Even though he was an assistant in South Bend from 1996-2000, it didn’t exactly come as a surprise that Urban Meyer came to the defense of his successor, Ryan Day, for his fiery rant against Lou Holtz. This came after Ohio State’s 17-14 win over Notre Dame last Saturday.
Now, the Fighting Irish have to turn around and play another ranked opponent in Duke, following a loss that puts them all but out of contention for a national championship. And for that, Meyer is concerned.
Meyer recently joined On3’s Tim May and shared his concerns ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
Here’s my thoughts… and Brady Quinn and I talk about this all the time – Notre Dame is so unique,” Meyer said, via On3. “When I coached there… every time you break it down like, ‘1, 2, 3 team.’ A lot of times, when I was there with Lou Holtz, it was ‘1, 2, 3 national champs.’ And the reality is when you lose one game, certainly when you lose two, that’s gone.”
Unfortunately, this is the nature of Notre Dame’s reality and the consequences that come with being independent and not in a conference, like the remaining majority of FBS schools.
“At Ohio State, you get a lot of rings when you win championships and all of that. At Notre Dame, you don’t get it. You get a bowl ring. … You don’t have that conference,” Meyer said. “At Ohio State, if you lose a game, you’re still in a street fight to go to the Big Ten Championship game, to the Rose Bowl. At Notre Dame, the players, the fans, the mindset is boom or bust. And if they lose, I worry about the mindset.”
And for that reason, Meyer has the Fighting Irish on upset alert this weekend. It remains to be seen if Notre Dame can bounce back from its gut-wrenching loss, but as we’ve seen this season, Duke isn’t going to be a pushover. Coach Marcus Freeman and staff are gonna have to clean up the mistakes if they want to pull off this win on the road.
[On3]
