Time To Recognize Notre Dame For What They’ve Become

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For decades the glitz and glamour surrounding the Notre Dame football program was the envy of college football, but in the recent past the Irish have become average at best.

From 1970 to 1993, Notre Dame had 21 winning seasons, winning at least eight games 16 times. The Irish had two undefeated seasons and won three national championships over that span of time.

But over the past 16 seasons the Irish have struggled, compiling winning records 10 times. Notre Dame has had four losing seasons, two .500 seasons and won at least eight games only seven times.

Since 1994 Notre Dame hasn’t been anywhere close to competing for a national championship, yet they are the only team in college football with their own television deal.

The Irish also have a unique agreement with the BCS which guarantees them a berth in a BCS bowl if they win at least nine games – the only team in college football that has such an arrangement.

According to Scout.com, the Irish have had seven top 25 recruiting classes since 2002, including top five classes in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Scout rates Notre Dame’s current recruiting class as the fifth best in the nation.

Notre Dame has clearly had enough talent – at least on paper – to compete for a national championship over the past eight seasons, yet the Irish have gone 56-43.

Despite Notre Dame’s decent, the media treats the Irish as if they were still relevant.

The aura surrounding the program was well-deserved during the 24-year span that the program won three national championships, but since then nothing the Irish have done rates all the attention they receive.

Former coach Charlie Weiss was fired after he compiled a 16-21 record over his last three seasons and Brian Kelly was hired to restore respectability to the Notre Dame program.

But after Saturday’s embarrassing loss to Tulsa and losing to Navy for the third time in four seasons a week earlier, Notre Dame finds itself at 4-5 and on the verge of being left out of the bowl picture.

The Irish have to face No. 6 Utah this week and the following week face a decent Army team before closing out the year on the road against USC.

In short, Irish eyes won’t be smiling at the end of the season, something that has become common in South Bend since Lou Holtz left.

While Notre Dame has a huge following and the financial support of the institution will never be in jeopardy, the football program has reached a point where it’s no longer worth mentioning.

Everyone in the media that likes to spend time fawning over the Irish need to stop lavishing special treatment upon them.

NBC needs to wise up and stop wasting money on televising an Irish football program that can’t beat teams with far less talent.

And the BCS needs to end their agreement with Notre Dame for the simple fact they no longer deserve the special accommodation.

Not that the Irish will be serious contenders for a BCS bowl berth anytime soon, but with teams like Boise State, TCU and Utah consistently competing for a national championship, they shouldn’t be left out of a BCS bowl because Notre Dame just happens to win nine games in a given season.

For that matter, no team should be left out of a BCS bowl because of the Irish’s arrangement with the BCS.

It’s time everyone acknowledge what Notre Dame football has become. Allow the Irish to wallow in obscurity like every other team that plays a poor brand of football and end this yearly romance with a program that lost its luster long ago.