Several factors

by beattherush, Chicago, Friday, May 22, 2026, 07:28 (5 days ago) @ BillyGoat

1) Agreed, we've been hurt by some teams falling off. FSU, Wisconsin, MSU, Purdue, Stanford all are well off their recent norms. But that's why the old "tiers" scheduling discussion over on NDN matters. Our problem, beyond the Kent State kvetching, is more a failure to schedule at the top end than at the bottom. Look at how OSU and Alabama schedule vs. ND in the later Swarbrick/Kelly years.

2) Swarbrick, who was over-focused on metrics and revenue flow and being "in the conversation" vs. fucking winning the national championship. I don't know if he thought it was too hard for ND in the current environment or just didn't care. But the NC was an aspiration, not a goal, for JS.

3) Kelly, who was our version of Lincoln Riley. It's always going to be that asshole's fault to some extent. Statue, my ass.

4) Jenkins. He was the boss. He was better than Monk. That's faint damn praise.

5) The BoT. I suspect there are folks better placed than I to judge their particular failings.