For decades, the standard reasons when ND has a poor football team include:
Tough admission requirements
Cold weather campus
Lack of diversity in student body
Players must go to class and keep on track to graduate
Outdated student behavior rules and enforcement
For the most part these things are true. But they shift from reasons to excuses when the Irish lose to BC, Stanford or Service Academy teams, all of whom play under many of the same restrictions without the recruiting and tradition advantages. I fervently hope that Marcus Freeman is successful, and believe that he needs a couple of years before we decide one way or the other. But right now he is 0-1-1 in "no excuse" games. He gets another chance on Saturday.