Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 MARCH 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T he comparisons were in- evitable, and Brian Kelly's answers were predictable. In the days and weeks lead- ing up to the College Football Playoff national semifinal game against Clemson, the Notre Dame head coach was incessantly asked to explain the similarities and differ- ences between this year's Irish and the 2012 team that also went 12-0 during the regular season and took its postsea- son shot at winning a national championship. Kelly dutifully described his 2018 team as holding a dis- tinct advantage in depth and balance over the 2012 group, vowing that this matchup against Clemson would not resemble the 42-14 beatdown Alabama put on his Irish squad six years earlier. "We're still reliving 2012 from a national media standpoint," Kelly explained. "We get to move past that with a victory against Clemson. We'll start to be able to talk about where Notre Dame football is today com- pared to 2012." A thorough 30-3 mauling by Clem- son did nothing to advance Kelly's cause or to squelch a growing per- ception that Notre Dame can't run with the big dogs of college football, fueling the debate on whether this latest postseason blowout will bring tougher scrutiny from the CFP com- mittee the next time the Irish are up for consideration. That's another story for another day. So what gives? With 21 wins in 24 regular-season games the last two seasons, Kelly's Irish are showing consistency against a diverse schedule. They have learned how to protect home turf, winning 11 straight and 12 of 13 at Notre Dame Stadium. Two Irish players were selected in the top 10 of the 2018 NFL Draft with plenty more draftees on the horizon. Kelly has evolved into a more ap- proachable coach with his players, while his staff decisions and assistant hires since the 4-8 implosion in 2016 have proven to be spot on. But with the curtain officially closed on the latest recruiting cycle, the answer to "what gives" again be- came emphasized and obvious. For a variety of reasons, Notre Dame seems unable to keep up with the elite pro- grams in terms of landing elite talent. For this 2019 recruiting class, the usual suspects — Alabama (three), Georgia (three), Clemson (two) and Oklahoma (four) — all landed mul- tiple five-star players, according to Rivals, but Ohio State this time only had one. Notre Dame had none. Step back for a broader look, and the five-star discrepancy becomes starker. In the previous four recruiting cy- cles (2015-18) — the four classes that will comprise much of the 2019 ros- ters — Alabama signed 19 five-star prospects per Rivals, Clemson 15, Georgia 14 (after losing 2018 quar- terback Justin Fields to transfer) and Ohio State 12 (after gaining Fields from the Bulldogs). Meanwhile, Rivals assessed that Notre Dame inked only one during those four cycles, defensive end Dae- lin Hayes in 2016. Clearly, Kelly's Irish can com- pete and beat almost any team in the country with top-15 recruiting classes filled with four-star players. But the talent gap between Notre Dame and the elite pro- grams was once again accen- tuated and capsulized in the 27-point loss to Clemson. When the Tigers lost the services of five-star defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence be- cause of suspension, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney plugged in another NFL pros- pect, senior Albert Huggins, and didn't miss a beat. When Notre Dame lost first-team All-American cor- nerback Julian Love in the sec- ond quarter against Clemson because of injury, the defense collapsed. In fairness, it would have been easier for a staff to prepare a game plan had it known Love would be out. Thanks to tight end Kyle Rudolph, linebacker Jaylon Smith, wide receiver Michael Floyd and guard Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame has sprinkled in elite tal- ent this decade, but never in bunches, and that's a lingering problem. The Irish are 0-8 in premier bowl games since winning the 1994 Cotton Bowl, and it has lost those eight by an average score of 38-17. So is an occasional CFP appearance and another big-time bowl beatdown as good as it gets? Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick insisted not a chance in an interview with ESPN.com in 2015 when the Irish narrowly missed the CFP, earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl and were promptly disposed there by Ohio State (44-28). "I have no doubt we can get to a national championship, no doubt we can win a national championship," Swarbrick said. "I absolutely reject the notion that somehow this repre- sents a high-water mark." But until Notre Dame nets more five-star players, Alabama, Clem- son and the eye test all prove that Swarbrick's assessment isn't neces- sarily watertight. ✦ Good Recruiting Is Not Good Enough For ND UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com Brian Kelly and his staff have landed just one Rivals five-star recruit since 2015 — defensive lineman Daelin Hayes (above) in 2016. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA