Notre Dame Football:10 Reasons the Irish Are Nothing More Than a Service Academy
Before I start, the title of this article might sound a little down playing of the current service academies in the United States. I have family in the current service academies so the role they play make this country great for all of us to write about sports and what have you in your lives.
Now on to the story at hand, the Fighting Irish has certainly lost ground in the college football world over the past two decades with some random bright seasons along the way.
In the forthcoming slide show, the positive and negatives of how the Fighting Irish handle things will be examined in great detail…
This article is also featured on A Blue and Gold State of Mind.
On Field Performance
1 of 10
Positive
Since the Irish won the National Championship in 1988, the program has won less than five games only once during the stretch along with winning 10 or more games in six seasons.
Negative
While Notre Dame has competed well during the previous mentioned span of time, the Irish could have done better if the team were in a conference that almost guarantees wins against lower competition, unlike in their current schedules.
Independent Schedule
2 of 10
Positive
With the scheduling freedom, the Irish can pick and choose who they want to play throughout the season whether it is on the road or in South Bend.
Negative
The downside of that freedom is that Notre Dame never has a down week with an opponent that should be a pushover like in major conferences like the Pac-10 or SEC where a powerhouse team faces off with the bottom of the barrel in the division/league.
Academic Standards
3 of 10
Positive
In the grand scheme of things, the high standards keep the university in the minds of students that want to come to the school to learn and graduate with a degree instead of playing a sport in their four years.
Negative
With the high academic expectations, the Irish are losing potential blue chip recruits to other schools that have more relaxed standards for incoming athletes.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Coaching Staff
4 of 10
Positive
Over the years, the Irish has been able to pluck up some of the better coaches in the nation from other programs like current coach Brian Kelly along with Charlie Weiss, who came from the New England Patriots.
Negative:
Although the big name brings the media attention, Notre Dame needs a coach that can just be a coach, not a media figure constantly being interviewed and discussed for every move they make in a season.
Expectations From Fans
5 of 10
Positive:
As with any football program, the expectations from the fans would and should always be for the team to win all their games during a season finishing with a conference title or National Championship.
Negative:
Although in the case of Notre Dame, the current fans want the team to go undefeated but the talent isn’t there for a run of that kind in the current climate in South Bend and across the nation.
Perception
6 of 10
Positive:
In today’s age of sports media, the Irish still get plenty of coverage from ESPN and sports information site to the exclusive television deal with NBC that has been in effect since the 1991 season.
Negative:
For people who don’t root for the Irish, the team has seeming fallen into the class of a mid-major program as the name ‘Notre Dame’ doesn’t bring the same thought as it did in the early part of the 20th century with poor seasons in the past two decades.
Traditions
7 of 10
Positive:
In the tradition rich world of college football, the traditions of Notre Dame are some of the best from the uniforms to the “Play like a Champion Today” sign as the team comes out of the tunnel to Touchdown Jesus, there is nothing like Irish football,
Negative:
As traditions are great, the ability to alter things within the program like the minor change like alternate uniforms instead of the never changing look that Notre Dame has had around since the program inception in the 1880s.
National Scene
8 of 10
Positive:
Even in down years, the Irish are still featured in the media and on television as Notre Dame continually plays top tier teams like USC, Michigan, and Michigan State among other teams that are routinely scheduled.
Negative:
Although high profiles games are good for some programs, the losses that the Irish suffer against opponents have seemingly knocked the team out of the national spotlight more and more as the team doesn’t have the ability to beat major programs anymore.
Reputation
9 of 10
Positive:
Since the program inception in 1887, the Fighting Irish is the second winningest program in college football history along with winning the fourth most National Championships behind Princeton, Yale, and Michigan, respectively.
Negative:
As the past is always nice to look back on, the current Notre Dame program is in a steady decline as the team has been through four coaches since 2000 in addition to finishing the previous decade with a record of 70-52.
Conference
10 of 10
Positive:
Like the independent schedule, the Irish are free from yearly conference play in addition to not having to share the revenue that comes in with other league members at season’s end.
Negative:
With the increasing rate of conference expansion, Notre Dame will need to make the decision of keeping their independence or joining a conference like the Big Ten or Big East as new TV contracts will likely dwarf the Irish’s current deal with NBC.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
