Acceptance

I know you don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. Name the scenario, they’ve pulled it off:

A beatdown? Go back to 1994, in the supposed “revenge” game: 30-11 and it wasn’t that close.

Looking for a season-killer (besides the obvious)? 2002 Two words: Green Jerseys. 14-7

Have they won as favorites? Check (1999) check (2003) and check (2007).

Or how about just watching the Irish to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (2004) when 5-2 Notre Dame, led by a promising sophomore QB and a pair of young receivers built a two touchdown advantage only to see the margin erased by a two-loss opponent in a terrible second half. (And if that sounds familiar, that’s exactly what happened last Saturday vs. Pitt, right down to the W/L records).

They’ve beaten us when my friend (Joel Hazzard) scored a touchdown, and when the penal system’s friend (William Green) scored two of his own. They’ve won five in a row, six of the last seven, and have beaten every Notre Dame head coach since BGI opened for business…with the exception of Gerry Faust (1-0, take that, Flutie!)

It’s not that they’re a poor program (far from it) or that they traditionally collapse outside of this matchup (they’re an exceptional Bowl team, even if most of the matchups are played closer to Christmas than New Years in games sponsored by Almonds, dot.coms, and Tires). But five in a row? More than half (8) of the last 15?

It’s time to acknowledge the team many of you refer to as “Fredo.” They’re a rival. They shouldn’t be, not to this extent, but they are. They’ve won as many as they’ve lost to the Irish throughout most of our collective lifetimes. ND hasn’t beaten them twice in a row since this guy was in the midst of ruining a football program.

So embrace them as a rival. If you encounter one of their six fans on this planet that can identify Flutie’s running back (Troy Stradford, by the way), buy him a beer. Ask him what went wrong in his childhood? Was it a failed pre-calculus test that kept him out of an elite Midwestern school…wait a minute, falling into old habits again…

They’re a top-half program in a middling conference with a 24-year tradition of relevancy and they’ve been a thorn in the side of the most famous program in the sport’s history during its least successful era (in fairness, they actually started this run of mediocrity with the game of which we will not speak in 1993. That hurt to even type).

So let’s put that era to bed tomorrow. Acknowledge the pain they’ve caused. Accept it. Admitting the problem is the first step toward healing.

And the healing begins tomorrow:

Notre Dame 34 Opponent 26