Notre Dame will play Boston College at Fenway Park in 2015

Notre Dame will begin playing five games per season against ACC opponents beginning next season due to their agreement that permits the Irish to play in the league in other sports. That won't keep the Fighting Irish from having a high profile national schedule like they always do.

The Irish have scheduled a "home" game against ACC member Boston College to be played at the home of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park.  The game will be part of the Shamrock Series. The Irish will also begin a home and home series with the Texas Longhorns and will not play a Big Ten opponent for the first time in more than 100 years. With a college football playoff on the horizon Notre Dame is looking to boost it's strength of schedule.

"Our schedules the next three seasons, combined with our 2012 and 2013 schedules, truly exhibit Notre Dame's intention to celebrate our independence," says Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick. "We will be playing in virtually every corner of the country and will have a strength of schedule that will serve us well in the new College Football Playoff format."

“We play coast to coast. Jesse Harper made that decision a hundred years ago. It changed the trajectory of the football program and the university, and we’re not going to stray from it,” Swarbrick said.

Here's a look at Notre Dame's schedules from 2014-2016.

 2014

Aug. 30, RICE

Sept. 6, MICHIGAN

Sept. 13, vs. Purdue (at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis)

Sept. 27, vs. Syracuse (at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)

Oct. 4, STANFORD

Oct. 11, NORTH CAROLINA

Oct. 18, at Florida State

Nov. 1, vs. Navy (at FedEx Field, Landover, Md.)

Nov. 8, at Arizona State

Nov. 15, NORTHWESTERN

Nov. 22, LOUISVILLE

Nov. 29, at USC

2015

Sept. 5, TEXAS

Sept. 12, at Virginia

Sept. 19, GEORGIA TECH

Sept. 26, MASSACHUSETTS

Oct. 3, at Clemson

Oct. 10, NAVY

Oct. 17, USC

Oct. 31, vs. Temple (at Lincoln Financial Services Field)

Nov. 7, at Pittsburgh

Nov. 14, WAKE FOREST

Nov. 21, vs. Boston College (at Fenway Park, Boston)

Nov. 28, at Stanford

2016

Sept. 3, at Texas

Sept. 10, NEVADA

Sept. 17, MICHIGAN STATE

Sept. 24, DUKE

Oct. 1, vs. Syracuse (at MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.)

Oct. 8, at North Carolina State

Oct. 15, STANFORD

Oct. 29, MIAMI

Nov. 5, vs. Navy (site TBD)

Nov. 12, vs. Army (at Alamodome, San Antonio)

Nov. 19, VIRGINIA TECH

Nov. 26, at USC

While it's true that Notre Dame will get a boost from a national schedule, the Irish should leave the patsies like UMass, Nevada, Army and Rice off the schedule. I guess you have to fit in some wins somewhere.

  

Michigan's Mitch McGary: "We're soft right now"

After a humbling 79-69 loss to Duke in the Big Ten/ACC challenge, Michigan's Mitch McGary said the team was frustrated with their performance at Cameron Indoor Stadium after being beaten by an undersized Duke team.  

McGary then told ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman that the Wolverines were "soft right now".

“We’re soft,” McGary said following the 79-69 loss that wasn’t quite as close as the score indicated. “We’re soft right now. That’s it.” 

The Wolverines dropped their third game this season and maybe frustration is starting to mount early in the season. They were outrebounded and out hustled by a Duke team that has been rather mediocre on the glass despite the team's star power. Also the disappearance of Glenn Robinson III didn't help matters either. GRIII scored 8 points, looked out of sync, and was a non factor against the Blue Devils. McGary finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds, but most of his damage was done with the outcome decided.

Sharp shooter Nik Stauskas had four points all from the free throw line as Duke concentrated their defensive effort on taking Stauskas out of the game. Sophomore Caris LeVert had 24 points in the losing effort but he showed toughness and heart throughout the night.

The problem is that the team is still looking for the guy to take over games like Trey Burke did last season. Burke was the unquestioned go to guy when the team needed someone to step up. They can't replicate what Burke was but others need to step up.

Stauskas is trying become that guy and LeVert to a certain extent. McGary is still trying to play himself into shape so I'll give him a mulligan. The biggest culprit to the team's 5-3 start might be Robinson. I thought he would be the one to try and take over when the team needed a scoring presence. Instead it looks like he has NBA dreams in his head and is content to take a backseat to Stauskas, LeVert, or McGary in crunch time. If Michigan is to be successful, Robinson needs to take it up a few notches.

“We were rattled and didn’t have the same poise we had last year,” McGary said.

That's true. While the team is young, they are battle tested and should respond better when the heat is on.

 “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” McGary said.

Rome wasn't built in a day and I look for John Beilein to get this team back on track. It better happen fast because second ranked Arizona is coming to Ann Arbor in two weeks. If the Wolverines can't get it together things could get a little ugly.

Hoke says there's no "Gentleman's Agreement" in the Big Ten

The Urban Meyer effect is up and running in the Big Ten and a couple of coaches aren’t happy about it.

This past recruiting season the new Ohio State football boss Meyer managed to flip his fair share share of recruits including Mark Dantonio’s top recruit in Se’Von Pittman. The same can be said for Bret Bielema at Wisconsin who lost prized offensive lineman Kyle Dodson on recruiting day to Ohio State.


“(Ohio State has) a new coach, and it’s different,” Dantonio told the Detroit News. “I would say it’s pretty unethical, in the end.”


Bielema echoed those sentiments after losing prized offensive lineman Kyle Dodson to Ohio State on signing day.


“There are a few things that happened early on that I made people aware of that I didn’t want to see in this league, that I had seen take place in other leagues,” Bielema said on Wednesday. “Other recruiting tactics, other recruiting practices that are illegal.


“I was very up front and was very pointed to the fact, actually reached out to Coach Meyer and shared my thoughts and concerns with him. The situation got rectified.”



According to AnnArbor.com, Bielema told Sporting News that Badgers athletic director Barry Alvarez would be talking to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney today in Chicago about Meyer’s tactics.

Now you may be wondering why Bielema and Dantonio are so upset in a conference that’s extremely competitive and takes great pride in their rivalries?

It all boils down to a so-called “gentleman’s agreement” amongst the Big Ten coaches.

Bielema further called Meyer’s recruiting tactics “illegal” in light of the “gentleman’s agreement” which says that no coach in the Big Ten will actively go after a recruit that is already verbally committed to another Big Ten school.


Not all Big Ten coaches though agree on this “gentlemen’s agreement” and on those coaches is Michigan’s Brady Hoke…

“As far as I’ve known, it’s always been fair game until they sign,” said Hoke, who’s been in the league one year as a head coach and seven as an assistant. “I don’t have as much a problem with that and, hopefully, we don’t get too many of those that go away from you.

“But, I don’t think there needs to be an agreement, to be honest with you. Kids are going to be kids. They’re 18 years old, 17 years old. As long as everything has been handled in an ethical manner and professional manner, and by the rules, I don’t have a problem with it.”

Now Hoke hasn’t experienced the same draw backs that Dantonio and Bielema have experienced with recruits flipping to Ohio State. In fact Hoke was able to flip five-star offensive lineman Kyle Kalis from Ohio State prior to Meyer being announced as the new head coach.

Again though in a competitive conference with top notch coaches it should be expected that programs are going to do everything they possibly can to make their teams better. This includes trying to flip rival schools recruits to their own.

In the end a verbal commitment means nothing. Hoke isn't about making excuses about anything. He knows the game and isn't going to whine about anything.

Now about those 16 scholarships OSU had open and oversigning at 25 commitments is another story.

Ohio State vs. Michigan....In October?

Wolverine and Buckeye might find themselves on the same side of the fence again in their fight for tradition.

Once again the Big Ten is threatning to move the Michigan/Ohio State game to October, away from their traditonal late November, season ending clash. the reasoning behind it all. To keep the rivals from a possible following week rematch in the conference title game.

It's only a rumor right now, but according to a report on Bucknuts.com , it may be closer than reality than some think.



That’s right, “The Game” might no longer be the final game of the regular season for both schools. And while we despise the idea of the Buckeyes and Wolverines not playing the last game of the regular season, this move was inevitable when the Big Ten made the foolish decision to put OSU and UM in separate divisions. If “The Game” was kept as the final regular-season tilt of the year, there would be a good chance each season that Ohio State and Michigan would meet exactly one week after “The Game” to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.


Now, is this move official? No. But we have people we trust telling us that it’s eventually going to happen.

I won't say yay or nay on this, but I say just leave well enough alone, but I'm not the decision maker.










    

OU's Lewis Knocks Nebraska

When Nebraska joined the Big Ten, there were some that figured they would be the new bully on the block. Wisconsin took care of that notion with a 48-17 beatdown Saturday night.

Nebraska helped start the exodus of schools in the Big 12 along with Colorado and there is no love lost between some of their old rivals.

Oklahoma linebacker Travis Lewis had some not so kind words directed at the Cornhuskers after the Wisconsin meltdown.

The strange part about it is that you couldn't find Lewis' Twitter account. I wonder if any Huskers will have any words for the Sooners if they drop a game.  

   

A Big 0 For The Big Ten

Well, Gordon Gee. It's all up to your Ohio State Buckeyes to salvage the reputation of the battered and bruised Big Ten. That was a mighty pimp slap the rest of the college football world put on the boys from the midwest. Throw in Nebraska's loss to a mediocre Washington team they whacked by 35 earlier this season, that makes it a little bit worse.

For starters Northwestern fought the good fight in losing to Texas Tech 45-38. The Wildcats dug themselves too big of a hole to climb out of, but at least they made a game of it. More than what i can say about the next two games. That would be the simultaneous beatdown suffered by Michigan and Michigan State. The Michgan schools were outscored 101-21 and thoroughly embarassed by Alabama and Mississippi State. The Rodriguez era will end on an ugly note, no matter what David Brandon is saying. The Spartans are not ready for prime time. Penn State and Florida went down to the end until the Gators finally locked up an Outback Bowl victory with a pick 6, 37-24. Then in the Grandaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin lost to an unbeaten TCU squad, 21-19. No shame in that, except if Ohio State president Gordon Gee didn't make those ridiculous comments about teams like TCU not playing anyone. It's not like anyone wants to sign up to play them. Anyway, how did that taste Gordon.

The bowl season actually started out pretty good for the Big Ten, with wins by Iowa and Illinois, only to see the roof cave in during the postseason. Five losses in five games. And I'm not feeling to confident about Ohio State, with the distractions created by the Buckeye 5 and all.