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So where does one fall, at this point, on the
state of Notre Dame football? Does one agree with Thoreau that seeing is
believing? (And after three straight dominant defensive efforts, it’s a
compelling point of view.) Or does one take a more… considered, Gumpian
approach – that we still don’t know what you’re going to get?
But I digress – and begin this missive by
appropriately blaming Castellini for the delay in this review.
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| "Dude, I don't care how skinny you are now, leave a brother some overhead space..." |
I had my thoughts outlined last Sunday until
Jerry’s permission slip to ‘take my time’ came out… then I noticed an ant in my
home office – curious this time of year I thought – and in my increasingly ADD
state, that was all she wrote. The next thing I know it was Thursday and
I'm flying back from NYC, sitting next to Al Roker, who did bogart all
of the overhead compartment space. (But the last laugh was actually on
the citizenry of Winnetka – where Al was going for a mystery book signing. Huh?
Apparently he (and a presumably well compensated ghost writer) cranks out
novels for the legion of Today Show lovers. God help us all. But at least I now
have my Christmas present for Lini…
So here I am, reflecting on an important
streak-breaking win, a 7-5 season and a team that really truly did show up in
November – and hung tough when a little adversity struck. When is the last time
we saw that?!
Word
of the Week.
re•sil•ient / / [ri-zil-yuh nt, -zil-ee-uh nt]
–adjective
1. springing
back; rebounding.
2. returning
to the original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched.
3. recovering
readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyant.
________________________________________
Origin:
1635–45; < L resilient- (s. of resiliēns ), prp. of resilīre to spring back, equiv. to re- re- +
-sil-, comb. form of salīre to leap, jump + -ent- -ent); see salient
—Related forms
re•sil•ient•ly, adverb
non•re•sil•i•ent, adjective
non•re•sil•i•ent•ly, adverb
un•re•sil•ient, adjective
un•re•sil•ient•ly, adverb
—Synonyms
1.
elastic, flexible, springy.
The
Game.
Stream
of conscious observations…
Pre-game... TV pans to a shot of Lane Kiffin, his face
devoid of the burden of original thought or moral consequences. And I
just want to smack the bejesus out of him.
“What me worry? I’ve got a credentialed dad, a hot wife and the sleaziest recruiting director in all the land… Life is good.”
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1st Quarter
· > 1st USC play: pass hits
Harrison Smith in the hands. And he drops it. Yeesh.
o He
is nothing if not consistent.
· > 3 and out.
· > How can John Goodman possibly be the very best
option we have at punt returner?
· > Manti plants RoJo – man, do USC’s WR’s look
huge.
· > Rees INT #1 – no doubt he probably telegraphed
it but it was still a really athletic play by the USC LB.
o Defense
plays very tough, 0-3 USC.
o It
is not lost on me that in past years (or even earlier in the season) SC
scores a TD.
· > Epiphany #1: The Defense is going to have
to win this game.
2nd Quarter
· > Give Kelly this: he has shown remarkable
patience on Offense – Weis never would've stayed with the run this long.
· > Michael Floyd, possession receiver. Not
that there’s anything wrong with that.
· > Tommy Rees just throws an “I’ve got your 99
luft-balloons right here, Terry” fastball to Michael Floyd. Touchdown. ND 7, USC 3.
· > When’s the last time we were ever ahead in a
game against these guys?
o Magically,
the TV tells me: the 4th quarter of the ‘Bush Push’ game.
· > Unbelievably heads up play by Kumara, reaching
back with the ball to cross the plane of the goal line. ND 14, USC 3.
· > I like Todd Blackledge’s commentary, generally.
But for as much as he (accurately) pointed out the officials putting time back
on the clock, he didn’t mention how the local time keeper continually tried to
screw ND’s time management in that entire final hurry up drive.
3rd Quarter
· > 1st possession: INT #2.
And a really bad one – not only was it a poor pass but the player he was
targeting was triple covered.
· > Defense holds. All props to ND but this is
clearly not the dominant Trojan team we’re used to seeing.
· > Maybe it’s the weather tonight but Turk the
Punter has been a disappointment this whole year. Sometimes a major one.
· > One wonders what would happen if Rees could ever
advance his passes past the line of scrimmage.
· > 2nd turnover of the half. The defense
deserves better.
· > Offensively, USC is… not good.
4th Quarter
· > Tommy advances his throw past the line of
scrimmage. INT #3 (and 4th turnover of the night) – all in our own
territory! It’s a wonder we’re even in this game.
· > Season defining drive begins. Robert Hughes, you
are THE MAN.
· > Maybe if USC stopped trying to do the NFL strip
the ball and actually try and tackle the opposition, they’d be a little better
at defense.
· > Bummer, RoJo. God may be your co-pilot but
apparently He’s our Free Safety.
· > As an aside, Terry screams like a little girl on
that particular play – resulting in a) freaking out the already skittish cat
and b) getting an immediate scolding from Lisa for freaking out the cat.
· > Game over. Karma’s a bitch, Lane.
Now
time for quiet reflection, with Mr. Single Malt:
Ch Ch Changes…
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| "Just gonna have to be a different man" |
Let’s
hear it for Brian Kelly and his ability to adapt – not only to the
circumstances dictated by all of the significant injuries he had to work around
but the profound adjustment to dealing with The Notre Dame Machine. In years
past, there were always questions about the caliber of the coach we’ve hired –
Davie, Willingham, Weis – but with Kelly, that didn’t seem to be the case. I
don’t think many thought he wasn’t a quality hire. And even while he was
making some questionable on-field decisions, it was clear to me that he was
dealing with a lot of other forces at work… not the least of which is the fan
base’s expectations that, at times, are the program’s own worst enemy.
Bravo,
coach. And while many are conflicted about going to a bowl, I for one, am
pretty excited about seeing whether they can keep the momentum going. The
one thing I most remember about coach Holtz was his ability, when given a bye
week or more, to prepare the team and beat anybody. Kelly showed a
little of that with the Utah game, let’s see if he can keep that going…
Brian
& Silent Bob Strike Back
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| "WTF, Bob - Harrison actually held onto that ball..." |
Okay,
I totally stole this reference from a journalist but it was too perfect not too
use. Coach Diaco no longer speaks to the media after the whole post-Navy
“uh, my bad. We actually never had a back-up plan” admission. (Send that
man for additional media training.) but who cares if he doesn’t speak?
His defense is (now) fundamentally sound and assignment sure. Plus he’s got the
same (presumed) under achievers from last year playing with confidence – and competence.
Gee, maybe coaching does matter.
Song of the Week.
Tough
call as I ponder what song to share with the brethren… do I go syrupy literal
(Graham Parker’s “The Sun Is Gonna Shine Again”) – not for this is a bunch of
hard core cynics. How
about metaphorical (The Doors’ ‘Land Ho!’)? I think not – only the Arts
& Letters majors (and Raz) will understand it. Having
just gone to the John Mellencamp concert at the Chicago Theatre the night
before the game, Indiana’s First Son gets the call. “Serious Business”, this song goes out to you, coach Kelly.
You
ain’t goin’ nowhere -
Gonna
sit by this pool until you fall in.
Didn’t
know what you were getting into
When
you walked into this room, did you kid?
This
is serious business,
Sex
and violence and rock ‘n roll.
Take
my heart and take my soul.
Put
me on the cross for all to see…
Put
my name around my neck,
Let
those people throw stones at me.
Serious
Business, indeed. If Kelly didn’t know it before he took the job, he does now.
And it’s a song that should belong on everyone’s i-Pod…
Terry’s
Tool Time.
v Lane
Kiffin.
Throwing basically everyone under the bus – except yourself – in your post-game
commentary. While you're pondering ‘what happened”, consider this:
your team is as good as it’s going to get for you. And your Dad’s defense
was supposed to be your saving grace. Uh oh. If you see Year 4 of your
contract, I’ll be shocked.
v Teague Egan. In the entitled “don’t hate me because I’m rich, hate me because I’m a tool”
category, requiring no explanation after reading the article Jay forwarded last
week: http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/usc/la-sp-simers-20101130,0,1870836,full.column
v
Donna Shalala. I can't help but notice that Miami fired a
coach (a lauded ex-player, at that) because he cleaned up the program - got rid
of the thugs, started graduating his players but didn’t win sufficiently
enough. Way to lead from the top, Ms. President.
Schadenfreude
Winner of the Week.
This
week the theme was “Return to Tradition:
Ø
USC. Thank you, Jay, for sharing
the meltdown of the USC message boards.
Ø
Florida. Spanked by in-state rival FSU.
Never in the game. How’s that post-Tebow era working out for you,
Urbie? Expect coach Meyer to take his recruiting machine to a new (low)
level of Machiavellian desperation.
Ø
Michigan. Thumped by Ohio State
(ugh). RichRod really on the hot seat. Want him fired? You and the
rest of Wolverine Nation. But ND fans, be careful what you wish for…
Ø
Miami. Hey Seantrel, care to
re-think that college choice? Maybe rappin’ was your true calling…
and apparently, see you in El Paso in three weeks.
Rumours.
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| "Coach, I know Stevie wears some odd stuff but she can really recruit..." |
That particular Fleetwood Mac album was Album of the Year in
1977 (incidentally the same year Peter discovered women, had his first
adult beverage and abandoned a lifelong dream of the priesthood), stayed on top
of the Billboard 200 for 31 consecutive weeks and sold over 10 million copies
worldwide in its first year…
It’s also the best part of this time of year, provided
you're a school not in desperate need of a new coach. Sit back and enjoy
the ‘sturm und drang’ of what coach is going where. Or not.
·
Who gets the Miami job?
·
When does Michigan pull the trigger on
Rodriguez?
·
Where does Harbaugh end up?
It’s
nice to not be a part of that conversation, for once.
The
Theory of Relativity
Our
ending up 7-5 reminds me a common golfing phenomenon, for me at least:
walking off the course happier than a colleague despite shooting significantly
worse.
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| "Rage, rage rage... do not go gentle into that good clubhouse..." |
The
theory goes something like this: Golfer “A”, we’ll call him Lars, shoots an 83
but because he’s a 7 handicap, acts like a total dick in the bar afterward,
obsessing about all the shots he left on the course. Golfer “B”, Lance, plays
so infrequently he doesn’t even have a legitimate handicap. But he shoots a 95
and is over the moon ecstatic. His Amex card is behind the bar lightning
fast, buying everything for everybody, even his self-absorbed pal Lars, who
orders something appropriately dark and pretentious (“what would Dylan Thomas
drink?”)
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| "Ergo, a 7-5 ND team is ≥ a Michigan or Miami program with the exact same record..." |
Such
is the interesting case of Notre Dame’s performance this year.
Objectively, 7-5 is not particularly stellar – heck, it’s only one game better
than last year. Other programs with similar records are firing their
coaches! And yet, in the absence of a greater set of data points, it
feels better. A lot better. Optimistic. And how can it not be, with all
of the injuries the team endured… an 18 yr old QB that wouldn’t have started
for Northwestern. At any rate, that’s the story we’ll stick to – and more
importantly, what the coaches will sell during the rest of recruiting and the
off season.
Recruiting Buzz.
All
(relatively) quiet on the western front. For now. We picked up a highly
touted black QB, skilled in the spread (and a talented enough point guard to be
invited to walk on at UNC).
Which
is nice.
The
lad is an early enrollee so we may see him on the basketball court before the
football field. Suffice it to say, if Tommy Rees was feeling terribly
comfortable (highly doubtful anyway), he probably won't be by March.
At
any rate, there’s likely to be a few more decisions pre-Christmas… then the
flurry of announcements at the All Star games in early January and finally, the
final decisions that final week of the recruiting period in early Feb. Again,
if we win the bowl, one would think this could end very well for ND.
But
coaches must just hate this.
The
Wager.
Winner
winner, chicken dinner!!! In the spirit of ‘they don’t ask how, they ask
how many’, this year’s monetary “Oracle of du Lac” award for prescience goes to
Gerard Wills, Dennis
Ryan and Michael Gordon. And I think I speak on behalf of (most)
everyone in saying we’re delighted you won, given where we were four weeks ago.
Now
everyone below needs to start ponying up their $25 if they haven’t already.
A Non Sequiter to leave
you with…
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| Greatest. Magazine Cover. Ever. |
Happy holidays everyone!
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