After watching the egregious show of ineptitude that was the football game against Syracuse, three major problems stood out in my mind as I reflected upon my last Notre Dame football experience as a student. Just chatting with depressed fellow seniors after the game, I could tell that these three issues - despite all the craziness that transpired - stood out perhaps the most:
1. We lost. Obviously. Not only did we lose, but we lost to a team that, according to Sagarin rankings, is worse than 12 non-bowl-subdivision teams. It would be easy to rip apart our coaching, or our effort, or just the team in general - but I don't want to. I want to believe in Weis. I want to believe ND will return to prominence. Plus, that's a topic for another article.
2. Lack of respect for the senior class. Please, do us a show of respect - we've stood by you through thick and thin, good (2005, 2006) and bad (actually, the worst season in ND history, 2007). It would have been a nice gesture to address the senior section at the end of the game, instead of the traditional march over to freshmen.
3. The senior walk-ons and non-starters. Those who don't quite make the depth chart deserve a chance to play at home, which presumably is why former AD Kevin White scheduled such a patsy of an opponent for the last home game of the season. Oops. These guys work hard, day in and day out, for little to no recognition. They are the ones who keep the guys that see the field - and television cameras and fame (infamy?) associated with it - in fighting form. The unsung heroes, in this case, remain unsung, and it was a heartbreaking sight for all of us seniors to behold.
Oh, and a note about the snowball-throwing debacle: 99.9 percent of the seniors in the section not only were not throwing at the team, but also thought that the idiots who were should be ejected. And some were, from what I saw. Moreover, it sure seemed like these clowns were aiming at the Indiana State Troopers (mean- mugging, goofy-hat-wearing and all) rather than the team. God knows we have more animosity towards those guys than any football team, losing or not.
Kevin Marvinac
senior
off-campus
Nov. 24
