“Touchdown Jesus, his divine arms are no longer raised in celebration,

They are thrown up in disgust.

Frustration Jesus hear our prayer.

Somedays when the sun shines and the crowd roars it feels like the collapse never happened.

So much looks the same, the white of the collar, the green of the shirt and the gold of the helmet.

Spring still carries the clack of pads and the blooming promise of dominance.

Only, autumn no longer delivers, the echos have gone quiet.

Something has died here in South Bend.

Only relics remain, mosaics and statues

Awaiting stadium, a shining dome, like the gleaming sousaphones of the band

and the black flocked priests rubbing rosary’s on the sidelines.

These famous pieces cannot mask the slow fall.

But, a bit more every year they stand as something different,

not proclamations as to what is, but monuments as to what once was

Here lies a dynasty.

There is no more Rockne, there is no more Gipper, no more Hornung, no more Holtz

they are gone, ghosts.

Kept company by reminders of a time passed and a grotto that flickers with unanswered prayers.”

~Poem By Wright Thompson, Broadcast on ESPN College Gameday Sept.4^th , 2010

That introductory poem was broadcast on ESPN College Gameday on Sept. 4^th. With a somber, angelic tone this poem was read over video of Notre Dame’s historic campus. It was supposed to signal the end of Notre Dame has a college football power.

But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, “Rumors of Notre Dame’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.” As a matter of fact I would like to add that instead of a death, Touchdown Jesus might have been resurrected and the pride of the Fighting Irish is back.

That was no more apparent than this past weekend.

Taking on bitter rival the University of Michigan, Notre Dame found themselves down 21-7 at halftime. The Irish fought back to take a 24-21 lead after a magical 95 yard touchdown pass from Dayne Crist to Kyle Rudolph. For Irish fans it was the rebirth of Notre Dame magic, but it was short-lived. Michigan scored a touchdown with 27 seconds left to win the game 28-24 and leave the Irish faithful broken-hearted.

However, being a member of the Irish faithful, I was not broken-hearted, I was optimistic. Here is a young team that fought back from 14 points down in the second half to take the lead against a big time rival, using nothing more than pure heart, determination and will. This was a reason for optimism.

It was this lack of fight, heart and will that was not apparent over the last five years. These five years will be referred to as the dark ages in Notre Dame football lore. For this was the rule of Charlie Weis and the rule of mediocrity.

When Weis took over the Notre Dame program he had just won a Super Bowl as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. Following that he was billed as the savior, the

man who would save the Notre Dame legacy and take the program back to the glory days of old. Sadly, that did not happen.

In Weis’ first two-years Irish fans were treated to two-consecutive ten win seasons and invitations to Bowl Championship Series  bowl games, although they lost both games by a combined score of 75-34, the future looked bright.

Looks were deceiving. Notre Dame went 15-21 over the next three years. These years included losing to Navy for the first time in 43 years, epic beat-downs at the hands of hated rival USC and sub-par performances against sub-par teams and only managing one bowl win in three trips, led to the much celebrated end of the Weis reign in South Bend.

Now, the Irish are run by Brian Kelly. Unlike Weis press conference, Kelly held no illusions of what the team was. He knew they were bad and he knew things needed to change and that is what he did. Kelly began installing a new work ethic, realizing he might not have the most talented he made them be the hardest working and the Michigan game showed it is paying dividends.

For the first time in five years I have hope for the Fighting Irish. I hold no illusions of grandeur and national championships, at least this year. However, I have hope and that is something I did not have three-years ago. So Irish fans give Kelly time, in four-years we will be talking about much more than a little win over Michigan, we will be talking about a possible dynasty.

So, in closing ESPN save your poem for programs that need it, us Irish supporters have our faith and hope back and that is the first step towards resurrecting the Notre Dame legacy.