Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/894058
44 NOV. 6, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI MR. NOVEMBER … REVISITED Through his first three seasons at Notre Dame from 2010-12, head coach Brian Kelly had earned the "Mr. November" moniker. During that span, Kelly was 10-1 in that defining month, the first Fight- ing Irish coach to have achieved that fine a record after 11 November games since Jesse Harper in 1913-15. It began in 2010 when his reel- ing 4-5 team on a two-game losing streak, and having to suddenly start freshman Tommy Rees at quarter- back, defeated No. 15 Utah 28-3. Later that month at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Irish snapped an eight- game losing streak at USC. And there's more. Kelly also was 10-1 in November during his three- year stint at the University of Cincin- nati (2007-09) before coming to Notre Dame, winning his last eight contests in that month. Four of those victories were against ranked teams, and the lone defeat was in 2007 versus No. 5 West Virginia (28-23). And wait, there's more! In regular- season games that extended into the month of December while he was at Cincinnati, Kelly was 2-0, high- lighted by the dramatic 45-44 win at No. 15 Pitt in which a Bowl Champi- onship Series bid was on the line. The Bearcats trailed 31-10 before rallying to victory. Finally, Kelly also won his last two November games while at Central Michigan University in 2006, high- lighted by the MAC championship game, the team's first such title in 12 years. Thus, in his last 26 November/De- cember regular-season games from 2006-12, including the MAC title game, Kelly was 24-2 (.923 winning percentage). His lone loss at Notre Dame in November was 28-14 at Stanford in 2011, when quarterback Andrew Luck led the Cardinal. At the time, Kelly said much of the November success was based on year-round conditioning plans, headed by his longtime right-hand man, Paul Longo. This included proper nutrition, hydration and pac- ing of training and practices through- out the year. A huge part of condi- tioning also was not over-working players. "We make it such that it's not a grind," Kelly said during that time of how the practices are set up. "It's not a sprint but a marathon, and that October is for pretenders and November is for contenders. We try to ingrain within our players' [and] coaches' mind that this is now the time to kick it into gear. This is where you get the opportunity to play for championships. "You can't have a great November without having a great plan as it re- lates to your conditioning. That goes back to January. That goes back to what you do in June. If you try to win the battle in June and July and Au- gust, you're probably going to come up short in November. "We want to make sure the tank is full in November, and we've done a pretty good job of it." Alas, in the past four seasons from 2013-16, Notre Dame is only 7-10 un- der Kelly in the month of November. It was stunned the first week in a 28-21 loss at Pitt in 2013, and im- ploded in both 2014 and 2016 with 1-4 and 1-3 marks, respectively. Even in 2015 when it was 3-1, unimpres- sive 28-7 and 19-16 wins over 3-9 Wake Forest and Boston College teams dropped Notre Dame in the rankings, before losing at Stanford. The subpar November perfor- mances helped result in a massive overhaul of the football team's infra- structure, including a new strength and conditioning staff. "You've got to be lucky, too," Kelly said. "You've got to stay away from the injury situation and make sure your players are developed and count on guys … we're going to have to count on guys to play a big role for us in November." This year would seem ripe to re- verse the 2013-16 trend and revert to the 2006-12 success under Kelly. GAME PREVIEW: WAKE FOREST Top STorylineS The Irish are just 7-10 in November games under head coach Brian Kelly since 2013, but one of those victories was a 28-7 home win over Wake Forest in 2015. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA