NCAA Football
Auburn 24, Georgia 6: Is there a reason why this team shouldn't be number 1 right now? If there is - schedule strength, whatever - please speak up now, I'd like to know.
Michigan State 49, Wisconsin 14: Wait, what? An MSU blowout was the beginning of the end for Minnesota, but Wisconsin just seems too good to follow in their footsteps. Time for tOSU to play spoiler against Michigan - the team with the most to lose always seems to lose that game.
BC 36, West Virginia 17: Well, I've been saying all along that West Virginia was overrated, but... ugh.
Boise State 56, San Jose State 49: Amazing game. San Jose State really showed up to play in this one, even with the 9AM local start. SJSU obviously doesn't listen to all of ESPN's hype surrounding Boise State. (Although, in their defense, the Broncos do have a solid QB and a great offensive system for their conference.)
Iowa 29, Minnesota 27: For those of you who don't get to see four or more Big Ten games a week, I'll tell you this - Iowa freshman QB Drew Tate will be one to watch in the future. He's just the kind of mobile QB that has killed ND twice this season.
Texas A&M 32, Texas Tech 25: My fingers are still crossed that ND doesn't play the Red Raiders in a bowl game. A basketball game, I'd love to see that (maybe Yonto can land me courtside seats), but a football game against their pass-happy attack - no thanks.
The NFL
Steelers 24, Browns 10: Out coached, out played, out classed. Jeff Garcia is the ultimate gamer - at 6'0", 190 lbs. he has to be - so maybe the fault lies on Terry Robiskie. Robiskie was Kellen Winslow's position coach at "the U" (go figure, huh Butch?) and to my knowledge does not have too much previous coordinator experience. No wonder he commented that he had to cut the playbook back 50% when Winslow went down. There are other tight ends on the roster - Aaron Shea is having a great season - so don't blame the injury. While we're at it - you can collect all the great running backs and mobile QBs you want, but if there's no line to block, they can't go anywhere.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Ben Roethlisberger is the real deal - but a traditionally great line and a great receiving corps has definitely helped his quick progress.
Bears 19, Titans 17: Craig Krenzel puts up mediocre numbers on a team with no offense, but he keeps winning thanks to defense and good breaks. Sound familiar?
Rams 23, Seahawks 12: OK, when do they play the second half? Wait, what? Field goal battle? "I'm confused!"
Packers 34, Vikings 31: Great ending to this one. Minnesota scores two late TDs to tie it up, only to see a magnificent catch by Tony Fisher on the sidelines set up the game winning field goal for Green Bay.
Cardinals 17, Giants 14: In other news, Eli Manning will be named starter effective next week. Can Luke Petitgout and the Giant line help Eli make everyone forget about Big Ben?
Patriots 29, Bills 6: Well, if you hold the opposing QB to 76 yards passing, you'll probably win. It's that simple.
Transaction Wire
Giants sign free agent Omar Vizquel. The real end of an era in Cleveland - the last big name from the mid-'90s powerhouses is gone. Meanwhile, the fat dorks at Baseball Primer keep on keepin' on - all they can do is blast Vizquel's stats because they don't have the athletic ability to compare to his magic. On another note - are there any good shortstops left in the AL? For my money, the best defensive shortstops are playing for California's 3 NL clubs - Vizquel, Khalil Greene, and Caesar Izturis.
Washington "Nationals" sign Vinny Castilla and Christian Guzman. Castilla will provide veteran leadership - hey, with no farm system, it's not like he's blocking anyone, anyways. Guzman's move, meanwhile, finally forces the Twins to play someone with talent in their middle infield.
Tigers sign Troy Percival. The Indians were looking for a closer as well, and Percival was the best one out there. Apparently, though, the Tribe was looking more in the salary range of Armando Benitez (hey, he did help them in the playoffs so many times in the 90s). The good news is, with the signing of Percival, the Tigers will probably make Ugeth Urbina available. Urbina, sought after by the Indians last year, again could be an option at closer for the Tribe.
Here's Looking at You
It's former Notre Dame male clarinet Mike Siembor (farthest to the right in the left picture. confused?) , and Golden State forward Michael Najera.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
Recently, some MSU football players were arrested for creating and exploding homemade bombs. Apparently, the official name for a homemade bomb made in a plastic container (I'm thinking 2-liter pop bottle) is a "MacGyver bomb." Who knew?
While doing the ND basketball mini-preview, I noticed that Katy Flecky wasn't listed on the women's roster. Hmm, I thought, wasn't she in Yonto's class - she didn't graduate yet, did she? Turns out she, too, has left the team for personal reasons. Too bad, she was a good one. Too bad, also, that I never got a chance to meet her....
Link of the week: http://whudat.com/tags.html Rap stars and "What Their Mommas Named Them" - in other words, their "real names."
In ND/Chicago Bears news, the Bears released the versatile Mike Gandy to make room for a young stud lineman coming off of the injured list. The Browns could sure use a player like Gandy. Also, on November 10, Darrell began a 21 day period where he will be able to practice with the team while still on injured reserve. At the end of that period, the Bears will have to remove him from the IR list and make a roster move for him.
In case you missed it, here is my rant on the new band CD.
As I type, the #11 ND women's team is locked up in a tight one against #6 Duke in the NIT semifinals. Go Irish. The winner plays the winner of tonight's Arizona-tOSU game this weekend.
While watching the USC-Arizona game, the announcers mentioned that USC's active linebackers often leave the seams wide open for the tight ends. Anthony Fasano, anyone?
Finally, an NSS rambling, from Tuesday night's meeting. One of the ladies their was the wife of an ND grad. "They keep asking me for money. Bill always used to give, but I didn't go there, so I didn't give money any more." This woman must read NDNation, though. She was going on and on about the "Ty stare." She's not sure how long he'll still be around, and she said he reminded her of Dan Devine. Funny she should mention Devine - my thoughts on Ty were always "At best, he's a Dan Devine" - won one championship, but the alumns and fans never thought he was good enough. (Yonto, if you're reading this, I'd love to hear what The Coach thinks of Devine - he did give him the DC spot and everything.) She also mentioned that she remembered one time when the students actually tarred Devine's house in the middle of the night. Please, no one get any ideas.
Important Announcements
- I'm still looking for a guest column for the second half of this week. Email it to me preferrably by 5:30 pm eastern Thursday. If you can get it to me by 5:30 Friday, I can have it up over the weekend.
- Remember that KankaMatic Baseball re-signings are due at the end of this month.
- Next month, we'll again be voting for the KankaNation Hall of Fame. More details as we get closer to December.
- Finally, we're going to start the KankaNation Top 25 with football, not basketball. Email me your NCAA football top 25 by 3pm eastern each Sunday for the rest of the season. If you can't get to a computer easily between the end of the games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, let me know and I'll try to rearrange the schedule. We'll start with basketball once the season is done.
