The state of Notre Dame football.

[bernie]

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20 years ago they didn't limit scholarships and parity wasn't even in sight.

The talent is still there, it's just more spread out. But the top teams still get their share.


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True, but I was specifically referring to ND. In that great stretch from 88-93, ND had sick talent throughout the 2-deep. Rice, Zorich, Lyght, Bettis, Ismael, Waters, Brown, etc...Now they have a MAC team. If there is hope for ND fans, USC and Oklahoma went through some down years and bounced back nicely. No reason ND can't.

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Yeah, they did have some talent back then.
Go Rick Mirer! (sorry, couldn't resist)

I pine for the days when USC was down. It was so nice in the Pac 10 back then...

b

[deacsoft]

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No reason ND can't.

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And they will. This year is in the toilet (obviously), but they are super young. In a year or two (more likely two)... watch out!

[Gregatron]

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No reason ND can't.

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And they will. This year is in the toilet (obviously), but they are super young. In a year or two (more likely two)... watch out!

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Yes. Life goes on.

[bowens]

Does anyone know exactly what the admissions standards are at ND? Still no JUCO transfers? Still no Prop 48 kids? (is there still even a prop 48?) This doesn't seem to have been touched on very much in this thread, but I would think that this would make things more difficult.

[BigPoppa]

They do have to drop a few of the dumber recruits, but they don't operate under the limitations that Vanderbilt and Northwestern do.

[Number27]

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Is there one of those conferences that this year's ND team would stand a chance in?

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LSU would beat ND so bad this year that Jesus would come back just to say he's Protestant.

[b donka]

Watched Notre Dame Sherman Oaks (high school) last night. Dayne Crist is a bona-fide stud and looks to be every bit as good as Clausen against high school competition. The guy reminds me of Tim Tebow - big (6'5", 225), strong arm, very mobile and athletic. I was very impressed.

It's tough to say who is better b/c of the surrounding players/competition.
Dayne has zero elite recruits on his squad.
Clausen was surrounded by all-world stars (Marc Tyler & Marshall Jones - both now at USC), several D1 recruits on the line, and some sic younger guys (Marshall Jones brother, Clay Matthews' son)

Another point on the Weis/Willingham issue - Weis got a huge raise and contract extension b/c pro teams began inquiring. If the same had happened to Willingham, the same thing would have happened.

100% agree w/ above points about depth, but to build a strong program, teams need to build/develop depth. It's a weak excuse to say we don't have the depth.
Here's a story regarding legendary USC player/coach/motivator Marv Goux and Pete Carroll. Story goes that (from LADailynews) "When USC coach Pete Carroll was hired, legendary assistant coach Marv Goux gave him a little lesson on when you knew you finally put together your program. “When Anthony Munoz got hurt in 1979, they were depressed because they didn’t know if they could depend on Don Mosebar,” Carroll said. “Then he got hurt and they thought the season was over because they had to put in a guy named (Bruce) Matthews. He only played in the NFL for over 20 years. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

[FlyWf]

Notre Dame fans-

How did you guys get convinced of the youth excuse? I'm somewhat interested in how pieces of misinformation like that percolate through groups. Notre Dame is not remarkably young and plenty of other teams are having success with underclassmen in important positions.

How do your brains ignore Tebow et al.?

[shemp]

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Another point on the Weis/Willingham issue - Weis got a huge raise and contract extension b/c pro teams began inquiring. If the same had happened to Willingham, the same thing would have happened.

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We'll never know if that would have happened to Ty. Call me skeptical. Maybe Weis is a better businessman. He managed to exploit a position of strength after one year and parlay it into 2015, and now in his third he's got Domers snowed that current futility was preordained by his predecessor. So maybe he's more savvy in addition to being much whiter?

[deacsoft]

Weis is also an alumni which is huge in the history of ND coaches.