Oct. 29, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The goal each season is to win the National Championship, but you have to be realistic because this can be a very elusive goal. You must realize that if you cannot win the National Championship, there is only one team out of the 114 Division I programs who can.

The season is not over once you lose a game and are knocked out of the National Championship race. The next goal is to go to a bowl game. It is that simple. This is an even greater challenge here at Notre Dame because of the schedule we play and because our independent status severely limits our bowl opportunities.

While some conferences have as many as six or seven guaranteed bowl births, it remains a challenge for us. Even though we lost three games early in the season, there are a lot of good opportunities remaining, but it all hinges on a win.

At this point we cannot look ahead to the bowl games, we must focus on next week. We have backed ourselves into a corner and with no margin of error left, it all comes down to winning each week.

I hope we never come to the point that we scrap a season and need to revamp. Part of your long-term goal is to have big football games to play in November. You want those games to be significant in the bowl race.

Another reason you do not want that to happen is the seniors on your football team. Because of all they have invested in the program, you do not want to stop playing your best players in order to give younger players experience that might help down the road. Your focus is on the present and trying to win each game.

I have never been in that situation and I hope I never will. It is just not an ideal situation. We are not in that situation now because we have four significant games in November and we are still in contention for a bowl bid.

The decision to attend a bowl game is ultimately made by a lot of people on this campus, myself and our players included. I would think that if we were afforded the opportunity to play in a bowl game that was attractive to us and our fans, we would accept the invitation.

Considering our situation and how difficult it is to get to a bowl, I would hope that we would always accept the invitation. With that being said, I realize a lot hinges on how attractive a bowl game is in the grand scheme of our program. The attractiveness of a bowl is determined by the location of the game and the opponent. You want the game to improve your program and hopefully elevate your position in the final rankings.