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Let's start with an assumption.
Either you think Notre Dame has clearly earned a Bowl Championship Series berth, or you think the Fighting Irish are stealing one from a more deserving team, such as Oregon, Auburn or Ohio State.
There's no middle ground.
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"You either love them or hate them," Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble said Tuesday from Miami. "As long as they're one of the top teams in the country, it will always be that way."
Debate about Notre Dame's merits began a few minutes after the Fighting Irish became BCS-eligible with a last-second 38-31 victory over 5-6 Stanford Saturday night in Palo Alto.
Asked why the Irish are such an attractive bowl team, Tribble said, "I think, No. 1, it's the tradition. People look at Notre Dame and they recall the great tradition. Four Horsemen, Knute Rockne, icons that people just identify with their tradition."
But there's something else that makes the Irish irresistible to folks in polyester blazers. Those gold helmets translate into a different sort of gold - television ratings.
"They have a huge following and very great TV ratings," Tribble said.
But wait. So does Penn State.
And when it comes to TV ratings, at least in the Fiesta Bowl, Penn State's ratings are far greater than Notre Dame's.
The Nittany Lions have played in six Fiesta Bowls, winning them all. According to Fiesta Bowl figures, the six Penn State Fiestas have drawn an average rating of 15.3.
By comparison, Notre Dame's three Fiesta Bowls have averaged only an 11.2 rating.
Notre Dame's best Fiesta rating, 17.0, came when the Fighting Irish beat West Virginia in January 1989 to win their last national title. Three Penn State Fiestas earned bigger ratings - including the Nittany Lions' triumph over Miami in the January 1987 national title game, which drew a 25.1 rating, the largest in the Fiesta history by far.
No. 3 Penn State is ranked five slots ahead of Notre Dame in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings. The 10-1 Nittany Lions also have a better record than the 9-2 Fighting Irish.
This begs a question: Why would the Fiesta, given the choice, be so quick to grab Notre Dame over Penn State?
Why would the Fiesta snub a team that has been a proven postseason commodity - Penn State's 23 bowl victories rank fourth in Division I-A history - to take a team on a seven-game postseason slide? (And three of those losses have come here in the Valley, with Notre Dame losing two Fiestas and an Insight by an average score of 40-18.)
Why would the Fiesta pass up a chance to spend a week with Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose 353 victories are second in major-college history?
The answer: It's Notre Dame, stupid.
It isn't quite that simple, at least in the view of some Fiesta committee members, who believe Notre Dame provides more flexibility in making a matchup. If the Fiesta were to choose Penn State, it would then have to decide between Auburn and Oregon. With Notre Dame in the mix, the Fiesta can invite Ohio State, Auburn or Oregon.
But that's not how it looks to outsiders. Last week, Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos and head coach Mike Bellotti visited Fiesta officials in Tempe to build a case for the Ducks, who, like Penn State, have a better record than the Irish and are ranked ahead of them in the BCS standings.
"What we told the Fiesta Bowl people was, if you want to go back over the last 100 years, that's fine, we're probably not in the running," Moos said from Eugene, Ore. "But if you want to address the last 12 years, we can show you a football program that has blossomed here at Oregon.
"We can't compete with the Four Horsemen and Knute Rockne and all those things and we don't intend to. What we have is a good, solid program and a fan base that will flock to the desert."
He's right. Oregon, Ohio State and Auburn all have made strong arguments.
But they all lack one thing. How do we put this gently?
They're not Notre Dame.
Source: Arizona Republic
Either you think Notre Dame has clearly earned a Bowl Championship Series berth, or you think the Fighting Irish are stealing one from a more deserving team, such as Oregon, Auburn or Ohio State.
There's no middle ground.
<!-- BOXAD TABLE -->
"You either love them or hate them," Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble said Tuesday from Miami. "As long as they're one of the top teams in the country, it will always be that way."
Debate about Notre Dame's merits began a few minutes after the Fighting Irish became BCS-eligible with a last-second 38-31 victory over 5-6 Stanford Saturday night in Palo Alto.
Asked why the Irish are such an attractive bowl team, Tribble said, "I think, No. 1, it's the tradition. People look at Notre Dame and they recall the great tradition. Four Horsemen, Knute Rockne, icons that people just identify with their tradition."
But there's something else that makes the Irish irresistible to folks in polyester blazers. Those gold helmets translate into a different sort of gold - television ratings.
"They have a huge following and very great TV ratings," Tribble said.
But wait. So does Penn State.
And when it comes to TV ratings, at least in the Fiesta Bowl, Penn State's ratings are far greater than Notre Dame's.
The Nittany Lions have played in six Fiesta Bowls, winning them all. According to Fiesta Bowl figures, the six Penn State Fiestas have drawn an average rating of 15.3.
By comparison, Notre Dame's three Fiesta Bowls have averaged only an 11.2 rating.
Notre Dame's best Fiesta rating, 17.0, came when the Fighting Irish beat West Virginia in January 1989 to win their last national title. Three Penn State Fiestas earned bigger ratings - including the Nittany Lions' triumph over Miami in the January 1987 national title game, which drew a 25.1 rating, the largest in the Fiesta history by far.
No. 3 Penn State is ranked five slots ahead of Notre Dame in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings. The 10-1 Nittany Lions also have a better record than the 9-2 Fighting Irish.
This begs a question: Why would the Fiesta, given the choice, be so quick to grab Notre Dame over Penn State?
Why would the Fiesta snub a team that has been a proven postseason commodity - Penn State's 23 bowl victories rank fourth in Division I-A history - to take a team on a seven-game postseason slide? (And three of those losses have come here in the Valley, with Notre Dame losing two Fiestas and an Insight by an average score of 40-18.)
Why would the Fiesta pass up a chance to spend a week with Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose 353 victories are second in major-college history?
The answer: It's Notre Dame, stupid.
It isn't quite that simple, at least in the view of some Fiesta committee members, who believe Notre Dame provides more flexibility in making a matchup. If the Fiesta were to choose Penn State, it would then have to decide between Auburn and Oregon. With Notre Dame in the mix, the Fiesta can invite Ohio State, Auburn or Oregon.
But that's not how it looks to outsiders. Last week, Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos and head coach Mike Bellotti visited Fiesta officials in Tempe to build a case for the Ducks, who, like Penn State, have a better record than the Irish and are ranked ahead of them in the BCS standings.
"What we told the Fiesta Bowl people was, if you want to go back over the last 100 years, that's fine, we're probably not in the running," Moos said from Eugene, Ore. "But if you want to address the last 12 years, we can show you a football program that has blossomed here at Oregon.
"We can't compete with the Four Horsemen and Knute Rockne and all those things and we don't intend to. What we have is a good, solid program and a fan base that will flock to the desert."
He's right. Oregon, Ohio State and Auburn all have made strong arguments.
But they all lack one thing. How do we put this gently?
They're not Notre Dame.
Source: Arizona Republic
