Weekend of Fun

As boilerdowd mentions in the post below, this was a solid start to the football season for our beloved Boilermakers. Not so much for Michigan and Notre Dame, storied programs that, of late, have really only been storied in their own minds and recruiting brochures.

As you've no doubt heard, Michigan lost -- at home -- to Division I-AA Appalachian State on Saturday. I found the pictured billboard that is proudly displayed in Boone, NC (where I've actually been a couple of times, believe it or not) and I have to say, while I'm happy for the Mountaineers and their unparallelled accomplishment, I think this billboard is a bit misleading.

Regardless, here's an interesting factoid: Did you know that Michigan has now lost three straight games (dating back to last season) for the first time since, get this, 1979. That's incredible. Lloyd Carr must really wish he retired now. Good plan on coming back for a shot at that national title, Lloyd!

In other parts of the midwest, Notre Dame got pummelled by G Tech, 33-3. And it's wonderful. Fat Charlie used all three of his useless quarterbacks who, granted, probably won't always be useless, much to our chagrin.

But what's even more wonderful is that Georgia Tech? Not so good. I mean, the Yellow Jackets QB went 11 for 23 for 121 yards against a weak defense. Fortunately for GT, ND couldn't stop the run if Charlie's Twinkie supply was at stake. So while it's simply gleeful to see the Domers get curb-stomped at home like this, it's only whetting our appetites for what might happen to them when they play Penn State or a pissed off Michigan team in two weeks.

Do you know how many yards ND rushed for on Saturday? Minus-9. Outstanding.

On the Sports Reporters on Sunday, Bob Ryan came down on Fat Charlie a bit, saying, "Okay, Charlie, this is year three, it's the second full recruiting class... you gotta do better."

Now, if it were my team, I'd tell Ryan to shut the hell up. Weis has gotten admirable results and the program is at least better than when he came in. However, since Notre Dame rarely gets their fair share of criticism, I say cheers to you, Mr. Ryan. Pile on.

The bloom is going to be off the rose on Chuck very soon. In a year or two, Savior Jimmy Claussen may indeed be able to lead ND back to glory (or at least 8-win-and-a-bowl-loss status), but the question is whether or not Fat Charlie will still be there.