half of the country may have thought that usc would have beaten the 2002 bucks, but they didn't deserve the chance with two losses.
half of the country isn't impressive either. all the country outside of ohio state die hards thought miami would roll the buckeyes.
you do have a tough schedule but there is really no excuse for losing to teams like stanford, bc, navy, pitt, and byu. hell if you were still a superpower of college football the only three teams on that schedule that should give you a slight problem are michigan, tennessee, and usc. it is a tough schedule but it isn't impossible by any means. .500 for ty would be an improvement and it will usher in the urban meyer era in 2005.
i do have lots of respect for ND (and not just because ND owns nearly 20% of my employer and all the founders in chicago are ND grads) and i have seen every ND game for at least the past 10 years that didn't conflict with the buckeyes. i don't expect to see more than 5 wins at best. you will be a decided underdog at home against michigan, washington, and purdue. you will be a massive dog on the road at michigan state (even without dick smoker at QB), tennessee, and southern cal. best case scenario is 5 - 6 i would imagine. anything over .500 would be a good season but not good enough to save ty's job without an assist from jesse jackson or johnnie cochran.