The season is slowly coming to an end for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Two games left, and the Irish at 4-6, need to win them both to become bowl eligible. These aren’t just any random games either- one is the last home game (senior day) and the other is the last game of the season against our biggest (and only true) rival, the USC Trojans.

Without looking ahead too much to the USC game, I wanted to take a moment to communicate some thoughts about these last two weeks and their importance.

The wonderful @phillykelly

Sure, many of you will look at this season as a complete bust- regardless of what may happen in the coming weeks, and you may be absolutely right. The season is a bust. Fighting for a low level bowl game? That’s a really bad season and a nightmare we all wish stayed in our thoughts and not played out in real life.

Perhaps some of you couldn’t care less about these next two games and are ready to call the season OVER AND DONE. I get that, and I remember the 2007 season and just wishing it would end.

Here’s the thing though... these last two games are really, really important. Like, you shouldn’t walk away from this thing right now, because this is what signed up for regardless of the cost.

Our next game against the Virginia Tech Hokies is the last home game of the season and of course, Senior Day. Whatever we may feel about the coaching staff and/or the administration, I think it’s safe to say that we love and admire the players on this team. Because of that, Senior Day is an extremely important game, and it should and can be used to send off the seniors that have sweated and bled for this team for the past 4 or 5 years. Add in the ingredient of a “do or die” game for a bowl, and the game gets that much more important.

And that leads into the second game. Win or lose against Virginia Tech- no bowl, or still the chance of a bowl, the season finale against USC in L.A. is the most important game of the season. Why?

Well..

USC IS OUR RIVAL AND THAT’S WHAT YOU DO YOU PLAY YOUR RIVAL AND TRY TO CRUSH THEIR SOULS ON THE GRIDIRON.

Seriously people. I’ve seen a lot of noise on Twitter about “fans” not giving a shit abut this game, and already have the Trojans written down as blowout loss for the Irish.

Did you hate candy and playgrounds as a kid?

That’s about as silly as not getting excited to play your ONE AND ONLY rival. If you can’t get up for that, than you have a warped sense of what college football is and what it is not.

Pride. That’s what this is really all about. Forget the bowl talk for a moment. Forget the coaching staff talk for a moment. Forget everything craptastic that has happened this season and remember the pride. Pride in sending the seniors out with a win in their last game inside Notre Dame Stadium, and pride in beating Southern Cal.

Your pride pipes: