Notre Dame vs. Louisiana State

One of the major sports news stories in recent weeks has been Texas
Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight's quest to become the winningest
coach in the history of major college basketball. As it stands, Knight
is tied with Dean Smith and his next victory will make him the first
major college coach to win as many as 880 games. Through the years
Knight has earned his fair share of critics, as well as fans, but he
has always seemed to have a degree of historical perspective about the
game of basketball, and the profession of coaching in general. It is
interesting to note, then, that Knight has been quoted in the past as
saying that he never saw a better coach anywhere than the great Ara
Parseghian.

Previous emails have discussed Parseghian's strong suits, particularly
his ability to place talented athletes into the positions in which
their skills would allow them to shine most brightly. Parseghian was a
masterful tactician as well, however, and frequently left opposing
coaches flummoxed with his game calling. One such game was one of the
biggest in Parseghian's amazing career at Notre Dame, the 1973 Sugar
Bowl.

Played on December 31, 1973 on the slippery artificial turf at old
Tulane Stadium, that year's Sugar Bowl staged a contest between #1
Alabama and #3 Notre Dame. With the national championship potentially
at stake for both teams, Parseghian and legendary Alabama coach Paul
"Bear" Bryant dug in for a titanic clash.

The game was hard-fought throughout, but the Irish game plan seemed to
keep the Crimson Tide off balance throughout the night. Irish return
man Al Hunter took a second quarter kickoff back 93 yards for a
touchdown, powering Notre Dame to a 14-10 halftime lead. After the
teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, the Irish still led 21-17
going into the final period. Early in the fourth, Alabama HB Mike
Stock converted a 25-yard TD pass to backup QB Richard Todd, giving the
Tide a 23-21 lead. Their kicker missed the critical point after
touchdown, however, leaving N.D. trailing only by two points.

On the very next drive, the Irish converted a field goal to reclaim the
lead, 24-23, the sixth time the teams had traded the lead in the game.
On the following series, Alabama was forced to punt, but their punter
Greg Gantt boomed nearly a 70-yard punt to pin the Irish on their own
two-yard line late in the game. With the ball, the Irish gained eight
yards on their first two plays, leaving them third and two for a first
down and, presumably, a victory. On third down, however, a false start
was called, pushing the ball back five yards, giving the Irish a
prickly third and long on their own five-yard line.

At this point conventional wisdom would have dictated that the Irish
run the ball to set up a punt and then hope that the defense could hold
off the Tide offense. Instead, Parseghian called a brilliant pass
play. On a play-action pass designed to go to TE Dave Casper, Irish QB
Tom Clements hit a wide open WR Robin Weber for a 36-yard play with
2:12 remaining. The completion remains to this day one of the most
famous plays in N.D. football history. Near midfield, the Irish were
able to run off the remaining time on the clock and claim victory.

After the game, Parseghian stated that the penalty on the play previous
to Clements's famous pass was actually a blessing in disguise,
admitting that the Irish would have run the ball on third and short.
Bryant said that the Tide never even considered that the Irish would
throw from their own five-yard line on third and long, and he praised
Parseghian's perspicacity. As a result of N.D.'s hard fought victory,
they won the 1973 national championship, Parseghian's second in ten
seasons as Irish head coach.

Thirty-three years later, that 24-23 victory in the 1973 Sugar Bowl
still stands as one of N.D.'s defining victories. This week, the Irish
look to notch another defining victory as this year's group of seniors
looks to end the program's record eight game bowl losing streak. In
the program's fourth-ever trip to the Sugar Bowl, the Irish will find
on the opposing sideline a formidable foe in the #4 ranked Louisiana
State Tigers, a team that features one of the nation's great defenses,
as well as an offense led by QB JaMarcus Russell.

Notre Dame and Louisiana State have an interesting history on the
gridiron. The series started in 1970, when the #2 Irish hosted the #7
Tigers and won a defensive battle, 3-0. Since then the schools have
played eight additional times. Overall, the Irish hold a 5-4-0 record
in games played between the schools. More often than not, games in
this series have been close, with the winning team only having a
10-point margin of victory historically. In 1997, the Irish traveled
to #15 LSU and won, 24-6. Later that same season, the teams met again
in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. The Tigers exacted revenge in
that game, winning 27-9 in front a partisan crowd of Tiger fans.

In the last game between these schools, in 1998, the Irish hosted the
Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium for the first time since 1986, winning
39-36. Irish fans will remember that Bob Davie's time management
incompetence was on display once again, as Jarious Jackson was forced
to take a safety late in the game to run out the clock. Jackson
sustained a knee injury on the play, forcing him out of the
season-ending game against Southern Cal, a game the Trojans won, 10-0.

Of interest is that this will be the third consecutive season in which
the Irish will appear in a bowl game. Notre Dame last accomplished the
feat when the Irish went to bowl games in nine consecutive seasons
between 1987 and 1995.

Other notes:

-Notre Dame has won eleven games in a season on five separate
occasions: 1973 (11-0), 1977 (11-1), 1988 (12-0), 1989 (12-1), and 1993
(11-1). Conversely, the Irish have finished with a 10-3 record only
twice: 1991 (the year in which the Irish last won the Sugar Bowl) and
2002.

-Notre Dame's record in bowl games stands at 13-14. The Irish have
lost eight consecutive bowl games, tying the NCAA record for bowl game
futility.

-Notre Dame's last bowl victory came on January 1, 1994 in the Cotton
Bowl following the 1993 season. In that game, the #4 Irish defeated #7
Texas A&M, 24-21. That victory capped an 11-1 season and a final #2
ranking for the Irish.

-Since the 1993 season, the Irish have finished only one season with a
victory in their final game. That game was 2001's 24-18 victory at
Purdue.

-The Irish have played in the Sugar Bowl on three previous occasions,
where they have garnered a 2-1 record. The victories came in the
aforementioned contest in late 1973, as well as in 1992, in which the
#18 Irish defeated the #3 Florida Gators, 39-28. Notre Dame's Sugar
Bowl loss came on January 1, 1981 in Dan Devine's final game as head
coach. The #7 Irish put up a gallant fight against eventual national
champion Georgia before the Herschel Walker-led Bulldogs prevailed,
17-10.

-Despite the illustrious histories of these two programs, Notre Dame
and Louisiana State have not played in a game in which both schools
were ranked since 1971. The schools are tied 1-1 in series games in
which both schools are ranked.

-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.

-With his 274-yard, 3-TD performance against Southern Cal, Irish QB
Brady Quinn now stands at #9 on the NCAA all-time TD passes list, and
#10 on the NCAA all-time passing yardage list.

-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college
football's all-time best winning percentage, here is where things stand:

#3 Michigan's record stands at 860-281-36 for an all-time winning
percentage of .7460. The Wolverines face #8 Southern Cal in the Rose
Bowl on New Year's Day.

#11 Notre Dame's record stands at 821-268-42 for an all-time winning
percentage of .7445. The Irish face #4 Louisiana State in the Sugar
Bowl on January 3.

Michigan's lead stands at 15/10,000ths of a point.

Brady Quinn and his classmates get one final appearance as football
players at Notre Dame in this season's Sugar Bowl. Here's hoping that
they go out as winners. The game kicks off at 8:00 E.S.T. on Fox next
Wednesday night. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Go Irish! Beat Tigers!

Big Mike

One additional note: condolences to the family of President Gerald
Ford, who passed away this week at the age of 93. A varsity football
player at Michigan, Ford was a student of Fielding Yost (no one's
perfect), and a star lineman on the gridiron. After graduating from
Michigan, he went on to serve as an assistant coach at Yale while
working on his law degree. In doing this, he turned down several
offers from professional teams. As president, he spoke at Notre Dame
in the spring of 1975 and was conferred an honorary doctorate on that
occasion. Later, after leaving the White House, he was granted an
Honorary Monogram from Notre Dame, certainly a unique privilege for a
former Michigan football player! The nation's longest-lived Chief
Executive, he was a humble servant of the American people and will be
missed.

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2006

The BCS

Since Notre Dame's regular season is complete, and we're still a few
weeks away from N.D.'s match-up with Louisiana State, this week the
focus turns to the Bowl Championship Series. This consortium of bowl
games and major football conferences has been a thorn in the side of
most college football fans since it debuted in 1998, replacing the Bowl
Alliance, which was a smaller version of the same system.

There seem to be two camps of college football fans. The first is
comprised of those who like the old system, where conference champions
were aligned to particular bowls and teams were matched up with little
regard for rankings. The chaos of New Year's Day, and the fact that
all the important games were played on that day, made it (for some) the
best day in sports. The other camp of college football fans thinks
there needs to be a championship tournament of some design to determine
a true national champion at season's end. Many Notre Dame fans in
particular seem to flock to this school of thought, as many think it
has become increasingly apparent that a widespread bias against the
Irish permeates the current system and will continue to undermine
N.D.'s ability to compete for the national title.

So, what might a system like this look like? Suspend your disbelief
for a few minutes, and discard considerations like the bowl game
traditions and so on.

Division I-A of the NCAA is comprised of 118 teams in 11 conferences. A
true national championship tournament should, theoretically at least,
give every team in Division I-A a chance to win the national
championship, just like in college basketball. The way to address this
would be to give each of the conference champions in Division I-A an
automatic berth into an NCAA-sanctioned college football tournament.
Since the 11 conference champions will not make for an even bracket, a
Selection Committee similar to the one the NCAA uses for its basketball
tournament would choose five at-large schools based upon a Ratings
Percentage Index (RPI) system comparable to the one used by the
selection committee in college basketball. (For those that don't know,
the RPI takes into account a team's own winning percentage, as well as
the winning percentage of its opponents and its opponents' opponents.)
Of course, there will be howls of protest from the teams who are passed
over for the final at-large spot, but I have less of a problem with a
team like 10-3 Arkansas being left out of the tournament, for example,
than an 11-1 Michigan squad not getting a shot at the national title in
the current system.

To facilitate a 16-team tournament, the NCAA would have to do several
things. First, they would have to take back the 12th game it gave to
schools, leaving teams to scale their schedules back to 10 or 11 games
in a season. Additionally, the NCAA could move the season up one
week, starting the weekend previous to Labor Day weekend, allowing the
regular season and conference championships to be completed by
Thanksgiving weekend. Then, a Division I-A championship tournament
sanctioned by the NCAA could commence during the first week of
December. During the first two weekends in December, games would be
staged at the home stadia of the higher-seeded teams in the bracket.
During the third week of December, the national semifinals could be
staged at any number of larger warm weather venues that the NCAA would
choose annually (e.g. the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and Dolphins Stadium
in Miami). Then, a bye would be provided (this could also be moved to
the third weekend, if final exams are a major concern) during the
fourth weekend in December. Finally, the national championship game
would be staged on January 1, at a venue determined by the NCAA (e.g.
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where this year's
BCS title game is being played).

So what would a bracket like this look like? To the best of my
knowledge, there is no official RPI system for college football right
now, so I used one of Jeff Sagarin's computer rankings to facilitate
the seeding of the teams for this year's "tournament." (Sagarin has
been doing computer rankings for years, and was selected for no other
reason than he's probably the best-known college football
statistician/computer ratings person.) The teams would be seeded as
such:

(1) Ohio State (12-0), Big Ten Champions
(2) Michigan (11-1), Big Ten (At-Large)
(3) Florida (12-1), SEC Champions
(4) Southern California (10-2), Pac-10 Champions
(5) Louisiana State (10-2), SEC (At-Large)
(6) Boise State (12-0), WAC Champions
(7) Auburn (10-2), SEC (At-Large)
(8) Wisconsin (11-1), Big Ten (At-Large)
(9) Notre Dame (10-2), Independent (At-Large)
(10) Louisville (11-1), Big East Champions
(11) Oklahoma (10-2), Big XII Champions
(12) Wake Forest (11-2), ACC Champions
(13) Brigham Young (10-2), MWC Champions
(14) Houston (10-3), Conference USA Champions
(15) Central Michigan (9-4), MAC Champions
(16) Troy (7-5), Sun Belt Champions

A bracket of this year's "tournament" is attached to this email.

One can imagine the possibilities for such a system. Imagine how much
money the networks would pay for such a spectacle. In 1999, CBS paid
the NCAA $6 billion to cover the NCAA basketball tournament for 11
years. Given the "buzz" that a college football tournament would
create, one wonders how much the NCAA and its member institutions could
derive from it. Furthermore, conferences would benefit from the added
interest and ratings for their championship games. It is clear that
the current system is in place because it lines the coffers of athletic
departments throughout the country. An overhaul to the system,
however, might make everyone more money, which will ultimately benefit
student-athletes and universities, which is what it is supposed to be
about anyway.

Fans would be big beneficiaries as well, as the college football
champion would finally be determined on the playing field. This year,
if Michigan made it through its side of the bracket to play Ohio State
again, no one could refute the fact that they had earned a rematch.
What college football fan would miss any of these games, knowing that
any game's outcome could potentially have a bearing upon their team's
path to the national championship?

At any rate, this certainly isn't the only possible answer, but it
would help to allay the yearly arguments about who deserves to play
where and so on. If nothing else, consider it more grist for the mill
as the controversy in college football continues.

In the coming weeks, I'll touch upon the upcoming BCS games, in
particular Notre Dame's big match-up with Louisiana State, a team the
Irish have not played since 1998.

Go Irish! Beat Tigers!

Big Mike

originally published December 6, 2006

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2006

Notre Dame at 10-2

The 2006 regular season has drawn to a close. What to make of it?
Certainly, going into the season fans of the Irish had high
expectations, as did the national media that ranked Notre Dame #2 in
the pre-season polls. Indeed, the program's twelfth national
championship was hoped for and dreamed about as Brady Quinn led the
Irish into the program's 118th season of college football. After a
tough and hard-fought 14-10 win at Georgia Tech to open the season, the
Irish offense came alive in week 2 against an overmatched Penn State
squad, winning 41-17 in the Lions' first visit to N.D. since 1992.

The week following, in a game that will long plague fans of the Irish,
Michigan traveled to South Bend and administered a thorough beat-down
to the Irish, 47-21, in the Wolverines' first win at N.D. since 1994.
Brady Quinn's Heisman Trophy hopes for the season all but evaporated in
the 80-degree temperatures of that day, as he threw three interceptions
and had a late fumble returned for a touchdown by the Wolverines'
opportunistic defense. Notre Dame looked lackluster in a loss that
caught many by surprise after the Irish had won at Michigan the
previous season.

With a dose of humility provided by the annual tilt with Michigan, the
Irish continued with their national title hopes severely compromised.
The following week, it looked as though an underdog Michigan State
squad would ruin Notre Dame's season yet again. With the Irish down
37-20 going into the fourth quarter, Quinn engineered a classic
comeback, capped by Terrail Lambert's interception return for the
go-ahead touchdown, as the Irish came from 17 points down to win,
40-37. Home wins against traditional foe Purdue (35-21) and an
overmatched Stanford (31-10) allowed the Irish to crawl out a bit from
the hole that they had dug for themselves against Michigan. At the
season's midpoint, their record stood at a respectable 5-1.

Following a bye week, the Irish looked asleep at the wheel again, this
time in UCLA's first visit to South Bend since 1964. Quinn provided
the heroics once more, however, completing a long touchdown pass to
Jeff Samardzija with only seconds remaining to give the Irish an
improbable 20-17 victory. In Notre Dame's 43rd consecutive victory
over Navy, Quinn and the offense put on an impressive display,
outclassing the Middies, 38-14 in Baltimore. Wins over North Carolina
(45-26), at Air Force (39-17), and Army (41-9) brought the Irish to the
brink of the season's end with an impressive 10-1 record.

In the final game of the season, the Irish headed out to Los Angeles
for their annual clash with arch-rival Southern California. After the
heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Trojans last season, the Irish
were looking to win their first game over Southern Cal in five
attempts. Just like in the Michigan game, however, the Irish looked
outmanned by the Trojans' formidable talent and depth. Although Notre
Dame made a game of it, the Trojans won going away, 44-24, the third
straight loss of 20 points or more for the Irish in games at Southern
Cal.

Now, Notre Dame sits at 10-2, only the second time the program has had
that record at the end of a regular season (along with 2002). Charlie
Weis has led the Irish to a 19-5 (.792) record in his first 24 games,
the best record for an Irish coach at this point in his career since
Ara Parseghian started 20-3-1 (.854) between 1964 and 1966.
Furthermore, the Irish have scored more points (829) through 24 games
for Weis than for any Notre Dame coach since Jesse Harper, whose teams
scored 833 points in his first 24 games (1913-1915). The 563 points
given up by Weis's Irish, however, is an all-time worst for a coach
through his first 24 games, belying the fact that recruiting on that
side of the ball needs to be shored up, and that changes in the
defensive staff may be called for. Overall, the 266 points by which
the Irish have outscored their opponents through Weis's first 24 games
is the best for an Irish coach at this point since Parseghian's 514
points.

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

At 10-2 and currently ranked #10 in the BCS ratings, Notre Dame appears
headed to one of this year's major bowl games. At this point, it looks
like there are four possible match-ups for the Irish, in either the
Rose Bowl or, more likely, the Sugar Bowl. These potential opponents
are:

-Arkansas Razorbacks (10-2, #9 BCS, #8 AP, #8 Coaches): Winners of this
year's West Division of the Southeastern Conference, the Razorbacks
feature TB Darren McFadden, considered a potential finalist for the
Heisman Trophy ceremony. Arkansas's two losses both came at home, to
#2 Southern Cal (50-14) and last weekend to #5 Louisiana State (31-26).
The biggest wins of their season were at #11 Auburn (a 27-10 win) and
at home against #17 Tennessee (31-14). The Irish likely would only
face Arkansas, a team they have never played, if the Razorbacks defeat
Florida in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta this weekend.

-Florida Gators (11-1, #4 BCS, #4 AP, #4 Coaches): Florida won the
always competitive East Division of the SEC this season and feature
former Irish recruit QB Chris Leak. Leak was considered by many a
Heisman candidate at season's start, but not as much now. Florida's
lone loss was at #11 Auburn, 27-17. Their biggest wins were at #17
Tennessee (21-20) and at home against #5 Louisiana State (23-10).
Florida's head coach is Urban Meyer, whom Notre Dame reportedly pursued
after the firing of Ty Willingham, which would make for a media circus
to be sure. For the Irish to play the Gators, Florida will likely need
to defeat Arkansas on Saturday night.

-Louisiana State Tigers (10-2, #5 BCS, #5 AP, #5 Coaches): LSU has
survived the minefield of the SEC regular season and, unlike Arkansas,
has the benefit of not having to play in the conference championship
game. If Arkansas loses on Saturday night, the Tigers could step in
and take a berth in the Rose Bowl. Winners of the BCS in 2003, LSU
this year is led by QB JaMarcus Russell. LSU's two losses came at #11
Auburn (7-3) and at #4 Florida (23-10). Their biggest wins came at #17
Tennessee (28-24) and last weekend at #8 Arkansas (31-26). An Irish
meeting with LSU would have to come in the Rose Bowl.

-Michigan Wolverines (11-1, #3 BCS, #3 AP, #3 Coaches): Like LSU,
Michigan did not win its conference, but seems certain to receive a
berth in the BCS. Of course the Wolverines and Irish have met once
already this season, a 47-21 victory at N.D. for Michigan. Michigan's
sole loss came at #1 Ohio State (42-39). Their biggest wins came at
#12 Notre Dame and at home against 11-1 #7 Wisconsin (27-13). The
Irish could possibly face the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl, but it seems
unlikely because the BCS normally eschews rematches.

Regardless of where the Irish end up and whom they play, Weis and this
year's seniors will look to end the program's eight-game bowl losing
streak which started at the end of the 1994 season in a 41-24 loss to
Colorado. Doing so would vanquish some of the pain from this season’s
two defeats.

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

Other notes:

-Notre Dame last finished a regular season 10-2 in 2002. They followed
it up with a 28-6 loss to North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl.

-With his 274-yard, 3-TD performance on Saturday against Southern Cal,
Irish QB Brady Quinn moved up to #9 on the NCAA all-time TD passes
list, and #10 on the NCAA all-time passing yardage list.

-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college
football’s all-time best winning percentage, here is where things stand:

#3 Michigan’s season is complete. Their record stands at 860-281-36
for an all-time winning percentage of .7460.

#6 Notre Dame lost at #3 Southern Cal, 44-24, dropping their record to
821-268-42 for an all-time winning percentage of .7445. #12 Notre
Dame’s regular season is complete.

Michigan’s lead stands at 15/10,000ths of a point.

Go Irish!

Big Mike

originally published November 29, 2006

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2006