This season has separated the Notre Dame fans from those who have taken the long journey on the bandwagon.
The football program at Notre Dame thrives on success and tradition. As Wikipedia states, “Notre Dame has won more national championships and produced more All-Americans than any other Football Bowl Subdivision school.” Attending a game at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana not only includes a view of the infamous “Touchdown Jesus” but also provides an experience that has been shared by Notre Dame fans for the last 120 years in support of their team’s record of 822 wins, 270 losses, and
42 ties.
The Fighting Irish started this season with a record of 0-5, which surpasses the previous held record of 0-4 for the schools worst start to a season. The program has had only 12 losing seasons since 1887. With the challenging schedule that Notre Dame commits to every year, it would practically be a miracle if they avoided adding the 13th losing season to their resume. However, the Irish beat UCLA (20-6) last Saturday, which landed a smile on the leprechaun’s face, in addition to the millions of other Notre Dame “die-hards.”
I’m sure the seven Irish players who have won the Heisman Trophy for their role at Notre Dame were included in this moment of great relief. A record of 1-5 does not look very optimistic but it is much more respectable than the 0-8 start that has been recently predicted.
The school is in the Charlie Weis era, who is the former offense coordinator for the New England Patriots. On a side note, New England recently was exposed for using “spyware” to steal opponent’s play books. Do they really deserve those three recent super bowl rings? Umm, no! Go Colts! Critics have been questioning Coach Weis’ credibility asking if he is ready for his first head coaching position especially when it is heading up one of the nations most nationally critiqued teams. Every team has their down years throughout their rotation of four year players but with this being the first year for recruits by Coach Weis, fans are excited to see how this young team will evolve.
Now that the team has a victory under its belt and the pressures of a winless season out of mind, they are determined to revive the program’s level of respect. If they were to finish the next six games with victories then they would have a 7-5 record and more than likely get invited to a bowl game. Is it possible? Yes. Will it happen? Only time will tell. As a Notre Dame fan, I have no doubts that Coach Weis will have this program back in the spotlight as a prospective national contender in no time.
3 comments:
Coming from a non biased point of view, I think it is going to be more then difficult to get Notre Dame back on track. This season is already shot because of the start of the season and now they just have to look toward next year. Luckily for them, they have a very strong recruiting class coming in for next year, so maybe in two or three years they will be a top program again. Personally I never imagined seeing a year where they might not make any bowl game, but it looks as if this will be that year.
Being that this is the first year of Weiss' recruits, it appears that he may be suffering from "Coker Syndrome". If this team continues on the track that they have been going, then we may be looking at the same kind of thing that happened when Larry Coker took over the hurricanes. Hopefully for Charlie Weiss his team wont suffer the same fate, but if he doesnt do something fast to change I think he may be looking for another job real soon.
Judging from Notre Dame's lack of willingness recently to give coaches much time to settle in, I don't think Charlie Weiss will have much of a honeymoon period. I wouldn't be surprised if he is fired after this season, but it would definitely be jumping the gun because he needs at least a few years to turn things around. Another big point to remember is that Notre Dame may be suffering from it's difficult schedule it gives itself from being an independent. I think in the near future they will be either easing their schedule or joining a conference. A bowl-less year like this can't be good for the school's finances.
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