USC & NOTRE DAME IN A CLASSIC!

I just finished watching the Trojan/Irish game and I have to admit it was one of the best games I have seen this season. The Irish played this game exactly the way they needed to. People talk about needing to stop Reggie Bush but players like that sometimes outrun gameplans (the guy is just awesome). I thought the player that they really needed to take out of the game was Lendale White and they did that. What few carries he had went nowhere.

Leinart had an ok game (well, ok he had a spectacular final minute) He had a few drops by receivers (not his fault)and looked a bit sluggish (maybe a couple of shots he took caused this--looked like he got a kick in the head on a block he threw). If he doesn't want to get intercepted every other play in the NFL he is going to need to add some zip on his pass. Many of them seemed to float.

I was watching the halftime segment when he was asked why he stayed in school and I thought, "are you kidding me"? Would you rather do what he is doing now (have the team, chicks, & rockstar status he does) or do what Alex Smith is doing right now(becoming the latest Dwight Freeney sack statistic)? I'll take door number one please.

Anyway, back to the game. I can't believe Pete Carroll took the risk of the Leinart QB sneak at the end. If he doesn't get in Carroll is second guessed and called all kinds of names by USC superfan Nick Lachey (possibly leading Nick to tell Jessica Simpson where to stick it when she asks what's wrong. Jessica then tells Nick she's sick of his sorry attitude and coat-tail riding ass. Divorce. Finally! ahem....you can tell I've spent entirely too much time thinking about this possibility. Lets move on.) ---Just a gutsy call and fortunately for USC (and Nick and Jess) things worked out. I still think the smart thing would have been to kick the field goal and rely on Leinart and Bush to do their thing in overtime. Although now that I think about it, Leinart just sat with his head in his hands after the touchdown and looked completely spent. Maybe Pete knew his best chance was on that play. Hey, he's only won two straight national championships and I'm just an armchair QB so I guess I'll concede the point here.

And how about Jarett catching that 4th and 9 pass when it seemed like he dropped everything else during the game. That pass was perfect and you just don't see that kind of thing happen on 4th down and long with the game on the line (unless your Tom Brady and you've sold your soul to the devil a few years back). Notre Dame fans were stunned and so was I frankly. Notre Dame should have won this game. But what a game! I tried to tell my wife about it afterward and she just said "that's nice". Now you know why I have a blog. Sports conversation in my house goes over like a rectal exam.