Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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football independent remained unaltered and maybe the strongest it's been in a num- ber of years. The four-team playoff isn't relevant right now. Notre Dame's resurgence must first humbly begin with avoiding a school-re- cord sixth straight season with at least five losses. At this point, what can be more appre- per game with sophomore Tonmy Rees, but it was nullified with 29 turnovers en route to a disappointing 8-5 ledger. The next season, the Irish started three In 2011, the Irish averaged 413.0 yards ciated is a greater comfort level that oc- curs when you believe you're in secure, pro-active and knowledgeable hands, and that's where the Notre Dame athletics de- partment appears to be with Swarbrick's leadership and vision. That's not to say forthcoming changes might not revise the landscape again. But that will be part of Swarbrick's graduate work in the Irish athletic department. derby at Notre Dame will return to center stage. Staying on our "inevitable" theme, pop- At this time next month, the quarterback TURNOVER TURNAROUND ular belief holds that it's inevitable that Notre Dame will need to make a change at quarterback if it wants to reach a higher plane, and it's inevitable that if there is a new quarterback, turnovers will likely plague him in his first year as well (23 of Notre Dame's 29 turnovers last year were committed by the QBs with 17 intercep- tions and six fumbles). Maybe that is accurate, but we submit the 1999-2000 template. In 1999, Notre Dame amassed 419.7 yards per game total offense under record- setting fifth-year senior QB Jarious Jack- son — but it also committed 30 turnovers, hence a 5-7 finish. AUGUST 2012 117 only 345.7, or 74 yards less per game than a year earlier, but the team improved to 9-2 and earned a BCS bid. What was the difference? The special teams had their greatest col- different quarterbacks in the first five games — Arnaz Battle, former tight end Gary Godsey and true freshman Matt LoVecchio. Battle was lost to a season-end- ing injury and LoVecchio eventually settled in as the starter. The yards-per-game total plummeted to lective season at Notre Dame for one, and the defense reduced its points given up per game by seven points. But above all, even with a true fresh- man at the helm, Notre Dame committed only eight turnovers the entire season, an NCAA record for an 11-game regular sea- son. We're not expecting the turnover rate to drop so precipitously in 2012 as it did in 2000 after a comedy of errors the pre- vious year, but even reducing it by half would could make a significant difference against what looms to be a more treacher- ous schedule. Whether it's Tommy Rees or someone else, it's not inevitable that the 2012 of- fense will have to be plagued by turnovers again. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com