Miami vs. Notre Dame

Time for my late in the week ND recap. I say this with a lot of caution, but I'm a little excited about this team. I'm a little scared about this team too, so scared that I'm scared that admitting that I'm a little excited is going to unleash some kind of evil purple smoke, Once Upon a Time curse on ND. ...or reinvigorate that curse back on to ND, whatever way you look at it.

Let's make this an Evil Queen gif post, ok? Ok.

That Miami vs. ND game did not go the way I thought it would. I admit that I haven't really paid much attention to Miami this season. I don't really pay that much attention to them at all. In fact, whenever the ESPN talking heads drivel on about how ND is irrelevant, I always use Miami as an example of a truly irrelevant team. Let me explain. I understand the force that Miami became years ago & I understand their importance to college football. I also understand their NFL factory. All of that demands respect, but no one talks about Miami when they're not good. No one goes to Miami games when they're not good. Their football seasons usually start off pretty strong which generates some media excitement, but once it's clear that they are not fielding a national contending team that season it goes silent. Silent. No one talks about them. That's true irrelevancy. Compare that with ND's recent past, where regardless of how poorly the Irish have played, the media has never shut up about them. Even ND's woeful 3-9 2007 season caused a media frenzy. ND was the most talked about 3-9 football team in history. That is not irrelevancy. You're not irrelevant when people spend hours talking about how irrelevant you are, year after year. You are irrelevant when no one even mentions you. My biggest fear as a ND fan is becoming Miami's brand of irrelevant. When no on talks about you, then you are truly over.

Serving you up some vintage Disney realness.

 
Now, I'm not saying Miami is over. I'm sure that they will be fine, given the talent-rich land of Florida football recruits. Rumors are definitely circling about the sanctions that the NCAA will hit them (via they're own bounty system paid for by a large booster) with once the season is over. If you haven't, definitely check out the investigative reporting article done by Yahoo Sports on the Miami scandal, it's a really good read. I'm really loving the fact Yahoo Sports actually investigates & brings to light sport scandals. It's refreshing compared to other sport "journalism" outlets. But I digress.

Because this one is cool, that's why.

Back to the game. What was that? I feel like Miami just quit. They hit a bunch of bad luck, early dropped TD passes, questionable/bad calls, etc. & then they just seemed to lie down. I'm certainly not complaining, but it was pretty strange. Believe you me, I know ND isn't perfect. There's still a lot of problems. Unlike many of my fellow ND fans, I do not believe ND is a championship contending team this year. I do believe that they will still lose a few games this year. I do not think we are Bama & I shudder to think of what would happen if ND ended up playing Bama in a bowl game. However, I have no complaints about the ND team that showed up to play Miami. I lied, I'm still wondering when we're going to return a punt, but besides that I was a pretty happy & relaxed fan during that game. The Irish are 5-0 & are ranked #7 in the country, so how much can I really complain? But I'm still trying to keep my hopeful excitement down. It's more of a fearful excitement right now.

I see you not having a care to give, Evil Queen.

Please don't lose.