"Now everybody got the game figured out all wrong. . .": If Navy hadn't strung together two onside kick recoveries (including a "forward batting" call no one had ever heard of), a deep pass that was so close it had to be reviewed and a timeout that no one knew was legit or C-Webb on the tail end of a two-game losing streak, I don't think everyone would be quite as excited about it.  Weis never runs up the score (although Penn State fans still claim he did in 2006 game, but no, you were blown out that badly) and there's a general feeling of not trying to embarrass the academies.  If Jonas Gray doesn't fumble, the score's 30 or 34 to 7 and everyone goes home very happy with a second half of domination.  Now every game is seen as a microcosm of all of Weis' coaching ability, which is a dangerous habit to start indulging in.  Remember when Alabama lost to Louisiana-Monroe last year, a defeat proceeded by being on the wrong end of the scoreboard against Mississippi State and followed by another loss to rival Auburn?  You can take a three or four game stretch from nearly any coach that makes him look either like a genius or a fool, so let's refrain from trying to extrapolate an entire career from a nine minute burst in one game.

Continuing themes on Saturday were that something is not right with Jimmy Clausen and something is quietly very good with the defense.  Clausen seems to have lost some of the confident swagger he had earlier in the season.  He bounced back from that pick six against North Carolina and almost pulled that game out, but it seems like he's just thinking about things too much at this point.  Could it be he's really dinged up at that this juncture in the season (something that may have had something to do with Weis putting in Sharpley so early against Navy?)?  He hasn't played well since that North Carolina game, and with one of his key weapons going down early on Saturday for what is likely the rest of the season, it's not going to get any easier.

As far as the defense goes, the team hasn't lost a game due to Corwin Brown and Jon Tenuta's unit.  Outside of their three scoring drives, Navy didn't even threaten, managing -5, 8, 3, 7, 15, 6, 20, 9, 4, 7, 5 and 7 on their other attempted treks down the field.  They were playing without a few key contributors for most of the game, but Toryan Smith and Ian Williams both stepped up in a big way, with Pat Kuntz and Justin Brown contributing to the chaos up front.  While this Navy offense isn't as good as some of the other 21^st century Midshipmen vintages, it was still putting up yardage and points this year, and the Irish defense stifled them for the majority of Saturday afternoon.

". . . I guess you never know what you got til it's gone. . .": The worst news coming out of this weekend will be the loss of Michael Floyd and Brian Smith for the rest of the regular season.  You could argue for a few other players, but Floyd and Smith have been two of the best player for the Irish all season.  Toryan did a good job filling in for his comrade-in-surname, but I have no idea how the Notre Dame passing attack is going to be nearly as effective without St. Michael stretching the field and turning eight yard slants into twenty yard gains.  Do you think it's too late to apply for a medical red shirt?  As my friend Tim posted on my Facebook wall:

When you were looking for a nickname for Mr. Floyd on Rakes, I was going to suggest Mike "Please don't ever get hurt because you are so awesome and amazing" Floyd but didn't because I figured it would be a jinx if he did. Oh well I guess...

Thankfully the Irish are officially bowl eligible, so they'll most likely be back for the Christmas break practices and wherever the team ends up in the postseason.

Thankfully, Notre Dame is losing players to injury and not to transfer.  I will not miss seeing McGuffie on the opposing sideline, and I'm very interested to see where he ends up (in Mike Leach's lab back home in Texas?).  But Michigan fans should stop worrying about this and just get a life anyway, even if that enthusiasm is the only reason a certain gentleman is getting paid millions of dollars every year to do something thousands of people across the country do for free.

". . . I guess this is why I'm here and I can't come back home. . .": Important note regarding Saturday's game: Syracuse's coach will be there, but not really.  Living in a country with a lame duck White House and lame duck Congress for the next two months, it's nice that term can extend to the football field, where Greg Robinson will be prowling the sidelines knowing that no matter what happens during the game, he won't be coming back as the Orange coach.  Somewhere, Paul Pasqualoni is smiling widely.  With Gene Chizik's tenure at Iowa State failing miserable, maybe the Longhorns' decision to lock up Will Muschamp until Mack Brown retires is a good thing for both the burnt orange and anyone looking at stealing away another one of their coordinators?

". . .and I guess when I heard that, when I was back home."

 When we got home from Baltimore Saturday night - full of alcohol and chili, all out of Wire references - the TV got flipped to ESPN to try and catch up on any scores quick PDA scanning might have missed.  Even though we knew college hoops scores were mixed in, it's still startling to see "TCU 10 Clemson 7" scroll across on a Saturday evening, immediately causing everyone to start wondering why no one made a slightly bigger deal of the Mountain West beating down the ACC.  I don't know how they could do it, but ESPN needs to make the transition that first weekend a little easier on confused sports fans.

A few other things:

• It was fun to see two lottery picks go at it and put up lottery pick-type numbers this early in the season, and that's exactly what Stephen Curry and Blake Griffin did Tuesday evening.  Griffin is 6' 10" and might be the number one pick in June's draft, and even he couldn't stop Curry in crunch time, who sliced a six point deficit in half with under a minute to go from the corner, right over top of his likely All-American counterpart.  The Red River Shootout (Basketball Edition) will be must-see, and Davidson continues its non-conference tour against NC State, West Virginia, Purdue and Duke.  Set your Tivos, as Curry's offensive antics are Must See TV.
• If you're proposing a college football playoff - as president-elects are prone to do these days - I salute you.  However, if your proposal limits the tournament to just conference champions (as the most prominent of all sports blogs did this week), I kindly ask you to reconsider.  If you happen to have the best team in the country in your conference - or your division! - and you're the second best team in the country, I'd rather have you contending for the title than an 8-4 team that just happened to win a championship game no one was attending and/or cared about.  Most seasons there are not eight worthy conference champions, and it would be a shame to create any sort of postseason bracketing and not include at least two or three of the Big XII titans who've entertained us considerably throughout the course of the season.  "If you didn't win your conference, you shouldn't be able to win a national title!" is a silly maxim that applies to few other sports (You can have the best record in your conference in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and every college sport with a postseason, and while that makes your path easier, it doesn't guarantee anything.) 
• What's a more palatable option for you: A) Penn State vs. Southern Cal in the Rose, Ohio State and Utah in the Fiesta and Sugar and Oregon State on the outside, or B) where the Beavers win out to set up Penn State vs. Oregon State II, Southern Cal and Utah go to the Fiesta and Sugar, and Ohio State is left out?  Also, as far as Big East vs. ACC games go in the Orange Bowl, I wouldn't mind Pitt vs. Miami, if only for the memories it brings up of Larry Fitzgerald trying to knock off the early 21^st century Miami powers by himself.
• I'm hoping the student section can pull off this lei thing on Saturday afternoon.  If the Irish are 7-5, the team should volunteer for the Hawaii Bowl.  Speaking of the Hawaii Bowl, why isn't it more popular?  Shouldn't every team want to go there?  It would be a little more expensive for fans, but seriously, how great would it be?  The Las Vegas and Hawaii Bowls need to get Notre Dame involved in their next contract.