Dear 2009 Notre Dame football team,

Expectations are high this season. With so many returning starters, key players reaching maturity, a big win in last year’s bowl game, and a pretty light schedule, even the “haters” are predicting 9 or 10 wins. From reports, the team seems confident and hungry. The coaching changes appear to be working. Parallels with previous seasons are everywhere – chiefly among them: a 1987 team that started hot, but trailed off at the end (2008) that morphed into a 1988 team that beat everyone (2009). I have but one pressing plea: PLEASE DON’T OVERLOOK NEVADA.

Nevada enters this game a clear underdog. You have more talent. You have more depth. Notre Dame is a big-name program. Nevada, on the other hand, doesn’t care about these things. They had a tremendous rushing attack last year. They have a dangerous dual-threat QB. They return quite a few starters as well. Another trend this summer has been the number of mentions of Nevada as the new Boise State. We are expected to know Colin Kaepernick’s name by the end of the season. They have an offensive attack that is unique (pistol or whatever they call it). And, I’m sorry to say, until you show sustained excellence for more than a few games, the ND “mystique” won’t be returning any time soon. Nevada won’t be awed by the dome or Touchdown Jesus. South Bend isn’t a particularly difficult place to play anyway.

On the other end of things, you are expected to win 10 or 11 games, and maybe even upset USC. It’s BCS here we come! You remember nearly losing to SDSU last year, right? You remember ACTUALLY losing to Syracuse? At home. After being up by 2 scores. In the 4th quarter. You simply cannot overlook this Nevada team. A loss at home to a “cupcake” team would end the season before it even begins.

Perhaps your offense can’t be stopped. Maybe you have the best defense that ND has had since the Davie era. There seems to be depth and talent everywhere. But please – I am begging now – please come ready to play on September 5th. The fate of the program depends on it.

Sincerely,

Long-time Irish fan