Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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32 SEPT. 26, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Y ou can admit you saw that coming. Really. Maybe you didn't foresee a game where Notre Dame cleared the 51-point over/ under all by itself and pant- sed its opponent before a bead of sweat could even form. But, assuredly, you imagined a never-in-doubt victory and nothing like a 2011 South Florida redux. Because it's what you've come to expect in these games. Notre Dame has spent the last three-plus seasons dismantling opponents it is supposed to beat with- out much trouble, fur- ther distancing itself from those annoying early 2010s losses or Houdini acts in games where it was a prohibitive favorite. The 52-0 un- dressing of South Florida was Notre Dame's 26th straight win over an unranked team, the second-longest active streak in the country behind only Alabama. It also was their 20th straight home victory. Take a moment to contrast this day with Sept. 3, 2011, when Notre Dame doubled USF's yardage but still lost to a Bulls team that went 5-7 and won a single conference game in the old Big East. In a game where Notre Dame was seen as an 18-wheeler and USF a sedan, the Irish drove off the road instead of barreling through something inferiorly built. That loss was the first game of Brian Kelly's second season, when a team that still lacked confidence in it- self let a couple early mistakes snow- ball into one of the stranger games in team history. It came one year after a deflating home loss to Tulsa. Two paycheck game defeats in two years will get the shovels ready to start digging graves. These days, those shovels are in a shed gathering dust while a team that feels upset-proof finds ways to do its job while running into only the occasional white-knuckler against an opponent it should handle, even if they're not perfect in doing so. Notre Dame threw for 149 yards against USF, more evidence of a pass- ing attack that's far from where it needs to be, and still won by seven touchdowns. The four receptions by wide receivers ties the low mark for an Ian Book start. It didn't matter. The Irish still aver- aged 6.5 yards per play and held USF to 3.7. "We're scoring every time we get the football," Kelly said at halftime, via the USA Network telecast. "We're not letting them score any points. We want a shutout. We're playing for a shutout. This thing is too damn hard. I'm tired of being the nice guy." Notre Dame didn't score every time, but points on eight of 11 drives will do just fine. Kelly won't have to look hard for signs his offense could assert itself. Three running backs av- eraged at least 6.0 yards per carry. As a team, the Irish averaged 6.2 per rush. The shutout Notre Dame pitched contained only four USF plays in the red zone, and they netted zero yards. The absence of three defensive starters would've been undetectable to someone who did not know of it. One of the fill-ins spent part of his week practicing with the scout team, while another was a freshman with one of the lowest Rivals recruit- ing rankings in Notre Dame's 2020 class. Each tackle by sophomore line- backer Jack Kiser and pass broken up by freshman corner- back Clarence Lewis was one reminder after another of the all-around depth of quick-study and capable players the Irish defense has boasted of late. "We play great defense, Notre Dame football and 60 minutes of hell," said j u n i o r s a f e t y H o u s t o n Griffith, himself a fill-in starter for the injured Kyle Hamilton. H o w re f re s h i n g t h a t must sound to a coach whose early tenure in- cluded its own hellish moments. Kelly says he doesn't allow himself to think back to what was and compare it to what is now, but no one would blame him if he did even just for a fleeting second. "For varying reasons, I don't spend much time on that," Kelly noted. "We're certainly much further along. We just kind of look at where we are and the consistency that we've built more so than anything else." This game against a similarly sub- par USF team didn't confirm this it- eration of Notre Dame is great or has reached the one remaining level the program has left to go under Kelly. That may not be determined for a few more weeks. Perhaps not until Nov. 7. Nor will this game deodorize some of the early season occurrences that would spell trouble in that Novem- ber meeting with Clemson. Two weeks in, the Irish offense has pro- duced 11 receptions from wide re- ceivers, and its three-year starting quarterback is fighting some ball placement issues. Those were visible areas of doubt coming into the game. They remain that way after it. And yet, there was no wariness about blowing the layup, or even needing to sneak it past a pesky de- fender. ✦ Never A Doubt In A Year Of Uncertainty ENGEL'S ANGLE PATRICK ENGEL Patrick Engel has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since March 2020. He can be reached at pengel@blueandgold.com Sophomore Kyren Williams was one of three Fighting Irish running backs who averaged better than 6.0 yards per carry, while helping Notre Dame notch its 26th straight win against an unranked foe. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS