It's Fiesta Time!

Jim Donnan of ESPN says:

"This is a matchup that I think favors Ohio State a little bit because their defense matches up pretty well with Notre Dame's offense. Notre Dame's offense is great but their defense will have a hard time stopping Troy Smith and OSU. The Irish will need to force some turnovers to win this one."

Because my compatriot will be counting down the days until the epic December 28th Nebraska/Michigan Alamo Bowl, I figured we might as well start talking about the Fiesta Bowl on January 2, 2006. With how often we're in this bowl, it'd probably be cheaper for me to be a Buckeye fan if I just moved to Phoenix.

I thought we were outmatched by Penn State, and I said so. I didn't feel great about the Texas game, and I was right. But this time I think Tressel should spend a little extra time with his family during this holiday season. I don't think we have too much to worry about. I wonder if he wears sweater vests at home?

The key to this matchup is the Notre Dame wide receivers, led by wavy-haired and arrogant sensationalist Jeff Samardzija, against the Ohio State secondary. If the OSU defensive line can put enough pressure on Brady Quinn, allow the linebackers to drop back a little, and keep the defensive backs on their men, Notre Dame will come up short.

On the other side, the Notre Dame defense will not have a chance against our red-hot offense. Troy Smith knows what's up this year, and now that we have a bona-fide running back in Antonio Pittman, our offense will be hard to stop.

Most Notre Dame fans I talk to seem to think that Charlie Weis is playing in this game. He'll probably turn out to be a good coach, but is he really so epic after 9 wins? Irish fans just want something to latch onto, and I don't want to assume that it's about the school, but it seems like Weis is close to Saint status already. Anyway, this game will be more about physical football than about Charlie Weis.