Notre Dame Needs To Rebuild Quickly To Face Future Schedules

Recently, Notre Dame hasn't been known for their strength of schedule, frequently getting ragged on by the press and fans for not facing big time programs outside of USC and, in some instances, Michigan.

Over the last few months, however, the Irish have added Texas and Miami (FL) to their future schedules, in addition to the two-game series they set up with Oklahoma that begins in 2012 (the same year they play Miami).

Could it be a money thing? Additional national exposure? Pressure that came from almost being forced into a conference? With Notre Dame, you can't rule those out. But perhaps this is Notre Dame's latest foray into the 'Return to Glory' that started eight years ago, but has yet to pan out.

There's no doubt Brian Kelly seems to be a better "at first glance" hiring than Bob Davie, Ty Willingham, or Charlie Weis. Bob Davie was a career assistant around the collegiate level, Willingham showed only marginal success at Stanford, and Weis had never been a college coach. Kelly, on the other hand, has had the Midas Touch in his first three jobs, all on college teams.

It seems Notre Dame has finally woken up and realized that they are a college team that needs a top of the line college coach and a top of the line schedule to match, something we haven't seen since the Lou Holtz era.

On the surface, it seems a little presumptuous, but for Notre Dame, this is nothing new. Each new coach brings an almost 1990's era Miami swagger until the third loss of a given season, which is when Notre Dame hits the panic button, followed by the reset button. If Brian Kelly isn't the guy, and can't build a winner within his first two years, Notre Dame might be taken off life support and finally officially dead...or in this case, just too irrelevant to care about.

Here are some things we can count on for 2012 if Notre Dame hasn't turned it around by then: There's a good chance ND's decline into obscurity could be internationally seen in the first week of the season when they play Navy in Ireland. Pittsburgh won't be an easy game. BYU has shown that they are much improved since their last go-around with the Irish. Oklahoma will probably be their usual powerhouse selves. There's no possible way Michigan won't be at least somewhat improved, and USC will be extremely hungry for a national title in their first year after the end of their current probation.

If Notre Dame has gotten its act together and has indeed 'Returned to Glory' like they promised so long ago, then even one loss on that schedule still might get them to a National Title. But if they are not ready, and haven't improved significantly by then, that's a seven or eight loss season waiting to happen and basically the end of Notre Dame football.

Brian Kelly seems to have gotten off to a bit of a slow start but with only a spring game, a couple of intrasquad scrimmages, and his quotes to go off on, we can't really make an assumption at this point on where they are in their third transitional period of the decade.