Here We Go Again: Clausen To Rudolph Redux, Hughes, Tausch, Help Notre Dame Survive Washington 37-30

wouldn’t you know if it was or wasn’t?

they’re either ready to breakout, or they’re really, really average.

i’m leaning towards the latter, but i would love to be wrong.

Is this the worst 4-1 team in D1 football? Um…yes.

Greetings from Germany. I am a long time fan of the Irish (ok, since the begin of the 90’s when I visited the beautiful state of Indiana). The Irish are well known here in Germany (for a college team and american football team ;) ). In the Mid 90’s we could see all games live via NBC’s SuperChannel here in Europe (pre-Internet Era).

This season it seems that every game is a nailbiter. At least I have no heart problems (until now) otherwise I have to visit the doctor every Monday.

We won against the Huskies, that’s all it counts at the end. I know “a team” that couldn’t do this this year :D

Go Irish

What an absolutely perfect summation of the season so far.

Time was, we reserved these nailbiters for the games against ranked opponents, the elite of college football. Now we have to suffer through them against the likes of unranked MSU, Purdue, and Washington. I hardly think this heralds a return to greatness.

Yes, there were good things. The team didn’t quit, and the defense did a damn good job holding the Huskies offense, especially at the end when it really counted. And, eventually, the Irish offense found a way to get out of the red zone – again, at the end when it really counted. But how painful was it to watch one of Golden Tate’s highlight film long receptions, only to have to settle for a field goal? Tausch, bless him, needs to kick fewer field goals and more PATs.

But the general consensus about this season was that this was the one in which everything came together for Charlie Weis – seasoned players, an O-line worthy of the name, Clausen better than ever, and a cushy schedule with really only one ranked opponent. This was Charlie’s season. And so far we’ve been squeaking by in our wins. As one fellow alum put it Saturday night, we’re the worst 4-1 team in the country.

Me, I was hoping we’d either blow through the schedule like Hurricane Rita, end up 11-1 or 10-2 and in or near a BCS bowl, or have another travesty of a season. Either way, we’d settle the Charlie Question once and for all. But what I see happening is 9-3 or maybe 8-4, with 3-4 close losses and 6 close wins over undistinguished opponents (we blew out Nevada, and I assume – perhaps wrongly – that we’ll do likewise with Washington State). But if that’s in fact what happens, where does that leave us vis-a-vis Weis? Would we be confident that he can return us to the glory days, or would it just show that the best we can expect is a more-or-less consistent level of mediocrity? And is that enough?

Trent Edwards in the HOF? He won’t even make it into the Buffalo hall of fame.