I know no one likes to hear this kinda talk coming off a loss, but I am gonna throw it out there anyways. Obviously, this season up until the Miami beat down was tremendous. We've seen dominance out of the team that we have not seen awhile. With that said, this program's arrow is still point up.

 

Year 2 under a new coaching staff and strength and conditioning program will only be better. Yes, the team loses some key seniors and probably Josh Adams, but it is a young team overall.

 

Wimbush will continue to grow as a passer. The safeties will receive an overhaul. The freshman will have another year with Balis.

 

I'll be honest...nothing I saw against Miami left be frustrated about the future. I was upset with the outcome, but sometimes as fans we need to take a step back and realize one game is simply one game.

 

I know some will see this differently and say this is what Kelly does...and maybe that is true. I guess we will find out. IMO though, there are too many reasons to be optimistic about what we've seen this season.

Don't we lose half our O-line and half our D-line?

Losing o-linemen to NFL & absolutely zero progress from Wimbush are NOT reassuring facts

Don't we lose half our O-line and half our D-line?

 

Agree I expect a regression next year. If this staff approaches top 10/15 status next year I think that will be a very solid job. But I still agree that the arrow is pointing up.

 

It's year 9 next year and I don't think it's unrealistic to expect the floor to be 9 wins from here on out with 10+ being the norm.

Just the left side (JUST), but Mustipher, Bars, Hainey and Krammer are back. Assuming the other tackle will be Eichenberg or other talent we have amassed.

 

Plus, they will have one more year of S&C.

 

I agree, lots of young talent on this team. We will be losing some key pieces (Morgan, too), but next year will be a good test of the staff to see if they can take them forward.

Just the left side (JUST), but Mustipher, Bars, Hainey and Krammer are back. Assuming the other tackle will be Eichenberg or other talent we have amassed.

 

Plus, they will have one more year of S&C.

 

I agree, lots of young talent on this team. We will be losing some key pieces (Morgan, too), but next year will be a good test of the staff to see if they can take them forward.

 

That's true, if this team gets to 10 wins this year and follows it up with another 10+ next year I'll truly feel good about this staff and where were at moving forward

Hard to feel positive about the future if the goal is to reach the college playoffs. Kelly has shown time and time again that when it comes to winning on the road against decent competition, that he isn't up to the task. The beat-down on Saturday was so complete and dominant that it has me wondering how in the world did we win 8 games, we looked like a bunch of high school kids vs full grown college seniors, extremely demoralizing.

I'll be honest...nothing I saw against Miami left be frustrated about the future.

 

You must have been very drunk!

As long as Kelly is the HC be prepared for the deer in the headlight game or two each and every season.

The game this weekend showed that we are still as far as we were is 2012.

 

We don't get the 4*-5* beat DT

Our DE's get no pressure on the QB's

 

Our 4* and 5* OL always like like sh*t vs Top teams (Thanks Harry)

 

Our WR's are horrible, what have they done this year, nothing, I blame them just as much as Wimbush, they have not Stepped up, a game here and there is not good enough, St. Brown is a pu**y, sorry but he is, no backbone he plays scared.

 

And last but not least, speed, We looked so damn slow compared to them.

Looked like our guys had cement in there cleats

I believe Notre Dame is good enough talent wise to beat Miami.

I mean Miami beat UNC by one TD. We crushed them with our backup.

 

Biggest points here are that coaches have to design and call plays better to help Wimbush get on track. We didn't use any designed runs for Wimbush at all. We started handing off to Adams, didn't work great so just went right to dropback pocket passing. And Wimbush is not that. He is best in play action or on the move.

 

Our defense also struggled last two weeks with mobile quarterbacks and we got basically no pressure on the QB.

Don't we lose half our O-line and half our D-line?

 

Lose the left side on the o-line and Trumbetti on the d-line

Hard to feel positive about the future if the goal is to reach the college playoffs. Kelly has shown time and time again that when it comes to winning on the road against decent competition, that he isn't up to the task. The beat-down on Saturday was so complete and dominant that it has me wondering how in the world did we win 8 games, we looked like a bunch of high school kids vs full grown college seniors, extremely demoralizing.

 

And yet the roles were reversed the 8 games they won. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out. ND played a terrible game against Miami, and dominated the opponents they beat

You must have been very drunk!

 

Nope, I’m just more of a believer in the team we’ve seen more often this year than the one we saw on Saturday

Don't we lose half our O-line and half our D-line?

 

We lose Nelson and McGlinchey but keep Bars, Mustipher, Kraemer and Hainsey - so pretty much 4 returning starters. Also will lose Smythe (who has been great this year) and probably Adams. But we keep our QB (who obviously needs to get better), 4 RBs, all of our WRs (except Cam Smith), and 3/4 really good tight ends (Mack, Kmet, Wright, and maybe Weishar).

 

ND potentially returns 10 starters on defense. Only loss is Morgan.

Our coaches are simply out of theirleague. In over their heads.

 

The Miami defensive coaches were predicting every offensive play we made correctly and we're laughing about it.

 

Wimbush should not be playing QB. He should switch positions. Not my opinion, professional opinions.

 

Have you seen the schedule for next year? It's brutal. Like, ridiculously brutal.

Tough to predict these things, if teams recruit well like we do then it's a good possibility we stay where we are or improve. Next year is year 9 so if there's a regression there's an issue.

 

Another year with the coaches and strength program should do wonders. My issue with where we are compared to elite programs is our defensive line. We have improved our pass rush but our interior line is on the level of an Iowa.

 

Ohio State, Auburn, Bama, Georgia, Miami all are so much better than us on the defensive line. I saw we got a few interior recruits but I'm not counting on them to be major contributors, there's only so many Ed Oliver's out there.

Biggest issue next season will once again be SOS.

 

I expect Michigan to be improved

Florida State to be vastly improved

Stanford to be improved

USC at SC to be improved

 

Those are 4 very tough games, luckily 3 are in South Bend.

 

The rest of the schedule has some land mines, Virg. tech in Blacksburg and Syrcuse who upset Clemson...but other than that manageable.

 

BW has to improve his passing game. Mack has to become a weapon, or turn the position over to Kmet.

 

RB's will hopefully be consistent strong with Williams, Jones, McIntosh and the RS's.

 

Defence will be better on average next season with a full year under Balis. So next year should shape up well for this group.

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by Uteck

Have you seen the schedule for next year? It's brutal. Like, ridiculously brutal.

 

Fsu, Stanford, USC and michigan are tough. That's 4 big time games, not really that different then this year with Miami, usc, Stanford and Georgia.

What changed from last season??

New OC...check

New DC...check

New strength and conditioning coach...check

New attitude...check

What is the variable that remained the same?? BRIAN KELLY.....checkmate.

What changed from last season??

New OC...check

New DC...check

New strength and conditioning coach...check

New attitude...check

What is the variable that remained the same?? BRIAN KELLY.....checkmate.

 

Checkmate? When is the last time ND beat 7 teams by 20+ points in the same season?

 

I wouldn't cry if Kelly was fired, but to suggest this season isn't drastically different than any of his previous years is absurd.