I tend to look at Notre Dame they Most USC fans do, a respected rival who has seen better days.

There have been some that think USC should dump ND and the yearly rivalry game. I am not one of those, but there haven't been many games between the two teams that were worth watching over the years.

ND evokes some stiff responses from all over the world of college football.

I hate Notre Dame like any USC does, but on this subject I am ambivalent, I just want to see a good game.

ESPN's Rick Reilly, on the other hand, sees it different...

If Notre Dame isn't a factor this season -- and it hasn't been a factor in almost 20 years -- it's time to take it down a literal peg.

We can't demote Notre Dame from its conference -- since it is far too noble to belong to any piddling conference -- but we can demote it in stature.

From now on:
• Notre Dame no longer gets its own television deal with NBC.
• Notre Dame no longer gets to be the only school in the country with an inexplicable seat at the BCS decisions-making table.
• Notre Dame no longer gets its yearly undeserved hellahype in preseason rankings and preseason All-America teams.

In short, until Notre Dame football starts winning again, it's Rice to me.

That's brutal!

I can see where he is coming from. There have been many in the media that have continued to slobber all over ND. No one will question their tradition, but of lat they haven't been all that.

It happens, I mean 'SC went through a twenty dry spell but 'SC doesn't have the national following like ND has...no one does to be honest. That following gets them extra credit, right or wrong, like it or not it has always been that way. But Reilly's article takes things to a new level. I can't remember reading an article that rises to this level of criticism.

To be fair, Her Loyal Sons fires back...

My bone to pick with Reilly is mainly that of an amateur writer who can’t stand people who make arguments that are built by wordsmithing while lacking material support, and I usually keep my frustration that he is so revered and prominently published to myself. When he made his attack on Notre Dame yesterday, though, I decided it was time to look a little more deeply into his most recent story.

I’ll start by giving him credit for the good points he made:

1) He discusses Notre Dame not using any timeouts on USC’s last possession in 2011. I was also bothered by this. The people in front of me in Notre Dame Stadium with children that had to hear the language I was using were bothered even more.

2) There is no #2.

It is on!

Mike Golic fires back.

And Reilly responds.

I won't try to pick sides here.

But ND fans better get used to this if they keep this poor stretch up.

ND's new uniforms aren't going to help matters...

GREAT. TIMES!