Rocky Start for Irish

After a heart-wrenching 34-31 loss to rival Michigan State, Notre Dame already finds themsevles at a crossroads for the 2010 season. While most expectations were lukewarm for the Irish, this season can quickly spiral out of control for Brian Kelly in Year #1.

At 1-2, the schedule doesn't give Notre Dame too many favors over the next three weeks with games against Stanford, at Boston College, and Pittsburgh. Breaking down the rest of the schedule, seven wins could be the best-case scenario for Notre Dame.

Even having dropped two out of three to Navy, you have to expect Notre Dame to beat the Midshipmen when the teams meet later this season. Tulsa, Western Michigan, and Army, will all be easy victories barring catastrophe. There are five wins. The rest of the schedule is anyone's guess. Notre Dame will have to go at least 1-4 against Stanford, at Boston College, Pittsburgh, Utah, and at USC. That should be do-able to get bowl eligible. However, 2-3 over those five games may be asking too much.

I promosted myself that I wouldn't judge Brian Kelly on wins and losses in his first year. That was already done with Tyrone Willingham (10-3) and Charlie Weis (9-3) and we all know how those eras ended up. But, with a 1-5 start a realistic possibility, the margin for error is shrinking.