UConn Huskies at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 2:30pm EST on NBC
What a year for both the UConn and Notre Dame football programs. For ND, their head coach, Charlie Weis, has been on the hot seat the entire season and I guarantee I’m not the only one who is sick of hearing about it. If Weis loses to UConn this afternoon, his tenure at ND is over, finally, and we can stop talking about him. As far as the ND team this year, they have lost to USC, Navy, Pitt, and Michigan by a total of 18 points. Their passing game has been excellent, with Jimmy Clausen throwing for over 3000 yards and 21 TD’s thus far while throwing only 4 interceptions. Notre Dame’s rushing defense has been a huge concern over the past few weeks and will be tested against UConn’s 2-headed monster running attack, Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon, who have rushed for 826 yards and 720 yards respectively this season, with a combined 19 TD’s.
As far as UConn is concerned, they have had both a frustrating and an impressive 2009 campaign. They have lost 5 games by a combined 15 points against difficult competition (North Carolina, Pitt, West Virginia, Rutgers and Cincinnati). UConn’s primary difficulty this year has been finishing games in the 4th quarter. In all five of their losses, UConn either had a lead or had an opportunity to take the lead in the 4th quarter in all 5. The most difficult loss this year, however, has been off the field with the tragic stabbing death of their starting CB Jasper Howard. His teammates and the community (locally and nationally) were devasted by this incident in sleepy Storrs, CT and on the field, it left a huge hole on both on the punt return team, and in the secondary. His teammates have been playing with purpose since this death after the homecoming game against Big East foe Louisville, and it has been obvious the emotional impact has been draining on these young college athletes.
A win in South Bend this afternoon would be an enormous step forward for the UConn football program and would go a long way to honor the memory of a beloved teammate, friend, and family member. This game should be close for 60 minutes, but once the dust settles after the final whistle, UConn will finally be over the hump and will have taken down the ND Fighting Irish by 5 points. Bye bye Charlie Weis, it’s been nice knowin’ ya.
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