Donna Mae Maximenko, Rest in Peace

I was shocked and deeply saddened by the news today that a good friend of mine, Donna Maximenko, was found dead early this morning. She had been missing since last Wednesday.

For those of you that don't know Donna, she was a bartender at the Linebacker Lounge for many years, and was one of the nicest people you could ever know. If you've ever been in the Backer for a drink over the last decade, chances are you bought your drinks from Donna, and she was truly one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Even when work was crazy and frustrating, she was quick with a smile.

I remember that one of the first times I met Donna at the 'Backer, she gave me one of those wooden coins that was good for a free drink, with her autograph on it. She made me promise never to use it, because she was going to be famous someday.

Many of us in the South Bend/Mishawaka/Notre Dame community are absolutely crushed by this deeply sad news, and I hope that you will take a minute to say a prayer for all of us that are left behind to mourn her passing.

Nights at the 'Backer will never be the same.

College Playoff: 2008-2009 Edition

Every year, I trot out my own version of a college playoff, and plug in the teams from this year, to show everyone exactly how awesome a college playoff system could be.

I tweaked the system a bit from my last posting, as I had the Big 12 and SEC playing too soon in my older version. I like this one better.

Here is how my system would play out for this season, with my picks (or actual winners) in bold:

Week 1: Championship Week
- require all conferences to have a championship game
- this is the first round of the playoffs, championship losers are out (but are free to play in a lesser bowl game if they choose)
- All at-large spots are filled first according to record, and then according to ranking.

ACC Championship game: Virginia Tech vs. Boston College

Big East Championship game: Cincinatti vs. Pittsburgh

Big Ten Championship game: Penn State vs. Ohio State

Big 12 Championship game: Oklahoma vs. Missouri

Pac-10 Championship game: Southern Cal vs. Oregon

SEC Championship Game: Florida vs. Alabama

Independence Bowl: Independent/BCS at-large Texas vs. Non-BCS #1 Utah
Storyline: After the pollsters decided to launch Oklahoma over the Longhorns into the Big 12 Championship, Texas gets their chance for redemption by playing one of the only undefeated teams in the country.

Capital One Bowl: BCS at-large Texas Tech vs. Non-BCS #2 Boise State
Storyline: Boise State plays spoiler for Texas Tech, and gets their shot at the big boys - AP #1 Florida.

SNUBS: Ball State could have complained about being snubbed here, but then they went and lost their conference championship, leaving them with one loss, to Buffalo. Had they won, they would have gotten into the at-large pool over Texas, by virtue of a better record. Next highest ranked team without a shot? 10-2 TCU. Are the Horned Frogs really getting screwed? They lost to two of the tourney teams - Oklahoma and Utah - they could have played their way in.

Second Round
- played over Christmas week

Sugar Bowl: SEC Champion vs. Capital One Bowl Champion
Florida vs. Boise State
Storyline: Can Boise State put on the glass slipper and spoil Florida's championship run? Almost - the Broncos lose in overtime.

Gator Bowl: Independence Bowl Champion vs. Big 12 Champion
Texas vs. Oklahoma
Storyline: Texas already beat Oklahoma on a neutral field once this year. Can they pull it off again? Not this time - OK wins 63-62 with a walk-off TD as time expires.

Fiesta Bowl: ACC Champion vs. Big 10 Champion
Virginia Tech vs. Penn State
Storyline: JoePa gets his chance to make a run at the title, and begins by dispatching the ACC champ.

Orange Bowl: Big East Champion vs. Pac-10 Champion
Cincinatti vs. Southern Cal
Storyline: Welcome to big time football, Cinci. Blowout time.

Third Round
- played on New Year's Day

Rose Bowl: Fiesta Bowl Champion vs. Orange Bowl Champion
Penn State vs. Southern Cal
Storyline: The granddaddy of them all gets their traditional Big Ten - Pac-10 matchup, on New Year's Day. Is anyone complaining?

Cotton Bowl: Sugar Bowl Champion vs. Fiesta Bowl Champion
Florida vs. Oklahoma
Storyline: #1 meets #2. Do we need anything more? Oklahoma's offense outscores Florida's in another track meet.


Championship game (played the week after New Year's, just like it is now):

Rose Bowl Champion vs. Sugar Bowl Champion
Southern Cal vs. Oklahoma
Storyline: Oklahoma's offense vs. Southern Cal's defense? For all the marbles? That would be epic. Oklahoma wins a (relatively) low scoring close game, 28-21.

This system allows the remaining bowl games to remain in place, comprising the teams that are bowl eligible that did not get into the playoffs and the championship week losers.

The games are all played during traditional bowl times, except some New Year's bowls are being moved to Christmas week. The other bowls could be used to fill up the season between Championship week and the second round, as they are now. I'd also move up the bowl eligibility to 7 wins - no need to reward mediocrity, and that way there aren't too many bowls to clutter the schedule.

There are no complaints from non-BCS schools, as they get two slots (from five conferences). There may be some complaints about who gets the at-large BCS slots, but this system had the same number of at-large spots this year as the BCS bowls did. This allows the team that didn't win their conference but were really good (ala Texas and Texas Tech) to get a shot at the championship. And because record matters more than ranking or conference affiliation, the Big 12 get 4 teams in.

It maintains traditional bowl matchups in most seasons (SEC-Big 12 Cotton; Big 10-Pac-10 Rose, etc.).

And, most importantly, it gets decided on the field.

Now we just need to make it happen.

Hawai'i, here we come!

Opponent:
University of Hawai'i Warriors (7-5, 5-3 WAC, WAC #2)
Location:
Aloha Stadium (50,000 capacity), Honolulu, Hawai'i
Date:
December 24, 2008 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $398,000

Projection opinion: "A winnable game in beautiful Hawai'i, which happens to be the home state of a certain linebacker the Irish have been courting in this year's recruiting class. A very winnable game and a beautiful venue. If the Irish are looking primarily to end their bowl winning streak, this would be the game I'd choose. A low payout, however, may make this less attractive."

Although the message boards have been aflame with complaints about the Irish accepting this bid, I think that it was the best bid available. I'm going to address the complaints of the message board posters, and I'd like to hear your responses as well.

Complaint 1: "You don't reward players for a 6-6 season."
While I agree that rewarding mediocrity is questionable, the fact remains that if the Irish decline a bowl bid, another 6-6 team will take it. These are the rules of the game, and we need to take advantage of the rules. Declining a bowl bid would be like running an extra pass play when the rules say you can run out the clock and win the game. This young team will get an extra month of practice, and has a golden opportunity to put this bowl losing streak to bed for good.

Complaint 2: "ND should not be playing a game on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Christmas is the second-holiest time in the Catholic calendar, and is supposed to be about family."
Now just wait one cotton-pickin' minute here. The Irish have played on New Year's Day numerous times, and New Year's Day is a holy day of obligation. But I don't hear anyone complaining when we play in the Gator Bowl. And Christmas Eve is not a holy day of obligation. It's just the night before the holy day.
And further, I don't know very many true Irish fans (alums in particular) for whom Notre Dame football is not part of their family tradition. In fact, I would love to be able to sit down with my family and watch the Irish on Christmas Eve, while we sip egg nog by the fire and get ready for Christmas Vigil mass. I can't think of a better time. Ratings are going to be huge, as people are going to be sitting at home anyway with family. It's going to make Christmas Eve this year feel a little bit like Thanksgiving.

Complaint 3: Nobody can afford to go to this bowl game.
Now, this complaint is just ridiculous. For the fanbase and alums of one of the nation's greatest universities to complain about not being able to afford a plane ticket to Honolulu is ridiculous.
Can I afford to go to the game? No. But then, I'm just starting out on my career. There are plenty of well-off fans and alums that will buy the plane ticket to Hawaii for Christmas. There is zero chance that the Irish don't sell all of their ticket allotment. In fact, we travel so well, I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the fans in the stands will be Irish fans, despite the fact that this is essentially a home game for the Hawaii Warriors. This is just sour grapes from the people that wanted to be able to go to a closer game like the Texas Bowl.

Complaint 4: Spending a million dollars to fly the team out to Hawaii sends a bad message in these troubled economic times.
Make no mistake, Notre Dame will make money this bowl season. The costs of flying the football program to Hawaii are far outweighed by the financial boon the Irish will get from playing in a bowl game. The payout from the bowl game may not cover the costs, but the exposure for their sponsors and the money from the BCS deal will still keep the program in the black this postseason.
And as far as messages go, this complaint seems to imply that they should just cancel the Hawaii bowl. Heck, why not cancel all of the bowl games?

The Hawaii Bowl was the best option available to the Irish this bowl season, and I am glad that the powers that be at Notre Dame recognized that the Texas Bowl against Rice had no positives for the University. Worse, nobody would have been able to watch that game, as it's on the NFL network and on a Tuesday night, nonetheless. I don't know about everyone else, but I'll be home on Christmas Eve, and won't have to work the next day. I can watch the game, go to Vigil Mass, and then enjoy my Christmas morning. On Tuesday the 30th, I'd have to work all day, then try to find a bar to watch the game at (I don't get the NFL network), then try to get back home and get some sleep before I work the next day.

I applaud the University for ignoring the punditry that attempted to relegate them to a worthless bowl game against Rice, and instead accepted a bid that provides a great atmosphere for the Irish to end their bowl losing streak and set up for next year.

Plus, it's basically a free recruiting trip for the entire team, coaches on down, to go out and recruit Manti Te'o for a week.

Maybe the Weis family can get an invite to the Te'o household to celebrate Christmas Day.

My Hate list

Inspired by a posting on Rock's House, I thought I would post my hate list - the list that determines my rooting interest in every game that doesn't involve Notre Dame.

For example, as much as I hate Florida, the thought of Alabama getting another National Championship made me feel sick to my stomach. So, last night (although secretly wishing for some kind of cataclysmic destruction of the entire stadium) I rooted for the Gators, something I would almost never do.

The following list ranks my relative level of hatred for all of Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. By using this list, you can precisely determine who I will be rooting for in each bowl game this year. The higher on the list, the more I want them to lose. Therefore, there is no possible way I would ever root for Miami. Just won't happen. And if teams in my top 10 play each other, I just root for the proverbial asteroid to destroy the stadium.

The order changes slightly for basketball.

1. Miami (FL)
2. Michigan
3. Purdue
4. Boston College
5. USC
6. Alabama
7. Michigan State
8. Ohio State
9. Florida State
10. Florida
11. Tennessee
12. Nebraska
13. LSU
14. Kentucky
15. West Virginia
16. Pittsburgh
17. Oregon State
18. South Florida
19. South Carolina
20. Georgia
21. Washington
22. Oregon
23-25. Tie: Auburn, Mississippi, Arkansas
26-29. Tie: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois
31-46. Tie: North Carolina, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina State, Connecticut, Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Arizona, California, UCLA, Washington State
47. Texas
48. Texas A&M
49. Missouri
50. Colorado
51. Georgia Tech
52. Penn State
53. Stanford
54-59. Tie: Baylor, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, Syracuse, Wake Forest
60. Mississippi State
61. Arizona State
62. Virginia Tech
63-112. Tie: Non-BCS schools

The teams I don't hate (in order of my love for them):
1. Notre Dame
2. Indiana (alma mater)
3. Navy
4. Army
5. Air Force
6. Virginia

Bowl projections

With Rutgers' beatdown of Louisville last night, the Irish have been officially kicked out of the Big East bowl rotation and are left blowing in the wind waiting for an at-large invitation to a bowl game. Notre Dame is still Notre Dame, however, and will get several invitations. Here are the possibilities:


Opponent:
Texas Christian University Horned Frogs (10-2, 7-1 MWC, MWC #2)
Location:
Qualcomm Stadium (71,294 capacity), San Diego, CA
Date:
December 23, 2008 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $750,000

The second highest profile matchup would probably be here, where TCU was projected as a potential BCS buster all year, but fell just short, losing to an undefeated Utah team and #2 Oklahoma. Would help with recruiting in Southern Cal, but may not be the matchup we're looking for to break our bowl losing streak. And it's very early in the bowl season.



Opponent:
University of Hawai'i Warriors (7-5, 5-3 WAC, WAC #2)
Location:
Aloha Stadium (50,000 capacity), Honolulu, Hawai'i
Date:
December 24, 2008 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $398,000

A winnable game in beautiful Hawai'i, which happens to be the home state of a certain linebacker the Irish have been courting in this year's recruiting class. A very winnable game and a beautiful venue. If the Irish are looking primarily to end their bowl winning streak, this would be the game I'd choose. A low payout, however, may make this less attractive.



Opponent:
Ball State University Cardinals (12-0, 8-0 MAC, MAC Champions)
Location:
Ford Field (70,000 capacity), Detroit, MI
Date:
December 26, 2008 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $750,000

The highest profile matchup available, this game usually gives the MAC champion a shot at the #7 Big Ten team. However, with 2 Big Ten teams potentially in the BCS, there won't be enough to fill their bowl affiliations. Assuming a win over Buffalo in the MAC Championship, Ball State will be here. With Ball State shut out of the BCS despite an undefeated season, there will be quite a bit of hype around this game already. When you take Indiana's premier college football team and match it up against the young upstart team that's used to being the state's whipping boy? It's got my vote. I really like this game because I don't know how good Ball State really is - their best wins are over Indiana and Navy.


Opponent:
Good question - both slots will be filled with at-large teams, as the SEC and Big 12 don't have enough bowl teams to fill this game.
Location:
Independence Stadium (53,000 capacity), Shreveport, LA
Date:
December 28, 2008 8:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $1.1 million

This game is intriguing, because it has the largest payout, and nobody seems to know exactly who the opponent will be. Also, the Irish have played in the Independence Bowl before (vs. LSU), so there is some history there that they could use for cover in seeking the payday. I think that ultimately, whether the Irish choose this game or not depends on the caliber of opponent they can attract. We're not gonna play Louisiana-Lafayette here. No way, no how.



Opponent:
Big East #4
Location:
Legion Field (71,594 capacity), Birmingham, Alabama
Date:
December 29, 2008 3:00 p.m. (ESPN)
Payout: $300,000

This game would match us with the Big East #4 team, which could be any number of teams, depending upon the outcome of this week's games. I don't think there is much chance of playing in this game, as the payout is too low, the opponent too dull, and the location less than appealing. It's also an afternoon start. A non-starter, but technically on the list. The only redeeming quality is that it would be a game against a BCS opponent from a conference we are closely affiliated with.



Opponent:
Rice University Owls (9-3, 7-1 C-USA, C-USA #3)
Location:
Reliant Stadium (71,500 capacity), Houston, Texas
Date:
December 30, 8 p.m. (NFL Network)
Payout: $750,000

This is the game most of the prognosticators are predicting us to go to, although I'm not sure why. Rice has already accepted this bid, and I'm not stoked about playing a mediocre team from C-USA. If we do accept, it's only because we think we can win, and Texas is fertile recruiting grounds. And it's the closest to New Year's we can get. Worst thing about it is that the game will be on the NFL Network, which isn't widely available. Yawn.

UPDATE: I didn't see this before, but apparently Louisiana Tech has already accepted a bid in the Independence Bowl. I'm not impressed, and would take that bowl out of consideration for the Irish.

UPDATE: Ball State lost in the MAC Championship, so now Buffalo would be the team in the Motor City bowl. This makes the Hawai'i Bowl and Poinsettia Bowls the best options in my opinion. More as the results roll in.

No hard feelings?

Mike Coffey at NDNation summed up for me pretty well how I feel about the current coaching situation at Notre Dame.

I want Charlie Weis to succeed at Notre Dame.

In fact, my "off with his head" mentality has gotten me into hot water with friends who are vehement Weis defenders. But I felt then (as I do now) that accountability demanded that Coach Weis should not have been kept as head coach.

But I have no interest in seeing Coach Weis fail. In fact, I want nothing more than to be proven wrong and to have Coach Weis come in next year and win the national title. Everyone that knows me knows that I live and die each week by what happens to the Notre Dame football team. Notre Dame is in my blood, and I could no sooner wish ill on the program, or worse yet stop cheering for my Irish, than I could pluck out my own eye or disown a family member. It's just not going to happen.

And I'm willing to eat crow for calling for his dismissal if that should happen. I'll take all of the accusations about being too quick to judge and for not having enough faith in Coach Weis, Savior of Notre Dame Football. But I call it like I see it, and am more than willing to admit when I'm wrong.

I am encouraged by the recent interviews Jack Swarbrick has had about the future of the program. He's a smart guy, and has had great success in negotiating in the past. I'm sure that, whatever the specifics of the conversation he had with Coach Weis were, he's got a plan he thinks will work. And if the guy that brought the Superbowl to snowy Indianapolis has a plan that he thinks will work, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

More encouraging (if true) is that Swarbrick said that Coach Weis was on the same page during their meeting. That he knew what steps needed to be taken to move forward, and they were in complete agreement.

They say great minds think alike. Let's just hope against hope it's not the blind leading the blind, as both men had no experience going into their current positions. For better or for worse, Swarbrick has hitched himself to the Charlie Weis bandwagon, and will live or die by that decision.

I'm looking forward to what the offseason holds as far as changes go. It's kind of like Secret Santa - you have no idea what's in store for you, and no idea whether the gifts will suck or not. But you're still excited about unwrapping it.

It's Official: Coach Weis to return in '09

The University, shortly after reports came out that they would not confirm that Weis would be retianed, quickly scrambled to confirm Weis' retention today to put an end to all of the speculation that obsessed rumor mongering fans (like myself) were running with in the absence of actual confirmation. Here's the text of the release:

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Charlie Weis will continue as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, University athletics director Jack Swarbrick announced today (Dec. 3).

Swarbrick, who made the decision in consultation with University president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., met with Weis in California on Tuesday to review this past season, discuss plans for 2009 and communicate his decision.

“Though this past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program, I am confident that Charlie has a strong foundation in place for future success and that the best course of action is to move forward under his leadership,” said Swarbrick.

“He, I and the others involved in leading our football program are committed to doing everything necessary to ensure a successful 2009 season. We are examining every aspect of the program and will make changes wherever we think they are needed.”

Weis’ four-season record at Notre Dame is 28-21 ? after his first two Irish teams in ’05 and ’06 finished 9-3 and 10-3, respectively, and made Bowl Championship Series appearances. The Football Writers Association of America named Weis its 2005 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award winner as the national college coach of the year.

A 1978 Notre Dame graduate, Weis previously spent five seasons (2000-04) as the New England Patriots offensive coordinator and helped that franchise to three Super Bowl championships during his tenure. He also was a member of the New York Giants staff during the 1990 Super Bowl championship season.

What I find most interesting from the piece is where Swarbrick states "We are examining every aspect of the program and will make changes wherever we think they are needed." Hopefully, this means that there will be staff changes in the offseason, rather than sticking with what doesn't work out of some misguided duty to protect his failing staff members from becoming scapegoats.

If Coach Weis won't take the fall for the failures of the last two seasons, someone has to. Keeping an entire underperforming staff on board would be a horrible idea, and I hope that the powers that be will make as many of these changes as possible before the bowl game, so the new coaches can come in and take advantage of the extra month of practice.