Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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murphy's Law dan murphy ered before he walked into the room. Notre Dame got a sniff of a BCS title last season in a 42-14 loss to Alabama, and its goal moving forward is clear. "Everything we've worked on since that next day, and I mean the next day, is about getting back to the national championship game and winning it," Kelly said. "There's not a man that sat in these seats, when we met as an entire team, that is not committed to that end. That's why they're here." Notre Dame's players were no less definitive in what they're setting out to do this season. "The ultimate goal, it's on the board," senior cornerback Bennett Jackson said with a nod toward the Jan. 6 date hanging at the bottom of the wall-sized schedule. "That's the only goal that's really acceptable in my head. That's re‑ ally what I'm looking at." Kelly's big picture bravado has in‑ fected players with negative conse‑ quences in the past. The Irish began the 2011 season with a 'BCS or Bust' mantra. With perhaps a proverbial eye pointed toward the postseason, Notre Dame tripped over South Florida in a sloppy season-opening loss that year. BCS talk from Kelly resurfaced after the Irish leveled out at 4-2, only to be squashed by USC in a 31-17 in a night game brimming over with hype. The Irish ended the year 8-5 with a loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. So why should this year be different? Why should the Irish faithful believe that the team's big picture thinking won't blur the individual pixels it takes to get them there? Because it seems the definition of a championship changes for those that have been there. As Kelly explains it, it's not so much an event as a state of mind — less a distant goal than it is the steps it takes to get there. "You don't get there easily. It takes a lot of work," Kelly said immediately after he mentioned getting back to the top of college football. "We've been an‑ ticipating this opportunity since the last game that we played last year. But our focus is right now on our first practice. Coaches are getting ready for practice, preparation, scripts, all those things." Kelly learned those lessons while racking up back-to-back Division II na‑ tional titles in 2002 and 2003 at Grand Valley State. His players, though, needed to travel that road first before understanding how to keep their own grand aspirations from getting in the way of reaching them. Very few Irish players in August dared to project their fortunes or goals further than their next day of practice. They at least know the right things to say. More likely than not, the Irish will have to alter the schedule staring back at them during every team meeting by the end of the year. A return trip to the national title game will take another season of nearly everything falling into place for Notre Dame. Should good fortune strike twice, though, Kelly and his team now know clearly what to do with it. ✦ Dan Murphy has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2011. He can be reached at dmurphy@blueandgold.com