The fact that it will be at least 2 years before ND will be back to at least this level of talent/experience. Next year is going to be rough. ND is going to be like UConn in BBall this year. Talented but very young, with low expectations. I really marvel at the fact that USC is able to replace high caliber players year after year and not skip a beat. They lost so much from last year and they are still set up for a title shot. How does a program replace Leinart with Booty and have Sanchez waiting in the wings? We need to ramp up the D recruiting soon. I know we got a few good recruits but if there was ever a game that exposed the flaws of this team it was this one. Scheme, talent and depth are lacking on the D. I trust Charlie and am willing to give him a few years to really assemble his guys, but its going to be tough.

There's a philosophy among many college coaches that you don't give a schollie to a kicker. Burkhart got one, but the kid is a two-star kicker (c'mon Charlie, what were you thinkin). Florida doesn't give kicker schollies and look at the horrendous field goal situation they've put themselves in. You get what you pay for. I share very little love for our kicker who has consistently failed even the most basic chip shots (inexcusable for a team at ND's level), but ND deserves it. ND has this "tradition" of walk-on kickers. Reggie Ho (1988 championship team) was an example of when this worked wonderfully, but obviously this is not a philosophy that breeds consistency. Gioia is a poor kicker and obviously hasn't kicked an on-side kick since grammar school. Will Charlie go after a field-goal kicker that can drill it? Nah, probably not. Charlie is confident that his potent offense won't be depending on 3 points to win a game in the future, but mark my words, eventually a critical game will come down to 3 points and all the brilliant coaches and 5-star players will have to depend on some kid who came to ND to be an engineer and decided on a whim to "see what all this football stuff is about."

Big difference between CW's situation and Holtz was that at least Faust could recruit, and in Ohio too because of his Moeller connection there. Ty wasn't enthused to be here and left a nuclear time bomb for the next coach.

Big difference between CW's situation and Holtz was that at least Faust could recruit, and in Ohio too because of his Moeller connection there. Ty wasn't enthused to be here and left a nuclear time bomb for the next coach.

ding ding ding we have a winner! TW last two recruiting classes were the worst in ND football history and it'll be why ND struggles next year. i think CW has done a great job with what he was given and if ND can continue to recruite like they are they'll be in elite statuse for the 2009 season.

I'm gonna say 08-current freshman will be jr's and this yr's class will be soph's.

 

with the talent we will have they should be at the top by their 2nd and 3rd yrs in college