Andy

I'm thoroughly embarrassed that I completely missed putting the VT/Nebraska game on this week's schedule. This sort of thing will not happen again. :)

Twice yesterday he was sacked, but yes, the O-line's done a fantastic job. I said when Jimmy was limping around that the line better do a good job blocking because he wasn't going to be able to run, and they did - he took one or two hits but other than that had time.

Why non ND fans hate ND. Michigan freaking State!! I hate to mention this but the only thing that ND has in their resume from the last 10 yrs that makes them better than MSU is 2 BCS appearances that they would have not received if they were not ND(and MSU beat them one of those years). I should be upset that our terrible defense gave up so much to Notre freaking Dame. You blame the recent bad streak on bad ND coaching without even looking at who MSU had coaching since Sabean left. Here is the truth...Notre Dame is at the same competitive level as MSU and has been for at least 10 years. and yes, Jimmy Clausen is real good "Michigan freaking State" lost to Central Michigan. That's why I called them that. They don't have a QB (the old adage about if you have 2 QB's...). And regarding 'the streak', I know full well MSU's been coached by idiots in that time. Shockingly, I'm more concerned with posting about my own team and their situation than I am about MSU, though. This gives me something in common with EVERY SINGLE COLLEGE FOOTBALL FAN IN AMERICA. But somehow it makes me the smug ND fan and the reason non-ND fans hate us - because I dare to pay attention to them more than the other 119 teams.

Michigan State's defense, such as it is, is still better than any defense McCoy or Tebow has faced so far except Tennessee (and Tebow didn't put up very good numbers against them at all), so I don't see your point.

I would say there was a very little chance of a BCS bowl before the season started. Their offense has looked extremely impressive. The defense though, not so much. I'm hesitant to use the H-word (especially because the media has preordained it a two-man race between McCoy and Tebow), but Jimmy Clausen has been absolutely phenomenal this season. Over 900 yards, nine touchdowns, no picks, and 22/31 today marks his worst completion percentage of the year.

So I didn't realize ND's defense was just reverting to "completely crappy" after the Nevada game. Jon Tenuta should be fired immediately for giving up 450+ to Michigan freaking State. That was an awesome ending and a "thank-God" win to get the stupid streak off our backs, but with Floyd out, very little chance of getting to a BCS game unless ND can gut out wins over all their non-USC opponents until he gets back. Hopefully Jimmy is ok, he was limping around the last 2 1/2 quarters of the game and is getting x-rays on his foot this week. Golden Tate can stop dropping the ball any time now. Glad he got it together in time to catch the game winning TD.

The easiest prediction of the week is a team that lost to a MAC team last week beating a team that's rolled up nearly 1,000 yards of offense in two games? At their place? If it weren't for this ridiculous streak, which can almost completely be blamed on Davie and Willingham (the only good ND team MSU has beaten in this streak was 2005), no one would be giving Michigan State a chance.

Of course he will.

Who's spot-starting today?

I don't think Va Tech should be a top 20 team in any poll for the record. That's why I said that - they were dominated by Bama even if the score didn't reflect it. I don't understand how Miami could possibly be ranked 8th when their only game so far was a 4-point win over a team that should've lost to freaking Jacksonville State. There is no way to justify that.

I disagree. At least that's actually based on the results on the field, and not some imaginary level of competency assigned to a team in the preseason. If on-field results lead you to believe that Virginia Tech or Missouri are top 20 teams right now, then your system is wrong. If on-field results lead to Miami being a top 10 team, the system is wrong.

I finally won a damn game thread start. Now that that's done, I expect the Cubs to lose today. It's this poser http://www.rightfieldbleachers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/looper1.jpg and this guy http://espn-ak.starwave.com/media/videogames/photo/2007/0320/mlb2k7_harden.jpg Why not keep winning?

I'm not focusing on it just because it went against us, and I don't think it cost us the game (surely not any more than giving up a kickoff return for a score and an unforced fumble in our own territory did). I posted it because no one in the supposedly pro-ND media is running with the story and otherwise no one else would know about it, and also to emphasize how shady refs have been and continue to be at UM (for no reason I can think of, ND/UM is the only contract I know of in college football where the home team gets to pick the refs).

MSU lost to CMU. Although Central is probably the best team in the MAC, that ain't saying much. I think ND will crush them. If there is one thing Michigan State has proven beyond reasonable doubt, it's that their performances against other teams have nothing to do with their performance against Notre Dame. Hell, in 2005 they were terrible, but played like world-beaters in South Bend. In 2006 they weren't much better but played like world-beaters for two and a half quarters. I fully expect they will play well above their heads like usual. (ND should still beat them. But they 'should' beat them a lot of times.)

Posting without comment. I wouldn't even post this - I hate coming off like I'm pissing and moaning about the refs, especially when we had every opportunity to make this call not matter - but it doesn't look like any major media outlets are going to pick it up. Big East says Allen TD reversal was wrong call Picture of best angle ABC's cameras had. About as close as it gets. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/goirishss9/AAfootinbounds.jpg

Over/Under installed at 4.5 on Jake Delhomme turnovers this week

Perhaps because Andy and Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis both went to Ball State.Pretty much. Found one of him with a baseball bat so I figured what the hell.

This dude http://www.blogcdn.com/mlb.fanhouse.com/media/2008/11/yovani-gallardo-nlds-180.jpg vs This dude http://www.largefeet.com/images/famous_faces/carlos_zambrano_family.jpg Just playin' out the string...

I don't hate the Pats like most people do, but I really wish I rooted for a team that was that [expletive] lucky. They seem to get crap like that all the time.

They'd have absolutely won in 06 with a good QB. They had incredible talent across the board that year. Good job, guys, now it's Delhomme and Feeley the rest of the year. Why even play the damn season?

Half the teams don't play anybody until then. We'd basically end up with the preseason preview magazine polls restated, minus any team that gets upset.

Also, the Pac-10 playing league games is inevitable due to its 9-game conference slate, and TT/Texas was moved to accommodate ABC.

UNC dropped 5 spots for a road win over UConn. Oklahoma State is ranked ahead of a team it lost to last week. USC is somehow ranked behind two teams that have yet to play a competent football team. This is a very weird week in the polls.

This week is a big week for Notre Dame. If they recover from a ridiculously tough loss, get their stuff together, play like the veterans they are, and pound MSU, things look a lot better. If not, things could unravel very, very quickly. As for Ball State, if they don't beat Army, they may not win a game.

Top 25 games --------------------------- Tennessee at (1) Florida (3:30 pm, CBS) Texas Tech at (2) Texas (8 pm, ABC) (3) USC at Washington (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) North Texas at (4) Alabama (12 pm, SEC Network) Southeastern Louisiana at (5) Ole Miss (7:30 pm, CSN South) Temple at (5) Penn State (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Florida State at (7) BYU (7 pm, Versus) (8) California at Minnesota (12 pm, ESPN) UL Lafayette at (9) LSU (7 pm, ESPNU) (10) Boise State at Fresno State (9 pm Friday, ESPN) (11) Ohio State vs Toledo – in Cleveland (12 pm, ESPN 360) Tulsa at (12) Oklahoma (3:30 pm, FSN/CSN) (19) Nebraska at (13) Virginia Tech (3:30 pm, ABC - Regional) (14) Georgia Tech at (20) Miami (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) Texas State at (15) TCU (7 pm) Rice at (16) Oklahoma State (7 pm) (17) Cincinnati at Oregon State (6:45 pm, FSN/CSN) (18) Utah at Oregon (3:30 pm, ESPN) Duke at (22) Kansas (12 pm, Versus) (23) Georgia at Arkansas (7:45 pm, ESPN) East Carolina at (24) North Carolina (12 pm, ESPN2) Eastern Michigan at (25) Michigan (12 pm, BTN – Regional) Games of interest ---------------------------- Wofford at Wisconsin (12 pm, BTN - Regional) Northern Illinois at Purdue (12 pm, BTN – Regional) Louisville at Kentucky (12 pm, ESPNU) Ball State at Army (12 pm, CBS College) Furman at Missouri (2 pm, FSN PPV) Michigan State at Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC) Indiana at Akron (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Arizona at Iowa (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) UConn at Baylor (5 pm) Florida Atlantic at South Carolina (7 pm, ESPN 360) Iowa State at Kent State (7 pm, ESPN 360) Miami (OH) at Western Michigan (7 pm) Northwestern at Syracuse (7 pm) Nicholls State at Louisiana Tech (7 pm) West Virginia at Auburn (7:45 pm, ESPN2) UL Monroe at Arizona State (10 pm, Fox Sports Arizona) Kansas State at UCLA (10:15 pm, FSN/CSN) Other nationally available games ------------------------------------------ Boston College at Clemson (12 pm, ESPN 360) Middle Tennessee at Maryland (3:30 pm, ESPN 360) Virginia at Southern Miss (3:30 pm, CBS College) Florida International at Rutgers (5 pm, ESPN 360) Navy at Pittsburgh (6 pm, ESPN 360) Mississippi State at Vanderbilt (7 pm, ESPN 360) Air Force at New Mexico (7:30 pm, CBS College) UTEP at New Mexico State (8 pm, ESPN 360) Hawaii at UNLV (11 pm, CBS College) Non I-A games of interest --------------------------------- Harvard at Holy Cross (1 pm) St. Francis (PA) at Northern Iowa (5 pm) Southwest Baptist at Southern Illinois (7 pm) Nationally available games outside I-A ------------------------------------------------- Howard at Florida A&M (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPNU)