Fighting Irish Take On The Trojans — Live Blog!

6:14 pm CT – I hear from my Uncle Ted and Aunt Judy, who are at the Colisseum for the Notre Dame/USC football game, which I humbly call the Annual Battle of Good Vs. Evil. On our visit to LA last month, Ted foolishly bet me a six-pack of a good regional beer on the outcome. I expect to be tasting the sweet nectar of Henry Weinhardt’s Dark in the coming weeks. At any rate, they’re sitting up in the nosebleed section, and they tell me that it’s overcast, cold (for LA), and the field will likely be slippery. Sounds like great Notre Dame weather to me …
7:01 – Keith Jackson, Dan Fouts, and Todd Harris will be working the game for ABC’s broadcast. It’s a great team for a great game …
7:05 – You may ask why I’m allowed to be home on a Saturday night, watching football. Well, for one thing, we did a good chunk of our Christmas shopping between the Northern Alliance show and the start of the game, so I got a few “good-boy” points for that. Plus, the First Mate knows that the Irish-USC game is the one must-see game on which I insist all year, outside of the Super Bowl. I’ve been wearing the green jersey all day, my Notre Dame watch and hat from my mom, and I’m pumped up and ready to see them upset the #1-ranked Trojans.
In other words, I’m a geek. As if you didn’t know that already …
First Quarter
7:09 – Notre Dame kicks off first — and SC fair-catches it? O-kaaaayyy…
7:13 – SC gains a couple of first downs but stalls at midfield. Great punt from SC will make the Irish fight across a long field to score. The rain seems to be making the passing game a little difficult for Matt Leinart, or at least his receivers …
7:19 – The Irish are mixing it up well and really moving the ball …
7:25 – Going for it on 4th and goal — TOUCHDOWN!! What a great opening drive, and what a way to deliver a message to USC. They went 93 yards and only got stopped twice, once on an incompletion and once on a off-tackle run. The Irish came to play ….
7:28 – King Banaian takes his laser focus off Ukraine and onto what’s really important. Welcome aboard! …
7:30 – Hate to say it, but that was a great catch on the ricochet …
7:36 – Irish hold SC to a field goal, but that was a shaky drive for SC. 7-3 Irish …
7:42 – End of the first quarter, after another big play for the Irish. Great job so far — moving the ball at will and defense rising to the occasion …
Second Quarter
7:50 – Good drive for the Irish, but they had to settle for a field goal after Brady Quinn threw the third-down pass behind the receiver. I agree with King; it looks like the Irish outweigh the Trojans on both sides of the line…
7:56 – Another great defensive series for the Irish. Not only do they get a three-and-out, but the punt was partially blocked and only went 20-odd yards. So far, the Irish look like they’re on fire for this game, and SC looks like they’re burnt out …
8:00 – An excellent defensive series for the Trojans, too. Still 10-3 Irish…
8:03 – Hey, don’t interview Anthony Davis! He’s the Golden Domers’ worst nightmare! Seriously, though, good to see him out there. The interview saved him from seeing the Trojans fumble, but they got it back …
8:07 – Whatever ailed the Trojans seems to have disappeared, dammit. SC tied it up on the strength of three big plays. We’ll have to see if the Irish can adjust. One big problem seems to be Freddie Parrish, who got moved to corner for this game. They burned him twice on the drive, including the TD…
8:15 – The Irish need to stick to the run on offense, I think; the Trojans are starting to blitz a little too much. A few draw plays would cure that. On defense, King’s right, they need to be blitzing more themselves…
8:18 – It didn’t take long for the momentum to shift to the Trojans, did it? Yikes. That was a beautiful pass for the 57-yard TD. 17-10 Irish …
8:27 – Halftime. The Irish started out pretty well, but SC seems to have taken control of the game in the second quarter. Pete Carroll thinks the wet weather may have something to do with it, which sounds plausible to me. The Irish have made comebacks this year in the second half, including the game I watched at South Bend against Stanford. We’ll have to see.
8:31 – Folsom James has joined us, complete with California triumphalism. [sigh] You may want to hold off on that until the game’s over, James …
8:43 – James is tormenting me with my own words, cruel man that he is. If you’re not keeping up with the comments, you’re missing half of the fun. James, I notice that they skipped Paige Laurie, too. You suppose that Daddy forgot to pay for the commercial? …
Second half in the extended entry …

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Driving Miss First Mate

The First Mate and I will be off this weekend to South Bend, IN, to see the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame take on the Stanford Cardinal at Knute’s house. (The tickets are a Christmas gift from Vayapaso — my mom.) It’s our first trip ever to the hallowed stomping grounds of the Gipper, and I’ll be taking along the digital camera while I’m there. I’ll put up a couple of the best shots, and since this is October, I’m betting that the scenery will be gorgeous if the weather holds up.
We’ll be driving down to South Bend, a trip that Mapquest says will take a shade under eight hours if we can avoid gridlock in Chicago. Once we get there, we’ll meet my godfather, Uncle Emilio, for a late dinner on Friday. (He lives in Southern California. We live in Minnesota. So it’s only natural that we planned to meet in a state neither of us have ever gone.) I may not even see the second presidential debate, let alone blog it. I’m bringing the laptop in case I can steal access from somewhere, but I’m not promising anything.
In the meantime, Whiskey will be handling the blogging, and based on what she’s already done tonight I can tell she’ll keep things lively here at CQ. We are lucky to have her on board! Hopefully I can at least read her work and keep up to date with your comments, even if I’m off-air myself for 48 hours or so.
Before I leave tomorrow, I’ll post the Caption Contest. Don’t forget to listen in on the Northern Alliance Radio Network broadcast from noon – 3 PM CT Saturday, either. We’ll be live-blogging the third presidential debate from the downtown Hilton on Wednesday, October 13th, along with a hundred or so of our closest friends, so make sure you check out all the NARN blogs during that time.
Go Irish! Have a great weekend!