Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS going to deal with it. Now it's behind us. We know what the standard is." Kelly has been a broken record the past few years trumpeting the Boiler- makers as a strong foe, while on-field performance in other games has proved otherwise. This year, however, might be the one instance in which a scare from Purdue could benefit the squad. With such a young roster, it shouldn't comes as a surprise to see a 31-point win against Michigan followed by a sloppy 30-14 victory against Purdue. "There was a lot of adversity, get- ting off to a bad start as far as how we feel defensively," sophomore line- backer Jaylon Smith said. "Giving up 14 points is something that isn't ac- ceptable. We really had to rally to- gether. "There was no energy, the D-boys [defensive players] spirit or a lot of en- thusiasm. It was about bringing that to the table. Somebody had to make a play, and once that happened we got going." Since this past summer, Kelly has pushed one main mantra with his team, one that can be found on T-shirts and verbalized in meeting rooms of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex. "We began this process in January, and we've talked about we don't rise to the level of our competition; we sink to the level of our preparation," Kelly said. "That's really where we are. Our players know it. "You can't always rise to the chal- lenge — you have to rely on your preparation." No matter a college football team's talent, it will be tested at some point during a 12-game regular season. Pur- due treats its annual — well, annual since 1946 but now on hiatus until 2020 — matchup with Notre Dame as a de facto Super Bowl, while the Irish usually see the Boilermakers as a break around the time of year they play Michigan, Michigan State and Stanford. Naturally, letdowns occur. "We were very sluggish in the first half," fifth-year cornerback Cody Riggs said. "We weren't on our 'A' game, and they were. They capitalized on all our mistakes in the first half. We regrouped at halftime. We stepped it up in the second half." Few would know better than Riggs — a four-year Florida veteran with 29 career starts — that the season has com- pleted only the first 10K of a marathon run. Now, Notre Dame receives a week of recuperation during a much-needed bye week while hoping to return sev- eral players from injury before the Sept. 27 clash with Syracuse. Better now (or against the Orange) that the young Irish receive their first dose of on-field adversity prior to host- ing Stanford Oct. 4. "It's so hard to win in college foot- ball," Smith said. "No matter who you're playing, people forget that." Kelly's just trying to make sure the Irish don't forget. After a tight contest with Purdue, it's likely he has their at- tention. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com