As we all know Notre Dame lost to LSU last night 41-14 for their record tying 9th consecutive bowl loss. But I began to wonder, is Notre Dame's lack of success in the bowl games because of their immense popularity? Every bowl game wants Notre Dame because they know their fans are one of the best traveling groups and they will spend money.
Let's start by taking a look at the last two seasons. Both years Notre Dame had, good, but not great seasons. They had double digits wins, but none of their wins ended up being marquee ones. In the end they will have beaten two maybe three (depending on the end of season polls this year) ranked opponents. Below are the results of the Irish's Bowl games since their last win in 1993 (Season). In those nine postseason bowl games the Fighting Irish average getting beat 35-17. So maybe, just maybe Domer fans, you are getting into bowl games in which you don't deserve to and are overmatched causing these lopsided defeats.
2007 Sugar LSU L 14-41
2006 Fiesta Ohio State L 20-34
2004 Insight Oregon State L 21-38
2002 Gator North Carolina State L 6-28
2000 Fiesta Oregon State L 9-41
1998 Gator Georgia Tech L 28-35
1997 Independence LSU L 9-27
1995 Orange Florida State L 26-31
1994 Fiesta Colorado L 24-41
The Irish are so popular the BCS has made rules for their eligibility. One states "Notre Dame will have an automatic berth if it is in the top eight of the final BCS Standings.," and the Irish only need 9 wins to qualify for a BCS game. As we all know the BCS' main goal is make money, secondarily they want to match up the two best teams in the title game. So why wouldn't they choose Notre Dame every single time they are eligible. The BCS doesn't care if the Irish get blown out, they only care about selling tickets and merchandise.
So before Notre Dame fans point fingers at their team or their coach year after year for their bowl collapse, maybe they should step back and look at the big picture. The media loves Notre Dame and they will hype them up anytime there is a remote possibility they are good plus the bowl officials love them because of the money they bring. So when it comes down to it the recent failure in bowl games, the Irish are nothing but a victim of the monster that they created.
