From Ryan’s previous post I have been arguing one thing and one thing only – this team does NOT deserve to go to a bowl game. The fact that by virtue of having won 6 games it is entitled to go to one is meaningless to me.

To repeat – I have not seen anyone make a serious argument that this team deserves to go to a bowl game. The ND administration could have refused a bowl invitation. Granted somewhere someone’s feathers would have been ruffled, but – feces occur.

Passing up some more practice time and an additional game – The defense is decimated and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more injuries during practices and in the game. With a beat up defense what can be accomplished in practice if they can’t go all out for fear of more injuries? I prefer to think of the team going home to be with their families at Christmas, then coming back to school in January.

During winter workouts – think of the humiliation, the embarrassment of the USC game, wherein the ND coach publicly thanked the SC coach for not making the score any worse. Then do a few extra curls, run a few extra laps, let that sit in your gut for a while – for 9 months. Don’t forget that the last NC came after a blowout loss to Texas A&M the year before. (Yes I know that was in a bowl game.)

Your point – “neither ‘entitlement’ nor ‘deserving’ enter into the decision process” sums up our disagreement in a nutshell.

That’s where we differ – They DO enter into MY decision process.

Get it?

I’m just piecing some things together here…

1. less than 50, and within 25 points. So LSU 49, ND 24 is an acceptable bowl game score (notes for later)

2. The Emperor’s New Clothes are sponsored by Under Armour, and that’s quite a bit better than anything Adidas ever provided.

3. There may not be a good way to persuade any individual how to feel about a given team. Neither “entitlement” nor “deserving” enter into the decision process; a bowl game is the next game on the schedule. Michigan fans claimed to “deserve” a victory earlier this year due to bettering ND’s total yardage, which is silly because it’s points on the scoreboard that matter. Similarly, many fans felt ND was “entitled” to victory over FSU due to the controversial pass-interference penalty. Nevertheless, once that call was made, the teams proceed onward. ND plays a neutral site game every year — one might say we’re “entitled” to do so because of our independent status and national fan base; at its root, it’s a game on the schedule, so we play it because we’ve contracted to do so.

To take a longer view, eight of Notre Dame’s 2015 opponents have qualified for bowl games. None of them have passed up the opportunity for practice time or an additional game. I’d prefer for ND to stay off of a list that includes Temple, UMass, Wake Forest, and Virginia — next year’s opponents not attending bowl games.

1) It is my real name
2) I heard the story years ago. I’m not calling Kelly any of those names.
3) My point is this – just because this team has won the required 6 games which ‘entitle’ it to go a bowl game, after the Southern California embarrassment this team does not DESERVE to go to a bowl game – that has been my point all along .
In all the discussion I have seen about the upcoming game I do not recall one serious argument that this team deserves to go to a bowl game.

We’re ‘entitled’, therefore we go. That seems to be the new Notre Dame standard.

I watched the Disney movie. Does that work?

Read the story and get back to me

Dammit, Ryan. That’s a duLac violation on top of everything. What happened was Terry, if that’s in fact his real name, just finished reading a collection of stories by H. C. Andersen and is applying one of those themes to our team: that Brian Kelly has been exposed as a sham, a fraud, a huckster, a charlatain. But seriously, if you look at our defense, even with the return of the guys we’re getting back, we’re going to be challenged to stop LSU’s running game. That said, LSU broke 40 three times, but only against teams that are arguably (a lot) worse than ND is now.

Both QBs are going to be naked? I don’t follow.

They won’t be nice like USC and hold the score down – they will run up the score.

This whole thing is more and more like the emperor’s new clothes.