See if you can figure out what isn’t right about this image. Look closely and watch carefully.

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The only relationship I’ve found between Notre Dame and Robert Goulet, who died yesterday, is this: ND and USC are rivals. Will Ferrel is a notorious Trojan fan. And Will Ferrel played Robert Goulet in “Red Ships of Spain.”

You can check out some other relationships between ND and Bob here. You can also see that I’m a moron.

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Quick, tell me the run to pass play-calling ratio of Notre Dame’s offense since Weis took over. No peeking down below. Just blurt out the first numbers that come to mind in the comments for this post.

We all know that Weis runs a “pass happy offense,” right? The guy clearly wants to pass to set up the run. He runs all sorts of exotic passing schemes. His play-book would give Google difficulty in indexing (nerd humor). So what do you think? How much does he run versus pass?

40% run, 60% pass?

35% run, 75% pass?

20% run, 80% pass?

45% run, 45% pass, 10% undecided?

Sorry, it’s an election year, ya know.

Answers after the jump… More…

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Irish Envy provided a few quotes from Charlie’s press conference today, where Coach mentions that Robert’s brother died unexpectedly recently.  As with Charlie, we don’t have any details, but we’d like to ask our readers to keep Robert’s brother, Robert, and his family in their thoughts and prayers during what is obviously an amazingly difficult time.

This is when the Notre Dame Family really means something.  Since we can’t do much else, please take a moment to send something up on their behalf.

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So there was this place in Chicago that I used to frequent between the hours of 4 and 7 am pretty regularly when I used to live there.  Taco joint.  Taco Burrito Express #2 was the formal name of the place.  These guys were my boys.  Most especially because they didn’t mind, and they didn’t mock me, for walking into a burrito joint once a week, buzzed out of my gord on Goose Island’s 312 or some redbull and vodka (I have graduated to finer choices in my old age, just let me tell you) and ordering a Cheeseburger.  Ummmm, Cheeseburger.  Had one.

ND sat around and ate Cheeseburgers Saturday.  It was nice.  It was relaxing.  It was the second best performance of the season for the Irish. 

And Sagarin’s Strength of Schedule ratings considered this a tough opponent - ND currently has the most difficult schedule in the nation, all thanks to the formidable opponent BYE (aka The Cheeseburgers).  BYE is tough, tenacious.  BYE never, EVER loses.  The best you can EVER do against BYE is score a 0-0 tie, and that’s saying something.

And this week, BYE pushed ND’s SOS up to #1 most difficult in the country.  Of course, it will dip a bit in the coming weeks.  But so should opponents’ offensive yardage and points.  And ND’s offensive woes should dissipate a bit as well.

The most difficult schedule in the country to date isn’t an excuse for Charlie or this squad.  But it’s one piece of information to keep handy when you’re wondering what’s been going on lately.  Keep it in mind too, when your friends throw their team’s 1-loss, 2-loss, 3-loss, 4-loss, 5-loss or 6-loss record in your face.  It’s is 100% guaranteed that it was easier for them to get there.  100%.

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“New Coaching Staff”???

Not-so-noble-old-former-coach-who -built-a-program-with-farm-boys-and-thugs-say-new-coaching-staff?

HT: EDSBS

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What I Did On My Bye Weekend:

• Felt my New England blood stir as the Red Sox won the World Series. My grandfather, who was a very, very old man when he died, used to swear he would “live to see the Red Sox win the World Series again.” I’ve seen them win it twice since he died.
• Started to think that the Trojan’s real problems have less to do with injuries and more to do with focus. Pete Carroll has no problem focusing when the Trojans are playing ND. I have to wonder if Pete Carroll has trouble not day-dreaming about San Diego while trying to prepare for Pac-10 games.
• Shook my head at how bad Penn State looked against Ohio State.
• Laughed maniacally as Tom Brady, the QB with whom I was stuck by the computers in my fantasy draft, scored 60+ points for my team for the seemingly eleventy-billionth week in a row.
• Slept in Delaware, just miles from the school that put 59 points up on Navy while giving up 52 points.
• Tried to divine what the heck that meant for ND’s game this weekend.
• Carved the baddest-assed pumpkin ever. My jack-o-lantern could so beat up your jack-o-lantern.
• Ate sauerkraut for the first and last time.
• Drank a lot of Allagash Dubbel for the first of many, many times to come.
• Realized that Urban Meyer isn’t the evil genius that I thought he was; just evil.
• Saw a kid get chased by a ghost.
• Drove through a college campus on the Saturday Night before Halloween. Missed college terribly.
• Laughed Maniacally at Ty Willingham. (And no. I’m not going to “get over him.” The F-er implied that his firing had something to do with race. He’ll do the same when Washington finally fires him. Unfortunately for Washington, they saw what happened to ND, so they’re going to suffer longer. Then again, the Washington fans spent a lot of time calling ND fans racists, so they should probably get smacked around by Karma for another year or two.)
• Wondered where a man can find a XXXL, purple, velour warm-up suit.

How ’bout you?

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Imagine for a moment a team ranked dead last in rushing offense in the country. Imagine that team only averages 1.09 yards per carry. Imagine that the rushing average is so bad that it’s almost doubled by the second to last rushing offense in the country – Duke.

Now, guess which defensive position has tallied the most tackles against that rushing offense. The defensive line, right? I mean, heck, 1.09 yards wouldn’t get you beyond arm’s reach of a defensive lineman. Those guys must be tallying tackles all day along with the linebackers.

Wrong.

Let’s face it. The Notre Dame rushing attack is terrible. So bad that you’d have to assume that absolutely nothing is being done right when Notre Dame runs the ball. But as this season’s progressed, I’ve been getting the feeling that the defensive backfields of ND’s opponents have been getting in on the fun quite a bit. And if absolutely nothing is going right for the ND offense on rushing plays, that seems counter-intuitive. Even accounting for blitzing defensive backs and exotic defensive schemes, if ND can’t even get 2 yards a carry, how on earth could those DBs be getting in on so many rushing plays?

I tabulated every tackle made by ND opponents against ND rushing plays and grouped those tackles by defensive position. (I counted solo and assists as “tackles,” so the tackle numbers may not mesh real well with the NCAA’s “rush attempts” which also include QB sacks and scrambles.) Here’s what I found…

With a 1.09 yards/carry average, one would reasonably assume that the defensive line and linebackers of Notre Dame’s opponents would dominate the tackling totals for ND rushing plays. After all, if ND’s only moving the ball 1.09 yards a carry, they’re certainly not getting to the “second level,” say, 5 yards off the line of scrimmage, very often. But the fact is, the tackling on rushing plays has been rather evenly dispersed between the “front 7″ and the “second level.” The “front 7″ have been credited with 69% of the tackles against ND rushing plays this year. The “second level” guys have actually accounted for more tackles (71%). Now, both groups include linebackers, and as anyone might expect, the linebackers account for more tackles than defensive backs or defensive linemen. But it doesn’t seem far fetched to expect that the average defense against such a horrible rushing offense would have very lopsided success against the rush with their “front 7″ relative to their “second level.” And that’s just not the case.

When you’ve got a really good rushing attack, you’ll actually find that defensive backs, especially safeties, are involved in a lot of the tackles. After all, they’re the “last hope” for a defense. But Notre Dame hasn’t managed to execute on 15% of their plays well enough to reach the “second level,” be they rushes or passes. So it’s pretty incredible that DBs have managed to account for 31% of the tackles made against ND rushing plays.

Two things probably account for this weirdness.

1. Notre Dame’s receivers are small and/or young, and don’t do a very good job blocking. ND has been spoiled the previous 2 years by excellent blocking by Samardzija, Stovall, and McKnight. All big and strong guys relative to the current ND receiving corps. And the young receivers like Tate and Kamara don’t use very good blocking technique at this time.
2. Nobody fears Notre Dame’s “big play potential.” Even with the “emergence” of Golden Tate, ND hasn’t proven that it can throw the ball well enough to pose a consistent deep threat. As a result, ND opponents can “stack the box” with a safety, crowding the line of scrimmage, practically turning a DB into an extra LB.

As much grief as the Notre Dame offensive line gets, and deservedly so, the anemic ND rushing attack is a full “team effort.”

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Hey, you know how Notre Dame went and got 2 huge recruiting commitments just days after being blown out at home by Southern Cal? And you know how Notre Dame and Charlie Weis have managed to keep the currently #1 recruiting class in the nation intact despite going 1-7? Yeah, well, it’s starting to tick some people off. It’s ticking people off because those people graduated (or not) from Michigan or some such school, and they see what’s coming. They see all that talent that ND is now stockpiling and realize that if Weis doesn’t get it done (which I think he will), somebody else will.

They hate us because they fear us. And they start smearing the program because they see this time as their last hope at slowing down an unstoppable force. If you’re not feeling great about the ND program right now, know that those who hate ND are scared, and they’re reacting like 4 year old girls. Revel in it.

The Roundup:

1. Matt Carroll, NBA “journeyman” – A very rich “journeyman.“
2. What can we learn from BC’s “amazing” comeback win at VaTech last night? Pretty much nothing.
3. Wait. Ty Willingham, molder of men, doesn’t care about his back-ups? Are they not men-to-be? (Sorry.)
4. Wanna throw for a lot of yards as an NFL QB? You might want to play for Notre Dame first.
5. And finally, every other sports blog is talking about it, we’re a sports blog, it’s the bye week, and we’re looking for easy pickin’s, so…



Ew.


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Noted College Football Fan Site, CNN Money, took a look at StubHub.com statistics to determine College Football’s Top Rivalries, and, surprise, surprise, Notre Dame/Southern Cal is #1.

Take a look at the data here:

STUBHUB TOP 25 RIVALRY RANKINGS (week of 10/23/07)
                                                                    2006
                                         Current Week  Prev. Week  Average
   Rivalry                       Date    Average Price  Ranking     Price
   ---------------------------  ------   ------------- ----------  -------
1  USC at Notre Dame            20-Oct       $409          1        $379
2  Ohio State at Michigan       17-Nov       $408          3        $876
3  Oklahoma vs. Texas            6-Oct       $400          2        $419
4  UCLA at USC                   1-Dec       $312          4        $172
5  Tennessee at Alabama         20-Oct       $238          5        $181
6  Georgia at Florida           27-Oct       $274          7        $284
7  Texas at Texas A&M           23-Nov       $268          6        $233
8  Alabama at Auburn            24-Nov       $373          8        $321
9  Tennessee at Florida         15-Sep       $248          9        $180
10 Michigan at Michigan State    3-Nov       $218         11        $193

So as you can see, the ND/SC supply curve collides with the ND/SC demand curve way up there on the P axis above everyone else. So if you continue to claim that the Notre Dame/Southern Cal rivalry is not the #1 rivalry, you’re probably a communist.

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This pretty much sums up my emotional state this week…

HT: rustygriswold

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The local affiliate up there in MN caught up with the latest big-time Irish recruit, so I thought I’d share it here.

Michael seems like a pretty laid back and almost shy kid.  Nice to see a reserved nature with all of that god-blessed talent and flash he shows on the field.

Also interesting to note that he sees what a lot of other recruits see with the ND program:  1) Early Playing Time  2)  Tons of Upside and 3) Academics.

Really?  Football players want to learn?  Yes, some do.  And a lot of them go to Notre Dame because of it.

Enjoy.

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The episode starts with a bang, as baby Grace Taylor is crying in Dillon, and Coach Taylor isn’t liking his new job, his uncomfortable hotel room, and not falling asleep on his wife Connie Britton’s chest every night.

Tyra is awoken late at night by a call from Landry. Landry lost his watch on the guy he murdered and dumped in the river in Episode 1. Isn’t that exactly what happened in I Know What You Did Last Summer? What ever happened to Jennifer Love Hewitt? And Sarah Michelle Gellar, for that matter? I hope J-Love guest stars this week and helps Landry and Tyra survive the impending attack from the guy they dumped in the river as he returns for revenge with a fishing hook.

At TMU, we find out that Coach Taylor is sort of the odd man out on the coaching staff. At a coaches’ meeting, the head coach tells Taylor that he has to go to a hearing. Apparently, one of the TMU players pulled a Reggie Bush and accepted Justin Timberlake tickets from a booster. The rest of the coaching staff apparently has Taylor’s QB coaching job “covered.” Ooooooo, burn!

Back at the Taylor home, the new guidance counselor shows up to get advice from Mrs. Taylor. He is also a science teacher. A sweaty, sweaty, sweaty science teacher. Mrs. Taylor is starting to crack under the pressure of the new baby and the missing husband, and she snaps at the science teacher.

At Saracen’s house, Landry basically tells Matt to give up on Julie. Don’t give up on the “crazy grandma” plot yet, though. Grandma Saracen just ordered a $2400 tiara, because you can’t put a price on looking pretty.

Meanwhile, Buddy Garrity is meeting the Dillon coaches at a bar. New Coach doesn’t want to do the season opener pep rally at Buddy’s car dealership. Oh, I understand. Buddy is getting cut out of his family and his football team. I love parallelism.

At school, Saracen is trying to get in-home care for his grandmother. Julie keeps blowing him off, as do the home care people. Will Saracen ever win anything? You know, other than the state championship?

After leaving in a huff last episode, Riggins is back on the team, but he’s going to suffer for it. New Coach gives him 50 laps up the stadium steps. Meanwhile, Landry has made the team, but he’s getting clobbered on the field. It’s like watching Rudy, except Landry has a chance of touching a breast. Holy crap, Landry’s dad is Aaron from 24! What a revelation! Landry’s dad is proud of him for making the team, even though it means getting his brains beat in. I don’t think Landry has told him about the homicide yet.

At the doctor’s office, Jason Street is making improvement, but the doctor crushes his spirit and tells him he won’t walk again. Take THAT, former QB1. I think Street has a new wheelchair buddy, who offers him a “guy” who does some experimental stuff. This doesn’t bode well.

At the Saracens, grandma is exercising and freaking out at the home nurse, who is kind of a bitch. I predict sexual chemistry between Saracen and the nurse, as she plans on living with the Saracens. Julie will drive Saracen into the arms of a nurse, who is conveniently hot. There have to be unattractive girls in Texas, right?

Coach tries to get Reggie Bush ready for the hearing. Reggie is not sorry. He also has a sweet car, which is probably from a booster. Coach doesn’t seem too happy with Reggie, as even he wonders why Coach is at TMU with his new baby.

At the Garrity house, Buddy is trying to pick up the kids under much duress. Duress with the Dillon coaches. Duress with his family. Which will cause Buddy to eat a bullet first?

At her job at the pool, Julie talks to The Swede. Julie is leaving her job. The Swede is not, because he is a burnout, or something. I hope, for his sake, he’s not counting on his band paying the bills. The Swede actually rubs the top of Julie’s head when he says good bye to her. Good Lord, even I know that’s humiliating.

Back at school, Mrs. Taylor has walked all the way from home in 105 degree weather with baby Grace to talk to the guidance counselor. Connie Britton is hot, even when basting in her own sweat. The guidance counselor doesn’t appreciate her radiance, and says he’s scared of her. In his defense, she is a bit hormonal and a tad “screamy.”

Street catches up with Mrs. Taylor as she’s leaving and confesses that he’s been dreaming about Mrs. Taylor. Me too, brother. In his dreams, though, Mrs. Taylor tells him to get up and walk, and he does. She’s also not wearing a leather teddy. Well, she might be, but Street doesn’t mention it. Street makes Mrs. Taylor’s day. Way to go, Street. She needed that.

Reggie Bush is still giving Coach grief about not being at home with his new baby. Coach has had enough, and he gives Reggie a lecture about not caring about his team and having his area code written on his eye black stickers. Maybe he didn’t say that, but Reggie pouts, anyhow.

Now that Landry made the team, he has is own rally girl. She’s no Tyra. Landry asks the rally girl if she thinks all human beings are capable of evil, which pisses Tyra off. Tyra wants Landry to act like a man and quit whining just because he killed some dude. You want him to act like a man, Tyra?! He loves you! How about that, Tyra?! How. About. THAT?

At Reggie’s hearing, he’s schmoozing the board, apologizing, and promising he won’t repeat his mistake. Coach ain’t buying it. Coach defends him by suggesting that he should take away all of Reggie’s booster gifts and make his life miserable for a season. That’ll teach him.

Back at the Saracen’s, the nurse is cleaning house. Literally. While trying to flip Saracen’s mattress, she finds a picture of Julie that Saracen drew, and some porn. Surprisingly, they were two separate things. SEXUAL TENSION LEVEL: 4 of 10.

In the TMU head coach’s office, the head coach says Reggie is suspended for only three games. He also says Coach must have been one hell of a high school coach. Coach seems to agree, and seems to be thinking about it.

Uh oh. The Swede just ran into Julie at a gas station. He’s driving a white van with no rear windows. It’s either for carrying band equipment or child abduction. Julie is mocking the Dillon Pep Rally. Bitch. The Swede offers her a “ride” to the rally. Head-rubbing pervert.

At the pep rally, Buddy is getting plowed, Smash is rapping, and Saracen is pouting. Julie gets dropped off by The Swede and gives him a thank-you kiss. Whore. Moments later, she’s apologizing to Saracen for missing his rally. Uh oh, here it comes. “We really need to talk.” “It’s me. It’s not you.” Saracen knows it’s The Swede and just wants some honesty. Poor Julie feels trapped and needs space. Down goes Saracen! The whirlwind romance is OVER! Meanwhile, Buddy is getting himself worked into a lather, recreating his football career like Al Bundy and picking fights. Buddy confesses to Riggins that he understands the writers’ parallelism in that he’s lost both his family and his team. We get it too, Buddy. It’s, uh, pretty obvious. Riggins tries to help after Buddy takes a drunken dive, but Lyla resists…at first.

Riggins and Lyla help Buddy back home. Riggins consoles Lyla and says Buddy isn’t a drunk, but is just “sad.” They connect. It’s going to be a race between Lyla and Riggins hooking up and Saracen and the nurse. My money is on Saracen and the nurse.

Baby Grace is a little bit sick, but Mrs. Taylor brings her to the E.R. (shameless NBC cross-plugs) and the doctor brings her fever down. The guidance counselor shows up to give Mrs. Taylor a ride home from the emergency room. You know Mrs. Taylor is falling apart when the only person she can call is the damn science teacher. I don’t know how he’s going to give her a ride home with no car seat.

Tyra sneaks into Landry’s house and says she’s glad the rapist is dead because he wasn’t going to stop. She wishes she was the one who killed him, because Landry rocks balls. Tyra apologizes to Landry the best way she knows how. By making out with him. Matt Damon’s Doppleganger: 1. Matt Damon: 0.

No word on whether the Dillon Panthers actually played a game. This show is about football, right?

Episode 3 is on the DVR. I’ll try to catch up before this Friday.

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Not only should the Bye Week help this team recover from a brutal 8 weeks, but the offense should, should, look much better now that they’re facing the 4 worst defenses ND has faced all year (with the exception of Purdue).

First 8 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Georgia Tech: 9
• Penn State: 7
• Michigan: 34
• Michigan State: 29
• Purdue: 59
• UCLA: 26
• Boston College: 29
• Southern Cal: 3

Final 4 Opponents’ Total Defensive Ranks as of Today:

• Navy: 99
• Air Force: 57
• Duke: 98
• Stanford: 102

So the first 8 opponents have averaged a 24.5 ranking. Granted, the first 8 opponents are bolstered by their games against ND, but let’s estimate a 10 place bonus having played ND, and that means their “normalized” average rank would be 34.5, so let’s call that 35. Our last 4 opponents are averaging out to a rank of 89th. That’s a massive, massive difference in quality of defense. Hell, make the “ND Bonus” 20 spots. It would still be a difference of almost 45 spots in the rankings. And ND actually made the Purdue defense look as bad as they really are, so there’s hope for these final 4 games. Nay, I’d dare say there’s an expectation, a very reasonable one, that the offense should finally start to “click” in these last 4 games and create some momentum for Spring practices.

By the way, ND reverted to its old ways on Saturday, giving up 5 sacks in the game (their average even after only giving up a couple in each of the last few games). The good news, is that Navy is ranked 119th in sacks, Air Force is ranked 72nd, Duke is 52nd, and Stanford is ranked a surprising 15th.

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Holy Unexpected Recruiting Weekend Outcome, Batman!

Mike Floyd, 5-star, “My God, Look At Him Go!” Wide Receiver out of Cretin Derham Hall H.S. in Saint Paul, MN has commited to the Irish this weekend.

Scout.com

This is just unbelievable news. This 2008 class just went from scary-good to I-don’t-know-big-enough-words-good.

Welcome to the family, Mike!

UPDATE: Check out what he did in his last game. I love this lead…

Every time Cretin-Derham Hall’s Michael Floyd has the football, a collective gasp typically follows.

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