Facts and Opinions

[ndomer4]

Facts
-Notre Dame is going to finish in the top 11 for the third straight year.
-Ian Book is 19-3 as a starter.
-only 5 qbs have accounted for more points than Book (4 in the playoff).
-ND is 33-6 the last 3 seasons.

Opinions
-Tony Jones should be invited back for a fifth year.
-Kmet should enter the draft.
-Clark Lea needs a massive pay raise.
-Ian Book is the most underrated ND player of recent memory.
-ND is a perennial top 10 program again.

Not as doom and gloom as we all thought after the Michigan game. There’s still room to improve but I like where the program is heading.

[ELDER06]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

Facts
-Notre Dame is going to finish in the top 11 for the third straight year.
-Ian Book is 19-3 as a starter.
-only 5 qbs have accounted for more points than Book (4 in the playoff).
-ND is 33-6 the last 3 seasons.

Opinions
-Tony Jones should be invited back for a fifth year.
-Kmet should enter the draft.
-Clark Lea needs a massive pay raise.
-Ian Book is the most underrated ND player of recent memory.
-ND is a perennial top 10 program again.

Not as doom and gloom as we all thought after the Michigan game. There’s still room to improve but I like where the program is heading.

I agree except for Book being underrated. I think he’s valued appropriately. The Michigan game was disgraceful, but it was 1 game. There’s no doubt over the past 3 years ND has established itself as a consistent Top 10 team. Of course, ND shouldn’t settle for this, but you’ve got to respect what Kelly has built.

[coltssb]

I like how ND is playing so I won’t be all doom and gloom. But, ND is playing a 5 loss Iowa St team and still has no major wins to rest their hat on. BUT all those those stats are nice to see.

[Rocketsan]

Top 11 is a thing? Such a Notre Dame fan thing to say...

[ndomer4]

Originally Posted by Rocketsan

Top 11 is a thing? Such a Notre Dame fan thing to say...

I’m sure if I said top 10 someone would say we were 11th in 2017. Always gotta be aware of the negative nancies around here...

[USAFA03_HUGENDFAN]

Top 11? The only teams we jump is the looser of UM/Bama, Utah, UF, and Auburn. That is assuming the last three loose to lower ranked teams. I don’t see us jumping the looser of UW/Ducks and/or UGA/Baylor.

At best we get to 11 but most likely we move up to 14 or stay at 15 and Iowa jumps us based on their more impressive victory over USC.

It was a good seasons and hope they keep it up next year but UW, Clemson, USC (Their O is still going to be tough to stop). Going to say another 11-2 year.

[ndmike88]

Going 10-2 is nice but losing to top ranked teams season after season is getting old. ND will not get any respect until they beat the big boys.

[irishwavend]

Fact - passing from the two yard line on 3rd down was retarded.

[corysold]

Nice list, sort of.

Fact: You can't call yourself a perennial top 10 team when you've only finished in the top 10 once in the last 7 seasons.

Is perennial top 12 team a thing?

Ian Book is fine, he just isn't great and that matters if you want to be a perennial top 5 team. No coincidence all the best teams usually have QBs who get drafted high or are elite college type QBs. Book is good, but he's neither of those.

Tony Jones is a great 2nd or 3rd back, just doesn't have the in the hole explosion of a true #1. Hopefully he can be thunder to the Tyree lightning.

[corysold]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

I’m sure if I said top 10 someone would say we were 11th in 2017. Always gotta be aware of the negative nancies around here...

Why is stating the correct ranking being negative? ND finished 11th. Had they been better they would have finished higher.

In 2016 ND was 4-8, even though they played like a 9 win team statistically. But the fact is, they still won 4 games.

[ndomer4]

Originally Posted by corysold

Nice list, sort of.

Fact: You can't call yourself a perennial top 10 team when you've only finished in the top 10 once in the last 7 seasons.

Is perennial top 12 team a thing?

Ian Book is fine, he just isn't great and that matters if you want to be a perennial top 5 team. No coincidence all the best teams usually have QBs who get drafted high or are elite college type QBs. Book is good, but he's neither of those.

Tony Jones is a great 2nd or 3rd back, just doesn't have the in the hole explosion of a true #1. Hopefully he can be thunder to the Tyree lightning.

Is there something wrong with being a perennial top 12 team? Only a grumpy old ND fan is going to complain about something as minuscule as this.

Have fun being miserable, while myself and others will enjoy a successful season. First time winning 11+ games in back to back seasons since the 80’s and people still complaining...

[hawaiiirish]

I don't think this is a good time to be critical....

11-2 third double digit win season in a row

a strong recruiting class

given the state of the program "NEAR COMPLETE IRRELEVANCE" when Kelly arrived...

You have to give credit where credit is due...

yes we have come up short on big wins ….but that gives us something to shoot for.....

we completely outmatched this iowa team the worst pummeling in years for them...

season gets a B+ from me

Kelly deserves to be happy with what he is doing here.....Its not easy for a little school like us to compete in big time football this day and age

We got punished for no conference in both the ratings and the bowl selection.

That may be a problem going forward but overall we should be happy with the state of football at ND!

aloha

[FaithInIrishForever]

Originally Posted by hawaiiirish

I don't think this is a good time to be critical....

11-2 third double digit win season in a row

a strong recruiting class

given the state of the program "NEAR COMPLETE IRRELEVANCE" when Kelly arrived...

You have to give credit where credit is due...

yes we have come up short on big wins ….but that gives us something to shoot for.....

we completely outmatched this iowa team the worst pummeling in years for them...

season gets a B+ from me

Kelly deserves to be happy with what he is doing here.....Its not easy for a little school like us to compete in big time football this day and age

We got punished for no conference in both the ratings and the bowl selection.

That may be a problem going forward but overall we should be happy with the state of football at ND!

aloha

Agreed. That's where I am as well. Happy New Year, Hawaii!!

[D Fence]

Opinion - thank goodness we have Chase Claypool. The guy is a monster and will be greatly missed next year.

[corysold]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

Is there something wrong with being a perennial top 12 team? Only a grumpy old ND fan is going to complain about something as minuscule as this.

Have fun being miserable, while myself and others will enjoy a successful season. First time winning 11+ games in back to back seasons since the 80’s and people still complaining...

I'm one of the biggest optimists on the board and far from miserable. I'm thrilled ND is finally back to being a respectable program. But they also need to take the next step.

I don't like assigning teams as perennial Top Whatever. Way too subjective. ND has beaten just about every team they've been expected to beat over the last three years. That's awesome.

But they've also lost to every team they were expected to lose to.

ND beat LSU in the 2017 bowl game. LSU is now the best team in the country. Why can't ND make that same jump?

ND is a really good team. I want them to be great.

And yes, I really enjoy watching them be really good. I also really enjoy watching them when their bad. I just rather they'd be elite, that's all.

[hawaiiirish]

Happy New Year Faith!

aloha

[ELDER06]

Originally Posted by corysold

I'm one of the biggest optimists on the board and far from miserable. I'm thrilled ND is finally back to being a respectable program. But they also need to take the next step.

I don't like assigning teams as perennial Top Whatever. Way too subjective. ND has beaten just about every team they've been expected to beat over the last three years. That's awesome.

But they've also lost to every team they were expected to lose to.

ND beat LSU in the 2017 bowl game. LSU is now the best team in the country. Why can't ND make that same jump?

ND is a really good team. I want them to be great.

And yes, I really enjoy watching them be really good. I also really enjoy watching them when their bad. I just rather they'd be elite, that's all.

Don’t get things confused, once Burrow leaves, LSU will revert back to their mean. They’ll still be a really good program, but won’t be playing for Titles every year.

[ndomer4]

Originally Posted by corysold

I'm one of the biggest optimists on the board and far from miserable. I'm thrilled ND is finally back to being a respectable program. But they also need to take the next step.

I don't like assigning teams as perennial Top Whatever. Way too subjective. ND has beaten just about every team they've been expected to beat over the last three years. That's awesome.

But they've also lost to every team they were expected to lose to.

ND beat LSU in the 2017 bowl game. LSU is now the best team in the country. Why can't ND make that same jump?

ND is a really good team. I want them to be great.

And yes, I really enjoy watching them be really good. I also really enjoy watching them when their bad. I just rather they'd be elite, that's all.

Cant argue with any of this, however there are obvious reasons ND can’t make the jump LSU has made. ND will never be able to get the athletes at LSU right now because 90% wouldn’t qualify for ND.

[GunSlinger]

Originally Posted by corysold

I'm one of the biggest optimists on the board and far from miserable. I'm thrilled ND is finally back to being a respectable program. But they also need to take the next step.

I don't like assigning teams as perennial Top Whatever. Way too subjective. ND has beaten just about every team they've been expected to beat over the last three years. That's awesome.

But they've also lost to every team they were expected to lose to.

ND beat LSU in the 2017 bowl game. LSU is now the best team in the country. Why can't ND make that same jump?

ND is a really good team. I want them to be great.

And yes, I really enjoy watching them be really good. I also really enjoy watching them when their bad. I just rather they'd be elite, that's all.

When was the last time ND had a QB like Burrows. The guy is a college stud.

[corysold]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

Cant argue with any of this, however there are obvious reasons ND can’t make the jump LSU has made. ND will never be able to get the athletes at LSU right now because 90% wouldn’t qualify for ND.

I don't know. ND's defense is just as good, probably better than LSU's. They are a little better at the skill positions, but ND has a 5* WR and Tyree coming in. That gap is starting to shrink.

Bottom line is ND needs a 1st round NFL QB to win a title. That's about the same for every team sans Alabama. When they get that, whoever it may be, they have a chance.

[coltssb]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

Cant argue with any of this, however there are obvious reasons ND can’t make the jump LSU has made. ND will never be able to get the athletes at LSU right now because 90% wouldn’t qualify for ND.

This is going to be a tough argument to sell when Kelly says things like he said recently-ND being able to recruit top 5 classes more frequently. All that tells me is that the only ones holding ND and recruiting down is Kelly and his staff right now...

[stdntDrvr]

Originally Posted by coltssb

This is going to be a tough argument to sell when Kelly says things like he said recently-ND being able to recruit top 5 classes more frequently. All that tells me is that the only ones holding ND and recruiting down is Kelly and his staff right now...

I’m neutral on Kelly and I think he’s done well on the recruiting trail. I don’t see ND being a top 5 school...top 7-8 would be nice...but he isn’t holding recruiting back by any means. Look at all of the things that he has done with recruiting since he’s been there.

[coltssb]

Originally Posted by stdntDrvr

I’m neutral on Kelly and I think he’s done well on the recruiting trail. I don’t see ND being a top 5 school...top 7-8 would be nice...but he isn’t holding recruiting back by any means. Look at all of the things that he has done with recruiting since he’s been there.

Not my words it’s his. So, if he thinks ND can be better, than it is on him. And no, I’m not trying to start a Kelly crapfest thread. Just making a point that recruiting may not always be as it seems when people mention ND at such a huge disadvantage.

[golson5]

Originally Posted by corysold

I don't know. ND's defense is just as good, probably better than LSU's. They are a little better at the skill positions, but ND has a 5* WR and Tyree coming in. That gap is starting to shrink.

Bottom line is ND needs a 1st round NFL QB to win a title. That's about the same for every team sans Alabama. When they get that, whoever it may be, they have a chance.

They are A LOT better at the skill positions. A LOT

[goirish83]

Originally Posted by ndomer4

Cant argue with any of this, however there are obvious reasons ND can’t make the jump LSU has made. ND will never be able to get the athletes at LSU right now because 90% wouldn’t qualify for ND.

Eh I'm not so sure about that, nd beat LSU just a couple years ago. I'm not sure there has been that massive of an uptick in lsu's talent level. The difference and the reason they were able to make that jump was because of the addition of the all world quarterback that fell into their lap