12 years after Kelly left Cincinnati to come to ND with its better resources, etc., Cincinnati is undefeated after just beating a Brian Kelly coached team on the road. They are ranked #5 while ND is only #14.

How did Cincinnati achieve more with less? Should Kelly have lost to his former school having had 12 years to build a winning Irish program?

Does this mean that Cincinnati is in a better position coach-wise with Luke Fickle than ND with Kelly?

Edited October 4, 20213 yr by jbrown_9999

Another amazing fact is Tubberville nearly killed that program and Fickle dug them out in a short time. 

Just a question.

How many times in those 12 years was Cincy's final ranking better then ND's?

10 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

Just a question.

How many times in those 12 years was Cincy's final ranking better then ND's?

Once I think?  The fact is it amazes me what Fickle has rekindled their after Tubs neglected it. Cincy is not a better program, but it is open to debate if Fickle is a better coach. 

11 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

Just a question.

How many times in those 12 years was Cincy's final ranking better then ND's?

besides final rankings, results are essentially the same: a couple of tier 2 bowl victories, tier 1 blowout losses, and zero national titles.

Just now, drakan said:

besides final rankings, results are essentially the same: a couple of tier 2 bowl victories, tier 1 blowout losses, and zero national titles.

So all the sudden strength of schedule and all that's thrown out the window? Rankings don't matter?

7 minutes ago, cali_domer said:

Once I think?  The fact is it amazes me what Fickle has rekindled their after Tubs neglected it. Cincy is not a better program, but it is open to debate if Fickle is a better coach. 

Fickel will need to prove it at USC for me. But Luke has had better coaching roots. Kelly's pretty self made

4 minutes ago, FaithInIrishForever said:

Fickel will need to prove it at USC for me. But Luke has had better coaching roots. Kelly's pretty self made

He won't go to USC, he will head to PSU after Franklin leaves for USC.

 

That is my guess for the day. He is a mid-west type of guy who is a devout Catholic. 

Just now, cali_domer said:

He won't go to USC, he will head to PSU after Franklin leaves for USC.

 

That is my guess for the day. He is a mid-west type of guy who is a devout Catholic. 

That also makes sense to me. Thanks for the insight!

I guess you have to ask yourself, would you rather have Cinci's program or ND's program? Sure, we lost the game to them and I think they probably have a better team this year, at least they have a better QB at the most important position in sports. But do you really want their program?

They are always on the outside looking in and have to have a perfect storm to make the playoffs, which they haven't done. ND usually get's in, even with one loss in some cases. 

What about next year when Ridder leaves. Would you rather have their program?

Honestly, I think people's expectations were way inflated this year. We all have optimism but this year was taken to another level with all the question marks we had and the talent we lost. Does it suck to lose? Absolutely. But, I expected a "rebuilding" year this year and thought 9-3 would be a monumental accomplishment. It seems were on pace for that. 

It just seems funny to me we lose one game to a top 10 team we could have beat and all the sudden everyone wants to implode the program, fire all the coaches (which would destroy the recruiting classes) and wipe the slate clean. 

Kelly has his limitations for sure. But, I hate to break it to you guys, there isn't another coach out there that would be better AND actually consider coming to ND. It isn't happening. The administration clearly isn't willing to go all in to win a national championship. Could they? Yes, but they refuse to (which isn't a bad thing). Short of the stars all aligning and getting an all world QB AND a team like we had last year, ND isn't sniffing a NC anytime soon. 10, 11, 12 wins is what can be expected of this program. Would I love to win a NC, absolutely. But it's a pipe dream with the current make up of college football. 

 

I’ll reassess after Cinci has appeared in the playoffs twice, even if there’s a blowout

 

4 hours ago, SDIrishFan said:

I guess you have to ask yourself, would you rather have Cinci's program or ND's program? Sure, we lost the game to them and I think they probably have a better team this year, at least they have a better QB at the most important position in sports. But do you really want their program?

They are always on the outside looking in and have to have a perfect storm to make the playoffs, which they haven't done. ND usually get's in, even with one loss in some cases. 

What about next year when Ridder leaves. Would you rather have their program?

Honestly, I think people's expectations were way inflated this year. We all have optimism but this year was taken to another level with all the question marks we had and the talent we lost. Does it suck to lose? Absolutely. But, I expected a "rebuilding" year this year and thought 9-3 would be a monumental accomplishment. It seems were on pace for that. 

It just seems funny to me we lose one game to a top 10 team we could have beat and all the sudden everyone wants to implode the program, fire all the coaches (which would destroy the recruiting classes) and wipe the slate clean. 

Kelly has his limitations for sure. But, I hate to break it to you guys, there isn't another coach out there that would be better AND actually consider coming to ND. It isn't happening. The administration clearly isn't willing to go all in to win a national championship. Could they? Yes, but they refuse to (which isn't a bad thing). Short of the stars all aligning and getting an all world QB AND a team like we had last year, ND isn't sniffing a NC anytime soon. 10, 11, 12 wins is what can be expected of this program. Would I love to win a NC, absolutely. But it's a pipe dream with the current make up of college football. 

 

Amen @SDIrishFan, Amen!