Why The Hell Not?... Episode II

Alright psychos. Are you ready for the next installment of Subway Domer's 2008 Predictions? I thought so. The Irish enter week three rated 21st in the A.P. and 20th in the Coaches Polls. They look to continue their 3 game winning streak and derail the Bon Voyage party for Tiller. Let us Begin...

ND (3-0) VS. Purdue (1-2) 44-27 IRISH

Purdue crawls into South Bend riding a humiliating two game losing streak with both losses (Oregon and Central Michigan) coming at dismal Ross-Ade Stadium. Time is running out on their diabetic, oatmeal eating, insurance spokesman and his quest to put his record versus Notre Dame at 6-6 for his career. It looks like he ends it at 5-7.

Jimmy Clausen had a spectacular day for the Fighting Irish as he threw for 367 yards and 5 touchdowns while completing 25 of 32 pass attempts. His big target was the same player that blew up on the scene last year... Golden Tate. Tate had two TD's and 142 yards receiving on 8 receptions. Mike Ragone, David Grimes, and Armando Allen also had one TD each.

The Irish needed those points as the defense was a little loose as Purdue kept racking up the yards. The "D" did come through with 4 forced turnovers all on fumbles by Boiler running backs.

As the game ended and the players walked on to the field, Mike Ragone grabbed his helmet and beat the shit out of the Purdue drum screaming. "Fuck this drum yo! Fuck this Drum!!!" He felt like the drum was giving him some shit, so he went wise guy all over it. Ouch.

MVP- Jimmy Clausen 25-32 for 367 yds. and 5 TD's.

ND (4-0) VS. Stanford (2-3) 41-2 IRISH

Michigan Man, Jim Harbaugh, and his Stanford Cardinal came into South Bend like crazed assholes ready to shit on anything that moved. Fortunately for Irish fans, they couldn't catch anyone to shit on anyways. Why? The Irish were simply too fast and too powerful for the Hippie Trees to manage.

The Irish started the game off with a statement. The opening kickoff was took 99 yards to the house by Armando Allen. The run was so spectacular in nature that Allen has since legally changed his first name to "Arundo". Interesting. After that, the Irish kept piling it on with long drive after long drive. Three true freshman scored a touchdown in the first half. Jonas Gray had a 27 yard run to the slashed endzone. Michael Floyd continued his brilliant freshman season with a 18 yard TD reception, and Kyle Rudolph scored his first TD on a 9 yard rollout pass. Rudolph was starting for the suspended Ragone. The half ended at 28-0.

The second half got a little bit tense despite the overwhelming lead for Notre Dame. After a barrage of punts back and forth between the two teams, the Irish finally put some points on the board with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. James Aldridge and Robert Hughes pounded the ball with a combined 14 carries for 85 yards and a TD (7 yard run by Aldridge).

On the next possession for Stanford Tavita Pritchard was sacked viciously by Kerry Neal forcing a fumble that Steve Filer picked up for the 12 yard return for a TD. Pritchard was laying unconscious on the field for about 5 minutes. He finally got up and walked off of the field with some help from the Stanford trainers to the sound of enormous cheers from the spectators. The ensuing PAT was blocked and returned by the Cardinal for a 2 point score. Harbaugh didn't see it though. He was being escorted off of the field by the Indiana State Police for assaulting the referee. Jim thought a personal foul should have been called on the previous sack and hit the ref with football and kicked him in the groin. Michigan Man.

Wow.

MVP- Kerry Neal 14 tackles 4 TFL with 3 sacks.

ND (5-0) @ North Carolina (5-0) 21-17 Tarheels

Both teams came into this fantastic October matchup undefeated and ranked in the top 15 (ND #13 & UNC #9). Both teams were looking to make a statement as the game was moved to the prime time slot.

North Carolina was disadvantaged from the start as its leading rusher and Flip Flop major, Greg Little, held a press conference on the Wednesday prior to the game. He stated on Wednesday that he would have a press conference on Friday. On Friday, he stated at the press conference that he would play for North Carolina on Saturday at running back as a confused Butch Davis sat silent and stoic. Come game time however, Greg Little was on a bus to Wofford to play defensive tackle for the Terriers.

Amazingly, nobody is surprised. To the game...

Notre Dame looked good in the first quarter putting two long drives together ending in scores to go up 14-0. Clausen connected on all 11 passes in both drives and looked to be unstoppable. Michael Floyd and Duval Kamara were the recipients of the two TDs. The Tarheels got on the board right away in the second quarter. Hakeem Nicks pulled down a 51 yard bomb from TJ Yates for a TD to start off the scoring. After a punting contest, North Carolina scored a TD on a 27 yard fumble return by Deunta Williams after Marvin Austin caused the loose ball with a crushing blow to Asaph Schwaap. The half came to a close after Jimmy Clausen threw only his third INT of the season with no time remaining. 14-14.

The second half was all defense as Clausen was intercepted 3 more times and North Carolina fumbled it away twice. The Irish finally held on to the ball and marched down the field 61 yards to set up a chip shot 27 yard FG for Brandon Walker that he put right down the middle of the posts with about 4:30 left on the clock that put the Irish up 17-14. The Tarheels started from their own 20 and moved the ball efficiently for the first time all day as they racked up first down after first down with short runs and timely passes. Butch Davis called a timeout on 2nd down with 10 seconds left with N.C. on the 11 yard line . Instead of kicking the FG to tie the game, N.C. was going to try a quick pass and try to leave a second or two if it fell incomplete. As the ball was snapped Ian Williams busted through the Tarheel offensive line and gave chase to Yates. Yates rolled out of the pocket away from Ian and was met by a blitzing Mo Crum. As Crum hit Yates, T.J. threw the ball towards the endzone in desperation. As it was in flight, time expired. the ball floated in the air for what seemed like a decade and then was plucked from the sky and pulled down for the reception and TD by TE Zach Pianalto.

Insanity followed. The Irish fall for the first time since November 10th of 2007.

MVP- Ian Williams 11 tackles. Two sacks. Two Forced Fumbles. Too much.

Next Up: Ty, The Stache, and Fredo.

Ranking: 17 A.P. / 16 Coaches