Look, that's a fair perspective

You don't have to buy what I am selling. Everybody is entitled to their own perspective.

My view on the state of the program Kelly inherited probably doesn't match yours and probably doesn't even match Kelly's.

You say Michigan St. is anomalous. Ok, well then what are Saban and Meyer? Who else has been able to have that kind of success so instantly (and Saban's wasn't so immediate)?

I am not here to make excuses, because I concede 2 things (one of which is repetitive):

- ND is currently not at the level it needs to be;
- The timeline of my expectations for success hasn't been met.

And I agree we aren't MSU. But I also think the anti-Kelly cognoscenti refuses to concede that while ND has numerous built-in advantages, there are also some disadvantages that hamper ND's efforts.

But the same stuff you are writing now, is different than the things that were written in 2012 (pre-Alabama game), which is different than what was written in 2010/11.

I think we all agree that the program needs to be better and more consistent. And I am not about to make excuses for why we haven't. And I am not about to reset, rewrite, or retrofit expectations. Rather, my point is that I happen to see more positive signs than negative ones right now. I haven't seen enough to adopt the notion that his failure and the program's is imminent, at least from a forward looking-perspective (which is different than what I felt of Davie, Willingham, and Weis in their last year or 2).

But what I struggle to understand form the angry anti-Kelly crowd is the answer. Because it's clear to them that Kelly has failed and will continue to be a failure. OK, so what's the solution? Apparently, it's to hire Meyer or Saban. If it's something different, please enlighten me. But I don't view that strategy as any less exceptional than mine, which is that I don't think ND has hit its ceiling under Kelly (and haven't ruled out a pick up in performance after year 6).