Notre Dame Refuses Bowl Invite, Mixed Reactions by Fans
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Teams Has Decided Their Season is Over
There are two ways to look at the refusal by Notre Dame to accept a bowl invitation in 2009. The first way to look at it is that the team didn't want to go to a low level bowl game, and decided as a school that they didn't think that their team deserved to go on a "vacation" to the possible bowl game that might invite them. Fans can view this as a way that their school is trying to set a high standard, and that they felt the 2009 season of finishing with six wins and six losses just wasn't deserving of a bowl game. The mystery behind the reasoning may lead people affiliated with the university to question that reason though.
The other way to look at Notre Dame's refusal to play in a 2009 bowl game is to look at the decision as being elitist. Some sportscasters are stating that Notre Dame feels that they are a premiere college football school, and they won't relegate their players to playing in a lower level bowl game because it is beneath them. This could be true because in the past Notre Dame has refused to play in bowl games where they weren't playing someone ranked significantly better than themselves. It's one of those "what's in it for me" arguments, where Notre Dame Football only wants to go to the bowl game if they have a chance to improve upon their own ranking.
Notre Dame has the option to play in a bowl game this season because they finished with a .500 record, and it is just about guaranteed that some bowl game would want to have Notre Dame come play there. Notre Dame has a very large television audience, so any bowl would indeed be lucky to get them, but it seems that Notre Dame is going to bring some drama with them. When it comes to ticket sales and the cash bonus for going to a bowl game, it seems like this isn't a done deal, and that one of the bowl committees could still sit down with Notre Dame and hash out an agreement to get them to accept an invite. Notre Dame is in flux as they are in-between head coaches, so that could play a part in their decision in the end, and this probably isn't the end of this story.
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Published by Ryan Christopher DeVault
Born in Seattle, Washington, I am a 31 year old college graduate working in the field of Education and Research. I am also a professional freelance writer and news content provider. I can be reached at... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentLook at it this way. If they accepted a bid then that would give them more practices, which they obviously need. I am sure that the seniors would have liked to have one more chance to play!
Huge ND fan, but this year was pathetic. Weakest schedule in memory, and they had to claw their way out of being 3-9. They do not deserve to go to a bowl game. I understand that it does look bad that the players wish not to play another game, however can you blame them? Regardless of what you think of Wise, that is their coach...he is gone. That is who they have work with/for for the last few years. This is who brought them to the school and he was fired. I'm sure the players are bitter for ND firing Wise and chose not to play to "honor" him somehow. Justin Tuck came out after Willingham was fired with some harsh words for the University...I'm sure others will do the same this time around.
There are other teams out there that deserve to play for whatever bowl ND was offered and I'm sure they will put up a better show than ND. What would they be playing for? It would be utter misery watching them play another game w/o a personality, w/o any fire, w/o a style of their own.
Swarbrick repeated over and over that the decision whether or not to play in a bowl would be up to the players. Whoever accepts the ND coaching job should have real concern over a group of players that would rather end the season than play one more game. To me it seems like a child pouting when he doesn't get his way. Notre Dame couldn't win their games, so they decided to quit. You don't become an elite program with that kind of mentality.
I think the bowl games should be chosen on who has the best record, not who will bring in the most money. I agree with saul.
He missed the third option. I will refuse accepting a bowl bid before the embarrasment of not being invited to a bowl. Ugly smart girls use this trick for the senior prom. I'm just going to go to prom with my girlfriends so we can hang out so I'm not accepting any male invitations. Notre Dame is an ugly smart girl.
Notre Dame should join the Ivy League with the other power houses of the early years of college football. They don't belong in the BCS.
was a so so fan but no more! did this before and why? How about arrogance. All schools are ethnocentric to a point, they go way overboard!
Notre Dame did not deserve to go to a bowl game. They were chosen for financial reasons. I don't care why they refused, elitist or whatever. This is why there should be a playoff system. The bowls can still be used to make money but this "let's choose them because they've got a national audience and will make us money" b.s. doesn't cut it. Think of all the teams that have better records than N.D. (and claiming that N.D. plays higher calibre teams might have merit, but it still don't look good) that could have been asked to the bowl -- now one of those teams will be asked.