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Probably his track record of Super Bowl victories?

Gee, how do you feel about our Chiefs? The 60's aren't even a memory for you....it's ancient history.

They are both prominent national programs with huge fan bases. Both football programs are in shambles. You can damn well bet a lot of people care. The over 200k combined season ticket holders care. The millions of combined alums around the world care. The networks who pay millions to broadcast their games care. And as for the game this weekend, I think it will get as much attention with them both being 0-2 as it would if they were both 2-0. And it should. This is huge.

Neither program is in shambles. They're just shot for this year, which was to be expected of one of them.

Part of Stewart Mandel's column on SI(he's a ND hater):

"Do we need further proof that recruiting-class rankings are totally bogus than watching the team currently fielded by Notre Dame? Charlie Weis has been bringing in these supposed top 10 recruiting classes every year, and frankly, the team I saw play last Saturday didn't appear to have so much as one blue chip player on it. What gives? Where is all this talent Weis has been bringing in?
--Jim Loiner, Spaldwick, UK

Amidst the Charlie Weis feeding frenzy that's already begun and will likely continue if Notre Dame starts 1-4, I think this is one area where he's actually being judged unfairly. Weis has only been there since February 2005. He's only had time to bring in two of these top 10 recruiting classes, and those players are currently in their first or second years on campus. One thing that never gets brought up -- but I think has a great deal to do with the Irish's expected dip this year -- is Notre Dame basically lost a complete recruiting cycle the year they fired Willingham and hired Weis. If you recall, Willingham was let go just after Thanksgiving weekend, while Weis remained with the Patriots through their Super Bowl run, which did not end until after Signing Day in February. Weis did as much as he could on the recruiting front, coming back for an official-visit weekend during a playoff bye week and what not, but c'mon. I can't imagine the Irish landed too many of their top targets that year.

That's a class that would be entering its third year right now and, under normal circumstances, making a huge impact. A check of the Irish's two-deep, however, reveals that just two members of that 2005 class, receiver David Grimes and fullback Asaph Schwapp, are currently listed as starters. So really, Weis is working with the fifth-year leftovers from Willingham's highly regarded 2003 class (which included four recent NFL draft picks, led by Brady Quinn, as well as baseball pro Jeff Samardzija), his 2004 class that Rivals.com ranked just 40th (and whose brightest star, RB Darius Walker, is gone as well) and a pair of top 10 classes whose members are still extremely young.

Now, next year, when those guys are all at least sophomores and juniors, and when Weis adds a freshman class that Rivals.com currently has ranked No. 1 in the country, there really will be no more excuses."

As much as I will piss off Mecca, I am rooting for the Big Red, as it's part of the Big 12. Best of luck (skill, actually) to both teams.

Ohio State is relevant?

Watch the hype for which ever team wins and how they are on the right track, coming back, blah blah blah. My best case scenario would be ...

ND 3 Mich 3

Notre Dame is in shambles this year compared to the combined previous 13 years with 0 bowl game victories? ND isn't a story because everyone has been saying they could go 0-8 for months.

OTOH, Michigan is a story IMO, from the 1 vs 2 last season to now.

That said, is this game worth half of College Gameday everyday? No.... there are 25 ranked teams to talk about, plus the recent drops, plus teams like South Florida, Alabama, etc. There's a lot more to talk about than two bad teams playing each other.

I'll just be glad when it's over, and Michigan can go back to the bottom of the Big 11 and Notre Dame can go play the service acadamies, the other powers of yesteryear, and the rest of us can watch football that matters.

Why do people give Notre Dame crap for playing the service academies? Would you rather they be playing Idaho, Akron, Utah State, Central Florida, Western Carolina, and The Citadel?

Army and Navy, like ND, used to be powers. Way, way back. At least their consistent with their eyes focused on the past.

Michigan sucks but Notre Dame is even worse.

Look for the home team Wolverines to win this game, even Appalachian State thinks that they can do it, lol.

I agree this game gets way to much media attention, but thats the way they are so what can you do?

they're*

Still haven't told me why Notre Dame playing Army and Navy is any different than Texas playing Central Florida, Arkansas State, and Rice or Ohio State playing Youngstown State, Akron, and Kent State, and so on and so forth.