Irish Tradition Can’t Beat Bad Execution

As players rushed the field in celebration, Lou Holtz walked over to Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry and shook his hand. Then he turned and slowly made his way down the field.

He’d seen these celebrations so many times before. Only this time, the Irish weren’t the ones celebrating.

Notre Dame’s loss to Air Force last weekend was no fluke, no matter what the point spread and the expectations were. The Irish have problems, lots of them, and their second loss in three weeks is further evidence of just how far they’ve fallen since finishing No. 2 in 1993.

“There hasn’t been the sense of urgency there that needs to be on a consistent basis,” Holtz said. “How good are we? How bad are we? I don’t know.”

It’s hard to figure out why the Irish are in freefall. On paper, the team is loaded with talent. Last year’s lineup remains largely unchanged and the coaching staff has undergone only minor changes in the last three years.

Their schedule has gotten softer, too. Michigan, Brigham Young and Florida State are gone, replaced by lightweights like Rutgers, Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh, which had a combined 10-24 record last year.

So the Irish should be winning, and winning big. Instead they’ve looked tentative and sluggish, relying on luck and the Irish defense in two of their four wins. And they’ve looked downright disoriented in their losses to Ohio State and Air Force.

Dating to 1994, Notre Dame has a 19-10-1 record. That’s more losses in 2-1/2 seasons than the 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 teams had combined.

And for the first time since 1986, the Irish might be staying home for the holidays, shut out of the bowl action.

“Hasn’t this senior class gone through enough?” Ron Powlus asked after the Air Force game. “Haven’t we?” Holtz doesn’t want to make excuses for his team, but he will say Notre Dame’s tough admission standards have made recruiting tougher.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that there have been some athletes that we had hoped to alleviate some of the problems … that are not here,” he said. “Other years they would be here.”

Despite Holtz’s words, Notre Dame consistently attracts the top players in the country, and if one can’t come, there’s another eager to take his place. Its tradition and history is like a magnet. Players assume that if they come to Notre Dame, they will be on at least one team that contends for or wins a national championship.

Tailback Autry Denson is a perfect example. The Florida native grew up hating the Irish, yet he snubbed Florida’s Big Three after a visit to Notre Dame. Why? Because it’s Notre Dame.

Notre Dame does have tougher academic and admission standards than most state schools. But so do Northwestern, BYU and Southern Cal.

The Irish have other problems. It’s true the offense doesn’t make the best use of Powlus’ throwing abilities, but that’s nothing new. Notre Dame has always been a running team.

Even though he has a year of eligibility left, this is likely to be Powlus’ last season. And backup Jarious Jackson isn’t on his level yet.