I am not ready to concede 2-6 at this point....3-5? maybe, if something ugly happens, but after gulping up some serious amount of Nyquil, Sudafed and Tylenol today - and washing it down with a heaping pitcher of Charlie-Aid - I can still see 4-4 as a real possibility for this team heading into the JV portion of the schedule in November...(Disclaimer! - of course, things can always seem a lot rosier when you can't feel your fingers or have a head cold and allergies so severe that it feels like you have been inhaling Nirtrous Oxide all morning!)
Of course, all of this is based firmly on my belief that this team will actually show up and perform on Saturday to their abilities and not look like a modern day version of the Keystone Kops on the O-Line again....but here's how it can happen....
MSU? I think MSU is a team that ND can beat....I watched their game against Pitt last week and hardly came away thinking "damn....those guys are GOOD..." Pitt handed them the game after MSU failed to put them away on several occassions. Granted their is scant on-field evidence to believe this, but ND SHOULD win this game....and until further notice "that's why you're Michigan State.." is not a throw-away line from a TV commentator, it is an official university motto!
Purdue? They do not feature a dominating defense nor do they feature a dominating rushing game - two things that have given ND fits in the first 3 weeks (well, just about everything has given them fits in the first three weeks, but those thigns more so than others...) I believe that in college football there are certain coaches that just have a school's number (Holtz and Davie sure had USC's for a while and even Willingham had Michigan's in going 2-1 against them - we will convieniently ignore his own 38-0 drubbing at the Big Outhouse). I believe that Weis has Tiller's number and that Purdue will once again show why they are a second tier program in the Big Integer for a reason...
BC? I hate BC - not dislike, not can't stand - HATE....probably as much as any school ND faces since the end of the Miami series in 1990. The scars of 1993 have never (and will never) healed. I think that final FG - (bending and twisting BOTH directions before straightening out and sinking the Irish hopes) - will flash before my eyes on my death bed. That alone is enough reason for me to eternally loathe UBiCH...but when you couple in the fact that the 4 people I have known who attended BC are among my least favorite acquaintences of the last 25 years; and their obnoxious fan base, the combination is enough to make me vomit at the mere idea of believing they will defeat ND in ND stadium...again...
Since such a belief would run contrary to the basis of my actual existence, I am fully expecting even a potential 0-6 ND team to defeat a 6-0 BC team...if I were to be forced to confront such a horrific reality, it would only potentially be a soul-soothing victory to actually destroy a BC season just one time...but then I remember its still a BC season, which even at its very, very best I would not take over the worst ND season ever...
UCLA? I just have to believe that by the time ND rolls into the Rose Bowl that they will have found an offensive line combination that works - even if that means Bemenderfer is cloned 4 times and plays all 5 positions at once while also single-handedly frightening the UCLA offense into taking a knee 3 times and punting it back on every possession simply by pointing across the field! ND will not mark the first game in that stadium in over 80 years with a dud of a performance. Seriously, Karl Dorrell was looking like a coaching casulty until USC wandered into that game last year clearly not expecting to play a whole half - let alone a full game - and UCLA STILL finished 7-6 overall! They may have been the better team for 59:20 last year, but I don't think they will be able to replicate that performance on demand...UCLA is a team under Dorrell that plays its best only when there is no pressure because they are underdogs. They won't be in this game, and they won't play well as the lead dog.
Utah, sans anyone remotely intimidating on either side of the ball (certainly no one as fierce as an O-Line of cloned Bemenderfers) bashed them in the head. Of course, that line of logic didn't help us too much with Michigan last week...but we can't allow that kind of small detail to derail our slightly drug and illness induced halucinations now....call it another win for ND and a 4-3 mark heading into the USC game...
Of course, when USC wins yet another game against the Irish, I will not blame this team or Coach Weis...it will be because the pre-announced 1977 throwback jerseys will in fact be the actual 1977 jerseys due to a manufacturing foul up by Adidas; and the resulting too small jerseys will choke off the oxygen to the players brains...
Then the Irish recover and close the season with 4 staright wins, a berth in the Gator Bowl (which everyone will howl is undeserved and unwarranted and a travesty of justice) and finally...the second holiest of grails (behind a MNC)...a bowl win....
Wow...modern pharmaceuticals and blind faith as a fan are a beautiful combination...not to mention a great way to waste 30 minutes!
