-- NCAA Football FanHouse

Charlie Weis 'Privately Projects' 9-12 Wins

Posted: Jul 7th 2008 8:14 AM ET by Ryan Ferguson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Coaching

3 COMMENTS

Being a neuron inside Charlie Weis' cranium has to be good for a wild ride. After a 3-9 season (and let's be honest here, Weis was lucky to get to three) Weis is irrationally exuberant about 2009. He's "privately" expecting a 9 to 12 victory season for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

This isn't exactly rock solid stuff. Detroit Free Press picked up the story from Blue and Gold Illustrated, an Irish beat site. But it's still entertaining.

"From what I'm hearing around the way, Weis is privately projecting anywhere from nine to 12 victories this year. And yes, a 12-1 mark would equal the biggest turnaround (+8.5 games by Hawaii from 1998-99) in major college football history. But given the schedule, it's not unrealistic.

"The only regular-season game in which Notre Dame figures to be a serious underdog is the finale at USC, so Weis could conceivably have an 11-0 team heading out there if everything comes together. At that point, anything's possible. (Kevin Garnett even said so.)"

9 wins would be astounding. 12 would be fall-off-the-couch, spaz-out, never-happen-in-a-million-years amazing. Still, though, doesn't this kinda sorta fit with Weis' M.O.? He took a potshot at Michigan in April, and said recently that he could get "hoodlums and thugs and win tomorrow, but I won't do it that way." And don't forget Weis' "schematic advantage" that he brings to every Irish game! Ubersized dreams of grandeur for '08? Why not?

Weird Moments in Big Ten Football History #2: Faint, Faint For Old Notre Dame, 1953

Posted: Jun 25th 2008 11:03 AM ET by Mark Hasty (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Iowa Football, Notre Dame Football, Big 10, NCAA FB History

1 COMMENT

FanHouse is counting down the ten best, ten worst, and ten weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

ABOVE: Touchdown Jesus wept. Or would have, if only Hesburgh Library had been built in 1953.

You're the coach of the #1 ranked football team in the nation. It's 1953, and your school doesn't accept bowl bids. You're trailing at home, 7-0 to an unranked team. It's just before halftime. You have the ball deep in their territory. The clock is running. You're out of time outs. What do you do? Do you (a) run a quick pitch towards the sidelines, (b) spike the ball, (c) take a knee and regroup at halftime, or (d) order your players to flop around like carp thrown on the riverbank, hoping the referee will call an injury time out so you can run one more play?

Now let's say it's late in that same game (very late) and you're now down 14-7. Again, no time outs. Would you dare try (d) again, assuming you got away with it the first time? Would you even suggest that more than one player fake an injury, just to be sure the refs have no choice but to stop the clock? You would? Well, you know what that makes you?

NBC Renews Notre Dame Contract For 8 More Years, Cancels 'Bionic Woman'

Posted: Jun 19th 2008 2:57 PM ET by Brian Stouffer (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Fans, NCAA FB Media Watch

32 COMMENTS

Despite sagging ratings, the departure of many beloved characters, and a marked downward trend in its plotlines over the last few seasons, NBC announced today that they are renewing the Notre Dame Show through 2015. I'm not going to sit here and defend the worthiness of last year's 3-9 Notre Dame team over television behemoths like "My Dad is Better than Your Dad", "Clash of the Choirs", and "Quarterlife" that didn't make it off the NBC chopping block, but hey, that's business for you.

A disturbing sidenote for Irish fans is that the contract stipulates that between 2011 and 2015, NBC will carry eight Irish home games a year. As a result, the Irish will have to play 7 games in Notre Dame stadium plus one more quote-unquote "neutral site game" a year against a body bag team willing to take a payout to play what financially works out to be a Notre Dame home game. Any hope that this cheeseball scheduling would disappear with the launching of Athletic Director Kevin White has been dashed, as it is now a contractual necessity.

At the end of the deal, Notre Dame will have been on NBC for 25 years, longer than "Seinfeld" and "Cheers" combined.

Bionic Woman'

LONDON - MAY 18: (UK TABLOID NEWSPAPERS OUT) Actresses Mischa Barton (L) and Michelle Ryan arrive at the Britain's Best 2008 awards at London Television Studios on May 18, 2008 in London, England. The award ceremony honours outstanding Britons in categories including business, art, television, music, film, sport and fashion. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

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LONDON - MAY 18: (UK TABLOID NEWSPAPERS OUT) Actress Michelle Ryan arrives at the Britain's Best 2008 awards at London Television Studios on May 18, 2008 in London, England. The award ceremony honours outstanding Britons in categories including business, art, television, music, film, sport and fashion. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

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LONDON - MAY 12: Actress Michelle Ryan attends the World Premiere of 'Sex And The City' held at the Odeon Leicester Square on May 12, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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MILAN, ITALY - MAY 11: Actress Michelle Ryan attends the press conference for "Bionic Woman" during the 2008 Telefilm Festival at Cinema Apollo May 11, 2008 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Notre Dame Is on a Mission From God

Posted: Jun 6th 2008 8:48 AM ET by Brian Cook (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football

11 COMMENTS

There's nothing like your tight ends coach guaranteeing a successful season:

"I guarantee you (Irish fans) that you won't be disappointed this season. Mark it down, we're on a mission," Bernie Parmalee, tight ends coach, told members of the Notre Dame Club of Northwest Indiana in St. Patrick's church hall.

And by god, the Notre Dame tight ends are going to be wholly responsible for it! So many questions:

Notre Dame seriously has a coach who just does tight ends?
Notre Dame seriously has a coach who guarantees Notre Dame fans, who have been disappointed every year since 1993, that they will not be disappointed this year?
...and this guy is the uber-responsible-for-all-accomplishments tight ends coach?
Notre Dame seriously has a coach who claims the team is on a mission and doesn't reflexively insert "... from God" afterwards?
Bernie Parmalee?

Answers: uh... yup... weird, uh... evidently, seriously, uh... disapointingly, and yeah, weird.

Adventures In Fandom: 3-D College Football Stadia in Google Maps

Posted: Jun 2nd 2008 2:44 PM ET by Brian Grummell (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football

1 COMMENT

Now, you too can be like Rudy's father and cry inside Notre Dame stadium -- from the comfort of your home computer.

Google has just released the Google Earth plug-in for Internet browsers using Windows. This means you'll be able to view Google Earth and college stadiums in 3-D right from the comfort of your browser.

Currently about 40 stadiums have 3-D animation capability

Who doesn't want to have their very own "greatest sight these eyes have ever seen" moment at say, Doak S. Campbell Stadium? Or, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum?

OK so it's not the real thing but don't let that distract you from 3-D brilliance of pretending to be there. It's internet porn for the college football obsessed. Sort of. Maybe. Moving along ...

(H/T: The Wizard of Odds, via MapGameDay)

Charlie Weis Wants You to Make His Day, Punk

Posted: May 23rd 2008 1:40 PM ET by Brian Stouffer (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Coaching, NCAA FB Media Watch

1 COMMENT

The internet is a strange and magical place, especially when random pictures like this show up. Taken out of context, they're tremendously disturbing and infinitely hilarious, and really press the creative limits of your overworked headline writer. Have a gander, ladies and gentlemen, at ass-kicking robot soldier of fortune Charlie Weis:

No, folks, that's not a Photoshop, that's the real deal. As a part of the Armed Forces Entertainment, Charlie Weis traveled to Germany with fellow coaches Mark Richt, Tommy Tubberville, and Randy Shannon to support our troops overseas. There's a full gallery at Weis' autism awareness charity website Hannah and Friends (Weis in a gas mask is particularly hilarious), and some more context on the trip over here.

I kind of like the look.

Nate Montana, Oldest Son of Joe, to Walk On at Notre Dame

Posted: May 15th 2008 11:41 AM ET by Michael David Smith (RSS feed)
Filed Under: 49ers, Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Recruiting, San Francisco

9 COMMENTS

During his senior season at Concord De La Salle High School last fall, quarterback Nate Montana didn't exactly set the world on fire. He was the third-stringer, and he finished the season 12-of-19 for 166 yards and one touchdown passing, plus 33 yards on 17 carries running.

But when your dad is Joe Montana, maybe the greatest quarterback ever to play the game, people look at you and see potential. So 30 years after Joe Montana's senior season at Notre Dame, Nate Montana is following in his footsteps and will be a walk-on for the Fighting Irish. Joe says there was no pressure on his end:

"In the end I told him, 'Look, don't go to school for me, don't go to school for mom, you got to do what you got to do and go to the school you'll be happiest at if football doesn't work out,'" Joe Montana says, "and he chose Notre Dame."

Although some Notre Dame fans will be excited just to see the name "Montana" on the roster, it's certainly not realistic to think that Nate can be the kind of player his father was, and it's probably not even realistic to think Nate will play in anything more than mop-up duty. Then again, Joe Montana came to South Bend as the seventh-string quarterback. Things turned out OK for him.

Video: Uhhhhhhh, Who's Notre Dame's Defensive Coordinator?

Posted: May 14th 2008 12:36 PM ET by Brian Grummell (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football, NCAA FB Video

2 COMMENTS

Interesting YouTube video here. It's a four minute interview with apple-massaging Notre Dame "Assistant Head Coach" Jon Tenuta. Corwin Brown is Notre Dame's de jure defensive coordinator, but listening to Tenuta it's hard to tell who is the D.C. and who is the underling.

Charlie Weis Takes the Words Straight Out of Our Mouths and Tells Michigan Where to Go

Posted: May 8th 2008 11:03 AM ET by Brian Stouffer (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Michigan Football, Notre Dame Football, Big 10, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Coaching

2 COMMENTS

The Detroit Free-Press gets points for due diligence on this article, which is about a shoddy homemade video on YouTube. The home movie shows a surly Charlie Weis delivering a speech at the pre-game luncheon before the spring game. In front of a handful of fans and donors, Charlie cracked candidly about his feelings for that lovely academic institution in Ann Arbor:

"And then we'll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come running in and saying how they have a new coaching staff and there's changes. To hell with Michigan!" (exclamation mark is [sic] -Ed.)

The exclamation mark, in my opinion, comes from the overactive imagination of the article's author. A viewing of the video (the quote in question is at the 1:10 mark... be warned, though, it's a really obnoxious video) will convince every rational person with a cursory understanding of what counts as an "exclamation" that the more commonplace period is a more appropriate punctuation mark for the transcription.

Weis' remarks come from a long tradition of Notre Dame and Michigan trading damnations upon one another. Most famously, Bo Schembechler was known to quip "To Hell With Notre Dame" to anyone who asked him about scheduling the Irish, the Big 10's relationship to Notre Dame, or if he wanted syrup with his pancakes.

In related news, Hell has politely refused to accept Michigan, as doing so would drastically drop property values throughout the area.

Rutgers Refuses to Give Up Home Field to Notre Dame

Posted: Apr 26th 2008 6:03 PM ET by Charles Rich (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Notre Dame Football, Big East, Rutgers Football

1 COMMENT

When the Big East was reconfigured a few years back, the conference was able to persuade their non-football member Notre Dame to commit to playing more Big East teams in football. To that end, the Irish have a six year home-and-home series with Pitt starting this season, they agreed to play UConn and they also set up a six year series with Rutgers.

Pitt is actually one of their most played opponents in the Irish history (5th behind Navy, USC, Purdue and Michigan State), so that wasn't a surprise. The UConn series required the Huskies to essentially go to neutral fields for their home games by making the games at NFL stadiums in the Northeast.

Rutgers is presently expanding their seating capacity to 55,000 at a cost of over $100 million. The expansion would be completed for the 2009 season. The year the Notre Dame series was to begin was in 2010. Notre Dame, however, was insisting that the Rutgers home games take place at the new NFL stadium at the Meadowlands. Rutgers, unlike UConn, wouldn't accept leaving their own facility so the series is now off.

Rutgers entered into discussions about a possible long-term series with Notre Dame, but at the end of the day both schools could not agree about the site of the games," [Athletic Director Bob] Mulcahy said in a statement issued by the school. "We feel Rutgers' home games should be played on-campus at Rutgers Stadium."

Unlike UConn coach Randy Edsall, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano had no interest in surrendering true home field advantage just to play Notre Dame.