Beware, reality can bite back
COMMENTARY
JASON KELLY
NEW ORLEANS -- Darius Walker took the corner hard around the right side of the LSU defense and propelled himself down the sideline on wheels he hasn't shown too often.
That sequence of events Wednesday night provided an instructive glimpse into the differences between the Sugar Bowl competitors. The final score -- LSU 41, Notre Dame 14 -- put it in more stark terms, but the grasping, gasping and finally futile effort of the Irish revealed a lot.
Twenty points down, and counting, Notre Dame slouched toward its fourth straight runaway loss to an elite opponent and an NCAA-record ninth consecutive bowl defeat.
Until further notice, those numbers condemn the Irish program to football purgatory.
Quinn and the rest of the willful, dedicated seniors who dragged Notre Dame back to respectability under Charlie Weis deserved a better ending.
Settling for bitter instead, they swallowed hard and tried to see the progress of the last two seasons, not the regression that made this promising year a crushing disappointment in the end.
If 9-3 wasn't good enough, 10-3 felt even worse because of the yawning gap between expectations and results. The '3' this season came by a combined 73 points -- 24-plus per loss, Tyrone Willingham territory -- an alarming sign of where Notre Dame still stands in the national picture. Airbrushed out for the time being.
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