In the summer of 2006, Texas Longhorns blogger (and unbeknownst to him, future Domer) Peter Bean took notice of my old site where I dabbled in writing about the Irish (along with summer movies, The OC and the NBA draft).   He reached out and asked if I was interesting in running a Notre Dame site for SBNation.  My friend Rob and I had been discussing starting an Irish-only blog and loved the name "Rakes of Mallow," the title of the Irish jig played during Notre Dame games that has some truly noble lyrics:

Beauing, belling, dancing, drinking,

Breaking windows, cursing, sinking

Every raking, never thinking,

Live the Rakes of Mallow,

Spending faster than it comes,

Beating waiter's bailiffs, duns,

Bacchus' true begotten sons,

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

One time naught but claret drinking,

Then like politicians, thinking

To raise the sinking funds when sinking.

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home, with da-da dying,

Still for mellow water crying,

But, where there's good claret plying

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home with dadda dying,

Still for Mallow-water crying,

But where there is good claret plying

Live the rakes of Mallow.

Living short but merry lives,

Going where the devil drives,

Having sweethearts, but no wives,

Live the rakes of Mallow.

Racking tenants stewards teasing,

Swiftly spending, slowly raising,

Wishing to spend all their days in

Raking as at Mallow.

Then to end this raking life,

They get sober, take a wife,

Ever after live in strife,

And wish again for Mallow.

I jumped at the opportunity, and the SBNation team has been great to me ever since.  On the other hand, I've been less than great to them, as you'll notice the lulls in writing that occurred when the real world got the best of me (Rob Thomas is sort of a prophet when you think about it).  Peter and I were talking about ways of improving the quality and frequency of the posting here to get it up to the standards of the other SBNation ventures, as I'm transitioning into a new role at my real job and will have even less time to work on this site.  After the tossing around of some ideas, the powers that be decided that instead of merging the sites after SBNation purchased the FanTake Network, they were going to just rebrand the Notre Dame presence on SBNation with the fine folks over at One Foot Down.  I'm going to stick around, essaying about football and taking point on basketball coverage, but as far as new posts on Rakes go, this is the final one.

This doesn't actually change that much, other than the URL you need to go to, which will be www.onefootdown.com as soon as the engineers flip the switch.  I'll still be on Twitter (@rakesofmallow), the fine folks at SBNation are footing the bill to keep this site around so all of the archives remain, you can always reach me on e-mail and I'll still be writing about the Irish, just in different places.

I want to thank everyone at SBNation for giving me this chance, and also everyone who has taken the time to write a comment, FanPost or FanShot on this blog.  It still amazes me the reach this site has had covering Weis, Kelly, Brey and the other tremendous programs at Notre Dame, whether it be a friend of a friend thanking me for a post at a random tailgate or seeing someone logged in on the DeBartolo quick access computers checking Rakes between classes.  I've gotten some tremendous feedback, had some fun feuds and got to cover a whole lot of Irish heroics and heartbreak over the last four-plus years.

We've been through some tough times as Notre Dame fans, and while we are mocked - justly, most of the time- for saying the future looks bright, it genuinely feels like things are moving in a very positive direction under Coach Kelly.  I was a big supporter of his hiring and it seems like, just maybe, those of us who thought Kelly-to-ND was a good idea might be right about something. 

So again, thank you all, and please go over and register at One Foot Down as soon as it's live on the SBNation servers.  This blog is departing into the blue, gray sky, but there are still plenty of great places to get your Irish fix on the internet.  And as long as there are insane voices out there clamoring for three fullbacks in at all times (so, you know, forever), I'll do my best to try and provide a slighter calmer version of things.

Less than eighty days until kickoff.  Go Irish, Beat Bulls.         

I've written before that I don't get the whole Backup College thing with Boston College.  I wasn't a Notre Dame fan before going there and I grew up in western Pennsylvania, so I didn't know any Boston College fans, nor did I ever think I should compare BC's academic tradition to that of Notre Dame's.  Even going to school there, I never really got it.  More than that, the Backup College thing didn't make sense to me, only because I didn't apply to BC, nor did many other people I knew.  (Maybe everyone at Boston College did apply to Notre Dame and got rejected, but I had no idea.)

So I basically ignored Boston College, save for the week we played them in football.  But following our fellow SBNation site BC Interruption on Twitter is just a master class in how to have a tremendous inferiority complex.  Any time there is a chance to take a crack at Notre Dame - no matter how far they have to stretch - it happens.  When it was announced that the Big Ten was holding its title game in Indianapolis, BC Interruption pulled a Mr. Fantastic, saying that it was an FU to the Irish.  The explanation didn't really make sense (something about a BCS title-affecting game being played in Indiana), but I don't get too upset with individual Twitter comments.  We're all just throwing crap out there, hoping something  will stick and make people laugh.

But then there's this from earlier month, a piece entitled "Notre Dame vs. Boston College: A One-Sided Holy War"?  We're going to talk about what would drive someone to write this in a moment, but first, let's look at some specifics.  I'm going to excerpt chunks to provide context, then bold the stuff I'd like to address. 

But before we get to the fun stuff, let's just bask in the gloriousness of this rivalry. Here are two teams, both with strong Irish Catholic traditions, with fan bases who hate each other based on perceived academic superiority (let's be honest here, BC holds the title there, and I don't need stats to prove it). Each year, the two play each other, and for the most part the games become instant classics. Fans from both schools travel in droves when their team is on the road, and for BC students, the RV trip to South Bend has become a highlight of their college careers.

I have no idea what the first bolded part means.  I know you said you don't need the stats, but is there any sort of academic ranking where Notre Dame is below Boston College?  Let's quickly move onto football stuff, I just honestly didn't understand that first line.  For the second highlighted part, let's be clear: Notre Dame travels well to every road game.  Notre Dame is one of like two games a year Boston College fans care about.  Please don't confuse "Lots of Notre Dame fans showing up at a stadium not in South Bend" with "Notre Dame fans really care about this game specifically!". 

There is now a list of Notre Dame and Boston College's records starting in 2000.  I'll address this in the summary, but I don't think any Notre Dame fan would argue that we haven't had a great last decade.  I also don't think any Notre Dame fan would trade their program for Boston College's, despite the Eagles averaging over a win more per year over that stretch.  Onward.

Based strictly on a wins-loss analysis, BC would have the edge. Strength of schedule has to go to Boston College here. Scheduling USC and Michigan on a regular basis will definitely make your life harder, but how would you explain not regularly beating the service academies? ND aims to build a schedule that just throws the BCS bowls on the Irish's lap. That is all part of ND's "we are part of football's elite" mentality, which as you can see, they haven't been in more than a decade.

Oh Jesus, here we go.  Does strength of schedule have to go to Boston College?  I would just like to remind everyone that they play in the ACC, which isn't exactly the SEC West.  And Notre Dame aims to build a schedule that throws the BCS bowls into their lap?  I'm not even going to respond to this because Stewart Mandel already did earlier in the year.

Notre Dame is only a "contender" in Notre Dame's eyes. They haven't been relevant for over a decade now. We've heard a million stories how they're finally back and ready to make a splash. They can't win games even though their schedule is soft every single year. ENOUGH! PLEASE! NO MORE NOTRE DAME STUFF! I HATE NOTRE DAME! (Just like everyone else in the country outside of Indiana.)
-- Tyler, Eden Prairie, Minn.

Tyler: You seem to be suffering from two misconceptions. One, Notre Dame isn't particularly loved in the state of Indiana, either. They have far more fans in Manhattan than Muncie. But second, whether or not you believe the Irish will ever be "back," can we stop with the outdated soft schedule nonsense? Unlike most FBS teams, they don't play FCS opponents. They play USC and Michigan every year. Two of their other annual opponents, Stanford and Michigan State, won 12 and 11 games, respectively, last season. In fact, their 2010 opponents had the highest combined FBS winning percentage (.653) in the country during the regular season, and nine of their 12 foes this season played in a bowl game last year. (And ineligible USC would have made for 10).

Also, Air Force and Navy are pretty good!  I'm not sure if you noticed, but they're regularly playing in bowl games.  Navy almost won at Ohio State in 2009.  Air Force beat Georgia  Tech in a bowl game last postseason.  I mean, I know you dominated Navy by one point when you played them in 2006, but the service academies (save Army) are not necessarily easy wins!

The best part about this is one of the BC Interruption writers actually does the work in calculating the SOS the last ten years.  The average?  Notre Dame's is 19.9, Boston College's is 46.4.  How is that clearly in favor of Boston College you ask?  The apparent answer.

But shouldn't that always be the case? Seems like you are comparing apples to oranges when you consider Notre Dame gets to hand-pick the 12 teams it faces each year (and still schedules the likes of Nevada, Tulsa, Western Michigan and San Diego State). BC gets to select just 3-4 opponents each year and doesn't have a choice in playing Duke, Wake Forest, Rutgers, UConn, etc., which weighs down SOS.

You can't see me right now, but I am kneading my forehead like a professional baker.  That is one of the most amazing attempts at twisting logic you will ever find: Notre Dame's strength of schedule is twenty spots better than Boston College's because Notre Dame gets to pick easier teams to play.  Try to digest that before you move on.

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Jordan Prestwood to ND after all


Yes. No. Yes. This surprise gives ND three of the top ten OTs in the 2011 recruiting class. This class has all the earmarks of an epic recruiting class, the kind that makes the school a powerhouse for years to come. Clearly any doubts about Kelly's ability to recruit can be dismissed, so the only question that remains is can he coach them up unlike his predecessor. Time will tell, but it sure is looking good.

I've been kinda dreading doing this game.  First, because it would involve me reliving that game and the RAEG it produced, and second, because it would involve me watching plays over and over, looking for subtle changes in who blocks who and which gap players defend.  But this was the only game where I got a specific request from someone so I guess it's my duty to follow through.

The flexbone offense is a bit of a nebulous subject for most casual college football fans.  The only teams that run it (or any kind of similar system) are the service academies and Georgie Tech (whose coach, Paul Johnson, spent many years honing his craft at the Naval Academy).  Because most fans aren't familiar with the system, it can be hard to understand why it's so successful.  Aren't they just doing the same thing over and over again?  How come that fullback/slotback/quarterback was so wide open?  Can't the defense tell what's going to happen?  In a way, yes.  But in a more accurate way, no.  So then, what the heck is the flexbone?

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