2025 Feels Like the Year of the American Underdog
2025 Feels Like the Year of the American Underdog
The Fighting Irish haven’t been this close to glory in over a decade, the Lions ever.
I keep waiting for the Detroit Lions to lose a football game. They should have lost Thursday. Green Bay had the Lions dead to rights and let them off the hook. As the Lions have done time and time again over these last few years, they somehow, doggedly, found their way. Such is the new karma of these old Lions.
It’s been ages since the Lions lost. The last time the Lions lost a football game was nearly three months ago in the middle of September, a close one to the Buccaneers. The Bucs still had the flashy duo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin operating on the flanks then, before Godwin ripped his ankle to shreds on a meaningless play at the end of a Week 7 loss to the Ravens. (That was that for the Bucs’ season.)
There are a lot of injuries in the NFL, and CNN can’t get enough of it. It’s 8 a.m. Wednesday morning and Sanjay Gupta is droning on about concussions as a slow-motion replay of the brutal hit that sent the Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence out of this Sunday’s game plays over and over again in the background. Eight a.m. If there was ever a country that loved its bloodsport, it’s America.
It was indeed an ugly, nasty, and vile hit on Lawrence, so much so that they brought out the cart.
Texans defensive captain Azeez Al-Shaair was promptly suspended three games, and the pile-on began. Al-Shaair, an outspoken Muslim who dons “Free Palestine” cleats, was labeled a “terrorist on the field” on ????. Others demanded the Texan player “be deported.” Sports have long been the loathsome playground of the New Left, but last Sunday it was the school-mom right that was out in force demanding something be done about a Muslim man launching Lawrence into the turf at EverBank stadium.
It was a dreadful hit, no doubt, but they’ve all made an easy villain out of Al-Shaair. In his defense, former pros shared video of quarterbacks who successfully fake the sliding maneuver but then take off running when the defender gives up on the play, suggesting that Al-Shaair had fair reason to play on when Lawrence dropped toward the ground. Whatever the cause and outcome, one thing is for certain: Football is a game of attrition.
The healthiest teams, and especially the ones capable of protecting their quarterback over a long, cold season, end up at the top. No one knows this better than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish QB Riley Leonard. A senior transfer from Duke, Leonard had the Blue Devils within a puncher’s chance of the ACC title in 2023 before injuries to his ankle and toe scuttled his once-promising season.
Coach Mike Elko bolted for the big time with Texas A&M, and Leonard, a bit of a forgotten star in the college football world, toted his bag up north to the famed fields of Indiana. Leonard, an outspoken Christian who wears a wristband with Matthew 23:12 written on its side, says faith and family guided him to Notre Dame.
“When I go to bed at night, I’m not thinking ‘how many touchdown passes did I throw?,” Riley told the Irish Tribune. “I’m thinking, ‘Did I better my relationship with Jesus Christ? Did I treat my girlfriend with respect? Did I call my parents?’”
Entering 2024, Notre Dame was loaded with talent and its coach Marcus Freeman had something to prove. Coming off 9-4 and 10-3 seasons, Freeman was regarded as a good coach who struggled to win the big games. With Leonard at the helm, that was all about to change.
In Leonard’s first game donning the Green and Gold, the former Blue Devil overcame an uneven passing night to defeat Texas A&M and his former coach Elko. The Fighting Irish were ranked #4 in the country heading into what was supposed to be a Week 2 walkover against MAC bottom-feeder Northern Illinois. But the Huskies had something else in mind.
Northern Illinois shocked the sporting world behind Kanon Woodill’s walk off field goal with 30 seconds left in the game, immediately knocking Notre Dame out of the college football playoff conversation. It would be months before Notre Dame’s name and “playoff” were uttered in the same sentence.
It’s been a turbulent year in college football. Many of the powerhouse schools have lost not one but two or more games to mediocre competition. The SEC, in particular, has been a bloodbath. Only newly-added Texas made it through the schedule without racking up two losses in conference play. In addition to the chaos on the field, this is the first season players and fans will experience a long-desired playoff system. The first-of-its-kind, 12-team bracket will be officially announced Sunday, December 8 at Noon ET following conference championship finals this Saturday.
Pundits have mostly filled in the bracket that will see higher-ranked teams gain home-field advantage in games scheduled to begin on December 20. CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel all but-assured Irish fans Friday that Notre Dame will host a second-round game in the college football playoff at Irish stadium.
The Irish are currently predicted to host 8-3 Alabama, a team that has stumbled at times but which possesses the talent to beat anyone on any given day. It would be fitting revenge should the Irish turn back the Tide. It was Alabama, after all, who ended Notre Dame’s last chance at a national title in 2013 when Bama ran roughshod over Notre Dame, defeating the Irish 42–14 in the BCS National Championship Game.
The Irish have been on a tear recently. In November, they carved up Florida State, dominated UVA, torched a much-hyped Army team on national TV in Yankee Stadium and firmly dismantled the USC Trojans in Los Angeles on their way to a season-ending 11-1 record. As many teams misstepped during the final stretch, Notre Dame overpowered opponents with their hard-nosed run game. And their stock kept rising. So much so that not only have the Irish snuck into the playoffs, they could own one of the easier roads to glory.
Should the Irish squeak past Alabama, they’re predicted to face an SMU team that has benefited greatly from a weak schedule. Much like America’s favorite underdog Boise State, SMU has shot up the rankings in 2024 as powerhouse teams lost dogfights in the SEC, B12, and B1G conferences. Notre Dame would be strongly favored in a matchup against the Mustangs and then it’s only two games for a championship. The true tests would come from most likely one of Texas, Georgia, or Oregon depending on how the bracket shakes out.
Notre Dame is healthy, Notre Dame will be playing at home, and Notre Dame has overcome, as a team, the mockery and embarrassment associated with losing an early-season game to Northern Illinois at home. While big expectations sit at the feet of Oregon and Texas and Penn State, Notre Dame and its fans are rocking into the big dance with nothing to lose. In a win-or-go-home situation, that carefree moxie, the kind of strange tonic that spurs on new legends to great heights, is hard to come by.
So, why not Notre Dame? And why not the Lions for that matter? And why not this year? With President-elect Donald Trump’s triumphant comeback victory at hand, If there was ever a moment for the underdog, it’s now.
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