Sugar Bowl Live Blog, Pre-Game
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
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 | | Loss - Notre Dame 24, Colorado 41 |
Orange Bowl | | Loss - Notre Dame 26, Florida State 31 |
Independence Bowl | | Loss - Notre Dame 9, LSU 27 |
Gator Bowl | | Loss - Notre Dame 28, Georgia Tech 35 |
Fiesta Bowl | | 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?
What To Watch For:
- 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?
Prediction: LSU 34, Notre Dame 30. I'm torn between wanting a close, entertaining game, or a complete blowout, which would force Marv Albert to break into "announcer time wasting mode" with Terry and Howie.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your Fatty McButterpants jokes!
Labels: Ambiguously Gay Duo, Break Yo'self, Live-Blog, LSU, Notre Dame, Sugar Bowl, USC Cheerleaders
8 Comments:
If I knew AA was a Michigan fan, I never would have agreed to this. Just turned on ESPN for the pre-pre-game. Ordered Chinese food. Gathered alcoholic beverages.
ESPN is currently showing highlights of ND's last bowl victory. Beating R.C. Slocum shouldn't count, so I'm saying that this losing streak is at 10.
Lou Holtz is so fired up that he's going to drown in his own spittle. I never felt bad for Mark May before, but I'd kind of like to send him one of those three dollar ponchos.
give me LSU to cover
AA is a m*ch*g*n fan...and his gf is an Ohio State fan :)
Was that them making out on the ESPN commercial? Ewww! Girls! Cooties!
I'm sticking with LSU.
Troy Smith will be the first pick in the 2007 draft after this game.
Notre Dame's band proves white folks in mass can exhibit a little rhythm.
Drop it like it's hot!
What the hell is going on on this site?? AA is a michigan fan and now RUTS is a Penn St. fan?? Holy crap what is this site coming to?
Give me ND and the points, but I've never wanted to be more wrong about a pick.