Sing her glory and sound her fame…
With the familiar words and tune of the Notre Dame Fight Song reverberating in our collective skulls, Brian Kelly, the coach of the undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats team on its way to the Sugar Bowl, jettisoned his team to accept the coaching position at the venerated Indiana institution a few years back.
At the time, it seemed to be a tough but logical choice for Kelly. Tough, because he had to abandon a Bearcats team that he led to an undefeated regular season – before a final, culminating, Sugar Bowl appearance. Tough, because this Bearcats team achieved so much despite adversity. That adversity included losing Heisman-caliber and NFL-bound quarterback Tony Pike to injury for several games. Tough, because this was a Bearcats program that traditionally played second-fiddle to The Ohio State University in their home state, and who Kelly brought to the forefront with their second major bowl in as many years.
But the choice was a logical one, however. It was Notre Dame. Unlike Cincinnati, if Notre Dame goes undefeated there’s pretty much no question they’ll be playing for the BCS Title. They still have the aura and mystique of Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome, and don’t have to play second-fiddle to anyone when the recruiting wars come about.
It doesn’t hurt that Notre Dame has the richest television contract in college football. Instead of being happy with a crowd of 40,000 or so, the Irish sell out their 80,000 plus seats for every game – with over 200 consecutive sell-outs.
So, as hard as it was, Brian Kelly took the job at Notre Dame.
Some people said that maybe he moved to quickly… That he could’ve had the job that opened up at the University of Florida.
But lookee here…he’s lookin’ like a purty smart fella now.
So here’s my question Matt heads: If Alabama, Notre Dame, Oregon and Kansas State all run the table -a distinct possibility… Who plays for the National Title?
Beats me… But won’t beat me, or you, is this College Football Pick:
Upset special: TCU takes on West Virginny up thar in the hills. Frogs beat the Inbreeds, 38-31.
That’s all, Doc’s gotta go back to work. Tune in for Cheesy Bruin, tomorrow.
