Road to Game Day: Week 13, Los Angeles

On Saturday, they were in Norman for the Texas Tech-Oklahoma game.
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↵There really was no surprise this Saturday. Spending a beautiful Saturday afternoon with friends and family in Los Angeles, it wasn’t as if I thought Notre Dame would compete with USC. I tried to think of ways that it was possible, even tried to consume enough alcohol to believe, hoping that it would help get us a semi-competitive game, but all it really did was make me have to find the Porta-Potty a lot more.
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↵There really isn’t much left to say about the football game in the Coliseum Saturday night. And there really isn’t much more to add when discussing the two football programs we saw on the field. USC is a very good team with an incredible defense. You could argue (quite successfully) that there isn’t one player on Notre Dame’s team that could start for USC. David Bruton, ND’s best player and starting safety, would probably be a nickel back. Mike Anello, a former walk-on special teams ace who was injured Saturday night covering kicks would probably start on punt coverage. Other than that, most of the Irish players would be fighting to get into the two-deep.
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This is our second game at Southern Cal this year, and it’s a surprisingly decent place to tailgate. Other than the fact that you are in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods in America, the grounds of USC are impressive. The parking lots and parks surrounding the Coliseum make for a picturesque day. And the rivalry between the Trojans and the Irish is one of the most cordial you will find. There is a mutual respect between the teams, and even if Irish fans knew the game wouldn’t be competitive (I couldn’t find one person who thought it would be close), the Notre Dame faithful came out in droves.
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↵But let’s talk about the Notre Dame “faithful.” There is no more delusional, ridiculous, fanatical, arrogant, or entitled college football fan than Notre Dame fans. And I write this while confessing that I am one of them. As a graduate of Notre Dame, and as someone who played varsity athletics at the school, there is no group quicker to turn against itself than ND. The last month has been particularly unbearable. Reading the message boards and websites run by members of the “ND Nation,” fans who just two seasons ago were ready to build a second golden dome for Charlie Weis are now signing petitions and writing open letters praying for his dismissal. This isn’t your normal message board blather. These are lawyers and businessmen hiding behind monikers, using proper punctuation and big words while writing thesis statements about their unhappiness.
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↵When it comes to Notre Dame and Charlie Weis, it is very easy to have an opinion. When a young team off to a promising start, coached by a cocky, self-described “Jersey guy,” starts to tailspin into a 6-6 squad, the vultures start circling. Memo to Notre Dame fans: This isn’t the 1960s. You aren’t the center of the college football universe. And it isn’t Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, or Charlie Weis’ fault. Things just change. Teams like Utah, Boise State, TCU, Ball State, and Cincinnati are in the BCS top 15, and 85 teams conceivably have a shot at making it to a BCS bowl. You can’t just fire a coach, burn a recruiting class, and expect it not to catch up with you, especially when you’ve already done it three times in ten years.
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↵Sitting in the Coliseum, watching USC systematically take apart a young Notre Dame team with only a few seniors playing meaningful minutes, I had to listen to dozens of ND fans gripe about 7 straight years of losing to the Trojans. I wanted to remind them that up until the mid-90s, USC hadn’t won a game against Notre Dame for 17 consecutive seasons. But the last thing any Notre Dame fan should do is cling to the past.↵