Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Game Preview: temple because of severe thunderstorms. Kelly, though, should be reaching his coaching peak, especially after having posted 12-0 regular seasons in two of his last four seasons. Now embarking on his 23rd season as a head coach, he is right where a couple of other Notre Dame national title coaches were prior to retiring. Ara Parseghian (1964-74) put in 24 years of coaching, while Dan Devine (1975-80) had 22 in college and four more in the NFL. Running Back Rhythm One of the intriguing topics this August has been discerning what kind of rotation or rhythm the Irish will have at running back after graduating Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood, who combined for 1,659 yards on the ground in 2012. Because of the suspension of Wood in last year's opener, a 50-10 rout of Navy, George Atkinson III filled in and ran for 99 yards on just nine carries, while Riddick had 107 yards on 19 attempts. This would seem to be the same type of opener where Notre Dame can pad the rushing stats, particularly because Temple finished 100th last season in rushing defense with an average of 199.8 yards allowed per game. Of course, Temple couldn't stop the pass either, finishing 115th in pass efficiency defense. Juniors Atkinson and Amir Carlisle should be able to showcase their skills against the Owls, as might freshman Greg Bryant, among others. Nevertheless, this is probably a no- win situation for Notre Dame regarding evaluating the running game. If the Irish produce more than 200 yards rushing, it might be marginalized because "it's only Temple." Yet if the running game struggles, the panic button from the fandom is bound to be pushed. Either way, establishing order in the running corps the week before the showdown at Michigan should provide some positive reinforcement. ✦ Beginner's Luck Temple will be the 71st different team to play at Notre Dame Stadium since its opening in 1930. Notre Dame owns a 57-12-1 mark (.821 winning percentage) in games when the opponent is making its maiden voyage to the Stadium. Fourteen of those teams previously had played at Notre Dame (prior to 1930), with the Irish owning a mark of 46-9-1 (.830) since 1930 versus teams making their first overall visit to Notre Dame. The most recent first-time visitor to Notre Dame was Wake Forest in last year's home finale, a 38-0 Irish whitewash. With that win, Notre Dame ended a streak of losing three straight years to a first-time visitor: 33-30 in double overtime to Connecticut (2009), 28-27 to Tulsa (2010) and 23-20 to South Florida (2011). The other nine football programs that vanquished the Irish in their first trip to Notre Dame Stadium were USC in 1931 (16-14), Purdue in 1933 (19-0), Texas in 1934 (7-6), Iowa in 1940 (7-0), Michigan in 1942 (32-20), Missouri in 1972 (30-26), Clemson in 1979 (16-10), Florida Sate in 1981 (19-13) and Penn State in 1982 (24-14). — Lou Somogyi