Ok, what one of you posted LOL.... Got this off usfbulls
"After perusing this thread, I thought I would share where ND fans are coming from in their confidence. ND fans feel that ND should have vastly superior athletes to USF because ND has recruited very well over the past five years. In fact, this year's senior class was ranked #2 in the nation by scout.com ,and four of ND's five classes (including 5th year players) were ranked in the top 20. The problems at ND over the years have been coaching and not talent. Many of ND's players were also heavily recruited by schools such as USC and Florida. The difference has been that good coaching staffs, like Pete Carrol's and Urban Meyer's, develop their talent, while ND's talent has languished. What ND fans are counting on is that Brian Kelly's second teams have been much better than his first teams at each of the three schools he has previously coached at, and that this year's ND team will make the same improvements that GVSU, CMU, and Cincinnati made. Coupled with having elite talent on the roster, that improvement should leave ND with a very good football team.
This is where the comparisons to games against Pitt aren't really relevant. Many ND fans think that this year's ND team will be much better than the Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, and Bob Davie coached teams because they believe that Brian Kelly is a better coach than his predecessors. If you go back to the Lou Holtz years at ND, the Irish didn't have much trouble with middle of the road programs like Pitt and Purdue. That trouble didn't start until ND itself became a middle of the road program, which occurred because of poor coaching and player development. ND fans who are expecting a Holtzi-an performance out of this year's team are expecting ND to beat both Pitt and USF handily, which is where the Pitt comparisons become irrelevant.
With all that being said, I personally don't believe any of this. I thought that Brian Kelly showed signs of being in over his head last year, a la Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. There is a big difference between winning at a Big East school and winning at a school where every opponent circles your game on their calendar and you every coaching move is questioned. The decision to chuck balls into the end zone in the last minute of the Tulsa game, when a field goal would have won the game, showed that Kelly was in over his head at that point. The success and failure of this year's team will depend on how well he can lead them. For the record, I think Skip Holtz is a better coach and that a lot of ND fans are going to be shocked by the outcome of the game. I also expect that you people are going to be upset when ND fans start clamoring for your coach after the game."
Notre Dame
