ND Beats Japan, Continues Quest for World Domination

Coach Holtz (love the sound of that) led ND’s team of older (and in some cases even downright OLD) alums against the Japanese team, and pulled out a decisive victory.

We haven’t spent a lot of time on this, and I’m not really sure why. It’s actually a really cool event when you think about it. Holtz gets to coach again. Players that thought they’d never again don an ND uniform in a competitive environment, got to put on the Gold Helmet and go at it one final time. Oh, and they got to go to Japan too. That little part.

That’s pretty freaking sweet.

It did seem a little odd and kind of out of nowhere, and until today I didn’t really see much benefit. But now I’m loving that ND did this. Primarily, I think it’s a good reason because it’s a great brand-building event. As the world shrinks, and brands have to become more global, this gives ND a leg up on a lot of schools, and on pretty much every college football program that didn’t do this (everyone). Student bodies are becoming more and more international, as are fanbases. In the long run, all brands need to be global, and this gave ND a great opportunity to share the football program, and the school, with an international crowd.

And, of course, we won. That helps for sure.