Joe Raymond / AP

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis reacts following their 24-23 loss to Syracuse.

After Saturday’s game, the final home game of the season, fans were invited to walk onto the field. Hundreds of them streamed onto the semi-frozen tundra, some of them students, some families. They posed for photos, or simply stared up in awe at this ancient structure that holds so many memories, so much history.

The feeling, watching them, was the same you might have watching tourists at the Colosseum in Rome. Watching people gape in awe at this once-mighty sporting venue, trying to imagine the deeds performed therein that in a previous era made it so daunting to visitors.

Those days are over. Or, at least dormant. When Robinson, the Syracuse coach, was asked whether it is still special to come into Notre Dame Stadium and pick up a win, he replied, “It is to me.”

Yes, but Robinson has gray hair. For an entire generation of college football fans, Notre Dame football has gone the way of Bear Bryant and the wishbone attack. For Facebook Nation, it’s only something that they believe because either their parents tell them so or they’ve seen it on ESPN Classic.

But right now, and for more than a decade and a half, Notre Dame football is, at best, mediocre. It fails, week after week, to achieve anything close to the standard of excellence it once considered its signature trait.

And, as Notre Dame heads out to USC for a game that will truly test its character next week, I leave you with these numbers:

Bob Davie, five seasons, 35-25 record.

Tyrone Willingham, three seasons, 21-15.

Charlie Weis, just under four seasons, 28-20.

What do each of the last three Notre Dame coaches have in common? As of today, the same exact winning percentage at Notre Dame: .583.

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Joe Raymond / AP

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