(01-07-2018 12:29 AM)Ewglenn Wrote:  

(12-31-2017 12:09 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(12-31-2017 10:09 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(12-31-2017 09:42 AM)AllTideUp Wrote:  Brian Kelly talked yesterday about altering their approach to scheduling.

Sounds like he wants to add a few cupcakes to the diet.

The question, of course, is are they interested in just trading a few games for G5 opponents or do they want something more holistic?

Kelly has already spoken in the past about how difficult the travel schedule makes things. And obviously, the stated goal is to make it more likely that you enter the CFP. There are only so many ways to solve these problems effectively.

When they signed up for 5 ACC games per year, they probably thought "Wake Forest, Duke, UNC, Virginia... OK!". They failed to consider FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami, Louisville... oh, and Duke beat them in South Bend last year, too. Not the automatic wins they were expecting!

This says more about what they've become than anything else. Notre Dame no longer can recruit the whole nation as they once did. To be sure they still recruit the whole nation, but their brand has so faded, especially in an increasingly secular world, so that now they no longer get what would be 4 & 5 star recruits in California, Texas and Florida, but rather 3 star and occasional 4 star recruits in those places.

Notre Dame is no longer seen by recruits as a big game school at which to showcase their talents and they no longer have the name to pull them in on down years. Add to it Kelly's rotten PR capabilities and you have what you have.

Notre Dame might as well join the ACC in full because then they would get at least 3 games a year that would be easier than their present schedule. It should also be painfully obvious by now that USC is no longer "the" game that it once was.

Other than the ACC, the Big 10 West would be the best place for them, but with it comes utter obscurity.

They have three 4* signed players from Florida for next year.

ND just went 10-3 and beat LSU in a New Year's Bowl game. That is two 10 win seasons in the last three years. Not bad.

ND is ranked #6 in recruiting. But, the internet is full of folks predicting its demise or its supposed cave in to the conference Borg. It must be the offseason.