2013 Season
Preview
An overview of the players, potential surprises
and vital elements to watch this fall
E
By Lou Somogyi
ach new season in college football
provides a blank canvas.
After years (decades?) of unfulfilled promise or potential, Notre
Dame's football program finally painted its
regular-season masterpiece in 2012 with a
12‑0 finish and No. 1 ranking — until Ala-
bama ravaged the aesthetics with a 42‑14
thumping in the BCS National Championship
Game.
Still, the turnaround campaign marked the
first since 1993 in which the Fighting Irish suffered less than three defeats, and the first since
2006 in which they lost less than five times.
Prior to the 2012 campaign, third-year
Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly's program was deemed to be, from the outside
looking in, "a year away" from viable top‑10
contention. Now that the "year away" has arrived, can Notre Dame produce an even better
work of art?
Here are a few of the impact areas or developments to watch in 2013:
20 ✦ Blue & Gold Illustrated 2013 Football Preview
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