The Back Corner Fade

“It’s not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” –Bear Bryant

No longer can we say that this Notre Dame team is not prepared both in game planning as well as physical conditioning. Both were on display this past Saturday night as the Irish laid a swift beat down on Michigan St. Mark Dantonio, with all the charm and character of a cigar store Indian, said, and I’m paraphrasing, that ND was “probably” more physical on both sides of the line. Coach D, let me help you out, your boys got the hell smacked out of them in the trenches and you flat out got beat badly at your own game. 

Of course a great deal of success so far should be heaped on Kelly and his revamped staff. They’ve done a tremendous job having this team ready to play. Personally, I think this all started in January when the boys were introduced to Matt Balis. From everything that’s been reported, these kids went through hell and back together. Key word here is together. The sweat that was poured back in the cold, grey, South Bend winter, is paying dividends now and because of it, this team is flat out strong. Not only strong, but strong for 60 minutes. It’s only been 9 months in his House of Gains. Imagine what the freshman are going to look like as seniors. 

So what the heck else went on this past weekend?

• “Look Daddy, teacher says, every time Arkansas loses an SEC game, Bielema gains 15 lbs.” I think the big boy might have himself some issues right about now after yet another SEC lose, this time at the hands of Texas A&M (and Kevin Sumlin gets a stay of execution for at least another week.) Telling stat: Bielema is 10-23 in SEC games. Think he’s regretting leaving Madison where he could beat up on Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue every year?
  

  Rick Kimball/ISD

  Dexter Williams
   

   

• Jim Mora now has the lead in the BCF Coaching Death Pool after getting smoked by, in my opinion, a fairly average Stanford club. Yes, the UCLA defense is bad, but 58 points bad to a team that could only muster up 13 against SDSU the week before? Let the Chip Kelly to Westwood rumors commence.
• You remember last week when I was heaping praise on Derek Mason and Vandy? Alabama 58 Vandy 0. 
• Pitt is not a good football team. Less than a year ago, they upset Clemson in Death Valley. Now they might be the worst team in the ACC, running neck and neck with BC. Two weeks they got torched in the air against Okie St and this week it was Paul Johnson’s option. Pat Narduzzi (defensive guru, ahem) is in year 3 in an area with great high school football talent and great facilities. There really is no reason they’re this bad. 
• Congrats to the Tennessee Volunteers on that memorable 17-13 win over UMass. Sgt Carter is in 3rd right now behind Mora and Sumlin in the Coaching Death Pool, but once the full SEC schedule gets going for the Big Orange, he has a great chance to move up the list, quickly. Kiffin, Dooley, and now Jones. . . . .maybe Phil Fulmer wasn’t so bad after all.
• Georgia’s defense is good, and I mean really good. All of a sudden, that one point loss to them is looking awfully impressive (if you can call any loss that.) With the SEC East basically a collection of sucks, UGA should cruise into Atlanta to play Bama for the SEC title. With that defense, they have as good a shot as anyone to take Saban’s boys down.

Honestly, this really is a pretty crummy slate of games this week. If you have that chance to clean out the garage or hit the links on a nice, fall afternoon, this would be the Saturday to do it. That being said, there are some games of note:

• Friday night is actually going to be a good night to stay home and watch some pigskin with two very intriguing match-ups. The early game has Miami heading up to Durham to play Duke and then the late show has USC road tripping to Wazzou. Let’s take a look at that statement: Miami/Duke and USC/Washington St. are big games. Never thought those words would fly out of my cake hole. Besides that, I think both home teams have more than a puncher’s chance to win.
• At the beginning of the season did you think we’d be saying 4-0 Wake Forest vs. 0-2 Florida St? Maybe with another lose, Free Shoes will finally get bounced from the Top 25.
• We’ll get another look at UNC this weekend as the Heels head to Atlanta and get chop blocked to death by Georgia Tech. This sets up well for Notre Dame, actually. How many times have the Irish looked horrible the week after playing Navy and the triple option? Defensive fronts are simply beat to hell after playing that style of offense. Couple that with the talent on ND’s line and it’s going to be a long couple of weeks for the Carolina front seven.
• Ole Miss and Alabama hook up in T-Town for their annual early season SEC matchup that has produced some fantastic games over the last 3 seasons. This, however, will not be one of them. Dialing up hookers on the university dime is taking its toll on the Rebels (I fully expect that nickname to be gone within a few years. The Fightin’ Faulkners simply doesn’t have the same ring to it) and they’re just not very good at the game of football at the present time. This one is going to be nasty.
• The big one of the evening takes place in Blacksburg as big, bad Clemson rolls into Lane Stadium to take on Virginia Tech. We have a pretty good idea what Clemson looks like this season with contests against good, not great teams in Louisville and Auburn. Even after sleepwalking through the first 3 quarters against Fredo, it’s fairly obvious: They’re very, very good. Tech on the other hand is an unknown. After squeaking by a typical, average WVU team, they’ve rolled through a murderer’s row of hot garbage beating Delaware, ECU, and ODU (are you kidding me, if ND played that type of horse bleep schedule we’d be burnt at the stake by the national media.) I think this is going to look similar to our game vs MSU. Rough environment, at night, on the national stage, but the home team simply isn’t as good as the visitor. I see Clemson taking them apart systematically and having this one over by the start of the 4th quarter.

Then we have 5 P.M, on NBCSN (different channel, same Doug Flutie) as the Miami Redsk…I mean Red Hawks come to play big boy football against the rapidly improving Irish. Chuck Martin has done a nice job of rebuilding a dumpster fire and has the distinction of leading an 0-6 team all the way back to 6-6 and to a bowl game for the first time in history last year. I don’t care if it’s the MAC, SWAC, or ACC, that’s awfully impressive. Miami is known as the “Cradle of Coaches” with legends like Ara, Woody Hayes, Paul Brown, Jim Tressel, John Pont, Paul Dietzel, Red Blaik, and Weeb Ewbank all spent time in Oxford (yes, I realize Bo coached there. He’s left out on purpose.) Chuck Martin loves Notre Dame and that has been well documented by Mike and the boys. What a feather in his hat it would be the next time the ND job opens if he could have a win against a good Irish team. Well, that’s simply not going to happen. I’d expect the Hawks to come out throwing everything they have at ND and the first quarter/quarter in a half to be close and then the slow, sweet release of death to begin. I have no doubt that Miami has a few nice players, but in the end, the cavalry doesn’t have reinforcements. In other words, they have no depth. This thing should be well in control by the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter, the back-up’s get some quality game reps, and we get ready for the next roadie down to Chapel Hill. 

Go Irish.