Notre Dame football is one of the most recognizable and storied brands in North American sports. But it has been a while since the brand of football played by the Fighting Irish lived up to the brand name of Rockne, Leahy, and Parseghian, Touchdown Jesus, Rudy, and Rocket Ismail.
Always influential off the field, Notre Dame has been part of the college football hoi polloi on the field, going 32-31 the previous five seasons. The Roman Empire of college football was reduced to spinning its well-heeled wheels and spouting its history — 11 national championship (but none since the 1988 season), seven Heisman Trophy winners (but none since 1987), and one melodious fight song, while ceding the national title chase to the Alabamas, LSUs, and Oregons.
Comments
The best thing the A.P could do is be open to a split title. If teams are undefeated they deserve consideration. You can't rule out an undefeated team because they got left out of the "big" game. In sports you can only beat who you play. The old ways were so much better... you woke up on Jan 1. and mapped a way to the title. If this teams loses or doesn't impress etc. I remember setting up 3 tv's and it was the single best day of the year in sports. If ND, KSU, AND Oregon all go undefeated then really who is to say who is number 1. Granted 2 of them will play each other so it could be 2. Those 2 deserve a title. I sincerely hope the a.p. has the guts to give some honor to the system. Once we get the playoff these problems will go away. I for one though prefer the 2 small tv's on top of the console television and watching teams navigate through 3 ranking spots on January 1st. Take the weedwacker bowl and give me the bluebonnet bowl and tangerine bowl anytime.
"well-heeled wheels"?