Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2021 67 BY LOU SOMOGYI N otre Dame's class of 1950 never saw the Fighting Irish football team lose a game (36- 0-2) during its four under- graduate years. Believe it or not, in the 70 years hence, the 33-5 record (.868 winning percentage) posted by Notre Dame the past three seasons is the third- best three-year stretch since then (28-0-1, .983, from 1947-49), behind the 33-4 (.892) ledger posted by the teams from 1988-90 and the 26-3-1 (.883) mark from 1953-55. There is a significant difference in that the 1988-90 teams defeated 10 teams that finished in the Associated Press top 10, whereas the ones from the past three seasons vanquished only one such squad (Clemson last November). The best four-year performance since 1950 was produced by the class of 1992 with a 43-7 (.860) mark. That means anything better than 10-2 in 2021 will result in the best four-year record by a graduating class at Notre Dame since 1950. It also would be the first time since 1946-49 the Fighting Irish would not have more than two blemishes — which included ties prior to 1996 — in a season over a four-year period. Notre Dame did not have more than two in 2018 (12-1), 2019 (11-2) and 2020 (10-2), a first since 1953 (9- 0-1), 1954 (9-1) and 1955 (8-2). In head coach Ara Parseghian's first eight years from 1964-71 Notre Dame did not lose more than two games — but there also was a blem- ish with a tie during 7-2-1 finishes in 1965 and 1968, and 8-2-1 in 1969. To have a fourth straight two-or- fewer-blemishes campaign in 2021, these will be some of the top story- lines to get there: A RETURN TO SEMI-NORMALCY? COVID-19 made the 2020 college football season one of the most unique in the 151 years the game has been played. Given the dour forecasts last August and the original and temporary deci- sions by the Big Ten and Pac-12 to not have a football season, it was rather remarkable that the campaign was able to be completed Jan. 11, warts and all. A return to complete normalcy is un- likely in 2021, but navigating through the myriad protocols that necessi- tated immense discipline and caution should be a beneficial carryover into this year — provided a sense of "all is well again" false confidence doesn't prematurely infiltrate the ranks. Last year, Notre Dame was able to hold only one spring practice before the pandemic canceled the remain- ing 14. The team was placed in some- what of a bubble on campus during the summer, had to temporarily shut down practices in August, and after needing to postpone (and eventually cancel) the Sept. 26 meeting at Wake Forest, the threat of a shutdown was real. Any time a program can galvanize from such a calamity should inspire a confidence that no tasks or details should be too formidable. COORDINATED EFFORTS Both second-year offensive coordi- nator Tommy Rees and first-year de- fensive coordinator Marcus Freeman will confront a different set of chal- lenges. Last year in his debut as the 28-year- old coordinator rookie, Rees had the luxury of a three-year starting quarter- back in Ian Book and the most veteran offensive line returning in school his- tory (114). Their experience, acumen, the physicality of the line and the ad- lib skills of Book were able to compen- sate for the lack of practice time and other concerns. This year, four starters need to be replaced up front, and it's conceivable that two-year starting center Jarrett Patterson could be stationed in a new role. Meanwhile, graduate transfer quar- terback Jack Coan was brought in from Wisconsin to help bridge the 2021 gap between Book and the otherwise ex- tremely green position group. Coan has plenty of experience with 18 starts, but he is now in a new system with new teammates. The physical identity established by Rees on offense is likely to remain, but a little more creativity might need to be sprinkled in by probably not being able to "lay it on the line" as the Irish did throughout last year. Above all, Notre Dame's offense is the one that is generally unable to hold up its end of the deal in marquee matchups, including 10 points versus Clemson in the ACC Championship and 14 (including a touchdown with 56 seconds left in the game) versus Al- abama in the College Football Playoff. In the eight losses the past four years, the Irish have tallied an average of 13.1 points, and never more than 20. Can this pattern change? Freeman will be the 19th defensive coordinator at Notre Dame in the past 41 years, and if he succeeds, chances are his stay will be about two years, maybe three, before he too moves on to a head coaching gig, a la predeces- sor Clark Lea. Freeman arrives with much more fanfare than Lea did, but let's not ig- nore that in the last three seasons un- der Lea Notre Dame finished in the top 15 nationally in scoring defense for the first time since 1969-71. It won't be easy to duplicate such a feat while replacing five starters on that side of the ball, most notably unanimous All-American rover Jer- emiah Owusu-Koramoah. THE STREAKS There are two primary reasons why Notre Dame has produced the fourth- best winning percentage in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision (FBS) the past three years. The first is "beating the teams it is supposed to," and the sec- ond is holding serve at home. The Fighting Irish hold the second- longest streaks in the nation in both categories. The 32 straight victories versus un- ranked opposition are a school record that last year eclipsed the previous MOVING FOUR-WARD Notre Dame attempts to continue one of the program's best four-year runs