Trey Connell

Notre Dame Caps Season with HUGE Loss to USC

Last weekend Notre Dame suffered an embarrassing loss to lowly 2 – 8 Syracuse.  Yesterday they followed up that stunning performance with a 38 to 3 loss to the USC Trojans.  I never expected Notre Dame to win that game, but the completely and utter inability of the Fighting Irish to even compete is shocking.  USC looked like they were playing a high school team.  It was total domination.  In fact, Notre Dame did not gain a single FIRST DOWN until the end of the third quarter.  Ridiculous.

One interesting thing to note that I didn’t know until yesterday.  Notre Dame’s schedule ranks 107th in the nation in terms of difficulty.  Translation – it’s the easiest schedule I’ve ever seen Notre Dame have.  If there was ever a year for Notre Dame to do better than 6 – 6, it was this year.  On top of that, the Irish could have easily had a losing season.  Hell, Navy almost came back to beat them, and they were down 20 points.

It’s time for a serious reevaluation here, folks.  Or maybe it’s time for me to reevaluate my expectations for Notre Dame football.  I know their academic standards are right up there with Ivy League schools, but I expect them to at least be competitive with the likes of USC and completely roll over a team like Syracuse.

Notre Dame fans have not been exactly happy this season, but compared to last year we were able to at least take the bags off our heads.  Then Notre Dame had to go and crush us at the end of the season by losing to the Syracuse Orangemen 24 to 23.

Syracuse?  Really?  The same Syracuse who had only won 2 games and just announced they were firing their head coach?

I’ve been resisting the urge to jump on the “Charlie must go” bandwagon for a long time now, but this is ridiculous.  There is absolutely no excuse for what happened yesterday.  It’s time to put the big contract and superstar offensive playcaller picture of Charlie Weis behind us and move on.  Notre Dame fired Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham, and their records were almost identical.  It’s becoming very obvious to me that the Fighting Irish were a decent team during Weis’ first two years only due to the sheer talent on the team – not due to the amazing game plan and strategy put together by the Coach.

After the loss to Syracuse, Charlie Weis said he was sick to his stomach for the seniors.  While I appreciate that he hates his seniors had to end their Notre Dame career with a ridiculously embarassing loss at home, Weis better start worrying about his job.  Maybe it’s time to go back to the NFL.

 Loading ...

Due to the weather alerts going on here, I wasn’t able to watch the entire game. In fact, I missed 90% of the first half and watched about 80% of the second half in a tiny little picture in picture feed that NBC placed in the bottom corner of my TV. How very considerate of them…

Notre Dame beat Michigan convincingly 35 to 17. I can’t comment on many specifics, but I do know that the Irish showed one thing I thought they were missing last year – HEART. They played in terrible conditions against a tough Michigan team. And yes, I know that Michigan isn’t as deep this year. And I know they fumbled the ball like 20 times and set Notre Dame up for scores. But we played in the same conditions, and Notre Dame is certainly not amongst the elite teams in the NCAA. Also, ND managed to convert those opportunities – something they never did last year. I really think that the boys in blue showed some grit and determination and simply wanted the win more than the Woverines. After last year’s atrocious performance, it’s nice to see the Fighting Irish kick a little butt this year.

T-minus 1.5 hours to one of the greatest games of the college football season. I’m sitting here eagerly anticipating the kickoff and praying that Notre Dame doesn’t get killed. I’m really hoping the Irish can take some of their fourth quarter momentum from last week’s game against San Diego State and carry that over into this game against the Wolverines. I’ll be twittering throughout the game here.

So this college football season is not looking great so far. My two favorite teams seem to be drowning in mediocrity. The Arkansas Razorbacks lost their dynamic duo – Felix Jones and Darren McFadden – to the NFL, and Bobby Petrino has taken over as head coach. They played Western Illinois in their first game and had to squeak out a fourth quarter victory. Yesterday they played the University of Louisiana at Monroe (my alma mater) and had to mount yet another fourth quarter comeback to win. The two easiest teams on their schedule shouldn’t even count as victories, and things are not going to get any better when it comes to conference play in the SEC.

Notre Dame had their first game yesterday against San Diego State – a team they handpicked and that was supposed to provide an easy win and a huge boost of confidence. They won 21 – 13, but it was hardly something for the Irish to be proud of. The good news is that this season can’t be worse than last season, and our schedule is actually easier this time around. We may even make it to .500 this year! Our running game did manage to crank out some yards, and Jimmy Clausen looked much better in the pocket than he did all last year so there were a couple of bright spots.

I’m excited about college football season, but it looks like it’s going to be a long one.

It’s finally over – all but the crying. OK, I’m actually finished crying, too. Notre Dame defeated Stanford in the final game of the season to end everything with a 2 game winning streak. Of course, the other win was over Duke, and that’s nothing to really brag about.Charlie Weiss has some work to do folks. Apparently he’s bringing in the coaching staff from the New England Patriots to help him analyze everything that went wrong this season. I say carry on – you need all the help you can get. Hell, bring in their cheerleaders while you’re at it. Any and every opinion is welcome at this point. Let’s just hope that #1 recruiting class that everyone likes to talk about isn’t reduced to a third string kicker and a glorified water boy based on the results of this season. I’m not sure that recruiting class matters anyway. Look at all the hype surrounding Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Lamarcus Aldridge and others. It just goes to show you that a lot of perceived talent isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Apparently it’s worth 2 wins over losing teams.I’m sure I’ll be excited and fired up to watch my favorite team kick off the 2008 season next fall, but right now I’m just bitter. So I say “no thanks” to the Notre Dame apparel my wife wants to buy me for Christmas. I say “not going to happen” to Fighting Irish office accessories and golf club head covers. I say “good day madam!” to coffee cups and pennants. I need time off to recover and find my happy place again.In the meantime, I’ll be gearing up to watch our Arkansas Razorbacks take on Missouri in the Cotton Bowl. Happy bowl games everyone!

My wife and I traveled down to Louisiana for the weekend to visit my family. I should also mention that all my family are rabid LSU fans. Needless to say I didn’t have control of the TV, and if I went to change the channel – even during a commercial – I think I would have been hauled outside and thrown into the street. I think I might have even heard the phrase “touch it and die” mumbled by my grandmother. For this reason, I didn’t get to see Notre Dame beat Duke 28 to 7 on Saturday. Yes, I’m scared of my grandmother. She’s small, but she’s wiry.

Charlie Weis was undecided as to who would start for Notre Dame in this weekend’s game against Air Force. After reviewing film and watching practice this week, he’s decided to go with Jimmy Clausen. Clausen hasn’t played in the last two games – the first a 38-0 loss to USC and the second a 46-44 triple overtime loss to Navy.

I have never been and never will be a football coach – on any level. But I am a die-hard Irish football fan and have watched each game this season. Based on what I’ve seen on television, I cannot understand this decision to start Jimmy Clausen. The greater production and efficiency of Evan Sharpley over Jimmy Clausen seems obvious to me. I have not witnessed any sustained drives with Clausen at QB. He’s given me no hope that he can stand in the pocket, make quick and good decisions, and deliver the ball on target. Sharpley, on the other hand, seems to at least know the offense and work under pressure. Anyone who watched the Navy game will agree with that assessment. Yes, Notre Dame lost, but they put up 44 points and moved the ball down the field. Sharpley also made several key plays under tremendous pressure.

Some have characterized Charlie Weis as too proud and a bit arrogant. It makes me wonder if he’s simply going with Clausen because he was such a highly touted recruit by Weis. Maybe Weis thinks Clausen will jump ship if he doesn’t get to play. Maybe the early investment in Clausen is worth it considering Notre Dame cannot possibly salvage this season, and Evan Sharpley will be a senior next year.

Whatever the reason, I hope Charlie Weis sees something in Clausen that I have yet to see this season. Apparently the success of the Irish over the next three years depends on it.

After coming in during the second half of the Boston College game last weekend and breathing a bit of life into a pathetic offense, Evan Sharpley will start for Notre Dame against USC. I have three words – it’s about time!

Jimmy Clausen is simply not there yet. He can’t make good decisions or get rid of the ball quickly. Our offense continues to be entirely horizontal when he’s in the game. In contrast, Evan Sharpley came in and marched the Irish down the field in the second half. It was too little, too late – especially considering Notre Dame had two HORRIBLE calls against them from the officials late in the second half – but at least it shows we can actually move the ball.

Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t matter who they put in at QB this Saturday. They’re going to lose – and lose big. They could bring Joe Montana back, wear green jerseys, say a prayer to every saint that ever existed, and sacrifice a live animal before the game – it’s just not going to help against a team like USC.

But….dare I hope for….an upset??

Ugh – maybe I AM this guy.

OK, while I don’t agree with all this, I have to admit it’s damn funny.

HOLY CRAP!  Who saw that coming?  In an amazing upset, Notre Dame beat UCLA 20 – 6 in the Rose Bowl.  And on top of that, one of our scores was actually an offensive touchdown! I know, I know.  It’s a lot to process.  I’ll give you a minute to recover….

Despite the win, the Irish are still having problems generating any offense. Their defense definitely came to play and produced several turnovers that were converted to the points on the board. But it’s unrealistic to think that’s going to happen every game.  And frankly many of those UCLA mistakes can be attributed to the fact that they had a true freshman at quarterback after starter Greg Olsen went out with knee injury in the first quarter.

Oh well, a win is still a win!

I didn’t get to watch the trouncing of Notre Dame by Purdue as I was in St Lucia getting married and spending my honeymoon living the good life in an island paradise. I didn’t really even want to try to catch the score while I was there. Ignorance is bliss….

So in the true spirit of blood pressure management, I’m moving on to UCLA.