Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/638727
FAN FORUM ranking above where they wound up. John Arado Arlington Heights, Ill. BOWL BOYCOTT For whatever reason, the Irish are losers in meaningful postseason en- counters after earning the right to play in them during the regular sea- son. So with this record in mind (0-7 in major bowls since 1994), here's a headline I'd like to see: "Notre Dame to forgo postseason football bowl games except when qualified for the college football playoffs." Think about it: The only football goal ND has is to win the national championship. The recent change to the playoff system has rendered the rest of the bowl system virtually meaningless. (Actually, 90 percent or more of the bowl games were already virtually meaningless in the previous regime before the playoffs were initi- ated.) If such policy had been in place this season, the Irish would have ended 10-2 and perhaps a No. 8 finish in the Associated Press poll. As it in fact ended, it was 10-3 with a No. 11 placement. Dan Hasley '69 Phoenix FROM THE WEBSITE Notre Dame's 2016 recruiting class was labeled the proverbial "solid" group: Good enough to be a top-10 contender, but not quite at the level of the premier football powers. Here were some of the reactions on BlueandGold.com. Septon34: Last time ND was worth a damn, it was a result of four consecutive top-ranked recruiting classes (1987-90). ND is not recruiting well enough to be elite. Do I blame Brian Kelly? No. But this is his seventh class, and with the exception of one year, it hasn't been good enough to compete with the talent being assembled by Ohio State, Alabama … So yes, I'm whining, angry and depressed. Come August, I will have delusions of grandeur that ND can win every game, but tonight I am whining. Rauldue_007: I don't know what's more annoying: The bed wetters or the sunshine pumpers trying to sell the board that all the three stars will get coached up and compete with Alabamas and OSUs for titles. Rdcsf: College football is not the same as it was in 1985-90. ND is doing quite well under the circum- stances. I see reasons to be cautiously optimistic, even though I'm not a sunshine pumper. PreTill1: Something has to give. One can't be okay with these recruiting rankings and then be upset with a season where we went 10-3, two of those losses being against teams that have recruited much better than us, have excellent coaches and finished in the top five. The other (Stanford) is a peer that we lost to on the road by a field goal. College 19: Whether a team is ranked 5, 10 or 15 in recruiting, the gap is marginal outside of the top 5. It all comes down to coaching, aggression/passion, etc. ND can win with the players they have. They just seem to lack the killer instinct and aggression elite teams seem to play with, in my opinion. Mh2365: We would have to change the philosophy of the University to compete with those teams in today's college football landscape. Is that what you want?