Prediction Time

After a thrilling pep rally for the Georgia Tech game, I have to admit that Charlie's Nasties did not accurately predict the starting quarterback for the Fighting Irish. Thats right, a reliable source at the rally confirmed that Tom Zibikowski will be under center tomorrow afternoon. On the bright side, this will present an admirable curve ball for the visiting Yellow Jackets. A master of the option in high school, Zibby will surely strike fear into the eyes of his opponents. My roommates prediction: 38-24 Irish. If you don't believe me, ask these guys.

2 Days 2 Go

To this point in the excruciatingly long preseason, I've generally been able to contain my excitement for the approaching home opener, and now, the long wait is over. That's right, the first sightings of the Goodyear Blimp around South Quad yesterday marked the first of the many pregame rituals around campus. I don't care if its still Thursday, its never to early to start pregaming.

In other news, UHND put up a nice youtube package comparing Armando Allen and Golden Tate to Raghib Ishmael; it may be a little early for this esteemed comparison (says the guy who claims football in South Bend starts Wednesday afternoon), but at least you'll be able to check out some sick highlight clips.

For all of our loyal fans who couldn't sleep without knowing what the Quote of the Week is, here you go:

“Two people running into each other at full speed doesn’t seem like a natural thing, but you do it and you see yourself on film owning somebody and you like it. It looks cool. You’re like, ‘Wow, I just dominated that kid. I want to do it again.’” — linebacker Anthony Vernaglia

Jones To Start

After an in depth of analysis of the student appreciation practice, any knowledgeable football fan can tell that Demetrious Jones is going to be the week one starter. My first piece of evidence, exhibit A: Jones first in the stretching line with Sharpley.



Some people may challenge that Sharpley is equally as likely to start based on this photo, which is why I take you to exhibit B: Jones demonstrating his authority over Sharpley by taking a water break first.

Here, Jones shows that he is king of the jungle by controlling the water hole. Sharpley looks so thirsty.

Some would argue that Clausen quarterbacked the first team offense, and Jones arguably performed the worst out of the three contenders. This is all a brilliant reverse psychology tactic being employed by Weis in order to confuse the opposition. Bottom line: Jones is the man, and I'm sticking to it.

Brady Quinn is not Samson

The Browns resorted to Biblical tactics to cool off the scintillating performance of Brady Quinn, but even without his magical locks, the former Notre Dame star was able to drive past the Denver defense on the way to the go ahead touchdown in last nights game.

Quinn went 7/11 for a team high 81 yards and a touchdown, and he also would have led the Brownies to a field goal, but Dawson, showing shades of the end of last season, shanked a 46 yarder.

In related news, Charlie Weis announced in his press conference that he does not plan to select his starting quarterback via a coin flip. Weis stated that he already knows who the starter is, but will not announce it until the start of the Georgia Tech game. Speaking of Notre Dame football, time for me to get ready for the student appreciation practice. Go Irish!

Quote of the Week

As I finish my packing and get ready to return to my favorite place in Indiana (and I'm not talking about the Brickyard), I leave our loyal readers with the first installment of the college football quote of the week.

"Anytime I can go out there and knock some heads, I'm down for that." - Toryan Smith

What a beast. Go Irish! Beat Jackets!

Right to Party Remains. For Now

The WSBT news team reported last night that the vote for the South Bend "Party Ordinance" was again delayed, scheduled to now take place Monday August 27th. While one week may not seem like much, this could be crucial to preventing or amending the bill as students will now be on campus when the voting takes place. At the very least, it gives students one less week to put up with these guys.

Quinn's First Performance Fulfills Expectations

As a Cleveland native and lifelong Browns fan, I was jumping up and down when my team moved up to draft Brady. For those of you who share my excitement, here is a quick summary of Quinn's first showing in the NFL:

With the crowd at Cleveland Browns stadium chanting his name, Brady took the field with roughly 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The Browns were down 23 to 7, and Quinn marched straight down the field, completing his first 5 passes and 6/7 overall en rout to the end zone for a touchdown. The drive was somewhat soured by a failed two point conversion in which Quinn threw slightly behind running back Chris Barclay, making it too difficult to haul in the pass. In his next series, with no timeouts and 2:10 remaining, Quinn again marched down the field for a score. Overall, Quinn completed 13/20 passes (13/16 when you discount the 4 spikes) for 155 yards and two touchdowns.


In a post game interview, Quinn said that it was a nice to be back on the field again, joking that he "was starting to get writers cramp from holding the clip board so much." However, he quickly became serious when critiquing his performance, scolding himself for the "terrible" throw on the two point conversion that might have given the Browns a chance to tie the game. Brady was also quick to add that he was not facing a difficult Lions defensive package unit, as Detroit elected to play soft prevent defense in the fourth quarter, opening up easy check down passes that Quinn capitalized on. In closing, Quinn said that he thought he saw the field better, but still needs to work on his timing and fundamentals.

Links to videos of both of Quinn's touchdown passes as well as the post game interview can be seen here.

My take: Its gonna be another long season for my brownies. The first team offense looked like it had never played together; my personal favorite moment was when Derek Anderson called a timeout to avoid a delay of game and somehow managed to get a delay of game coming out of the timeout. You get the idea... Even if Brady does as well against 1st team defenses as he did against the Lions scrubs, the rest of the offense isn't playing well as a team yet. On the bright side, there will still be enough time to light a couple candles at the Grotto for the development of the offense before the season opens against Pittsburgh.

First AP Poll Is Out

Notre Dame starts the year ranked fortieth in the nation, garnering 11 points. Six of their twelve opponents are ranked higher than that, notably USC (first) and Michigan (5th); next week's opponent, Georgia Tech, starts at #27 with 94 points.

Funny how things change, isn't it? Last year we started #2 in the nation. This year I have 11 fruit baskets to send.

Sigh.

Agony and Ecstasy

Agony and Ecstasy outlines what Notre Dame fans can look forward to and dread at the upcoming game, thereby illustrating the roller-coaster nature of football games – and, by extension, the human experience. Disclaimer: The author’s football playing experience consists exclusively of his role as RB/CB for the B-Team of his Freshman football program. And NCAA Football 07.

Ecstasy..................................................................Agony

Go Irish, Beat Jackets!

Clausen Busted

This morning, the South Bend Tribune reported that Clausen was cited by Indiana State Excise Police outside of a liquor store June 23. According to the report, Clausen waited in a car while a 23 year old went into the store and bought him 2 bottles of Smirnoff vodka, a case of Natty, and a bottle of Jack. The police, who were stationed in an unmarked car, cited both Clausen and the 23 year old for transporting alcohol as a minor. Weis and Clausen both declined to comment on the incident.


It was a good effort by Jimmy to dye his hair to disguise himself, but that didn't fool the Indiana State Excise Police.

Georgia Tech Preview

Sometimes when trying to figure out how good an opponent is going to be, it can help to look at what they don't have. Obviously the Yellow Jackets are without all-world wide receiver Calvin Johnson this season as will be turning heads in the NFL doing stuff like this.

On the other side of the coin, as QB Reggie Ball leaves, he takes his less than impressive statistics with him, leaving room for his succesor, Taylor Bennet. The current GT signal caller had a strong showing in last years bowl game against West Virginia, completing 19 passes for 326 yards and a 3 touchdowns.

On the ground, Tashard Choice looks to improve on last years numbers, where he lead the ACC in rushing. Behind a capable fullback in Mike Cox and an experienced offensive line, Notre Dame's new 3-4 front will be challenged early.

Bawl hawk safety Jamal Lewis leads a defense that returns 8 starters, but I can't help thinking that he looks out of place in their secondary.

Lastly, ESPN has Georgia Tech's punter Durant Brooks as the favorite to win the Ray Guy award. Obviously someone hasn't told them about Geoff Price yet.

Stadium Banner Badasses

Lou Holtz: Notre Dame's most recent national championship
coach, piloting the Irish to the
1988 crown.

The five coaches who have produced national championships in football at the University of Notre Dame - Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz - are now honored as part of the third Notre Dame Stadium gate to feature the history and tradition of the Irish football program.

"Wall relief portraits" and "action montages" of the five Notre Dame national championship coaches this week were placed at Gate D of Notre Dame Stadium, as part of a multi-year plan to theme the five entrance gates to Notre Dame Stadium.

This project is the third of the Notre Dame Stadium gates to be finished, following the Heisman Trophy display at Gate B that opened in 2005 and the All-America display at Gate A that opened in 2006. Funding for all the themed gates has been provided by the Notre Dame Monogram Club.

Notre Dame's 79 consensus All-America football players are honored inside Gate A with panels containing authentic Notre Dame helmets with nameplates. The Notre Dame Heisman Trophy winners were honored with seven individual panels inside Gate B - with one display each for Angelo Bertelli, John Lujack, Leon Hart, John Lattner, Paul Hornung, John Huarte and Tim Brown.

Each display consists of a three-by-eight-foot aluminum panel, powder-coated in Notre Dame blue and serving as a background for holding an oversized, three-foot-tall replica of the Heisman Trophy. The Heisman replicas are finished in bronze, cantilevered off of the blue aluminum panels and sculpted from an original Heisman Trophy.
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Player Bio of the Week : Sam Young

The freshman All-American returns as the second-most experienced player on the offensive line. After starting all 13 games last season at right tackle, (one of four returning players who started every game last year), he became the first Notre Dame freshman to start the season opener on the offensive line since freshmen regained eligibility in 1972. Sam logged 292:17 of playing time.

High School/Personal: Sam, who graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was a first-team offensive lineman on USA Today prep All-America squad. He was rated the top lineman and one of 16 candidates for Parade All-America High School Player of the Year award. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year for 2005 for the state of Florida, and was ranked as high at #10 on various top 100 lists. Sam helped Aquinas to 4,606 total offensive yards as well as 3,040 regular-season rushing yards during '05 season. His team finished 10th on USA Today Super 25 list of top prep teams nationally. He didn't allow a sack during his junior or senior year in high school. Born June 24, 1987, enrolled in Mendoza College of Business, one mean S.O.B. (und.cstv.com)

What a man. It gives me a good feeling knowing that he'll be eating jerseys on the other side of the ball now that he has a year of experience under his belt.

What to Expect Sept. 1: Sam will be up against talented left DE Adamm Oliver. An All-ACC end last year, Oliver is a two-year starter with 29 career starts including 26 in a row. An outstanding run-stopper who can also play inside, he has 138 career tackles including 22.5 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks and three fumble recoveries.

Welcome

With just two weeks until the start of the 2007 football season against Georgia Tech, I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to Christen this blog than to give the rambling wreck a reminder of last season.