Let's not panic about coach Brian Kelly at Notre Dame.

Don't forget Lou Holtz went 5-6 his first season too at Notre Dame.

Two years later they won a national championship.

Kelly would be 3-0 with a bit of Irish luck.

He knows he has some cards he has been dealt that are busted flushes.


His team cannot stop the run -- they are 99th in ranking against it.

It cost them against Michigan when Dennard Robisnon ran amok.

It cost them at key moments against MSU too.

Wait until next year is the cry.

There is actually a lot of truth to that. Kelly is already proving to be an incredible recruiter.

But they can still make a bowl game this year.

They need to defeat Stanford on Saturday to do it.

The 19th ranked Cardinals have shown how a program can be motivated to play beyond and above itself.

Despite major recruiting problems because of academic standards Jim Harbaugh has tuned his team into winners.

Kelly needs to take a leaf out of Harbaugh's book and do the same.

The future starts on Saturday.