Right on, Beresford. I could not have said it better myself. I would simply add that all this concern among some ND fans about whether Brian Kelly can handle his job is laughable.

I predict there will be some setbacks along the way but Kelly has shown that he can adapt and make the necessary changes. I am bothered by the fact that his vaunted offenses were completely stymied by Oklahoma, Va Tech and Florida but I believe this was because he had a patchwork O-line with average running backs at least in 2007 and 08′. I think Florida still would have won the game (but not 51-24) had Kelly been on the sidelines but there should be an asterisk next to that loss considering that the team was in a state of disarray with Kelly leaving and all the assistant coaches leaving the day after the bowl game to either join Kelly at ND or Quinn at Buffalo. Under these circumstances I felt most of Cincy’s players didn’t seem to even care about the game. Conversely, rumors of Meyer’s stepping down had Florida players pumped up to make sure Meyer went out a big winner.

Just how would Meyer have fared while at Utah against a top 5 team instead of #22 Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl? If USC torched Oklahoma 55-19 just think what they would have done to Meyer’s Utah squad so we shouldn’t place that much emphasis on a game that Kelly didn’t even coach in.

Let’s not forget that Meyer didn’t set the SEC on fire in year 1 and his “gimmicky” offense was the butt of jokes culminating in a complete 31-3 meltdown at Alabama. But he went back to the drawing board, made adjustments to his offense and Florida won the national championship the next year while the offensive guru Charlie FaustWeis was watching his squad get dismantled by LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Suddenly Meyer’s offense went from gimmicky to “innovative” according to the football punditocracy. Winning seems to do that.

I just see Kelly has having the some of the same intangible qualities as Urban Meyer.

I agree. ND is no better than Northwestern right now until proven otherwise.

The Florida-Cincy game was a complete blowout. Cincy didn’t belong on the same field.

Stef, maybe you misunderstand BK’s approach to the spread. He may pass a lot, but the offense leans towards balance. Last year Cincy rushed for 1803 yards, 5.0 per carry. 2008 was only 3.6 per carry, but 07 was over 4.

This isn’t a gimmick offense. We’ll see a far better rushing attack than Weis gave us.

You’re right Andy, Weis did step up when seemingly no one else wanted the job. He restocked the cupboard, because Ty wanted to play golf instead of recruit and motivate. But, Weis’ attitude, arrogance, and the attitudes and actions he allowed his players to present make it very difficult to show him much gratitude right now.

If BK coaches ND to 34 wins and a NC in the next 3 years with many of Weis’ players, and then continues winning after that, it will be much, much easier to appreciate Charlie’s role.

Two areas I think will be the most interesting: (1) as you mention, assistant coaches with less experience — Kelly’s the motivator, they are the teachers, so I tend to think he sees an ability in them to teach kids the fundamentals as well as come up with good game plans, but we’ll see how that matches up with the top coordinators in college football; (2) ability to blend recruiting with ego management and motivate these types of players will I think be his most difficult challenge: look at the attitudes of many of the 5 star recruits (Seantrel Henderson is a prime example) – high school kids that the national media actually cares what they say — the attention they get early on, as well as plenty of other reasons, means a lot of these kids are already starting with big egos and plenty of other distractions. Bringing in high enough talent while still keeping the team playing as a unit and out of an agent’s house on the lake is going to be difficult.

TWO LOSES,PENDING ON WHO THEY ARE,WOULD BE A GREAT START…..