Manti Te'o Gives Irish Fans a Late Christmas Present

As this bowl season feels empty to Notre Dame fans, it is even worse to be stuck watching the Emerald Bowl the day after Christmas in a game that features Boston College and USC. Both are rivals to the Fighting Irish. The game forces Irish fans to choose the lesser of two evils.

As hard as that is, Irish fans all received a late Christmas gift that gives them reason to smile. A few weeks ago, Notre Dame ended the year with a four game skid. That brought about the inevitable firing of Charlie Weis.

Weis' firing was necessary in the eyes of most Irish fans, but did lead them to have a fear of a domino effect. Irish fans feared that the absence of Weis would lead Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate to leave early for the NFL Draft. It wasn't long before their worst fears were confirmed.

The other part of the domino effect was the fear that the absence of Weis would influence freshman star linebacker Manti Te'o not to delay going on his mission. Apparently, that is where the dominoes stop falling.

Te'o has decided to delay his mission for at least another year and return to Notre Dame in 2010. That is welcome news all over South Bend.

It was  frustrating as it was to watch last years defense. Guys like Brian Smith and Robert Blanton were major disappointments and let a lot of us down.

Te'o was really one of only two bright spots. The other was senior safety Kyle McCarthy. With McCarthy already gone to graduation, the loss of Te'o would have left a mess for whomever Brian Kelly's defensive coordinator is.

That defensive coordinator now has a guy he can build that defense around. Going into his sophomore year, Manti Te'o really needs to be the key guy. Then if redshirt freshman Tyler Stockton can live up to the hype, the Irish have something to build around.

This article is also posted on http://fightingirishgameday.com/