Byron sent me some thoughts on Notre Dame firing its football coach.
I was upset that Willingham was fired until I really thought about it.
Here are the facts:
ND lost to BYU to open the season. A BYU team that went 5-6 and lost to UNLV one of the worst teams in the country. Inexcusable for a much more talented team (ND) to not be ready to play BYU. Answer: they were outprepared and outcoached.
ND lost two games on last second field goals. Once is a fluke, twice is poor preparation and execution (poor coaching).
ND was outscored in the second half of the games they lost by 35 points (82-47). This was never more egregious than in the USC game where they were outscored 24-0 in the second half. They allowed USC to score the last 38 points of that game. They were outcoached. Consistently all year long, they were outcoached.
Willingham is a helluva guy. I respect him, I love the way he carries himself and I think he represented Notre Dame very well in every aspect save one: in between the lines on Saturday.
NewMexiKen agrees with this and is offended by commentary to the effect of, “See, Notre Dame is a football factory like the rest.”
Hello! Notre Dame is the football factory. My god, they call the mural on the library “Touchdown Jesus” for heaven’s sake.
