Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND Vs. OU: Logic Vs. Emotion THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Can Brian Kelly's 2012 season be remembered with the same reverence as Ara Parseghian's 9-0 and No. 1 start in 1964, or Lou Holtz's 1988 national title, both of which came out of nowhere? he first half of Notre Dame's sea- son, a 6-0 start, had three two- game increments that gradually raised outside expectations. • The first two games, Navy and T Purdue, were about avoiding upsets and putting Notre Dame into the top 25 conversation. • The next two, Michigan and Mich- igan State, centered on placing Notre Dame on the Bowl Championship Se- ries (BCS) radar. • The following two, Miami and Stanford, made a BCS bid Notre Dame's to lose. • Next, BYU and Oklahoma were about placing the Irish into the cham- pionship game radar. If you recall back in our preseason edition, we listed five objectives to reach that would make 2012 a "good" season at Notre Dame. The first was to avoid a third straight PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND five-loss campaign under Brian Kelly. Nothing jeopardizes a coaching fu- ture at Notre Dame more than three straight subpar seasons. For 2012, the Irish foremost had to avoid tying the school record of six straight seasons of finishing outside the top 25. Check. That should be fulfilled. Second was coming out ahead on turnovers after finishing minus-15 last year (second worst in school history). Through the first half of the season, Notre Dame was plus-eight. Third was the senior class avoiding 0-4 career records against Michigan and Stanford for the first time ever. Check. Fourth was holding serve at home for the first time in 14 years to end that frustrating record streak. Now comes Goal No. 5 — accom- plish the unexpected. Some might say Notre Dame already