Hate to say this but ND may be back in 2009

Excuse me, but JC will not be a junior. He will be a 1,991st year senior.

He's seen every defense possible, but his footwork can only be described as feeble.

dude, they played hawaii last night. great, they had their best game of the year but again, it was against hawaii in a game where nothing mattered. yeah, they will most likely be better than this year but so will we. also, why write this on xmas?

Notre Dame is returning to glory!

How many years have they been saying this?

Also Steve Smith, Desean Jacksonm, Eddie Royal, Sproles, Percy Harvin and other "smurf" WR laugh at you. Guess if you were coach they would all be 6'5 Calvin Johnson's?

Also love how you think JC (who is the biggest d-bag to come along in college football in awhile) can improve with another year, but Odoms can not?

So glad that you see a guy play once and they are labled for their entire career.

Did a 5 foot smurf steal your GF?

Merry Christmas to everyone else except this closet domer.

finds a nut now and again.

I hope ND does get great again. Michigan should be playing great teams. The BCS lesson is tht if you are going to lose, lose early and to another BCS team. Besides, when ND is good, those are monster freakin games to watch. With Dantonio having "found" a couple nuts this season, our SOS is improved. ND, MSU, OSU every year. Throw in Penn Sewks, and maybe an dIowa or Illnoise and Whiskey Iand teh Wiscy Banned) and well, looks like some rather bombzoid football watching for a spell. In fact, the Big Ten is cycling to once again be the premier conference again. Gonna be fun to watch.

Next season is gonna be like that last scene in Resovoir Dogs when everybody gets to bustin caps at each other in the empty factory. I think UM will bust up some teams, and get busted up--all in the same game. Its gonna be bloody, spectacular, depressing and confusing.

Just tell me--at which positions are we NOT going to improve at least a little next year?

Anyway, the ND is going to be huge in 2009.

we pushed them around this year but lost due to fumbling too much. They are young and talented, but guess what? So are we. Do you really think the 'gap' between us will explode all of a sudden?

And they did have problems running the ball, and Jimmah! still has issues when he's pressured. But boy, when he wasn't pressured ... those were some gorgeous throws. He was near-perfect.

They'll definitely be better, but there's still reason to believe that Big Fat Charlie will keep the talent underperforming - the problem is, with the talent he has, that still may be 8-4 or 9-3 (remember, they've got a hideous schedule next year).

But you didn't really expect ND to stay down forever, did you? As others have pointed out, this still beats the alternative, which is if they had an Urban Meyer or a Brian Kelly to turn this talent into an 11-1 team.

they would finish with decent records after pillow fighting all year and get smoked against real opponents (e.g. LSU, OSU, ummm anyone they've played since 1993).

So I guess if finishing 7-6 and keeping up with the likes of Hawaii means they're back then I say "welcome".

It's amazing how good a QB can look when his offensive line plays well for the first time in, well, Clausen's entire career? That team will only go as far as their O-line takes them, and unless the O-line can repeat what they did last night (and add a running game) Notre Dame still won't be as good as they think they should be next year.

Won't be the end of the world if we lose to them next year though. That will be Weis's 5th year with them. It will be RR's second, and while we obviously expect (and will get) improvement, it wouldn't be a total shock to see us lose that game since most of Notre Dame's players will have played 2 or even 3 seasons with regular playing time in their system already. By all rights they should be expecting to go 10-2 or better with that kind of talent and experience. That is, if they had a good college coach. Which they don't.

was quite impressive even if it was Hawaii. With lard ass up in the box, content with feeding his face, the little bitch had Her way with Hawaii. After the game I'm sure most ND Fans left the game feeling they were screwed out of the BCS Championship. After all they did win a bowl game-even if they had to leave the the mainland to do it. Bottom line- ND won a game,JC is still a queen and it's still ND.

....was the worst bowl team out there.

They only qualified due to a three game winning streak in November against NMSU, Idaho and Wassau, which had four wins between them.

I expected ND to win this handily, anything else would have raised red flags. All that last night's game proved is that ND could finish in the top half of the WAC.

I do agree that JC passing to Floyd and Tate will be a challenge for most teams next year, but they still dont have a good D and the OL, while improved, may have hit its ceiling.....I say that because while they protected JC better this year, they still had zero ability to open holes and move the chains with the running game.

I still feel next year's game in AA is a pick em....please dont forget that the ceiling for UM is high since it had one the youngest teams in all of CFB....we will be back and it will happen sooner than most of the worry worts and naysayers think.

ND has a another cupcake schedule next year and i'd say it's 15 years in the making that they'll most likely have a good season next year. But wasn't this the year they were suppose to be back? And yes, the talent they have will start to produce. We saw glimpses of it this year.

But, this bowl win was expected. Sad to say, ND's scout team put up more of a fight in practice than HI did last night.

Still can't wait for Pickle Boy to get arrested for public intoxication today and for soliciting a gay hooker.

i cant see odoms getting less playing time next year. he's going to be the best slot guy because he has a year of being the primary receiver under his belt
also, hawaii's secondary was pretty bad last night. we'll see how they do next year

When UM played ND this year, one QB shone and one did not. Guess which was which, blueman?

why don't you just change your name to "blue and gold man", and save us from any more your gems. Like this one: "I don't care about anything but the final score."

Things I saw watching this game:
-ND running two guys out on routes and having 8 guys blocking.
-Golden Tate is very fast, and mid-major CBs can't cover him.
-For some reason, Hawaii didn't give their corners safety help on the outside, or the inside... the WRs were hitting the outside and inside seams very well.
-ND can't run the football. I'm not sure if NDs O-line just can't run block, or what, but those Hawaii LBs were in the backfield before Jimmah could turn around to handoff the ball.
-ND couldn't do anything on 1 and 2 down. On 3rd and 4th, it seemed like they were always good for at least 20 yards.
-Jimmah can put the ball where it needs to go, downfield, but I didn't seem much of his midrange passing.

Because they just beat Hawaii? Last time i checked that shouldn't be a big deal for Notre Dame and it sure as hell does not mean they will be back...

an article on fanhouse pointed out that hawaii (7-7) is the 2nd best team notre dame beat in terms of win pct. the best was navy (8-5)
http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2008/12/25/bowl-season-08-we-get-it-not...

made worse by your further comments.

I have to say, Jimmah looked great. He was making fantastic throws, but every time that he did, they zoomed in on his face, and I became angry again. Did anyone else notice the hang ten sign from him to the crowd after he scored a TD? It was so obnoxious. I hope he gets beat up by his brothers for being a brat, that would be justice.

And what is up up with the number of players on that team that are balding? Steroids much?

X-Mas FAIL!

ND still has significant problems. Last night's win alone (over a mediocre to bad team) shouldn't be cause for concern for you guys. To be honest, I'm sort of pessimistic that Weis will figure out how to address these issues.

On the other hand, you'll soon be seeing a Notre Dame team with more talent than all but a handful of teams on the country. It's all frosh and sophomores right now, but its working its way up. Please save the "return to glory again LOL!" comments. That unfortunate slogan was never made when ND had top tier talent.

I'm not trying to stir things up, not trying to tell you we're a lock to be a top 5 team for the next 10 years, etc. Any objective observer should laugh at Weis and the current staff for the pathetic offensive line and run game of the past couple years. All I'm saying is that there's a chance, just a chance, that a) Weis will learn from and address his mistakes (just like Rich should after this year) and b) some problems of the last 2 years will disappear as these very talented young players become veterans.

In other words, just don't act TOO shocked and saddened if ND becomes a very good team over the course of the next 2 years, OK?!

seriously? this team lost to syracue but beating hawaii is reason enough to prove they're back? i mean, really ? do you believe that ? they lost to syracuse. they're just as bad as they ever were.

I think there is a lot of people here just running with this whole syracuse thing. Notre Dame was a bad team this year. That does not dictate how bad they will be next year. They showed signs of improving greatly this year (yes, they were that bad the year before). They will make a step again this next year. If Weis is in fact using his "pro offense" philosophy, I wouldnt be surprised if it takes three or four years for the skill players to develop. Its not a smart plan, but its not that unrealistic.

That said, I don't think they will return to their "greatness" next year. Their version of "greatness" is a long term description, not a one year. If they did happen to win 10 games next season, that doesn't mean they "are back." That may just be a fluke season. I do however think that Notre Dame will be better than we are again next year. I think they will win more games than they did this year. I think they will actually look good in some of those wins too (unlike the Navy game this year).

What can be learned from the Hawaii game is what ND's offense can do when the O-Line can give Jimmah enough time. But when they play real D lines, we'll see how well the O-Line can perform. Their WRs are pretty solid. They will be much better next year and will probably win 9 games, but as mentioned by others, it's because of the week schedule.

That being said, I still think we'll beat ND next year. I went to the ND game this past year and wasn't too terribly impressed. We gave them that game- LITERALLY and this year was an atrocious one.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-26-mitchell-aroundtowndec26,0,2...

"Desmond Howard: Michigan will return to top faster than Notre Dame"

I think it's impossible for ND to return to this "greatness". It's kind of media-hype that's been created like the second coming of Jimmah Christ.

No, but seriously. Notre Dame will not be on top. They may be close, but until they have a coach who can develop the talent that is piled on that roster, they won't. I promise you.

Blueman/Dana, you didn't really take time out on Christmas Day to visit the websites of opposing schools, did you? Ouch.

and having a schedule that is 25% service academies how will Notre Dame ever be a power again? I mean, if you play these types of schedules this day and age you will NEVER know how good you are until you line up against quality opponents.

And January is way too late to find that out...