Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/102697
at age 51, a time when most college coaches are at their peak. Kelly is 51 this year. In 1974, Parseghian stepped down after a "disappointing" 10-2 finish that included an upset loss at home to four-touchdown underdog Purdue (31‑20), and then surviving fourth-quarter squeakers against Michigan State (19‑14), Rice (10-3), Navy (14‑6) and Pittsburgh (14-10). Why couldn't Notre Dame blow them out? "Hey, they have 11 guys on the other side of the ball who can play, too, and want to beat Notre Dame in the worst way," Parseghian 2013 Notre Dame Football Schedule stated. "They have coaches who are no Aug. 31 Temple (4-7) New coach Matt Rhule was with Owls from 2008-11 before going to NFL. dummies across the way. Sept. 7 at Michigan (8-5) "Now you say, Notre Dame is 1-6 in last seven trips to Ann Arbor. 'You're supposed to Sept. 14 at Purdue (6-7) go out and beat this New coach Darrell Hazell was an eye-opening 11-2 at Kent State in 2012. team bad!' — and Sept. 21 Michigan State (7-6) then you don't do Five of the Spartans' six losses in 2012 were by a combined 13 points. that. A combination Sept. 28 Oklahoma (10-3) of all those things are Fighting Irish own a remarkable 9-1 record against the Sooners. factors that over a peOct. 5 vs. Arizona State (8-5), at Arlington, Texas riod of time will take Sun Devils closed with 62-28 bowl win versus Navy. their toll." Oct. 19 USC (7-6) The late Darrell No coach in America will be sitting on hotter seat in 2013 than Lane Kiffin. Royal won two conOct. 26 at Air Force (6-7) sensus national titles Lost four of the last five games, including 33-14 bowl defeat to Rice. at Texas, but when his last seven years Nov. 2 Navy (8-5) (1970‑76) didn't proIrish have scored at least 50 against Mids each of the past two years. duce one, he felt he Nov. 9 at Pitt (6-7) needed to retire bePanthers have taken Notre Dame to the wall three straight years. cause all the joy in Nov. 23 Brigham Young (8-5) the game had been Cougars have ranked in the top five in defense the past two seasons. sapped. Nov. 30 at Stanford (12-2) Said Holtz: "Darrell 2013 Rose Bowl champs are a sterling 35-5 the past three years. Royal summed it up this great talent you're recruiting? … "Everybody puts you on a pedestal," Holtz said of climbing to the top. "And once you're on a pedestal, no matter what you do, it ain't good enough. We finished second in the country [in 1989 and 1993], and everybody called me an idiot. A guy finishes last at medical school — they call him, 'Doctor.' "When you win, you didn't win impressively enough and you didn't win big enough. You get nothing but criticism after that time." This took a dramatic toll on Parseghian, which is why he stepped down