The Notre
Dame Fighting Irish had a fantastic football season in 2012 and I'm
glad it's over so I can sit back and enjoy it in full. I'm doing just
that. You'd think that after getting blown out in their last game of
the season I'd be dejected, but I feel as if I've discovered the
leprechaun’s gold.
The team won 12 times. The Irish
beat three teams that had a legitimate chance at the beginning of the
season to be where Notre Dame was last night.
Notre Dame saved three other teams
(Oregon, KSU, and Florida) the embarrassment of losing to Alabama,
one of the best dynasties in college history. Alabama would have put
up even more points against those teams, not just because
Notre Dame had the second best defense (only behind Alabama) in
college football, but because the Irish didn't have any expectation
of winning.
Nick Saban has never lost a big game
with a month to prepare his team—he's 4 for 4 in National Title
games. There was no expectation for Notre Dame to do anything other
than what they did Monday. If Alabama had been playing Oregon, and
for five weeks had heard that Oregon was going to win (or KSU or
Florida for that matter) Alabama would have played even harder than
they did. 42-14 would have been respectable in comparison.
Monday night's National Title game had
one of the biggest point spreads in history at 10, but it was far
from the biggest title blowout. Far better teams, with far higher
expectations, have been blown out by bigger margins and on even
brighter stages.
Nebraska beat Florida 62-24 in 1996.
Florida beat Florida State 52-20 in
1997.
Nebraska beat Tennessee 42-17 in 1998.
Florida State only scored 2 points in
2001.
Miami beat Nebraska 37-14 in 2002.
USC beat Oklahoma 55-19 in 2005.
Florida beat Ohio State 41-14 in 2007
(OSU was #1 at the time).
Alabama beat Texas 37-21 in 2010 and
LSU 21-0 in 2012.
If Notre Dame was the sacrificial lamb,
it was because they were first to the slaughter. They had a
great season this year. They won in blowout fashion against rivals
like Navy and Miami and against a very good Oklahoma team. They
ground out wins against Stanford, Michigan, and USC. They sneaked
past non-contenders like BYU, Pitt and Purdue. This season was more
memorable than the '05 and '06 seasons, each culminating with losses in BCS bowls. This year Notre Dame won the close games.
This time around in the BCS Notre Dame lost to Alabama and Nick Saban, the best coach in college football
since the days of Bryant, Hayes, and Leahy.
Whoa!
Early in the second quarter there was a
moment when I thought I'd turn the TV off, but it didn't
take long to realize that I would stick it out no matter what. This
is Notre Dame football. It's an honor to watch any Fighting Irish team play on any stage, against any opponent, win or
lose. I appreciated every second of the game after that point.
~*~
I couldn't enjoy the
first quarter, and it had nothing to do with how many points Alabama
scored or how poorly Notre Dame played defense. As usual, I had a
problem with the poor officiating. Thankfully it didn't come close to
deciding the outcome of the game, but it took me almost until the half and a few beers to forget about it.
The refs botched a debatable catch
along the sidelines which would have been a first down to keep Notre
Dame's first drive alive, and then threw a penalty on what was
obviously an Alabama fumble. Just because a player calls a fair catch
doesn't mean he doesn't have to catch the ball. The refs, God bless
their generous souls, even tried to give a fumble to Alabama
that was obviously down by contact, though they did review and
overturn that call.
All of this killed Notre Dame's offense
early in the game, and I'm certain the refs played into the first
half blowout (the second half was a much more competitive 14-14
without them), but I have no delusions that Notre Dame would have
won—they wouldn't have, not against Alabama. Yet the game could
have been more intriguing. Just for pride I'd have liked to see the
score 28-21. It's hard to score when you can't keep the ball, and
it's hard to stop a team when they have the ball more than they
should.
….and many of the college football
fans awaiting me on the internet after the game would have been
depressing if they weren't so comical. I saw more Irish fans talking
about how good Alabama was than I saw Alabama fans talking up their
own team, let alone everyone else. Most were flaming Notre Dame for
choking or for being overrated (well yeah, duh), and it seemed that
watching one of the most dominate football teams in history was lost
on them.
I know how angry fans can get (I have
to put up with Jets fans after all...just kidding...sort of), but
that opened my eyes to how shallow people can be even after a big
game that goes in their favor. That it wasn't Irish fans being poor
sports after a big loss was fascinating. It's clear a lot of people
hate Notre Dame, it's human nature to root against a winner. But it
was uncomfortable that despite losing, despite not earning the
spotlight, it was still given to us—not by the media, but by the
people who complain that the media gives Notre Dame too much
attention. Thank you, you're sweet, but we didn't deserve the
attention. Alabama did.
How ironic, but fortunately it wasn't
the darker side of fanaticism.
It's too bad there are so many college
fans that don't understand humility, but at least they're not out
sexually assaulting other fans or rioting.
Or doing
this...
It's just football, stop trying to vent
your primal rage and enjoy the games for what they are,
entertainment. Bitter fans can suck the enjoyment out of sports as much as careless officiating can. Thankfully this time that didn't happen, though it's worth noting.
~*~
As for Notre Dame, there's a lot to
look forward to in years to come. Brian Kelly is no Nick Saban but
he's a great coach in his own right, a prolific recruiter and a
phenomenal motivator. He was as cool as a pickle when he spoke just
after the end of the half, but whatever he said to the team in the
locker room fired them up enough to give it their all the rest of the
way, giving a competitive showing against a team who clearly wanted
to shut us out. It wasn't the Irish players growing frustrated and
losing their composure, it was the Alabama players and head coach doing
so. That made me smile.
Golson had a decent game for being a
freshman in the biggest game of his life. He didn't throw a pick
until the last possession and only then because of a circus catch.
I was already a Louis Nix fan, but
seeing #9 come back into the game after suffering a leg injury,
watching him limp around but continue to make plays—I have a new
favorite player. That alone was worth watching the entire game for.
The experience these kids got playing
Alabama is going to be put to good use in the coming years. It makes
me wonder how Te'o would have performed if he had had that experience
going into this game. Or others on the team. That makes a big
difference, and it's hard to imagine that they weren't out of
their element.
~*~
There is gold at the end of the
rainbow.
The Irish have a lot of talent coming
to school next year. A lot of gifted freshman to replace the few
players leaving for the NFL.
Kelly has the top recruiting class in
the nation. He knows what to do with
talent.
And all I can think is....
Is it September yet?
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