Cavalier Corner Digital

Home Is Sweet Again For Notre Dame On Aug. 28, 1999, Jarious Jackson was Notre Dame's quarterback and Bob Davie was its coach. A gallon of gas cost $1.23. The most popular movie in the country was "The Sixth Sense," and most of the world still didn't know yet (spoiler alert) that Bruce Willis was dead. Trent Green tore his MCL that night in the final murphy's Law dan murphy preseason game of the year, and an unknown grocery bagger named Kurt Warner stepped in as the St. Louis Rams' starting quarterback. "It's a pretty sizable dropoff," said the hometown play-by-play announcer. Earlier in the day, Davie and the Irish overcame a first-half scare to roll past Kansas, 48-13, in the first game of the season. Jackson threw three interceptions in a subpar performance, but Notre Dame was nearly impossible to beat in South Bend. That was the last time the Irish won 10 straight home games. In the 13 seasons that followed, the Irish won 56.6 percent of all the games they played and 60 percent of the games they played at Notre Dame Stadium. They weren't much better off at home than they were playing anywhere else in the country. In a study finished by Paul Bessire this summer that measured home field advantage based on analyzing Vegas point spreads, Notre Dame ranked 105th in college football. Recapturing that intimidation factor on their own turf has been one of the top items on the checklist for Brian Kelly and his staff during the last three-plus years. Kelly reshaped game day and game week in South Bend, and the results are starting to show. A win against Michigan State Saturday afternoon will give the Irish their 10th win in a row in front of the home crowd. "There's a lot of levels," Kelly said when asked to explain the turnaround. "We've learned how to play the game." A lot of levels, indeed. Kelly was talking about his team on the field. His learning curve has accelerated most in "playing the game" away from the field — walking the tight rope strung with tension between the school's love of its history and its desire to create more of it. The final 48 hours before a home game at Notre Dame are a production. Luncheons, pep rallies, a march through campus and more are all sold as tradition for the most thoroughly marketed team in college sports. Kelly learned to push back, gently at first, and carve out more time for actual football during that span. The team now attends mass Friday nights rather than hours before their game. He significantly truncated the walk across campus a year ago. He's slowly helped infuse hints of 21st century technology into the stadium atmosphere during games. Kelly put "handling all that goes into game week at Notre Dame" at the top of his list of the things that have led to a better record in South Bend. The bottom line results are starting to show. "It's given them the opportunity to regroup a little bit, focus in on the game and not all the other things that are going on around the campus," Kelly said. "Friday has been more of a focus day." Kelly's team took its lumps at home in the beginning. They lost three at home in his debut season, including a 28-27 decision to Tulsa. The following year started with an embarrassing loss to South Florida. They debuted a new stadium atmosphere — piped in music, rally towels, primetime kickoffs — in a loss to USC A victory Saturday against Michigan State will give head coach Brian Kelly and the Irish 10 straight wins in Notre Dame Stadium — which would be the first time that has happened since 1998-99. photo by bill panzica a month later. Since then, though, Notre Dame has not lost in South Bend. Winning at home is significant. Lou Holtz's teams won 19 straight in Notre Dame Stadium amidst the school's last championship run. Ara Parseghian won 24 of 27 home games to start the 1970s, including a 5-0 record 40 years ago for another national championship. The current Irish staff attacked their domestic problems at the root, discovering the problem and finding a promising remedy. That's a good sign for a program grasping at consistency after a decade of ✦ Page 20 flash-in-the-pan success stories. And it's a reminder that those that decree a lack of progress during a 2-1 start in September aren't paying close enough attention. A dominant record at home was the last part of the Notre Dame football empire to crumble a generation ago. It's a logical starting point for Kelly to try to build a new one. He's had to clear a bit of the rubble, but a 10th consecutive win at home this Saturday would be another sign that he's headed in the right direction. ✦ E-mail Dan at dmurphy@blueandgold.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @BGI_DanMurphy.

• Cover