National Championship Hopes Fizzle

After a summer of letting the media frenzy cannibalize itself like West Virginian pirhanas, I'm back. OK, I was lazy and didn't honestly feel like anything I could say about the upcoming dawning of the Charlie Weis era would be revolutionary. After the Irish vaulted to a surprising 2-0 start and top 10 ranking, I knew I would have to wait even longer for some space to clear off the bandwagon. Luckily that was accomplished with a deflating home loss--Weis' opener--to Michigan State. Here are the quick recaps.

1. Notre Dame 42 (1-0) @Pittsburgh 21.
This one was nearly over before it started. It was certainly over by halftime.

Several weeks of more media self-inflicted frenzy wounds over the debuts of two former NFL coaches quickly dissipated in the cool Steel city evening. Pitt enjoyed their first and maybe last highlight by marching their opening possession into the endzone, capped by 39 yard Palko-to-Lee hookup. At that point, it looked like all the hullabaloo about the new look Irish offense would be moot if the old look defense opted not to cooperate.

Hey, all you Pitt fans mocking an Irish jig on the ND Stadium turf last year--grab a pierogie and STICK IT!

2. Notre Dame 17 (2-0) @Meechigan 10.
You know that trite but ubiquitous saying about teams that "don't beat themselves"? Well, apparently Meechigan doesn't. They beat themselves like a 12-year old schoolboy hiding in the girls lockerroom.

Too many mistakes to recount in this space, and too blaise to repeat for the millionth time. Late the night before, Pitt followed up their woodshedding by losing to Ohio in OT. That's Ohio University, no to be confused with The Ohio State University. So obviously some Irish players were going into this matchup with Go Blue feeling that the prior week's win was perhaps less impressive than previously thunked.

In the end, it was ND's offense and defense playing just well enough to win and Meechigan's counterparts playing just poorly enough to lose. The victory made Weis the only other coach beside Rockne to start his ND career winning two road games. Nice.

Hey Lloyd, the score still reads 17-10 on instant replay. Stick it, you egomaniacal jackbag!

3. Michigan Agricultural College (2-1) 44 @Notre Dame 41.
Charlie Weis worried about a letdown after the big win over Meechigan, and with good reason. Sparty came to town after throttling two lesser opponents by a combined score of 91-28, and led by quarterback Drew Stanton, a dual threat with his arm and running ability.

The letdown fears came to pass, though the Irish staged a near miraculous comeback, scoring 21 unanswered points to knot the score at 38-38 with 2:31 to play. In the end, ND's hard luck in OT continued--they are now 2-3--as they fell to 2-1 overall.

Charlie Weis matched another elite designation in the loss, becoming just the third Notre Dame coach since 1913 to lose his home opener, joining Elmer Layden in 1934 and Lou Holtz in 1986. Layden and Holtz were a combined 15-4-1 the following year.

ND is Michigan State's bitch. For now.