Naturally since my two football teams are Notre Dame & the Vikings, this report will look primarily at them, but....what the hell....just for shits & giggles I'll throw out a few more commentaries also. All this....and its a free site! I think at the very least you should offer to buy me a Mountain Dew if you see me in the hallway.
NOTRE DAME: Well, the season was nothing if not interesting. It was Ty Willingham's 3rd season going in, which whether you realize it or not, is a HUGE season within the walls and fanbases of the Fighting Irish. Do you know what names like Rockne, Leahy, Paraseghian, Devine & Holtz have in common....besides being Notre Dame coaches (and successful ones at that). 3rd season at Notre Dame=national champion. Look it up. Likewise, the one thing that names like Brennan, Layden, Faust, Davie & Willingham were all successful to a degree in South Bend....but none of whom won the national title. The 3rd year is the one that is the tale of the tape. You've had enough time to establish yourself with the program, to bring in your "type of player" (whatever that means). I think going into this season even the most optimistic Irish fan didn't figure on Willingham winning a national title. However, I think that if there were improvement shown in some significant areas (offense & special teams) and we finished with a record that at least let the fans see the light at the end of the tunnel (8-3 anyone?) Willingham would've been as safe as in his mama's arms.
The decision was made in the offseason to move the BYU game from October to the first week in September. The basic reason was essentially (although no one in South Bend would've ever admitted to it) to give us a tune-up before the always important Michigan game. Afterall, last year we pretty much took the Cougars to the woodshed and they didn't seem to be significantly improved.
Uh....wrong.
The final score was 20-17, but don't be fooled. We got our asses handed to us.
By a bunch of Mormons for heaven's sake. This wasn't USC, Miami, FSU or Oklahoma. It was BY-freakin-U. We rushed for like 20 yards the whole damn game, as in a HUGE surprise, Ryan Grant was injured yet again before the game (the guy is going to end up needing better insurance than Bubble Boy on Seinfeld).
Ty then made the not-so-intelligent decision to sit freshman phenom DariusWalker the ENTIRE game. Oh, he traveled with the team. He was there in Provo. Suited up. Ready to go. But Ty let him sit on the bench while our "#1 RB" was hurt and our #2 RB fumbled 3 times in the same game. Um....good coaching Ty.
So the next week is Michigan and I'm thinking the worse by this point. Somehow, Ty pulls a rabbit out of his hat, maybe by starting Darius Walker--who promptly runs for over 100 yds against a solid defense--and we upset the Wolverines.
This of course prompts the question. How in God's name did that numbnuts Lloyd Carr ever win a national title? The guy lost to Willingham 2 out of 3 times!! Do you know just how crappy you have to be to be outcoached by Ty? So now our hope is restored, and then we go and have a nice game against Michigan State and we absolutely massacre Washington--who appear to be in need of a good coach (ahem), as Brady Quinn looks for one game like the 2nd coming of Peyton Manning.
All of this raised our hopes (a continuing theme--the "raising of hope") for the next game vs. visiting Purdue. The Boilermakers were off to their best start in forever, and QB Kyle Orton was getting some press with the words "Heisman" in it. Of course, that didn't matter because...ya know....Purdue hadn't won at South Bend since 1974 for God's sake.
41-16 Purdue.
Oh man, was it ugly. What made it worse is that Purdue coach Joe Tiller makes no bones about his dislike for all things Notre Dame, and takes a particular delight in beating the Irish....and here he was pissing in our yard. Not a pretty sight and it also was yet another 25 point loss by a Willingham coached Irish squad. That particular stat was beginning to get noticed. The next week we beat Ty's old squad in Stanford, coached--if possible--by an even more inept head coach in Buddy Teevans. And still, the Irish really didn't take the Cardinal to the woodshed, like they had the seeming capability to do. The following week they took on a vastly (and I mean VASTLY) improved Navy squad, coached by Paul Johnson, who if the Middies don't lock up longterm very soon will be coaching somewhere else. He is that good. Good lord, if the Irish were coached by Paul Johnson, they may have gone 9-2. Anyway, big surprise time again, as the Irish thrash Navy 27-9. Next up is Boston College, who over the last 10 years may have become one ofour 3 biggest rivals. Notre Dame fans like to refer to BC as "Fredo"...and if you've ever seen the Godfather 1 & 2, you'll understand the reference. Specifically, this is NOT the team you want to lose to at home. Ever. And you certainly don't want to lose by one point on a prayer of a pass with a minute in the game after you've given up a 9 point lead in the 4th quarter. Nope, you certainly don't want to do any of those things. But they did. Suddenly....the bitching and moaning of the fanbase was getting louder.
And just as suddenly it was silenced. The Irish go down to Knoxville, Tennessee and defeat the Volunteers by 17-13 in a game that wasn't nearly that close. The defense absolutely played their best game and were dominant. The Irish had 6 wins, were bowl eligible and if they played their cards right....might be able to manuever into a very nice bowl game.
Pitt had been one of ND's whipping boys for the better part of 15 years and last year they featured Larry Fitzgerald, perhaps their greatest offensive threat since Tony Dorsett--and lost convincingly to the Irish. Surely this lesser Panther team would present no big threat to the Irish. Uh.......
41-38 Pitt. In overtime. Someone named Tyler Palko. TYLER PALKO--throws 5 touchdown passes in a winning effort. The Irish have been playing football for over 100 years and never---EVER---allowed a QB to throw 5 touchdown passes against them (much less at HOME). Those alumni grumblings got louder again.
Then...we had to travel to the west coast. USC, and boy don't we hate to admit it, was looking like a dominant team. Stallions at every position. A dominanting defense. An explosive offense with the leading candidate for the Heisman at QB.
I was worried. I was worried because I wondered what the leading Heisman candidate might do after what had happened the previous week vs. TYLER PALKO. And we got killed. Again. By more than 25 points. Ty had now lost more games by 25 points in 3 years than Notre Dame had lost--under ANY coach since 1964. Think about that and defend Ty Willingham and his strong moral values.
By all accounts, when the Irish got home the next day, athletic director Kevin White, long Ty's biggest defender, came to Ty and told him there may be trouble.
Tomorrow---ND '04--Part 2.....Ty is shown the door, and the shit hits the fan.
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