(This entire thing, other than the Short Circuit 2 shoutout, was basically Rob's idea.)

September 7, 2003 - Orchard Park, New York

At the beginning of the 2003 season, the New England Patriots - led by Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel - got absolutely hammered by a Buffalo Bills team they would beat at the end of the season by the exact same score.  Brady was awful, turning in a 14 for 28 for 123 yards and four interceptions performance, and I'm sure a lot of Patriot fans were thinking that the loss of Lawyer Milloy to the rivals in New York meant fifteen games of turbulence and another missed postseason.

That was almost the case, if you consider winning 34 of the next 37 games and two Super Bowls something of a problem.  Having Tom Brady and the Patriots defense is quite different from our neutered Cerberus of a QB rotation and patchwork defense still trying to find an identity, but it's worth noting that even with Brady, it's possible for a Weis offense to just fall flat at the beginning of a season.  While New England's offense didn't reach prolific numbers in 2003, anyone who watched the Patriots knew that was because they were content to win games 13-3.  The Irish obviously don't have the advantage of just leaning on our defense, but for anyone who thinks Weis won't figure this out, at least this historical anecdote points to him turning things around.  

(Former Dolphin fan aside: If you're wondering what happened to that Bills team, they destroyed Jacksonville the next week and then rolled into a Sunday night game in Miami where they miked up Takeo Spikes to talk shit the entire time while Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann and Paul Maguire all laughed at his wit and charm.  Only problem was, Ricky Williams held Spikes down and punched him in the mouth 42 times for 153 yards and the Dolphins won 17-7.  Anytime anyone calls Williams a quitter, just remember had he not left, Dave Wannstedt would have tried to rush him 500 times in a single season.  Then drafted Ted Ginn, Jr.)

Saturday was awful.  Beyond awful.  The ugliest performance from an offense you'll see outside of Sylvester Croom/Jeff Bowden love child, but this is not the end of the world.  Jimmy Clausen looked sharp in his limited action, and if he's able to work the field while Penn State inexplicably doesn't blitz again, we will score points in Happy Valley.  Yes, Zombie Nation is very scary (both the song and the fact we're one JoePa bite away from World War Z) and the White Out is a sight to behold, but it's very possible Clausen just doesn't care.  It's also possible he's going to curl up in the fetal position and beg Sean Lee to stop hitting him so hard, which is why I'm excited to see what happens come Saturday at 6:00 despite the fact we're a 17.5 point underdog (?!?!?!).

The Paterno grows hungrier and hungrier...

(If you're an Irish fan and even somewhat involved with betting, you have to be strongly considered a decent sized wager.  Are you telling me that a team we beat by 38 points last season is now 17 points better than us?  A 55 point swing!?  Insanity reigns.)  

September 4, 2004 - Provo, Utah

That one probably stings a little bit more.  Yes, children, reminisce back to the olden days of 2004, where Tyrone Willingham guided our ship with the steady hand of a carnie on four different varieties of hard drugs.  The scenario was much the same as this season: there's an open practice in the Stadium, the Irish look awful, we play our opening game and lose in embarrassing fashion (while it was not by thirty points, that BYU team only ended up 5-6) then play a Big Ten opponent where we are a heavy underdog (12.5 at home against a Rose Bowl-bound Michigan team).    

What happened?  We inserted a freshman running back into the equation who was nearly unstoppable, and I'm thinking Armando Allen might be a tad more explosive than Darius Walker if given 31 carries.  You might find this surprising, but against BYU, Travis Thomas started the game and then rushed for two yards on six carries with two fumbles before being pulled in the second half.  Did I say surprising?  I meant quit running Travis Thomas when we have bigger, faster people waiting to carry the ball.  You're probably right that Thomas is a substantially better blocker, as he helped us hold Georgia Tech to only nine sacks on Saturday.

Nobody was bitching about D-Walk lacking a burst after Saturday.

We also unearthed our Hero of the 2004 Season, Matt Shelton, who hauled in a 46-yard bomb that gave the Irish their first score of the game and set the precedent for his absurd yards-per-catch that season of 25.8.  Our receivers showed flashes on Saturday, and if Clausen is given time, there's a chance we could find our Shelton, Samardjiza or Stovall of the 2007 season in Happy Valley.  At the very least, you know John Carlson is capable of making Penn State linebackers (even if they are still rehabbing knees!) look silly.      

Saturday against the Yellow Jackets was not the first occasion in my time at Notre Dame that we were embarrassed on a national stage in an opener, but the Irish bounced back quite nicely the following week.  I understand the coach has changed and most of those players are gone, but when you talk about the tradition of a program, this is the kind of thing you try and point to.  When things are down, somebody has to step up.  Even if Weis implements a perfect gameplan, it's worthless unless we get, as cliché as it is to say, players making plays.  To pull it out Saturday, we need a hero or two.