Not Pass Interference

We had quite a game on Monday night.  I have some thoughts.  The game reminded me of Super Bowl XLIII.  I thought the first three quarters weren't great, but it was an especially great fourth quarter.  I was rooting hard for Clemson and it was nice to see them win.  I think I'm happy that they won on pretty much the same play that we didn't win on against Florida State.  I could be bitter, but I feel like this is vindication.  And also, I'm no Brian Kelly fan right now.  So even if we had won that game, I'm sure the rest of the season still would have been pretty bad.

It's interesting to see the direction Notre Dame and Clemson have gone in since meeting in October 2015.  We lost that game by two points.  It's worth pointing out that Brian Kelly went for two when he didn't need to and didn't get it (like he did against Northwestern in 2014, which is one of the reasons we lost that game too).  We scored a touchdown to make it 21-9 with 14:13 left.  That's a lot of time left.  Sure, making it 21-11 means that a touchdown and field goal will tie the game.  But that assumes Clemson won't score again.  Clemson kicking a field goal is a very realistic scenario.  And that's exactly what Clemson did with 10:56 left.  So now being down 14, we were down 15.  We scored two touchdowns (the second one coming with seven seconds left).  Instead of needing an extra point to tie, we needed a two point conversion and we didn't get it.  And if Clemson didn't get that field goal, you could go for two on the second touchdown in the two touchdowns, one two point conversion, and one field goal to tie scenario.  Anyway, since that game, Notre Dame is 10-10 and Clemson is 24-2.  Yikes.

I was thinking about why Alabama is good.  It makes sense that USC, Texas, and any of Florida/Florida State/Miami are good.  They are in the three most talent rich states.  USC is in southern California and they are the top team in the biggest state in the country.  Texas is in a football crazy state that's the second biggest in the country.  Florida is talent rich, the weather is fantastic.  The only thing for those schools is that they have each other to compete with.  But why is Alabama so good?  Sure, it's close to Florida and Georgia and it's not too far from Texas.  They're near huge states with lots of talent, but Alabama itself is only the 24th biggest state.  I took a look at Alabama's records over the years.  They won a National Championship in 1992 under Gene Stallings (I have no memory of him at all).  The last season for Stallings was 1996.  From 1996-2006, Alabama was 67-55 (.549) under three different head coaches.  They had two top 10 finishes (8 in both 1999 and 2005) and only one other top 25 finish (11 in 2002).  And then what happened?  They hired Nick Saban.  Since then:  114-19 (.857) with four National Championships, three for three in making the playoff, and nine straight top ten finishes.  So the answer for why Alabama is so good is pretty simple, it's Nick Saban.  All it took was a great coach for them to go from mediocre to the most successful program in college football.  Notre Dame is 150-99 (.602) since Lou Holtz left.  All it will take is hiring the right coach.  Alabama had three bad hires and then they hired Saban.  Notre Dame has had four bad hires.  The problem is that one of those bad hires is still our coach.  And even when he's not anymore, I'm not confident that we'll get it right.  But if we do get it right, we can get back to being an elite college football program once again.  And I know that it's really hard to find Nick Saban, but look at how Dabo Swinney turned Clemson around.  Look at what Jim Harbaugh did at Stanford and what he has done with Michigan so far.  Are we going to get somebody as good as Saban?  Probably not, but I would think that there are coaches out there that could get us to a .750ish winning percentage.  Dan Devine was .764 and Lou Holtz was .765 and both won National Championships.

One last thought about the game.  Dabo Swinney went to Alabama.  I could never coach against Notre Dame in a meaningful game.  If I was a football coach, I couldn't ever coach a team that might play Notre Dame.  If I took my basketball coaching career from middle school girls to let's say Stony Brook (we have improved from zero wins two years ago and not having enough girls that wanted to play last year to two wins so far this year), I might be able to coach a meaningless December non-conference game against Notre Dame, but I certainly couldn't coach a tournament game against Notre Dame.  But that's what Dabo Swinney did with his alma mater.  Clemson found the right football coach.  Notre Dame needs to do that also.

Holiday Power Rankings

Today is a federal holiday.  We observe New Year's Day today since it was a Sunday.  So let's celebrate the holiday with a ranking of the federal holidays.  I'm going to go from first to worst because you're more likely to be surprised by the bottom of the list than by the top.  I'm judging these holidays mostly based on what we're celebrating and less so on other factors (New Year's Day bowl games aren't going to help New Year's Day much).  But being celebrated on the same date every year is a plus.  I like knowing that as a teacher I will never have to go to work December 24-January 1, July 4 (you could say the whole summer, but I did work during the summer for the first four years of my teaching career), and November 11.

1.  Christmas.  This one is obvious.  We celebrate the birth of the greatest human being ever.  As a Catholic, this has to be first on my list.  The only mark against Christmas is that it is highly unlikely that Jesus was born on December 25, but since we don't know when he was actually born, December 25 is just as good as any other day.  The only question is what day of the week is the best for Christmas.  There are a few factors to consider.  As a Catholic school teacher, when does my Christmas vacation start and end?  I like not working on Festivus and January 2.  How long is my Christmas vacation?  How long is my last week before Christmas?  I hate having a five-day week immediately before Christmas vacation.  What days of the week are All Saints Day and the Immaculate Conception?  How many days of school do I have between Thanksgiving and Christmas?  What day of the week is my birthday (since it's 15 days after Christmas)?  So here are my day of the week rankings for Christmas:

1. Friday- 7 days off from school, a three-day week going into vacation, school starts again on January 4, 17 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my birthday on a Saturday.  The downside is being in school through Festivus.

2. Thursday- Thursday and Wednesday are the two days of the week where you might get a full two weeks off.  I actually prefer not having that.  Let's bang out an easy two day week on either side of the vacation rather than having those two days at the end of the year.  But you don't go back until January 5, it's only 14-16 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and my birthday is a Friday.

3. Wednesday- Possibly two full weeks off, School ends on December 20, but that's a five-day week, 15 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas, back on either January 2 or January 6, my birthday is a Thursday.

4. Tuesday- 7 days off from school, you only go until December 21, easy three-day week coming back.  The downside is that since the Immaculate Conception is a Saturday, I have 20 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

5. Saturday- only 6 days off from school, you go until Festivus, full week coming back, 18 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The good news is that you don't have a full five days before vacation and my birthday is a Sunday.

6. Sunday- 6 days off from school, you have a full five-day week before vacation that goes through Festivus, 19 days between Thanskgiving and Christmas, my birthday is a Monday.  The good news is that you don't go back to school until January 3 and it's a four-day week.

7. Monday- 6 days off from school, a full five-day week going into vacation, 19 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, back on January 2 (which will be awful next year when the College Football Playoff games are on January 1).

Back to ranking the holidays:

2.  Independence Day.  We should be celebrating July 2, but I can live with July 4.  It's early summer, the days are long, and we can celebrate not having a queen.  Good times.

3.  Washington's Birthday.  It's Washington's Birthday (a day worth celebrating), not Presidents Day (a day that would not be worth celebrating).  The problem is that Congress messed up the holiday by moving it to the wrong Monday.  I can live with not always celebrating it on Washington's actual birthday, but Congress moved it to a Monday that is never Washington's actual birthday.  I get a week off that coincides with Washington's Birthday.  Lincoln's Birthday should be a federal holiday too, but that's a different issue.

4.  Thanksgiving.  Now admittedly, Thanksgiving is more fun than Washington's Birthday.  But I'll take the birth of the person I consider to be the greatest American of all time over an arbitrarily chosen Thursday in November to give thanks.  But I do like Thanksgiving.  We should give thanks for all the blessings we have in this country.  As much as my brother doesn't like it, we are very fortunate to live in this country.  We celebrate with food, football, and family.  And there's a lot of history associated with Thanksgiving.  Of course you have the Pilgrims.  But I'm more concerned with history since the US became independent.  George Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving holiday in 1789 to give thanks for God's protection prior to the Revolution, assistance in achieving independence, and help in establishing a constitutional government.  Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a Thanksgiving holiday in 1863 to celebrate the Union victory at Gettysburg.

5.  Veterans Day.  Memorial Day is probably more important, but Veterans Day is getting the nod for always being November 11.  It started as a day to remember the end of World War I.  It's now a holiday for all veterans, but I like how it's still on the day that World War I ended.

6.  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  It's a day that honors one of the greatest Americans ever.  He was also not a president of the United States. It's good to remember that this country is much more than just who the president happens to be at a particular time.  I would like it more if it was always celebrated on January 15.

7.  Memorial Day.  You could easily put this one higher on the list.  If not for Veterans Day, I might have this one as high as number 3.  But it's position on the calendar is arbitrary and we have another holiday that honors people who have served in the military.

8.  Columbus Day.  Whatever you think of Columbus, his arrival in the Americas is one of the most important events in the history of the world.

9.  New Year's Day.  This is a completely arbitrary celebration of something that doesn't need to be celebrated.  January 1 being the first day of the year is arbitrary.  And what are we celebrating anyway?  Putting up a new calendar?  Who cares?  I really don't get it.  I was asleep when 2017 began because it's a really silly thing to be celebrating.  And I've always thought New Year's resolutions were just silly.  If you want to improve your life, why do you have to wait until January 1?  Just make your life better whenever you can.  But going back to January 1 being an arbitrary start of the year, my year starts with the first weekend of college football (which leads into the new school year).  If I want something to celebrate, the start of college football is much better.

10.  Labor Day.  Let's be honest, it's a made up holiday.  And as a teacher on Long Island, it just marks the end of my summer.  So Labor Day for me means I have to go back to work.  It's not something I have any interest in celebrating.

And I don't feel like doing another post, but let me make some comparisons involving Brian Kelly.  Take a look at these tables (the formatting might be weird because of some copying and pasting from Word):

	Brady Hoke at Michigan	Brian Kelly- Last Four Years
Record	31-20	31-20
Major Bowls	1-0	0-1
Worst Season	5-7	4-8
Status	Fired	Still Employed

	Mark Helfrich at Oregon	Brian Kelly- Last Four Years
Record	37-16	31-20
College Football Playoff Record	1-1	0-0
Top 10 Finishes	2	0
Top 20 Finishes	3	1.5 (24/20 in 2013)
2016	4-8	4-8
Status	Fired	Still Employed

	Gene Chizik at Auburn	Brian Kelly-Last Four Years
Record	33-19	31-20
National Championships	1	0
Bowl Record	3-0	2-1
Status	Fired	Still Employed

	Les Miles at LSU	Brian Kelly at Notre Dame
Winning Percentage	.770	.656
National Championships	1	0
Major Bowls	2-1	0-2
Bowl Record	7-4	3-3
Percentage of Seasons Ranked Top 4	25%	14%
Percentage of Seasons Ranked Top 10	42%	14%
Percentage of Seasons Ranked Top 25	75%	43%
Status	Fired	Still Employed

	Les Miles Since 2010	Brian Kelly at Notre Dame
Record	63-19	59-31
Top 10 Finishes	2	1
Top 20 Finishes	5	2.5
Major Bowls	0-1	0-2
Status	Fired	Still Employed

We finally found something where Kelly wins,  but it’s winning in that he’s gotten to one more major bowl than Miles since 2010, but neither have won any in that time.

	Tyrone Willingham at Notre Dame	Brian Kelly- Last Three Years
Record	21-15 (.583)	22-16 (.579)
Worst Season	5-7	4-8
Bowl Record	0-1	1-1
Major Bowls	0	0-1
Top 15 Finishes	0	1
Top 25 Finishes	1	1
Status	Fired	Still Employed

We had to go to Tyrone Willingham for a comparison where Kelly might win, but even if he does, it's not by much.

Kelly has been at Notre Dame for seven years.  Going 4-8 in year 7 is just not good enough and there's nobody to blame for than besides Kelly.  These are all his players.  All of his records and winning percentages are giving him credit for the losses which have been vacated by the NCAA (Notre Dame is appealing).  I don't think those wins should be vacated.  Notre Dame gets punished for doing the right thing when it found out about academic misconduct.  At just about any Big 12 or SEC school (probably except for Vanderbilt), those things get swept under the rug and nobody gets in trouble.  So while I don't think the wins should be vacated, there have been too many academic issues under Kelly.  There were the arrests this summer.  And he's just not winning enough.  It's time to go.  And he probably would be gone if not for the fact that Jack Swarbrick gave him an extension after last season.  I think Jack Swarbrick has done some things very well as athletic director.  But in overseeing the football program, he has failed.  It's time for both Swarbrick and Kelly to go.  As Ara Parseghian said when Notre Dame was blown out by Miami to end the 1985 season, "From these ashes, Notre Dame will rise."  And we will once again when we have the right athletic director and head coach.