Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: FLORIDA STATE TOP STORYLINES BY LOU SOMOGYI WHO WANTS TO BE HERE? One of the most pivotal deter- minants of a bowl winner is not so much about talent or strategy, but who truly wants to be there — spe- cifically in non-Bowl Championship Series (BCS) clashes. Players and coaches always spew the company line about the honor of playing in a bowl game, but many times it's lip service. There are 35 bowl games, which means that 70 among 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), or 58.3 percent, play in the postsea- son. It's not like 30 or 40 years ago when the number was 20 percent or less. Sometimes, this even applies to BCS games. For example, after 12-0 Alabama was edged by Florida in the 2008 SEC championship game and could not play for the national title, it subconsciously had no desire to play Utah in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide had more talent than the Utes and their head coach Nick Saban was among the game's elite, but Alabama's heart didn't seem to be into it after just missing a chance to play for the national cham- pionship. Meanwhile, Utah adver- tised it as the biggest game in their football history. Before you knew it, the Utes had a 21-0 lead 11 minutes into the game en route to a 31-17 up- set victory. Alabama's collective head or desire was absent at the outset because of a letdown. Last year in the Sun Bowl versus Miami, Notre Dame faced an ideal situation: • After a rough start, the Irish rode a sea of momentum into the game with three straight victories, highlighted by a 20-16 win at USC in the regular-season finale to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Trojans. Notre Dame had a purpose and a drive. • Brian Kelly was trying to become the first Irish head coach to win a bowl in his rookie season. • Conversely, Miami was reeling with a season-ending loss at home to South Florida for a 7-5 finish and the ouster of fourth-year head coach 40 JANUARY 2012 Head coach Jimbo Fisher's team entered the season ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and the favorite to win the ACC title but underachieved, losing four games. PHOTO BY ROSS OBLEY/COURTESY FLORIDA STATE Randy Shannon from his job. Interim head coach Jeff Stoutland admitted that his players were "confused, try- ing to figure the whole thing out." Notre Dame came in sharply fo- cused, while Miami was dazed — and it showed while the Irish took a 14-0 lead after two possessions and held a 27-3 halftime edge before coasting to a 33-17 victory. The situation is different this year for Kelly and Co. There were BCS- like expectations placed on the team, and it underachieved with an 8-4 re- cord, culminating with a 28-14 loss at Stanford. Last year's "Super Sub" at quarterback, Tommy Rees, is now deemed not athletic enough to defeat a defense as fast as Florida State's. The Seminoles also underachieved, but they did win six of their last seven and ended on an uptick with a 21-7 victory versus rival Florida in Gainesville. Whose collective hearts and heads will be into the game more? AVOIDING STAGE FRIGHT With one exception, the first quar- ter has served as a barometer of what kind of game it will be for Notre Dame this year. The exception came at Michigan on Sept. 10, where the Irish bolted to a 14-0 first-quarter cushion before losing 35-31 with a defensive meltdown in the fourth quarter. In losses to South Florida, USC and Stanford, Notre Dame was behind 13-0, 14-0 and 7-0, respectively, at the end of the first quarter, and the Stanford lead was extended to 21-0 by halftime. Otherwise, Notre Dame jolted its BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED