All that glitters isn't gold for Davie

What happened to the proverbial luck that's supposed to come with the turf of being the head football coach at Notre Dame, the most glamorous job in all of college athletics?

What happened is that luck can only take you so far in this business, and Davie is realizing this now.

Notre Dame is 1-2 for the first time since 1986 - ironically, the year Davie's predecessor, Lou Holtz, debuted as the Irish front man.

Alan Goldenbach The Bronx Bomber

But 1-2 for Davie is worse than 1-2 for any other coach in the nation. Davie does not have many of the advantages, nor the patience of the South Bend faithful, that Holtz had 11 years ago.

First of all, Holtz took over for Gerry Faust, who had the second-worst winning pecentage in Notre Dame coaching history. The Irish had gone five years since finishing in the top 10, the longest drought in more than 20 years. National titles weren't an issue then, just getting over the .500-mark was good enough.

Davie has to deal with the Bowl Alliance, something that Holtz did not have to concern himself with for the majority of his career. Notre Dame had this comfort zone with bowl selection committees where the Irish would always receive a bid to a bowl on New Year's Day as long as they didn't fall below .500.

With the advent of the Bowl Alliance, the Irish won't be able to waltz into premium games with a 6-4-1 record, like the 1995 Fiesta Bowl, just because they are Notre Dame.

Instead, Davie is more likely to see such scenarios as last year's, when the 8-3 Irish's lone bowl invitation came from the Liberty Bowl. That's not the kind of game that people shake off New Year's Day hangovers to see for one good reason - it happens a week before New Year's.

A loss this weekend will leave the Irish with three defeats on the season, and for the second year in a row, out of not only a New Year's Day bowl game, but any bowl game period. Notre Dame will not sacrifice its grand tradition for the lousy Liberty Bowl.

When did a drought of New Year's Day inactivity last happen for the Irish? You guessed it, 1986.

All this means one thing: this game is the biggest one of Davie's young coaching career. A loss here and the season cannot be salvaged.

Imagine the pressure: the biggest game of your coaching career is your third game on the sideline, against one of your biggest rivals.

National titles were not expected this year, but the expecatations were higher than what the Irish have achieved thus far. And the underachievement has already begun to show on Davie.

"I don't really second guess myself," Davie said this week at his press conference. "Anytime you're 1-2, you're most critical of yourself."

What happens if the Irish lose three straight for the first time in school history this weekend?

Could the prized Irish boy, Ron Powlus, be in jeopardy of losing his job? What was once unthinkable under Holtz's leadership has now become a legitimate possibility under Davie.

"We've talked about (replacing Powlus) a lot," Davie said. "It's when and where do you do it, and what are the long-range ramifications of doing that. But certainly that has been discussed, and there's some merits to doing that."

If such a question regarding Powlus's job security arose during Holtz's tenure, two words would come out of that: heresy and sacrilege.

Not only does Davie have to contend with unrest among his most loyal followers, but he has to contend with his quarteback's fragile psyche. Powlus passed on entering the NFL and came back for a fifth year, even though he graduated, for the sole reason of playing under a new offense instituted by Davie.

Now, what happens to the Golden Boy if the coach he had so much confidence in turns his back and benches him?

This game is Notre Dame's biggest game since the Irish lost their 1993 regular-season finale to Boston College, 41-39, ending a perfect season. The Irish have not bounced back from that defeat.

And Davie, unfortunately for him, began his tenure in this downward spiral.

Notre Dame is going to "just continue to fight and not worry about a whole lot of outside things," Davie said. "We've got enough to worry about just addressing the problems we have on this football team right now."

- Alan Goldenbach can be reached over e-mail at agold@umich.edu.

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