Great job as always. This is why I hit this site 6 times a day to see if there's a new post!

You seem to not give yourself (and Ralph Friedgen) enough credit with the M.O.E. I think it's a remarkably useful tool. It's just that there's some games-like UNC-where you don't need it as a tool to figure out what happened. Actually, the M.O.E. for that game is still instructive, as it explains why we should be so frustrated that we lost that game.

I was looking back at your pre-season position team rankings, which are holding pretty true to form. I hope the team is not discounting the fact that Pitt is the most talented offense we'll see this year outside of L.A.

Keep up the good work!
IndyTom | Email | Homepage | 10.30.08 - 10:20 pm | #

Indy Tom. Only six times?
Jim '72 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 7:37 am | #

Anyone watch USF-Cinci last night? Anyone still think USF should be counted as a "quality" win for Pitt? I for one am no more impressed with Pitt's record than I am with ours. McCoy is for real, and they have a few other guys who are solid players, but I just don't see this as a team to fear. The Irish can't take anyone for granted and still need to bring their A game to beat even a slightly above average team, but if we lose this one its a poor sign of our progress. I would expect Pitt's MOE rate to be fairly high for a team with its record. They are 87th in sacks allowed, their QBs have thrown more picks than TDs and they are tied for 100th in total turnover margin. I have no idea how many drops their WRs have or how many penalties they've taken, but the games I've seen them play were far from perfect. With ND's D creating some confusion, probably more than anything anyone else has thrown at them, I think Pitt makes plenty of mistakes on Saturday. McCoy could gash us for 130-140 yards and we could still win. I think we'll give up a big run or two, but it shouldn't matter in the end.
Thundershaker | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 9:00 am | #

If McCoy only gashes us for 13-140 yards I think we are in pretty good shape
Majnun | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 9:35 am | #

Any news on recent recruits? I read a few weeks ago that Stockton blew his knww out, right?
DieselKnight | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 9:51 am | #

Even though our MOE in the UNC game was lower than the arbitrary 12%, our opponent MOE was still lower than ours which resulted in (or at least contributed to) their win.

Since I didn't get to see the Washington game, I'm a little surprised at our MOE. I guess looking back on the comments and reviews of the game our offense sort of went in the tank for awhile, so perhaps that led to or resulted from drops and penalties.

I really look forward to the statistically speaking posts after our games, so thank you BGS for putting in all this work. Maybe I'm just a bit nerdy and enjoy learning about this other level of the game. :)

Happy Halloween everyone!
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 10:09 am | #

I watched the Cincy game last night for a little while, but I find the spread option offense to be really annoying to watch (and both teams ran it). After what seemed like the millionth inside handoff from the shotgun I put in a DVD.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 10:11 am | #

Saw that the BC game was set for 8pm did not see the TV list does anyone know what channel it will be on. ABC ESPN?
scd | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 10:17 am | #

I couldn't agree more with the comment on the spread offense. Yawn! I do like Brian Kelly though, since he is from Central Michigan and I graduated there. He turned that program around and they are still pretty darn good. But I digress... the spread just isn't that impressive to me. I love watching ND play. The pro-style is much more attractive and I believe, deadlier than the spread if executed correctly.

Here is to Clausen having another breakout performance on Saturday.

Anyone else catch all that banter back and forth with Lou and Mark May on ESPN about the game? Why do I torture myself so?

Go Irish!
bleeding blue and gold | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 11:33 am | #

We have a fine bunch of Catholic lads on our team. Not once would they think of stealing the ball when the other team has possession.

I think we need to have the team chaplain tell the lads it is perfectly acceptable to steal the football when Pitt has possession.

Stat grinders - Have we ever had a team that was as kind to our opponents as this one is?
dbldomer7375 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 11:56 am | #

I'm driving up to Boston for the BC game and need to know what channel to run the recording on (so I can see what happened).
Judge60 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 12:40 pm | #

Judge and scd,

Don't the coverage maps usually come out only a few days before the game? Like Wednesday of game week?
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 1:58 pm | #

The coverage maps usually come out on Thursdays, I think. But if you look at the ESPN schedule (http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/scoreboard? confId=80&weekNumber=11&seasonYear=2008), it seems like the only game we'll be up against in the 8pm slot is Cal-USC - which is definitely bad news for those (like me) on the West Coast. The fact that that game has the ABC logo next to it while the ND/BC game has nothing at all may also be a bad sign - my guess for a best-case scenario would be that the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and New England get the ND game on broadcast while the rest of the country gets the stinkin' Trojans. In any case I'll be packing my poor kid off to a bar somewhere.
John | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 2:09 pm | #

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a west coast "ESPN" coverage, John. Hopefully USC won't be on BOTH ABC and ESPN the way Ohio State was for the first quarter of the ND v. UNC game here in Wisconsin. That was about as miserable as I've been in awhile. :)
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 3:08 pm | #

Since I've boycotted Pat Forde columns for a little more than a year now, I was kind of caught off-guard by Jeff Carroll's citing of Chuck's W-L record vs above .500 teams and below .500 teams. Stats are stats, but is this a case of a bad representation, or pretty much putting it out there? How do recent ND coaches fare (i.e. Davie and whoever it was in-between Davie and Weis)?
E-man | Email | Homepage | 10.31.08 - 5:34 pm | #

FWIW...Pitt's RB McCoy came out of the same high school (Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg PA) that produced former Irish star Ricky Watters.
Knoxville Irish | Email | Homepage | 11.01.08 - 10:09 am | #

Trouble with these Thursday coverage maps is that I depart on Tuesday and can only record 2 channels at the same time (Direct). So I have to sort of guess between ESPN 1 and 2, ESPU, and ABC.
Judge60 | Email | Homepage | 11.01.08 - 10:59 am | #