USC-ND quarterback update

It's official: Evan Sharpley will start at quarterback for Notre Dame against USC on Saturday. "I think Evan this week gives us the best chance of winning," Charlie Weis said. "Or at least beating the spread." No, no, I made that last part up. (Though it would be a bit more realistic...)

Meanwhile, USC may have a burgeoning quarterback controversy of its own. Injured ex-starter John David Booty hopes to be back in the lineup in time for Saturday's game. He will test his broken finger at practice today. "If I can throw effectively, I want to play," he said, but added, "It's the coach's decision, not mine." Indeed it is, and Pete Carroll doesn't sound so sure yet: "We're going to go with Mark [Sanchez] as the starter going into practice ... It's Mark's day [Tuesday]. Then we'll see what happens with John. We'll just wait, watch, see what he feels like afterward."

Comments

[Sandy Underpants]

Ugh!!! I'm so worried about this game. I don't think anyone should be making jokes about Charlie just caring about beating the point spread, USC has covered the spread once over the last season and a half, so that's pretty much down the toilet already. When the whole team is on IR, and the Irish are wearing green at home on NBC with the national championship hanging in the balance... then we know it's time for concern. At least it won't mean anything if we lose. I mean we had a good run, we dominated the best ND coach over the last 10 years-- Ty Willingham. And we won the last 5 games in a row, and Navy will beat Notre Dame anyway...

with the national championship hanging in the balance... then we know it's time for concern. At least it won't mean anything if we lose.

????

[Brendan Loy]

I assume Sandy meant it "won't mean anything" because USC isn't realistically going to reach the title game anyway, we really ought to be aiming for the Rose Bowl, and the ND game doesn't affect that. Though I'm not sure how to square that with his statement about "the national championship hanging in the balance." Perhaps you can clarify, Sandy?

Either way, I think it's clear that the Notre Dame-USC game will always "mean [some]thing," no matter the records of the two teams.

Not withstanding my joke about beating the spread, which I felt obligated to do for the sake of Notre Dame Week trash-talking, I am actually a bit worried about this game, too. I think USC will win, but I'm not nearly as confident as I was last year -- which is odd, because Notre Dame is far worse this year than last. But USC is worse, too. Last year, I felt absolutely certain the Trojan offense would expose the Irish defense, which had been playing at an extremely mediocre level against weak competition ever since the Michigan game, but had been repeatedly bailed out by Brady Quinn & co. Hence my prediction that USC would win by three touchdowns, even though the spread was just 7. Last year, I knew ND was overrated, and I was right. This year, I don't have the same confidence because I just don't know how well USC will play; they've been so inconsistent, and more often bad than good. I also don't know what ND will look like with Sharpley at the helm all game long. Who knows, maybe he'll turn into the second coming of Brady Quinn (or Joe Montana) out there. More likely, though, I think ND's best chance is a low-scoring game with a lot of 3-and-outs, and just hanging in there till the fourth quarter, when the crowd (and the "echoes" and so forth) will again become a huge factor in a close game. Given the injuries on USC's O-line, this is entirely possible -- Carroll may not feel confident airing it out with Sanchez making his first road start, and if ND's defense plays at a halfway decent level, USC might not be able to establish the run because the entire O-line is injured. Now, of course, Notre Dame's offense won't be able to do much against USC's defense (barring the "Sharpley is suddenly God" scenario), but if it's a low-scoring, grind-'em-out game, you never know. Weird things could happen... turnovers, special teams flukes... and all of a sudden, '07 Notre Dame is the second-worst team to beat USC in the Pete Carroll era (behind '07 Stanford). It could happen. Will it? I doubt it. But am I worried? Yes, a little. More than last year, and I didn't expect to be saying that three weeks ago.

[kcatnd]

At least it won't mean anything if we lose.

What sort of loss would mean something then? Why are you even worried about the game? USC is still in the national championship picture! You can't start making preemptive excuses for a possible USC loss. If USC does lose, they will have to endure the humiliation of losing to a 1-6 ND team that can barely break the huddle without stumbling and that's that.

Saying that USC dominated ND in past years means nothing, unless you'll let ND remind you of the overall record between the programs and how USC did in the 90s against the Irish. Give me a break...the present always matters, and come game time, it's all that matters.

[Brendan Loy]

On the bright side, although Notre Dame will be wearing the green jerseys, it will NOT be a Full Moon. This fact is crucial to USC's potential success.

:)

[Condor]

""I think Evan this week gives us the best chance of winning," Charlie Weis said. "Or at least beating the spread." No, no, I made that last part up. (Though it would be a bit more realistic...)"

Is this really what this blog stanfords? ... I mean, "stands for."

[Brendan Loy]

Heh.

[Sandy Underpants]

Well it's hard to clarify CFB and USC this week. USC is 1 loss from writing off the season. They're the team of the 00's and they could win the rest of their games this season and the BCS championship game... or they could lose 4 of their last 6 regular season games. It's impossible to tell what team is going to show up on Saturday. Yes it matters because it's Notre Dame, but if SC ends up losing to the worst ND team in their history then they sure as heck are going to lose a grip of other games and trivialize their entire season. Of course the national championship hangs in the balance because when USC wins out, they're going to play USF in the big one. The only question is, will the "big one" be the BCS championship or The MCI Cowchips Bowl?

All that I know for sure is that this years USC-Notre Dame game will decide the entire season for USC. And that's big... I just can't watch it. I'm sick to my stomach with anxiety and anticipation... and it's just Tuesday!