A 5-7 2003 season.Alumni voicing their displeasure with Coach Tyrone Willingham.

Former Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung acquiring Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome by saying more focus needs to be placed on recruiting the “black athlete.”

A season opening loss to BYU, a team that went 4-8 last year and had a freshman quarterback starting his first game.

What’s next down this dismal path for Notre Dame football?

A run-in with No. 8 Michigan on Saturday that has blowout written all over it, unless something drastic is done by the Fighting Irish.

How have things gotten this bad for arguably the nation’s most historic college football program?

It’s been 11 years since their last bowl victory and the last time they were ranked in the top 10 at the season’s conclusion.

There was a time when Notre Dame was the most important college football program in existence.

Legends like Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz led the charge for superstars including Gipp, Lujack, Theismann, Montana, Brown and Bettis.

They were men amongst boys, myth in reality.

But 11 years removed from Florida State stealing their national championship and their “Return to Glory” season of 2002 a distant memory, the luster has worn off the Golden Domers.

While many feel other teams have simply caught up to the Irish, their downfall can be attributed to two flaws – a larger emphasis on the passing game and their failure to join a conference.

The emphasis on the passing game began near the end of Lou Holtz’s tenure as head coach.

The number one high school prospect, a quarterback named Ron Powlus, signed with Notre Dame before the 1993 season.

With his golden arm and the quarterback pedigree from his native Pennsylvania, Powlus was the missing piece to a Fighting Irish national championship.

Sportswriter Beano Cook even went so far as saying he would win at least two Heisman Trophies.

But it was not to be.

Holtz retired, Bob Davie came in to carry on Holtz’s legacy and the slide began.

While Powlus set almost every passing record Notre Dame has, wins for the school did not follow.

Davie was driven out of South Bend, George O’Leary forgot where he went to college, and Stanford’s Ty Willingham was dubbed the next savior.

Willingham has come in and installed the West Coast offense, a system bent on precision passing and methodical drives.

The problem with this system is the fast turnover of players.

The West Coast offense is the basis for many NFL offenses. The difference is that NFL players have years in this system.

College players have four years at the most.

Willingham’s system was praised when Notre Dame was succeeding in 2002, but the offense wasn’t the reason for its initial success. Its defense dominated games, while the offense was as awkward to watch as Ozzy Osbourne reciting poetry.

Notre Dame needs to take advantage of the talent it has and open up the offense.

The best offenses in the country, such as USC or Oklahoma, put their players in a system that gets the most of their skills. This is what the Irish need to do.

The failure of Notre Dame to join a conference has also hurt their chances to succeed.

The Irish consistently have one of the most difficult schedules in the nation.

They play eight games this year against teams that went to bowls in 2003. That doesn’t happen to teams in major conferences.

The Big Ten flirted with the idea of bringing the Irish into the mix, but Notre Dame’s desire to keep its national television contract and the problem of its ego outweighing its brain prevented the move from happening.

The Big Ten and Notre Dame need each other.

Together, both would regain their spots amongst the elite.

With 12 teams, the Big Ten could divide into two divisions, hold a conference title game and join the ACC, SEC and Big 12 as the top national conferences.

Notre Dame would put themselves in a better position to compete and sell their program.

No matter what happens in the future, this Saturday will be the most important game in Tyrone Willingham’s coaching career.

It will be a game that measures whether Willingham will stay at Notre Dame and whether Notre Dame is on the right track to regaining its elite status.

It will be the most important game played in the shadow of “Touchdown Jesus” in 11 years.

Willingham and the Irish are going to have to shake down some serious thunder to take out the Maize and Blue.

Notre Dame fans always used to say, in reference to their existence as a Catholic institution, “God is on our side.”

On Saturday, for the team’s sake, he better be.

Jeff Feyerer is a senior in communications. He can be reached at [email protected].