Super Bowl XLVI
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Buried on the bench a little more than a week ago, the Knicks' Jeremy Lin is now the toast of New York.
Arc: After heartbreaking loss, Tyler Zeller and No. 5 North Carolina made an impressive statement with a 70-52 win over No. 19 Virginia.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Tiger Woods moved within four shots of the lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Saturday with a 5-under 67.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
SOUTH BEND, Ind - Notre Dame’s 4-1 start doesn’t measure up to the 27 other season’s in which they had one loss in the first five games.
The difference: This time they’re unranked.
Every other season in which the Fighting Irish were either 4-1 or 3-1-1, they were ranked. The Irish were rated as high as No. 4 in 1942 and 1965, as low as No. 18 in 1998, and had an average ranking of No. 10 during those seasons.
On Sunday, Regis Philbin’s alma mater got six votes in The Associated Press poll, 91 votes fewer than No. 25 Ball State, the fellow Indiana school best known for being David Letterman’s alma mater.
Irish coach Charlie Weis isn’t worried, though. He believes his team, which started last year 0-5, is on the cusp of being ranked.
“You’re one of the team that’s in the mix in that conversation piece,” he said.
It’s not difficult to understand why the Irish didn’t crack the Top 25. None of the previous ranked Notre Dame teams averaged as few as the 103 yards a game rushing, as this year’s squad is. En route to a 28-21 win Saturday over Stanford, the Irish gave the Cardinal a last chance to tie the score, when they failed on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 in the final minute.
Weis acknowledged Sunday the Irish need to run the ball better.
“If you become a one-dimensional team, eventually you’re going to get hurt. Especially when you’re ineffective on third-and-1,” he said. “You have to be able to run the football and you definitely need to be more productive on third-and-1 than we’ve been.”
The Irish are ranked 84th nationally in total defense. The only ranked Irish team that rated lower five games into the season was the 2005 squad that ranked 95th. But that team averaged 504 yards a game in total offense through five games, 151 yards a game more than this year’s squad.
The key for the Irish defensively is to play well more consistently, Weis said.
The Irish also are just 1-of-7 on field goals. They will try to come up with a solution this week, although Weis said they’ve already tried just about everything.
“We’re fortunate it hasn’t cost us more than what it’s cost us already,” Weis said.
In years past, Weis would say he wasn’t worried about the rankings. But on Sunday he conceded being ranked is important to his players because they’re eager to earn respect back after finishing an embarrassing 3-9 last season.
“I think this year one of the big things is we want to put Notre Dame back on the map in a positive vein, not in a negative vein,” he said. “I think that would be one message that you earned your way back into the picture.”
Irish players aren’t concerned.
“If we keep doing what we do and do it well, it’s going to be hard to keep ignoring it,” offensive tackle Sam Young said.
Safety David Bruton believes the Irish have proven they are much improved.
“We’ve shown we can compete with anybody,” Bruton said. “We haven’t earned our respect entirely. We’re still fighting for it.”
The good news is they can earn some respect a win Saturday at No. 22 North Carolina (4-1).
“I think you go beat North Carolina at North Carolina, I’d say the odds are you’ll be in the Top 25 next week,” Weis said.
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
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 | Notre Dame 2011 schedule See when all the big matchups will take place with Notre Dame's 2011 schedule. NBCSports.com |
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.