Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/400621
UNDER THE DOME "He's the leader on offense. He's the guy. We're sinking and swimming with what Everett does on offense. If he throws three or four interceptions and turns the ball over, we're going to hear that 'War Chant' song. It's not going to be fun." — Irish head coach Brian Kelly on the control and effect senior quarterback Everett Golson has on the Notre Dame offense "The only guy I can compare him to is [Auburn quarterback] Nick Marshall. He can run, he is fast, and he can throw. … Don't give him lanes to run out of." — Florida State junior defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. on Golson "These games obviously get everyone's attention and challenge you. We like to be challenged. We want opportunities to measure ourselves. We want to play the very best. Everybody's challenged." — Kelly on how the coaching staff approaches games as heralded as the top-five tilt against No. 2 Florida State TWEET OF THE WEEK @cbfowler: "Random salute: no publication covering one CFB team does it as well as BlueGold Illustrated. Great info" — ESPN college football analyst, and host of College GameDay, Chris Fowler, adding a photo of last week's issue with the tweet. FROM TOP 25, TO TOP 15, TO TOP FIVE … When Brian Kelly arrived at Notre Dame in 2010, the Fighting Irish had a school-record 10-game losing streak against ranked teams. That expanded to 11 in Kelly's first year when the Irish lost to No. 16 Stanford (37-14) before finally ending the drought with a 28-3 victory versus No. 15 Utah. Entering the Oct. 18 game at No. 2 Florida State, Kelly was one of only eight Football Bowl Subdivision coaches who had a winning record at his school versus the top 25 at the time of the game (minimum 10 games played). His 8-7 ledger (.533) ranked seventh, just ahead of Georgia's Mark Richt, who was 36-32 (.529). Until the FSU game, Kelly had played only two games against top-five foes: a 28-14 loss at No. 4 Stanford in 2011 and the 42-14 defeat to No. 2 Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game following the 2012 campaign. "That's how you're measured as a program, when you're talking top-five teams," Kelly said. "… When we first started here, we didn't have a top-25 win in a number of years. Then you beat top-25 teams, and you beat top-15 teams. You get yourself in it consistently, and then you break through and then you start playing at that caliber. "It's a process and journey that we're on as a program." Lou Holtz (1986-96) holds the Notre Dame record for most wins against a team rated in the top five at the time of the game, going 12-8 (.600) during his 11 seasons, highlighted by a seven-game winning streak from 1988-90. Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53) had the best winning percentage versus the top five with his 11-2-1 mark (.821) in 11 years. The third Notre Dame coach with the 11-year tenure, Ara Parseghian, was 5-5-3 from 1964-74.