I’m not excited about this class. Baker is the only kid I think is an elite kid. I do think ND has figured out how to avoid the yearly potholes that seem to cripple promising runs. They’ve gotten ahead of the game and appear very organized. I can’t say that about other years.

Davie and Weis both sucked for various reasons. As did Lou his last two years. Everyone of them left major holes.

I believe we’ve figured out how to be Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has capped the last five seasons with bowl wins, including a Cotton and an Orange.

Some years, I'd kill to be Wisconsin.

That gets you excited?

I'd rather be in the playoffs or in the playoff conversation.

So let's just go with the Orange Bowl win. Better than any bowl result we've had in at least 25 years.

They're in the Big Ten West which includes: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Purdue.

Beating up on those teams, losing your conference championship, and then getting invited to one of the big bowls because you finished 2nd in the Big Ten isn't impressive to me.

I'd rather lose in a playoff game then beat Western Michigan in a bowl game.

under Brian Kelly. I'm not.

I think the six pack of teams you rattled off is actually more impressive than the six pack of duds we'll be playing this year (New Mexico, Bowling Green, Duke, Boston College, Navy, and Louisville).

If we can win those gimme games, handle the other teams we should beat at home (UVA, USC, Va Tech), and manage to win two out of three against Michigan, Georgia, and Stanford, we'll get another invite to a big bowl game, where we'll probably get our asses handed to us again.

Rinse and repeat.

South Florida, Central Michigan, Kent State, Illinois, and Iowa.

I never said I was happy with how things are currently. I said I'd never trade for what Wisconsin has going - which is nothing.

If you never get to the playoffs, you can never actually win them.

out that if we were to have been matched with an "up and comer" like WMU in the playoffs completely with "hot/fast rising super coach" with cool slogans ("row the boat") many on this and other boards (perhaps even you) would bemoan our fate of having to play such a hot team with "nothing to lose."

wouldn't count that as a Cotton Bowl win, but it's trumpeted as a huge victory for someone like Wisconsin because it took place in the Cotton Bowl.

I think Wisconsin ought to be ashamed of their out of conference scheduling and I've said so for years. I believe it's how Alvarez got that program back on it's feet when he got there so they are scared to change things for fear of not having success.

That said, they have plenty of big game wins over the past few decades and I'm not going to look down on them as a program. ND has shit away a lot of great opportunities during that same time frame.

...and ND has made essentially 2 in the last decade.

Wisconsin’s 2 latest bowl wins have come against #12 WMU and # 11 Miami.

We’ve played #2 Clemson (won NC), #7 OSU (underrated), and #2 Alabama.

Not exactly comparable.

It’s not clear that Wisconsin is in a better position. They’ve just played worse teams in their bowl games.