SCOTT JACOBS

It sure must be nice to be Notre Dame.

Bowl eligible at a far from mind-blowing 6-4, the Irish are in prime position to nab themselves not only a decent bowl, but a very, very respectable bowl.

Set aside the fact that their best win came against Navy, and that they’ve lost nine bowl games in a row, and I still can’t stay calm about the current bowl system.  It’s a popularity system where the best team becomes victim at times to its lack of fanfare.  Notre Dame comes with national notoriety.  A much better team like Oklahoma State comes with well, a well known booster.  And the beat goes on.  Notre Dame is expected to beat 2-8 Syracuse this weekend, before getting beatdown against USC, which would leave it 7-5.  Yet, bowl games are lining up as if the Irish were undefeated.

It’s part of the territory that comes with the popularity system, the good guy gets pushed out of the way for the has-been with the strong following and even more well known history.  Notre Dame lives off of its glorious past, and doesn’t ever get penalized for it’s very mediocre recent present.  Bowl committees flock to them as soon as it becomes apparent that they will get into a bowl.  So a team that under a fair system would land in one of the very early bowls, is instead a hot candidate for a mid-day New Year’s Day bowl.

The Sugar Bowl or one of the other BCS other bowls would probably bite too, but that would come with scrutiny beyond belief.  So instead, they leave the Irish to the tier two bowls.  Bowls like the Gator Bowl.  Bowls like the Cotton Bowl.  Well respected bowls, that see the crowd the Irish will bring as bowl execs salivate at the possibilities.

Forget the game.  The game is just a setup.  Because if it was just about the game, Notre Dame wouldn’t have a prayer.  But this isn’t about fair, or about who belongs.  This is about reputations, and a big catholic school that plays the field and not the other way around.  It already aggravates me that Notre Dame is too cool to be affliated with a BCS conference, but each year, when I see the uninmposing Irish choke in another big bowl game that they have no right to be in, it just annoys the crap out of me.

Notre Dame is not even a top 25 team, probably not top 35, but they have a brand.  They have a national broadcasting TV partner in NBC, and they have Lou Holtz, who nauseausly pushes for their rise to prominence even when its clear that there is none on the horizon.

I’ve never liked the Irish, because I think of them as the spoiled, undeserving rich kid that gets whatever he wants.  The Irish are like the high schooler who pulls in straight C’s and gets rewarded with a Lamborghini.  They get rewarded for mediocrity.  They’re the popular kid.  They don’t play by the same rules as everybody else.

Instead, when the bowl pecking order comes about there they are.  Navy is much higher ranked in SI.com’s power rankings, but they’re looking at a glorious date at the brand new Congressional Bowl the first day of bowl season.  The Irish are looking at a spot reserved for someone who should be far better then they.  But it doesn’t work like that.

The Irish have played the system, and they’ve got bowl organizers by a string on their finger.  They’re the puppet master and the bowls are the puppets.  I think I’ve made my point clear.  When Notre Dame wins seven games, it’s like nine.  When Oklahoma State wins nine game, it’s like they’ve won seven.

So when the inevitable happens, and the Irish get invited to what is considered a respectable bowl game, I’ll be the one sitting there, not the least bit surprised, but not happy either.  It’s a popularity game and Notre Dame is number one where it really shouldn’t count.

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