Why cant we win a championship next season?

[GreatGolson]

^ auburn didnt know they had a cam newton type player on their team until about week 3

 

[irishtrinity]

i think it's all there with everything that happened this yr truly we should be 11 2 luck beat us and navy bs game.. mich st. delay of game! mich. soft corners they threw every ball to sidline and should have kick fg at halftime , and last tulsa fg at end!

so that said we are going to be better at offense and defense we lost rudy after the 6th game anyways and tyler is talented. christ and tommy will be a great combo qb force and i really like wood.. so more touchdowns for us and defense stops better perfect style for our coach.

 

[irishtrinity]

this is what we needed tho think 2012 oklahoma, texas with us being 12/1 next yr then hit them fools running with a 13/0 season that yr we would be ranked #1 and play in the bcs championship.. notre dame 2012 national champs i'll be there..

 

[Irish Fam]

I think that a championship is definitely possible... however I am limiting my expectations to a respected new years day bowl and/or a BCS bowl. Sure the QB position is yet to be determined and worked out, but regardless of who wins out the competition we will have a quarterback with some good experience in Kelly's system. I think Cierre Wood could be ready for a break out season, but im not sleeping on Jonas Gray. He can run by defenders, but also has size to run a defensive back over. Our wide reciever corps is filled with playmakers. Both our o-line and d-lines are filled with returning starters who will just have another spring and summer to grasp their system. Teo is one of the top linebackers in the nation and will be surrounded by very solid players who will be free to make plays due to the focus on Manti. And I hope and believe our secondary could be a real bright spot, much like they were in the latter half of the season.

With all of that being said, I hope we can come out of spring ball with a true number one at QB, but Kelly likes having 2 or 3 qbs capable of stepping in and efficiently running the offense. I like depth, but i would prefer a single top notch quarterback opposed to a set of solid ones.

If we can avoid the hamstring injuries in 2011, I like our chances for a BCS (Championship, hopefully) game victory.

 

[KPENN]

Oregon freshmen QB, Auburn JC transfer= BCS tittle game. This isnt the 70's, changes happen fast, watch, this team is already special, they have went through the growing and pains, last year was a time capsule of the last 20 years of ND football, we started strong, faded a little, then finished stronger.

Darron Thomas wasn't a freshman. And while newton was a juco he was a 5* coming out of high school. So it's not like he was some guy that was completely of the map

 

[SLCIRISH]

Lets not even talk about the newest recruits, with what we have already, and the way BK demands them to improve, we have a chance. I understand every body trying to stay hunble, and grounded, but Im 37, 1988 seems like BC, to me. Were due.Overdue!

Three reason why we compete for a championship next year:

1) We are not finesse anymore, we can line up and pound anyone. Anybody remember Reggie Brooks?
2) We have a coach who developes his players, and he also developes an attitude that reeks championship.
3) we already have the talent in place. The incoming frosh are just depth, and we havemt had depth since 1988.

 

[SLCIRISH]

Newton still had never thrown a ball to any Auburn recievers and I think Thomas is at least a redshirt fresh, but I stand corrected.

 

[SLCIRISH]

Also I have witnessed two Utah BCS busting season, I know how fine of a line it is to win them all, I know what an easy schedule+a new coach equals. Urban did it with Mcbrides and Zooks recruits, Weis did it twice with Ty's players, there isnt any reason, that BK wont do it.

 

[NewEnglandGuy]

A good article and read:
Scout.com: Accountability

Full of good facts. I love these: Fleming lead the team in tackles-for-loss with 11 (what?!) and had 22 of what O'Malley calls big plays (most in a season since Trevor Laws). Big play definition:

Scoring the category remains somewhat subjective, but for our purposes, recordable statistical big plays include: sacks, tackles-for-loss, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, interceptions, passes defended, and blocked kicks/punts. Though defensive or special teams touchdowns are much more important than any standard statistic listed above, we’ll keep things simple and count them equally in our historical tally.

It also goes to show how predicting the future of a season is hard. While we all talk about potential and who is going to be "good", I still stand by the old adage: sometimes it is better to be lucky than good (see Mich St game 2010). Quick look at the schedule:

Home, South Florida: Finished with an identical 8-5 record including a bowl win over an ACC team (Clemson 31-26). Their 38-14 loss to Florida was tied at 7 at the half and they also beat Miami in overtime. They also lost to Syracuse, Pitt, and UConn by a combined 14 points.
Away, Michigan: New coach in Brady Hoke, new system, and weak recruiting class to fill in the holes of a porous 2010 team. Advantage us. First night game in the history of the 3rd largest stadium in the world (again, what?!) List of stadiums by capacity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Advantage them.
Home, Michigan State: Bittersweet 2010 season for sparty by going 11-1 only to be blown out by bama 49-7 in the Capital One Bowl. Cousins, Baker, and Bell are back on offense, but their defense loses linebackers Greg Jones and Eric Gordon who have combined for more then 750 career tackles, which is the most by any active linebacker duo in the FBS.
Away, Pittsburgh: Without the stache for the first time since the 2004 season. Their 8-5 season felt a lot different then ours. Still have RB Lewis and QB Sunseri but without perhaps their best player in WR Baldwin (NFL).
Away, Purdue: The only team on our 2010 schedule that did not have enough wins to be bowl eligible. After starting out 4-2, they finished the year with six straight defeats.
Home, Air Force: Went 9-4 with a bowl win against G Tech. Their do-it-all QB, Tim Jefferson, and thousand yard RB, Asher Clark, are back for their senior seasons.
Home, USC: Matt Barkley is still in town and Marc Tyler did not declare but first team all Pac-10 players OT Tyron Smith and DT Jurrell Casey did.
Home, Navy: Ricky Dobbs is gone after going 3-1 against ND (I am done saying what...but who would've thought). Teich, who torched us, is back, but is there anyway we lose again?
Away, Wake Forest: An abysmal 3-9 season ended with a win over Vandy (2-10). Reminds me of our win over Duke in 2007.
Neutral (Fed Ex), Maryland: One of the four teams on the schedule with new coaches. Randy Edsall takes over a 9-4 team lead by RS Freshman QB Danny O'Brien and WR Torrey Smith.
Home, Boston College: Winners of their last five games during the season to end 7-5, they finally found their QB in Freshman Chase Rettig who was knocked out against us after throwing a TD.
Away, Stanford: Harbaugh is gone and Luck remains. Will the loss of their assistant head coach, defensive coordinator, and offensive line coach bring them to the middle of the pack in the new Pac-12?

P.S. The last time we beat Michigan and Michigan State in the same season was 2004.

 

[IrishinSyria]

i think it's all there with everything that happened this yr truly we should be 11 2 luck beat us and navy bs game.. mich st. delay of game! mich. soft corners they threw every ball to sidline and should have kick fg at halftime , and last tulsa fg at end!

There are miles in-between "should be" and were. That's my problem with this thread--- if everything goes perfectly then yes, maybe, we could be a BCS team. However, this is college football...nothing ever goes perfectly. While we may be good, there are a lot of teams who are just as good or better on paper. Let's hope for improvement and be pleasantly surprised by anything else.

 

[SLCIRISH]

Every game on that schedule is winnable.

 

[Rudy89]

After watching the BCS game sthis year I just dont think we are at that level I think we go a respectable 8-4 or 9-3. Play in a new years day game then Manti's senior year we might be able to make BCS. If and When we do make the BCS I want us to be ready to play in those games because our last BCS outings were embarassing if we go I want to at least look like we belong.

 

[phgreek]

While I love recent developments, we still have alot of questions at the QB position...

The defense, while hugely upgraded for 12 and beyond, is largely the same. I love our recruits, but I'm not convinced they will make an immediate difference...

I guess I'd like to see the product a couple times to be confident enough to say NC...just based on their trajectory at the end of the season...they are a 9 or 10 win team with upside...

 

[IrishRamMan10]

The players that I have talked to are all very confident and say that they will be very good next year. Who knows

 

[IrishinSyria]

Every game on that schedule is winnable.

Right, but the same thing could be said about this year and the year before and the year before that. We could win every game, maybe even should, but we're not good enough where we should win them all barring a huge run of luck.

A national championship team should have a 90%+ chance of beating nearly every team it plays, with one or two season making games (think Alabama for Auburn this year). We may be at the point where we have a 60 or 75% chance of beating each of the teams on next year's schedule, but I really don't think we're at the point where it's 90%+.

 

[RyCo1983]

Someone is bonging the Kool-Aid...
10-2 is what I am hoping for.

Anything more is icing on the cake.

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I'd be happy with 10-2 seems like the ceiling for this team. We need to find a quarterback and our offensive line really needs to improve.

 

[General Colon Bowel]

A good article and read:
Scout.com: Accountability

Away, Pittsburgh: Without the stache for the first time since the 2004 season. Their 8-5 season felt a lot different then ours. Still have RB Lewis and QB Sunseri but without perhaps their best player in WR Baldwin (NFL).

If I'm not mistaken Dion Lewis declared for the draft. And Pitt's best fullback is leaving a year early too. That's alot to lose, hopefully this game and purdue will be more of tune-up, rest-up games for us next year.

 

[irishff1014]

Hopefully some of our backups will get to some work in these games.

 

[ACamp1900]

every year we have this thread... every year the peps who ask this question are the ones who meltdown the most when we lose a game...

It's clearly because we tend to kid ouerselves about where this program is... every. single. year.


let's just focus on USF and go from there.

 

[Rocket89]

Didn't Dion Lewis declare for the NFL draft?

Pitt loses Lewis, Baldwin, and sneaky good fullback Hynoski. They are going to have a boat load of trouble on offense transitioning to the spread.

Purdue could come back strong with another full year with Marve at QB, Bolden coming back after his injury, and Keith Smith possibly returning for a 6th year if he wins his case with the NCAA.

Kinda glad we don't play them early in the season again, but then again USF is even better!

 

[phork]

QB play is great and if you have a superstar it can make a tremendous difference. However, having said that, if you have a top notch defense and a mistake free QB that doesn't have to light it up, you can go a long way.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Why can't we win a championship next year?

We can. Being that the season hasn't started and we haven't lost a game we are still undefeated. As long as we continue this thru the end of the season WE CAN WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP NEXT YEAR.

Now do I believe we will, no. I believe we will be much improved on both sides of the ball and our record will reflect that. I believe we will win at least 9 probably 10 total games next year. I believe we will win one (or two) national championships in 2012 and 13.

EDIT: and we will over take that ****ty Michigan program as the winningest program in college football in less than 3 years.

 

[TerryTate]

Quarterback position would be my biggest concern.

 

[Old Man Mike]

MIrish: funny. The more I think of it, I too believe that as of January 2011 we are undefeated and will remain so for at least seven more months. What a Rush!!! Ma, pour me another glass of that Green Stuff!.

 

[kmoose]

Oregon freshmen QB, Auburn JC transfer= BCS tittle game. This isnt the 70's, changes happen fast

You're comparing apples and oranges. While it might not be the 70s, chronologically, in South Bend; it's not much more than 1980. No JC transfers, no players that can't cut it in the classroom; no theives, drug addicts, domestic batterers, or general miscreants need apply. Auburn was on no one's radar for the NC, in the offseason. But I listened to a few interviews with Cam Newton, in the run-up to game: That kid makes Terry Bradshaw look like Stephen Hawking. THAT'S why that kind of turn around will not happen at ND. They just can't bring in the immediate superstar impact guys. They have to build and develop, and that takes time.

 

[eNDzone]

We will never win a National Championship till one thing happens. Both the players and coaches believe they will. Ask the players and coaches what they think now. If any one of them thinks they can't then get rid of them. Ask Kelly if he thinks they will win the NC. It's a new year and the kool aids on me. If they don't win it all I will still be happy with improvement.

 

[WabashFalcon]

Honestly? I think our S.O.S and a slow start low in the AP and Coaches polls will prevent any chance of a BCS championship.

 

[GreatGolson]

Honestly? I think our S.O.S and a slow start low in the AP and Coaches polls will prevent any chance of a BCS championship.

if you win every game it doesnt matter where you start, and if your and undefeated ND, your gunna get the #1 or #2 spot

 

[woolybug25]

Mowie Wowie... I should have read this thread before I posted on the "Homerism" thread. I dont think we will win a NC next year, but I totally get the optimism. Rarely does the favorite at the beginning of the season end up winning it all. We will be good next year, and I would love it if I am wrong and we end up being the team on top at the end of the year.