Notre Dame has a game with Michigan State later today. This team is in big trouble. While I no longer believe they will be in the elite again, another 0-3 start is inconceivable. Michigan State is a very good team, but for Notre Dame to lose and go 0-2 at home is almost unimaginable.
This team does have some talent, definitely too much talent to be 0-3. At the beginning of the season I picked Notre Dame to go 11-2 and win a BCS game. This seems highly unlikely given they would have to win eleven straight games and after the week 1 and 2 performances that would be a small miracle.
I want to believe it is possible, but with the lapse in coaching and the breakdown in coverages on defense, not to mention the inconsistent play on offense and fumbles and interceptions in the red zone, it seems highly unlikely.
This team lacks the killer instinct that it takes to get to the top let alone stay at the top. Notre Dame has to get to the point where it recruits so much talent that they can overcome these errors because there is too much talent waiting in the wings trying to be the next big thing.
However, Notre Dame will never be able to recruit this way because they do not consistently win and it is hard to build when your recruiting pitch is you can play early. Great recruits do not care who is ahead of them and know that they will hit the field their freshman year. They have that confidence they will play. B-level recruits need that enticement. A-level recruits do not.
Notre Dame was recruiting well and has still held on to all committed recruits so far. Today’s game against Michigan State will go a long way to keeping them.