Now that college football's recruiting season is done, and all of the over-hyped high school players have been graded, I once again cannot notice who always seems to be in the top 15 every year. Notre Dame once again has been able to land top recruits from all over the country to turn the Irish around; bringing a proud football school back to national prominence. Let's face it, there are a lot of people that love Notre Dame football. Probably greater than the number of those that hate it. No matter what their record, win or lose, Notre Dame always grabs headlines.
This season's recruiting class for Notre Dame is ranked 14th in the country. Last year the Irish boasted the #1 ranked recruiting class with 10 of the top 150 players in the nation. In 2006 the Irish gobbled up another 10 of the top 150 including the #1 overall rated player in QB Jimmy Clausen. With all of this talent, Notre Dame should continue to be dominant in college football.
HUH?!? Are you as confused as me? So many "great" recruiting classes, so many "top" players. Notre Dame is 10-15 in the past 2 seasons. Which means they win about as often as Charlie Weis exercises. The sad thing is outside of their recent blowouts with USC, Notre Dame typically plays a schedule that could get them 9-10 wins and a possible BCS berth. If you look at Weis' era minus the success he had with Tyrone Willingham's players the Irish are awful.
Yet every year the Irish sign 5 star and 4 star players?
Enter Rivals.com and ESPNinsider. Rivals.com specializes in college football, offering scouting reports and grades on high school football players. Every year Notre Dame has players that rank high but stink in college. There are passionate ND fans all over the country. Rivals and ESPN know this. Envision a proud Irish grad walking down the street and seeing a news stand with a Rivals magazine that has Notre Dame on the cover with a headline like, "Irish Land Top Recruits!" Think he buys the magazine? Rivals, trying to sell subscriptions, knows it. By featuring Notre Dame's "prized recruiting class" they are just blowing smoke and selling mags. The rankings, I feel, are skewed for this reason alone. This sort of thing is over looked and is the reason you see Notre Dame in the pre season top 25 every year.
It really favors both sides. Magazines fly off the racks, and Notre Dame can hide their sub par seasons with excitement for the next one featuring elite talent. It's the circle of lies.
The top talent every year ends up everywhere but South Bend. I'm not alone in this observation. The notion of parity in college football is absurd. Washington finished 0-11, but USC (11-1) got the top national recruit. That's why the same teams compete for the (mythical) National Championship every year.
We now know Weis just cannot bring the top tier talent to Notre Dame that is required to be a 10 win team year in and year out. But it's really not his fault. Notre Dame has its own nose to high in the air to realize their football program isn't as desireable as it used to be. It's a cold weather school. ( So rule out kids from So Cal, Florida and Texas) The student body is predominantly white and catholic. The academic standards are to high to get players with low test scores in and list goes on and on.
Face it Irish fans. Notre Dame isn't a football power any more. Don't be fooled by the fine print and bright colors that grace the magazines you covet. The answers are on the field.
-P
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