To be sure, there were some college prognosticators who envisioned Notre Dame having a rather mediocre year during Brian Kelly's inaugural campaign. But to them a 7 and 5 record was the absolute basement to which the Irish would fall. No one, not even their harshest critic, foresaw the Domers having to scrap like crazy just to avoid a losing season.

Yet, here we sit, as the calendar flips over to November with ND listing badly with a totally unacceptable 4 and 5 slate. Despite the expected hiccups and growing pains Kelly's regime figured to encounter during its first go-round in South Bend, nary a soul could have guessed it would be this bad. Quite frankly, ND's plight is shocking. It almost defies belief. Week after week the news seems to become more disheartening and difficult to process. Thinking about ND's current sorry state can't help but leave every Irish follower slack-jawed and astonished in the negative.

Hard as it may be to fathom, the Domers are about to put the capper on yet another stinker season. That will make four successive years of dismal results. At least on the field, Notre Dame football is rapidly becoming irrelevant. When Navy bests you in three of four years, when you blow and give away contests to the likes of Syracuse, Connecticut and Tulsa, you've lost most of your credibility. Your mojo is all but gone. You've become just another team that's not very interesting to watch.

Sorry to say but losing to supposed inferior foes has become commonplace for the Irish. And forget about getting the better of an upper echelon squad. The Irish are now working on a most dubious streak, having failed in their last 11 tries against a rated opponent. Be truthful now. Does anyone really think that this flawed and psychologically challenged team can muscle up and possibly beat a ranked club such as Utah or a talented outfit like USC? At this moment, the answer to that question is a resounding no way!

To be fair, there's no doubt that serious and, in some cases, season-ending injuries to front-line players like Kyle Rudolph, Armando Allen, Michael Floyd, Theo Riddick, Dayne Crist and Ian Williams, have crippled the Irish. Those losses exposed what everyone knew was an Achilles' heel for the Domers, namely an obvious lack of depth. The drop-off from those injured to those replacing them has been substantial. As currently constituted, ND ain't all that deep.

But in spite of this alarming attrition, the Irish still could have tacked on three more wins to their ledger had it not been for a defense that broke down at the most inopportune times.

Despite Kelly's insistence, which borders on bleating, that in an overall sense his defense has performed admirably, the fact remains that in key moments of trial, the Domer defenders blink with regularity. They flinch when it matters the most.

Against Michigan when stopping a late drive would have spelled victory, the Irish allowed Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson to pass and run them into oblivion.

Versus Michigan State, the defense/special teams came unglued and completely botched a fake field goal attempt that enabled the Spartans to score a stunning overtime victory.

We'll mention the Navy game only in passing since in that contest the Irish defense was a total no-show. The Midshipmen's option attack ran through the Domers with ridiculous ease.

And just this last week, with the game on the line, the ND defense capitulated again by allowing Tulsa to convert on a 3rd and 26 situation that led to the deciding field goal.

Yes, the offense under freshman signal caller Tommy Rees made some major gaffes and deserves its share of the blame. But it was the defense that was the biggest culprit when things reached critical mass.

Yet, you can't lay this latest Irish meltdown entirely on the defense. There was plenty of fault to go around, some of which must be shouldered by Kelly himself. Already comfortably positioned to try a potential game-winning field, the Irish coach got greedy, went ultra aggressive and watched in exasperation as Rees tossed an under-thrown interception into tight coverage.

It was questionable judgment at best, perhaps even a bit of a brain cramp.

The result? A crestfallen home crowd, end of ballgame and loss number five added to a total that seems destined to grow larger.

Notre Dame football has become so ordinary, so run-of-the-mill that virtually no outcome comes as a surprise anymore. Expectations are reaching an ebb tide. Once, long ago, you knew the Irish were going to compete with abandon and, most likely, win. Now, they seem lost and incapable of producing even a single game of solid and consistent play for 60 minutes. These Irish can't sustain jack.

There are a multitude of reasons to explain why the Irish have fallen on such rocky times. Many of those reasons have been detailed in numerous articles that appear on this website.

But one that hasn't gotten much play needs to be mentioned. Specifically, that this current senior class has been populated to the extreme by a bunch of underachievers. Based strictly on the numbers, you can't help but question virtually everything about this group due to graduate in May. No class in ND grid history has rung up more losses. It's as if they've been conditioned to defeat, have become accepting of failure.

And their inability to come up clutch, to hang tough when tested, to close out games that were there for the taking, is striking. Whether it was smarts, heart, determination, passion or some other missing ingredient, this contingent was sorely lacking in something. On balance, they couldn't execute and they certainly never learned how to get the job done. Sad to say but their departure will not be cause for tears. They'll leave unlamented and stained by their inability to deliver on even a modest level.

But the class of 2011 is now immaterial. It's what the future holds that's important. But, based upon the recent past, who could possibly be all that encouraged about what lies ahead?

It was hoped that Brian Kelly could work some magic in his maiden season with the Irish. But injuries, inheriting a scarred team and some blunders of his own have brought him to a point of frustration.

Charlie Weis put the Irish in the muck and mire. As much as he has tried, Kelly hasn't been able to extricate them from that gunk and goo. It's apparent there will be no quick fixes. That a resurrection of Irish football, if there's ever to be one, will take lots of time. The growing pains won't be short-lived.