It seems like old times in the world of college football.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have emerged from their 24-year slumber of mediocrity, and put themselves into college football’s national title game.

The Irish are the most storied program in college football, and annually used to put themselves in the top five of both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls, but that success became futile starting in the early 1990s when Notre Dame saw its prowess rapidly decline.

Once a staple of the top bowl games such as the Cotton, Orange and Sugar bowls, the Fighting Irish since 1998 were being invited to lesser bowls such as the Gator, Insight, Hawai’i, Sun and Champ Sports.

The program had a slight re-emergence playing in the Fiesta Bowl in 2005, where it lost to Ohio State 34-20, and the Sugar Bowl in 2006, where it lost to LSU 41-14.

Its last two bowls, however, were the Champ Sports and Sun.

It didn’t used to be that way for Notre Dame. The Associated Press has named Notre Dame the national champion eight times, but not since 1988. The coaches, through United Press International, have named Notre Dame the national champion three times, but not since 1988.

The national championship format has changed a lot since Notre Dame last earned the right to call itself a champion. For example, neither the coaches nor the media fully pick a champion. That honor is now determined by the Bowl Championship Series, a computer ranking that chooses the top two teams through certain criteria to play in the national title game.

This year, Notre Dame will be playing for the national championship in the BCS National Championship Game in Miami on Jan. 7, the final game of the 2012-13 college football season. Their opponent will either be storied Alabama or Georgia out of the Southeastern Conference, which won’t be decided until this weekend’s SEC title game between the two schools.

The Fighting Irish, who fought through several losing seasons in the 2000s, went 12-0 this year, the only undefeated team in America.

It was a throw back to the glory days when Notre Dame ruled the football landscape as one of the best teams in the country. It was difficult for many college football fans to watch the program’s decline in the past 24 years. Yes, Notre Dame had winning seasons, but never was the team a serious title contender as in years past.

At one point during their history, the Fighting Irish were so big that the school signed an exclusive contract with NBC in the mid-1990s, allowing every one of their games to be nationally televised on the network. Unfortunately, the downfall began right around that time.

Now it has come full circle as the Fighting Irish stormed through this season, reminding the football world that it is not a footnote in the annals of college football history, but once again a dominant force with which to be reckoned.

College sports has seen a few revivals of historic programs such as Indiana basketball, which overcame many lean years since coach Bobby Knight’s departure in 2000, to starting this season as the No. 1 team in the country. The Kentucky Wildcats, with seven national titles in college basketball, hadn’t won a title since 1998, but rolled through the 2011-12 season with only two losses and won the school’s eighth national championship.

Now Notre Dame is back at the forefront, and whether one likes the team or not, it’s where the Fighting Irish belong.

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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.