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✦ News & notes By Lou Somogyi Notre Dame will try to match the intensity BYU promises to bring, but the Irish head coach replied that fiery, motivation speeches can take you only so far. "But that doesn't mean I'm not good for a motivating talk or two," Kelly said. "But I think that the players that you have, the leaders that you have, and the way you play the game, certainly dictate that much more than past history and motivation. It doesn't mean I discount it, but I don't see it as primary. "I think the primary is the drive, the pride, the motivation to win nine games [in the regular season]. … Not, 'Hey, let's be ready because BYU thinks they should have beat us last year.'" Trilogy Of Revenge? During Notre Dame's march to the BCS National Championship Game last year, it had to rally at home in the fourth quarter, and beyond, to defeat Pittsburgh (29-26, in three overtimes), Brigham Young (17-14) and Stanford (20-13 in overtime). In each case, Notre Dame was classified as "lucky," no matter how much the victory was earned. Consequently, each of those three victims would be seeking revenge to atone for those heartbreakers. The last three regular-season games this year happen to be against that hungry trio. Pitt already exacted its revenge with a 28-21 victory Nov. 9, and now it's BYU's turn. Never mind Stanford (Nov. 30), which protested the final call on Notre Dame's dramatic goal-line stand in overtime (and still does). "I don't remember many games, but I remember that one," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who has an 81-32 record in nine seasons, told The Salt Lake Tribune this week of last year's contest at Notre Dame. "And so I am looking forward to going back." In Provo, there still is discussion about what could have been had senior quarterback Riley Nelson not overthrown a wideopen Cody Hoffman in the fourth quarter that could have put the Cougars ahead. "It has definitely stuck with us, because we easily could have won," Hoffman told The Salt Lake Tribune. "And just seeing them in the national championship [game] and just knowing that we could have, and should have, beat them. But it is nice being able to go back this year and hopefully get revenge." "We should have came out with a win, in my opinion," echoed BYU senior linebacker and All-America candidate Kyle Van Noy. Rest, Review And Recuperation BYU feels as though it let one get away in last year's 17-14 loss at Notre Dame, lamenting a missed opportunity in the fourth quarter that saw senior quarterback Riley Nelson overthrow wide-open receiver Cody Hoffman. photo by bill panzica Of course, the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game can be played by virtually any team in the country, including Notre Dame in all three of its losses this season, plus several tight wins. "It was a big play in the game," Irish head coach Brian Kelly said of the missed pass to Hoffman last year. "But I think there were some other plays in the game, missed opportunities, really on both ends." ✦ Page 11 Brian Kelly said last week was the first time in his 23 years as a head coach that no football practices were conducted during a bye week, although there was plenty of strength and conditioning work. (The Irish practiced only once during the bye week before this year's USC game.) The week off gave the Irish coaching staff a little extra time to dissect the BYU offense, create a game plan and go on the road to recruit. They did not do selfscouting or go into bigger picture changes like they might during a bye week earlier in the season. More importantly, the extra week also gave a battered Irish lineup some more rest and rehabilitation. They returned to the field Monday for a two-hour practice that featured a lot of 11-on-11 work and hitting. "I wanted to make sure when we got into [Tuesday's] practice that we weren't sloppy," Kelly said. "The guys' legs felt good. The comments were very positive about how they felt. We had a lot of guys that could not [have participated if there