Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly and Notre Dame's Return to Relevance

As Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish enter their final week of preparation leading up to the big game with USC, one can clearly see that the Notre Dame football program is slowly becoming relevant again. 

Much to the chagrin of many football pundits, the Irish have fielded a good team that may make an impressive run of wins and with continued success in recruiting, could emerge as a contender in the years ahead.  

For Irish fans, the 2011 version of Notre Dame v. USC has created a level of excitement and anticipation that has been missing for quite some time.  Aside from the 2005 season, most young Irish fans have not witnessed a game of this magnitude in their lifetime. 

With a win, the Irish may find themselves back in the top twenty with games against Navy, a surprising Wake Forest team, Maryland and Stanford looming.  If the Irish continue to win, they may be in the BCS discussion and it may vault them into the stratosphere in terms of recruiting.

Notre Dame haters have been very clear about their belief that the Irish football program is no longer relevant and, given the state of the current college football landscape, it is impossible for the Irish football program to return to glory.

For those who have seen the Irish in person, Kirk Herbstreit and Urban Meyer among them, they recognize that Brian Kelly and his staff have started assembling a team wrought with great athletes who can compete at a very high level.

This momentum could take a huge hit with a loss to USC, though.  It is the biggest recruiting weekend of the season for the Irish and many of the recruits are looking at both schools.  This may be winner-take-all. 

As for the game itself, the Irish are hitting on all cylinders offensively, but the defense has struggled more than expected this season.  After their total fourth quarter collapse against Michigan and after getting gashed for 365 rushing yards last week against Air Force, the Irish faithful cannot feel too comfortable with their ability to stop a potent USC offense.

If the defense can play well for the entire 60 minutes of this game, then the Irish may come out of this game victorious.  However, Manti Te'o has to raise his level of play for this to happen.  If the secondary gets torched like it has been repeatedly this season, then the Irish may be in for a long day.

This game may come down to a battle of prolific offenses.  Young Tommy Rees must have an outstanding game, he must take good care of the ball and if the ball is in hand in the waning minutes he may be expected again to deliver some late game heroics.  

The Notre Dame vs. USC game of 2011 may be the stuff of legends. Let's just hope that all the legends are wearing golden helmets.