The Dawgs Ramblings

Weekly Thoughts

Some notes and thoughts from Saturday.

USC was only the second #1 team to travel to Lincoln for a game. I would have thought Oklahoma would have done that multiple times.

Poor Temple. They actually beat Uconn on Saturday but the referee would not overturn the call on the field. For those that did not see, Temple caught a deflected pass at the back of the end zone which was ruled out of bounds. The announcers and myself were convinced that the receiver actually caught the ball but the call was not overturned. So, a couple of thoughts, either the referee did not think the evidence was irrefutable or he wanted to get out of Connecticut alive. I vote for the later. (The Big East replay official of course said the former) To me there was no question about the catch and since we have replay, lets make sure that we use it for those tough calls no matter how unpopular they are. Even if the referee does not reverse it during the game it should be judged and validated by the league who represents those officials. In this case, both the MAC and Big East should rule on it after careful analysis and come to their conclusions. I want to know what irrefutable means or do we just have to acknowledge that officials and referees can hide behind this term?

You can count on hearing the term ‘Silence is Deafening’ whenever a big team is in trouble at home.

In case anyone has not noticed (and judging by the attendance you haven’t) Central Florida is a competitive team. Behind the coaching of George O’ Leary and running back Kevin Smith, they have beaten NC St. and gave Texas a huge scare. This begs the question, “Where would Notre Dame be now if O’Leary was the coach.” If he can make Central Florida competitive, you know he would have made Notre Dame competitive.

I think Notre Dame will be solid again next year unless Weis can not coach a lick. There will be no reason next year not to have a great ballclub on the field.

If Minnesota and Syracuse played would anyone show up? Glen Mason was not that bad was he? Or Paul Pasqualoni.

Remember when people tried to call Pitt .. Pittsburgh. Talk about an idea that never flew.

Notre Dame is getting lambasted for its handling of the Demetrius Jones departure. My question is, what is the procedure that schools have followed to this point? Have other schools set a precedent for ND to follow and Notre Dame is just getting the black eye for everyone. Simons sent me this article which discusses an in-conference transfer.

https://mail.glasshouse.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.dailynews.com/usc/ci_6942865

Where will Doug Flutie rank on the 25 greatest players of all time.

There are rumors floating around that Jeff Smith is done for not only the season but for his career. It would be a blow to the return team at the very least but in this day and age concussions are not treated lightly.

Nebraska got whipped by USC which in and of itself is no big surprise but makes me wonder if Nebraska will ever be back to the form they once had. If Oklahoma and USC can do it then Nebraska should be able to do it also but it just shows how long it can take to become a national powerhouse again once you lose it. It will probably be easier for Miami and Florida St. in a talent rich state.

There is a lot of quickness on the field when Challenger, Robinson and Gunnell go to the three wide set.

How bad must teams be for Syracuse to be number 9 in ESPN’s Bottom 10.

What’s so funny is listening to commentary about how Michigan could rebound. Reason #1 –they do not have to face the spread offense again. Essentially, it’s like an admission that the Big 10 teams can not play teams of such persuasion and are actually ‘good’ teams again when conventional smash-mouth football returns. As long as the Big 10 has their BCS slot things will be all right. Additionally, they have like 4 undeserved January 1st or better bowl tie-ins for their lack of speed conference. OK, they can still compete as there are quality teams but do you see anyone that can compete with the Big 4 teams in the national polls – Florida, LSU, USC and Oklahoma?

Why can’t Notre Dame fans just admit they suck right now. Many other fan bases can acknowledge that so what makes it so hard south of Chicago?

Things can change so fast in college football. Iowa was apparently on the verge of being a perennial Top 10 team, now they are losing to Iowa St. Oregon was amazing when Harrington was there and have spent the last six years wallowing in the middle of the Pac 10. Auburn should have been playing for the national title a few years back and has now lost to South Florida and Mississippi St. The fact that these programs were or are struggling is not surprising its that the same coach is running the program. Each of those coaches, Ferentz, Bellotti and Tuberville have been called great too.

posted by oceanjay @ 1:19 PM