Brian Kelly says he still believes but the Notre Dame coach is starting to sound like General Custer waiting for the cavalry to arrive.

Meanwhile his team is getting scalped.

His team ranks last, yes last of 120 colleges in turnovers, having committed 10 in just two games.They are ranked 103rd in conceding penalties.

That is enough to cancel out that they are ranked an excellent 13th in offense and a decent 52nd in defense.

Kelly claims however, he is sticking with his plan.

"We're shaping our team every single day," Kelly said. "There are so many details to that – all you guys care about and our fans (care about) is that it equals wins. And I understand that. We're not doing that for them.

"I understand the frustration, but we're building it the right way. We’ll get them there. We're not there yet, I know this journey all too well. I've been on it before. It's frustrating, it's disappointing, it's all those things. But there are too many good things happening out there for us not to break through."

"Every school, every place I've been has challenges," Kelly said. "Not one school is the same. I had challenges at all the schools I've been at in terms of getting the team over. There's inherent challenges here. But we'll get through those as well.

"The product we're putting out on the field, I understand we gotta win. Our players want to win. We've got the chance to be a good team. We can't be a good team until we take care of the little things. Until we get those things taken care of on Saturdays, we'll be mediocre."

Mediocre doesn't describe what they were in the fourth quarter against Michigan.

Awful dreadful, ridiculous just might.