Note: Mike Kane is a Notre Dame fan writing a weekly column on the lighter side of college football.
Ohhh to have been a fly on the wall during halftime in Green Bay!
I’m sure Marcus Freeman might have been a little chippy with the lads after playing basically as tight as you could possibly play for 30 minutes. Actually, I would have loved to have seen the interactions with the position coaches, coordinators, CMF, and then the players. It really was a thing of beauty to see the adjustments that were made and the team we thought we’d see showed up in spades after the bands played.
Wisconsin is an improved team. Are they going to contend for the Big 37 Championship? No, but they certainly have enough to be a fly in the ointment to a lot of teams in the league and should be on their way to a decent bowl game (if that’s still a thing.)
Looking at the past week, I can tell you a team that isn’t going to a bowl game and that’s Rutgers. Remember when Greg Schiano was the hottest name in coaching? He was going to be the guy to take over for JoePa, he was going to bring glory to Tampa Bay Bucs, the son returns to Rutgers to bring it back to 7-5 awesomeness. Yeah, dude just lost to a UMass team that hasn’t beat a D1 school since 2023. At home. On national TV. Losing to UMass isn’t the way to “prove” the Big 10 is better than the SEC, Tony Petitti (Big10 commish if you don’t know.)
Just when old Tony thought the blowback was over for that conference, we had the hijinks in Ann Arbor.
We all saw it, so I’m not going to break down the final sequence. What people aren’t talking about are some of the plays leading up to the end. Early 4th WMU is driving. 3rd down the back from Western literally gets his head turned around on a face mask. Call it and it’s 1st and goal. No call, right in front of the ref. On the final drive, two Bronco DL’s get tackled, and I mean tackled rushing Bryce Underwhelming. No calls. Say what you will about the clock, this thing smelled once it really looked like Western could win that game.
Doesn’t matter. The Skunks play like that this week against OU and they’ll get embarrassed.
In the end I feel awful for our old friends, Lance Taylor and Greer Martini. They outplayed Michigan for 60 minutes. You know, like a game is supposed to be.
Then we have the massacre in BR. Is LSU really that good? Is Clemson really that bad? Well, LSU is absolutely improved. Chaz Jr has proven to be an awfully talented OC and they look light years from what they were a year ago in just one game. Yes, they will be a force in the SEC this season. Also, Lane is taking that “villain” role to a whole new level. Going for 2 up 44-3? Holy hell. If it was any other coach, and I mean any (ok, James Franklin would be hi-larious as well,) I would have been pissed. But who he pulled that one was beautiful.
Did LSU send the death blow to the coaching days at Clemson for Dabo? Honestly, if there ever was a “tarmac job” that was it. If I was a Clemson fan, that would be the last straw. The program has been on a slow decline since the Fire Marshall left, and now, well now they’re nothing more than another ho-hum ACC team with a whiny coach who’ll piss and moan about other schools (yeah, us) and not pay attention to the real issue at hand and his own carpet bombed program. He’s turned into anorexic Bret Bielema.
Quick Slants…..
I need to get the Wisky punter as my new bocci league partner. The boys at the social club in Little Italy in Cleveland have been too mouthy and I need a baller. Kid obviously throws darts. Damn what a punt.
Remember Marcus’ first game vs Oklahoma State? Yeah, not the same program as 5 years ago. I mean it’s barely a program now.
Malachi Toney is really good at football. Also, Stanford, probably not a great idea to play man coverage all night on Miami’s WR’s with two and three star corners.
Penn State’s sound guy pumping “Enter Sandman” in The Beav in the 4th quarter. Friggin’ savage.
So, what do we have to get excited about this weekend? Other than a one really, really big game, not much.
Nothing would make me happier than seeing Kenny Minchey spring the upset in the Commonwealth over Alabama. Hard to tell what Bama has after beating up on ECU, and really the same holds true with UK. While Kenny had a great opener, the Bama defense might be a little saltier than the Youngstown State Penguins.
I think Kenny will play well and make plays, I just don’t know how well they can handle dual threat Keelon Russell ,who was very good on the ground and in the air (they still struggled to run the ball even with their backs.) I think UK plays hard and makes for an interesting half to three quarters, but in the end Bama gets the road win and Paul Finebaum pencils them in as the #1 seed in the playoffs as of Week 2. Bama 34-17.
Maybe a bit of under the radar contest as Arizona State heads to College Station to take on the Aggies. I watched some of the Ags fun affair with Missouri State, and while they won 50-scratch, the offense was very average.
Again, tough to take away much from an opener against a tomato can, but they didn’t look crisp in the least. That and I still think Marcel Reed is highly overrated. ASU’s Cutter Boley tossed 7 TD’s in their win over Morgan State (I know, I know) but 7 TD’s is 7 TD’s. I think A&M pulls this out, but I think they’re in for a test at home. Aggies 28-24.
Of course, the big one this week takes place in Austin as Texas and Ohio State meet again. This should have all the earmarking’s of another classic as both teams are truly loaded on both sides of the ball.
Last season, OSU DC Matt Patricia had Arch Manning in mental knots in his first collegiate start and it will be interesting to see how he’s advanced in a full season. OSU’s one question mark is the DB’s. They were never remotely tested against Ball State, and this obviously a different animal with the skill UT has at WR.
The flip side, can Julian Sayin play to the level this game requires? Very good QB, but he’s been very pedestrian in big boy games. He’s never been in an environment like this before (yes, he played in the Big House last year, that place isn’t intimidating at all) and the Texas crowd and heat will be a challenge. Will the Big 10 refs rear their ugly heads at crunch time?
You may laugh, but it would have me concerned if I was Sark. Still, I think Black Beard the Buckeye finds a way to get this done. Better culture in this situation wins. OSU 23-21.
Finally, ND makes their home debut as they welcome the smart guys from Houston to town in what should be a laugher by halftime. I watched some of the Rice game over the weekend (football junkies only) and well, they’re not good. “But they put up 450+ on the ground” yeah against as bad a team as you will ever see in Houston Christian. I’ve streamed some of my son’s ex-HS teammates D2 games, and I say this with zero reservation: a good D2 would pump HCU, so yeah they ran for those numbers basically against air.
Yes, they do run a variation of the triple option due to the lack of talent that they can qualify to get in there, and yes this is coming off a short week, but let’s be real, this should be over early. They may, and I’m sure Jamie will mention this during the podcasts this week, have one or two guys that could even be on the Irish 2-deep, let alone start.
Marcus should have their attention this week. There’s plenty to work on as they didn’t play a clean game in the least on Sunday (not saying they played poorly, but there was a lot of meat left on the bone) and corrections to be made.
Can ND find someone to catch the ball not named Jordan Faison? Will the O-line look like the second half against Wisky? Will be we see the ND debut of Noah Grubbs and/or Teddy G? I think the answer is a resounding yes to all the above.
Irish 56-7.
Offensive Pick to Click: Aneyas Williams. 10 for 80 and 2 paint jobs.
Defensive Beast of the Week: Drake Bowen. The QB of the defense with three TFL’s and a forced fumble.
Beat Rice.
