Who is the real Fredo?

The Irish fell to the Eagles for the 6th straight time, almost completely erasing a chance at an 8-4 record for the Irish this season. BC needed to do very little to win the game, simply letting the Irish self destruct in the 17-0 rout. BC scored 3 times, all 3 aided by Irish turnovers (7 points on a interception returned for a TD, 7 points after a blocked punt in BC territory, and 3 points after another interception). You can review the game stats and recap here.


I won't spend much time on my predictions, which you can view in the recap below. I predicted Jimmy would throw 3 TDs and 1 INT, and I was grossly wrong. Jimmy's 4 interceptions was a career high, and was easily the story of the game. The Irish passing attack got some yards, but the turnovers negated it all. There are no excuses, not even the fact that Jimmy was bedridden Friday evening with the flu. Stat of the day - The Irish outgained the Eagles by 50 yards, marking the 3rd loss out of 4 this season in which the Irish have outgained the opponent.


Numerous thoughts come to mind 36 hours after this loss - is Charlie the right guy to be coach for the Irish? How can the offense, with such talent and early season success, completely self destruct and lay a goose egg? Why does this team look mentally unprepared for each big game they play? How in the world has Charlie Weis and Irish lost to the last 15 opponents they have played with a winning record?


At this point, we can focus on the bad news or the good. The bad news is that the Irish have not proven anything to anyone, or earned any respect outside of recruiting rankings. The bad news is that the Irish offense got shut out by a team that had given up an average of 34 points in its last 3 games. But, the good news is that there are 3 more football games left to improve, including 1 against an arch rival USC. The Irish defense - more good news. They continue to keep every game winnable and in fact did much better than that against BC, holding them to 245 yards total offense. Another piece of good news is that the Irish will likely have a chance to break the 15 year bowl curse on the program. Winning a bowl game would remove an awful statistic too often referenced, as well as usher the Irish into the offseason with a winning feeling unlike any of the past 14 seasons.


As disgusted as many of you are, ask yourself this: at the beginning of this season - or more directly, at the end of last season - would you have accepted a 7-5 season and a bowl win? As prideful as we Notre Dame fans are, I think the answer for most is yes. Certainly it cannot be classified as a great season, but simply a required stepping stone on the trail from 3-9 to National title contender.



Of course, 7-5 means beating Navy and Syracuse. Navy is once again good (6-3, beat Wake Forest earlier this year) and will certainly pound the Irish if they do not recover. The fact that Navy has a winning record will allow the Irish a chance at breaking the 15 straight losses to teams with winning records. It's all about ending bad streaks and creating positive ones.