The Back Corner Fade

About a week ago, I was travelling for work and was talking to my 15-year-old son on the phone. I knew he had a history test coming up and being a caring parent…..and one that’s paying for Catholic high school, I wanted to know if he was ready for it. Mind you he earned an ‘A’ the first quarter, so obviously he’s doing well in the subject, but you’re only good as your last at bat, test, game, etc. So when he told me “yeah, I glanced at it again tonight, it shouldn’t be a problem” I decided to give him enough rope to hang himself and not say a word. End result: a ‘B’ on the test and a lesson learned. He came back to me and simply said “I wasn’t as ready as I thought I was. It won’t happen again.”

I kind of seemed like the Irish were in that position this past Saturday. They passed the test, actually had a respectable grade, but it wasn’t the best effort that we know they can give, and hopefully a lesson learned. I’m not going to dwell on it. It was a win against a team they should carve up, and it really was nowhere remotely near as close as the final score would lead one to believe. Tighten some things up and get ready for Miami. 

We’ll get to The U in a bit, let’s see what went on last weekend….

• Kirk Ferentz, you magnificent SOB! Raise your hand if you thought Iowa was not only going to beat, but flat out bludgeon THE Ohio State University and officially knock them out of THE national title hunt. I don’t know what it is about Iowa, but it seems like at least once a season, they play out of their collective skulls and beat someone they have no business beating. Last year it was Michigan, this year it was OSU. Iowa really should add an additional 10 more years to Ferentz’s contract for that alone. 
• More Big 10 fun as Sparty, fresh off an embarrassing 3 OT lose in Evanston, takes out Penn St and ruins their title run dreams. Again, this couldn’t be more delicious seeing their season go from a possible National Title run, to looking ahead to spending an afternoon at Epcot Center prepping for the Citrus Bowl. All this in a span of two weeks. I guess Akron and Georgia State didn’t exactly have the boys ready for prime time.
• Clemson gets out of Raleigh with a 7pt win and I truly believe we now have the Jim Boeheim of college football in Dave Dorean. Congrats Coach! It didn’t take long at all for you to get noticed as truly unlikeable. Last week it was the refs and injuries, this week it was a computer on the sidelines. Nice bunch of fans down there as well: spitting at the refs and throwing stuff at them as they left the field. Congrats on being the Ohio State-type fans of the ACC (yeah that’s not really an honor you want to have either.)
• Hats off to Clay Helton for refocusing his boys after their beating at the hands of the Irish. They’ve flat out hammered the Arizona schools and are playing really well. Keep it up SC. I just want to say we’re all counting on you.
• Navy QB Zach Abey has run on average 30 times a game. How in the hell do they expect him to be a good passer when the poor kid can probably barely lift him arm? Oh yeah, Temple beat the hell out of them last Thursday.
• Oklahoma survived Bedlam and remained in the playoff hunt by surviving Okie State. Pretty wild if you think about it: you score 60+ points and it’s a nail-bitter? Big 12 Football: Where Defense is for Sucks!

This is flat out going to be a hell of a lot of fun with a bunch of “knock-out games.” Here you go.

• Georgia heads to Auburn for what the “experts” seem to think is an upset special and they very well could be right. Georgia really hasn’t been challenged since the ND game and Auburn has a very, very good offense. Auburn does have a slight problem: they have to score a lot because the defense just isn’t very good. I think Georgia will win this one, but I also believe it’s going to be close.
• Speaking of Kirk Ferentz, his boys head up to Wisconsin with the opportunity to go full Mola Ram and rip the beating heart out of another Big 10 final four hopeful. By god, I sure hope so. Sounds like the folks in Madison are crying harder about their ranking then their hippie-wanna be section of students at a “Stop killing peacocks” rally. 
• “Step right up, come one come all! Step right up and see if you can beat The Incredible Saban.” It’s pretty much got to that point, hasn’t it? Every week someone comes up to take a shot at the belt, and every week someone goes home brushed, bloodied, and beaten. This week it Mississippi St’s turn in Starkville. Nick Fitzgerald, cow bells, and loud ‘ol boys just aren’t going to get it done. Bama large….again.
• TCU and OU get together in another knock out game in Norman with two teams with very different styles. TCU wants play defense and wear you down. OU wants to throw the ball and track meet people. This is another game I really believe will come down to the last few possessions. Gary Patterson knows he can’t beat these guys in a shoot-out, and their best hope is a game in the high 20’s. Don’t think it’s going to happen. OU wins this one.

And then we travel to SE Florida…..

For some of the younger board members (say under the age of 30) do yourself a favor and get on You Tube and check out some of the teams Miami had in the 80’s to early 90’s. These guys were good, and I mean really good. They also were everything Notre Dame isn’t. Miami would win on the field and then win in the clubs of South Beach after the game. Cars, gold chains, blow, hanging with gangsters, women of ill repute……that was Miami. To make it even worse, they rubbed it in our face. Talk to your father’s, uncles, etc, and they’ll tell you all about The U’s “swagger” and how appalling they truly were. As an Notre Dame fan, to add to the hate, they kicked our ass. You’ve heard all about October 15, 1988, I’m sure. The 30 for 30 was ok, but it really was much bigger than that: it vaulted ND’s championship run and it also proved to Miami that they weren’t going to be pushed around by them anymore………Notre Dame was back. 

Fast forward 29 years and ND and the U are both back in the Top 10 with plenty on the line. It’s going to be interesting to see how this one shakes out. While I don’t think they’re as polished as Georgia or as talented as USC, they still present problems. The most impressive thing that I’ve noticed about Miami so far this year is how resilient they are. These guys are going to play for four quarters and that’s a credit to Mark Richt and his staff. That being said, please site examples of huge wins in the career of Mark Richt. . . . . . .anybody? He’s simply never been a big game coach. With the talent he had at UGA, he should have never been anything less than 10 wins a year. That didn’t happen much and I suspect that’s what it’s going to look like when he’s all done at Miami as well.

Miami will play hard and this is going to be a game. I just have a hard time seeing ND not running on them and turning them over at least 2 times. Miami is well on their way back and are going to be a challenge, especially on the road (thank God this one isn’t going to be played at the old Orange Bowl,) but I just don’t think a freshman QB with a propensity for turnovers can beat this Irish team.

Is it Miami vs ND, 1987-1990? No, but it’s still ND/Miami and it should be a hell of a lot of fun.

Beat Miami.