(I WARNED you all I "would have something to say on all of this" once that game-at-the-end-of-the-regular-season was over...I probably SHOULD have thought it OUT ,ore, but I need to get it out and be DONE WITH IT. With apologies, then
Well, here it is, folks--This was REALLY frustrating to watch: And we had to rely on LANE KIFFEN to get it done for us? THAT was never gonna happen...The Irish may be an over-rated football team who will get rolled by Bama OR UGA in the "Plus One" (maybe UGA WORSE, I'm starting to think), but Kiffen is the worst "highly regarded Coach" in college football--and he proved WHY here tonight. They had EVERY chance to TAKE this game, and the play-calling of their COACH made this another "Luck of the Irish" bit of futility.
Meanwhile, "The Fighting Irish are Destiny's Darlings..." according to Brent Musberger---Yeah, like HOW IN HELL DOES THAT PITT KICKER MISS THE FG THAT WOULD HAVE BEATEN THEM IN THE 3RD OT?...In a game where they had the lead late and blew THAT, giving the Irish an opportunity they shouldn't have had in the 1st place...and that's just the one I clearly remember--there were at least 3 or 4 OTHER games where Notre Dame was BEAT against mediocre teams--their "luck", far as I'm concerned, was that they WERE up against "mediocre teams"--anyone even one notch ABOVE less-than-average would have knocked them off earlier--and we'd-have-been-DONE with them and all THIS!.
(Oh, and NOW it gets BETTER: Here is the guy I despise hearing talk now even more than Lane Kiffen: Urban "I'm-Having-a-Heart-Attack-NO!-I-Want-to-See-My-Family-No!-I'm-a-Lifelong-Gator-No!-I've-Been-a-Ohio-Man-All-My-LIFE-Snivel-Sniff-Sniff" My-ERRRR-No!-Crier-No!-LIAR singing his latest tune like a GEEK pukin'-up chicken heads, that's what his act looks and sounds like to ME now, right?)
These guys are ALL on "My LIST":
At the top is to BURY "That PHONY From Ohio (TPFO)"...
Next down would of COURSE be Notre Dame ANYTIME, ANYWHERE...
Next is Lane Kiffen, who couldn't manage a barely adequate game here tonight even for HIS team's sake...
And UGA has a new STRING of "Parties" we'll need to make sure they WANT to forget, of course...
What's YOUR "list"?
There are some others but these are at the top of mine--"a good start", as they say...ALL worthy of getting BEAT BADLY--sooner rather than later, so it's fine with ME seeing OTHERS drilling them...BUT as we saw tonight, usually it is just UNACCEPTABLE leaving this sort of thing in the hands of "Anyone ELSE"--We have DONE that the last FOUR times (the ONLY four times) we were headed for "The Top", losing ONE game instead of going undefeated, and been fortunate enough to get there ANYWAY--and WIN it 3 of 4 TIMES (the First time we got CLOBBERED by Nebraska when we got there--"there" being the Fiesta)--and in losing in J-ville that ONE time THIS season, to take it OUT of our own hands, we were depending on others AGAIN. It is WELL PAST TIME we stopped:
We NEED To Go UNDEFEATED.
It is a HARD thing to do, for ANY program, wherever they play--and EXCEPTIONALLY difficult in the SEC, obviously: But we must DO IT, and do it ONCE AND FOR ALL SOON--and then AGAIN...It'll get "easier" (if that is the word) after we get it done that first time.
I EXPECT US TO WIN OUT, GO UNDEFEATED, FOR AT LEAST TWO SEASONS IN A ROW--Do it in the next 2 or 3 years--then "reload" and go for it AGAIN!!
Still--can't help but HURT at the fact that our Nat'l Championship chances in the end slid by on TWO blown-chances late inside-the-five: One that WE FUMBLED away, and one that Kiffens' "Prophylactics" BUMBLED away--both with just moments left in the game...
It HURTS to know that we are, at this point, as good as ANY TEAM IN AMERICAN COLLEGE FOOTBALL--It makes us proud, sure, but it HURTS, too: You GOTTA know we would just FLATTEN that Notre Dame Team I just watched (and blown AWAY that Trojans team--I mean THAT was like one of the SEC's LESSER teams--like, let's see, hmmm, Tennessee? Could THAT be a coincidence?)...I'm guessing maybe N.D. does a little better for a half or so, but the outcome is inevitable--and if we play like we played all but about 6 minutes of the 3rd quarter TONIGHT, we beat anybody, even N.D--Hell, ESPECIALLY N.D.--by a couple of TDs MINIMUM. The way we responded to that "6 minutes" PROVED that!
What we saw in ourselves TONIGHT when we finally pulled it all together and rallied, when we "formed up and started to become what we are truly destined to BE", a balanced, powerful TEAM that functions efficiently in ALL phases of the game, we glimpsed for the first time what that will mean: We will be RELENTLESS, able to dictate not just the outcome but the flow and pace of a game.
Don't misunderstand me--we won't EVER be "PERFECT"; a TEAM is fundamentally a"collection of imperfect individuals", after all--"perfection" is something you MAY, with practice, discipline and sacrifice for one another, achieve for a few precious moments in a game now and then, here and there--But you GO FOR IT TOGETHER, as a "team", the pursuit itself for its own sake--and the high points you achieve along-the-way amount to the only "pay-off" we'll get except the effort itself...ALL of us who make UP this "program": School, Coaches, players and US, The FANS. When all is said and done, you know, WE are the school, WE ARE THE PROGRAM. WE are "the constant": everyone ELSE "comes and goes", but us and the buildings.
What am I getting at? This is our program, our school, OUR TEAM--and we are CLOSE, thanks to this Head Coach and his staff close to hitting the kind of success that will finally let us accomplish things WITHOUT "help" from other teams and "lucky breaks" to somehow "fix" or make up for the inevitable "one let down" we seem to manage even in our Championship years. It is just RIDICULOUS to me that NOTRE DAME can manage a "Perfect Season" (it really ISN'T that, we all know--we all SAW it--barely "enough" against mediocre teams!) while we have to sink back into the shadows: We're BETTER than them! There it is: All the rest doesn't matter: We have to go undefeated...It really IS that simple...The rest is just "facts". So we weren't quite "THAT" team this season--Hey, we knew THAT going in--in fact, we are a LOT better than we thought, as it turns out "poised at the brink". OK: That is the goal, from now on, nothing less: Not "perfection", maybe, but TO WIN EVERY GAME. This is where playing in the SEC is an ADVANTAGE: Never MIND how anyone else sees it--WE'LL know we're "THE BEST".
