Two sources have told ESPN writer Chris Mortensen that Kelly has accepted the offer and will announce at the team banquet later today that he has taken the job.

Kelly coached at Cincinnati this season and recorded a 12-0 record along with a berth into the Sugar Bowl. According to the article neither Notre Dame or Cincinnati has confirmed that Kelly has accepted the offer the Irish gave to him.

The article also states that neither source could confirm if Kelly will coach Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, but the Chicago Tribune did report that Kelly won’t coach the team if hired by ND and that Kerry Coombs would likely be his replacement.

**********

* – Brian Kelly photo credit: Wilfredo Lee (AP) via The Daily Gopher

The bad news for Notre Dame over the weekend is that their two most productive offensive players — WR Michael Floyd and QB Jimmy Clausen — both left the Michigan State game hobbled.

The injury update news according to ESPN.com, is much better for Clausen than it is for Floyd.

Michael Floyd, who was averaging an insane 160 yards receiving per game entering Saturday’s contest with the Spartans, had surgery today to repair a broken collar bone. The most up-to-date injury update on Floyd is that he will most likely miss the season. He could possibly return for a bowl game.

Jimmy Clausen has a yet-to-be-defined injury to his foot that did not require Sunday X-Rays. It appears to be something like turf toe or a general arch injury and Clausen will undergo an MRI to determine what exactly is wrong.

Follow the links to StubHub for great deals on Notre Dame football tickets and all college football tickets.

I’ll update this post if/when I hear anything more on Clausen’s injury.

**********

* – Michael Floyd photo credit: Athlon Sports

And up in the Great Northwest, in Washington — where sports teams and franchises go to die (seriously – every team in that state blows), there is an intriguing matchup between two men who will always be linked: Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis (pictured left…thanks KVB) and Washington coach Tyrone Willingham.

As I’m sure you remember, Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham while Willingham still had years left on his contract. This was the first time that Notre Dame had gotten rid of a coach before his contract was up. They replaced him with Charlie Weis, who was coming off another Super Bowl win with the New England Patriots. Over his first couple of seasons in South Bend, Charlie Weis led the Fighting Irish to great success. He received a 10-year extension while Tyrone Willingham was forced to take over a Washington team that has gotten progressively worse since he has been there.

On Saturday, at 8:00 EDT on ESPN2, the 4-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Charlie Weis will take on the 0-6 Washington Huskies and Tyrone Willingham at Husky Stadium. To add even a little more spice to the matchup, guess who will be calling the game from booth…

That’s right, the Ben Stein of football announcers: Bob Davie. You remember Bob Davie right? He took over for Lou Holtz and bridged the gap to the Tyrone Willingham era. The South Bend Tribune published an interesting article that looked at this intriguing reunion of three coaches who do not seem to be the best of friends. And just think, if ESPN had practiced a little disciplinary consistency and given Lou Holtz some well-deserved time off for using an ill-advised Hitler reference, he could have been there too and made it a quartet. Can you imagine? I think Beano Cook’s turkey neck would explode. (And maybe Ron Powlus could bring his three Heisman trophies for everyone too?)

Anyway, this Notre Dame-Washington game doesn’t really have many implications other than the fact that Notre Dame seems to be rebounding from their awful 2007 season, and a victory would push them one game closer to bowl eligibility. You’d have to think they’ll win, but something tells me that Tyrone Willingham’s team will be ready to at least make it a fight. Willingham does seem to inspire loyalty and passion among his players, even if he is not the greatest X’s and O’s coach in the world. (Charlie Weis, however, is the greatest X’s and O’s coach in the history of mankind and all civilization. Just ask him.)

I think Washington can keep this one close, but I do see Notre Dame pulling it out. Jimmy Clausen seems to be coming into his own as the leader of this Irish offense, and Notre Dame simply will be too talented for the undermanned Huskies.

The real excitement of this game, however, won’t really be the play on the field; but the subtext that surrounds it. There are few jobs in coaching as prestigious and pressure packed as being the head football coach at Notre Dame. Amazingly, the last three men to hold that title will all be involved with this game on Saturday. I am sure that nothing “controversial” will happen and it will just be a pretty normal football game, but it will still be a worth a glance during the commercials of Ohio State and Penn State.

(Photo Art by Midwest Sports Fans and Flash Sports Tonight; and yes, that is Charlie Weis’ head in the Touchdown Jesus mural.  If you are offended, eat a pickle spear and get a sense of humor.)

[tags]charlie weis, tyrone willingham, notre dame football, washington huskies, college football, ncaa[/tags]

This isn’t Bo Schembecler’s Michigan and it’s not Llyod Carr’s, either. It’s a talent loaded soon to be spread offense super force in the Big Ten. The record doesn’t show it, but the film and numbers do.

While the Blue and maize posted a loss to ND on Saturday, they showcased a couple of things worth serious note. The first and foremost being that the RichRod era is just beginning. Despite the turnovers, six in all, four in the second half, handing a ND defense a game they didn’t earn in the first half, Michigan showed some promise. While Notre Dame jumped out to a quick first quarter lead the Wolverines were able to battle back with an offense that has the patented Rich Rodriguez thrill written all over it.

All in all, the Blue dominated the Irish by the numbers. 388 total yards of offense to the Irish’s 260, ten more minutes of possession, seven more conversions to create first down opportunity and a quarterback in Threet that didn’t throw two picks like Jimmy Clausen did. It’s hard to win a game though when you fumble the ball four times and a backup QB throws two picks in the 4^th quarter. So the execution wasn’t there for Michigan but I’ll tell you what was. A passing game that proves a freshman quarterback can get the job done in the spread offense. No, he doesn’t have wheels like Pat White did but he’s 6’6″ and can see the whole field, a key to the spread offense, always move the ball, which he did completing 16 of 23 and having a couple key carries to move along and generate some long drives. He finished the day with a passer rating over just over 147. The kid is nineteen; Stephen Threet looked good enough to be Rodriguez’s man in Ann Arbor for the next couple years, forget Sheridan. But he wasn’t the whole show.

Sam McGuffie (picture below) is the name, hurdling is the game. He’s like a hybrid superback. He’s electrifying and ridiculously hard to tackle. He’s already a YouTube celebrity and has numerous highlight reels, mixtapes and clips of him from his 6,000 plus yard rushing career in High School. In Texas, he was famous for his hurdling of naïve tacklers who thought the knees were the answer. He clears dudes jumping at least 40 inches in the air at times (go waste some time on youtube, it’s worth it.) but his talent has translated to the nest level in a serious way. He showed some potential in the Miami, Ohio game and blew up today. Now, the ND defensive backs proved they can’t tackle anything letting guys slide through constantly but this kid looked good, real good, better than Steve Slaton good and not just against the poor tackling..

The numbers alone speak for themselves on 30 touches he had 178 yards of offense and a TD, that’s almost half of the Wolverine’s effort, but it was simply watching the kid that made you say, “whoa.” (and he is a kid, a true freshman.)

On a 2^nd quarter reception for short yardage he took it forty yards down the field busting through the secondary, shaking grabs and seeing every single seam in the field, which allowed him to really never have a worry about getting taken down The YAC seemed to last almost 20 seconds because he wasn’t moving with breakaway speed. He was simply finding a way to stay standing. It was like the kid knew where the defense would be before the defense even knew. It wasn’t sheer speed like a Devin Hester or power like Marion the Barbarian, nor agility like the Reggie Bush of ’05 or even the magnetism to the end zone like LT, it was a football sense that showed patience, an understanding of space and incredible potential. It was as if the physics of the game were programmed into his mind. If you didn’t go watch the High School clips yet, go watch them now, you’ll see what I mean. He’s one step ahead of everyone.

So, while the Blue lose to Charlie Weis and his busted knee, do not fret Michigan faithful. Everyone will lose when they fumble 4 times. Give the ball to Stephen Threet and Sam McGuffie spread the field and see what happens, I guarantee when these two freshmen get in a rhythm in Ann Arbor we’ll see a strong finish this year and a serious BCS glimmer in their young eyes come next year because let’s face it Ohio State sucks.