First, I would like to apologize for bumping USC Song Girl AssGate from the top of the page, and thank Awful Announcing for giving me an opportunity to crack fat jokes for the next six hours. As mentioned below, I have a little site called Run Up The Score. It's mainly a college football blog, but often deviates into such topics as mentally challenged headbangers, Jenn Sterger's implants, music, and Pittsburgh sports fans that just need to put their clothes on and shut up.

It's going to be a long night, so let's just cut to the pre-game formalities.

Tonight's Allstate Sugar Bowl returns to it's proper home of the Louisiana Superdome and is essentially a home game for the Louisiana State Tigers. The location also provides a convenient post-game excuse for Notre Dame, who could set a new NCAA record for most consecutive bowl losses (9).

Just for fun, let's look back at Notre Dame's previous eight bowl losses.

Fiesta Bowl	January, 1995	Loss - Notre Dame 24, Colorado 41
Orange Bowl	January, 1996	Loss - Notre Dame 26, Florida State 31
Independence Bowl	December, 1997	Loss - Notre Dame 9, LSU 27
Gator Bowl	January, 1999	Loss - Notre Dame 28, Georgia Tech 35
Fiesta Bowl	January, 2000	Loss - Notre Dame 9, Oregon State 41
Gator Bowl	January 1, 2003	Loss - Notre Dame 6, NC State 28
Insight Bowl	December 28, 2004	Loss - Notre Dame 21, Oregon State 38
Fiesta Bowl	January 2, 2005	Loss - Notre Dame - 20, Ohio State 34

So, Notre Dame hasn't only lost their last eight bowl games, they were beaten by at least 14 points in six of those eight losses.




Fox is carrying the Sugar Bowl, and has assigned the team of Kenny Albert, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jeanne Zelasko to bring us the action. This could get fun. And by "fun", I mean "disasterous." ESPN Radio has the infinitely better team of Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Erin Andrews. Erin Andrews on the radio? That's a bigger tease than the USC Song Girl actually sporting underwear.

Anyway, each school will receive between $14 million and $17 million from the Bowl Championship Series for their efforts. Naturally, LSU will be treated as the home team, which doesn't prevent Notre Dame from wearing those unlucky green jerseys since LSU usually wears white at home. The Irish have a 5-4 record all-time against LSU. The official Sugar Bowl site breathlessly notes that "Notre Dame (10-2), winners of eight of its last nine games, became BCS bowl eligible by tallying nine or more wins in their season." So did 22 other teams, but who's counting?

• Can Notre Dame's offensive line protect Brady Quinn, and will LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini be able to generate pressure with only his front four? If Notre Dame can keep Quinn upright or force LSU to blitz linebackers and safeties, WR's Rhema McKnight and Jeff Samardzija could break loose. So could Irish TE John Carlson, who torched Penn State earlier this season.
• Which JaMarcus Russell will show up? This should be easy pickings for Russell, who is the streakiest high-profile quarterback in college football this year. He can be unstoppable at times, but can also crap the bed with the best of 'em.
• Big plays on special teams. Neither team's kicking game is particularly good, which means something freaky is bound to happen. A missed extra point or chip shot field goal, a busted punt coverage, or a blocked kick could go a long way in helping Notre Dame notch the upset.
• Will LSU's fans actually make it into Superdome, or will they be carted off to the nearest emergency room?