The fact is, it's HARD to win at Notre Dame.
Here's why:
1-No redshirts: Virtually ever other program in the country allows them, but ND doesn't. When a kid comes to ND, their eligibility clock starts as soon as they hit campus. This is a huge obstacle.
Lore. Tom Zbikowski redshirted in 2003 and is currently a 5th year senior.
2-Academics: A lot of high profile recruits simply can't get in.
That's false as well. ND does have very high academic standards, but Lou Holtz got them in, and Charlie Weis is getting them in, too. Look at the top recruits, and ND is in the mix for most of them. Academics is definitely not an excuse for mediocrity.
3-No JUCOs: Junior College players can be used to shore up key positions while you wait for a freshman to develop. ND doesn't recruit JUCOs.
Neither does Michigan. We've had 2 that I can remember in 15 years. OSU? Don't recall JuCos there either. JuCos are recruited chiefly by schools looking to rebuild quickly. They are not relied on by top programs to sustain excellence.
4-No conference affiliation: Some would say this doesn't matter, but conference play allows for weak spots in your schedule.
I would say playing Navy, Air Force, Stanford, Duke, etc. allow for weak spots as well. It's no surprise that Penn State dominated college football as an independent and has struggled since joining the Big Ten. As an independent, you can tailor your schedule to your liking. Schedule 1 or 2 big time games to get the national exposure, a couple of mid-level teams that look good on paper, and some fluff. When you join a conference, the mid-level and low-level teams are familiar with you and can gameplan much better.
5-A challenging schedule almost every single year: This year's ND sched. hasn't been as tough as some, but typically ND plays a very difficult schedule year in and year out as opposed to some top teir BCS teams who may have only two or three games a year that the results of are in doubt when you look at the sched. before the season.
Again, ridiculous. Look at ND's schedule this year. The "elite" teams out of the bunch are USC, Michigan and Penn State. The latter two are really not all that good. Then there are some mid-level teams like BC (who is worse than their record indicates), Purdue, GT and MSU. Finally, they have the fluff with Navy, Air Force, Stanford and Duke. It's the exact same as playing in the Big Ten. Hell, if ND joined the SEC, they would get smoked on a weekly basis.
ND does have a lot of tradition and prestige on its side, but as a practical matter, those don't count for much on game day. ND should have been better this year (most who follow CFB knew this would be a down year) but I'm not surprised he has struggled. He's recruited very well which is what he will need to do to turn it around.
Charlie has struggled not because of talent, but because he doesn't know what he is doing. As someone who has been in both college and pro football, I can tell you they are night and day. He took his college team through camp with minimal contact. He tried to install special gameplans. This isn't the NFL. ND can continue to bring in highly ranked classes. It doesn't matter. They have 25 rivals 4-5 star players on their roster right now, more than almost all of the teams they've lost to. You think Air Force is rocking a team of 4 stars?
