2002 Week 7
October 9, 2002
First off, I wanted to correct a major error I made a few weeks ago.
Contrary to what I stated, George O'Leary is not the new head coach at Notre Dame this season. The new coach is Ty Dillingham.
I feel a bit embarrassed because I should have noticed from the sideline shots that George and Ty are quite different in appearance: George is a lot heavier than Ty.
George apparently turned down the ND job because Notre Dame wouldn't give him an honorary degree so he could claim to be college-educated.
I still am a bit confused about the Notre Dame quarterback situation. Carl Holiday seemed to be doing a fine job, with a 4-0 record, so it's strange that Notre Dame's now playing the coach's son, Ty Dillingham, Jr. at quarterback.
That's the worst example of quarterback nepotism I've seen since former Texas DT Ken Simms' son, Chris Simms, inexplicably got a scholarship to UT.
The Irish have turned things around in impressive fashion this year, I've been really impressed--they've had a full house at every home game.
Notre Dame is famous for occasionally changing the color of their uniforms. Most schools don't do this, so it was a bit of a surprise last week to see Oklahoma come out in orange uniforms for their game against Texas.
Even more confusing was the fact that this year the game was played in Austin rather than its usual location, Dallas. The Sooners played pretty well, but fell a bit short against the Aggies, losing 17-15.
One of the other big stories this year is the rise of the Big East. The Big East, of course, isn't simply a northeastern conference. The league actually currently extends down the East Coast to include the mighty Miami Hurricanes. That makes for a quite competitive conference.
I am kind of surprised that the Big East is looking to add more weak sister cupcake schools. The latest provisional member played Miami last week (and got plowed).
As I noted two weeks ago, I still don't understand why Yukon is planning to join the Big East. They're in Western Canada for crying out loud. A round trip bus ride from Yukon to Miami must take a full week. They should be trying to join the Mountain West.
I looked at Yukon's website and saw that their schedule is pretty insane. First they travel to Miami, then they play Florida Atlantic. A West Coast team like Yukon should cut back on those travel costs and play Florida Pacific instead.
Even worse is the situation for Yukon's fans. Due to the 4-hour time difference, that 8 p.m. night game in Miami last week started at midnight in Yukon. Even the midnight sun would have set by then. As I said, they'd be far better off in a conference in the same time zone.
I really think that Big East would be well-advised to change its membership and make itself stronger, not weaker. They should look to dump weak football schools like Rutgers, Temple, and St. Johns and add some powerhouses like Penn State and Pitt.
Before the rise of the Big East most of the eastern teams were independents. The major eastern powers played each other and at the end of the year one team would receive the Lambert Trophy.
The Lambert Trophy, named for former Steelers star Jack Lambert and sponsored by the American Dental Association, recognizes the team that lost the most teeth during the regular season.
Last year there was a brief controversy as the Western Virginia Mountaineers sued, saying that their players had far fewer teeth to lose so the competition wasn't fair. The case was thrown out of court because a team from a Southern state like Virginia wasn't eligible for the trophy.
Well, I'm just about ready to sit back, pick all the insects out of my chins, grab the Stoli, reach into my slacks and pull out the remote, and enjoy a terrific weekend of college football. See you next week.