Notre Dame = FRAUD

[TheSportsPredictor]

I'm calling it now. Not necessarily a loss to Georgia Tech. But Notre Dame will lose at least three games this year and be exposed as the most overhyped, overrated, phony, fraudulent college football teams in history. They rode this high because (A) they're Notre Dame, (B) they have a Heisman candidate (the most overhyped, fradulent award in sports), (C) Charlie Weis was a big hrie, (D) they almost beat USC last year, and (E) they're Notre Dame.

But would you be all that impressed by any team that went 9-3 vs. this schedule last year:

win over 5-6 Big East team that lost at Ohio U
win over 7-5 Big Ten team
loss to 5-6 Big Ten team at home
win over last-place Pac-10 team
win over 5-6 Big Team team
last-second loss at home to team that lost national title game
win over 6-6 Mountain West team
win over 5-6 SEC team
win over 8-4 independent
win over last-place Big East team
win over 5-6 Pac-10 team
Bowl loss (as usual)

Notre Dame beat exactly two teams that finished with winning records, and one of them was Navy, which hasn't beaten Notre Dame since Pearl Harbor was bombed. Now, if you take out the facts of last year and just look at the names you might be awed. The Fighting Irish beat Michigan, Tennessee, Syracuse, Pitt, Washington, and BYU. But those teams had lousy years for the most part!

One thing going for the Irish is that this year's schedule is even more dumbed down from last year. Even the name brands have dropped in value from what you see at eye level at the grocery store to what's on the bottom shelf: North Carolina, Air Force, Army, and Georgia Tech will take on the Irish mystique.

This is a team still living off the legends of Rudy, Knute Rockne, and the Gipper. They're a media creation. Touchdown Jesus, NBC, and Catholic guilt have tricked everyone into falling in love with the good ole Fighting Irish.

But they won't go through the Big Ten unbeaten this year. And they won't go through the Pac-10 unbeaten this year. And like usual they won't even go through the bowl season unbeaten. 10-3, here we come!

 

[sportschick]

I object to your put-down of Ohio. We're tough, dammit.



And yes, the Irish are a buncha ****ing frauds.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

An utter fraud? No.

A TON overrated? Fur suuuure.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Notre Dame did not deserve its rankings last season.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

overrated and overhyped indeed

but reggie ball sucks the sweat off a dead buffalo's balls

 

[Pringle]

The problem isn't Notre Dame being overrated - it's that there is no real superpower team in college football this year, at least right now. ND probably has the most returning starters, including some real big names, from a BCS team a year ago. I think Ohio State at No. 1 is terribly overrated, too - they lost Hawk and almost all the defense.

If I was voting on the AP poll this year, I'd probably be tempted to start at 10 and rank them down to 35. It's that muddled. I would say that a big product of ND's hype is the numbers its offense generated last season, with the same cast of characters back again.

 

[RAMBO]

I agree.

 

[pallister]

You forgot F) they're Notre Dame.

 

[dooley_womack1]

I'm no Irish fan, TSP, but you trash them, then say they'll go 10-3. God, how fraudulently awful that would be. It's not like they're being asked to face a bunch of Sun Belt and C-USA teams. They're a solid team that will always be trashed because there is an equally obnoxious faction wanting them sainted.

 

[Pringle]

I agree.

With me or Dooley?

 

[Chuck~Taylor]

I'm no Irish fan, TSP, but you trash them, then say they'll go 10-3. God, how fraudulently awful that would be. It's not like they're being asked to face a bunch of Sun Belt and C-USA teams. They're a solid team that will always be trashed because there is an equally obnoxious faction wanting them sainted.

If they get passed their first four games without a loss, then I'll take them seriously. And going back to your last sentence, it's not easy to like Notre Dame. Especially with Charlie Weis's arrogant ass running the show. I mean, who the hell does this guy think he is? He's been in Notre Dame for a year in which all he did was beat some mediocre teams. After all, Tyrone Willingham was the one who gave CPR to the Irish.

 

[Claws for Concern]

Why isn't Notre Dame listed as a member of the Pac 10 this year? Stanford, USC, UCLA. Might as well apply for membership! And where's Washington? Who cancelled that one? Willingham or Weis?

 

[Pringle]

Why isn't Notre Dame listed as a member of the Pac 10 this year? Stanford, USC, UCLA. Might as well apply for membership! And where's Washington? Who cancelled that one? Willingham or Weis?

Or perhaps as a fourth service academy?

 

[Riddick]

I think Ohio State as No. 1 is much more ridiculous and downright laughable than Notre Dame at No. 2

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

I'm no Irish fan, TSP, but you trash them, then say they'll go 10-3. God, how fraudulently awful that would be. It's not like they're being asked to face a bunch of Sun Belt and C-USA teams. They're a solid team that will always be trashed because there is an equally obnoxious faction wanting them sainted.

Was thinking the same thing. A LOT of college football teams would absolutely love for 10-3 to be deemed a disappointing year. And considering the fact Notre Dame has had a few good years recently (2000, 2002, last year), but usually failed to follow up with anything close, I suspect the Irish faithful should be happy to "settle" for 10-3 when all is said and done.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Buck, so do I. That way they'll seal up a berth in the national title game, since we know that Lloyd Carr is Tressell's *****.

Too bad though I don't think the Buckeyes will beat Texas next weekend.

 

[Almost_Famous]

They went to a BCS game last year.
They have the best QB in the nation.
Have a v good WR (top 10 in the nation).
Have a v good safety (top 10 in the nation).

Fraud?
If they lose today, release the hounds, but at 0-0, i find it a bit of a stretch to drop the F bomb already.

 

[pallister]

Will a very good safety make up for the other 10 mediocre starters on defense?

 

[Almost_Famous]

It's quite the quandry: If the D returns 9 players, but the unit sucked ass last year, is that a good or bad thing?

 

[Oz]

I'm no Irish fan, TSP, but you trash them, then say they'll go 10-3. God, how fraudulently awful that would be. It's not like they're being asked to face a bunch of Sun Belt and C-USA teams. They're a solid team that will always be trashed because there is an equally obnoxious faction wanting them sainted.

And because they make X amount of money on the NBC deal that no one else in college football can touch. It's the arrogance of that program that irks people, not so much their fans -- like my fiancee.