESPN3) Colorado at Ohio State (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Kansas State at Miami (3:30 pm, ESPNU) UCLA at Oregon State (3:30 pm, FSN Prime Ticket) Tulane at Duke (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Cal Poly at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm) Florida Atlantic at Auburn (7 pm, ESPN3) North Dakota State at Minnesota (7 pm, BTN) Indiana at North Texas (7 pm, ESPN3) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- NC State at Cincinnati (8 pm Thursday, ESPN) Central Florida at BYU (8 pm Friday, ESPN) SMU at Memphis (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Toledo at Syracuse (12 pm, ESPN3) Temple at Maryland (12:30 pm, ESPN3) Massachusetts at Boston College (1 pm, ESPN3) Bowling Green at Miami (OH) (1 pm, ESPN3) Ohio at Rutgers (2 pm, ESPN3) Southern Miss at Virginia (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Middle Tennessee at Troy (4 pm, ESPN3) New Mexico State at San Jose State (4 pm, ESPN3) Fresno State at Idaho (5 pm, ESPN3) Connecticut at Buffalo (6 pm, ESPN3) UL Lafayette at Florida International (6 pm, ESPN3) Louisiana Tech at Mississippi State (7 pm, ESPNU) Central Arkansas at Arkansas State (8 pm, ESPN3) Colorado State at Utah State (8 pm, ESPN3) Georgia State at Houston (8 pm, ESPN3) UC Davis at Hawaii (12 am Sunday, ESPN3)

If it is, it is. It sure seems like unless the Big East operates everything perfectly (and even if they do) it might fall apart.

I'm usually not one for things like facial expressions and demeanor, but Cam Newton's "damn it, I'm pissed off now" mode on Carolina's last scoring drive was awesome. He didn't even look happy after he went in for the rushing TD. He made some mistakes obviously, but for a kid with absolutely no running game and one NFL-caliber receiver, to throw for 432 against Green Bay is otherworldly. If nothing else, Carolina will be competitive in most games this year, which is much more than you could say last year. Unfortunately, we might have the most murderous schedule in the league, so 5-6 wins might be all that's possible.

USC, Ga Tech and Clemson also in. Mich State, ASU and Auburn also out.

This is not good. The Big East needs to move quickly - if UConn and Rutgers are really following to the ACC, then KU, Mizzou, KSU and somebody else will be musts.

So we've found the antidote for ND's turnover problems - just force as many turnovers as you surrender and we'll be fine. Most impressive ND win since 2006 Penn State - that's not saying much, though. Also, there's this guy, who happens to be a true freshman, named Aaron Lynch who had more QB hurries today than anyone on ND had for the entire 2010 season - against the best O-line ND is likely to face in 2011. So he's probably going to be ok.