DDT

The ninth coming of the Irish

Maybe

An almost religious fervor overcame announcers of the popular media as they began to sing hosannas to Notre Dame after the Fighting Irish' win over Southern Cal in a nationally televised footy match. Not since 1988 have The Irish reached the threshold of a national championship, and the anticipation that Notre Dame, the most legendary college football program of them all, will compete for, and even win, another national championship began to assume historic overtones.

Notre Dame has won eight national championships according to the Associated Press, and thirteen national titles going back to 1919 if all the polls are factored in. Many of the older polls are disputed, however.

The Irish have been, without question, destiny’s team in the 2012 season. Read: lucky. But it takes a little luck to win a national championship in the totally unpredictable steeple chase of college football. More than once during the season, the Irish drew the long straw after a controversial call or a key field goal, usually, in the latter case, one the other team missed.

And all the experts can now say, “I told you so,” even though the Irish weren’t ranked in the AP preseason poll and were only 25th in the USA Today poll going into the season. But polls are, for the most part, worthless early in the season. One had USC ranked number one, the other had them number three. As of this week, the Trojans don’t show up in the Top 25 of either.

USC showed up Saturday night, though. Fitting that the preseason number one should take the new number one down to the wire before bowing out and disappearing into the fog of some minor bowl game to end their season. Now the media’s new best friend, Notre Dame, can try and refit their legend with another national championship.

The winner of the SEC championship game, either Georgia or Alabama, will likely be the Irish’ opponent in Miami on January 7, 2013.

Luck, destiny, who cares? Either you win or you lose. History will remember only the winners, no matter how they got there.

Not since 1915
Texas and Texas A&M began playing tackle football in 1898. Between 1912 and 1914 they took a break, then resumed hostilities in 1915. Not since that year, that is not until this year, have they missed lining up for a football match, usually in late November, usually on Thanksgiving Day.

Gone are the Thanksgiving Eve pep rallies, the Aggie Bonfire, the Corps marching down Congress Avenue in Austin on alternate years, the UT frat pranksters trying to steal the outhouse before it made it atop the bonfire, and the Aggie artists applying a fresh coat of maroon paint to the cajones of the mustangs on the sculpture next to DKR Memorial. 

Texas’ game with TCU and A&M’s contest with Missouri on TG weekend were poor substitutes for a late great tradition in college football.

Next year, Texas will play Texas Tech on Thanksgiving, and TAMU will meet Missouri the following Saturday.

The sale of fear and fantasy
The hardest thing about watching tackle football on tube is the commercials. There are far too many of them and not much time in between. Worst of all, most are based on the sale of fear and fantasy.

Fear: Insurance and pharmaceuticals. Bad things could happen to you, buy lots of insurance. More bad things are going to happen to you, you should be taking a lot of drugs.

Fantasy: Get a credit card, charge it. Take a cruise, buy a new car, pay it out—anything you want, whether you can afford it or not. Dream big. Pay it out. And pay and pay and pay. Get a reverse mortage, we’ll explain the details later.

Cornhole? 
You gotta be kidding
A contest ESPN is promoting, “Lee Corso’s Cornhole Challenge,” is an IPhone/online bean bag toss. The hole is a graphic of Lee Corso’s mouth depicted on a board. Fans try to hit it with their bag.

When some of us of a certain age were in high school the term “cornhole” had to do with unnatural acts performed by immoral men in the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those miscreancies caused their destruction and got a famous Old Testament wahine turned into a pillar of salt.

Now, in the age of political correctness and liberal redefinition of social values, it is evidently OK to use that term for a contest promoted by Lee Corso, ESPN’s court jester.

Shouldn’t it be “corn” and “hole,” two words? In that case the hole, Corso’s mouth, would be a place. As one word “cornhole” is, at least to my generation, something else. Either way, the promotion is in poor taste and Corso is not only the Court Jester, he’s the Emperor who wore no clothes.

Best idea we've heard this year
Not since TCU pulled their heads out and canceled their commitment to the Big East has such a gem of common sense surface: Boise State and San Diego State are considering staying in the Mountain West and not joining the Big East, and BYU is considering rejoining the conference. It’s just a rumor at this point but, hopefully, will become fact.

This would give the MWC 13 teams with the possibility of an east and west division. WestDiv could be Hawaii, SD State, Fresno State, San Jose State, UNLV and Nevada. East could be Boise, Utah State, BYU, Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force and New Mexico.

The recent ruling that the best of the mids should receive BCS consideration would be reason enough for this re-realignment. With this ruling Boise and SDState wouldn’t have to move east to get a BCS ticket.

From major to mid
With Rutgers headed to the Big Ten, the Big East is rapidly eroding into a mid-major in football. With all these moves, the future Big East will be Cincinnati, Louisville, UConn, USF, UCF, Memphis, Houston, SMU, Temple and Navy. Next year Pitt and Syracuse are leaving for the ACC and UConn is flirting with that conference and may yet boogie, which would weaken the conference more.

With this latest round of realignments, the Big East shouldn’t receive any more BCS consideration than the Mountain West. Maybe less. But at least if Boise and SDSt stay west, it would give the MWC some regional integrity. The Big East, spread from Mid America to Florida to Texas, and with Temple being their only “eastern” school, needs to change its name.

Farthest fall from grace: Southern Miss. From the Conference USA championship game last year, to 0-12 this season, and the bottom 10 in the CBS Sportsline poll. And, oh BTW, they just fired their coach.

Lowest ranked DivOne major conference team: Colorado, 1-11 on the year, 1-8 in the PAC12, #114 in the CBS Sportsline Poll. Their only win, a one-pointer in OT over Wazoo. And, oh BTW, they just fired their coach.

Five on the bottom: #124, New Mexico State. How do you recruit to the Las Cruces/El Paso/Juarez Plex? Mission improbable; #123, UMass. Another wannabe who should have stayed in DivOneAA; #122, Southern Miss; #121, Idaho. How do you recruit to a 16,000-seat gym (The KibbeeDome) in the Rockies? They should join their neighbor Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference of DivOneAA;#120, Akron. The re-birth of Terry Bowden as a head coach. And the re-burial of Terry Bowden as a head coach.

Farthest fall from the Preseason Top 10: USC, from #1 to 7-5 and “others receiving votes.” Five losses, four to Top 25 teams, but a loss is a loss is a loss.

Gagliardi hangs it up
Winningest coach in college football history
Sixty-four years and 489 wins after he became a head coach, John Gagliardi announced his retirement from the game of college football. For the past 60 years, Gagliardi has been the head man at DivThree St. Johns of Minnesota.

“Seventy years (60 at SJU) is a long time to be doing the same job,” Gagliardi said. “Luckily, I've always been blessed with great players, friends, family and support to make it this far.

“Nobody ever said that getting older was easy. I just can't do the job at the level I used to anymore.”

The first active head coach to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (Class of 2006) and the 2009 American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award recipient, Gagliardi (Guh-lahr-dee) ended his record 64th season as a collegiate head football coach and 60th season as head coach of the Johnnies this fall. The winningest coach all-time in college football history, Gagliardi ends his storied career with a 489-138-11 (.775) collegiate record and a 465-132-10 (.774) record at SJU, including a 362-99-9 (.780) record in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) games. Gagliardi's 64 years of collegiate coaching is the most in college football history, surpassing the old record of 57 years held by former University of Chicago and University of the Pacific coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (1890-1946).

The 2007 Liberty Mutual Division III Coach of the Year, Gagliardi tied the all-time collegiate win record, held by former Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson, on Nov. 1, 2003, and broke the all-time record on Nov. 8, 2003, en route to a perfect 14-0 season and an NCAA Division III championship, one of four national titles he won at SJU. Gagliardi also broke Robinson's record for the most games coached in college football history (588) in 2008 and coached his 600th game in 2009.

Gagliardi coached four national championship teams (1963, 1965, 1976 and 2003), and made the 2000 national title game. an all-divisions record that may never be broken.

The Turk has been busy
In the fast-gun business of college football, the new norm seems to be “two and out.” Start showing signs of winning in two, no more than three years, or you’re out. Last year, after only two years at Kansas, Turner Gill got the sack, which seemed premature to some, but this year the trend has continued. Three years after winning a national title, Auburn dumped Gene Chizik after a disastrous season. Derek Dooley, Tennessee, Jon Embree, Colorado, and Joker Phillips, Kentucky, each after only two years on the job are gone. Danny Hope, Purdue, three years and gone.

Athletic directors and fans are now pointing to Notre Dame where this year, in only his third season in South Bend, Brian Kelley has Notre Dame on the threshold of a national championship.

That’s what’s expected: Win big, win now. The clock is running. You’ve got two years to make something happen.

Sacked as of this week: Gene Chizik, Auburn; Jeff Tedford, Cal; Derek Dooley, Tennessee; Danny Hope, Purdue; Joker Phillips, Kentucky; Jim O’Brien, NCState; Frank Spaziani, BC; John Embree, Colorado; Bill Cubit, Western Michigan; Rob Akey, Idaho; John L. Smith, Arkansas.

Retired: Mike Price, UTEP; Bill Curry, Georgia State.

Heismanziel?
Red shirt fish Johnny “Football” Manziel of  Texas A&M is being touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate. A&M publicists have wisely denied media access to Manziel because of his age and inexperience in dealing with the crush of a fickle and deceitful national media.

To quote Texas’ late basketball coach Abe Lemons’ assessment of the press: “Those who giveth taketh away.” Aggie officials know that. Manziel will soon learn it.

But in handing down the most publicized individual award in college football, should a fish who has no public persona receive the trophy?

DDT says no.

If this madness continues and if the trophy is given to Manziel, DDT will again void the process and will, for the tenth year in a row, give it to Gordie Lockbaum of Holy Cross ('88), the last true Heisman candidate, who, as a SENIOR, played offense, defense, did the kicking and returned kicks.

The Academies






Navy, 7-4. Next game, Army on Dec. 8. 
Air Force, 6-6 (5-3 and fourth in the Mountain West). Probable bowl game next.
Army, 2-9. Last game, Navy on Dec. 8.