2/3rds of the way through

[mick2]

First off let me say that i am so friggin upset that we are going into the final stretch of the season already, it feels like just yesterday it was spring ball and our hopes and desires were still a good month or two away.

Secondly, I want to get the consensus of the fanbase about how this season has went, and how we feel about our team now and for the future.

I for one am mixed, part of me says that Kelly is doing a good job and we are on the right track, another part of me albeit a very small part of me says it doesn't look like a new Head coach was the change that was needed.

The Navy game really threw me for a loop, I can't for the life of me get a read on this team, are we close are we far away? we took msu to the very end and they are legit. but got totally worked in every facet of the navy game.

lack of fire? lack of respect for navy? i don't know, I am really hoping utah comes in undefeated as a legit top5 team so we can see where we stand as a whole. if we get blown away i will know we have a long road as tough as that pill will be to swallow. tired of the waiting. but never wavering on my loyalty...Go Irish Beat Tulsa!!!

 

[tommyIRISH23]

My feelings thus far;

Brian Kelly- He is absolutely the man for the job. He will make the team relevant again, probably sooner then later. I think year 2 we will see big changes. Maybe, even the bowl game, will show a solid glimpse at the future.

ND team- I think that there is a virus that has infested the ND program these past few years. There has been a ton of discontent, and just ugly situation with this team. I think in general, their competitive spirit may have been broken, and is in the process of being rebuilt.

Sadly, I think the talent, and potential of some of our 4/5* athletes that are now Jr's/Sr's has gone stale due to lack of teaching fundamentals, conditioning of the body/mind, and the lack of an overall identity as a team. This team is in its 3rd offense in 5 years, and who knows how many different defensive theories it's been given with Minter, Brown, Tenuta, and now Diaco. Some personality's definitely conflicted.

I think the team is buying into Brians philosophy, and he will give the team what they need most of all heading into the future, consistency.

The team has been a rollercoaster. 1 game, 1 half, and 1 quarter they look like a 9/10 win team. Next they look just terrible. They are learning how to be tough, and how to play BK's game. Once they understand and get a feel for the system, I think they will be very good.

Jesus, now that I wrote all this down, I don't know what I was thinking predicting 9 or 10 wins. This team is like a foster child being passed around from family to family. They've got no idea who they are.

My educated prediction is that next season, provided either Kyle or Floyd stay, we will see a fundamentally sound team that understands its job, and will be headed in the right direction. It will be night and day from this season.

 

[IrishLax]

All I care about are BCS games so on one hand the season is a disappointment.

On the other hand, the recruiting class (so far!) is FAR surpassing my expectations. If we keep this class together and add someone like Ishaq or Savon Huggins I will be so very very happy. What I really care about is competing next year and being a 'dominant' team in 2012 so we have good showings in all of those big games.

Let's see how it all wraps up.

 

[mick2]

2012 seems like such a long way off. Whats the absolute potential for the team we have right now, most of what we have right now will be back next year.

this year is a learning year for sure but 2011 we will have pretty much the same team is what i am saying.

2012 schedule looks brutal, especially if we are going with a first year qb, hendrix, massa, or rees.

I think 2011 is a year where we have a window of opportunity there. will the team be ready to jump through that window? what do you think?

 

[Irish4Life09]

My feelings thus far;

Brian Kelly- He is absolutely the man for the job. He will make the team relevant again, probably sooner then later. I think year 2 we will see big changes. Maybe, even the bowl game, will show a solid glimpse at the future.

ND team- I think that there is a virus that has infested the ND program these past few years. There has been a ton of discontent, and just ugly situation with this team. I think in general, their competitive spirit may have been broken, and is in the process of being rebuilt.

Sadly, I think the talent, and potential of some of our 4/5* athletes that are now Jr's/Sr's has gone stale due to lack of teaching fundamentals, conditioning of the body/mind, and the lack of an overall identity as a team. This team is in its 3rd offense in 5 years, and who knows how many different defensive theories it's been given with Minter, Brown, Tenuta, and now Diaco. Some personality's definitely conflicted.

I think the team is buying into Brians philosophy, and he will give the team what they need most of all heading into the future, consistency.

The team has been a rollercoaster. 1 game, 1 half, and 1 quarter they look like a 9/10 win team. Next they look just terrible. They are learning how to be tough, and how to play BK's game. Once they understand and get a feel for the system, I think they will be very good.

Jesus, now that I wrote all this down, I don't know what I was thinking predicting 9 or 10 wins. This team is like a foster child being passed around from family to family. They've got no idea who they are.

My educated prediction is that next season, provided either Kyle or Floyd stay, we will see a fundamentally sound team that understands its job, and will be headed in the right direction. It will be night and day from this season.

I completely agree with you.
We have moments of brilliance,and moments of sheer stupidity. This should be expected in the first year of a completely new system.
I am not worried at all. I have gotten over my dumbfounded anger over the Navy loss and have come to realize that we just dont have a whole lot of talent.That is being worked over very quickly by Kelly which I LOVE!
We basically have a good Big10 offense right now mixed with a MAC defense.We're not a very good team, and a lot of us(including myself) were a little over-optimistic at the possibilities Kelly might produce in Year 1. Right now we're a legit 6-6 team,which is to be expected. I think Kelly keeps us on the right track.
I think we finish either 6-6 or 7-5. Im betting on 7-5. We beat Tulsa and Army, and give really good games to Utah and USC. I think we lose a close game to Utah at the end, and finally end our long drought to USC in a close game at the end with a long Ruffer FG.We will then win a decent bowl game over a decent opponent to finish 8-5.
This will springboard us into next year,picking up some key recruits in the process, and then next year we go 9-4 with a good bowl win.
Just my thoughts.....

 

[tommyIRISH23]

2012 seems like such a long way off. Whats the absolute potential for the team we have right now, most of what we have right now will be back next year.

this year is a learning year for sure but 2011 we will have pretty much the same team is what i am saying.

2012 schedule looks brutal, especially if we are going with a first year qb, hendrix, massa, or rees.

I think 2011 is a year where we have a window of opportunity there. will the team be ready to jump through that window? what do you think?

I think BCS game is the best case scenario, and the stars have to align in 2011. But I see 8-9 wins as probable. I think the losses next season will be much prettier. We won't have physical/moral beat downs like we received against Navy/Stanford. We'll play our game, but may get beat a few times.

2012 is brutal, its hard to predict at this point because we don't know who will be playing, and what new faces will emerge, especially on the defense. We have alot of young talent on that side of the ball who should be on the field, and making an impact by then. Lynch and co. will be sophs, and possibly contributing.

If Dayne pans out, he'll be back in 2012. He for sure wont be NFL ready after 2011. If he hasn't progressed by the start of 2011, we'll see Rees or Hendrix, so whoever the QB is will have atleast 1 season behind center. Cierre Wood will be a stud. TJ Jones should be solid. Theo Riddick should be a big weapon. We have a stable of TE's that should be developed by 2012. I am not sure about our line.

 

[irishff1014]

We were all foolish to think that we were as 9 win team with the new coaches and QB. However i am very hard on the defense be cause they are not very good. But hopefully they can finish strong and have a great off season to work on somethings. I think the offense will be fine the have the players they just need to get the chemistry right. I like kelly however no quite sure what i think about Diaco

 

[tommyIRISH23]

We were all foolish to think that we were as 9 win team with the new coaches and QB. However i am very hard on the defense be cause they are not very good. But hopefully they can finish strong and have a great off season to work on somethings. I think the offense will be fine the have the players they just need to get the chemistry right. I like kelly however no quite sure what i think about Diaco

To Diaco's credit, I think fixing the defense was a lot more difficult then the offense. He's goin to war every saturday with like 3 guns and 8 bow and arrows.

 

[mick2]

I have been looking at the trends of other coaches that took over programs to see maybe what kind of cycle we can expect.

I looked at Jim Harbaugh taking over stanford and Mark Dantonio taking over sparty. Because i think these are very similar situations to what Brian Kelly is in right now.

Harbaugh:
----------------- Reg. Div. Stndings Bowls
2007 Stanford 4–8 3–6 T-7th
2008 Stanford 5–7 4–5 T-6th
2009 Stanford 8–5 6–3 T-2nd L Sun 21 19
2010 Stanford 6–1 3–1
Stanford: 23–21 16–15
Total: 52–27

Dantonio:
------------------------ Reg. B10 Stndings Bowls
2007 Michigan State 7–6 3–5 T–7th L Champs Sports
2008 Michigan State 9–4 6–2 3rd L Capital One
2009 Michigan State 6–7 4–4 T–6th L Alamo
2010 Michigan State 8–0** 4–0**
Michigan State: 30–17 17–11

Both coaches have had tough roads but they are paying off now in their fourth year. Msu's pattern looks really close to what our four year pattern could be. .500 team in there first year decent bowl team second year, third year was tough as i think 2012 will be for us, and finally the dividends are paying in year four.

2007 for both Harbaugh and Dantonio were relatively tough but had their high points.
Harbaugh beat the #2 ranked usc team in his first year, and Dantonio's teams were in every game, within a td of #1 osu and beat a #22 penn state team.

I know that ND has more talent than both of these teams when Harbaugh and Dantonio took over. so perhaps a slightly accelerated schedule is possible.

Next year will be a huge opportunity year and we will have a chance with Crist and Kelly both in their second season as generals, if floyd and rudolph come back it has to be our best chance in years to win a bcs game.

2012 may be a really tough one, could be trial by fire for a young team, but that could breed success for the following season.

Everyone says this team isnt talented but i see otherwise, tons of talent but we havent been a cohesive unit for an entire game once yet!

 

[irishff1014]

To Diaco's credit, I think fixing the defense was a lot more difficult then the offense. He's goin to war every saturday with like 3 guns and 8 bow and arrows.

I like you analogy. LOL But i do understand where you are coming from.

 

[Jerry]

I'll give positives and negatives:

Positives: This team plays hard for 4 qtrs. Probably the biggest disappointment of the Weis era was the team blowing leads in the 4th quarter especially in '08. This team isn't great but they've played well enough to win 6 games. Unfortunately they've only actually won 4 of those games.

Theo Riddick has played really well out of the slot. Probably a main reason we even have 4 wins.

Manti, slowly turning into the best LB in the country. He hasn't dissapointed.

Defense, I think the defense is improved. The secondary is scary, but it's not the liability they used to be. Of course the Navy game was pretty horrible so I'm not sure exactly what to make of it.

Negatives: Losing winnable games against UM and MSU. Not being able to make the one or two plays that needed to be made to beat these rivals. Especially MSU, Floyd's fumble in the Redzone and Dayne's pick kept the Irish from putting that game away early.

Being pushed around by Stanford and Navy. We knew this team wasn't going undefeated. But with ND having more talent on the roster it has amazed me that these teams can be much more physical on the lines. I understand that we are learning a new system but size is size and strength is strength. Pretty disappointing.

Dayne has underperformed. Maybe he isn't totally suited for this offense and he's still learning ect. But just a lack of accuracy has surprised me. He's missed some easy passes in the flat and thrown some untimely picks.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

I agree with so much of what has been already said by you all. I think this year has been one of mixed results and of course it has been and will continue to be a work in progress. This team is all about finding their identity. Different offenses, defenses, coaching changes etc...., have caused alot of identity issues I think. These kids are still learning and this program is having to start from scratch in many respects. I think we will continue to get better as time goes on and we all need to be patient. I was so optimistic before the start of the season and also saw us winning 9-10 games. Looking back I see that was really kind of unrealistic considering where this program has been the last several years. I think BK is the right coach and I am glad he is at Notre Dame. He will be a good coach in my opinion and we will see better days ahead for sure.

 

[phork]

I took the approach to sit back and watch without much care for where it headed. New coach, new system, new QB in that system and a new defensive scheme.

6-6 was my ceiling, but like the OP said that Navy game really shook me for a loop. I was not expecting that at all.

 

[RDU Irish]

I am disappointed versus my pre-season expectations, however still optimistic that Kelly will have us on the right track soon. The institutional brain fart getting in the way of success is the biggest obstacle IMO. That takes a long time to beat out of people.

Preseason I thought we would be 8-4 or 9-3 depending on how the ball bounces with a best case of 10-2 and worst case of 7-5. This was largely due to the schedule looking easier and a stronger start.

7-5 is still attainable if we TCB on Army and Tulsa and upset either USC or Utah. Hard to put too much faith in that outcome right now though.

I am also disappointed I have not seen more (hardly any) players dominate one-on-one match ups. I really thought we would see more talent blossom quickly under Kelly and become better than expected quicker than expected. I would put Carlo in this category as a plus though.

 

[mick2]

Assuming we beat army and tulsa, what win would do more for the program, utah or usc?

utah is a serious contender and would give us a really good win on the resume.

usc is the hated rival, would be great to get that monkey off our back and turn the tables, but may not instill the same confidence in the team that a utah win would.

 

[nd1]

Assuming we beat army and tulsa, what win would do more for the program, utah or usc?

utah is a serious contender and would give us a really good win on the resume.

usc is the hated rival, would be great to get that monkey off our back and turn the tables, but may not instill the same confidence in the team that a utah win would.

usc without a doubt. i can not wait to start beating them again.

 

[irishff1014]

Either way a Utah or Usc would be a huge win. and maybe Mark May would shut up.

 

[RDU Irish]

A lot could happen to USC b/w now and the game but regardless of if they are ranked, it is a big win for us this year. If Utah is still undefeated, that is obviously huge.

Either one legitimizes our ability. Pair that with a low tier bowl win and we have the table set nicely for next year.

 

[mick2]

yeah, if these kids could beat one of those teams (preferably usc now that i think of it) it would instill so much confidence, just to know that they have the ability to go out and beat an excellent football team, it would really help justify their hard work.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Assuming we beat army and tulsa, what win would do more for the program, utah or usc?

utah is a serious contender and would give us a really good win on the resume.

usc is the hated rival, would be great to get that monkey off our back and turn the tables, but may not instill the same confidence in the team that a utah win would.

This is a real good question because I would be happy with either win as I imagine most of us would. Which one would do more though for our program turning the tide? I would say Utah because they are highly ranked, but then again payback would feel great against USC that could be a top 15 team by the time we meet them. This is a toss up and I imagine either of these would be an amazing win.

 

[irishff1014]

I do think that the USC game will be more likely to be an upset. Due to the fact that there schedule is rough leading up to when we play them and it we be nice and cold when the come to south bend

 

[fitz_bu47]

Beating either of those teams would be huge, but I think beating USC could be enormous. They have been college football succes as of late, and a lot of that success has come at ND's expense, plus I loathe them.

 

[lookingdeadred]

First and foremost, BK is the right man for the job.

First and foremost, BK is the right man for the job.

He needs to get his players and then we will see what a BK-coached ND team can do. Those who expected a big turn around this season were thinking with their hearts and not their heads. The 2011 ND team will be much improved, and by 2012, the team should be a very good team, although the record may not look that great due to the killer schedule they will face that year.

First off let me say that i am so friggin upset that we are going into the final stretch of the season already, it feels like just yesterday it was spring ball and our hopes and desires were still a good month or two away.

Secondly, I want to get the consensus of the fanbase about how this season has went, and how we feel about our team now and for the future.

I for one am mixed, part of me says that Kelly is doing a good job and we are on the right track, another part of me albeit a very small part of me says it doesn't look like a new Head coach was the change that was needed.

The Navy game really threw me for a loop, I can't for the life of me get a read on this team, are we close are we far away? we took msu to the very end and they are legit. but got totally worked in every facet of the navy game.

lack of fire? lack of respect for navy? i don't know, I am really hoping utah comes in undefeated as a legit top5 team so we can see where we stand as a whole. if we get blown away i will know we have a long road as tough as that pill will be to swallow. tired of the waiting. but never wavering on my loyalty...Go Irish Beat Tulsa!!!

 

[lookingdeadred]

Both would be a huge boost to a struggling program, but

Both would be a huge boost to a struggling program, but

I think a win at USC would be bigger. It is the last game, it is on the road and it is USC. Beating Utah would be huge, but beating USC would be huger.

Assuming we beat army and tulsa, what win would do more for the program, utah or usc?

utah is a serious contender and would give us a really good win on the resume.

usc is the hated rival, would be great to get that monkey off our back and turn the tables, but may not instill the same confidence in the team that a utah win would.

 

[lookingdeadred]

The USC game is in LA

The USC game is in LA

not likely to be very cold.

I do think that the USC game will be more likely to be an upset. Due to the fact that there schedule is rough leading up to when we play them and it we be nice and cold when the come to south bend

 

[dskoo65]

I have been looking at the trends of other coaches that took over programs to see maybe what kind of cycle we can expect.

I looked at Jim Harbaugh taking over stanford !

except harbaugh took over a 1-11 Stanford program in total disarray that was completely void of any talent. Kelly has alot more to work with, by far, in his first year.