Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.
Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.
So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.
The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.
Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 13.
Game of the week: No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-0) at USC Trojans (7-4, 5-4 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC).
Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.
Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.
So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.
The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.
Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 11.
Game of the week: No. 15 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2, 4-2 SEC) at No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-0, 6-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)
Pregame rant: Texas A&M has won seven of its last eight games since losing its opener. The Aggies’ two conference losses are to Florida and LSU.
Those defeats aside, Texas A&M has made a better adjustment to SEC football than Missouri has. So the Aggies will be ready Saturday. The question is will that matter against the Tide?
Alabama is No. 1 nationally in scoring defense (9.11 points allowed a game), but LSU exposed that D a little bit. The Aggies are fourth in the nation in scoring offense (44.67 points a game).
If freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is on his game, the Tide will have their hands full. One of the most exciting players in college football, Manziel has 2,527 yards passing, 922 yards rushing and 31 total touchdowns (16 passing, 15 rushing).
Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.
Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.
The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.
Edge Alabama.
A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.
Post-game commentary: McCarron wasn’t his best until it matter most.
With that Death Valley crowd roaring and ready to pounce on him for predicting the Tide would win, McCarron was 4-of-5 for 72 yards and a game-winning touchdown pass with 51 seconds left to beat the rival Tigers.
Mettenberger actually played well. Was 24-of-35 for 298 yards and a touchdown.
Truth be told, the Tigers had this game won. They had more yards, won the turnover and time ouf possession battle and limited Alabama to 1-of-9 on third-down conversions.
So why did they lose? Penalties and bad play calling.
The Tigers had seven penalties for 51 yards and LSU coach Les Miles called a fake field goal on a 4th-and-12 play down 7-3 in the first half. It failed miserably.
Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 10.
Game of the week: No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0, 5-0 SEC) at No. 5 LSU Tigers (7-1, 3-1 SEC), Saturday, 8 p.m., WSEE (CBS).
Pregame rant: As good as this game will be, we don’t want to see the Tide and Tigers play in the national title game again.
Alabama hasn’t lost since it fell 9-6 in overtime at home to the Tigers. The Tide dominated LSU in the national title game, but the Tigers can avenge that loss and really put themselves in the national title picture.
The Tide are first in the nation in run defense. LSU is eighth. So the team that has the better quarterback should win Saturday.
Edge Alabama.
A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns, no interceptions and can make all the throws. If Zach Mettenberger is called upon to beat the Tide, it’s not going down.
Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma
Final score: Irish 30, Sooners 13
Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.
It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.
Something has to give.
Post-game commentary: The Irish didn’t give.
Oklahoma rushed for just 15 yards on 24 rushing attempts in falling to Notre Dame at home. The Sooners may have given up on the run too early, but they couldn’t have expected the Irish’s offense to hit them so many big plays last week.
Before this game, I thought all the talk about Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o winning the Heisman Trophy was a bit much.
After seeing how he leads the best defense in the nation outside of Alabama’s, I’m rethinking my votes. He had 11 tackles, a sack and an interception last week. Great player.
Game of the week: No. 17 Stanford at No. 7 Notre Dame
Final score: Irish 20, Cardinal 13 (OT)
Pregame rant: The Irish have an offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly, but have relied on their defense to win games. Allowing 7.78 points a game, Notre Dame is second only to top-ranked Alabama in scoring defense.
The Irish are first in touchdowns allowed with three.
However, Stanford has the type of offense that can grind it out and impose its will on a defense. Stepfan Taylor is 15th in the nation in rushing with 560 yards and five touchdowns. If the Cardinal can consistently block Irish senior stud linebacker Manti Te’o, who has 48 stops, Taylor will have room to run.
If not, it will be business as usual for Te’o and the Irish defense.
Post-game commentary: The debate over whether Taylor scored or not from the 1-yard line in OT is a valid one, but someone explain how you run the same play, bad weather or not, on 3rd and 4th down out of a tight formation with everyone in the box to stop the run.
What this game tells me is if you’re playing Notre Dame, better put them away early. The Irish have won three games by seven points or less. They beat Purdue 20-17, Michigan 13-6 and Stanford in overtime.
Game of the week: No. 17 Stanford Cardinal (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12) at No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, (5-0), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WICU (NBC).
Pregame rant: The Irish have an offensive-minded coach in Brian Kelly, but have relied on their defense to win games. Allowing 7.78 points a game, Notre Dame is second only to top-ranked Alabama in scoring defense.
The Irish are first in touchdowns allowed with three.
However, Stanford has the type of offense that can grind it out and impose its will on a defense. Stepfan Taylor is 15th in the nation in rushing with 560 yards and five touchdowns. If the Cardinal can consistently block Irish senior stud linebacker Manti Te’o, who has 48 stops, Taylor will have room to run.
If not, it will be business as usual for Te’o and the Irish defense.
