The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team has a long, storied history of coming up short when the games matter most. And by short, I mean like Peter Dinklage standing next to Yao Ming kind of short. There was the 2006 Fiesta Bowl, when the Brady Quinn-led Irish took on Ohio State. Notre Dame promptly gave up 617 yards of offense, the third most in Fiesta Bowl history, and Quinn threw for exactly zero touchdowns in a 34-20 loss. Then there was 2013 National Championship game, in which Notre Dame took just enough time out from figuring out whether Manti Te'o's girlfriend was real or not to lose 42-14 to Alabama. It was 28-0 at halftime.
In fact, the Irish are 1-17 against top five ranked teams since 1998 and have never beaten a top ranked opponent. Yet here we are, in 2014, with almost every Irish game on national television because of the deal they've had with NBC since 1991. Some days, renewing "Whitney" seems like a better option for the network.
Notre Dame had a chance today to change the narrative. They had played phenomenal football all year long, the only blemish on their schedule a 31-27 down-to-the-wire loss at Florida State which could have gone the other way if not for a controversial holding call on a Notre Dame touchdown. The Irish traveled to the desert to take on no. 9 Arizona State, looking to make a statement. Instead, they went full on Notre Dame.
1.
Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson was mind-blowingly bad in the first half. He lost a fumble by kind of just placing it on the ground, the way you might softly lay your iPad down on your desk.
2.
He threw four interceptions on the day, the worst of which was the above pass, to no one in particular, that was returned 59 yards for a pick-six. And though he put together a valiant effort coming back from a ridiculous 31-3 halftime deficit to get within 34-31 late in the fourth quarter, another turnover and poor defense led to a final of 55-31. Goodbye, College Playoffs.
The college football universe will keep on spinning, and Notre Dame, whether they are coached by Charlie Weis or Brian Kelly, will keep on losing the big one.
[GIFs via SB Nation]
