Woah...Super Slacker Sara. That's me! In fairness, I didn't post last week because I was too busy storming the field at Camp Randall. Oh, that's right! I watched the Badgers pummel the Buckeyes and, in the words of Rich Lud, it was GLORIOUS. There's just too much to report, but take my word: it was exciting, it was super fun, and, in fantastic company, we couldn't have asked for more! (And yeah...Erin Andrews is as pretty in person as she is on camera. Just ask the 19 year-old boys who ran after her when she crossed our path.)

I have been slacking majorly on ND football. It's really embarrassing. So this weekend, I'm back on the wagon. The football-blog-etc wagon, that is. Well, I suppose all wagons after last weekend. :)

I walked into the house this morning from a few errands to find the Michigan State game on. This is totally unacceptable. Not when the Irish are on. When I asked Michael why the Spartans were in my living room, he responded that are playing NWU. Oh, no, my dear. That's not how it works. We bought a new tv for football season-for Irish and Badger football...and then those other guys. This hap-hazard loyalty is just the kind of luck causing the Irish to be down by 4 right now. Damn...make that 10. Now the Spartans are in my bedroom. Make that 11.

TBC...

Week 5 Match-Ups

There's so many good match-ups today I can barely contain my excitement.  None of which include the Irish, by the way, who plays Boston College in an evening game which will not be televised here in Minnesota.  How is this possible?  Did they run out of money?  Brian's figuring out how he can hook up his laptop to our television so we can watch it streaming through the web.  THAT sounds like fun.

Texas (21) @ Oklahoma (8)
Everything in my gut tells me Oklahoma's going to pull this one out.  Obviously.  But I picked Texas in my family poll so I'm hoping and praying the Longhorns can become the team everyone thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

Wisconsin (11) @ Michigan State (24)
This is the Badgers' first test of the season and their Big Ten opening.  If they play like they did in Weeks 2 & 3 we could be in for a long afternoon.  But if they bring the team that played last week it's going to be a fun game to watch.  I hope someone remembered to pack a defibrillator for Coach Dantonio.

Florida (8) @ Alabama (1)
Normally I always pull for the underdog.  But in this case I think the Crimson Tide are going to walk all over the Gators.  I only get glee from this because Florida is Tebow's former team and I, for one, was not a Tebow fan.  It's going to take me a long time to think of Florida without first thinking of that crybaby.  Ahem.

Stanford (9) @ Oregon (4)
I'm really excited for this one!  Brian picked Oregon in our family poll and I pick Stanford.  Brian was the only one out of the seven of us who picked Oregon so so far he's been walking away with unchallenged points.  I knew at the beginning of the year that Stanford was going to rise in the rankings quickly.  I love it when I'm right!

Last week was no exception.  While I normally would cheer for the Irish in all cases read here to see why I loved Stanford.

Although it was no surprise that Standford pulled out a win last week it was still a real motivation booster for them to win, and win convincingly, on the Notre Dame field.  History has proved it's been difficult for them to do this in the past.  So I'm picking Stanford with all the momentum they've got going on.

The only thing that makes me nervous is that the Oregon mascot is the duck.  And we all remember what Gordon Bombay taught us about what happens when ducks fly together.

Penn State (22) @ Iowa (17)
There were high hopes for Iowa this year.  But they faltered big against Arizona in Week 3 and I'm not sure they're going to recover from that.  They did shutout Ball State last week but, c'mon, it's Ball State.

Penn State's only loss this year comes from Alabama.  Totally warranted.

I think it's going to be a tight one but I'm going to say that Penn State's going to come out on top mostly because Paterno's such a badass.

Life's Lessons

Last weekend I threw on my 4 year-old nephew's Bears helmet and took him and his 8 year-old wimpy sister outside to play football. Not touch football. Not flag football. Football. You'd find this more amazing if you knew her. She's very pretty, very smart (I'm starting to sound like Jeannie Bueller) and the biggest wimp ever.

We started with the most important thing: the touchdown dance. Little white boy has some moves! Then we got into the rest of it. Elbows were thrown into eyes, shoulders crashed onto the ground, leaping, full-fledged tackles took place with a vengeance, and not a tear was shed (miraculously) with a 28-21 final score (boys won). The most valuable lesson learned, however, was by my 8 year-old niece...

Aunt Sara: "Ashlynn, what do you have to do if you want to get married?"

Ashlynn: "Watch football."

So, I'm not as far behind as I look on my blogs. Last week I wrote a-in my very humble opinion-hilarious post. The problem is, you never got to read it. Someone "accidentally" deleted it before it was published. I'm sure that's what really happened. The highlight of my post was in reference to one of the announcer's comments from the Wisconsin v. ASU game that Wisconsin needed to "get their fannies down to gain some leverage." That's right, he said "fannies" talking about Big 10 football players. I am still, two weeks later, laughing like a little girl about it ("he said 'fannies!'")

Lets talk about last week. What the...? The Badgers killed. The Wolverines killed. Ohio State killed. And lets talk about UCLA BLOWING OUT Texas. Unranked UCLA stealing the thunder of coveted Texas football fans everywhere left them speechless, sad and wondering what happened to their beloved Longhorns. I should also mention that I tend to root for the underdogs. I'm a softie. In fact, I'd be happy to give Brad one of my sensitivity chips, as I have more than a few to spare. Enter the North Carolina State vs. Georgia game. I so badly wanted NC State to lose. I don't know why. They were killing Georgia, and then Georgia narrowed the gap. Only a 10-point spread (something like that. No, I'm pretty sure it was 10 points.) . NCS scores. Boo! Georgia scores. It was fantastic...until Georgia finally lost. It was a solid effort, and an entertaining second half to say the least.

Did you notice I haven't even mentioned the Irish? Not a solid showing; not at all. I don't have much to say about it. There isn't much to say about it...at least not anything nice, and they're my team, so I have to be nice.

Every week I claim I am going to keep my posts short and sweet. And funny. This one did not deliver. It was neither short nor sweet, and certainly not funny. Better luck next week.

Fannies.

10 Reasons I'm Cheering for Standford Today

1.  I liked Toby Gerhart even before he was a Viking.

2.  Jim Harbaugh gives me the warm fuzzies.  Mostly because Standford's rival is the devil-incarnate, USC.  In 2007 Standford upset USC by one point when USC was favored to win by 41 points.  AWESOME!

3.  On Full House D.J. Tanner went to Stanford.

4.  I picked Stanford as one of my top teams in our little family poll this year.

5.  Brian's been gone since Thursday.

6.  William peed in his bed.

7.  Lucy was up no less, but probably more, than five times the first night.

8.  I have to take these two JAs to church by myself, which I assure you is a greater feat than running a marathon while carrying them both on my back.

9.  Brian is at the Notre Dame vs. Standford game today.

10.  I am not.

Nortre Dame QBs

Today I read that Jimmy Clausen will officially take over as the starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers in his NFL rookie year.

That's great, Jimmy.  You'll already be getting more play time in one game than Quinn has in his three (?) years in the NFL.  But you'll still never get half the playtime Quinn gets in the sack.

WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!

Sorry for that folks.  I try to keep things PG around here but every once in a while I get carried away.

It was a rough game for the Irish on Saturday and I'm not even going to say a I told you so even though I did.  All I want to know is, who is Dayne talking to on the phone in between series?

Some recent guesses in our house:

His mom.

Charlie Weis.

Domino's Pizza.

Maura.

Jeff Samardzija.

QVC.

Helmets & Heels.

Tim Tebow.  (Tim was crying.  Again.)

Brady Quinn's sister.

Brady Quinn.

Brady Quinn is probably the most logical choice with all the extra time he has on his hands.  But let it be said here that I would makeout with either Quinn or Crist.

9-18 Domestic Dispute Winner

Who will this week's domestic dispute winner be? The Chicago Nashs or St. Paul Nashs? All signs are pointing to Chicago...

(If confused, you haven't been reading this blog diligently. Brush up.)