A Mindful Rant; Brian Kelly To Notre Dame- And It Ain't Right

I'll get this part done with before the reader moves on- I'm no Notre Dame fan. I don't like the special handling they get from the public, the media, and the college football establishment. In my eyes, in the 21st century they're similar to Old World aristocracy living off of the glory of those who came before them, won in battles- in some cases- generations ago.

The bottom line is excepting their history they are no better nor worse than most of the college football programs in America. And that includes the way they hired their new head football coach, Brian Kelly, who until less than 24 hours ago, was the head man at the University of Cincinnati.

It was the worst kept secret this side of Sarah Palin's political aspirations for 2012- Charlie Weis needed to win at least nine or ten games at Notre Dame this year and get to a desirable (read BCS) bowl game or he was out at Notre Dame. And the man most in the free world thought would be his targeted replacement was Brian Kelly. Kelly won Big East Coach of the Year in each of his three seasons at UC, compiling a 34-6 record and back to back Big East championships. This year the Cincinnati Bearcats are 12-0, ranked #4 in the AP and #2 in the BCS- and think about this; as Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic brought up in their ESPN show this morning- if at the end of the Big Twelve Championship Game the one second was not restored to give Texas a chance to kick a game winning field goal against Nebraska, then Cincinnati would be playing Alabama for a National Championship- and Brian Kelly may not be Notre Dame's coach as we speak.

But instead, UC will meet the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl with offensive co-ordinator Jeff Quinn coaching Kelly's former team.

Even as late as last night, when Kelly won the HOME DEPOT NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR award, Kelly remained mum on the situation. See his interview below with ESPN's Chris Fowler.



Kelly's departure prior to the biggest game in UC's history is the way college football coaching hirers are done. Its the nature of the business, and it is the business they have chosen. Its the way Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for the Michigan job two years ago, weeks before WVU's BCS bowl game. Other coaches have done it that way- you do it in order to keep recruiting in tact and hit the floor running. Its The System.

And The System stinks. And it needs to be overhauled.


Loyalty....honor...."we are family". Keep preaching it. But its all so very hollow. Brian Kelly insisted to his players at Cincinnati that its all rumors, and indicated to them he would be at UC for the immediate future, even while he was meeting with Notre Dame officials about taking over that program.

Kelly waited until the conclusion of the Cincinnati awards banquet to tell his players he was leaving. Understandably, his players at UC were hurt and upset.

Wide receiver Mardy Gilyard......

"He went for the money.I'm fairly disgusted with the situation, that they let it last this long."

Tight end Ben Guidugli.....

"We already knew what he was going to say. We weren't giving him a round of applause or anything. It's like somebody turned their back on us. We brought this whole thing this far. We've come this far. To have someone walk out now is disappointing."

Quarterback Tony Pike....

"The Tuesday when we were practicing for Pittsburgh, he said he loves it here and he loves this team and loves coaching here and his family loves it here.

Yeah, three cheers for the Fighting Irish. But what about the Cincinnati players who fought so hard to take a program that nobody cared about and give it national attention? What about the fans who filled tiny Nippert Stadium and made the emotional investment with the team in this dream season, and who bought out their allotment of Sugar Bowl tickets? What about the dreams those fans had about the possibility of doing at Cincinnati what had been done at Miami, Florida State, and Virginia Tech, all at one time under the radar programs who with the right coach and circumstances became special?

The UC players and fans have a right to be angry....I'm not one of them, but I can sense the feelings of betrayal they must have.

Honesty and integrity are demanded by all football coaches on the college level- except when it has to be reciprocated back to the players in situations like this. And as stated before, its not just Brian Kelly who was less than forthcoming with his players. Its the way business is conducted in the NCAA involving the student athletes and the men who are charged with them. If anything, the young players at the University of Cincinnati have learned a very harsh life lesson- its not very fair. And the bottom line is, the only people you should be depending on for any kind of long term loyalty should be your immediate family....or barring that, buy a dog.

There should be a rule change in NCAA hirings- a coach may not be contacted unless the team he is currently coaching has completed its season. It may not be a perfect solution, but at least it would be a way to coerce college coaches practice the honesty and integrity they demand of their players, but sometimes do not practice themselves.

(In writing this entry I used ESPN.com and The Star-Ledger as my primary sources).

Postscript- @ 3:30PM Friday December 11- I just listened to portions of Brian Kelly's introduction as Notre Dame's new head coach on the radio. Now I can approximate what Arthur of the Britons probably said when he pulled Excalibur from the stone.

12 Hours Later (Plus)..... Rutgers Football; Its Time- For The Second Time

This is part of my ongoing series reviewing the 2009 Rutgers Football season. Today we'll look at yesterday's loss to the Syracuse Orange, 31-13

I've been a Rutgers football fan for many years, attending my first game back in elementary school in the 1960's. And I've attended games spanning five decades. The reason I'm telling you this is to show that I've been around for awhile and just didn't jump on the bandwagon when Jeremy Ito hit that game winning field goal to beat Louisville in 2006. I've seen dramatic wins, a lot of losses, spent afternoon on the road following the team, and have missed maybe three home games in the last 20 years. With a certain amount of shame, I'll admit now, I ducked out of my aunt's wake to listen to Rutgers getting pasted by Miami way back in 1998.

Yes, I bleed Scarlet, even though I am not an alum.

This is a piece that actually troubles me to write, but I feel I have a responsibility to do so. And I'm not going to sugar coat my feelings about the 31-13 road loss of then #25 Rutgers Scarlet Knights to a last place Syracuse team.

This was an unfathomable, incomprehensible, mind boggling loss, one that any deserving ranked team should never have suffered. It follows a familiar pattern of Thursday night wins over ranked opponents being followed on the Saturday that follows nine days later with an embarrassing double digit loss, Its happened during the 2006, 2007, and now the 2009 seasons. You can read the stats here if you like. Its pretty ugly from the RU side of it. I won't go into the minutiae of it- but Syracuse, statistically one of the worst offensive teams in the country, was able to dominate Rutgers from start to finish with twice as many first downs and three times the total yardage. Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage was sacked an incredible nine times. The offense was bad, the defense was worse, and only the special teams seemed to have shown up at the Carrier Dome.

While following the game I started to think that maybe the premise of The Prisoner was taking place- a separate reality where people and things are the same yet different in a corner of a dreamer's subconscious. If that were the case "the dreamer" was wearing Syracuse Orange and RU was in for a few hours of torment in the Village otherwise called the Carrier Dome.

This was not the team that destroyed South Florida, so I thought....and it wasn't. But who were these guys?

Now naysayers and critics will start yelling "fraud". I won't, because any program that keeps going to bowl games and winning them while graduating their players is NOT a fraud. But its getting harder for even the most supportive fans to keep arguing their case to the critics. And frankly, its getting redundant.

Every Rutgers fan should be happy to have Greg Schiano as our coach. He took a program that was in the tank and rebuilt it the right way, without recruiting violations and with a minimum of off the field embarrassments. He recruits good kids who play hard and get their degrees. The fanbase has grown, and much of New Jersey has embraced Rutgers as New Jersey's College Football Team.

When Coach Schiano took over the program in 2001 the Rutgers Touchdown Club gave its members long sleeved tee shirts that had two words printed on the back.....It's Time.

It was time for the losing to stop, for the culture to turn around, for New Jersey to get its college football team, for the world to see Rutgers in a new light. Coach Schiano said he wanted to win a national Championship at Rutgers.

In 2001 we fans thought about first things first- it was more important for Rutgers to win a Big East Conference game. Things were so bad at Rutgers in 2001 that RU was in the midst of a eight game Big East losing streak that extended back to a 24-21 win over Syracuse in 1999. They lost the next game to Miami, and continued to go 0-7 in conference 2000. When Schiano took over Rutgers wouldn't win a conference game in 2001 or 2002, going 0-14 in the Big East. In 2003 RU lost to Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Pitt. They had a 25 game conference losing streak going to then conference member Temple on October 25- Rutgers won that game at The Linc, 30-14. Think about it- a 25 game conference losing streak that spanned five seasons, two decades, and two millennium ended only a little more than six years ago.

Respectability as a program came that year and in 2004, though both were losing years. The turnaround began -and "the Chop" was born in 2005 with a 7-5 record and the first bowl appearance in in 27 years. Three more bowls followed, as will another after the 2009 season.

But once again...Its Time.

Rutgers is in a mode now of taking two steps forward and one back. The bowl appearances, the Thursday night wins, the 50,000 seat expanded stadium, the buzz on campus and in the state are great....but the program is treading water.

The goal for Rutgers is to be one of the elite programs. Elite programs don't have hangover losses after significant wins. Consider this- what do you think the likelihood Ohio State following up a win at Penn State with a loss at Indiana would be? Or maybe perhaps Florida smacking down LSU and getting beat at Vandy?

Slim and none. And that's what many prognosticators said about a Syracuse win over Rutgers. They saw RU as ready for Prime Time, that the arrival that was hinted at was finally here. They were wrong, we were wrong...and, sad to say, Rutgers was not worthy of a Top 25 ranking.

And because of this shocking loss, they probably won't see the Top 25 again in 2009. And probably deservedly so.

Rutgers has made great strides in the past decade, but now It Time once again. Its time to make the move and be a challenger to the Big East title, and not be eliminated from contention by Halloween. Its time to follow up big wins with wins over teams they are supposed to beat. Its time to reach and fulfill the promise they have hinted at over the past four years. Its time to shut the critics up once and for all. Its time for the fans to demand more...support the team and its Coach, but not be satisfied.

Its time for the Rutgers program to emerge from adolescence and hang out with the Big Boys. There is not a reason in the world for them not to be.

Everyone....Its time..

Some notes on other games Kudos go out to UCONN after their 33-30 double OT win over Notre Dame yesterday. It was the most significant win in the history of the program, and for all intents and purposes knocked Notre Dame out of contention from Gator Bowl consideration, and will probably go to the second place Big East team, which could be Cincinnati, Pitt, or even West Virginia. UCONN has had five losses by a total of 15 points, while the Irish have now lost three in a row, and back to back losses to Big East teams.

The win was for Jasper Howard, the slain defensive back was lost his life hours after UCONN's win against Louisville.

The question of whether Notre Dame will retain head coach Charlie Weis has yet to be determined.. My guess is that next week's game at Stanford would be his last.

And I wonder this out loud....how long will the rest of college football allow Notre Dame to be treated as a separate but equal partner in the BCS when they have not been relevant in the national discussion since the era of Lou Holtz, which ended in 1996? Notre Dame in the 21st century is like old world aristocracy, living off the reputation and accomplishments of their distinguished ancestors. And how long will it take before the Notre Dame administration comes clean and has to make a decision- are they serious about winning a national title as an independent where they make a fortune through TV and other revenues that they don't have to share with a conference? Or should they break down and join a conference where they can play their way to a conference title and a BCS bid? Do they want a return to football glory and a shot at a national title, or do they just going to keep the money, live off of past glory, and continue this tiresome kabuki dance they've been doing for a generation now?

Also yesterday- BJ Daniels and USF bounced back with a 34-22 win over Louisville after losing to Rutgers 31-0 a week ago last Thursday. Maybe they can win out the last two games, against Miami and Connecticut, and finish the regular season with nine wins. Rutgers fans should be thankful for USF; without them RU would be known as the most unpredictable team in the conference.

Ouch! Knightmare In The Afternoon- Rutgers Falls To Syracuse 31-13

Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano put it this way in his post game press conference...."We didn't play well, we didn't coach well- and that's on me....my hat's off to Syracuse".

Rutgers was ranked #25 in the AP poll, 7-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big East. The Syracuse Orange came into the game at 3-7, 0-5 in conference. Rutgers was an eight point favorite.

An injury ravaged Syracuse ran the ball down Rutgers throats, and sacked Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage nine times in a 31-13 upset.

Ladies and gents, it was so bad that I decided at halftime to go to 5:30 Saturday night Mass. I could pray for Divine intervention and for mercy from the media hounds and critics of my beloved team....I know, the Man Upstairs has more important things to do than worry about point spreads.

To be honest, I had a lot of apprehension about this game. Rutgers historically has a problem after big Thursday night wins. In 2006 Rutgers beat #3 Louisville 28-25 on a Thursday night; the next Saturday following the Saturday bye they lost at Cincinnati 30-11. In 2007 RU defeated #2 USF 30-27 on a Thursday night, only to get spanked the following Saturday by West Virginia 31-3 (wearing horrible black jerseys at home to boot).

And this month RU beat # 24 USF on a Thursday night 31-0, only to lay an egg the next Saturday. What made this one so painful is that RU's loss was to a regional rival....and was the only conference win this year for the Orange, who have already been eliminated from bowl contention.

I'll be back tomorrow with my regular "12 Hours Later" feature to look at this surprising but predictable loss, and I'll talk some more about the Big East landscape, including that big win by UCONN over Notre Dame in overtime.

College Football for Saturday November 14; From the Sublime To The Ridiculous and Everything In Between

7:30 PM; Its a rainy day in Jersey, so I made good use of my time by being glued to the tube for about six straight hours of college football- with more to come. At 8:00pm its Notre Dame versus Pitt in a game that could tell us the future of the head coach of the Irish, and perhaps move Pitt closer to a BCS berth.

But I did watch two games earlier, one involving two teams just in need of a single conference win, and the other with two teams fighting for a conference title and a likely trip to the Rose Bowl I'll go with the latter first.

Ohio State 27, Iowa 24 (OT)- This was for all the marbles at the Big Horseshoe in Columbus. Iowa, who lost their first game of the year-and their quarterback Ricki Stanzi last week- came to Columbus ranked #10 at 9-1 (5-1 in the Big 10), and a 17 point underdog to the Buckeyes. Freshman quarterback James Vandenberg played well for the Hawkeyes for most of the game, but with 11 minutes left in the game Ohio Sate held a 14 point lead. Then Iowa kick returner Derrell Johnson-Koulianos took it to the house for a 99 yard TD return, making it OSU 24-17. At the 2:42 mark Vandenberg hit Marvin McNutt with a touchdown that sent the game into overtime. The Buckeyes held Iowa in their possession in the OT. Then OSU backup kicker Devin Barclay hit a career long field goal to win the game for the Buckeyes, 27-24.

Barclay is a former professional soccer player who walked on to the Ohio Sate football team, having never kicked a football until fairly recently.

It was kind of painful watching the faces of the Ohio fans in the stands- been there, done that. What happened to them is similar to what happened to Rutgers back in 2006, winning nine straight to start the season 9-0 with dreams of a BCS bowl only to lose 2 of the last three games to finish the regular season 10-2. That's the best Iowa can do- they close out their season against Minnesota next week, while Ohio State finishes up with hapless (that's right, hapless) Michigan Wolverines (5-6, 1-6 Big Ten). next week in game that's window dressing for the Buckeyes, and about pride for Michigan.

(time for more football...be back in a few hours...)

12:09AM I know...Saturday night and I'm blogging about college football. I have no life whatsoever....but that's OK.

Pitt 27, Notre Dame 22 Two questions will be asked. The first, was Jimmy Clausen's arm going forward at the end of the game when it was third and sixteen and he was sacked? On further review, it looked like a good call. He was spun around and it was a fumble instead of the originally called incomplete pass At any rate Pitt took over and ran out the clock at that point for a 27-22 squeaker. With Pitt leading 20-3 going into the fourth quarter and Notre Dame on the goal line, it got a little tense in the final 15 minutes. Notre Dame goes in on the quarterback sneak (the extra point was blocked), its 20-9 Pitt leading. A great run by the Panthers made it 27-9 Pitt.

Clausen took ND down field for a quick score; there was a Pitt three and out, then a Golden Tate punt return for a touchdown, and we had a five point game. Notre Dame which had five fourth quarter comebacks this year fell short after scoring 19 points in the period. Notre Dame is now 6-4 with games remaining with UCONN and Staford, both no guaranteed win. Pitt 's at 10-0 (5-0 Big East), and next travel to Morgantown for the "Backyard Brawl" with West Virginia, and then the showdown with Cincinnati on December 5 for what could be the defacto Big East championship game.

And of course, the question asked to be asked about Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis...how hot is that fire your sitting on?

Louisville 10, Syracuse 9 We talked about the sublime, and this was the ridiculous. It was a scoreless first half for two teams searching for their first conference win. After all SOMEBODY had to win, and the Cardinals are now 4-6, 1-4 Big East, and the Orange fall to 3-7, 0-5. Both teams scored field goals in the third quarter to to tie it up at three a piece. The Cuse scored on a TD by Delone Carter (who rushed for 129 yards) but the extra point failed when the holder muffed the snap, 9-3 Syracuse. But with less than two minutes to go Josh Chichester caught a 15 yard pass from Adam Froman for the winning points for the Cards.

Another example for Syracuse fans nationwide of Orange Crushed.

That's enough guys...its late and I'm not spelling to well....a sure sign I need to do something more productive at this late hour, like have a beer.

The NFL kicks off in about 12 hours. Later!

12 Hours Later (plus).....Thoughts On A Football Couch Potato Weekend (And It Ain't Over Yet)

This is part of my weekly series following the Rutgers 2009 football season. RU had a bye this weekend, and will resume action on Thursday night at Rutgers Stadium vs the University of South Florida.

I decided to get really lazy and watch football non-stop since about noon on Saturday- so any of you regulars who drop into this quasi-political blog looking for some words of wisdom (every once in awhile I say something smart), well check back in on Monday. I'll be back with that stuff tomorrow.

Oh The Pain In Giantland!

Just a few minutes ago I finished watching the Giants blow a game to the San Diego Chargers, to extend their losing streak to four games after starting the season 5-0. New York had a 17-14 lead with a first down on the four yard line of San Diego after an interception return. A holding call moved the ball back to the 14 yard line. The Giants couldn't get it into the end zone so they kicked a field goal, making it 20-14. There was a little more than two minutes in the game and the Chargers had one time out.

Philip Rivers then led San Diego on a an 80 yard drive, capped by an 18 yard game winning touchdown to Vincent Jackson with 21 ticks left on the clock. The final- Chargers win 22-21.

Shocking....let the second guessing begin. WFAN's switchboard is going to burning up on Monday.

About six weeks ago I said the Giants would win the first five, and split the next four. Its not quite an official free fall, but its getting darn close.

Here's the box score for all who want to see a post mortem

Next up- Eagles and Cowboys. Is there any way both can loose?

The other game I watched today was the Bengals and Ravens, mainly to see former Rutgers guys Ray Rice (Ravens) and Brian Leonard (Bengals). That game was won by Cincinnati 17-7, a score that wasn't as indicative as to how dominant the Bengals were in this game. They played great defense, were able to contain Rice for most of the game, and scored just enough with 17 points in the first half to get the win. I had forgotten that former Rutgers tight end Clark Harris is now the long snapper for Cincinnati.

Bearcats Keep Winning

And speaking of Cincinnati....and college football for that matter....last night's University of Cincinnati Bearcats game against the snake bit UCONN Huskies was a nail biter, and one that tells you that some times statistics don't tell the whole story. How about a Cincy offense that ran up 711 yards of offense, had a 20 point lead at the half (30-10), but when the smoke cleared it was a shootout after a furious comeback by UCONN, only to see Cincinnati hang on to win 47-45. This really was like watching two separate games, with UCONN showing a lot of heart to nearly steal this one from undefeated #5 Cincinnati (9-0). This two point loss for UCONN added to a season of unbelievable setbacks for the Huskies, this following identical 28-24 losses to West Virginia and Rutgers in consecutive weeks, a last second game winning field goal to Pitt, and a safety at the end of their game against North Carolina to give them a two point loss. All told, this makes five losses by a grand total of 15 points. Unbelievable, and it dropped the Huskies to 4-5. And of course, there is the greatest tragedy of their season, the murder of defensive back Jasper Howard. The losses to WVU, Rutgers, and Cincinnati have all come in consecutive weeks since Howard's death.

This game will be remembered as the coming out party on network TV for Cincinnati's backup quarterback Zach Collaros, who threw for 480 yards and and one touchdown, and rushed for another 75 yards and two TD's. He's the backup for starter Tony Pike, last years first team Big East quarterback....and he might be doing a Lou Gehrig-Wally Pipp thing- Pike is recovering from an injury, and who knows when- or if- he can reclaim his job. Tony Pike was getting some buzz as a potential Heisman candidate...and now he can't get back on the field .

The Big East's two best quarterbacks might be on the same team, the Cincinnati Bearcats.

How about Those Middies"

The last time an unranked Navy team beat a ranked Notre Dame was 1936. And it happened again on Saturday when the Irish (#22) fell to the Midshipmen in South Bend, 23-21. It was the second win in three years for Navy over ND, and the first time Navy has won in back to back trips to Notre Dame since the Roger Staubach era (1961 and 1963). Jimmy Clausen passed for 452 yards for ND and had two touchdowns, but also a costly interception and was taken down in his own end zone for a safety that ultimately won the game for Navy. With Navy leading 21-7 late in the fourth quarter, Clausen connected with Michael Floyd with 4:46 left in the game to make it 21-14 Navy. After a scoreless Navy possession resulted in a punt deep into Irish territory , Clausen was tackled in the end zone by Navy's Craig Schaefer for the safety, making the score 23-14 Navy with only 1:00 left in the game.

The ensuing free quick by Notre Dame was a onside, recovered by Notre Dame, who took it down field quickly and into the end zone, Clausen to Golden Tate for seven with 24 seconds in the game. The Irish tried another onside kick, but this time it was recovered by Navy, who took a knee and ended the game.

The final- Navy 23, Notre Dame 21.

The Irish turned the ball over three times to none for Navy, and couldn't contain the vaunted Navy rushing attack, the Middies racked up 348 yards on the ground.

The win for Navy made them bowl eligible at 7-3, the loss dropped ND to 6-3 and more or less eliminated them from any hope of a BCS bowl bid, and took them out of both the AP and USA TODAY Top 25's.

Orange Crushed By Pitt

If you hadn't noticed, I'm doing this in reverse order....call it The Olbermann Syndrome.

The first game I watched yesterday (Saturday) was Syracuse and Pitt from Heinz Field, at the confluence of the Allegheny and the Monongahela rivers. The final was Pitt 37, 'Cuse 10, but it wasn't that close. Both teams traded field goals for the only scoring in the first quarter (with Syracuse scoring first). Then Pitt's Greg Williams returned an interception for a 51 yard score, giving Pitt a 10-3 halftime score. After the half, the Panthers scored many and often, racking up 27 points in the second half. All told Pitt scored 37 unanswered points between Syracuse's first and last scores, the final being an Orange TD with 1:03 left in the game. Super freshman Dion Lewis ran for 110 yards and one TD for Pitt, tight end Dorin Dickerson went for 118 yards and a touchdown, steady Pitt QB Bill Stull was 16/23 for 225 yards and a TD. The Panthers (8-1) have crept into the AP and USA TODAY Top 10 (at #8 and #9 respectively) while Syracuse falls to 3-6, one loss from bowl elimination.

Those were the games I watched in their entirety...yes, the whole games. Hey, I deserve it. I did see some parts of Georgia Tech- Wake Forest, Ohio State- Penn State, and Louisville-West Virginia, but not enough to get a feel for the games.

What can I say?

I really like football.