Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 NOV. 5, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED A n i n te re s t i n g m e s s a ge board post popped up last week on BlueandGold.com that inquired about if Notre Dame can expect an "exodus of players" after this season if fortunes don't improve in No- vember? All message board posts are not created equally. But given Notre Dame's uneven play this season, the light-speed trans- formation of college football, and the increased freedoms and opportunities NCAA players are enjoying, this question deserves careful consideration. The college football landscape is changing fast. Coaching re- sponsibilities are broadening. Loyalty is dying. Players move. Recruits flip. Rosters churn. Ready or not, these are the challenges all college programs face every day. A n d to t h a t p o i n t , ro o k i e h ea d coaches Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame and Brent Venables at Oklahoma — both of whom inherited preseason top-10 teams and then started their seasons 3-3 — are the headliners of struggling first- year head coaches who need to either catch up fast, or fall behind even faster. That brings us to Notre Dame vs. Clemson on Nov. 5, and to how impor- tant this game is for the Irish in terms of program perception, recruiting mo- mentum and player protection. Clemson was ranked No. 4 in the pre- season, one spot ahead of Notre Dame at No. 5. The undefeated Tigers (8-0) are still about where they started in the polls. Conversely, Notre Dame hasn't been ranked since it lost to Marshall on Sept. 10. Adding to the ambiance of Saturday's prime-time matchup at Notre Dame Stadium, more than 50 Irish recruits will be in town, all here to gauge the stability of a program that has already faced more turbulence than the captain warned us about. "We'll see these next two weeks what type of football team we have," Freeman said before his game at No. 16 Syracuse Oct. 29. "It's going to be a measuring stick for how good this team is and what we do when it really matters." What matters most is not letting this game become the genesis of a player exodus. ROSTER MANAGEMENT Exposure and playing time — or a lack thereof — will always drive most of the transfer decisions from the graduate student-athletes. Correspondingly, program momentum will increasingly motivate undergraduate relocations, and team success will forever influence a recruit's college choice. It's a three-headed roster maintenance monster that coaches never faced quite like this until 18 months ago when play- ers were granted a "one-time" oppor- tunity to transfer and play immediately at another school the following season. This seamless relocation rule leaves underperforming teams — especially those with elite talent — more vulner- able to recruit- and roster-poaching. All is fair in love, war and recruiting. At 8-0, Clemson entered its bye weekend last Saturday ranked No. 5 in the country. The last time an unranked Notre Dame team beat a top-five opponent? It was 40 years ago in 1982 when the Gerry Faust-led Irish defeated No. 1 Pittsburgh. Taking this a step further, in the unlikely event that the idle Tigers slipped to No. 6 or No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll released on Oct. 30, the last time an unranked Fighting Irish team even beat a top-10 oppo- nent was 18 years ago in 2004, when Tyrone Willingham won at No. 9 Tennessee. History aside, Clemson comes to town undefeated, but not in- vincible. Three of its previous five wins have come by exactly 6 points, including a 51-45 double-over- time win over Wake Forest on Sept. 24. And while Notre Dame hasn't performed well in the " big " games since Lou Holtz left the building in 1996, Clemson provides Freeman an adequate chance at home to score his first marquee win, fade the memories of Marshall and Stanford, and send an "I got this" message to players, recruits, fans, ushers, etc. Freeman is already 0-2 against top- 10 opponents (No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Ohio State). It's a small sample, for sure, but one that's following the same worn path that his four predeces- sors took. Head coach Brian Kelly went only 4-11 in his 15 tries against top-10 oppo- nents. And before that, Bob Davie (1-7), Willingham (3-5) and Charlie Weis (1-7) combined for a 5-19 mark. For comparison's sake, Holtz was 22-15 against top-10 teams — 37 games — during his 11 seasons, playing against the toughest schedules in the country every year. "Urgency," answered Freeman, when asked about the theme for his team fol- lowing the Stanford loss. The home game vs. Clemson provides Freeman a perfect chance to deliver as a coach the same "urgency" he's asking from his guys. ✦ Clemson entered its bye week ranked No. 5 in the nation. The last time an unranked Notre Dame team beat a top-five opponent was 40 years ago in 1982 when the Gerry Faust-led Irish beat No. 1 Pittsburgh. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Clemson Provides Irish With A Prime Opportunity 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