It’s all over.  They have hoped and prayed and done everything they could.  I just don’t think there is anything that can be done for them now.  Let me be the first one to admit it.  NOTRE DAME IS DONE AS A BIGTIME PROGRAM.  A lot of experts are saying they could win 9-10 games this year and be in a BCS bowl.  That may be true, but they will never consistently compete for a championship like their fans and media expect and want them to.

I know it even hurts to say it out loud.  But the truth has to be told.  I know Notre Dame has more national championships and more All-Americans than everyone else.  But that is the past.  The last time Notre Dame was really relevant was all the way back in the Lou Holtz era.  The last time they were really in contention for the National Championship was 1993.  That’s not even this century.  The program is living too much in the past and it may never ever get back to that.

Looking around the college landscape at the top teams:  USC, Texas, Florida, Alabama etc. one thing pops into my mind.  ATHLETES.  Those teams have players at skill positions that are going to be first round picks.  The only 1st round skill position player from Notre Dame in the last few years is Brady Quinn.  Obviously, the good players aren’t going to Notre Dame anymore and the question has to be why?

There are a couple reasons.  Programs like Texas, Florida and Alabama get the bulk of their rosters from their state.  And these states each and every year produce the top talent in the country.  If you’re a top player in these states what is better than going to the State University?  Notre Dame is in Indiana.  I don’t get to scout many high school games, but I don’t think Indiana is one of the top football producing states.

So if the majority of your players aren’t coming from your home state what do you do?  Well, you can be like USC and have your recent reputation and location to recruit to.  USC has multiple recent Heisman trophy winners.  And every first round since Pete Carroll has been there is full of USC players.  So if you want to go to the NFL why would you go to Notre Dame over USC?  There are programs that produce NFL players on a regular basis and right now Notre Dame isn’t one of them.

And without the NFL pedigree and recent success what does Notre Dame have to offer?  South Bend, Indiana doesn’t seem to be a great place to recruit the star athletes.  It’s not like other schools that are rebuilding like Miami.  Miami can always say I know we are down, but at least you can party in Miami.  That can’t be said about South Bend.  Also even while Miami is down there are enough big name pros that people know by just calling it “The U.”  And a lot of those players are still around the program and you can see them on the sidelines of games all the time.  So if you’re a recruit at a Miami game and you see Ed Reed, Ray Lewis and Clinton Portis on the sideline that shows you what kind of players come out of that program.  Who is the most memorable player to come out of Notre Dame in the last 5-10 years?  I actually sat  for 10 minutes and couldn’t think of anyone besides Brady Quinn.  And right now his name is on potential only.  Big time athletes go to these schools because they want to the NFL.  Who can Charlie Weis point to when a kid is deciding between USC, Florida and Notre Dame? 

One of the things that Notre Dame was always famous for was playing a tough schedule.  But that schedule has killed them the last couple of years because they don’t have the talent to compete with the top tier programs.  Yes, they have always played the military schools and that is usually a couple of guaranteed wins.  But when you look at USC and Oklahoma for instance they have 2-3 make or break games a year.  Most of their conference games they’re heavily favored so they can look at the schedule and be looking at 8-9 wins before the season starts.  It is those make or break games that decide if they make it to a BCS bowl game or not.  But their schedules pretty much guarantee they will be in the conversation all season.

Notre Dame’s history is long and great, but right now the future doesn’t look so bright.  It can’t all be blamed on the coaches, (even though Charlie Weis appears to be overrated) it is about the talent.  And Notre Dame is not getting the top players.  There are so many other top programs in better locations, with better recent history that I don’t know if Notre Dame can ever get back to where their fans think they should be.  They can now only dream of being spoken in the same breath as Florida, USC and Oklahoma.