Andy

The dirty little secret of the 'SEC is the greatest league on the planet' story: The SEC East is absolutely brutal. South Carolina is pretty easily the best team, and I'm not sure they're really all that great. Florida is just plain average. But the West is monstrous. Bama, Auburn, Arkansas and LSU. It was pretty illustrative of the mistake Ball State made letting Hoke walk and hiring Stan Parrish that the Cardinals blew a 21-0 lead and lost to the worst team in FBS while Hoke led San Diego State to a win over Air Force, notching a win over a ranked team in just his 2nd year there.

Chapin, SC now.

Funny how losing 2 games in a row changed his mind about the severity of Rainey's actions.

Devine was like 2 minutes away from being fired by Green Bay when Notre Dame hired him.

I think a lot of schools had trouble getting their 12th game though, multiple Big 10 schools have wound up playing at MAC schools because everyone was scrambling at once to fill their schedules with only a couple dates to choose from. sure. and that's why you had UConn last year, USF next year, Wake the following year (which isn't part of the home and home series in 2011 and 2015), and maybe Temple in 2013. And it's why you'd expect to play either Tulsa or WMU this year. But when you move from 1 home game with no return to the opponent's place to 2 such home games, you end up scheduling both Tulsa and WMU. Hey, I don't want to play against Navy and 11 of the Top 25 every year. But I don't want to wake up one day and be like Michigan or Ohio State and play a bunch of close no-name or directional schools. I think Swarbrick has done a great job of scheduling, but this year was unavoidable. What of the rumors that we were scheduling TCU before that fell through and we ended up with Tulsa? Man, that would turn this stretch from what it is into a bit of a death march with Utah already waiting at the end. Next year's schedule appears to be 6-5-1 with the addition of the road game at Wake. Can't tell you how much of a relief that is. The 2011 schedule contains only two non-BCS opponents, Navy and Air Force, and I'm really looking forward to it. As for the WMU fans, ND has been having 'special ticket-buying opportunities' for that game off and on for months and still haven't gotten rid of them all (probably because people like me can find a pair for 67 dollars on eBay instead of 70 apiece). I don't think the Bronco fans, for whatever reason, are jumping on this game.

yeah, you guys look terrible. i would consider putting moore back in as the starter. clausen looks overmatched. i don't think he'll ever be an nfl starter. Bad as Clausen was today, Moore was even worse when he was in, and against worse defenses. Might as well leave Jimmy in with the season over and see what he can do. But more than likely, yeah, I don't see it in him. I want to give him the 'we all suck' excuse, but Sam Bradford is taking a hideous offense to the playoffs, so it would ring hollow.

The march to 0-16 is on. The only games I see on the schedule left as winnable are @Browns and vs Cardinals.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Ohio State at (18) Wisconsin (7 pm, ESPN) (3) Boise State at San Jose State (8 pm, ESPN3) BYU at (4) TCU (4 pm, Versus) Texas at (5) Nebraska (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Iowa State at (6) Oklahoma (7 pm, FSN/CSN) (12) Arkansas at (7) Auburn (3:30 pm, CBS) Ole Miss at (8) Alabama (9 pm, ESPN2) McNeese State at (9) LSU (7 pm, ESPN3) (10) South Carolina at Kentucky (6 pm, ESPN2) (11) Utah at Wyoming (6 pm, The Mountain) Illinois at (13) Michigan State (12 pm, BTN) (15) Iowa at Michigan (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Boston College at (16) Florida State (12 pm, ESPN) (17) Arizona at Washington State (7:30 pm, Versus) (19) Nevada at Hawaii (11:30 pm, ESPN3) (20) Oklahoma State at Texas Tech (7 pm) (21) Missouri at Texas A&M (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Mississippi State at (22) Florida (7 pm, ESPNU) (23) Air Force at San Diego State (8 pm, CBS College) (24) Oregon State at Washington (10:15 pm, ESPN) South Florida at (25) West Virginia (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) Games of interest ------------------------ Kansas State at Kansas (7:30 pm Thursday, FSN/CSN) Cincinnati at Louisville (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Minnesota at Purdue (12 pm, ESPN2) Arkansas State at Indiana (12 pm, ESPNU) Eastern Michigan at Ball State (1 pm) Miami at Duke (1 pm, ESPN3) Western Michigan at Notre Dame (2:30 pm, NBC) Buffalo at Northern Illinois (3:30 pm) California at USC (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Idaho at Louisiana Tech (4 pm, ESPN3) UL Monroe at Western Kentucky (5 pm) Baylor at Colorado (7 pm, FCS Central) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- On TV Central Florida at Marshall (8 pm Wednesday, ESPN) NC State at East Carolina (12 pm, CBS College) Vanderbilt at Georgia (12 pm, SEC Network) SMU at Navy (3:30 pm, CBS College) Wake Forest at Virginia Tech (3:30 pm, ESPNU) ESPN3 games Miami (OH) at Central Michigan (12 pm) Maryland at Clemson (12 pm) Pittsburgh at Syracuse (12 pm) Army at Rutgers (2 pm) Middle Tennessee at Georgia Tech (3:30 pm) North Carolina at Virginia (6 pm) Florida International at North Texas (7:30 pm) I-AA games of interest --------------------------------- Holy Cross at Dartmouth (1:30 pm) South Dakota State at Southern Illinois (3 pm) Northern Iowa at South Dakota (5 pm) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------------------- Elizabeth City at Virginia State (8 pm Thursday, CBS College) Gardner-Webb at Charleston Southern (1:30 pm, ESPN3)

Can we jump Boise back above Oregon after the Ducks were sluggish in beating a pitiful Wazzu team, Boise whooped up on a team probably better than Wazzu, and Boise's best opponent so far went to Tucson and beat Arizona?

Some day Notre Dame will be able to go up 20-3 and actually close a damn team out. Maybe. I think. Anyway, we should be 6-3 when Utah comes calling, and hopefully will be a better football team by then too.

Fox went to Clausen because Moore wasn't going to win now, and Fox wanted to build his coaching stock up. This is a contract year for him, which basically never happens with coaches. Last year, Fox was perfectly content to let Jake Delhomme destroy an otherwise-awesome Panthers team because he had another year. He made the Clausen move specifically because he needs wins to get lots of money from someone this off-season.

The Vies gave up a 3rd rounder for Randy Moss, and the Panthers gave up a 2nd rounder for Armanti Edwards. Ugh.

Jarrett being released isn't a problem - it allows someone who actually might have a shot in hell of being good onto the roster (say, Armanti Edwards). I actually really like this David Gettis kid, though, and probably because he spent most of the off-season on the 2nd team with Clausen, the two seem to have something of a rapport on the field.

To paraphrase a friend of mine on Twitter, how ridiculous is it that an accidental Tweet (intended to be a DM), by Bill Simmons of all people, has spawned the Randy Moss trade saga?

Unfortunately, the odds of us being lucky enough to draw Julius Peppers in one of his "don't try hard" games are zero considering the circumstances. He's going to go nuts and pound Clausen into the ground. I suppose we have a ghost of a chance if Todd Collins QBs for the Bears, but I'm not very optimistic when our best WR available is a rookie 6th round draft pick.

Steve Smith probably out this week for Carolina.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Alabama at (19) South Carolina (3:30 pm, CBS) Indiana at (2) Ohio State (12 pm, ESPN) (3) Oregon at Washington State (5 pm) Toledo at (4) Boise State (8 pm, ESPN3) Wyoming at (5) TCU (3:30 pm, CBS College) (7) Nebraska at Kansas State (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) (8) Auburn at Kentucky (7:30 pm, ESPN2) Oregon State at (9) Arizona (7 pm, Versus) (10) Utah at Iowa State (7 pm, FCS Central) (11) Arkansas vs Texas A&M – in Arlington, TX (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) (12) LSU at (14) Florida (7:30 pm, ESPN) (23) Florida State at (13) Miami (8 pm, ABC - Regional) USC at (16) Stanford (8 pm, ABC - Regional) (17) Michigan State at (18) Michigan (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) Minnesota at (20) Wisconsin (12 pm, BTN) San Jose State at (21) Nevada (10:30 pm, ESPNU) (22) Oklahoma State at UL Lafayette (9 pm Friday, ESPN2) Colorado at (24) Missouri (7 pm, FSN/CSN) Colorado State at (25) Air Force (2 pm, The Mountain) Games of interest ------------------------ Baylor vs Texas Tech – in Dallas (12 pm, FSN/CSN) Tennessee at Georgia (12 pm, SEC Network) Illinois at Penn State (12 pm, ESPN2) Western Michigan at Ball State (12 pm, ESPN3) Temple at Northern Illinois (12 pm, ESPN3) Memphis at Louisville (2 pm, ESPN3) Pittsburgh at Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC) UCLA at California (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) Utah State at Louisiana Tech (4 pm, ESPN3) Florida Atlantic at UL Monroe (7 pm) Purdue at Northwestern (7:30 pm, BTN) Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- On TV Troy at Middle Tennessee (8 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) UAB at Central Florida (8 pm Wednesday, ESPN) UConn at Rutgers (7:30 pm Friday, ESPN) Central Michigan at Virginia Tech (12 pm, ESPNU) Boston College at NC State (12 pm, ACC Network) Clemson at North Carolina (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) Virginia at Georgia Tech (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPNU) Mississippi State at Houston (8 pm, CBS College) ESPN3 games Syracuse at South Florida (12 pm) UNLV at West Virginia (3:30 pm) Western Kentucky at Florida International (3:30 pm) Navy at Wake Forest (6:30 pm) Miami (OH) at Cincinnati (7 pm) New Mexico at New Mexico State (8 pm) I-AA games of interest --------------------------------- Brown at Holy Cross (1 pm) Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois (3 pm) South Dakota at UC Davis (9 pm) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------------------- Prairie View at Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU) Shippensburg at West Chester (8 pm Thursday, CBS College)

Who do you put ahead of them? Their only loss was @ Oklahoma close. (Oh, a Northwestern fan, never mind.)

Carolina did a fantastic job snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. If Captain Munnerlyn doesn't fumble a punt we probably win the game. Clausen looked lost at times today, but overall was 100x better in start 2 than in start 1, and the defense and running game played alright. If we can match that performance next week, the Bears game is winnable, but if not we'll get easily beaten again.

I suppose it should be nice that ND won by 18 and I found myself deeply unimpressed with the team's performance (for the last three quarters anyway). The last time ND won a game over a BCS Six foe by more than 18 (not counting truly awful Washington State and Washington squads) was North Carolina four years ago. Also, I'm not sure who is going to beat Alabama or Oregon.

A very pleasant surprise. Either the MAC is really really historically awful (more likely) or Ball State just played their best game in 2 years. Actually, both of those are true. With Western and Eastern the next two, both at home, BSU might actually have a prayer of starting 3-0 in the league.

Imagine that, the Big Ten making horrible calls to screw redhead stepchildren schools in favor of the name-brand schools in the league. That never happens.

I have no idea why this is, but in terms of Saturday night's games, USC/Washington will be aired nationally on ESPN2 HD. In areas receiving ND/BC on ABC, Stanford/Oregon will be aired on ESPN2 standard-def feeds. ND/BC won't be on ESPN2 anywhere. Very confusing. Similarly, Texas/Oklahoma will air on ESPN standard-def feeds in areas receiving Wisconsin/MSU on ABC at 3:30, while the ESPN HD feed simply broadcasts ESPNEWS.

Does serving up a meatball to Gary Gaetti in the 1998 Game 163 count as a favor? Because we could just be paying them back. On a side note, there's really no team I don't want to see win out of the NL. I guess it'd be mildly annoying if Dusty won with someone else, but it should be a fun, interesting postseason.

Rookie QB, hopeless offensive line, one WR with a pulse on the road against the defending champs. Yeah, this'll go good. And then the Bears. It's gonna be a long bye week when we are 0-5.