Many a pundit has written article after article about how this team or that team got snubbed for the national championship, or what about so-and-so from a mid-major... enough of that crap.
This past season showed everything that I hate. Notre Dame is what's wrong with the BCS.
The Irish lost, 41-14, to the LSU Tigers, and are now 0-9 in bowl games since 1994. What does this have to do with the BCS, you ask? Well...
Notre Dame went 10-3 and wound up in a BCS bowl, having finished 11th in the BCS standings. Granted, the Irish made it to a BCS bowl by default - the two teams above them in the BCS that didn't go, Auburn and Wisconsin, couldn't go by rule because their conferences already had two other teams in BCS bowls. That doesn't make it okay for Notre Dame to get a nod.
In the past 5 seasons, including bowl games, Notre Dame is 40-22 overall. Not too terrible. Look closer though - they are 11-13 overall against ranked opponents (and three of those 11 wins were against teams that were ranked when they played them but finished the season unranked). In the last two seasons, during the "turn-around," the Irish are 19-6 overall, but 4-5 against ranked opponents, and 1-5 against teams that started and finished the season ranked.
Sounds a lot like a mid-major team, doesn't it?
I've always held a bit of a grudge against Notre Dame, mainly because they like to present themselves as a good, Catholic institution, yet for purely monetary reasons they play every single sport except football as a member of the Big East Conference. This just helps my case, though.
I understand that Notre Dame has a following nationwide, not unlike the Pittsburgh Steelers, and therefore is a guaranteed ratings, tickets, and revenue. But don't you think the Sugar Bowl reps could have gotten an equally big draw from allowing West Virginia (right behind them at 13th in the BCS) a return trip to the bayou, especially after what they did against Georgia last year? Or, God forbid, tweaking the rules so that a FAR more deserving Wisconsin or Auburn team could have gone?
I suppose, in the end, there are three possible outcomes.
A) Notre Dame keeps getting gimmes, and we keep writing articles like this.
B) They lose respect and BCS bids.
C) They suck it up, join the Big East for football, and dominate their way to repeated automatic BCS bids.
Excuse me if I pray for anything but A.
The Notre Dame issue, on the other hand, may just be the by-product of a bigger problem - has anyone paused to consider that the BCS is eating itself alive?
Article comments
1 - Go Irish
Why would a team who can afford to be independent decide to join a weak conference where they would no doubt make less money? What sense does that make? The Big East wouldn't let ND in anyways because ND would dominate all of them every season.
You really think WVU is a bigger draw than ND? You think they would have traveled the same as ND? You're out of your mind.
If a playoff system was in place then OSU would not have made it to the national championship game--yeah, good call on the playoffs, I guess it is necessary.
Big ups to Google News Alerts for finding this article....
2 - boo irish
"Why would a team who can afford to be independent decide to join a weak conference where they would no doubt make less money? What sense does that make? The Big East wouldn't let ND in anyways because ND would dominate all of them every season. "
LOL. Notre Dame wouldn't dominate the WAC with their defense.
The Big East would take them in a minute and they wouldn't finish in the top half of the conference this coming season.
3 - geeves
Mr. G. Irish...
did you miss the part where I said ND has eleven wins and thirteen losses (a .458 win percentage) against ranked teams over the last FIVE years?
later in the article, i alluded to (but didnt flesh out) the fact that the Big East had four teams (half its membership) ranked at some point last season.
1+1 = 2
Those numbers would dictate that Notre Dame would find the Big East VERY competitive (just like they do for EVERY other sport where they are in that conference).
I never discussed a financial logic move. it was about them touting their religiosity yet making such a blatantly money-driven choice.
and yes, they would be a bigger draw, they WERE a bigger draw just one year prior, dummy.
4 - geeves
they = WVU
5 - Go Irish
Geeves,
"Personal attacks are not allowed. Please read our comment policy."
Thanks for half-ass reply too!
You're obviously just another angry nerd that vents their petty life frustrations in a lame blog article that nobody will read but me, you and the editor anyways. ND haters are all the same... jealous. LOL!
6 - geeves
if it was a personal attack, it would have been deleted.
how is discussing all the points of contention in your comment being half-assed? it was quite whole-assed, i think.
but, to each their own opinion, i suppose.
7 - boo irish
Nobody is jealous go Irish. Resentful, yes. They wield such power because they have a nationwide following of semi-literate morons, white-haired drunks and their idiot offspring.
Notre Dame itself is a fine school but their fanbase is a pathetic sea of humanity and there is nothing to be jealous of because any idiot can make the choice to be a Notre Dame fan ... just like you did.
8 - RJ Elliott
I don't hate ND; I just hate how they are consistently over-rated...
9 - Andy
Michigan and OSU had no place in the BCS either. They both got blown out. Complete waste. Let's get Va Tech in there to play USC instead. What a joke.
10 - kevin
I live in n.y.. I've traveled to Ireland as well as to South Bend to see the boyo's play.I can tell you without hesitation that the experience and aura of n.d.is without equal.I will also say that their teams are definitely overated. Everyone knows it; but who cares?
11 - Rob
When you gave your position of holding a grudge against ND I stopped reading.
12 - The Real World
I think that records show ND is given more credit than it deserves. Would ND dominate the BE? I don't think so.........shoot Miami(in it's heyday)had to really work and usally share the title. I too hope for a playoff, where on the field actions speak louder than perceptions.
13 - TN Mountie
I am EXTREMELY jealous. I would love to lose 9 straight bowl games, and get blown out in the vast majority of those games.
And just wait until 2007. No QB, no RB, no WR's, and no defense.