I'm afraid to ask, but I gotta see what my DDers think.

USCum. Every year no matter what this is the game that makes/breaks me.

I wnat them to win every game every year.

Is that too much to ask? ahahaha

 

me

We need to beat USC. It would be the signature win CW is in need of and it would raise the eyebrows of some recruits of the future.

We absolutely have to break this 5 game losing streak against the condoms. USC is the game I want to win most.

USC and BC

F-USC or scUM either one of those wins would be great but if those are the ONLY two losses this season Ill survive.

Great poll! I didn't want to pick just one. I think a victory over USC will be such a morale boost to all the Irish fans who stuck out the lean years. I would love a serious bowl win so I don't have to hear about the drought any longer. On a personal level, I would love a win over Michigan at the Big House, so I could stick it in the eye of some of my college buddies. I went to a small D-II school in Michigan during the Davie years. It was a rough time especially during '97 when Michigan was co-national champions with Nebraska - a point I always like to remind them.

Great poll. I go to law school with a bunch of scUM alumni, and they piss me off, but usc would be my wish.

BC is the team that the Irish must beat, as for USC were getting better recruits now, but i think were a year away.

We need to beat USC. It would be the signature win CW is in need of and it would raise the eyebrows of some recruits of the future.

 

i couldn't agree more. well said...

I know everyone has their opinion but how could anyone pick anything but USC?

Put on your tirade helmets, because one is about to get going:

 

I know everyone has their opinion but how could anyone pick anything but USC?

I can. And I'll tell ya why. Because of January 1st, 1994.

 

Remember that day? Without looking it up, try to think back to that day. Why does that stand out to me? That was the last time Notre Dame won a bowl game.

 

Lets put a little perspective on that one, shall we?

 

Lou Holtz was still the head coach. Since then, we have technically hired and fired 3 head coaches; Davie, O'Leary, Willingham. Ron Powlus was a true freshman QB on that team - one that he now coaches for.

 

Michael Jordan was retired - for the first time; had yet to start on his 2nd three peat. Kobe Bryant wasn't even in the league.

 

Monica Lewinsky hadn't graduated from college yet.

 

Charlie Weis just the TE coach for the New England Patriots - Under Bill Parcells, who had yet to retire for a 2nd and 3rd time from football.

 

Alex Rodriguez hadn't made his major league debut.

 

The NAFTA trade agreement had just gone into affect.

 

The Washington Wizards were still the Washington Bullets.

 

Beepers were more prevalent than cell phones. Think about that. Beepers were "in" the last time we won a ing bowl game.

 

Do you realize how embarrassing it is to be a Notre Dame fan, and realize that for all the folklore and prestige of this program, for all the talk we have about jockeying back and forth with Mighigan for the title of the "winningest program in all of college football", we now have a LOSING record in bowl games? Because we haven't won one since '94.

 

We're 13-15 in bowl games people. Its out there. Look it up, and tell me your heart doesn't sink a little. Just try to tell me that it doesn't you off.

 

Yeah, a rivalry win will sure feel good - don't get me wrong at all - but the overwhelming sting that I feel when someone points out how awful we've been in bowl games? There is no comeback for that one. Its just, "Yeah, you're right *insert person from opposing fanbase here*. We can't win a bowl game." When I think about how outclassed we were vs. OSU and LSU? When I think that we lost in the Insight Bowl to Oregon State? I'm tired of the, "We shouldn't have been in that bowl game to begin with" argument. At some point, thats hollow crap. So what if we get picked for bowls that have stiff competition? Show up, and win one of 'em. Bottom line: we've been terrible in bowl games, and its driving me absolutely bonkers.

 

We have gone longer than 13 years and 5 months without a bowl victory as Irish fans. That adds up to more than 4,500 days without a bowl win.

 

I was in Kindergarten the last time ND won a bowl game, and now I'm going into my sophomore year in college. Ouch is right.

 

The recruits we are talking to today probably couldn't remember a ND bowl victory if they tried. That is flat out sad.

 

Look, I understand that a win vs. USC would be great, and would raise eyebrows around college football. It would be a signature win. It would get our fans pumped up, and would grab plenty of recruit's attention. I'd relish seeing a Trojan fan go home with that dejected stare at their feet for a change.

 

But you gotta walk before you can run. We don't have a monkey on our back. Its a Silverbacked Gorilla. Perennially losing in bowl games... is just unacceptable. Its the one thing that I as a fan can't shrug off when it comes to the banter and squabbling that goes on back and forth between teams. We have to win a bowl game. We will never be taken seriously before we win a bowl game. Bottom line.

nice try, calves. i mean REALLY nice try and i feel you on all those reasons you listed but trust me, if we have to choose between a bowl win or a victory over USC, well, the USC one is almost a no-brainer. why? well, it's a signature win agianst the best team of the last half-decade and it would be *remembered* in a way that no bowl game, unless we were playing for a NC by some miracle, would be. i mean, come on, a victory in the gator bowl or a victory over USC?? please...

 

and it would mean so much more to recruits that we beat THE recruiting powerhouse on the field than say, the 18th-ranked whatever school from whatever BCS conference that we would likely be playing in a bowl this year.

 

there's no way a bowl game this year could be anywhere near the signature win a victory over USC would be unless we upset a much higher ranked team in a bowl game. and i don't see that scenario playing out.

nice try, calves. i mean REALLY nice try and i feel you on all those reasons you listed but trust me, if we have to choose between a bowl win or a victory over USC, well, the USC one is almost a no-brainer. why? well, it's a signature win agianst the best team of the last half-decade and it would be *remembered* in a way that no bowl game, unless we were playing for a NC by some miracle, would be. i mean, come on, a victory in the gator bowl or a victory over USC?? please...

 

and it would mean so much more to recruits that we beat THE recruiting powerhouse on the field than say, the 18th-ranked whatever school from whatever BCS conference that we would likely be playing in a bowl this year.

 

there's no way a bowl game this year could be anywhere near the signature win a victory over USC would be unless we upset a much higher ranked team in a bowl game. and i don't see that scenario playing out.

 

Agreed... and then we could win the Bowl Game on January 1, 2008, next year.

nice try, calves. i mean REALLY nice try and i feel you on all those reasons you listed but trust me, if we have to choose between a bowl win or a victory over USC, well, the USC one is almost a no-brainer. why? well, it's a signature win agianst the best team of the last half-decade and it would be *remembered* in a way that no bowl game, unless we were playing for a NC by some miracle, would be. i mean, come on, a victory in the gator bowl or a victory over USC?? please...

 

and it would mean so much more to recruits that we beat THE recruiting powerhouse on the field than say, the 18th-ranked whatever school from whatever BCS conference that we would likely be playing in a bowl this year.

 

there's no way a bowl game this year could be anywhere near the signature win a victory over USC would be unless we upset a much higher ranked team in a bowl game. and i don't see that scenario playing out.

 

Agreed... and then we could win the Bowl Game on January 1, 2008, next year.

 

Lol, nice loophole...I'll take both USC and the bowl game next year please.