John Carlson

Before this year a lot of people looked at Notre Dame's offense and thought a lot about, with good reason. However, if one question was brought up, it involved what kind of production the Irish would get at the tight end position with Anthony Fasano leaving early for the NFL Draft.

I didn't feel it was the smartest of moves by Fasano, but he has done alright in Dallas for a rookie playing behind Jason Witten, one of the best tight ends in the NFL. John Carlson really did not have any hype coming into the year, with much reason. Before this season he had career numbers of only 13 receptions for a grand total of 87 yards and one touchdown.



Its safe to say he has been a pleasant surprise this year, as he has as good of numbers as just about any tight end in college football. Also, remember he has more receiving yards than a certain Samardzija fellow so far through the season.

I know he doesn't seem to be that flashy at the position, but numbers indicate that he's as good as any in college football this season. Could it be possible to see him as a finalist/winner of the John Mackey award? Also let me know what you think of his potential draft status. With every other team seeming to draft a tight end on the first day last season, there really isn't as much of a need for tight ends this coming spring. However, there also isn't going to be a lot at the position to choose from, so would Carlson likely go on day 1?

That's all in the future, for now I am just pleased with the way John has gone out and played. He's caught key passes all season; without him against Michigan State, the game is a loss for sure. Here's to a guy on the offense that won't get as much press as the others, but definitely deserves to.

Holy Temple!

It's over, all over. Finally, after 20 straight losses, Temple defeated Bowling Green 28-14 on Saturday to snap the losing streak.

Somewhere Bill Cosby is bathing in JELLO.

That's Kinda Gay

Pay attention to what is said here, especially right about the 27/28 second mark. I have a feeling someone might be getting in a little bit of trouble.

Top 10

This week's top 10. Doing an entire top 25 is just too hard for me. I can't judge a correct top 25 by respectfully seeing all the teams play, therefore a top 10 is a helluva lot more manageable.

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. Auburn
4. Florida
5. Notre Dame
6. Tennessee
7. Louisville
8. California
9. USC
10. Arkansas

No Texas. No West Virginia. Either of these teams have done anything to prove to me that they deserve to be in the top 10. West Virginia can be contained by simply forcing Pat White to throw the ball. Syracuse was able to do it for a while, get a real team out there like Michigan or Ohio State and it will be all night long. The Mountaineers as I said before, will struggle to have 14 pts on tOSU or Michigan.

Texas has yet to show me anything either. Beat an Oklahoma team who is down, barely escaped against Texas Tech and Nebraska. See the prior post for more about them.

Who Benefits most by USC's loss?
I think in all honesty, the Big East champ. Is West Virginia or Louisville honestly the second best team in the nation? Not a snow balls chance in hell. But one should be unbeaten at the end of the regular season and will most likely be the opponent for Michigan/Ohio State on January 8th.

It should also be noted that I feel Notre Dame is stung the most by the Trojans loss. The Irish really wanted and needed USC to be unbeaten when the teams meet in Notre Dame's regular season finale. Now, even though USC is the same team they were one week ago, Notre Dame will not get a quality win for beating the Trojans on the road.

Texas and Others...

Now why when Texas has to rally late in a game to win against an unranked team (that lost to Colorado, mind you) do they move up in the rankings, but when Notre Dame does it, they fall a few spots? I am aware that USC lost so that is reason for the Horns to move past the Men of Troy. However, this is two weeks in a row that Texas has struggled to get by. Don't tell me that Nebraska is that great of a team either, look what they did this weekend against Oklahoma State.

Now what do I think will happen with Texas the rest of the way? A very favorable schedule as Texas A&M is the only ranked opponent they will face until the Big XII Championship game. Perhaps they will face Nebraska again, but even if they do Texas will still win the Big XII, granting them a berth to the BCS.

Winning the Big XII would seal the deal for Texas to go to the Fiesta Bowl, as that is where the Big XII Champion will go. Who will they face? It will be an at-large qualifier to the BCS. With the Fiesta Bowl having the last pick in At Large teams this season, that will most likely be Boise State.

The Broncos should finish up the season unbeaten, as Nevada is their toughest opponent still to play. Boise State is an alright team, don't get me wrong. They however are not among the college football elite. As overrated as Texas is, the Horns should still blow Boise State out of the water, making the Longhorns appear a helluva lot better than they really are.

BITE ME!

That's exactly what happened last week in Neyland Stadium. I have a new found respect for UT after reading the following on ESPN.com

Smokey IX, Tennessee's bluetick coonhound mascot, has been accused of biting an Alabama player before last week's game at Neyland Stadium.

Crimson Tide receiver Mike McCoy fell on the 3-year-old dog during pregame warmups after jumping out of bounds for a pass near where Smokey was standing with the cheerleaders.

What the dog did next is up for some debate. Alabama coach Mike Shula says Smokey bit the player. Smokey's owner says he didn't. As for Smokey, he only howls.

My question immediately is, why can't more mascots be like that? I don't want this loveable icon that kids can associate with my school. I would much rather have something that intimidates my opponent.

Is there something wrong about that? I truly don't think that there is. Make my place intimidating to hell to come play at, beginning with my mascot.

This Weekend

This weekend pretty much sucks for College Football. One matchup between ranked opponents as it will be Missouri hosting Oklahoma.

Talk about two teams on the fall. Missouri looked excellent a couple of weeks ago, but with a loss in Aggieland two weekends ago, this team was exposed. They will catch a break that Adrian Peterson will not play, but I still don't think I like their chances. Going with the 1.5 pt dog in this one...

Oklahoma 24 Mizzou 20

Notre Dame travels to Baltimore to take on Navy this weekend. 42 in a row for the Irish but this one still concerns me. We have not been able to stop the run this year and, well, Navy kind of likes to run the ball if you couldn't tell. However, the Irish will come into this one with a chip on their shoulder I think. Offense was embarrassed last week against UCLA, needing a last minute touchdown to seal the deal. I think the offense will come out firing, but who knows what to expect defensively for Notre Dame. I would bet on an early score or two by the Naval Academy before the Irish defense eventually slows them down.

Notre Dame 31 Navy 14

And the game of the week is one that I will be broadcasting. Unranked North Central College enters with a 5-2 record while Augustana (24 recieving votes) enters with a 5-2 mark, both losses however coming against non-conference opponents. Its supposed to get nasty out this weeekend...Sleet, snow, rain. Not good for a team with that lines up in the shotgun each down. Augustana will embarrass a Cardinal defense that can't stop the run.

Augustana 28 North Central 10

Who the hell are these teams you ask? I go to school at North Central and will be broadcasting the game live at 2:00 PM Saturday. Listen to me live if you like on WONC.

Clemson

Clemson was a team that I was talking about in the last poll, when I was complaining (justifiably so I might add) about Notre Dame falling in the rankings. A few people have brought up the fact that Clemson had an easier team defeating Georgia Tech than the Irish did. I tried telling them that this doesn't necessairly mean that Clemson is better than Notre Dame. Did they listen?

I doubt it.
Virginia Tech did the Hokie Pokie all night tonight, running Clemson right out of Blacksburg. Now I'm aware that James Davis did not play, but the Tigers just aren't that good. The ACC is down this year, way down. Noone in there deserves to be in the top 10.

I guess it's too late to come up with a poll for last week from 1-25, so let's just go with a quick top 10 here.

Nothing changes at the top, 1-3 are pretty solidified, until one is beaten, this won't most likely change...
1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. USC

The next set is the ND/SEC region of my top 10...
4. Auburn
5. Florida
6. Notre Dame
7. Tennessee
I feel that Auburn is still the best out of these teams, their beating of Florida giving them the nod just ahead of the Gators. Notre Dame ahead of Tennessee? The Vols looked shaky against Alabama (as ND did against UCLA) but also with a tough road ahead, expect another loss or two for Rocky Top.

Rounding out the top 10...
8. Cal
9. Louisville
10. Arkansas
Cal took abuse for a tough loss week one at Tennessee, since then they have been lights out. Just make sure to look out for them and Marshawn Lynch in golf carts...



Louisville has struggled a lot lately and I am becoming less and less impressed with them each week. Arkansas is just kind of there, but you can't argue what they have done. Sure a lopsided defeat to USC to start off the year, but a win over Auburn makes them worthy of a top 10 spot in my book. Tough road ahead for them as LSU and Tennessee still sit waiting.

Why no Texas in the top 10? They are one fumble away from having a second loss. I was not that impressed with Nebraska, and entirely disagree when I'm told they are back as a power in college football. You're time will come Huskers, but right now you're still a notch down. And so is Texas.

Margain of victory is an absolute joke. Are you telling me that looking at the difference in scores between common foes means which team is better than the other? I really hope you said no.

Just a quick example here. Michigan beat Notre Dame 47-21 way back in September. Notre Dame beat Penn State the week before that, 41-17. Michigan just beat Penn State 17-10 a few weeks ago. Because Michigan doesn't have a loss but the Irish do, that means that Michigan keeps their rank ahead of the Irish and deservedly so. According to so manys theories that the margain of victory shows who a better team is, you people are idiots. Look no further than the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes. Rarely a game didn't come down to the final few minutes and they wound up being national champs.

I'm trying to figure how Notre Dame continues to drop in the polls myself. Tennessee plays the exact same kind of game against Alabama that the Irish play against UCLA, but the Vols jump over ND. Also Florida has the week off and jumps the Irish. Kind of hard for a team that doesn't have a game to impress me more one week than one that goes out and wins a tough game.

And to those that think Notre Dame is making all their opponents look great. I couldn't disagree more. UCLA is a solid defense, and with most of these games coming against the Pac-10 where offense is all that seems to be game-planned for, its more impressive of a defense for me.

Go on, hate the Irish, but they will be in the BCS for the second year in a row this season. Can't wait to hear you all complain when that happens.

Top 25

So I forgot to do my Top 25 this week, real smooth, I know. Anyway, here we go with this weeks which really should have been up on Monday at the latest. Before you go on and look, let me remind you that I will never punish a team for losing to a formidable foe. Now barely sneaking by a joke opponent, thats reason for a loss in the polls.

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. USC
4. Auburn
5. Florida
6. Notre Dame
7. Tennessee
8. Louisville
9. Cal
10. Clemson
11. Georgia Tech
12. Texas
13. LSU
14. Arkansas
15. West Virginia
16. Oregon
17. Wisconsin
18. Boise State
19. Nebraska
20. The State College of New Jersey
21. Boston College
22. Oklahoma
23. Texas A&M
24. Missouri
25. Pittsburgh

Quite a difference from last week, I know. One might immediately notice how far West Virginia fell, and that is because I actually saw them play an entire game for the first time all season today. It's a good thing that they play all Big East opponents because a team with any talent whatsoever on defense would shut the Mount-me-men down entirely. Honestly, spy White so he can't get out of the pocket and run blitz the hell out of them to slow down Slaton. Pat White will lose any game he is forced to throw the ball in, trust me. Inside of me I really want to see West Virginia lose a game that they should probably win, but another part of me wants to see them match up against an actual defense like that of Michigan or Ohio State. 14 points might be a stretch to what they put on the scoreboard. The same goes for Louisville. They could barely sneak by Cincinnati, if they make it to a BCS bowl, also a team whos offense will be shut down entirely.

Also I gave some love to the SEC this week, although the three teams from there in my top 10 all have one loss. As I said last week, Auburn would, and did beat Florida. Theres not a doubt in my mind the better team won that game. Right now I feel that Tennessee is playing the best football in that conference, but with a loss at the hand of the Gators its impossible to rank them ahead of Florida or Auburn.

The rest stayed quite a bit the same. Also, I apologize to the State University of New Jersey. I doubted them and they went out and destroyed the Naval Academy. Maybe they are actually a little better than I gave them credit for. Live it up Scarlet Knights fans (if your kind actually do exsist), Greg Schiano will be in Coral Gables next year.

And finally, I am really hopping on one teams bandwagon as the year has gone on. I thought that the Wisconsin Badgers defense was going to be solid this season, but I really felt that their lack of offense would hurt them. John Stucco and PJ Hill have really stepped up, making the Badgers a shoe in for a New Years Day bowl this year with the favorable remaining schedule they have this year. Is it possible for a conference to have 3 BCS representitives? We may find out.

Coach Weis

"Everyone knows I'm staying here until they fire me or I die. I'm here for life."

-- Charlie Weis

Interesting quote, Coach. Does this mean you don't plan to retire? It will be neat to see how this plays out in the future. With Weis being 50 that would mean 29 years until he reaches JoePa's age. This past offseason Kirk Herbstreit made the comment that Notre Dame had what will turn out to be its worst season under Weis' tenure. So potentially losing a BCS game is the worst we will do in 29 years at least...I might be exaggerating things just a little bit but that wouldn't be too bad.

However a friend of mine did leave me a letter. I guess someone didn't get the memo about the newest manlaw:

"Thou shall not call the the oppositions head coach fat or their starting quaterback gay. Both are unoriginal and make you sound and look like an idiot."

Hilarious. No, really it is.

UCLA

The Bruins come a calling this Saturday in their first trip to South Bend since I've been alive. UCLA is just the kind of team that Charlie Weis has loved to matchup against during his tenure at Notre Dame. They have an average offense, nothing striking really about them. Instead their defense is what will be the difference maker. Not because of how it is great, but because it is much like ours when it comes to preventing the big play.

Last week Oregon was able to simply march down the field against the Bruins. Does this mean I think Darius Walker will be the key to the Irish win on Saturday? Not neccisairly. Maybe expect him to be a key, but not the key this weekend. I would expect offensively that the Irish will have near a 550 yard day while lighting up the scoreboard for somewhere in the 40's.

Charlie Weis has had two weeks to prep for this game, something that apparantely comes with hosting a team from Los Angeles. Expect the Irish offense to strike early and often in this one and the game to play out much like the battle against Penn State did.

Trying to be "That Guy"

One of my strange hobbies is going to thrift stores. Maybe not A+F or AE, but dammit I love these places. My favorite part of the last one I was at was some of the jerseys I was able to find...



#77 Brad Culpepper Tampa Bucs Jersey

A ten year vet of the NFL who had stints in with the Bucs and Bears. Also an alum of Florida. Always remember to associate Culpepper with that awful offensive line of the Bucs back in the Dungy Days when the offense was unable to do a damn thing.

-Did not purchase, not a Bucs fan otherwise maybe this would have been one that would have interested me a bit more.



#39 Curtis Enis Chicago Bears Jersey

Oh Curtis. You were supposed to an answer to all the Bears problems at running back. You were going to make us Bears fans forget about the mistake that was Rashaan Salaam. Well done Curtis. I think its safe to say that you're more famous now for changing your number from 39 to 44 than for any accomplishment with the Bears that you had.

-I failed to purchase this one for the simple reason that the numbers were just too faded in order to cough up the three dollars it would have cost me. Had the jersey been in a little better shape then it would have been all mine.

#4 Shawn Kemp Cleveland Cavaliers Jersey

Why did you have to be a youth size 10-12? Dammit. This was a once in a lifetime find. When do you ever find the jersey of the man who likely fathered the most children in NBA history. Then its not even from the team he was prominent all through the 90's on, a reason that the jersey was even a better find.

I only wound up purchasing one jersey this past Saturday. It came from a college football player that was a stud when I was in fourth and fifth grade. Yes, he may be guilty of upsetting the Irish in week one of the 1994 season, but I have let that go. God dammit, this guy has gone on to win multiple academy awards since then.
Yup, I'm talking about Darnell Autry. The Heisman finalist from Northwestern. I know, that doesn't really roll off of the tounge too terribly easy, of course "Big Ten Rose Bowl Representitive Wildcats" doesn't exactly flow nicely. Whatever the case I was damn proud of my find. Bitter jealousness ate me up when one of my friends had this as a kid and I did not. Good news, for my next Jersey and Sneaker Night, I already have my wardrobe picked out...

That and I also can go to a Chicago sporting event now and be one of "those guys" you always see wearing a jersey from about 10+ years ago that makes your eyes water at first sight.

Kirk Herbstreit

I may hate Ohio State. Yes, ESPN is the only real 24 hour sports station on TV, but I have my moments that I really dislike them too. If you were to mix the two though, somehow something remarkable comes of it...

The man who could have been the illegitimate father of half the state of Ohio residents between the ages of 13-17 now if he had so desired. Never have I agreed with a man about college football more. He's honest and to the point and not a "homer" like so many others in the business. Never have I agreed with someone more then when this happened on Thursday Night Football last week (thanks, Deadspin).



Why do you dance when on the road and down by 17? I agree with you entirely Kirk, I don't care if the game is supposed to be fun. You don't owe anyone an apology for your outburst, you at least have a pair of testicles unlike your partner from Colorado.

Brawl

What happens when you put Miami's football team out on the same field as a bunch of players that we're smart enough to get into Miami of all places to play football?



Wow. The Canes of the 80's appear to be back and in full force...Besides that whole being good thing.

31 Players (13 UM, 18 FIU) have been suspended as a result of this. My goodness, and Will Smith makes that place seem like somewhere great to go.

Video Game comes to Life

So yesterday was apparantely a few teams time to do their best NCAA '07 impressions. In two upsets that I thought were only possible in the popular video game, Georgia lost to Vandy and Indiana upset Iowa. Does this make any sense to anyone? I know Iowa was banged up and I've been calling Georgia overhyped all year, but still. Come on Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers lost to the likes of Southern Illinois this season.

Classiness

You guys have been giving me a hard time in that you feel I think that every school outside of South Bend, Indiana is classless. There are plenty of schools besides Notre Dame that I have respect for, it just happens to be that so far on Notre Dame schedule this year, we are yet to come across any of those teams.

Army-The biggest scandal this school has ever faced was when players were caught cheating on a test...Oh yeah, they were thrown out of school. Nothing but the upmost respect for the Black Knights

Navy-I honestly can't think of any drama that the Naval Academy has drawn besides how they do not tolerate homosexuals. Little known fact, during World War II the Naval Academy actually kept the University of Notre Dame open by sending many midshipmen to school in South Bend.

Air Force - Anyone see a theme yet? The biggest thing that Air Force has ever done is when their coach made a statement about about how race affects the speed of an athlete. Outside of that I have all respect for them as well.

Indiana - The only problem with the Hoosiers is that they had Lee Corso as a coach in the 1980's. My favorite story of him of course being when he was leading Woody Hayes 7-0 in the first quarter one year and he called a time out to take a picture of his team huddled in front of the scoreboard that read "Indiana 7 Ohio State 0". I'm fairly sure that the final score ended up being somewhere in the 40's-7 in favor of tOSU.

Northwestern - The Wildcats don't have the richest of traditions in college football but they run a good, clean program...Outside of the Gary Barnett days.

Tennessee - Phil Fulmer and the Vols have been a stand up program since Fulmer arrived on the scene. You never hear about Tennessee in recruiting violations or anything like that.

Okay, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Iowa, and whole heck of a lot more are on the list. Maybe I'll make a 1-119 rankings one day of teams I like to teams I can not stomach in order.

My Top 25

Not that it really matters, I've decided to start my own top 25, feel free to let me hear about it.

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. Florida
4. USC
5. Louisville
6. West Virginia
7. Tennessee
8. Notre Dame
9. California
10. Auburn
11. Clemson
12. Texas
13. Georgia Tech
14. LSU
15. Iowa
16. Oregon
17. Georgia
18. Boise State
19. Missouri
20. Arkansas
21. Oklahoma
22. Nebraska
23. Va Tech
24. Navy
25. Wisconsin

Yes, I truly do feel that the two best teams in college football happen to be from the Big Ten. Why not Florida you ask? I still am not entirely sold on the Gators. Both Ohio State and Michigan have gone on the road and absolutley beat the hell out of a good team. Florida really should have lost to Tennessee and LSU lost the game more than Florida won it this past weekend.

Other questions in my poll would possibly be West Virginia being ranked behind Louisville. With Brian Brohm set to comeback I feel that the Cardinals are a little bit stronger than the Moutainmen. We will all see on November 2nd in what promises to be a good one.

Other than that the only two other things I can see people gripping about in my poll is the fact that Texas is #12 and that Navy is included in it. Let me explain my thinking. Texas was a bit overhyped coming into this season, that is the only reason they remain in the top 10 in the current AP and Coaches Polls.

Navy is the other team that I can already hear people saying is not worthy of a top 25 bid. Hold your horses now. The Midshipmen are 5-1 and their only loss is coming to Tulsa by one point. They host Rutgers this week and expect the dream season of the Scarlet Knights to hit a bump because Navy is on their way to yet another bowl game.

Florida Gators

Go Ahead. Do It. Pencil in the Florida Gators for a national championship berth. By watching ESPN this week its what everyone is ready to do. Do the Gators make up an excellent football team? Yes.


However I was not that impressed with what I saw this weekend from them. LSU didn't show up to play and it showed. If Jamarcus Russell doesn't fumble the ball on the goaline, the Bayou Bengals go up a touchdown and the game is entirely different. However that is not what happened and momentum went in the favor of the Gators in a big, big way.

Looking at Florida's remaining schedule, two or three losses by the end of the regular season is not an exaggeration. Urban Meyer's boys travel to Auburn this weekend, a place where Arkansas just owned the Tigers on Saturday. Does that make Auburn bad though, I do not think so. They fell victim to overlooking Arkansas, looking ahead to the showdown with Florida.

Now I do not feel that Florida will lose three games in the regular season but they won't go unbeaten either. Chalk a loss up this weekend for them in the Jungle. I'm still not quite buying them as a national title team.

Week 6 Recap

A week six recap. This past week, believe it or not, there were sporting events played that didn't involove the Yankees losing and that also didn't involve teams from the SEC.

Two teams stood out to me this week more than any other two, call me crazy but the Florida Gators are not one of these teams. I thought that LSU kind of lost the game at The Swamp more than Florida so much won it.

I instead was impressed with two teams that played each other in week one, Cal and Tennessee. Tennessee is within one play of being unbeaten right now, with that loss coming to Florida. The Vols fell behind early but were able to come back and just romp on the Dawgs. Erik Ainge is really turning into a solid quarterback and the Tennessee offense is beginning to look explosive. The defense kind of had an off week if you look at the points Georgia was able to put up. However two of these scores came on special teams while one score was set up on a turnover in Tennesse's territory. Take away 17 of Georgia's 33 that they put up and thats only a 16 point output. Not that bad of a job by the Vols D.

Cal is the other team I was very impressed with this weekend. The way Oregon was playing coming into this one I really thought that the Ducks had a legit shot to win the game. I didn't see them getting blown away like they did. After getting blown out by the Vols in week one teams kind of forgot about Cal. This team is dangerous and is going to give USC all they can handle when the matchup comes around. ..

I was also disappointed by Oregon, who for the first time in school history did not have the ugliest uniforms on the field during a game.

No More Tears

I'm really starting to get sick of the Oklahoma Sooners. A classless school that just complains. Well guess what OU...You contributed to the best video that I saw this weekend...

Stanford

Plain and simple, Stanford is just downright bad. They give up an average of 37 points a contest and they have only played one team in the top 25. Chew on that for a while, the scoreboard Saturday will show an Irish run away, but how will Coach Weis and the Irish go about doing it?

Anyway that they really want to. Teams have shown the ability to both run and pass the ball against the Cardinal this season. Navy is the only team with truly lopsided numbers in one of the categories, but then again that is Navy for you.

Last year Jeff Samardzija had huge numbers along with two touchdowns against Stanford. Expect more of the same this year as the Irish run away with this one and just perhaps put a 50 on the board.

Thanks Dad

Okay, so its apparantely video day on What Thou the Odds but this one is too interesting to pass up. If you see your kid fall victim to an extremely cheap and late hit, what would you do?



Overreact without realizing its part of the game?

Stunning

And the award for best blocked kick of all time goes to...

Stanford

I'm tired of hearing about how classy of institution that Stanford is. It's not and their band may very well take the honor of being "The Band with the highest GPA, but least common sense in d-1 College Football"

And I quote...

"In 1991, Notre Dame banned the Band after the drum major dressed like a nun and was attacked by a Notre Dame fan. Later, they were disciplined for a Riverdance skit and a Potato Famine joke."

Hilarious.

Don't forget that their stupidity is the sole reason that this will always be the most famous play in college football, if not all of sports, enjoy.

Quick Purdue Recap

The Irish are still yet to play four quarters in a football game this season but not a lot of complaints are going to be heard from Saturday's 35-21 victory over Purdue...complaints offensively anyway. The defense looked herrendous to say the least. Lymon and Painter honestly looked like Montana and Rice. 238 yards by one reciever has to be some kind of joke. What happened to the defense that played the first two weeks this season?

Trying to stay positive we will discuss Darius Walker. I thought at the start of the season that D-Walk would have a standout year. So far he has proven me wrong but Saturday was a step in the right direction. He basically carried the offense on his back the first possession of the game, setting up the score by West. Walker went on to rush for 146 yards while snagging 9 passes for 73 more. My game ball obviously goes to Darius.

I was hard on Rhema McKnight after the Michigan game. I thought there were multiple times he messed up that day, but he has really turned the corner the last two weeks. He had two key scores in the comeback victory at Michigan State while he added a pair of scores Saturday. If teams continue to load up on the Shark, having to throw to McKnight is looking like it won't be such a bad thing.

Now its on to Stanford, a team that seems to be in shambles. A team that can't afford to be overlooked, remember they came up and just about bit us in the ass out there last season. Expect a big day from the recieving gang of the Irish, full preview coming shortly.