Flipping the Bird and Notre Dame-Duke

I am not totally sure why I’ve been so interested in this year’s Notre Dame team; I think it is because I am interested in how they have fallen so far, so quickly.

So, next week, Notre Dame faces Duke in a “pillow fight” (game between teams with poor records):

Statistically, the teams are all but even (from the Yahoo NCAA football stats)

Sat, Sep 1 Connecticut L 14-45 –
Sat, Sep 8 at Virginia L 13-24 –
Sat, Sep 15 at Northwestern W 20-14 * Audio
Sat, Sep 22 at Navy L 43-46 * Audio
Sat, Sep 29 at Miami (FL) L 14-24 * Audio
Sat, Oct 6 Wake Forest L 36-41 * Audio
Sat, Oct 13 (12) Virginia Tech L 14-43 * Audio
Sat, Oct 27 at Florida State L 6-25 * Audio
Sat, Nov 3 (25) Clemson L 10-47 * Audio
Sat, Nov 10 Georgia Tech L 24-41 * Audio

TD Yard Pass Rush
Offense 24 266.1 213.2 52.9
Defense 38 442.9 266.0 176.9

Sat, Sep 1 Georgia Tech L 3-33 –
Sat, Sep 8 at (14) Penn State L 10-31 –
Sat, Sep 15 at Michigan L 0-38 –
Sat, Sep 22 Michigan State L 14-31 –
Sat, Sep 29 at Purdue L 19-33 –
Sat, Oct 6 at UCLA W 20-6 –
Sat, Oct 13 (4) Boston College L 14-27 –
Sat, Oct 20 (13) USC L 0-38 –
Sat, Nov 3 Navy L 44-46 –
Sat, Nov 10 Air Force L 24-41

TD Yard Pass Rush
Offense 16 218.0 161.4 56.6
Defense 36 372.5 164.9 207.6

Not a lot of difference. So, who is going to win? My call: 24-20, Blue Devils. Why?

• Notre Dame is playing in front of a hostile crowd: its own home fans. Seriously, often times, an underachieving team plays better on the road.
• The Blue Devils are probably looking forward to the game (“hey, we can win this one”) whereas ND is probably dreading it.
• Duke loses games because its players simply aren’t as good as their opponents. But they know what to do. Notre Dame loses games because its players are often out of position; they still don’t know what to do. Yes, they hit hard, but are often not in a position to make the necessary plays.

Of course, I also thought that ND would give LSU a good game in the Sugar Bowl; I was right for all of one half.

Update: there is ESPN’s Bottom Ten, and the Los Angeles Times version:

At the Pentagon, several prominent generals demanded a Congressional investigation to determine why Air Force and Navy got to play helpless Notre Dame (1-9) this year but not Army.

Representatives of the Coast Guard Academy, the Citadel and the Harvard-Westlake prep school raised the same question.

Elsewhere, officials announced that the Orange Bowl was being torn down — a harsh measure but something that had to be done to remove the memories of the home teams, No. 2 Florida International (0-9) and No. 20 Miami (5-5).

Meanwhile, the mysterious SMUs (1-9) advanced to No. 5, while University of Texas at El Deflected Paso (4-6) took over No. 10 after a 19-34 drubbing by previously inoffensive Tulane. And outnumbered James Madison held off both Bill & Mary, 55-34.
Wreck Record Last Loss Next Loss
1. Notre Dame (1-9) 24-41, Air Force Duke
2. Florida Int’l (0-9) Idle Louisiana ( Laf.)
3. Utah State (0-10) 0-52, Boise State New Mexico State
4. Minnehaha (1-10) 16-21, Iowa Wisconsin
5. SMU (1-9) 42-43, Rice Central Florida
6. Duke (1-9) 24-41, Georgia Tech Notre Dame
7. Idaho* (1-9) Idle Boise State
8. Syracuse (2-8) 10-41, South Florida Connecticut
9. North Texas (1-8) 62-74, Navy
10 UTEP (4-6) 19-34, Tulane Southern Miss
11.Cranky Ole Miss (3-7); 12. Baylor (3-8) 13. Temple (2-7); 14. North Carolina (3-7); 15-16. Bill & Mary (4-6); 17 Alabama (Birmingham) (2-8); 18. Columbia (1-9); 19. On semester break; 20. Miami (Fla.) (5-5).

*Vandals everywhere say the wimpy team is giving them a bad name.

Crummy Game of the Week: Notre Dame (1-9) vs. Duke (1-9) (a rare chance to see two teams coming off 24-41 losses!).

Rout of the Week: Boise State (9-1) vs. Idaho (1-9).

Revenge and Birds:

I had talked about Utah’s 50-0 wipeout of Wyoming, after the Cowboy coach had guaranteed a victory. Tammy remarked that the coach also gave the Utes a “half of a peace sign” when the Utes went for an onside kick with a 43-0 lead!

SALT LAKE CITY – Julius Stinson said so much without really saying anything.

When asked what he thought about Utah coach Kyle Whittingham’s decision to attempt an onside kick with his team leading Wyoming 43-0 in the third quarter Saturday, the senior gave a stern and dismissive “no comment.”

That moment was the fourth where the Utes looked like they were attempting to run the score up in a 50-0 win over UW at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The first two came with less than 44 seconds to play in the first half when Utah (7-3 overall, 4-2 Mountain West Conference) called a pair of timeouts and threw the ball four times with a 40-0 lead. That drive ended when Stinson picked off a pass in the end zone.

Utah also attempted a third-quarter flee flicker where senior quarterback Brian Johnson handed the ball to running back Darrell Mack. Mack handed the ball to wide receiver Marquis Wilson on an apparent reverse before Wilson pitched the ball back to Johnson who threw an incomplete pass in Mack’s direction.

Louie Sakoda capped that drive with a 41-yard field goal and then attempted the onside kick. Fifth-year UW coach Joe Glenn could be seen angrily gesturing and shouting towards the Utah sideline following the onside kick.

“He can only coach his own,” Glenn said in reference to Whittingham. “It is what it is. It’s football and they were making a statement.”

Cameras from CSTV – which televised the game nationally – caught Glenn making what appeared to be an obscene gesture directed toward Utah’s sideline. Glenn deflected questions about that gesture afterward.

“I don’t remember that,” he said. “I know I got a little emotional. I don’t even know how to respond to that. Honestly, I don’t.”

Glenn added he didn’t want to speculate if some of the trick plays were a result of him guaranteeing a UW victory during a weekly luncheon with students in the Wyoming Union on campus. He did, however, admit the guarantee was ill-advised and wouldn’t happen again.

Note: the Wyoming coach has since apologized.

Just a thought
Maybe this is why Kansas is winning games? A player runs for a 77 yard TD, gets a 15 yard penalty for hot-dogging, and gets a chewing out. The coach yells “you did it ALL on your own, did you?” reminding this young man that it is the TEAM that scores a touchdown, not one player.