Scheduling 'Bama, Scheduling a BCS game, and WR gets an offer (LOTD 6/20)

A bit of news heading into the weekend, most of it surrounding the schedule. Nick Saban came out and said that he would like to see more top programs play each other more often. Saban's quote?

"Let's say you had four or five teams, Notre Dame, Penn State, (schools) that had some sort of connection with the history and tradition of this school. And you just roll home-and-homes (on and off the schedule) so the fans could relate a little bit and look forward to playing that particular team. Like maybe we play Penn State this year, Notre Dame next year... Texas, Southern Cal -- if you just got those and just kind of rolled (them over). It would make it easier for scheduling, too."

I'm all for the idea of playing elite teams year in and year out, especially when seeing the 09 schedule, one with only one marquee game in a 12 game season. USC has been a power on the schedule, Michigan will probably be back soon, but adding a third national team and varying that team would really make things more exciting. If Notre Dame wants to return to being one of the national elite programs then they have to beat the best. You can't do that if they aren't on the schedule, so why not start with a traditional power like 'Bama.

Staying with the topic of scheduling, Cory McCarthy of SI.com is the first to take the very predictable position that the Irish will return to the BCS thanks to an easy schedule (and not, you know, by playing well.

Jumping back on the Notre Dame bandwagon is about to become as trendy as hailing Breaking Bad as the best show nobody's watching, saying you were down with Asher Roth back in The Greenhouse Effect days and picking sides in the Jon & Kate debate. Seriously, take a look at [their] schedule.

Asher Roth is weak, Jon & Kate are last weeks celebrity news (seriously, the kids are on to Leighton Meester now), and there are much better shows in their second season than Breaking Bad (ahem... Flight of the Conchords). Notre Dame won't be in the BCS because of their scheduling, they will be in the BCS because they got the job done. But, as I said yesterday, prepare yourself for loads of columns like this until the winter rolls around.

Tickets for the October 31st game against Washington State (played in San Antonio) have gone on sale to the general public. Tickets can be purchased at www.und.com/tickets for $68. You can also call the ticket offices at 574-631-7356. It appears that sales for the Washington State game are low, considering the website says all requests in the ticket lottery will be accomodated. If the game is not sold out does it break the current sellout streak? It's certainly a question to consider at this point.

Finally, the Irish have offerred wide receiver Markeith Ambles. Ambles goes to Henry County HS in McDonough, Georgia. He's 6'2" 182 pounds, and runs a 4.47 40. He has offers from Alabama, Florida, LSU, FSU, Auburn, Cal, and UCLA. He's a four-star on both services, being rated in the top 15 at his position by both as well. There's some concern about Ambles GPA and off the field issues, but an offer would seem to be a vote of confidence.

That's all for today. I'm going to post the Sparty preview in a matter of hours. Have a nice weekend all.