Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/608448
IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS I f you ask Irish head coach Brian Kelly, the difference between a 10-2 season and a College Football Playoff berth came down to two plays in 2015. "The reality is we're two plays away from being undefeated and being the No. 1 team in the country," he said fol- lowing Notre Dame's 38-36 loss to Stan- ford that closed out the regular season. "One play at Clemson and one play here at Stanford." That's simplifying it a little bit, and one could make the argument that the Irish were a play against Virginia and another at Temple away from an 8-4 season, but overall it marked a stellar coaching job by Kelly and his staff con- sidering the circumstances. Irish fans know the laundry list of in- juries that began in mid-August and plagued the program throughout the entire 12-game slate: junior quarterback Malik Zaire, junior running back Tar- ean Folston, junior tight end Durham Smythe and senior nose guard Jarron Jones. Several more were added by the end, including senior cornerback Kei- Varae Russell and senior running back C.J. Prosise. Wherever there was a loss, a backup stepped in ready to compete. Notre Dame asserted itself among the sport's elite despite those losses and stayed rel- evant in the College Football Playoff dis- cussion until Thanksgiving weekend. Still, the lasting images of the season might be drawn from the rain-soaked disappointment at Clemson and the de- Irish Season Falls Just Short Notre Dame's season came down to a pair of two-point losses that will prevent this team from being remembered as one of the program's best. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA