quote:
2. Norte Dame - everyone thinks that we should win, but they are not a "cupboard bare" program by any stretch, losing early could sure take the wind out of our sails...

I have no idea what to think of that game, mostly because I have no idea what to think of our team.

Kelly has lost me and a chunk of our fanbase for good, but I'll give the guy credit and say he made two good coordinator hires in the offseason, so who really knows. I think UGA should have been favored in the initial line.

We've got a ton of talent on offense; I really like what I've seen from Wimbush; and our offensive line should, in theory, be one of the better groups in the country. On the other hand, we have holes everywhere on defense, especially on the DL and at safety.

Kelly's Notre Dame teams have all followed a pretty similar pattern: they are never quite as good as they appeared (2012, 2015) or never quite as bad they appeared (2011, 2013, 2016). Supposedly, we weren't nearly as bad as our record suggested last year (only game we lost by more than a TD was USC), and advanced metrics supported that. We always have a pretty good amount of talent - we were 5th in the country in NFL picks under Kelly's tenure until this last draft when we dropped down to 9th or 10th (and I believe you guys were one of the programs that passed us) - but we can never seem to put our foot on opponents' throats. Like clockwork, we lose at least one game we have no business losing and then will have at least one game where we go out and handle a really good team with ease - it's been like that almost every year.

I'll say that it will be a tight game pretty much the entire game and then Kelly will make a boneheaded decision late in the 4th, and you guys will pull it out by a FG or so.

This post was edited on 7/24/17 at 2:06 pm