Thanks to two high-profile predictions in the last week or so, the already-high expectations -- and perhaps the temperature of the hot seat -- for Charlie Weis and his Notre Dame football team have been ratcheted up to lofty (unreachable?) heights.
Last week, former Irish head coach and current ESPN talking head Lou Holtz predicted a Florida-Notre Dame BcS title game.
Then, yesterday, the WWL’s Beano Cook pulled a Lou and picked the same season-ending scenario during an online chat:
It is now time, as I do in the last Wednesday of every month to pick the two teams to play for the national title. I didn’t do one in ’98, but I’ve had one team in every year since ’99, except the 2006 season. But I’ve only had two winners. Coming in second doesn’t matter just ask William Jennings Bryan. When you pick to the two teams for the national title, you might be picking the two teams you think are the best or you might be picking the two teams that will play for the national title. I’m picking Florida and Notre Dame. I think Florida is one of the best teams in the country, but I don’t think Notre Dame is.
Personally, I think the two best teams are Florida and Texas. But I think Notre Dame wins 11 or 12. They might have to win 12 to make it. If Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Notre Dame have one loss, Notre Dame has no shot. A team after Notre Dame that might sneak in is Penn State, because of the schedule. I will not pick PSU next year, because they play Alabama. But the Big Ten is not tough, their out of conference schedule is easy. They have a better chance of going undefeated than Texas, Florida, Oklahoma or USC. I think PSU would have to go undefeated to play for the national title. If they had beaten Iowa last year, they would have played Florida and lost by 3 TDs.
With Notre Dame returning 18 starters -- including 10 on offense -- and a schedule that just screams ten wins, expectations in South Bend haven’t been this high since Weis’ first season with the Irish.
And if that doesn’t peg the hot-seat thermometer, especially if Weis’ club falls short of the optimistic expectations, then nothing will.
