Here is the deal for 2020 (The rest is just hot air)

[IrishFforida]

Brian Kelly must beat the big boys on the schedule. BK has the program to a point where ND is pretty much a lock at home. And can pretty much be counted on to take care of teams with less talent.

Notre Dame has not won a game against an opponent that finished in the Top 10 since 2013.
ND are 0-6 since then. And just 2-14 under Kelly against teams that finish in the Top 10.

If that doesn’t change the Irish will once again be very good in 2020. But to elevate from an "almost" program that is "almost" good enough to play with the big boys.

ND has got to beat those big boys. Clemson is coming to Notre Dame in November 2020. That game could do for ND, what the Catholics vs Convicts did for ND in 1988.

Let's go ahead and get that W. "Clears Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose"

 

[chaseball]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

 

[IrishFforida]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

That is nothing but revenge of the nerds excuse making. ND underachieved in 2 areas this year. QB play vs Power 5 Opponents and Offensive Line play. Those are two positions ND can and should recruit as well as ANY school in the country

All I heard from you star gazers was ND would never be able to recruit the kind of depth on the Defensive Line to compete with the big boys.
Well what do you know? ND rolls out player after player on the Defensive Line, and can compete with anyone on the defensive side of the ball.

All this blathering on about the rankings of 18 year old HS kids and then drawing the conclusion the ND is at a "massive" disadvantage is ludicrous.

ND played a C- game on offense at Georgia. The team that will end up #4 and recruits all the BELOVED 5 star players. And was throwing the ball into the end zone to tie the game.

The Michigan game, was similar to Urban Meyer getting smoked at Iowa in 2017 and then getting smoked at Purdue in 2018. Its happens.

ND has the talent to win a National Championship period. The days of low expectations, whining and hand wringing about the rankings of teenage boys are over.

 

[hvillebill]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

If there was a massive difference between ND and Georgia then why was the game close? That leaves just three teams on your list and they are different from everyone, not just ND.

 

[NDSMC78]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

Yeah, these games weren't close at all:

2015--Clemson 24, ND 22 (at Clemson)
2017--Georgia 20, ND 19
2017--ND 21, LSU 17
2019--Georgia 23, ND 17 (at Georgia).

 

[notredamerises23]

That is nothing but revenge of the nerds excuse making. ND underachieved in 2 areas this year. QB play vs Power 5 Opponents and Offensive Line play. Those are two positions ND can and should recruit as well as ANY school in the country

All I heard from you star gazers was ND would never be able to recruit the kind of depth on the Defensive Line to compete with the big boys.

Well what do you know? ND rolls out player after player on the Defensive Line, and can compete with anyone on the defensive side of the ball.

All this blathering on about the rankings of 18 year old HS kids and then drawing the conclusion the ND is at a "massive" disadvantage is ludicrous.

ND played a C- game on offense at Georgia. The team that will end up #4 and recruits all the BELOVED 5 star players. And was throwing the ball into the end zone to tie the game.

The Michigan game, was similar to Urban Meyer getting smoked at Iowa in 2017 and then getting smoked at Purdue in 2018. Its happens.

ND has the talent to win a National Championship period. The days of low expectations, whining and hand wringing about the rankings of teenage boys are over.

Brother, the bolded parts...you’re not being realistic. You’re right about offensive line recruiting, but even though we SHOULD be able to recruit top QBs, top QBs are going to programs that have proven track records of getting tob QBs to the pros.

Recruiting accuracy has gotten better and better every year and the same five schools are hogging all that talent (this year’s 5 stars were distrubted amongst the fewest teams ever). Not having perfect correlation between ranking and production doesn’t mean that we’re not seeing high correlation.

Yeah, there’s a guy like Burrow who wasn’t a 5 star but was still a 4 star whom many top schools wanted. And there will be the Herberts of the world who was misranked, but for a team to get lucky finding diamonds in the rough/developing them AND then being good enough to defeat two elite teams on the CFP...YES, it’s possible, but highly, highly unlikely with everything going perfectly. In other words, it’s not realistic. Even WITH EVERYTHING going your way, you’re not likely to win a title in today’s game. Having the best talent gives you the best chance to hedge against bad luck, in-game variance vs. other elite teams (see Ohio St. vs Clemson), but if you don’t have top talent, then even getting to the CFP is difficult snd then you have to defeat two top 4 teams that in today’s game, have all the talent to go along with good coaching.

Take a look at the mock NFL drafts and see how many 5 stars and high 4 stars make up projected picks in this year’s upcoming draft. Alabama and Georgia, both hoggers of 5 star talent the last few years, have as many as 15 projected 1st and 2nd round picks between them.

Burrow, 4 Star
Chase Young, 5 star.
Okudah, 5 Star
Tua, 5 star
Jeudy, 5 Star
Herbert, 3 Star
Derrick Brown, 5 Star

Alabama and Georgia recruits projected to be first round picks from their top few classes these past years

Andrew Thomas, 5 Star by some, high 4 star
Xavier McKinney, 5 Star by some, high 4 star
Swift, 5 Star
Diggs, 5 Star
Raekwon Davis, 4 Star
Solomon Kindley, 3 Star (diamond in the rough here)
Jedrick Wills, 5 Star by some, high 4 star by some

BTW, @deadirishpoet you wrote in another post about posters downplaying recruiting rankings...here it is.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

So what do you suggest? Should Swarbrick get on the phone with Dabo and cancel the Clemson game next November 7? "Sorry, Dabo, but some of our fans don't think we belong on the same field with you, so let's just call the game off." That's not the Notre Dame I follow.

These things go in cycles. Before Saban arrived at 'Bama, it was a second tier program. (Under Saban's immediate predecessor, Mike Shula, Alabama went 4-9, 6-6, 10-2 and then 6-7.) Clemson found lightning in a bottle with Dabo, but before he got there Clemson was an historically middling program. LSU had a nice year this year, but they haven't been a top 3 program for a long time. (And didn't we beat them the last time we played them?) OSU had a nice run with UM, but we'll see if that continues with Day. UGA was last crowned national champion in 1980.

Yes, I'd like to see us win a big game on a national stage. We all would. Obviously that hasn't happened for a while, and so the natives are restless. (Although as I attempted to remind people in another thread recently, Kelly went down to Talahassee in 2014 and beat the No. 1 team in the country until we got hosed by a terrible call at the end of the game.) Lets be real: we're not getting Saban, UM or Dabo to run our program, so for better or for worse, Brian Kelly is our guy. And I'm not throwing in the towel on seeing BK bring home the national championship trophy. Maybe I am deluding myself, but it seems to me that the alternative--constantly moping and moaning about the state of the program--is an unproductive waste of time that will eat away at your soul until Notre Dame football isn't any fun to watch anymore. Sorry, but I just can't bring myself to go there.

 

[HDK]

Brian Kelly must beat the big boys on the schedule.

Gosh, do you really think so?

 

[NotreDame du Lac]

Here is my biggest issue with this narrative...please show me the evidence where the difference between Notre Dame and the "big boys" is anywhere remotely even close?

The difference isn't close and it has never been close and that is the problem. the difference between Notre Dame and the top handful of programs any given year is massive. The talent rankings are massive difference...the recruiting rankings are massive difference... the on the field performance is massive... What evidence shows that they are anywhere remotely close to say Alabama? LSU? Clemson? Georgia? OSU?

They aren’t. I’m optimistic they can get there. 2021 class is a good start.