THANK YOU!! This is one of the best posts on the ND Nation website that I’ve read in a long time. anyone who didn’t see that this team came together and got tougher didn’t watch or didn’t have enough intelligence to know what they were seeing. If i’d have told you at the beginning of the season that we’d lose Rudolph, Floyd (only for a game or two), Allen, Crist and 2 defensive tackles, all by the middle of the season, how would you all have said we would have finished the season? I am failry certain not with wins over a top 15 Utah team and assuradely not with a win over USC on the road. WE lost some tough games and made some stupid plays and had some stupid play calls to be sure, but this program is on the rise and these players are beginning to believe, not in their past but in their future possibilities, and I for one am very excited to see what that future holds over the next 2 years!

GO IRISH!!!!!

First let me provide insight into how good head coaches think, they don’t focus about records or scores. Their first job is to ensure that the team has the right attitude and approach to preparation. Saban is a perfect example, he focuses almost exclusively on instilling belief in ‘the process,’ because he knows that winning is the natural by-product of his process. I had a similar coach, and I know from experience that he’s right. The result of each game has much more to do with how hard players have worked in the offseason, how hard they practice in the preseason, and how much film they watch each week, than anything else. We followed that mantra and won three conference titles in four years.

So when BK doesn’t seem to care enough about W&L’s, try not to get pissed, because it’s a sign that he’s a good coach. If you don’t believe me, look at the CW era. He was all about W&Ls, which is why he focused so much on schemes and star players. Basically, he never progressed past thinking like a coordinator. Consequently, the team went to shit as all of the role players, who are the backbone of a team, went undeveloped (and often un-recruited).

Strip away all of the extraneous stuff (scores and record) and look at the way the team transformed over the season. They started out playing like a CW team, inconsistent and soft. That is to be expected, cultural changes do not happen overnight. But by the end of the season, something wonderful happened, the team toughened up. Instead of folding when they suffered a few bad losses, the team rallied together and started playing more physical and more disciplined football. That showed a wholesale cultural transformation from the CW era. The culmination of that transformation was a ROAD win over a much more talented USC team.

So instead of thinking, ‘grumble, loss to Navy, grumble, loss to Tulsa, grumble,’ trying thinking, ‘holy crap, we won three games in November against good opponents, with an 18-year-old QB and half the starters injured by out-physicalling our opponents.’ Seriously, when was the last time we saw ND beat a better team by just lining up and punching them in the mouth? This team found its toughness, which is a change that will carry into the offseason, where the foundation for great teams is truly laid.

Incidentally, the injury-prone nature of the team is likely a holdover from the shit strength and conditioning program of the CW era (poor S&C = more injuries is axiomatic). It takes at least two off-seasons to transform players physically, partly because of the time required and partly because it takes time for guys to grow accustomed to pushing themselves closer to their physical limits.

Just a quick follow-up for those of you who may see me as a glass-half-empty guy: A win over Miami will tip that scale to the “interesting good” side.

Go Irish!

However, like I said/posted at the beginning of this year: ” It’s going to be an interesting year. I hope that it’s more ‘ interesting good ‘ than ‘ interesting bad.’ ”

Well, despite an improved 7-5 regular season record, I think that the measuring scale tips a bit more to the “interesting bad” side. But, there does seem to be some indication that things may be getting better for our football program.

Bottom line: Kelly deserves to get a “nod” of approval for this season. (Although his own bonehead calls/decisions on the field probably cost us a couple W’s. Certainly, the Tulsa game is one of them. And who knows what he really had to deal with – behind the scenes – off the field? )

So, here we are at the end of the regular season with an interesting match-up on New Year’s Eve, no less. (Now, that’s fun!) And Kelly has a couple more years to prove he’s the real deal, or that he’s not.

Having said all that: it sure was nice not to see Charlie Weis on the sidelines. That was damn painful.

Well Stoops did lose to a Bob Davie led ND team for what it’s worth. And Saban loss to Louisiana Monroe as people said. In the Tulsa game ND surrendered a blocked xtra point return, an Int return and a punt return for scores. Not saying they weren’t earned plays but most teams will lose when stuff like that happens. I’m more concerned about the manhandling Navy put on ND.