ND National Championship 2009

My humble prediction. Look, I am as distraught about the Sugar Bowl loss as everyone else is. Even worse, I have to live with all these LSU idiots for the next year and a half. It has been merciless and unrelenting since Wednesday. I even had to go to an LSU-themed birthday party today for a 2-year old! However, I see VERY good things in the future for the Irish.

2007: Gator Bowl
2008: BCS Bowl
2009: BCS Championship (win)

Yeah, I know it may be wishful thinking, but let me throw these stats your way regarding recruiting rankings for the sophomore through senior classes at some elite schools. I used those classes because they make up the VAST majority of starters on most teams. These numbers represent the recruiting class ranking based on Rivals and Scouts over the 3-year period from 2003-2005.

USC Rivals 1.7 Scout 2.7
LSU Rivals 8.3 Scout 7.7
Michigan Rivals 9.3 Scout 5.0
Ohio State Rivals 20.7 Scout 14.3
Notre Dame Rivals 28.0 Scout 20.7
Penn State Rivals 44.0 Scout 30.0
Illinois Rivals 43.6 Scout 40.0

So what does this tell us? Obviously, LSU has completely outclassed us in recruiting during a period of time during which Ty basically failed to recruit any top guys. I have to say that was evident as the Sugar Bowl wore on. We just couldn't keep up with those guys. However, think about our last 4 losses. It is the same story every game:

OSU 2006: We are in it till the late 4th quarter. We have an opportunity to tie it up, but fail. Then OSU adds on a late TD to make the score more lopsided (and causes every media member to forget how ND was in it till the end)

Michigan 2006: Despite an early disaster, ND fights back and is playing respectfully until we just get shut down in the 3rd quarter.

USC 2006: We are really in it until we fail to get off to a good start in the 3rd quarter. Then USC just pulls away.

LSU 2007: Another early disaster until ND ties it up before half. LSU dominates after that and wins going away.

Some would say this shows that Weis is a bad coach and can't make adjustments. What it really shows you is how good a coach Weis is. He is able to take lesser athletes and scheme a way to keep in the game. Unfortunately, we just can't keep it going long enough. Remember, with Ty and Davie, we were dropping losses to the BYU, Purdue, BC and Syracuses of college football. It was ugly! Now, we are winning the games we are supposed to win. Look who we are losing to!

We'll get there. It will just take a bit longer than we all hoped. By the way, since Weis took over, we have the Rivals #7 and Scout #6 ranked classes the past 2 years, including this year. This year's class isn't even done yet! There isn't much difference in the #1 class in comparison to the #5 class, but there is a huge difference from #5 down to #20. We'll be right in it in 2 years!!!