Notre Dame vs. USC - the Win The Powers that Be Didn’t Get
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“They” wanted Notre Dame to win so badly, that Lee Corso said at halftime, “Notre Dame might not be winning on the scoreboard, but they’re winning the game.” They wanted the Irish to defeat Southern California so badly that their consolation prize is now a rematch of ND versus Michigan in the Rose Bowl. They wanted Touchdown Jesus to cry tears of victory so badly that they implied that USC’s win over Charlie Weis’ team wasn’t as convincing as Michigan’s. They wanted The Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win so badly that by evening’s end, Gene Wojciechowski wrote an article saying the following:
So, USC or Michigan?
That’s the only real question left to answer in a season where a national championship matchup will be determined by — and how stupid is this? — “style” points.
I hate the BCS. I hate it because the two best teams in the country aren’t going to play in the national title game. Instead, No. 1-ranked Ohio State is going to face a very good, but moderately flawed USC team.
If it were up to me — and a slightly less-flawed Michigan team — the BCS would be swimming with the fishes. It would be ruled unconstitutional. If you uttered its initials, you would be required to eat a very large bowl of FieldTurf.
They said Brady Quinn must be the first pick in the draft. They said, after Quinn’s 7-21, 97-yard first half performance that his receivers let him down. They said, if the three dropped passes were caught, Quinn’s totals would have been 10-21 for something like 130 yards. Ten for twenty-one isn’t very good for an offense designed to allow the quarterback to easily complete 65% of his passes.
Sure, completing 33% of your passes is sorry, but 47% is surely sucking eggs, too.
What is it about this team, Notre Dame, that makes a too-large segment of the NCAA football audience drool like a just-pubescent boy over Paris Hilton? Maybe it’s that they were the first college to be embroiled in a major recruiting scandal. You know, like hiring pro football players to play for their team on Saturday and then return to their pro team for an NFL game on Sunday. Maybe it’s because they were involved in a gambling scandal. Maybe it’s because they call the Biblical Son of God represented on a school building the blasphemous, “Touchdown Jesus.”
Maybe it’s because it was once said that if the government needs someone to do covert work, like assassinate a foreign dignitary, they’d first look to a football player from Notre Dame for the job. Maybe it’s because Paul Hornung somehow won the Heisman Trophy in 1956 while quarterbacking Notre Dame to a stellar 2-8 record. Yes, the same “Golden Boy” who recently dropped his pants during a public appearance - and somehow no one was appalled; the same Golden Boy who feels that ND needs more black athletes (read, quality “run-fast” young black men), and the only way to get them to South Bend, Indiana is to lower the academic entrance standards for the university. Or maybe it’s because Notre Dame is the only university to have its own contract with a national television network - NBC - separate from any other university.
With all that to love, who wouldn’t want to see the Irish in the National Championship game every year?
Perhaps if “They” fight hard enough for Notre Dame to receive a bid the a BCS game this season, the university will rip up its NBC contract and sign with ESPN on ABC, both owned by Disney - or, “They.”
Then Disney can purchase the rights to the ND leprechaun and make children’s movies based on the little green character. Disney can make a Saturday cartoon with Charlie Weis as a head coach as Fat Albert-type of character (Hey, hey, hey Brady! My son can complete 33% of his passes in this offense!). If ND joins the Disney cast, perhaps then there will be a “Notre Dame Bowl” matching the Irish against either the best team in the country - or the service academy that “travels best.”
USC’s blowout of the Not-so-Fighting Irish wasn’t nearly as close as the 44-24 final score. Remember, after having first and goal at the USC nine, it took ND eight plays to score their final touchdown. That’s right, eight plays to travel nine yards.
Sound like the Irish might be a worthy opponent for - Boise State.
Might be.
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