As I looked around the college football landscape this past weekend, something became apparent to me as a Notre Dame fan and supporter. The attitude that Notre Dame is so broken, not fixable, irrelevant and every other media bash is getting a bit over the top. I will be the first to admit that we are having a rough year and one for the records regarding if it could go wrong it has. We have suffered a lifetime of injuries, incredible tragedies and some wild on-field plays. All this being said, ND is still a major player in the national football landscape who will continue to be on TV every week, sell-out stadiums around the country, draw national recruits and be a top story on college football landscape. So, let me show all how NOT so broken ND is compared to all those other national powers.
First, ATTENDANCE!!! I watched a few games in particular this weekend that left me shaking my head regarding fan base. Early in the day, I found myself watching a Miami game, which made me realize just how great the ND fans are. The stadium at The U was half empty. At first, I thought it was an orange out because of all the orange I saw, but I realized then that those were EMPTY seats. Later in the day, I was watching Stanford play Arizona. Both teams ranked, both major players in the Pac-10 race and YET there were empty seats galore. This Saturday, ND will be un-ranked, but you will see a packed house. Late in the night, I was watching USC battle ASU in a really good game, but the stands were half empty late in the 3rd quarter. So, those folks that want to say ND is no longer relevant might want to look at the stadiums of those teams they say ARE relevant. The stadium in South Bend will be full of great fans on Saturday and we do not have the population base to draw from like, Miami, Los Angeles or others.
Second, BAD PERFORMANCES!!! All season, we have heard how bad ND is and they just can’t fix this. Well, I watched some of those PREMIER programs get manhandled and humiliated as bad or worse than ND. Take for instance, Texas!!! People will say that are due because they lost Colt McCoy after last season. Well, what about ND who lost Jimmy Clausen?? Further, Texas has all that talent right in their own backyard!!! How come they can’t just reload? But, ND was supposed to just roll along this year despite playing without Rudolph, Allen, Riddick and now Crist on O. Also, for how bad ND is we somehow beat the Big East team that will go to the BCS. Further, we only lost to the potential Big Ten Champs, by a gusty last second fake FG. Hey, all you folks who want to say that ND were chumps for losing so bad to Stanford. What are your thoughts about a ranked Arizona team getting manhandled worse than ND? In the end, ND has struggled this season, but no more than any team which is replacing an NFL QB while suffering an epic injury glut. Take a look at what will likely be the depth chart in 2011 and you will see a pretty good core coming back.
Third, CRAP DEFENSE!?! All season long our Defense has taken lumps from the media. Some they have deserved, but many times they have proven a pretty good group. As I watched UM score 4000 points on Saturday, it made me grin slightly that somehow we held them to 28. This was without our QB for half a game. While watching Stanford run up the score on Arizona, I wondered just how horrible our D was if we gave up a TD less than both Arizona and USC. By the way, just for a side note ND held both PITT and BC to their second lowest scoring totals of the year. I guess they both must have felt sorry for ND. Finally, that bad performance at Navy in which we all wondered how they could score so many points. Well, how did an option team just score 72 points this past week. YES, 72 points by Navy. I guess this crap defense is not the crappiest after all.
Forth, RECRUITING PANIC!!! In the past two weeks, we have had 3 Florida recruits de-commit. All has stated the distance issue. With these de-commits, you would think every kid in America is leaving ND. Well, far from the reality. In fact, several of those staying with ND have come out and stated their commitment loud and clear. Further, when you look at how ND is still recruiting, they are elite athletes. By the way, they are chasing guys who have ND as their finalists. How can this be if ND has fallen off the National radar?? Because kids realize that ND is still a great program, still has National TV exposure and most important provide a world-class education. Just for some clarity. ND still has a Top 20 recruiting class, so that is better than 100 other FBS schools. OMG, we are not losing all our recruits!!! That’s right.
IN CONCLUSION, ND still fills the stadium every single Saturday with a supportive fan base, which will return in 2011 with vigor. There are many schools, which have had struggles similar to ND this season. Schools like Texas are supposed to just reload and yet they are finding huge bumps in the road similar to ND. We will both be back sooner rather than later. Even during this historically bad, according to ESPN talking heads, somehow ND’s opponents are beating others worse than us. Further, somehow our “high school speed” defense has held most opponents below there season averages and some to almost season lows. With all these crumbling blocks, there are still many many recruits who will find ND a great home.
FOR ALL THE TALKING HEADS: ND IS STILL A GREAT INSTITUTION WHERE ATHLETES CAN EXCEL AND THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM WILL BE RELEVANT AND PROSPER FAR INTO THE FUTURE. GO IRISH!!!
First, ATTENDANCE!!! I watched a few games in particular this weekend that left me shaking my head regarding fan base. Early in the day, I found myself watching a Miami game, which made me realize just how great the ND fans are. The stadium at The U was half empty. At first, I thought it was an orange out because of all the orange I saw, but I realized then that those were EMPTY seats. Later in the day, I was watching Stanford play Arizona. Both teams ranked, both major players in the Pac-10 race and YET there were empty seats galore. This Saturday, ND will be un-ranked, but you will see a packed house. Late in the night, I was watching USC battle ASU in a really good game, but the stands were half empty late in the 3rd quarter. So, those folks that want to say ND is no longer relevant might want to look at the stadiums of those teams they say ARE relevant. The stadium in South Bend will be full of great fans on Saturday and we do not have the population base to draw from like, Miami, Los Angeles or others.
Second, BAD PERFORMANCES!!! All season, we have heard how bad ND is and they just can’t fix this. Well, I watched some of those PREMIER programs get manhandled and humiliated as bad or worse than ND. Take for instance, Texas!!! People will say that are due because they lost Colt McCoy after last season. Well, what about ND who lost Jimmy Clausen?? Further, Texas has all that talent right in their own backyard!!! How come they can’t just reload? But, ND was supposed to just roll along this year despite playing without Rudolph, Allen, Riddick and now Crist on O. Also, for how bad ND is we somehow beat the Big East team that will go to the BCS. Further, we only lost to the potential Big Ten Champs, by a gusty last second fake FG. Hey, all you folks who want to say that ND were chumps for losing so bad to Stanford. What are your thoughts about a ranked Arizona team getting manhandled worse than ND? In the end, ND has struggled this season, but no more than any team which is replacing an NFL QB while suffering an epic injury glut. Take a look at what will likely be the depth chart in 2011 and you will see a pretty good core coming back.
Third, CRAP DEFENSE!?! All season long our Defense has taken lumps from the media. Some they have deserved, but many times they have proven a pretty good group. As I watched UM score 4000 points on Saturday, it made me grin slightly that somehow we held them to 28. This was without our QB for half a game. While watching Stanford run up the score on Arizona, I wondered just how horrible our D was if we gave up a TD less than both Arizona and USC. By the way, just for a side note ND held both PITT and BC to their second lowest scoring totals of the year. I guess they both must have felt sorry for ND. Finally, that bad performance at Navy in which we all wondered how they could score so many points. Well, how did an option team just score 72 points this past week. YES, 72 points by Navy. I guess this crap defense is not the crappiest after all.
Forth, RECRUITING PANIC!!! In the past two weeks, we have had 3 Florida recruits de-commit. All has stated the distance issue. With these de-commits, you would think every kid in America is leaving ND. Well, far from the reality. In fact, several of those staying with ND have come out and stated their commitment loud and clear. Further, when you look at how ND is still recruiting, they are elite athletes. By the way, they are chasing guys who have ND as their finalists. How can this be if ND has fallen off the National radar?? Because kids realize that ND is still a great program, still has National TV exposure and most important provide a world-class education. Just for some clarity. ND still has a Top 20 recruiting class, so that is better than 100 other FBS schools. OMG, we are not losing all our recruits!!! That’s right.
IN CONCLUSION, ND still fills the stadium every single Saturday with a supportive fan base, which will return in 2011 with vigor. There are many schools, which have had struggles similar to ND this season. Schools like Texas are supposed to just reload and yet they are finding huge bumps in the road similar to ND. We will both be back sooner rather than later. Even during this historically bad, according to ESPN talking heads, somehow ND’s opponents are beating others worse than us. Further, somehow our “high school speed” defense has held most opponents below there season averages and some to almost season lows. With all these crumbling blocks, there are still many many recruits who will find ND a great home.
FOR ALL THE TALKING HEADS: ND IS STILL A GREAT INSTITUTION WHERE ATHLETES CAN EXCEL AND THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM WILL BE RELEVANT AND PROSPER FAR INTO THE FUTURE. GO IRISH!!!
