Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1143622
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com AUGUST 2019 51 the 69 seasons since 1950, the Irish have achieved an unbeaten, untied campaign only twice: the 1973 (11-0) and 1988 (12-0) national champions — and the two other times they oc- curred in the regular season were the 12-0 outputs in 2012 and 2018. Propelling this year 's streak was the season-opening 24-17 conquest of No. 14 Michigan in the "green out" at home. Notre Dame also caught somewhat of a break with the scheduling, as past traditionally strong outfits that were expected to be ranked such as USC (5-7), Florida State (5-7) and Vir- ginia Tech (6-7) all finished under .500. It also was not a vintage Stan- ford (9-4) unit, although that didn't make a 38-17 romp over the Cardinal to end a three-game losing streak to them less gratifying. Particularly encouraging was how Notre Dame reacted to "playoff fe- ver" in November while three of its four games were on the road. In the five years from 2013-17, the Irish were 9-12 in November. A year earlier at 8-1, Notre Dame's playoff fever quickly became a far worse ail- ment in November after a 41-8 loss at Miami and a 38-20 setback at Stan- ford during a fourth-quarter collapse. Preparing for the November push was the primary offseason theme, es- pecially with three of the four games away from South Bend. Notre Dame responded with a 4-0 mark, outscor- ing its November foes 133-54, high- lighted by a 36-3 dismantling in the Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium of a Syracuse team that had been av- eraging 44 points and would finish No. 15 in the Associated Press poll. In the fifth year of the CFP, Notre Dame became the 10th different team to earn a spot in the four-team format. And while the 30-3 loss to eventual national champ Clemson in the Cotton Bowl semifinal might have restored negative memories of Alabama's 42-14 romp over the Irish in the 2013 BCS National Champion- ship Game, head coach Brian Kelly saw it from a different angle. "That 12-0 team that played against Alabama was physically not in the same class as that Alabama team," Kelly told BGI this summer. "They pushed us around the field. Clemson did not push us around the field. They had a couple of elite play- makers who made outstanding plays against us. "… We are now a player here or there away from being at an elite football level. This should be much more about carrying on where we left off." 2. A SWITCH HIT AT QUARTERBACK Everyday conventional wisdom tells one to "don't try to fix what is not broken," or "don't mess with a winning streak." Living by such clichés is not the style of offensive coordinator Chip Long, now entering his third season. Although senior quarterback Bran- don Wimbush's maneuverability and playmaking skills earned him the game ball against Michigan's vaunted defense in the opener, and the Irish started 3-0 with him at the throttle, the 23.3 scoring average af- ter three games — with unimpressive home victories versus Ball State (24- 16) and Vanderbilt (22-17) — was not cutting it. In game four at Wake Forest, junior Ian Book, who rallied the Irish to vic- tory in place of Wimbush during the previous year's Citrus Bowl, was in- serted as the starter and the offense began to hum to Long's specifica- tions. Book completed a single-season school-record 68.15 percent of his passes in the more controlled attack, and his No. 17 finish nationally in pass efficiency was easily the best in Kelly's nine season. Over the final nine regular-season contests the Irish scoring output in- creased to 36.8 points per contest, in- cluding 42 versus Florida State when Wimbush stepped in for an injured Book. Still, the reality was Notre Dame's 31.4 points per game were dwarfed by the 44- to 48-point averages by the other three CFP teams, Clem- son, Alabama (both of whom also changed quarterbacks despite past successes with them) and Oklahoma. The Irish's three points against the Tigers in the playoff defeat saw ques- tions resurface about whether the of- fense had the firepower to be in the upper tier. Wimbush opted to use his gradu- ate transfer year at Central Florida in 2019, so Book building upon last year's success will be imperative. Junior Ian Book took over as the starting quarterback prior to game four and finished 214-of-314 passing (68.2 per- cent) for 2,628 yards with 19 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA