Thanks for the Suggestion, Facebook

WTF?!?!

And, yes, when I clicked on the name it took me to a "Jimmy Clausen" graduating from Notre Dame in 2011. No picture, however.

Penn State/Akron prediction coming tomorrow!

Nittany Lions Head to NIT Finals

Though the some fans remain disappointed about the Penn State basketball team being left out of the NCAA Tournament, the players seem to be fine. Sure, they would have loved to be in the field but more than likely their postseason play would have lasted a game, maybe two. In the NIT things have been different.

After a scare versus George Mason to open the tournament, Penn State has controlled their games. Sure there was some shoddy play in the first half against Florida, but they won. And that's all that matters. Last night in Madison Square Garden versus Notre Dame - a team once ranked 7th in the nation and part of the heralded Big East Conference - the team played with passion and a sense of urgency.

Penn State beat the Fighting Irish 67-59 in front of thousands of Penn State fans. The ESPN announcing crew, who at one point was interviewing Joe Paterno, stated that the university had chartered 17 buses to get fans to New York. The Nittany Lions dominated the first half, leading 31-18 at the break. Notre Dame's 18 points in the half tied a season low. The Penn State defense was stifling and the Irish players shots were off the mark. In the first half at least.


Halfway through the second half Penn State led by 17. Five minutes later the lead was 3. Fortunately Penn State woke up and was able to hold on for the win and a berth in the 2009 NIT Finals. Penn State will face Baylor, who beat San Diego State, on Thursday at 7 PM for the NIT Championship.

Sure the NIT is a consolation prize. But don't tell the players. Jamelle Cornley, Stanley Pringle, Talor Battle, and the rest of the team are playing their best basketball at the best time. Now they can do something that Penn State has never done - win a postseason title.

PSU Holds Off Domers, Advances to NIT Championship Game | Nittany White Out
Men's Basketball in NIT Final | Nittanydelphia
Penn State Downs Notre Dame - Advances to NIT Finals | Black Shoe Diaries
Battle, Jones Lead Penn State to NIT Title Game | ESPN

Some coach(es) shouldn't be allowed to vote

What. The. Hell. What boneheaded coach or coaches actually thought NOTRE DAME deserved to be in the Top 25? How can they defend that? Over at the BCS Fan Poll they would be faced with the wrath of voters questioning their decision with an honor/bias challenge. That is utter bullshit. Notre Dame struggled to beat San Diego State, 21-13. SDSU lost to Cal Poly the week before. CAL POLY!!! Notre Dame will be lucky to finish the year with a bowl berth. If they play like they did against San Diego State they very well could finish the season 4-8, with the 3 other wins coming against Stanford (could be a toss up), North Carolina, and Syracuse. Wow is USC gonna destroy them on 11/29 or what?

Long Overdue

I apologize for my lack of blogging as of recent. Blame a hellish week of work and exams for that. I apologize in advance for the absence of frequent updates this weekend -- McDonati is in Bloomington with the Lions, and E and I are out of town. However, I attempt to make my penance with some more college football talk.

First off, did anyone hear about the near-disasterous landing the USC squad had in South Bend? Maybe God really is on the Irish side.

And how about Cinderella's glass slipper shattering last night?

Anyway, last week, the Nittany Lions handed the Wisconsin Badgers a huge, upper-case, bold-faced L, leaving fans scratching their heads for the third-straight week pleading, "Why didn't we do that against Michigan?!" It was a complete role reversal. Suddenly, it was Wisconsin turning over the ball and making silly mistakes and not JoePa's squad. The defense lived up to its end of the bargain once again, holding P.J. Hill to a season low. Man, for somebody who ran into this season with lots of preseason hype, not a lot of talk about him anymore, eh? Anthony Morelli finally looked like a veteran QB and if a play wasn't made, it didn't fall on him. Maybe JoePa was right about his WRs not stepping up and making plays after all... well, at least this week. Yes, Wisconsin was overrated (who called it?!), but this is still a huge win over a ranked team band a great confidence boost.

In a Buy or Sell update, UConn fell to Virginia 17-16 on the road last Saturday, validating my "sell" pick, unless they make an improbable Big East run. I'm now 7-3 on the season for Buy/Sell. Still waiting on Kentucky and Arizona State.

Alright, picks for this weekend.

Florida at Kentucky
Kentucky used up all its magic last week in a thrilling 3-OT victory over LSU last week. A win against Florida keeps them in the SEC East race, but a loss makes South Carolina/Florida the marquee match of the division. The Gators are coming off a 2-game skid and a valuable week of rest, and now they're seeing red. Look for the Wildcats to get chomped in another nailbiter.

LSU at Auburn
Recall that Auburn lost to Sly Croom and Mississippi State at home, 19-14. Also recall that LSU steamrolled M-State on the road 45-0 in the season opener. Yikes. So is the Auburn that lost to USF at home going to show up or the one that shocked Florida in The Swamp? Furthermore, consider that with USF out of the top two, LSU is still well into the thick of the national race. Don't think for a second Les Miles and the fans in Death Valley won't be pumped for this one. LSU takes care of Tommy Tuberville's Auburn team at home.

Tennessee at Alabama
Nick Saban and the Tide have been rolling after two straight losses, but keep in mind that they played Houston and Ole Miss. Tennessee is 1-2 on the road this season, beating M-State last week by 12, but losing to Cal and Kentucky by a combined 53 points. The Tide will roll at home, providing them great momentum into their home date with LSU next week.

Michigan at Illinois
Most people thought Penn State had the best home conference slate in the Big Ten, but my vote would go to Illinois. The Illini welcome their third-straight ranked opponent to Memorial Stadium Saturday, and will chalk up their third win over a ranked opponent at home.

Michigan State at Ohio State
Okay, enough fooling around. MSU had their obligatory win of the season. Time for them to start losing again. Well, okay, maybe that's harsh. MSU and OSU matchups have provided spark in the past, but with this one at home and with OSU's ridiculous defense, the Buckeyes should roll into Happy Valley still the top team in the land.

USC at Notre Dame
Ha! Oh, oops. Sorry. But really, if Booty's out for this one, it could sure get interesting if USC doesn't pull away early. Sharpley has been steadily improving, so it's on the Irish O-line and the defense to make sure this doesn't get ugly.

Texas Tech at Missouri
Missouri has to win this game by outscoring Graham Harrell and the Red Raider offense, because their defense isn't going to win this game for them. Can a defense ranked 100th in passing defense handle Harrell? This one could come down to who scores last, but I think Tech's slightly better defense gives them the edge in this one that ends up having a basketball score.

Buffalo at Syracuse
Bonus pick! This one's gonna be closer than anyone thought at the beginning of the season. Don't look now, but Buffalo's 3-4 and 3-1 in the MAC. Syracuse is a hot-and-cold squad that will shock you one week and disappoint you the next. The disappointments will hit a new low this weekend as Buffalo squeaks by the Orange. Turner Gill becomes the front runner to replace Bill Callahan at Nebraska.

Mock Notre Dame ad on SNL

Notre Dame has been the butt of a lot of late-night jokes this season. I think I heard a few weeks ago Jay Leno bumbled through some sort of joke that Notre Dame is Latin for "The New York Mets." Saturday Night Live got in on the action last weekend.

The Demetrius Jones saga rolls along

Taking a quick break from the Padres-Rockies nailbiter (currently in the middle of the 12th, 6-6, 2 outs on the Padres) to bring you this:

This hit the headlines a few days ago, but in case you haven't been following the recent developments in the Demetrius Jones soap opera, he's transferred yet again. Maybe Notre Dame swayed his decision to attend a "suitable" school (AKA one which they'll release his scholarship for him) or maybe it was a message from God, but Jones will now be enrolling at Cincinnati. Apparently he walked right into coach Brian Kelly's office and told him he wanted to play for it. Don't you just love it when that happens?

Jones and Kelly have a history, though. Kelly tried to recruit Jones to play for Central Michigan when he was head coach of the Chippewas.

So, to recap the first five weeks of Brian Kelly's first season at Cincinnati... his team's 5-0 and ranked in the AP top 25 for the first time since the late 60s, and now he's just snagged a highly-touted quarterback from Notre Dame.

Y'think he's on cloud nine right about now?

The Worldwide Leader in Undeserved Hype

This is a hilarious site about the undeserved hype that Notre Dame gets year in and year out. It mimics the ESPN site EXACTLY. Don't believe me? Check it out.

The arrow points to Jimmy Clausen...
from Wake Me Up When It's Saturday

Notre Dame's season gets a little more embarassing

By now, I'm sure you've all heard of former starting ND quarterback Demetrius Jones' decision to transfer from the school. His reasoning seemed legit: Weis duped him into thinking he was his guy. Heck, I would too if I started the opener and my head coach said the team would be stupid if they didn't know who the team's starting QB during the off-season. However, right now, the team is refusing to let him transfer to his school of choice, Northern Illinois University. Notre Dame is holding him hostage because (if I understand this correctly), they can refuse to release him from their scholarship, preventing him from obtaining one at another school. In a nutshell, the Irish can decide where he goes. They're saying that they will 'assist' him in finding another school and will not let him go somewhere that is going to play the Irish in the near future. That's what really gets me.

Wow Notre Dame...you're sooooo scared of Demetrius Jones that you bench him and refuse to let him play you in the future. That's really low. You basically turn your back on this guy and then try to control where he goes to school. If you're that paranoid, then why'd you bench him in the first place?! The sheer irony in all of this is that I can't find Northern Illinois anywhere on future ND schedules. This kid just wants to go home. He's from Chicago, roughly an hour drive from the NIU campus.

Charlie Weis' ego is bigger than his waistline. There is no reason to refuse Jones' request to transfer, especially with Clausen seemingly entrenched at QB for the next 4 years. Notre Dame should do the right thing and just let him go home. C'mon, they're good Catholics up at South Bend, right? I guess they just can't play any football or use common sense.

Read the story on ESPN about this by clicking on the blog title above

This weekend's prime Big Ten matchups

Time to look ahead to this weekend because, let's face it, it's never too early to start thinking about college football.

Let's take a quick look at three intriguing matchups involving Big Ten teams. Later this week we'll take a look at some big SEC matches and the mediocrity of this weekend's Saturday Night Football split telecast (it's why Iowa/Wisconsin is not included here).

Illinois at Indiana
Why it's important: The Big Ten's perennial bottom-feeders square off in each team's conference opener. Both are off to a decent start -- a combined 5-1 record between them -- with the only loss between the two coming when Missouri beat Illinois in a tense 40-34 game in St. Louis. One will be one step closer to a long-awaited bowl game, the other will head back to the basement. Ron Zook is out to prove he's more than just a glorified recruiter, and Indiana still looks to honor the memory of Terry Hoeppner.
Important Stat: Illinois and Indiana have combined for a 13-67 conference record since 2002. The best performance put up by either team over the last five seasons was a 4-4 finish by Illinois in 2002. Indiana went 3-5 last year. Over that same span, Indiana was 1-7 four times and Illinois went 0-8 twice.
The Edge: Of the two Memorial Stadiums, this one's being played at Indiana's, so I think the home field advantage gives it to the Hoosiers.

Penn State at Michigan
Why it's important: The winner in Ann Arbor Saturday gets the inside track at the Big Ten title. I know that sounds odd, with Michigan's 0-2 start, but c'mon, it's Michigan. They're bound to bounce back somehow. Both get Ohio State and Purdue at home and Penn State gets to play Wisconsin in Beaver Stadium. Anthony Morelli is making smarter passing decisions, but still needs to work on his overall play. (In other words, let's not scramble with 14 seconds left in the half, cut away from the sideline and cough up the ball.) It should be interesting to see if the Wolverine's D has improved or whether the Notre Dame O-line was just that awful. Lloyd Carr may also be pulling a Charlie Weis and we may never know if Chad Henne or Ryan Mallet will be the starting QB for Michigan until the 3:30pm kickoff.
Important Stat: The last time Penn State beat Michigan was 1996. In other words, Lloyd Carr owns Joe Paterno. Luckily for Nittany Lions fans, most Wolverine fans only remember that Jim Tressel owns Lloyd Carr.
The Edge: Penn State, but only if Joe Paterno releases Anthony Morelli and Galen Hall from his chokehold and lets them exploit the Michigan secondary. Austin Scott or Rodney Kinlaw up the middle is not going to win this football game.

Michigan State at Notre Dame
Why it's important: Notre Dame has never started 0-4. I think this is only the second time they've started 0-3 -- something Ty Willingham never did -- but surely the first 0-3 squad never looked this bad. Just the other day, I saw an ESPN report about Notre Dame students' reaction to the 0-3 start. One sophomore said, "Well, as long as we keep the winning streak against Navy alive, I think we'll call it a successful season." Charlie Weis will be looking to right the ship at home. Mark Dantonio will be looking to avoid that typical, disappointing slump that annually started about this time of the season in the John L. Smith era. Sparty might be handing the Irish a historic loss if they can't get their act together quickly.
Important Stat: Notre Dame leads the nation in most sacks allowed this season thus far, at 23. (Hey, at least they lead in one category.) Michigan State is tied for the most sacks against their opponents, at (I believe) 17. Yikes. Jimmy Clausen better bring a lot of ActivOn and IcyHot to the stadium Saturday.
The Edge: Michigan State. If Michigan can put up 38 points and devour Notre Dame fresh off a 39-7 embarrassment against Oregon (and some other travesty that Michigan fans no longer speak of), then Sparty's got a damn good shot.

And then there were two

In case you don't follow college football in the slightest, you may not have heard that Demetrius Jones has decided to leave Notre Dame and will enroll at Northern Illinois. He let the coaching staff know in that classy way that only Notre Dame can achieve -- he silently didn't show up for the team's bus trip to Ann Arbor.

So, in a season in which Charlie Weis started off with four quarterbacks, he now has only two at the end of Week 3. Maybe you've heard of one. But if you haven't, his name is Jimmy Clausen and I heard a rumor somewhere that he might be the second coming of Christ. And then there's Evan Sharpley, whose only chance at seeing any more playing time this season is if a linebacker snaps Clausen in two (just like a crisp Clausen pickle). Given the performance of ND's O-line this season, though, Sharpley is probably praying Clausen stays in one piece.

But it gets better. Jones told the South Bend Tribune that he was misled by Charlie Weis. No way. I can't believe it. He must be joking! I mean, Charlie Weis is the most honest, angelic soul I've ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. Behind Bill Belichick, of course.

And so says the Tribune, via ESPN.com:

"When I heard Jimmy was the No. 1 all the way through spring and that the only thing that was keeping him out of the lineup was his surgery, well that's not what I was led to believe going into the summer," Jones told the South Bend Tribune for a story Monday. "I thought I was getting a chance because coach Weis believed in me. Then I didn't know what to believe anymore.''

So much for the whole team knowing the quarterback depth order during summer practice, eh, Charlie?

Best wishes to Demetrius as he moves on to Northern Illinois. They seem to need as much help as the Irish do, but I'd rather see the Huskies get it instead.

Anthony Morelli...uh oh

So apparently I say 'uh oh' pretty much 90% of the time Anthony Morelli drops back to throw a pass. I had no idea that I did this until everyone around me pointed it out at the ND game this evening. Either way, that's pretty much an exact depiction of my confidence in Morelli. Outside of a perfect pass he had to Chris Bell, he either made a stupid decision or could have thrown the ball better on all the other ones. It's pretty bad when your QB has a 50/50 chance of hitting a receiver on a screen but I'm pretty sure that's the case with Morelli. Keep an eye out for my synopsis about this past weekend of college football. 39-7?? I still can't believe it. Can't wait to see the odds on the ND v. UM game this Saturday.

Penn State-Notre Dame 2nd Half Observations

Penn State played a little better in the 2nd half. The defense dominated the entire game, yielding 0 (yes, zero) rushing yards to a weak Notre Dame team. Penn State wins at the "White House" 31-10. Not as dominant as I had hoped; the offense didn't start running the ball well until deep into the 2nd half. But they got the job done. Up next: a tough one versus Buffalo. Yikes! All but guaranteed for a 3-0 start heading to Ann Arbor for the Big Ten opener versus Michigan (who plays winless Notre Dame next week). Could UM be 0-3 when Penn State visits? We shall see. On a side note, this is the first time EVER that Notre Dame AND Michigan started a season 2-0. Anyway, back to PSU-ND... Jimmy Clausen didn't play bad. Charlie Weis didn't unleash much of the playbook, allowing Clausen to rarely throw anything over 10 yards. You think Weis would have altered the game plan after Penn State forced 5 straight 3 and outs? Nope, he didn't. I understand Clausen is young (as arrogant and cocky as he is, he will be a great college QB) but Penn State shut Notre Dame down the entire game, sans the opening drive. The Penn State D gave up only 3 points (ND's TD came from an INT return). While I'm confident Penn State is a good team, should be Top 15 the whole year, they showed why they aren't dominant. Their offensive line is pathetic. Morelli was constantly pressured and they didn't get a ground game going until the very end of the 3rd quarter. That won't cut it against Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Overall, a win is a win. The team is good but they have work to do if they want to reach their ultimate goal: New Orleans.

Penn State-Notre Dame 1st Half Observations

Penn State looks awful. The defense struggled on Notre Dame's first possession but got away with it when the Irish kicker missed a 50 year field goal. When Penn State took over Morelli threw a terrible pass intended for Derrick Williams which was intercepted and returned for a TD. 7-0 Notre Dame. The Penn State D has played extremely well since the opening drive. Wish I could say the same for the offense. On Penn State's 2nd offensive drive Austin Scott fumbled. Fortunately Derrick Williams provided some offense on special times, returning a punt for a 78 yard TD. Tied at 7-7. The only good drive by PSU in the first half yielded a 10 yard TD pass from Morelli to Norwood. 14-7 Penn State. The Penn State O had another chance with 30+ seconds left in the 2nd quarter but Morelli made an idiotic play. He scrambled out of the pocket and tucked the ball. Instead of attempting to run out of bounds and stop the clock (PSU had no timeouts left) he pushed for more yardage and was stripped by Notre Dame's Tom Zbikowski. Luckily, Notre Dame couldn't capitalize. At the end of the 1st half it's Penn State 14, Notre Dame 7.

Penn State better play better. They look awful. No running game. Stupid decisions by Morelli. As usual, the D is carrying the team.