The reality is Notre Dame will never be a consistent national title contender. Kelly, no Kelly, Lou Holtz reincarnated, Mike Ditka, Jim Harbaugh, Big Fat Charlie Weis, Nick Satan, doesn't matter. College football has run past the Irish and the deck is stacked against them.
What's interesting is our top 10 recruiting classes turn into triple OT wins and 7-point losses to Pitt, whereas Bama, LSU, Ohio St, Florida, Florida St, and others turn into consistent BCS caliber teams. Is it a flaw in the recruiting ranking system? Or a development problem? I think its the type of 4 star guys we recruit. They're close to maximizing their potential when the come to campus. They aren't raw, freaky athletic talents. They're polished, skilled high school football players. The room for growth for the latter is much smaller than the former. As a result, we're stuck in cycle of over promising and under delivering.
Last year was cute. We got lucky. Now we will all point to 2012 as 'what could be' for the next decade.