Let’s operate with a premise that may or may not come true, but for the sake of an argument and speculation we’ll say is true: Notre Dame will fire Charlie Weis relatively soon. That much isn’t exactly a stretch, though it’s anybody’s guess how long it’ll be before Weis’ buyout becomes “worth it” to Notre Dame. Economy and all.

(You know it’s bad when Weis’ Invisibility Cloak isn’t even working for him anymore.)

Once that hypothetical situation hypothetically bears itself out (strictly hypothetically, we might add), obviously, the search for a replacement is on and it had better be fruitful. While Notre Dame fans are busy explaining to themselves why they’re too good for Urban Meyer (no, really), Bob Stoops may be busy explaining to himself why he’s just right for the Golden Domers.

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You can say the buzzards are really circling Charlie Weis now, as Notre Dame suffers yet another defeat, a 27-22 loss to Pittsburgh that leaves the Irish at 6-4. So it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion amongst many media circles that Charlie will be saying sayonara to South Bend at season’s end.

However, letting Weis go is not just a matter of a simple “Sorry, Charlie,” as he’s pushed out the door. Such a move would actually be very costly for Notre Dame.

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As you’ve probably heard, Comcast is in heavy negotiations to acquire NBC for roughly eleventy kerjillion dollars, give or take a kerjillion or threeve. What effect that would have on NBC’s sports programming seemed to be of minimal concern… until you realize that Comcast also owns the Versus Network, and boy would they like to have some good content on that channel, seeing as how DirecTV reportedly called it “a glorified infomercial”. You probably already know where this one’s going.

(An Irish fan’s dream come true!)

According to the SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL, if NBC gets swallowed up by the cable giant, Notre Dame’s probably one of the first big sports programs headed to Versus. And the school and its fans can complain until they’re hoarse, but Notre Dame’s the first to blame; after all, a move to cable is already in their contract.

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We finally have some on-the-record reaction from Jimmy Clausen and Rich Gunnell after their confrontation following ND’s 20-16 win over BC last Saturday.

(Clausen a “phony”? Mr. Gunnell, get in line)

Clausen said this week that he did his best to avoid what happened: “I was just going up to him to say he’s a heck of a receiver. He was making plays left and right and he’s a real good talent.”

Gunnell wasn’t nearly as complimentary. Actually, swap out “nearly as” with “at all”. Read more…

Scene: Notre Dame Stadium. Two Irish fans ask if they can get onto the field before Notre Dame’s battle with USC - one that would prove to be a heroic seven-point loss. The usher obliges, because sometimes this is a civil society after all. The two take their picture, but there appears to be a third party, uninvited but more than willing to add his own mark to the photo.

The result?

(Via NBCLOSANGELES.COM)

Two scoops of middle-finger, courtesy of USC tight end Blake Ayles, coming right up!

We don’t much care for those who think the middle finger is a big deal anymore - it’s commonplace among, like, second-graders - but we understand that there are those who abhor it, thus the Tiny Teddy Bears Of Good Taste And Restraint. To view the photo sans Teddy Bears, please drive through.
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Earlier this week, Pete Carroll raise a few eyebrows when he more or less said that Washington’s Jake Locker was a better QB than Terrelle Pryor. After all, Carroll’s Trojans just beat Terrelle’s Buckeyes, and #3 USC was expected to humiliate the Huskies up in Seattle today. I mean, come on - Washington was winless last year and needed to beat lowly Idaho last week to end a 15-game losing streak.

Turns out Pete was right all along - and we’re sure he wishes he wasn’t.

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It’s another Saturday, meaning another full plate of college football action - also meaning tens of thousands of fans are setting up shop outside stadiums to tailgate their tails off.

(”It’s coming right at me! Noooooooooo!”)

One of the newest members of the tailgating scene is Joe Tiller, the former Purdue & Wyoming coach. Tiller left West Lafayette at the end of last season, and is enjoying his retirement in  the small Wyoming town of Buffalo. Although he’s no longer in the coaching profession, Joe still has an itching to partake in the pigskin festivities. Fortunately for him, he saved up & got himself an RV, so he can travel the country campus to campus and continue to soak the collegiate atmosphere all in.

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• A Michigan player punched a Notre Dame opponent during last weekend’s game? Rich Rodriguez has no idea what you’re talking about.

• Duke football players bedevil fans with their own shirtless poster.

• How did Lane Kiffin get to be the coaching genius that he is? By washing Reggie White’s car while his dad coached.

• Bills KR Leodis McKelvin decides not to press charges against the two teens who vandalized his yard after the Pats loss.

• Panthers WR Steve Smith loves teammate Jake Delhomme as a person, but hates him as a QB.

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Rich Rodriguez finally has some breathing room at Michigan. After going on the hot seat after a 3-9 debut season that was the worst in school history, Rodriguez was almost buried before the season began by a range of allegations including violating NCAA practice rules and getting sued for a condo deal gone bad. But after a 38-34 win over Notre Dame in one of the most amazing college football games ever played a college football game, the Wolverines are back in the Top 25 and suddenly relevant again.

So how does Rich Rod celebrate this stunning reversal of fortune? Exactly like you would expect he would: by opening his fool mouth and blowing out any goodwill he had earned by blatantly lying. It’s not his fault: it’s human nature. We all revert back to our default mechanisms at some point. For Rodriguez, it’s making an ass out of himself.

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For past two seasons, the once-mighty Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry has been mighty crappy. There was ND’s 35-17 wipeout of the Wolverines in South Bend last season, and then there was UM’s 38-0 a$$-whooping of the Irish in Ann Arbor the season before that. So you’d figure that today’s matchup in the Big House would be a big bore.

Big mistake to assume that. Like two aging heavyweights whose glory days appeared to have been behind them, Michigan & Notre Dame traded punches all afternoon (figurative, not literal) as the score see-sawed back & forth. But it was the Maize & Blue who managed the final knockout blow, as Tate Forcier tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Greg Matthews with 11 seconds left. So Hail to the Victors in a 38-34 thriller.

(Time to get those Charlie Weis-bashing billboards back up.)

Speaking of knockouts, another top-5 team from the Sooner state took another tumble on the field in an upset loss.

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