Is that this is something that happened by design, rather than through inheritance or fortune. The back half of last season looks like the aberration not the other way around.

Given all the injuries, the team is sitting at 8-1 and will probably be ranked #5 by the committee.

I would not have believed this would have been possible following the injury to MZ.

This addresses your question indirectly, since it has a large part in defining my enjoyment level of this season.

As you so accurately note, we sit at 8-1.

This is only the fifth time since 1994 (along with 2012, 2006, 2002, and 1998) that we had zero or one losses this late in the season - a bar that we had passed in the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993 seasons (holy crap). Kelly is the first Notre Dame coach since Holtz to do this well this late in the season at least twice.

Should we somehow find a way to get past Wake Forest and Boston College, this will be only the fourth time since 1994 that we've made it to 10-1 or better through 11 games (2012, 2006, and 2002). We did that in 1988, 1989, and 1993, and almost 1992 (9-1-1).

If we do that AND we beat Stanford, it'll be just the second time since 1994 that we've logged at least 11 wins in the regular season. Kelly obviously would own both of those seasons. We did that in 1988, 1989, and 1993.

And if you really want to get someone's knickers in a bunch... If we make it to ten wins this year, Kelly will join Holtz (5), Parseghian (3), and Rockne (3) as the only Notre Dame coaches to post multiple ten-win seasons for the Irish. Leahy and Devine each had one, if you're wondering, just like Willingham and Weis. Of course the number of games played in a season helps, but still.

To be more direct, I give it an 8.9. Had we beaten Clemson, that would be a 9.5. Cadillac problems and all that.

--
"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." - Yeats

It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be predicting ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your expectations. Where can you go from there? Where?

Truthfully, I've only seen 3 games this year due to other obligations. But I'm pretty happy with the situation right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HTt6QJqzxk

Especially after the soul-sucking shitshow that was 2014, I have never had such fun during a football season.

let's look at what we've seen:

- a historical humiliation of a Top 5 all-time program that headlined the season's opening night

- an all-time legendary ND comeback piloted by a greenhorn unknown off the bench

- a total dismantling of a favored "juggernaut" in ND stadium

- generic laugher

- close road loss to current #1. It didn't feel like it at the time but this game will take on mythical dimensions if one or both teams end up in the playoffs

- thorough beating of a damn good Navy team - one time we're finally getting our due for beating these guys

- convincing, exciting victory vs. a loaded USC team

- well-played, prime-time win in Temple's most hyped game of all time

- Sorely, sorely overdue throttling of those fuckers from Pitt

On top of that, the admiration you have to feel to the coaches and players for the injuries overcome is exhilarating. We've found an All-American caliber QB and RB in unexpected places,we've played exciting football, we've had some close games but won most games comfortably, etc.

We just need to finish the job here and Kelly will have ND's two best seasons in the last 25 years, and two of the best 10 seasons in the past 40 years

Also, as Buck said, it's been a great year for college football:

- Nebraska losing 3 games on the last play early on

- BYU winning three games on the last play early on

- the Michigan vs. MSU finish

- the FSU vs. GT finish

- the Duke vs. Miami finish

- the MSU vs. Nebraska finish

- the Arkansas vs. Mississippi finish

- Leonard Fournette doing superhuman things

- Corey Coleman destroying worlds

- a bunch of other guys (Derrick Henry, Will Fuller, Christian McCaffery, et al.) having entertaining as hell seasons

- the Fall of Oregon

it's a different year than 2012 for sure. A lot less "pinch me," but a lot more "hell fuck yeah!"

JIM. BVG IS A FREAKIN DISASTER JOE SCHMIDT MAKES MY PROSTATE SAD WE ONLY HAVE TWO HEALTHY RUNNING BACKS LEFT BC KELLY AND HIS BIG HONKIN EGO FAILED TO ACCOUNT FOR LOSING THREE OTHERS RECRUITING IS IN THE TOILET AS USUAL AND SHITBRICK AND ALL THE 8 PM STARTS ARE EFFING MY DINNER RESERVATION GAME IN THE A. ONLY POSITIVES ARE PROSISE WHO COULD HAVE BEEN A NICE FOURTH-STRINGER FOR HOLTZ AND THAT SPIRITED YOUNG MAN KELLY TRIED TO KILL DEAD ON THE SIDELINE LAST WEEK WHO MAY GIVE US FOR-CAUSE REASON TO FIRE HIM ASSUMING HE DOESNT BOLT FOR THE NFL LIKE HES BEEN DYING TO DO SINCE HE FIRST BLESSED US WITH HIS FAT CHICKEN-FRIED EGO. THREE OUT OF ONE HUNDERD, JIM.

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potpourri

It would have been over 9 had we beaten Clemson. And beating Stanford would get it over 9.

10 means a national championship.

I don't fret over losses anymore -- Chaz Weis broke me from really caring -- but I really like this team.

There have also been a lot of fun non-ND games and stories, too.

The offense has been a joy to watch, like I discussed below, especially when you frame it with the gut punch of Zaire's injury in week 2. The defense hasn't been as bad as we think and they've been ready when the game is on hte line. Special teams has been up and down with the kickers, but having a punt returner who feels like he could break one at any time is pretty nice.

In addition to all that, there really haven't been any long stretches of frustrating play outside of the Virginia game (which was redeemed by the Kizer bomb).

-We only played BAD against Clemson for about 6 minutes; all credit to them for taking advantage but we almost pulled out the win despite ourselves.
-USC mounted a furious charge but our guys got up off the ground and calmly dispatched a VERY talented team.
-Navy never quite went away but I never felt like we were in danger of losing this game.
-Temple gave us a game but I didn't watch any of it so I didn't experience the angst in real time. I saw the 1st half on replay and it seemed like early Navy: closer than it should have been but didn't feel like we were in danger

This is in sharp contrast to 2012 where I felt like I had run a marathon after every game.

To fully understand the enjoyment of a season, we must first be fluent with its offense, defense and special teams, then ask two questions: 1) How artfully have the three facets of the game been rendered and 2) How important is their objective, which is to say how close is the team to winning a championship? Question 1 rates the team's perfection; question 2 rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining the enjoyment of the season becomes a relatively simple matter.

If the team's score for perfection is plotted on the horizontal of a graph and the team's importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the season yields the measure of its greatness.

An effort by Weis might score high on the horizontal but less than average on the vertical. A Holtzian team, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the season to be truly great.

I give this season a 7 to date; throttle the next two opponents, and I'd raise it to an 8; a win over Stanford would elevate it to a 9.

--
The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope

The face of the team is Kizer and he's an easy player to like -- he's intelligent, humble, and supremely talented -- which makes this season all the more enjoyable. Part of the fun is the discovery aspect -- a complete unknown blossoming into a star before our very eyes. Showtime has given us a lot of insight into the workings and personality of the team as a whole and the individual players. Somebody else suggested that Showtime has been one great commercial dispelling myth after myth about ND. They'll be able to point to this series for a long, long time.

It also helps that the program at large finally and truly feels like it's hitting its stride.

is if we were undefeated with a road win over the now-#1 team in the country, you'd have to, at least, mark it eight, dude. And that's without considering the injuries on offense.

If we go 11-1, is there any way Kelly is not worthy of Coach of the Year honors?