UNDER THE DOME
have and we put together."
Because Notre Dame doesn't play
in a conference championship game
in December, the Irish athletic depart-
ment recognizes it has to put together
an eye-catching slate. Texas is sched-
uled to be the opener in 2015 and
2016, so the hope is the Longhorns
also bounce back by then from a cur-
rent negative cycle in football that has
seen them go 34-26 since 2010 (enter-
ing the weekend of Nov. 8).
"We know that the schedule that we
have to put together over 12 weeks
has to stand up to that strength, and so
that's how we do our business," Kelly
said. "I don't know anyway else to
do it, and then let the chips fall where
they may."
Three other factors are important for
Kelly to note.
First, Notre Dame is one of only
three NCAA Football Bowl Subdivi-
sion programs (along with USC and
UCLA) to have not faced a non-FBS
opponent since the current setup was
established in 1978. All nine teams,
other than Arizona State, ranked
Kelly said Notre Dame always attempts to have a strong and representative schedule, but how its oppo-
nents fare is beyond its control.
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
