Saturday evening, Notre Dame moved to 5-2 after dominating the Washington Huskies by a final score of 33-7. The game was not as close as the score may have indicated. Okay, the Huskies are one of the weaker teams on the schedule to date, but the Irish played their most complete wire-to-wire game of the season thus far and we’re clearly the superior team, although far from the friendly confines of South Bend. Here’s what was most impressive about the Irish win:
– A defense that allowed zero points, only 56 yards of offense and no UW penetrations past midfield 
until all the scrubs were playing late in the 4th quarter.
– A balanced offense that racked up nearly 450 yards with more than half of it via the running game. Yes … THE RUNNING GAME.
Although his stat line was decent, this was not one of Jimmy Clausen’s better games from an 
accuracy standpoint, but he and his WRs were very effective early … setting the table with two first quarter scores on short passes turned into long runs. Even Brandon Walker was clicking Saturday as he made a couple field goals. But the story was clearly ND’s defense (or UW’s terrible offense) and the Irish ground game. Lastly, your scribe and portions of his family witnessed the game in person in Seattle. Very impressed with the UW campus, scenery, and athletic facilities. A good time was had by all. A visit to Husky Stadium is recommended if you’re ever presented with the opportunity.
Now the Irish move on to host the Pitt Panthers next week. Pitt was ranked #17 going into Saturday, but were stung at home by Rutgers 54-34. Too early for point spreads, but the Irish should be favored to win this home game. We are not yet ranked but clearly have some good vibes and momentum heading into next week.
Lastly, did I see that Michigan lost again??? Yes, this time the rival MSU Spartans got ’em. Just breaks my heart . Oh, and happy to see Penn State squeak by Ohio State. Just not crazy about seeing the Buckeyes possibly back into the big game again.
Oh yeah … almost forgot … UW’s beleaguered head coach, none other than Ty Willingham is clearly on the hottest of hot seats. He may not last the season, but is definitely going to be unemployed soon. Not that he cares … he’ll be collecting more settlement dollars from UW to add to his ND settlement. All I can say is … he’s a terrible coach and he did it to them too. UW will take years to recover from Ty’s ineptitude, especially on the recruiting end.
OK … gotta catch a plan back to Anchorage. Have a great week!
Wally
A little weird watching present ND coach Charlie against former ND-coach Willingham being analyzed by yet another former ND coach Bob Davie. Add to the weirdness – Davie talking about the state of the Huskie program. How the once proud Washington program has fallen on tough times as evidenced by a lack of recruiting. Hmmmm…Davie could have been describing the ND program when….when….Willingham was in South Bend. I wonder what Ty’s handicap is now. I am not alking about an apparent disadvantage. Rather I am talking about his golf game. Do you think Ty is spending as much time on the Huskie links as he was at ND? And to think we all figured Stanford’s mediocrity had to do with academic requirements. Harbaugh is sure taking care of that.
Good to see Clausen and ND blow someone out when not at the top of their game.
Great to see the running game pick up the slack.
Still concerned about the O-Line and injuries. Washington got Clausen in the second half after another ND lineman went down.
I stuck this in on the tail end of “Who am I” so you may have missed it, but for those into college football, Texas wrested the College Football Belt away from OK St on Saturday. To know more about the belt, go to
http://www.collegefootballbelt.com
Didn’t watch any of the game, but this has to make ND fans feel relieved. Got Ty out of South Bend in the nick of time. He can’t recruit at Washington? Yikes. How bad does that UNC game feel after they stumbled at schizophrenic Virginia?
Can’t wait for the Texas shootout next weekend. How grueling can this Texas schedule be? If they don’t lose a game, they deserve to just be handed the national title and let everyone else play for second.
It’s about the time of year that the BCS starts to annoy me. Penn State may luck out out of all these teams because they don’t have to play an extra conference championship game. Just glad to see Ohio State not be the beneficiaries of that this year.
Heisman Watch:
1. Big XII quarterback
2. Big XII quarterback
3. Big XII quarterback
4. Big XII quarterback
5. Javon Ringer MICH ST (although he doesn’t seem so deserving after being held scoreless against Ohio State. No other RB is doing anything, so he might as well stay).
Well … ND’s two losses so far are road games to Mich State and North Carolina, #21 & #22 respectively in the latest BCS standings. That’s not too bad, eh? Unfortunately, ND failed to steal that UNC game at the end … or else they’d be 6-1 and probably ranked #15 or so. That’s OK … things are heading in the right direction.
It was so fulfilling to see ND beat the crap out of Willingham’s current team (has he been fired yet?). Ty’s been stealing money from these schools for the last 8 years … it’s really a shame somebody so incompetent can be so rich. He will never again get another Div 1A job. He’s done.
Well … most of you have probably seen that Ty Willingham was forced to resign … stepping down at season’s end. Now the Huskies can begin the long journey back … trying to refill the recruiting cupboard that is apparently bare.
Why season’s end? Get rid of him now. Clemson did it.
Does anyone know if part of Ty’s buyout clause includes continued use of the campus golf course?