I'm as critical as hell about Kelly, I highly doubt that he's ever going to win a title at ND but these are excellent and unbiased points. In every big game they look lost offensively despite having plenty enough talent to score points, and that's been a serious issue all the way back to when Weis was here. I'll give my personal list of things which have to happen in order to make a serious run again at a title in 2020.
1. Notre Dame has to win BECAUSE of plays Ian Book makes, not doesn't. Book takes over and makes big plays when they count against teams that matter like Wisconsin, USC, and Clemson. Just throwing for yards and not turning it over isn't good enough.
2. The OL HAS to be one of the best in the country because Notre Dame can't win a title without a dominant OL in both pass and run blocking, again against top competition.
3. The interior of the DL stuffs the run better, so that JOK, Drew White, Jack Lamb and Shayne Simon are able to clean things up and fill the gaps in run defense.
4. Jafar Armstrong doesn't have to be JK Dobbins, but if he's healthy for a whole season and at minimum an improved version of what he was in 2018.
Didn't list the CB's because Mickens has a proven track record, and the WR's have too many bodies so someone will emerge there and my hope is that by Wisconsin the starting group is Austin, Lenzy and Keys. I'll put that defense up against anyone in the country including Alabama, Clemson, LSU and Ohio State.
Thoughts?
Link: National Championship.