Why Notre Dame Will Still Make a BCS Bowl

     This is some seriously optimistic propaganda from someone who repeatedly gets kicked in the testicles by his favorite sports teams, and by life in general (hence the name of the site). However, after watching the DVR replay late Saturday night after work of the ND-USF game, then continuing on to http://www.nbcsports.com/ because mother nature wanted to make it a 6 hour game to fuck with my head a little further, I came to some conclusions. Namely, I don't think a team could have played any worse, still having a chance to win against a quality opponent than the Irish on Saturday. Notre Dame didn't open up against Missouri St, Florida Atlantic, or Chattanooga like some of their brethren in the top 25 did. Against some of those teams, they would have had the luxury of losing the turnover battle 5-0, committing 8 penalities, and missing a chip shot field goal. They played scared, basically having what amounts to a collective panic attack in front of 80.795 people and countless more watching on tv. Here's my take on why they'll come back from this stinkbomb of a performance and come back stronger.

     The Irish literally moved the ball at will for the majority of the game. They outgained South Florida 508-254. Michael Floyd proved to be virtually unstoppable, and as teams key on stopping him, they have two more WR's (T.J. Jones and Theo Riddick), and a quality TE in Tyler Eifert to take the pressure off. In addition, Cierre Wood ran more over 100 yards, basically in the first half as ND had to take to the air for most of the 2nd half. Eliminate the turnovers and this can be an unstoppable offense, whether its Tommy Rees or Dayne Crist running the show.

     Defensively, Man'ti Teo and the boys really only gave up 13 points to a team with a skilled dual-threat QB, and some speedy receivers. If they only give up 13 a game all year, and can sprinkle in a couple of turnovers, continuing to play some true freshmen from Coach Brian Kelly's top 10 recruiting class, they'll win pretty much every game this year from here on out.

     The majority of College Football had their responses ready post defeat, with all the "Notre Dame is overrated again" and "please stop talking about an irrelevant team"  bullshit the haters all across the country like to spew upon the Yankees of college football. I'd simply combat that by saying it's a long season. It's far better to play your worst game early, then get on a roll. If the Irish can win against Michigan, Michigan St. and Pitt, they'll be right back in the top 15, with a chance to knock off USC and Stanford . WHEN all of this happens, you can look back fondly at this post, as Notre Dame will be sitting in that BCS bowl game, where if they play like they're capable of, they'll deserve to be.