Say It Ain't So, Joe: Montana Says Irish Expectations Need to Be Lowered

Apparently Notre Dame has a new role model. USC, you say? Try Stanford.

According to former Notre Dame quarterback Joe Montana, Notre Dame should not be expected to be a consistent national title contender any longer.

After Notre Dame fans have been calling for the end of mediocrity for the past decade, Montana has taken the opposite approach. 8-4 seems perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the Irish great.

Montana explains his reasoning by saying that head coach Charlie Weis is under different circumstances than the Flordias, Oklahomas, and USCs of college football. Since Notre Dame is "constrained" on the academic side of recruiting, these disadvantages give Weis a free pass to field an average team.

Well Mr. Montana, you've outdone yourself this time.

In response to his case, Notre Dame's class rankings are better than 11 out of their 12 opponents this year. We can all guess who the one out of 12 is.

How can a team with the past and tradition of Notre Dame simply accept an 8-4 year because of stricter policies regarding admission of students?

Weis sees no disadvantage when he hits the recruiting trail, and you will certainly never hear him utter words even remotely close to those that came out of Montana's in his most recent blabbering about the state of the program.

Hopefully, Weis and his team take this as a challenge as another chance to prove a doubter wrong.

Montana has made a name for himself in recent years with the media surrounding Notre Dame. Most of the rumors have been focused on the love-hate relationship between himself and Weis.

It has been made known that Montana believes Charlie deserves to stay even if the 2009 season ends with only eight wins. Again, I will have to take his thought on that subject with a grain of salt.

This attitude is exactly the attitude that has gotten the program to where it is today.

Its not the type of attitude that will get the Irish where they think they belong.