Like a yard dog...

irish have been snorting the pixie dust...
alabama is going to destroy notre dame

  I've been watching a lot of Notre Dame replays lately. I'm thinking that Midwestern sportswriters have been doing way to many lines of leprechaun pixie dust. Apparently, one of the job requirements to be a sports writer up there is to have no objectivity. The other must be visual impairment is a must. I
have never seen more ridiculous observations. Here are some my favorites about upcoming National Championship Game.  Some defy logical explanation. Some are just an example of Phillip Marshall reporting when was supposedly an unbiased reporter for the Huntsville Times.

• The Irish have played the toughest schedule in America. Whoever wrote that was dropped on their head at birth. In looking at the "rigorous" Irish schedule a few things stick out. Although Navy has been a pretty good footbal team of late, this year's edition was not a good team.  Purdue is never a good team, and at 6-6 show how ludicrious it is for writers to say the Irish have played six bowl team. The Irish beat Michigan 13-6 and was on the recieving end of 6 turnovers to help them. We played the Wolverines a couple of weeks earlier. What was that score? The big win over Miami turned out to be a dude. The 'Canes had 5 loses. Stanford is a very good football team. How that Stanford touchdown  was no upheld is simply beyond belief. BYU still plays football? I wasn't aware. 17-14 over a 8-5 team that might be called average. Michgan State was was 7-6. Pitt missed a last second field goal to lose in South Bend. The Irish won that one in OT. Same for the Stanford game. Credit where credit is due when the Irish beat Oklahoma in Norman. The score  was 30-13. It seems like a rout when you see the score, but in reality it was a much closer gaem. The score was 13-13 with 5:00 minutes left.  But the Irish won. This is there best win. The Irish traveled to Boston to take on national power BC and won 21-6. The beanboys finished the year at a strong 2-10. Wake Forest was next and the Irish handled them with ease. They should have. The Demon Decs had a 5-7 record when all was said and done. And then there was the Southern Cal game. Mighty Southern Cal. They had lost their starting quarterback, started a true freshman. It showed. The Irish won  22-13. Southern Cal was inside the 10 twice in the last five minutes and failed to score. But the Irish won. The Trojans ended up being the first #1 team in AP poll history to have 6 losses the next season.
• Notre Dame has played teams with much better offenses than Alabama - what? Did the Irish scrimmage Indianapolis Colts and we didn't know about it. I honestly don't know what to say about that comical statement. I don't think BC, WF, Navy, BYU, Purdue, or Michigan State could have won a game in the SEC except for Auburn or Kentucky.
• Notre Dame is has the greatest defense in College Football - they might well be. Who would we know?  When you play Snow White and the Seven Dwarf it is difficult to make an objective opinion. I do think they Irish have a good defense, but they haven't seen an offensive line like the Tide. In all fairness, it is hard to go undeated and not have a good offense or defense. But the greatest.  Show me first and I'll become a believer.
• Evertte Gholson is a scrambling quarterback and Bama can't beat quarterbacks who have that type game.  But being highly mobile it might mean several things. Such a quarterback might mean he can't make the reads, he holds the ball too long, and the offfensive line can't pass block. If I had to bet it would be that Gholson might have a long hard January 7, 2013.
• God favors the Irish. That reminds me of the old joke about the Irish boxer who always crossed himself while getting off his corner stool. A spectator asked a priest if that really helps? The priest replied, "sure, if you have a good jab".
• The SEC and Alabama in particular is overrated. This history of the BCS sure backs up that statement, right? How funny is that?

      In trying to be objective I would say the SEC is not as good top to bottom as usual. Mississippi State had some end of the year problems. South Carolina had some key injuries but are still a darn good team. What can you say about AU. Arkansas had some unique problems that carried over to the season. Missouri isn't ready for SEC Football. Kentucky is just Kentucky. Tennessee was bad.

     On the other hand,Vandy picked up the pace, and Texas AM surprised everyone, including Alabama. Florida snapped back to big time football.Georgia showed you could teach new tricks to an old dog. Ole Miss was vastly improved by seasons end. LSU was really good but their quarterbacking was suspect.

      Then you have to consider the Coaching in the SEC.  Is there a better coach in the nation thant Nick Saban?  I seriously doubt. Les Miles is a great coach regardless of some rather odd mannerism. HF has Ole Miss on the road. The Coach, Steve Spurrier is pretty good isn't he. Let me ask this another way - how many bad coaches were there in the SEC. Heck, one snared a national championship and wasn't deemed worthy.

Note: prior to posting this blog both LSU and Mississippi State lost their bowl game.

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