| College Football |
| Irish Go Bowling! |
| by Kenneth Watkins |
| Charlie Weis meets Jim Tressel as the Irish look to tame the Buckeyes winning ways and end the Irish long bowl drought with a win. |
Boy what a bargain Charlie Weis has been for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Bargain you may ask. Think about it, by accepting an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl to play the Ohio State Buckeyes the Fighting Irish get at least 14 million dollars. It's no wonder Charlie Weis got an 10 year contract extension. If he can bring in that kind of money I would be happy as a university too. Not a bad payday for a college who struggled last year just to compete against teams.
This is Notre Dame's highest ranking since their No.4 ranking in 1993. Last time the Buckeyes and the Irish played was 1996 with Ohio State winning 29-16. The Irish have lost 7 straight bowl games so this will be a very interesting match up for both teams. Ohio State has one of the best defenses in the country led by All-American A.J.Hawk and company. The Irish will be led by their quarterback Brady Quinn who grew rapidly under new coach Charlie Weis.
So who do I like in this match up you may ask. Even though I'm from Ohio I see Charlie Weis who I consider coach of the year in the NCAA to prevail for a number of reasons. The Buckeyes defense have never really faced a offense like Charlie Weis runs. The Big Ten teams doesn't really use a lot of schemes like Weis runs and the Irish won some big games and could have easily ended USC winning streak.
This will pit two teams that honestly really don't like each other. Ohio State wanted to play Notre Dame as they feel they have not been treated very fairly by people. Notre Dame on the other hand wants to show they are one of the best around too. I think this game will have more scoring than people realize and the unknown factor in this game could be Buckeyes quarterback Troy Smith. Smith has been on a roll lately and the Irish will need to contain him if they hope to win. This is a matchup that even Woody would love. Heck he might look down and smile as they play the Ohio State fight song.
This is one game people should watch as action will be at a premium. As the dust clears, I'm calling the Fighting Irish will prevail 24-21. |
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