He realizes that 1) we are getting ourselves in the right position and 2) to close it out and win we now need to get our talent up another notch. We are definitely not far from competing and in a much better position before Kelly arrived. If we an start recruiting top 5....we will win a NC.

I just wish he coached with the same chip on his shoulder. They spent the entire second half doing no more than stopping the bleeding. They didn’t try to win.

The players did battle, and he’s right to stand up for guys who tried their best. The lines played pretty well.

But Kelly hasn’t recruited well enough, and that’s why trying their best wasn’t good enough. They aren’t battle tested by their schedule. They don’t have the talent at QB, WR, or CB to compete with the best. I don’t expect them to always have a Najee Harris, a 235 back who can fly through the air at full speed. I do expect more playmakers to complement the tough overachievers on this team.

Alabama was able to exploit a couple areas with woefully clear talent disparities. Despite getting pantsed early they fought back with a chance to cut the lead to 7 in the second half but for an unfortunate decision by Book. And Alabama made them pay.

We had another mistake on the line and Alabama made them pay. I feared that Book might have suffered a terrible injury. But that tough you man got back up and did battle.

Kelly is responsible for the state of the program. But he’s right to point out the effort of the team. And with the narrative out there, it’s not a bad “strategy” to drive a counter narrative for recruits that despite the blowouts Notre Dame is in a unique position to break through more so than any other school.

It’s just truly unfortunate that what used to be a unique opportunity to compete for a championship each year, is now an opportunity to play for one of the very few teams that has a chance to one day get to the level of Alabama one day. :-/ But it’s simply hard to deny that’s a fact.

Whatever you think of Kelly, much of what he says in public has to come with the idea that recruits are watching. Is he going to say "yeah, we suck, and there's really no changing that"? That's not going to do any of us any good.

That's why too much is made of things like that. Now, his sarcastic "thank you" went too far. That was just whiny bitch stuff. But I had no problem with most of it. He simply said they were going to keep trying to recruit players to get to the next level.

Pickett at Gettysburg. We battled against Clemson and were pantsed. I actually thought there were times yesterday when we looked ok and wondered whether another coach might’ve tried to double team the best player in the country or to roll up our safeties to prevent those wide screens. Yes, Bama has a great offense, but Smith seemed to be single covered the entire first half. It was too late by halftime to worry about adjustments, we needed to make them after the first drive.

Our offense proved early on we could run and they adjusted.....so how about he short passes to Mayer? ..........that short pass later in the game was working. Well, #87 is the best, or among the best ends in the country and it took us a while to start showcasing that. Why don’t coaches (our Oc is young, but our HC could’ve spotted the adjustments Alabama made on the run defense) adjust? There are times when the HC has to step up. Maybe he did, but our offense only came back to life on the last drive of the game, when the issue was decided.

We’ve been housed on big games every year Kelly’s teams have played in them. We don’t even appear competitive or prepared. And Dabo summed up the difference between Himself and Kelly in his post game press conference when he said (paraphrasing), “I didn’t do a good enough job preparing this team.” I think I’d fill my pants with poop if those words ever came out of Kelly’s mouth.

Kelly talks openly about winning titles as the goal. While that’s my expectation, he states it openly.

Once again he fell short in a non competitive game, following the same thing happening in the ACC title game.

His response and being pissed off is fine. I’m glad he’s tired of the question. He should be.

But they are fair questions if:

- you actually expect to win titles


We are at the tipping point here. If the actual expectation isn’t to win titles, then explaining that gap gets annoying. But we are finally seeing the wedge. For many ND fans and people at the school, this is all just fine. We can’t be expected to beat the Alabama’s and Clemsons of the world in this situation (although the regular season win sans Lawrence will get trotted out again and again as some sort of quasi evidence we can win these games). We can’t recruit the same players, our academics are too tough, and this is all just a new normal that we have to adjust to and begrudgingly accept. This is the best ND can possibly be expected to do given reality.

If you think that, then his response is perfect, because you agree with him. You are tired of explaining to people why this is good enough. You are tired of high expectations, and demanding too much. People just need to accept this is the best ND can be in this new world.

And if that’s the case, Jack and Brian need to change the narrative themselves and say winning titles isn’t the expectation (because just showing up every few years isn’t going to magically help us get lucky and actually win one of these games). You need to level set with people that this is the best it’s going to get.

But I get it. Our coach and a lot of fans are pissed that they have to explain yet again, why we shouldn't be disappointed, this was a great season and it’s as good as it’s going to get. But that’s on Kelly because he talks about titles, and once again, came up very short of that goal. So the question is this. Is that really the goal?

If yes, he needs to figure out that question
If no, it’s an annoying question and we should all just be thankful we got invited.

How he and ND folks respond tell you everything you need to know about where they stand in respect to that question. Is winning the title the goal or not?

Just because he hasn’t recruited to the level necessary to win a championship does not mean that’s not his goal. I truly think it is. I just don’t think he’s capable.

You can’t be pissed about the question, which was basically, what do you have to do to close the gap and actually win two of these games, aka, achieve the goal.

It’s a completely fair question.

I think what Kelly is doing is pretty obvious. He consistently recruits at a 10-15 level. Yet ND is playing in the top 4 with relative consistency, and despite 7-10 other schools trying to get in every year or so.

He knows it’s a legitimate question. But he’s trying to drive the counter narrative that ND is at least always knocking at the door. If that helps him recruit more in the 4-8 range then good for him. What he’s tried so far hasn’t worked.

They watch the games.

And if that was the intent. Given the national coverage it just blew up in his face.

I guess we’ll see.

Notre Dame is going to face negative recruiting everywhere they’ll go. Yes, we’d all prefer to win. Or not get blown own. Yet I didn’t meet a realistic fan that didn’t think a blow out was more likely than not. And Kelly’s narrative about knocking on the door started before the game.

So yes, the same story was going to be out there or not regardless of his press conference. Now he goes to recruits with that “edge” and asks whether they want to play for the school playing in the game or the one bitching about Notre Dame playing in the game. Again, he has do something differently. And humble is exactly his forte.

Recruits aren't dumb. Agreed. But, ND is rarely winning the battles against Alabama, OSU and Clemson, and they're really trying to keep up with all the others to get in that 4-6 range every year. So, I think Kelly (knowing this) is really trying to point out what he HAS accomplished. Getting ND to the dance (only to have it turn out like Carrie at the prom).

Recruits are being wooed with the idea that they're the key to getting over that hump. They're still young, idealistic kids. They believe that stuff.

If ND is competing with (for example only) Wisconsin, Texas and Tennessee for a recruit, I think the recruit can look at where they have the best chance to get to the CFP and honestly believe it's ND.

Not saying it's going to get us where we want to go, but there is a method to the madness of the message which I believe certain recruits will buy.

Some actually want to win the games and go to the NFL and get paid and gettin there won’t sell.

He has to go before Kelly’s contract ends or Kelly will get an extension if he wants one.

Who is Jenkins tied to? The 325-person Board of “Trustees”? And ND does not appear to have anybody in oversight who wants the football situation to change. Or it would have.

Step 1: identify an executive with the ability to hire a good football coach.

Step 2: hire that executive and let them go to work.

We are not even in the place where someone in power at ND is contemplating Step 1. If you suggested such a thing to, say, Jenkins, you would be met with defensiveness and a lack of understanding. They do not see this as a problem.

I was in a group meeting with Gordon gee once when he was at Vanderbilt. He actually told a room full of high school students and parents that he had consoled his Vanderbilt football team after a blowout loss to Alabama, “don’t worry fellas, those guys will be working for you someday!” That’s the mentality we face here too. Except our “leaders” would probably say it after a loss to Stanford, so it would make even less sense.

from the Chicago Sun Times wrote an article referring to the "creepy corporate meddlers" on the ND Board of Trustees. I'm not sure who he was referencing, but according to the dolt Marrioti, they were the ones responsible for getting Willingham fired.

Oh for some creepy corporate meddlers now!