Holtz must be high with his title game prediction

I can think of plenty of reasons to dislike Lou Holtz and I did not think I could come up with more -- but his latest his statement proved me wrong.

Now, I would never take away Holtz’s achievements as a football coach. After all, Holtz (now an ESPN commentator) is the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings. He is also a multiple winner of National Coach of the Year honors. So the guy obviously knows how to win.

Granted, his one-year stint as an NFL coach failed miserably with the New York Jets in 1976, leading them to a 3-12 mark. Yes, the same coach that thought the “veer could be successful in the NFL.” Fat chance. Did not work. Then again, I can think of plenty of coaches who swallowed up the competition in college and failed miserably in the NFL such as Bobby Petrino, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson, Nick Saban and Bill Peterson.

Holtz’s latest statement, however, is beyond my comprehension. “I believe Notre Dame will play Florida in the national championship game,” Holtz said. OK, I’d like to use the word “Kool-Aid sipper” to describe Holtz’s statement but that might be giving him too much credit.

“Lay off the bong,” should be more like it.

Granted, this is America and we are all entitled to our opinions but honestly there’s a better chance I’m going to get a date with Cindy Crawford than there is Notre Dame playing for the National title.

Florida in the National title game? I can see that happening. After all, quarterback Tim Tebow decided to stay in school and has already led the Gators to two National titles. Of course, several other teams might have a thing or three to say about that but point being Florida is a realistic bet.

But Notre Dame? Sorry, not buying it. Keep in mind, Holtz was the last coach to lead the Irish to legitimate national prominence, and for that we can certainly understand why Holtz and the University of Notre Dame will be forever intertwined. But when you make the move to sports commentator, you are expected to be as objective as you possibly can.

Keep in mind, this is the same guy that predicted the Irish to win 11 games in 2007 and all Notre Dame did was go 3-9. The Irish went 7-6 last season. Notre Dame might have the schedule to win 10 plus games. Looking at their schedule with the naked eye, the only team that seems definitively better than the Irish is No. 4 USC but a loss to Nevada or Michigan is also not unthinkable.

However, look at Notre Dame’s recent track record: 35-25 under Bob Davie, 21-15 under Tyrone Willingham and for all the hype he gets because of his NFL pedigree, Charlie Weis led the Irish to a 29-21 record in his four seasons, including 10-15 in his last two.

As a Nebraska alum, I won’t sit here and defend the Bill Callahan era (where the Huskers went 27-22). However, I find it mildly strange how Weiss frequently gets a free pass from the media where Callahan often got skewered – and rightfully so but what has Weis really done?

I still need to see where Weiss is a good head coach. Yes, he’s got the NFL pedigree having been an assistant under Bill Parcels with the New York Giants and New York Jets. He also played a key role in the New England Patriots three Super Bowl wins as offensive coordinator but the jury is still out on Weis and how his NFL background translates into college game. Back to the original point, there is almost zero chance of Notre Dame making the title game and for Lou to not understand this fundamentally. Well this would like having Ty Willingham say "I wish they didn't fire me at UW because I can predict that this season the Huskies will make the Rose Bowl."