Notre Dame: Were they ever that good?
That’s what I’m starting to wonder.
I usually cheer for them, because unlike so many other football programs, they shy away from recruiting thugs and ex-cons (yes, I’m looking at you, Bobby Bowden).
But there is a difference between hoping a team does well and flat-out favoring them beyond all reason, like the pollsters do every single year.
Fact: Notre Dame lost to every ranked opponent they played over the past two years, with the exception of Penn State this year (and the Nitanny Lions dropped out of the Top 25 after playing Notre Dame).
This calls into question their high ranking right now, despite getting beat consistently by quality opponents.
Fact: Notre Dame has lost its last 16 games against top 10 opponents (0-16).
Which makes you wonder how they keep getting such high preseason rankings when they continually flop against other highly ranked teams.
Fact: Notre Dame has lost their last 8 bowl games, dating back to 1994 (0-8).
Obviously, they usually end up playing much better teams in bowl games…why? Because their ranking is inflated, so they end up outmatched when they have to play another highly ranked team come January 1st.
Hopefully Notre Dame turns this around and starts winning (against someone besides Navy) over the next few years. College football needs classy programs like Notre Dame, but not the favoritism that the Irish benefit from.
4 Responses to “Notre Dame: Were they ever that good?”
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I just finished Lou Holtz’s bio, and he even complained that media voters rate ND higher than deserved. Given that the Irish have a national fan base, you can drive up readership of SI and other media outlets by giving ND an inflated ranking.
OTOH, ND will be the real deal next year. They have a no JC xfer policy, so Weiss wasn’t able to patch up their lack of speed right away. They grabbed the best prep QB this past recruiting season.
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/091005aaa.html
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/090405aaa.html
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/091104aab.html
http://und.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/110604aab.html
do the homework buddy.
doug’s references to ND’s 0-8 record in bowl games since 1994 and their 0-16 record against top 10 teams accord with a graphic ESPNews showed the day after the irish got their lunch handed to them by LSU. it now appears that this is what ESPN meant:
this is our fault for posting ESPNews’ stats without attempting to verify them. if we had, we would have noticed that they were unclear. what they should have reported is, notre dame hasn’t beat a team that finished in the top 10 in its last 16 tries. that said, here is the homework, buddy:
response to your first link: the ND press release shows the irish beat #3 michigan in early september 2005. sadly, the wolverines were never actually good. they ended the 2005 season with a loss to nebraska in the alamo bowl, and finished out of the top 25. that is from wikipedia: 2005 NCAA Division I-A football rankings.
your second link: pitt wasn’t in the top 10. they were 25th in the country for one week, then dropped out, not to be seen again.
your third link: michigan finished the season out of the top 10. [source: wikipedia: 2004 NCAA Division I-A football rankings].
your last link: likewise, tennessee finished 2004 outside the top ten, though in the top 25. [source]
And from ESPN today: