Defending Notre Dame... Kind of

I'll admit it: I'm a Notre Dame fan. It hasn't been easy the last 20 years, but I am. Being a Catholic kid that moved around a lot growing up, I never adopted any local teams as my own. So, Notre Dame was the natural fit.

There have been some harsh words thrown at Notre Dame,
but a lot of them are true. The Irish just aren't elite anymore.

I did not, however, go to the school. So, my loyalties are not nearly as strong as they are to Marquette, my alma mater. Unlike some Notre Dame fans, I can look at the football team and say when they aren't very good or are overrated. Lately, they've been both... often.

Rick Reilly, though, ruffled a lot of Irish feathers lately with his column blasting Notre Dame football and its privileges. He said Notre Dame hasn't been a factor for 20 years (which is pretty much true), and that all of its special deals should be ripped away or that Notre Dame should do the noble thing and decline them. That part I will defend to an extent.

Reilly takes issue with the fact that Notre Dame gets a $1.3 million BCS bonus no matter what kind of a season it has. Is that really a crime? So, we have no issue with Duke, Indiana, Washington State, Syracuse or any other AQ conference bottom-feeders getting the same amount if not more? Notre Dame has not been a championship level program, but come on. It hasn't been as putrid as some of those programs. Like all of the teams in AQ conferences, Notre Dame has been deemed relevant enough to be in the BCS, so it is entitled to BCS dollars. If you're going to take away Notre Dame's BCS money, take away BCS money from every BCS team that doesn't make a bowl game.

As for the idea that Notre Dame should lose its deal with NBC, don't be ridiculous. Any school that is offered any kind of TV deal is foolish to decline it. I said the same thing about Texas with the Longhorn Network. Does it seem shady? Maybe, but if someone is willing to pay, don't turn it down. You've obviously done something to generate the type of fan base that would make a network be willing to make that kind of investment. Take the cash. If the competition doesn't like it, blame the network for offering, not the school for accepting.

By the way, Mr. Reilly, if NBC canceled its deal with Notre Dame, I can think of one television network that would be first in line to scoop Notre Dame up. Oh yes. ESPN would waste all of ten seconds picking up the phone to offer Notre Dame some kind of deal involving broadcasting all Irish football games as well as its own network. Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Reilly. You might find yourself on a live ESPN Notre Dame special.

Now, to be honest, that's all the defense I have for Notre Dame. The twenty years of mediocrity have rendered all the history that preceded it pretty much meaningless in today's college football world. Recruits today weren't even born when Lou Holtz was coaching the Irish. They have no reason to respect Notre Dame as much as they do USC, LSU, Alabama, or Oklahoma.

Yes, Notre Dame has made three BCS bowl appearances. Whether or not they deserved any of those bids is up for debate since the Irish got blasted in all three games. Meanwhile, programs like Utah, TCU, Boise State, Louisville, and (gulp) Kansas all have BCS wins to brag about. Yikes.

Do today's recruits even know who these guys are?
Heck, do you? Can you name the Four Horsemen?

This is the part Notre Dame fans may not want to hear (and the details of which probably should be saved for another blog): the Irish program will likely never be "elite" again. Sure, it can be good. It can get an NFL player here and there. Michael Floyd was legit. Manti Te'o is legit. There will be others. As far as getting a crop of 7 to 10 NFL players all starting at once like USC, LSU and Alabama do, I don't see Notre Dame ever achieving that again. Its ancient advantages of being on television and being a national power in the 1940's just aren't relevant anymore. Everyone is on TV, and a lot more programs are better built for success. Plus, other schools have warmer weather, prettier girls, and lower academic standards. Yes, those things matter to some of the nation's best recruits. Other schools also have more current NFL players than Notre Dame and more trophies in their trophy case with dates that begin with 20-something instead of 19-something. That matters, too.

Look, hope isn't lost, Irish fans. If Kansas can win a BCS game, Notre Dame can. If Boise State can regularly be in the BCS conversation, Notre Dame can. Notre Dame may one day get that perfect storm of a few playmakers, a big time quarterback, a couple breaks in the schedule, and suddenly find itself in the national championship game. It's just going to take work and patience. Notre Dame can't keep firing coach after coach and pretend that it's going to one day get Nick Saban or Bob Stoops. Irish fans just need to let one coach try to build the program for a while. And yes, I'd be fine if that's Brian Kelly.

The days of Notre Dame getting at least 10 wins every year, however, are long gone and not coming back any time soon.