Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS our team is facing adversity right now. It's how you respond and come to- gether." The Irish found themselves in a sim- ilar position heading into 2012. The previous season began with BCS ex- pectations that blew up in their faces in the first two weeks of the season and ended with an 18-14 bowl game loss to Florida State that served as a microcosm of the season. The next year, Notre Dame finished the regular season 12-0 and advanced to the BCS National Championship Game. "They came in five years ago, and our program had not won a bowl game in 20 years," Kelly said of the outgoing seniors, although the bowl streak was actually ended following the 2008 campaign. "Now they have won two and played for a national championship, and obviously are part of developing and building a winning program. I'm proud of them." Natural concerns persist as 2014 comes to a close: Did this season go off the rails due to attrition, poor kicking game fundamentals, injuries, coach- ing and bad luck, or is 2012 simply the outlier in an otherwise mediocre succession of seasons? "If we're getting blown out and em- barrassed, maybe you've got a bit of a problem where you've got to blow your guys up a little bit," Kelly said. "They know that they easily could win any of the games they've played in. A mistake here or there and not execut- ing at the time necessary has been the difference between a win and loss with this team — razor thin." Few teams have demonstrated the fine line between winning and los- ing like Notre Dame recently. With a young roster that became increasingly so due to injuries — nine true fresh- men have played on defense alone — mistakes are inevitable, and any miscue can be the difference between winning and losing. "This team just never quits. They genuinely love each other and will do anything for each other. Eventually these guys are going to be champions — I know that," fifth-year senior cap- tain Austin Collinsworth said. The talent is there, as is the coaching, for a deep run in 2015 and a possible College Football Playoff appearance. This year's freshmen and sophomores are learning on the job, but the experi- ence should pay off next year. "Whatever happens now will affect the future, but we have a say with what goes on," sophomore cornerback Cole Luke said. "We have a young team with only a handful of seniors leaving, so it's only up from here." That's the expectation, at least. Part of what has made Notre Dame's re- cent slide more bearable for fans is the promise of next year. Correcting a mistake here and an error there could be the difference between how this gloomy November played out and a return to happy end- ings in the future. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com