le bon temps are over for the Irish.

You really cannot get rolled last night like Notre Dame did by LSU (with Son of Dreamboat* Brady Quinn getting shut down with 145 yards) , and still be considered anywhere near a national power, as ESPN's Mark Schlabach writes today and many others throughout the blog world have noted, either in comments or in their own entries.

They got rolled by Ohio State in last year's Fiesta Bowl, and despite their 2 losses, LSU is just as talented as this year's OSU squad; they just didn't put it together when it mattered. I talked to a friend of mine at work post-game and he'd just had a very good round of winning, having taken LSU at -8.5 and Boise State to upset on Oklahoma.

Co-worker: "My friend in Vegas called me and was actually hesitating on taking LSU. I told him, 'You can't take Notre Dame in a game like this if the spread is less than two touchdowns."
Me: "Hell, you could have taken LSU if the spread was 3 TDs."

Notre Dame travels well and they absolutely wreck the service academies every year. They had the most cupcake schedule of the BCS teams; Michigan and USC just bitch-slapped them, and it doesn't bode well if you have to come back against Michigan State and UCLA late in the game. The reason the Irish aren't in a conference is because they would wind up in the bottom half of it every year, without fail.

Back to Son of Dreamboat -- I predicted in comments on another site (can't remember which) that it would be nice to see how far Quinn's draft status fell after he got beat. I'm still irritated by the "Quinn as a #1 pick" talk -- it's the same talk by draftniks and colllege ball pundits that gave Vince Young a bad rap headed into the draft, and oops, he turned out to be the Offensive Rookie of the Year. "Waiter, please send a to-go order of the crow to Mr. Merrill Hoge's table." It looks like they're ready to do it again, this time to Troy Smith, all because they don't really watch the games enough or count them as enough of a factor.

Now, neither Troy Smith nor Brady Quinn are likely superstar QBs in the NFL to me, but if I had to put my team's financial future on risking one of them, I'd probably go with Smith -- he's done nothing but win A LOT. JaMarcus Russell, however, probably just made himself a high first round pick (if he leaves) with last night's game. Dude throws 50-60+ yards off his back foot.

(*Dreamboat term for Tom Brady stolen from With Leather.)

upon further review...

...the call in the earlier post stands, and Chris Myers remains a complete dickhead for cockblocking the surprise on #41's proposal at 1:05.

The soon-to-be-blushing bride's name is Chrissy Popadics -- insert your preferred Popadics-Johnson wedding joke here.

Oh, and Louisville beats Wake in the Orange Bowl, 24-13. The notable part included the fact that EVERY Wake Forest player has a heartwarming story for the semi-homely sideline reporter to wax on about (although, let's face it, Jeff Abbate's is a great one, and the only reason I hate it is because I'm a heartless bastard.)

give us your tired, your poor...

...your Cinderellas winning in OT with the fucking Statue of Liberty play on the 2-point conversion in the Fiesta Bowl.

As if giving up a lead and going behind on an OU pick for six in the fourth quarter wasn't enough, the Broncos had to not only come back, but score the OT TD on 4th and 2, then get the 2 point, and then running back Ian Johnson proposes to his smoking hot head cheerleader girlfriend after the game.

That was as good a four-and-a-half hour stretch as last year's SC-Texas Rose Bowl, and I was trying to go to sleep between shifts at work -- I don't regret watching one bit.

Oh, and Fox's Chris Myers can go eat a dick -- NO WRECKING THE SURPRISE PROPOSAL, BITCH. What a lame move.

all hail the BCS.

Without it, we wouldn't have half as much to talk about it when it came to college football.

After two highly entertaining Big East Thursday-nighters (especially that Louisville-Rutgers game), the college football "experts" on ESPN and everywhere else have settled into the CW that even if Rutgers stays undefeated, they have no business in the championship game.

Fine, I get that. Rutgers has a weak schedule, compared to Louisville, and they still have West Virginia on their schedule in two weeks.. But they should be talked about as a contender and allowed to make a case. Like most casual college football fans (didn't go to a D-I school, I root for teams in places I've lived, mostly -- CU being my open secret, this Buffs' season just hurts me) , I'd be the perfect advocate for a playoff system, because this system makes no sense.

However, outside of the obvious money reason, there are two actual reasons to not go to a playoff system in Div. I-A college ball:
1) There's something oddly inspiring and comforting about watching a sport where, as a team, you'd better not lose more than one game if you want a shot at being called the champion. You'd better play strong teams and beat them.
2) Half the fun of college football now is the vehement arguments over seeding positions in the BCS. Even haters like yours truly enjoy the vagueness of the standards required to make a dent when it becomes clear that only one power team is going to make it to the Fiesta Bowl undefeated this year.

Also -- Boise State may make a BCS bowl this year, which seems to give some folks the urge to retch, but it's not like Texas has played anyone better in their conference (at least they schedule Ohio State). The Big 12, collectively, has licked balls since Nebraska's Tom Osbourne decided to take his play-calling skills to Congress (although they are getting better, goddamnit, with a former Raider coach at the helm, of all things). There's always been one power team since, and Texas has filled the void.