...really do stand out and could be identified by Stevie Wonder. After that, the rankings get very political, and are driven mainly by the marketing plans of the various services.
I agree with you that this staff (or, the former staff) was good to great at identifying talent with the potential for development, but the problem with a lot of those guys is they take two years to develop, then show their stuff for one year, and want to leave to make some money before their brains get churned into peanut butter. Having enough of them mature at the same time in great enough numbers to make a big difference to the overall team in any one year is like hoping to hit the Powerball.
The very best players, the ones going to Alabama, FSU, Clemson, et al, are the best bets to be three or at least two year starters. With them you can build a team with some semblance of continuity.
II think the range we've operated in since 1994 is the range for our performance going forward.
I think if the NCAA is forced to allow payment of players, ND will opt out of the big business side of college football. I think I might be OK with that. Since we hardly ever have a game that starts before 3:45 any more, I have taken, the past few years, to wandering out to the Carnegie-Mellon campus on the nicer Saturdays in Sept and Oct. The games start at 1:00 and are done by 3:30, and the games can be good entertainment. The ten dollar admission is painless, too.