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✦ NEWS & NOTES way his first-year starter progressed dur- ing his sixth collegiate game. He said Gol- son bounced back well from his mistakes, completing each of his last four passes for 76 yards. One of those was a 24-yard flag route on third-and-18 that he placed perfectly between two defenders and into the hands of senior Tyler Eifert for the first offensive touchdown of the game for either team. "The ball was put in a position where the defensive back had no chance of what we call raking through the basket," Kelly said. "That's something that he's worked hard at developing. He would've not made that throw in week one or week two. He would've thrown a line drive, level one ball that would have either been deflected by the corner who was sinking, or Tyler would not have gotten his hands on it." On Sept. 8 at home against Purdue, Gol- son was injured and taken out after a late fumble at his 15 helped the Boilermak- ers tie the game at 17. Versus Michigan at home two weeks later, he was yanked by Kelly in the second quarter after his second interception and Rees finished the 13-6 win. Last week, the head injury didn't allow Golson to finish again. A BREAK IN THE ACTION … SORT OF Last week's "distractions" included mid-term exams. This week, with most Notre Dame students back in their home- towns for fall semester break, it's about breaking from the scholastic routine. For head coach Brian Kelly and his staff, this week is about balancing a relaxation period with not going soft, especially with BYU considered the ideal "trap game" (see page 8) while sandwiched between Stanford and Oklahoma. "It's a trap game each week if you think that you can take a breather," Kelly said of being on mid-semester break. "We are screwing things down tighter. If that locker room is a mess, there's going to be a long practice today — and they know that. "If the game room looks like a pigsty, it's going to be a long practice today … if you just stay on the course, continue to do what you're doing, we'll be fine." The NCAA 20-hour-per-week practice rule for the team does not need to ap- ply during fall break, but Kelly said the main things that will be altered to keep everyone pre-occupied are early brunches, meeting times and captain-led film ses- sions. He doesn't want players sleeping in until 1 p.m., but he doesn't want an all-day NFL environment either. "We don't need to add more to prac- tice," Kelly said. "We don't need to do anything else but pay attention to what we've done up to this point." BCS IRRELEVANT … FOR NOW In the 14-year history of the Bowl Championship Series format, Notre Dame's No. 5 ranking in last week's ini- tial BCS standings was the second highest debut by the program. Ten years ago under first-year Irish head coach Tyrone Willingham, the Irish began at No. 3, which remains their highest rat- ing ever in the BCS. Notre Dame also reached No. 5 in November 2006 before losing 44-24 at USC. In the five seasons from 2007-11, the Irish briefly reached No. 22 in October 2009 under head coach Charlie Weis, who would be fired a month later. Notre Dame made it to No. 23 for the first time with Brian Kelly last year the week before los- ing 28-14 at Stanford in the regular-season finale. The only number Kelly said he is con- cerned about right now is getting to 7-0. "I know all of our fans care a lot about that stuff, and that's great," he said. "I love While Notre Dame's No. 5 ranking in the initial BCS standings is nice, head coach Brian Kelly said he is only focused on defeating BYU on Saturday. seeing Notre Dame out there and having stories about Notre Dame. But I don't re- ally give it any thought as to … whether that's a better position for us than any other. Sorry." He's more immersed in numbers such as less than 15 percent of the Irish plays having mental errors. If they excel there and other such categories like turnovers, ✦ PAGE 14 the other numbers take care of themselves. "We don't have a list of goals that say, 'We want to go to the Sugar Bowl, we want to go to the Fiesta Bowl, we want to win the national championship,'" Kelly said. "… All you really hear us talk about are the goals as it relates to playing the game, and if you hit these goals, you've got a great chance." ✦ PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA

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