Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME ford — were at .500 or higher, at 5-3 and 5-4, respectively. Ironically, the 2014 preseason con- versation centered on how Notre Dame had one of the most challeng- ing schedules in the country, includ- ing road games at defending national champion Florida State, plus Novem- ber bouts at Arizona State and USC. However, three other foes expected to be in the top-25 mix have fallen off substantially: • Michigan, which had defeated the Irish four of the last five years, was ranked No. 20 by Lindy's and No. 25 by ESPN.com, plus right on the brink of top-25 status by other outlets. A 4-5 start, which helped precipitate the res- ignation of director of athletics David Brandon, has diminished the Wolver- ines' standing. • Likewise, Stanford also van- quished the Irish four of the last five years, was 46-8 from 2010-13 and was the lone team during that time to play in four consecutive BCS bowls. The Cardinal was ranked as high as No. 4 by FOX Sports and Sports Illustrated this preseason, and in the top 10-15 by several other outlets. A 5-4 start saw its star fall. • North Carolina was a chic top-25 pick — including No. 16 by ESPN.com and No. 18 by Phil Steele's — after win- ning six of its last seven in 2013. It too faltered with a 4-5 start. A 6-3 start by USC also has not put it in the top 25. Ironically, three of the best Notre Dame teams over the last 20 years — 2005, 2012 and maybe 2014 — had something in common: Each was rec- ognized in the preseason as having a "killer" schedule. And then when Notre Dame thrived in those years, the schedule was ridiculed as "weak." In head coach Charlie Weis' first year (2005), the Irish were projected in some circles to begin the year 0-6 (maybe 1-5). But when three preseason top-25 teams all had losing records — Pitt (5-6), Purdue (5-6) and Tennessee (5-6) — while falling to Notre Dame, and a fourth, Michigan, finished 7-5, the 9-2 Irish regular season was "high- lighted" by a 34-31 loss to No. 1 USC on controversy (similar to this year's Florida State game). In 2012, Notre Dame was antici- pated to have another four-loss sea- son (at least), mainly because of road games at Michigan State, Oklahoma and USC. But when the Spartans and Trojans finished only 7-6 and Okla- homa wasn't "a vintage Bob Stoops team," the 12-0 Irish regular season was somewhat mitigated. Kelly has grown weary of having to apologize for the schedule because he can control only his own team. "In 2012, I think we started the sea- son with the No. 1 schedule in the country," he said. "We started that way this year, too. That's all we can [do]. We go into this putting together the toughest schedule in the country, right? Nobody else does it that way. They put on teams that are clearly glo- rified byes. We don't operate that way. That to me is strength of schedule in terms of the way we put it together. "If it's not evaluated that way, there's nothing I can do about it. We're just going to play the schedule that we