But others were trying to use the consecutive 8-5 starts as an indictment of the program's progress and improvement under Kelly. Fact is that the 2011 version of the Irish bore little resemblance to the 2010 version. It was greatly improved even if things Kelly did cost ND 2 games in 2011. It's irrefutable.
But it all goes to this notion that the adopted perspective generally tends to be the one that casts ND in the most negative light possible. We are now trying to rewrite the 2012 results. Whether luck or some other factors were involved, the 2011 team should have easily won 10 games, which would be marked improvement over 2010.
But now the narrative is the 2012 Irish shouldn't have won 12 games. In other words, the 2011 team wasn't better than 8 wins and the 2012 team wasn't as good as 12 wins. Some are having a lot of cake and trying to eat it all, too. Can't win for losing (or winning, for that matter).
