Notre Dame “Relevant” Once Again
On November 13, 1993, the Seminoles of Florida State with their #1 ranking would travel to South Bend to take on The 2nd ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. It was described as the game of the century and it lived up to its billing. The Irish would win 31-24 propelling them to #1, but that would only last a week, the Irish were upset by Boston College on a last second field goal by the rival Eagles. That was the last time Notre Dame was ranked #1. The last time Notre Dame was called “relevant”. The last time until now.
It is nearly 2 decades since the Irish have been “relevant”, and nearly a quarter of a century since they last won the National Championship (1988). The funny thing is I was 3 in 1988 and 7 in 1993 and I remember my dad cheering in 88. I remember cheering in 93. I remember where I was and what happened during that game, and the disappointment a week later. I have been a Notre Dame fan all my life, and after the Lou Holtz era at Notre Dame it was rough being an Irish fan. I do not believe in bandwagoning. You have a team and you stick with them through good times and through bad. At last it is good times again as the Irish are a win away from playing for the National Championship.
Notre Dame is once again the number one team in the country for the first time in the BCS era. All that stands between then and a trip to Miami are the hated Trojans from Southern California (USC). On Saturday Notre Dame will travel to the Los Angeles Coliseum to battle USC. The Trojans are having a down year, but this is the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football. This Saturday will mark the 84th meeting between the two teams, and no matchup has had more National Championship implications than the Notre Dame, USC rivalry. This one is no different. USC has nothing left to play for except to ruin the season of the Fighting Irish. That would make the USC down season a success.
The question is, does Notre Dame deserve their number 1 ranking? I realize I am biased, but looking at it from a neutral point of view the answer is still yes. I realize there are a lot of Notre Dame haters out there, but why? Because they are Notre Dame and do not have to play in a conference? Maybe because they have a national broadcast contract with NBC? Thats all fine, but the Irish still deserve their top ranking. People liked Oregon because they won by huge margins and Notre Dame won by a few points over some bad teams. Well Oregon had not played anybody and then Stanford showed up and beat them. The Irish find ways to win and have won by big margins and by small. To be honest some of the teams on Notre Dames schedule had down years, but they still beat more ranked opponents than any other team in college football. Including the same Stanford team that beat Oregon. They say defense wins championships, Notre Dame has the best defense in the country. Sure they deserve their ranking. They may not play in a conference, but they still play arguably the toughest schedule in the country. The computers like Notre Dames schedule why does nobody else?
Regardless of whether you are a Notre Dame fan or not it is clear that college football draws more interest when The Irish are relevant. For the fans it has been a long time since we have been able to be this excited about this rivalry game on Saturday. The echoes have awakened in South Bend. Irish fans can once again send a volley cheer for history’s team, Notre Dame.
Posted on November 21, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged #1, BCS, Bowl Games, Catholic, college football, FBS, fighting irish, irish, National Championship, nd, No 1, Notre Dame, Number1, Private University, Sports. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
People that crap on the ND schedule are completely oblivious to everything that is going on in College Football
Kansas State fans said that Notre Dame’s tight game against Pitt showed they didn’t deserve the top spot, even though Notre found a way to win. Then you compare schedules. Common Opponents, Notre Dame looked better against both Oklahoma and Miami. Notre also did not play anyone as poor as Missouri State, North Texas or Kansas. KSU’s second best win was at West Virginia, a win that looks about as good as Notre Dame’s win over Wake at this point.
Alabama. Give them LSU, that was a good win, but then where else? Their next best win was Michigan, and yeah they beat them soundly, but Notre Dame’s second best win is Oklahoma, which is must more impressive.
Georgia… who have they faced? They beat a Florida team that can’t score…. after that look at that schedule Buffalo, FAU, Vandy,Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee.. their only challenge they got absolutely annihilated by South Carolina, and I would not be shocked if they loose by 20 to ‘Bama
Oregon…Arkansas State, Tennessee Tech, Fresno State… congratulations for running of the score. Your best win is to a 7-4 team that hung 51 points on you. Give me a break.
If Florida wins this week they should truly be ranked #2 and it’s a shame they won’t be. I know I mentioned their offence earlier, but look at their schedule. People laughed at the tight game to Bowling Green, but that doesn’t seem all that bad anymore. They beat Texas A&M on the road, handled both LSU and South Carolina at home, and their loss was on a neutral field.
It’s clear when you actually look at facts, that the Notre Dame detractors are simply people that want to hate Notre Dame to hate Notre Dame.
I wish there was an edit button… I wrote with anger in my blood and completely lost grasp of the English language
Haha! You make a lot of good points and I feel Florida should be 2 as well, but Alabama and Georgia will get that spot after the SEC championship. Don’t worry I have written out of anger too and the English language went to the bottom of my important list.
Yeah. Kansas State and Oregon fans drove me crazy, because even when comparing ND’s three worst wins (if you can call a win bad) , before last week were Purdue Pitt and BC. Stack that up against KState with Missouri State, North Texas and Kansas, or Oregon with Arkansas State, Tennessee Tech and Washington State, and Notre Dame’s “Cupcakes” were much less of a cupcake than what Oregon and KSU had on their schedule.
Regardless, this all is pointless come Saturday if ND wins because then they go to the NC and all the SEC fans will claim that if Notre Dame loses, they never belonged, but if ND wins everyone else will claim it was a down year for the SEC.
Even if ND loses on Saturday, I truly don’t see how you drop them below 2 unless, as mentioned, Florida wins. Aside from that, a one loss ND (unless they lose huge) is still more impressive than Oregon KSU and FSU in my opinion.