Get over it, right?

Traditionally on Sundays and Mondays we look back on Saturday’s games and share statistics, thoughts and opinions but not his week.  Here at Talking Irish re have invoked Brian Kelly’s 24 hour rule; after every game you have 24 hours to cheer or as in this case mourn then move on.  In addition to the mourning we also feel we have bigger fish to fry as it pertains to the 2013 Irish season and what is left of it.  I will do my best to limit the negatives as much as possible so here we go.

Of course we cannot forget where we have been and where we have come from.  It goes without saying that Notre Dame Football has one of the richest and most successful histories in all of sports; 11 National Championships, 7 Heisman Trophy Winners, 97 Consensus All Americans, third all-time in wins, second in all-time winning percentage, 48 players and coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, the most of any university and the list goes on and on.   With a pedigree like that anything other than excellence will surly feel like failure so it is easy to understand why losing is so frustrating for fans of the Irish.  Yes, last season Her Loyal Sons went undefeated during the regular season and mad an appearance in the BCS National Championship game but the Irish have not taken hope a Championship since 1988 (25 years).  As a matter of fact Notre Dame has a below .500 winning percentage in Bowl Games (.468) including going 0-4 in BCS games.

Let’s take a look at where we are; 7-3, not ranked and our of the BCS picture heading into a bye week with two games to go.  First up a 6-3 BYU team whose offense looked pretty good last weekend against a stout Wisconsin defense.   With a win over #15 at the time Texas team BYU cannot be taken lightly by the Irish what so ever.  The Irish then get the privilege of traveling to California to face #4 Stanford.  The Irish will finish 9-3, 8-4 or 7-5, odds are it should be 8-4 but 7-5 is not out of the question.  IF Notre Dame finishes 8-4 that will be 3 out of 4 years Kelly’s Irish have finished with 8 wins, not exactly mind-blowing numbers.  Current Bowl predictions have the Irish facing Duke or Boston College  on December 31 in the (AdvoCare V100 Bowl) Independence Bowl as well as facing Utah State in the Poinsettia Bowl. 

Keeping a team motivated that had put the BCS National Championship game on its schedule at the beginning of the season is going to be a challenge for Kelly and his crew going into these upcoming weeks especially going into a pre New Year’s Day Bowl.  However I am sure Kelly’s boys are more than up to the task of standing tall and playing with and for pride.  I don’t see upperclassmen like Rees, Jones and Martin looking to disappoint in the last games of their college careers.  What is most important now is winning.  Beating BYU and playing will against a #4 (or higher) Stanford team along with any Bowl will would help the Irish finish on a good note.  9-5 with a Bowl game victory in an opportunity to build from heading into spring ball.

Overall it should not hurt the current recruiting status at this point.  Each year every team loses a verbal commit and picks up a commit they weren’t expecting.  I would look for the same with the Irish in this recruiting cycle.  Obviously it is not going to excite players to switch over to Notre Dame on signing day but I would not look for a mass exodus either.

An 8-4 regular season record will make the weeks before a late December bowl against a mediocre opponent seem pretty long.  Of course extra practices after a regular season are always seen as a positive benefit for underclassmen.