Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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W Can Irish Finally Get Beyond Status Quo? THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI by reporters this March 27 if he was getting acclimated to Notre Dame, the candid youngster did not give the typically canned answer or politi- cally correct response. "I'd rather be in a different envi- hen Notre Dame 2011 Fresh- man All-American defensive end Aaron Lynch was asked upper echelon like the Alabamas; it's about not getting repeatedly clipped, at home no less, by the South Flo- ridas, Tulsas, Navys, UConns, Syra- cuses, etc. Kelly and Co. are not necessarily in It's not about competing with the ronment, as in like with weather and stuff," he replied. "I've got no choice. I'm here, so I've got to stay here." It sounded like a shotgun mar- riage, or at least an arranged one between the school and his mother. Eventually, Lynch employed the op- tion to leave and did so a couple of weeks later to South Florida in his beloved state. It used to be that Notre Dame would view such defections as "ad- dition by subtraction," and maybe that might still hold true. But this is not Notre Dame foot- ball 1941-53, 1964-80 or 1988-93. The program has been walking in the wilderness for nearly two decades. When the Irish were among the foot- ball elite during those halcyon eras, the natural and prevalent attitude was, "The heck with him, we'll find somebody else." Unfortunately, Notre Dame has lost Departed Freshman All-American defensive end Aaron Lynch would have helped the Irish avoid a sixth straight season with five or more losses this fall. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND a minimum of five games 11 times in the 18 seasons from 1994-2011. It is 130-89-1 (.593 win percentage) dur- ing that time — a 7-5 average record per season — with zero major/BCS bowl victories. If it loses at least five games again this year, that marks six straight such seasons, breaking the school record of five from 1959-63. The program is not good enough anymore to have an unruffled reac- tion of bravado. Thus, while pride of what the even 10-2 in given years. Although Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis were maligned head coaches, even they all had nine- or 10-win campaigns, sometimes more than once. If they can do it, surely Brian Kelly will too. Nevertheless, until proven oth- a crossroads year in their third sea- son, but it will be vital to go beyond the status quo. The projection this year from Las Vegas and elsewhere will be prob- ably the typical 8-4 regular season, maybe 7-5. From the outside looking in, games at Oklahoma and USC are marked down as automatic losses. That's 10-2. The four-game stretch from Sept. 15-Oct.6 with Michigan State, Michi- gan, Miami and Stanford has a "sta- tus quo" 2-2 flavor because the Irish haven't proven themselves enough otherwise. That's 8-4. And then there's the annual "what the —!" setback (BYU? BC?). That would be the 7-5. To build coaching equity at Notre erwise, the opinion will remain that Notre Dame won't quite reach the level of the top SEC schools, USC, Oklahoma, etc., because it doesn't have enough of "those kind of athletes" (i.e. Lynch) to take them over the top. Yes, Notre Dame can still get a school represents and that "Notre Dame isn't for everyone" might still permeate internally, the departure of a Lynch fortifies the popular opin- ion nationally that, "See, that's why Notre Dame football can never be the same that it once was. It lacks the 'street cred' with difference-making athletes like Lynch." A more balanced perspective says that Notre Dame still recruits bet- ter than at least 80 percent of BCS programs and can be 9-3 or maybe 62 MAY 2012 Manti Te'o or Michael Floyd five-star prospect, and always will. And yes, there will always be diamonds in the rough like three-star tight end Tyler Eifert who develop tremendously. However, an albatross of the pro- Dame, Kelly and his staff above all 1) need to protect the home turf (no unbeaten season at home since 1998), 2) start 2-0 against the teams they defeated 56-14 (Navy) and 38-10 (Purdue) last year in order to build a modicum of momentum 3) heaven forbid, win when most ex- pect a loss. "You've got to start with a win, you've got to win your home games and you've got to win your rivalry games," Kelly summarized to the Notre Dame Club in Chicago on April 13. "If you can do that you're in pretty good shape." Storms will always brew, be it gram, other than in maybe 2005, is it has developed a reputation of over- all football underachievement and always seems to be is in a "turning the corner" or "wait for the next re- cruit" mode. When you keep refer- ring to turning corners, you end up in circles. Above all, embracing the attitude of "we're a few plays away" must end. Virtually every program can say that about a given season, which is what constitutes the defini- tion of "average." Lynch departing or quarterback quandaries, but Notre Dame now has no choice but to move on. Whether it will have a galvanizing effect in the locker room can only be answered with the passage of time. One way or another, you close ranks and march forward, as you have hundreds of times before … and must continue to evermore. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED