Phil Steele Puts ND at 16

Yep, 16th in the country. That's a very experienced dude who is often right (and got ND very wrong last year) putting a team with a new HC/staff, new QB, new OL, and losing its best WR in a pass-happy offense at 16.

Steele is doing the math on Kelly, I think, along with his typical analysis of SOS (he has ND at #17 there) and returning talent. You can see all the solid details in the linked PDF, but ND brings back 14 starters (9 on D and 5 on O) and has solid talent replacing those that left. We know that Charlie didn't leave the cupboard bare (insert lame fat joke here) for us, and I think this pre-season ranking reflects that.

The big question mark, to me, is: how quickly Kelly can get the team on board. Can he do it as quickly as kickoff vs Purdue? If so, a top 20 ranking isn't unrealistic. We've seen what his coaching has produced at underachieving schools before. He turned CMU around in 2 seasons. He took Cincy to BCS games the last 3 years in a row, including an undefeated mark last year. The guy takes teams that aren't doing enough to win, and makes them winners. If he doest that at ND, with consensus Top 20 Recruiting Classes to work with, we should see a quick rise into the Top 20 or so.

If he can't move things in that direction all that quickly, we'll be lucky to crack the Top 25 by the end of the season. I really dont think it's a question of if, but rather when. If Steele is right, Kelly will have done it by late August. I hope he's got it right.