Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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South Bend. Narrowing the list of memo- rable stories was not an easy task, but here are 10 we feel stood out above the rest. take a day off this year. The reshuffling of conference affiliations moved the me- dia coverage from the locker room to the boardroom this offseason. The monster television deals and overall unrest gave the idea of a college football playoff the last shove it needed to become a reality, which kept the cameras aimed at commissioners' meetings throughout the spring. With each new move or rumor, Notre Dame's unique status as a powerful independent team was called into question. "I certainly have been taught enough The college football news cycle didn't 1. BOARD ROOM BUSINESS times now not to claim there's any calm- ness emerging," Notre Dame athletics di- rector Jack Swarbrick said in an October in- terview. "Every time I declare it, someone proves me wrong. So our assumption is it's not. Certainly the factors that have contrib- uted to the larger conference realignment continue to exist, and we're doing the same thing we've done throughout: monitoring it closely and hoping that the Big East stays a vibrant and successful partner for us." The Atlantic Coast Conference and the debate and rumors about the school mov- ing to a new conference will continue in the coming year. Dame is headed into its 20th month in August, and while the candidates have changed slightly, the outcome remains as murky as it has ever been. The debate between Dayne Crist and The quarterback competition at Notre 2. QUARTERBACK QUESTIONS PERSIST Tommy Rees began in January 2011, the day after Rees capped a 4-0 freshman sea- son. Crist won the starting job in training camp, only to have it yanked away after two subpar quarters in the season opener. Rees took the reins for the rest of the sea- son, but by the end of the year momentum shifted toward sophomore Andrew Hen- drix. The competition continued to monopo- Big 12 Conference were often mentioned as possible landing spots for the Irish if the Big East dissipated after losing Syra- cuse, West Virginia and Pittsburgh. The new four-team playoff format strength- ened Notre Dame's chances of remaining independent by placing more emphasis on strength of schedule and none on win- ning a conference championship. Still, the lize headlines throughout the offseason and into the spring when Irish head coach Brian Kelly declared a wide-open com- petition among Rees, Hendrix, freshman Everett Golson and early enrollee Gunner Kiel. The biggest question facing Kelly and the Irish this year at the start of camp remains: Who will be the starting quarter- back at Notre Dame? coach Mike Brey, the more success he finds. Notre Dame lost Tim Abromaitis, its top re- turning scorer, in late November, and was left with an inexperienced and undersized group that struggled to hold its own in the out-of-conference schedule. AUGUST 2012 95 The harder things get for Irish basketball 3. DOING MORE WITH LESS