'Tis Better To Lose Early . . .
By Ron Haramia
NOTRE DAME � You knew. You just knew.
In a season that had grabbed the attention of college football fans all across America, heck, even casual sports fans across the globe, the fantastic made-for-TV season the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were having came to a resounding thud Saturday.
What made it so hard for the ND faithful was that it came so late in the season. Inspired by early-season wins, albeit by the skin of their teeth, Irish fans were awakened like the echos of seasons (Continued from Page B1) his team on the other side of the turnover battle for once, in a 14-7 loss to Boston College. Maybe the ND offense just wanted their vaunted defense to have more opportunities to be on the field (giving up three fumbles and two interceptions)?
�I�m hurt, disappointed, but that is athletics,� Willingham said in his typical word-saving way. �Our team didn�t live up to expectations today.�
No they did not.
In another strange twist to an unbelievable year, that was ND�s first loss since losing to.........Ty Willingham. Yes, the last defeat for the Irish was last November, a 17-13 setback to Stanford.
Doesn�t it just seem like Willingham has been around much longer than nine games? He has not even been on the job a year and yet so much has occurred. Incoming Indiana University football coach Gerry DiNardo said that coaches cannot afford to have a five-year plan. If they don�t win now, they won�t be around for five years.
For Willingham, it seems as if he has squeezed the entire history of the ND program into nine weeks.
Think about it.
Saturday he brought out the green jerseys (first time in ND Stadium since �85), the team was off the radar in preseason polls (Gerry Faust, Bob Davie eras), became a national title contender out of nowhere (Lou Holtz), was attempting to start 9-0 (like Ara Parseghian did), and with the addition of 140 field seats, set a new stadium attendance record (�02) against BC.
Unfortunately they replayed Nov. 20, 1993 (defeat Florida State, lose to Boston College the following week).
The question now is how will the rest of the season play out? I see four scenarios as possibilities:
A) (You bleed blue & gold, with a little green too) - win out the rest of the games, get a BCS bowl bid, win, claim top 3 spot in final poll, maybe No. 1 if things fall just right.
B) (ND hater) - win out, get BCS bowl bid, but because you are overrated you lose decisively a la the Fiasco Bowl of 2000 (remember Oregon State?).
C) (Las Vegas types) - lose to USC, get a top-tier bowl game (but not BCS), win, cement the respect gained this year, top 10 preseason next year, great recruiting class, ND back on the map.
D) (worst case) - lose to USC decisively, bypassed by major bowls, win or lose mid-level bowl game, finish ranked 20th or lower, the fact that Willingham�s career record is comparable to Bob Davie�s brought up.
My guess is B or C.
Afterwards, Boston College head coach Tom O�Brien tried to downplay the significance of the win.
�This is not a rivalry,� he said. We don�t play them (after 2004) for 2-3 years. You have to play someone every year for a rivalry. This was just a game between the two best Catholic Universities in the world.�
Excuse me, Tom. Why were your players taking sections of turf for souvenirs? Just another game? Don�t think so. But I do see why you want to play ND every year (third win in the past four seasons).
NOTES: Supposedly, about one-third of the BC student body makes the trek to South Bend for the game every two years. By the looks of the BC fan section, about 2,700 must have enjoyed their tailgating so much, they never made it into the stadium.......By the way, the BC section was easy to spot.
Not because of their numbers, but because of their yellow shirts and the abundance of those inflatable clappers made popular at Anaheim Stadium during the World Series. That is one fad that I hope stops soon. They are annoying to listen to and it must be impossible to look through.
Speaking of inflatable, at halftime the Notre Dame band did a patriotic number complete with a 70-foot inflatable Statue of Liberty. When the song began, the deflated Statue looked like a dragon lying on the ground. After a minute or two, it was finally standing - except for the torch.
The handlers spent the rest of the song pulling on the support ropes trying to get the torch to stand up right. To a large round of applause, it finally did as the song was ending. Five seconds later, the entire Statue was deflated and carried off.
On BC�s first extra point, kicker Sandro Sciortino wa s standing by himself, waiting for the snap with no holder. Seems that the Eagles� regular holder did not make the trip and quarterback Brian St. Pierre forgot he was holding. After a time out, they missed the kick.
Notre Dame went with a five-receiver set a couple of times in the game, even as early as the first quarter......Carlyle Holiday was actually 5-of-6 throwing the ball at one point in the game (11-of -26 the rest of the way). prior.
But with the defense carrying the team, it was just a matter of time before reality set in, as well as a loss (or two? three?). Ironically, that loss came in a manner similar to ND�s signature play this year - an opportunistic defense causing points out of turnovers.
�There is no way to explain it,� said head coach Tyrone Willingham.
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