ND-Syracuse scheduled

Big news out of ND this week with a confirmation that we are going to be playing Syracuse in a four game series with two games at ND and two games at the Meadowlands. Sounds like the games will be at ND in 2015 and 2017 and at the Meadowlands in 2014 and 2016.

Under ordinary cirucmstances, I wouldn't have a problem with signing them up for a series. Syracuse has pretty good tradition, and Doug Marrone might get them turned around in the next couple years. If we're going to schedule someone from the Big East, I can live with playing Syracuse. And if these games were "buy games" or some sort of 2 for 1 thing where we play 2 at ND and one at the Meadowlands as our "neutral" site game, I'd be fine with that.

The problem here is that the Meadowlands games are going to be treated as "road" games in this series. In other words, Syracuse is taking up one of our valuable home and home spots. The home and home spots that fans were hoping we could use for an Alabama or Miami or Texas type series. With the 7-4-1 scheduling model, we only have four road games to play with a year. Now, we're going to have to work with fewer spots open for a potential heavyweight in years 2014-2017.

I would love to believe that Swarbrick has some master plan to fit in the Cuse series and squeeze in a marquee series, but color me skeptical. I like that he cancelled the Baylor series, but I have no idea if that series is going to be used for a 1-1-1 setup or if he's just trying to get more games in New York City.

Can't you see this ND-Cuse series getting in the way of scheduling more Tier 1 teams down the road?? I can already hear Heisler and Swarbrick now.

"Well, we'd love to play those teams (Bama, Texas, etc), but we already have our road games booked and don't have any room for them. Our "crazy alums" don't understand that you can't play 10 top teams a year."

Go ahead and pencil that quote in for Heisler the next time Alabama or Miami calls us out for a game. We'll point to our scheduled series with Syracuse and shoo them away.

I'd love to believe that Swarbrick has the power/desire to substantially change the direction of the ND schedule, but I'm looking for some actual evidence to back that up. All I'm looking for is ONE marquee series out of him to make me a believer that he is making it a priority to get more big names on the schedules. Thus far, all we've seen are "buy games," half-baked neutral site games, and a series with Syracuse. In other words, a continuation of the Kevin White model.

Perhaps Swarbrick is making noise behind the scenes, but I find it troubling that we are lining up the Syracuses of the world for a series 8-10 years out and can't do the same for a team like Alabama or Miami. If there was really a desire to get Alabama on the schedule in 2017 or some year in the future, why isn't it done already?? Swarbrick is clearly contemplating those schedules since he's already negotiated a deal for a game in 2017 with the Cuse. If his top priority is to beef up the schedule, why not announce a Miami series before you lock up the Cuse?? It makes me wonder if he is just paying lip service to the idea of getting more top notch home and homes.

I don't have a problem with scheduling Syracuse, but they should be a "filler" opponent. We didn't need to lock them up ten years in advance. We should be lining up our HEAVYWEIGHTS first and then filling in the rest of the schedule from there.

For example, the 2017 schedule should look like this right now:

USC
Michigan
Navy
Bama/LSU/Miami/Texas

Get your big boys on there first as anchor tenants. After that, find your "buy games" and Syracuses and Purdues and Stanfords. Our priorities are out of whack. We lock up these series with Syracuse and then proclaim we have no room for heavyweights. That's a bunch of nonsense. We have room, but we're filling up the tent with Syracuses.

We're scheduled to play TWO true road games in 2016. TWO!! I didn't think that was even possible. Between Navy and Syracuse, that's two of our four "road" games at neutral sites. I'm telling you, one of these even years we're going to play 11 home/neutral games and a road game at USC. Maybe USC will agree to play their home games in Kansas City or something to give us the magic number of zero road games.

Another thing no one should be saying in ten years is the "well, Syracuse was good when we scheduled them" thing to make ourselves feel better about scheduling this game if they turn out to be crappy in 2015 and 2017. They are objectively awful at the moment. Again, I don't have a problem with scheduling them as filler for the schedule, but they are not a marquee game and never will be.

Nick Tausch's Big Day: Kicker Controversy??

Great stuff from South Bend Tribune writer Eric Hansen's Twitter feed of the live Notre Dame practice. Lots of interesting tidbits and nuggets on there, but these entries have really jumped out at me.

.... Depth-Chart Buster of the Day: Freshman kicker Nick Tausch. Has great leg strength and hang time on kickoffs; nailed his field goals.

Freshman Nick Tausch was 4-for-4 .... Good from 21, 33, 36 and 39-yarder that would have cleared 50 and got the team out of sprints.

in field goal kickoff - jr Brandon Walker 3-5 (made 21, 33, 39 ... Missed 36 and 39. Weis gave him mulligan on the miss from 39 (high snap).

Now, I know it was only one practice, but that's encouraging and discouraging at the same time. The encouraging news is that Nick Tausch sounds like he could be one heckuva kicker at Notre Dame if he's already playing this well as a true freshman. 4 for 4 in field goals and big leg strength in kickoffs is the type of production that we haven't seen in a long time at Notre Dame. He might be one of those special kickers who takes over at a young age and never relinquishes the job until he graduates.

The discouraging news for me is that the current starter, Brandon Walker, missed two field goals inside of 40 yards. Walker has been somewhat of a streaky kicker in his first couple years at ND. At times, he has looked great and plays the nice big draw from left to right. In the second half of last year, he started to really come on and actually made five out of six 40+ yard field goals. I went back and looked at his stats, and Walker didn't miss an extra point all of last year. Huh. I did not know that. Feels like he missed a couple, but I guess he didn't. Not too shabby.

While Walker definitely got a lot better in his sophomore year, I still don't feel like we're quite of the woods with him yet. He's got plenty of leg, but I sometimes feel like he's not always in control of his kicks. He missed several big kicks last year when the team really needed him to come through, and a couple of those kicks came late in the year. Maybe I've just become shell shocked by all of the bad kickers that we've had in recent years, but I'm not quite totally confident in Brandon Walker as our kicker.

So this news about Tausch is a good thing because competition is never a bad thing. I'm assuming that Walker will get the nod as the kicker to start the year, but I'm glad to see that Tausch is there if Walker starts missing big kicks. Hopefully we will not be in a position this year where Tausch is forced into duty as a true freshman, but he's a good insurance plan just in case.

I think it was a wise move for Charlie Weis to bring in those specialists in the most recent recruiting class. You need those guys. Kicker, punter, and a long snapper. If you can't get good production out of your kicking game, you lose field position and you give up points on the scoreboard if you can't make field goals. It's not flashy stuff, but there's always going to be a game or two where a strong kicking game can bail you out when some other things aren't clicking. One monster punt or a long field goal or a big kickoff can be a momentum changer.

The other thing I like about Tausch is that he's got a big leg for kickoffs. Finally! When was the last time we had a kicker who could kick it through the end zone?? How many times in the last ten years have we had a kickoff that the receiver caught at the 15 yard line and then scooted up to the 40 just because of how shallow the kickoff was?? We never seem to get those kickoffs that go all the way through the end zone on a fly that are unreturnable. That should always be the goal. Kick it through the uprights so they can't make a big return on you. If the other team is starting at the 20 every drive, they have a long way to go to put points on the board.

Field position and special teams are the most underrated aspect of a college football team. If your special teams are really good, it really does make a difference. This performance by Nick Tausch in the open practice could be something to keep an eye on.

Duval Kamara injured, Justin McCay update, Weis being Weis, and a schedule update

Multiple things going on in the world of ND football the last couple days, so let's take a look at some hot button issues.

4) Duval Kamara knee surgery

Tough break for Duval Kamara with the knee scope. He cannot seem to get his career on track. I know players come back from these types of injuries within a few weeks all the time, but you never know when it comes to a knee. He might be back soon, or this might be a problem all year.

Should be interesting to see if someone really steps up while Kamara is out between now and opening day. The Charlie Weis offense has been most effective (think: 2005 Pitt game with Samardzija, McKnight, Stovall) when we could play three good receivers at once and mix in the tight end as well. We've got 3 out of those 4 spots solidified, but that #3 wide receiver still feels up for grabs. Maybe Kamara is still the guy on opening day, but you gotta think someone like Shaq Evans or Deion Walker is licking his chops thinking that the job is still wide open.

Two other injuries to keep an eye on: Darrin Walls (hammy) and Hafis Williams (internal issues)

Definitely don't want any injuries to linger for either of those guys. Our best corner and one of our rotation guys at DT. Hopefully they'll be back on the field soon.

As strange as this sounds considering how bad we've been the last couple years, we've had decent luck with injuries in the Weis era. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but we haven't really had any season ending type injuries (blown out ACL, broken leg, spinal injury, etc) in the preseason for any of our key players as long as Weis has been here. Hopefully that good fortune continues.

Then again, I've noticed that injuries are more prevalent with the real physical programs like USC. USC goes at it so hard in practice (i.e. "Competition Tuesday") that injuries are inevitable. Maybe the physical practices hurt in the short term with guys getting banged up, but it makes you a tougher team in the long run. If a couple Irish players are getting carted off in preseason, that might be a sign that the hitting is much more intense in fall camp this year.

3) Justin McCay is a Sooner

Not terribly shocking news here, but stud WR recruit Justin McCay has verbally committed to Oklahoma. Not sure how much interest he actually had in ND, but he seemed to be the type of kid who would be attracted to a place like ND. Plus, his coach is Tim Grunhard. The other rumor is that WR Kyle Prater is on the verge of verballing to USC as well. Two guys who were on our radar, and we came away empty handed.

So what's the story here?? Why wouldn't guys like McCay or Prater, who would have put up HUGE numbers in the ND offense under Weis, be crawling on hands and knees to come to ND?? I suppose you could say that players are scared off by Weis' uncertain status at ND and worried that they'll be in playing in a different offense when they get to ND, but I have a different take. Perhaps this is completely out in left field, but I wonder if these stud WRs are getting scared off by the depth chart. You might be the next Jerry Rice, but if you commit to ND, you're not seeing the field as a freshman with Tate and Floyd and Kamara coming back in 2010. Tate is not going pro as a junior, and Floyd will only be a junior next year. And if Floyd plays his senior year in 2011 and Shaq Evans and Deion Walker are as good as advertised, you might not see the field all that much as a sophomore in 2011 either. It's a good problem to have for the current roster, but I could see recruits shying away from ND knowing that there's not much playing time available for the next couple years.

Now, from the McCay articles that I've read, Grunhard is quoted as saying that Oklahoma has low numbers returning at wide receiver next year. Maybe McCay thinks he can come in next year and get playing time at OU. That probably wouldn't happen at ND. And for all the talent at USC, I think Damien Williams is gone after this year. USC doesn't have quite the hierarchy at WR that ND has going into 2010.

I know there's room to play if you're really good, but it seems like all these freshmen want to get on the field right away. There's really not much room to crack our lineup in 2010 or 2011 at WR. Maybe we'll have a better chance to get a couple elite WRs in the 2011 class when the depth chart really starts opening up.

2) Weis being Weis

One of the things I've noticed in the first week of Charlie Weis press conferences is that Weis is trying to avoid his typical Jersey act bravado nonsense. No "schematic advantage," no "we're gonna pound it," no bragging, no chestpuffing. Weis seemed to go out of his way in his first press conference to point out that he'd rather see the team prove it on the field.

For me, this was a relief. I prefer the Lou Holtz approach. Talk down your team, play up your opponent, be humble, and dominate on the field. It's much sweeter to come in as the underdog with something to prove than the bloated, cocky team that rolls in with a bunch of hype and gets run off the field.

So I was feeling good about this new approach from Coach Weis until I read this quote from him about the new offense the other day.

“What I’ve tried to do this camp, taking over as coordinator, is get back into the way I used to set up offense,” Weis said. “The way I used to set up offense is take fewer plays, (but run them) from more personnel groups and more formations.

“This way, the players can get a core set of plays and get good at them. By using more personnel groups and more formations, you cause indecision with a defensive player. We’re not locked into any one personnel group with any one play — (for example) the only way we could run a certain play is with three wide receivers on the field.”

Ummm, can someone please scrape Mike Haywood off the bottom of the road after getting run over by that bus driven by Captain Charles Joseph Weis?? Weis went out of his way right there to distance himself from the offense in 2008, and he seems to imply that Haywood wasn't running the offense that Weis likes to run.

Here's my question though. Wasn't Charlie Weis the offensive coordinator for the 2007 season when we had one of the worst offenses in the history of Notre Dame football?? He acts like the offense fell off a cliff in 2008 when he gave up control, but the offense was even worse in 2007.

And even more importantly, wasn't he the head coach of this team in 2008?? Isn't he ultimately in charge of the product that is put out on the field?? Weis acts like he had nothing to do with the offense in 2008. If that was the case, then what the heck was he doing all of 2008 when the season was spiraling out of control?? And if he delegated that much to the point where Haywood was completely in charge of the offensive philosophy, then why doesn't Weis just mail the university back his paycheck for the 2008 season??

The reality here is that this quote is a load of garbage. It's a bunch of revisionist history that couldn't be farther from the truth. I watched every game of the 2008 season, and that was the Charlie Weis offense that we saw. I mean, come on. It was the same offense only every team has adjusted to it by now because they've seen it on film for four years. And because we had no running game and a bad line, we couldn't do anything to change it up and present a different look. We were a soft football team, and that starts and ends with the head coach. Schemes and personnel groupings are meaningless if you're getting blown off the ball every play. Don't give me this nonsense about "getting back to the way you used to set up the offense" like Haywood was the guy who screwed everything up.

Teams have been catching on to our offense going all the way back to 2006. Michigan ran us off the field that year, and even teams like Georgia Tech and UCLA gave our offense a ton of problems that year. How many sacks did that Bruce Davis guy have against us in that 2006 UCLA game?? I also specifically remember watching the 2006 USC game, and it looked like USC's players knew what play was coming as if they had been in the huddle. They snuffed out every screen play we ran and completely shut down our running game. Weis' offense has been showing cracks for years, so it's not like we were some juggernaut offensively until Haywood took over.

Mike Haywood wasn't the reason our offense stunk in 2008. Charlie Weis was the reason. He's the head coach of the team and is the one responsible for what happens on the field. Heck, Weis took over as o-coordinator for the last couple games of the season, and we lost to Syracuse and got throttled by USC in those games.

Now, I think Weis made some good changes by bringing in Verducci and Alford, and I do think it's for the best that he is the offensive coordinator (albeit in the booth), but let's not go back and say that things fell apart the last couple years because of Mike Haywood and his "personnel groupings." The offense fell apart because it was a fundamentally unsound group that couldn't run the ball. I think this offense has a chance to be much better this year, but I thought Weis' comments were unfortunate.

1) BC-ND rumors

Big rumors out there that ND and Boston College are in negotiations for a home-home-neutral series sometime in the middle of the next decade. One game would be at ND, one game at BC, and one game in Chicago as the "neutral site" game.

First, I'm completely in favor of continuing the Boston College series. Saw what you want about BC, but it's a rivalry game, they have similar kids, and it's a Catholic school. Plus, BC is a pretty safe school to schedule since they are about the same every single year. 7-9 wins, experienced talent, solid program. If you schedule BC, you know you're getting a solid mid-tier opponent.

Second, while I'm not really crazy about the neutral site stuff, I'm willing to acknowledge that it's not going away any time soon. NBC seems to really be pushing for it to get their primetime game, and our hands our tied as long as our games are televised by NBC. So if we have to play a neutral site every year, I would rather use it as a vehicle for a 1-1-1 series instead of one of these bogus "buy games" like we are doing with Washington State and Army. Give me a 1-1-1 with BC or Wisconsin or Miami over one of these "Baylor in New Orleans" games every day of the week.

The other thing I like is that I get the impression that we're finally going to strong arm the Purdues and BCs and Stanfords of the world into playing on our terms. In other words, if you want your true home game against us, you agree to play us on the road and in an NBC "neutral" site home game. In other words, it's a 2 for 1 deal. FINALLY!! I've been in favor of doing this for years. There is no reason to use up valuable home and home spots for Purdue and BC and Stanford every year. If anything, I would push for a 2-1-1 deal where we get 2 home games, they get one road game, and we get a neutral game. That's still a good deal for a school like Purdue because they get a home game against ND instead of having to play Central Michigan and McNeese State. Purdue can scream bloody murder all they want, but the reality is that they are LUCKY just to be on ND's schedule at all. If they want to stay on the schedule, it's on our terms.

If we do these 2 for 1 deals more often, suddenly it opens up room for 1-2 interesting home and home series with other schools like Bama and Clemson, et al.

The only thing I'm wondering about is why we're playing the neutral game in Chicago. What's the point?? We already play in South Bend. Is there really any benefit to playing a neutral game in Chicago?? Why not just play the game in South Bend and get a true home game in ND Stadium?? I'd rather watch ND-BC at ND than at Soldier Field.

Playing a neutral game in the Midwest seems like a waste of time. We already play 7-8 games a year in the Midwest region. Why play another one in Chicago when Midwesterners can just go to South Bend for a game?? If you're going to do a neutral game, do it in New York or one of the southern venues. DC would be another option.

The Big 10...And Other Irish Tidbits

Respected Ohio State / Big 10 columnist Doug Lesmerises had a somewhat interesting column in the Plain Dealer today. Here it is, but the basic premise was 7 ways for the Big 10 to regain national respectability. Anyway, he revealed that he had the Irish all the way up at #13 in his preseason poll. Here's what he had to say:

5. Bank on the Irish.

If they won't join you, root for them. Notre Dame success is good for the Big Ten ... as long as the Irish aren't too successful.

In 2007, the Big Ten beat Notre Dame four times by a combined score of 133-43, but the Irish went 3-9, so no one was that impressed. Last year, Notre Dame improved to 7-6, but in the end it just meant that the Big Ten lost two of three games to a mediocre team.

This season, the Big Ten will play 14 games against BCS schools, the only chance Big Ten schools have to impress anyone outside of conference play. Three games are against Notre Dame. Though I may be overly optimistic, I have Notre Dame ranked No. 13 in my preseason Associated Press ballot.

A 10-win season is a possibility, though the best thing for the Big Ten would be for Notre Dame to go 10-0 against everyone else and 0-3 against Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue.

It's the quickest way to fix the Big Ten's maligned nonconference schedule.

Some other Irish tidbits from the last week or so. The depth chart was released and there are a few interesting items:

-Let's get to Manti Teo first of all. He's listed as the backup to Brian Smith at outside linebacker, while Toryan Smith is listed as the starting middle backer. Hmm. Toryan Smith came in with plenty of accolades, so it's possible he's finally put it together. He showed glimpses last year. But I just have a feeling that Teo is going to be working his way into the mix there. By the way, he's already listed at 244 pounds. He's a freak.

- Darrin Walls has already worked his way back into the starting lineup. Good to see. And Robert "D's in the Dirt" Blanton has officially supplanted Raeshon McNeil as the other starting corner. Our cb's are officially the deepest position on the team. Should be in good hands with Walls, Blanton, McNeill and Gray back there. And if you believe the reports, Jamoris Slaughter is one of the most improved players on the team.

-When we did the roundtable a few months back, a name that kept coming up was Kapron Lewis-Moore. Well, it's official. He'll be starting against Nevada. I'm a little concerned about defensive ends this year. Sure, KPM could eventually evolve into a Justin Tuck type player with that frame, but he is totally unproven. Kerry Neal is a promising but undersized defensive end on the other side. We'll see, but keep an eye on how the ends hold up against the rush.

-James Aldridge is officially a fullback. No surprise here. The lack of fullback options and the depth at tailback pretty much made this a no-brainer. I guess it kind of remains to be seen how effective he'll be as a blocker. He's listed as 225. Cierre Wood is 218 for comparison.

- Duval Kamara has managed to hold off all comers so far for the #3 spot. I don't like to criticize players, but let's just say Kamara failed at times to impress last year with a few drops. But I'm more than willing to give him a shot again before the reigns are handed over to Walker or Evans. From his first game, I had visions of Mo Stovall and am still hopeful he can live up to that potential.

-Mike Anello is back from his broken leg. Honestly maybe the best news from the past weeks. Anello has become one of our best players, and I honestly mean that. He plays the gunner position as well as anyone I've ever seen. Steve Tasker had nothing on Anello.

Charlie has hinted that he would like to get a freshman involved in return duties and let Tate worry about wide receiver. Ok. Not like our returns have been anything special recently. Let's see what Shaq or Cierre Wood can do back there.

The offensive line has the most combined starts of any returning unit in the country. Think about that. No more Latina excuses, or injury excuses or anything else. I hope that Verducci can turn it around. ND simply has to be able to run the ball better.

I know it's old news, but it was great to hear that Jimmy Clausen invited the wide receivers and Kyle Rudolph out to his California home to practice and bond over the summer. I don't know why, but at times last year I just got the feeling that Clausen wasn't comfortable being a leader of the team, and some players weren't comfortable with it either. He's a junior now, and the Hawaii game has rightly or wrongly raised the bar as far as how he can and should perform. I think with the weapons that he has that Clausen can put up big numbers.

Finally, the preseason AP Poll has ND at #23. I was a little surprised we squeaked into the rankings. Sure, the Hawaii game was the lasting memory from last year, but this is a team that lost to Syracuse. I'll admit that I've drunk the Kool-Aid on the 2009 Irish, I was just surprised that so many in the media have as well. I'm sure that schedule has a little bit to do with it. Realistically, ND can (should?) be 5-0 heading into the USC game. And yes, I realize that will require beating Michigan State in Notre Dame Stadium. Anyway, I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but the voters including ND this early in the polls sets up the potential for a Top 10 showdown on October 17th in South Bend.

Looking forward to September 5th and the showdown against Colin Kaepernick and the Wolfpack. I think (obviously) that game will tell us a lot about this season. I just hope I'm not sitting in Notre Dame Stadium in the middle of the 3rd quarter looking up at a brand new scoreboard that shows: Nevada 17 Notre Dame 10. I don't think I will be.

ND Hoops Update: Dragicevich is Irish

Death, taxes, and a white shooting guard at Notre Dame!! Big news in the land of ND basketball with the recent commitment by Alex Dragicevich to the class of 2010. I think it's a good signing even while acknowledging that this type of player is right in Mike Brey's wheelhouse. White guys who can light it up from outside are attracted to the Mike Brey system like moths to a flame. It sounds like Dragicevich can really shoot, but a lot of the "foot speed" and "athleticism" issues that typically pop up when describing ND basketball players are also listed in his profile.

I can understand where a cynic might be coming from when evaluating a recruit like Draicevich. For the most part, we've seen what these types of players are going to do for a Mike Brey-coached team. They're going to give you white hot shooting when they're open, but their lack of athleticism hurts our team defense and our ability to create off the dribble. Guys like Falls and McAlarney could go off for 25-30 points at any time, but they also got abused regularly on the defensive side and often got taken out of the game if the other team took away their three point shooting. If you want to win in March, you gotta lock people up defensively. And with teams getting in your face defensively, you need athletes who can get to the bucket and score or create their own shot.

With that said, I don't have a problem with this signing. I'm happy to get Dragicevich. We are what we with Mike Brey, and he's not going to change the type of player he wants to recruit overnight. Believe it or not, Brey is about to enter his 10th season. I was taken aback when I realized that, but it's true. Look it up. We pretty much know what we're getting from Mike Brey. Good offensive teams that are always competitive, but also don't defend that well and generally wear down at the end of the year from the starters playing too many minutes.

That's why I'm not all that bothered about signing a guy like Dragicevich. He's a perfect fit for the Mike Brey system, and we've seen guys just like him have success under Brey. If Brey is going to be the coach of this team, he might as well get the best players he can to run his system. Brey is never going to build a team of athletes and play 9-10 guys a game and lock people up. That's just not the type of team he likes. Maybe that's not a good thing for Notre Dame basketball, but I also don't expect Brey to bring in recruits that don't fit in his system.

Dragicevich is a good prospect. He can shoot, he's got size, and he's a competitor. I like that he's a bigger guy along the lines of a Matt Carroll. McAlarney was a great scorer, but he was really a shooting guard in a point guard's body and couldn't guard any two guard in the Big East. And once teams started face guarding McAlarney and taking away the open three, he couldn't adjust.

With Dragicevich and Eric Atkins signed for 2010, let's take a look at that 2010-11 roster as it stands today.

PG - Eric Atkins (fr)
SG - Ben Hansbrough (sr)
SF - Scott Martin (jr)
PF - Tyrone Nash (sr)
C - Tom Knight (so)

Bench: Joey Brooks (so), Carl Scott (jr), Tim Abromaitis (jr), Jack Cooley (so), Mike Broghammer (so), Alex Dragicevich (fr)

Man, a lot of stuff is going to have to come together for that team to be good. I think Hansbrough and Martin will be a strong nucleus, but it's too early to tell on any of those ND big men (Cooley, Knight, Brog). If one or two of those guys can be productive, we'd have a decent crew of big men. We're going to find out a lot about some of these underclassmen this upcoming season. Sounds like Tom Knight could be in the mix right away.

Two wildcards there would be Abro and Carl Scott. If both those guys make the leap this year, we could really have some quality depth in 2010 and 2011. Would Brey play 8-9 guys consistently if he has bodies that he can trust?? I think Abro could be the sleeper of this team in 2009, and he might even sneak into the mix in the power forward spot. Everything about Abro screams out a Rob Kurz type career.

The other key would be the point guard situation. Think about the Mike Brey era. He likes to play his point guards 35+ minutes a game. Would Atkins be the starting point guard from day one?? Is Brooks going to be in the mix?? Would Hansbrough move to the point with Brooks at shooting guard?? Should be interesting.

And of course there's always the questions surrounding Mike Brey's future at ND. I think ND will be an NCAA Tournament team in the 09-10 season, but it's far from a given. If Brey misses the tournament again in Harangody's senior year, he might not be around in 2010 to coach this team.

Jim Harbaugh....the conscience of college football??

When I think of Jim Harbaugh, I think of two things. (1) The 1996 AFC Championship game when he very nearly engineered an incredible upset over the Steelers and almost completed one of the greatest Hail Mary passes of all time, and (2) his brief tenure as the head coach at Stanford. Now, I might be ready to add a third bullet point to his legacy after seeing his recent comments on college football scheduling: the conscience of college football!!

Here's what Harbaugh had to say about nonconference schedules at the PAC 10 media day courtesy of Bruce Feldman's blog on ESPN.com:

"Somebody really ought to take notice of this stuff," Harbaugh said. "You have eight or nine wins and so you're a great football team? Well, what if you played four patsies in your non-conference and then you only won half your conference games and so you get to go play in the Alamo Bowl and everyone says you're a great team. That's what happens … There's no question that the Pac-10 doesn't get that respect for playing teams out of conference of like caliber."

"There's gotta be some serious thinking, brainstorming and good decision-making by the leaders of this conference," he said. "If that is the way the game is set up now about it's all going off of computer rankings and all won-loss record, maybe we should be playing five non-conference games, so everybody is 9-2 and then the strength of schedule numbers look really good. Then, the BCS ranking spits out two Pac-10 teams for BCS bowls."

"To me, college football is not one team drubbing another team, because this team needs a lot of money and this team knows it can get a win to increase their BCS standings. Drub. Drub. Drub. Drub. Then, you still have that fan base who think it's enough of an experience, but they're getting cheated and we're kinda cheating the game."

AMEN!! I've been waiting for about ten years for a coach or administrator or conference commisioner to say something along those lines, and Harbaugh ends up being the Jackie Robinson on this issue. Who would have guessed it?? Actually, seeing that Harbaugh called out the sham of academics in the major college football factories last year, it probably shouldn't surprise me that Harbaugh would see how silly college football scheduling has become.

I mentioned something similar a couple weeks ago in the post about Penn State's schedules, but Harbaugh's point about an 8-9 win season where you whip up on four nonconference patsies couldn't be more dead-on. Is it really that satisfying to win 9 games against a pathetic schedule?? How is that a "great" year?? More importantly, how rewarding is it for your fans when you win half your games against MAC schools and I-AA teams?? Wouldn't you rather play quality competition and prove that you are a good team instead of scheduling your way to 9 wins?? To me, it's a no-brainer. Give me a legit nine win team that has actually beaten somebody over some fraud that beats no one and artificially inflates its ranking.

I also love what Harbaugh has to say at the end. I know programs need money to survive, but college football should not just be about the money. Too many programs are driven solely by the dollar signs without any regard for the competition of the sport. These schools know that they can just schedule any MAC team, and that fans will show up en masse just to see live college football and hear the band and soak up the pomp and circumstances. They get their sellout, and the team doesn't risk a loss. Unfortunately, it ultimately cheats the fans. There are fewer and fewer quality games on the schedule each year for the fans to attend.

Harbaugh jokingly suggests that the Pac 10 should just go to seven league games and schedule five patsies out of conference (sound familiar Big Ten fans??) to boost their BCS rankings, but I think he should be proud of what the Pac 10 has done with their schedules. They are the only BCS conference that plays nine league games, and every team in the league seems to play at least one or two quality nonconference games every year. Stanford plays Notre Dame and Wake Forest. Oregon opens at Boise State and also plays Purdue and Utah. USC plays Ohio State and Notre Dame. UCLA plays Tennessee and Kansas State. ASU plays at Georgia. Washington plays LSU and Notre Dame. Bottom line, no one in the PAC 10 is opening up with 3 D-IAA teams. In a 12 game season, the PAC 10 schools are playing 10-11 BCS type teams every year and sometimes even 12 like USC did in 2008 when they played Virginia, Ohio State, and Notre Dame. Think about that. USC is the marquee program in college football, and they opened with Virginia and Ohio State last year. And people wonder why every recruit in America wants to play for USC.

And you know what, it pays off!! The Pac 10 went 5-0 in bowl games last year. Why?? I'd be willing to bet it's because those teams were battle tested during the year. Oregon ran a good Oklahoma State team off the field in the Holiday Bowl, and of course you had the annual USC beatdown of a hapless Big Ten team that had spent the year snacking on MAC schools. If I was the Big Ten, I would be following the lead of the Pac 10 by moving to 9 league games and mandating that league members play two quality nonconference games a year. Maybe it hurts them financially a little bit in the short term, but it's worth it in the long run. And I'd be willing to bet that they go better than 1-6 in bowl games like they did last year.

So congratulations to Jim Harbaugh for being the first coach to call attention to this issue. If more people speak out on this and follow the lead of the PAC 10, we could maybe start turning the momentum away from the 8-4 scheduling models and bring back the weekly competition to college football.

Matt Barkley ....Best Ever at USC??

While the conference media days are usually the highlight of the dog days of college football leading up to the start of fall practice, it's probably not a real good idea to put a ton of stock into what these head coaches have to say at their press conferences. Generally, there's a lot of hot air being throw around. Don't get me wrong, I love the media day events. I find them to be enjoyable because (a) It's football discussion in July, and (b) well, it's football discussion in July!! Still, it's easy to get caught up in the buzz that coaches are trying to create around their programs. I'll be the first to admit that I'll probably listen to Charlie Weis' press conference at the ND media day this week, get way too excited about what is being said, and fire off about ten emails with something along the lines of "YES WE CAN!! ND is going 12-0! Start building a statue of Weis on campus!!" And then I'll remember the next day that we didn't get a first down against USC until the 3rd quarter last year and remind myself that a dazzling press conference with a lot of hype ultimately means nothing until the games begin. Nothing wrong with getting excited leading up to the season, but the media day chatter should not be viewed as gospel.

With that said, how about Pete Carroll saying the following about freshman phenom, Matt Barkley??

He was "a total shock to us. He was able to perform at a level we've never seen at this stage".

That gulping sound you just heard appears to be coming from every Pac 10 coach out there dreading the possibility of this guy being the QB at USC for the next three years. Carroll went on to say that Aaron Corp is his starter going into the 2009 season, but I still sense that the USC quarterback job could change hands at some point during the 2009 season.

How about that statement though?? Maybe it was just Carroll's way of motivating Aaron Corp, but what if he really means it?? Is Carroll saying that Barkley is the most talented quarterback he's had in his time as head coach at USC?

Think about the quarterbacks that have come through USC since Carroll has been there.

Matt Leinart
Carson Palmer
Mark Sanchez
John David Booty
Matt Cassel

That's a pretty incredible list. You're talking about two Heisman winners, another guy who was drafted in the top ten, a fourth guy (Booty) who is competing for the starting QB job with the Minnesota Vikings, and another guy who didn't even play at USC but had a Pro Bowl caliber year with the New England Patriots (Cassel). It's safe to say that the "Quarterback U" baton has been passed from Miami (FL) to USC in the last decade. If Carroll is saying that Barkley compares favorably to those guys, what does it say about Matt Barkley??

Before I get to any further discussion on the Barkley-Corp situation, how would you all rank those first four guys based solely on their careers at USC??

My list would go like this:

4) John David Booty - No brainer here to have Booty in the back of the line. He was your classic "don't screw this thing up" guy on a couple loaded teams at SC. I still don't know how that 2006 USC team didn't win the national championship. I remember watching their first game against Arkansas where they went into Fayetteville and tore apart a really good Arkansas team that won 10 games with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, and thinking that they were unstoppable. Then they destroyed Nebraska at home when Bill Callahan appeared to be coaching the game purely to avoid a blowout (didn't matter). Somehow they lost two games that year. That would kill me if I was a USC fan because they would have whipped an undefeated Ohio State team in the National title game that year.

Booty had his moments, but he was slow and usually made a few bonehead throws every game. If he didn't have ten seconds to throw every time he went back to pass, he probably would have been a very average QB.

3) Mark Sanchez -- I'll be more than willing to admit I'm wrong if he goes on to become an NFL star, but I've yet to be blown away by Mark Sanchez. Honestly, other than a little bit better athleticism, there's not that much of a difference in my mind between John David Booty and Mark Sanchez. Both those guys were extremely fortunate to play for loaded USC teams, which magnified their profiles.

Does Mark Sanchez seem like a likable guy?? No question. Is he the most popular Mexican-American athlete in the country right now?? Perhaps. Did he have a good career at USC and completely dominate two overmatched teams in the Rose Bowl?? Yes and yes.

But what did he really prove at USC?! He never got touched!! Think back to a typical USC pass play during the Sanchez era. Sanchez goes back to pass, fakes the handoff while everyone gets sucked in out of fear of the USC running attack, waits for what feels like half an hour for a receiver to get open, and then throws a square-in completion to a wide open receiver who then cuts up field and picks up another 5-6 yards. That was like 75% of his production. The other 25% came from rollouts where he had three options, and then he had some occasional deep play action passes where he'd underthrow a wide open Damien Williams who had to slow up before catching the ball.

I never watched Mark Sanchez and came away in awe of his performance. I've been blown away by many things about USC football in the last ten years, but nothing about Sanchez's game ever really stood out to me. His arm was OK, his accuracy was OK, his mobility was OK. He was never asked to do that much. Most of his throws were over the middle to open receivers, and he almost always had great field position since USC's defense was so good. For the most part, no one scored on the USC defense, so Sanchez could get away with winning 17-10 on occasion.

Thinking back to the 2008 ND game, USC's offense really didn't do much for a good chunk of the first half against a mediocre ND defense, but they kept getting the ball at midfield to start every drive. Eventually you are going to hit some big plays and put up some points. Sanchez was productive, but he was never a guy that I feared.

That's why I gotta rank him #3 here. Sanchez was good and won a lot of games, but I think he's been a bit of a media creation. He was basically a one year starter at USC. If he had come back for his senior year and completely dominated on the way to the Heisman, maybe I would have moved him up. We'll never know.

2) Matt Leinart -- I guess you could lump Leinart into the "media creation" category as well now that his NFL career has really fizzled, but I hold a higher opinion of Matt Leinart's college career than I do for Mark Sanchez. Maybe his pro career has been a disappointment so far (you could even call him a bust at this point), but Leinart has to be on the short list of the all-time great quarterbacks.

Three year starter, won pretty much every big game he played in (with one notable exception), Heisman trophy winner, and 2 national titles. He did it all. I don't think I ever saw him play bad in a big game. Leinart was just one of those guys who always came through when it mattered. 37-2 as a starter at USC. If Dickie V was a college football announcer, he would call Leinart "the Ultimate Winner, baby!" Couldn't you see him saying that about 500 times a game if he was calling a USC game (or even if he was calling some other game for that matter)??

Leinart had a noodle arm, but he put the ball where it needed to go. His completion percentages were always 65% and above, and he rarely threw a pick. Great career. Hasn't worked out in the pros so far, but I'm not ruling out the possibility that he'll end up starting somewhere.

By the way, why hasn't an NFL team like the Vikings offered up a 2nd rounder and a 4th rounder to the Cards for Matt Leinart?? I know Kurt Warner has rejuvenated his career in Arizona and can't realistically be replaced after leading Zona to the Super Bowl, but you never really hear anything about Leinart's role in the organization. Even if he is part of their long term plans, wouldn't he be worth more to them in a trade than he would be as a potential starter 3-4 years down the road?? Leinart is 26. In another 2-3 years, he's going to be getting up there in years. Not many 29 year olds getting their first opportunity to play.

Still, he has some pedigree and presumably some trade value. There are teams all over the NFL who are desperate for a QB, and you got Leinart sitting there in Arizona riding the pine. Why not offer up a couple picks to get him??

1) Carson Palmer -- Maybe this pick is showing my bias since I've had the pleasure of watching Carson Palmer perform in Cincinnati, but Palmer was the best I've seen at USC since Carroll has been there. If you were to draw up the perfect pro style quarterback, I would use Carson Palmer as my prototype. In his days before the ACL injury, I don't think anyone threw a better ball than Carson Palmer. Give me one guy to throw a 15-20 yard out route to a covered wide receiver to a spot where only he could catch it, and I would pick Carson Palmer. The guy was unreal.

I still think his performance against Notre Dame in the 2002 ND-USC games was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a college football game. ND was actually a pretty strong team that year, and he just torched us up and down the field. Never seen anything like it. 425 yards passing. Just sickening as an ND fan, but awe-inspiring as a football fan. That was the moment when the mystique of Tyrone Willingham started to crumble (remember that the 2002 team was 9-1 at the time and looking like a BCS team), and also the moment when USC had officially arrived back on the national scene.

I could understand an argument for Leinart since he won more games and had the higher profile career, but I think Palmer was the best QB of the Carroll era.

Anyway, back to Matt Barkley for a second. If Carroll is saying that Barkley is the best QB he's seen at this stage of the game, I think it's going to be hard to keep him off the field over the course of the 2009 season. It's the first time in awhile where there really wasn't a clear cut "heir apparent" for the USC quarterback job. I know Corp has looked great in practice, but Barkley sounds like a Peyton Manning type who is ready to start from day one.

This Corp-Barkley competition is the #1 story in college football heading into the 2009 season in my book. How could it not be?? USC has been the best program in American for the last eight years, and now they have a legit controversy that could determine their future at that position for the next 3-4 years. If Barkley wins the job, he'll probably be there for the next three years and heading to the NFL in 2012. If Corp wins it, he's got a chance to be a 3 year starter with Barkley nipping at his heels. Very interesting stuff there, and I wonder if Barkley would be willing to sit the bench behind Aaron Corp.

Big East Preview: Over/unders, sleepers, predictions, fantasy impact, and more

It's that time of year again!! Time to start breaking out the annual college previews. Yes, this is a Notre Dame blog, but we also love all kinds of college football all over the nation. As was the case last year, we relied heavily on the good people over at VegasInsider.com for providing us with a bounty of over/under win totals. Always fun to take a look at those, and I plan on spraying around multiple bets on over/under totals before the season starts.

We'll start this year with the Big East conference, and we're going to try to keep things fresh this year by looking at the league from a number of different perspectives. I also wanted to add in a little fantasy spotlight since it seems like more and more people are starting to see the light and embrace college football fantasy leagues.

Let's get to the preview....

League Overview: Not a very good year for the Big East in 2008. The league champ (Cincinnati) gets blown out in the Orange Bowl, the perennial power (West Virginia) might have made a serious mistake with its head coaching hire, the up and comer (South Florida) hit a major speed bump that might have derailed its path to becoming a powerhouse, the bottom has fallen out for a school that played in a BCS bowl just a couple years ago (Louisville), and the darling of 2007 (Rutgers) is facing a major rebuild only two years later. Oh, and there's always the possibility of Big Ten expansion that could steal away a team and the persistent rumors that the Big East's automatic BCS bid could be in jeopardy if the league doesn't find some answers. Other than that, everything is going great in the Big East.

Not everything is bad in the league of course. There's parity up and down the league, Syracuse could be on the rise, UConn has steadily built itself into a competitive program, and there are actually quite a few good coaches in the Big East. I actually enjoy watching the brand of Big East football that we've seen the last few years. It's a little more wide open and innovative than what you see in the Big Ten for example.

The key for the league in 2009 will be to continue building up some of these fledgling programs (USF, Pitt, Cincy, Rutgers, etc) with the hope that a couple of them break out over the next few years.

Over/Under Win Totals from VegasInsider.com:

West Virginia - 8.5
Rutgers - 8
South Florida - 8
Pitt - 7.5
Cincinnati - 6
Connecticut - 6
Louisville - 5
Syracuse - 3.5

Best Bets (aka bets that won't clean out your online account):

West Virginia - UNDER 8.5 wins

West Virginia is still one of, if not the most talented teams in the Big East, but I can't shake the feeling that they just hired the next Larry Coker. How many times have we seen an assistant take over a loaded program and do well for a year or two before the bottom starts to fall out?? Even last year was somewhat of a disappointment considering that they had an all-time great player in Pat White. Everyone was talking about 10-11 wins for them, and they ended up going 8-4 with a bad loss at home to Cincy and a loss to Pitt in the season finale. If not for Pat White's incredible performance in the Meineke Bowl to carry the 'Neers to a win over North Carolina, it would have been a really shaky debut for the Bill Stewart era.

We almost need to create an "All Stars" group for these interim coaches who win a bowl game or a couple NCAA tournament games and then get hired on as the full time coach even though they're completely in over their head. You could call it the "Brian Ellerbe All Stars" or the "Larry Coker All Stars" or the "Mike Davis All Stars" or any other number of guys. There are so many examples of coaches who have won a major head coaching job just by being in the right place in the right time and by winning the support of their current players. Memo to athletic directors. Never hire a coach just because your players want to keep him around.

WVU had a chance to keep their momentum going after Rich Rodriguez by hiring a big time up and coming coach to take over in Morgantown, and they went out an hired a 56 year old first time head coach whose only claim to the job was that he was lucky enough to be retained by Rich Rodriguez as a quarterbacks coach.

Perhaps I will be completely wrong, but my gut tells me that West Virginia is going to take another step back this year. Noel Devine is back and Jarrett Brown can probably emerge from Pat White's shadow as a good spread quarterback, but I think that program will continue to lose some momentum. They are a lot closer to being a 6 win team than they are to becoming a top 10 team again in my opinion. This program is officially Bill Stewart's program now, and that might not be a good thing.

I think WVU will stumble down the stretch, fall short of the 8.5 number, and Bill Stewart will enter 2010 with a very warm seat.

Cincinnati --- OVER 6 wins

FREE MONEY ALERT!! Always feels good to get that first one out of the year. If you want to make a little money this year, please get yourself to your nearest casino or online sportsbook and bet the "over" on Cincy's win total. I had this one in last year's preview, and I'm guaranteeing it again this year. Cincy is going to leap past that 6 win total with no problem.

Where is the respect for the Bearcats?? VegasInsider had them at 7 wins last year, and they won 9. I think they were at 6 wins in 2007, and won 9. And yet they're still listed at six wins?? I know it's Cincy and that they were a MAC type team within the last five years, but it might be time to start paying attention to what is going on in Clifton these days.

I know UC has lost some serious talent on the defensive side of the ball, so I won't gloss over their issues entirely. UC's defense was probably the best they've had in recent memory, and you could argue that the seniors who "graduated" last year represented the best class in the history of the school. Four guys were drafted in the NFL from their defense last year, and ten starters total are gone. A pretty devastating loss for a program that isn't exactly busing in loads of four and five star players every year.

But there are some big reasons for optimism in the Queen City this year. Quarterback Tony Pike has the ability to be drafted in the 2010 NFL Draft and might end up being the MVP of the Big East this year. Pike came out of nowhere, but he's got some big time ability. At 6'6", 225 pounds with really good mobility, it might be blasphemy to say it, but he reminds me a lot of Brady Quinn. A big guy with good instincts who is dangerous when he gets out of the pocket. Tony Pike is now entering his second year as the starter, and I expect him to be even better this year.

In terms of finding a guy to throw the ball to, the Bearcats have the best receiver in the league in Mardy Gilyard. Not even debatable. Gilyard is an absolute stud and probably should have gone pro after last year. I'm pretty sure he couldn't read "My Pet Goat," but he can burn just about any DB in the country and capped off a monster year with a big game against Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. Gilyard will be a first day NFL pick next year, and probably will be giving Roger Goodell headaches for many years after.

The other reason to be bullish about the Bearcats in 2009 is Mr. Brian Kelly. The man who could probably run for Mayor in Cincinnati and win. The man who presides over the only good thing going in the Cincinnati sports scene these days besides Xavier basketball. The man who has brought enthusiasm and passion to a program that never had any reason to be excited before. The man who has made UC football fans believe that they really can be a big time football program, and that they might even someday be on par with that school up in Columbus.

Words cannot even begin to describe how much Brian Kelly has meant to the UC football program. Yes, Mark Dantonio helped stabilize the program to some degree from the depths of the Rick Minter era, but Brian Kelly has taken this program to another level. He is recruiting players that never even considered the idea of going to UC in the past, and he has laid the groundwork for dramatic improvements in the facilities for the football program. If you were to tell me ten years ago that Cincy would be building an indoor practice facility for the football program, I would have laughed you out of the room. An indoor practice field?? They were lucky to even have an OUTDOOR field!! And yet Kelly has raised the money to get it done.

I know Brian Kelly has become a whipping boy of sorts from ND fans who don't think he should ever be considered for the ND head coaching job, but the man is not going away anytime soon. All he has done is go 157-57-2 in 19 years as a head coach, win two national championships at the D-IAA level, win the MAC at Central Michigan within three years after taking them over when they were a doormat, and go 21-6 in two years at Cincinnati and win the Big East title. Maybe he doesn't have the coaching pedigree that you'd see out of a big time coach, but the guy is a winner and a motivator and an intense coach. Cincy is not going to go in the tank this year because of a few personnel losses.

And if Weis melts down again in 2009, I think Brian Kelly ends up on the radar again as the next head coach. I think we'll try to go big for an Urban Meyer type, but who knows if that actually goes down. I don't necessarily think he should be the top candidate, but I think we could do a lot worse than Brian Kelly. All of this is hypothetical of course, but it could easily become a very hot topic again if we stumble out of the gate early.

Cincy has a tough nonconference schedule that includes Fresno, Oregon State, and Illinois along with some tough road trips to Rutgers and Pitt and USF in Big East play, so I do not necessarily think they'll win 9+ games again this year. But I do think they can get back to a bowl game and set themselves up for more success in the future. Anything beyond that would be gravy.

Coach in trouble: Steve Kragthorpe

I just googled "Steve Kragthorpe," and the first few things that come up in the search are "Steve Kragthorpe hot seat", "Steve Kragthorpe resigns," and "Steve Kragthorpe fired." Yikes!! Not the type of descriptions that you want to see next to your name when you get "googled." But hey, at least people are googling him! So he's got that going for him.

I don't know what has happened with this guy. Was he just a complete fraud at Tulsa??? Kragthorpe went 17-9 there and seemed to be a real up and coming coach. I don't want to rattle another hornet's nest with those wacky Tulsa fans, but maybe some Tulsa fan could come on here and tell us what the story is with Coach Kragthorpe. Was he overrated at Tulsa??

All I know is that Tom Jurich is a really good AD and that he loved Kragthorpe. To me, that is what makes Kragthorpe's failure so shocking.

Louisville has road trips to Kentucky and Utah (bold scheduling!) in September, so they could really dig themselves a hole early. It wouldn't even really knock my socks off if Louisville lost to Indiana State in their opener.

Maybe Kragthorpe turns it around, but there are too many rumblings of massive discontent to make me think he can right the ship. Louisville might never get back to the glory days of the Bobby Petrino era (Bobby P can flat out coach), but they are capable of being a decent program. I think they'll decide that they can do better than Kragthorpe if he has another bad year.

Best nonconference games:

West Virginia - 9/19 at Auburn and 10/1 Colorado --- I'll give credit where credit is due to the Mountaineers. Home and home series with Auburn and Colorado is not too shabby. If you're in the Big East, this is what you should be doing to get some respect around the nation. Playing Eastern Kentucky and Youngstown State does nothing for you. That Auburn game is going to be big for both West Virginia and Auburn. If Auburn loses that game at home, Gene Chizik could be on the hot seat by the end of his first month.

Connecticut - 9/12 North Carolina and 11/21 at Notre Dame -- Just a general observation, but the Big East teams deserve some commendation for their nonconference schedules. UConn is basically signed up for 10 road games with ND since their "home" games are at Foxboro where I'm guessing 75% of the fans will be ND fans. And a home and home with UNC is solid.

South Florida - 9/26 at Florida State 11/28 Miami -- HEAVYWEIGHTS!! How about South Florida signing up Florida State and Miami in the same year?!

Honestly, I've generally had the attitude that a Big East team should never get a chance to play in the title game even if they go undefeated, but I actually would make an exception for USF if they pulled it off this year. Look at their schedule:

9/5 Wofford
9/12 at West. Kentucky
9/19 Charleston Southern
9/26 at Florida State
10/3 at Syracuse
10/10 OPEN DATE
10/15 Cincinnati
10/24 at Pitt
10/30 West Virginia
11/7 OPEN DATE
11/12 at Rutgers
11/21 Louisville
11/28 Miami (FL)
12/5 at Connecticut

Two heavyweights, five road games, a good nonconference schedule, and a fairly decent Big East slate. If you beat Miami and FSU in the same year and run the table in the Big East, that's good enough for me. Congrats USF. You have my approval to play in the title game. Now you just have to go undefeated.

Cincinnati - 9/19 at Oregon State and 11/27 Illinois -- Good work by the UC athletic department to get these two games lined up. If UC could go 1-1 in these two games, that would be a good showing. That Cincy-Illinois game will be very telling when it comes to comparing the Big East and the Big Ten. If UC whips Illinois, couldn't you make the argument that the Big East is at least somewhat on par with the Big Ten??

Pitt - 9/26 at NC State and 11/14 Notre Dame -- Potential statement game for Pitt at NC State. I expect them to be an underdog in that game, so that would be a pretty big win if they pull that off.

Syracuse - 9/5: vs. Minnesota and 9/19: Northwestern -- Two big opportunities for Syracuse to put themselves on the map with wins over middle of the road Big Ten teams. I'm really pulling for Doug Marrone to turn around the Cuse, and I'd love to jump on their bandwagon early if they pull off an upset in either or both of these games. On paper, there's no reason that they couldn't win those games at home. If that happens, it's a great sign for the future of the Syracuse program.

Worst nonconference schedule: Rutgers -

9/12 Howard
9/19 FIU
9/26 at Maryland
10/10 Texas Southern
10/23 at Army

Cmon Rutgers!! Three DI-AA teams and Army> I know you got Maryland in there, but how do you go to your fans and tell them that they're paying for home games with Howard, FIU, and Texas Southern?? I didn't even know Texas Southern was a real school. I thought they were the school from "Necessary Roughness."

That's really bad. Keep in mind that Rutgers balked about playing a series with ND. I understand why they didn't want to do it (no home games in the 10 game series), but the alternative is god awful. You should not be allowed to play three DI-AA teams in one year.

Fantasy impact:

Since fantasy college football usually involves only a couple teams from each conference, I'm only going to address the guys on teams that we're using for my fantasy league this year. For the Big East, we're using Pitt, West Virginia, and South Florida. So if you're wondering about Syracuse's running back situation, I got nothing for you this year.

Pitt: The only guy to really get excited about from a Pitt standpoint is Jonathan Baldwin. I think he's got a Plaxico Burress type game about him right down to the off the field problems. He could be the type of guy who only has 50 catches but ends up with 12 touchdowns or something like that. Depends on if he's got his head on straight and if Stull can actually get him the ball. Definitely someone to keep an eye on for a late round receiver pick.

From what I'm reading, true freshman Dion Lewis is going to be the starting running back right out of the gate. No idea if he can hold up at only 5'8, but it sounds like he's going to be the man. Probably the guy you gotta draft if you're looking for some RB depth.

Under no circumstances should Bill Stull be on anyone's roster even as a backup QB.

South Florida: I have no clue why our executive committee decided to use USF as a team, but the only guy I'd even be looking at is Matt Grothe. And Grothe is one of those guys who turns out Craig Krenzel numbers. You don't get fantasy points for blood stains on the jersey and nicks on the helmet. So I don't see him as a viable fantasy QB option.

Apparently this Mike Ford dude is an SEC talent who ended up at USF, so maybe he ends up as a surprise fantasy player. I don't know, I can't see him being a fantasy starter outside of a bye week since Grothe usually ends up doing all the running for USF (mostly on broken plays). USF doesn't really run the ball that well.

West Virginia: Noel Devine is obviously a good back who will be drafted somewhere in the first couple rounds, but only four touchdowns last year. That's kinda weak for a guy who probably would be a number one back on a fantasy roster. His production is sort of sporadic since you never know how many carries he's going to get. I never like having those types of guys on my team. Give me a horse who I know is getting 25 carries every game.

He also wasn't quite as dangerous a receiver as I thought he'd be. Compare his numbers to what a true stud like Jahvid Best or Shady McCoy did last year. I don't know, I think there are a lot of guys out there I'd feel better about in the 2nd/3rd round than Noel Devine.

Jarrett Brown could be a little bit of a sleeper at QB, but more as a backup than as a #1 starter. I'd definitely take a chance on him as my bye week quarterback over several SEC quarterbacks. If he can run, he can put up some numbers.

The only other guy I'd keep an eye on is this Jock Sanders guy, but he's currently under suspension. I'll predict he's playing on opening day though. Mountaineer football!! Anyone with a pulse can play there.

Most intriguing teams in the league:

Rutgers - I went with Rutgers here because I'm curious to see where their program heads over the next five years. I think they have the potential to be a pretty strong program in the Big East, but there's so many uncertainties. How long will Schiano be there?? And if they get consistently good, will the Big Ten come calling and steal them away??

I really like Schiano as a head coach. I like how they play, and he's a tough coach. I think he's one of those guys who could very easily take the next step up at a good program and really make some noise. I still think Miami should go after him hard again if/when they get rid of Randy Shannon. And I think he's gotta be somewhere on Swarbrick's list of people to talk to if Weis doesn't get it done in 2009 or 2010.

Rutgers has lost a lot of players though. All their best offensive skill players are gone. If Schiano can hold down the fort and keep them in the 8 win range this year, that would be an impressive job.

South Florida -- The "South Florida will be the next powerhouse in college football" talk has died down considerably in the last two years. I'll admit that I drank the kool-aid a little bit and was even temporarily excited to see them pop up on ND's 2011 schedule, but now I'm sort of ambivalent about them. USF really hit the wall last year. It's hard to take them seriously when they lost 49-16 to Rutgers at home.

USF has the talent and the Big East is there for the taking, but it all comes down to wins. Are they going to rise back up and win 9-10 games this year or float along at 6-7?? Looking forward to seeing them at Florida State in late September.

Quick note on their current team. Matt Grothe and George Selvie are still at USF?!? My god, have they taken every class ever offered at USF by now?? I thought both those guys were seniors two years ago.

Team to beat: Pittsburgh

Yikes! If Pitt is the class of the Big East, the league has some problems. I do think the Panthers are the team to beat in this league this year though. Their defense is going to be pretty strong with all of their d-linemen back. For the most part, their defense held up last year. If their offense had done anything, they would have beaten Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.

Offensively, I don't know what their plan is to replace LeSean McCoy (who was the closest thing to a one man team in college football last year), but Pitt does have most of its offensive line back. And Bill Stull! I'm not sure a quarterback has ever inspired less confidence than Bill Stull. He was awful last year, and he actually had weapons and pretty good line play. If he can't play better, Pitt is staring at another 7-8 win season. If he makes a mini-leap, the talent is in place to win the Big East.

On an unrelated note, Philly Eagles fans, get excited about the LeSean McCoy era. I love that guy. I'm predicting that he slowly nudges Brian Westbrook aside over the course of the 2009 season.

Wannstedt gets a lot of heat as a bad coach, but it's hard to really give him too much flak about the job he's done. I keep hearing that Pitt is this sleeping giant, but I think of them as a second tier city school that's not all that attractive to recruits. The fact that Wannstedt won 9 games last year at Pitt is pretty impressive. The guy took over a very average program, and has made them pretty good. He's not Urban Meyer or anything, but at least his teams compete. Their lines are good, and he keeps them in games. Is he a bad strategist?? Potentially. Does he make some boneheaded moves?? Yes. But couldn't Pitt do a lot worse than Wannstedt?? They could easily have a Gregg Robinson type guy right now who's churning out 3-9 seasons. Wannstedt has recruited pretty well thus far, and he's winning games. Good for him.

Weighing in on the Eddy Street Commons project: What we can expect and what I would do to make it great

Like most Notre Dame fans who enjoy traveling up to South Bend for games, I've been casually following the developments going on with the new Eddy Street Commons project across the street from the Notre Dame campus. While I am always startled by how much the campus changes every year with new development projects (I will admit to getting lost the first time I drove on the newly renovated Angela Boulevard), I definitely think this type of project is long overdue. ND sorely needs a little campus strip for students and visitors that is outside of the ND bubble. You see it in every other Midwestern college town, so there's no reason that concept couldn't work in South Bend if it's done right. Sounds like things are really starting to progress, and we may be seeing some restaurants opening up by the football season.

I think the Eddy Street Commons development has a chance to be an outstanding addition to the Notre Dame community, but I really hope that the right choices are made in terms of a hotel and retail options. For starters, I think it's a great idea to build a hotel in that area. The ND campus has been starving for an on-campus hotel to go along with the Morris Inn. Between the football season, graduation, reunions, and various weddings throughout the summer and fall, there is quite a bit of demand for a hotel on the ND campus. It also never hurts to add a little more competition in the hotel industry, especially when the other South Bend hotels are asking for three night minimums during the football season. Three nights! That's nuts.

I'm also glad that the hotel is not going to be built on the old Burke Memorial Golf Course (which was rumored for a number of years). Maybe the Burke isn't a championship links, but how can you not love that course?? It's the perfect nine hole campus course for a student or employee who just wants to get away from the grind for a couple hours and blow off some steam on the course. I don't know what it costs nowadays, but it used to be $5 and you could be standing on the first tee within about five minutes of walking out of your dorm room. Sure, it's an easy course, but I've never had a bad time out there. The views of the campus and the Dome are worth it alone. More importantly, the Burke has become a part of the fabric of the ND campus. It's the first thing you see when you approach the ND campus from US-31, and it's a great green space for the campus. I was never a fan of the idea of bulldozing the Burke for an on-campus hotel, so I'm really pleased that the Eddy Street Commons provides a suitable spot for the hotel.

I'm also curious to see what type of food and beverage options open up in this development. They've already announced that Kildare's Irish Pub and Doc Magrograns Oyster House will be two tenants, and I think both are pretty good choices. They'll be good for students, good for alums, and good for faculty types. If you want to get a bite to eat after a football or basketball game where you can sit at a real table and order beer out of a glass and not a plastic cup, where else are you going in South Bend?? Legends?? Fiddler's Hearth?? Not a ton of options. There's definitely a need for a couple more good casual restaurants near the campus area.

So where do they go from here in terms of finding restaurants to fill out the slate?? My suggestion would be to try to find someone to open up a really good sports bar and grill. Here in Columbus, there is a similar retail/housing development on the Ohio State campus that was built about five years ago, and one of the anchor tenants is a restaurant called Eddie George's Grille 27. It's a phenomenal sports bar with good food and a good atmosphere and also plenty of tvs and sound systems to enjoy the action. It's such a simple concept. Create a "nice" sports bar and attach a famous athlete's name to give it a little extra name recognition. It's a place that appeals to students but also is attractive for twenty and thirtysomething types who might want to get some decent food. Every time I'm there, it is packed with people of all ages.

I think this "Famous Athlete's Grille __" concept is a chain because Pittsburgh has a Jerome Bettis Grille 36 as well. It's literally the exact same restaurant as Eddie George's place, and it's right near Heinz Field.

Anyway, if I was the developer of Eddy Street Commons, I would be looking to open up some sort of ND-related "Grille ___" with this same chain company. Think about how many famous ND athletes you could use to do something like that. Heck, Jerome Bettis could open up a second location at Eddy Street Commons. Or Rocket Ismail or Tim Brown or Brady Quinn or even Rudy Ruettiger. You could even get me excited about Sean Milligan's Grille 65!!

How cool would a Rocket Ismail's Grille 25 be at the Eddy Street Commons?? I would go there every time I went to South Bend. The Rocket could host some events there, and maybe store some of his great sports memorabilia in the restaurant. There are a lot of ND-themed places in South Bend, but no real place that pays homage to any particular ND athlete. If they did it right and had good food and a good bar, it would be a fun place to go and a cash machine all within walking distance of the ND campus.

I know what you're thinking at this point. But Doug, South Bend already has the greatest sports bar in the world.....Between the Buns! I know, I know, the Buns is great, and I've ordered just about everything on their menu in the last 10 years. Heck, my wife and I went on our first date at the Buns! It's my favorite bar in South Bend, and no trip to South Bend is complete with a couple 32oz. drafts at the Buns. You won't hear a bad word about the Buns from this guy.

But here's an idea. Why not have two great sports bars in the Bend?? Crazy idea, right?? The ND community is a huge sports community, and I think there's plenty of room for a second really good sports bar in South Bend. The Buns can appeal to a little more of the college crowd, and the Grille ___ concept could be a better fit for gameday weekends and students who just want to walk from their dorm to a place to watch Sunday NFL games or get a bite to eat when they're sick of the dorm food. It might also be a fun place to go if you're a grad student or a professor or a professional working in South Bend.

I think that would be a phenomenal addition to the Eddy Street Commons. Get a big name former ND athlete on board and start building it. Heck, if they're looking for investors, I'm in. The place would do really well in that spot, and it would instantly be one of the top attractions for a football weekend. If you didn't have tickets to a big game, you could probably have a great time over at Brady Quinn's Grille 10 watching the game. Certainly a better time than you would have at Legends.

The question is whether ND would allow this to happen. My guess would be no since it would be a direct competitor to Legends and also a potential nuisance for some of the collars over there at the Dome, but that's where I think a famous athlete could help to grease the wheels a little bit. Who is going to turn down Rocket Ismail if he goes to Father Jenkins or Father Poorman and says he wants to put in a Rocket Ismail's Grille 25 at the Eddy Street Commons?? That would be borderline sacrilegious to turn him down after all he's done for the school.

After that, do whatever you want to fill out the development. Put in a couple shops, a bookstore, a Chipotle, a pizza place, and a Potbellys or some other sandwich place. But you gotta get one big anchor tenant, and I think the sports bar idea would be a great one. ND only has one shot to make this thing work ,and it would be a huge bummer if it turned out to be some watered down version of Lafortune and a virtual ghost town on gameday weekends. The Eddy Street Commons has potential to be a great addition to the ND community. I'm looking forward to checking it out when it's done.

Overexposed: Why Roger Goodell is killing my interest in the National Football League

The NFL Draft. One of the strangest "sporting events" on the sports calendar. If you are a non-sports fan or just a casual sports fan, the appeal of the NFL Draft would make absolutely no sense. Who in their right mind would sit around for 18 hours on a spring weekend to watch a bunch of guys in suits analyzing draft picks?? On the surface, it sounds dumb.

And yet I love the NFL Draft. I've been watching the NFL Draft for 20 years and enjoy it as much as I ever have. Heck, I wrote about eight bazillion words on this year's NFL Draft on this site. I think people love the NFL Draft because a) it's football in April b) it combines college football and the NFL and c) it gives you immediate hope as a fan of an NFL franchise and d) every fan gets to be an NFL GM for a weekend. Throw all four of those things into play, and you have the perfect recipe for a great event.

The other thing about the Draft is that it's the ultimate male bonding weekend. NFL Draft weekend is an excuse to get a group of dudes together for the weekend to watch the Draft, talk football, curse your team or sing its praises, eat a ton of crappy food, and sample some adult beverages. All in all, you end up watching 6-8 hours of football over two days, and don't really feel bad or guilty about it at all. The weather is usually pretty good, so you inevitably end up tossing the football outside or going to a spring college football game or maybe hitting up the links at some point. It's impossible not to have a good time on NFL Draft weekend.

And yet Roger Goodell seems to be determined to ruin all of the fun in attempt to squeeze a couple more dollars out of the event (which I am predicting will not happen....more on that later though). The Draft is about to go from a Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday afternoon event to a THREE DAY extravaganza beginning with the first round on Thursday night at 7:30pmEST. The second and third rounds are now on Friday night at 6:30pm, and the final four rounds are on Saturday morning.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????

Who actually thinks this is a good idea?? Do we really need three days for the NFL Draft?? How is this a good move for NFL fans?? Instead of getting together on a Saturday afternoon to cook out and drink some beers with a few buddies while watching the bulk of the Draft, it has now turned into this convoluted three day "event" that starts on a Thursday and is effectively over by Saturday morning when it would normally just be starting up. The first round is on a Thursday night at 7:30pm on the east coast. Yea, I'll still watch the draft and might head to a sports bar to watch some of the first round, but Thursday is still a work night. The first round probably won't be over until 1am or something like that, which means you'll be feeling guilty about staying up to watch it. It's certainly not going to be the riproaring event that it would be on a Saturday afternoon.

Moving it from Saturday to Thursday also kills the camaraderie of the event. My brother and his friends have been getting together in various cities for years to watch the Draft, but now the main part of the draft is on a Thursday night. When you are talking about people with jobs and things going on at home during the week, those types of get-togethers become obsolete with this change. What about all of the people who camp out to go to the NFL Draft?? How does that work now that it's spread out over three days?? That makes me sad to think about all those Jets and Giants fans who have loyally attended the Draft for all these years.

Will people still get together with friends to watch the first round of the Draft?? Sure, it can be done. It's no different than getting together at a bar or a friend's house to watch Monday Night Football or a Thursday Night game. But are people really going to double down and get together AGAIN on Friday night to watch the 2nd and 3rd rounds?? Is Roger Goodell aware that people have lives outside of the NFL?? How many nights in a row can you ask your fans to blow off their wives/girlfriends and/or kids to watch something like the NFL Draft that isn't even a real sport??

The other thing is that the NFL Draft will start at 4:30pm on the west coast on Thursday and at 3:30pm on Friday. If I lived on the west coast, I would be bummed about that. You went from being able to roll out of bed at 9am on a Saturday to watch the draft to now being forced to leave work early to watch it at 4:30pm on a weekday.

I know the NFL and ESPN will probably make a bunch of money from advertisers in the short term. Primetime tv during the week draws more eyeballs than a Saturday afternoon telecast, and they get to show three days of coverage now. Plus, they'll have all of Friday to hype up the post first round stuff and all the trades that come out of that. Maybe the dollars are worth it. I don't know.

But one thing I do know is that this move RUINS a very special spring Saturday for football fans. Football fans starve for football 365 days a year, and the NFL Draft has always been like an oasis during a long offseason. Now, it won't be the same. I'll still watch the Draft of course, but it will no longer be "NFL Draft Weekend." It'll just be like any other sporting event during the week where you might watch it over a couple beers but won't look forward to it all week/month.

Roger Goodell is undoubtedly a very shrewd businessman, but I think he is quietly turning into the David Stern of the NFL. He is in such a hurry to "expand the brand" that he is forgetting about his core audience. You know, like actual football fans. He can't wait to globalize the NFL and create the NFL Network even though no one gets the channel and to put the Super Bowl in London and expand the Draft into primetime that he is forgetting that the only reason the NFL Draft is so popular is because of all the diehard fans who have supported it through the years. When you go for the "casual fan," you dilute your product and alienate your core fans.

Stern made this same mistake with the NBA even though no one calls him out on it. He went out of his way to bring the NBA to urban audiences, teenagers, and foreigners while skipping over the rest of the American public. Maybe the game is more popular in China, but no one cares about the NBA in places like St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Heck, even a lot of markets with NBA teams could care less about the league. By taking those fans for granted, he lost them forever. Now, their tv ratings stink, and half the teams in the league are bankrupt.

The NFL has always succeeded by being the ultimate American brand. It is a game played almost exclusively by Americans, and it's a game that has traditionally been marketed exclusively to Americans. The Super Bowl is practically a national holiday, and the Thanksgiving NFL games are as much of a tradition as turkey and mashed potatoes. The NFL Draft is a part of that lore. The NFL provided this great event for football fans in April, and fans returned the love by staying fiercely loyal to the league.

Perhaps this is purely anecdotal to base it on the opinions of a few friends/family, but I really think the interest in the NFL in America may be waning just a bit. It seems like a lot of people are steadily losing interest in the league. It's still the top dog and maybe the ratings are still strong, but the league has gone stale. There's too much coverage on ESPN (Brett Favre....ugh), every team runs the exact same offense, all the stadiums are exactly the same, all the announcers sound exactly the same, etc, and now you have Goodell trying to take away the few good things about the NFL that make it unique. When you compare it to the college game with all of the pomp and circumstances of marching bands and legendary stadiums and student sections and fabulous uniforms and passionate fanbases, there really is no comparison. College football seems to be growing in popularity every year as more and more fans are drawn in to the magic of college football.

The NFL has taken its fans for granted. If you take your fans for granted, they might just start tuning you out. Creating the NFL Network and putting a bunch of regular season games on the channel even though no one gets the channel (and still don't get it!!) was the height of arrogance, and now they've taken the NFL Draft from a perfect spring Saturday to a watered-down three day event that will not hold my attention past Thursday. When you ask for three days from your NFL fans to watch the Draft instead of one, they might just not bother to watch it at all. And that could carry over to Sunday afternoons in the fall. Plenty of yardwork to be done in the fall on Sundays. Or fans might just turn their attention to college football, which would be fine with me.

Mark this down. I think we'll look back in ten years at the Roger Goodell era and say that he presided over the downfall of the league as the uber-sport in America. Goodell is in such a rush to expose the brand to new audiences that he doesn't seem to realize that he is alienating his core fans. There's something to be said about dancing with the girl that brought you there. Fans are upset about this draft thing, and I think we could have a little populist revolt on our hands. I hope that's the case.