Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS and perhaps even better. The Irish were in the playoff conver- sation until Thanksgiving weekend, when they lost at Stanford. That was even after the injuries piled up to what seemed like catastrophic levels. Notre Dame proved by overcoming those losses in 2015 that it has vastly improved its team depth since 2012 when the Irish struggled to scrimmage in practice while preparing for Ala- bama — ultimately a 42-14 drubbing — because of numbers. Now that depth is not a concern for the Irish — the 2015 and 2016 recruit- ing classes will only strengthen that area — the next step for the Irish is to win those close games and to more consistently topple the marquee op- ponents on their schedule. In the past two seasons, Notre Dame came close but fell short against Flor- ida State (2014), Clemson (2015) and Stanford (2015). Those tight finishes must begin to fall in Notre Dame's favor if the program is to reach that next step. Against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, the Irish lost by 16 points but the Buckeyes did not look to be in another class than Kelly's squad. "I like where we are," Kelly said af- ter the loss to Ohio State. "We're go- ing to keep banging at the door. Keep playing Ohio State, keep playing Flor- ida State, keep playing Alabama, keep playing these teams in these kinds of venues, in these kinds of games. "We don't want to be playing direc- tional teams with no profile to them. Big names, great traditions, New Year's Six games. Keep playing them and getting in them. Keep building your program, keep recruiting, keep doing it the way you're doing it, and we're going to win these games. "We've made significant progress since where we were in 2012. We'll get there. Hopefully we won't have as many injuries. We'll get back here again. We'll win them." Even if five-star wide receiver Demetris Robertson ultimately opts to play football somewhere other than Notre Dame — he opted to wait un- til after National Signing Day to an- nounce his decision — the Irish have put together another class of strong players that should keep Notre Dame knocking on that door. "Each and every year, you hope that this group is the best group you've ever recruited," Kelly said on National Signing Day. "I'm hoping for that again. I think we all know that there are some players in here that could help immediately, some that we'll de- velop, and some that are in here for specific needs. "It touches upon everything that you would need in your program six years into it. It's not an immediate fix, it's not just for the future. I think it covers all the areas that you would expect it to cover, and that's why it doesn't have that flashiness." That strength is a prerequisite to be- come one of college football's flashy programs. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com