Prior to the Bama game I was all for the playoffs, however that game was an eye opener. Notre Dame is not a year away, we are more like 4-5 years away. 
 

Thankfully Marcus Freeman has the potential to help this program take that next step. This is solely about recruiting, specifically 5 stars. Freeman is the best recruiter of all the candidates and if he can bring 2-3 five stars a year then ND can finally play with Bama, UGA and OSU. 
 

Until we close that gap we will continue to come up short. We still lack a QB who is anywhere close to a Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, and OSU has 4 receivers better than anyone on the ND roster. 
 

The good thing is Freeman has a legit shot to win his first game and get that NY6 bowl monkey off ND’s back. I’ve seen OU, MSU, Pitt, OSU and Ole Miss as potential matchups. ND has equal or better talent than any of those teams besides OU but has a realistic shot at beating any of them. ND is exactly where they belong this year and until we sign more 5 star recruits, we will continue to come up short in the playoffs. 
 

 

Edited December 5, 20213 yr by ndomer4

Agree to disagree about your timeline, but I agree with the conclusion.

I think a win in a bowl game will give us confidence rolling into the future, and I think we’re not yet ready to knock off Bama or Georgia this season.

It's not going to take 4-5 years.  

 

26 minutes ago, TexasDomer said:

Agree to disagree about your timeline, but I agree with the conclusion.

I think a win in a bowl game will give us confidence rolling into the future, and I think we’re not yet ready to knock off Bama or Georgia this season.

What do you think the timeline is? Bama and UGA have about 20 five stars each. How many will ND have next year? 1 or 2? 

I also disagree with your timeline; it's not all about 5 stars. Really the only position we are lacking at is the skill positions on the outside and/or an elite game changing QB. However, Bama WRs have always been the best, which is why Bama QBs look so good in college and not so well in the NFL; they are playing with a stacked deck.

Bama has been stopped this year, they just played a very good game yesterday. I think we could compete with Georgia this year for the simple fact that Georgia's offense would not be able to score on us either. Bama's defense has not been good this year and Georgia has not really played any great offenses.

The way Bama was playing yesterday, I do not think anyone could beat them, but Notre Dame is easily among the top 5 teams this year.

Time to win a NY6 Bowl.

That's a good sendoff for Kelly; winning one without him.

2 hours ago, ndomer4 said:

Prior to the Bama game I was all for the playoffs, however that game was an eye opener. Notre Dame is not a year away, we are more like 4-5 years away. 
 

Thankfully Marcus Freeman has the potential to help this program take that next step. This is solely about recruiting, specifically 5 stars. Freeman is the best recruiter of all the candidates and if he can bring 2-3 five stars a year then ND can finally play with Bama, UGA and OSU. 
 

Until we close that gap we will continue to come up short. We still lack a QB who is anywhere close to a Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, and OSU has 4 receivers better than anyone on the ND roster. 
 

The good thing is Freeman has a legit shot to win his first game and get that NY6 bowl monkey off ND’s back. I’ve seen OU, MSU, Pitt, OSU and Ole Miss as potential matchups. ND has equal or better talent than any of those teams besides OU but has a realistic shot at beating any of them. ND is exactly where they belong this year and until we sign more 5 star recruits, we will continue to come up short in the playoffs. 
I can't disagree with a single word you said. It was a fair assessment. 

 

 

I feel the same. Also don’t think it’ll be 4-5 years or rather, I hope it’s not that far off. Get an elite QB and the math changes drastically. Or, maybe, develop one into that… nah that’s crazy talk 🙂

Agree it's best we're not in the  CFP.

Getting a NY6 bowl is fine. Winning the game and carrying over positive vibes is the most important thing.

Getting beat (and we would get beat) in the CFP have very little positives. 

But I wouldn't say we're years away. We might be. But I'd say it's more accurate to say we're a "QB away"... So however long it takes to get a top 5 type of QB, is likely how long it will take.

So not likely a next year thing unless Ewers or some other surprise drops in our lap. 

I don't think ND matches Alabama's speed on the outside. I think ND would have played a decent game with Georgia and Michigan and had they not had their only -3 turnover ratio of the year Cincy.

 

So I wanted to sneak in at 4 and play  UGA then somehow Michigan

 

When that unlikely scenario dissolved, I'm ok with the NY6 bowl.

 

If people ask whether I'm scared of Bama I'll say we played them last year and the results speak for themselves.

18 minutes ago, OKelleyIrish said:

Agree it's best we're not in the  CFP.

Getting a NY6 bowl is fine. Winning the game and carrying over positive vibes is the most important thing.

Getting beat (and we would get beat) in the CFP have very little positives. 

But I wouldn't say we're years away. We might be. But I'd say it's more accurate to say we're a "QB away"... So however long it takes to get a top 5 type of QB, is likely how long it will take.

So not likely a next year thing unless Ewers or some other surprise drops in our lap. 

I think ND is more than a top qb away, specifically the defensive backfield. Henderson looks really good at safety moving forward, however the corners are really mid level Big 10 tier (think Purdue or Minnesota). all of our major bowls were dictated by our defensive backfields inability to match the opposing teams speed. 
 

Ewers would be nice but I read he is thinking of one of the Texas schools. 
 

 

2 minutes ago, ndomer4 said:

I think ND is more than a top qb away, specifically the defensive backfield. Henderson looks really good at safety moving forward, however the corners are really mid level Big 10 tier (think Purdue or Minnesota). all of our major bowls were dictated by our defensive backfields inability to match the opposing teams speed. 
 

Ewers would be nice but I read he is thinking of one of the Texas schools. 

I agree we need upgrades at DB, but I believe that could be fixed pretty fast, and easier to score one good/great CB (or develop one) than find a top 5 QB. And a top 5 QB eases things on the D. I'm also pretty confident in Freeman finding a CB.

Ewers... nothing would surprise me, but agree he may go home to TX. Not sure how he ended things when he flipped from TX. If I were him though, I'd pass on TAMU, Baylor, and the other TX schools. He'll find the best situation for him I'm sure, meaning a very good team with an existing weak QB unit. He's gonna have a lot of suiters. 

We do not want Ewers. He will be bust.

3 hours ago, NDhoosier said:

I also disagree with your timeline; it's not all about 5 stars. Really the only position we are lacking at is the skill positions on the outside and/or an elite game changing QB. However, Bama WRs have always been the best, which is why Bama QBs look so good in college and not so well in the NFL; they are playing with a stacked deck.

Bama has been stopped this year, they just played a very good game yesterday. I think we could compete with Georgia this year for the simple fact that Georgia's offense would not be able to score on us either. Bama's defense has not been good this year and Georgia has not really played any great offenses.

The way Bama was playing yesterday, I do not think anyone could beat them, but Notre Dame is easily among the top 5 teams this year.

I disagree in what we are lacking. We are also grossly behind the SEC teams, Ohio State and Clemson in the defensive backfield. and defensive line. They are constantly pump guys into the NFL. We get a Hamilton here, a Love or Russell there, a Tillery. We need 3-4 of those guys on the field at the same time. I really hope Freeman ca close that gap; he has to. 

 

 

Our defensive line has been dominant this year... I agree with the corners, that is covered in the skill positions on the outside (CB/WR) that I mentioned.

DL has had 4 players get drafted in past few years with potential for more going forward so talent there is probably good enough to win a game or two in CFP

 

 

I think we're 2-3 years away, if we continue with top classes.  We need to be top 5 -- consistently.  We need 3 years of top 5, then we can talk about competing.

On 12/5/2021 at 7:58 AM, ndomer4 said:

Prior to the Bama game I was all for the playoffs, however that game was an eye opener. Notre Dame is not a year away, we are more like 4-5 years away. 
 

Thankfully Marcus Freeman has the potential to help this program take that next step. This is solely about recruiting, specifically 5 stars. Freeman is the best recruiter of all the candidates and if he can bring 2-3 five stars a year then ND can finally play with Bama, UGA and OSU. 
 

Until we close that gap we will continue to come up short. We still lack a QB who is anywhere close to a Bryce Young or CJ Stroud, and OSU has 4 receivers better than anyone on the ND roster. 
 

The good thing is Freeman has a legit shot to win his first game and get that NY6 bowl monkey off ND’s back. I’ve seen OU, MSU, Pitt, OSU and Ole Miss as potential matchups. ND has equal or better talent than any of those teams besides OU but has a realistic shot at beating any of them. ND is exactly where they belong this year and until we sign more 5 star recruits, we will continue to come up short in the playoffs. 
 

 

They’re not 4-5 years away. Closer to 2-3. QB is the biggest issue. That’s exactly why UGA is not going to beat Bama. UGA matches up on par or better to Bama at 21 of the 22 positions. However, the most important position, is a complete mismatch. Ian Book is far better than Stetson Bennett. I saw UGA fans trying to deflect blame off of him, but they dude cost them 14 points with a pick 6 and Int inside the 10. 
 

You wonder why I harp on Angeli, it’s bc he’s not good enough to bridge that gap. Buchner might be, but I need to see him develop as a passer. 

21 hours ago, DamshaBua said:

I disagree in what we are lacking. We are also grossly behind the SEC teams, Ohio State and Clemson in the defensive backfield. and defensive line. They are constantly pump guys into the NFL. We get a Hamilton here, a Love or Russell there, a Tillery. We need 3-4 of those guys on the field at the same time. I really hope Freeman ca close that gap; he has to. 

 

 

This year, ND is behind. I think other years, they’re closer. The current LBs & Secondary are subpar, but that’s on Lea.