Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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murphy's Law dan murphy They won all 19 of them. They're 22-5 overall and, if they continue to hold serve, one upset victory over Stanford away from making a second straight trip to a BCS bowl. For many reasons, that night turned out to be a slash-andburn style beginning to a new Notre Dame team. "My first two years playing, we lost some games we shouldn't have lost and some close ones," fifth-year senior Zack Martin said. "The culture has definitely changed." It didn't happen overnight, and Martin's classmates had as much to do with the team's transformation as Kelly did. They needed a few more painful reminders to finally push them over the edge. When the new coaching staff first arrived they fell victim to lesser opponents. Losses to Navy and Tulsa soured their first season. The debacle of a loss to South Florida to start the 2011 season derailed BCS hopes before the first divots settled in at Notre Dame Stadium. "It was just that one group of seniors that got tired of it. They got tired of losing close games," Irish captain Bennett Jackson said. "Everybody was tired of being in a losing program. We just wanted to push forward and finally get Notre Dame back to where it should be." A year ago Notre Dame went 10 for 10 as the favorite. It wasn't always pretty. They squeaked out wins against the Purdues and Pittsburghs of the world, as well as a field goal victory over BYU, but they were wins nonetheless. Some were improbable. Some of those close situations would have cracked previous Irish teams and sent them spinning back toward the mediocrity that had mired a proud program for much of the last two decades. "We want to win each and every week because our guys want to win 10 games," Kelly said. "You can't win 10 unless you win six and seven." At the start of the 2012 season Kelly said winning eight games for a third straight year was an important milestone for the program. Some thought he was setting too low a bar, but the coach was talking about a floor not a ceiling. One-hit wonder teams have high ceilings. Consistently successful programs have high floors. Barring a major reversal of the recent trend, Notre Dame should hit that floor again in 2013. Las Vegas will spot Navy and Pittsburgh at least a touchdown. BYU — with a side dish of senior day distractions — will be more difficult, but Notre Dame should again be favored. So, if the Irish can avoid an upset for the second straight season they'll head to Stanford with a 9-2 record. Those wins in the month of November would keep Notre Dame in the BCS conversation through at least the final week of the regular season. If Kelly can muster that from this group, one that lost its star quarterback and a bona fide Heisman contender from a season ago, it will be his most impressive coaching job in South Bend to date. ✦ Dan Murphy has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2011. He can be reached at dmurphy@blueandgold.com