When the wheels fall off the bandwagon

Ah, the bandwagon. \nSo inviting, yet, as all of us remember from "Oregon Trail," so harsh. \nThe bandwagon's always welcoming more passengers to climb aboard, but often leaves them stricken with dysentery and without oxen after attempting to ford the river.\nLast weekend, after Notre Dame's 17-10 upset against No. 3 Michigan, the Irish and their fans were riding high, pumped about the team's 2-0 start and No. 10 ranking under new coach Charlie Weis. Weis seemed to be the only one who wasn't floating off into the atmosphere, as those in Notre Dame nation were clinging onto their "new" team's every move, ready to drink the green Kool-Aid if Weis said it would lead to winning. And with all this joy and excitement, the Irish fans went to sleep last Friday night, the eve before Weis' first home game, with visions of Bowl Championship Series national trophies dancing through their heads.\nBut Saturday was anything but a pot of gold for the Irish, whose fans were slapped in the face with reality in a 44-41 overtime loss to Michigan State.\nThe white and green jerseys of the Spartans might as well have been laced with kryptonite as Saturday's win at Notre Dame Stadium was the fifth straight for MSU and the twelfth in the history of the matchup -- a record for the most wins by any team traveling to South Bend. So much for the luck of the Irish. They've been plain cursed against the guys from East Lansing, Mich. in recent matchups. Don't believe in curses? Just look at the numbers from Saturday's game.\nOn the stat sheet, Notre Dame completely dominated the game. It had 31 first downs to Michigan State's 18. It outgained the Spartans in total yardage, 594 to 488. Its time of possession was more than 15 minutes longer than MSU's. Yet still, it couldn't come away with the win.\nNow, every team has a squad it can't seem to beat. The Spartans themselves have the University of Michigan, to whom they've lost six of the last eight. And at IU, we have Penn State -- the Hoosiers are 0-10 against the Nittany Lions all-time. But hopefully the loss will start to bring some of the Irish fans back to earth. Those who follow the team are going to have to learn that improvement takes time. Expecting the Irish's entire season to go the way it started isn't feasible. \nWhat Notre Dame has been through during the first two weeks is not easy for any team to handle, especially one that had bright spots last season but finished with mediocrity after a loss to Oregon State. Heck, in two weeks, the Irish have gone from being unranked to being in the top 10 in the country. Jumping up in the polls like that can contribute to a severe case of swollen heads. This has been especially known to infect those who follow the blue and gold in recent years.\nMaybe now Irish fans will understand it isn't as easy to turn around a faltering team as they thought it was, and they'll make their expectations for the team a tad more reasonable. \nAlthough many think it's some kind of football mecca, the rules of turning around a team still apply in South Bend. No matter how good the coach, no matter how storied the program, no team goes from being a 6-6 Insight Bowl team to contending for a national championship the next season. That takes more than a little luck.