I’ve been sitting at my damn chair for over an hour trying to figure out something to write. Perhaps something about the ND quarterback situation, or the rising temperature of the Brian Kelly era, or what players need to step up for the Irish. Or, I could get more general, and talk about corruption in college football. Argue for or against players getting paid. Maybe even call out Channing Crowder, and ask if he has ever heard the phrase “keep it on the down low”. (R. Kelly knows it all too well, it got him beaten up by an Isley Brother.) Hell, anything. Instead, I have this:

Yep, blank space. Well, at least now I know what Lane Kiffin goes through when trying to think of plays for his game call sheet.

Damn, I finally have done it. For the first time in years (okay, since 2006), I am drinking the Kool-Aid of the Fighting Irish. I am drinking so whole-heartedly, that if I ever saw that clumsy, rotund, walking pitcher-of-a-mascot, I would chase him down, tackle him, and drink of him until I passed out with splotches of red pee surrounding my crotch region and inner-right leg. (And I haven’t even read a single preseason magazine yet.)

Yep, it’s safe to say that I think the Irish are going to be damn good in ‘11. Here’s a few proclamations as to why:

1.) Aaron Lynch, Louis Nix, Darius Fleming, and Ethan Johnson. Football games are won in the trenches. As sexy as a run to daylight by Cierre Wood or a long, arching bomb caught by a leaping Mike Floyd can be, nothing happens on the football field without the say of the behemoths up front. For the first time in a long time, the Irish have manpower on the defensive front.

2.) Decent quarterback production in ‘10 (Crist-15 tds, 7 ints, Rees-12 tds, 8 ints). In year two, with experience running the offense, those numbers will become good production at least. I see the starter (most likely Crist) throwing 20-25 tds, and 10-12 ints. With the offense becoming more efficient, the Irish will be rid of a main culprit that held them back in ‘10. (An offense that was, at times, hard to watch due to its stalling tendencies.)

3.) Bob Diaco and Manti Te’o. A rising star of a defensive coach on the sideline, and an instinctive, uber-talented defensive captain on the field to bring those plans to fruition. The Chicago Bears would be proud.

4. No Rudy, no problem. Kyle Rudolph is gone, but who cares? Tyler Eifert has already shown that he is more than capable of carrying on the Irish tradition of tight ends with wide receiver skills.

5.) Crist’s jersey will stay clean, and Wood will run. As explosive as some of Weis’ offenses were, they often had trouble in tight situations because they were predictable and over-reliant on the pass. Weis had offensive lineman that defensive lineman treated bad. Like a Hollywood director would treat a written screenplay from Paris Hilton. As a result, they couldn’t run when they had to. Kelly’s offensive line, while not Holtzian, has stalwarts like Zack Martin and Trevor Robinson, and will be able to cater to both the run and pass.

6.) The Irish have the talent. In years past, you would see a team like USC, and know deep down the the Irish had just a handful of guys that could even play on that roster. This year, Stanford has Andrew Luck, but other than him, I’ll take my chances with the guys that have Irish jerseys on.

Paul Hornung, ND’ original “golden boy”, is the namesake for college football’s newest honor: “most versatile player” (a player that can help their team the most in a large variety of ways).

Hornung is one of college football’s all-time greats (think the original Rocket Ismail, plus he could throw, and play defense), the only player special enough to win the Heisman on a losing team, so his name belongs right up there with the Biletnikoffs and Nagurskis.

However, he might have even more fame for the statement “ND must lower admissions to get the black athlete and win”. Technically, he may be right on lowering admissions, he just made the mistake of using the qualifying term “black”. (That’s what we call racial profiling.)

So, occasionally in his honor, the Blarney will bring you Hornung’s Words of Wisdom, or technically true statements that are worded wrong, and perhaps show some prejudice or some kind of political incorrectness.

Paul Hornung’s Words of Wisdom For 6-23-11:

“North Carolina has to be hammered at least as bad as USC (banned from postseasons, 30 lost scholarships over three years), if not worse. The scope of allegations are so egregious, they make Sodom and Gomorrah look like virtues of clean living.”