Rebutting Jason Whitlock

I haven't posted in nearly a month, but what better reason to do so than in a post that links my two favorite schools?

Rebutting Jason Whitlock isn't all that popular to Ball Staters, because Whitlock is a proud BSU alum who mentions the Cardinals whenever possible. He even wrote an entire column before the season about how the mighty bird would crash a BCS bowl game.

I confess that I used to HATE Whitlock. I thought he was just another one of those race-baiting big black dudes that play the race card all the time whether it makes sense or not. I now know better - he doesn't play the race card all the time. He does so too much, and even when he doesn't, he considers it, but he's not just another one of 'those guys', and is an open disliker of one of the guys who is - Scoop Jackson. Naturally, in ESPN's wisdom, they dumped the guy that's not and have kept the guy that is.

Anyway, he wrote an article this last week after Tyrone Willingham was finally fired at Washington, a move that would've taken place last year if UW wasn't scared of getting the business from the media about firing him after three years like Notre Dame did. This, of course, would never have happened because Washington is not Notre Dame. Now we have L.A. Times columnists actually saying, "Ty deserved to get fired from Washington, but he was still wronged by Notre Dame".

I am a huge Notre Dame fan, as most of you know, so I feel I need to clear things up.

Deconstructing Whitlock's article on, as he calls Charlie, "The Great Weis Hope" v. Ty Willingham (Whitlock in bold):

Here's what Notre Dame football fans don't seem to comprehend:

1. I've never stated that Tyrone Willingham was a great (or even good) coach; 2. I never blasted Notre Dame for firing Tyrone Willingham; 3. My problem with Charlie Weis and Notre Dame is the premature, undeserved lifetime contract he received after proving nothing and the reach-around Notre Dame and Weis received from most of the media during his first season.

Fair enough. I didn't read Whitlock at the time of Willingham's firing, so I couldn't say if he blasted ND or not, but he's not the type to just lie, so I'll buy it.

However, I consumed more media than I ever have in my life during the 2005 football season and saw little evidence of this "reach-around" ND supposedly got. Most personalities - Jim Rome, both "PTI" co-hosts, everyone on "Around the Horn" - were busier trying to justify why Notre Dame should not have gotten a BCS bid over Oregon, ignoring that a) it wasn't the BCS's choice (under existing rules, the Irish got an auto-bid by being ranked top 6) and b) Oregon played a horribly weak schedule, even weaker than ND's surprisingly toothless 2005 slate. It was all about 10-1 (Oregon) vs 9-2 (ND).

But I can understand why Whitlock thinks of it as a reach-around, given that he's an ND-hater (and I suspect he was before this whole thing happened).

I have never disagreed with those who believe Weis's contract extension was undeserved, but I have also never gotten any indication from anyone in the know that the extension was for any reason other than Weis wanting to diffuse any "he's going to the NFL" rumors. People forget this now (the anti-ND media doesn't want to say so), but Adam Schefter of NFL.com - a Michigan alum, by the way - floated a story before the extension that Weis was headed to the Giants after the season to replace then-embattled Tom Coughlin. This rumor was later debunked, but it was the catalyst for the extension. Weis, who is ironically a lot like Whitlock, is a very honest and open guy who I don't believe would tell the media his extension was to avoid negative recruiting by others if it wasn't true.

Notre Dame fans are having trouble grasping either column. They somehow think that Willingham's failure at Washington justifies giving Weis a record contract at Notre Dame.

This is simply wrong. ND fans are not trying to justify giving Weis a record contract. I can personally say that my open rooting against Ty during his entire Huskies tenure had nothing to do with it, and in fact often forget about the contract fiasco entirely until someone else brings it up.

ND fans' hatred of Ty stems from most of the media harrassing ND for being racist after firing Willingham. The media spreads lies like "violated a contract", when Ty's contract had mutually agreed-upon buyout terms after the third year. They ignore proven facts like Willingham having met with Washington about their upcoming vacancy during the bye week before ND's 2004 matchup with USC (instead of, you know, recruiting), or Willingham's utter refusal to fire horrible defensive coordinator Kent Baer having played a large role in Ty's axe. (The ever-loyal Ty would eventually axe Baer anyway at Washington.)

Their/my hatred of Ty stems from an interview that played on ABC before ND faced Washington in 2005 - the first Weis/Willingham matchup. Here's a link to the transcript. John Saunders - who, by the way, is a skunk and is the lowest form of "journalist" - blatantly floats racism accusations against ND to Ty. Willingham - who is also a skunk - coyly doesn't confirm or deny the accusations (keep in mind Ty knew damn well why he was fired and that it had nothing to do with racism). This enabled Ty to keep the heat on ND without coming off bitter. It was played brilliantly by the man, who knows how to spin the P.R. machine in his favor. He still does not receive his share of blame for his horrid recruiting at ND, which helped contribute to the historically awful 2007 season (look at the starting depth charts from those games and play Find the Upperclassman). And now he is getting largely let off the hook for his horrible job at Washington, where recruiting has been even worse and Ty will leave as the worst coach - by percentage - in Huskies history.

So, Jason, that's why we hate Ty. Has nothing to do with Charlie's contract.

(Ty Willingham replaced a guy who got fired after 20 games at UW. Keith Gilbertson. He was white. No one defended him. Not one person.)

Even with the Irish sitting at 5-2, every word in those columns still rings true. Notre Dame and a hefty percentage of the sports media overreacted to Weis' hot start, and Weis' complexion played a role in the overreaction.

Did the media overreact to Charlie's hot start? Probably. At the time, we didn't know how bad the teams he was beating were, though.

Did Weis's being white have anything to do with it? Bullshit. Absolute 100 percent pure non-alcoholic bullshit. I will give anyone 1,000 dollars if they can name a black coach at any school or pro team in the entire universe who is a good coach and doesn't get enough credit for it. If everything else at ND were exactly the same, except Willingham was white and Weis was black, I guarantee nothing ND would've done changes.

As of today, we have little evidence that Weis is a better college football coach than Willingham.

This is one of the worst and most indefensible sentences that Jason Whitlock has ever written. Charlie took two ND teams to BCS games his first two years. Yes, he was using Ty's recruits, but he was also GETTING PERFORMANCE out of Ty's recruits that Ty never even came close to getting. He was using guys like Jeff Samardzija, who caught like 14 passes in Ty's two years with him. And Darius Walker, who wasn't even taken on the team plane to BYU for his first game (ND lost by three) before running for 100 yards in like a quarter against Michigan. Hell, Walker never did get the starting job from Ryan Grant, even though he proved himself to be better repeatedly in 2004.

Even this year, Charlie is 5-2 with a team that still has virtually no senior presence, thanks largely to Willingham. Against a weak schedule, yes, but imagine what would be happening if Ty were still here (hint: look at Washington's 2008 season so far).

Meanwhile, Ty has a career record that hovers around .500, has never done anything of consequence except for taking one Stanford team to the Rose Bowl in a horrible Pac-10 football year, and can't recruit ANYBODY. Whitlock should be ashamed of himself for writing this sentence.

Notre Dame fans are repeating the same mistake they made in 2005 when the school overpaid for Weis. They're turning conceited based on a glossy record compiled against weak competition.

San Diego State, Michigan, Purdue, Stanford and Washington — ND's victims — have a combined record of 9-32. Only Stanford, 4-4, has more than two victories.

No argument here. As I just wrote, no one is denying ND's schedule thus far has been pretty weak. Although I don't know many Irish fans who are getting "conceited" about it. Rooting against our former coach, who tried his best to destroy the program, is not being conceited.

I'm not saying that the Irish haven't made progress. Hell, a year ago the Great Weis Hope finished 3-9 and lost back-to-back games to Navy and Air Force. Although, if you listen to Notre Dame fans, those losses, like all ND losses under Weis, were a byproduct of Weis having to play with Willingham's pathetic recruits.

The "all ND losses under Weis" addendum is an unnecessary and false potshot at Irish fans. ND's loss to Navy last year might not happen if Charlie Weis decides to kick a makeable field goal of 42 yards with Brandon Walker instead of going for it on a 4th down. That was what led to the now-infamous flying sack of then-QB Evan Sharpley. ND ended up losing in triple OT, because of another poor Weis decision, running Travis Thomas off-tackle on ND's two-point attempt.

See? I just blamed an ND loss on Weis without any potshots at the guy I hate. Was that so hard, Jason?

However, as much as Whitlock doesn't want to hear it, ND's 3-9 season WAS caused in part by "Willingham's pathetic recruits". Now, if Charlie had done a better job with that team, it would not have been the embarrassment it became, and I think Charlie, if forced to take truth serum, would tell you that himself. But you take away essentially two years of decent recruiting and replace them with upper-echelon MAC-type classes, and try and play ND's schedule, and yes, you're gonna have problems. I doubt even the best coach could've done much more than 6-6 or 7-5 with that ND team. People forget the first 10 teams the Irish played in 2007 were bowl teams (including "Navy and Air Force"). ND beat the only two nonbowl teams they played, Duke and Stanford, in the final weeks of the season.

You know, Navy and Air Force routinely pluck four- and five-star recruits from across the country. A great coaching mind like Weis' couldn't be expected to overcome ND's obvious talent deficiency against the service academies.

More unnecessary potshots, but point taken.

Has The Great Weis Hope so lowered expectations at Notre Dame that a 5-2 team incapable of cracking the top 25 is worthy of celebration and I-told-you-so e-mails?

No. Your buddy Ty Willingham did. With some help from Bob Davie. Davie could at least recruit though. He was just an idiotic coach.

Charlie claimed he'd never get outcoached, he'd never lose to Michigan State again and that after his first 5-2 start every team in the NFL was ready to fire its coach and land the offensive coordinator who carried Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to the Super Bowl.

The MSU comment came at an alumni function. Come on, man. And you find me the quote where Charlie said every NFL team wanted him. You find it, and I'll apologize, Jason.

Stoops won a national championship in his second season at Oklahoma. Carroll won titles in his third and fourth seasons.

As I've gone over, both those guys had much more well-stocked cupboards than Charlie did. Easier schedules, too. While you're at it, why not bring up Urban Meyer, who won one in his 2nd season at Florida? (He replaced Ron Zook, who entered Florida coaching the same year Willingham came to ND. Zook was fired half a season before Ty was. What color is Zook's skin?)

Notre Dame fans need to get over their fixation on Tyrone Willingham. He's not their problem anymore. His inadequacies don't strengthen Weis' resume. Willingham's resignation at Washington isn't going to make Notre Dame a national-title contender or justify Weis' bloated salary.

He does have a point here. Some ND fans care far too much about Ty. I myself like to laugh at him and will miss that. Did you know he once ended a statement about this season and how it's gone wrong with "...but not everything is microwave popcorn?" Apparently that's a well-known simile I just missed somewhere. Willingham was fired, by the way. Not resigned.

He can begin to do that over the last month of the season. Notre Dame's last five opponents — Pittsburgh, Boston College, Navy, Syracuse and USC — own a combined record of 22-14.

He certainly can. This five-game stretch (six with the expected bowl game) is very big to ND and laying the groundwork for what many Irish fans expect to be a possible title-contending team in 2009. Take out pathetic Syracuse from that quintet, by the way, and the record is 21-8. Whitlock and I agree on this thought.

If he goes 3-2, I'll consider it a passing grade and abstain from taking another potshot at him until next season. If he goes 4-1, I'll call it progress and agree that he's the coaching equivalent of Frank Solich. If the Irish overcome Weis' shortcomings and run the table, I'll strongly consider writing an apology column.

I personally think ND's going 4-1 to end the season. The Pitt game is at home and the Panthers will be without their starting QB. BC is not very good, Navy should be a layup for the remainder of Charlie's tenure (although they have a road win at Wake on their resume) and Syracuse is Syracuse. I like the backhanded compliment of calling Weis Solich's equal. Very nice.

If they fall on their face and lose three or more games, I'd speculate that most Irish fans would prefer Willingham be named Notre Dame athletic director than read my follow-up column.

Notre Dame would have to refrain from getting on the team plane to BC and Navy to do that in all likelihood. But if that somehow happens, I'll be ready for you, Jason.

Learning About Your Team

You learn a lot about your team when things are going worst. Case in point: Both of my favorite schools' games that were played on Saturday.

Notre Dame at Michigan State

The Irish ran on their first six offensive plays. They got seven yards. That's about how it went the rest of the game. ND's 2-0 start wasn't quite a mirage, but it certainly was not a sign that the struggles of 2007 were gone forever. When almost your entire starting lineup is freshmen or sophomores, crap happens. Jimmy Clausen throws dumb picks. Duval Kamara allows balls to be wrestled away from him in the end zone. Michael Floyd flat-out drops the ball in the MSU red zone. Armando Allen runs with a lack of vision that is almost shocking at times. Underclassman linebackers bounce off MSU's Javon Ringer like a bowling ball. The Irish lost 23-7 but were never legitimately in the game.

We learned: that Jimmy still hasn't made the leap. That for all the potential and talent that Michael Floyd has, the only legitimately unstoppable playmaker on the ND offense is Golden Tate. That Tate is going to be a legitimate national star very soon - that 3rd and 17 effort play to squeeze out of tackles 10 yards short of the first and get it anyway was unreal. That ND's offensive line still is not very good. That the Irish might not have a single running back that can truly get the job done.

The other one was a little happier.

Ball State at Indiana

This 'worst' was a little more serious than mere football issues. Dante Love took an inadvertent helmet to helmet shot early in the 2nd quarter, lost the ball, and had it returned for a score by IU that cut the Ball State lead 14-13. But things soon turned somber when Love didn't move. For a long time. He was immobilized and finally carted off the field. Turns out he suffered a cervical spine fracture and underwent a 5-hour surgery to correct it. He does have feeling in all his limbs and all indications are that he will not suffer any lasting damage from the hit. But he's done playing football.

The play surely put Ball State in a daze for a while. But barely two minutes later, Nate Davis - who is legitimately among the top dozen or so quarterbacks in the nation, any class, anywhere - rolled out under pressure from Indiana's defensive line. Heading for the sideline, he chucked a long ball - 45 yards in the air, that is - to Myles Trempe, the guy who replaced Love. It was right on the money. It was one of the most incredible throws I've ever seen anyone make. Davis makes it seem routine anymore. Touchdown Ball State. The Cardinals pretty much cruised from there, 42-20.

They showed guts and heart. They showed incredible talent. They showed a strong front four defensively and a stronger front five offensively, paving the way for MiQuale Lewis to crack 166 yards and 4 scores and bust into the Cingular All-America player of the week balloting. And they showed incredible poise. Ball State can go 12-0. They may not - but last night proved that they can.

You learn a lot about your team when things are going worst. Some are good, and some are bad. But you learn.

Just So We're Clear...

USC is NOT a shoo-in for the title game - even if they go undefeated.

This depends on some other circumstances, but if you click on my Dan Shanoff link in the blogroll you'll see. Basically, if an SEC and a Big 12 team go unbeaten...why should USC get in?

The Trojans are great, but as of now it looks like even an unbeaten USC team wouldn't have a win better than Ohio State - and there's no evidence thus far to suggest they're really that special. In fact, the way things are going, the only other ranked team USC might face - and they'd have to keep winning, obviously - would be Notre Dame. Now, an ND fan myself speaking, the Irish might well be good. We don't know yet. But they sure don't have a shot in hell of beating USC and they're probably not good enough for a title contender to be touting them as their second-best win.

This weekend is back to the September norm for college football - a lot of mismatches and not a lot of hotly anticipated games. Notre Dame/MSU, Georgia/Arizona State, and yes, Ball State/Indiana are among the games that should be pretty good this weekend. Check 'em out. College football is the greatest sport in the world - even on mediocre slates like this one. It demands your attention.

College Football Thoughts So Far

East Carolina. Not much else to say. First you Beamerball Frank Beamer and beat Virginia Tech at a semineutral site, then you simply own West Virginia and hold Pat White and Co. to 3 points. The Pirates are currently ranked 14th in the nation after those victories, which is - without doing any research whatsoever - probably the highest they've ever been ranked. They have no one left on their schedule that should take them down if they play their best, meaning there may be more than one BCS-busting possibility. Speaking of...

Ball State. Yes sir, the old alma mater is 2-0 for the first time since 1995 after beating Navy 35-23 on national TV (ESPN) last Friday night. There are two legitimately scary games left - @Indiana, because the Cards have never beaten a BCS conference opponent, and @Central Michigan, because Dan LeFevour owns us. Of course, between the aforementioned Pirates and the already-ranked BYU, it seems spectacularly unlikely that Ball State would get into the big prize even if they went 12-0, especially considering their schedule. But BSU is setting themselves up nicely.

Ohio State. Color me unimpressed. The Buckeyes handled I-AA Youngstown State well enough, but trailed after 3 quarters against MAC nonentity Ohio and needed the Bobcats to fumble a punt and then foul up coverage horribly defending another to get their 26-14 win. They'll go to top-ranked USC next week. Good luck with that.

Notre Dame. Had to be mentioned. The Irish also trailed an inferior opponent entering the final quarter, down 13-7 to San Diego State before scoring 14 straight and outgaining SDSU 146-5 the rest of the game. This one was nearly really embarrassing since the Aztecs fell at home to I-AA Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo the previous week, but ND escaped with their lives. They'll host equally unimpressive Michigan (lost to Utah then edged Miami of Ohio) on Saturday. As an ND fan, I feel obligated to tell you I'm not that worried unless the Irish struggle again this week. Until then they're just one of many teams that had first-week issues, albeit magnified because they're ND and because they're coming off 2007.

Not much uncertainty. Other than ECU, the thrilling UCLA/Tennessee upset and the odd Akron-over-Syracuse style game in the first two weeks, things are more or less going according to script. I have a feeling by the end of the week of 9/20 we'll have a really good idea of what's going on around the country, but for now, all we know is USC is looking much better than everybody else, the ACC still blows, and the SEC is still awesome.

College Football Is Better Than Pro

Is it a popular sentiment? Probably more so than you might think, but it really isn't. But the fact is, in my mind, college football is just better than the pros. Pro football has become increasingly about Brett Favre or the Madden Curse. Pro football has exorbitant fines if your uniform isn't exactly right (to paraphrase Peter Gibbons, the Nazis made the Jews wear uniforms, too). Pro football has free agency, veterans being cut left and right, and Daunte Culpepper not being able to find a job.

College football for the most part has few team changes. The games don't fit into some insane bit of history. There is no Spygate. Whereas the NFL has Spygate, college football has supposed offensive genius Charlie Weis guiding the nation's worst offense in 2007. The college game is about what happens on the field, not what happens on the sidelines.

The college game has multiple threats like Percy Harvin or Terrelle Pryor. In the NFL, one guy becomes a multiple threat (Hester) and everyone thinks it's the greatest thing ever.

I have disjointed thoughts about this, and part of it is assuredly that in college, I root for one of the most talked-about and legendary programs ever (Notre Dame), and in the pros, I root for one of the most completely irrelevant and mediocre franchises (Carolina Panthers). But here's the simple truth: I will watch college football day to night, no matter whether ND is involved or not. I cannot stand to watch NFL football in the same fashion. College football is different from the NFL, and in my mind, different is better.

Much better.

Befuddlement

Baseball makes no sense. No one can deny this. But try to make sense of Randy Wolf getting shredded by Cubs bats on May 12, then tossing a shutout at Wrigley on September 3rd, and you really are going to have a thinker on your hands.

You would think jet-setting to 85-50, the best record the Cubs had had since 1945, would have been enough to take the sting out of losses like the ones in the last five games. It doesn't. It makes them worse. When Lou Piniella inexplicably goes to Bob Howry after Carlos Zambrano leaves the game after five (don't get me started on him) and Bob immediately puts the game out of reach. Or so you think, until the Cubs launch one of their famous comebacks, capped by Jimmy Edmonds finally going deep again to tie it. Then Geoff Freaking Blum caps a banner day of Gold Glove plays by hitting the game-winning two run homer in the 11th.

And then there was tonight's debacle, in which the only time the Cubs got a runner to third, it was on his way home to get thrown out at the plate. At 85-55, with a Baseball Prospectus-calculated 99.5 percent odds of making the playoffs thanks to a 10-game cushion on the wild card runner up right now, we shouldn't care. But we care more than ever.

Then there's Zambrano. Left injured after five. Claims to be hurt. Goes to the doctor today, skips the MRI portion of his check-up, then doesn't show up to the game. You'd think the Cubs would take better care of their 90 million dollar investment. You'd think Zambrano would have outgrown this ridiculousness by now. And you'd think that of former reliever Ryan Dempster, walking injury report Rich Harden, and Zambrano, that Z was the least likely to go down.

That's baseball.

Greatest Sports Quote Ever That May Not Have Actually Been Said

"I'm fucking done with St. Louis TV and radio and I'm fucking done with the Cardinals."
- Jim Edmonds last Friday to members of the STL media seeking an interview, after he hit 2 homers against STL, sending the game to extras in a game the Cubs eventually won

He disputes actually saying the quote, but even if he didn't say it, it has spread to the point where he may as well have.

Bravo, Jimmy.

Bravo, Cubs.

The Cubs enter today at 73-47, their best mark since the end of the 1984 regular season. Mind-blowing.

(Of note: Jimmy's .610 slugging percentage since joining the Cubs, were it eligible for consideration, would be the highest slugging average IN BASEBALL.)