Raking the Muck: Notre Dame vs. Temple Series, Nate Montana Transfers, Number and Spring Game News

The big news yesterday was that the much-rumored Temple series was about to become official, with the first date likely to occur in 2013.  Ideally, the 2013 game would be the last weekend of August and the first contest of the season, giving the Irish a warm up before the trip to Ann Arbor.  If all of this is accurate, then it will be a three-game series, with two games in Notre Dame Stadium and one in Lincoln Financial Field, the bird-friendly home of both the Owls and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Some unsurprising corners of the Irish internet have deemed this unacceptable, which is a ridiculous but totally expected.  I don't see any reason to get excited about this series outside of those living in Philadelphia who can throw a tailgate party in their backyard for the first time since 1993, but it's a one hundred percent tolerable game.  Notre Dame needs games like this on their schedule, because just like the Washington State game two years ago or Western Michigan this year, they need games where they have an almost zero percent chance of losing.*  Someone suggested Ole Miss as one of the easy breather games, which would be fine except the Rebels were in the Cotton Bowl two years ago, so they wouldn't really qualify as a walk.  As long as these games are sprinkled in as functional byes before the biggies on the schedule (Michigan, USC, Oklahoma, Miami), I'm all for scheduling one or two weaker teams per season, as long as the Irish don't dip below the Division I level. 

* Someone stupid will make a Tulsa comment here, ignoring the fact the Hurricanes went 10-3 and won a bowl game.  Perennial bowl teams who consistently give tough games to their opponents are not breathers.

And if you're a season ticket holder complaining about this, I find it hard to find sympathy for you.  Name me a team where every home game you get is some blockbuster event.  There are certainly terrible teams on every professional team's schedule, and nearly every other collegiate football program has at least one or two buy games every year.  College basketball obviously has a whole lot of unattractive matchups, between the early season blowouts and worst teams in the conference coming to town.  If you're that upset about the two games against Temple, I know someone who will buy your tickets.     

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So hard to resist making the easy jokes here, but Nate Montana is transferring to Montana, realizing there was roughly a zero percent chance of him getting to the field this year with Dayne Crist, Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson in front of him.  Montana transferring actually leaves the Irish a scholarship short of the 85-player limit, so anyone who wants to compare this to oversigning would obviously be admitting to some severe math deficiencies.  Montana was given a scholarship this year after he found his way into the role of backup quarterback, playing most of the first half in the Michigan game and ending up number two behind Rees after Crist's injury against Tulsa. 

A tip of the hat to Brian Kelly for getting his quarterback carousel down to four with relative efficiency, speed and a lack of drama.  As we talked about earlier in the week, Luke Massa moving to wide receiver means that we're down to the quartet Kelly wanted in his presser earlier in the year.  A lot of people seem to think a healthy Crist gets the job, but between his injury history, Rees' improved play in the bowl game and both Hendrix and Golson being mentioned as prototype quarterbacks for the system, this could get very interesting.

As an aside on Massa, a lot of people mocked Kelly for talking about going out and trying to get the Right Kind of Guys for his program.  Here are a few quotes from Massa's high school coach, who leads me to believe that maybe the strategy of going after a bunch of guys who want to be at the school might not be a bad idea:  

"Luke has been a quarterback all his life," Specht said, "and he was recruited to Notre Dame to do just that. There are reasons why quarterbacks are quarterbacks - because they're leaders and they're difference-makers.

"I think Luke wished he had more time to prove himself at that position, but on the other hand, this kid is all about helping Notre Dame. If they want him to clean the stadium, and that makes the team better, he'd be the first to do it. He'll embrace wide receiver.

"And as far as how good he can be? Well he's faster than people think. He can jump as high or higher than anybody on that team. He has phenomenal body control. I would not bet against Luke Massa."

 I'm disappointed no one has pointed out that this is the move Matt Saracen made in Season Three of Friday Night Lights.  (Saracen, also, was an RKG.)  Come on, people, I can't do all of the work for you.

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Shall we talk about Tommy Rees a bit more?  Rees is one of a few current players switching his number, going from 13 to 11, his high school jersey.*  Other current players switching numbers are Roby Toma and Louis Nix, both changing to 9.  I do hope we will be able to tell them apart on the field.  These are in addition to Bennett Jackson's previously tweeted swap from #86 to Darrin Walls' vacated #2.

*A few very wise people pointed out that this makes an easy t-shirt option, as "This QB Goes to 11" with a Rees on the back almost works as well as "The Power of Crist Compels You."  With Hendrix, there are the obvious rock star references to make, and anyone who has any suggestions on Everett Golson, please leave them in the comments.

Just as exciting is some news from last week that the early enrollees have their numbers as well.  They are:

Ishaq Williams #1

Everett Golson #5

Aaron Lynch #19

Kyle Brindza #27

Brad Carrico  #56

One of the hundreds of things that make college football cooler than the NFL is that at some point this season, it's very likely that #1 and #9 will be lined up with a hand down ready to rush the quarterback.  It's the little things.

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Yesterday was the "Two Months Until The Blue-Gold Game" mark, so I hope you're all getting excited.  The kickoff will be at 2pm on April 16, with practices starting on March 23^rd.  As always, I think it's important to take spring developments with a grain of salt, but I judge no one who drinks this up as a football oasis in the arid offseason. 

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Two quick reminders:

1)      You can follow Rakes on Twitter at @RakesOfMallow.  (Clever, I know.)  If you're having misgivings about joining the Twitter revolution, I know how you feel.  I was adamantly against it for a while, but after joining in the fall of 2009, I couldn't recommend it more if you want to stay up to date on the latest happenings of anything, especially college football.  There are a lot of really smart people you can follow, from random fans up to bloggers and SI and ESPN writers.    

2)      After a week off, Notre Dame basketball travels to Morgantown on Saturday.  The game begins at 1pm ET and is on CBS (unless you live in certain parts of the southeast.)  The Irish got a little breathing room in second place with Georgetown and Louisville both going down last night, but they'll be back within a game of the Hoyas if they fall to a desperate Mountaineers squad.