Posted by BrianBoru at 11/28/2009 7:56 PM EST

Former Ohio State Buckeye and oft-injured NFL washout Robert Smith proves that you don't have to know what the hell you're talking about in order to opine on college football.

Appearing on ESPN 2, Smith had this to say regarding Notre Dame, "Notre Dame does not have the talent to match up with Stanford". As if that howler weren't enough to underscore his incompetence as a football analyst, Smith followed it up with, "Notre Dame can't afford to pay for a big coach after they buyout Charlie Weis". Funny, I was under the impression that Notre Dame's endowment was second only to Harvard. Truth is, Smith couldn't be further from the truth. Even the most ardent anti-Notre Dame person surely would acknowledge that Notre Dame's never had cash flow issues.

Smith then said that, "the Notre Dame job isn't as big as they think it is". Not surprisingly, Smith has never had kind words for Notre Dame. Put another way, Smith's contempt for the Fighting Irish makes John Saunders seem like a friend to Notre Dame.

The trouble is, Mr. Smith knows better than to spew such nonsense but rather than demonstrate intellectual honesty, Smith chose to engage in insolent hair-pulling in order to further his own agenda — an agenda transparent in its animus for all things Notre Dame — facts be damned.

Fact: Notre Dame has recruited far better than Stanford, even with the recent uptick in recruiting by Cardinal head coach Jim Harbaugh. Furthermore, the Fighting Irish have poached two of Stanford's top recruits in the 2010 class: speedster wide receiver Tailer Jones (whose father is former Notre Dame linebacker Andre Jones, a defensive captain on the Irish's 1988 National Championship team) and hard-hitting safety Chris Badger.

Interestingly enough, earlier in the day, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit posited that Notre Dame has become irrelevant. Herbstreit, during ESPN's College Gameday program, went on to lament why ESPN even bothers to discuss Notre Dame anymore.

Like Smith, Herbstreit attended Ohio State University. Hmmm.

Notre Dame, unquestionably, has been down for nearly 15 years. That said, if they were truly irrelevant then why would ESPN and seemingly every other media outlet be tripping over themselves in a state of conjecture regarding the imminent coaching change?

Incidentally, Notre Dame has been to three BCS bowl games since the BCS bowl inception. And that is three more trips to BCS bowl venues than Notre Dame's petulant, little brother Backup, er...Boston College.

As for Smith and Herbstreit's beloved Ohio State Buckeyes: since 1968, the Ohio State Buckeyes have won just one, count 'em, one National Championship in college football.

Notre Dame, during that time frame, has won three.

Well, Smith and Herbie: you were saying?