According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen won’t discuss his possible future in the NFL until after the Irish’s regular season is over.

So the Notre Dame coach laid out the plan for discussing an NFL future with junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen: It won’t be discussed until the regular season is over.

“We’re not even going to address the subject until the first week in December,” Weis said Thursday night. “We’ve already addressed the fact that we’re not going to address it. So we’re just worrying about the next five games, starting with Washington State. First of all, let’s see how we play. But we’ll revisit it then.”

Clausen is currently the nation’s No. 2-rated passer. After the jump, there are more Weis words on Thursday’s pertinent topics, including who will punt for the Irish this weekend…

I agree with Weis in that Clausen should wait until the season is over to figure out whether or not he wants to enter the draft. With a month left in this year’s college season, Clausen has enough on his plate these days and doesn’t need to worry about the NFL quite yet. (Even though he’ll obviously need plenty of time to make a decision like that.)

Whenever Clausen does decide to turn pro, I hope he’s ready for all the comparisons to Brady Quinn. I’m not saying they’re the same player, but the media will immediately compare the two and how Quinn has struggled so far in the NFL.

No. 4 LSU at No. 18 Georgia, 3:30PM ET
Last year, Georgia rolled into Tiger Stadium and laid a 52-38 beat down on LSU as they forced three turnovers and running back Knowshon Moreno (now a Denver Bronco) racked up 163 yards on 21 carries. After an ugly 24-10 loss to Oklahoma State in the opening week of the season, the Bulldogs have rattled off three straight wins and will now face a Tiger team that struggled a bit offensively last week in a narrow 30-26 win over Mississippi State. LSU was outgained 374-263 and only rushed for 30 yards in the victory. The Tigers usually feast on pro-style offenses, so UGA quarterback Joe Cox can’t force throws in attempt to make something happen down field. That said, the Tigers haven’t been tested yet and needed a goal line stand to pull off the win last week. Georgia, on the other hand, has already faced a ranked OK State team and beaten competitive SEC foes South Carolina and Arkansas. The Bulldogs are more battle tested and will overcome a stiff Tiger defense.
Odds: Georgia –3.
Prediction: Georgia 24, LSU 20.

No. 7 USC at No. 24 California, 8:00PM ET
Don’t everyone break your legs jumping off the Cal bandwagon after Oregon smacked the Golden Bears 42-3 last week. Heisman candidate Jahvid Best rushed for only 55 yards in the loss and will face another tough challenge this week against a USC defense that held him to only 30 yards last season. The Trojans have the sixth best defense in the nation and the fifth best scoring defense. They have limited opponents to only 59.5 rushing yards per game and only 95 YPC threw the air. That said, Cal has played USC close over the years and the Trojans have kept things rather conservative offensively with freshman Matt Barkley under center. I see this game being close, although I don’t know if Kevin Riley can beat USC through the air if the Trojans’ front seven takes away Best.
Odds: USC –4.5.
Prediction: USC 20, Cal 17.

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Every couple of weeks during the 2009 season, I’ll rank the top 10 Heisman Trophy candidates based on their chances of winning college football’s most prestigious award. Players will either rise or fall in the rankings based on their performances throughout the year.

Below is Version 1.0. Obviously with no games being played yet, I’m mostly projecting with this top 10. These types of rankings always stir up a lot of debate, so I encourage readers to tell me which players should be rated higher or lower. I’ll update the list after the first week or two of the season.

Without further ado…

1. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
After Sam Bradford edged Tebow out in last season’s Heisman race, some will argue that the Oklahoma QB deserves to be at the top of this ranking. But I’m giving the slight edge to Tebow right now after he absolutely destroyed the competition in the second half of last year. Florida will incorporate the no-huddle into their offense this season, which should only benefit Tebow’s style of play and give him even more scoring opportunities than he already had. Outside of Florida having to replace tackles Phil Trautwein and Jason Watkins, there’s little reason to believe that Tebow will take a step back in 2009 and considering the Gators are once again national title contenders, he should be the front-runner to win this year’s Heisman.

2. Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
After throwing for 4,720 yards and 50 touchdowns last season, I don’t doubt that the reigning Heisman winner could be even better in 2009. But the Sooners’ offensive line is a major question mark entering this season with the losses of Phil Loadholt, Duke Robinson, Jon Cooper and Brandon Walker. That’s a lot of change in one offseason and while OU should light up the scoreboard once again, I could see Bradford taking a backseat to Tebow when the final Heisman results are tallied.

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The Big East (apparently) doesn’t have a regular season championship. They call their postseason tourney the Big East Conference Championship. The “bracketologists” over ESPN project that the conference will get eight bids — UConn, Pitt, Louisville, Marquette, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia and Providence, with the Friars being one of the last teams in. That leaves Cincinnati and Notre Dame on the outside looking in.

Cincy plays at South Florida and at home against Seton Hall this week, so with two wins, they would finish the regular season at 20-11 and 10-8 in conference. If that happens, it would be tough for the selection committee to leave them out. However, they are just 1-6 against Top 25 teams and the one win was against an overrated Georgetown team. Basically, they’ve been winning games that they should win, but aren’t beating any “superior” opponents. They don’t have a single marquee win on the season, so unless they win out and make some noise in the Big East tourney, they may not get a bid.

Notre Dame is in an even tougher position…

Hasheem Thabeet raised some eyebrows earlier this season when he talked some trash about Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody.

Thabeet got off the best line, which was prominently displayed on the Mag’s cover for the world to see. Asked who he thought were the toughest big men in college, Thabeet said, “Nobody’s better than me, only more experienced. I played Luke Harangody and he was not tough. Tyler Hansbrough? I don’t see nothing.”

The 7′3″ Thabeet didn’t play particularly well against the Irish — nine points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and three turnovers — and he allowed Harangody to rack up 24 points and 15 boards, but the rest of the Huskies picked up the slack and pushed #3 UConn to a 69-61 win, which broke #19 Notre Dame’s 45-game home winning streak.

The game was back-and-forth until about nine minutes remaining in the second half when the balanced Huskies went on a 13-1 run to put the game away. Harangody didn’t get any offensive help. The Irish shot 33% from the field, but Harangody accounted for 10 of Notre Dame’s 25 made field goals. His teammates shot a woeful 28% from the field, and just 26% from long range. The key was Kyle McAlarney; he hit his first three three-pointers, and proceeded to miss his next 12 shots. Ouch.

From an NBA perspective, Harangody is the better player right now, but Thabeet is the better prospect. He is much better defensively than he is offensively. He is weak with the ball, often having it stripped or losing it when going up for a shot. At 7′3″ he was clearly bothering Harangody on defense, but Thabeet still allowed him to score 24 points. In the NBA, Thabeet will be as good of a player as he wants to be. Based on his comments about his competition, he clearly doesn’t have much respect for the opposition, but the big question is — will he be willing to put the work in to become a NBA star?

As for Harangody, I’m not sure what kind of NBA player he will make. He’s 6′7″ and is kind of a tweener at the forward position. He could be a David Lee type, but he doesn’t quite have Lee’s athleticism and seems a little slow getting up and down the court. His jumper is ugly but effective and he is able to score in a multitude of ways. However, I just don’t see an NBA team allowing him to have the freedom to be the creative scorer he is in college.

Currently, NBADraft.net has Thabeet projected to go #2 overall, while they don’t even project Harangody to be drafted. If I were an NBA GM, I’d definitely want to take a look at Harangody and see how he fares against NBA competition. One thing’s for sure — he’s a hard worker that parlayed limited athleticism and gritty determination into the Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore last season. I think he could have a successful career as a bench player in the NBA.

At the end of the year, it’s always interesting to look back at all that has happened in the world of sports over the last 12 months. 2008 brought us a host of compelling sports stories, including the culmination of the Patriots’ (unsuccessful) quest for perfection, a Bejing Olympics that featured incredible accomplishments by the likes of Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt and the Redeem Team, and, of course, Brett Favre’s unretirement, which managed to hold the sports news cycle hostage for a solid month or more.

As is our tradition, we’ve once again broken our Year End Sports Review into three sections. The first is “What We Learned,� a list that’s packed with a number of impressive feats. And when there are feats, inevitably there are also failures.

Don’t miss the other two parts: “What We Already Knewâ€� and “What We Think Might Happen.â€�

The New England Patriots weren’t so perfect after all.

After rolling through the 2007 regular season unscathed, the Patriots entered the 2008 Super Bowl as overwhelming favorites to roll over the pesky, but seemingly inferior New York Giants. The Pats were just one win away from staking their claim as the best football team in NFL history. But thanks to a dominating Giants’ defensive line, an improbable catch by David Tyree, and a virtually mistake-free performance by Eli Manning, the unbeatable New England Patriots were beat. It’ll go down as one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, and considering Tom Brady’s season-ending injury in 2008 cost the Pats a chance for redemption, it seems that many have forgotten how New England stood just one win away from perfection. – Anthony Stalter

Michael Phelps is part fish.

Eight gold medals in one Olympiad? No problem. Michael Phelps made the seemingly impossible look (relatively) easy en route to one of the most – if not the most – impressive Olympic performances ever. Phelps had to swim all four strokes, compete in both sprint and endurance races, and deal with the constant media attention and pressure that came along with his quest. Sure, NBC turned up the hype, but what Phelps accomplished is simply incredible. – John Paulsen

Usain Bolt is part cheetah.

First, Usain Bolt made Jamaica proud by setting a new world record (9.69) in the 100-meter sprint. Then, he broke the 12 year-old 200-meter world record with a time of 19.30 seconds. He showboated during the first race but cleaned up his act to win the second race in a professional manner. Some even say that Usain Bolt – not Michael Phelps – was the biggest story to come out of the Bejing Olympics. – JP

The Big 12 has the best quarterbacks in the nation.

The Big 12 housed some of the best quarterbacks in all of college football in 2008. Texas’s Colt McCoy, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Missouri’s Chase Daniel and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell were all considered Heisman candidates at least at one point during the season, while McCoy and Bradford are still in the running. Amazingly, Bradford and McCoy aren’t done; both will return in 2008. And although they don’t receive as much attention as the top signal callers in the conference, Kansas’s Todd Reesing and Baylor’s Robert Griffin certainly turned heads this year as well. In fact, the highly versatile Griffin is only a freshman and could make the Bears a very dangerous team for years to come. – AS

Even though he’s in the midst of preparing his Florida Gators to do battle with the Oklahoma Sooners in the national championship game, Urban Meyer isn’t backing down from saying that his ultimate dream job is still to coach at Notre Dame.

Four years after spurning Notre Dame to take over the Florida Gators program, Coach Urban Meyer called the Fighting Irish “still my dream job; that hasn’t changed” on a South Florida radio show on Wednesday.

“Once my kids are done, maybe some day I’ll go coach there,” Meyer told 560 WQAM. “I don’t know that. That’s way down the road. Being a father and being able to recruit the best athletes in America within a 5-hour radius of my home, that’s why I came to Florida. I thought we could have a great chance at success.”

“It’s just that time in my life — to be the head football coach of Notre Dame, you’re on a plane recruiting because you recruit San Diego as hard as you recruit New York as hard as you recruit Florida, Texas, Ohio,” Meyer said on the radio. “It’s a national recruiting base. I recruited there for six years, and I spent every night in a hotel in an airport. I’m going to be a good father first.”

Granted he’s not saying that he wants to coach at Notre Dame next year, or the year after or the year after that. But one would think that he would pass on those questions during a time when all of his attention should be on winning another national title.

He shouldn’t be vilified for being completely honest, but I’m not sure it’s ever the right time to talk about another job that 1) doesn’t have a vacancy and 2) you’re getting ready for the biggest game of the year at your current job. The timing just seems a bit off, but that’s not to say this should be made into a big deal.

Well that didn’t take long:

Charlie Weis will return for a fifth year as Notre Dame’s football coach despite posting his second straight disappointing season.

A person familiar with the decision said the university will make the official announcement later Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been authorized for release.

Weis has seven years left on a 10-year contract signed midway through his first season.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said following Notre Dame’s 38-3 loss to USC on Saturday that he would evaluate Weis’ performance. Both men were out of town Wednesday.

The decision to keep Weis was first reported by several media outlets Tuesday night.

Weis will have another shot at trying to return Notre Dame to prominence after posting back-to-back seasons of 3-9 and 6-6. The 15 losses are the most by Notre Dame in a two-year span.

I wrote on Tuesday how I thought Weis would return for at least one more season because quarterback Jimmy Clausen would be a junior and thus, he would have two full years of starting experience in Weis’s offense.

But make no mistake – next year is it for Weis. If he can’t turn around Notre Dame’s sinking ship than there won’t be anything to debate – he’ll be shown the door.

One of the main debates in college football for the foreseeable future is whether or not Notre Dame will fire head coach Charlie Weis and start fresh in 2009.

Weis’ buyout was once reportedly $10 million, but recent estimates have claimed it to be closer to the $4 or $5 million mark. Either way, that’s an insane, insane amount of money for any college — let alone one with the financial necessities of a private school — to be paying just to be rid of a football coach. There’s a chance some anonymous donor could pony up the cash, but … well, it’s $5 million.

People aren’t exactly lined around the block for the chance to pay Weis $5 million to go away.
Perhaps Notre Dame is stuck with Weis. Maybe Weis’ the size of Weis’ buyout — by the way, who knew old Charlie had such financial foresight? — will keep him safe.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s president sent out an email on Monday stressing that faculty, students and staff have to cut costs in light of the stress the sour economy is putting on the university. If this season turns out to be the low point of Weis’ tenure at Note Dame, the coach appears to have timed it well.

Weis has gone 9-15 over the last two seasons, including 6-6 this year. But I think ND will give him at least one more season and the only reason is Jimmy Clausen. (Okay well, not the only reason. Four million might have something to do with it, too.)

Weis’ star recruit will be a junior next year and would have two full seasons as a starter under his belt. If Weis can’t produce a winning record with a third-year starter at quarterback (not to mention a highly recruited third-year starter at quarterback), than he’ll likely be gone next year.

Comment fodder: What’s your prediction – was this Weis’s last year in South Bend?

The University of Texas could get its own 24/7 sports network in the near future.

In what would be a first for college sports on television, the University of Texas is planning to launch its own 24/7 sports network, signaling a further move toward niche programming on cable and satellite.

Officials from the University of Texas have teamed up with the college sports unit of IMG Worldwide, a talent agency and licensing company, to negotiate distribution on Time Warner Cable (TWC), Comcast (CMCSA), and AT&T (T) in Texas and possibly in bordering states, says Pat Battle, a senior vice-president at IMG College. IMG has an agreement with the Austin (Tex.) school, which is part of the Big 12 Conference, to oversee its trademark licensing, marketing, and multimedia rights.

If the channel, tentatively named the Longhorn Sports Network, gets off the ground, it would be the first time a university has created its own sports network seeking broad distribution. “Texas has such an incredible fan base and such great content through all its sports programs,” says Battle, “that we feel a network like this will have a real following.” A spokesman for DeLoss Dodds, the UT athletics director, said he was unavailable for comment.

Hey, I’d rather have Texas jammed down my throat than Notre Dame, which is shown exclusively on NBC every Saturday. I don’t know if I need all-Longhorns, all the time…