I am often amused at how fans perceive the teams that they root for. Obviously no team holds the rights to having perfect fans. This is what makes college football such a great sport the rabid nature of the fans who support their teams. The SEC has proven time and again that their support for college football is year round and seldom does anything ever get in the way. We've seen it in other schools such as Ohio State-Michigan and Texas-Oklahoma but one of most rabid is USC-Notre Dame.
The Domer Nation is everywhere. Regardless of where you live Notre Dame fans are easily found, they walk around with that sense of entitlement that only an ND fan has. They feel its their god-given right to be at the top of the college football mountain as they continue to live in the past with the legends of the Four Horsemen, Knute Rockne and the like. Never mind that modern day ND football has not lived up to the standards set forth in the history of the program. The Willingham experiment failed in the same fashion as the Faust experiment failed. And with the installation of Charlie Weis as head coach all is supposedly well in the Domer Nation.
Each team has had its share of success and failure over the years. The 1970's saw some epic battles between John McKay and Ara Parseghian . During the 80's and 90's ND dominated for 11 straight seasons at one point in the rivalry. Now we have Carroll and Weis. Two very successful yet very different coaches who will change the face of this rivalry for years to come. Pete Carroll is infectious with his enthusiasm and can-do attitude and there is no task that he will not undertake. This, of course, has opened him up for all types of ridicule by those who would kill for a coach of this caliber. People are so jealous of Pete Carroll's success that they will stoop to bashing his website, like this crap from the House Rock Built.
That's typical and I'm not surprised. Getting your ass handed to you 3 out of the lat 4 years will do that, the other year they had do grow the grass high in order to slow down the onslaught. I'm not one for personal attacks, though I can sling my share of mud, but please explain to me just what Charlie Weis has won again? I'm sure he is great guy, his charity work is phenomenal but I could care less how many Super Bowl rings he has. This is the NCAA and the players you recruit are essentially the hand you are dealt, no off-season trades here. There is no question that Coach Weis has brought the spark back to this rivalry but until he wins something big he's just another coach I don't care what his past resume is. Past achievements are not indicative of future success.
All Pete Carroll has done at his time at USC is win and win often. Others have tried to emulate his efforts both in coaching and recruiting but he has the perfect combination of personality and work resolve that makes things work. I know this sounds like a broken record but there is not a program in the country that wouldn't trade places with SC in a New York minute. There are some great stories in this rivalry. But the best thing about the rivalry is the mutual respect that the teams have for one another.
Tonight will be another chapter in this great rivalry and I look forward to a hard fought game and of course I look forward to all the words that will go back and forth as that is, to some, half the fun.
Now Lets Kick Some Ass!!