FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Oh well- Lord knows I held out as long as I possibly could (and okay, I'll admit that ain't particularly long), but for some reason Michael Rubin's (he of "Domer Sports Report") most recent posting "Six Irish Commits Invited to Play etc etc" brought out the annoying little haranguer in me. So here I go again... and by the way, keep in mind my vitriole isn't directed at Mr. Rubin- I understand the Irish have a huge and faithful (albeit Lemming-like) following.  I just want to do my small part in helping to expose the-Emperor's-new-clothes reality of modern-day Notre Dame football.

So... that being said, as I read Rubin's jubilant report of these six soon-to-be saviors of Irish supremacy, I thought "that sounds fantastic- Charlie must be absolutely salivating over this daunting bevy of talent just rocketing down the pike towards South Bend."  ...But (oh yeah, there's a BUT all right) unfortunately for them, and Weis, and Weis' successor (next year or- best case scenario- 2010), the Golden Dome has been transmogrified into a black hole of mediocrity, replete with a profound inability to defeat teams with winning records.  The "talent" coming in EVERY year is, and by definition always has been,  the best in the country- it's NOTRE DAME we're talking about here.  I mean, poor run out on a rail Ty W's classes got the Freshman coach Weis into a BCS Bowl- and a second BCS bowl in year two (oh yeah, and how'd those turn out?).  Obviously, success on the field depends on how that talent is developed, mentored, etc. 

The reputation that this team has, and earned- albeit 85 years ago and what have you done for me lately etc.- is nothing short of astonishing.  But the realities are harsh, and hard to gloss over.  Here's a few facts and/or opinions on the state of ND:

1. Weis is a couple hairs off from Willingham and Davie's (strangely identical) records before him. 
2. He's churned out oodles of NFL-worthy talent, which is great... but none of them won a bowl game; likewise, wins against ranked teams (1 of 8 since the Great Bizarre Contract Extension of Ought-5) and teams with winning records (8 of 18 so far!) have been rarer than... I don't know, something rare.  Raw hamburger, I guess...
3. Willingham's lousy recruiting is to blame, you say?  As I said- it's Notre Dame- they have and get whatever talent they want.  Aaaaand, Smartypants, Notre Dame's last five recruiting classes average 13th in the country, according to scout.com.
4. I think the big problem is that there are 119 teams or so playing Div 1A ball these days, and I don't know if any team can be a classic Notre Dame style dominant force anymore...

And there's your problem, I believe: With all the (to borrow the pro-ball word) parity in NCAA football these days, and all those teams, there's gonna be peaks (USC in the age of Carroll) and valleys (Nebraska since... I don't know... Crouch?), and the fallow periods of .500-ish seasons may be plentiful and protracted.  And, like it or not, we'll be left to watch the Irish every week, coast to coast, as they discover yet another way to lose the big one (and the medium one, and yes, even the occasional liitle one).