Wrapping Up Season by Ripping Irish, BYU

You have to laugh at Notre Dame’s refusal to play in a lower-tier bowl game. When will they realize that they’re not part of college football’s elite anymore? Despite playing the same schedule that was brutal in 1950 but is rather pathetic now--Army, Navy, Purdue, Rutgers, Pitt, Michigan State--they still manage to lose at least three games every year.

They should be thrilled to play in the Copper Bowl. They would have a good chance to win--as long as they don’t have to face a juggernaut like Air Force.

ROB OSBORNE

Redondo Beach

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Bob Davie was not on the job two weeks before it was discovered that he may possess one of the unique qualifications for a Notre Dame head coach--having been indicted for falsifying an expense account as an assistant.

Assuming a prior criminal indictment is something you don’t forget to ask about on a job application, it appears that Notre Dame is indeed taking great strides to turn its program around and get a step up on its Division I opponents. Why recruit 18-year-old males who get in trouble with the law when you can hire a coach with a rap sheet?

NICHOLAS G. TONSICH

San Pedro

Editor’s note: Davie, a 23-year-old assistant coach at Arizona, was indicted along with Coach Tony Mason and five others on the Arizona coaching staff in 1980 for filing fraudulent expense reports. The charges were later dropped and Davie reimbursed the school the money he had been responsible for. He has publicly acknowledged that his actions were wrong and expressed regret. Notre Dame was aware of the indictment when he was hired as an assistant to Lou Holtz.

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Brigham Young got exactly what it deserved when it was left out of the bowl alliance. I know they beat all 35 teams in the WAC this season, but the one good team they played, Washington, beat them convincingly.

If anything, the NCAA should sue them for playing Arkansas State, New Mexico, Southern Methodist, Nevada Las Vegas, Tulsa, Texas Christian, Texas El Paso, Rice and Hawaii in the same season.

BOB SKUBE

Manhattan Beach