Jumping The Shark: The Moment It All Went Bad—Notre Dame Football

In continuing with the series began by Kristofer Green, this edition of Jumping the Shark looks at one of the most beleagured programs of the last two years: Notre Dame football.

When people think of the Fighting Irish, they think about Rudy and the Ara Parseghian era and Frank Leahy's dynasty. They think of the Golden Dome as a dynasty comparable to USC nowaday.

Today, Notre Dame is struggling heavily to regain their dynasty form which they haven't had in some time. The Irish regained some of their credibility in the mid-2000s, especially when Charlie Weis first took over the coaching job.

Since Lou Holtz took the reigns in 1988, the Irish had only three losing seasons before the Charlie Weis era began.

When fortunes turned

October 15, 2005: Notre Dame vs USC

4th-and-9 on the USC 26-yard line

Notre Dame had already taken out then third-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor and looked to be a championship contender. They were one play away from ending USC's 27-game winning streak.

Then, Matt Leinart launched a 61-yard bomb to Dwayne Jarrett on 4th-and-9 with less than a minute left.

The Trojans were at the one-yard line with seven seconds left in the game.

Leinart then tried a sneak play and got stuffed at the line of scrimmage. Suddenly, Reggie Bush pushed him into the endzone from behind, in a controversial ending.

USC's streak continued until the stunning loss to Vince Young and Texas in the Rose Bowl.

The aftermath

In a year where Brady Quinn was breaking out and Notre Dame was returning to glory, the loss was crippling at first. They would not make the Rose Bowl despite winning the rest of their games that season.

The Irish would later fall to Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in what would be a warmup for the Buckeyes' 2006 campaign.

In 2006 the Irish got blown out at home against Michigan then on the road against USC. They finished 9-3, but were beaten in a rough loss by LSU in the Sugar Bowl.

The rest is something Irish fans want to forget.

In 2007, Notre Dame lost nine of its first 10 games and ended the year at 3-9, the worst record since Terrence Brennan was the coach in 1956.

The losses included a blowout against Georgia Tech and a one at home against the Trojans when they got shutout.

Freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen was made the scapegoat on a team that lacked blocking and talented skill players.

The lowest point may have been the triple-overtime loss at home to Navy, the first such loss since 1963.

In 2008 the team looked much better by comparison. It showed improvement and beat Michigan for the first time since 2005.

However, the Irish lost to Syracuse, who some experts considered one of the weaker teams in college football.

Notre Dame did return to a bowl game and beat Hawaii by a convincing margin in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Outlook

Only time will tell when, and if, the Irish rejoin the elites such as USC, Florida and Texas.

But the loss to USC in 2005 might have shaken the confidence of the program, as they have been unable to achieve the consistency Irish fans deserve.

Notre Dame doesn't accept mediocrity, and the end of the 2005 season was the beginning of a bad spiral that might be short-lived. For now, Notre Dame has to pick up the pieces and learn to finish.