Matt Barkley Out Against ND
Matt Barkley will not be playing against ND this weekend. Max Wittek, Rivals 4-star, #76 overall, #3 Pro-style QB in 2011, will start instead.
ND now has a wide open path to the national title. I don't think that I've ever seen a worse team get so lucky.
Oh, and don't forget the worst case scenario: ND wins the BCS game and Ohio is awarded the AP National Championsip.
I'm going to go and find a dark, musty corner to cry in.
http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/11/18/matt-barkley-will-not-pl…
November 19th, 2012 at 11:34 AM ^
Here is a protip for you. NDs rush defense is better than LSUs.
November 18th, 2012 at 9:54 PM ^
I don't like it, but I've accepted it at this point. I can't deny that Notre Dame is a great team this year. Yeah, they've gotten lucky with some questionable calls going their way, but it's better to be lucky than good sometimes. And every great team gets some luck here and there. It's their year. It still may all come crashing down on them at some point, but what a run they've had this season.
Who knows, that could be us next year. The great thing about college football is that it could happen.
November 18th, 2012 at 9:58 PM ^
2012 Notre Dame is a poor man's 2002 Ohio. They'll probably play Bama, everyone will talk for 5 weeks about how ND will get killed and then they'll play out of their ass and win.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:05 PM ^
They'll also need a terrible pass interference call then and I think they've used up all of those to get this far.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:14 PM ^
That's not the point. Miami was favored to win that game by 2 touchdowns and they blew it. And I'm in the camp of thinking there was actually a penalty on that play...although it was defensive holding instead of PI.
November 19th, 2012 at 12:31 AM ^
Miami is my second team. Such bad memories
November 18th, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^
People throw this comparison put daily now. I don't really see it. Who's their Maurice clarett? Truthfully, last year's Michigan team caught lucky breaks, auburn did as well with their NC. Many championship teams get some breaks. Alabama got a second shot at LSU. Plain and simple, michigan should have taken care of business against ND and Nebraska. Brady Hoke, Denard etc all would say the same.
ND will likely be ranked high next year which sets up nicely for us to upset them.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:50 PM ^
I totally agree
November 19th, 2012 at 10:47 AM ^
Maybe there isn't.
November 18th, 2012 at 9:58 PM ^
Remember what happened when Brian Kelly's undefeated Bearcats played the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl? (I know he already took the Notre Dame job prior to the game, but basically he got the team there.)
November 18th, 2012 at 10:02 PM ^
I could certainly see the Irish getting their ass kicked, but it's not a given.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
OSU fan here. I root against ND as much as the next guy, but if they win at the Colosseum and finish undefeated, not sure why they would be undeserving to make the NC game. It'd be a different story if KSU and Oregon stayed undefeated. But no rational person forgives KSU for getting clobbered by Baylor, or Oregon for laying an egg at home against a Stanford team that started a freshman in his first ever road game.
I guess my point is, why is it more unfair for ND to go to the championship game after an undefeated season that at times lacked style points than allowing SEC teams and/or KSU/Oregon to go instead even though they laid eggs during the season. Doesn't make sense to blame ND for barely beating a team like BYU and then at the same time forgive a team like Georgia for getting blown out by South Carolina.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:02 PM ^
Got bailed out by the refs against Stanford, Pitt, and Purdue.
November 18th, 2012 at 11:44 PM ^
which makes it more difficult to go undefeated.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
Unbiased analysis of why they are underserving.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:03 PM ^
Luck of the freaking Irish.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:07 PM ^
Its not over yet. More things will happen in their favor. Its a conspiracy...lol
November 18th, 2012 at 11:44 PM ^
so does Oregon (likely their conference Championships), so ND plays KSU and kills them!
November 19th, 2012 at 9:16 AM ^
Greatest team ever.... I can see my ND friends now "When was the last time Michigan won a Nat'l Title"
November 19th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
Its not up to Oregon to make it to their conference championship. Stanford holds all the cards.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:03 PM ^
Headline 5 weeks from now: AJ McCarron breaks leg in shower.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:05 PM ^
I'm so sick of people talking about OSU's getting the non-existent AP title. They won't be awarded it (if it existed) for not playing a post season game. Also, Alabama (assuming they win out) will beat ND in the title game and it cannot be refuted.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:16 PM ^
Uhmmm there is an AP title. It's given out by the AP. and it's also a worthless title
November 18th, 2012 at 10:35 PM ^
Uh... well then.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:28 PM ^
The perfect storm.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:48 PM ^
They are not getting SHIT when we donkey punch their ass at home! Fuck Ohio and go blue
November 18th, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
we won't have to see it. Otherwise the domers will get and probably pull a miracle out to win the MNC.
Georgia will beat Bama in the SEC CG and then the same Georgia team that lost to MSU last year will show up in Miami and ND wins and Lou Holtz has a coronary and college football is forever changed.
Man, this sux!
November 18th, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^
Georgia will win this
November 18th, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^
ND has just hit the perfect storm of all perfect storms. Good chance to beat SC, and although they will be way overmatched against the SEC champ, anything can happen in one game. Time for everyone to swallow hard, hold their noses, and really pull for SC Saturday.
November 18th, 2012 at 11:21 PM ^
It's been said before but I don't care BEAT OHIO!
November 18th, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^
hahaha. ND vs Bama, most likely. They will get exposed.
November 18th, 2012 at 11:59 PM ^
Just when I thought Lou Holtz was starting to give up on his annual undefeated predictions for ND, they have to go and screw it up like this. Now he's going to be high on the Irish until the day he dies on set.
November 19th, 2012 at 12:33 AM ^
We caught breaks last year, they are getting them this year.
Had our chance. Can't win games turning the ball over 6 times.
November 19th, 2012 at 8:50 AM ^
The Impossible happens, hate to sound like a TV ad... but this is sports. Its crazy and a cruel game and ND is 11-0... hate the French Catholics all u want but as long as they win they deserve the shot and the title.
November 19th, 2012 at 12:55 AM ^
Beat Ohio!
November 19th, 2012 at 8:46 AM ^
ND is not the #1 team. We rant the ball up and down the field in the first half and if not for some dumb TO's and play calls we go into half up huge. They have squeaked by in several games and will get exposed If they play BAMA.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:34 AM ^
If the Chicago Bulls didn't have Michael Jordan, they wouldn't have won 6 championships, but oh shit, they did!
Michigan was pretty much dominated by Virginia Tech last year, would you like to send them the Sugar Bowl trophy?
November 19th, 2012 at 11:31 AM ^
Srsly, Jordan? If we had 6 TO's vs Va Tech we lose.
ND is overrated.
November 19th, 2012 at 9:57 AM ^
I will never forgive Oregon and Kansas State for putting me in a position where I may have to root for ND in a title game.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^
How lucky was Ohio State in 2002? Every team that goes undefeated has to get lucky at some point. The great teams somehow find ways to win like Notre Dame has.
Notre Dame is a great team, and several players from this team will be playing on Sundays. They're also #1 in graduation rate at 99% (according to the telecast on saturday), being #1 in both categories in the present time is nothing short of a miracle.
This post is nothing but sour grapes.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:45 AM ^
These are the moronic cliche/trite posts that ensure nothing valuable is being added to the board. "Great teams find ways to win" Thanks Lombardi
I didn't realize it was their greatness that cause the Pitt kicker to miss a chip shot field goal. Or the refs to not give Stanford the OT TD when Taylor was clearly in the endzone on 2rd down in OT, and probably in on the second effort on 4th down.
Nobody is saying they are not a good team. We are saying we have not seen such an underwhelming undefeated team in recent history.
Do they deserve to go to the title game if they beat USC...Of course. Is it likely that this particular team would be undefeated after going to 2 overtimes and needing to come back against the likes of Purdue, Pittsburgh, and BYU....No.
Any moron can look at the results and say...yup, they won, great teams find a way to win, derp derp. A closer analysis, however, would show how fortunate they have been in many of these games against mediocre competition.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
Braxton Miller missed 2 wide open TD's last year that would have beaten us, let's give them that game back.
I'll take the win no matter how ugly or lucky it may be.
November 19th, 2012 at 11:45 AM ^
Please don't pick and choose a handful of games to prove your point. ND walked into Norman (A double digit underdog) and pimp slapped OU, holding them to 15 yards rushing. Decimated a potent Miami Passing attack, beat a great Stanford squad. I think ND has 3 victories over teams in the BCS top20, only Florida can match that.
You can talk all the crap about you should have beat us this year, but you didn't. We should have curb stomped you last year by 5 touchdowns, but we all know how that ended up.
When you are 11-0. #1 Scoring defense its about a whole lot more than luck.
November 20th, 2012 at 9:01 AM ^
It's 11 games...if 3 were close against shit to average competition (Pitt, BYU, Purdue) and you have another OT win with questionable calls against Stanford, thats more than a quarter of your games being coin flips...not to mention the gift wrapped Michigan 6 turnover game.
Yet you want to be judged on 1 impressive win against Oklahoma only? I think you are the one picking an choosing. Enjoy the lucky season...us Michigan fans had one last year. Just don't be so blind as to not acknowledge every single break going your way this year.
November 19th, 2012 at 10:29 AM ^
that Ohio wins the AP while ND wins the BCS. If ND wins the BCS, they will also win the AP.
Also, no way Ohio wins the AP. They're losing this weekend. Book it.