Gameday.

Get pumped up.


Go Irish.

Additional Odds and Ends

Friends,

I wrote this morning's post up last night before I went to sleep.  So I missed out on informing you fine people of three important things.

First, for several minutes of game time yesterday, Southern Cal was losing to Hawaii, 5-3.

Alas, Southern Cal eventually asserted itself and went on to win by eighteen.  

Temple Friday

 Fellow Irish Fans:

 One Day More:

Except our road is not neverending, and does not end at Calvary.  Rather,

College Football is Back

For the first time in over six months, I'm writing something from my favorite comfy chair with live college football on TV.  And it is wonderful. I could have written a nice long post about this, and how much the sport means to so many people, but I defer to what my friend Michael has already written, as he has done a thoroughly excellent job.  

Temple Friday will arrive in the morning.  See you then. 

Temple Thursday

Happy Thursday, everyone.  48 hours to Notre Dame football.  I know it's a long wait, but on the bright side, tonight college football returns.  No more pale substitutions, like playing football while bowling:

I have no idea how many takes it took to get this shot.

Football is back this Thursday night.  Sadly, not at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia, where Virginia Tech has mastered the art of the Thursday night game:

Temple Wednesday

Ladies.  Gentlemen.  Boys.  Girls.  Zahm residents.

Three days left.

Three perfect days without Notre Dame football?
There is no such thing.  

But still, let's make the most of the three days left between us and football.  Practice drinking skills for tailgating.  Stock up on suncreen.  Tell friends you have Temple this Saturday and bask in their confusion.  And take a look at the great players to have worn #3 for the Irish over the years:

Ron Powlus, who alas did not win two Heisman Trophies
despite Beano Cook's prediction.

Darius Walker, who came out of nowhere as a freshman
to lead us to victory over hated Michigan in 2004.

Michael Floyd, seen here working on the career record
for touchdowns at Notre Dame

Twenty-eight of them can be seen below

And of course, the third string quarterback on the 1977 Irish squad.  At least, he was third string on opening day.  Then the starter, Rusty Lisch, was injured in game three against Purdue.  In came backup Gary Forystek, who immediately shattered his clavicle and suffered a concussion.  Thus, in came a third string QB wearing #3:

Yes, Joe Montana started 1977 as a third string quarterback
and ended it by winning a National Championship

Now, at this point you've likely noticed that there's been all this talk of football, but no talk of Temple, and its famous alumni.  Well, that's my fault.  Mea culpa.  Temple has lots of famous alumni, like Bill Cosby

And . . . Bill Cosby

And . . . um . . . Bill Cosby

Yeah, I got nothing.

So, get your pudding pops ready for visiting Temple fans.  Not that I expect that many.  See, many of you loyal readers were at the Blue & Gold game.  30,000 or so Irish fans came to the stadium to watch an intrasquad matchup.  Meanwhile, just look at the crowds for Temple's spring game!

Look at all those fans!  I can hear their rallying cry now:

Temple fan Tobias Funke admonishes those who doubt the size of Temple's fanbase

But still, Temple fans, unlike El Dorado, do exist.  And some of them will journey to South Bend.  But journeys from Philadelphia to South Bend are expensive.  Heck, it costs $53.10 just to drive the turnpike from Philly to the Ohio border.  How on earth will Temple students be able to afford such a trip?  

You'll have your answer tomorrow.  In the meantime, enjoy this Backer song of the day: 

Walking on Broken Glass: a sad reality at Temple's practice facility.

1,000!

Friends,

As I sat down to prepare tomorrow's tirade against Temple and all its evil works, I noticed this blog has now cleared 1,000 page views.  This calls for two things.  First, a victory dance:

Second, a big thank you to all you readers.  Without you, these briefings on the opposition simply wouldn't exist. 

Temple Tuesday

Morning everyone!

We are now a mere four days from Notre Dame football

As you can see here, Michigan State is trying to keep
football from us, but has failed. 

The man in the picture above is Lee Becton, starting tailback on the 1993 Fighting Irish and proud owner of this highlight reel:

As we reminisce about yesteryear, the football team continues its preparations for Temple.  Nothing can stand in their way, not even a rash of horrific food poisoning that wipes out the top 23 QBs on the depth chart (HT: House Rock Built).

This doesn't mean, however, that Temple has zero chance of winning on Saturday.  On the plus side of their ledger, they're a real D-1 football team.  With players and coaches and a mascot and everything.  On the minus side?  Well, there are a lot of minuses, but let's just focus on their mascot today.  He's an owl.

Pictured: Temple Owl learns he has to watch all twelve Temple games this year.

And sure, they got themselves a real live owl for this season

The owl, unsurprisingly, is in favor of night games. 

But really, what are owls good for?  I suppose they're good for giving us an entire tumblr feed devoted to Hungover Owls

And getting stuck in the grill of moving trucks

And being assholes to all and sundry as seen here

And, once upon a time, flying straight into a bus I was riding on down I-57 in the middle of the night.  It crashed through the windshield, leaving a hole the size of a basketball in the window and a cloud of feathers everywhere.  But that's it.  Suicide missions, hangovers, and getting stuck in cars is all they appear to be good for.  Unlike Notre Dame's mascot, the leprechaun: 

Who, in addition to incredible skills at cartwheels, flag-waving, push-ups, and general enthusiasm for all things Irish, has written a book.  It's available at this email address, and is an easy way to start knocking items off your Christmas list.

Tune in tomorrow for more on Temple, and in the meantime, enjoy this topical Backer song of the day: 

  

Temple Monday

Friends:

It's been a long summer, it's been a fun summer, it's been a good summer.  The weather was mild, and the giant sinkhole didn't destroy anyone or anyplace I care about:

As I couldn't spend a week this year explaining how much 

Boston College sucks, please enjoy this metaphor.

 
And we've had non-football sports to get us through the summer.  They're fun, but they have their flaws.  For example, soccer:

I suspect the two-eyed minions are Italian.

And now, in a mere five

Yes, there was offseason news on him.  More on that later.

(5) days, football returns.  Instead of scoring by ones like in baseball, hockey, and soccer, we go back to scoring by sevens and threes:

How excited should you be?  This excited:

Yes, it's an exciting week to be a college football fan, and a great week to be a Fighting Irish fan.  Alas, we open with Temple, which has made unloading tickets a small problem for some.  Fortunately, there is a template pioneered by the football team itself for ticket sales tactics (v).  

But while we are playing Temple, look on the bright side.  We are playing Temple here, and not there.  There being Temple University, per US News and World Report the 125th best 'national university'.  How impressed should you be?  This much: 

If you successfully predicted this picture would follow
the question 'how impressed . . .", give yourself a pat on the back.  

But while Temple may be 125th best nationally, and somewhere in the bottom tier of schools located in the Philly metro area, it does rank third in the nation in one very important category: size of police force: 

The Temple University Police department currently has 130 campus police officers, including supervisors and detectives.^[44] Each officer is a Pennsylvania-certified law enforcement officer, who receive state-mandated police recruit training at an accredited state police academy ^[45] More than 600 campus security cameras help the department maintain an optimal view of the university and the surrounding community.^[44] Temple has also implemented a state-of-the-art lighting system which utilizes over one thousand, 1000-watt metal halide lights mounted on building rooftops that mimics daylight at ground level.^[46] Temple also has a mass notification system, TU Alert.^[47]

With a 115 acre campus, that's over one police officer per acre, and approximately five security cameras per acre.  Why do they need so much law enforcement?  Well, let's look at the Crime Map!

I can't help but be impressed by the dedication to crime evidenced by the local denizens.  That display of criminality, week in and week out, takes real effort.  Of course, it also raises the risk that members of the Temple football team will attempt to defect to Notre Dame rather than return.  Perhaps a check of the visitors locker room before the Temple bus leaves on Saturday will be necessary, just to make sure there's not a kicker, safety, or even the Temple mascot hiding in a corner.

What, you didn't even know Temple had a mascot?

Some mascots wear their heart on their sleeve.
Apparently, Hooter wears his BAC on his chest.

More on him tomorrow.  

In the meantime, due to popular demand, 

Pictured: popular demand

I am debuting a new feature this season: Backer Song of the Day.  And well, I'm so happy it's finally game week that I'm almost dancing on the ceiling: 

Six Hundred

You know, I had a post planned for when this little blog passed 500 page views.  There were going to be references to the game we all played in grade school, where you hoped you wouldn't get an elbow to the head as someone chased a ball christened 'dead or alive'.  There were going to be Indy 500 references too, site of an allegedly glorious bachelor party I, alas, was not able to attend.

But you football fanatics blasted straight through to six hundred page views.  I'm floored.  Thank you all so much.

Of course, now this means I have to put in extra effort to make sure we get Temple Week off to a good start.  Dammit.

Six Days

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Six days.  Less than a week.

Now, who best to post about for day six?  Hmmmmm . . . hmmmmmmmmmmmm . . .

Oh yes.  Jerome Bettis.  

Jerome 'The Bus' Bettis.  Leaps Michigan Men(tm) in a single bound.  Responsible for a spectacular career highlight reel:

Some of which came from a rather famous 1990s Sugar Bowl.  Florida, coached by Steve O. Spurrier, was ranked #3 in the country.  Now, back in the pre BCS days, this meant Florida could still win the national championship, provided 1) the teams ahead of them lost and 2) they beat lowly, #18 Notre Dame.  Most Florida fans thought #2 was a foregone conclusion.  They were passing along the joke of the week in the French Quarter:

Q: What's the difference between Notre Dame and Cheerios?

A: Cheerios belong in a bowl.  HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAA I'm so funny!

Holtz's team took the field with a very . . . interesting game plan: drop nine men into pass coverage and dare Spurrier and his quarterback, Shane Matthews, to throw on him.  It was a dare for Spurrier to lose his focus on the original game plan.  Now, how easy is it to distract Spurrier?

Very.

Spurrier, a former Heisman winner at quarterback, decided to prove his teams could throw the football against anyone, and any defense.  And throw they did, marching into the red zone over and over again.  Alas, it's very hard to throw for touchdowns in the red zone when nine defensive backs are swarming all over the place.  So Spurrier settled for field goals five times.  Meanwhile, the Irish running game kept hammering at his defense, over and over and over again.  Until finally, in the fourth quarter, the dam burst, courtesy of Mr. Bettis:

Start at the 3:55 mark

Three consecutive touchdowns to not just defeat, but embarrass, one of the nation's top teams.  With a little salt in the wound thrown in at the end: 

One chomp per Bettis touchdown. 

And with that, the pure countdown portion of these postings ends.  Tomorrow, there will still be countdown material.  But much more importantly, tomorrow is the start of Game Week.  Which brings with it Temple material.  

I hope you all appreciate how hard it is to find material on Temple.  

See you tomorrow, and Go Irish.

Seven Days

Irish fans:

One Week

We are now only one week from football.  One week, or seven days.    

Seven is a great number at Notre Dame, worn by the holder of the single game passing yardage record (Joe Theismann, left) and a Heisman Trophy winner (John Huarte, right).  It's also the number of a current player, one Stephon Tuitt, seen here: 

Hello.

and here, demonstrating a right and proper victory dance, which sadly would cost him fifteen yards if used during a game:

and here, running a fumble back for a touchdown:

Now, there's a lot that's great about that video, including that it put the game well and truly out of reach for the Naval Academy.  However, please take note of Navy's number 20.  If I ever have the privilege to meet him, I have a pair of questions for him. 

1.  You're a running back, he's a D-Lineman.  How is it that you didn't catch him, and over the last 30 yards of chasing you didn't gain a foot on him?  

2.  Stephon outweighs you by over 100 pounds

Stephon Tuitt, seen here.  And Navy RB 20, barely seen because he is so small.

What exactly was your plan if you caught him?

Sadly, I will not have the answer to that question for you all tomorrow.  But I will answer the age old question: 

what happens when you use a battering ram of a fullback against Steve Spurrier?

Eight Days

Irish fans, The March Is On.

Yesterday, once again, students from across the country swarmed onto campus as marching band tryouts began.  The sound of drums, woodwinds, and brass echoed across campus.  Soon will come the freshmen, then the upperclassmen, and in eight days, football.  Sweet, glorious football.

I wish I had a more substantive post for you all, dear readers.  Alas, the best I have to offer for Football - 8 is Frank Tripucka

Undefeated as Notre Dame quarterback in 1948, and a first round draft pick in 1949 for Philadelphia.  In more modern times, we have Marty Mooney.

He completed some passes against Syracuse once.  Sadly, that's all I've got.  But look on the bright side: it's Aloha Friday!

No work til Monday.  And no more posts til tomorrow morning, when we'll be but seven days from football. 

Nine Days

Single digits, everyone.  That's how close we are to the return of football.  There are many ways to demonstrate we are a mere nine (9) days away.  For example, there is Big Lou Nix III,

FREE HUGS!!!!

aka Irish Chocolate

aka Denard Robinson's personal nightmare

Happy Birthday, Denard!

He will be anchoring the center of the defense this year now that Manti Te'o is playing for the San Diego Chargers.  

Also on the list of great Notre Dame nines: Tony Rice, quarterback of our most recent title team and the man behind many highlight reel plays, including This one against #2 Southern Cal in 1988.  

And then, of course, there's St. Viator's own Tom Zbikowski.  

An excellent safety, punt returner, 

And boxer, who made his professional debut at none other than New York's Madison Square Garden.

Hopefully, Zbikowski's annihilation of his opponent will be a handy metaphor for what the 2013 team does to Temple.  Alas, we have to wait . . . NINE MORE DAYS?!?!

Hang tough, all.  We're almost there.  

  

One Hundred!

All:

Due to my obsessive tracking of metrics, I know two important things about this here blog.  First, someone has accessed the blog from Russia.  Twice.  I don't know who you are, or if you stumbled on this place by accident, but thank you.

Second, we've already passed 100 page views.  Even before the official roll-out to the viewing public this coming Monday.  Thank you all for encouraging this 'work'.

Ten Days

Ten days from football.  Now this means we need to honor Notre Dame's great number tens.  Yes, yes, you're all expecting a particularly handsome quarterback to grace the pages of this website.  But first, let's hop in the wayback machine to November 13th, 1993.  When another #10, Adrian Jarrell,

took the field against #1 Florida State.  It was all part of a master plan, you see.  Coach Holtz called a masterful drive.  He ordered five or six straight running plays.  No misdirection, no air attack.  Just pure unadulterated violence.  Line plunge up the middle.  Counter left, counter right, line plunge right, et cetera.  And then the Irish called this play:

ROLL TAPE!

There's many plays in football that are fun to watch.  Somewhere near the top are the ones like this, featuring 1) misdirection 2) offensive linemen running 20 yards downfield looking for someone to block and 3) ending in a touchdown:

Alas, that play took place almost twenty years ago.  More recently, we've had another heroic player wearing #10: Brady Quinn.

Brady Quinn denotes the number of touchdowns he ran for against Jon Tenuta's defense

In four years as a Notre Dame quarterback, he set thirty-six separate records, most of which are featured in this highlight reel: 

I particularly recommend the thrashing of Penn State in Joe Paterno's last visit to Notre Dame Stadium

He was a fan favorite, embraced by students and alumni alike.  And for some reason most of the female student body as well.  

Nope.  Haven't the foggiest idea why he was such a favorite.  Any ideas? 

He also had a brief but memorable career as a pitchman, for Myoplex energy drinks

Which sadly, just can't hold a candle to the greatest energy drink of all time, PowerThirst:

Ahhhh, PowerThirst.  It's the perfect energy drink for strenuous physical activities.  Like boxing.  Which is a nice segue into tomorrow's segment.  But that, of course, comes later. 

Eleven Days

Readers: 

another day has passed, bringing us another day closer to football.  Specifically, eleven days.  

For many many years, pickings for Notre Dame's #11 were slim.  Our best player with that number by far was one Tom Krug.  A backup quarterback for the 1995 season, he performed well in a losing effort against Florida State in the 1996 Orange Bowl.  Then, after an injury, on to law school he went, and then onward to the judicial bench in Florida.  Therefore, while he may not have played in the NFL, each and every day, he does battle with one of civilization's greatest foes: Florida Man.  Not a football career, but a successful and worthy career nonetheless.

Of course, now we have a different #11.  Tommy Rees, aka

aka

Yes, he is not the starting quarterback we planned on having this year, thanks to an altogether different cheat code.  But please note that he is that rarest of things: both a backup QB and a former starter.  And not just any starter, but one who went 14-4 in the role.  And in fact, he would have been 15-3, had it not been for a certain man named Gary Gray.  

There are numerous photos of Gary Gray that could go here.  They have been redacted for the moment out of concern for readers' sanity. 

But the fact remains: fourteen wins to four losses.  And this year, for the first time in his college career, he enters the season as the presumptive starter.  So while you may have the urge to do this: 

Keep calm.  We still have all sorts of pieces to put together for a very, very good season.  Starting only eleven days from now. 

Twelve Days

Ladies, gentlemen, Irish fans:

The count is down to twelve.  Twelve days between us and the return of college football.  It's an exciting milestone, because it is entirely possible someday, someone will write a song called 'The Twelve Days of Football' to help us with the final countdown.  Alas, it will not be me, because I do not like that Christmas carol one bit.  The only version I will tolerate is this one, the Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas:

So there will be no special songs today.  Only a notice that this many

Days are left before we suit up to clobber Temple.  

Now, some of you may not recognize this man.  One Ricky Watters, later of the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, he played for the Irish from 1987 to 1990.  Part of the dominant Holtz backfields of the era, he racked up 21 career TDs and averaged 5.6 yards per carry.  But don't take my word for it: watch this highlight reel:

And get excited for football.  Only twelve days away. 

Getting Closer

Attention, everyone.  Notre Dame football will return to your lives in exactly 

Prepare your TV schedules and livers accordingly.

This is a test.  This is only a test.

If you have stumbled on this page already, well, kudos.  More coming later.