Notre Dame has something in common with 12 other teams in the nation; they both have two bye weeks. One in which they have a full week off, and the other when they play Washington State:

Here are some fast (and funny) facts about the Cougars:

- Washington State has scored more than 20 points twice this season;  posting 20 on the number against horrible Hawaii and dropping 30 against SMU in an overtime thriller (if that’s what you want to call it). The latter was their lone win of the season.

- If I was the Notre Dame defense, I’d be worried, though. They start a freshman that has two arms, two legs, and a head that’s attached to a neck. An automatic threat to the Irish secondary.

- His name is Jeff Tuel and he’s coming off his best outing of the season. Against California last Saturday, he threw for 354 yards, two TDs and zero interceptions. 

- Instead of scoring points, the Cougars give up points . . . 37.9 per game to be exact.  That’s bad enough to be fifth worst in college football.  And to make matters worse, the game on Saturday is in the Alamodome; a very fast track. 

- Expanding on the fact they give up over six touchdowns a game, they’re second to last in the nation in total defense, surrendering 499 yards per game; including a staggering 282 passing yards each outing. Clausen’s stats should have an asterisk next to his name after this one. 

- It appears that the Cougars have more pending injury cases than a Manhattan law office.

- In their last four games, they were an underdog by at least 20 points. The Cougars were getting 36 from Cal, 21 from Arizona State, 35 from Oregon and 46 from USC. They’re a 29 point underdog at Notre Dame.

- Golden Tate has more receiving touchdowns (8) than the Washington State receivers combined (7). But I guess it’s not fair to compare men to boys.

-The Cougars have compiled three wins in their past two seasons (22 games). And for you bettors, they only covered eight of those.

-If this game wasn’t in primetime, it would have all the makings to be the least watched Notre Dame broadcast ever. Well, it still might.