I will be writing about the past Saturday’s Notre Dame debacle and this coming Saturday’s Youngstown State game. It is going to be another short-cycle week, due to some unanticipated personal down time. So please hang in there. I have a few things to say.

Seen in SI Extra this morning:

Looking for a late-round sleeper in a keeper football league? Try the 49ers’ Michael Robinson, the NFL’s latest Slash. A quarterback at Penn State, Robinson was being used in the backfield and lined up wide for the offense-strapped Niners this preseason. He has great speed and is elusive, plus he has the added advantage of being able to throw an option pass every so often. He’ll have a fantasy impact by the end of this season.

The #19 Nittany Lions (1–0, 0–0 Big Ten) travel to South Bend on Saturday to play the rubber match with #4 Notre Dame (1–0). The series is currently tied at 8–8–1.

The various sports books list Notre Dame as a 7 to 8 point favorite on their home turf. The over/under ranges from 47 to 48.5. Given the wide disparity in the rankings, this shows either a lot of respect for Penn State or a lot of doubt about Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish dropped from #2 to #4 after their 14–10 victory over Georgia Tech last week. Some of the poll voters obviously felt that the Notre Dame performance was less than impressive. One voter, the always controversial Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, admitted that he voted Notre Dame 10th. That’s probably closer to where they belong.

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