I've been one of Charlie's biggest defenders on this board since the day I signed up. I am still not off the CW bandwagon. And I agree with johnny, 8-4 or 9-3 would not be unreasonable this season with Weis here. In fact, Stanford is the only game I would bet against the Irish in said theoretical world.
However, long term...I now think Kelly was the right pick for ND. The players had become used to losing and needed someone to rattle their cages and change the culture. Weis did that when he came in, but his health problems and Ty's god-awful recruiting combined to take the chip off his shoulder. Kelly has a chip on his, and it will only grow with the way this season is going. ND is going to circle the wagons, find the guys who really want to be here, and come back like the phoenix sooner than anybody thinks.