That was South Bend during the Willingham years, according to Michael Collins.

It's thorough, logical, indisputable and devastating. Required reading for anyone at a loss to explain last year's sack total, or dismal offensive performance in general.

Time to play "How Many Verbals Does Washington Have This Year!" Ok, who wants to start us off?





















Hmm.... I'd recommend going a bit lower, Coach.




















Nope, still lower. Getting warm though!


























Sorry, wishful thinking.

Rivals

Scout

But hey, I guess this is just more of us crazy Notre Dame fans making excuses for Charlie's disaster in 2007. Nothing to see here, folks!

Really. Nothing.


UPDATE! Apparently this blog has readers among the Willingham regime. Wouldn't you know it, Ty landed his first verbal today. And a quarterback, no less! But considering the way Tyrone recruits linemen (supra), this kid would be wise to take out a life insurance policy while he still can.

So you've heard that ND is set to name Indiana attorney Jack Swarbrick as its new Athletic Director. While it's difficult to judge this hire based on the scant relevant information we have, I'm inclined to view it positively.

First, I like the fact that Swarbrick is an attorney. With him at the helm, we shouldn't see a repeat of an O'Leeeeeery type disaster. He'll be careful to make sure ND's athletic programs are run cleanly and under the letter of the rules.

Second, I don't mind that Swarbrick has not been an A.D. or similar position at another university. Judgment, not experience, is important for this position. Unfortunately, we won't know how good Swarbrick's judgment is until he's made some important decisions.

Third, he's an ND graduate. I consider this an absolute requirement.

Last, it's a positive that Swarbrick has connections and familiarity with the NCAA. ND's Athletic Director, more than any other school's, acts as an ambassador for the school's interests. The biggest example of this is in the BCS. While other universities are represented by their conference's rep in the BCS, ND is represented by its A.D. and does not have a conference to support its interests. Swarbrick likely will be competent in this area.

Just in case anyone was contemplating purchasing the world wide leader's "in-depth" pre-season publication, check out the following snippet from the Notre Dame section…

"Not only, however, was there a thought, there was an entire thought process, which Weis described in detail on Feb. 8, nine days after hiring Jon Tenuta as an assistant head coach in charge of the defense, a move that demoted former assistant head coach Bill Smith to the athletics community relations staff."

Demoted former assistant head coach Bill Smith? First of all, it's Bill Lewis, not Bill Smith. Second of all, he was the defensive backs coach, not "in charge of the defense." Third of all, he wasn't demoted… he retired from coaching in order to undergo double hip replacement surgery. And fourth… what's all this about Tenuta being in charge of the defense? He was hired as our new linebackers coach. Four glaring errors in one sentence. All of them would have been caught with even a cursory checking of facts.

"Although it didn’t go down in the smoothest way possible for Weis, which has been a theme of his tenure with the Fighting Irish, he appears to have landed a good coach in Tenuta, whose last job was as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator."

Apparently, "things" not "going down" in a "smooth" fashion has been a theme of Weis' tenure at Notre Dame. Like that time he heartlessly demoted assistant head coach Bill Smith, or that time he inexplicably replaced veteran quarterback Brady Jones with true freshman Harrison Ford in the 3rd period of that game against the New York Mets.

So in conclusion, ESPN's Blue Ribbon publication is pure, unadulterated garbage. Go buy Phil Steele's pre-season magazine instead.

Labels: Pig Crap, World Wide Leader

Schoolhouse Rock's take on our independence:



Another:



...and a classic:

Labels: God Country Notre Dame

The jury that will decide the wisdom of extending Charlie Weis's contract so much so early is still out, unfortunately. (Although the trajectory of Irish recruiting classes certainly augurs well for him.)

However, central to Mr. Wojciechowski's and other various malcontents' arguments that Tyrone Willingham's firing was unjust is that, had he only been given more time, Ty could have acquitted himself better. But the jury hearing this case is nowhere near any kind of acquittal.

I realize that many Irish faithful wish to move on from the subject, but Tyrone's name and the circumstances of his termination still quite commonly appear in present-day criticisms of the Weis era, and most recently, of Kevin White's departure. But conveniently left out of nearly all these sob-stories relating Willingham's canning, Notre Dame's insidious racism, and obligatory "Weis is fat" commentary is Ty's post-ND coaching career. When the pundits give up their warped apologies for Willingham, I will cease debunking them.

An overview of Husky football under Ty:

- an 11-25 record overall
- a 6-20 conference record
- highest conference finish was second-to-last
- 2007's worst defense in the Pac-Ten
- no defensive line (this year, the top two defensive ends on the depth chart have a combined career total of 3 tackles)
- a fan-base screaming bloody murder

Ok, the last bullet is somewhat subjective speculation, but it is my general impression after skimming a few Husky message boards.

And while we're speculating, it's been suggested that anything less than a .500 season will almost certainly spell doom for the Willingham era in Seattle (absent the Seahawks tapping him to be assistant equipment manager).

And what's Willingham doing to steel himself for, by the looks Washington's schedule, a nightmare of a season that could devastate his coaching career?















You knew that was coming!

In all fairness, Ty was playing in a charity tournament, so more power to him. But that doesn't mean I can't wallop him for this gem:

""You need a little luck," he said. "Take a football and go stand in your back yard. Hold it out in front of you in both hands and drop it. If it bounces straight back up, you don’t need luck.""

Luck is nice. So is teaching your players not to drop the football in the first place.

The Irish people, despite being labeled as such, have been anything but lucky throughout their history. So, too, is true of Irish football: what matters far more to our success, both in the past and in the future, is hard-work, fundamentals, focus and determination.

So keep relying on luck, Ty. Lotta good it did you in that sand-trap.

Kelly Green has heretofore remained silent about Kevin White pulling a Matt Doherty on Notre Dame (a little farther down Tobacco Road this time around), so I felt it was time to weigh in on this truly earth-shattering even in my alma mater's athletic history. After all, as Gene Wojciechowski has proclaimed, Notre Dame "will never be the same."

Well.

If by "the same" Mr. Wojciechowski means not having another athletic director who throws his school under the racially-stigmatized bus, then... we can only hope. In any event, Dr. White's apparently delicate touch is probably better suited for Duke, where race relations have as of late been in a bit more dire a predicament than the mere firing of a mediocre black head football coach with a penchant more for the links than the gridiron.

According to Wojciechoski's twisted logic, White apparently had the power to (and deserved the credit for) hiring the first minority head coach in Irish history. However, the decision to jettison Willingham was made by the greedy, amorphous, shadowy cabal known as the Board of Trustees, led by the sinister Fr. Jenkins. I could swear that Wojciechowski writes under the psuedonym "Dan Brown" from time to time. If so, he should stick with it, as it is far easier to remember how to spell.

No, Gene. Whether or not Notre Dame will ever be the same in the return-to-glory sense will have very little to do with whomever replaces Dr. White. That task right now rests on the shoulders of a big and big-hearted old alum from New Jersey, and a few green but talented and hard-working young men, all of whom love their University with all their hearts. All the best to them.

And all the best to Kevin White, who has described his mood upon being hired by Duke as "euphoric." Certainly the whole of the Blue Devil administration is sharing in his euphoria, as a Kentucky judge has sided with its argument that Duke, after going 13-90 over the past decade, is of such poor caliber that Louisville lost nothing when the Blue Devils welshed on the remaining three games of their series with the Cardinals.

A university that considers itself no different than any other Division I school. I'd be euphoric too, had I just found my dream job.

In my first three season predictions combined (2004-2006), I was off by a total of only 1 game. So my confidence was high leading into last season. Then I predicted a record of 9-3 for the 2007 season.

Needless to say my confidence has now been thoroughly and totally broken. Nevertheless, I'll give this year a shot:

- San Diego State: WIN - If the team is as bad as it was last year, then there'll be no such thing as a "safe" game this season. Michigan lost to App. State last year. Anything's possible. But I'd say the odds of us being that bad again this year are low. Our defense last year consistently made the same mistakes. Tenuta will correct those mistakes and I expect our defense to be our rock this season. The offense is another story. It's not humanly possible for it to get worse than last year (when it looked like my highschool's defense would have shut them down), so the only direction is up.

- Michigan: WIN - This one will probably be an ugly game. Michigan's offense will stutter, still trying to learn their new system. Tenuta's aggressive blitz package should match up extremely well here. If ND's offense sticks to the basics, it hopefully can put up a few points. I'm glad this one's at home.

- @ MSU: LOSS - To be honest, this one was a flip of the coin for me. I have no clue. MSU has their QB back as well as Javon Ringer back at running back. I suspect MSU will be much improved over last year, though they are only returning 6 starters on offense and 6 on defense. If our defense is reduced to guessing with its stunts and blitzes, we'll get burned.

- Purdue: LOSS - Another tough call. Purdue loses some key defensive talent, but reports are that they have some promising replacements. On offense, they return their top runner and they return Painter at QB. Even if our defense plays decently, I don't see our offense keeping up. Purdue is in the middle of a coaching transition, and its results will be interesting to see.

- Stanford: WIN - Hopefully this is one of those "safe" games that actually will be safe.

- @ UNC: WIN - Ditto. I've heard that UNC could be a surprise this year. I'll buy it when I see it.

- @ Washington: LOSS - I think Washington was better than their record last year, as they put up a fight in a handful of somewhat close losses. Their schedule this year is as imposing as it was last year. They have a new defensive coordinator and a new special teams coach, both of which were needed changes. So they'll be tough and they'll be playing emotionally, with all the press the game will be getting (Willingham versus ND, omg!). Because of that coverage, I really really really hope I'm wrong on this one.

- Pittsburgh: WIN - Pittsburgh returns a lot of starters (total of 15), but their schedule up to this point is kindof a joke. Besides that, I have no clue.

- @ Boston College: WIN - Matt Ryan is gone at QB. We gave them a good game last year. This year they'll be weaker and we'll be better.

- Navy @ Baltimore: WIN - So Navy is no longer an automatic call. Still I can't think they'd beat us two years in a row, especially with a new coach.

- Syracuse: WIN - See: Stanford and UNC.

- @ USC: LOSS - Well miracles are possible I suppose. But I don't count on them. Even if ND is much better than I could imagine this year, they'll still be facing a stacked USC team on the road. Signs point to a blowout.

...

So that's 8 wins and 4 losses. Level of confidence: very low.

Labels: Predictions