I really don’t know how you get from Point A in this New York Daily News piece…
If you are what your record says you are, then Notre Dame is a very average football team. The Irish are 5-4 following a 17-0 loss to Boston College on a rainy Saturday night in Chestnut Hill. They do not have a signature victory or a road win.
This is Year 4 of the Charlie Weis era – a year longer than the school gave former coach Ty Willingham – and he does not look like the second coming of Knute Rockne. The Irish are 1-15 in their last 16 games against teams with winning records…
to Point B.
If Notre Dame beats Navy and Syracuse and loses, as expected, to USC on the road, the Irish will finish 7-5. That should be good enough for them to earn an invitation to the Cotton Bowl, Gator Bowl or Sun Bowl…
Holy mother of crap, the freakin’ Cotton Bowl? Does anyone have a sense of shame any more?
Get The Picture 
Man, talk about falling from grace. What happened to the Cotton Bowl? Was it just the SWC dissolving that knocked its prestige down, or with the emergence of the Fiesta Bowl, was it just necessary for one of the original “big four” to take a step back? Maybe when Jerry Jones’ monstrosity is completed things will swing back, but man–talk about something not being what it once was.
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Um, last time I checked, the Cotton Bowl was pretty solidly tied to the SEC and Big XII, and there’s no way either of those leagues won’t fill their slot. Meanwhile, ND is in the Big East bowl pool.
That said, of course, if the Irish had beaten BC, we might be talking about BCS if they win out, because ND plays by no man’s rules. My number one change to the current system: Make ND join a conference already!
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You’d think that the bowls (and the Notre Dame athletics department) would eventually get wise to the fact that ND getting invited to bowl games well above its station, and therefore getting matched up with much better teams, is a major part of the reason the Irish haven’t won a postseason game in 15 years. But evidently the present situation is A-OK with both the bowls and the Irish fans who will snap up tickets no matter how bad an ass-kicking they’re about to be subjected to.
And since the Dawgs are kind of hanging by a thread as far as their chances of getting a BCS invite anyway, would a UGA-ND Cotton Bowl really be that bad? Put the Irish in their place once again, and smack around a third Clausen brother while we’re at it?
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… would a UGA-ND Cotton Bowl really be that bad? Put the Irish in their place once again, and smack around a third Clausen brother while we’re at it?
If nothing else, it would prove that God has a terrific sense of humor.
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As someone who loves the Cotton Bowl, I’ll tell you that it’s several trends that have really killed it.
First, the death of the SWC was the first blow.
Two, the stadium has been in pretty bad shape for awhile (it was recently renovated and improved, I think, but not enough from what I can gather) and the solons running Dallas don’t have enough money or nads to do it right.
Three, the SEC treats it like a second tier bowl like the Outback or Peach.
Four, the Big XII’s top non-BCS team goes to the Holiday Bowl. Another blow.
There is a stipulation in the CB contract that ND can be taken every so often instead of a SEC team. But I doubt that ND would fall below the Gator.
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The fact that we have a provision that enables ND to go to a BCS bowl and the fact that anytime that a playoff scenario is drawn up it includes a stipulation for ND, just shows me how truly ignorant the bowls are. ND is not the ND of old anymore. I laugh my butt off every time I see the score from another ND loss that is televised on the ND network(NBC). I love it that they suck. Not to mention Lou Holtz and Terrance Moore are ND fans. If they ever want to be involved in a playoff that is inevitable, they should join a conference.
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Sure ND sucks. And sure they’ll get handed an invitation to a bowl way above where they should be, and they’ll get smacked down just like every year. But none of this indicates ignorance on the part of the bowls or ND. It is indicative of greed. ND brings fans and ratings. That’s why bowls love them. It’s that simple, and it’s not going away.
And that’s why it’s so much fun to watch them lose.
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Gator – I’m sure you’re right about the greed rationale. I’ve heard that reasoning before. What I can’t figure out is why. Why do they still pull in great ratings? I never have and never will understand the love affair.
And another thing, didn’t I hear Lou Hotz make a wager on air with Mark May that the leprechauns would win at least 10 games this year?
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Notre Dame’s Strength of Schedule this year for all known opponents is Number 72, according to the Official NCAA SoS All Known Opponents.
Click to access fbs_9games_cumm.pdf
As for the comments above that the Cotton Bowl has solid commitments to The SEC and to the Big XII, why write what you don’t know ? The Cotton Bowl has renewed its contract with the expressed written out that it could choose Notre Dame up to 1 time every 4 years. It is 1 of the reasons the Cotton Bowl has not been for some time now a Top Bowl Game any longer. They allowed the Fiesta Bowl to steal that from them.
Southern California’s Official NCAA SoS this season is number 63. That the Rose Bowl would be stuck with them and Penn State today, if both win out, is fitting as far as I am concerned. I hate the Rose Bowl for what they perpetuate every year trying to tell the world that the Big 10 and PAC-10 are the only 2 conferences in football.
Compare this with UGA headed to the CaptialOne Citrus Bowl against I would prefer Penn State, although they think against Michigan State :
If we would not have started out preseason Number 1, we would not be Number 10 in the BCS today.
Clearly falling behind 31 to nothing to Alabama and falling behind 49-3 to Florida isn’t just a concept that the players or coaches or both, were not focused because we were the higher ranked team.
I believe, correct now if I am wrong please – that if we are behind 31-0 and 49-3, that those two teams Number 1 and Number 4 in the BCS today, just perhaps are better football teams.
What do you think ?
This season, more than any previous season, is a season in which the fans bought into the hype that the players that have averaged about 7th best in the nation in national recruiting rankings, are instead the Number 1 Best National Champions Football Team.
We are not.
For example, there is not 1 Tight End on this team – nor has there been all season long.
There, for another example, is not 1 Defensive End on this team – nor has there been all season long.
So, what are we doing about it ?
As fans, what we are doing about it is saying fire Mike Bobo, fire Willie Martinez, fire Coach Richt – they just can’t get over the hump of being ranked Number 7 in the Final Polls on the average for the 8 years now of the Coach Richt Era.
What we should be saying is why is it that the best we can do in recruiting for next season is 1 guy at Tight End who has 4.93 speed in the 40-yard dash and at Defensive End all we can do is just 1 guy too and he too 4.93 in the 40-yard dash.
I believe we don’t have the talent of Florida, nor Alabama this season. They out-recruited us. We knew that when they did it.
Unless we just bought into the hype that UGA would go undefeated against the Number 1 Strength of Schedule in the nation.
As for the Defense, 31 to nothing and 49 to 3 is not just a problem of the Defense, now is it ?
I am not all that disappointed with 11-2 and CaptialOne Bowl with $4.25 million dollar payout New Year’s Day, because I was the only poster to this blog who said Bluto that UGA would be a 2-Loss team this year. Way too many tough games, especially all the away games against top teams like South Carolina and LSU, Alabama and Florida, etc. that we would lose more players to injury.
If you want to show me the teams who beat Number 23 South Carolina and Number 19 LSU this season, for their season, then please do so.
Alabama and Florida had better talent, and were clearly the better team on the field, which is why they are Number 1 and Number 3 in the nation. If you want to show me any team too who has beat the Number 1 and Number 4 team in the BCS today, please do that too.
Now, if we can get back to the Oldest Rivalry in The Great South in Football, I would like to suggest that we have much to play for this weekend on the road again and then a week off before we take on the nerds who think they are so great having beat zero Top 25 BCS Teams today, nor played even Number 1 or Number 4 but having a far worse season.
Somehow that is better because of expectations.
B.S.
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Don’t say anything bad about Weis. I am a Trojan, and I want this fat f*** to stay at ND for all of time.
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