Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1081575
FAN FORUM AVOID THE COMPETITION I sure hope the College Football Playoff committee learned its les- son and never puts Notre Dame in the Final Four again. The Irish just can't compete against schools like Alabama and Clemson. I firmly believe that Notre Dame will never win another national championship in the current land- scape, which will never change due to the money that college football brings to the NCAA. I'm starting to wonder if we will ever win a major bowl again with that streak dating back to 1994. When these power teams will ac- cept any athlete as a student, how are you going to be able to compete against them? But, I never want Notre Dame to relax their standards. At least you know the largest per- centage of our athletes are going to land a good job after college. I've been a subscriber for a very long time and always enjoy the mag- azine when it arrives in my mailbox. Keep up the great work and forever, GO IRISH! J.J. Wallace Alliance, Ohio Mr. Wallace, while it is true that Ala- bama and Clemson have been in their own class the past four years, every school will go through its ebbs and flows. From 1997-2007, Alabama was a modest 74-61 (.548 winning percentage). From 1992-2010, Clemson was 132-97 (.576). Were they saying in those times, "We'll never be great again?" No school in the country has more re- sources in college football than the Uni- versity of Texas, yet in the 49 years since 1970 it has one national title (2005), and it is 63-52 (.547) since 2010, the year Brian Kelly took over at Notre Dame. Do you think Texas is saying, "We will never be great again?" To go 12-0 in the regular season twice in seven years (2012 and 2018) as Notre Dame has is an extraordinary achieve- ment. No doubt, the 0-8 record in major bowls since 1994 (with an average point differential of 21 points) is a huge disap- pointment, and certainly a far cry from 1970-93 when the Irish won more majors (10) than any school, and finished No. 1 three times. Those days might indeed be a pipe dream in the current landscape, but to stop trying would be antitheti- cal to everything of which comprises the school's fiber. If Notre Dame wasn't going to be the fourth team in the College Football Play- off this year, then who was? Ohio State, TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS, On March 31 of this year, the reg- ular price of Blue & Gold Illustrated will increase to $57.95. This is our first price change since April 2011, eight years ago, and is necessary to offset numerous postage rate hikes (including 10% this year), substan- tial printing price increases since then and the cost of the protective wrap we've added at the post of- fice's suggestion to (hopefully) improve regular delivery. SPECIAL OFFER!! As a current subscriber, you can delay the price increase for up to two years by renewing at the old rates. A renewal offer is in the mail to you. You can also call us at 800-421-7751 (8 a.m.-5 p.m., East- ern time, Monday through Friday) or visit BlueGoldOnline.com/ store to lock in your subscription before the price increase takes ef- fect on March 31, 2019. Your subscription includes: • 20 issues of Blue & Gold Illus- trated • Weekly e-mail newsletters during football season with printable rosters and depth charts • Access to the digital version of the publication at BlueGold- Online.com (issues are posted before noon on Sundays dur- ing football season) • A discount on our Football Preview magazine College football announcer Chris Fowler tweeted: "No pub- lication covering one CFB team does it as well as Blue & Gold Il- lustrated. Great info." Our goal is continuing to pro- vide you with an informative and attractive publication covering the Fighting Irish. Thanks for your business. Go Irish!! Stu Coman Publisher Despite the outcome against Clemson, the Fighting Irish clearly earned the right to be part of the four- team College Football Playoff with their 12-0 regular season. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA 6 MARCH 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED