I'm something of a rarity: an Irish Catholic who can't stand Notre Dame. It horrifies my grandma to the point of comedy; I think she's been saying daily rosaries for me ever since she found out.
Truth be told, if a legion of undead walked into Notre Dame Stadium with Satan taking the snaps, I'd be tempted to root for the visitors-the Prince of Darkness would have too much pride to play the schedule the Irish does.
This season, Notre Dame will take on a murderer's row of Stanford, UCLA, Navy, UNC, Air Force, and Army- teams that have a combined 9-12 record-during one six-week stretch. The BCS committee recently revamped the strength-of-schedule index, which in theory will penalize teams like Notre Dame that feast on creampuffs; but have no fear, Irish fans-your team's national overexposure will more than compensate by artificially inflating your rankings in the AP and Coaches' polls.
There's a reason that Notre Dame has lost its last eight bowl games and hasn't won a bowl since 1994: The team earns berths on name recognition and not through on-field performance.
In 2000, Notre Dame beat only two ranked teams, only one of which-Purdue-finished in the top 25. The Irish received an at-large bid to the Fiesta bowl-and got destroyed by Oregon State. In 2005, the Irish beat three ranked teams all year (none of which finished in the top 25), received an at-large bid to the Fiesta bowl-and lost handily to Ohio State. Chances are that this year, Notre Dame will "earn" another BCS bowl berth and extend its losing streak to nine.
You won't hear calls for the dismissal of Charlie Weis, though. Man, Irish fans love Charlie Weis. He went 9-3 his first year! He's a vast upgrade over that Tyrone Willingham guy they jeered out of town.
Except he's not, at least by the numbers. Willingham led Notre Dame to a 9-3 record in his first campaign as head coach in 2002, playing a schedule rated 14 places ahead of Weis' 2005 lineup, and he was working with run-oriented predecessor Bob Davie's recruits, who were a poor fit for Willingham's passing attack. In contrast, Weis and Willingham play similar pro-based offenses, meaning that the foundation was in place for Weis's preferred offense when hearrived.
Willingham went 5-7 in 2003 and 6-6 in 2004, but he played the third- and seventh-most difficult schedules in the nation in those two years. Willingham was terminated in 2004 with a career record of 21-16. Bob Davie got a four-year contract extension after his three seasons with the Irish yielded a record of 21-16. In 2005, Notre Dame waited all of seven games - seven games - to give Weis a 10-year, $40 million extension. Weis was 5-2 in his first seven games; Willingham was 7-0.
It didn't seem fair to Willingham, the two-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, but he took his dismissal with class. The Black Coaches Association was alarmed, though. They released a statement to that effect, and I'd tend to agree. You see, Willingham was Notre Dame's first black head coach in any sport in school history. I don't know, and don't claim to know, if Willingham's skin color played a role in his dismissal but when I see a white coach with an identical record to Willingham's getting extended on one side, and a white coach with a lesser record at the time of his extension getting rewarded on the other, and Willingham getting the ax in between, it sure makes me wonder.
So I'll continue to be the odd one out at family gatherings when I root for whoever Notre Dame is playing against. I'm perfectly content to be the black sheep among Mertens football fans if it means opposing the most overrated and overhyped team in America.
Matthew Mertens is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
