Rockne's Roundtable

You think getting 38,000 quiet fans (1996 game) to show up is an accomplishment? To what end?

Do you follow college sports? No one does this because there is no point. Of course there is the upcoming China game - which is all about recruiting Chinese students for Stanford. It has absolutely nothing to do with building a successful football Program. Oh wait, the last 25 years of ND Football bears out that truth doesn't it?

Growing a fan base in Ireland? Are you serious? Nobody there even knows this game is going on. Or cares. The real winner here are the tour operators and the fans who are looking for a fun outing and can afford it. I am not opposed to an exhibition game once in a while, but don't schedule it as a launch to a brutal schedule and then cut into the routine of preparing for a tough Big 10 schedule. Because at the end of the day, it is all about wins. Building a fan base on perennial 7-5 teams is not going to happen whether you schedule it in Moscow, Singapore or Dublin. Building revenue is all about Wins! Wins! Wins! So, if you really insist on this kind of boondoggle, schedule it at the end of the season ideally with a bye week prior.

I have not proved any of your points. So they are looking to sell merchandise in Ireland? 90% of the spectators are going to be from the US and 10% will be from Ireland because they got a free ticket and don't understand or care what they are watching.

Not one player on the roster is there because of the Ireland game.

The ND fan base is aging (i.e. middle aged and older men who can afford flying to Ireland to watch a football game). Playing in Ireland does nothing to change that. Winning and being relevant does. Kids don't care about playing Navy in Ireland. Building ridiculous schedules just makes wnning harder.

I am paying full attention. You're just not making any salient points. The shamrock series can be played in New York or wherever in the U.S. - recruits can go to those games and that is where the fan base is. There are no recruits in Ireland and no fan base in Ireland other than some U.S. fan who happens to live there. The 1996 game had 38,000 fans. Probably fewer are expected this time, not sure. MAC games draw as much. 9AM kick-off time? Brilliant. Playing it in Ireland is unnecessary. It's a boondoggle that makes a ridiculously difficult schedule even more so.

Me too. But I'd rather build a winning team. Notre Dame is starting to look like the Harlem Globetrotters of College Football. It's all about putting on a show. The Programs who are winning today are doing so by putting their teams in the best position to win by the end of the season. The 2012 Notre Dame schedule is a coach killer. Any coach.

They can play Navy in the Meadowlands, South Bend, Yankee Stadium, Solider Field, Texas Stadium or wherever. Ireland at the beginning of a season is ridiculous. It is so insane it makes me actually wonder if the people who scheduled this game have some sort of contempt for the Football Program. Every team in the nation is building itself up in Fall Camp for its first game and wants that game to make a statement and build from. Most winning Programs realize that the first game or two the team will need to work through a few glitches so they are sure to schedule teams/games that are not too difficult so those glitches do not become losses. 100% of all teams are establishing routine and habits.

But not Notre Dame.

They are building the team up through Fall Camp, then put the team on a plane for 6 hours, do some sight seeing, play in a half-empty stadium at a time when the kids body clocks are messed up. Then fly them home and completely mess with their training and sleep routines and release them on 3 consecutive Rival teams, the first one being an in state rival returning 19 starters. Add to the fact that they played Navy which runs an offense they will not see again the rest of the season and they love to cut block. Navy has been running this offense for a decade so they can do it in their sleep. Not too many glitches to work out on their part. Not that it matters anyway, because they are Navy. Add to the fact that other than Army, this is the most important game on their schedule. Notre Dame kids are sight seeing and working in a rookie QB. Great.

So, instead of building the team slowly for a brutal schedule, Notre Dame actually introduces a stutter-step to begin the season. Pure brilliance.

Sometimes I think ND hates itself. Some sort of Catholic guilt. It's the only rational explanation of why it does these things to itself.