An open letter to the nation: "We're Sorry"

Dear America,

The 2012 college football season has come and gone. Nick Saban and his Alabama team have been crowned BCS Champions for the third time in the last four seasons. The Crimson Tide dispatched the Irish in such a way that the game was not even interesting beyond the first nine minutes.

42-14. The game was not as close as the score...and yet we watched anyways. Our only hope by the end of the first quarter was that Brent Musburger would continue to make dirty old man comments towards Miss Alabama.

So now, we are left with a few questions. Was Notre Dame deserving of the #1 ranking? Did the Irish deserve to be playing for the BCS Championship? Could this have all been avoided?

While we have a fairly good idea of the answers to the first two questions, the answer to the third is yes...if Pitt could have held on to their 20-6 fourth quarter lead, this could have all been avoided.

If K'Waun Williams would have simply played the ball and not committed pass interference late in the fourth quarter, this would not have happened.

If only Notre Dame would have committed a defensive penalty on Kevin Harper's missed field goal in the second overtime, this would not have happened.

If only Pitt could have exposed Notre Dame linebacker/Heisman runner-up Manti Te'o and made him look nothing more than average, this would not have happened.

But it did happen, on a national stage, with seemingly every fan base on our side. Pitt failed to defeat the Irish...and tonight, we all had to suffer the consequences. That is the lasting memory of the 2012 season.

So for that, on behalf of our entire fan base, we are sorry.

Sincerely,

The staff of Cardiac Hill

PS. We would also like to apologize on behalf of the Stanford fan base for not scoring against Notre Dame in overtime.

PPS. A special thank you goes out to Alabama for doing what we could not. If the Fighting Irish were BCS Champions, Lou Holtz would have been insufferable.

PPPS. Hail to Pitt.