Looking at the whole season, this is the most complete team from top to bottom that Kelly has been able to field. The problem is that we haven't been able to sync up our experience on both sides of the ball. The game last night had a lot of freak plays and bad bounces/overturns but I still think the defense this year was good enough to win a championship.
I felt like the offense was a year away. QB play aside, since we never seem to improve at the position year to year, the wide receivers should be better next year and the offensive line should be better also. The only drop off I see is at running back.
The issue with recruiting at the level we do isn't that we don't bring in talented players or fail to develop them, it's the unevenness of development on both sides of the ball. Last year's offense with this year's defense is an elite team. The offense may be really good next year but I can't see the defense being able to play at the same level they did this year after losing the linebackers and corners that were great this year... And so the cycle continues.
will just blind you until the next beatdown in a big bowl game. It is the warm blanket you are trying to wrap yourself in to make you think this game is an anomaly. Look at the past quarter century of big ND games and this game slides right in as essentially white noise. Being positive is a noble quality, but it often blinds you to the obvious.
I pretty firmly stated that we are unable to put together a complete team. Maybe once every five years the stars will align but it seems unlikely given that it hasn't happened yet and we've gotten closer this year than any time in the past 20 years
and enough depth replacing what we lose on defense. I think we at least double digit win during the regular season next year and possibly do better. I haven't lost the faith.
I would expect Book to improve his deep ball if not then Jurko gets his shot
Claypool, Boykin and Finke were intricate to the success of the team this year but none of these guys can threaten playoff calibre CB's ( with the exception of Oklahoma maybe) . Have to insert Young, Lenzy, Austin and Keys on more then just gimmick packages.