About Frickin' Time

The Irish outlast UCLA and finally, finally, finally, holy freaking hell, finally get their first W of the season. Was it pretty? It seems like the answer to this is no but in all honesty I didn't see one down of this game. Being in college and all and having to broadcast The Battle for the Little Brass Bell took away from my Irish-watching Saturday night.

Announcing for a 3-2 DIII team coupled with not having a functioning VCR leaves me with the Ga-Tech debacle as the only game I have seen from start to finish for Notre Dame this year. With everything being read however I am left with plenty of questions...

1) Why no vertical passing game from Jimmy Clausen??
-Seems to me from everything that I have been able to read that the team runs the same offense when both Clausen and Sharpley are on the field. When then may I ask does Jimmy not attempt the deep ball? Whatever happened to John Carlson and his seem routes that were so effective last year and why have they not been used in '07?

2) Was the defense that good last night?
-Honest question. I have heard that the performance last night is what a 3-4 defense is supposed to look like and by giving up just six points it was obviously effective. Remember Ben Olson was injured though, how big of difference would he have made?

3) Is the progression of the offense enough to make this an elite offense in the years to come?
-Seems to be the offensive line is playing better as of late. Are they developing as we expected or is this simply what happens when you play a few of the weaker fronts? Is Jimmy for real, will he be the Saviour that we were lead on to believe he would be? Sure Armando has as much speed as anyone but will he ever be able to maneuver around a defender?

That's all I have for now. BC this week, time to have a role reversal and have us ruin their potential title dreams...wait, "BC" and "title dreams" in the same sentence? That's gotta be a misprint. Midterms this week which means procrastination and much blogging...go irish.

Golden Tate

Rhema McKnight with hands.

Playoff Debate

A playoff would be crazy in college football, especially after watching this weeks slew of upsets. As my often outspoken suite mate often tells me, "Bite My Ass!".

There is no need for a college football playoff. If there was a playoff, someone please tell me the significance of what happened late in Gainesville on Saturday night. What meaning would Colorado upstaging Bob Stoops and Oklahoma have? Would the fact that South Florida ousted the favored Mountaineers even matter?

The answer to all these questions is a simple n-o. The fact of the matter is that each week plays the role of a round by round playoff in college football. There is no need to mess with this. What do you know, right now the two teams that everyone has slated as the two best in the country would be set to play each other in the national title. Think of Ohio State/Michigan last fall and all the hype that surrounded that game. Would there have been any hype whatsoever around this game between unbeatens in the final week of the season? None at all. Likely the stars would have sat out with both coaching staffs knowing each others futures were safe in the fact both would be in a playoff.

A playoff would ruin college football, it would make what happened this past weekend painfully meaningless. It would not make for a crazy playoff, it would simply take away from the regular season, a regular that is bar none the most exciting of any major sport.

Clausen or Sharpley?

Question on many Irish fans minds right now. Should it be the wonder boy JC, or should it be Evan Sharpley under center for the Irish against the Bruins. Depends what exactly you are looking for if you are Notre Dame. I feel very adamant that a two quarterback system does not work unless you have QB's with two extremes (passing and rush ability). Obviously Demetrius Jones may have presented the Irish with the option to at least try running the ball with the QB but his passing was beyond a joke.

So stick with Jimmy or go with Sharpley who is yet to start a game? Coach Weis today announced as long as JC is healthy that he is the guy. I will admit that I am quite the fan of Evan Sharpley but I feel this is the right move.

As much as it hurts to say, the Irish really have no hope for this year. In order to reach a bowl game even you have to ask them to beat at least one top 10 team as well as win in the Rose Bowl this weekend. We can hope but reality has to set in that this is not likely to happen whatsoever.

I would like to see JC throw the ball down field a little bit more than we have seen. The only difference I see between him and Sharpley right now is that Sharpley shows a little better ability to step up in the pocket and fire the ball down field. JC still seems to prefer escaping the tackle box and having to either throw on the run or take it himself. Although he is more fleet of foot than Brady ever was, Jimmy is by no means a scrambler.

This is something that is only going to come with time for Jimmy. Anyone remember Brady's line his freshman year? Refresher...

Brady Quinn 157/332 15INT 47.3 Comp.% 1831yds 9TD
JC(Thru 5 games) 57/94 3 INT 60.6 Comp.% 474yds 0TD

Tough to compare numbers, Brady obviously was less hesitant to throw the ball down field his freshman year. Will Jimmy Clausen turn into what Brady Quinn was? Time will tell. I do feel however in order to have a big time quarterback, he has to be given time to learn by trial and error now. Having Clausen on the sidelines if he is healthy is not going to do this team any favors besides for the short term. At most, maybe Sharpley is one win better than Clausen the rest of the year. I'm not sure about you, I'll trade a win or two from here on out this year for an All-American type quarterback in a year or two.