comes from Beano Cook, from his 7/15 ESPNU Podcast with Ivan Maisel, where he asks at the 5:50 mark:
… Right now, what team has a better chance of going undefeated, Florida or Notre Dame?
Cook actually picks the Irish. Maisel, to his credit, can’t hide his incredulity.
At least Beano wasn’t picking Clausen for the Heisman.
Get The Picture 
Wouldn’t that fit better in your Wanker of the Day category?
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Ok, I agree it’s ridiculous. But if you are gonna say they’ve got a shot due to their schedule, at least question whether they should be considered if they go undefeated. Their schedule is not much better on paper right now than those mid majors Hatch is crying over if USC wasn’t on it.
The thing that kills me is not that guys like Beano and Feldman are gratifying themselves at any mention of Notre Dame and continually find ways to work them into the conversation. What does it is that it’s assumed that if they go undefeated they deserve a shot just as much as any Big conference team that is undefeated or has one loss.
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I wonder how much longer the Notre Dame “mystique” can last? I understand people like Beano grew up when ND was the be all end all, but for those of us under 30 ND is somewhat of a joke. All we know is a team that can’t win a bowl game and folds like a cheap umbrella when they play good competition. I’d be interested to see what NBC’s ratings are for the 18-35 age group. I can’t help but think that they would pale in comparison to the ratings the SEC, Big 12, or USC get. Of course, my opinion could just be the biased product of being from SEC country. Maybe the youth of the Northeast are still enthralled by everything ND just like their grandparents are.
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You are right Dawg05, Beano has outlived ND’s relevance. I don’t think either team will go undefeated, but the only reason a team like ND can even get into this discussion is the lack of quality opponents they play. He thinks that ND having a chance to go undefeated makes them impressive, what it actually does is highlight why they have become a national joke. Why does anyone interview Beano any more? His knowledge of CFB is limited to ND and the Big 11/MAC. You would think with cable service now available he would have gotten the message.
I would say ND is still thought to be pretty cool by Northeasterners, who don’t actually watch CFB much. Let’s face it, when your area teams are Connecticut, Syracuse, Army, Yale, and Rutgers, it is unlikely you would be an intense CFB fan. Like Beano, most of them don’t know ND’s program is in the past. When I lived in Philly in the 80’s the newspaper never had more than a 5 line paragraph on results of Top 25 teams….no statistics, no summary of the big plays, basically it was just who won or lost, their ranking, and their updated record. I would be curious what percentage of the ND TV audience is in the northeast.
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I have no reason to think that the college-football-consuming public considers the Irish anywhere near as iconic or essential as the national media think they do, but then I live in a city that’s home to the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, so my sample in that “research” might not exactly be statistically sound.
I think the only thing that will finally prompt the media to open their eyes and discover the nakedness of the emperor (or leprechaun, as it were) is if the Irish enter an era of mediocrity prolonged enough for NBC to shrug their shoulders and non-renew their TV contract. In the grand scheme of things, they’re already in such an era, but the problem is every time they spike up to so much as a single year of nine or ten wins, that’s enough to spark a wave of “Are the Irish finally back?!?!” columns and ESPN segments, so it’s like the reset button has been hit and we have to start the wait all over again.
But if the Irish spend five or six straight years getting bent over by the Purdues and Michigan States of the world and going to Independence Bowls, who knows, maybe NBC will finally say “no thanks,” Notre Dame games will be televised by EWTN, and we’ll no longer be subjected to Beano’s windmill-tilting. It’d be funny, at least.
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How is this even debatable? The Irish have a MUCH better chance than Florida of going undefeated this or any other season.
Until they start playing Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, FSU, South Carolina, and some combination of Alabama/Auburn/Ole Miss/Arkansas every year, Notre Dame will have a much easier annual schedule than the Gators.
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Agree with Hobnail, the Irish do have a better chance of going undefeated (because of scheduling).
ALSO – One point that has been left out of the conversation so far:
Notre Dame actually has (several) undefeated seasons under their belt (admittedly back when they were relevant)… while Florida has worked very hard to prove that an undefeated season is not a requirement for a National Championship (in your face, Aubie!). Why should Corch Meyers or the Gator concern themselves with unnecessary things such as going undefeated, when they can drop a home game or even lose the last game of the regular season to a rival and still get a shot for the Championship???
We can complain all we want about the media’s ND love, but that is quickly becoming a thing of the past. UF love, though, remains in full bloom in Bristol. I’m not saying they weren’t the best team last year, only that you’d never see them get left out the way some SEC teams have in the past…
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Have you guys looked at Florida’s schedule this year? The opener against Charleston Southern may be the most lopsided match up of 2009.
Bottom line is that there’s nobody on the Gators’ slate that as likely to beat them as Southern Cal is to beat Notre Dame.
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Historically speaking, USC always has that “trip” game, especially in a year with a “new” starting QB… They practically lost their entire defense to the NFL… Granted, they are still a very, very good team, but if they are ripe to get “picked-off”, like they do every year, look for it to be on the road in South Bend… I’m not saying it WILL happen, just that I like ND and the points on that game…
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Well, Steele does have them as a darkhorse for the NC …
I still think Michigan State, Southern Cal, Boston College and maybe even Michigan — yes, that Michigan — all have a decent shot at taking down ND. I think eight or nine games is the Irish’s ceiling.
Also, don’t forget that Florida misses both Alabama and Ole Miss this year and draws Mississippi State, so the Western part of the schedule works out nicely.
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I wouldn’t count on BC this year. The Eagles lost their best defensive player to cancer and their starting QB to academics. They’ll struggle to make a bowl game, IMO.
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