I was still pissed about Notre Dame getting their asses handed to them by Michigan last week, so I took SHEFRAC out tonight for a lovely dinner with friends, fully knowing that I'd have to miss a good chunk of tonight's ND-MSU game in order to do so.

At the restaurant, the game was on one of the TVs in the main room, so periodically I'd take a peek only to see them trailing 7-0, 17-0, 24-7 and so on. By the time we got home, it was 37-21 in the 4th quarter, and I decided they could go fuck themselves while I put on VH-1 and started watching the Metal doc.

So, a few minutes ago I was curious to find out exactly how bad the final carnage was...but when I pulled up the scoreboard on ESPN.com, I learned to my delight/horror that ND had somehow pulled the Trix rabbit out of their ass and come back to win 40-37.

In my bitter state as a win-every-game-or-else sorry fair weather fan, I just refused to even consider the possibility that I should stick by my team no matter what, and the Weis Guys exacted their revenge on me in a most gloriously painful way.

I've never been so emotionally conflicted in all my life. Just think if I was still inadvertently popping Lunesta...

Had you watched it, they'd've lost...Murphy dictates it.

That's EXACTLY what I've been telling myself!

i feel the same way sometimes, except that i was convinced penn state was playing better when i was in the kitchen or on my couch (but nowhere between) and the reason why they lost is because i was not at one of those two places all afternoon.

This football thread officially Gayed Up™ by HideousLump.

Fuck Notre Dame and the altar boy they rode in on.

Can someone explain to me the nationwide love for Notre Dame? Certainly all those people are not all alumni. Is it a Catholic thing? Irish? wtf?

Someone's got a crappy avatar in here.

they fucking won?

This is why I hate them. The love for them extends into the press, every single year. They're like the Yankess of college football. It's all about Knute Rockne and shit from the 40s.

I don't think they really have the fan base they once did, it is just their stupid aura that seems to be a live and well. They haven't really had the greatest attendance at some of their bowl games recently. I know alot of people who claim to be Notre Dame fans that really only like them because they are Husker Haters and don't especially like college football.

I just laugh at how they think they deserve to be a top ten team and receive a BCS bid if they win at least nine games.

that was a great 4th quarter

unless you are a Michigan State fan

I'm pretty sure a good 50 times more people hate them than love them. My love was passed down from my Dad, who got both his Master's and Ph.D there, and was a hardcore Cath-o-lic. I wisely jettisoned Catholicism years ago, but have never been able to kick ND.

Yeah, their schedule is pretty laughable every year, playing teams like La. Tech and Troy. Oh, wait, that's Nebraska. Dude, every single team ND has played this year was undefeated at kickoff. This will continue when they face off against 4-0 Purdue this week.

You're smart enough to realize that at least some of their recognition/credibililty has been self-attained by years of brutal schedules and high-profile matchups. Most times, they don't deliver any better than 8-9 wins, but if they had the type of schedule played each year by the Nebraskas of the world, that would be more like 10-11 wins per year.

It ain't just some mythical popularity contest.

ND also has quite the fair weather contigent, perhaps only rivaled by the Red Sox.

Lord, is THAT ever true!!! I knew you wouldn't let that La. Tech reference slide! (haha) Oh, speaking of TCB NCAA favs, how's Tulsa lookin' this year?

Haha. Actually, I didn't see the La. Tech thing till now, and the fair weather thing wasn't directed at you, just in general.

I will take issue with ND's schedule though. A 4-0 Purdue already has two-thirds of their win total for the season. Throw in Stanford, Navy, UCLA, North Carolina, Army, Air Force—wtf are they playing for the CIC this year—and even Michigan State ain't all that rough and tough.

I'm surprised Michigan actually showed up to play, and I think Penn State is overrated by those looking for a JoPa resurrected story and won't do dick until Paterno finally dies on the sidelines.

USC? Pretty damn good. I'll give you them. But Navy beat Stanford already, and La. Tech & Troy could beat Stanford, Navy, UNC, Army & AF and I wouldn't be surprised.

Actually, La. Tech has a tougher schedule than ND, if you grade on a curve.

At Nebraska, at Texas A&M, at Clemson, at Boise State.

Navy, Army & Air Force are consistantly bad (Navy & Army which are old rivalries) but beyond those 3 most teams ND plays are pretty solid. 3 Pac 10 teams & 4 Big 10. UCLA went 10-2 last year, Penn St went 11-1, Stanford isn't always this bad, Michigan St, Georgia Tech & Purdue are programs that have landed in the top 25 in recent years. And of course Michigan & USC are good. I'm not saying it's a tough schedule, I don't see intent on ND's part to make it soft. When you're not in a conf you're scheduling 12 games a season years in advance, most teams are scheduling 3-4. A lot of top 25 teams have the bulk of the toughness in their schedule within conference. (Props to USC for scheduling ND & Nebraska & turning 2 home games into neutral site games)

I'd say ND has more to lose by playing a powder puff schedule than anyone because of the contract with NBC.

Just for full disclosure, I think the Big 10 and Pac-10 are garbage, generally only providing one quality team per year, and every once ina while they'll pop in two. The Big 10 is a factory of 7-5 teams who start out 4-0 or 5-1, get ranked in the top 10-15 spots, then lose the last half of the season. And the Pac-10 is the Pac-10. For the most part, ND is just a Big 10 team with it's own network TV contract.

Notre Dame gets its balls licked because it's Notre Dame. If West Virginia or Louisville neutralized all the weak conference nay-sayers by playing ND's schedule, they still would still be second rate compared to the Irish. It's just that way.

And just for grins, Navy has gone to a bowl the last 3 seasons, beating New Mexico (34-19) & Colorado State (51-30) in the last two, and losing to Texas Tech.

I believe Nebraska has one of the toughest schedules this year according to the Strength of Schedule rankings due to their games against USC and Texas, both of whom played for the title last year. With those two games, they can play three cup cakes during the non-conference slate. Last year, Notre Dame played an incredibly weak schedule. It wasn't there fault, but every tough team on their schedule sucked ass last year.
A prime example of the Notre Dame 9-3 phenomenon was 2000. Nebraska beats Notre Dame at home and finished 10-2 and ranked 9th before their bowl game, goes to the Alamo Bowl and annihilates Northwestern while Notre Dame ranked 10th get a Fiesta Bowl bid and gets pummeled by Oregon State.

Also for the record, I know about 99% of college football fans will find my thoughts on Big 10 (and to a lesser extent, Pac-10) to be irrational and foolish. I don't mind.

I don't even really dislike the Big 10 overall, I just happen to believe the true glory days of the Big 10 are 50-60 years ago (much like Notre Dame), and they ride those coattails.

That said, Ohio State is a good fucking team. I haven't seen Michigan, but I still have my doubts.

Watching Penn State ( a team I like) was painful. It was like somebody pressed the slow motion button on my tivo.

PSU = great defense - young O-line and new quarterback. I expected (correctly) a 2-2 September but hoped (in vain) that they would cover the spread in one or both games. Had my fingers crossed for 9-2, but 7-4 or 6-5 could be just as likely if UM/MSU are the real deal.

I won't make a case for the Big 10 being the best (or even great) conference right now; they're not. On the other hand, two BCS bowl victories last year ain't exactly garbage.