Well, given the general sentiment about Notre Dame, seems that we got a lot of Bruin fans this week (well, maybe except for Speedy who's lobbying the NCAA to bring back tie scores in time for this weekend)!

As far as my Bruins are concerned, don't let that 40-14 score from Saturday fool you. They looked horrible (at least the offense did) but they did persevere and finally start clicking in the last 9 minutes of the game. They were actually behind the entire game until midway through the 4th quarter, and only managed to put the game away when Oregon State turned the ball over on three straight possessions. Seeing QB Ben Olson continue to miss routine throws and get pounded in the pocket, it's hard to believe that he was the consensus HS All-American as a senior and competed for top honors that year with Vince Young. His backup Pat Cowan only had one other offer (from I-AA Sacramento State), yet he might wind up taking over the starting job when he recovers from his knee injury.

Fortunately, it looks like our defense has finally gotten its act together, so I expect that they will provide more than enough short field opportunities for the offense to pull out a comfortable win against the Domers.

With all the churning in the top 20, Cal (?!) is now ranked #3 -- their highest ranking in more than 50 years. That game against Oregon turned out to be every bit worthy of the hype, and a lot more compelling than the track meet that everyone expected. I still think Cal's defense is suspect, but they managed to contain QB Dennis Dixon (who's one of the most nightmarish matchups for any defense because of his speed and big game experience) and made the plays when needed, especially that forced fumble through the end zone at the end of the game.

I still don't think they'll run the table before their Nov. 10 showdown against the Trojans in Berkeley (for one thing, they got a potential trap game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl in two weeks), but if they do, that's already setting up as the biggest game ever in Strawberry Canyon. Remains to be seen if they can pull it out -- Cal has the longest Rose Bowl drought in the Pac-10 for a reason, and their script of high hopes in the early season and late season collapses has played out many times before.