Notre Dame Football: Despite Strong Record, ND a Long Way from Return to Glory

The rest of Notre Dame's schedule sets up well for a strong finishing record for the Irish. They currently sit at 5-3, but are staring at extremely favorable matchups in their next three games. 

That would have them at 8-3 going into a potentially huge game vs. Stanford. But let's say they run the table for the rest of this season, which would include a win against Stanford in Palo Alto. 

Would Notre Dame's season be a success? 

No, it really wouldn't. 

The Fighting Irish dropped games to both USC and Michigan this year, which has happened far too often in recent years. Those games spotlight Notre Dame's season, which is not a good thing. 

They didn't lose to USC because Dayne Crist fumbled the ball at the goal line and Jawanza Starling returned it for a USC touchdown. 

I know it looks that way. If Notre Dame scored on that play, they would have seven more points and USC would have seven fewer. That's a 14-point swing, which was the difference in the game.

It's just not that simple.

The Irish took the ensuing kickoff and scored. They wouldn't have had that ball had they scored on that play. 

Bottom line is that Notre Dame didn't lose because of one play. USC outplayed them in South Bend. They had no ability to consistently stop USC, that's why they lost. 

That's why they lost to Michigan in the second week of the season. In that game, the problems came in the fourth quarter, not the entire game. Still, the glaring flaws of this team were exposed, and have been all season. 

Notre Dame hasn't truly contended for a National Championship since 1993, and haven't won since 1988. 

The reason for a lot of those failures is that Notre Dame has lacked the talent. That's not the case this year. 

They are not contending for a National Championship this year because they haven't done anything with the talent. That's on the coach. 

Nothing, not even a win against Stanford, would save that disappointment.