and then you make your observations. You can make your own, and I made mine with supporting data. It is obvious that ND’s recruiting is underperforming.

I think that Coach Kelly is finally getting it when he said ND needs to attain Top 5 recruiting. Unfortunately it should not have taken him 10+ years to realize that. This year hurt due to the pandemic, but the loss of recruiting momentum after 3 years was a huge mistake, that he has to own. As a national recruiting school, BK did not establish ND recruiting to help overcome most of issues of the pandemic

ND is not that close to Oklahoma in recruiting, but closer to them than the Top 5 teams. In 2021 ND is #8 with 27 recruits and Oklahoma is #9 with 16 recruits (11 fewer recruits). Which class is better in quality and has room for more.recruits in 2021 and for a lot more quality recruits in 2022.

Personally, I think that he is doing the right thing by having his coordinators do the primary game planning, he got good results from his last 2 choices and I hope he gets the right DC.

we do better than expected based solely on our recruiting results.

What in your view is the consistently attainable ceiling for BK and ND recruiting. What do BK and ND need to do to attain that?

...recruiting and then found facts to back it up. I did not cherry pick the facts but lined up almost all the data points, and my views were based on those data points.

Oklahoma’s recruiting is better than ND’s in getting more quality recruits 5 5-Stars vs. ND’s 2 and 64 4-Stars vs. ND’s 57. Also Oklahoma has a reputation of developing their QBs, which has a big impact in getting other higher level recruits when they recruit an elite QB.

Oklahoma’s results are much better than ND’s. Oklahoma has won the Big 12 Championship the last 6 years 2015 - 20. They have been in the last 3 CFP, and although lost in the 1st round, 2 of the 3 games were competitive and showed they belonged with the “Big Boys,” which cannot be said for ND:
- 2017: Georgia 54-48 (2OT)
- 2018: Alabama 45-34
- 2019: LSU 63-28

Oklahoma’s previous Coach Bob Stoop 1999 to 2016 went to a bowl game every one of his 18 years. He played in 13 Major Bowls and won 6 of them, including a NC in 2000 and in 2009 lost in the NC game to Florida 24-14 (the score was 14-7 going into the 4th quarter), they showed they belonged.

You asked how does ND improve? With ND’s tradition is first give a “damn.”
1. Need to really care about recruiting and have the coach and his staff completely dedicated to improve recruiting (past recruits said ND and specifically BK was not following up with interest and went elsewhere). If BK was not completely dedicated to recruiting, then how do you expect his staff to be dedicated to it?
2. Hold the coach and his staff accountable for their efforts and results. AD JW seems content, since BK’s results are a reflection of his performance - hence not a very challenging schedule - USC not playing well is not a scheduling issue.
3. Win your fair share of meaningful games - not done (Clemson was more of the exception Than the rule.- a great win, but far too few.
4 Do not get blown out by top teams (Clemson 2002 Part 2 was more the rule than the exception.
5. Don’t lose to easy teams (I.e. Tulsa (Recruiting ranked #100)
6. Don’t hide behind soft schedules and declare victory to goals, which applies even more to ND’s AD. Lower the expectations with weaker schedules and more games, and then declare winning 10 games is wonderful.

It is critical that ND makes a good showing against Alabama, in the upcoming Rose Bowl to be able try and reverse our standing in recruiting top players.

However, my biggest concern in you initial reply is that ND recruiting at #14 level seems close to appropriate, with your last comments of, “Can recruiting get better? Probably.” IMO that answer should be, “Definitely and substantially,”

There are approx. 17 other programs that are in ND's peer group; ND should never, ever drop below a #18 ranked class.

As others have pointed out, the gulf between the haves and the have-nots continues, and may be widening.

ND is on the right side of the gulf in terms of being in that tier of 18, but needs to push its way into the cartel at the very top.

Red flags abound when these programs drop below the top ~18 (like USC's disaster of a class last season), or consistently finish in the 12-18 range.