For years now, ND has recruited with one hand tied behind its back. Its not easy to find players, predominantly black players, who can meet the academic admissions standards and also be playmakers on the football field. ND could have recruited Dwayne Jarett, the USC WR who proved to be the difference maker in the USC-ND game, but had to drop him because of concerns that he wouldn't meet ND's rigorous academic standards. And, then there was Randy Moss, who had committed to ND. But, ND had to drop its committment to Moss even though ND understood that he was a great, great player.

I'm very proud that ND does not have to compromise or sacrifice its standards to play college football, unlike so many other programs today. There aren't many other teams who would make the same moral stand that ND does every day. At ND, it would be simply unacceptable to have players beat up other students or to have players receive illegal benefits the way Reggie Bush or Dwayne Jarett did while playing for USC. First of all, ND wouldn't recruit those type of players. And, more importantly, if such a players slipped through, ND would punish and suspend those players. Or, in Moss' case, it would drop its committment to such a player.

With two consecutive BCS bowl games, ND has shown that you can still do it the right way and still find success on the football field. Although, this last loss is trobuling because it starts to raise questions whether any college football program can win a NC with such high standards.

I didn't feel like reading your whole post so I just read the first couple of sentences.

Are you trying to make excuses after that whipping yall had last night? If you don't have the players to play in big games then maybe yall should'nt be in big games. Don't you think?

Obviously well thought out... but I'm wondering what this has to do with LSU? Sounds like something for a Notre Dame board.

Maybe ND can play Tulane. They complain about the same thing.

Should prob. be the standard for every college. What do you have to do, take calculus as a freshman? cant be that hard

Your right, but then they wouldn't have enough players to make a full Conference.:hihi:

I guess ND has smart losers then. 9 bowl game losses in a row... Post this sh*t on a ND board.. Do you want some cheese with your wine??

sorry but ND was not in the BCS the last 2 years because they deserved it.

I think that what schools like ND do in that regard is commendable, and fully support their decisions to not reduce academic standards. If I understood the circumstances correctly, Urban Meyer lost interest in the HC position because the administration would not grant him any academic exceptions. Thus, he knew that he could not succeed without that advantage. And I've also heard that Weis was given 5 academic exceptions following last season's performance, much like that were granted to players like Bettis and Ismail.

Anyway, your platitudes smack of the Green Wave.:hihi:

the answer to that question is no. you'd think after 9 straight bowl losses, a world record, and 100 straight losses to top 10 teams, it'd sink in.

big boy football doesnt have moral victories. when you resort to reasoning out your losses you know you're in trouble.

go back to the days when you whored your academics to get ricky watters and jerome bettis admitted. those guys had trouble filling in a circle on the SAT much less filling in the right ones. They often got their names right though.

save your high moral academician ground for the ivy league which you are more on par with, at least athletically.