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Touchdown Jesus? More like Field Goal Jesus. First Down Jesus. E for Effort Jesus.

Maybe it’s because of the nostalgia. Maybe the academic prestige. Whatever the reason, somehow Notre Dame Football is made out to be head and shoulders above all - and I don’t like it. I don’t like the whole religious overtones of Touchdown Jesus or God’s Team - implying that God would want them to win more games than USC or even Boston College. I don’t like the fact that they’re the only team in Division IA that has it’s own TV contract. I don’t like that the Big East Conference has Notre Dame in every sport except football, yet if Notre Dame has 6 wins, they automatically kick a Big East team out of a bowl game or a BCS game. But most of all, I don’t like what they’ve been about recently.

A few years back, after some tough times in the post Lou Holtz era, they fired Bob Davie and hired then Georgia Tech head coach Dennis O’Leary to be their head coach, only to fire him when it turned up that he had some inaccuracies (read: lies) in his resume dating back to his college days. So Notre Dame can’t have that stain on their record. They’re Notre Dame. After a search, they eventually hired Tyrone Willingham from Stanford. Monumental hire as he was the first black head coach at a prominent D IA university - ney - the MOST prominent (allegedly). Monumental in that while strides have been made for minority coaches in pro sports, the same was sorely lacking in college football. There were something like 4 head coaches amongst the 117 programs.

Ty was, by all accounts, the salt of the earth. Good guy. Solid guy. Does things the right way. Runs a clean program. Basically - the kind of guy you’d want your kids to play for. Ty Willingham got off to a great start in his first season, but ran into tougher times in the following 2 seasons and the pressure had been mounting for them to make a change. Keep in mind, no other Notre Dame coach was given less than 5 years to prove themselves. It was here that Notre Dame had an opportunity to live up to their reputation. To show their clamoring boosters that they were above the typical low-class tactics of football factories like Alabama and Ohio State. That they didn’t let the old-boy network run their program. So what’d they do? The fired Ty.

Ty landed on his feet at the University of Washington - back in the somewhat less-stained Pac-10. Notre Dame took some heat and were rebuffed by a few of their top choices for the job - including reigning National Championship head coach Urban Meyer - who chose UF instead. Eventually they landed Charlie Weiss - the offensive coordinator from the Pats - who came in with a different approach. He was the NFL coach who would bring his system to college. He was the guy behind the 3 time Super Bowl champion Patriots. He was the one who turned Tom Brady into what hie is today. Right.

Ol’ Chuck Weiss also had a great first year, after which he was awarded with a 10 year contract. TEN YEARS!?! He proved himself for a year and got a 10 year extension! Weiss’ record didn’t improve in his second year and now in his third year Notre Dame sits at 1-7 on the year. They will not go to a bowl game and have routinely had their asses waxed on the field this season, most recently by USC.

The Irish are at the wrong end compared to a lot of teams. They also lost 38-0 to Michigan earlier this season. The two 38-point losses are tied for the eighth worst losses in Notre Dame history. It was the worst Irish home loss, though, since they were beaten 40-0 by top-ranked Oklahoma in 1956. When asked if he believes the Irish have hit rock bottom, Weis chose his words carefully. “I’m going to answer that very cautiously, because I don’t want to be called sarcastic using New Jersey rhetoric,” he said. “So let me just say people better enjoy it now, have their fun now.”

Karma is a bitch, ain’t it?

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