Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Hardy to the field after missing the first eight games due to the academic investigation. A group that allowed 12.0 points on average in the first five games surren- dered at least 30 in each of the final seven games, tying a school record. "There's a lot to it," Kelly said in No- vember. "We're obviously playing a lot of young guys that are struggling and they're doing their best, but too many young guys are on the field. "That's probably the biggest issue right now that we're just trying to fight through." Notre Dame's 31-0 shutout of Michi- gan now seems like it happened years, rather than months, ago. ROLLER COASTER RIDE OF TURNOVERS Equally debilitating to the 2014 Notre Dame season that had dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance midway through was the emergence of turnovers. In 2013, Notre Dame led the nation with only four lost fumbles, with each coming from its running backs. That total is consistently low, a credit to running backs coach Tony Alford. In 2014, however, the Irish fell back to 100th in the nation with 12 lost fum- bles, though eight came from senior quarterback Everett Golson. No player better represents the highs and lows of 2014 than Golson. He quickly emerged as a Heisman Tro- phy candidate while leading the Irish to a 6-1 record and near upset of Flor- ida State. In the end, however, turn- overs plagued the unit in November with Golson committing 22 during the 12 regular-season games. Kelly even pulled him after the Irish fell behind 35-0 at USC Nov. 29. "We've been working with him … sooner or later, he's got to take it on himself to take care of the football," a deflated Kelly told reporters after the Senior quarterback Everett Golson committed 22 turnovers during Notre Dame's 12 regular-season con- tests. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA