Today on ESPN, Ivan Maisel chimed in with this:
Notre Dame is an inkblot and project on it what you will. The Irish finished 10-2, which is great. They played an easy schedule, which means they’re phonies. They appear headed for a BCS bowl for the second consecutive year, which is great. They haven’t beaten anyone they shouldn’t have beaten in Charlie Weis’ two seasons, which is not good. Two years in, Weis has turned around a program that appeared mired in mediocrity. Two years in, an athletic gap between the Notre Dames and the USC/Michigans of the world remains wide. We could go on like this all day.
And you know what? Ivan is right. Why is he right? Because we’re a program that is TURNING AROUND. When you take a struggling program, like we were in the Davingham Era, and you turn it around, you’re going to have some hiccups. You’re going to struggle at times, and hopefully learn from it and get better. Are we NC game caliber right now? No. Are we a solid top 15 team that should be in a BCS bowl?Â
You bet your ass, and that’s where we’ll be.Â
Two years ago I would have KILLED for a 10-2 season and a BCS berth.  Now that we’re back on the national scene, people point out the flaws in a bigger, brighter light.  But hey, I’m okay with that – if we weren’t back in the hunt, no one would even be talking about the flaws. So that’s all good with me.
Ivan is wrong in one area, though. The area where we didn’t ‘beat anyone we weren’t supposed to beat’ in the last 2 years. Ummm, how about Michigan last year buddy? Aren’t they light-years ahead in this ‘athletic gap’ you’re talking about? And even ignoring that, the fact is that in the year’s prior to CW’s arrival, we were LOSING games we were SUPPOSED TO WIN. Bob Davie’s teams regularly played down to the levels of his opponents. Ty’s teams looked like they accidentally won games, and then apologized for it by soiling their linens the next week.Â
Turning that portion of the team around is, to me, the first step. Beat the guys you’re supposed to. Good, check. Now, in the next few years we build up the talent and speed, and CW instills a culture of winning based on his superior offensive schemes and his nasty defensive players, and soon enough you get a Notre Dame team that will still be beating the teams they’re supposed to beat. But we still won’t be defeating teams we’re not supposed to beat.Â
WHY????Â
Because there won’t be any teams that were not supposed to beat!
Go Irish.
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PM
Easy schedule? Number 19 in the Sagarin rankings and better than about half of the BCS Top 10. We are also Top 40 in the NCAA rankings. your right that what he said was almost true, but come on. Weak schedule my ass. tough? No. Above average? Certainly.
The Biscuit
I am with you 100%. Not easy, but not tough either. Yep, yep.
Bad Kermit
Wait, I thought, in the last two years, ND also wasn’t supposed to beat Pitt, Georgia Tech, and Penn State. At least, that’s what ESPN told me until ND beat Pitt, Georgia Tech, and Penn State, after which ESPN declared them all “mediocre.”
gwzimm
People complaining about strength of schedule really piss me off. Look at all the top 25 teams thay have Div. 1AA opponents or weak sister conference opponents. Are Akron, Eastern Michigan, Montana, etc. any better than Navy (who is 9-3 and bowl bound)?