"It's not the X's and the O's but the Jimmys and the Joes." - Darrell Royal

Guys, Notre Dame has the best coaching staff in South Bend since the early '90's... and Alabama / Ohio State / Clemson have great coaches, too... Notre Dame has great Strength and Conditioning staff, as does Alabama / Ohio State / Clemson... But, at the end of the day, raw talent is an important difference... for example...

2016 Alabama #1 Recruiting Class (7 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #13 Recruiting Class (3 Top 100 Recruits)
2017 Alabama #1 Recruiting Class (11 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #13 Recruiting Class (2 Top 100 Recruits)
2018 Alabama #7 Recruiting Class (5 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #11 Recruiting Class (4 Top 100 Recruits)
2019 Alabama #2 Recruiting Class (9 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #14 Recruiting Class (2 Top 100 Recruits)
2020 Alabama #3 Recruiting Class (10 Top 100 Recruits); Notre Dame #22 Recruiting Class (3 Top 100 Recruits)

Similar tabulations would reveal the same gap between Notre Dame and Clemson / Ohio State... And we didn't close the gap this year... Alabama took 12 Top 100 Recruits, so far, and Notre Dame took 3. But, our depth is better from 1 to 85 than in 25 years, which is why we've won 10 or more games four straight years, and the staff is making good use of grad transfers to fill in gaps... this team is still recovering from some terrible years of DB recruiting, which we lived through last night and will again on New Year's Day...

I just want to remind folks after a tough day that Notre Dame's program is healthier now than at any time since the early '90's, and I'm thankful for that... at the same time, let's not get frustrated by the fact that we haven't reached the top of the summit again... there are three teams whose talent is consistently better than everyone else's, and about 8 teams working day-in and day-out to reach that level... let's keep our fingers crossed that Kelly, having learned through clear mistakes and tough experiences, can figure out how to give Notre Dame recruiting another bump that will further close the gap with Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson. I lived the days of Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, and Charlie Weis, and I have no desire to go back there... GO IRISH!!

ND has matched great with strength and power against NC and Clemson. Balis has done a great job with creating a great weight room culture. Now a true test against Bama! I am so pumped! I can’t imagine what lays ahead for the ND players in the weight room for the next two weeks... I believe Bali’s is a huge key in Irish success in the Rose Bowl. His off-season program is amazing! I wish I could see the bowl prep the Irish will go through.

After the 42-14 pasting in 2012, Bama's All American first round NFL tackle in an interview said" We knew exactly what ND was going to run when they lined up under the ball. " Notre Dame was entirely predictable and it will be the same this time around unless ND can install some variances, such as a quick slant pass, a quick pass to the Tight End, option runs, etc.
If they expect to hang with Bama with the same offense, they are going to get stuffed again

Any update on the injury?

On what planet does anyone think that Notre Dame won't get into the CFP over Texas A&M??? Try a few facts......

Texas A&M, 8-1, win over 1 ranked team (#11), beat 2 teams with a winning record
Loss Alabama 52-24 (11-0) ranked 1 final CFP
Win Florida 41-38 (8-3) ranked 11th final CFP
Win Auburn 31-20 (6-4)
Win LSU 20-7 (5-5)
Win Miss State 28-14 (3-7)
Win Arkansas 42-31 (3-7)
Win Tennessee 34-13 (3-7)
Win South Carolina 48-3 (2-8)
Win Vanderbilt 17=12 (0-9)

Notre Dame, 10-1, wins over 2 ranked teams (#2, #13), beat 4 teams with winning records
Loss Clemson 34-10 in ACC title game (10-1), ranked 2nd final CFP
Win Clemson 47-40, ranked 2nd final CFP
Win North Carolina 31-17 ranked 13th final CFP
Win Pittsburgh 45-3 (6-5)
Win Boston College 45-31 (6-5)
Win Louisville 12-7 (4-7)
Win Florida State 42-26 (3-6)
Win Georgia Tech 31-13 (3-7)
Win South Florida 52-0 (1-8)
Win Duke 27-13 (1-9)
Win Syracuse 45-21 (1-9)

The scheme leaves a lot to be desired.

Comparing performances against the top teams over the last few years, yesterday seemed like more of the same. ND is much better at beating teams they should beat. But the gap to the top teams seems as big as ever. It seems even the I, captain of the objective crew, drank a bit of kool-aid this time.

Began at noon ET on ESPN.

There is absolutely no paritiy in the sport anymore because of money and resources. This post has nothing to do with the butt whooping Clemson gave ND last night or what Bama will do to ND in 2 weeks.

If you're on this board, you love college football. We all love it and even with its number of flaws I think its still everyone's favorite sport.

Here are some things that would without quesiton make the sport more competitive:

1. Lower the scholarship limit to 77. The trickle down affect from every team having 8 less scholarsihp players would help even out the talent gap

2. Only allow teams to sign 22 players per recruiting class, no matter what. Giving schools like Bama the ability to sign 30 players every year and then "push out" players is bad for the game.

3. While i'm not a fan of the immediate eligible transfer rule, there is no stopping it, but there needs to be a limit on how many a team should be able to take. Set it at 4 total players a school can have transfer in per year.

4. Make sophomores elibigle for the NFL draft. This should have been done years ago anyway. These kids deserve an opportunity to make money and they are physically ready to play in the NFL. Heck, some are ready after their freshman year.

5. This is the one no one talks about, but there needs to be a limit on the off the field coaches. Bama literally has an army of coaches. I don't know a fair number, but something has to be done here and the easiest of the 5 changes to implement.

6. With the scholarsihp limit cut, teams will look to the walkon option to sneak in players. There would have to be a limit put here as well or Bama would simply start taking 20 walkons a year.

7. Headsets in the players helmets. The NFL has allowed one player on offense (and I think defense?) to have a headset in their helmet to call in plays for years. It's time for the college game to have this. This will help with sign stealing and get rid of all of these crazy ways to get plays into the players.

8. Scheduling. There will never be a fair way to do scheduling, but at worst can't we start with teams not playing FBS schools? Playing 10 conference games and then 2 games against teams out of the MAC, AAC and Independent schools just makes too much sense. Speaking of scheduling, can't a simple "preseason" system be setup in late August for some scrimmages against "local" teams with NCAA refs to prepare for a season?

Irish have a chance to knock off #1 twice in same season. That would be pretty sweet.

Seems to struggle on the big stage against the big names (Saban, Meyer, Sweeney). Reason I think this is because the games always seem to unravel as soon as the momentum changes.

Full newser on today's news with quotes from Kelly and Gary Barta

Brian Kelly talking about the Rose Bowl before the game


Notre Dame yet again on the big stage felt like this


Kinda had this feel to it


And this


While Clemson be like this


And I was like this

... can't use last nights game as motivation and come out firing on all cylinders, I'd be absolutely shocked. I wouldn't be shocked if we're looking at a 21-17 type halftime score. What happens in the locker room and how the team plays in the 2nd half should determine the outcome.

So fing disappointed. Rinse and repeat.

This the thing we can beat them Mack Jones is not a threat to run so from that standpoint we might be ok

Watching Seton Hall, Marquette, Creighton, and Xavier. They are not as talented as ND. But, they are more fun to watch because they play harder and get a lot more steals. Do you think ND would play better D for these coaches. These teams have players that can create their own shot. Brey has all catch and shoot, other than Trey. I don’t think they are better coaches. Recruiting?

Crimson Tide favored by 17.5.

Any word from Kelly on the injuries to Hamilton and McCloud and the severity? Regardless what game we go to, those 2 players missing or being at less than 100% is a big factor. Terribly disappointed with yesterday, felt like if we score 13-17 points on those first 3 drives the tone/momentum would have been completely different, similar to the first game. We didn’t and Clemson did and the pressure of having to get a stop or having to get a touchdown just crushed the team. Still think with 10 days to prepare that we can put a better product on the field than what we saw yesterday. Go Irish

Story: https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-in-familiar-spot-after-lopsided-loss-to-clemson

Or we won’t. I’m just glad we have the chance at redemption, just think how good we will all feel. It will wipe away all the hurt from yesterday.

With Clemson having their QB back and their defense being back to 100% what will Rees and Lea do (in your opinion) for the rematch.

offense: I loved thatthey slowed things down so Clemson couldn’t steal signals, however, I think they need to speed things up so that Clemson can’t sub out and keep the defense fresh. They have a lotmore bodies in the 2 deep this time.

defense: get more aggressive(not saying they weren’t). I think TL will pick apart a soft defense. Also, unsure what can be done to stop the RPO

Everybody take a deep breath. The next two weeks are gonna be miserable if all we talk about is how much we're going to get our asses kicked.

I think we'd all be content if we can just keep competitive. Maybe something breaks our way.

Hear me out here.

In the time that BK has been here we have seen ND get out-muscled in big games (think playoffs, bowls, etc) and at times after bye-weeks. Back in Nov ND physically beat up on Clemson, in fact we had multiple threads lauding that and how Balis had built the team in the weight room. I dare say we dont have those threads this morning.

The only thing that makes sense is that they ratcheted down the intensity (physical intensity) during the off-week and maybe even in the week's prep leading to the ACC Championship. My best guess is that this was done (and has been done in the past) to ensure fresh legs, etc. We saw an admission of that in 2012 after the BCS game. We have seen it for years around here. Again, this is what makes sense to me especially after the way we beat up on Clemson just over six weeks ago. There are only a few things that can explain that almost 180 degree turn.

As an old line coach I never wanted to ramp the intensity down, b/c you cant turn that mess on and off like a light switch. We'd be hitting and going 1's v 1's with the d-line on the Thursday before a state championship on Saturday. What I am saying is that you are what you practice. It is obvious to me that they have practiced physically throughout the year but I lean heavily to the theory that the havent really been physical since Syracuse.