Well, that was quite the ride.  I was literally a game-winning drive away from turning in my Irish card for the balance of this season.  Just ask Lizzi and Hurley, who got to witness my near meltdown in real-time.  I was literally standing on the couch with remote control in hand, ready to turn off the Irish for the balance of this year.  Seriously, I was that close.  I haven’t been any closer to abandoning one of my teams since that historic Christian Laettner shot that sent the Duke Blue Devils past the Kentucky Wildcats in the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final.  I was prepared to walk away from the Dukies then, and had my Blue Devil hat lying in the middle of my abandoned seat (for the symbolism, mind you) to prove it.

My natural instinct is to temper the enthusiasm after the Irish pulled off a late-game rally to defeat Purdue 24-21 last night.  After all, the Boilermakers are a middle-of-the-road Big 10 squad and ND is quantitatively better in virtually every respect.  That said, I can’t help but beam with pride at the intestinal fortitude ND displayed down the stretch with this one.  In particular, Jimmy Clausen displayed the attributes of a true leader, coming off the bench – injured – to lead the Irish on the longest game-winning drive in school history.  Kudos to you, Jimmy.  I still think you’re a douche – that obnoxious nodding at the end is totally uncalled for – but you’ve proven yourself one helluva gamer and I can’t help but respect that.

The bottom line is this is exactly the type of win that normally escapes the Irish, and we’re finally getting to see a team that’s learning how to win.  Keep in mind that this team was without it’s number one receiver and running back.  And it played with half a Jimmy Clausen.  Under the lights.  On ESPN.  On the road.  And pulled it off in the final seconds.  That’s some good shit.  I’m still not entirely sold on Weis’ ability as a college coach, but he’s certainly done enough to put his team in position to win each of its first four games, and he’s done plenty to compensate for a defense that appears half a step behind its opponents each week.  He deserves credit for that, no question.

Some other observations:

• I miss Michael Floyd.  A lot.  But I loved watching his emotion as a cheerleader on the sidelines.
• Golden Tate is the truth.  Get the ball in his hands as much as possible.
• Kyle Rudolph is a monster beast ginormous man-child subhuman exclamation point.
• Welcome back, Robert Hughes.  Please keep it up.
• Duval Kamara is officially MIA.  Not only is he erratic in the receiving department, but the dude is experiencing plenty of brain farts as well that come in the form of flags for illegal formation.  Really?  Illegal formation?  Really?
• Shaquelle Evans will have a good career at ND, but that interception of Clausen at the end of the first half would’ve been a touch if Floyd were in there.  Did I mention I miss Floyd?
• I’d grade the offensive line a solid B.  Decent run-blocking but some pretty spotty pass blocking, if you ask me.
• Speaking of which, did you notice how the Purdue defensive line looked like monsters compared to ND’s?  Something’s up here.
• Dear Toryan Smith – I love the effort and the heart, but you’re simply too much of a liability, especially in the passing game.  Opponents pick on you every week because you’re clearly too slow to play in coverage.  I’m sorry, but you’re simply not the answer at middle linebacker.  Role player, yes.  Starter, absolutely not.  But please do keep up the fight.
• Speaking of linebackers, another mediocre game from Brian Smith.  But, on the bright side, Darius Fleming played very well.  Here’s hoping that injury isn’t serious.
• I like Nick Tausch.
• I’m worried about Eric Maust.  Though he delivered when it counted, he’s been awfully inconsistent this year.
• Robert Blanton = sophomore slump?
• I’m tired of seeing Irish defenders bounce off tackles.  And I’m tired of seeing the linebackers and d-linemen swarm to blocks like moths to a flame.  Rarely do you see those guys actually shed a block to make a play.  Instead, they run straight at the block and get sucked up into it, never to be heard from again.
• Dear Robby Parris – Atta boy!
• What do you know?  You play Manti Te’o and he makes plays.  Hmmm….
• What’s wrong with Harrison Smith?  Is he playing out of position?
• I used to think Theo Riddick was gonna spring one this season, but then I saw him run straight into a kicker and began to think otherwise.
• Finally, the zebras appeared to call a balanced game, which was a welcome sight.  Meanwhile, did anyone see the Hoosiers get homered by the refs at the Big House?  I’m starting to see a pattern here…

Drawing conclusions just three games into the season is admittedly premature.  That said, it seems clear to me that we’ve got a pretty good grip on what this year’s Irish team is all about.  As Charlie Weis himself has said before, you are what you are folks.  And what the Irish are is a 2-1 squad with a very good offense, mediocre special teams, and a truly horrific defense.  Granted, they’re a blown call (or calls) away from 3-0 but they’re also one Kirk Cousins overthrow from 1-2, so 2-1 sounds about right.

The good news is that the Irish are playing a mediocre Purdue team that just lost to Northern Illinois.  But that’s pretty much where the good news stops.  The bad news, on the other hand, flows free and plenty.  That same Purdue team played a decent Oregon squad tough on the road, suggesting they’ve got something to give and can give it when properly motivated.  Naturally, there’s nothing like a visit from ND to get the troops fired up, particularly under the lights at home….on a nationally televised game brought to you by ESPN.  Plus, the Irish offense is going to be without its best offensive player (Michael Floyd, gone for the season), might be without a banged up Armando Allen, and will be led be a hobbled Jimmy Clausen (himself emerging as an all-world QB).  Add to the above the fact that the Purdue running game is a source of strength – which matches up perfectly with ND’s most glaring weakness on defense – and you’ve got the makings of a surprisingly tough game on the road for ND.

I say surprisingly because coming into the season the Irish were expected to easily steamroll Purdue.  Everyone marked this game up to an easy win, a warm-up of sorts for the USC game two weeks out.  (By the way, that Washington game just got a lot harder, didn’t it?).  Instead, I suspect the Boilermakers will put up quite the fight and, if history serves as a guide, they’ll get plenty of help from the goofs in stripes, who have made a habit of punishing the Irish every chance they get with brutal calls and non-calls  so far this season.  Seriously, the officiating has been atrocious this year, full stop.

All of the above makes this a tough game to call.  The guys over at the Gold Sheet have actually picked Purdue to upset the Irish in one of their “key releases” (basically their highest conviction calls).  And the spread has been narrowing throughout the week, starting at Irish by 8 before settling at 6.5.  That usually spells doom.  But the Gold Sheet folks don’t have the greatest track record in my book (I consult them every week for my Pick 5 and I always suck), and just because the spread is compressing doesn’t mean the Irish won’t still win.

In my view, this is a game where Weis can earn his paycheck from a coaching perspective.  What’s clear from the outset is that the Irish are the more talented squad, even with some of their top players on the shelf.  So now that Weis has won the talent war, he needs to win the strategic one, which will spell the difference in the end.  What this should involve is a battle for good old time of possession.  That is, Weis should do everything he can to keep his defense sidelined and let his big boys on the offensive line go to work on a suspect Purdue defense.  We all know the Irish can go lights out on offense but I’d argue they’d be better served here by taking things nice and slow.  Move the ball slowly and methodically down the field on the strength of your workhorses up front and a talented backfield that is deep enough to fill in for the injured Allen.  This will require less from an injured Clausen, and by milking the clock Weis can force the Boilermakers to go on the defensive when on offense by airing it out.  I’d much rather see ND’s secondary thwart an air attack led by a new QB and new coach rather than letting the running game gain any momentum.

Alas, my guess is things don’t go according to plan and this turns out to be a bit of a nail-biter.  The breaks just haven’t been going ND’s way and the intangibles are clearly stacked against them.  Plus, they have a frustrating history of playing down to their opponent’s level, and I can’t imagine why we’d expect anything different tomorrow.  So my prediction is that the Irish manage pull off the victory but not without a bit of a scare:  31-24.

Go Irish.

This is a great photo.  Obviously, it’s an emotional moment between a proud father and his son, who happens to be Jake Locker, quarterback of the Washington Huskies.  Surely, there was plenty to be proud about since the Huskies had just pulled off a shocking upset of the mighty USC Trojans.  Still, you’ve got to admit that this is one awkward shot!

On a related note, as a devote Irish fan, I for one am not looking forward to October 3rd when the Irish take on the Huskies.  That Locker character is one heckuva a player that will undoubtedly give the porous Irish defense plenty of trouble.

And one more thing – for the OZ fans in the house, doesn’t Locker’s dad look like Seamus O’Reilly, the drunk father of that Irish snake Ryan O’Reilly?  Spitting image, I tell ya.

Only awesome coaches are allowed to be dicks to the media.  Coaches whose defenses have been torched for 68 points and 900 yards the past two weeks forfeit all rights to stiff-arm correspondents during interview sessions.  Urban Meyer?  Carte blanche.  Pete Carroll?  Go for it, buddy.  Jon Tenuta?  Suck it up and deal.  We all have things about our jobs that we don’t like but most of us don’t pout about it in such blatant fashion.

And here’s a corollary to the above rule.  Media folks conducting interviews with dicks should grow spines and ask the tough questions.  Having a surly subject should provoke more badgering, not less.  There should be a strong correlation between how punchy an interviewee is and the level of difficulty and/or sensitivity of the questions posed.

Jay Leno during a (stunted) interview with Bob Costas on Sunday:

I watched Brett Favre today. Very impressive. Went the whole game without retiring.

Bill Simmons had a fun warmup to this year’s NFL season in which he provided a handful of funny insights.  Included among them was the below take on why it sucks to attend an NFL game live, something with which I’m in total agreement.

Prediction VI: Blackouts of home games will become the signature media story of the 2009 season. You’ll hear way too much about it. Here’s my take: This isn’t about the economy. It’s about the fact that it’s more fun to stay home and watch football than it is to sit in crappy seats to watch any team ranging from “lousy” to “mediocre.” It just is. For many fan bases, here are the two choices every Sunday:

Door No. 1 (more expensive): Traffic, parking, long walk to stadium, lousy seats, lifeless state-of-the-art arena, TV timeouts, dead crowds, drunk/bitter fans, more TV timeouts, hiked-up concession prices, PDAs with jammed signals as you’re searching for scores, even more TV timeouts, long walk to car, even more traffic.

Door No. 2 (less expensive): Sofa, NFL package, HD, fantasy scores online, remote control toggling, gambling, access to scores, seven straight hours of football, cell phone calls, beer and food in fridge, no traffic.

I can see going through Door No. 1 once a year just to remind yourself that going to an NFL game sucks. But eight times a year? Unless you had good seats, or unless this was your only excuse to get out of your house and get plastered, why would you? It’s a blue-collar sport with white-collar ticket prices. This blackout trend would have happened whether the economy was suffering or not.

Well, so much for that.  My one-game streak of successful prognosticating came to a screeching halt today.  Wow, what a kick in the nuts that game was.  If you would’ve told me that the Irish would put up 490 yards of total offense while scoring 34 points, Jimmy Clausen would throw for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns with no picks, Golden Tate would catch nine passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns, Michael Floyd would go 7-131 and a touch, Armando Allen would rush for 139 yards and a touch, Clausen would not be sacked once, the Irish would go 4-5 in the red zone, and the Irish defense would have ten tackles for loss, two sacks and a pick, I would’ve pretty much guaranteed an Irish victory.  Instead, the Michigan Wolverines managed to make the plays that needed to be made and sent a dejected Irish squad home with a 38-34 loss.

A few observations:

• The Irish should’ve won this game.  They were the better team, hands down.  If they play this game ten times in a row, the Irish take eight out of ten from Michigan.
• This loss is not on Weis or Jimmy.  Though Weis had some questionable calls (particularly down the stretch), I thought he called a great game on balance.  And Jimmy put in yet another superb performance.  He had some rather uncharacteristic misses on a few routes, but he played a smart game and put the ball where it needed to be about 90% of the time.  Plus, he avoided the rush masterfully and went another game with no picks.
• Speaking of Jimmy, his stats so far this year: 651 yards passing, 7 touchdowns, no picks.  By comparison, Colt McCoy has thrown for 654 yards, 5 touchdowns and 2 picks.  Tim Tebow has thrown for 425 yards, 5 touchdowns and no picks.  Jimmy is the real deal and should absolutely be getting some Heisman love this year, though I’m sure he’ll be dinged because his team can’t dig down and pull out tough victories, despite the fact that he does plenty to put his team in a position to win.
• The Irish offense has arrived and is legit top-ten caliber.  The defense, shall we say, is still on its way.  It seems pretty clear that the Irish are going to have to straight up outscore their opponents if they stand a chance of winning this year.
• Hats off to Tate Forcier.  He strikes me as one of those guys who’s totally unlikable, but the dude’s a baller who will be a thorn in the Irish side for the next three years.  Freshman or not, he was a total force this game and the sole reason Michigan pulled off the victory.  And that move on Darius Flemming that left the Irish LB searching for his jock while Tate scrambled 41 yards was sensational.
• Hats off to Dick Rod as well.  He called a smart and opportunistic game for which Jon Tenuta had no answer.  He’s still a Dick, though.
• The glaring weakness of this Irish squad is their run defense.  They simply do not have the size and (surprisingly) speed along the front seven to stop opponents’ rushing attacks.
• I was surprised by how poorly the Irish secondary played.  I guess scrambling QBs end up making higher percentage throws because they’re able to buy time for their wideouts to get open, but I would’ve expected better coverage out of the Irish DBs.  Walls had a brutal game and I have no idea why the coaching staff would prefer McNeil over Blanton.  As one of the team’s true playmakers and a strong tackler, Blanton should be on the field as much as possible.
• Speaking of the secondary, I’m tired of seeing Sergio Brown go all spaghetti-armed and get bounced off of people he’s trying to tackle.  I’d like to see Jamoris Slaughter or Gary Gray get more looks at the nickel back, as they’re both much better tacklers.
• The defensive line is simply not good.  Ethan Johnson is playing way out of position, the Kerry Neal project has been a total failure, Ian Williams pulls off some great disappearing acts, and Kapron Lewis-Moore is playing about a year too early in his progression.  They should move Johnson back to DE, rotate Neal with Lewis-Moore at the other spot, and team Ian Williams up in the middle with Hafis Williams, with both players being spelled by Brandon Newman and Tyler Stockton.  Just put some big bodies in the middle there and hope they can at least occupy some blocks to free up the LBs to make plays.
• Speaking of the LBs, Brian Smith pulled off another disappearing act after talking plenty of smack in the pregame.  This is reminiscent of how he was nowhere to be found last year at BC.  And what’s with starting Manti Te’o and then sitting him for the better part of the game after the first series?  Seriously, WTF?
• The officiating was the worst I’ve seen in a long while.  I hesitate to blame the loss on the zebras, but they did plenty to help Michigan along.  You know how they say a ref could call holding on every play if he wanted to?  Well, they wanted to today, particularly when the Irish had the ball.  Armando Allen gets a TD called back for sniffing the sideline.  Michael Floyd gets pushed down by a DB following a tackle right in front of a referee and gets no flag.  Golden Tate was basically hugged by the Michigan secondary the entire game but only gets one pass interference call.  Just brutal.
• Aside from the penalties (some of the phantom variety), I thought the Irish offensive line did a great job, keeping Jimmy upright most of the game and opening up enough holes for Armando Allen to put up the best game of his career.
• Michael Floyd is a total stud.  He was abusing Boubacar Cissoko the entire game.  The kid got absolutely destroyed by Floyd.  I’m wondering why Weis didn’t keep going to that well.  Each time Jimmy saw Floyd matched up in man-to-man, he should’ve checked out of the play and just thrown Floyd’s way.  That play was money all game long.
• Ben Turk, put away that redshirt and start warming up that leg.

Despite the extraordinary disappointment this game represents, not all hope is lost.  The arrow on the Irish is still pointing up, and if they can find a way to bounce back next week against MSU, then they still have a good shot at finishing the season 10-2.  It’s a bit disconcerting, though, how Weis’ Irish squads don’t seem to have the fortitude to reach down and pull out the tough victories.  Add this game to last year’s UNC, Syracuse and Pitt games as examples where the Irish demonstrated an inability to hunker down and pull off the win when their backs were against the wall.  As it turns out, the incomparable Kirk Herbsteit was right when he predicted before the season started that this game would represent a critical turning point for the Irish.  If they can rally around this heartbreak and pull off a string of victories ahead of the USC visit, then things will turn out just fine for the Irish.  If they don’t, this thing could go off the rails pretty quickly.

Feeling a wee bit cocky and self-assured following the success of my Irish pick last week, I’ve decided to don my tin foil hat and peer into the crystal ball again this week.  Of course, one week doesn’t a trend make, but I’m going to work under the assumption that my skills at prognostication have finally begun to materialize after years of abject failure.

This is an interesting game on a host of levels, not least of involves the fact that ND-Michigan is one of the game’s all-time great rivalries.  Traditional and historical significance aside, what I find most intriguing about this match-up is that it involves two teams that are at a bit of a crossroads and have embattled coaches leading the way.  Mired in off-field controversy, Michigan is trying to find its identity as a program.  It’s young in talent as well as system (this being head coach Rich Rodriguez’s second season), and there are plenty of holes in the roster thanks to attrition (which came in the form of several offseason transfers that included the starting RB and QB) and injury (WR Junior Hemingway and DB Boubacar Cissoko are rumored to be out, and RB Brandon Minor is banged up).  The reality is that, while Michigan is normally expected to compete each and every year, the program is in the midst of a rebuilding cycle.  Knowing that, the reasonable part of Wolverine nation set expectations fairly low this year, knowing that RichRod probably needs a solid three years or so to get his type of kids into the system before a fair judgment could be made.  In the meantime, Michigan should be expected to take its fair share of lumps just as ND has done these past few years as Weis attempted to rebuild a program gutted by the ineptitude of the Willingham regime.  However, a fairly convincing win over Western Michigan has breathed new life into the Michigan faithful, and the lingering euphoria has sent expectations sky high.  For example, I gave a quick check of the Michigan fan site thewolverine.com and five of their six analysts predicted a Wolverine victory this weekend.

Well, those analysts are wrong.  And here’s why.  Something that should be obvious to anyone taking a reasonable approach to handicapping this game is that the Irish are simply the better team.  They are more experienced, they are more polished, they are deeper, and for once in a long while, they have athletes that are on par with those churned out in Ann Arbor.  I’m not saying that the Irish are necessarily more athletic, but at least they don’t need to worry about being “out-athleted” by opponents like Michigan anymore, this thanks to Charlie Weis and his staff’s extraordinary recruiting prowess over the past few years.  The Irish not only have a fairly established team that is coalescing nicely, but they’ve also got two of the best schemers in the game in Charlie Weis and Jon Tenuta.  Plus, the Irish have the added motivation of redemption, not only in the eyes of a still skeptical nation but also in their own minds, for their last visit to the Big House resulted in a 38-0 shallacking.  During that game, a freshman Jimmy Clausen spent the majority of the time on his back, and the Wolverines were unforgiving in pouring salt on the wounds of a rebuilding Irish squad.  Make no mistake, that will reverse itself this go-around.

This year, in my estimation, will be very different indeed.  Michigan is led by two very athletic yet very young quarterbacks.  Two freshmen, to be exact.  True freshman.  One of whom, Tate Forcier, has an incredibly cheesy website that makes me despise him even more.  These two young ‘uns are playing in their first legitimately competitive college football game, and in  an atmosphere as tense as can be.  And they’re playing against a defense that has its fair share of bonafide studs coming off a shutout of a decent offensive squad in Nevada.  Tenuta’s gameplan will involve plenty of blitzing and will undoubtedly throw a lot of different looks at the freshmen to confuse them.  My guess is the Irish stack the box with eight guys on most plays, moving SS Kyle McArthy up to play as a fourth LB to guard not only against the run but to also serve as a spy on the QB when Brian Smith is otherwise occupied.  That will force Michigan to beat the Irish through the air, which won’t happen.  I’ll take the likes of Blanton/McNeil/Walls/Gray over the Michigan receiving corps anyday.  Just picture it – the Irish DBs (among the best in the nation) jamming the shorthanded Michigan receivers and blanketing them across the field, while a scrambling freshman QB attempts to find them while under extreme duress.  Not gonna happen.  At least not often it won’t.

Meanwhile, the Irish offense will continue to solidify under an emerging Heisman candidate in Jimmy Clausen.  I predict another solid offensive showing, with the Tate/Floyd combo proving lethal once again.  I also expect to see a better game out of Armando Allen as well as a healthy dosage of Jonas Gray, making a victorious homecoming of sorts for the Detroit native.

This game will turn out to be a bit more lopsided than most expect.  The Irish offense will undoubtely continue to impress.  But more importantly, the defense will sustain its dominance from last week, and I’m guessing the Michigan offense will put the ball on the ground twice and toss up another couple of gifts to boot.  The Michigan QBs will pull off a few athletic plays but will find themselves overwhelmed by the Irish defense more often than not.  (By the way, I also predict a fair amount of trickery as Michigan tries to pull out all stops; an onside kick to start the game perhaps?).  Rodriguez would be best-served lining up and trying to smash it down the middle part of the Irish D, as they’ve shown weakness along the front four (Ethan Johnson, by the way, is playing out of position as a DT when he’s a natural DE).  Instead, Rodriguez will play the stubborn card and stick to what his offense is supposed to be.  And his team will lose as a result.  Michigan will be good again, but it won’t be this year.  They’re simply too young and too confused.  And the Irish are due for a little comeuppance.  Though the game will start off seeming evenly-matched, the Irish will pull away and come out of Ann Arbor with a score that suggests the game was closer than it was.  I’m thinking something along the lines of 27-14, which will help establish the Irish as legit contenders this year.  However, the party will likely be subdued with MSU on the docket for the following Saturday.  That, I’m afraid, will be a different story entirely for the Irish.  In the meantime, at least, we can rejoice in the suffering of the Skunkbears!

As loyal readers of Eddyfication know, I’m a fan of ESPN’s Bill Simmons (otherwise known as the Sports Guy).  He’s a very popular blogger who has plenty of witty observations about life, sports and pop culture.  Basically, he gets paid lots of money to do exactly what I do for fun.  Bastard.

Anyhow, he recently ran a piece where he slammed the beautiful game (aka credit card roulette), so I took it upon myself to write him a little note, which I’ve included below (notice I softened the battlefield a little bit first).  He occasionally runs a mailbag post where he answers readers’ emails, so we’ll see if he gives us any love.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

Hey Bill,

Long time reader, first time writer.  Love your stuff, even though I go green with envy each time I read one of your pieces (this coming from a recreational blogger and sports fan).  In any event, I wanted to comment on two things you recently brought up.  First, I love your renewed interest in soccer and enjoyed the interview you did with Alexi Lalas.  In that conversation, you marveled at the size of some of the players, having undoubtedly expected soccer players to be wimpy little crybabies (the standard critique of the uninitiated American).  To add to your list of physical specimens in the sport, you should consider the fiery Frenchman Zinadine Zidane.  I met him once a couple years back (along with the entire Real Madrid squad) and was taken aback by his size.  The dude is a rock solid 6’4.  And he’s got shoulders to spare, which helps explain why he was so masterful at shielding defenders.  By the way, I also met David Beckham that day, who himself surprised me with his height (a good 6’2).  I recall one of your recent BS Reports commenting on some people being unexpectedly tall, so figured that was worth noting.  For some reason I expected Beckham to be the Tom Cruise of soccer stars (turns out that designation was reserved for Michael Owen, who stood 5’5 at best).

Second, I wanted to touch on your recent Vegas piece.  My usual practice of nodding in agreement with pretty much everything you say came to a screeching halt when you warned against credit card roulette.  I disagree wholeheartedly with your take on the game.  As justification for such a stance, I’d like to recommend that you read a post of mine (http://eddyfication.com/2009/08/31/the-beautiful-game-2/) that recollected a CCR event some buddies and I had when we all got together recently for a wedding weekend.  The photo alone does plenty to make my case.  As I described in my post, “The half-closed eyes, white-knuckled fists, and mouth agape in full-throated victory yell speak to the intensity of the moment.  How often does the average guy get to experience such unmitigated, competitive rapture?”.

I have faith you’ll see the light on this one, my friend.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Eddy

In the game of college football, an easy way to distinguish oneself as a douchebag is to write special little notes in one’s eye black (the black paint that players put under their eyes to help reduce glare).  Reggie Bush – my most hated college football player ever – used to put his hometown’s area code under his eyes, perhaps representing the height of lameness.  Tim Tebow puts bible verses in his eye paint, demonstrating an almost equal amount of lameness.  His preferred eye decoration lately has been “3:16″.  This is in reference to John 3:16, which reads:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Given the hero-worship all around him, I bet somewhere deep down Tebow is convinced that this passage is referring to him somehow.

Then there’s Terrell Pryor, Ohio State’s talented quarterback, who decided this past weekend to include the name “Vick” under one of his eyes.  And he followed it up with this quote:

I always looked up to Mike Vick and I always will, because I still think he is one of the best quarterbacks…Not everybody is the perfect person in the world. Everyone does — kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me. I just feel that people need to give him a chance.

So everyone kills, murders and steals?  Good to know.  Obviously, Pryor has a bit of a warped view of the world.  Or he’s just a moron.

I hate to say I told ya so….

Clausen’s Qb rating?  304.  And Sam Bradford went down with an injury in OU’s loss to BYU(?).  Any room for Jimmy at the top now?

Mark May’s excuse for picking Nevada to spring the upset?  “They had the 119th-ranked pass defense last year….”.  Making excuses just like I suspected he would.

Lou Holtz’s response to him?  “Well, why’d you pick ‘em to win?”.  Great question, Lou.  Great question.

Go Irish!