For most it's hard to believe that Notre Dame is 0-4 for the first time in their illustrious history, but for other college football junkies it's not hard to fathom after their disappointing loss to LSU in last year's bowl game and this year's quarterback dilemma. The question at hand is what will Charlie Weis do to get his team back into the dominating team that they once were or touted to be? Or will Coach Weis still be at Notre Dame if his team is 0-8 in four weeks (Notre Dame plays Purdue, UCLA, Boston College, and current number 1 USC).
From a marketing perspective the only thing Notre Dame can pride itself on right now is the fact that they play Navy in Week 9, whom they haven't lost to in 43 meetings, in addition to their number 1 ranked recruiting class for 2008. But is that enough to keep the boosters off Weis' back calling for his removal? Which if it were to happen could mean less commitments from their top ranked high school players, if they don't already decommit after seeing the Fighting Irish start off to a possible 0-8 start. Perhaps the marketing department in South Bend may have to resort to new options such as this Fantasy Camp.
Whatever it is that the Fighting Irish and Coach Weis decide to do in an attempt to salvage their season they have to keep the bigger picture in mind, because the last thing they want to do is to forget that college football is not the NFL; keeping and maintaining a dynasty as hard as it is in the NFL is now becoming harder in college football because of the competitiveness amongst coaches when it comes to recruiting, the time a coach has to turn around a program or keep a program at it's pinnacle, and the overall competition and upsets that occur from year to year (ex. Appalachian State).
If Weis and his staff can continue to build this year's team for the future and continue to recruit the talent that they have been, then they should be back in the Top 25 polls real soon. The alumni and donors at Notre Dame have to maintain their support for the program and be willing to undergo a hard season such as the one they are enduring now, if they want to see the Fighting Irish back in a BCS Bowl Game. The same goes for NBC, who broadcasts all of Notre Dame's home games, because even during seasons like this one Notre Dame can still attract more viewers than other notable Top 25 games based on their history. But this isn't to say that Weis and Notre Dame aren't pressured to turn the program around by next year.
3 comments:
I think that Notre Dame's record is being over hyped by the media. Yea its a bad start, but every season theres a team that had great expectations and fell (think the Saints of this year or the Hurricanes last year).
Its only been 4 games! They won't make it to any sort of bowl, but if next years team plays up to expectations, their poor start this year will be forgotten quickly.
Overhyped...I would agree with you. I don't think anyone had great expectations for Notre Dame but they certainly didn't expect them to be 0-4 and looking at an 0-8 possibility at this point in the season.
The Hurricanes were not that hyped last year to have a GREAT season...but yes the Saints were predicted to do well this year, but with the NFL I feel that because there are more games teams have the ability to make up for it towards the end when they get "hot" and then the only thing that matters is staying hot through the playoffs.
I think having teams over hyped by the media is pretty common these days, and when teams don't live up to their expectations, they are a failure. Look at the Carolina Panthers last year, a so called "lock" to make the Super Bowl, and they were a non-factor last year. I don't know if this happened with ND, as like agent zero said no one had huge expectations from them anyway, that is except for Lou Holtz, who predicted a 10-2 season from ND on ESPN before the season.
I think that if ND goes 0-8 to start the season, there will be consequences. I think recruits may back off a little because they don't look like a team that is anywhere near competing. At least Miami last year played tough against Virginia Tech and beat a ranked BC team, and showed some signs of life. ND needs a big win against a good team, to show that they aren't THIS bad.
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