Watching them lose 44-24 to USC on Saturday night I’ll give Notre Ame this much; at least they are consistent.
The Irish were just as non-competitive last night as they were against Michigan earlier this season. Notre Dame — when they were ranked second — was outclassed by the No. 11 team in the country in mid-September (Michigan) and they were outclassed by the third ranked team in their last game of the season.
The Irish played just as poorly against USC as they did against Georgia Tech, Michigan, Michigan State, and UCLA but Saturday night they were overmatched and couldn’t keep up with a superior team.
For their vaunted offense and all of the hype they were never in the game and of the three games on television Saturday night the USC/Notre Dame “mis-matchup” was the least compelling. The Division I playoff game between Youngstown State and James Madison was a much better watch, as was the Maryland/Wake Forest (now spelled with 10 Ws) tilt that was for half of the ACC marbles.
But back to the Irish…
Those 8 weeks of patsies didn’t help the Golden Domers prepare for a real team and only served to inflate their record and their stats while — unfairly — keeping them as a part of the BCS discussion. Even during the telecast on ABC the announcers recognized that the gaudy stats Brady Quinn rolled up against the service academies, North Carolina, Stanford, etc didn’t really mean all that much in light of last night’s performance.
There wasn’t a phase of the game in which Notre Dame could compete with USC.
Saturday night’s lambasting serves as proof that the Irish don’t belong in the BCS mix as it is now set up, and haven’t belonged all year long. Notre Dame is a good team with an unparalleled tradition, but these attributes shouldn’t get them a seat at the BCS table.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well if GA Tech wins the ACC at least they'll have that win.
I for one am fine with a 12th ranking. Wish they'd play Rutgers in a BCS bowl.
2 - Daniel Bauer
Interestingly, when Notre Dame played a tough schedule in past years, we didn't see the critics so forthcoming with praise. Nonetheless, I felt bad for Mr. Brady Quinn, who in my opinion, will certainly be a very very good QB in the NFL. It would have been nice of the offensive line could have given him some time in the USC loss. However, he still racked up 300+ yds total offense. The defense has got to get better.
3 - RedTard
The schedule was plenty strong, all Notre Dame had to do was win their games. People were saying the same thing about Texas when they were trying to get back in it. If they had beat Ohio State it wouldn't have been an issue.
The big east, Boise State, and others are a different story but the Notre Dame's schedule isn't the problem, their inability to win games is.
4 - RJ Elliott
Damn USC is number two in the BCS now...looks like there won't be an Ohio-Michigan rematch after all...
5 - Ryan
The schedules for Notre Dame are made up 3-4 years in advance. When they made this schedule, They expected Purdue, Penn State, Michigan, and USC to be good, And Navy had a good year too. Michigan State, North Carolina, Air Force, and UCLA should have been good too. But they weren't. 3 or 4 years ago the schedule looked really tough. They can't help what happens to these teams. Blame the NCAA for forcing teams to schedule so far in advance. Notre Dame tries to schedule the best opponents they can, and of course through a few softies in too, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES.
6 - DeNardo
For the people who think that Notre Dame has been consistently overrated for the past few years, USC owed us this one and they came through with flying colors. It was, after all, USC that unwittingly fed a lot of fuel to the fire by not playing a better game at South Bend last year. They fielded a superior team on paper, but failed to dominate the plucky Irish and needed a huge comeback to eke out a win.
Forget the fact that they had romped against ND the previous three years. 2005's Weis-mania was like a fuel-laden Saturn V rocket sitting on the launch pad. Even a close loss to the #1-ranked Trojans was enough of a spark to propel Weis and the Irish into overrated low Earth orbit.
It seems to me that the Trojans, fielding a relatively weaker team than last year's 12-1 squad, were able to convincingly make amends for last year's close win by bringing the whole Notre Dame machine crashing back down to Earth.
But perhaps I was too eager to bury the Irish, too eager to see a 44-24 defeat as a hindrance to Weis's genius reputation. My friend, a rabid Notre Dame fan, told me that last night's SC game was "close" because Notre Dame was within one onside kick and a touchdown drive from making it a one-score game.
Oh, well. I guess it's all about perspective, right?
7 - sal m
but the problem IS the schedule - a good navy team still loses to a lousy team from a good conference - and winning unimpressively plus getting outclassed by the top teams compounds it.
other teams play softees because they play tough conference schedules and are entitled to a couple, especially SEC, Big 10, Pac 10 and Big 12 teams. ND on the other hand has 2 or 3 tough games and 9 or 10 softees.
and while ND picks up BC next year, they drop Army for Duke!
stop blaming the NCAA scheduling rules and start blaming ND's greed...they had the chance to join the Big East years ago - and compete in that conference in other sports - but didn't want to have to share their football revenue with a conference. it's like killing your parents and pleading for mercy because you're an orphan.
8 - Salemm
I agree that the schedule can't be helped. After all Ohio State had to wade through a bunch of patsies on the way to beating Michigan. What burns me is that the press always overhypes ND when they win a few games. It is a sort of feeding frenzy. They are a good team, not a great one. Quinn is a very good QB but not good enough to make up for slow receivers and a slow defense. Charlie Weiss is a good coach but not the genius everyone makes him out to be. There are many coaches in I-A that have done a better job than he has.
9 - Matthew T. Sussman
It ain't so much the schedule as it is who they beat.
OSU beat: Texas and Michigan
Michigan beat: Notre Dame and Wisconsin
Florida beat: LSU and Tennessee
USC beat: Notre Dame, Arkansas, Cal, and Nebraska
LSU beat: Arkansas and Tennessee
Arkansas beat: Auburn and Tennessee
Rutgers beat: Louisville
Louisville beat: West Virginia
Notre Dame beat: Georgia Tech
Points go to UND for beating a team on the road that might win the ACC, but that's the only quality win. Much like Tennessee's only QW was against Cal, ND played a couple tough teams but barely hung with them.
So upon further reflection maybe 12th is still too high. Since Tennessee is 17th, then maybe 16th is appropriate for the Irish.
10 - sal m
all of this just serves to illustrate why D-1A has to have a football playoff system that includes more than 6 teams.
the fact that there is a championship game renders all of the other bowl games - even the other major bowls - meaningless.
if there was a real playoff system as there is in every other college sport - including football at every other college level - all of the bowl games would immediately become way more important/interesting.
11 - P.J. Horning
Tyrone was shipped out when USC dumped Notre Dame, why is Charlie Weis still there? Yes a NDU fan. NDU definitely; was overated. They need some good dumb white & black players to get back into the thick of things.