The Fighting Irish took the ball on their own eight-yard line. Against all odds, they marched 92 yards down the field and scored to take a 7-0 lead against the top-ranked USC Trojans. I thought that Notre Dame had another monumental upset in them. I thought the Irish could use the huge win as a building block to getting their program back to where it used to be. I thought that Notre Dame had turned a corner. The thing I was most certain of, however, was that that would not be the last time the Irish would cross the USC goal line.
I was wrong.
This was a big game for the entire Notre Dame nation. A win would turn an inconsistent year into a decent season. A win would finally show some progress for the program and would help recruiting efforts. A win would take some of the heat off of head coach Tyrone Willingham. A win would ease the pain of terrible losses to BYU and to Pitt and Boston College at home. Instead, I sat in front of a computer screen at 2 AM trying to make sense of what has happened to the fallen giant of college football and wondering if the Golden Dome could ever shine as brightly as it did while Lou Holtz was calling the shots.
After the Michigan win, I wrote the following about the victory in a column:
"Hopefully, this game will help quell the abundance of the asinine 'fire Willingham' talk. Notre Dame fans need to realize that Willingham can, and will, bring ND back into the spotlight." - Sept. 14
I never expected it to be this spotlight. I never expected Willingham, who was a huge success in his first year at ND, would bring the Irish into the spotlight for his third-straight embarrassing loss to our archrival. I never thought I would have to take watching ESPN's "College GameDay" and see signs like "Rudy would start at ND" and "O.J. Simspon says to kill the Irish" held up by fans. The once proud football giant had been reduced to a punch line.
As a Notre Dame fan, I have had my share of low points recently, but nothing hurt as bad as this loss. Nothing hurt as bad as one play towards the end of the fourth quarter. With ND losing 34-10, USC was set to punt on fourth down. The Trojans faked it, late in the fourth quarter, winning by 24. If you didn't catch the game, I'm not going to tell you what happened, but I will tell you that Matt Leinart threw a touchdown pass for USC on the very next play.
For the first time I can ever remember, I had to turn off a Notre Dame game because we were getting beaten worse than Liza Minelli's bodyguard. It hurts to routinely be embarrassed by your team's biggest rival and to know that there is nothing you can do about it. This must be what Mack Brown feels like every year.
After that big win against Michigan, I wrote:
"I know that this is still one game, but I think it will be the first step of Notre Dame returning to glory. Either way, it is still too early to tell how Willingham's era will turn out." - Sept. 14
I wish it was still too early to tell, but it's clear how Willingham's era is going to go. Nothing has changed from year one to year three, in almost any aspect. Most fans are clamoring for Willingham to be fired this summer and some are boycotting Notre Dame football and withholding donations to the school until a coaching change is made. It is official; the team is in its worst period in over 30 years. Willingham is making Gerry Faust look like Knute Rockne.
I like Tyrone Willingham and I really wanted him to succeed. He is a great person and a good coach, but his time at Notre Dame has been wasted. Notre Dame faces a public relations nightmare if they do fire him after this season as Willingham is the first African-American coach at Notre Dame and one of only a handful currently coaching at Division 1 schools. Despite the inevitable backlash, it might be for the best if Willingham and Notre Dame parted ways after this season.
The only situation I can compare it to is a forest fire. The fire burns the forest to the ground in order to rebuild it from scratch. Ultimately, the forest returns to its state of grandeur. Smoky Bear said, rather convincingly, I might add, that I am the only one who can prevent forest fires. However, in this case, it might be best if I just get the marshmallows instead.
Mark Chalifoux is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Tuesday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Mark at [email protected].
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