Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/616353
UNDER THE DOME Louisville in 2014. It was avoided this year, which can never be undervalued. That in it‑ self can be classified as a success. WERE THERE EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES TO OVER- COME? Losing your start‑ ing quarterback (Malik Zaire), running back (Tarean Folston), tight end (Durham Smythe) and nose guard (Jarron Jones) for the season by the end of game two would certainly qualify. Unlike with Willing‑ ham and Weis, who were trying to build programs early on, this year became a valida‑ tion of the recruiting and development under sixth‑year head coach Brian Kelly that they had been able to construct a good enough program and ample quality depth to where they could weather such setbacks, and several more inju‑ ries along the way. That too made it a s u c c e s s . O n e o f t h e greatest compliments Kelly can receive is that 10‑2 is now actually frustrating. In the recent past, it would be vener‑ ated as prosperity, if not rapture. WAS THE SCHEDULE POW- ERFUL, AND WERE THERE UP- SET WINS THAT RESONATED? Objectively, not really. As stated, the Fight‑ ing Irish basically van‑ quished who they were supposed to defeat and, even with all the attri‑ tion, had a combination of better overall talent, experience, stability and future NFL players on the roster than every‑ one other than Clemson, USC and maybe Stan‑ ford. Notre Dame made an impressive comeback at home against USC, and took Clemson and Stan‑ ford to the wall on the road before losing on fi‑ nal plays. It is not Notre Dame's fault that Texas (5‑7) and Georgia Tech (3‑9) had miserable campaigns, al‑ though both did pull off stunning upsets of Okla‑ homa and Florida State, respectively — which goes back to taking no victory for granted. When Georgia Tech was actually favored over Notre Dame early in the year, based on its season from last year, Irish coaches privately and its players later pub‑ licly declared it "a joke." They knew Tech doesn't recruit the same level of talent. Three other foes — UMass, Wake Forest and Boston College — also finished 3‑9, while Virginia, whose coach was on the hot seat, was 4‑8. That's half of your schedule with a com‑ bined 20‑51 record. When Navy and Tem‑ ple join USC as your best wins … well, that just isn't going to resonate as much because it comes NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL TICKETS BOWL GAME TICKETS 2016 Season Now On Sale 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDameTickets.com