About Notre Dame

[PonyExpress]

Weis has been taking alot of cr@p since the Sugar Bowl debacle; on the one hand critics scoff at the talent disparity between the golden domers and other big-time programs, on the other they say that Weis can't coach 'em up well enough to compete. I believe ND did have enough talent to compete, and that Weis can coach 'em up. Where the machine breaks down is when your starting QB has happy feet, mediocre accuracy, and no pocket presence even in the face of little pass rush, like Quinn. The ND defense eventually lost heart, because any team, on both sides of the ball, takes its cue from an inspirational talent at QB. Tom Brady and Vince Young have this positive effect even on the defenses of their respective teams. In contrast, when players know their Qb is a hopeless wreck, morale waivers, while the opposition senses weakness and gains confidence. I believe Charlie created Quinn's hype through superior coaching, but the kid will always be jittery in a big game, a flaw that can never be corrected: it's who he is, unfortunately. If ND had a less physically gifted but cooler customer starting at Qb vs. LSU in place of Quinn, the game would have remained competitive into the 2nd half.

 

[patsfaninpa]

When the Domers have a good team. The whole country tells these kids how great they are. And, they start to believe them. I thought they got rattled when they got punched in the mouth this year. Nobody was supposed to be able to do that to them. Did you see the Army All-American game yesterday? Complete ball-washing by NBC. Should not be allowed on network tv. That Tom Lemming is a ND schill and sickens me. To come out and say Jimmy Clausen will win a Heisman and MNC is just wrong.

 

[jmt57]

Bowl games are based on money, not on what team is most deserving. College football is big business with millions of dollars at stake. Notre Dame gets in to big money bowl games because they will fill the stadium and generate high TV viewer ratings. As a result, they end up playing better teams than they would play if the matchups were based solely on performance. If I'm a TV executive, or head of advertising for Geico or Budweiser, I'm going to put my money behind a well known team with a big following even with four losses and not an upstart with one loss.

The end result is that Notre Dame keeps on playing teams that are better than they are, and they keep on losing in December. Teams like Notre Dame, Penn State, and Florida State are going to get better pay days than they deserve while Utah, Boise State and Rutgers will get the scraps.