Glass half full/glass half empty

Glass half full:

Notre Dame's offense is really good. They can basically score at will, and the only time they're slowed down is by shooting themselves in the foot (always untimely penalties). Jimmy Clausen has been really good this season. It's pretty amazing when you're down by 5 with about 2 1/2 minutes to go, need to drive the length of the field to score a TD, and your QB leads you on a drive so good you actually score too quickly. Just kidding about that (there's no such thing as scoring too quickly), but Clausen did lead a drive so good at the end of the 4th quarter that there was enough time for Washington to go down and get a tying field goal. From here on out, Notre Dame has the edge at QB over every team it plays, and it's pretty significant. This will be the first time in awhile that Notre Dame has a significantly better QB than USC (Brady Quinn had to face Matt Leinart and John David Booty, not freshman Matt Barkley).

Glass half empty:

This defense is bad. There is no getting around it. I've been waiting all season for things to turn around, but it just isn't going to happen, and if it does I'll be pleasantly surprised. It'd be one thing if it were just one area, like run defense or pass defense. But it's everything. Run defense was superb on the goalline stands today, but was otherwise pretty giving to Washington's ground game. Jon Tenuta week in and week out sends a lot of blitzes, and very few of them get home. Coverage in the back is soft a lot of times, and too many receivers get wide open. Tackling is suspect on a lot of plays. Even today when Washington was faced with a 3rd and 19 in overtime, Locker found a wide open receiver on the sideline for a first down who let the ball go right through his hands. It's a sick feeling when no lead is ever comfortable, and any miscue on offense feels like a disaster because it means the defense has to pick up the slack. You can't tell me the talent isn't there either; this defense is littered with former 4 star recruits and a 5 star freshman LB (Manti Te'o).

Do you believe in miracles?

Jake Locker was stuffed on three QB sneaks from the 1 yard line today. I cannot believe that a big, strong QB like Jake Locker can't sneak it in from the 1, but that's what happened today. I also cannot believe that a Notre Dame defense that was porous all over the field all of a sudden stiffened up at the 1 yard line to keep the score within one possession, but that also happened.

Lou Holtz and Mark May:

I hate the schtick that Holtz and May have going on ESPN, in which Holtz is the Notre Dame homer and May is the Notre Dame hater. You know what? All I want is a fair analysis of the team. Holtz actually started a sentence today with "when you're competing for a championship..." Come on, Notre Dame is not a national champion contender at this point. And then May followed it up with "...and Notre Dame hasn't beaten a team with a winning record." Well, okay, but Michigan State would be over .500 if they had beaten Notre Dame, and so would Washington. Would May feel better about Notre Dame if they had lost those games so their opponents could have above-.500 records?

Icing the kicker:

Icing the kicker is officially the lamest strategy in sports. Charlie Weis iced the kicker at the end of regulation today, and Washington's kicker simply went over the sideline and shared a laugh with Steve Sarkisian. Yeah, he looked real psyched out. A couple weeks ago Wade Phillips iced Lawrence Tynes of the Giants, and Tynes went from sneaking in his first field goal attempt that didn't count to splitting the uprights with the one that did. I'd rather give those timeouts to charity than waste them on "icing the kicker." What a waste of everybody's time.

Celebration penalties:

A couple weeks ago I said if there's reincarnation, I want to come back with the attitude of a referee not afraid to make a BS celebration penalty in a big spot in a big game. Georgia's A.J. Green was called for this today after making a great TD catch late in the 4th quarter, and thus forced Georgia to kick off from its own 15 and gave LSU great field position to go and win the game. I think I would have more sympathy for someone who steals an old lady's purse than a referee who makes that call at that stage of the game, and it was for a celebration that was nowhere near out of the ordinary from what you see every game. I just wish I could walk through life not afraid to absolutely, as Walter Sobchak would say, feed a stoner scrambled eggs.

And how about the "roughing the snapper" penalty on Notre Dame? Another huge call in a huge spot that required another miraculous goalline stand. If you ever see another roughing the snapper penalty in your life, please call me and let me know. And yet, that wasn't even the worst call of the day with what happened to Georgia and A.J. Green. It's a good thing people pay good money to see referees in action, right?