… CAP’N JIMMY FOOTBALL!!

I imagine there were many people surprised by Stanford’s thrilling 24-23 win over #2 USC Saturday night. I was not among them.

Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh (right center) celebrates his team’s big win over USC with players Ben Ladner, Tavita Pritchard, and Evan Moore. (image courtesy of espn.com)

Honestly, tales of Jim Harbaugh leading a group of castoffs and retreads to victory despite tremendous odds are old news. I wasn’t shocked in the least.

Jim Harbaugh runs from the Dolphins’ ageless JasonTaylor, ca. 1998. (image courtesy of usatoday.com)

Wake my sarcastic self up when you’ve got news.

Inspired by this comment to this post at EDSBS, I now have images in my head of Charlie Weis levitating around the Notre Dame football complex planning his eventual takeover of the NCAA by restraining the spice trade. And by spice I mean illegal used-car-salesman-money, hookers/willing sophomores and “herbal wellness supplements.”

I don’t think Baron Harkonnen would be an upgrade as his defensive scheme failed miserably against The Fightin’ Fremen.

Someone needs to teach Jimmy Clausen the Litany Against Fear:

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
(photo courtesy AP/Bill Fundaro)

Although I doubt even giant sand-worms could save the Irish offensive line at this point.

ND vs. Michigan, as Matt said “the battle of who could care less.” ND’s first offensive snap is a high shotgun snap and they end up with it on the 1 yard line. Then Michigan’s first snap is dropped and fell on for lost yardage. After scoring a field goal Michigan then kicks it out of bounds. Jesus, this game is going to set the game of football back by 50 years. It’s the first game I’ve watched that I don’t think even deserves to be broadcast in High Definition.

We’ll see how far I can make it though this game until I switch to Florida/Tennessee or Texas/UCF.

LOL. Wow, just as I get ready to hit submit Clausen fumbles the ball and turns it over to Michigan. NBC has to be thrilled they are stuck broadcasting Notre Dame all year.

Update: 11:34 left in the second, and Notre Dame looks atrocious. Michigan is making them look like a 1-AA team…. ooohhh wait. If that was the case ND would be winning. At this point I’m thinking a Division II team could beat up on ND. Their O-Line couldn’t pick me up on a blitz.

Think of it dear readers… After this weekend, either Notre Dame or Michigan will be 0-3. Truly, it is good to be alive in such exciting times.

A maybe sometimes regular or not who knows feature. CJ and I chatting on GTalk about sports. Hilarity (or not) ensues after the break.

(more…)

Just heard Kirk Herbstreit on ESPN regarding South Florida taking on #17 Auburn this weekend and the potential for an upset:

…on one hand Matt Grothe and South Florida have an opportunity to go to Auburn and compete. On the other hand I think their chances of pulling off this upset diminish as the days go by because too many people are talking about it.

What the hell does that even mean?!

I had no idea that people talking about a potential upset can cause it to not happen.   Thank God no one talked about the possibility of Appalachian State beating Michigan. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to block that kick at the end of the game.

… is Appalachian State.

The question?  “What is 91.9% of Big Ten fans’ second favorite team?”

Appalachian State All-American safety Corey Lynch, shown here returning a blocked field goal in a game against Furman in 2006, blocked Michigan’s game-winning field goal attempt with six seconds to go in ASU’s stunning 34-32 win in the Big House Saturday.  (image courtesy of goasu.com)

Appalachian State may be the two-time defending I-AA champs, but that, my friends, is how you spell “upset.”  According to ESPN’s GameDay broadcast, this was the first time a I-AA school beat a ranked I-A school… ever.  We may not see one of these again for a long, long time.

In the meantime, I will begin preparing our sleeper sofa for the likely-soon-to-be-unemployed Lloyd Carr, just in case.  He’s a heck of a ball coach and  certainly doesn’t deserve this, but it couldn’t have happened to a nicer Booster Club.

If this is Week One, I’m gonna enjoy this season.

How do you turn around a hellish football program?

The answer, as we have learned the last two years, is to love the hell out of it.

Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner lost his fight with brain cancer Tuesday. He was 59. (image courtesy of usatoday.com)

Rest easy, Coach.

So apparently Purdue football coach Joe Tiller is closing all of his practices now because:

“I’m tired of blogging and guys talking about our practices, and postings, and all that (B.S.),” Tiller offered as an explanation. “All’s it is is more problems than it is value.”

I have this picture of Tiller, 2am, can’t sleep. Infomercials running on Spike while he surfs the blogs. “What? They posted that I ran my players through tip drills today? THOSE BASTARDS!!”  How dare those pesky bloggers write about the practices of a major Big Ten football program. FOR SHAME.

Florida’s Dallas Baker scores the Gators’ first touchdown of many on their way to pwning the Buckeyes (picture courtesy cnnsi.com)

So, never let it be said that I don’t admit when I’m horribly wrong. My apologies to the Florida Gators. And to OSU, way to show up.

Jason: Indeed, I was dead wrong as well. Congrats to the Gators. Way to show off that Heisman, Troy. Good job. By the way, what are AP and Coaches poll voters smoking when they rank Boise State 5th and 6th respectively? What does BSU have to do to get some respect?