Sadly, I am down on my fanhood.

[Mr. McGibblets]

Its really, really, really, getting old and disheartening constantly being on the short end of the stick for important games, whether it be a rivlary game or BCS game. Sadly, its getting to the point where sometimes I wish I didnt grow up and ND fan. Am I destined to route for medicroity for a few years and then maybe catch a 10-2 season and then back to mediocrity?

I know its game 2, and I figured they would go 7-5, 8-4 but who wants to route for that? If i were a Purdue fan, or a Mich State fan or Stanford fan, yeah that would be cool, but I am an ND fan who knows the tradition and history who's faint memory is smoking Major Harris and WVU and then vivid memory is beating FSU and then blowing it to BC a week later. We get fired up for a new season, then poof, were 1-1 heading into MSU with a must win game on the road. So this year they go 7-5, 8-4, 9-3 and then next year were all jacked up for a new season and will probably go 9-3, 10-2, 11-1 then who knows.

Regardless, I will never not be a ND fan and Ill never jump off the boat but sometimes i sit there and i see Texas and Florida and OU and OSU, now Oregon is on the act and Boise and TCU and Im like geez it would be nice to have a LEGIT shot and not just be hopeful all of the time. I guess thats being a fan, and if they do win a NC it will be glorious. I like Brian Kelly alot and like the way he gets in kids faces when they screw up so i feel differently about this regime in a positve way but sometimes i Just wish ND wasnt an afterthought burried halfway down on ESPN's scoreboard page. All in all I am disheartened. Eventually we have to be "due"..its just the odds. Right?

 

[IHateMarkMay]

If anything I think being a Flyers fan would get you down....

Just some playful teasing from a Blackhawk fan haha.


I have a friend who feels this same way, but worse. He gets pissed every year because he has such high hopes and then they get demolished. He brings up good points that the ND in our lifetime (we were born in '86, so we don't really count much before '93 or 94, too young) is not the same ND that everybody used to know. He'll snap out of his fanhood depression, always does. You will too. No worries, if the low wasn't this low, the high would not be as sweet.

 

[mick2]

Its really, really, really, getting old and disheartening constantly being on the short end of the stick for important games, whether it be a rivlary game or BCS game. Sadly, its getting to the point where sometimes I wish I didnt grow up and ND fan. Am I destined to route for medicroity for a few years and then maybe catch a 10-2 season and then back to mediocrity?

I know its game 2, and I figured they would go 7-5, 8-4 but who wants to route for that? If i were a Purdue fan, or a Mich State fan or Stanford fan, yeah that would be cool, but I am an ND fan who knows the tradition and history who's faint memory is smoking Major Harris and WVU and then vivid memory is beating FSU and then blowing it to BC a week later. We get fired up for a new season, then poof, were 1-1 heading into MSU with a must win game on the road. So this year they go 7-5, 8-4, 9-3 and then next year were all jacked up for a new season and will probably go 9-3, 10-2, 11-1 then who knows.

Regardless, I will never not be a ND fan and Ill never jump off the boat but sometimes i sit there and i see Texas and Florida and OU and OSU, now Oregon is on the act and Boise and TCU and Im like geez it would be nice to have a LEGIT shot and not just be hopeful all of the time. I guess thats being a fan, and if they do win a NC it will be glorious. I like Brian Kelly alot and like the way he gets in kids faces when they screw up so i feel differently about this regime in a positve way but sometimes i Just wish ND wasnt an afterthought burried halfway down on ESPN's scoreboard page. All in all I am disheartened. Eventually we have to be "due"..its just the odds. Right?

man up! being a fan isnt always rainbows and lollipops, its football man! we lose one game where we spotted the team an entire half without our starter and you bring this weaksauce?

and its not just you, its all of these "the sky is falling" type fans football is cyclical no one is on top or on bottom forever. your either getting better or your getting worse and we are getting better much better.

 

[WaveDomer]

I think the legacy of Notre Dame football just feeds ridiculous expectation. We lost 2 of our best players to the NFL. We have a new coach with a new system. For this game, our starting QB goes out after an opening drive where we march down the field and our D stops Michigan. He is out until the 2nd half. We still almost win the game while facing some sort of inhuman dynamo at QB.

We have seen better: tackling, emotion, strength, special teams, blocking, discipline, and running. I know it's hard to watch losses. But what else can we expect but the progress we are seeing now? We have the right coach. We look to be playing solid football in all phases. Everything comes from fundamentals. That won't always equal wins, but it's all good. Go to YouTube and watch Lou Holtz's speech. "We had a team that could win, but didn't know how..." The same seems to be happening now.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Can't help you. It's life. Even the monster meat-factory programs haven't been able to win two-in-a-row lately. ND does things correctly/academically/morally: that's our extra burden and that's what makes the breaking through part of legend and sweeter than any other school can produce. We need to find our strength within ourselves, just like the coaches and ball-players have to [and they are doing their part]. Life is 90% attitude and as Snoopy says: Happiness is the best policy. Some people seem to enjoy being miserable--I can't relate. God bless and Peace, as Ted Hesburgh would say.

 

[ACamp1900]

Gibblets... you and anyone who agrees with you here may get stoned for it but people are just that... we're human

I personally feel you man...

For me seeing the Florida's and Bama's of the world get rewarded for oversigning, poor grad rates, arrest sheets and mile long and lord knows what else I makes it even harder...

CFB is THE sport in this country where everything is comparrisons and ND has been a joke in that regard since 02 at least... all while we win National Titles for academics on our football team and get thrown under the bus in the National Media... ugh.

and yes, having lost what??? 12 games in the last three years in the final minute of the game makes it even harder, it's like the song that never ends... they have been so close so many damn times...

and here's the thing that makes it the hardest for me... other than MAYBE the 02 FSU game I have personally circled about 15-20 games over the past 10-15 years that would have been a "STFU statement game" to the rest of cfb had we won it... we are exactly O'fer in those games over that time with the exception of FSU 02... and how many of those games could we have won??? quite a few... basically there has been nothing for the program to really hang it's hat on for a long, long time...

anyway, after last year's UM game I have been the most pessimisstic fan ever... I honestly think this team may drop the next four straight games... but I don't deter from my loyalty... I will be in blue and gold til death... I just don't have the faith I once had...

Here's the good news... all it will take is one good season (05 and 06 were close but again show me the statement win during that era) and one or two legitimately BIG wins to turn this whole thing around... really that's all it will take... when the turnaround really does happen it'll prob. happen quick... and we still have Pitt, Utah, SC and hopefully a bowl game... it COULD happen this season...

 

[Jerry]

I know what you mean about not winning the big games. ND has come up short against UM, SC, BCS games, ect. a lot in the past decade. But I'll always still be a fan and I hate too many other teams to wish I grew up a fan of some other program.

 

[theclassickiller]

Regardless, I will never not be a ND fan and Ill never jump off the boat but sometimes i sit there and i see Texas and Florida and OU and OSU, now Oregon is on the act and Boise and TCU and Im like geez it would be nice to have a LEGIT shot and not just be hopeful all of the time.

I don't know how you could not be optimistic heading out of that loss to Michigan. I don't know if you watched the same team I watched, but when our first team was out on the field as a complete unit, we were in a DIFFERENT LEAGUE than Michigan. It really wasn't even a contest in that second half.

When I saw that second half team Saturday I saw an elite team coming into its own. We will be elite. Not just next year, but by the end of this year. We have all of the pieces now and a coach that knows how to use them.

We will be a 10+ win team on the regular soon enough. We just have to give Kelly time to remove the kinks that Weis put in place.

I'm not putting you down, but if anything everyone should be "up" on their fanhood to a point they haven't felt in a decade at least!

This team is beyond good. They are elite. And when things start clicking, your going to see a machine that ESPN, the BCS, and conference refs combined can't stop.

 

[Jerry]

Gibblets... you and anyone who agrees with you here may get stoned for it but people are just that... we're human

I personally feel you man...

For me seeing the Florida's and Bama's of the world get rewarded for oversigning, poor grad rates, arrest sheets and mile long and lord knows what else I makes it even harder...

CFB is THE sport in this country where everything is comparrisons and ND has been a joke in that regard since 02 at least... all while we win National Titles for academics on our football team and get thrown under the bus in the National Media... ugh.

and yes, having lost what??? 12 games in the last three years in the final minute of the game makes it even harder, it's like the song that never ends... they have been so close so many damn times...

and here's the thing that makes it the hardest for me... other than MAYBE the 02 FSU game I have personally circled about 15-20 games over the past 10-15 years that would have been a "STFU statement game" to the rest of cfb had we won it... we are exactly O'fer in those games over that time with the exception of FSU 02... and how many of those games could we have won??? quite a few... basically there has been nothing for the program to really hang it's hat on for a long, long time...

anyway, after last year's UM game I have been the most pessimisstic fan ever... I honestly think this team may drop the next four straight games... but I don't deter from my loyalty... I will be in blue and gold til death... I just don't have the faith I once had...

Here's the good news... all it will take is one good season and one or two legitimately BIG wins to turn this whole thing around... really that's all it will take... when the turnaround really does happen it'll prob. happen quick... and we still have Pitt, Utah, SC and hopefully a bowl game... it COULD happen this season...

Do you think MSU, Stanford, BC and Pitt are all better than Michigan? Unless Dayne gets hurt again I just don't see us losing to all these teams. They will be tough games for sure but ND could have beaten UM easily with a healthy starting QB. I think we win at least 2 of those game maybe 3.

 

[ACamp1900]

I don't know how you could not be optimistic heading out of that loss to Michigan.

Because we have been here before many times in the past two and half seasons... I would say we can site how different this one feels, but the fact remains with the winning percentage.

 

[aaronb]

I think the legacy of Notre Dame football just feeds ridiculous expectation. We lost 2 of our best players to the NFL. We have a new coach with a new system. For this game, our starting QB goes out after an opening drive where we march down the field and our D stops Michigan. He is out until the 2nd half. We still almost win the game while facing some sort of inhuman dynamo at QB.

We have seen better: tackling, emotion, strength, special teams, blocking, discipline, and running. I know it's hard to watch losses. But what else can we expect but the progress we are seeing now? We have the right coach. We look to be playing solid football in all phases. Everything comes from fundamentals. That won't always equal wins, but it's all good. Go to YouTube and watch Lou Holtz's speech. "We had a team that could win, but didn't know how..." The same seems to be happening now.

Agreed!

It was a familiar refrain from the game day comments on Blue Gray Sky last year as well. You'd have a handful of posters that always laid out the "Back in my day" or "When Ara was coach".

The problem with that is nostalgia always seems better when you look back. College football is much deeper now than it used to be. 85 Scholly limits, and modern kids with different opportunities, priorities and interests. ND can still be a top flight program. It just doesn't have the built in advantages it once did.

 

[ACamp1900]

Do you think MSU, Stanford, BC and Pitt are all better than Michigan? Unless Dayne gets hurt again I just don't see us losing to all these teams. They will be tough games for sure but ND could have beaten UM easily with a healthy starting QB. I think we win at least 2 of those game maybe 3.

I think DR is the wildcard in this discussion obviously... but from top to bottom, unit for unit... yes, each one of those teams are leaps above Michigan talent wise... and so is Notre Dame... they won, give them credit, but the fact remains not one UM fan on this planet who knows that they are talking about would try to make the case UM has a better unit anywhere but maybe QB, and that's just a compliment to DR...

again, the difference is UM's QB... aside from him they are not all that good...

 

[IrishinSyria]

Because we have been here before many times in the past two and half seasons... I would say we can site how different this one feels, but the fact remains with the winning percentage.

Not to mention its not like we barely lost to some top-tier program. USC 05 was a loss that gave me hope, maybe too much. Michigan in 10 looks a lot like Michigan or Pitt or Stanford last year...barely losing to teams we have to be better than (no matter what the circumstances...we had our injuries, so did they.)

 

[Jerry]

I think DR is the wildcard in this discussion obviously... but from top to bottom, unit for unit... yes, each one of those teams are leaps above Michigan talent wise... and so is Notre Dame... they won, give them credit, but the fact remains not one UM fan on this planet who knows that they are talking about would try to make the case UM has a better unit anywhere but maybe QB, and that's just a compliment to DR...

again, the difference is UM's QB... aside from him they are not all that good...

Yeah I see what your saying. I was actually saying on another site that I think Michigan will be lucky to go .500 in the Big Ten. Mostly because their defense is so bad. I still think ND is good enough to win 2 of the next 4 games. Hopefully more.

 

[ACamp1900]

Yeah I see what your saying. I was actually saying on another site that I think Michigan will be lucky to go .500 in the Big Ten. Mostly because their defense is so bad. I still think ND is good enough to win 2 of the next 4 games. Hopefully more.

I would say we are better on paper than every single team we play all year except USC... this team has simply not come together and had one game where they played to their potential on both sides of the ball for the enitre game... which is hard to do all the time, but should have happened somewhere at some point over the past three seasons...

I too think we should win 2 of the next four... and If I had a gun to my head and had to come with a winning prediction or you know what... I'd take us to be 3-3 at the mid way point... and really, that shouldn't happen with this team. That's not unreal expectations... this team is very talented.

 

[theclassickiller]

Not to mention its not like we barely lost to some top-tier program. USC 05 was a loss that gave me hope, maybe too much. Michigan in 10 looks a lot like Michigan or Pitt or Stanford last year...barely losing to teams we have to be better than (no matter what the circumstances...we had our injuries, so did they.)

Not so fast...

Denard Robinson IS they! What would the outcome have been had they lost their star player and we had ours the whole game? A lot to a little doesn't quite do it justice.

Sure, injuries are part of the game, but I don't know of any team that can recover from losing their star quarterback in a new system with a true freshman as backup and take on a team who has their star on the field 35 minutes in a system catered to his talents.

We did alright, and like I keep saying... in the second half, we were in a different league than Michigan was.

 

[Jerry]

I would say we are better on paper than every single team we play all year except USC... this team has simply not come together and had one game where they played to their potential on both sides of the ball for the enitre game... which is hard to do all the time, but should have happened somewhere at some point over the past three seasons...

I too think we should win 2 of the next four... and If I had a gun to my head and had to come with a winning prediction or you know what... I'd take us to be 3-3 at the mid way point... and really, that shouldn't happen with this team. That's not unreal expectations... this team is very talented.

The more I look at the schedule, the more I think that Stanford game will be the season defining game. A win against a team ranked in the top 20 gives ND momentum down the stretch to possible get to 9 or 10 wins and a New Years day bowl. A loss will keep them in the land of mediocrity, which is all to familiar to us fans.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

We did alright, and like I keep saying... in the second half, we were in a different league than Michigan was.

I posted in the one thread that ND was the better team on Saturday and that i felt ND should have won by 10-14 pts but they didnt. I wasnt angry, just felt like a lost opportunity and i hate that feeling more than being blown out, or another team having better players. With Brian Kelly, they have a huge opportunity and i just felt like that extra piece of the puzzle was lost Saturday, not by him or play calling, just lost period. Just wish we could shut everyone up for once.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

What happened Saturday was different from what happened last year, hell it was different from what I have heard many people reporting. Here is what I saw:

Good points:
The up side for the offense was that despite essentially conceding 8 of 9 first half possessions the Irish still outgained Michigan 535 to 532.

A field goal at the end of the first half, (10-21) changes the complexion of the final drive, all things being equal, Ruffer would have won the game, if the additional demands on Michigan’s defense wouldn’t have resulted in a touchdown in 51 seconds. (I know, if wishes were horses beggars would ride – These points are crafted for that particular arrogance that one player or team dominated the game.)

Dayne Crist’s passing efficiency ranking jumped 13 spots to No. 24 nationally this week (with no Division I-AA (FCS) schools.) Two of ND's opposing QB’s rank ahead of him - Stanford's Andrew Luck (7th) and USC's Matt Barkley (12). Michigan's DenardRobinson is 50th, and Michigan State's Kirk Cousins, is No. 42. Washington's Jake Locker is 32; Oklahoma's Landry Jones is 34; Miami's Jacory Harris is 44; Cincinnati's Zach Collaros is 67; Zach Frazer at UConn is 73rd.

Safeties Harrison Smith and Zeke Motta deserved the game ball. They had to be point on coverage playing mostly man because of Derek Roback’s transfer and Dan McCarthy’s injury. ND couldn’t even play a nickel package, because of the extra safety required in that package. Smith and Motta had to play every snap!

Bad points:
The Wolverines outscored the Irish 21-0 when Crist was out of the game.

This loss was one to build on. That hasn’t been true for almost fifteen years.

 

[ACamp1900]

The more I look at the schedule, the more I think that Stanford game will be the season defining game. A win against a team ranked in the top 20 gives ND momentum down the stretch to possible get to 9 or 10 wins and a New Years day bowl. A loss will keep them in the land of mediocrity, which is all to familiar to us fans.

Now... the Sanford game is huge... IF we win some games leading up, then the SC is the game of the year without question...

at the start of the year, last friday night and now... I say the Michigan game was THE game... and now it's another lost opportunity... we can win every game but SC from here on out... and we will be viewed as just another ND team that doesn't win the big one and that gave up 500 yeards to one player... that's how it will be played off as... and in cfb, perception is reality.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Sadly, I am down on my fanhood.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its really, really, really, getting old and disheartening constantly being on the short end of the stick for important games, whether it be a rivlary game or BCS game. Sadly, its getting to the point where sometimes I wish I didnt grow up and ND fan. Am I destined to route for medicroity for a few years and then maybe catch a 10-2 season and then back to mediocrity?

If it were easy, everyone would do it. And that is why the cheaters are all getting caught now . . .

 

[chadder20]

This is total BS. You should put your head in your toilet and keep flushing until your hand doesn't have enough left in it to pull the handle again...

First off, all of the top teams are under constant investigation for recruiting violations. Second, ND will be good again because Kelly cannot accept anything but winning. This team is already miles ahead of where they were last year. The D is team tackling and swarming around the ball. The offense is going to come around, but no one expected ND to go undefeated this year, and if you did, please see the above reference on how to handle your bandwagon ass.

 

[NDOM]

Its really, really, really, getting old and disheartening constantly being on the short end of the stick for important games, whether it be a rivlary game or BCS game. Sadly, its getting to the point where sometimes I wish I didnt grow up and ND fan. Am I destined to route for medicroity for a few years and then maybe catch a 10-2 season and then back to mediocrity?

I know its game 2, and I figured they would go 7-5, 8-4 but who wants to route for that? If i were a Purdue fan, or a Mich State fan or Stanford fan, yeah that would be cool, but I am an ND fan who knows the tradition and history who's faint memory is smoking Major Harris and WVU and then vivid memory is beating FSU and then blowing it to BC a week later. We get fired up for a new season, then poof, were 1-1 heading into MSU with a must win game on the road. So this year they go 7-5, 8-4, 9-3 and then next year were all jacked up for a new season and will probably go 9-3, 10-2, 11-1 then who knows.

Regardless, I will never not be a ND fan and Ill never jump off the boat but sometimes i sit there and i see Texas and Florida and OU and OSU, now Oregon is on the act and Boise and TCU and Im like geez it would be nice to have a LEGIT shot and not just be hopeful all of the time. I guess thats being a fan, and if they do win a NC it will be glorious. I like Brian Kelly alot and like the way he gets in kids faces when they screw up so i feel differently about this regime in a positve way but sometimes i Just wish ND wasnt an afterthought burried halfway down on ESPN's scoreboard page. All in all I am disheartened. Eventually we have to be "due"..its just the odds. Right?

LOL!!!!! My long lost brother???? I used to feel this way and still do actually but I just dont spew hate and negativity much anymore. It sucks. I would too like to shut all these anti ND haters up. But if you did'nt see and hope from that michigan game I dont know what to tell you. I see a LOT and I mean a LOT of promise on this team on BOTH sides. Defense has a ways to go but I believe they will get better and our offense WITH Crist healthy is gonna be unstopable unless we commit turnovers. The future is bright, keep the faith. We will return to glory.

ROME WAS NOT BUILT OVERNIGHT!!!! ARE YOU IN???

 

[IrishinSyria]

Good points:
The up side for the offense was that despite essentially conceding 8 of 9 first half possessions the Irish still outgained Michigan 535 to 532.

While impressive, in close games total yardage has no correlation to who wins the game. Maple Street Press had a good article on this in their season preview.

This loss was one to build on. That hasn’t been true for almost fifteen years.

The only way you can possibly say that is with hindsight. ND's had plenty of hard fought, things look better than they did last week-type losses. 2005 comes to mind. Until ND actually does it though, a loss is a loss. And the fact of the matter is that this was a Michigan team that ND has to beat. I mean, their field goal kicker alone almost spotted us the game.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

ROME WAS NOT BUILT OVERNIGHT!!!! ARE YOU IN???

Haha, i was never out. Basically the point was that I wish i wasnt an ND fan sometimes because it is torture on my mind being an ND fan. I just want ND to be relevant all of the time and hate the feeling in my stomach that missed opportunities leaves.

I am not saying the sky is falling as Mick 2 suggests. Its doing the opposite, just lingering slightly overhead.

 

[ACamp1900]

human beings are just that... fans, alums, players, coaches... everyone

that's pretty much the bottom line of this thread.

 

[Jerry]

Now... the Sanford game is huge... IF we win some games leading up, then the SC is the game of the year without question...

at the start of the year, last friday night and now... I say the Michigan game was THE game... and now it's another lost opportunity... we can win every game but SC from here on out... and we will be viewed as just another ND team that doesn't win the big one and that gave up 500 yeards to one player... that's how it will be played off as... and in cfb, perception is reality.

The way I look at it is that Michigan probably won't end up being that great. A win against them would look good now but at the end of the year might just be another win against an average team. Stanford is ranked and looked pretty good so far. Also Utah is a tough team. If ND can beat these teams it should justify to the college football world that ND is a solid team. Obviously these are big IF's. But there are some good teams left on the schedule besides USC.

 

[ryno 24]

Be patient Lou Holtz took a year or two to get where he got... Florida took a year or too so did Texas and Alabama... Im seeing improvement

 

[Jerry]

While impressive, in close games total yardage has no correlation to who wins the game. Maple Street Press had a good article on this in their season preview.




The only way you can possibly say that is with hindsight. ND's had plenty of hard fought, things look better than they did last week-type losses. 2005 comes to mind. Until ND actually does it though, a loss is a loss. And the fact of the matter is that this was a Michigan team that ND has to beat. I mean, their field goal kicker alone almost spotted us the game.

I think it's pretty impressive considering until ND's last possession of the first half Rees and Montana only had 3 first downs in 7 possessions. And they still only picked up two on the last drive of the half. Now is that just because Michigan's defense is that god awful? I guess we'll find out in the next few weeks. But this offense doesn't seem to be clicking on all cylinders and they are still putting up good yardage and points.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

ND LOST 1 GAME.

Hell, ND could still go 11-1... They won't but it's still only one game, so calm down everyone.