Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 5, 2018 7 UNDER THE DOME averaged a paltry 10.6 points during its final 10 games in which it went 1‑9, the 2018 Orange has been one of the more potent offenses in the na‑ tion, ranking ninth nationally with a 42.6 scoring average entering the final weekend of October. • Finally, the regular season will conclude with the Nov. 24 outing at archrival USC, back on the West Coast. The Trojans are not in the same ball park as the 2015 Stanford team that finished 13‑1 and No. 3 in the country (its highest finish since 1940). USC also was defeated 17‑3 this year by a Stanford team that lost 38‑17 at Notre Dame. Nevertheless, the Fighting Irish have lost a school‑record five straight regu‑ lar‑season finales to either the Trojans or Stanford, and head coach Clay Hel‑ ton was 19‑0 in the Los Angeles Me‑ morial Coliseum entering the Oct. 27 weekend when it hosted Arizona State. Above all, the lessons from the past five years and the late‑season swoons have provided a blueprint on how to approach this year's home stretch. PROACTIVE ACTION While only one game can be played at a time, the cumulative effect of such travel is what Kelly and his staff are looking at in the overall picture. Because of the 8 p.m. EST kickoff versus Navy last weekend, Notre Dame remained in California over‑ night before leaving the next day and arriving home later on Sunday after‑ noon in an effort to keep the collec‑ tive body clock in sync. Consistent hydration and proper sleep were mandated during the journey, rather than forcing a trip home around 1 a.m. and not arriving until the dawn hours on Sunday. "We stay on the eastern standard clock on the way out," Kelly stated. "We're really just trying to take this as a quick business trip out, use the flight back as a rest, kind of recovery, on the way back. "Sundays for our guys sometimes are met with, if it's a home game, go‑ ing out with their family, doing a lot of things, up on their feet. They'll be on a flight for four‑and‑a‑half hours, maybe picking up a little bit more rest. This was really about trying to make sure that when we get back here sometime around 4 p.m. [Sun‑ day] that we don't put ourselves be‑ hind relative to the rest and recovery. "… Getting out there hydrated, staying on the eastern standard clock, playing the game, staying over, getting a good night's sleep, getting on the plane, using that as an oppor‑ tunity to rest so when we get back here we're not feeling the effects of the West Coast trip." RECHARGING BATTERIES Fifth‑year senior linebacker and team captain Drue Tranquill is the model to emulate when it comes to taking care of his body seven days a week with proper rehab, but he also has a much more favorable course load than during his undergraduate days as an engineering major. "It's a lifestyle for him more so," Kelly said. "Generally you see that from much more mature professional athletes. I see that more from some of our players that come back that are now professional athletes, that now get how important their body is to them in their vocation." Kelly understandably did not sup‑ port moving the Syracuse game to New York, but he told Blue & Gold Illustrated last summer that steps were taken within the infrastructure — specifically the training and medi‑ cal offices — to help ensure a much stronger finish than the 9‑12 record over the past five Novembers. "My task was, 'Here's what your schedule is, here's what we're doing, go figure out how to be rested in No‑ vember,' and that's what I'm work‑ ing on," he said last summer. "Those are difficult things for football teams to handle late in the season with all of that travel. "I have to be proactive in doing the things necessary to keep this football team fresh." This has included the addition of recovery rooms, float tanks, massage therapy, cold tubs, proper nutrition … "It's the battle of how you can stay just ahead of the needle relative to recovery," Kelly said. "That's not necessarily just here, but some of the schools that are really on a tightrope as it relates to the load that they have in the classroom." Fasten the seat belts for these travel plans to make it to the College Foot‑ ball Playoff. ✦ Frequent Fliers In the 60 seasons since 1959, this year marks the fifth time that only one of Notre Dame's final five games will be at home. As an independent, that's sometimes how it breaks, including covering more than 10,000 miles in a month. The others were: 1980 — The 7-0 start and No. 1 ranking ended with a 9-1-1 regular-season mark after a 3-3 tie at a Georgia Tech team that finished 1-9-1, and a loss at USC. In between, the Irish also stunned Paul "Bear" Bryant's Alabama team in Birmingham, 7-0. 1982 — The Irish were 6-1-1 and No. 9, highlighted by win- ning at No. 1 Pitt, but finished with three straight losses, first to eventual national champ Penn State and the last two at Air Force and USC. 1990 — Notre Dame moved up to No. 1 after winning on the road versus Navy and at No. 9 Tennessee, but then it lost at home to Penn State (24-21) and won at USC for a 9-2 regular season. 2015 — Unimpressive wins versus Wake Forest and Boston College dropped the 10-1 Irish in the polls, and then a loss at Stanford eliminated it from playoff contention. — Lou Somogyi The 38-36 defeat at Stanford in 2015 is part of Notre Dame's current school-record five- game losing streak in the final regular season contest. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA