Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/621849
THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI from the wilderness. He just also happens to be going against this era's version of Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy with the likes of Alabama's Nick Saban and Ohio State's Urban Meyer. Notre Dame has gradually evolved into a top-25 and then top-10 to top- 15 caliber team in recent years, but it still does not yet qualify as a "pro- gram." Yes, there has been an inordinate amount of attrition and injuries the past two seasons. But that still shouldn't justify losing home games to Northwestern and Louisville in 2014. And let's face it, the top win in 2015 came against … Navy? How many of its players would start at Notre Dame? The other nine victories were versus teams with a combined 47-67 record (and no bowl wins). Notre Dame should be beating those teams either because it has far su- perior recruiting (and depth, which cushions it against attrition) or much better coaching/stability (unlike USC). At the same time, Notre Dame has nothing to apologize for (just like in 2012) as a Big Six participant. It demonstrated just how good it is in two-point losses on the road to two top-five programs this year, Clemson and Stanford. Notre Dame certainly is more than capable of defeating College Football Playoff participant Michigan State (against whom it won its last three from 2011-13) and Iowa (which was ranked No. 5 heading into the Rose Bowl Jan. 1). The Fighting Irish would have made far better accounting of themselves, too. It was a good season, but an unful- filling one because Notre Dame still can't pick up that "shock the world" upset, or major bowl conquest over a favorite, that made the program so famous, starting with the 1913 win at Army. The Irish really haven't done so since vanquishing No. 1 Florida State in 1993. Notre Dame is good … but like the B-plus student applying to the Ivy League, not quite good enough yet, while legitimately striving to get there. Until it starts winning these types of marquee games at approximately a .500 clip (at minimum), Notre Dame will continue to remain the "we're not that far away" operation. Awaiting that next step continues. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com CORRECTIONS • In the January 2016 edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated, 1986-96 head coach Lou Holtz was listed as defeating five teams in major bowls whose combined record was 52-2. It actually was 54-2: 11-0 West Virginia (1989 Fiesta), 11-0 Colo- rado (1990 Orange), 10-1 Florida (1992 Sugar), 12-0 Texas A&M (1993 Cotton) and 10-1 Texas A&M (1994 Cotton). • In "The Big Picture" two-page photo spread, Defensive Player of the Year Jaylon Smith was pic- tured behind Sheldon Day, followed by Matthias Farley (Special Teams Award) and Romeo Okwara (Father Lange Iron Cross).