Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/373357
UNDER THE DOME CHARTING THE IRISH OUT OF THE GATES If Brian Kelly starts a season with a win, he typically wins big. Notre Dame's fifth-year head coach was 6-4 as a Division I coach in season-opening contests heading into last week's game against Rice, but he's historically had trouble winning close games out of the gate. In the six debut victories, Kelly's teams have won by an average of 32.3 points. Only one of the four losses to open the year was decided by more than a touchdown — a 31-point loss to Indiana during his first Football Bowl Subdivision-level game at Central Michigan in 2004. The outcome of the first game has usually been an indicator of things to come. Five of the six teams that started with a victory won more than two-thirds of their games that season. Only one of the four that got off to a rocky start ended up winning more than two-thirds of their games. 4 2004 6 2005 10 2006 10 2007 12 2008 12 2009 8 2010 8 2011 12 2012 9 2013 ■ Opened the season with a win ■ Opened the season with a loss THREE WALK-ONS AWARDED 2014-15 SCHOLARSHIPS With the offseason transfers of junior running back Will Mahone (Youngstown State) and freshman linebacker Nile Sykes (Indiana), head coach Brian Kelly awarded two senior walk-ons, plus a graduate student, scholarships for the 2014-15 school year: cornerback Connor Cavalaris, quarterback Charlie Fiess- inger and running back Tyler Plantz. The trio earned the grant-in-aids for their contributions the past several sea- sons: