That is BS in my opinion. BK was on ESPN the week prior talking about how excited he was about the big game atmosphere and talking about ND’s road to a BCS game. He was looking past USC and the players’ performance showed that he was looking too far ahead. I am not screaming for BK to be fired, but I do hope that he realizes that until ND rises to the SEC level, he better take every week seriously and not look past opponents.

That right there is the biggest frustration for any ND fan. The nation does not respect us. They laugh at us. They see us on the schedule and lick their chops if they are a top tier team and say they have a chance if they are a lower tier team. WE SHOULD NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT A FREAKING STANFORD!!!! We should not be going into night games with butterflies in our stomachs. This is a storied school with a storied football team. We should be professionals and not cracking under big game pressure. You don’t want to be accused of quitting? THEN FREAKING PLAY TO WIN AND WIN EVERY WEEK!!!

The “pity party” is due to watching good players and good coaches fail, not because the other team is better, but because of mistakes that are committed by ND. I never go into a game thinking “how bad is this team going to beat us.” I do go into big games thinking “how are we going to beat ourselves.” Until ND players and coaches show that they can play a game–a big game–without self inflicted wounds, then I will always go into a game expecting bad things.

Sorry, left out why I feel sorry for his wife… you know, the whole public criticizing thing when you make a mistake thing ; )

Agree completely. Lou was a great coach, developer of young men, and motivator. Mix in a little self-deprecation and always building up any opponent, and you have a NC and are 2 wins away from 2 more (equalling Pete Carroll’s tun at USC over a 10 year period). And speaking of Kelly, I feel sorry for his wife if he publicly throws his players under the bus after a humiliating loss. I may be wrong, but if I were a young man, I’d rather play for a leader who is fully accountable – and I’d be more likely to play harder for a guy that has my back even if I did drop the ball, so to speak.

Agreed. My comment was that we could (and should) have siezed momentum in that situation. The fumble at the 1-yd line was catastrophic (along with the two turnovers which followed).

On another issue, I do not view a new coach signalling a rebuilding process. Between Weis and Kelly, ND has allegedly had at least 6 top tier recruitting classes. How can teams with such alleged talent be so bad? The answer begins and ends with one word – coaching. ND was awful for 7+ years and said to have no talent until Ara took that talent to within one bad call of a National Championship and an undefeated season. I still believe that can happen. Stoops and Tressel both won in their 2nd year. While Tressel inherited a loaded team, I don’t recall that being the case with Stoops at Oklahoma.

As regards USC, we all have experienced boorish behavior by fans. I have always been treated well by USC fans, especially when visiting the Coloseum and think they are a classy group of people. However, I did have some drunk college students smart off to my wife and kids while we were heading into the stadium only to have other USC fans come to our aid and chastize the drunk students. Those fans then apologized to us and said, “unfortunately USC sometimes stands for University of Spoiled Children.” I like USC. If not for them, ND’s schedule would lose a lot. If you don’t like your biggest rival you are missing the point. Rivals need each other. Many USC fans actually want us to become good the same way many ND fans wanted USC to become good again after our long winning streak against them under Lou. A one-sided series does not make for a good rivalry. One final point on this fan issue, years ago I took my in-laws to the ND v Navy game with my wife and four young children. I purchased before the game 2 Navy sweatshirts for my wife’s parents to wear since her father served in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II. We arrived at ND very early (between 7-8 a.m.), parking near the bookstore with very few cars (or people) around us when the 8 of us exited the van – 2 people in their late 60s wearing Navy sweatshirts and 6 people in ND gear. We toured the campus, had steak sandwiches, shopped the bookstore and watched the first half of the game. When we returned to my car, it had “Navy S*CKS” written all over it in white. I was embarrassed and humiliated by the so-called ND fans that felt a need to show their team spirit on my car by expressing their disdain for a retired World War II veteran wearing a Navy sweatshirt. Hard as it seems to believe, even we have boorish and obnoxious fans. I don’t paint any school’s fans with the broad brush of hatred for their team and fans. Colleges are cool places and they used to be places where you could wear the opposing teams colors and only contend with spirited and good natured teasing. More and more, its like going to an NFL game in certain cities where you take your life in you hands if you even cheer for the opposing team.

You only had to watch the very first series with USC in possession of the ball to know we were not well prepared for this game. So, did we change our defense? Second series for USC, same result.

We really need to stop believing the hype and understand that we play two entirely different tiers of opponents. Performance against the service academies and the also-rans really is not the same as performance against traditional powers. Too often, it seems, we derive expectations from our play against the former, and then we fail against the latter.

Now we will go beat up on Navy, Wake Forest and other less fortunate outfits and again blow expectations all out of proportion. We should live for the likes of USC and Stanford. Is this not what we aspire to?

And can we please have an end to the pious self-serving blame-shifting statements of our head coach? Stop blaming the players. Admit that you failed to prepare our players. Stop telling the world you know how to handle a bye-week (obviously, you do not . . . if you did, USC would not have run all over you, and you might have had something new to present on the offensive side of the ball. As it was, it seemed like USC knew every offensive call you were making . . . just be the adult in the group and take some pressure off the fine players and admit that you screwed up.)

I played football and sometimes we lost. I never needed some stuffed-shirt telling me that practice would not be fun the next week. We all went out and kicked each other’s butts out of frustration and disappointment and did not need anyone tearing us down. We all understood that redemption would come only from kicking the ass of our next opponent. We all appreciate the character of the Notre Dame players and you belittle them by telling the world they are not going to enjoy practice this week. Fool, the only people who enjoy practice are the biggest and meanest on the squad. Normal players hate practice almost as much as they hate losing.

Your pontification on what a tough leader you are does nothing to motivate the players. You neither elicit nor deserve respect. Your players deserve better. And USC deserves some credit for being better prepared and more focused. Those things are on you. Own up to your responsibility . . .

I am not some bitter subway alumni but a graduate student who has been to the Coliseum 5 times. The crappy reference is more about how ND people are treated there and it is not good.

I went to the UCLA-ND game back in 2007 and it was a very classy venue and I did not feel like my life was in danger as when I used to go to the Coliseum.

Comparing South Bend to LA is like comparing apples to oranges.

ND fans are from all over the US and flock to ND. I came from a long distance myself. A USC graduate told me back in 2000 that the only games USC could fill up were ND and UCLA. The “lots” to do excuse is just that an excuse. The bottom line is that USC are fair weather fans. They only go to games when they are winning.

As far as the cheating thing, that is not old but rather recent. It went to the basketball program and women’s tennis too.

I was at the game Sat. and sat right behind the USC band I know what I heard and they did drown out the alma mater and also played their song about UCLA.

I usually do not hate, but I do like USC.

That being said, I was very disappointed in ND’s play. I think this giving up thing is being played up more than it should be.

GO IRISH Beat Navy!

In the end, it is just a game. And our heart forever Love thee, Notre Dame! (Our Lady).

Evaluation should wait to the end of the year………in the interim we just suffer………..hope we can win 8.