Notre Dame Game a Quirk in TU Schedule

Tulsa's game against Fighting Irish comes after a bye week and in the middle of conference play.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:00 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Oct 25, 2010 9:26 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Golden Hurricane’s upcoming game at Notre Dame is without a doubt one of their biggest games in a long time.

So it’s only fitting that Tulsa would have two weeks to prepare for it.

But Tulsa coach Todd Graham said the bye week can be a curse as well as a blessing, for it sometimes leads to sluggishness upon hitting the field again.

“A lot of people think a bye week helps you, but a lot of times it really doesn’t,” he said. “If you look at the winning percentage, there’s not a correlation between having an advantage really on a bye week.”

Not only is the Notre Dame game coming after a bye week, but it also sits as a non-conference game in the middle of the Conference USA schedule.

Tulsa, which is 2-2 in conference play already, will resume its conference slate with four more games after taking on the Fighting Irish.

The strange break in the conference schedule certainly has the potential to throw TU out of a rhythm, but Graham said when you get the chance to play Notre Dame, you pretty much take it.

“I’d probably rather play Notre Dame and then had a bye week going into conference play. But I don’t ever worry about any of that stuff.”

Notre Dame certainly isn’t the Notre Dame of old, to say the least.

After an illustrious history of running backs, the current Fighting Irish are 98th in the country in rushing. Most of the defensive categories are just as bad.

Notre Dame is just 4-4 on the year, which is not a far cry from the past couple of years, but is unheard of compared to its storied history.

Graham said the Fighting Irish are still a highly-respected and capable team, and it will take a tremendous effort on the road from his team.

“Sometimes you tend to try to do too much,” he said. “But what we’ve got to do is go out and we’ve got to play our best football game, no question.”