Speed Kills

...or thrills, if your an Ohio State fan.

Plenty of it was on display in shades of red at the Fiesta Bowl Monday night. An Irish defense long maligned for its suspect ability to contain "the big play" was exploited by an unusually aggressive Buckeye team. Half of OSU's record-setting 617 yards came on just FIVE plays. OSU's SHORTEST scoring play was a 56-yard pass.

Clearly, as was the case when the season started, the biggest issue for the Irish remains the defense, in particular the secondary. Of course, though it's no consolation to Notre Dame, when Jim Tressel has actually decided to use Santonio Holmes and Ted Ginn to their maximum, no team has been able to contain them. And in an unsually bold move, Tressel called pass plays on both of OSU's final two third downs, rather than his traditional run-clock-and-win-with-defense mode.

Whether we won or lost this game, Charlie Weis wasn't going to call the season a success because it featured two losses. A 9-3 Notre Dame team did give away the Michigan State game, but its other two losses came to two teams that will finish in the top four, both of those losses featuring good performances and competitive games.

I'm not going to bother trying to convince the ND haters out there of anything. Ohio State could have won this game 31-30 on a last second hail mary, and there would be those who said, "HA! Told you so! Notre Dame sucks! They got dominated! They don't deserve the BCS!!!" Nothing about how the Irish performed, except perhaps (a very big perhaps) had they won convincingly, was going to change their minds.

Notre Dame played a good game. But against Ohio State, to win requires a great game. The Irish didn't have one. Even so, the difference between the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and the 2006 Fiesta Bowl ought to be obvious.

Here in 2006, to a certain extent, the haters were right: on paper, the game should not have even been close. It might not have been had Ohio State not fumbled in the red zone and allowed two field goals to be blocked, but mistakes like that are part of the game. No team should have to apologize for the opposition's f$#k-ups.

So even in a game where they possessed far less raw talent, where they certain to be beaten backwards and forwards all day by "a defense the likes of which you've never seen", where they were woefully out of their league, ND STILL made enough plays and had a good enough strategy to put the game at 27-20 with two minutes left. Unfortunately Troy Smith showed why he should have been OSU's starter from the get-go this season and finished Notre Dame off on those two third downs in the closing minutes. That's what great teams do.

The 2001 Fiesta Bowl showed just how little things had really changed with Notre Dame football. This year's game was a less-than-perfect performance, but it showed how much Weis has changed things for the better. In not one single game this season did the Irish come out with that lazy, play-not-to-lose mentality. Not one game this season was lopsided.

-- SIDENOTE: Yes, I completely agree Ohio State had the chances to lock up the game early. THEY DIDN'T. Piling up yards doesn't count for points. Reaching the endzone does. So rather than decide that Ohio State botched away the chance to blow out the Irish, why not offer up a little credit to the Irish for making some timely plays and showing the determination and competetive fire that prevents blowouts? --

In the End, As It Was in the Beginning...

Here's me outside Heinz Field on September 3rd, some seven hours before Notre Dame's season began against the Pitt Panthers...



And now here I am, sitting in a hotel room at 2:40 AM Phoenix time, getting ready to cover the season finale for the Irish at the Fiesta Bowl.

Plenty to come on the site as we kick off FIESTA WEEK. Watch this space tomorrow as well for a huge announcement about the future of Sox-Irish.

FIESTA TICKETS...Finally

One thing I can say with total confidence is that (after this year's Basketball Ticket distribution and yesterday's Fiesta foolishness) there is no event which the Notre Dame Ticket Office cannot monumentally screw up.

Take yesterday's student lottery for Fiesta Bowl tickets. 2500 tickets were released, and yet something close to 10000 (rumored) lottery numbers were handed out. That was when some genius in the NDTO must've figured, "That basically means every student on this campus applied for a ticket. Something is amiss."

You can imagine how the conversation went from here:

NDTO Stooge #1 -- OK, 6 PM, time to draw the winning numbers.

NDTO Stooge #2 -- Don't you find it strange how we gave out more lottery numbers than there are students?

NDTO Stooge #3 -- Yeah, that is strange...you...you don't think somebody cheated, do you?

NDTO Stooge #1 -- Cheated?!?!? NEVER!!!!

NDTO Stooge #2 -- Although, cheating at this event would be pretty easy. I mean, we didn't even swipe ID cards. We just wrote names on little slips of paper.

NDTO Stooge #1 -- No, it was a foolproof scheme!

You get the idea. After reports of some students scamming the line seven or eight times, getting as many people with the same last name as they could to go in line, and a general debacle of a lottery process, the winning numbers were finally pulled and sent in an email......at 2:45 AM.

003712-004962

George's number? 004922!! YIPPEEEE!!!

Getting tickets to this event should not be so needlessly complicated and ridiculously stupid. Have you no shame, ND Ticket Office?

Irish vs. Buckeyes, Round Five

Notre Dame and Ohio State, two schools with 9-2 records, "Oh what could have been" thoughts regarding both of their losses, and tremendous fanbases are heading to Tempe.

At 2:00 PM Pacific, 5:00 PM Eastern on Monday, January 2nd, the BCS 2005 kicks off with the most anticipated non-Rose Bowl matchup of the postseason.

Notre Dame brings in a Top 10 offense. The Buckeyes counter with a lethal defense that ranks 4th overall, #1 against the run. Charlie Weis needs a month to prepare for this type of defensive attack...oh, wait, he's got a month.

BCS Crunch-Time

All the games have been played and six teams are certain of their postseason destiny:

ROSE BOWL -- #1 USC vs. #2 Texas
ORANGE BOWL -- Florida State vs Penn State
SUGAR BOWL -- Georgia vs. West Virginia
FIESTA BOWL -- Ohio State vs. (TBD)

That's not a mortal lock on the Orange Bowl, but how could any bowl committee pass up an opportunity for Paterno-Bowden? The wild card factor: where will Notre Dame finish in the BCS rankings? If the Irish rise two spots to #6, highly likely given the fall this weekend of Virginia Tech and LSU, then there is no suspense involved - as a non-BCS conference team, the Irish are assured of the berth.

Let the bitching and moaning commence. But I ask that the "ND Isn't Good, They Just Travel Well" crowd to consider this - who is less worthy, Notre Dame or 4-loss Florida State? Notre Dame or Big East champion West Virginia, which had such powerhouses as Wofford, East Carolina, and Cincinnati on its schedule. Why don't we even compare common opponents for the Irish and Mountaineers - each thumped Pittsburgh, 48-21 and 45-13 respectively, but WVU had a devil of a time beating Mighty Syracuse, 15-7.

Food for thought. BCS selections begin in 15 minutes...

2005 in Review

On September 2, 2005, anybody who said Charlie Weis would have Notre Dame at 8-3 would've been considered a wishful thinker. Anybody who dared to think 9-2 was delusional. But the Irish have not only wrapped up the season with that mark, they were two plays away from being 11-0 and in the national championship game.

So what will we remember most about the first season under "Chuck"? The 28-point second quarter outburst that buried Pittsburgh? The no-huddle surprise at Michigan? The dismantling of Purdue in primetime on ESPN? The epic loss to USC? 6 touchdown passes against BYU? Standing with Navy after the game for their alma mater? Or the latest, a critical fourth quarter drive that saved the season in a 38-31 victory over Stanford this past weekend?

We'll remember it all, needless to say. This has been a fantastic season and Notre Dame has a program it can be proud of once again, which in and of itself is a major step forward for Weis. But one major obstabcle remains: the bowl. The Irish haven't won a postseason contest since Jan. 1, 1994, the Cotton Bowl defeat of Texas A&M which many felt would secure at least a share of the national title - the Irish woke up the next morning to see the voters had given the whole enchilada to Florida State, the same Florida State that had lost to the Irish 31-24.

But enough of that. This team doesn't focus on the past. That's my job. And to those who will whine about the Irish coasting into a big-time bowl on the strength of a terrible schedule and dollar appeal, I only say this: the last time Notre Dame got so dogged as unworthy of a bowl appearence was the '92 Sugar Bowl. And Notre Dame didn't just beat Florida in that game, Notre Dame killed Florida.

Vin Diesel Says...

To those who would poor-mouth Notre Dame's 9-2 season as the product of a piss-poor schedule and some lucky breaks:

ASK A RACER. ASK ANY REAL RACER. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER YOU WIN BY AN INCH OR A MILE. WINNING'S WINNING.

Well said Vin. More to come later.

The Rant

Point:

ESPN'S Tony Kornheiser & Mike Wilbon say -- Notre Dame should not be ranked ahead of Oregon because they have played a weaker schedule overall and are the beneficiary of preferential treatment. If enough of the country saw the Ducks, who are victims of living in the Pacific Time Zone, they would (at 10-1) easily be ahead of 8-2 Notre Dame.

The Counter-Point:

Of course I'm biased. But let's look at some simple facts concerning Notre Dame and Oregon:

Notre Dame won in a first-year head coaches second game AT Michigan. Say whatever you want about the Wolverines being overrated, that isn't Notre Dame's fault; they went into the Big House and won. Ohio State goes into the Big House this past weekend and comes back to win, its a season-defining, BCS-saving victory. Notre Dame does the same thing and its weak in comparision to beating Fresno State by three on your home field.

Notre Dame is 4-0 on the road, three of those coming against teams that were ranked at the time. Yet the fall of those opponents from the rankings makes ND's schedule a sham, and the fall of Arizona State and California from the rankings doesn't seem to hinder the strength of Oregon's schedule.

And in Oregon's biggest game of the season, on their home field, they allowed 45 unanswered points and lost by 32 to USC - the 32 points, I might add, being one more than Notre Dame scored on the Trojans in a game they were seven seconds away from winning.

Notre Dame didn't need a field goal with one second left to beat a 4-7 Washington State team. Or a fumble return in the 4th quarter to beat a 2-9 Arizona team. I think you're right, most of the country hasn't seen Oregon play, otherwise they wouldn't be ranked as high as they are right now.

Your argument against putting Notre Dame ahead of Oregon seems to hinge on the idea that is a crime against sport to rank a two-loss team ahead of a one-loss team, even if the one-loss team has two narrow wins against inferior competition. Fact of the matter is that you have to judge based on what you see on the field - and if USC is the clear number 1 team in the country, then Notre Dame is a heck of a lot closer to them than Oregon is.

College Football Saturday Recap

Saturday's home finale against Syracuse marked not only the penultimate game of Charlie Weis' first year, but also the return of A Tradition Unlike Any Other...the Turkey-Gate. This is a Heidkamp Family staple (dating all the way back to 2002) in which six turkeys are sent into the deep-fryer and consumed by hungry tail-gaters. This year's edition was a rousing success, and all are looking forward to the sequel, Turkey-Gate '06 in L.A.

The game...not the most cosmetically pleasing, but still a 34-10 Irish victory. Brady Quinn now the career passing leader at Notre Dame. Irish now 8-2 and needing a win over Stanford to essentially lock up the BCS bid.

Elsewhere...

Penn State displaces Michigan State 31-22 and curses the refs up the road in Ann Arbor who gave the Wolverines those two seconds back.

Georgia Tech trips up Miami, 14-10, screwing up the Orange Bowl's dream matchup of Penn State-Miami.

Alabama again can't find any offense, allowing Brodie Croyle to be sacked eleven (ELEVEN!!!) times in a 28-18 loss to archrival Auburn.

USC once again pulls off "The Great Escape", this time getting an interception in the endzone to stave off the Bulldogs of Fresno State 50-42. Reggie Bush was phenomenol, but did enough people see it to give him the edge in the Heisman race?

SNOW!!!!

It's snowing! First home snow bowl this Saturday since Penn State '92?

Low Scoring?

You just never know. The Irish offense hangs 27 on Tennessee, and Tom Zbikowski tacks on 14 by himself for a 41-21 victory over the Vols.

Fiesta Bowl fiesta, anyone?

Cocky, a bit?

Some USC fans piss me off. As a former USC student who went through the looking glass and has appreciation for both schools, I still cannot escape my feeling that USC's fan base right now is the most cocky and arrogant fanbase since the Miami Hurricane faithful of the 1980s. And that's putting Notre Dame's fanbase right up there -- at any time, ND's fans deserve to be ranked in the top 5 of arrogant and cocky fanbases. At the moment though, USC's takes the pole position in this race to overconfidence.

USC fans who dropped by our Water Polo food stand mused about how they would be "stunned" to see the game be closer than two touchdowns. Members of USC's band, which I had felt was full of nice people, kept chanting "31!" as they walked through the library lot tailgates. I bit my tongue and smiled at one Trojan who bought a bratwurst from us at the Polo stand and predicted Leinart would toss for 6 touchdowns. At the USC page of Rivals.com, the Trojan beat writer joked that "Charlie Weis has made Notre Dame better, which is why they will only lose by 28."

The taker of the cake in this regard for me though, has to be the blogger Becky

A sampling of her jewels of wisdom from Saturday's game (paraphrased):

The win feels like stealing candy from a baby, because the Irish played their greatest game and the Trojans were lackluster and SCstill won.

Because she's apparently clairvoyant, she felt doubly bad for the Irish fans because she predicted the loss with 2 minutes to play. As evidence of this fortune-telling ability, she remembers predicting how "Aaron Boon" would hit a home run to win the World Series for the Yankees in 2003. She apparently said, "He's the Cinderella".

I want to interject here with three point: one, his name is Aaron BOONE. Secondly, he did NOT win the World Series, his home run won the ALCS over the Red Sox. And third, seeing as how Boone hit that home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the 11th inning, she must've seen this coming during Fox's commercial break that night.

Tom Zbikowski made a terrible, cheap hit on Reggie Bush at the end of his 3rd-Quarter touchdown run.

I'll let ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski take the lead on this one:

It takes arrogance to do what Bush did during that same drive: bolting through the line, sprinting into the open field, grandly gesturing with one hand as he neared the end zone, and then slowing down just as he crossed the goal line. That's when Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski, who never gave up on the play, popped Bush with a hit the USC tailback so richly deserved.

"That was my fault," said a contrite Bush. "That was my way of showing off. Completely bad leadership on my behalf."

Who needs Reggie Bush to tell us what happened when we've got Becky?

I mean really, it seemed like Becky's objective here was to see how many backhanded compliments she could squeeze into one post. The trick for her was to figure out how condescending could she be and still sound nice. Why do Trojans and their fans find it so hard to believe that we were playing at USC'S level, rather than USC playing "down" to ours? USC reminds me of the Soviet Hockey Team circa 1980, totally dismissive of the idea that any team could actually DESERVE to win a game against them. It's going to happen, and it very well could have happened on Saturday and not because USC played like crap or because the officials gave the Irish a few early Christmas presents or because of "luck of the Irish" bounces. Our team played their friggin' minds out and all some USC fans want to talk about is how USC played sloppy and let the Irish toy with the idea that they could win.

Here's Becky's "crown jewel" though: The Trojans can play better. Notre Dame cannot.

EXCUSE ME? Not that I want to delve into whiny-ND-student mode, because in the words of Tyler Palko "I am so f**kin proud of this team!", but the Irish had a far from perfect game. Had they played perfect, they would have won, and won somewhat easily. Playing perfect would have entailed:

-- Fasano NOT fumbling inside the 20 and taking away a likely score.

-- Quinn NOT overthrowing Samardzija after Jeff had his man beat, resulting in Jeff's landing out of bounds and the Irish settling for a field goal.

-- Quinn NOT overthrowing a wide-open Asaph Schwapp in the 4th quarter, cutting short a possible touchdown drive and leading directly to a MISSED field goal from DJ Fitzpatrick.

-- Derek Landri NOT committing a stupid personal foul call which allowed USC to face, rather than 3rd and 10 from the 19, a first and goal from the 9.

-- Maurice Stovall NOT having two dropped passes on third down.

-- Ambrose Wooden NOT playing soft coverage on third down twice during USC's drive for the score which made it 28-24.

I've got more, but you get the picture. BOTH teams played less than 100% error-free football. This lyricism and hero-worship about how USC is soooooooo gooooood, it was simply their destiny to overcome their own incompetence and defeat an Irish squad which played much better than their talent should have allowed does nothing except cheapen the game and insult the Irish. I was there too, and what I saw was two GREAT football teams, not an overachieving average team and an underachieving great team.

In some respects I hope USC doesn't lose, because head-up-where-the-sun-don't-shine fans like Becky literally will not know how to handle it.

The Agony of Defeat

I joked a week ago to my water polo teammates that there was one reason I was kinda-sorta hoping for Notre Dame to lose to USC. If the Irish pulled the upset, I would be stuck in the WVFI broadcast booth and been unable to participate in the inevitable field rush. Oh, I would've gotten there eventually, trust me, but it wouldn't have been the same thrill as watching the final seconds and then running to the field with all my fellow Domers.

And in the aftermath of the 34-31 loss, I have another reason to be dissapointed in being chained to WVFI's booth during the game - I wasn't there to comiserate with my friends at the end. That is what makes Notre Dame far and away the greatest school football school in the country, win, lose, or draw. No other school in the universe is going to get 50,000 people to come to a PEP RALLY, even if it does feature incredibly stupid skits from Morrissey. (In their defense, it's Morrissey - the same dorm which STILL doesn't understand that their slogan and song, "Fight On", comes from USC. So what do you expect?) Here at ND, we are all in this together, cheering, clawing, living, dying, as one.

I heard the words of a thousand different emotions float through the air as I exited the WVFI booth and walked the stadium concourse, cutting through the student section, across the field and towards the interview room to tape Coach Weis' post-game comments. Some were crying. Many held their heads in their hands, like the Irish players, unwilling to believe -- unwilling to accept -- that it was in fact over. Many refused to go quietly, heckling USC as the Trojans gloated their way off the field. Maybe gloat was the wrong word, but the Trojans sure seemed to soak up a mid-field celebratory huddle and then held up "#1" and "V for Victory" signs as they exited through a human tunnel of ND students who had rushed the field just a little too early. They joked and smiled with each other, which was totally within their rights considering what they'd just done, but maybe they should've recognized the fact that the end of the stadium they were leaving was 95% Notre Dame fans. New chants of "Over-rated" and "Off our field" picked up; ND students who weren't joining in them were trying to shut them down. LenDale White didn't exactly claim the high ground either as he exited, stopping to verbally spar with one fan, though he didn't stray far from repeating, rather spitefully, "Y'all LOST! Y'all LOST!". One female ND student gave the finger to a Trojan who pointed at the scoreboard. So maybe I was fortunate to be in the booth for this game - I was a mad-man on the air as it was (though I did not curse), so I can't fathom what might have come over me had I been this close to the center of the emotional vortex for the whole game.

As Charlie Weis said, "You are what you are", and this loss is what it is. A 34-31 thriller of a game in which both teams played their guts out. Somebody had to win. It says a lot of how far Notre Dame's offense has come that Pete Carroll allowed Leinart to risk getting stopped on a QB sneak rather than kicking the field goal. He wanted no part of an Irish offense in overtime after his defense had already spent 40 minutes on the field. The days of 31-point blowouts in this series are over.

Like I said already, the best morphine for this would be a White Sox clincher tonight in Anaheim. But even that wouldn't dull the pain. It hurts like nothing else to come so close, to see it, to TASTE it practically, for a few moments before having it taken away.

Was it a Penalty?

The NCAA rulebook for football clearly states that no player can "grasp, pull, lift, or charge into [the ballcarrier] to assist him in forward progress."

Matt Leinart did not get into the endzone on his initial QB sneak. He spun to the outside, which was the point at which Reggie Bush, in his own words, "shoved [Matt] in there as hard as I could"

That's a penalty.

In fairness, I have to say it's a penalty I've never seen called. I've heard of it, but I've seen dozens of short-yardage and goalline pileups and blockers who try to nudge a ballcarrier forward, and I can not recall this particular foul ever getting called. That doesn't change the fact that Reggie Bush helped USC get into the endzone on what was, according to the RULEBOOK and not just the angry bitterness of an ND student, an illegal move. And it doesn't make the loss hurt any less.

Pressure-Cooker

How intense was Saturday's game?



Even Lee Corso needed to take a breath by the time it was over.

Corso, by the way, now predicts a perfect 5-0 finish for the Irish, this shortly after his prediction of a 1-5 start. Lee's always been one to talk out of both sides of his mouth, so it's good to see some things never change.

24 Hours Away

Notre Dame v. Southern California, for all the marbles that might possibly be up for grabs on Saturday in mid-October.

The players have been talking about it all week. This is the game that brings them to Notre Dame, a chance to take down the #1 team in the country on their home turf in front of 80,000 screaming disciples to the Church of Notre Dame Football.

2:30 PM, Notre Dame Stadium, the Trojan War begins. Winner takes all.

ND-SC Buildup

Only 52 and a half hours before kickoff. The library lawn has basically been conquered by ESPN, which has set up for Cold Pizza on Friday and GameDay on...well, on gameday.

ESPN is even televising the pep rally from ND Stadium. Is this overkill? You betcha. Do I love it? You betcha. Although I must say, this is a bit much for a school as irrelevant as Notre Dame, right Alan Grant?

Rumors continue that Bruce Springsteen or even Bon Jovi (hey, go for the gold - why not both?) may make a special cameo appearence at the rally as a display of Jersey solidarity with Coach Weis. Stay tuned.

At practice - Rhema McKnight in pads running drills at full speed. It's all hands on deck for Saturday.

SIDE NOTE - Notre Dame water polo climbed to 11th in the CWPA rankings, yet somehow #2 Michigan State and #6 Michigan (who have both lost to us) retain their spots. Be serious.

So It Begins...

College football lies on the edge of it's seat now, as USC-Notre Dame is just six fateful days away. The excitement is building to what will be the most anticipated game of this series since the #1 vs. #2 battle which proved the exclaimation point on ND's last championship season, 1988.

One other trivia bit: the last time Notre Dame played the #1 team on October 15th was 17 years ago, also in 1988, against Miami. Not quite sure how that one worked out...

Irish Steamroll Purdue; Battle of the Sox Looms

49-28.

In five games under Charlie Weis, Notre Dame has scored 40+ points four times. In 37 games under Tyrone Willingham, they did that...twice.

This just in: Urban Meyer's offense has found its kryptonite. Its called speed on the opposing defense. Florida goes without a touchdown for the first time in 13 years in getting whacked by Alabama 31-3. Roll Tide, indeed.

The season in the books, and the White Sox finish an incredible 99-63, far beyond anybody's expectations. Just for fun, they swept the Indians this weekend in Cleveland, ending the Tribe's playoff dreams despite a spirited second half.

And now the real season begins.

WHITE SOX - RED SOX, Game 1 @ Comiskey (damn right I said it, Comiskey) 3:00 PM.

Leaving On a Noon-Day Trip to Pittsburgh...

But before I go, the #1 Key to the Irish Season, and (whoa - big shock) it's all about the man at the top.

The pace, attitude, and results of Notre Dame's 2005 fortunes depend more than anything else on Charlie Weis and his expertly picked staff of assistants. Since I'm on my way out the door to Pittsburgh for the game, I'll lot local Sports legend columnist Jeff Jeffers expand on this theme...


Weis & His Wise Men
by Jeff Jeffers


Charlie Weis is always quick to give credit to the Notre Dame administration for allowing him the financial freedom to hire what could very well be one of the best groups of assistant coaches in the game today. The payoff comes in wins and losses, much the enthusiasm pulsing through the Notre Dame nation originated from the resumes of Weis' assistants.

There are many excellent groups of assistant coaches spread across the college football landscape, but what makes this assortment of aides unique is their collective experience and reputations. Both factors reflect on Weis, who hired several of these assistants over the phone back in December.

Weis had never met some of them but had a variety of very good reasons why he wanted them at Notre Dame with him. There is little question that Weis could have put together his staff based solely on his contacts and experience in the NFL. But Weis realized he needed a staff that would reflect what he wanted to bring to Notre Dame: a dynamic mix of experience, enthusiasm, recruiting expertise and an appreciation and admiration for Notre Dame.

The lack of familiarity among assistants was quickly swept away by a unified effort to tackle the job. One clear quality is that each and every one of Weis' assistants is a teacher. Sometimes lessons can be learned immediately while other lessons takes weeks, sometimes months, to master. Who didn't want to start a class with A's right out of the chute? But we all know it doesn't always happen that way. The same holds true in football.

Thirty years ago, Dan Devine assembled his own tremendous group of assistant coaches. Some were retained from Ara Parseghian's staff and others were new to Notre Dame. The triumvirate of Notre Dame graduates ¬– Greg Blache, Joe Yonto and George Kelly – represented three of the best assistants ever on the Irish sidelines.

The offensive coordinator, Merv Johnson, has a story worth telling for several reasons. Johnson, who came to Notre Dame in 1976 along with Ron Toman, is credited with the development of a quarterback named Joe Montana. Johnson also called all the offensive plays and worked seemingly three downs ahead of opposing defenses. Over a four-year period Johnson's attacks were as varied as any in college football.

If a defense wanted to play a stacked front, Montana would go to Ken MacAfee, Kris Haines, David Waymer, etc. You want to drop seven into coverage, Mr. Defensive Coordinator? Try to handle Jerome Heavens, Vagas Ferguson, Al Hunter, Terry Eurick and Steve Orsini.

Johnson has the hardware. He owns national championship rings from four different decades: Arkansas in 1964, Notre Dame in 1977, Oklahoma in 1985 and again with the Sooners in 2000.

I have not met anyone within the world of college football with more class, character and compassion that Merv Johnson. In the early 1970's while at Arkansas, one of those on Frank Broyles' Razorback staff was current Irish assistant Bill Lewis, who shares many of those same traits and qualities as Johnson.

It would be great if the 2005 Notre Dame coaching staff stayed in tact through the next six seasons, but we know in the reality of college football that's not the case. Enjoy this staff, Notre Dame fans. You may not see a collection like this one for a long time. Then again, who would have thought Weis could have put together a staff like this in the first place? If he has to, Weis will probably do it again.