Not trying to split hairs... But wouldn't a .500 team be considered "average"?
IF you want to go by .500 seasons, ND's only done that half a dozen times in 122 seasons.
But that wasn't what I or the author noted, was it? The auther noted an "average
Notre Dame team". I stayed with the same qualifier the authored used. The first word in my post was "Historically".
Read it as wrtten. Note the added emphasis.
Originally Posted by BGIF
Historically ND has won 73% of its games.
In a 12 game season that's roughly 9 wins.
Currently ND's 4-2 or 67%. A win Saturday would put ND at 5-2 or 71%. a tad below "average" for ND.
So an "average ND team" for ND does seem reasonable.
Unfortunately ND's only been ND's average about a half dozen times in the past 14 years.
Also, the talent we have on this roster.. Is NOT average
Once again the author's reference was
"an average Notre Dame team". He didn't compare this team to Buffalo, UAB, Cal Poly Slo, or the rest of the NCAA teams. He compared this team to ND's body of work.
Considering ND's All-Time Winning Percentage (actually slightly better than the 73% I noted), Undefeated Seasons, One Loss Seasons, National Championships, Heisman Winner, All-Americans, etc, etc, ... You're right this team is NOT average, they're below average but have they have the potential to become
an ND average which they clearly have not done to date.
An average ND team would win almost 9 out of 12 which would mean a Top 25 finish - on average, annually.
Since the AP started their poll in 1936 ND is average rank All-Time is #4 (they missed all those Rockne years). The mode is #1. And keep in mind ND hasn't played a Div 1aa caliber team in that span. They're only one of three or four schools that haven't played a Div 1aa caliber team.
In the SEC a .500 graduation rate is considered good. At ND an average graduation rate of only .900 would be considered catastrophic.
There's average and then there's ND's average. A night and day difference which was the author's point.