While I think Bo probably has eliminated ND, I'm starting to seriously doubt the legitimacy of ISD's "sources" and I'm surprised they don't seem to be called out much on here with the amount of bad info they have.
ISD and Wiltfong are about as legit as you're going to find. Other than TP, I've heard the best inside, legit dirt from the guys at ISD, a lot of stuff they can't even print but invariably comes true.
Off the top of my head I can think of a few big errors that they have made:
1: Yeargin was supposedly favouring Florida while Wiltfong and Loy had him favouring ND. Commits to ND a day or two after ISD's claim in their Intel that he was leaning towards Florida.
Yeargin was absolutely favoring FL...he even tried to commit and they said no to him. Then he committed to Notre Dame. They nailed that one; problem was FL didn't want him after all as I believe they got better players in their eyes to commit.
2: The McKenzie fiasco. Loy got a lot of stick for the way he covered the McKenzie commitment while ISD, however it seems in the end he was actually correct. IIRC ISD were saying that McKenzie had talked to Alford and ok'd the commitment with the ND staff before announcing it. But in interviews the next day McKenzie was quoted as saying he hadn't spoken to Alford about the commitment yet.
I can't speak on that one. I do know that they've said for a lonnnnnng time that Mackenzie had ND as his leader, even when some were reporting that Mackenzie had WVU as his leader, and consistently said his scores were the only issue from him being a commit. They've been right on that.
3: In last weeks ISD Intel, after 247 had let the cat out of the bag about Barnett's plan to commit this past weekend, Christian said that Barnett hadn't actually decided if he was going to commit yet. However in Loy's article about the commitment he actually thanked Barnett for letting 247 know earlier in the week that he was planning to commit, I think Scout had that information as well.
Christian has been all over the Barnett thing from the jump. But since I started reading Mike Frank years ago, they have always been about letting the recruit have their day rather than being first to report something. 247 let the cat out of the bag, but ISD did right by their source and remained silent on it.
I can say that Christian (ISD's recruitnik) made it to SB this weekend for the game. We talked at the tailgate and I asked him about Barnett, and he admitted that Barnett was coming to the game to commit to ND. Christian was talking to Blake's dad as they were boarding their 2nd flight in Minnesota. They had missed their 2nd flight and had to wait for another flight from Minnesota to Chicago, so they didn't get to Chicago until about one in the afternoon and were hoping to get to the game by kick-off. So Christian was all over this one. He shouldn't be criticized for keeping his word.
4: Last weeks ISD also had a quote from a source that said Erik Brown was done with his recruitment after switching to Washington and there would be no more contact with ND. That same day or the day previously Wiltfong said Brown had already been talking to ND staff after switching his commitment. Obviously this hasn't been confirmed one way or another, but I'd tend to side with Wiltfong.
I don't know about this one either. But guys are wrong...happens all the time in recruiting, even to Wiltfong. Sometimes their sources are just wrong. I remember last year Priest Willis had someone in his camp telling ISD that ND was right in it, and that source was wrong. Happens to everyone. This year ISD has been adamant that they are still in a VERY good spot with Juju, which I disagree with. But I will say that when I heard who their source is, I will agree that it is legit (still don't see him at ND though lol, and Christian did say that it all depends on who USC hires - there was zero chance in hell that Juju was going to play for Kiffy, but his firing threw a wrench in everything).
And I'm sure there's numerous other instances as well.
Sorry for the rant, but I don't get why Loy is criticized so much while ISD seem to get away with a lot of bad information.
Like I said, ISD has some really good sources (as do guys like Wiltfong and Sampson). I know I'm biased because I have gotten to know them this past year, and they've given me some great info, but trust me, they're info is solid. And even when they are wrong, they are not just guessing...they have some excellent resources bro...