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✦ NEWS & NOTES BY LOU SOMOGYI HANDLING SUCCESS Only at Notre Dame can football conver- sations steer from hoping to finish above .500 and in the top 25 one week, to vying for a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bid — if not the national title — the next. Notre Dame's dominant 20-3 victory at then-No. 10 Michigan State last weekend vaulted the Irish all the way from No. 20 to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll — its highest ranking since having the same placement entering the 2007 Sugar Bowl against No. 4 LSU (a 41-14 Irish loss). In 2011, the Irish began the year ranked No. 16, but a 23-20 loss to South Florida in the opener quickly knocked them out. Heading into the regular-season finale at Stanford, Notre Dame had improved to 8-3 and was ranked No. 22, but a 28-14 setback versus No. 4 Stanford dropped it out of the rankings again. An 18-14 loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl to end the 2011 sea- son clinched a fifth-straight finish outside the final AP poll, leaving the Irish one year short of tying the school record of six from 1981-86. Now, after what third-year boss Brian Kelly proclaimed to be a "signature win" at Michigan State elevated the 3-0 Irish (a first since 2002) to No. 11, the "Are they back?" inquiries and "return to glory" themes are resurfacing. • Just like they did in 1998, when sec- ond-year head coach Bob Davie's Irish put together an eight-game winning streak to improve to 9-1. • Just like in 2000, when Davie's crew received its first BCS bid (Fiesta Bowl versus Oregon State) by winning their last seven games to finish 9-2. • Just like in 2002, when first-year head coach Tyrone Willingham became a ven- erated figure for directing an 8-0 start and No. 4 placement after Notre Dame fin- ished 5-6 a year earlier. • Just like in 2005, when first-year head coach Charlie Weis received a 10-year contract extension through 2015 during a 9-2 regular season that enabled the No. 5 Irish to get back to the BCS. From Kelly's perspective, he's handling Notre Dame's locker room now the same way when he did when he was 34-6 in his three seasons at Cincinnati, highlighted by the 12-0 regular season in 2009 that landed him a second straight BCS bowl and the Notre Dame job. "They're exactly similar in that nei- ther one of those guys have been to those places before," Kelly said of his team's 3-0 record. "No one in this room knows what it looks like. I'm handling it exactly the same way. I don't know of any other way to do it." The approach is a defined with a four- step process laid out for all to see on a sign that has been hanging in the Irish locker room since last August: 1) Don't believe or fuel the hype. 2) Manage expectations. 3) Avoid the noise. 4) Speak for yourself. Kelly hung the sign before the start of the 2011 season, and he hopes the mes- sage has been around long enough to be ground into their subconscious. So far, he doesn't sense any change in his team's work ethic. "Let's understand it feels good to be there, but how we got there, we need to continue to do those things," he said. "You want those [compliments]. You work for those things — but you have to be able to keep it in balance and perspective." Junior cornerback Bennett Jackson and the Irish had plenty to celebrate after their impressive 20-3 win at then- ✦ PAGE 11 No. 10 Michigan State, but head coach Brian Kelly wants his team to keep its strong start in perspective. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA WINNING FORMULA How many Fighting Irish faithful would have liked Notre Dame's chances to win