The story SI could have written

Sports Illustrated covered some intangibles that have little to no effect on the football team, whereas the difference in player recruitment and player management seems the real story.

When Charlie Weis left Notre Dame, his NFL caliber QB and WR, Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, both declared they would forgo their Senior years for the chance to enter the NFL draft in 2010. Per the transcript: Clausen said "I don't think we could have done more than we did this past year." He clearly was speaking of his individual statistics as the team finished 6-6 and refused a bowl game following the departure of Weis. Likewise, Golden Tate said, "But after having the year that I had, I'm not sure if I can even do much better, so I just feel like it was the right time."

Both were drafted in the second round, with Clausen selected and Tate selected 60th overall. Both signed four year contracts; the Carolina Panthers gave Clausen a deal worth between $2.53 million and $6.3 million and the Seattle Seahawks gave Tate $3.261 million. Clausen was rushed into the starting lineup his rookie season and did so poorly the team drafted another QB the following year and Clausen now sits the bench as the third string quarterback who has not played since 2010. His NFL career record is a dismal 9 interceptions and 9 fumbles to only 3 touchdowns with a 58.4 QB rating. Tate's highlight reel begins with a contested play at the center of the replacement referee controversy, but his playing time increased in each season (6 TD this year where the league leader has 11 TD). Clearly not the trajectory either player had in mind when they left Notre Dame. We will never know if Weis stayed and the players picked up another year of eduction if that would have made a difference for either player. At least they would have diplomas had they stayed.

Brian Kelly became the Notre Dame football coach in 2009. After two consecutive 8-5 seasons the team is playing for a national championship this year. The team's flagship defender, Manti Te'o was recruited by Weis and played his freshman season under Weis. After Te'o's junior year, he decided to come back for a senior year instead of heading the NFL despite Mel Kiper projecting him as a first round pick. This season he is in the Heisman Trophy conversation and playing for a national championship. The difference in preparing players for the NFL under Weis and preparing players at the collegiate level under Kelly seems apparent. Attracting talent to play in South Bend, Indiana is harder than other climates but definitely not impossible. The university routinely churns out NFL talent - top 6 per the NFL drafts, the most NFL players ever from any college, and 30 active NFL players came from Notre Dame.

Of course this simplified evaluation of two coaches by the decisions of three players is not particularly fair as one player is not indicative of a trend. Here are two more examples. When Michael Floyd decided to return for his senior year under Coach Kelly he said, "Graduating from Notre Dame will help me for the rest of my life. Second, I want to get Notre Dame back to a BCS game." Darius Walker declared after his junior year under Coach Weis and went on to play in only 4 NFL games . Perhaps these too are simply players making choices that are not reflective of the coaching received. Kyle Rudolph was recruited by Weis and after two years under Weis and one under Kelly he declared for the 2011 NFL draft. Rudolph was a second round draft pick and a regular starter for the Minnesota Vikings.

Then, there are the words of Coach Kelly a little over one year ago, which directly indicated his recruiting attracted different players than Coach Weis: "You can see the players that I recruited here, You know who they are. We've had one class … that I've had my hand on. The other guys here are coming along. But it's a process. It can't happen overnight. They're getting there. We're making good progress." That December, Dayne Crist transferred from Notre Dame to play QB under Coach Weis at Kansas (as a fifth year senior who has a bachelor degree from ND). The change from a QB recruited by Weis to a QB recruited by Kelly accelerated the change in personnel, perhaps for a symbolic redefinition of the team. Mike Ragone also transferred a week after Dayne Crist. He caught two balls this year as a graduate student playing for Kansas. Likewise, Anthony McDonald went from ND to Kansas and had only 12 tackles this year. These other players chose to play for Weis instead of remaining on the nationally competitive Notre Dame football team.

The story for the 2012 Notre Dame football team remains defense. While Te'o is of course amazing the team has a lot of players delivering quality performances on a consistent basis. One player does not make a defensive goal line stance. ND lead the nation in scoring allowed, with the 4th ranked rushing defense that allowed only 2 rushing touchdowns all year. The BCS championship against Alabama will determine the best team, a match of great defenses. Arguably, defense requires more coaching and talent than offense. Defending the entire field is perhaps harder than handing the ball off to an elite back or allowing a superb quarterback to throw the ball every down. An offense can win with fewer players but a defense cannot. This is not a guaranteed credit for Coach Kelly as history will record his performances on the whole over time, but certainly the last three years suggest a control over the team that is much better than the team was accustomed to and for the benefit of all involved.