Raking The Muck: Notre Dame vs. Independent BYU, Some Purdue Trash Talk, Depth Chart Notes

Can't believe we're already here, folks, with just a shade over 48 hours until Notre Dame kicks off against Purdue.  Almost as exciting is the fact that there are a nice set of games this evening.  Of particular interest to fans of the Irish, a few opponents in action tonight:

Pittsburgh at Utah - A rematch of the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, where Utah routed the Panthers to conclude a perfect season before Urban Meyer moved on to Gainesville.  Great chance for fans to watch the best game of the night but also do some scouting on two of the best teams Notre Dame will face all season.  Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin bring the big play potential for Pittsburgh against a Utah defense that only returns four starters.

USC at Hawaii - The night cap is Lane Kiffin's debut as Trojan head coach.  The visitors are four touchdown favorites, so I'm just hoping the Rainbow Warriors keep it close just long enough to see everyone favorite's wunderkind sweat a little on the sidelines.

A few other top teams in action against relative creampuffs tonight (Ohio State and Miami both work out some kinks before their Fiesta Bowl rematch next weekend), while the other big ESPN game is Steve Spurrier and the embattled Gamecocks hosting Southern Miss.  Happy football, everyone.

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After a flirtation with staying in the Mountain West, BYU is now an independent in football.  The problem about finding a network was resolved rather quickly, as ESPN has stepped in with an eight-year (!) deal, and while there are stills a lot of holes on that schedule to fill, Captain Jack Swarbrick is pitching in with a rumored six-game Cougars/Irish series that will dot the decade through 2020.  (BYU had previously scheduled a series with Texas, meaning the ‘Horns, Cougs and Irish have a nice little ménage a trois going on over the next few years.)  It's going to hurt people's argument that Notre Dame needs to join a conference to get a TV deal when Brigham Young secures a supposedly lucrative contract in a couple of weeks.

(Fun fact: This author's first game as a Notre Dame student/fan was the 2004 loss in Provo.  It featured the greatest performance by a special teams player I've ever seen, as Matt Payne kicked the ball around like Pele for four quarters.  We had even rented a big screen TV to see that sadness.  Great times.)

And while Pat Haden was probably just making sure the PAC12 knows who is boss, he didn't rule out Southern Cal going independent, although he was very, very short of actually endorsing that as an option.

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If you needed to get your ire up any more for this weekend's game, allow me to recommend checking out our old friend T-Mill's answers about ND/Purdue over at Keith Arnold's NBC haunt.  A lot of fun stuff in there, but my two favorites are probably calling preseason All-American (and Purdue game-winning touchdown recipient!) Kyle Rudolph a "solid tight end" and predicting that Saturday's game will be like 2004, a game the Boilers won 41-16.  (UPDATE! Travis clarifies his statement in the comments.)  To provide balance, here's MGo's preview of Purdue in their conference rundown: 

Robert Marve is sure getting a lot of hype for a guy who finished just inside the top 100 nationally in pass efficiency last time he played a live down. There's nothing (aside from the four stars next to his name in 2008) that suggests he'll be better than Joey Elliott was last year. Running back Ralph Bolden has a torn ACL, causing him to miss at least part of the season, and his backup, Al-Terek McBurse, has been dinged up during camp as well. The Boilermakers return top receiver Keith Smith, along with a couple other key pieces in the receiving game. They do, however, lose a couple offensive linemen from a mediocre unit, which could mean a step back.

The defensive leaders for Purdue will be a pair of seniors in defensive end Ryan Kerrigan and linebacker Jason Werner. The linebackers should be the same as last year, with Joe Holland filling one of the spots, and Chris Calrino and Dwayne Beckford battling for the final position. The secondary is almost entirely new, as Torri Williams, David Pender, Brandon King, and Dwight McLean are gone. The defense should be a serious weakness of the Boilermakers.

Almost game time.  Almost.

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Brian Kelly made some clarifications on the depth chart.  Two main points:

• The back-up quarterback situation is a work in progress. "That position is still one that will be evaluated all week, quite honestly, and all year," Kelly said. "Rees and Montana will be given second-team reps. They're splitting them right now. There is no No. 2 and No. 3."
• While Steve Filer isn't in the two-deep, some switching around of linebacker responsibilities means he could easily get into the game before freshmen Prince Shembo and Danny Spond.

As always with these things so early in the season, things are very nebulous.

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Shaq Evans is likely on his way home to UCLA.  Still disappointed things didn't work out, but here's hoping he still is able to score a bunch of touchdowns against USC in his career.

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And just because: