Classic Ground

The End

2010-08-03T20:00:00.002-04:00

Since the very first post on Classic Ground back in mid-March 2006, this blog has been about "my beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions related to art, to American popular culture, and to the fortunes of America's greatest gridiron tradition." I started because I had some awful, post-dissertation-research-turned-into-book-and-exhibition writer's block, and I used the blog to unclog the issue. As Notre Dame football embarks on the Brian Kelly era, this blog won't go on that particular ride.

I started just after Charlie Weis's first year and the opening of Brady Quinn's Heisman candidacy. I wrote about things that interested me. 1002 posts, including this one. 2 World Cups. Book reviews. Memories of the San Diego Sockers. Album reviews. Top ND plays.

If you have been paying attention, blog posts have become too few and far between. Classic Ground has served its usefullness for me. And I won't take the metaphorical napalm to the blog, yet, but will keep it up as an archive for now.

The End. Go Irish!

Pittsburgh area trip

2010-07-17T13:11:00.003-04:00

This past week, Bill Eiland, director at the Georgia Museum of Art, and I traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday evening, after arriving in Pittsburgh, we immediately headed downtown to the Andy Warhol Museum. At the Warhol, we had a quick conversation with director Tom Sokolowski, viewed the exhibition Twisted Pair: Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, and enjoyed the unique store.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day in a private collection which included great American tonalist and impressionist landscapes, WPA-era prints, and more.

On Thursday, Bill and I packed in an insane amount of museum viewing: (1) the Frick Art & Historical Center, with a personal tour from the director, Bill Bodine, and his director of curatorial affairs, Sarah Hall, and looking at the special exhibition Small But Sublime: Intimate 19th-Century American Landscapes; (2) a drive from Pittsburgh to Youngstown, Ohio, and a wonderful personal tour and late lunch with The Butler Institute of American Art's director, Lou Zona; and (3) the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, including the excellent art collection, minerals and rocks, dinosaurs, and everything else.

Yesterday, Bill and I sojourned out to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and visited with (and enjoyed lunch with) Judith Hansen O'Toole, director, and Barbara Jones, chief curator, at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

A whole litany of future projects and potential projects for the Georgia Museum of Art will emerge from this great trip.

Pictures follow:

Wayback Machine

2010-07-07T09:43:00.000-04:00

Back in 2002, the Georgia Museum of Art joined with museums in communities throughout the United States to celebrate "freedom" as a way to mark the one-year anniversary of September 11.

Freedom, a display of works from the museum's permanent collection, was on view from August 24 to September 22 in the Lamar Dodd Gallery in 2002. The exhibition focused on the freedoms to assemble, to create, to worship, to inquire, to express ideas, and freedom from fear. It was also a collaboration between me and our two other curators at the time, Ashley Callahan (decorative arts) and Romita Ray (prints & drawings).

Georgia Public Broadcasting Radio came to the museum and did a story on 8/30/02 on Freedom. The audio (which we only previously had on cassette but, thanks to Lynn Boland, now in a digital format) has (a much younger) yours truly interviewed a couple of times, and is embedded and playable below:

The two paintings above -- Art Rosenbaum's McIntosh County Shouters (Oil on canvas; GMOA 1996.84) [Art is also interviewed in the piece...] and Ferdinand Warren's Night Ball Game (1946; oil on canvas; GMOA 1947.174), respectively -- are mentioned in the radio story. The display also included, and the radio blurb mentions, a marble portrait bust of Abraham Lincoln by Randolph Rogers, based upon his large-scale public sculpture in Philadelphia.

(Double posted at Curator's Corner.)

"The moral rectitude of the referee"

2010-06-27T20:15:00.005-04:00

Beppe Severgnini, in his Ciao, America! An Italian Discovers the U.S., on Americans and the 1994 World Cup:

"The average American approaches soccer like a pathologist: he (or she) cuts it open to find out what's inside. Facts. Numbers. Statistics. You can't simply say that the other team was incredibly lucky and the refereeing was scandalous (these are concepts that translate into any language). Oh no. Americans demand that victories and defeats should have a justification. Soccer, like everything else, has to be scientific. ...The vital thing is to have an explanation that doesn't depend on good luck or the moral rectitude of the referee."

2010 FIFA World Cup™: Round of 16
Ghana 2, US 1
Uruguay 2, South Korea 1
Germany 4, England 1
Argentina 3, Mexico 1
Quality goalkeeping? Rare.
Excellent FIFA referees in the round? Way too few.

WC 2010 Group Stage over

2010-06-25T16:30:00.001-04:00

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Props for using the great Rudy soundtrack as well.

Official FIFA highlights [here].

Back to my World Cup picks...

As of last Saturday, I was a very mediocre 10-16 (.385).

Here is what has happened, beside the American victory, since:

Group A
Tues. June 22 My pick: Mexico ties Uruguay. Incorrect. Uruguay 1, Mexico 0.
Tues. June 22 My pick: France ties South Africa. Incorrect. South Africa 2, France 1.

Group B
Tues. June 22 My pick: Nigeria ties South Korea. Correct. Nigeria 2, South Korea 2.
Tues. June 22 My pick: Argentina over Greece. Correct. Argentina 2, Greece 0.

Group C
Wed. June 23 My pick: England over Slovenia. Correct. England 1, Slovenia 0.
Wed. June 23 My pick: USA over Algeria. Correct. USA 1, Algeria 0.

Group D
Wed. June 23 My pick: Germany over Ghana. Correct. Germany 1, Ghana 0.
Wed. June 23 My pick: Serbia over Australia. Incorrect. Australia 2, Serbia 1.

Group E
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Denmark ties Japan. Incorrect. Japan 3, Denmark 1.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Netherlands ties Cameroon. Incorrect. Netherlands 2, Cameroon 1.

Group F
Sun. June 20 My pick: Slovakia ties Paraguay. Incorrect. Paraguay 2, Slovakia 0.
Sun. June 20 My pick: Italy over New Zealand. Incorrect. Italy 1, New Zealand 1.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Slovakia over Italy. Correct. Slovakia 3, Italy 2.
Thurs. June 24 My pick: Paraguay over New Zealand. Incorrect. Paraguay 0, New Zealand 0.

Group G
Sun. June 20 My pick: Brazil over Côte d'Ivoire. Correct. Brazil 3, Côte d'Ivoire 1.
Mon. June 21 My pick: Portugal over North Korea. Correct. Portugal 7, North Korea 0.
Fri. June 25 My pick: Brazil over Portugal. Incorrect. Brazil 0, Portugal 0.
Fri. June 25 My pick: Côte d'Ivoire over North Korea. Correct. Côte d'Ivoire 3, North Korea 0.

Group H
Mon. June 21 10a Chile ties Switzerland. Incorrect. Chile 1, Switzerland 0.
Mon. June 21 2:30p Spain over Honduras. Correct. Spain 2, Honduras 0.
Fri. June 25 2:30p Spain over Chile. Correct. Spain 2, Chile 1.
Fri. June 25 2:30p Switzerland ties Honduras. Correct. Switzerland 0, Honduras 0.

Overall, on my Group Stage picks? 22-26 (.458). Not terrible.

My selections for teams making the Round of 16?
A: Mexico, Uruguay
B: Argentina, Greece
C: England, USA
D: Germany, Serbia
E: Netherlands, Cameroon
F: Slovakia, Italy
G: Brazil, Portugal
H: Spain, Chile

So, I got 12 of 16 correct and properly guessed 5 of the 8 group winners.
All 4 of my semifinal teams remain in the tournament.

Tomorrow:

United States

vs.

Ghana

2:30pm (EDT) on ABC

The Bottom Six teams of the tournament? A bit of a shocking list with three African teams plus France: North Korea (0 pts.; -11 goal differential), Cameroon (0 pts.; -3 goal differential), Honduras (1 pt.; -3 goal differential, zero goals scored), France (1 pt.; -3 goal differential), Algeria (1 pt., -2 goal differential, zero goals scored), and Nigeria (1 pt., -2 goal differential).

WC 10 update

2010-06-19T22:19:00.002-04:00

Above, Clint Dempsey expresses my feelings about referee Koman Coulibaly; but also about my picks so far. Eight days of the FIFA World Cup 2010 down. I was 2-3 after the first two days with my picks. Here is how I have done over the last 6...

Group A
Wed. June 16 2:30p Uruguay over South Africa. Correct. Uruguay 3, South Africa 0.
Thurs. June 17 2:30p Mexico over France. Correct. Mexico 2, France 0.

Group B
Wed. June 16 7:30a Argentina over South Korea. Correct. Argentina 4, South Korea 1.
Wed. June 16 10a Greece ties Nigeria. Incorrect. Greece 2, Nigeria 1.

Group C
Sun. June 13 7:30a Algeria ties Slovenia. Incorrect. Slovenia 1, Algeria 0.
Fri. June 18 10a Slovenia ties USA. Correct. Slovenia 2, USA 2.
Michell Kaufman in the Miami Herald sums up my feelings pretty well [here].
Fri. June 18 2:30p England over Algeria. Incorrect. England 0, Algeria 0.

Group D
Sun. June 13 10a Serbia ties Ghana. Incorrect. Ghana 1, Serbia 0.
Sun. June 13 2:30p Germany over Australia. Correct. Germany 4, Australia 0.
Fri. June 18 7:30a Germany ties Serbia. Incorrect. Serbia 1, Germany 0.
Sat. June 19 10a Ghana ties Australia. Correct. Ghana 1, Australia 1.

Group E
Mon. June 14 7:30a Netherlands ties Denmark. Incorrect. Netherlands 2, Denmark 1.
Mon. June 14 10a Cameroon over Japan. Incorrect. Japan 1, Cameroon 0.
Sat. June 19 7:30a Netherlands over Japan. Correct. Netherlands 1, Japan 0.
Sat. June 19 2:30p Cameroon ties Denmark. Incorrect. Denmark 2, Cameroon 1.

Group F
Mon. June 14 2:30p Italy over Paraguay. Incorrect. Italy 1, Paraguay 1.
Tues. June 15 7:30a Slovakia over New Zealand. Incorrect. New Zealand 1, Slovakia 1.

Group G
Tues. June 15 10a Portugal over Côte d'Ivoire. Incorrect. Portugal 0, Côte d'Ivoire 0
Tues. June 15 2:30p Brazil over North Korea. Correct. Brazil 2, North Korea 1.

Group H
Wed. June 16 7:30a Honduras ties Chile. Incorrect. Chile 1, Honduras 0.
Wed. June 16 10a Spain over Switzerland. Incorrect. Switzerland 1, Spain 0.

Overall: 10-16 (.385), just slightly better than a random .333 would be.

WC 10: Good 2 days

2010-06-12T18:28:00.002-04:00

..except for my picks and Rob Green's handle.

Group A
Fri. South Africa 1 - Mexico 1
My pick: Incorrect. Mexico over South Africa.

Fri. Uruguay 0 - France 0
My pick: Correct. Uruguay ties France

Group B
Sat. South Korea 2 - Greece 0
My pick: Incorrect. Greece over South Korea

Sat. Argentina 1 - Nigeria 0
My pick: Correct. Argentina over Nigeria

Group C
Sat. England 1 - USA 1
My pick: Thankfully, incorrect. 2-3 for the first 2 days. England over USA
US Soccer's official recap [here]. Post-match quotations [here]. Too bad Jozy Altidore's was as unlucky as Clint Dempsey was lucky or it could have been 3 points for the Americans. Steve Cherundolo, who I thought played very well, Jay DeMerit, and Robbie Findley each received yellow cards for the U.S.

Next up for the Americans: Slovenia on Friday at 10a EDT.

FIFA World Cup 2010 predictions

2010-06-09T06:34:00.002-04:00

Four years ago, I went ahead and offered up my predictions for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and announced that I thought the hosts would win it.

For 2010 in South Africa, my predictions are below, with Spain over Argentina in the Final.

I'll do a periodic check-in to see how lousy I'm doing.

By the way, kickoff times are EDT and taken from FIFA.com.

Group A
Fri. June 11 10a Mexico over South Africa
Fri. June 11 2:30p Uruguay ties France
Wed. June 16 2:30p Uruguay over South Africa
Thurs. June 17 2:30p Mexico over France
Tues. June 22 10a Mexico ties Uruguay
Tues. June 22 10a France ties South Africa
Advancing: Mexico (7 points) and Uruguay (5 points)
Going home: France (2 points) and South Africa (1 point)

Group B
Sat. June 12 7:30a Greece over South Korea
Sat. June 12 10a Argentina over Nigeria
Wed. June 16 7:30a Argentina over South Korea
Wed. June 16 10a Greece ties Nigeria
Tues. June 22 2:30p Nigeria ties South Korea
Tues. June 22 2:30 Argentina over Greece
Advancing: Argentina (9 points) and Greece (5 points)
Going home: Nigeria (2 points) and South Korea (1 point)

Group C
Sat. June 12 2:30p England over USA
Sun. June 13 7:30a Algeria ties Slovenia
Fri. June 18 10a Slovenia ties USA
Fri. June 18 2:30p England over Algeria
Wed. June 23 10a England over Slovenia
Wed. June 23 10a USA over Algeria
Advancing: England (9 points) and USA (4 points)
Going home: Slovenia (2 points) and Algeria (1 point)

Group D
Sun. June 13 10a Serbia ties Ghana
Sun. June 13 2:30p Germany over Australia
Fri. June 18 7:30a Germany ties Serbia
Sat. June 19 10a Ghana ties Australia
Wed. June 23 2:30p Germany over Ghana
Wed. June 23 2:30p Serbia over Australia
Advancing: Germany (7 points) and Serbia (5 points)
Going home: Ghana (2 points) and Australia (1 point)

Group E
Mon. June 14 7:30a Netherlands ties Denmark
Mon. June 14 10a Cameroon over Japan
Sat. June 19 7:30a Netherlands over Japan
Sat. June 19 2:30p Cameroon ties Denmark
Thurs. June 24 2:30p Denmark ties Japan
Thurs. June 24 2:30p Netherlands ties Cameroon
Advancing: Netherlands (5 points) and Cameroon (5 points)
Going home: Denmark (3 points) and Japan (1 point)

Group F
Mon. June 14 2:30p Italy over Paraguay
Tues. June 15 7:30a Slovakia over New Zealand
Sun. June 20 7:30a Slovakia ties Paraguay
Sun. June 20 10a Italy over New Zealand
Thurs. June 24 10a Slovakia over Italy
Thurs. June 24 10a Paraguay over New Zealand
Advancing: Slovakia (7 points) and Italy (6 points)
Going home: Paraguay (4 points) and New Zealand (0 points)

Group G
Tues. June 15 10a Portugal over Côte d'Ivoire
Tues. June 15 2:30p Brazil over North Korea
Sun. June 20 2:30p Brazil over Côte d'Ivoire
Mon. June 21 7:30a Portugal over North Korea
Fri. June 25 10a Brazil over Portugal
Fri. June 25 10a Côte d'Ivoire over North Korea
Advancing: Brazil (9 points) and Portugal (6 points)
Going home: Côte d'Ivoire (3 points) and North Korea (0 points)

Group H
Wed. June 16 7:30a Honduras ties Chile
Wed. June 16 10a Spain over Switzerland
Mon. June 21 10a Chile ties Switzerland
Mon. June 21 2:30p Spain over Honduras
Fri. June 25 2:30p Spain over Chile
Fri. June 25 2:30p Switzerland ties Honduras
Advancing: Spain (9 points) and Chile (2 points)
Going home: Honduras (2 points) and Switzerland (2 points)

Round of 16
Sat. June 26 10a Mexico over Greece
Sat. June 26 2:30p England over Serbia
Sun. June 27 10a Germany over USA
Sun. June 27 2:30p Argentina over Uruguay
Mon. June 28 10a Italy over Netherlands
Mon. June 28 2:30p Brazil over Chile
Tues. June 29 10a Slovakia over Cameroon
Tues. June 29 2:30p Spain over Portugal

Quarterfinals
Fri. July 2 10a England over Mexico
Fri. July 2 2:30p Argentina over Germany
Sat. July 3 10a Brazil over Italy
Sat. July 3 2:30p Spain over Slovakia

Semifinals
Tues. July 6 2:30p Argentina over England
Wed. July 7 2:30p Spain over Brazil

Third Place Game
Sat. July 10 2:30p Brazil over England

Final
Sun. July 11 2:30p Spain over Argentina

Recruiting update

2010-04-29T12:05:00.001-04:00

The Blue-Gold weekend, as mentioned below, was a large recruiting event for the Notre Dame football staff.

Next to give their pledges were a trio of players at the Blue-Gold weekend: Tony Springmann, Jarrett Grace, and Conor Hanratty.

Springmann, an offensive lineman from Fort Wayne, Indiana, chose Notre Dame over Boston College, Duke, Stanford, Purdue, and Michigan State.

Grace, a linebacker out of Cincinnati, selected the Irish over Boston College, Stanford, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Michigan State.

If the name Hanratty doesn't sound familiar, you are a newbie Irish fan. A hint, from Sports Illustrated and Time:

Conor Hanratty, meanwhile, is an offensive lineman from New Canaan, Connecticut, and selected his Dad's alma mater over the likes of Boston College, California, Clemson, Florida State, Iowa, Stanford, and Wisconsin.

Steve Wiltfong, at Irish Sports Daily, has an interesting article on recruiting in the mid-1960s versus today via the Hanratty family.

Yet, for some Notre Dame fans, one of the lingering questions when Brian Kelly was hired was -- given his time spent at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati -- how would he fare when he went head-to-head against the elite football programs for the commitments of blue-chip, 5-star players? Could Kelly and the Irish staff beat Southern Cal, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, and the like for a player?

So?

Ben Koyack, a tight end from Oil City, Pennsylvania, will continue the tradition of Notre Dame as Tight End U., and picked ND over Penn State, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, and the rest of Division I football. South Bend Tribune article [here].

Then, Kelly got a pledge from Matthew Hegarty, an elite offensive tackle from Aztec, New Mexico, over offers from Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Southern Cal, and the rest of the nation. Irish Sports Daily [here]. If you like cyberstalking recruits, Youtube video from Oklahoma's camp [here].

Of course, some Irish fans still await the next elite defensive lineman to say "yes" to Kelly...

B-G wrap

2010-04-24T20:15:00.000-04:00

Tom Coyne's Associated Press story via und.com [here].

und.com great litany of video content is [here].
.pdf file for stats [here].

Remembering that the defense was intentionally "vanilla," und.com's youtube highlights of the game...

2010's The Shirt is, of course, kelly green:

It includes a detail/version of the November 1993 Sports Illustrated cover featuring Jim Flanigan.

Blue-Gold Classic 'Round the World

2010-04-21T17:01:00.000-04:00

* 81st Annual Blue-Gold Game to be available live and online. From und.com:

"Fighting Irish fans anxious to see the University of Notre Dame football team in action under the direction of head coach Brian Kelly, but are unable to make it to campus this weekend, will be pleased to know that und.com will be providing an exclusive live stream of the 81st-annual Blue-Gold Game this Saturday, April 24.

The live stream will begin before kickoff, set for 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, with commentary provided by und.com's Jack Nolan and former Irish All-Americans Reggie Brooks and Mirko Jurkovic.

The live stream will also feature the debut of Actioncam at Notre Dame Stadium, an aerial camera performing a test-run for NBC Sports on Saturday for possible inclusion in Irish football coverage during the fall of 2010."

Quarterback Dayne Crist will play but be "protected."

* If you are not like me, and can get to South Bend, ticket information is [here] from und.com.

* "The Shirt" 2010 gets unveiled Friday. "More than 120,000 shirts were sold in last year's $500,000 campaign. Over the years, the project has raised more than $6 million for student organizations and to aid students facing extraordinary medical conditions." I have an array in my closet of The Shirts going back to 1990...with a few exceptions.

* Coach Kelly says the Big 10 is "old and worn." Kelly: "I can pitch national and that helps us."

* More player-interest stories:

WR Theo Riddick: Chicago Tribune
LB Steve Paskorz: South Bend Tribune
WR Tai-ler Jones: Elkhart Truth; South Bend Tribune
WR Shaq Evans: Elkhart Truth
CB Gary Gray: Irish Sports Daily
QB Tommy Rees: South Bend Tribune
S Harrison Smith: Elkhart Truth

* From the "Where are they now?" files...Broward County, Florida: "Pope John Paul II High announced Monday that former NFL running back and college football star Autry Denson has been named the school's football coach."

That requires a video clip featuring Denson:

* Recruits:

Blue-Gold weekend is an important recruiting time. But, Coach Kelly and the Irish staff received two more verbal commitments recently.

Defensive back Matthias Farley from North Carolina. Irish Sports Daily [here]. He selected the Irish over Wisconsin, NC State, North Carolina, Duke, and UCLA.

Kicker Kyle Brindza from Michigan. South Bend Tribune [here]. The odd part about Brindza's commitment is that it might be for this Fall, or for early enrollment in January, all yet to be determined. Coach Kelly figuratively stole Brindza from the Wolverines.

* Notre Dame at Michigan State, 8pm, ABC. The last night game at Spartan Stadium for the Irish on ABC was a classic:

Classic 'Round the World

2010-04-08T21:00:00.002-04:00

Posts have been few and far between due to real world writing duties; posts will remain few for some time to come...Sorry.

Meanwhile, the Notre Dame football team has been moving through spring practices.

* Spring always means player-interest stories in the media. Here are a few so far:

QB Dayne Crist: Irish insights blog; Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
QB Nate Montana: South Bend Tribune; Irish Sports Daily
LB Manti Te'o: Irish Sports Daily; Elkhart Truth; BlueandGold.com
WR Shaquelle Evans: Irish Sports Daily
WR John Goodman: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
RB Armando Allen: South Bend Tribune
OL Braxton Cave: South Bend Tribune; Irish Sports Daily; BlueandGold.com
OL Matt Romine: South Bend Tribune
LB Anthony McDonald: Irish Sports Daily

* A coaching change also brings out the usual tropes and motifs...

As example...
Stewart Mandel, SI.com [here] and Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com [here].

* Prayers to the family of Matt James. Nothing else to say.

* I'm also very late in posting about Notre Dame's first two recruits for the next recruiting cycle: Brad Carrico and Jordan Prestwood.

Spring practice opens

2010-03-27T09:54:00.006-04:00

The Fighting Irish -- with Coach Kelly's focus on restoring the "fighting" (read: "Our roots are the Fighting Irish. I think building that model requires some toughness") part to that -- opened 2010 spring practice.

und.com update page [here] with links to a practice report, a Dayne Crist brief interview, and player comments.

Coach Kelly's press conference transcript [here].

Of note, to me...

* The practice routine, drills, and schedule remain fluid for Kelly. The team will work on whatever they need to.

* Kelly has guarded praise already for Dayne Crist at QB:

"I think the first thing you see an engaging young man, bright eyed, enthusiastic. He's got all those intangibles that immediately people would gravitate towards. ...But it takes more than that to be a championship quarterback. You know, you've got to be able to produce on the field. You've got to be able to get your players around you to obviously make plays. So he's got a lot of work to do. ...It's going to be a competitive situation for Dayne. That's why it's so incumbent upon him to be involved in everything we do through the spring. It's a proving ground for him as well."

* No depth chart. Players work in groupings, in "pods."

* Kelly singled out Chris Stewart, Kapron Lewis-Moore ("Kap Lewis"), and Manti Te'o as early leaders.

* With Golden Tate off to the NFL, Manti Te'o (at inside LB) easily becomes my new favorite player:

"He's a college football player. He's got that excitement, that passion. Those are the guys I want to be around. I'm passionate about what I do. I want to be around guys that love the game, love being around it. So he brings that energy on a day to day basis."

* Michael Floyd is slimmer:

"Michael Floyd has work to do, as well. The volume that we're going to throw at him is something that's going to be new. He's lost a lot of weight. He's down into the 216, 217 range, from 233 when we got here because he just would not have been able to stay on the field with the pace of play. He's made a great commitment."

* Wide receiver and outside linebacker are two of the big position battles this spring.

Press takes on the press conference and practice:

Keith Arnold, NBC Sports Inside the Irish blog, "Spring Practice: Your A to Z guide."
Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune, "At first practice, Kelly unleashes culture shock on Irish."
Lorenzo Reyes, Irish Sports Daily, "Kelly Not Caught Up In Depth Charts."
Tom Coyne, Associated Press via Boston Herald, "Kelly wants to return fight to Fighting Irish."

End of an era

2010-03-26T08:10:00.002-04:00

The best Notre Dame football blog around drops the curtain. As Jay Barry states in the final post, BGS will remain the great internet chronicle of the Charlie Weis era.

Thanks guys for the wonderful blog.

Classic 'Round the World

2010-03-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

with two quick football-related news items...

* und.com with spring football practice dates [here]. Practice opens next Friday the 26th. The Blue-Gold Game is set for Saturday, April 24.

* The skunkbears are going to be hosting their first night game ever in Michigan Stadium history...against the Irish on Sept. 10, 2011.

DC / Richmond / Chapel Hill

2010-03-14T10:43:00.000-04:00

It was Spring Break at the University of Georgia last week, yet I got the opportunity to travel for work. The itinerary? The Federal District of Columbia, including the monuments and museums; Richmond, Virginia; and Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The reason? To view two private collections in DC, to conduct some (last minute collection catalogue) research at the Archives of American Art and the Library of Congress, to see the works in an artist's estate in Richmond, and to view another private collection in Chapel Hill.

Below are some images from the trip to DC with a focus on the National Museum of the American Indian (with a private tour by Jennifer Miller, exhibition manager, and Rebecca Troutman, curatorial research assistant), Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Library of Congress, and our National Gallery of Art:

Those of you who are personal or professional Facebook friends will see much more of the trip in photographs placed there.

This just in...

2010-02-28T18:35:00.001-05:00

Golden Tate is fast.

Oops

2010-02-23T14:46:00.003-05:00

Detroit Free Press article [here].

The jist:

"The NCAA has issued a notice of allegations to the University of Michigan alleging five major violations in its football program. University officials just released the report this afternoon."

.pdf of the NCAA letter, via the Free Press, [here].

(The NCAA wants to know about Michigan's TV contract obligations for the next 3 years. It also alleges this bit: "...Rich Rodriguez, head football coach, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program...")

Southern Cal maybe, now Michigan? Chickens coming home to roost, perhaps, and all that...

Classic 'Round the World

2010-02-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

* The NFL Combine is approaching for a few Irish players: Golden Tate, Jimmy Clausen, Kyle McCarthy, Eric Olsen, and Sam Young.

On Tate:
ESPN video [here].
South Bend Tribune, "Speed could determine how fast Tate goes in draft."

A February mention of Tate requires a video to refresh my memory...

On Clausen:
ESPN video [here].
NFL.com video [here]
WNDU-TV, "Clausen recovering from surgery."

On Young:
Chicago Tribune, "Notre Dame’s Young might interest Bears."

* Brian Kelly...at the ND Baseball dinner [here]; at the opening of the Eddie Robinson Museum [here].

* The Blue-Gray Sky has their usual good summary of Signing Day 2010 for ND.

* New York Times and Pete Thamel on Southern Cal. How bad might it get? What will Notre Dame do if the SC punishment is, as it probably should be, severe?

Happy Valentine's Day, High / Low

2010-02-12T09:46:00.003-05:00

High:

Lawrence Beall Smith (American, 1909-1989), London Salute, 1945. Oil on masonite. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carl W. Mullis III GMOA 2003.144

Low:

Happy Jack video from KXVO in Omaha.

Dislike

2010-02-04T07:09:00.000-05:00

Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez: "There's nobody on this football team that we've signed that has a felony conviction. There's nobody on this football team we signed that has a misdemeanor conviction."

Southern Cal head football coach Lane Kiffin, on UCLA and Southern Cal recruiting: "As you meet the kids there is a sense and I was reminded of the kids that go to UCLA and the kids that come to USC, and to be back here, I watched it over the weekend just to see if it's the same, and it's really still the same. I guess we waste time continuing to recruit them, we know within the first 10 minutes whether they're the type of guys that want to play here or there."

Sign, sign. Everywhere a sign.

2010-02-03T20:32:00.003-05:00

und.com had great Signing Day coverage. Link to archives, video [especially on the right side following the link], and full details about the class and individual players is [here].

Coach Brian Kelly's transitional recruiting class...

Press conference transcript [here].

[Update: South Bend Tribune article with video {here}].

* = already enrolled at Notre Dame

23 players from 12 different states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Utah.

*Chris Badger, safety, Provo, UT
Rivals: 3 star; #41 S; #5 in Utah
ESPN: 3 star; 79
Offers included: BYU, Cal, Florida State, Oregon, Stanford, and Utah
Fun fact: on a team that won four straight Utah 4A Region 7 league titles

*Spencer Boyd, cornerback, Cape Coral, FL
Rivals: 3 star; #39 CB; #70 in Florida
ESPN: 3 star; 79
Offers included: Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Stanford, and Vanderbilt
Fun fact: helped Cape Coral to undefeated regular season and Florida District 4A-12 title in 2009

Austin Collinsworth, athlete, Fort Thomas, KY
Rivals: 3 star; #7 in Kentucky
ESPN: 2 star; 74
Offers included: Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Oregon and Stanford
Fun fact (you already knew): son of Cris Collinsworth, who caught 120 career passes as collegiate wide receiver at Florida, played eight years (1981-88) with NFL Cincinnati Bengals (earning all-pro honors in 1981-82-83 and catching 417 career passes for 6,698 yards and 36 TDs), and now is analyst on NBC Sports' Football Night in America Sunday night NFL games (and also does work for the NFL Network)

Bruce Heggie, defensive end, Mount Dora, FL
Rivals: 2 star (at tight end)
ESPN: No evaluation listed; 40
Offers included: none
Fun fact: father Bruce Sr. played defensive end at Florida State from 1983-86

Andrew Hendrix, quarterback, Cincinnati, OH
Rivals: 4 star; #13 QB; #235 overall; #12 in Ohio
ESPN: 4 star; 80
Offers included: Florida, Miami, Nebraska, Ohio State, Stanford, and Tennessee
Fun fact: helped Moeller to #5 ranking in final 2009 Ohio Division I Associated Press poll with 9-2 record

Bennett Jackson, wide receiver, Hazlet, NJ
Rivals: 3 star; #61 WR; #9 in New Jersey
ESPN: 3 star; 77
Offers included: Boston College, Iowa, Michigan State, Pitt, and Rutgers
Fun fact: also competed in track and field as sprinter and high hurdler

Matt James, offensive tackle, Cincinnati, OH
Rivals: 4 star; #14 OT; #86 overall; #6 in Ohio
ESPN: 4 star; 80
Offers included: Boston College, Florida, Ohio State, and Stanford
Fun fact: from same high school that produced 2001 Irish captain and current Pittsburgh Steeler linebacker Rocky Boiman

*Tai-ler Jones, wide receiver, Gainesville, GA
Rivals: 4 star; #19 WR; #141 overall; #9 in Georgia
ESPN: ESPNU150 #68 overall; 4 star; 81
Offers included: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Stanford, and UCLA
Fun fact (you already knew): father Andre Jones was defensive end at Notre Dame from 1987-91 and played on 1988 Notre Dame national championship team; uncle is Philip Daniels, defensive lineman with Washington Redskins; godfather is Raghib "Rocket" Ismail

Christian Lombard, offensive line, Palatine, IL
Rivals: 4 star; #5 OG; #221 overall; #4 in Illinois
ESPN: 3 star; 79
Offers included: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, and Stanford
Fun fact: Gatorade Player of the Year for state of Illinois in 2009

Luke Massa, quarterback, Cincinnati, OH
Rivals: 3 star; #28 QB; #23 in Ohio
ESPN: 2 star; 72
Offers included: Cincinnati and Wisconsin
Fun fact: mother Mary is a television personality in Cincinnati real estate market

Kendall Moore, linebacker, Raleigh, NC
Rivals: 4 star; #22 outside LB; #10 in North Carolina
ESPN: 3 star; 77
Offers included: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, and South Carolina
Fun fact: tallied 120 tackles and 10 sacks during senior season in 2009 at Southeast Raleigh High School in Raleigh, N.C.

Tate Nichols, offensive line, Union, KY
Rivals: 3 star; #62 OT; #4 in Kentucky
ESPN: 3 star; 75
Offers included: Cincinnati, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, and Stanford
Fun fact: distant relative of current Irish tight end Kyle Rudolph

Louis Nix, defensive tackle, Jacksonville, FL
Rivals: 4 star; #7 DT; #85 overall; #14 in Florida
ESPN: ESPNU150 #64 overall; 4 star; 81
Offers included: Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Miami, and North Carolina
Fun fact: also played basketball

*Tommy Rees, quarterback, Lake Forest, IL
Rivals: 3 star; #31 QB; #13 in Illinois
ESPN: 3 star; 79
Offers included: Central Michigan, Stanford, and Tennessee
Fun fact: father Bill is former assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for years at UCLA (1979-93) under Terry Donohue, also has worked in scouting and pro personnel for Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers

Derek Roback, athlete, Waverly, OH
Rivals: 3 star; #68 in Ohio
ESPN: 2 star; 74
Offers included: Cincinnati, Marshall and Toledo
Fun fact: finalist in national punt, pass and kick competition in 2006

Cameron Roberson, running back, Newbury Park, CA
Rivals: 4 star; #17 RB; #231 overall; #33 in California
ESPN: 3 star; 77
Offers included: Arizona, BYU, Northwestern, Utah, and Washington
Fun fact: grandfather Thomas Murray Turner is '59 Notre Dame graduate

Kona Schwenke, defensive end, Kahuku, HI
Rivals: 3 stars; #34 WDE; #4 in Hawaii
ESPN: 3 star; 78
Offers included: Arizona, BYU, Colorado, and Hawaii
Fun fact: one of four finalists for 2009 Island Sports Media Athlete of the Year award

Prince Shembo, linebacker, Charlotte, NC
Rivals: 4 star; #7 ILB; #238 overall; #7 in North Carolina
ESPN: 3 star; 78
Offers included: North Carolina, NC State, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech
Fun fact: father moved to United States in 1986 from Democratic Republic of the Congo

Daniel Smith, wide receiver, South Bend, IN
Rivals: 3 star; #89 WR; #3 in Indiana
ESPN: 3 star; 78
Offers included: Central Michigan, Indiana, and Purdue
Fun fact: brother-in-law is former Irish safety Gerome Sapp (1999-2002)

Danny Spond, athlete, Littleton, CO
Rivals: 4 star; #27 ATH; #2 in Colorado
ESPN: 3 star; 78
Offers included: Colorado, Duke, Stanford, and TCU
Fun fact: compiled 77-1 record in youth football with one loss occurring as he sat out due to injury

Justin Utupo, defensive line, Lakewood, CA
Rivals: 3 star; #62 DT; #84 in California
ESPN: 3 star; 77
Offers included: Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Utah, and Washington
Fun fact: defensive player of the year on all-Southland team named by Los Angeles Times

Alex Welch, tight end, Cincinnati, OH
Rivals: 4 star; #12 TE; #14 in Ohio
ESPN: 3 star; 79
Offers included: Boston College, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State and Oklahoma
Fun fact: starting center on 2009 Elder basketball team

*Lo Wood, cornerback, Apopka, FL
Rivals: 3 star; #44 CB; #81 in Florida
ESPN: 3 star; 78
Offers included: Georgia Tech, Michigan, South Carolina, and Stanford
Fun fact: blocked 5 kicks as a senior

If you want more rankings, Scout.com [here] and MaxPreps [here]. FYI: ESPN grading scale [here].

[UPDATE: South Bend Tribune's video...

Also important...ResLife is done with Michael Floyd, and Floyd is participating; QB Dayne Crist will practice this Spring but have no contact (“Nobody will get in his zip code,” Kelly said. “But you're going to see a lot of him in the spring.”); injuries remain an issue for RB Theo Riddick and K Brandon Walker.]

The great swamp in the sky

2010-02-02T07:55:00.000-05:00

Rest In Peace, Dill Pickle. Athens Banner-Herald [here].

Art museum director Super Bowl bet

2010-01-27T09:37:00.001-05:00

Tyler Green's Modern Art Notes blog summarizes [here].

Since the current recruits entered high school

2010-01-25T11:01:00.002-05:00

...Notre Dame's football team has lost to the following teams:

Southern Cal, four times; Michigan, three times; Boston College, Michigan State, Navy, and Pitt, twice each; Air Force, Georgia Tech, LSU, North Carolina, Penn State, Purdue, Stanford, Syracuse, and UConn.

They were not born when Notre Dame last won a national championship or when an Irish player won one of those 7 Heisman trophies in the JACC. The oldest of them were babies when Shawn Wooden batted down Charlie Ward's pass.

They were in elementary school when Pat Dillingham, wearing a bright green jersey, tossed away the 2002 BC game.

They were freshmen in HS when Notre Dame last finished a season ranked in the polls.

I need to remind myself of these facts.

Coach Kelly just needs to win.

Classic 'Round the World

2010-01-14T14:41:00.004-05:00

* Brian Kelly unveiled the new coaching staff yesterday. Plenty of information and videos at und.com [here]. Tony Alford is the only holdover from the Weis staff, and Alford switches from coaching running backs to coaching receivers for the Irish. Here is where everyone else fits and where they came from:

Brian Kelly - Head Coach ← Head Coach, Cincinnati
Bob Diaco - Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers ← Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers, Cincinnati
Charley Molnar - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks ← Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers, Cincinnati
Kerry Cooks - Outside Linebackers ← Defensive Backs, Wisconsin
Mike Denbrock - Tight Ends ← Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator/Linebackers, Indiana State.
Mike Elston - Defensive Line and Special Teams ← Defensive Line, Cincinnati
Tim Hinton - Running Backs ← Running Backs, Cincinnati
Chuck Martin - Defensive Backs ← Head Coach, Grand Valley State
Ed Warinner - Offensive Line ← Offensive Coordinator, Kansas
Paul Longo - Director of Football Strength and Conditioning ← Speed, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Cincinnati

* Plenty to parse through in Coach Kelly's press conference. Transcript in .pdf [here].

My favorite? "[W]e had to go. We didn't have time to have a big group hug. It was time to go to work. ...But have some faith and go to work."

South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen, "Notre Dame football: Throwing down the gauntlet (and throwing up)," with more.

* Meanwhile, Charlie Weis became offensive coordinator back in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs (Congrats, Charlie!); Rob Ianello became head coach at Akron, and took Ron Powlus with him to be passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. And, it would appear that Brian Polian and Randy Hart have ended up at Stanford.

* Home kickoff times have been announced, and placed on the blog sidebar.

* Eric Hansen also has a Q & A with AD Jack Swarbrick [here]. Swarbrick has some slightly positive words against 7-4-1 -- "there may be some years where an opportunity presents itself that we may go to 6-5-1 or 7-5. We're open to those sorts of modifications" -- but less good news on opponents -- "I'd like to try and figure out how to keep the Stanford relationship, because in so many ways, that's an institution we like to do business with and have multiple relationships with across the university. ...I'd like to do more with Duke and Wake and some of those schools. It's really more institutionally focused - what's a good fit for Notre Dame? What sort of looks and feels like us?"

* ND star WR Michael Floyd and ResLife at ND will have to work some details out. It sure would be nice if the Irish could have Floyd for a full year at some point.

* With all of the coaching changes around the country, including at ND, I am staying away from blog posts about recruiting until Signing Day.

GMOA bowl pick 'em final

2010-01-08T07:07:00.000-05:00

We already knew Hillary was going to win, but I am officially the lunch buyer for her and Todd as Alabama beat the mostly-Colt-McCoy-less Longhorns despite Nick Saban's baffling gameday coaching decisions.

Final standings:

Hillary 22-12 (.647)
Todd 17-17 (.500)
Paul 15-19 (.441)

Press

2010-01-05T15:11:00.002-05:00

A nice, 2-page spread, with an article by Lynne Browne, in the current issue of The Folk Art Society of America's Folk Art Messenger.

GMOA bowl pick 'em update 3

2010-01-05T07:23:00.001-05:00

Free lunch on the line...as Hillary rolls...I didn't really want to take a free lunch from a pregnant lady anyway.

Heading into New Years Eve, Hillary was 9-6, Todd was 8-7, and I sat 1 game under .500 at 7-8.

Since then...

Armed Forces...Air Force 47, Houston 20
Sun...Oklahoma 31, Stanford 27
Texas...Navy 35, Missouri 13
Insight...Iowa State 14, Minnesota 13
Chick-Fil-A...Virginia Tech 37, Tennessee 14
Outback...Auburn 38, Northwestern 35 (OT)
Capital One...Penn State 19, LSU 17
Gator...Florida State 33, West Virginia 21
Rose...Ohio State 26, Oregon 17
Sugar...Florida 51, Cincinnati 24
International...South Florida 27,. Northern Illinois 3
Papajohns.com...Connecticut 20, South Carolina 7
Cotton...Mississippi 21, Oklahoma State 7
Liberty...Arkansas 20, East Carolina 17 (OT)
Alamo...Texas Tech 41, Michigan State 31
Fiesta...Boise State 17, TCU 10

Hillary (20-11): Air Force, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa State, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Penn State, West Virginia, Oregon, Florida, South Florida, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas Tech, TCU.
Todd (14-17): Houston, Stanford, Missouri, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Auburn, LSU, West Virginia, Oregon, Florida, South Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Texas Tech, TCU.
Paul (14-17): Houston, Oklahoma, Navy, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Penn State, West Virginia, Oregon, Florida, Northern Illinois, South Carolina, Oklahoma State, East Carolina, Texas Tech, TCU.

So, Hillary has easily won this thing this year. About time.

Meanwhile, Todd and I both have Iowa over Georgia Tech, but I have Troy over Central Michigan and Texas over Alabama. The loser and buyer of lunch still remains to be determined.

GMOA bowl pick 'em update 2

2009-12-31T09:28:00.002-05:00

Heading for the long stretch run for free lunch and bragging rights between museum departments...

Before this last batch of bowl games both Hillary and Todd were 2-3 while I was 3-2. Not a good stretch for some time there for yours truly:

Hawaii Bowl...SMU 45, Nevada 10.
Little Caesars Bowl...Marshall 21, Ohio 17.
Meineke Car Care Bowl...Pitt 19, NC 17.
Emerald Bowl...Southern Cal 24, BC 13.
Music City Bowl...Clemson 21, Kentucky 13.
Independence Bowl...Georgia 44, Texas A&M 20.
Eagle Bank Bowl...UCLA 30, Temple 21.
Champs Sports Bowl...Wisconsin 20, Miami 14.
Humanitarian Bowl...Idaho 43, Bowling Green 42.
Holiday Bowl...Nebraska 33, Arizona 0.

Hillary (9-6): Nevada, Marshall, Pitt, Southern Cal, Clemson, Georgia, Temple, Wisconsin, Bowling Green, Nebraska.
Todd (8-7): Nevada, Ohio, Pitt, Southern Cal, Clemson, Georgia, UCLA, Miami, Bowling Green, Nebraska.
Paul (7-8): Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina, Southern Cal, Clemson, Texas A&M, Temple, Miami, Idaho, Nebraska.

Looking ahead, I need four of Navy, Northern Illinois, East Carolina, Iowa, Troy, and Texas to win to close the 2 game gap between me and Hillary.

GMOA bowl pick 'em update

2009-12-24T08:47:00.002-05:00

Update on the battle for bragging rights and free lunch among museum departments...

New Mexico Bowl...Wyoming 35, Fresno State 28 (2OT)
St. Petersburg Bowl...Rutgers 45, UCF 24
New Orleans Bowl...Middle Tenn St. 42, Southern Miss 32
Las Vegas Bowl...BYU 44, Oregon State 20
Poinsettia Bowl...Utah 37, Cal 27

Paul (3-2): Fresno State, UCF, Middle Tenn. St., BYU, Utah.
Hillary (2-3): Fresno State, UCF, So. Miss., BYU, Utah.
Todd (2-3): Fresno State, Rutgers, So. Miss., Oregon State, Utah.

Birmingham

2009-12-23T10:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, some staff members and several museum patrons took a day trip from Athens over to Birmingham, Alabama.

For the first stop we visited the Birmingham Museum of Art. Our primary objective was to see the installation of the Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery exhibition.

From the BMA's site:

"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience American history through more than 230 masterpieces from one of the finest and oldest collections of American art in the world. From the arrival of the first European settlers to the Gilded Age, this major exhibition tells America’s story through paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, furniture, silver, and ceramics from Yale University’s renowned collection."

We also enjoyed viewing the permanent collection galleries at the museum. After lunch, the group walked over to the Linn-Henley Research Library of the Birmingham Public Library to see the murals created by Ezra Winter. From their site:

"In the late 1920s, the Birmingham Library Board commissioned Ezra Winter to paint a mural series for the main reading room in the newly constructed library building. In addition, he was also asked to paint a mural depicting famous fairy tales for the children's room. The murals for both areas were executed in oils on canvas in Winter's New York studio. There were later affixed to the walls of the library with white lead, and Winter himself was present to supervise this installation."

Slide show of pictures from that part of the day:

During the mid-afternoon, the entire group had the great pleasure of visiting an exquisite private collection of images by the Ashcan School. Some of the group then departed for Athens while others went and visited an historic, private home in Anniston, Alabama to pick up some watercolors by Nell Shute gifted to the Georgia Museum of Art.

Bowl game rankings + predictions + GMOA Battle Royale III

2009-12-18T10:30:00.000-05:00

In 2006, I used this blog as a forum to entertain myself during college football bowl season, and ended up picking the winners of the bowl games at a 62.5% clip. The next year, Classic Ground entered into an inter-blog, intra-museum challenge with friend and co-worker Hillary. I won lunch from Hillary thanks to my 65.6% clip over her 59.4% accuracy in picking the straight-up winners.

For 2008-2009 Bowl Season we placed another lunch bet on our picks. Hillary was vanquished again as she went a bad 12-18 to my not-so-great 16-14.

For the 2009-2010 Bowl Season, Hillary and I asked our co-worker Todd to also make picks. With Notre Dame electing to stay home this year, I need the entertainment more than ever.

Overall loser of the pick contest buys lunch for the other two. In the event of a "losing" tie, both losers split the cost of a lunch for the overall winner.

I also rank the games themselves based upon the following proprietary (and purely subjective) scale:

My good chair, peace and quiet, and a beer.
Solid game; will get most of my attention.
Well, it's still college football. Maybe I'll watch.
I might match socks while the game is on in the background.
It is Christmas season. Time to spend it with family.

Rankings are BCS standings. All times are Eastern Standard...

New Mexico
Fresno State vs. Wyoming
Albuquerque, University Stadium, Dec. 19, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Fresno State's 4 losses were to Wisconsin, Boise State, Cincinnati, and Nevada -- all bowl teams. Wyoming has 6 losses. Fresno State.
Hillary: Involving no teams from the state, which is kind of unusual for this bowl, no? I'm far more interested in whether the state of New Mexico's tourism board sponsors the bowl than I am in who wins, but that should be Fresno State, which is sort of a real team.
Todd: Fresno State. Wyoming’s logo looks like a Remington sculpture.

St. Petersburg presented by Beef 'O'Brady's
UCF vs. Rutgers
St. Petersburg, Fla., Tropicana Field, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Central Florida is 6-1 in the state of Florida this year.
Hillary: Knights versus Red Knights, in other words. Considering it's the St. Petersburg Bowl and not the Leningrad Bowl, I think I'd be best served by going with Central Florida. Plus Rutgers continues to be overrated.
Todd: Rutgers. Have you seen that new show "Jersey Shore"? Noph said!

R+L Carriers New Orleans
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee
New Orleans, Superdome, Dec. 20, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Middle Tennessee has a 6 game winning streak going. Make it 7.
Hillary: Southern Miss. I cannot pick against a team coached by a man named Larry Fedora.
Todd: Southern Miss. Are they in the SEC?

MAACO Las Vegas
#18 Oregon State vs. #14 BYU
Las Vegas, Sam Boyd Stadium, Dec. 22, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Perhaps the best of the early bowl match-ups this year? BYU is 6-0 away from Provo. Oregon State went from potential Rose Bowl berth all the way down to Las Vegas with the Oregon loss. BYU.
Hillary: BYU has to win this one year I pick them. This could be it.
Todd: Oregon State. I got nothing…

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia
#23 Utah vs. Cal
San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium, Dec. 23, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Utah's 3 losses are to 3 Top 14 teams. Utah.
Hillary: Ugh. Both these teams suck. Utah.
Todd: Utah. Polygamy was once legal in Utah!

Sheraton Hawaii
Nevada vs. SMU
Honolulu, Aloha Stadium, Dec. 24, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Hard to believe Notre Dame shutout Nevada, as the Wolfpack wins in June Jones's return to the islands, only a few months ago.
Hillary: Nevada, just so the storyline is defeated.
Todd: Nevada. I love to gamble.

Little Caesars
Marshall vs. Ohio
Detroit, Ford Field, Dec. 26, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Ohio won 9 games this year. Marshall 6. Ohio had an average game score of about 25-21. Marshall's was 22-25. How about a 25-21 Ohio win?
Hillary: Marshall. It's a hunch, like all of these.
Todd: Ohio. Because they have the most annoying fans… O-H! I-O! [Ed. note: I think he means Buckeye fans, perhaps?]

Meineke Car Care
#17 Pitt vs. North Carolina
Charlotte, N.C., Bank of America Stadium, Dec. 26, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: I like North Carolina, in their return to this bowl and their 9th-ranked rushing defense, to stop Pitt and the stellar freshman RB Dion Lewis.
Hillary: Between two teams with a habit of blowing leads at the last minute, I guess I'm going with the one that tends to score more points: Pittsburgh.
Todd: Pittsburgh. Have you ever been to Pittsburgh?

Emerald
Boston College vs. #24 Southern Cal
San Francisco, AT&T Park, Dec. 26, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Southern Cal, as Boston College pushes its bowl losing streak to 2 after its run of winning so many lower tier bowls in a row. A very interesting game for any Irish fan. It will be curious to see who I end up rooting against as I watch. ...I might just alternate.
Hillary: Even if Pete Carroll's a little distracted, his overwhelming need to be a d*ck will win out. USC. Easily.
Todd: USC. Because they are good.

Gaylord Hotels Music City
Kentucky vs. Clemson
Nashville, Tenn., LP Field, Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Opponents averaged 4.62 yds/carry against the Kentucky defense. C.J. Spiller averaged 5.70 yds/carry on the year. Clemson.
Hillary: I'd really like to be able to pick Kentucky in this game, seeing as they play in a real conference, but Clemson's strength stacks up against KY's weakness far too neatly. Clemson.
Todd: Clemson. I am an official Clemson Cheerleader. I have the shirt to prove it…

AdvoCare V100 Independence
Texas A&M vs. Georgia
Shreveport, La., Independence Stadium, Dec. 28, 5 p.m. (ESPN2)
Paul: A major improvement over Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech here last year. Texas A&M offense over the Georgia defense makes all the difference in a shootout.
Hillary: Oh god. I don't really like to think about this game. It all depends on which Georgia team shows up. I can't imagine the loss of Willie Martinez, John Fabris, and John Jancek is going to make the defense much worse. The question is whether Mike Bobo actually learned something from the Georgia Tech victory. I'm banking on no, but eff it, I'm picking Georgia anyway.
Todd: Georgia. Hello!!!

EagleBank Bowl
UCLA vs. Temple
Washington, D.C., RFK Stadium, Dec. 29, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Temple's 9-game win streak came to an end against Ohio. They start a new one against UCLA.
Hillary: UCLA seems to have problems executing. Temple.
Todd: UCLA. Temple sucks.

Champs Sports
#15 Miami vs. #25 Wisconsin
Orlando, Fla., Florida Citrus Bowl, Dec. 29, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Miami was 5-1 in the state of Florida this season. Wisconsin was 1-3 in road games before ending with a win at Hawaii. Miami.
Hillary: I'm kind of amazed Miami seems to be favored as heavily as they are. Count me skeptical. Wisconsin.
Todd: Miami. "Party in the city where the heat is on/ All night on the beach till the break of dawn/ Welcome to Miami (bienvenido a Miami)/ Bouncing in the club where the heat is on/ All night on the beach till the break of dawn/ I'm going to Miami/ Welcome to Miami"

Roady's Humanitarian
Bowling Green vs. Idaho
Boise, Idaho, Bronco Stadium, Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Idaho, in a quasi-home game on Boise State's blue field.
Hillary: Bowling Green has the momentum, and Idaho isn't that scary (the state and the team).
Todd: Bowling Green. I like bowling, and I like green; it’s a no-brainer.

Pacific Life Holiday
#20 Arizona vs. #22 Nebraska
San Diego, Qualcomm Stadium, Dec. 30, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: The Holiday Bowl is usually the most entertaining of the early bowl games but this one does not excite me. I like Nebraska in this game in an un-Holiday-like low-scoring affair.
Hillary: Here's the difference between the two last-second losses: Arizona screwed up. Nebraska got screwed. I'm going Nebraska.
Todd: Nebraska. Have you seen that guy's arms?

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces
Houston vs. Air Force
Fort Worth, Texas, Amon G. Carter Stadium, Dec. 31, Noon (ESPN)
Paul: Bowl re-match from last year. Houston.
Hillary: Upset goes to Air Force. I like to bet on rushing over passing.
Todd: Houston. Because our armed forces shouldn’t have sports; they should be learning to kill not tackle…

Brut Sun
Oklahoma vs. #21 Stanford
El Paso, Texas, Sun Bowl, Dec. 31, 2 p.m. (CBS)
Paul: Probably won't be a 3-0 game this year. I like Stoops and Oklahoma in this one.
Hillary: Also on defense. Oklahoma.
Todd: Stanford. They have that guy who almost won that trophy that is real smart because he got into Stanford and who will end up becoming a spy and working at a fictional retail store and have all of our gov’t secrets in his head.

Texas
Navy vs. Missouri
Houston, Reliant Stadium, Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Ricky Dobbs, his 24 rushing TDs, and Navy in a minor upset.
Hillary: Missouri. What are these teams doing in this bowl?
Todd: Missouri. This is for all of the people (read: my brother-in-law) who won’t stop talking about how great Navy is…

Insight
Minnesota vs. Iowa State
Tempe, Ariz., Sun Devil Stadium, Dec. 31, 6 p.m. (NFL Network)
Paul: A toss-up in a "barn burner" between 6-6 teams? Minnesota. I don't really care about the game but my Dad worked at the university from when I was 4 until I was 6.
Hillary: This is where I start to get annoyed that Georgia's stuck in Shreveport, playing on Dec. 28. It's basically a toss-up, right? Iowa State.
Todd: Minnesota. Oh Mr. Gopher…

Chick-fil-A
#11 Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee
Atlanta, Georgia Dome, Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Virginia Tech and the Bud Foster-led defense over the Kiffins.
Hillary: Crompton facing a real defense spells trouble for Tennessee. Virginia Tech.
Todd: Virginia Tech. This one is for the fallen. [Ed. note: This?]

Outback
Northwestern vs. Auburn
Tampa, Fla., Raymond James Stadium, Jan. 1, 2009, 11 a.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Auburn over the Pat Fitzgeralds in a shootout.
Hillary: I can't imagine this'll be a ton of trouble for Auburn. Their losses were close.
Todd: Auburn. See Florida.

Capital One
#13 Penn State vs. #12 LSU
Orlando, Fla., Florida Citrus Bowl, Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. (ABC)
Paul: Penn State over Les Miles.
Hillary: Now this could be ugly. LSU managed not to lose most of the big ones, but that doesn't mean they're a good team. Les Miles folds under pressure frequently, and while I don't love Penn State, I think they'll bring some. Penn State.
Todd: LSU. You say Paterno, I say Patino. Paterno, Patino. Paterno, Patino. Let’s call the whole thing off.

Konica Minolta Gator
#16 West Virginia vs. Florida State
Jacksonville, Fla., Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jan. 1, 2009, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Paul: The Bobby Bowden Bowl. Boring. West Virginia over FSU.
Hillary: A depressing conclusion to a career that's lasted way, way too long. Bobby Bowden goes out in defeat. West Virginia.
Todd: West Virginia. Oh look I’m in W. Virginia! This is great! Where is my sister?

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi
#8 Ohio State vs. #7 Oregon
Pasadena, Calif., Rose Bowl, Jan. 1, 2009, 4:30 p.m. (ABC)
Paul: Oregon in an interesting Rose Bowl matchup.
Hillary: Tradition means this game really features an interesting matchup. I might take Terrelle Pryor in a fight against LeGarrette Blount, but that doesn't mean I'm not picking Oregon to win.
Todd: Oregon. I love duck! (See any Aflac commercial if you don’t get it…)

Allstate Sugar
#5 Florida vs. #3 Cincinnati
New Orleans, Superdome, Jan. 1, 2009, 8:30 p.m. (FOX)
Paul: Florida, Urban Meyer, and his staff turnover, over the head coach-transitioning Bearcats.
Hillary: I'm not an idiot, so I'm picking Florida, but I'm going to be rooting really hard that I'm wrong on this pick. I'd love to see Tebow cry again.
Todd: Florida. See South Carolina.

International
South Florida vs. Northern Illinois
Toronto, Rogers Centre, Jan. 2, 2009, Noon (ESPN2)
Paul: Northern Illinois over Jim Leavitt.
Hillary: South Florida, I suppose. This game is indoors, right?
Todd: South Florida. I like their coach. [Ed. note: ?]

Papajohns.com
South Carolina vs. UConn
Birmingham, Ala., Legion Field, Jan. 2, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: South Carolina was 1-4 on the road this year. UConn lost its 5 games by a combined 15 points. South Carolina wins by a field goal.
Hillary: South Carolina's not exactly good, but they are crafty, and considering Spurrier's ability to give much more talented opponents fits, I have to go with them in this game.
Todd: South Carolina. See Arkansas.

AT&T Cotton
#19 Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss
Dallas, Cotton Bowl, Jan. 2, 2009, 2 p.m. (FOX)
Paul: The disappointing-season-after-high-expectations bowl? Oklahoma State, I guess.
Hillary: This is a pretty great match-up, provided both teams actually bring it, and I could easily justify a pick for either of them. My gut says "go with the feeling that Georgia just sucks," so I'll pick Ole Miss.
Todd: Oklahoma State. There are too many s’s in Mississississississippi.

AutoZone Liberty
Arkansas vs. East Carolina
Memphis, Tenn., Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Jan. 2, 2009, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Fellow Domer Skip Holtz and East Carolina. A couple of mediocre-to-bad defenses should make this high scoring.
Hillary: Arkansas has the ability to score a millionty-billion points and fast. East Carolina has a great team name. Um... yeah. Arkansas.
Todd: Arkansas. SEC, BABY!

Valero Alamo
Michigan State vs. Texas Tech
San Antonio, Alamodome, Jan. 2, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Texas Tech. I think they out score the undermanned Spartans.
Hillary: Eleven suspended players. Eleven? Really, Michigan State? Texas Tech.
Todd: Texas Tech. I am a closet Red Raider fan.

Tostitos Fiesta
#6 Boise State vs. #4 TCU
Glendale, Ariz., University of Phoenix Stadium, Jan. 4, 2009, 8 p.m. (FOX)
Paul: I'm a little unhappy that the BCS bowls didn't split these two up to go against the big conference teams. TCU.
Hillary: Look. It happened once. And they're not on their stupid blue field. TCU.
Todd: TCU. I once was bitten by a horned frog…It was not pretty.

FedEx Orange
#10 Iowa vs. #9 Georgia Tech
Miami, Land Shark Stadium, Jan. 5, 2009, 8 p.m. (FOX)
Paul: The Iowa defense has had a long time to get ready for the triple option.
Hillary: For the same reason, I'd love to pick against Florida, I would really love to pick against Georgia Tech, and it's possible Georgia's victory against them showed the cracks in their scheme, but Iowa's habit of winning games at the last second isn't a good one to base a pick on. Georgia Tech.
Todd: Iowa. Did you see how GT played against Georgia?

GMAC
Central Michigan vs. Troy
Mobile, Ala., Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Jan. 6, 2009, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Paul: Troy. Coaching change for the Chippewas and the legend that lives on, Dan LeFevour.
Hillary: Central Michigan. Nothing interesting to say here. I'm sure the announcers are working on their Iliad jokes already.
Todd: Central Michigan. Because they are better than Michigan. [Ed note: heh.]

Citi BCS National Championship Game
#2 Texas vs. #1 Alabama
Pasadena, California, Rose Bowl, Jan. 7, 2009, 8 p.m. (ABC)
Paul: Texas over Alabama in the championship game upset as the Heisman jinx gets 'Bama. Alabama, even with a loss, will still probably claim it as a NC year like 1973.
Hillary: Two programs that don't need any more championships. Still, better Alabama than Florida. Burnt orange and bright orange look terrible together. Provided Alabama's not worn out from its earlier victory in the national championship game (you might have missed it; it was called the SEC championship), I'd think they can win this one too, considering that Florida was a bit tougher than Texas generally.
Todd: Alabama. Colt McCoy just looks like a loser.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-12-17T11:19:00.005-05:00

* 360 degrees. Notre Dame's web site now has awesome online, 360 degree tours of campus sites [here]. Surprisingly, they do not offer one of the elevator lobby of 3rd floor Flanner Hall. The panoramic view of the Basilica puts you at right about the spot I was married at.

* Unanimous. Golden Tate deservedly becomes the first unanimous All-American at Notre Dame since Shane Walton in 2002, and the first on offense since Aaron Taylor back in 1993.

* Questions. Muppet Golden Tate and Muppet Jimmy Clausen, who I guess is like a mellow Harpo Marx of these bits, have some tough questions for new Irish head coach Brian Kelly [here].

* Tweet. Coach Kelly's Twitter page is now linked on the sidebar and can be found [here].

* Symposium V. Article from Artdaily.org [here] and information from the Georgia Museum of Art's web site [here] about the Fifth Henry D. Green Symposium of the Decorative Arts.

* European art world fight. From the Associated Press: "The prince of Liechtenstein has canceled a major London art exhibition because British officials have held up the export of a Renaissance painting he bought in 2006, officials said Wednesday."

* Obit. Thomas Hoving, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade, 1967-77, died last week.

* Build. The Michigan State University's trustees have approved the start of construction for the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, to be designed by Zaha Hadid. More details [here]. The St. Louis Art Museum is pushing ahead with its expansion plans. And Denver's Clyfford Still Museum moves ahead as well.

Funny

2009-12-16T20:00:00.001-05:00

I'm not much of a hockey fan or an NHL fan, but this Boston Bruins commercial is very, very funny...

Meet the Press

2009-12-12T08:22:00.000-05:00

A gathering of links to information and commentary on Brian Kelly's introductory day as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame:

und.com "Hiring Central" [here] is a good starting point.
Coach Kelly press conference transcript [here].
Player quotations on Kelly [here].

Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune, "Kelly has come a long way."
Al Lesar, who has become the Mark May of the South Bend Tribune, "Addressing issues attached to Kelly."
Associated Press, via the New York Times, "Kelly Joins Notre Dame With Talk of Fast Glory."
Tom Coyne, Associated Press, "Irish players love coach Brian Kelly's enthusiasm."
Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune, "Brian Kelly hits all right notes for Notre Dame faithful."

Football...for the touchdowns

2009-12-11T09:43:00.002-05:00

...and, now, football is also for the Biletnikoff Award.

Congratulations to Golden Tate for winning the Biletnikoff as the nation's top wide receiver, and for being named Walter Camp First Team All-American.

[Note: If you don't understand the 'Football...for the touchdowns' reference you must -- must -- watch {this}.]

One more time for this highlight...

Brian Kelly, 29th Head Football Coach at Notre Dame

2009-12-10T22:07:00.002-05:00

und.com [here].

Excerpt:

Brian Kelly, a veteran of 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach -- and most recently the architect of two consecutive Bowl Championship Series appearances at the University of Cincinnati, including a perfect 12-0 regular season in 2009 that earned him national-coach-of-the-year honors -- tonight has been named the 29th head football coach at the University of Notre Dame.

Currently the ninth-winningest active coach in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in terms of victories, Kelly has signed a five-year contract to coach the Irish. He will be introduced at a 1:30 p.m. EST Friday press conference at the Guglielmino Athletics Center. Kelly officially takes over at Notre Dame on Monday; he will not coach the Bearcats in their Sugar Bowl date against Florida. ...

"I am very pleased that a thorough and extensive search has led us to a new head coach in Brian Kelly, who I am confident will help us accomplish our goal of competing for national championships," said Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick.

"I am absolutely delighted to welcome Brian and his family to the Notre Dame family," said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame's president. "He brings to us a long and successful career as a head coach, and I am confident that he will have even greater success here. I'm also very pleased that he has put considerable emphasis on excellence in the classroom and that his student-athletes graduate at a rate well above the norm."

MST3K: Santa Claus

2009-12-10T06:31:00.000-05:00

I don't know how long it will remain possible to embed this, but here is the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode where they watch "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." If you only have a little bit of time, skip to Crow T. Robot's presentation of "Let's Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas" at the 23:27 mark of the video.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-12-05T11:39:00.003-05:00

...in a quick format, for a Saturday, late morning.

* Rumors. Don't believe them, especially if they come from FootballCoachScoop.com. They are beyond awful.

Proof? Read The Blue-Gray Sky's re-cap [here].

The note that the unsubstantiated and without fact rumors made it all the way to a press conference for Wisconsin in Hawaii is just plain funny and sad at the same time.

* No bowl. Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick:

"After meetings again today involving our coaching staff as well as the leadership group representing our football team, we have made the decision to remove ourselves from consideration for any postseason bowl game this year. ...

Notre Dame institutionally always has been a strong advocate of the bowl system, and we sincerely appreciate the bowls and individuals representing them who reached out to us. However, the unique circumstances surrounding our program at the current time prevent us from making the commitment required to compete in a bowl game. If the landscape had been different, we would have been thrilled to take part - and we certainly look forward to being part of the bowl system in the years to come."

* Tate is All-America. Well deserved.

* South Bend Tribune with a football banquet update [here]. And, if the Louis Nix decision wasn't enough proof of Weis and his staff being classy so far about everything, [here] is the SBT's article on WR recruit Daniel Smith.

[UPDATE: More from Coach Weis, now, via Irish Illustrated {here}. Good stuff.]

BGS: "Tick Tock"

2009-12-02T20:14:00.001-05:00

Everyone who has any interest in the search for a head football coach at the University of Notre Dame should read and digest Pat's post at The Blue-Gray Sky: "Tick Tock."

Pat writes, "We tallied up the open job duration for all 97 head coach searches since the 2004 season and found that the average number of days to fill a vacancy is 18.2 and the median number of days is 15."

Attrition and Addition

2009-12-02T07:26:00.001-05:00

As might be expected with a firing, one of Notre Dame's recruits, Chris Martin, has elected to de-commit from the Irish and re-open his recruiting.

Meanwhile, this man...

...doesn't care who the coach is, he's coming to Notre Dame. Kudos to Coach Alford and the Irish assistant coaches for (finally) landing a highly-heralded defensive tackle. Mr. Nix, at 6'3" and 315 lbs. from Jacksonville, was once committed to Miami (Fla.) and had offers from the likes of Florida, LSU, Michigan, South Carolina, and Florida State. Rivals.com ranks Nix as a Top 100 National recruit and the 7th best DT in the country.

Says Mr. Nix: "Even though they’re going through a coaching change, the school is really attractive, and it caught me when I went down there a couple times."

Updated Tate highlights

2009-11-30T17:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks to und.com:

Weis era ends

2009-11-30T15:25:00.001-05:00

In my e-mail, from the Notre Dame Alumni Association, as I come out of a meeting:

Weis will not be retained as Notre Dame football coach

University of Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis will not be retained, University director of athletics Jack Swarbrick announced today.

“We have great expectations for our football program, and we have not been able to meet those expectations,” Swarbrick said. “As an alumnus, Charlie understands those goals and expectations better than most, and he’s as disappointed as anyone that we have not achieved the desired results.”

Swarbrick recommended the dismissal Sunday night to Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.

“We have established an evaluation process for all of our athletic programs that, in the end, results in a recommendation from Jack to me,” Father Jenkins said. “I accepted Jack’s decision and look forward to working with him on selecting a new head football coach who is the very best choice possible for the University and especially for our student-athletes.

“I am most appreciative to Coach Weis for his service to Notre Dame and our community. He and his family have my prayers and best wishes.”

Weis spent five seasons as Irish head coach from 2005-09, with his teams achieving consecutive records of 9-3 (Fiesta Bowl appearance) in ’05, 10-3 (Sugar Bowl appearance), 3-9, 7-6 (Hawai’i Bowl victory) and 6-6 in ’09 – for an overall 35-27 mark (.564).

Swarbrick announced that Rob Ianello, the Irish assistant head coach/offense, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, will assume responsibility for football operations until a new coach is hired. Ianello has spent the past five seasons on the Notre Dame staff and previously was part of football staffs at Wisconsin (1990-93, 2003-04), Arizona (1994-2002) and Alabama (1987-89).

Downfall

2009-11-29T10:25:00.001-05:00

The main reason for the likely (and pending?) end of the Weis era at Notre Dame? A lack of quality overall defensive play.

[Statistics from the great cfbstats.com]

Notre Dame's defensive rankings:

2005: 52nd (tie) scoring defense (24.5 pts/game); 77th total defense (396.9 yds/game)
2006: 66th (tie) scoring defense (23.8); 65th total defense (340.2)
2007: 72nd scoring defense (28.8); 39th total defense (357)
2008: 42nd (tie) scoring defense (22.2); 39th total defense (329.8)

The 2009 regular season ends with the Irish giving up 25.9 pts/game, but with 32 pts/game over these last 4 losses.

The fact that this team, with the likes of Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, and Michael Floyd, scoring almost 31 points per game, sits at 6-6 seems like a crime to me.

Drama time

2009-11-29T00:21:00.002-05:00

Irish 38, Cardinal 45.

From this weekend's -- Advent's -- first reading:

"In those days, in that time,
I will raise up for David a just shoot;
he shall do what is right and just in the land."

Tate: Biletnikoff Award finalist

2009-11-24T08:29:00.001-05:00

From und.com:

"University of Notre Dame junior wide receiver Golden Tate has been named one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to college football's top wide receiver. Joining Tate as a finalist are Bowling Green's Freddie Barnes and Jordan Shipley from Texas, the Tallahassee Quarterback Club announced Monday.

Tate set the Notre Dame record for most receptions and receiving yards in a season, breaking Jeff Samardzija's previous marks set in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Tate enters Saturday's regular-season finale with 83 receptions for 1,295 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns. He has added touchdowns via punt return (one) and rushing (two) for 15 total touchdowns this season."

Video highlights, again:

Amen, Professor Soares

2009-11-23T07:21:00.001-05:00

Opinion piece in the South Bend Tribune from Prof. John Soares, who teaches "Sport in American History" at the University of Notre Dame and resides in South Bend, [here].

The opening: "Would you like to know what might be the surest bet in sports — one that may come into play if the men who run the University of Notre Dame throw Charlie Weis under the bus and hire a new football coach? When Notre Dame hires an experienced, successful, major college football head coach, the success rate in turning the Irish into national champions is 100 percent. When Notre Dame hires anybody else, the success rate is 14 percent."

6-5

2009-11-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

Coach Weis, on December 13, 2004: "Now, there's a number of issues that that's related to but let's talk about first and foremost, a quote, that Bill Parcells said to me years ago. You are what you are, folks, and right now you're a 6-5 football team. And guess what, that's just not good enough. That's not good enough for you, and it's certainly not going to be good enough for me."

Connecticut 33, Notre Dame 30 (2 OT).

That said, I like Coach Weis. And it is abundantly clear that the players like him, too. The walking, arm-in-arm, with and behind Coach Weis to leave the tunnel before the game got me choked up.

"I had no idea they were going to do that. They just told me they wanted to come back after the 33 seniors were introduced. They wanted to come back. I was standing in the back because I hobble out there as I always do. And getting up front for what? And they said we're walking out together, and so be it. That's what you want, that's what we'll do. ...

But it was nice that they wanted that, they wanted to do that. But at the end of the day, that just goes to the start of the game, and what it came down to is playing football. ...

I'm pretty emotional. I just try not letting you see it. You know, the fact here's the only thing that got me was the fact that they wanted to do this and they wanted me up there, that meant a lot to me. You know, that's all I can say, you know."

Meanwhile, from the stats:

Total offense: ND 452, UConn 372
Time of Possession: ND 33:08, UConn 26:52
Jimmy Clausen: 30 for 45, 66.7%, 329 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 rushing TD.
Golden Tate: 9 catches, 123 yards, 1 TD; 1 rush for 12 yards.
Michael Floyd: 8 catches, 104 yards, 1 TD.
Armando Allen: 24 carries, 106 yards; 7 catches, 64 yards.

Those stat lines should have been good enough to win if the Irish had not given up 231 yards rushing and a kickoff return TD, and settled for 3 David Ruffer field goals.

Senior Day

2009-11-19T07:15:00.000-05:00

Notre Dame and Connecticut will meet in football for the first time ever on Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium.

Like AD Jack Swarbrick, at least in public, I'm going to shy away from any talk here on my blog of firings and hirings until (and, with possible wins over UConn and Stanford, if?) they happen.

Jimmy Clausen: "To throw in the towel right now would just be awful for all of us who have put in so much time and so much work in the off season. We just can't do that."

Coach Weis press conference transcript [here].
ND captains press conference [here].
ND - UConn Game Notes [here].

* This week's theme is on the players. Eric Olsen: "I think Coach Weis putting the tempo and everything on the shoulders of the older guys, the leaders this week in practice, definitely helps us out because it gives kind of like a fresh breath of air for the guys, something a little bit different. It means a lot to the seniors, whether it's a guy that plays every single snap or a guy that doesn't play at all, that this is the last time in the stadium. That's motivation in itself. I think all that, putting it on these guys, kind of works together. Definitely helping out the team this week."

* Of interest, to me, from the Game Notes:

Notre Dame and UConn will meet on the gridiron for the first time in the 121-year history of Irish football. The Huskies are the 137th different opponent in Notre Dame football history.
Senior OT Sam Young owns a school record tying streak of 48 consecutive starts -- dating back to the 2006 season opener at Georgia Tech.
The Irish own a mark of 43-6-1 (.870) since 1930 versus teams making their first overall visit to Notre Dame.
Weis is just 10-9 in November games.
Notre Dame has played 12 previous games in its history on Nov. 21. The Irish are 8-3-1 all-time on the date.

* Meanwhile, injured TE Kyle Rudolph was selected as a semifinalist for the John Mackey Award. He was the only underclassman on the list.

The amazin' Golden Tate was also selected as 1 of 15 players to the semifinalist list for the Walter Camp Player of the Year award.

27-22

2009-11-15T08:30:00.004-05:00

Official recap of the 27-22 loss to Pitt [here].
Box score [here].
Game Notes [here].
ESPN's recap included un-embeddable highlights [here].

* Let's start with the good: Golden Tate. 9 catches, 113 yards, 1 TD, plus the Irish play of the night when he returned the 4th quarter punt 87 yards for a touchdown. Tate needs just 78 yards receiving over the next 2 games to become ND's all-time single-season record holder for receiving yards. He should be showered with post-season awards, in my opinion, as no other player in the country has more 100-yard receiving games than Tate.

* It sure looked like the Clausen pass went forward as a result of his hand throwing it forward. It even still had a decent spiral. And shouldn't the Irish have received the timeout back if it was a fumble?...Tough, tough overturn by the Big East officials, who were also nice enough to only call Pitt for 1 penalty all night and missed several facemask, defensive holding calls, and others by Pitt, in my opinion. As much as AD Jack Swarbrick needs to do anything he needs to mitigate the biases of officiating in future football contracts and schedules starting right away.

* Stats, of interest to me:

First downs: ND 20, Pitt 17.
Rushing: Armando Allen 14 carries, 77 yards; Dion Lewis 21 carries, 152 yards.
Turnovers: ND 2, Pitt 0.
3rd quarter time of possession: ND 11:41, Pitt 3:19.
3rd quarter points: Pitt 10, ND 0 [although the Irish did score right away in the 4th.]

* Notre Dame's first 8 possessions: punt, punt, interception, field goal, punt, end of half, punt, punt.

* The Irish have now played in eight total games this season decided by seven points or less. They are now 4-4 in those contests.

Embattled

2009-11-10T17:46:00.000-05:00

* In my opinion, Coach Weis and the Fighting Irish begin a three game run that will ultimately decide Weis's job status. The run opens with the Irish about a touchdown underdog at Top 10 Pitt this Saturday night on ABC before ending with UConn on Senior Day in Notre Dame Stadium and a Thanksgiving weekend trip to Stanford.

* Notre Dame heads to #8 Pitt. und.com Game Notes [here]. Of interest, to me:

An unranked Irish team is 4-1 all-time against a ranked Pitt team at Pitt.
Weis is a very mediocre 11-8 in November games.
Notre Dame and Pitt first played 100 years ago in 1909.
Notre Dame has now played in seven games this season decided by seven points or less and the Irish are 4-3 in those games.

* Coach Weis's press conference transcript [here]. Of biggest interest to me, the salary discussion with John Walters[?] (I'm guessing): "By the way, John, mine is grossly misreported in case you're wondering. And one step further while we're on that subject, if you would like to have my tax returns I'd be more than willing to give them just as long as you were willing to pay the difference between what's been reported and what I actually make. ...You better have a seven figure check ready, that's all I have to say."

* Notre Dame blogs and message boards seem resigned to one likely result, especially given the underdog status vs. Pitt and the likely underdog status vs. Stanford: AD Jack Swarbrick will need to find the Irish a new head football coach. Others in the "mainstream":

Eric Hansen at the South Bend Tribune poses the question: What will decide the future?
Stewart Mandel at SI.com: "Notre Dame's latest loss to Navy devastating to BCS shot, Weis' job." He also goes back to the ol' Notre Dame-is-just-like-others meme. Not very creative...
Dan Wetzel at Yahoo! Sports is already picking us a new coach.

* In the also-is-bad-news department, TE Kyle Rudolph is done for the regular season thanks to a shoulder injury.

* In the very good news department, however, Alabama may get on a future Irish schedule as a barnstorming opponent. Too bad it won't give Bear Bryant another chance to try and beat the Irish.

20 years ago / 71 years ago

2009-11-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall: November 9, 1989.

I was on the Saint Mary's College Rome program that year, and a group of us -- tired, dirty and un-showered from sleeping on a long train from Vienna, and cold -- got to Berlin over the Christmas break in time to chip our own pieces from the Wall.

Of course, November 9 is the date of another important event in German and world history: Kristallnacht (now commonly translated as “Night of Broken Glass”). U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum page [here].

Ugly

2009-11-07T18:39:00.002-05:00

und.com recap [here].

Congratulations, again, to Navy. Still...

Almost 350 yds rushing against. 3 turnovers (including no awful helmet-to-helmet call on the Jimmy Clausen fumble at the Navy 1). 2 missed field goals. A big pass play given up for a touchdown. Turnover on downs after 1st and goal. 3 sacks against. Safety against. Ugly.

The Irish needed wide receiver Golden Tate to play defense and tackle the Navy fullback, I think. Clausen's 453 yards passing, and Michael Floyd's 10 catches, and Tate's 9 mattered little with so many mistakes. The Irish running game vanished too soon.

Notre Dame may now be looking at 7-5 with road trips still to Pitt and Stanford. I really don't think Coach Weis keeps his job with that likely record.

UPDATED: with odd statistics:

First downs: ND 32, Navy 20.
1st half time of possession: ND 15:02, Navy 14:48. It sure felt like Navy had the ball for 20 minutes of that half.
Fourth down conversions: Navy 2 for 2; ND 0 for 2.
Net yards rushing: Navy 348, ND 60.
Passing yards: ND 452, Navy 56 (with 52 coming on the one play).

UPDATED 2: with damning quotations...

Coach Niumatalolo: "I think the one thing that helped us, and I really hope this doesn't come across wrong, but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year because we knew that they'd line up the same way. We didn't execute very well last year, and coming into this year they did a great job against us last year defensively, so we had a pretty good clue that they were going to come back and do the same things as they did last year, and we had a few things. We were expecting that same defense that we saw last year.

But it was still a grind. I mean, they're still a great defense, and we thought we had some alignments in some of our formations. But it was a grind to get yardage against them even though we thought we had some numbers advantages in certain formations."

Ian Williams: "They just played harder. They out-schemed us, and they just played harder. I know we played our hearts out, I played my heart out, but I guess they just had a better scheme than we did. They watched film and obviously did the right things and made the right changes [from last year's game]. They spotted a weakness in our defense, they knew what scheme we were going to come out in, and they put a great game plan together."

Greg Jones: "We had a different formation and they were keying on the inside receivers. It was a play we were working on all week and saving it for Notre Dame."

Tate + Clausen highlights

2009-11-06T10:25:00.001-05:00

und.com with a new highlight video for each...

Classic 'Round the World

2009-11-05T13:03:00.003-05:00

* Saturday: Notre Dame and Navy for the 83rd consecutive time. Of interest, to me, from the Game Notes:

Irish are 72-9-1 all-time against Navy.
A ranked ND team is 15-1 all-time at Notre Dame against Navy.
Irish are 13-3-1 all-time on November 7.
Notre Dame OL 315.0 lbs. vs. Navy DL 262.3 lbs.
Notre Dame DL 275.0 lbs. vs. Navy OL 264.8 lbs.
Notre Dame WR/TE 6' 3 1/3" vs. Navy DB 6' 0".
Notre Dame DB 6' 1" vs. Navy WR/TE 5' 10".
Since Weis arrived in South Bend, Notre Dame is 20-0 when out rushing its opponent.

* Injury updates: Dayne Crist out 4-6 months with ACL; Michael Floyd back in from his broken collarbone. South Bend Tribune [here]. Keith Arnold at NBC.com on the return of Floyd [here].

* University of Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen and junior wide receiver Golden Tate were both selected as semifinalists for the 2009 Maxwell Award, presented annually to college football's player of the year, the Maxwell Football Club announced Wednesday.

* Toney Hurd, a cornerback prospect from Texas, selected the Irish over the likes of Florida State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Auburn and Ole Miss.

* Jamie Newberg at Rivals.com on the Irish chances with big-name prospects going forward [here].

* Lastly, this bit from the NBC e-mail blast:

"NBC Sports will highlight the newest member of the U.S. Navy's fleet, the USS NEW YORK, a San Antonio-class LPD warship, during its coverage of Saturday's game. The USS NEW YORK's bow, forged from 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, embodies the strength and determination of the people of New York - to recover, to rally, and to take the fight to the enemy. The ship will be commissioned on Saturday in New York. NBC Sports will also cover the Notre Dame marching band performing the National Anthem live."

Tate, Clausen + the Irish storm Cougars

2009-11-01T10:20:00.002-05:00

Notre Dame 40, Washington State 14.

Recap via und.com [here].
Box score [here].
Game notes [here].

Streaks. Notre Dame moves to 10-0 versus teams from the state of Washington. The Irish also move to 15-0 all-time on Halloween.

Kicking. Speaking of streaks, freshman kicker Nick Tausch hit two field goals -- from 29 and 23 yards, respectively. Tausch has now connected on 14 consecutive field goals and set a new Notre Dame school record. (The previous school record was held by Mike Johnston, who made 13 straight during the 1982 season.)

Runnin'. Notre Dame remains undefeated in the Weis era when they out-rush the opponent. The Irish racked up a net of 255 yards on the ground versus Washington State's 102. With Armando Allen out, Robert Hughes pounded the Cougars for 131 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown while Theo Riddick added a dynamic, sometimes hurdling 51 yards on 9 carries.

Golden. Does Notre Dame have two players that deserve to be in the Heisman Trophy conversation as of today? I think so.

Golden Tate racked up 61 yards on 4 carries rushing out of the Wildcat...

...including this touchdown that put the Irish up 16-0:

Then, later...Hail Mary, Full of Grace...

Efficient. As the Cougars elected to double- and sometimes triple-cover Tate while playing two deep safeties, Jimmy Clausen still had a very nice night in the almost 3 full quarters he played: 22 for 27, 81.5%, 268 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs.

Tackles. The Irish defense didn't get the opportunity to rack up tackling statistics as they were only on the field for 49 plays. Yet, they earned 5 sacks and 2 interceptions. Ethan Johnson had 1.5 sacks while Darius Fleming and Steve Filer each had a sack. But DT Ian Williams may have had the defensive play of the night as he stunted to the outside, read a wide receiver screen, and made the snag:

Crist. Dayne Crist, in relief due to Clausen's turf toe and the overall score, had a rough night including an injury that may or may not be bad. It sure looked bad:

Crist was just 2 for 6 passing before the injury, but did throw a laser-strike touchdown to John Goodman (the first Irish TD for both players) to get ND to 40 points on the night:

We wait until Monday to know much about how bad Crist's injury is.

More Stats. Of interest, to me...

Time of possession: Notre Dame almost 41 minutes, Cougars just over 19.
First downs: Irish 32, Cougars 12.
Total offense: Irish 592, Cougars 206.

Up next, Navy.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-29T17:01:00.000-04:00

...and Happy First (of 6) Mandatory Furlough Day.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-10-28T12:01:00.000-04:00

Barnstorming week.

* Official und.com stuff for the ramblin' Irish, a neutral site home game vs. Washington State in San Antonio, Texas:

Coach Weis's WSU press conference [here].
Game Notes [here].

* Of interest, to me, from the above-linked Game Notes:

The Irish are a perfect 14-0 all-time on Halloween.
Notre Dame is 9-0 all-time against schools from the state of Washington.
The Irish are 9-0 under Coach Weis vs. non-Southern Cal Pac Ten teams.
The Irish are 15-4 in games played in Texas.
Junior WR Golden Tate has posted three consecutive 100-yard receiving games. He registered 244 yards against Washington, 117 yards versus USC and 128 yards against Boston College. Tate could become the first Irish player to record four straight 100-yard games since Tom Gatewood set the school record with five consecutive 100-yard receiving games in 1970.

* Speaking of Tate, he is one of 10 wide receivers named to the semifinalist list for the Biletnikoff Award, presented annually to the nation's top college receiver.

* Meanwhile, Jimmy Clausen was one of 15 players named to the semifinalist list for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, the oldest and most prestigious award honoring the nation's best college quarterback.

* Coach Weis named the Sergio Brown-forced fumble near the goal line, one of five BC turnovers, as the play of the game vs. the Eagles:

* Giovanni Bernard, a running back at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida, has committed to Notre Dame. Bernard, rated the No. 50 player nationally by CBS College Sports Network analyst Tom Lemming on his list of 100 top players, is the 17th recruit to commit to Notre Dame's recruiting class of 2010. According to Irish Sports Daily: "He chose the Irish over his other 20-plus other scholarship offers including Nebraska, Tennessee and Oregon State, where he also took official visits, as well as Florida State, Alabama and Miami."

* Western Michigan? I guess if the the football schedule is slowing catching up to me by picking places I have worked/do work, then Georgia is next to go on the schedule. That'd be nice.

Mobile

2009-10-26T19:45:00.001-04:00

Just a brief slideshow from my less than 2 days in Mobile, Alabama at the Southeastern College Art Conference last Thursday and Friday:

Award

2009-10-26T10:34:00.006-04:00

Details [here].

Ranked

2009-10-25T20:10:00.002-04:00

The Fighting Irish enter the BCS Standings at #23 this week.

Some of the computer polls like the Irish, with Notre Dame earning a #19 ranking there (Anderson & Hester have the Irish as high as #14). Meanwhile, the Irish are #24 in the Harris poll, #25 in the Associated Press poll, and #25 in the Coaches Poll.

Notre Dame 20, Boston College 16

2009-10-25T08:47:00.002-04:00

I feel like it was a very strange game. Still, another awful losing streak -- the third of its kind (bowl losing streak + MSU in South Bend as the other 2) to go away since Christmas Eve -- ends and the Irish beat BC for the first time since 2000.

Box score [here].
AP recap [here].
Quotations (.pdf file) [here].
Game notes [here].

Golden, again, and again, and more. Golden Tate's stat line? 11 catches, 128 yards, 2 TDs.

The second quarter touchdown...

And the game winner...

Workman-like. Jimmy Clausen's stat line? 26 for 39, 66.7%, 246 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs. Even so, it seemed like Jimmy was just a little off and impatient, again. Also workman-like? Armando Allen with 98 yards on 21 carries.

Kick. Nick Tausch continues to get the Irish points with his field goal kicking as he added two important first half ones from 37 and 34 yards, respectively.

Don't kick. Special teams coach Brian Polian dialed up another gadget, another holder Eric Maust special; this time, a run on a fake field goal that found the end zone only to be called back on a mostly unnecessary Lane Clelland holding penalty.

Turnovers. Notre Dame 0, Boston College 5. How was BC still in this game, again? Kyle McCarthy's two interceptions were big, the Sergio Brown hit on Montel Harris inside the Irish 5 was bigger, and the Brian Smith interception saved Coach Weis and the Irish.

Chunks. This is how BC was even in the game: QB Dave Shinskie threw 10 passes of 20 or more yards, including converting a killer third-and-12 for 22 yards on the first BC touchdown drive, and a fourth-and-16 for 28 yards on the final (unsuccessful) drive. Meanwhile, Rich Gunnell had 10 catches for 179 yards and a TD. If the Irish are going to win out, this must -- must -- improve.

Start. This is how else BC was even in the game: ND's drive starts in the first half? The Irish 28, 12, 8, 7, 47, and 25 yard line, respectively.

Stuffed. Montel Harris's stat line against NC State last week for BC? 27 carries, 264 yards, 5 TDs, 9.78 yds/carry. His stat line against the Irish D? 22 carries, 38 yards, 1 TD, 1.7 yds/carry.

Aloha. Manti Te'o had 2 solo tackles, 7 assisted tackles, 2 1/2 tackles for loss, a pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry. His speedy play absolutely blew up a BC screen pass...

Aloha, again. Roby Toma saw the field and has the first two catches of his Irish career for 13 yards.

Tackles. Kyle McCarthy, who used to lead the Irish in tackles every game it seems, was actually fifth today behind Te'o, DT Ian Williams, DE Kapron Lewis-Moore, and LB Brian Smith. That is a good thing for the struggling Irish defense. Coach Weis agrees: "Usually I come in here saying,
'Well what do you think about your safeties being the top tacklers in the game?' So we are making some progress. That's what that means. It goes back before, I think we were making some progress."

Get off the field. Boston College's 2nd half possessions on offense? Touchdown, fumble, interception, punt, punt, interception, interception. Notre Dame's? Not much better. Punt, punt, downs (see below), touchdown, punt, punt, Victory formation.

Fourth-and-goal. Robert Hughes looked like he got knocked out on helmet-to-helmet contact as he ran from the Wildcat formation on fourth down from the BC 1 early in the 4th quarter. I thought for sure he was getting in.

Nice to see you, again. After slipping on that final play last week against Southern Cal, Duval Kamara caught 7 quick passes from Clausen for 60 yards. A banged-up Robby Parris tried to go and caught one pass while John Goodman caught 3 but needs to learn to head up-field and not out-of-bounds.

Notes. Of interest, to me...

The Irish have now played in six consecutive games decided by a touchdown or less.
The six games decided by seven points or less in the same season is a school record.
Notre Dame has now registered four come-from-behind, fourth-quarter victories this season -- a first in Irish football history.
Boston College picked up a safety midway through the first quarter to draw within a point, 3-2. It was the first safety by an Irish opponent since Oklahoma on Oct. 2, 1999.

Stats. Other statistics of note, to me...

First downs: Notre Dame 22, BC 16.
Rushing yards: Notre Dame 106, BC 70. The Irish remain undefeated under Weis when they win this statistical category.
Time of possession: Notre Dame 32:48, BC 27:12. Was it just me or did it feel like the Irish lost this category?

Sniffles. I know it is a small thing but somebody, maybe his wife, buy Coach Weis a hanky and make him keep it in the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. Please.

Ready for primetime? I hope so, as the Irish host the first "barnstorming" neutral site game at 7:30pm on NBC from San Antonio next Saturday night, All Hallow's Eve.

:01 and 4 yards

2009-10-17T20:27:00.008-04:00

Cardiac kids, again. Could the Irish please jump all over Boston College next week and save some years on my life span? Please?

My post-game, immediate thoughts about the heartbreaking, down-to-the-final-play loss to Southern Cal...

Official box score via und.com [here].

Cover the tight end! The real difference in the game, in my mind, may have been three short yardage play action passes by the Trojans to TE Anthony McCoy.

On the Trojans' first scoring drive, Matt Barkley found McCoy on 2nd-and-1 from the SC 23 for 35 yards. In the second quarter, on an even more important third-and-1 at the Irish 43, Matt Barkley again found McCoy for 23 yards. Then, in the third quarter, Barkley to McCoy went for 60 yards on a third-and-1 at the SC 36. McCoy finished with an absurd stat line: 5 catches, 153 yards.

Golden, again. I can't believe I have to wait until Thanksgiving weekend 2010 for the SC defense to, maybe, face both Michael Floyd and Golden Tate. Tate played great, especially in the second half as he finished with 8 catches for 117 yards and the first two touchdown receptions against the Trojan defense in the 2009 season. His ability to stay upright and find the endzone against a Taylor Mays hit with 7:28 left in the 4th was awesome.

501. The Irish defense can't give up 501 yards in total offense to the Trojans and expect to win. Ever.

Gadget. Notre Dame's only first half touchdown was greatly aided by a trick play as punter/holder Eric Maust found Robby Parris for 25 yards on a wonderfully-executed fake field goal. Robert Hughes punched it in a play later. Parris has a very nice day in Floyd's place, catching 9 balls for 92 yards, including a 13-yard reception on 4th down on the final drive where he was both speared by Mays and nearly decapitated.

Clock Management. Notre Dame lost a play at the end of the game because Coach Weis and the entire coaching staff did not seem to realize that the clock was starting again after a roughing the passer penalty on SC that gave the Irish 1st-and-goal at the 4.

Odd statistics.

First downs: Notre Dame (who did not have a single first down until the end of the 3rd quarter against SC last year) 27, Southern Cal 21.
Rushing touchdowns: Southern Cal 2, Jimmy Clausen 1. On one of the best play calls of the Weis era, I think, Clausen ran a read option for a TD in the 4th quarter; he ran another for a first down on the final drive.
Turnovers: Southern Cal 1, Notre Dame 0. Gary Gray's 4th quarter interception of Barkley was a big part of the Irish attempt to come back.
Time of possession: Southern Cal 28:49, Notre Dame 31:11.

Two more, to make me feel better:

Southern Cal had been giving up 8.6 points per game; the Irish scored 27.
As mentioned, SC had given up no -- zero -- passing TDs in 2009; Clausen to Tate got the Irish 2. Could have used 1 more...

Belief

2009-10-15T11:54:00.001-04:00

"We're not just playing for the guys that are in the locker room, we're playing the entire Notre Dame nation. The whole Notre Dame nation really, really wants to beat USC, and we're no different. And we believe that we can. More people are starting to believe in us that we can. That's the most important thing, just keeping that confidence and that belief all the way through Saturday." -- Scott Smith

Transcript of the captains press conference [here].

Renewing the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football

2009-10-14T09:22:00.000-04:00

It is Southern Cal week.

Coach Weis's pre-Southern Cal press conference transcript [here].

In summary...

No green jerseys
Michael Floyd's return is ahead of schedule, likely for Navy [One of my great wishes: that the Southern Cal defense might have to play against Floyd one of these days...]
Manti Te'o is #1 at WLB; Brian Smith at MLB; Darius Fleming at SLB.
Everyone except Floyd is a "go"
Southern Cal is a very good football team
It is a big recruiting weekend
Some jerk sent Charlie a "USC Owns Notre Dame" cap and a letter with a derogatory comment about Weis's special needs daughter, Hannah

und.com official release [here].

Of interest, to me:

Of course, USC has captured each of the past seven meetings and 10 of 13 overall. Notre Dame did not lose to the Trojans over the previous 13 meetings (1983-95), including an 11-game winning streak.
Saturday will be the 209th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium.
A win for the Irish would be the first victory for Notre Dame over a top 10 opponent since No. 3 Michigan (17-10) on Sept. 10, 2005 in Coach Weis's second career game.
Since 1984, Notre Dame is 29-5 playing after a bye week.
Notre Dame has never lost on October 17th when ranked in the polls.

Ranked

2009-10-11T15:01:00.005-04:00

This Saturday: #6 Southern Cal at #25 Notre Dame.

Irish in both the AP and Coaches' Poll at #25.

[UPDATE: Also, #25 in the Harris Interactive.]

Classic 'Round the World

2009-10-11T00:14:00.002-04:00

* U-S-A! U-S-A! In the other football, a giant day in 2010 World Cup qualifying.

The United States men's national team qualified for the next World Cup in South Africa by doing what no team had yet done in Honduras during this cycle: win. Honduras had been 8-0-0 at home in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, earning five shutouts in the process.

[UPDATE: Highlights via ussoccer.com...]

The Americans overcame a 1-0 deficit to win 3-2 with three huge goals, two by Conor Casey and one by Landon Donovan. Honduras missed a late penalty kick and the U.S. held on.

Elsewhere, Costa Rica handled Trinidad & Tobago to leapfrog Honduras into the critical third place in the hexagonal going into the final match day on Wednesday. Honduras could still qualify with win at El Salvador and a Costa Rica loss to the Americans on Wednesday. The fourth place finisher can still also qualify via playoff with the South American fifth place team.

A bee swarm, as they settled on the El Salvador goal, held up the early minutes of the Mexico-El Salvador match in Mexico City before Mexico went on to win easily and qualify for the Cup.

Ireland and Italy tied, sending the Italians into the Cup Finals.
Germany beat Russia to head to South Africa.
Denmark beat Sweden to make the 2010 Finals.
Serbia beat Romania to go through.
In Africa, the Ivory Coast is also headed to the Finals.
Chile won at Colombia and qualified.

Those teams join Ghana, Australia, North Korea, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Spain, England, Brazil, Paraguay, and hosts South Africa...as qualification continues with 1 more match day, then intra-region (in Europe) and inter-region playoffs.

* Notre Dame might sneak its way back into the Top 25 polls this weekend as they sit at home and eat cheeseburgers. The Irish stood at 33rd in the AP, and 28th in the Coaches Poll.

Some of the teams ahead, in the last half of the Top 25 on down to "others receiving votes," of the Irish in one or other poll, or both:

17/19 Auburn, giving up 44 points, lost to Arkansas.
20/16 Ole Miss lost at home to Alabama.
24/18 Missouri lost to Nebraska on Thursday.
UR/25 Wisconsin lost by 18 to Ohio State.
Georgia was blown out at Tennessee.
Stanford got jumped on at Oregon State before closing the gap a little yet losing.
Michigan has now lost two straight, both Big 10 road games, after starting 4-0 at home.
Boston College was destroyed by Virginia Tech.

(22/23 Georgia Tech is winning in the early 4th quarter at embattled Florida State, in a first half without defense, as I post.)

Meanwhile, the Irish resume was helped by wins for Nevada (over Louisiana Tech on Friday), for Michigan State (at Illinois), but hindered by that Michigan loss -- which is always good if you are a Notre Dame fan -- and another Purdue come-from-ahead loss. (Washington and Arizona still playing as I head to bed.)

My guess is that the Irish might end up 22-ish in the Coaches and just outside the 25 in the AP. Ranked Notre Dame hosting Top-7ish Southern Cal heightens the excitement, I think, and would be nice. We'll see if the Irish get ranked tomorrow.

* Next Friday's pre-Southern Cal pep rally will be held on the Irish Green, the new football hospitality area just south of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

* Golden Tate was named the AT&T All-America Player of the Week.

Bye Week highlights

2009-10-08T08:23:00.001-04:00

und.com with official highlights from the first 5 weeks of the season...

Different?

2009-10-05T12:33:00.001-04:00

Two years ago:

Last Saturday:

Thanks to Pat and the Polo Grounds.

Golden rule

2009-10-04T21:45:00.001-04:00

Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate has launched up among the national leaders for receiving in spite of losing Michael Floyd on the other side of the field. Tate is now 4th in the nation in total receiving yards.

Today, Coach Weis on Tate: "Well, first of all, we asked a lot of Golden in this game, and we'll continue to ask a lot of Golden in Michael's absence. I think that you have a front line player, and you have to try to find ways to get the ball in his hands.

That being said, he was lined up outside, strong outside, weak, in the slot, in the backfield, and made plays from about everywhere he was. But the most important thing is when he had the ball in his hands, he was really, really dangerous. ...

I think that Golden is putting himself in that category of he's clearly the go to guy, and he knew that that was going to be the case when Michael went down. But a lot of times when you have a go to guy, people find a way to take that go to guy and minimize him, and he has not allowed that to happen."

Here are all 10 of Golden Tate's touches on offense during the Washington game:

Cardiac Kids

2009-10-04T09:30:00.012-04:00

Notre Dame 37, Washington 30 (OT).

Four straight weeks, four late game scenarios. Three straight wins after one Big-10-officiating-screw-job and a loss. Thankfully, "Bye" next week should represent a break for my blood pressure and my heart.

Coach Weis: "The [Irish] just keep on fighting and fighting and fighting. ...There was a lot of bad stuff in the game, but I'm going to have a tough time feeling bad tonight."

The Bad? Let's get it out of the way early in this post... Red zone offense in the first half, especially. The opening Washington drive [the second straight week a team went right down and scored]. Jimmy Clausen's errant pass/lateral that led directly to 7 Washington points. Chris Polk's 136 yards rushing for the Huskies, especially all the yards after contact. The holding penalty on Paul Duncan that took points off the board. Some very un-clutch plays, again, by the Irish defensive backs that bailed Washington out several times.

Still, a win...and 4-1.

Official box score via und.com [here].
Post-game quotations [here].
Game Notes [here].

They're not booing, they're just sayin' "Hughes." Armando Allen, after missing the Purdue game with injury, returned to start and had 12 carries for 39 yards, and three catches before leaving again with an injury. Meanwhile, Robert Hughes rushed 8 times for 70 yards, including an extremely important 2-point conversion/rugby scrum with 1:20 to play that put the Irish up by 3 points. The full Irish late 4th quarter drive, with another Clausen-to-Kyle Rudolph late game heroic and the Hughes 2-pointer:

Hughes then added the game-winning margin in overtime. The full Irish overtime possession:

Ouch. Safeties Harrison Smith and Kyle McCarthy made certain the game ended on Jake Locker's over-the-middle pass to D'Andre Goodwin on 4th down in overtime. Washington's full overtime possession, including a monster sack by Kerry Neal:

Coach Sarkisian on the hit: "[Goodwin]'s okay. He got his bell rung. He got a concussion. It was a great hit, almost one of the greatest catches of all time. But he'll be okay."

Goal line stand x3.

First one:

Two and three, separated by an unusual (and wrong?) "roughing the snapper" penalty:

Weis: "I think that the entire game, the ebb and flow of the game, probably the whole game came down to that double goal line stand not the goal line stand, the double goal line stand. If they go in, it's a two score game, and the odds of us winning right there really, really aren't very high, especially when all the clock is running during this one set."

Clausen. Jimmy's stat line? 23 for 31, 422 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT. For the season? 100 for 148, 67.6%, 1544 yards, 12 TDs, 2 INTs.

Stay Golden. Nine catches, 244 yards, one touchdown; Opening offensive play end around for 31 yards. Here is Tate's touchdown catch and run:

Washington's Coach Sarkisian on Tate: "You know, I think he's a really good player, one; and they do a nice job with their scheme of moving him around to put him this spots. He does not line up to one spot on the field. He's all over the place; he's in the backfield, he's in the slot, he's at wide receiver."

According to the "Game Notes," the 244 yards receiving by Tate are the second most in single-game Irish history, and the most since Jim Seymour set the school record with 276 yards receiving against Purdue in 1966.

Kick. The flip side of doing poorly in the red zone for the Irish? Freshman Nick Tausch hit field goals from 34, 40, 34, 21, and 24 yards, tying a Notre Dame record. In fact, Tausch is the first Irish place kicker to register five field goals in a single game without a miss.

Aloha, again. Freshman linebacker Manti Te'o recorded 10 tackles.

Replay. Replay officials had an uneven day. The Polk touchdown/non-TD and the Hughes 2 point conversion (with no replay) seem open to interpretation depending on your fandom. The decision not to replay, let alone overturn, James Johnson's catch that got Washington into field goal range in the last minute was dead wrong:

Notre Dame opponent updates.
* Proof that the transitive property doesn't work for college football: Michigan State over Michigan in overtime.
* Thursday: Pitt over Louisville.
* UConn was idle.
* Purdue loses to Northwestern.
* Stanford moved to 4-1, 3-0 in the Pac-10, with a win over UCLA.
* Navy went to 3-2 with a win over Air Force.
* Boston College over Florida State.
* Washington State was blown out by Oregon.
* Nevada hung 63 on UNLV.
* USC 30, Cal 3.

Stats. Of interest to me:

Time of Possession: Washington 32:29, Notre Dame 27:31. This is the first time this season the Irish lost this statistical category.
Total offense: Notre Dame 530, Washington 457.
Turnovers: Notre Dame 2, Washington 1.
Third/fourth down conversions: Washington 40%, Notre Dame 20%.

Two notes. Of interest to me:

Notre Dame is now 8-0 in the all-time series with the Huskies.
Weis is now 9-4 against the Pac-10, and 9-0 against Pac-10 teams that are not USC.

Up next, USC in two weeks.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-10-01T07:11:00.000-04:00

...for Washington Huskies week.

Coach Weis pre-Washington press conference [here].
Team captains press conference [here].
Washington Game Notes .pdf [here].

* Of interest to me from the Game Notes:

This meeting will be the eighth all-time meeting between the two schools and fourth ever matchup in Notre Dame Stadium. The Irish have won all seven previous meetings, including a 33-7 triumph last year in Seattle. The Irish have beaten Washington by at least 19 points in six of the seven all-time games.
Notre Dame has played 14 previous games in its history on Oct. 3. The Irish are 11-3 all-time on this date.
Notre Dame is 38-9-1 all-time against Pac-10 teams that are not USC.

* Freshman Ben Turk has been named the starting punter for this weekend.

* Bob Condotta at The Seattle Times on the state of the Notre Dame program. Condotta, also with an article on Coach Hart [here].

* In mediocre seasons, Notre Dame could be an option for the new Yankee Bowl.

Irish 24, Boilermakers 21

2009-09-27T08:13:00.002-04:00

[Now with UPDATES....]

Associated Press recap [here].
Post-game quotations [here].
Box score [here].
Big Ten Network highlights on youtube [here].

"Jimmy Clausen completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph with 24.8 seconds to play, and Notre Dame rallied for a 24-21 win over Purdue on Saturday night.

Clausen, slowed by a turf toe injury on his right foot, split time with Dayne Crist but returned to the game when it got tight in the fourth quarter.

Clausen and the Irish took over trailing 21-17 with 3:41 to go."

Clausen, on the game winning play: "After we broke the huddle, Kyle (Rudolph) came up to me and said, 'Jimmy, get me the ball.' I told him, 'You'd better get up and catch the ball.'"

* Missing one of the two starting wide receivers (gone for the season); no starting fullback; no starting halfback; hobbled starting quarterback...and a 3-point, last-second victory.

* Crist. With Clausen slowed by the turf toe, Dayne Crist opened the second quarter at quarterback for the Irish and promptly rushed for 16 yards on his first career rush. Weis, on Crist: "He managed the game very well. He came in to a tight game and did a great job of leading us to a 17-7 halftime lead."

* Run, run, and run it again. Of Notre Dame’s 73-yard, nine play scoring drive to grab a 10-7 lead with 10:43 remaining in the first half, all 73 yards came on the ground. Dayne Crist attempted just one pass on the drive and it was dropped by Duval Kamara.

* Wildcat. With Armando Allen out, Weis transformed the Wildcat formation into the Golden Tate Show. Tate had 9 carries for 55 yards and a TD. He also caught 5 catches for 57 yards on the night.

* Also of interest, to me, from the statistics and game notes:

Irish outgained the Boilermakers on the ground 167 to 74. That makes ND 18-0 under Weis when they win that statistical category.
Clausen was limited to just 24 plays.
The Irish scored with just 24.8 seconds remaining on the clock. It is the latest Notre Dame has scored to secure a victory on the road since 1997 when Scott Cengia booted a field goal with five seconds left to secure a 23-22 victory at Hawaii.

Collage: Purdue game last year

2009-09-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

Classic 'Round the World

2009-09-25T07:05:00.001-04:00

Boilermaker edition...

Official game notes via und.com [here].
Tim Prister's Game Preview at und.com [here].

* Of interest to me in the Game Notes:

Notre Dame is 16-3 against Purdue the week after facing Michigan State.
Notre Dame has played 10 previous games in its history on Sept. 26. The Irish are 8-1-1 all-time on this date.
Notre Dame is the only offense among all 120 FBS schools that has a running back rank among the top 20 in rushing yards per game, two wide receivers rank among the top 20 in receiving yards per game and a quarterback rank among the top 20 in passing yards per game. [Unfortunately, one of those receivers is now done with the broken collarbone.]

* Of import: Clausen is still a "go" for Purdue.

* Purdue offensive lineman Zach Reckman received a one-game suspension from the league for a late hit on Northern Illinois' Sean Progar last week at Ross-Ade Stadium. He's out for the Irish game.

* Who among the Irish receiving corps will step up and try to fill the shoes of Floyd? Maybe this guy?

Please.

* Classic The Blue-Gray Sky...Jay with "Cirque du Purdue."

* And a classic "Oldie" video of 2005:

Art museum exhibitions

2009-09-24T08:44:00.002-04:00

* Opening Saturday at the Milwaukee Art Museum is Andy Warhol: The Last Decade. According to the museum's press release, it is the "first U.S. museum exhibition to explore the late work of Andy Warhol." More from the release:

"Created amidst the bustle of his Pop celebrity, the works show vitality, energy, and a renewed spirit of experimentation.

'Warhol is as misunderstood as he is famous,' said John McKinnon, Milwaukee Art Museum assistant curator of modern and contemporary art. 'This first-of-its-kind exhibition demonstrates his skills as a master painter and fervent collaborator.'

Warhol created more new series of paintings in his last decade than any other phase of his 40-year career. It was a time of extraordinary artistic development and dramatic transformation. Collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and Keith Haring were central to his pursuit of new ideas, and stimulated the artist to return to painting by hand. The exhibition includes nearly 50 works lent by private collectors and institutions, several of which are monumental in size."

OnMilwaukee.com article [here].

* Also opening this weekend: American Landscapes: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum, an exhibition of some 50 paintings from the Southampton, New York museum’s permanent collection. The Southampton Press article [here].

More on the display from the museum's site [here].

* More Warhol...from the Los Angeles Times' "Culture Monster" blog: "Michelle Obama offers Warhol Museum trek to spouses of world leaders."

* Eric Gibson in The Wall Street Journal: "Ghosts in the Museum."

image: Fredrick Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935), Church at Old Lyme, 1906. Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 25 1/4 inches. The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, Littlejohn Collection, 1961.3.131
Photo: Rameshwar Das

Golden Swan Dive

2009-09-22T10:17:00.002-04:00

Via MSPaint Like A Champion Today:

Tate's leap into the Spartan Band has garnered blog attention in places like [here] and [here].

Notre Dame 33, MSU 30

2009-09-20T09:01:00.002-04:00

Associated Press re-cap [here].
Post-game quotations [here].
Box score via und.com [here].

Statistics of note, to me.

Yards rushing? Notre Dame 133, MSU 105. Notre Dame is now 17-0 under Coach Weis when the Irish gain more rushing yards than the opponent.
Sacks by? MSU 2 (officially, the first two given up by the Irish OL), ND 0. (Coach Tenuta's blitzes? Anyone?)
Notre Dame's winning streak versus MSU at Notre Dame Stadium? 1. Another lousy streak finally busted.

Play of the Game. Safety Kyle McCarthy's interception at the Notre Dame 4-yard line with 1:07 left.

McCarthy, on his all-important play: "It was a big play. I'm glad I could help the team out, but I couldn't do it by myself. I know Darius Fleming got some pressure on him, made him throw it bad without reading me, and I just came up with a play."

McCarthy has an interception in each Notre Dame game this season.

Injuries. Michael Floyd seems likely done for the season with a broken collarbone. Armando Allen plays despite being dinged. And Jimmy Clausen hurt his toe on a sack in the first half. Weis, on Clausen's gutsy performance: "The kid got banged up a little bit himself in the second quarter. He wasn't full speed the rest of the way. He had a toe, I believe. Even though he was hobbling around, he's really evolved from not just a good football player but a leader of the team. And you just watch it. He has that confidence in his own ability that he's bringing some people along with him."

Officiating update. One wouldn't expect to get hosed by the referees two weeks in a row. Yet, the replay official completely blew a call that cost Notre Dame again this week. On the play that he injured his collarbone, Floyd was completely robbed of a touchdown by the replay officials. Meanwhile, the Irish racked up 11 penalties for 99 yards. 20 over the last two games. Yikes.

Wildcat. Armando Allen ran for 115 yards and a touchdown...

and threw for another out of a wildcat formation at the end of the opening drive of the second half [video includes the bad decision by the replay official on Floyd's TD catch from the first half as well as, obviously, the injury]:

QB. Jimmy Clausen's stat line through 3 games? Absurd.
62 for 91, 68.1%, 951 yards, 9 TDs, 0 INTs. [And that is with two TD passes removed by the replay officials...]

Does anyone in college football throw the long ball better than Clausen? More evidence: Golden Tate's 33 yard reception (and crazy leap into the Spartan Band) that gave the Irish the lead for good...

Kicking. Although he missed (and was called for a penalty on) what could have been a critical extra point, freshman Nick Tausch did convert on two very important field goals from 22 and 46 yards.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-09-17T12:15:00.000-04:00

...for the game week versus the big, Land Grant school that used to be Michigan Agricultural College:

* College Football Hall-of-Famer Tim Brown will be honored at halftime of the MSU game.

"The 1987 Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time All-American, Brown was one of 16 former college players and two coaches named in April to the 2009 College Football Hall of Fame Class, as announced in New York by Archie Manning, chairman of the National Football Foundation."

Highlights of Brown versus the Spartans in 1987...

* Meanwhile, the 1949 team will also be honored.

* Coach Weis's pre-MSU press conference transcript [here].

* Irish captains pre-MSU press conference transcript [here].

* MSU update in the Detriot News [here] and the Lansing State Journal [here].

* Official und.com release for MSU [here]. Of interest to me:

A statistic that, like the ugly bowl streak that ended in Hawaii last Christmas, must simply go away... Michigan State has a six-game winning streak at Notre Dame Stadium; the Irish have not beaten MSU at ND since 1993.
Notre Dame has played four previous games in its history on Sept. 19. The Irish are 3-1 all-time on this date.
Notre Dame OL averages 315.0 lbs. vs. Michigan State DL 273.5 lbs.
The Irish are 79-18-2 (.808) in September home games.
Junior RB Armando Allen is averaging 5.9 yards per carry over Notre Dame's first two games.

Amen

2009-09-16T11:50:00.001-04:00

From "Top of the Wish List: No More Blockbusters," Holland Cotter's New York Times article:

"If you want to find innovative models for small-scale shows with big ideas, teaching institutions are still the place to look, particularly university art museums. This is where spadework research is being done, and where young curators are learning to create, experimentally, visions of history through objects. Such places are also, increasingly and infuriatingly, a target of budget cutbacks."

Two museum items

2009-09-14T17:20:00.003-04:00

Mostly as a chance to move on from the Michigan game nonsense, I present two articles related to off-site exhibitions, as part of GMOA on the Move, organized by the Georgia Museum of Art:

The Red & Black on the R.A. Miller exhibition [here], an article that emerged on the same day as my special tour of the exhibition...

and Howard Pousner in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on The South in Black and White: The Works of James E. Routh Jr., 1939-1946 at the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at Georgia Tech [here].

Michigan 38, Notre Dame 34

2009-09-12T22:39:00.009-04:00

Associated Press re-cap via Fox Sports [here].
und.com Box Score [here].
und.com Game Notes [here].

The Good and the Bad, in my opinion, from the game:

Bad. The final score: 38-34.

Good. Jimmy Clausen's stat line: 25 for 42, 336 yards, 3 TDs, no INTs. He also nearly had the "Notre Dame," lead-the-team-from-behind moment we all wanted from him. The loss is not because of Clausen.

Bad. Tackling, especially of Tate Forcier. Containing, of Forcier in the pocket.

Bad. 4th down defense. From the Notes: "The Wolverines converted a pair of huge fourth down plays this afternoon. Michigan converted a 4th and 11 late in the second quarter to help kick a field goal as the first half clock expired. The Wolverines then converted a huge 4th and three when Michigan QB Tate Forcier scampered 31 yards for a touchdown to give the Wolverines a 31-20 lead early in the fourth quarter."

Good. The loss is also not because of Armando Allen. Great, gutsy running by Allen netted 139 yards, a 6.6 yd/carry average, a touchdown, and a 2-point conversion on a Statue of Liberty play.

Bad. The Jonas Gray fumble that led to Michigan points.

Good. Kyle McCarthy's timely interception of Forcier.

Bad. The 430 yards of offense earned by Michigan.

Good. Notre Dame earned 27 first downs to Michigan's 21; the Irish also earned 490 yards on offense, the most ever by an Irish squad against the Wolverines.

Bad. The unluckiness / inability to pounce on any one of Michigan's three fumbles. The Wolverines recovered all 3.

Bad. The offensive possessions of the 3rd quarter: the Gray fumble, punt, and punt.

Good. The stat lines for Golden Tate [Side "bad": his drops] and Michael Floyd: 9 and 7 catches, respectively, for 115 yards and 2 TDs, and 131 yards and a TD, respectively.

Bad. Freshman kicker Nick Tausch missed his first field goal attempt of the year, a 28 yarder.

Good. Tausch responded by hitting his other two chances: a 34-yard kick later in the first quarter, and a nice 42-yard kick in the second quarter.

Bad. Eric Maust's 28-yard punt that gave the Wolverines the ball on their own 43 with 2:13 left.

Bad. The AP story mentions this: "Weis called for two passes, both of which fell incomplete, late in the game with a three-point lead and Michigan got the ball back at its 43 after a punt with 2:13 and two timeouts left." "Fell incomplete" is a lie for being part of the story as it fails to mention the absolute mugging of Golden Tate on the second down pass.

Others may criticize Weis for this call, but the gamble worked. With the Big 10 referees not calling the obvious pass interference, the Irish instead had 3rd and 10. Should Weis have only called running plays even with the Wolverines having the safeties down in the box to stop the run?

Bad. The Big 10 officiating. A litany based upon my memory:

[Redacted, via wndu.com. Of course, the refs had no access to this camera.] It ranks right there with the David Grimes catch against Stanford in 2007 as an inexcusable change of the call on the field.
The failure to call a penalty on the Michigan defender that shoved Michael Floyd back to the turf as Floyd was getting up.
The holding against Sam Young that was a great block; the phantom holding call brought back a giant pass play to Kyle Rudolph in the 3rd quarter (see one of those "punts" mentioned above in the 3rd quarter).
The refusal to look at the clock at the end of the game. Was there time left when Tate went down? We will never know because they didn't look unlike at the end of the first half tonight in the Georgia-South Carolina game. [Even ESPN's late highlights made it look as if a second were left...]

Bad. The real key play of the game: the 94-yard kickoff return by the Wolverines. [Redacted via wndu.com.]

Classic 'Round the World

2009-09-10T06:21:00.001-04:00

* Official...

und.com Michigan preview [here]
Coach Weis pre-Michigan press conference transcript [here]
team captains press conference transcript [here]

* Brian's Michigan preview at The Blue-Gray Sky features the return (from mythical death) of The Blind Oracle Of Bristol (or The B.O.O.B.):

As expected, The B.O.O.B. fore-sooths the only result he can: a 35-10 Irish loss.

Brian's recollections of Rocket's two touchdowns in Ann Arbor in 1989 include this brilliant section: "Ismail's two returns provided the difference in Notre Dame's 24-19 win. It marked the first time in Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler's long, ringless career that a team had beaten his Wolverine squad three years in a row. The decision to kick to Rocket the second time was inexplicable---the sort of boneheaded coaching decision that Bo typically reserved for the Rose Bowl."

* Although not as important as the Southern Cal game will be to the future of the Irish program, the Nevada weekend did help convince Cameron Roberson, a Newbury Park High School senior running back in California, to commit to Notre Dame’s recruiting class of 2010. After visiting campus for the Nevada game, Roberson picked the Irish over the likes of Northwestern and Arizona.

* To the other football...

The U.S. men's national team had as good a week as possible in 2010 World Cup qualifying as the Americans picked up 6 points from wins at home against El Salvador and on the road at Trinidad & Tobago. In the former, the U.S. came from behind with goals from Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore in final few minutes of the first half. Last night, Ricardo Clark blasted a game-winning goal in the 62nd minute to get the Americans a very important win:

With two games to play, the Americans sit atop the hexagonal with 16 points; Mexico at 15; Honduras at 13; Costa Rica, 12; El Salvador officially still alive at 8; and Trinidad & Tobago now out at 5. However, of those in contention, the Americans have the toughest set of games remaining: at Honduras and home to Costa Rica. Worst case scenario: Costa Rica needs to get a tie or win in its game against Trinidad & Tobago (likely, with T&T out) and then beat the U.S. in order to push the Americans into a home-and-home playoff with the fifth-placed team in South America. An American loss to Honduras and only a tie to Costa Rica still gets the Americans an automatic trip to South Africa.

Elsewhere, Paraguay joined Brazil as "in" from South America while Argentina is in deep trouble; Spain and England joined the Netherlands as "in" in Europe; Germany and Russia set up a showdown in Moscow in October; and Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Serbia, and Italy top their respective groups.

Athens Flagpole on "Lord Love You"

2009-09-09T07:56:00.002-04:00

The Flagpole, the alternative newspaper of Athens, reviews Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection. Full text for Rebecca Brantley's "Art Notes" that deals with Miller:

Angels and Demons

“Lord Love You” at the Lyndon House: Ever wondered what happens when a Klansman goes to hell? Or what a sneaky church-going devil might look like? Georgia folk artist R.A. Miller did. Organized by the temporarily closed Georgia Museum of Art and on view at the Lyndon House Arts Center, “Lord Love You” is a sampling of 83 works from Miller’s prolific output. The work probably came from his cluttered yard in nearby Rabbittown, which he began to fill with art in the 1970s. The setting of filmmaker Jim Herbert's video for R.E.M.’s Left of Reckoning video in 1984, Miller’s yard was filled with whirligigs, cutouts and paintings—a project he began in his 70s after a lifetime of working in cotton mills and as an itinerant Free Will Baptist preacher.

Having spent some time under the tutelage of Baptists, I immediately felt in familiar company with the good-is-good, bad-is-bad, and more times than not, good-is-actually-bad-too rhetoric of Miller’s universe of angels and demons. And appropriately, I was immediately drawn to the corner with all the devils. They range from the pot-smoking variety to the aforementioned torturer of Klansmen, and let me tell you: it doesn’t look good for that Klansman. Squished together onto a long, thin sheet of tin that towers above your typical gallery-goer, the devil looks like he's taking his time sticking a tiny pitchfork into the Klansman’s torso. Even better is Miller’s “Fat Devils,” a rusted-over segment of an old billboard for Bireley’s soda. Overlapped onto the once-bright colors and advertising promises (like the non-carbonated soda’s guarantee of “not a bubble in a bottle”) are the black, almost faceless shapes of quite evil-looking devils. Of course, there are a few angels in this exhibition, too. They have spotted wings and inhabit pretty little gardens and the like, but I think it’s fair to assume that Miller had a lot more fun worrying about those devils. Oh, yeah, there’s a seven-headed beast, too.

Miller’s work does extend well beyond the fire and brimstone of the unseen world. His “Blow Oskar” character—based on a real person—sports a patriotic Uncle Sam outfit and appears repeatedly. Speaking of patriotism, “This Flag Won’t Burn” is a tin-and-enamel remake of our national flag that is at least a lot harder to burn than cloth. I think there’s a comparison to be made to proto-pop master Jasper John’s iconic “Flag,” and I think it has to do with the blatant, self-assured materiality of Miller’s flag and an American brand of machismo that puts the Ab Ex-ers to shame. But apples and oranges are, at the end of the day, apples and oranges. Culling from popular culture, he also created a disappointing diminutive “Bigfoot” and a near-monolithic Coca-Cola bottle that might just be the perfect antithesis to Andy Warhol’s half-disenchanted homage to repetition via the ever-ubiquitous presence of Coke.

Like his folk-art peers, take the reclusive St. EOM’s Pasaquan, for example, Miller’s art never was intended for the cool, air-conditioned environs of a gallery or the tactfully spell-corrected labels of a museum. Our appreciation of Miller’s art, part of the rise in popularity of folk art over the last couple of decades, is just another example of a cultural desire for the exotic, the authentic, blah, blah, blah. It’s an art form ripe for exploitation, and our collective appreciation of it is worth thinking about. But when it comes to Miller, I think it’s safe to wager that we’re dealing with the real thing.

Image: R.A. Miller (American, 1912–2006), Blow Oskar Was My Cousin, n.d. Enamel paint on particle board, 67 3/8 x 46 1/2 inches. Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis.

Overall, good stuff. Minus "the real thing" pun and the commentary a little too 1980s in the debate on the role of folk art / outsider art / vernacular art / work by self-taught artists in museums and galleries, it is a review, I appreciate, that does look at some of the art. Via her comparisons to Warhol and Johns, Ms. Brantley nicely picked up on one of the underlying themes of the exhibition: Miller's visual language, employment of repetition, and use of symbolism parallels the same (I think not so "apples and oranges") in the work of our mid-to-late 20th century American "masters."

#18 / #20 Notre Dame

2009-09-08T13:21:00.001-04:00

The Fighting Irish jump up to #18 in the Associated Press poll, and to #20 in the Coaches' Poll.

Pistol Whipped: Irish 35, Wolf Pack 0

2009-09-05T23:59:00.004-04:00

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns,"
But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die...

-- Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues," 1956.

Official Associated Press recap, via und.com, [here].
Box score/statistics [here].
Post-game quotations [here].

* Zero. The prolific "Pistol" offense, the three returning 1000-yard rushers, and the WAC Offensive Player of the Year for 2008 scored no points. This game was the first shutout for Notre Dame during the Weis era. The last shutout for the Fighting Irish was a 42-0 win over Rutgers in 2002. In 2008, Nevada averaged nearly 38 points per game. So far in 2009? Zero.

Plenty of people had this as a close game (see: ESPN's Mark May and Robert Smith, especially). It was not.

* Gunslinger. Jimmy Clausen's stat line? 15 completions in 18 attempts, 83.3%, 315 yards, 17.5 yds/att, 4 TDs, 0 INTs. The first touchdown of the season was a 19-yard bullet pass, high and to the back of the endzone, to TE Kyle Rudolph.

Rudolph on the touchdown catch: "It was something we had worked on all week and Jimmy showed a lot of trust in me, just wanted to go and make a play on the ball, and it worked in our favor."

* More defense. The Irish held the Wolf Pack to 153 yards rushing and 307 total yards. In 2008, Nevada averaged 278 yards rushing per game and over 508 total yards per game.

* Productive. On November 26, 1955, Notre Dame halfback Jim Morse had 5 catches for 208 yards, a 41.6 yard per catch average, against Southern Cal. This afternoon Michael Floyd had 4 catches for 189 yards, a 47.25 yard per catch average, and 3 TDs.

The first touchdown:

#2:

and #3:

Coach Weis on Floyd: "He's a really good player because he knows how to use his body. He knows how to use his body to make plays, you know. He's not as fast as Golden [Tate], but he's deceptive, you know. He's got a lot of (Jeff) Samardzija in him. Everyone thinks because he's a tall guy he can't run fast, but he can. What he really does, besides having excellent hands, he really knows how to use his body to get open."

* Play of the game? Sure Floyd's big plays were important for the Irish, but the biggest play of the game may have come mid-2nd quarter when Toryan Smith and the Irish defense stuffed Wolf Pack RB Vai Taua for a loss on 4-and-inches at the Irish 19.

* Rush. The Irish offensive line paved the way for 178 yards on the ground, and a 4.3 yds/rush average. Armando Allen had 72 yards on 15 carries and a TD, Jonas Gray added 50 on 9 carries, and Robert Hughes, freshman Theo Riddick, and FB James Aldridge all picked up carries in the game.

* Numbers. More statistics of interest to me: Number of plays? Irish 61, Nevada 56. Yards? Irish 510, Nevada 307. Turnovers? Irish 0, Nevada 3. Notre Dame's 5 scoring drives? 12 plays, 67 yards; 9 plays, 78 yards; 2 plays, 79 yards; 8 plays, 80 yards; and 4 plays, 99 yards.

* Aloha means hello. A few Irish players made debuts against Nevada: Kapron Lewis-Moore made his expected appearance along the defensive line; sophomore WR Deion Walker caught a pass for 15 yards; and more. Quarterback Dayne Crist is also perfect in his Irish passing career: going 2 for 2 with 17 yards passing in his spot duty. Meanwhile, freshman defensive wunderkind linebacker Manti Te'o might have received two of the largest cheers all afternoon for his two hits. Video evidence:

Wild Bill was a gun-totin' cowboy,
Ten notches were carved in his gun.
And all the boys around Reno
Left Wild Bill's maiden alone.

-- Woody Guthrie, "Philadelphia Lawyer," 1937.

48 hours

2009-09-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

und.com's 2009 Notre Dame Football Primer - 3.0.

Media Guide

2009-09-02T17:13:00.000-04:00

2009 Notre Dame Football Media Guide via und.com and issuu.

View in Full Screen - Free publishing

Nevada game updates

2009-09-01T17:59:00.003-04:00

Coach Weis's press conference transcript [here].
Updated Notre Dame depth chart in .pdf format [here].

Some depth chart notes with embedded Coach Weis comments:

* Paul Duncan will start at left tackle; Chris Stewart at left guard. But, on the official depth chart, both Matt Romine and Dan Wenger are listed as "OR"s, respectively.

Weis: "Paul Duncan will start at left tackle. Matt Romine will play in the game. Chris Stewart will start at left guard but Dan Wenger will definitely play in the game. Usually when you put offensive linemen in they're going to stay in for the whole time but those two guys are two guys that we want to make sure we get involved in the game in the first half. We're not going to wait to the second half to get Romine and Wenger in the game. ...So Duncan and Stewart will both start but both Romine and Wenger will show up respectively at the left tackle, left guard position."

* With the suspension of HB Robert Hughes for his ejection from the Southern Cal game last November, Jonas Gray is listed as the #2 HB.

Weis: "Jonas has earned being there. He had a heck of a camp. ...

His three biggest negatives going into the offseason and into this year were, A, better understanding of what we're doing offensively. So he understood blitz pick up and all those other things.

And, B, not cutting back every time he got the ball, because he was a cutback runner by nature in high school; and, C, taking care of the football. Those were the three issues that he really had to address, because last year during his freshman year they were the three areas where he had the most difficulty.

And those three areas have shown significant improvement. In all three of them, they've shown significant improvement."

* The #3 and #4 wide receivers are Duval Kamara and Robby Parris. But others are likely to see the field, too.

Weis: "Well, Robby has been the guy since last spring, to be honest with you. There was a lot of time when Robby kind of carried the torch for the wide receivers. Michael Floyd was banged up. Golden Tate was playing baseball. Duval Kamara was banged up. And the one who separated himself from everyone during last spring was Robby. So now going into this camp, you're just waiting for one of the young guys to go by him and they didn't go by him.

And that doesn't mean we don't have those young receivers all waiting in the wings to get on the field and we won't play them, it just means going into this game right now I think that one of the most dependable guys we have other than the two that everybody talks about with Michael and Golden, Robby is the most consistent player we have out there. ...

I think we'd go as deep as seven. But right now let's start with four and we'll go from there. Obviously there's -- each one of these guys, and, for example, I could talk about Shaquelle Evans, and I can talk about John Goodman and talk about Deion Walker. I could talk about all those guys and the roles they play here, but in all cases they're still in back up roles. Whereas, Robbie and Duval will almost certainly be on the field a lot more than the rest of the troops. All those guys have roles that they play."

* Your kick returners?: FB James Aldridge, HB Theo Riddick.

Weis: "Theo is one of those guys who has kind of got everyone's attention from the first day he's gotten here athletically. And to be honest with you, on kickoff return we'd like to get the ball in his hands as much as we could, because we think when he touches the ball there's an opportunity of him taking it to the house.

And anytime we can save Armando or save Golden from having to be back there, and have somebody that has the same type of ability with the ball in his hands, you know it's a win win situation for us. ...

We'll start with James and Theo. And then we'll go from there. I think the last thing I wanted to do is put Shaq and Theo back there for the first kickoff return of the year.

I don't think I would have felt too comfortable having those two guys. But having James back there, it's kind of a settling influence. When James gets the ball, he'll do well with it. If James doesn't get the ball, he'll make the decisions for Theo. So Theo doesn't have to make the decisions, and we'll go from there."

* Freshmen in the 2-deep depth chart? Nick Tausch as place kicker and on kickoffs; Ben Turk as backup punter; Jordan Cowart as long snapper and backup short snapper; the aforementioned Theo Riddick at kick returner (with Shaquelle Evans as the 3rd option); and Manti Te'o as #2 WILL linebacker.

Nevada game notes

2009-09-01T07:41:00.003-04:00

Notre Dame Football Gameweek page at und.com [here].

Official und.com press release [here].

Of interest to me:

* Notre Dame and Nevada have never played in football. The Wolf Pack are the 136th different opponent in Notre Dame football history. They, like San Diego State last year, are on the schedule as a result of the negotiations to move a BYU road game to the opening game in 2004.

* Saturday will be the 206th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium.

* Notre Dame is 70-8-3 (.883) in season openers inside Notre Dame Stadium.

* Notre Dame has played three previous games in its history on Sept. 5. The Irish are 3-0 all-time on this date.

* The Irish own a mark of 41-6-1 (.865) since 1930 versus teams making their first overall visit to Notre Dame. 11 consecutive opponents have lost in their first trip to South Bend: Colorado (1984), Mississippi (1985), Boston College (1987), BYU (1992), Vanderbilt (1995), Rutgers (1996), West Virginia (1997), Arizona State (1999), Texas A&M (2000), Washington State (2003) and San Diego State (2008).

* Average weight of the offensive and defensive lines:
ND OL 315.0 lbs. vs. Nevada DL 262.5 lbs.
ND DL 273.8 lbs. vs. Nevada OL 299.0 lbs.

NBC commercial

2009-08-30T22:57:00.001-04:00

With Notre Dame-Nevada just days away, NBC ran this brief commercial during the Bears-Broncos pre-season NFL game this evening:

Five for 2009

2009-08-30T18:37:00.000-04:00

Will the Irish running game improve dramatically? Will Coach Verducci, as offensive line coach and running game coordinator, have a big enough impact on the quality of play in the offensive line to have a BCS-caliber running game? Will Coach Alford raise the quality of play among the running backs? Will the Irish get to 4.6 yards per carry (up from just 3.3 in 2008)?

Related to above, how will James Aldridge at fullback and more players than just a talented freshman at tight end alter the way that Coach Weis calls the offense? Will it resemble the 2005 offense much more than other, recent Weis-coached Irish teams?

Will Jimmy Clausen make a sophomore-to-junior leap in comparable fashion to Brady Quinn's improvement from 2004 to 2005? Most especially, will Clausen cut down on the number of interceptions?

How will the young defensive line hold up against (power) running teams? What on-the-field impact will Coach Hart and GA Bryant Young have on the line? Will this, as hoped, be the best and fastest defense of the Weis era so far?

Will special teams become "special" again? Was Armando Allen's kickoff return against Hawaii a harbinger of improved returns and more points from special teams? Will the kicking game rise in quality with the ascension of freshman Nick Tausch to kickoff and field goal duties?

Classic 'Round the World

2009-08-30T09:19:00.003-04:00

Game week is officially here. Golden Tate video to prepare you...

* The Fighting Irish and Nevada have never played. More on that later in the week. Meanwhile, Nevada Wolfpack football official site [here].

* Eric Hansen, South Bend Tribune, with Jack Swarbrick, AD, [here]. Swarbrick on the schedule:

"While 7-4-1 (seven home games, four road games, one off-site game) will be our annual goal, if a great opportunity comes our way that means we're going to be 6-5-1 that year, we'll do it. Because if it's the right matchup, the right team, the right opportunity for us, I want to have the flexibility to do that."

That is the first concrete statement away from 7-4-1 that I have read. A good sign, in my opinion. 6-5-1, with a good or traditional "barnstorming" opponent as the "1," is something I would support.

* Al Lesar, South Bend Tribune: "Notre Dame Football: Analysts weigh in on ND"

ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit: "Notre Dame wins [at Michigan] and they go home with confidence to play a tough Michigan State team (Sept. 19). ...They lose to Michigan and the negativity starts. Then you've got a struggling team going into a tough game. The difference between a 10- or 11-win season and a six- or seven-win season will be what happens in Ann Arbor."

* Speaking of Michigan...posted without comment...

Detroit Free Press: "Michigan football program broke rules, players say" and "A look inside Rodriguez’s rigorous program" and "NCAA reaction impossible to predict."

Pre-season camp videos

2009-08-28T12:30:00.000-04:00

Full indexed archive of und.com's videos from pre-season football camp [here].

R.A. Miller devils

2009-08-26T08:36:00.006-04:00

Devils make the cover of this week's Athens Flagpole [here].

A Picasa 3 collage of some of the devils in Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection:

The exhibition continues at the Lyndon House Arts Center in Athens. The operating hours are Tuesday + Thursday from Noon until 9:00 p.m. and Wednesday, Friday, + Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

The exhibition catalogue is available [here].

Manti mania

2009-08-22T10:31:00.002-04:00

Chicago Tribune: "Manti Te'o rarin' to go for Notre Dame"
Gary Post-Tribune: "Irish will find a place for Te'o"
ESPN.com: "Notre Dame's Te'o undecided on mission"
South Bend Tribune: "Notre Dame Football: 'A Man of Worth'"

Video from Irish Illustrated:

Being Manti Teo @ Rivals Video

Associated Press Poll: Irish #23

2009-08-22T10:27:00.001-04:00

The Associated Press's preseason Top 25 was released today, and Notre Dame checks in at the same spot they did in the Coaches Preseason Top 25: #23.

Classic 'Round the World

2009-08-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

A Friday round-up of Notre Dame football news as we head toward the 2-weeks-to-kickoff mark and the Irish head into Freshman orientation weekend.

* und.com has video of Coach Weis speaking about the freshmen. You can get to it [here]. Brian Hamilton's blog Around the Bend at the Chicago Tribune has a good written summary [here].

* Michael at The Blue-Gray Sky wrapped up the "Impound It" series with two more posts: "The Look and Swing" and "Missing Pieces?".

* The South Bend Tribune on the beginning of the re-shuffing of bowl alignments, including ND, [here].

* More "player interest" stories:

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: FB James Aldridge
South Bend Tribune: RB Armando Allen
South Bend Tribune: DL Ethan Johnson
Elkhart Truth: DE Kapron Lewis-Moore
The News-Sentinel.com: TE Kyle Rudolph
Associated Press: NT Ian Williams

* Notre Dame, undefeated in its football history in the state of New Jersey, will return to the Meadowlands and the New Meadowlands Stadium to play road games against Syracuse on September 27, 2014 and September 3, 2016.

* Checking in on the Nevada Wolfpack...

Associated Press via USAToday: "Nevada ready to face high expectations in WAC."
The Nevada Sagebrush: "Great expectations for Pack football."
The Nevada Sagebrush: "Starting football player arrested."

Pictures

2009-08-17T12:56:00.004-04:00

The Curator's Corner blog for the Georgia Museum of Art has a Flickr slideshow of the Saturday night reception for Lord Love You: Works by R.A. Miller from the Mullis Collection [here].

A sample:

from left to right, in the galleries at the Lyndon House...Athens self-taught sculptor Harold Rittenberry, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, and collector Carl Mullis.