SportsGirl

I don’t write enough about college football, so today is my attempt to remedy that. Especially considering that I absolutely love college football and, on any given weekend, find half of those games to be more competitive and compelling than some of the NFL games (i.e. last night’s Giants-Eagles game). Of course, if you’ve read my blog before you know I root for Michigan. What you might not know is that I’m Irish-Catholic so naturally, I have to also root for Notre Dame. A lot has been made about the infamous starts to their seasons, but now it appears these two teams are moving in polar opposite directions.

Three weeks ago, the sporting nation was paying close attention to the match up between these two teams. Michigan of course had garnered the headlines due to their historic loss to Appalachian State, followed by the shellacking they took against Oregon. Notre Dame at that point hadn’t even scored an offensive touchdown so the game between them became the “Who’s going to get their first win” game for two pretty storied teams. Michigan won, and since then seems to be heading back to the realm of respectability. Notre Dame seems to have taken a wrong turn somewhere around Albuquerque and is still searching for that first victory of the season.

Outside of the win against Penn State, I’ll give you the fact that Michigan’s wins have come against some non-noteworthy teams, Notre Dame included. But a W is a W, I don’t care who it’s against. And before this season began, these were games that everyone expected Michigan to win, so they are getting back on track and have the possibility of finishing with a decent record. The highlight reels from the collapse against A State are diminishing and finally Mike Hart is reminding people that he might actually be a decent pro athlete. Hey, we’ve even gotten to see the future of the U of M QB position with Ryan Mallett playing a few games and it’s not looking that bad.

On the flip side, Notre Dame can’t seem to find a win with the proverbial two hands and a flashlight. I haven’t lost faith in Charlie Weis; if anything this proves that the public heavily discounted the effects of losing several senior starters, including an NFL-worthy QB. I’m willing to cut them some slack but what will be most interesting to me will be to see where they will enter next season in terms of expectations. Have they officially fallen off everyone’s radar for the next few years? Or will they start next season with the same set of lofty goals–National Championship or bust? I’d love to see them find the on-ramp to the road of the elite teams, I just wonder how they’ll get there.

On a side note, I have to share my thanks for a random happening this weekend. While watching the highlights of the Michigan-Northwestern game on ESPN I lamented the fact that we don’t get the Big Ten Network. A fact on which my husband corrected me. Turns out we do, or at least did that moment, get the Big Ten Network and I was able to tune in the last 10 minutes of the game. How did I not know this before?! At any rate, like a true fan I watched until the very end of the game. I kid you not, literally 2 minutes after the game ended, the channel went to a black screen and I got the Dish Network “we have no programming at this time” music and screen saver. I don’t know if that means that I was getting a free preview of that channel or if I really get that network. I’ll do more recon this weekend. Either way, thank you to whomever beamed that signal into my TV. You are forever on my good list.