By Paul M. Banks
When the bowl picture was developed and finalized yesterday, you might have noticed that Notre Dame was missing. And that is substantial news, because ND usually gets such special treatment from bowl committees. “A 6-5 season with 4 of those wins coming over Navy, Army, Air Force and Duke?” Yes sir, that’s Fiesta Bowl material if I ever saw it! Where do we sign?” Apparently, the players held a vote to decide if the 6-6 team would accept a bowl bid this season, if they were granted one. Well, whatever happened behind close doors and in meetings, ND is home for the holidays. I would say deservedly so, but look at some of the teams going bowling, I mean Michigan State? really? So ND could have gone to the O’Reilly’s auto parts bowl or the Sham-wow bowl or whatever, but instead of a postseason destination, embattled Irish QB Jimmy Clausen and electric WR Golden Tate are headed for the greener pastures of the NFL, as both officially declared today.
Without a coach, and with the team on a current losing streak, and the NFL money right around the corner, this was a no-brainer decision for the two high first round prospects.