Syracuse 24 Notre Dame 23: Sorry, Charlie

For amusement, I decided to watch the Syracuse-Notre Dame game, since the Irish were playing my team, the USC Trojans, next week. I was expecting a blow-out by the Irish- after all, the Orange were 20-point dogs and Weis was calling the plays, so no worries, right? Wrong. What I saw was an Irish team failing to convert on third down, time and time again. What I saw was a porous defense from the Irish, and a quarterback that still isn't "feeling it". Many will defend Clausen's up and down performances due to the fact that he's only a sophomore. Yeah, OK, he's also a 21 year old sophomore, not a 19-year old sophomore. Can we put the youth and inexperience excuse aside? The Irish led 13-10 at the half after a last second, 35-yard bomb to Golden Tate, who got away with an offensive interference (he pushed the defender out of his way) no-call, so the score was misleading.  But the refs apparently got back at the Irish on the Irish's final drive by looking the other way when some possible pass ... (link)