Eventually "next year" WILL be the year.

[alohagoirish]

In 2005--with the landscape of college football very similar to today--we came within TWO plays of an undefeated season and a shot at the Title game against someone other then OSU. The second overtime touchdown by MSU and the BUSH push were the two plays .

If we can get that close in 2005, under a coach who ended up fired for being ineffective, we can go all the way under proper circumstances. We need a defense that plays strong & a quarterback who is red hot---those things and a few balls bouncing our way will get us BCS and if you can get BCS only a couple breaks ( ones everyone need) seperates you from the title game.

The worm will turn and hopefully it will do it soon!

 

[BobD]

Look at my signature gif. That little Blue Mexican Wrestling Monkey never gives up. No matter how many times he gets bonked on the head and kicked through the air....he keeps coming back.

 

[woolybug25]

Cheer up, chaps. When I am feeling blue, I turn on this jam and think about all of the good things in life.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QO92VGKOYy4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[RyCo1983]

Cheer up, chaps. When I am feeling blue, I turn on this jam and think about all of the good things in life.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QO92VGKOYy4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bubbles and the $h!t Rockers are one of my all time favorite bands!

 

[IrishinSyria]

If your standard for success for ND football is consistently winning BCS games and competing for national titles, you're bound to be disappointed.

Me, I will be a fan of ND football and sports as long as they continue to do things the "right way" and compete against the best teams in the country. Obviously, I want them to win- but a NC is not my standard for success.

 

[returnofthemack]

I will freely admit that my pessimism is a defense mechanism. Things usually don't go right, and since I expect it, I don't have as much of a negative reaction. For instance, I fully expected ND to lose to Xavier. And I still got really really angry (mostly because of that turdlicking ref). If I was an optimist and actually believed they would win, I would have flown off the handle (which happened on a regular basis when I first started really following ND sports in 2007).

 

[returnofthemack]

It's definitely tougher being an optimist, especially when you've been wrong pretty much every time. I can't do it, so more power to those of you that can.

 

[STLDomer]

Everyone should have expectations for "the year" to come in 2012 for bball and 2013 for fball

Basketball should go at least 6 deep and possibly 8 deep at least next ur with:
PG Atkins Grant
SG Grant Connaugton
SF Biedenshied Connaughton
PF Martin Augustene? Dragivech?
C Cooley Sherman

 

[returnofthemack]

Everyone should have expectations for "the year" to come in 2012 for bball and 2013 for fball

Basketball should go at least 6 deep and possibly 8 deep at least next ur with:
PG Atkins Grant
SG Grant Connaugton
SF Biedenshied Connaughton
PF Martin Augustene? Dragivech?
C Cooley Sherman

I'd rather have Cooley and Sherman manning PF and C. I'm pretty sure Dragicevich is a guard.

 

[returnofthemack]

Everyone should have expectations for "the year" to come in 2012 for bball and 2013 for fball

Basketball should go at least 6 deep and possibly 8 deep at least next ur with:
PG Atkins Grant
SG Grant Connaugton
SF Biedenshied Connaughton
PF Martin Augustene? Dragivech?
C Cooley Sherman

The guy whose name you butchered is Zach Auguste at PF haha.
and Cameron Biedscheid at SF

 

[RubberSoul]

That's five things.

 

[STLDomer]

I'd rather have Cooley and Sherman manning PF and C. I'm pretty sure Dragicevich is a guard.

Yeah if Sherman lives up to potential I think we would succeed best at even of Brey doesn't choose it at this lineup:

PG Atkins Grant
SG Grant Connaughton Brooks
SF Martin Biedscheid
PF Cooley Auguste Katenda
C Sherman Cooley

Also if needed: G Brooks, G/F Dragicevich, and Katenda

 

[returnofthemack]

Cool article about Biedscheid: Cameron Biedscheid is making good on his childhood vow for hoops success - ESPNHS Missouri - ESPNHS

 

[Irish4Life09]

If the mayans have their way then we won't win another title. F'ING mayans....couldn't save your entire race from some flooding,but could predict the end of the world...

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

There's a difference between being a sterotypical whine *** Notre Dame fan, and being a fan with "realistic" expectations. Crying, bitching, whining and blowing up threads and/or FB feeds with negativity toward a team you supposedly love is not a fan with realistic expectations. It's being a jack wagon, fair-weather fan, and a pain in my arse.

Every season it's the same thing. Except this year was different. Brian Kelly didn't have the best qb in the nation, or even a good mediocre qb, but we STILL finished 8-4. If you can't SEE the differences between this squad and Weiss' squads, you are just plain blind. There are differences, good differences, and Brian Kelly will get madder than a kicked chicken and make a fool of himself trying to get his point across, you don't throw deep into a covered three! You have to look, you have to plant your feet! What are you doing!!!??? That's Brian Kelly. Weiss just stood there letting his nose run.

Truthfully, this year will be different. It will be better. But ND does have some odds against them. They aren't unethical, they aren't sanctioned, they aren't the luckiest team in the NCAA *COUGH MICHIGAN* Cough. But all those teams will get their comeuppance. Remember Ty Willingham's era, everyone thought he was the man leading us to 9-3, and then we **** the bed twice after that. So keep on with the sky is falling crap. The whining, the carrying on, either take your ball and go home, or put on your big boy pants and WAIT for the damn season to start before you decide how horrible ND is going to be. Otherwise, KICK ROCKS.

 

[NDOM]

There's a difference between being a sterotypical whine *** Notre Dame fan, and being a fan with "realistic" expectations. Crying, bitching, whining and blowing up threads and/or FB feeds with negativity toward a team you supposedly love is not a fan with realistic expectations. It's being a jack wagon, fair-weather fan, and a pain in my arse.

Every season it's the same thing. Except this year was different. Brian Kelly didn't have the best qb in the nation, or even a good mediocre qb, but we STILL finished 8-4. If you can't SEE the differences between this squad and Weiss' squads, you are just plain blind. There are differences, good differences, and Brian Kelly will get madder than a kicked chicken and make a fool of himself trying to get his point across, you don't throw deep into a covered three! You have to look, you have to plant your feet! What are you doing!!!??? That's Brian Kelly. Weiss just stood there letting his nose run.

Truthfully, this year will be different. It will be better. But ND does have some odds against them. They aren't unethical, they aren't sanctioned, they aren't the luckiest team in the NCAA *COUGH MICHIGAN* Cough. But all those teams will get their comeuppance. Remember Ty Willingham's era, everyone thought he was the man leading us to 9-3, and then we **** the bed twice after that. So keep on with the sky is falling crap. The whining, the carrying on, either take your ball and go home, or put on your big boy pants and WAIT for the damn season to start before you decide how horrible ND is going to be. Otherwise, KICK ROCKS.

Not to mention the MANY times I saw him licking the snot off his upper lip instead of blowing it. The guy was just a slob and he disgusted me. But as far as trying to seperate the coaches......Weis made it to BCS games and Kelly has not even sniffed one yet so it's hard to compare the two......yet.

Weis failed at ND and Kelly is currently failing but not dead yet.

 

[ClausentoTate]

USC took 25 years before '03.
Texas took 35 years before '06.
Alabama took 17 years before '09.
Auburn took 50+ years before '10.
Oregon has never won.

You may notice that just about every team that wins has an all-pro QB or RB doing all the heavy lifting on offense and has a stout defense. We don't have that kind of player on the offense currently (at least not at the start of Spring practice). We are very close to having a stout defense.

There are just so many variables that go into it. You have to be 11-1 or 12-0, hope your schedule is tougher than other teams' in the given year, start at least in the top 25 pre-season, win big in nearly every game and hope the BCS formula spits out your name (which requires coaches votes, the AP and the computers to give you a good ranking even through their biases). Then you have to (presumably) beat the SEC champion, if the past ten years are any indicator. That's a tall order for any team regardless of conference affiliation, depth, experience, playmakers, etc.

In '88 so many things went right in basically all of our games. Rocket's two returns against UM, fumble at the goalline/failed 2 pt conversion against Miami, Major Harris getting hurt in the championship game... I could go on. It was a magical season and very few teams have had that many quality wins in a single season since. Very few championship teams go undefeated these days because with the current scholarship cap we no longer have the advantages we had in the old days.

Also, and just for fun, look back at our previous win in '77. We happened to play the top team in the Cotton Bowl, but we were #5 before crushing UT. If we had BCS games back then, we wouldn't have won that championship or even been in consideration for it. The best we could've done is #2/#3.

I'll clarify that I am not a pessimist at all. I just think managing expectations is the name of the game. We need to be at the point where we are able to contend for a chance to get into the NC and have a reasonable chance to win a BCS game. That's really all we can hope for in today's world. Also, statistically (and especially with our actually playing by the black & white rules), our chances of going all the way are very, very low. Even if we were on a level playing field with the SEC, Big 12, etc. it's a complete crap-shoot. All we can do is recruit well, play tough and have a few things go our way for once. We're overdue for a season that doesn't have nearly every bounce go the other way.

I think Kelly has us well on our way to competing at a very high level. We're so close to getting where we need to be to compete it's not even funny.

Cheers!

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

Not to mention the MANY times I saw him licking the snot off his upper lip instead of blowing it. The guy was just a slob and he disgusted me. But as far as trying to seperate the coaches......Weis made it to BCS games and Kelly has not even sniffed one yet so it's hard to compare the two......yet.

Weis failed at ND and Kelly is currently failing but not dead yet.

Kelly is not failing by a long shot. And when he does produce an epic winning season are you going to come on here and start a crow eating thread? The BCS is a politically rigged mess, I mean come on, the most undeserving teams got BCS bids and definitely didn't even deserve to play in the Little Caesars Pizza bowl. The BCS can blow me. ND will do just fine this year. Kelly is a winner.

 

[NDOM]

Kelly is not failing by a long shot. And when he does produce an epic winning season are you going to come on here and start a crow eating thread? The BCS is a politically rigged mess, I mean come on, the most undeserving teams got BCS bids and definitely didn't even deserve to play in the Little Caesars Pizza bowl. The BCS can blow me. ND will do just fine this year. Kelly is a winner.

I have been known to eat some crow and have done it before and can take it. The question is are YOU willing to eat your big fat pile of crow if Kelly doesn't take ND to a BCS?

 

[Irish Fam]

Am I the only person that doesn't really care about a BCS bowl? Winning a BCS bowl means what exactly?

I like rings, as in National Championship rings

 

[ND_HAS_RISEN]

I tend to agree with both sides of the fence here. I agree with NDOM sometimes because he, just like everybody else, has been smacked in the face of what the reality is of ND football. But at the same time, I get jacked up about potential and its usually caused a lot of headaches. I think its a fine line and an easy one to cross if you are one sided.

As to the post that said that ND may never win a championship due to the limitations, I disagree vehemently. The economy has made a huge impact on people’s lives and I think it’s becoming more of a social acceptance to not only be a great athlete but to also excel in the classroom. There will always be the athletic talents of the world who will feel on top of the world and treat academics like a joke, but those numbers are dwindling. Academics has proven (especially during the economic crisis) to be incredibly valuable, and the youth are exposed to it much earlier now. I have no doubt in my mind that if Notre Dame can continue trending "up" then they will continue to bring in better and better talent.

A lot of people think Stanford will go to the wayside just because of Luck, but they continue to pull in top talent. Personally I don't see them falling off the map just because Luck is graduating, but hey, that’s just my opinion.

I am hopeful for next year yet not overly optimistic. Anything better than 8-4 next year I feel is a decent uptrend. The tone of the program has definitely turned and I hope it will continue. I, along with every other person on the site, love ND thru and thru. We all want the best for them, some just react different than others.

 

[RubberSoul]

Am I the only person that doesn't really care about a BCS bowl? Winning a BCS bowl means what exactly?

I like rings, as in National Championship rings

Probably. Umm, it's a big deal.

 

[returnofthemack]

Am I the only person that doesn't really care about a BCS bowl? Winning a BCS bowl means what exactly?

I like rings, as in National Championship rings

You know how everybody loves to hate on ND and say they're irrelevant? There's no way you can say it about a BCS bowl winner. I despise, nay, loathe michigan with every fiber of my being, but there is nothing I can say that can take away the fact that they are Sugar Bowl champions. And that isn't even taking into account the recruiting benefits. scUM would not be pulling in the ridiculous recruiting class they have if they hadn't won the Sugar Bowl. Also, nothing absolutely unifies a fanbase like a BCS bowl win. Even the NDnation guys would be partying with everybody else.

 

[Black Irish]

USC took 25 years before '03.
Texas took 35 years before '06.
Alabama took 17 years before '09.
Auburn took 50+ years before '10.
Oregon has never won.

You may notice that just about every team that wins has an all-pro QB or RB doing all the heavy lifting on offense and has a stout defense. We don't have that kind of player on the offense currently (at least not at the start of Spring practice). We are very close to having a stout defense.

There are just so many variables that go into it. You have to be 11-1 or 12-0, hope your schedule is tougher than other teams' in the given year, start at least in the top 25 pre-season, win big in nearly every game and hope the BCS formula spits out your name (which requires coaches votes, the AP and the computers to give you a good ranking even through their biases). Then you have to (presumably) beat the SEC champion, if the past ten years are any indicator. That's a tall order for any team regardless of conference affiliation, depth, experience, playmakers, etc.

In '88 so many things went right in basically all of our games. Rocket's two returns against UM, fumble at the goalline/failed 2 pt conversion against Miami, Major Harris getting hurt in the championship game... I could go on. It was a magical season and very few teams have had that many quality wins in a single season since. Very few championship teams go undefeated these days because with the current scholarship cap we no longer have the advantages we had in the old days.

Also, and just for fun, look back at our previous win in '77. We happened to play the top team in the Cotton Bowl, but we were #5 before crushing UT. If we had BCS games back then, we wouldn't have won that championship or even been in consideration for it. The best we could've done is #2/#3.

I'll clarify that I am not a pessimist at all. I just think managing expectations is the name of the game. We need to be at the point where we are able to contend for a chance to get into the NC and have a reasonable chance to win a BCS game. That's really all we can hope for in today's world. Also, statistically (and especially with our actually playing by the black & white rules), our chances of going all the way are very, very low. Even if we were on a level playing field with the SEC, Big 12, etc. it's a complete crap-shoot. All we can do is recruit well, play tough and have a few things go our way for once. We're overdue for a season that doesn't have nearly every bounce go the other way.

I think Kelly has us well on our way to competing at a very high level. We're so close to getting where we need to be to compete it's not even funny.

Cheers!

+1 to all of this. It is easy to get tunnel vision about your own team and assume that everyone else is owning life. But plenty of other teams are in droughts or never have been to the big show. Yeah, it sucks having to wait so long for the Irish return to glory. But at least we have glory to return to. Would you rather be Boise State, who has never won a DIV 1 championship?

 

[NDinFL]

Kelly is not failing by a long shot. And when he does produce an epic winning season are you going to come on here and start a crow eating thread? The BCS is a politically rigged mess, I mean come on, the most undeserving teams got BCS bids and definitely didn't even deserve to play in the Little Caesars Pizza bowl. The BCS can blow me. ND will do just fine this year. Kelly is a winner.

Dude, NDOM, you're my boy n all, but she's right, and has been right from her original argument.

Kelly's regime has seen DRAMATIC improvement on defense and in the W/L column

And it's only getting better....

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ty's record- 11-12
Charlie's record- 34-26 (not to mention losses that we ALL want to forget)
BK- 16-10

Edit: one of the biggest things for me, who was the coach that BEAT sc in their house after how many years?
You know the answer

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

I have been known to eat some crow and have done it before and can take it. The question is are YOU willing to eat your big fat pile of crow if Kelly doesn't take ND to a BCS?

I don't care if Kelly doesn't take us to a BCS bowl, maybe you skipped over the part where I said the BCS can blow me. Having ND back in the top 10 and winning a NC will make me happy.

 

[Rocket89]

Again, I am on a mission on this. I am sick of the term, "realist". NDOM my good buddy, you have a negative perception, and that is totally ok. BobD has a positive perception, and that is ok too.

But both opinions are based on each of your individual perceptions of what you believe reality to be.

Semantics, I know. But I truly think as a board we should start being honest about this with eachother.

Like kumbaya around the campfire. Complete with marshmallows.

Nailed it.

 

[phork]

Dude, NDOM, you're my boy n all, but she's right, and has been right from her original argument.

Kelly's regime has seen DRAMATIC improvement on defense and in the W/L column

And it's only getting better....

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ty's record- 11-12
Charlie's record- 34-26 (not to mention losses that we ALL want to forget)
BK- 16-10

Edit: one of the biggest things for me, who was the coach that BEAT sc in their house after how many years?
You know the answer

Are you kidding me? Its not like USC was remotely full strength, the reality of that game is that had whats his name not dropped that sure TD, it would have been a loss. Yes I went there, you all do it, I might as well jump aboard. When Kelly can beat USC year in and year out, not just a fluke win then back to the regularly schedule curb stomping, come see me.

Dramatic improvement in the W/L? We have gone from 6-6 to .... 8-5.

I don't care if Kelly doesn't take us to a BCS bowl, maybe you skipped over the part where I said the BCS can blow me. Having ND back in the top 10 and winning a NC will make me happy.

Something I realized last year about the BCS was that no where was it in writing that the top best teams are to play in it. The BCS, like everything, is about money. Making interesting matchups to best put butts in the seats. Thats what UM/VTech was. So unless you are top6 and guaranteed, you better have a great fanbase following. Top14 will get ND into a BCS game, deserving or not.

Top10 and NCs are a dream at this point. This lull in recruiting is going to kill our depth at some point and in turn will hurt the on field product.

So, until next year.........

 

[NDOM]

Are you kidding me? Its not like USC was remotely full strength, the reality of that game is that had whats his name not dropped that sure TD, it would have been a loss. Yes I went there, you all do it, I might as well jump aboard. When Kelly can beat USC year in and year out, not just a fluke win then back to the regularly schedule curb stomping, come see me.

Dramatic improvement in the W/L? We have gone from 6-6 to .... 8-5.



Something I realized last year about the BCS was that no where was it in writing that the top best teams are to play in it. The BCS, like everything, is about money. Making interesting matchups to best put butts in the seats. Thats what UM/VTech was. So unless you are top6 and guaranteed, you better have a great fanbase following. Top14 will get ND into a BCS game, deserving or not.

Top10 and NCs are a dream at this point. This lull in recruiting is going to kill our depth at some point and in turn will hurt the on field product.

So, until next year.........

It's pointless Phork........No use arguing. I will be the first to eat some crow if we have a killer year like a lot are predicting, but I wonder if these same people will eat their crow when we go 8-5 again.

 

[NDOM]

Are you kidding me? Its not like USC was remotely full strength, the reality of that game is that had whats his name not dropped that sure TD, it would have been a loss. Yes I went there, you all do it, I might as well jump aboard. When Kelly can beat USC year in and year out, not just a fluke win then back to the regularly schedule curb stomping, come see me.

Dramatic improvement in the W/L? We have gone from 6-6 to .... 8-5.



Something I realized last year about the BCS was that no where was it in writing that the top best teams are to play in it. The BCS, like everything, is about money. Making interesting matchups to best put butts in the seats. Thats what UM/VTech was. So unless you are top6 and guaranteed, you better have a great fanbase following. Top14 will get ND into a BCS game, deserving or not.

Top10 and NCs are a dream at this point. This lull in recruiting is going to kill our depth at some point and in turn will hurt the on field product.

So, until next year.........

And about the recruiting thing, you are correct. It will kill us at some point down the road. Remember when Weis went 3-9???? Well, we had a bad recruiting and did not fill holes in the depth chart and that's what happened. I'm not saying we are going to go 3-9 again but it will for sure hurt us somewhere down the road I guarantee it.