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Irish need a wakeup call

Sister Barbara Anne is keeping the faith this week.  She's staying home in Mishawake, Ind., and won't make the trip to Beantown for the Holy War, Notre Dame at Boston College, 8 p.m., 6ABC and 97.5 FM, the Fanatic in Philly.

Here's her take:

After predicting with my heart instead of my head, I had resolved to be more analytical this week.  However, that brought me back to picking Notre Dame again.  ND 28 - BC 24.  That does not preclude my cheering for Mark Herzlich.  My love and loyalty to Mark far exceeds any college rivalry.  I want to see him get his second interception this week, because it will be the only BC game I will be able to see.

Here's my take: Herzlich is playing this season after sitting out last year while he was recovering from Ewing's Sarcoma. Herzlich made the trip to ND last year and met Sister Barbara Anne, herself a cancer survivor. NotreDamus last year tried to start a campaign for Herzlich to win the Heisman when it was clear that Jimmy Clausen was being ignored and no one else had stepped up.

Boston College is 2-1 but has struggled this season, perhaps even more so than the 1-3 Irish.  Coach Frank Spaziani replaced QB Dave Shinskie, but has to pick between Mike Marscovetra and freshman Chase Rettig for Saturday's game.

Last time BC did this, some kid named Doug Flutie took over and started for four years.

Last week, coach Brian Kelly got a first-hand look at a real football team that also has real academic standards.

Last year, Charlie Weis's team and Clausen and Golden Tate outplayed Stanford for most of the game out there, and almost handed the Heisman Trophy to Toby Gerhardt, which would have been a travesty.

Last week, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh's team out-hit, out-coached, out-everythinged the Irish and plain and simple punched them in the face in their own house.

If the Irish can't muster enough emotion Saturday, then it is time to go back to the drawing board and play the kids. All of them. Sophomore linebacker stud Manto Te'o made 21 tackles last week. Everyone has to get fired up, too.

Maybe the ghost of Frank Leahy needs to wake up the echoes.