Trey Connell

Notre Dame lost to Air Force 41 to 24. I can’t speak about it. If you need me I’ll be sticking pins in my Charlie Weiss voodoo doll.

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Notre Dame lost to Navy on Saturday 46 – 44 in triple overtime. Navy hasn’t beaten Notre Dame in 43 games but managed to break the streak yesterday on the strength of their triple-option running attack and Notre Dame’s sheer inability to win.

That’s right – Notre Dame hasn’t yet learned how to win. The worst part is that the Irish probably played better than they have all season. Special Teams stepped up both on kickoff returns, punt returns, and coverage. The running game finally showed up with the Irish rushing for 235 yards – including 125 by James Aldridge. While Evan Sharpley was not a superstar, he was somewhat efficient and didn’t look completely confused.

Navy did manage 4 sacks on Sharpley, and anyone who has watched the Notre Dame quarterbacks this year wasn’t surprised by that at all. Did I mention Notre Dame’s offensive line outweighs Navy by an average of 40 pounds?

Late in the game, Notre Dame had a chance to attempt a 42 yard field goal for the win. Charlie Weiss apparently had zero confidence in his kicker from that distance and opted to go for it on fourth down and 8. Sharpley was sacked and regulation expired soon thereafter.

It was quite the seesaw game with neither team really able to stop the other one. In the end, Navy was able to gut it out and win the ball game. It’s that simple.

I don’t really think the end of the 43 game win streak is that significant to anyone who watches Notre Dame play today. More importantly, the Irish have now lost more home games than any other season (5). They have a 1-8 record and are now being called the worst team in Notre Dame football history.  And they lost to NAVY! What’s next? A loss to Air Force? It just might happen folks.

I was given the opportunity to go to Fayetteville, Arkansas and see the Razorbacks play on Saturday. Unfortunately that meant I didn’t get to watch Notre Dame play Michigan State. I recorded it on the DVR, but I haven’t yet felt like watching it and subsequently being in a bad mood for 24 hours. The loss to Kentucky by Arkansas was bad enough on Saturday night.

I did keep up with the score on my iPhone, and things seemed to be going the Irish way for a bit. But it was inevitable and Michigan State proceeded to thrash us just as everyone expected. Final score – 31 to 14 – Michigan State. For the first time in school history, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 0 – 4 and next week we play Purdue. Scary stuff indeed.

I did find it entertaining that the Michigan State Spartans made such a big deal out of this being a “revenge game” after their loss to Notre Dame in East Lansing last year. Note to the Spartans – this is not the same Irish team that mounted a massive fourth quarter comeback last year. In fact, you should not be proud of this win at all. We score twice as many touchdowns on you as we have all season for pete’s sake! In all seriousness, this win should not be a big deal – need for revenge or not.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are officially in BIG trouble. I watched in actual, physical pain yesterday as the Michigan Wolverines decimated Notre Dame 38 to 0. Earlier this week, Mike Hart of Michigan guaranteed a victory over the Irish, and boy did he and the rest of his teammates deliver. Hart ran for 187 yards on 35 carries and scored two touchdowns. Even Michigan’s freshman quarterback, Ryan Mallett, looked like a rock star in his debut – throwing for 3 touchdowns against an Irish secondary that committed mistake after mistake.

For the third straight game Notre Dame has been unable to score an offensive touchdown. Fumbles, penalties, and a deluge of other mental errors plagued the Irish throughout the entire game. The scary part is that I see no signs of improvement – offensively, defensively, or on special teams. Notre Dame simply has a horrible football team. At this point I’m wondering if they only recruit players who do not possess opposable thumbs.

Yesterday, I went through emotional states like a fat man through a stack of pancakes at IHOP.

First, there was anticipation. Will Jimmy Clausen finally shine? Will our “offensive guru” head coach unleash the hounds and throw caution to the wind?

Then the anxiety showed up. Will Mike Hart be so motivated and pissed off that he runs all over us? Can our secondary even hope to stand up against the likes of Mario Manningham and company? Is my boss, who went to Michigan, ever going to let me live down a loss in the “Oh-fer Bowl”? Could we possibly be 0-3 after today?

Thankfully, positive determination comes in next. Of course we’re going to win! Michigan lost to Appalacian State. They are simply overrated, and Notre Dame is bound to have a great game after the first two losses.

The game starts, and the first two possessions for Notre Dame bring on that “Oh shit, here we go again” feeling. We can’t snap the ball. We can’t hold on to the ball. We can’t get rid of the ball. We can’t gain positive yardage by any manner.

Halftime rolls around, and I’m upset but hopeful for a good showing in the second half. Let’s at least make a good game of it right? Yeah, not so much.

During the final minutes of the game, I just stared blankly at the television and mumbled a few incoherent phrases from time to time. I believe a few four letter words were in there, but I’m honestly not sure.  It’s all kind of a blur.

After the game came dread. The dread you have when you know you’re going to see about 10 of your friends in the next hour and they all know how much you like Notre Dame football. Some try to point you towards the future with the “but they have a lot of young talent” discussion. Some think you need a partner in anger and point out all the reasons your football team sucks. Some avert their eyes and stay on the opposite side of the room – careful not to look directly into the eyes of the crazy Irish fan for fear of instantly turning to a pile of ash.

Reality hits on the day immediately following the game. That’s when I face facts and admit what everyone else already knows. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are last in Division 1 football. There is no hope for the season. There is no hope for this team. And there may not even be a hope for next year unless something changes drastically.

We learned today that Michigan quarterback Chad Henne will not play on Saturday against Notre Dame.  He suffered a leg injury against Oregon last weekend, and no timeframe for his return has been provided.  Freshman Ryan Mallett will start for Michigan so let the battle of the freshmen begin!

As sad as it is for me to admit, this is shaping up to be one exciting matchup primarily because I have no idea what to expect!  Two teams with 0-2 records.  Two teams with struggling offenses, defenses, and freshman quarterbacks.  Let the mistakes and comedy of errors begin!  It’s just wrong I tell you!  This is Notre Dame and Michigan!  Storied teams with volumes of history reduced to playing the Bottom of the Barrel Bowl.

I don’t care though.  I’m still going to watch.  I’m still going to cheer for my Irish and curse the Wolverines.

Saturday’s game saw the freshman Jimmy Clausen starting his first game as the Notre Dame quarterback.  My expectations were a bit higher this week given Clausen’s performance in the final minutes of last week’s loss to Georgia Tech.  I watched my hope for the season dwindle even further as Penn State lit up Notre Dame 31 to 10.

Once again the Notre Dame offense struggled and was overwhelmed and confused by the Penn State defense.  Penalties and communication issues continue to plague them.  The Irish were also unable to score an offensive touchdown and relied on short yardage plays and swing passes to try and give Clausen some confidence and get other players involved.  Penn State quickly caught onto the scheme and shut Notre Dame down time and time again.  The offensive line was battered about the neck and face for the second straight week and the Irish quarterbacks will continue to suffer and generate zero offense until that problem is corrected.

I don’t know how the Irish are going to respond or what to expect next Saturday.  I do know that unless they decide to start taking a few risks, varying their offensive schemes, and being much more aggressive, it’s not going to make any difference.  Although Michigan has had an equally awful start to their season, Notre Dame is setting themselves up to have all that Big Blue frustration taken out on them next Saturday.

I can only hope that Charlie Weiss will decide to unleash the hounds and let things hang out a bit.  What do we have to lose?

It was a sad day for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and for me as well. While I didn’t expect greatness this season, I certainly didn’t expect what I saw on Saturday. It appears all the Irish fans’ preseason concerns surrounding the team’s ability to bounce back from losing so many starters and so much talent were well founded. Notre Dame lost 33 – 3 to a Georgia Tech team who brought their trademark swarming defense and an increase in offensive firepower to South Bend, Indiana.

Just minutes before kickoff we learned that Demetrius Jones would be the starting quarterback for the Irish. I believe his athletic ability played a big part given they were facing a defense like Georgia Tech. Unfortunately that athletic ability didn’t help in the areas of making quick decisions, holding on to the ball, and completing a pass down the field. Evan Sharpley got his shot when he came in at quarterback in the latter stages of the first half, but he didn’t fare very well either. Sharpley completed his first 2 passes and it was good to see the ball in the air. However, Tech stepped up again and he was sacked by a free safety that took 5 seconds to get to him from 20 yards away. The offensive line for Notre Dame was continually beaten as the Georgia Tech linebackers blitzed and either hurried or sacked the Irish quarterback time after time.

Notre Dame Tight End John Carlson didn’t receive his first pass until 7:21 remaining in the third quarter even though he had 47 catches last season. Carlson then received two more passes taking Notre Dame to the 1 yard line of Georgia Tech, but the Irish were unable to bring it home and had to settle for a field goal.

Mental errors made a big difference in the game as well. After the Irish successfully stopped Tech’s offense in their own territory, Justin Brown committed a personal foul at the end of the third down play. Georgia Tech receives a first down and continues on into the end zone just a few plays later. Brown should not even be suiting up for the rest of the season if you ask me. Quarterback fumbles, bad punts, blocked kicks – they all played a part in making this loss much worse and harder to stomach.

One bright side for the Irish is their defense which is looking good compared to last year. To be fair, they did give up 196 yards to Georgia Tech running back Tashard Choice. Still, their defensive mentality seems to have changed drastically due to the hiring of new defensive coordinator, John Bond, and his aggressive style. The Irish running backs also had flashes of good play – namely James Aldridge and Armando Allen. Travis Thomas should go back to linebacker as I didn’t see any more promise from him at running back than he displayed a couple of seasons ago.

Jimmy Claussen who has been dubbed “the savior” of Notre Dame football came into the game during the fourth quarter. While he connected on 4 of 6 passes and seemed to stand strong in the pocket, it’s hard to say if that’s enough to cause Charlie Weiss to give him the nod next Saturday against Penn State.

While it’s true the season is still just starting, it’s also clear the Fighting Irish have a lot of work to do and may have to go back to the drawing board entirely. While defense is key, you can’t win a game if you can’t score. And Notre Dame showed no signs that they can move the ball and get into the end zone. In the meantime, we Irish fans will do our best to keep our chin up, not scream at the TV too loudly, and try not say “wait till next year” just yet.

Ladies and gentleman, I am still in Houston.

We took off around 9 PM central, and things seemed to be going smoothly. Then the flight attendant announced that we had to turn around because a gallery or service door was open. She didn’t really know if it was really open – it could have just been a malfunctioning sensor. Of course, we couldn’t simply turn around and land. We were too heavy for that so we had to fly around for 35 minutes and burn off fuel. We’re now sitting in the plane while mechanics work on the issues and other folks fill up the fuel.

I had to travel to Las Vegas on Sunday to meet with a customer. I usually fly American and go through Dallas, but I decided to try Continental and go through Houston. Now, one would think that given my track record with IAD in Houston, there’s no way in hell I’m going to go out of my way to fly through there. But my customer flies out of Houston, and she wanted to ride together on the flight out to Vegas. So I caved….and here I sit.

Apparently a huge storm came through earlier today (crazy, I know), and they shut down IAD. Our plane didn’t have enough fuel to circle until they started taking arrivals again so we were diverted to San Antonio. We then sat on the ground for 2 hours while they filled up the plane with fuel. Finally we made it into Houston where, of course, I had missed my connecting flight to Little Rock. I went to the service desk and told the lady I missed my flight. This is where her superior training and job dedication really shines in her artfully crafted response, “OK”.

So I stared at her.

And then I stared some more.

And then I asked if I could get on another flight. She snapped back to earth and started doing that insane, spastic typing that only a gate agent at an airport can do. I swear they have to be formally trained to pull that off. Anyway, she found the one remaining flight and got me on it. Unfortunately, it’s four and a half hours until I get on it. So as of right now I’m chilling in the B terminal, and for those of you who don’t know, that’s the terminal in IAD that you have to pack a lunch and vitamin water in order to hike to. Heaven help the girls in heels.

I’ve got about two hours and fifteen minutes to go. With any luck I’ll be home by midnight which means I won’t go to sleep till two a.m. Work’s going to be fun tomorrow!