Jay Is on Some Kind of a Roll, Here

This is the third Jay article in a row that has been bad enough to be worthy of appearing here. This time, it's about Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech. I probably dabble the least in non-baseball things of all of us angries at Fire Jay Mariotti, but I was at the game yesterday, so we should be fine. Here we go!

Secret's out: This stinks
Weeks of mind games about starting QB blow up in Weis' face, and don't think Notre Dame isn't wondering what it's paying for

See what I mean? He doesn't think! At all. All of you blog-reading people, LOOK at this. Really LOOK at this. Mariotti is blaming the disastrous performance by Notre Dame on Charlie Weis not publicly announcing the quarterback. Really, Jay? This is the reason why ND blew up?

Suppose Weis announced the QB last Saturday. My prediction for the game score: still 33-3

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Let me remind Charlie Weis, humbled control freak, that he is under contract for $40 million through 2015. Let me also remind him that he is being watched.

Got that, Chuck? Remember? Obviously you do? Ok. Cool.....no....sorry for bothering you....it's just that Jay Mariotti thought you might have forgotten those things.

There is the gaze of Touchdown Jesus, the corporate eye of NBC, the scrutiny of mortified alumni, the egos of mysterious CEOs in power and the disgust of Domers suddenly wondering if Mr. Super Bowl Bling is any better than Tyrone Willingham, Bob Davie and other Notre Dummies.

I kind of agree with Jay here about placing the fair share of the blame on Weis. He'd do well to remember that this is about the lowest that ND has been on the pure talent spectrum in ages, but Jay's never been one to analyze people who actually PLAY any of the sports he writes about. Either way, I'll give Jay a free pass here.

They didn't hire him, in the cradle of football and Catholicism, to be embarrassed 33-3 by Georgia Tech. They didn't hire him to trot out a three-ring quarterback circus that was so inept, it might require Weis to denounce his relationship with Tom Brady.

And......right here is when I decided that Jay doesn't really watch sports very often. Okay, the ND QBs need to focus on taking care of the ball (not fumbling) when it's in their hands a little better, but any idiot watching the game could tell you that the primary blame falls on the offensive line, not on Demetrius, Evan, and Jimmy. The line got flat out run over, and the QBs barely had any time to do shit. Jay literally just looked at the box score and decided all three are terrible.

The program's slogan this season is, "Tradition Never Graduates."

Saturday, tradition flunked out and ran home to mama.

I can't even begin to explain how proud of himself Jay is after writing that sentence.

They couldn't run or block or tackle, and if there's a legitimate quarterback ready to play at Penn State next week, he must be on an intramural field. All you need to know: If Appalachian State managed an epic 34-32 upset over Michigan — gee, the ND-Michigan game will be real fun — the Mountaineers would have drubbed the Irish by six touchdowns.

Really? Jimmy Clausen didn't show any promise at all? If I'm wrong, and you did actually catch a glimpse of this game, you certainly didn't see the last 8 minutes.

And Michigan, before yesterday's game, held the title of Most Overrated Thing.

Yet, true to his trademark arrogance, Weis didn't apologize for his foolishly covert operation that withheld the identity of his starting QB until kickoff. For weeks, he insisted on playing one of his smarter-than-thou mind games, wasting his energy and insulting our intelligence by not announcing the starter. It didn't take long to realize he wasn't protecting the ingredients of an atom bomb.

If anyone can think of anything that had less to do with explaining why ND got blown out by Georgia Tech, I'd love to hear it, because I can't even do it.

Not to be unkind to a Chicago Public League product, but Demetrius Jones was the ND equivalent of opening Al Capone's vault and finding dust and debris. It took Weis less than one half to realize Jones, a runner who lost two fumbles and threw like a frat guy on a bender, wasn't going to pull off the game plan of winning on the ground.

Jones literally threw three passes. One was purposely thrown out of bounds to avoid a safety. Another was very difficult and at the receiver's feet as he was being forced out of bounds. The other was completed. The "frat guy on a bender" analogy really isn't holding water here. Now please....if you'd just watch the games you write about......

This was the same Jones who, two years ago, as he was leaving Morgan Park High, rankled some folks when he said, "If Brady Quinn could've scrambled, we could've won the Fiesta Bowl." But at least Quinn usually hung onto the ball when he moved around. Before you knew it, Jones was replaced by Evan Sharpley, who was sharper as a passer but was roughed up while producing only a field goal.

Yeah, he was roughed up because he didn't have a line to protect him. How is that his fault?

How is an Irish player supposed to be lucky wearing No. 13, anyway?

What does luck have to do with anything?

When Urban Meyer won a national title at Florida, two years after he rejected an ND offer, the pressure on Weis shot way up. And when he loses the opener 33-3, the jury is still out. He has recruited well, but whether he becomes a legend or another lukewarm hire depends on how he grooms his next quarterback. He stands by his secret scheme. "The whole team knew what we were doing for weeks," he said. "It was to make sure [the QBs] weren't under the scrutiny of all the Notre Dame fans across the country." Sorry, but wouldn't Jones have become better acclimated to the pressure with a few weeks under the microscope instead of being thrown into it Saturday?

Alternatively, a ton of media hype may have INCREASED the shock of the pressure. And you mentioned Weis did a great job of recruiting....how about giving him time to develop the talent he recruited before throwing the book at him? The most experienced players on the team are still Willingham-era recruits!

At the pep rally the night before, Tom Zbikowski surprised the crowd by leaking the QB starter. "Fortunately for you fans, unfortunately for Georgia Tech, it's gonna be me," he said. Tommy Z was kidding, but you know what? I have no problem turning the safety and punt returner into a three-way player, recalling his quarterbacking days at Buffalo Grove High.

Have any better ideas?

I have one! Just like most of mine (and none of yours), it's crazy and makes no sense. How about (you may need to sit down for this one, Jay) letting the #1 quarterback of his recruiting class try it instead of a 5th year senior safety/PR that hasn't seen time on offense during his tenure at Notre Dame? I mean....just a thought.

Jay is stupid enough to the point that I'm only like 60%/40% as to him being joking there.