We continue the Irish Blogger Gathering, this time with the questions coming from the cleverly titled blog Domer Law, run by a real-life Notre Dame graduate that also happens to be an attorney. (Shocking, right?)
Credit goes to Neil for being able to put together some good questions, especially in light of the backpedaling the Irish have been doing the last three weeks.
After 3 straight losses, there appear to be two camps of fans: A. The sky is falling. Coach Kelly is not a good coach, not a good fit, probably won’t ever win a game and should be fired today. B. Coach Kelly is still totally awesome, and you had to expect some bumps and bruises as he builds the team - remember Holtz’s first year? Which camp do you fall into, and why?
I’ll get my cheating in right off the bat. I fall into group C: I’m still very bullish on the Irish coaching staff, but it’s clear that the evaluating tools and roster management used by the previous staff put Notre Dame farther back than I expected.
I’ll admit, I thought this team was going to make a run in the opening stretch of the season, and those two heart-breaking losses, and the thorough beating Stanford delivered makes me feel stupid that I had on the green-sunglasses again at the beginning of the year.
But BK and company are doing things the right way, and having been the head man at a program for 20 years before this stop will help him weather the storm, stay true to his system and principles while getting the team on the same page.
With the current state of the program, put yourself in a recruit’s shoes. If you had offers from all 12 schools on our schedule and Notre Dame, which would you pick right now and why? Who would your top 3 be?
Love these kinds of questions. I’m going to make a few assumptions: 1) I’m either a ball-hawking safety with incredible range or 2) a blue-chip quarterback with good wheels and a head on my shoulders. Either way, my logic is probably the same.
If I’ve got five visits, I’m likely only taking four (on the schedule*):
1) Notre Dame -- obviously.
2) Michigan -- Would be a cool trip, the secondary has like four guys and Robinson is either a big hit away from being done and only has two years of eligibility left.
3) Stanford -- At the very least, I can walk away after graduation with a job offer from Google.
4) UCLA* -- I’m cheating again. After living in Southern California for six years, there’s no way I’m going to USC, especially with the sanctions.
Sadly, cross Stanford off my list. I think Harbaugh’s not staying more than two more years before he’s either on an NFL sideline or in Ann Arbor -- although working at Google would be pretty cool. I’d enjoy my visits to Ann Arbor, Westwood, and South Bend, though I’m still worried about the good ship Rodriguez taking on water during the Big Ten conference schedule. That leaves me to UCLA and Notre Dame, and as much as I enjoy the area out West, I’d probably be drinking the Blue-and-Gold Kool-Aid after a weekend with Kelly, Chuck Martin, and Bob Diaco. (I already did after the fantasy football camp...)
What’s the trajectory of this season? Is this going to spiral downward into a 2007-esque kind of year, or will the team rally and start winning some game against quality opponents?
I don’t see a 2007-like season, only because the Irish are a better team in the first four games than they were in ’07 already. I think people are forgetting how awful that year was. Think of these games: Georgia Tech, beat down. Pen State, beat down. Michigan, beat down. Losses to Navy and Air Force, crushed by USC, handled by Purdue and Michigan State. I just don’t see that happening this year.
Give me your top 5 reasons why you’d rather go to Notre Dame than Backup Boston College.
Now, now... This is one of those things that I find gets my skin-crawling. You know when your college choice should stop mattering? Right after you chose it. That said -- I get the point, enjoy ribbing friends and receiving shots for my college choice and to play along, here goes:
1) Too big of a city.
2) Not a college town.
3) BC Sports are like the 10th most important sport in Boston.
4) University > College
5) All those Red Sox fans would make life pretty miserable.
I’m depressed after our third straight loss. Do your best to cheer me up and convince me that I should still be excited about this weekend’s game.
There’s only 12 WEEKS OF FOOTBALL per season! We’re already done with four of them, that means we’ve only got 8 games left! You know what we do then? We take eight months to breakdown every play-call, every recruit, every administrative decision, and every perceived slight in the media, and that’s nowhere near as fun as actually watching football. It’s a night game against a bitter rival! It’s less than a field goal spread! Loud Noises!
If you could ask Coach Kelly any one question, what would it be?
Tough question: I’d probably want to know what he was most impressed with and most disappointed in from the Notre Dame program he inherited. All of this off-the-record of course, so I’d actually get something of substance.