But your Luck has run out and is now an Indianapolis Colt. Now you face a buzzsaw that is the Irish defense.

Spoiler alert: Trees lose to saws. Every. Damn. Time.

Before Andrew Luck became your personal touchdown Jesus, Stanford, we owned you. We beat you seven straight times as a matter of fact before 2009.

Ty Willingham is undefeated against you. Yes, Ty f’n Willingham — he even beat you 57-7 one season. That’s all kinds of special.

Now, I’ll give you some credit. You pulled yourself up off the floor from a Ty beating and eventually built up a good time a few years later. Nice work. I tip my hat to you.

However, you now have to face the fact that without your Heisman caliber QB, your offense is now ranked 85th in the nation. Even your once powerful running game has taken quite the step back, now ranking only 70th in the nation.

Your Haubaugh-led defense was once rather feared to, but he’s gone and you are ranked 55th in the nation right now after you let Rich Rod tear you a new one. “But wait”, you say, “our rushing defense is 6th in the nation“, well, that’s great, but your passing defense is 113th in the nation.

Now, Everett Golson hasn’t quite set the world on fire yet at QB, but then again he hasn’t faced a secondary quite as bad as yours. The Irish defense has to simply be licking their chops at facing an offense that is nothing like what it was last season.

I hope you enjoyed the past three years. I really hope you did.

Tomorrow afternoon, we break you.

Your destruction will be heralded by Lee Corso wearing a Leprechaun hat furiously hacking away at a tree…probably.

The Roundup

Trick Shot Monday continues to hit the big time. First, the Sportscenter Top Ten and now, it’ll be a feature on tomorrow’s ESPN College Gameday.

Decided schematic surrender! I think Weis has waved the white flag this season.

Speaking of Weis, the student newspaper he ripped last week (apparently for this cartoon) fired back. However, Weis couldn’t help himself and had his SID deliver a face-to-face warning to make everything better.

Golden Tate, please tell me you were hacked. I don’t want to believe that this is real:

So mad I didn’t get Justin beiber tickets to the concert tonight. #losing #beiberfever anyone else going?

— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) October 9, 2012

 

I’m sure Kiffin will be more than happy to answer questions on this. So Robert Woods may have failed concussion tests and still played? Oh that’ll go over well. Tweet has since been deleted, but considering the hit and the aftermath this seems plausible.

South Carolina had more surprises than just an upset of Georgia. And this one was a lot bigger.

LSU doesn’t have the chest for warm weather. Even if said weather is the exact same thing they have in Baton Rouge.

Apparently, no one learned our hard lesson from Freekbass. Oklahoma has stepped up to the plate of horribly embarrassing music videos.

I never thought MS Paint could bring me such joy. However, every week, I am proven wrong.

This is what the NCAA has become. They actually had to clarify using Instagram filters is within the rules after a previous release said otherwise.

RIP Beano Cook.

Put These Games on Your Radar

#3 South Carolina @ #9 LSU, 8pm EST, ESPN/WatchESPN – Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week

#15 Texas vs #13 Oklahoma @ Dallas, TX, 12 pm EST, ABC – The Red River Shootout — ’nuff said.

#5 West Virginia @ Texas Tech, 3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN/WatchESPN – I put this game on here because the spread is just so interesting. West Virginia is favored by less than a touchdown and Texas Tech has yet to really beat anyone. Last week, Tech lost to OU and West Virginia won a shootout with Texas. I’m wondering Vegas knows something the rest of us don’t. I don’t want to say upset alert here, but who knows.

#11 USC @ Washington, 7pm EST, FOX – USC heads out on the road again against a team that managed to pull a nice upset of their own against Stanford, and, yes, Stanford beat USC. Will the transitive property of football hold?

Predictions

Tex: Clearly, I am going wrong in my predictions by assuming opposing TDs. 24 – 9 ND

Biscuit: 14-10 ND, Via

Bayou: 24 -9 Irish (Note: No, Bayou and I had no idea what each other’s predictions would be, promise)

Twibby: Irish 31, Trees 17

Grantland-X: 27-17 Irish

Closest to the Pin Week 5: Bayou was the only one to predict a true blowout, giving him victories two weeks in a row. Leaderboard:

The Beer

We will be taking a different direction with the beer selection this week and it isn’t just to troll MQ.

This week, the Subway Domer seriously contemplated retirement from the blogging world. Thankfully, his wife vetoed the decision and Subway will continue to grace the ND blogging world in the only way he can.

I’m thrilled the godfather of the Irish Blogger Gathering is sticking with us. So in celebration, this one’s for you, Subway:

The post Friday Roundup: The “Luck Has Run Out” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

All of this analysis glosses over the fact that Miami isn’t that great and I’m here to fix that.

Courtesy of Kristian Golding via Flickr

Miami’s four victories have come over Boston College (1-3), Gerogia Tech (2-3), North Carolina State (3-2 — and two of those wins: Citadel and South Alabama), and Bethune-Cookman, a terrifying 3-2 FCS team. But when they faced a now 4-0 Kansas State in week two, they didn’t just lose — they had the floor wiped with them 52-13.

Against their FBS opponents, Miami has given up at least 30 points. And it really shouldn’t be a surprise — take a look at their defensive rankings:

That’s just unbelievably brutal. Now consider that starting defensive tackle Olsen Pierre will be out with injury leaving a hole in an already horrid front seven. That spells all kinds of trouble.

And that vaunted passing offense? Not as scary as you may think:

So, let me get this straight — Miami has put together a couple of good games, one of which is against the worst rated passing defense that they’ve faced, and now they are to be feared?

Now, I understand that Notre Dame’s current ranking of 19 in passing defense has been aided by playing Navy and Denard Robinson, but even ND’s young secondary is a completely different animal than what Miami has faced thus far.

Now what may actually be a bit of a concern is Miami’s rushing attack which has put up 200+ yard performances in two games and a 150+ performance in another. The only two sub-100 yard games were against Kansas State, ranked 14th in the nation, and against North Carolina State when they really didn’t need to rush at all. However, relying on their rushing attack would be going into the heart of the Irish defense doesn’t seem like a great plan for success either.

So in the end, Miami will be faced with their second real test. And after failing their first one miserably, I’m not overly scared.

Over-confident? Probably. Whatever, I’m drinking the kool-aid this week.

The Roundup

Boise State with a major win on the road. BUS! TRUCK! (Warning: Photo not for the squeamish)

Saban decided to whine. Yes, he actually called a certain style of offense “unfair”. SEC! SEC!

Law & Order: SEC Initiation. Mizzou should get some style points for getting busted for weed while in a parked car on campus.

The Big XII would like to apologize to Oklahoma State. Oh wait — is that Texas on the line? Oh, nevermind then.

Charlie Weis, still trying to make friends. Not sure calling out a student newspaper is a good idea though.

Speaking of Charlie Weis, ND did it — we beat the bye week cheeseburger.

Put These Games on Your Radar

#4 LSU @ #10 Florida, 3:30pm EST, CBS – Twibby’s Marque Matchup of the Week

Kansas @ #7 Kansas State, 12:oopm EST, FX – Why yes, I am going to watch this for the dumpster fire potential to start my college football day. Have fun, Weis.

#17 Oklahoma @ Texas Tech, 3:30pm, ABC/ESPN2/WatchESPN – The best defense in the Big XII takes on a future ND opponent that seems to be on the ropes. I’m greatly interested in seeing how this one plays out.

#5 Georgia @ #6 South Carolina, 7:00pm, ESPN/WatchESPN – Two top ten matchups in one day? So glad conference play is finally upon us.

#8 West Virginia @ #11 Texas, 7:00pm, FOX – Gus Johnson is going to make this scoring clinic so awesome. If you like hard-nosed defense, do not watch this — Geno Smith with end you.

Predictions

Tex: 38-14 ND

Biscuit: 24-17 ND

Bayou: Tropical Storm Te’o forms early in the First Quarter and gathers strength throughout the game, reaching Category Five dominance by mid-way through the Third Quarter. Miami’s line can’t withstand the combine assault of Nix, Shembo, Tuitt and Williams – look out for Te’o’s first interception or fumble recovery for a touchdown and one more pick six to come out of the young secondary. The only respite Miami gets is when ND has the ball and the Irish offensive struggles only improved incrementally over the bye week. Still, FG’s are better than punts and Miami’s in a bad, bad place by the second half. Throw in a GAIII kickoff or punt return and you’ve got a glorious night in Chicago: ND 48 – Miami 9.

Twibby: ND 28, Miami 17. Video Board 1, Sebastian the Ibis 0.

Grantland-X: 38-17 Irish

The Beer

Fall is upon us and the Irish will be wearing Halloween costumes in place of uniforms. Halloween means jack-o-lanterns and jack-o-lanterns mean pumpkins and pumpkins mean delicious pumpkin ale.

I’ll be honest, I’m not overly well versed in the many pumpkins ales available out there. I didn’t even have my first one until a couple years ago at the Old Fashioned out in Madison, Wisconsin. I have yet to have another one as great as that one on tap.

So I leave it to you, the Loyal Readers to help lead me to the pumpkin ale promised land for this weekend. Leave me your suggestions below.

Bonus!

There’s no way that I’d be able to leave Miami week without posting this:

The post Friday Roundup: The “Gauging Hurricanes” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame called out its own fans.

It was a move that is both sad and sorely needed. For far too long, Notre Dame Stadium has been host to an environment that is beyond detrimental to fans trying to cheer. Tales of ushers kicking fans out for nothing more than cheering and standing have become far too commonplace. It has gotten to the point that even Jack Swarbrick is sick of it — tired of hearing that opposing teams love to come and play in the House Rock Built.

Forget shaking down the thunder or waking the echos, Notre Dame Stadium more often resembles a museum.

It hasn’t been the fault of the students either. They may only comprise 10% of the stadium, but year in and year out they stand the entire game and scream and cheer as loud as possible. It’s time for the rest of the stadium to follow. Most importantly, it is time for Cappy and his ushers to stand down and let fans be fans and by all accounts it seems this could actually be a reality.

While we’ve heard some rumblings here at HLS that the ushers might receive new marching orders, there wasn’t a whole lot to back that up. However, Swarbrick going to the press, the official ND blog breaking the “Take a StaND” campaign, and even Brian Kelly making sure said post hit his Twitter feed (as did many other official accounts), sends a clear message that the expectations are going to be different.

So Loyal Sons (and Daughters) that will be in attendance tomorrow afternoon, take your staND. Don’t use this as free reign to give fans glued to their seat and ushers hell, but use it to back up your right to be a fan. Stay respectful, but stay loud.

For any fan that might be reading this who falls on the other side of the equation, I have a plea for you as well.

The Roundup

Texas A&M has brought their A-game. First they troll Florida via billboard and then they craft one of the best previews ever.

And Cincinnati brought their WTF game. Seriously, what is this?

In case you needed some more reasons to be happy college football is back, I have some more: great tailgating food and this.

Please, please never stop MSPainting Like a Champion. Ever.

You can never have too much X’s and O’s analysis, so here’s some more.

Just in case you weren’t already jealous of everyone that went to Dublin, this will probably do the trick.

Put These Games on Your Radar

Not a whole lot of great matchups in week 2 thanks to awful scheduling, but we do have a couple of games that stand out.

#7 Georgia @ Missouri, 7:45pm EST, ESPN2/WatchESPN – Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week

#24 Florida @ Texas A&M, 3:30pm EST, ESPN/WatchESPN – Call this morbid curiosity of Florida’s potentially awful offense paired with Texas A&M debuting in the SEC.

Predictions

Tex: 42-21 ND

Biscuit: 21-17 ND

Bayou: 60-17 ND

Twibby: 41-17 ND

Grantland-X: 38-14 ND

Closest to the pin last week: This was close as three of us predicted 42 points for the Irish putting us just within 8 of ND’s total. However, one person hit Navy’s score dead on and that was yours truly. Better luck this week, y’all.

The Beer

Considering that both teams on the field are from Indiana, I decided to go with a brewery located in Munster, Indiana: Three Floyds.

I originally learned of this brewery on a road trip to a ND game right after I graduated. One of my best friends heard about it and we made a detour there for some food and brews. Best decision ever (also, I have awesome friends). You really can’t go wrong with any of their brews, but if I have to pick one, I’m going with Gumballhead:

However, one of these days, I need to partake in Dark Lord Day as I have heard wonderful things about that brew.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Take a StaND” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.