Notre Dame rides wave of emotion
By ANTHONY BIANCO
The Irish held an unusual Sunday practice last week after the Purdue loss.
After a second-straight game in which the Irish were a few yards away from being winners, a the practice gave Bob Davie a chance to refocus his team.
A chance to break from the emotional rollercoaster that the trips to Michigan and Purdue turned out to be is exactly what the Irish need. No Irish fan can help but dwell on the near wins.
Afterall, a 3-0 Notre Dame team could have certainly propelled them into the top 5 in the rankings.
But a Sunday practice and a look at the rest of the 1999 schedule might be exactly what the teams needs at this point. If a national championship is the only goal you think the Irish had for this year, then yes, Davie should have taken Sunday off and sit out the remaining
nine games. In reality, the season is still young and full of teams looking to steal one from the Irish.
Yes, that's right, the rollercoaster could get much worse before the season is over. There aren't any "sure wins" on the schedule, and teams like Michigan State, Arizona State, USC, Pittsburgh — who almost beat Penn State last weekend at Happy Valley — are teams hoping to use a win against the Irish as a springboard into the rankings. That is, if the Irish remain in the top 25 by the time opponents face them.
So, to answer all of those Irish fans who don't think they could feel any worse — after all, a national championship was the goal just two weeks ago — things could get a lot worse. Hence the need for Davie to shake things up and calm and focus the team.
The same schedule that could finish off the Irish could also serve to correct the mistakes and give Notre Dame a respectable finish.
Of course, it all starts this weekend at home, a place where the Irish have felt comfortable in the past few seasons. Riding a 10-game home win streak, facing Michigan State in the game to turn around the Irish is almost too ironic of a situation.
It was just last season that the Irish rode into East Lansing, Mich., a week after upsetting the Wolverines. Heading into that game with two upsetting losses, the Spartans were out to break their own streak, and they humiliated the Irish from start to finish in a 45-23 win.
A good football team should come out of a situation like that of Notre Dame's past two games with a refocused attitude and the reassurance that a team like Michigan State can be beat.
But then again, not many teams can say that seconds on clock and inches on the field lost them back-to-back games that would have ranked them among the elite.
The viws expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 17, 1999
