The Back Corner Fade

I guess that’s what the poor, smack talking, cherry clothed lads from Philly had in their heads by the end of Saturday’s physical beat down. 400+ yards rushing. I’m going to go ahead and repeat that: 400+ yards on the ground. One of the fine ISD posters mentioned in the comments in last week’s BFC that he thought ND would roll up 350 on the ground. I thought to myself, “I love this guy’s enthusiasm, but 350? Nah, I’d be happy with 200.” If you’re reading this kind sir, I give you the tip of the cap. I’m not going to rehash Saturday’s terrific effort, it’s been well documented. I will simply sum up the game in the words of Tommy Callahan in “Tommy Boy”…”That…..was…..awesome!” 

Now, let’s get to what we learned last week from some other schools…….that didn’t rush for 400 yards:

• Not a good weekend in the state of Texas. I preface these comments by noting that I’m sure that a good number of these kids are from the Houston area and had some serious issues to contend with off the field. There’s no joking around with that. That being said, uh, wow, you boys played some seriously brutal football. We start in Austin where last year’s flavor of the month, Tom Herman, got introduced to big boy football by getting 51 points put on him by a non-big boy program. Winning your way into the hearts of billionaire oil tycoons isn’t easy in the first place, Tom. Getting absolutely gashed by a low level team in an overrated conference is going to make that job that much harder. The Eyes of Texas, and middle fingers, are upon you, Coach. 
• Head up the road to Waco and we see former Temple head coach, Matt Rhule getting 45 points put on him by Liberty. Jerry Falwell’s boys came on down and took care of business. Should have stayed at TU, coach. You could have got the same beat-down by a religiously affiliated school that actually plays D1. 
• And then we have Texas A&M. Is there anything to be said about tanking a 34 point 2nd half lead to a bad UCLA team? Not really. I’m sure that they have a resume building center in College Station and I’d suggest Kevin Sumlin talks a stroll down to talk to them. I have little doubt that a Sun Belt school is going to have a need for a coach next season. Lost in all this is the performance of Josh Rosen. That was one for the ages, kid.
• Michigan beat Florida……and nobody cares.
• Alabama once again proved to be the man, you gotta beat the man. That being said, besides having to get a new QB to ready play, Jimbo might want to spend a wee extra time on the special teams units this week. They were not special on Saturday.

So what do we have to look forward to with this week’s action? Well, there are a lot of cruddy programs that are going to get paid this week by sending there one and two star marauders up to get beat on, but there are also some really good contests to look forward to. Here’s what to watch

• Auburn heads up to Death Valley to take on Clemson in what I really believe is going to be a huge test for Clemson. Clemson has plenty of new faces on offense, and a tune-up game against Kent St isn’t going to give St. Dabo the answers he needs. Auburn is a dark horse in the SEC and I think are better than people think. Give the advantage to Clemson, simply because of their defense and a night game in Death Valley.
• Oklahoma and OSU. The hell with it. I’m sick of talking about Ohio St.
• We head out west and the Trees head to LA for what should be a good one against the boys from Watts. SC looked less than stellar against Western Michigan and Stanford went half way across the globe to beat up on a truly awful Rice team two weeks ago. Sam Darnold played about as poor as he can last weekend and I simply can’t see that happening two weeks in a row. In a classic “meteor game,” I give SC the advantage because of the quarterback play. One note: in case you missed it, SC let a blind young man named Jake Olson the chance to long snap last weekend. If you didn’t see the story, go find it. It’ll make you feel good all day. SC got this one beyond right. I hope they let this kid snap a few more times throughout the season.
• The dark horse game of the week in terms of good, old fashion offensive fun is South Carolina heading over to Missouri. Missouri scored 77 last weeks against Missouri State (while giving up 43) and the Gamecocks put up 35 on what is supposed to be a very good NC State defense. First one to 56 wins. Games like that are fun to watch from time to time. That being said, you’re going to have to record that one. It’s on at 7. We have more pressing issues…..

October 2nd, 1965. LBJ was in office, Whitey Ford won his 232 game to become the winningest pitcher in Yankee history, and the McCoy’s had the number one song in the land with “Hang On, Sloopy” (which is a song essentially about a lady of ill-repute that Ohio has adopted as their state song. Awesome.) Notre Dame had a 38-7 yawner against Ara’s old team Northwestern, the week after losing their number one ranking after falling at Purdue, 25-21. This day also saw a young Vince Dooley, in his second season at Georgia, come up north with his Bulldogs and take down #7 Michigan, 15-7. That was the last time the Bulldogs have come above the Mason-Dixon Line for a football game. This will be the first time the rich and proud tradition of Georgia football will play a game outside the South with a black player. Amazing.

I’m looking forward to this one and have had this one circled since it was announced. My first recollections of ND Football were seeing Herschel Walker run all over ND in the 1981 Sugar Bowl and I still don’t think I’ve seen anything like him. 36 years later, and Georgia still has some studs that can run the ball. While Nick Chubb and Sonny Michele are not #34, there both good…..very, very good. It simply boils down to that simple fact: can the Irish contain these two backs and make them throw to beat them? While Ryquell Armstead, who is a tough, physical back, was held in check last week, these two are a different story. One thing to consider: Temple had three starters back from a very good o-line last year, and the center, while he did not start last season, was supposed to be the best of the unit. They averaged less than 3 yards a tote last week. Georgia has a much less experienced line. While I’m sure they’re probably more talented, they still lack that experience. That could play into our advantage. I think ND will move the ball, it’s not going to be the beat down they gave Temple, obviously. Kirby Smart isn’t a defensive newbie, and will make ND throw to beat them. It’s critical for a receiver besides EQ to step up this week. It’s going to be needed.

This all being said, I think this is going to be an ND night. There were so many things to like in last weekend’s game, but the biggest plus was the attitude. This team just appears to be hungry, something we haven’t seen since 2012. I know it’s one week, and if you give the proverbial eye-roll, I get it. I just have the feeling we’re in for a fun season. Let the “real” believing commence at about 11:30, Saturday night.

Beat Georgia.