Hot hot hot! Appalachian is #33

Following up on my previous post about the Associated Press allowing Division I-AA teams into its poll for the first time ever this week: Appalachian State -- victor over the victors valiant, conqueror of the conquering heroes -- is, alas, not ranked. They are, however, in the "others receiving votes" category, right between Auburn and Cincinnati. If you count back from #25, they are effectively ranked #33 in the country. (For the record, Sagarin puts them at #53... just behind #52 UConn, well ahead of both #63 Notre Dame and #69 Michigan.)

And hey, if those hot, hot, hot Mountaineers can keep winning -- they've got Northern Arizona next on the schedule, followed by trips to Wofford and Elon -- maybe they can work their way up into the Top 25 through attrition.

Speaking of which, Rece Davis says that LSU and Oklahoma should be #1 and #2, ahead of USC: "If you're a pollster and those aren't your top two, what you're saying is that your preseason prediction is more important than what you've seen on the field. Unfortunately, too many people seem unable to break that habit."

Anyway, back to Notre Dame and Michigan. They're both in ESPN's Bottom 10 for the second straight week. What an honor! Alas, someone will almost have to ascend out of the rankings this Saturday... and Mike Hart guarantees it'll be the Skunkbears. (Though he may not have used that particular term.)

If the Irish don't improve these offensive statistics, then I'm afraid Hart will be right. However, I'm betting on the Curse of Bo Schembechler to pull us through. Official Fearless BrendanLoy.com Prediction: Notre Dame 6, Michigan 5! (You know our offensive line is totally capable of giving up a safety.)

By the way, the post with the statistics also contains another detailed discussion -- with, you know, facts and stuff -- about the whole "Ty vs. Charlie" debate. Not like that topic isn't already consuming 95% of the (virtual) oxygen in the comment section. :)

The Blue-Gray Sky has a good post, too, about ND's current predicament.

Finally, speaking of predicaments: D'oh! USC has suffered its first season-ending injury, to defensive back Josh Pinkard.

Comments

[Angrier and Angrier]

Wow. Sooners fans make Irish and Trojan fans look like pussies...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/09/11/oklahoma.texas.fight.ap/index.html?cnn=yes

[Becky]

I wonder how long Notre Dame's Ty hangover will last. It's kind of pathetic to blame a coach who has been gone for YEARS for the program's current problems, as if Weis has been trapped in Siberia for the last six months without any way of preparing his team for the season. It's a sad day when Buffalo's offense is more productive than Notre Dame's.

[Angrier and Angrier]

I credit Weis's success last season to the work done by Knute Rockne when he was at ND.

[Andrew]

A couple minor points. Pinkard is out for the season, but it is assumed that Broderick Green is also out for the season with an injury to his foot (although speculation is he might return late in the season and not redshirt). We have plenty of depth, so the loss of Pinkard isn't huge, but Pinkard is a playmaker and that's a couple of turnovers we probably won't force now that he's sidelined.

Also, regarding Rece Davis and the LSU-Oklahoma-USC debate, I like Stewart Mandel's reasoning:

Did I consider moving LSU up to No. 1 this week? Yes, briefly. There's nothing that says an idle team can't fall from No. 1. But I figured, the Trojans have their own showcase game coming up this weekend at Nebraska. There's no harm in waiting a week in order to make a proper comparison.

[Sandy Underpants]

Rece Davis is a dildo. Idaho is a better team than anyone LSU or Oklahoma have played, and why do the standards always change when USC is ranked #1 preseason? Ohio St. beat nobody all year long and nobody was gonna move them last year. Oklahoma was called "The Best Team in History" back in 2003 without beating anyone worth a damn and we know what happened when that team ran into LSU and USC. USC is ranked #1 because voters know the talent on the team. If they can't pull it together against Nebraska or look crappy then maybe reconsider, but starting Week 3, who cares what the order of the top 3 is? Why screw up USC's #1 ranking streak, which should break the record they set the last time at 32.

[B. Minich]

Idaho is better than Virginia Tech?

I'll grant that they best anyone Oklahoma has played, Miami included, but I can't call them better than Tech just yet. That takes a few more games.

[Sandy Underpants]

I posted at Blue Gray Sky an hour ago, my opinions on the Charlie-Ty comparison. I wasn't inflammatory, I stated my opinion as I do here, one post. My opinion was deleted and I'm banned from the site now. It's totally disgraceful and disgusting that people would be so afraid of someone's opinion/analysis that they would silence them. I'm actually shocked, to tell ya the truth. Maybe I'm just too naive in thinking other people are interested in all forms of opinion contribution, whether I agree with them or I don't, healthy discussion is not only important it's fun. And while I do believe race played a role in the decisions that have been made, I don't think it's a big deal, heck I'm not black so I don't have anything to worry about.

I guess all I want to say is F the Blue Gray Sky.

Thank you Brendan for exemplifying what America is all about while the Nazis at BGS streamline one thought.

[Condor]

Imposter Sneaks into ND Game Dressed as Priest:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/ncaa/09/12/notredame.imposter.ap/

[Wobbly H]

Sandy,
Your opinions are unsupported race baiting that are a waste of bandwidth. BGS was right not to bother with leaving your comments up to be eviscerated

[Mike's brother Matt]

And at this point Sandy, you've removed any doubt. You're a delusional idiot. Idaho's better than Va Tech? The Hokies who led the nation in defense the last two seasons are weaker than a team that's been below .500 in the WAC for at least 5 years running? What's your claim here? Is Idaho going to all of a sudden become a BCS contender? Is Virgina Tech a horrible team that's barely hanging on to Div I-A? Should we just cancel the rest of the games and hand USC the title right now? USC's a very good team, but based on the evidence so far this season they're not the top team in the nation, and no sense of entitlement on the part of the Trojans will change that. Can that change by the end of the season? Of course. Personally, I'm very much hoping that USC plays in the title game. But beating Idaho doesn't make you great. It makes you competent. At this point I'd have USC as number 2, as beating Miami's no longer the achievement it once was, and I don't give credit for running up the score 79-10 on helpless opponents.

[Sandy Underpants]

I completely support my opinion and it's not race baiting if it's true. And I don't care that it is true, I care that people are in such denial that race played a part. If Charlie finishes his 3rd season with a worse record than Ty had, and isn't in any danger of losing the same job, it's clearly not an even playing field. Put your excuse list away, I already know them.

SC isn't #1 because they beat Idaho, and Va Tech sucks so I don't know what the significance of getting excited about beating them is. ECU dominated VT for much of the home-opener, and quite frankly it could've gone either way if ECU wasn't worse than most D2 schools.

I really don't want to have a knock-down drag out over who's #1 before Week 3, because I could give a crap, but I don't see the point of dropping the #1 team because they had a bye week after beating a team by 28 points the week before because some other team beat a storied program. Put Washington at #1 this monday after they blow out Ohio St. if that's going to be the new rules. Plus they have the most difficult schedule in CFB this season, they will have beaten the best competition this season, and they have the best coach in comparison with Notre Dame. If that's worth anything, and I don't think it is.