2012-11-27 15:30

So it really happend.

When Brian Kelly was hired for Notre Dame, almost three seasons ago, the Notre Dame Athletic Director hoped (again) to have a coach which would make Notre Dame relevant again.
Since Lou Holtz left in the 80s and guided the program to its last national championship, Notre Dame became a second class program with a lot of history and a high value television contract.

They tried and tried to get the next hot coach, but Brian Kelly is the first to deliver.
There was a time, almost every coach had a Notre Dame clause in his contract, giving him the right to abandom ship, once Notre Dame would call him to become the HC.
That is no more and some coaches even said NO to Notre Dame which was unthinkable in the past.
Brian Kelly was not taken from a high profile program, but from Cincinnati where he was able to WIN.

Now, this season he managed to bring Notre Dame back into National Spotlight, into the BCS Finals against either Alabama or Georgia.
We will see how this will turn out.

The season is almost over, next week will be championship week and and some conferences under 12 teams will play their final games.
This week did decided some championship participants and it was worth a look.

The BLOCK OF GRANITE TOP GAMES FOR WEEK 13

#1 Notre Dame @ USC
Not as high class as thought, it would have been nice to see USC at full strength.
As expected not many points and at the end did Notre Dame win.
For Notre Dame it became a PERFECT season with 12-0.
To be fair, most of the so tough opponents in the preseason did turn out to play not that tough.
Still a remarkable result.
USC will have to rebuild, since Matt Barkley will be gone and the window for a national championship run might be closed for some years.
With some new tough teams in the PAC 12 (UCLA, Arizona, Oregon State) they will have to become better.
22-13 -> Jacks Score: 43-20

#21 Oklahoma State @ #13 Oklahoma
Not that clear, they needed OT to close this, but at the end, the Sooners did win.
I'm not sure if Oklahoma State can recharge and come back next year.
We have to see, who is leaving and who stays.
Same for the Sooners.
48-51 -> Jacks Score: 44-20

#4 Florida @ #10 Florida State
FSU was the National Champion Favorite for some people in the preseason, they are far away from that now.
The Gators did win by a nice fourth quarter comeback and FSU did basically fall apart.
I think FSU needs another two years to recharge and come back, the Gators look like a hot thing for next season.
37-26 -> Jacks Score: 45-20

#5 Oregon @ #15 Oregon State
Not that hard fought.
The Ducks did win and hadn't they lost to Stanford last week, they would play for a PAC 12 championship and maybe the national championship.
Now they have to settle with some second tier Bowl.
As Oregon State.
The future is bright for both teams.
The question will be, if the HC of the Ducks will stay.
He did great things at Oregon and there are a lot of spots open in the better paid SEC.
48-24 -> Jacks Score: 46-20

#12 South Carolina @ #11 Clemson
This was won by the Gamecocks and I have to admit they did good.
I'm not sure where the program will head from hear, for sure Spurrier, the HC, will not leave, maybe retire.
Clemson did play a nice season, but were too unconsistant.
27-17 -> Jacks Score: 46-21

#8 Stanford @ #18 UCLA
This was a nice effort by Stanford.
They earned the spot in the PAC 12 championship game and will play there next week against UCLA again.
We will see, if they can beat them twice in two weeks.
35-17 -> Jacks Score: 46-22

Some games of interest:

- as writen already, Washington State did win the Apple Cup against Washington.
The last 8 in a row before.

- TCU did win against Texas at the Longhorns site. Big win for the Horned Frogs.

- West Virginia did win against Iowa State to win after 5 losses in a row.

- Arizona State did win the Duel in the Desert against Arizona.

- Georgia did win the "clean old fashioned hate" game against Georgia Tech as clear as expected

- UConn did beat Louisville, that makes the Big East Championship for Louisville NOT unreachable, since Rutger did stumble also.

- Michigan did lose against Ohio State, the Buckeyes with a perfect season.

- Rutgers did lose against Pitt.

- Tulsa did lose against SMU. Might be they rested some starters.

- Baylor did win against Texas Tech.

- Penn State did win against Wisconsin.

- Alabama did shut out Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

- Ole Miss did win against Mississippi State.

- San Jose State did win against Louisiana Tech.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite