Greetings from the Notre Dame press box, where a few seats to my right Gerry Faust is doing a phone interview. I don't even need to look to my right to check if it's the former Fighting Irish coach. Faust has a voice that makes jackhammers flinch.
Both squads are on the field for warm-ups and Coach Weis is moving nimbly (for him) for the first time since last year's season-opener, one game prior to his devastating knee injury. Below, I offer ten things to know about today's Nevada-Notre Dame game. So that your friends will be impressed.
ABOVE: The average college football fan's perception of Ohio State's reputation after last Saturday's USC game.
College football needs better villains.
In the wake of Ohio State's soul-shredding loss to Southern Cal last Saturday, the Grave Dancers' Union has been establishing new locals in 49 of the 50 states. It was a terrible performance by a team that was supposed to be better than they've looked so far, but why all the glee? Because the Buckeyes got humbled? I'd say the last two title games were humbling enough. Because the Big Ten got drug down? Here's a message for you, SEC Fan: We get it. We got it two years ago.
Right now hating on the Buckeyes is as useless and wasteful as hating the Buffalo Bills for losing four straight Super Bowls. It might ultimately prove as pointless as hating the New York Yankees has been for the past few seasons. The Yankees really aren't good enough to hate any more, and the Buckeyes might not be the best team in the Big Ten.
So there's no reason to act like Clubber Lang just got knocked out by Rocky Balboa. If OSU was your idea of a college football villain, what are you going to do when a real villain (think Erickson's Hurricanes, Spurrier's Gators, Switzer's Sooners) shows up?
It seems that any week of the season, just about any Pac Ten team can beat any other, unless the former is named Stanford--and after surprise upsets in 2006 by Arizona over California and UCLA and Oregon State over Southern California the axiom proved true--setting up some good revenge matches for 2007 in addition to a quality out-of conference schedule
5. Oregon State at Southern California, November 3
In 2006, Southern California traveled to a packed house in Corvallis, gave the ball up four times and dug itself into a 23-point deficit, before scoring 21 unanswered poins only to lose on a tipped ball two-point conversion. Homecoming will have extra meaning for the Trojans this year.
Beaver running back Yvenson Bernard will be making a run at two Trojans' places in the record books, as he chases Marcus Allen and Charles White on the all-time rushing yards list.
4. Notre Dame at UCLA, October 6
Only last-second heroics by Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija could save the Fighting Irish from the jaws of defeat at the hands of Pat Cowan and the rag-tag bunch of Bruins.
In 2007, Jimmy Clausen will have to fill the big shoes of Quinn as he makes his first trip back to Southern California in the Blue and Gold. Expect no sympathy for his spurning USC's advances from an aggressive Bruin defense.
Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is expected to step down this week. His departure is yet another symbol of the passing of one of college football's greatest generations, the great coaches who presided over the game from 1960 or so until the mid to late 1970's. Broyles coached the Razorbacks from 1958 to 1976 helping them win a championship and competing nationally in a great era against powers like Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan.
Another giant of his time has left us in the mortal sense: Bo Schembechler. Schembechler coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989 becoming the face of the program until his death just before the Michigan/Ohio State game last year.
Among the magnificent but dead is Alabama's Bear Bryant (1958-1982) who retired at the end of the 1982 season and promptly checked out of mortal existence. Ohio State's Woody Hayes (1951-1978) hung around until his death in 1987. Nebraska's Bob Devaney (1962-1972) checked out in 1997 and USC's comedic John McKay (1960-1975) lasted a little longer, passing away in 2001.
All those giants left the coaching ranks long ago, but each stewarded elite programs for a decade or more. To this day most of them remain the standard for which current coaches aspire to at each of their programs. Schembechler's death and Broyles' departure signal the end of their collective direct involvement in the college game.
They are the ones who were the game's caretakes from the mid to late 1970's until the late 1980's, an era of great transition and upheaval due to parity measures such as scholarship limits, the completion of racial integration and the rapid and dramatic death of plodding, run-heavy conventional offenses such as USC's "Student Body Right/Student Body Left" approach.
We'll save that analysis for another day, another time. Until then it's one final embrace of perhaps college football's "greatest generation" of coaches. Thanks for the memories, fellas.
In Part One I named five college football recruits who will make an "impact" in 2007 and beyond. What follows are the top five impact recruits.
Please keep in mind the word impact can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. My rubric is slanted towards guys who people will be talking about early in their careers and not necessarily the best players, period.
Jahvid Best, Tailback (California) - The "sleeper" out of my ten, if you want to call him that. Best is a little on the light/small side (5'-10"/183 pounds) but the man can scoot (a California high school best 10.39 in the 100-yard dash). There are only a handful of people every year who are that fast and are legitimate football players. Think Ted Ginn, Reggie Bush, those types of zoom zoomers. Best may be the next. Video here and here. Strange video here.
Joe McKnight, Athlete (USC or LSU or Ole Miss) - McKnight is considered by many to be the best recruit in this year's class. People compare him to Reggie Bush because of his versatility (15 yards/carry, 30 yards/reception) but he's a little slower (10.75 compared to 10.41 in the 100 meter dash). That said McKnight can do it and should start out as a running back. Video here, here, here.
Noel Devine, Running Back (West Virginia) - Many would consider Devine the nation's top recruit but his off-field elusiveness and questionable academics have muted expectations a tad. That said, outside of Reggie Bush there hasn't been a more breathtaking player to come out of the high school ranks. It's useless to give words to his abilities, just watch tape and see for yourself. He just committed to West Virginia and if he miraculously qualifies will be all over SportsCenter every Saturday night for the next three years. Boatloads of videos (~45) here. Noel Devine is a YouTube phenomena and has been since his sophomore year of high school.
Everson Griffen, Defensive End (USC) - If we can return from space and into the relatively elevated stratosphere for a moment, we must talk about the amazing Everson Griffen. Aside from Devine, no other player's tape stands out more this year than Griffen's. He puts on a show running through defensive lineman and past defensive backs as a ball carries and simply blows past offensive tackles and chases down running backs way downfield as a rush end. He reportedly clocked a sub 4.5 second 40-yard-dash at a camp this year at nearly 270 pounds. Griffen is a true physical freak and there's a chance to play at the Leo end spot opposite Lawrence Jackson for the Trojans this year.
Jimmy Clausen, Quarterback (Notre Dame) - And finally we arrive at the great Jimmy Clausen. Jimmy has been eyeballed since the middle school days as an elite quarterback prospect and so far has lived up to the billing. He'll go to the Mecca of college football, Notre Dame with expectations far beyond those of another ballyhooed prep slinger, Ron Powlus (ironically, his quarterback coach this year). Clausen is the most polished high school quarterback in ages and has a quirky personality and awesomely bad hairdo. Pair that with the hype and the fact that he's at Notre Dame and the guy is college football's biggest lightning rod ... perhaps ever. And that's before ever having taken a snap. People will most definitely be talking about this guy and so he headlines this list of the top 10 impact recruits of 2007. Video here. A few more videos here.
Alright, there it is, my list of the top 10 impact recruits. Who else should have been on this list? Who would you have omitted. Fire away (within reason).
Here's some genuine low-quality but highly entertaining video i took from Notre Dame's 43rd consecutive win against Navy. I regret to inform you that the overly obnoxious female voice in the background is not mine. As an aside, this misinformed fan who yelled pointless and classless obscenities like "squash them" and "go honey's" spilled her beer on me in the first quarter, which made me angry. Enjoy.
Making your first start is never easy, especially when it's comes in front of 71,000 fans and the Nation's 10th ranked team. With these circumstances in mind, I'd have to say that Kaipo Noa Kaheaku Enhada did good job against Notre Dame on Saturday. At the post-game press conference Kaipo gave himself an "F" for failing to win against the Irish. Fortunately most fans and commentators don't grade on a Pass/Fail basis, which allows us to get a better indication of where Kaipo stands.
Kaipo gained 58 yards on 19 carries while rushing for both of Navy's touchdowns. Perhaps much more impressive was the way in which he ran and executed the triple option offense. After being unable to move the offense two weeks ago against Rutgers, Kaipo led the Midshipmen to just over 300 yards of total offense. Once more he didn't turn over the ball or make any egregious errors that led to massive amounts of lost yardage.
While he did a good job running the option in the first half, Kaipo still looked a little lost in the passing game, going 2-5 but getting sacked three times. Considering his mobility, one of the things I'd like to see Kaipo do in the coming weeks is to come off receivers and tuck the ball and run in a timely fashion. Just a guess, but something tells me the kind of athletes on the defenses of Duke, Eastern Michigan, Temple, and Army won't be the same as those on Notre Dame. With this in mind, I think we may see Kaipo take advantage of his God-given ability to a greater degree in the coming weeks.
Defense? Who Needs Defense? - Notre Dame reminded all of us what "personal advantage" was all about, as the Irish got some fantastic individual efforts to rip off 471 yards on the Navy defense. It was the best performance by the Irish offense all season in terms of yards gained, and the worst for the Midshipmen in terms of yards given up and points given up. The personal advanatge for the Irish was just too great, as Rhema McKnight and John Carlson made the Navy defenders look like High School kids. The Midshipmen failed to produce the all important turnover.
My Apologies to Kaipo: After doubting his ability to run the option against the Irish, I owe our Hawaiian friend an apology. Kaipo did a good job running the option in the first half against a very stout Notre Dame defense, and accounted for both of Navy's two touchdowns. He still has to get a feel for the pocket in passing situations, but I think the team will be in capable hands when they go up against 0-8 Duke next week.
Hoozah for Trickeration: Navy ran two reverses in the game, one of which was a complete success while the other accounted for a miserable failure. I guess the real question is whether or not Coach Johnson should have gone for the onside kick after Navy closed the gap to 17-14.
Rob Caldwell's Late Hit: I hate these kinds of penalties, especially in key situations in big games. I guess it was the right call from an official standpoint, but as long as you don't hit someone in the head I don't see what's wrong with it. As it stands, it was the nail in the coffin for the Midshipmen, who failed to force an Irish punt.
So Much for the Second Half: While the level of competition certainly has a lot to do with it, this was the second straight game in which the Mids sputtered after halftime and failed to carry over their first half success.
And Finally, I wrote Brady Quinn a Letter:
Dear Brady,
You Sir are a very good quarterback. I guess shaving your entire body does make you sleeker. Thank God Navy never has to play you again.
Photos from the annual Navy-Notre Dame game from Baltimore, Maryland. Notre Dame won the game 38-14 as Brady Quinn passed for 295 yards and three touchdowns.
Over 71,000 fans showed up at M&T Bank Stadium for this Game. Here we see the Brigade of Midshipmen marching onto the field just minutes before the opening kickoff.
Completely random, stream of conscience notations from Notre Dame's 38-14 win over the Midshipmen today. Considering I'm yet to review the game-film, don't take this too seriously.
Brady Quinn throws the ball at least 457* miles per hour. For every ball to be on target amidst swirling 40 mile per hour wind is just sick. Can you say Heisman?
Neither team had a turnover, which is either a credit to the execution of the offenses or the total lack of physical play by the defenses. I'm leaning more towards the former at this point.
Zone Coverage sucks. That being said Quinn would have passed for 700 yards had Navy shown man coverage exclusively. Not much you can do but acknowledge that every starting skill position player on the Notre Dame offense will eventually be in the NFL.
Navy wasn't aggressive enough on offense, although that's easy for me to say. It sure is hard to stay in a game when your defense can't stop the other team.
The Navy offense did a great job executing the game-plan in the first half, but struggled on key plays and fell short in the second half. The offensive line did a decent job blocking down-field, but had trouble in pass protection. Give Notre Dame's defensive line credit, and take comfort in knowing that Abiamiri (2 sacks) is a future first round draft pick. I'd like to take this time to say that Mt. Saint Joseph High School is better then Gilman High School at everything.
My congratulations to Notre Dame fans, but let's face it, your defense has inconsistent tackling habits. Tommy Z whiffed on Reggie Campbell at least three or four times, while the Navy slotbacks did an excellent job keeping their feet moving to churn out tough yardage.
Greetings from the Notre Dame press box, where a few seats to my right Gerry Faust is doing a phone interview. I don't even need to look to my right to check if it's the former Fighting Irish coach. Faust has a voice that makes jackhammers flinch.
Arkansas Athletic Director 
Making your first start is never easy, especially when it's comes in front of 71,000 fans and the Nation's 10th ranked team. With these circumstances in mind, I'd have to say that Kaipo Noa Kaheaku Enhada did good job against Notre Dame on Saturday. At the post-game press conference Kaipo gave himself an "F" for failing to win against the Irish. Fortunately most fans and commentators don't grade on a Pass/Fail basis, which allows us to get a better indication of where Kaipo stands.
Defense? Who Needs Defense? - Notre Dame reminded all of us what "personal advantage" was all about, as the Irish got some fantastic individual efforts to rip off 471 yards on the Navy defense. It was the best performance by the Irish offense all season in terms of yards gained, and the worst for the Midshipmen in terms of yards given up and points given up. The personal advanatge for the Irish was just too great, as Rhema McKnight and John Carlson made the Navy defenders look like High School kids. The Midshipmen failed to produce the all important turnover.
Completely random, stream of conscience notations from Notre Dame's 38-14 win over the Midshipmen today. Considering I'm yet to review the game-film, don't take this too seriously.
