Notre Dame smacks Miami around in the Sun Bowl, 33-17, and it tastes sweet. Here’s the 5 Things I Think:

1.) The offensive line steps up. Oh, how could Notre Dame deal with the elite pass rushers, and an overall athletic Miami defense? They grow athletes on palm trees down there, you know? Besides, Irish offensive lines have had problems against big, athletic defensive fronts ever since Lou left. Well, Tommy Rees didn’t get sacked once, had time to hit opportune passes, and the Irish, with the soon-to-be great Cierre Wood, and Robert Hughes were able to run at times explosively (Wood’s 35 yard td jaunt), and effectively enough to control the ball, and the game.

2.) Michael Floyd is a man among boys. Ask Miami’s #2 rated pass defense, they sure couldn’t cover him. Floyd is NFL-bound.

3.) Notre Dame finally can match up with athletic teams. The Irish still need to be more athletic on defense (where the plan is pretty much “more Te’o”), especially from a pass rushing standpoint, but these last two games, they’ve stood toe-to-toe with USC and Miami. Not at their most vintage, but still, they have plenty of athletes. Under Weis, the Irish would have been blown out against those foes.

4.) For the Irish, Dayne Crist will have to go the route Tonya Harding went against Nancy Kerrigan to unseat Tommy Rees next season. Rees is that kid that makes scouts put down the their notebooks and take a coffee break instead, but put him on the field, and he can just play. He’s had his trial by fire already, and will only get better.

5. ) Teo’s okay! It took two days (and losing a shit ton of brain cells) to find out for sure, but I finally stopped holding my breath when I read he had no major knee injury, and will be ready for spring ball.

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 12-29-10:

“I see that the players from Notre Dame and Miami are forbidden from crossing the Mexican border, and must stay in El Paso during their Sun Bowl preparation. This makes sense, because there is no way they will be able to concentrate on their respective gameplans if they get into Mexico. I once crossed the border, got into too much Tequila, and stayed there for a whole year because I forgot I had a wife back home.”

“We hated Notre Dame, they hated us.” –Alonzo Highsmith, Miami running back, 1983-1986

We all know about it. Catholic vs Convicts. The rivalry that never should have went away. In the 80’s and early 90’s, Notre Dame and Miami hated each other like no other (read the link to the UHND.com article above for a further glance).

How much, you ask?

Notre Dame and Miami hated each other like:

-NWA hated the police.

-Paris Hilton hates wearing panties.

-SEC schools hate actual academia.

-The 80’s hated fashion sense. (Shoulder pads in blouses ladies? Really?)

-Americans hate waiting for a purchase. (”Put it on my credit card”.)

-The Grinch hates Christmas.

-Like women hate not updating their Facebook status multiple times a day.

-Rush Limbaugh hates black quarterbacks and liberals.

Any questions?

With the Sun Bowl, and three future games set in the next few years, hopefully we can get a taste of what the 80’s were like again (if both teams can return to form).