Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1044500
6 NOV. 5, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI F inishing a regular season with four of the final five games on the road is not unique to Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. In 2015, the Fighting Irish were le- gitimately vying for a College Foot- ball Playoff bid, and the situation was somewhat similar to this season with four of the last five games away from home. Following an Oct. 24 bye week, Notre Dame made back-to-back trips to Pennsylvania to play Temple (Oct. 31, a 24-20 win) and Pitt (Nov. 7, a 42-30 conquest), before hosting Wake Forest (Nov. 14, a 28-7 victory). Then, rather than play Boston Col- lege at home in the second to last contest of the season, the decision had been made to play in an iconic baseball venue — Boston's Fenway Park — in the Shamrock Series, in the Eagles' home city. Although the Irish won 19-16, the 10-1 unit dropped to No. 6 in the CFP rankings, mainly because Wake Forest and Boston Col- lege would both finish 3-9. The season was then capped with the annual West Coast trip for the finale, versus Stanford, where any hope of a playoff bid was dashed with a last-second 38-36 loss to fin- ish 10-2. 2015 VS. 2018 Four seasons later, with the 2015 freshmen now seniors, Notre Dame once again will follow the bye week (Oct. 20) by concluding with four of the last five contests on the road. The degree of difficulty was con- sidered similar for the then 7-0 and No. 3 Irish, who control their destiny to advance to the CFP. • It began by playing Navy in San Diego. Although the Midshipmen were only 2-5 and reeling, this year will mark only the second time ever Notre Dame will make two trips to the state of California (in a span of five weeks, no less). The other was in 2007 when the Irish won at both UCLA and Stanford — two of their victories during a 3-9 debacle. • This week, Notre Dame travels to Northwestern, about a two-hour bus drive, to play a team that has been maddeningly inconsistent this year. • On Nov. 10, Senior Day at home will feature Florida State, which has gradually improved after a miser- able start but — under new head coach Willie Taggart — is far from the vintage Seminoles from earlier this decade. • Just like in 2015, the desire to maintain the Shamrock Series came at the price of relinquishing a home game in order to play at an iconic baseball venue, this time Yankee Sta- dium versus Syracuse (Nov. 17) in its home state. The difference is whereas in 2015 Boston College possessed one of the most anemic offenses in the land that UNDER THE DOME ON THE ROAD AGAIN Notre Dame is prepared to take on its season-ending travel itinerary Senior linebacker Te'von Coney and his teammates are trying to use last year's November setbacks, like this one in Miami, as learning tools for this season. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA