Notre Dame Proves They Are Number One
Last night at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish proved they belong in the BCS Championship Game by defeating the the University of Southern California 22-13. The score was not indicative of how close this game was as Notre Dame dominated the game. The only thing that kept it close was Notre Dame's inability to close the deal several times down in the red zone, which they will need to do against either Alabama or Georgia.
What we saw last night , and for that matter all season long, is a team that relies on its defense to stop their opponent and an offense that can pound away at their opposition to close the game out. That's what happened last night. Up 16-10, the Irish offense ran the ball down the Trojans' throats with Theo Riddick being the main man. Notre Dame had to settle for a field goal and took the lead 19-10. USC was not ready to quit as a long pass to Marquise Lee brought the ball down to the ND 2 yard line. After 2 pass interference calls, USC tried running the ball 3 times and 3 times the Notre Dame defense denied them from scoring. Then an incomplete pass ended it for USC. The Irish took the ball on their own one yard line and Riddick rushed for 15 yards and got them out of harm's way. The game was over.
Defense wins championships and Notre Dame's is arguably one of the best in the land. The offense can be punishing and Everett Golson has developed into a good quarterback. They have the ingredients of a championship team and on January 7th we'll find out if they can close the deal.
Wake Up The Echoes
Tonight the number one team in the nation, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, will take on an old rival to ensure their first trip to the BCS Championship Game. A year ago, many around the nation were proclaiming that this storied football program would never reach the heights achieved by Lou Holtz, Ara Parseghian, Frank Leahy and Knute Rockne. Well, this current edition of the Irish have other ideas.
Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis all tried to restore the luster of the Golden Dome but to no avail. But Brian Kelly, a winner at every place he has coached, is 60 minutes away from "shaking down the thunder from the sky." This game against USC will not be easy. Interestingly enough, the last time Notre Dame visited Los Angeles they won 20-16 as Matt Barkley was injured. It was the Irish's first victory over the Trojans since October 20, 2001 at South Bend. Similarly to 2010, Barkley is out for tonight's game forcing USC to start a redshirt freshman, Max Wittek. This will be Wittek's first college start and the brash freshman has proclaimed that the Trojans are going to win this game.
Notre Dame is like the Yankees: you either love them or you hate them. The haters are already saying that the Irish don't deserve to play for the national title. That they should have lost to Pittsburgh. That Stanford should have won their game against the Irish. To the haters I say: sour grapes!! As a Notre Dame fan, I kept on waiting for the wheels to fall off. When they visited Norman, Oklahoma I expected the Sooners to roll. That didn't happen. When the Pitt game was going into overtime, I had a sick feeling that they were going to blow it like they have in the recent past. Even entering the game against Boston College, I was nervous. But this team is different than those in the recent past.
College football is better when traditional powers like Notre Dame are contending for a title. The Irish have a national following. A victory tonight will most certainly ensure that this year's BCS title game will be the most watched in history all because this private school from South Bend, Indiana will be playing in it. It will certainly be watched more than if two SEC teams are playing in Miami on January 7, 2013. Here's hoping that whether "the odds be great or small, old Notre Dame will win over all."
LSU Head Coach Miles: Class Act?? Not!!!
It was reported last night that LSU Head Football Coach Les Miles made a point of mocking Gunner Kiel for his decision not to play for Miles and instead go to Notre Dame. Kiel is arguably the best high school quarterback prospect graduating this year. He had initially committed to LSU but in the eleventh hour decided that he wanted to play closer to home and chose Notre Dame.
Here is what the adult football coach of a major college football power had to say about an 18 year old high school senior:
"We needed a quarterback," Miles told the crowd. "We lost two. We needed a quarterback in this class. There was a gentleman from Indiana that thought about coming to the Bayou State. He did not necessarily have the chest and the ability to lead a program, so you know."
Really??? I'd like to ask Coach Miles how many blue chip recruits have decided to leave a school they initially committed to and ended up at LSU??? I wonder if the coaches at those jilted schools cried and whined like a baby.
Kiel is an Indiana kid whose father, Blair Kiel, was a Notre Dame quarterback in the early 80's. Is it out of the realm of possibility for an 18 year old to change his mind on what school he or she is going to go to in the fall?? Les Miles should be ashamed of himself for calling out an 18 year old kid. In all the years that I have followed sports, I have never heard a college coach call out a recruit who changed his mind. It happens in every college sport on every level. But Miles' behavior is indicative of college football coaches forgetting that they are not coaching professionals but are coaching kids. In essence, they should be teachers. Teachers of not only the game of football but how to conduct yourself once you leave college. The lesson of Miles' boorish behavior is that if I don't get what I want from someone then I need to lash out as opposed to respecting another person's decision and figuring out how I move on.
There are certain college football teams you kind of always pull for. My list includes Alabama, Oklahoma, UCLA, Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, Penn State and Notre Dame. LSU has never made that list and as long as Les Miles is head coach they never will.
The Big East Is On Its Death Bed
Back in 1979, the Big East was established as a basketball conference. It soon became a force to be reckoned as evidenced by Georgetown's appearance in 1982 and winning the championship in 1984. In 1985, this relatively new conference had 3 teams (Georgetown, Villanova and St.John's) in the Final Four which resulted in an all Big East Final that saw Villanova upset favorite Georgetown.
The Big East has been one of the dominant basketball conferences in the country but it is currently struggling to survive and for that college basketball fans will suffer. Particularly those in the Eastern part of the country. Soon the Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry will be gone. Pittsburgh-Connecticut, St.John's-Syracuse, Villanova-Pittsburgh and the Big East Tournament in Madison Square Garden will soon be a memory. And to me its a damn crying shame!!!
Football runs the show and the Big East's decision to add football to its conference was an attempt to give the Big East more notoriety and also more revenue. Miami was brought along and the conference had instant credibility. But that began to slip away when Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami bolted to the ACC in 2004 and 2005. And that was the beginning of the end for Big East football.
The end is right around the corner with Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia leaving and TCU leaving before they ever played a conference game. What is left are second rate football schools and a basketball conference that may take a greater hit if Notre Dame decides to pull up stakes and go to the ACC or Big 12.
The fate of the Big East is a result of the revenue starved football programs that are looking for more cash by developing super conferences with the television networks, specifically ESPN and FOX, supplying the long green. If you think I'm joking please read the article below.
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7149965/espn-middle-college-realignment
ESPN started this debacle by aiding and abetting the University of Texas to create its own Longhorn Network which resulted in Texas A&M bolting from the Big 12. Thanks to ESPN and FOX, college sports as we know it will be destroyed. No more traditional rivalry games. Conferences that were based on geography will be destroyed thus making it harder for fans to attend road games. But what do they care. More money for the schools and more money for the networks. What a damn disgrace. Shame on the NCAA!!! Shame on ESPN!!!
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