Sometimes it's difficult to trace the evolution of a team over the course of a season. Other times, you play the same team twice in the span of fifteen days, as the Fighting Irish did with the defending champion Huskies over the last fortnight-plus. In South Bend January 14^th, the Notre Dame held a slim halftime lead but were totally overrun by UConn in the second half, getting killed on the boards (42-30) and eventually having their 29-game home winning streak halted 67-53.

Fast forward to January 29^th. The Irish go into Hartford, early tip off, relatively tame, off-campus crowd and hang around with the Huskies in the first half. This time UConn takes the slim lead into the locker room, only on the other side of the break, it's not the champs running away with it. Instead the Irish explode with a 13-0 run to start the half, holding their hosts scoreless for over seven minutes. (This led to great joy among the announcing crew, as per tradition, the UConn crowd doesn't sit until the first made basket of the half. They were standing for a while.) Much like they did with Seton Hall on Wednesday when shots weren't falling, it was the Irish defense that did the dirty work while the offense got into a groove. I'm going to discuss this later in the week, but the transition from a sagging man-to-man to the intense, clingy, perimeter defense you're seeing now has the potential to take Notre Dame basketball to another level. Heck, over the last few weeks, it already has, especially when you consider the offensive limitations and youth.

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Jack Cooley is a bad-ass. Jerian Grant's swag is phenomenal. Syracuse no longer has zero losses, and the Irish have ended yet another win streak in South Bend. So awesome. Twenty and one, baby. Twenty and one.

via 30fps.mocksession.com

Great, great win, obviously. Celebrate everyone.

Tuesday night's eleven-point win over South Florida would have been a minor footnote for many of Mike Brey's more experienced teams. A home game against a program typically near the bottom of the Big East standings? No problem. But for a young Irish team playing as the favorite for the first time during league play - with winter break creating a tepid, Leprechaun Legion-less atmosphere - the victory over the Bulls was another positive step in a very surprising few weeks of basketball.

Stan Heath's Bulls were 2-1in the Big East and coming off a road win at Villanova and didn't go away quietly, continually closing the gap to two or three points, but they could never pull even or ahead. After grinding things out for most of the game, Jerian Grant, Jack Cooley and Scott Martin put on a 14-0 run that was only stopped by a pair of technical free throws after a Cooley technical. Why was there a Cooley technical, you ask? Because the big man threw down a monster dunk on Augustus Gilchrist, then proceeded to stare down his foe.

The offense from this game came almost exclusively from that trio, each contributing in their own way. For Martin, it was his best shooting game of the season, sticking inside the arc and knocking down a variety of jumpers. (Martin also had 13 rebounds and played 39 minutes.) Grant was all over the place in a good way, collecting a few and-one layups and knocking down his soon-to-be-trademarked step-back, pull-up threes*. Cooley was Cooley, exploding in the second half after a quiet opening frame, finishing around the rim and essentially ending the game before the final media timeout with his thunderous dunk.

* Jerian Grant has quickly become one of my favorite players to watch. The guy is absolutely fearless, and as capable of squeezing his way to the rim as he is of pulling his defender out and dropping a jumper on them. And he's a redshirt freshman. I don't want to get crazy and declare that Grant's swag is phenomenal, but we're getting awfully close to that announcement.

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Join me after the jump for words! Leave your suggestions for changes (due tomorrow at 9am) in the comments.

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 16

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	2
2	LSU Tigers	-1
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	-1
4	Oregon Ducks	2
5	Boise St. Broncos	2
6	Arkansas Razorbacks	8
7	USC Trojans	-2
8	Stanford Cardinal	-4
9	South Carolina Gamecocks	2
10	Michigan St. Spartans	5
11	Wisconsin Badgers	-2
12	Michigan Wolverines	-2
13	Baylor Bears	3
14	Oklahoma Sooners	-2
15	Kansas St. Wildcats	-7
16	TCU Horned Frogs	2
17	West Virginia Mountaineers	2
18	Georgia Bulldogs	-1
19	Clemson Tigers	-6
20	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	1
21	Cincinnati Bearcats	3
22	Houston Cougars	3
23	Florida St. Seminoles	--
24	Virginia Tech Hokies	-4
25	Northern Illinois Huskies	--
Dropouts: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Louisville Cardinals

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

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Charlie Weis is back, baby! After spending one season each as offensive coordinator for the Chiefs and Gators, the former Irish head coach has accepted a position as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks, who fired Turner Gill after two very disappointing seasons in Lawrence. Here are some facts, opinions and photos.

• One rumor has Charlie Weis making over three million dollars. What?! How?!
• If you read one thing, please make it Spencer Hall's all-caps celebratory rant. Spencer is a Florida Gators fan who was subjected to Weis' offense in its Notre Dame 2007 form this year. He is pleased to see Weis gone.
• Mangino Joke.
• Kansas is a pretty thankless job, being a basketball school with no natural recruiting base and limited football tradition, but I don't see this working well. I get Weis still has a pretty good reputation outside of South Bend and Gainesville, but he needs to learn a lot from his past if he wants to succeed in this new position. Considering what we know about Weis, his hubris doesn't allow him to really make those changes. If Weis gets a stud defensive coordinator and can get some pieces for his offense, maybe he'll find success, but I just don't know.
• I'm not a recruiting expert, but top wide receiver Nelson Agholor, who visited Notre Dame for Air Force and is considered a potential Irish signee, is likely rescheduling a visit to Florida. I have no idea if this helps or hurts the Irish in the long run.
• I'm legitimately concerned about Weis' health. I was watching Florida/Florida State with my family Thanksgiving Saturday and they all remarked how terrible he looked. He really would be better served just taking some time off, as opposed to plunging into a more stressful and intense position.
• This image is from the official Kansas website. Enjoy:

As always, not a power poll or predictor of future success. More thoughts after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 15

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
3	Alabama Crimson Tide	-1
4	Stanford Cardinal	--
5	USC Trojans	--
6	Oregon Ducks	--
7	Boise St. Broncos	2
8	Kansas St. Wildcats	5
9	Wisconsin Badgers	5
10	Michigan Wolverines	5
11	South Carolina Gamecocks	5
12	Oklahoma Sooners	-5
13	Clemson Tigers	6
14	Arkansas Razorbacks	-4
15	Michigan St. Spartans	-4
16	Baylor Bears	2
17	Georgia Bulldogs	-5
18	TCU Horned Frogs	4
19	West Virginia Mountaineers	2
20	Virginia Tech Hokies	-12
21	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	--
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-2
23	Louisville Cardinals	--
24	Cincinnati Bearcats	--
25	Houston Cougars	-8
Dropouts: Texas Longhorns, Vanderbilt Commodores

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

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As always, not a power poll or predictor of future success. More words after jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 14

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
4	Stanford Cardinal	--
5	USC Trojans	2
6	Oregon Ducks	2
7	Oklahoma Sooners	3
8	Virginia Tech Hokies	1
9	Boise St. Broncos	-3
10	Arkansas Razorbacks	-5
11	Michigan St. Spartans	1
12	Georgia Bulldogs	2
13	Kansas St. Wildcats	-2
14	Wisconsin Badgers	3
15	Michigan Wolverines	--
16	South Carolina Gamecocks	-3
17	Houston Cougars	1
18	Baylor Bears	1
19	Clemson Tigers	-3
20	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
21	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
22	TCU Horned Frogs	1
23	Texas Longhorns	--
24	Cincinnati Bearcats	--
25	Vanderbilt Commodores	--
Dropouts: Penn St. Nittany Lions, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Virginia Cavaliers, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

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As always, not a power poll or predictor of future success.  Also, this is terrible and I'm sorry.  More after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 13

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	1
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	-1
4	Stanford Cardinal	4
5	Arkansas Razorbacks	4
6	Boise St. Broncos	5
7	USC Trojans	7
8	Oregon Ducks	-4
9	Virginia Tech Hokies	-2
10	Oklahoma Sooners	-4
11	Kansas St. Wildcats	-1
12	Michigan St. Spartans	3
13	South Carolina Gamecocks	-1
14	Georgia Bulldogs	-1
15	Michigan Wolverines	3
16	Clemson Tigers	-11
17	Wisconsin Badgers	-1
18	Houston Cougars	1
19	Baylor Bears	1
20	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-3
21	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
22	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
23	TCU Horned Frogs	2
24	Virginia Cavaliers	--
25	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	--
Dropouts: Southern Miss. Golden Eagles, West Virginia Mountaineers

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As always, this is neither a power poll nor a predictor of future success.

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 12

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
3	Alabama Crimson Tide	2
4	Oregon Ducks	2
5	Clemson Tigers	4
6	Oklahoma Sooners	1
7	Virginia Tech Hokies	3
8	Stanford Cardinal	-5
9	Arkansas Razorbacks	-1
10	Kansas St. Wildcats	1
11	Boise St. Broncos	-7
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
13	Georgia Bulldogs	--
14	USC Trojans	--
15	Michigan St. Spartans	3
16	Wisconsin Badgers	-1
17	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-1
18	Michigan Wolverines	1
19	Houston Cougars	5
20	Baylor Bears	--
21	Penn St. Nittany Lions	-4
22	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	3
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	--
24	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
25	TCU Horned Frogs	--
Dropouts: Ohio St. Buckeyes, Texas Longhorns, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Cincinnati Bearcats

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As always, this is neither a power poll or predictor of future success.  More thoughts after the jump.

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 11

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
3	Stanford Cardinal	2
4	Boise St. Broncos	--
5	Alabama Crimson Tide	-3
6	Oregon Ducks	--
7	Oklahoma Sooners	--
8	Arkansas Razorbacks	3
9	Clemson Tigers	-1
10	Virginia Tech Hokies	2
11	Kansas St. Wildcats	2
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	-2
13	Georgia Bulldogs	5
14	USC Trojans	6
15	Wisconsin Badgers	2
16	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-7
17	Penn St. Nittany Lions	-2
18	Michigan St. Spartans	-2
19	Michigan Wolverines	-5
20	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1
21	Texas Longhorns	--
22	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	2
23	Cincinnati Bearcats	--
24	Houston Cougars	-2
25	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	--
Dropouts: Arizona St. Sun Devils

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As always, this is neither a power poll or predictor of future success.  It was also rather tough to fill out this week, as a cavalcade of one-loss teams clogged up the middle.  A few more thoughts after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 10

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
4	Boise St. Broncos	2
5	Stanford Cardinal	--
6	Oregon Ducks	2
7	Oklahoma Sooners	2
8	Clemson Tigers	-4
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	9
10	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
11	Arkansas Razorbacks	1
12	Virginia Tech Hokies	2
13	Kansas St. Wildcats	-6
14	Michigan Wolverines	5
15	Penn St. Nittany Lions	7
16	Michigan St. Spartans	-5
17	Wisconsin Badgers	-4
18	Georgia Bulldogs	3
19	Arizona St. Sun Devils	-3
20	USC Trojans	-3
21	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
22	Houston Cougars	1
23	Cincinnati Bearcats	--
24	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	1
25	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	-1
Dropouts: Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Tech Red Raiders

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Saturday night's atmosphere at Notre Dame Stadium could be described in a myriad of ways, depending on who you talk to.  Intense.  Odd.  Loud.  Ozzy.  Surreal.  Crazy Train.  Uncomfortable.      

Fanning the flames of those feelings were the comments by Brian Kelly yesterday when asked about a video screen in the stadium.  Personally, I don't understand the huge reaction to his comments, even from some normally sane Irish fans.  He was asked a question about a jumbotron.  His response is to either answer that question with his pre-established position on the issue and move on, or what, exactly?  No comment a question about a Jumbotron?  "No comments" should be saved for actual controversial issues that need avoided, not a question about a video screen. 

A few thoughts on the atmosphere this past weekend night:

If the goal of the music was simply to get people loud, then it achieved success.  People were jacked up the whole night, even as we all began to realize that maybe Notre Dame should have expanded the playlist a bit.  You can edit the song choices in the future, but the main objective of increasing the volume in the stadium was a success.  If you want to debate how much of that was on the twelve hours of tailgating preceding the game, the opponent, the kickoff or the music, that's fair, but things did get noticeably louder when the music was turned on.

The use of "Shipping Up to Boston" before the opening kickoff was a fantastic choice.  We should focus on that kind of stuff - Dropkick Murphys, The Pogues - and try to stay away from generic arena rock that is older than the students attending the game.  I had a friend sitting in the USC section who somberly recalled how they laughed maniacally at our continued use of "Crazy Train."  Let's not do that again.  In general, the music selection sounded like it was coming from someone who had sort of watched college football and thought they understood what music should be played, but didn't really understand A) Music or B) Notre Dame, save for the previously mentioned "Shipping."  When they played "Enter Sandman," Virginia Tech's anthem, I assumed it was a matter of time before we heard "Zombie Nation" or "Jump Around."  It was like a college football music's greatest hits, with greatest being used ironically. 

While we're making technological innovations to Notre Dame Stadium, how about improving cell service or installing wireless so smart phones are actually worth having?  Most of the people I know either A) Turn their phones off or B) Put them on airplane mode during the games.  This is 2011, and it's not like it's a surprise so many people are going to be in the Stadium on a given weekend.  

Overall, the crowd was great the whole night, especially when you consider the 17-0 deficit and series of back-breaking turnovers in the second half.  I also want to give credit to NDSP and the other tailgate patrollers.  We were set up right outside of Gate C of the Stadium on the grass and would have been an ideal party to crack down on, but we were left relatively unbothered.  Early in the morning an officer in a car asked us to move our cornhole board off the road (a reasonable request), and we responded by picking it up, waiting until he went around the corner and putting it back down (an equally reasonable response.)  There was no protesting the piñata assault on the tree just across from Frank Leahy's statue, or the Mad Dog Merry-Go-Round on the same patch of grass.  Thank you, NDSP.  Our friends kept it (relatively) clean, and you didn't attack us with horses. 

I was at Yankee Stadium for the Army game last year and thought the giant video board there was used in a very nice, unobtrusive, complementary way.  I don't think the music selection this past weekend was ideal, but it wasn't the end of the world and not completely terrible for a first try.  Nothing about either game changed my position on the jumbotron: I don't think we necessarily need it, but I think it will probably do more good than harm when installed, so I don't really care.  I think it's good to remember that Knute Rockne was the ultimate innovator and would have demanded the biggest HD screen in the world if he thought it gave him the slightest edge.  People throw around the word tradition a lot, but really it just means "What Notre Dame was like when I went there."    

As always, this is not a power poll or predictor of future success.  Some thoughts after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 9

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
4	Clemson Tigers	2
5	Stanford Cardinal	3
6	Boise St. Broncos	-1
7	Kansas St. Wildcats	2
8	Oregon Ducks	2
9	Oklahoma Sooners	-6
10	South Carolina Gamecocks	5
11	Michigan St. Spartans	9
12	Arkansas Razorbacks	-1
13	Wisconsin Badgers	-6
14	Virginia Tech Hokies	-1
15	Texas A&M Aggies	-1
16	Arizona St. Sun Devils	--
17	USC Trojans	--
18	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
19	Michigan Wolverines	2
20	Texas Tech Red Raiders	--
21	Georgia Bulldogs	3
22	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
23	Houston Cougars	2
24	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	--
25	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	-8
Dropouts: West Virginia Mountaineers, Illinois Fighting Illini, Washington Huskies, Auburn Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

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As always, this is not a power poll or predictor of future success.  More thoughts after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 8

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma Sooners	--
4	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
5	Boise St. Broncos	-1
6	Clemson Tigers	--
7	Wisconsin Badgers	--
8	Stanford Cardinal	--
9	Kansas St. Wildcats	1
10	Oregon Ducks	-1
11	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
12	West Virginia Mountaineers	4
13	Virginia Tech Hokies	4
14	Texas A&M Aggies	11
15	South Carolina Gamecocks	-3
16	Illinois Fighting Illini	-1
17	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	-4
18	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1
19	Washington Huskies	--
20	Michigan St. Spartans	--
21	Michigan Wolverines	-7
22	Auburn Tigers	--
23	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	-2
24	Georgia Bulldogs	-1
25	Houston Cougars	-3
Dropouts: Arizona St. Sun Devils, Baylor Bears, Texas Longhorns

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There's a lot of recapping and general knowledge stuff die-harders will already know in the first two sections of this, so go ahead and Control+F your way to "Predictions" if you'd like to skip it.  I won't be offended, we're all busy people and this is almost comically long.

The Road So Far... 

It has been just under twenty-one months since Notre Dame hired Brian Kelly as head coach, replacing Charlie Weis after five years of football that went from great to horrific to perhaps the worst description of them all: depressingly average.  Along with Weis left two of the most prolific offensive players in Notre Dame history, Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, both chosen in the second round of the NFL draft. 

For a coach who was comfortable going through starting quarterbacks like they were a pitching rotation, Kelly really only had one choice: Dayne Crist.  Crist was Clausen's backup in 2009 and had logged a respectable amount of playing time against Purdue and Washington State before a leg injury ended his season Halloween weekend.  With his main rivals consisting of walk-ons and freshmen, Crist was locked in at starting quarterback for Kelly's inaugural campaign.

Going into last season, I wrote that I just wanted the Irish to be better in November than they were in September, a simple concept that had eluded the last two Weis teams that went 1-8 after Halloween in regular season contests.  The season started off promisingly enough, with a workman-like effort stifling Purdue, but then things started feeling very familiar: back-to-back stomach punch games against the Michigan schools, followed by a comfortable Stanford victory where the Cardinal were able to convert third-and-longs at will.

Notre Dame rallied to get back to 3-3 by taking care of Boston College and Pitt, but the season cratered in late October.  There was an embarrassing, no-show loss to Navy, followed by the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan at practice.  With the weight of that tragedy hanging over the entire Notre Dame family, Crist suffered another injury against Tulsa, his one of many accrued by Irish starters over a particularly unlucky fortnight.  In one of the weirdest games you'll ever see, with scores on a hook-and-ladder, punt return, interception return and blocked extra point, Notre Dame lost after a late interception in the endzone.

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In the summer of 2006, Texas Longhorns blogger (and unbeknownst to him, future Domer) Peter Bean took notice of my old site where I dabbled in writing about the Irish (along with summer movies, The OC and the NBA draft).   He reached out and asked if I was interesting in running a Notre Dame site for SBNation.  My friend Rob and I had been discussing starting an Irish-only blog and loved the name "Rakes of Mallow," the title of the Irish jig played during Notre Dame games that has some truly noble lyrics:

Beauing, belling, dancing, drinking,

Breaking windows, cursing, sinking

Every raking, never thinking,

Live the Rakes of Mallow,

Spending faster than it comes,

Beating waiter's bailiffs, duns,

Bacchus' true begotten sons,

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

One time naught but claret drinking,

Then like politicians, thinking

To raise the sinking funds when sinking.

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home, with da-da dying,

Still for mellow water crying,

But, where there's good claret plying

Live the Rakes of Mallow.

When at home with dadda dying,

Still for Mallow-water crying,

But where there is good claret plying

Live the rakes of Mallow.

Living short but merry lives,

Going where the devil drives,

Having sweethearts, but no wives,

Live the rakes of Mallow.

Racking tenants stewards teasing,

Swiftly spending, slowly raising,

Wishing to spend all their days in

Raking as at Mallow.

Then to end this raking life,

They get sober, take a wife,

Ever after live in strife,

And wish again for Mallow.

I jumped at the opportunity, and the SBNation team has been great to me ever since.  On the other hand, I've been less than great to them, as you'll notice the lulls in writing that occurred when the real world got the best of me (Rob Thomas is sort of a prophet when you think about it).  Peter and I were talking about ways of improving the quality and frequency of the posting here to get it up to the standards of the other SBNation ventures, as I'm transitioning into a new role at my real job and will have even less time to work on this site.  After the tossing around of some ideas, the powers that be decided that instead of merging the sites after SBNation purchased the FanTake Network, they were going to just rebrand the Notre Dame presence on SBNation with the fine folks over at One Foot Down.  I'm going to stick around, essaying about football and taking point on basketball coverage, but as far as new posts on Rakes go, this is the final one.

This doesn't actually change that much, other than the URL you need to go to, which will be www.onefootdown.com as soon as the engineers flip the switch.  I'll still be on Twitter (@rakesofmallow), the fine folks at SBNation are footing the bill to keep this site around so all of the archives remain, you can always reach me on e-mail and I'll still be writing about the Irish, just in different places.

I want to thank everyone at SBNation for giving me this chance, and also everyone who has taken the time to write a comment, FanPost or FanShot on this blog.  It still amazes me the reach this site has had covering Weis, Kelly, Brey and the other tremendous programs at Notre Dame, whether it be a friend of a friend thanking me for a post at a random tailgate or seeing someone logged in on the DeBartolo quick access computers checking Rakes between classes.  I've gotten some tremendous feedback, had some fun feuds and got to cover a whole lot of Irish heroics and heartbreak over the last four-plus years.

We've been through some tough times as Notre Dame fans, and while we are mocked - justly, most of the time- for saying the future looks bright, it genuinely feels like things are moving in a very positive direction under Coach Kelly.  I was a big supporter of his hiring and it seems like, just maybe, those of us who thought Kelly-to-ND was a good idea might be right about something. 

So again, thank you all, and please go over and register at One Foot Down as soon as it's live on the SBNation servers.  This blog is departing into the blue, gray sky, but there are still plenty of great places to get your Irish fix on the internet.  And as long as there are insane voices out there clamoring for three fullbacks in at all times (so, you know, forever), I'll do my best to try and provide a slighter calmer version of things.

Less than eighty days until kickoff.  Go Irish, Beat Bulls.         

I've written before that I don't get the whole Backup College thing with Boston College.  I wasn't a Notre Dame fan before going there and I grew up in western Pennsylvania, so I didn't know any Boston College fans, nor did I ever think I should compare BC's academic tradition to that of Notre Dame's.  Even going to school there, I never really got it.  More than that, the Backup College thing didn't make sense to me, only because I didn't apply to BC, nor did many other people I knew.  (Maybe everyone at Boston College did apply to Notre Dame and got rejected, but I had no idea.)

So I basically ignored Boston College, save for the week we played them in football.  But following our fellow SBNation site BC Interruption on Twitter is just a master class in how to have a tremendous inferiority complex.  Any time there is a chance to take a crack at Notre Dame - no matter how far they have to stretch - it happens.  When it was announced that the Big Ten was holding its title game in Indianapolis, BC Interruption pulled a Mr. Fantastic, saying that it was an FU to the Irish.  The explanation didn't really make sense (something about a BCS title-affecting game being played in Indiana), but I don't get too upset with individual Twitter comments.  We're all just throwing crap out there, hoping something  will stick and make people laugh.

But then there's this from earlier month, a piece entitled "Notre Dame vs. Boston College: A One-Sided Holy War"?  We're going to talk about what would drive someone to write this in a moment, but first, let's look at some specifics.  I'm going to excerpt chunks to provide context, then bold the stuff I'd like to address. 

But before we get to the fun stuff, let's just bask in the gloriousness of this rivalry. Here are two teams, both with strong Irish Catholic traditions, with fan bases who hate each other based on perceived academic superiority (let's be honest here, BC holds the title there, and I don't need stats to prove it). Each year, the two play each other, and for the most part the games become instant classics. Fans from both schools travel in droves when their team is on the road, and for BC students, the RV trip to South Bend has become a highlight of their college careers.

I have no idea what the first bolded part means.  I know you said you don't need the stats, but is there any sort of academic ranking where Notre Dame is below Boston College?  Let's quickly move onto football stuff, I just honestly didn't understand that first line.  For the second highlighted part, let's be clear: Notre Dame travels well to every road game.  Notre Dame is one of like two games a year Boston College fans care about.  Please don't confuse "Lots of Notre Dame fans showing up at a stadium not in South Bend" with "Notre Dame fans really care about this game specifically!". 

There is now a list of Notre Dame and Boston College's records starting in 2000.  I'll address this in the summary, but I don't think any Notre Dame fan would argue that we haven't had a great last decade.  I also don't think any Notre Dame fan would trade their program for Boston College's, despite the Eagles averaging over a win more per year over that stretch.  Onward.

Based strictly on a wins-loss analysis, BC would have the edge. Strength of schedule has to go to Boston College here. Scheduling USC and Michigan on a regular basis will definitely make your life harder, but how would you explain not regularly beating the service academies? ND aims to build a schedule that just throws the BCS bowls on the Irish's lap. That is all part of ND's "we are part of football's elite" mentality, which as you can see, they haven't been in more than a decade.

Oh Jesus, here we go.  Does strength of schedule have to go to Boston College?  I would just like to remind everyone that they play in the ACC, which isn't exactly the SEC West.  And Notre Dame aims to build a schedule that throws the BCS bowls into their lap?  I'm not even going to respond to this because Stewart Mandel already did earlier in the year.

Notre Dame is only a "contender" in Notre Dame's eyes. They haven't been relevant for over a decade now. We've heard a million stories how they're finally back and ready to make a splash. They can't win games even though their schedule is soft every single year. ENOUGH! PLEASE! NO MORE NOTRE DAME STUFF! I HATE NOTRE DAME! (Just like everyone else in the country outside of Indiana.)
-- Tyler, Eden Prairie, Minn.

Tyler: You seem to be suffering from two misconceptions. One, Notre Dame isn't particularly loved in the state of Indiana, either. They have far more fans in Manhattan than Muncie. But second, whether or not you believe the Irish will ever be "back," can we stop with the outdated soft schedule nonsense? Unlike most FBS teams, they don't play FCS opponents. They play USC and Michigan every year. Two of their other annual opponents, Stanford and Michigan State, won 12 and 11 games, respectively, last season. In fact, their 2010 opponents had the highest combined FBS winning percentage (.653) in the country during the regular season, and nine of their 12 foes this season played in a bowl game last year. (And ineligible USC would have made for 10).

Also, Air Force and Navy are pretty good!  I'm not sure if you noticed, but they're regularly playing in bowl games.  Navy almost won at Ohio State in 2009.  Air Force beat Georgia  Tech in a bowl game last postseason.  I mean, I know you dominated Navy by one point when you played them in 2006, but the service academies (save Army) are not necessarily easy wins!

The best part about this is one of the BC Interruption writers actually does the work in calculating the SOS the last ten years.  The average?  Notre Dame's is 19.9, Boston College's is 46.4.  How is that clearly in favor of Boston College you ask?  The apparent answer.

But shouldn't that always be the case? Seems like you are comparing apples to oranges when you consider Notre Dame gets to hand-pick the 12 teams it faces each year (and still schedules the likes of Nevada, Tulsa, Western Michigan and San Diego State). BC gets to select just 3-4 opponents each year and doesn't have a choice in playing Duke, Wake Forest, Rutgers, UConn, etc., which weighs down SOS.

You can't see me right now, but I am kneading my forehead like a professional baker.  That is one of the most amazing attempts at twisting logic you will ever find: Notre Dame's strength of schedule is twenty spots better than Boston College's because Notre Dame gets to pick easier teams to play.  Try to digest that before you move on.

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Joe Posnanski had a nice little post this morning on Joakim Soria's very bad 2011.  For those of you not following the situation, Soria blew yet another save yesterday afternoon, leading Ned Yost to insert Aaron Crow into the closer role.  Last year the Royals were turning down Jesus Montero for Soria, and now the Yankees would laugh if Dayton Moore called up and made that same offer.

Soria isn't the same as Hanrahan - his fastball isn't anywhere near what The Hammer can deploy - but he does illustrate that relief pitchers, even seemingly all-world closers, aren't sure things to stay dominant.  I don't have any idea what the Pirates could get for 2.5 years worth of Hanrahan on the open market (although I certainly had a great time researching the Rangers farm system with everyone earlier in the month), but I'd like to find out at the trade deadline.  We don't have to trade him any sooner than that - and if the Pirates go on some miracle run through their brutal post-All Star break schedule, you could maybe convince me otherwise - but unless the return is clearly paltry, it would be wise to move Hanrahan before he joins this rather depressing paragraph:

Mark Davis won a Cy Young in 1989, he was all but unpitchable one year later. Bobby Thigpen saved 57 games in 1990, he was was minus-1 Wins Above Replacement for the rest of his career. Bryan Harvey ... Chad Cordero ... J.J. Putz ... Robb Nen ... Michael Jackson ... Derrick Turnbow ... Jeff Russell ... B.J. Ryan ... you can name two dozen others ... they had dominant seasons as closers, some of them had multiple dominant seasons, but then it ended, maybe because of injury, maybe because the league figured them out, or maybe because closers, like running backs and boy bands, live thrilling but short lives.