Irish no match for Trojans

Wow, I guess Notre Dame is really that bad. The Trojans haven't mishandled a team like this all season. I know the Irish offense was bad, but damn, their defense looked slow when we got our position players into open space, especially with Joe McKnight on his first career touchdown run. But a really great game by the Trojans on all fronts, gaining 462 to 165 yards on offense, winning the turnover battle (3-1) and of course, pitching the shutout. Other thoughts from the weekend:

• Big Balls Les at it again. What a call on third down with time running out, a timeout in his pocket, and in field goal range while trailing by one at home to go to the air for the touchdown. And like in the Florida game, his gamble paid off with a huge play to down Auburn 30-24. A second loss would have been devastating to the Tigers; now with a season of upsets, they are still alive.
• Cal dropped another Pac-10 game, with UCLA returning a pick-6 to seal the game and win 30-21. Now, Cal looks like the fourth best team in the Pac-10 behind Oregon, Arizona State, and USC/UCLA.
• I called the Rutgers win over South Florida, but was pretty shocked by South Carolina's loss to Vandy.

And here's USC still haunting Brady Quinn...


And my top 25...

1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Louisiana State (6-1)
3. Oregon (6-1)
4. Oklahoma (6-1)
5. Boston College (7-0)
6. Arizona State (7-0)
7. West Virginia (6-1)
8. Virginia Tech (6-1)
9. Missouri (6-1)
10. South Florida (6-1)
11. Florida (5-2)
12. Southern California (6-1)
13. Kansas (7-0)
14. Kentucky (6-2)
15. Hawaii (7-0)
16. Michigan (6-2)
17. Alabama (6-2)
18. California (6-2)
    
19. Boise State (6-1)
20. Georgia (5-2)
21. Virginia (7-1)
    
22. Texas (6-2)
    
23. South Carolina (6-2)
24. Penn State (6-2)
    
25. Connecticut (6-1)