Notre Dame Has a Golden Past, but the Irish Have to Stop Trying to Live in It

History says that no matter what Notre Dame does, it still gets all the votes, all the love, all the money. But paying too much attention to history has left the Irish where they are today.

Notre Dame isn't even the top ND in college football: North Dakota State has more votes for a spot in the AP Top 25.

This isn't really about which ND is better. All of Notre Dame's players are better than all of North Dakota State's players. It's about something much bigger. It's a sign that, to steal a line from the politicians, the system isn't rigged for the Irish anymore.

Notre Dame has lost the benefit of the doubt.

Do Irish fans realize that? They seem to have found a scapegoat for this season's 1-2 start in defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. Movements have started, hashtags have been created and someone tweeted a note to head coach Brian Kelly saying it was time to fire VanGorder. That tweet was "liked'' by...

Brian Kelly.

"I have a number of people that manage my Twitter account," Kelly said during a media teleconference Sunday. "Somebody unfortunately made a mistake as they were scrolling through, inadvertently hit it and just [made] a mistake, an unfortunate mistake that was made by one of my staff members."

Hmm. But this isn't about a crummy defensive coordinator anyway. It's about an unwillingness to move forward about 90 years into modern times. It is fine to feel proud of your past, but not to live there.

Thanks to the College Football Playoff, the college football landscape has changed in the past couple of years alone, and Notre Dame has taken a serious risk by thinking the Four Horsemen could play in the modern era, leather helmets and all.

The truth is that Notre Dame has never come to terms with what happened four years ago in the BCS National Championship Game following the 2012 season. The Irish never interpreted that 42-14 shellacking by Alabama correctly.

They should have responded by getting themselves into a Power Five conference.

With the extreme money that came with the creation of the College Football Playoff, the teams in the top conferences are not at a disadvantage to Notre Dame anymore. Now the system is rigged for the Power Five.

Notre Dame passed on getting into the Big Ten when the opportunity was there, and here's the reason: pure arrogance.

The Irish were undefeated, No. 1 and thinking Kelly was the new Knute Rockne. The defensive front seven was going to win that game, and it was great on the first play. From then on, Alabama pushed Notre Dame wherever it wanted. And when it was over, Kelly said the team had gotten a firsthand lesson in "what it looks like" to be a champion. "We've got to get physically stronger," he said at the time.

That was his way of telling Notre Dame fans, "We ain't there yet." Kelly had taken Notre Dame past where it belonged. But Notre Dame fans don't think there is a place past where they belong.

Four years later, the roster is filled mostly with players who came into the program after that game. And Notre Dame's defensive line is still being pushed all over the place. It doesn't have a sack through three games this year.

Every time Texas got close to the end zone three weeks ago, it put in a power offense with a running quarterback and just jammed the ball in. According to Irish Illustrated, over the past five games, opponents have gotten into the red zone 23 times against Notre Dame's defense, scoring 19 touchdowns and four field goals.

Notre Dame goal-line stands: zero.

VanGorder? He's part of that, sure. But he wasn't the one who kept alternating quarterbacks against Texas, putting Malik Zaire back in every time DeShone Kizer led the team to a touchdown. He had nothing to do with Notre Dame's special teams.

There is an impression that Kelly is about to explode over VanGorder. All I hear him saying is the coaches have to do better, including himself. Don't just point fingers, he said. Point thumbs back at yourself.

So is Kelly, now in his seventh year, the right guy for Notre Dame? He is the only guy. Kelly has worked miracles getting Notre Dame to a national championship game. Yes, the team fell apart and lost confidence in 2014, but that was more about reality. South Bend is not "The Place" for recruits anymore.

Following a traffic stop last month, five Notre Dame players were charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession, and one of them, safety Max Redfield, was charged with carrying a handgun without a license. Kelly disciplined them, which included dismissing Redfield. The Irish are not a team of saints, but Notre Dame is not a program out of control, either.

Kelly took the shambles left to him by Charlie Weis and brought Notre Dame back to a national level. But the loss to Alabama told the real story and exposed the new reality: While Kelly worked masterfully with the hand he was dealt, Notre Dame coaches are no longer automatically dealt a winning hand.

The Irish didn't want to lower themselves into the great unwashed, blend into a conference rather than standing as a beacon on a hill. And the choices now are to pretend that Kelly's one-year near-miracle should still be the regular course of events for the Irish—or to face reality and do this:

Beg the Big Ten to reconsider. Or even join the ACC full time rather than this weird half-membership thing it has going now.

There is nothing left for Notre Dame to play for this season. If the Irish were in the Big Ten, they could still fight for a conference championship. And if you are the Big Ten champ, you are going to get into the playoff.

The Power Five have tons of money and power—especially the SEC and Big Ten—and they're stuck playing musical chairs with only four playoff spots every year. Notre Dame figured it was above all that. It reached that conclusion by looking back, not forward.

So now it finds itself behind North Dakota State, with a fanbase trying to point at VanGorder. Kelly gets some blame, too. But when you start pointing fingers, Notre Dame fans, make sure you use the thumb.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.