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That's a simplistic analysis that isn't very useful. by tdiddy07

The original poster's point was that, though 6-6 when Weis was fired, there was ample talent for that team to be better in the following year. And that was correct. Weis's last two teams were young with a thin roster, and Kelly inherited a stable of good recruiting classes Kelly. This includes several guys that spent 4-6 years in the NFL, as well as guys with longevity like Te'o and a possible NFL Hall of Famer in Harrison Smith. (To say nothing of the surefire NFL Hall of Famer in Zack Martin). Kelly didn't inherit 6-6 talent. A decent college coach would've been expected to get more out of that. He inherited at least 8-5 talent, which was Kelly's record despite choking against Navy and Tulsa.

Similarly, Kelly didn't leave a Top 5 team because he didn't leave Top 5 talent. The leading RB and WR were gone, as were the All-American safety. ND's upper classes this year were in the 13th to 18th range in recruiting, and there were big gaps in offensive recruiting. There were holes at WR and QB that would've affected Kelly just as much as they would've affected Freeman.

Going into the year, 8-4 was my baseline expectation because of these deficiencies. But I expected the team to be notably better at the end of the year because of these shortcomings and because the line was still young and developing. It would've taken a huge leap from Buchner to do better than this. This assessment proved to be accurate. Despite choking to Marshall and Stanford, the team looked a lot better by years' end.

All in all, both Kelly and Freeman more or less performed in line with the situation they were dealt. Both adjusted. Kelly ran the ball more at the end of 2010 to win. Freeman also may or may not have exerted more influence in offensive game planning to pound the ball after early season failures and qb injury. Obviously, the SC game was a setback. I'm still hopeful that we respond in the bowl game against a decent opponent.