Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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32 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW RIGHT ON SCHEDULE … OR NOT? Navigating as a football independent keeps Notre Dame on the run at slotting games BY LOU SOMOGYI B rian Kelly had to summon all the will power he could last December to hold the company line after he was asked about the school's ad- ministrative decision days earlier to move the Nov. 17, 2018 Notre Dame-Syracuse matchup from Notre Dame Stadium to Yankee Sta- dium. Because the 2017 schedule lacked a Sham- rock Series game that had been part of the docket from 2009-16, the shift was made with Syracuse in an effort to resurrect it and help promote the "Notre Dame brand." "I coach the team," Kelly responded. "I play wherever they tell me to play. How'd I do? Good with that?" When asked how much input he had in the decision, Kelly responded it was more of an after-the-fact option for him. "I was [presented], 'Here are the scenarios for you, which one don't you want?'" Kelly said. "I didn't want to play indoors, late in November, against a team that likes to throw it around. Let's get them outside in the ele- ments and as close to South Bend as pos- sible." The announcement of the schedule change in November was somewhat awkward — be- cause just a week earlier Kelly had expounded how after a superb 8-1 start that elevated the Irish to No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, their fuel tank began running on fumes and then on empty to close out the regular season with 41-8 and 38-20 losses at Miami and Stanford, respectively, plus rally- ing to a 24-17 win versus Navy in between. "There was no juice," Kelly said of his players regarding the late-season slide. "There was no excitement. … They were tired mentally. It's a long year, and I've got to do a better job of pacing that out for them." Oddly, just prior to November last year, Kelly expressed confidently that with the physicality Notre Dame had developed, the team was "built for November." The Irish head coach later hinted that the schedule, which includes finishing at Stanford or USC each season, doesn't do them any favors in November. It might be true again in 2018. That's why the announcement regard- ing the move of the Syracuse game may have hit the wrong chord. Notre Dame will have to finish four of its last five 2018 games on the road — two of them in California. • Notre Dame travels to San Diego Oct. 27 to face Navy, a long journey in itself versus a program that has been the best at playing "keep away" against the Irish. Two years ago when Navy won, it limited the Irish offense to six possessions — the fewest in an NCAA game in eight years. Last year while hold- ing on to a 24-17 victory at the end, Notre Dame possessed the ball only 17:18 to Navy's 42:42. • The next week (Nov. 3) the Irish venture to Northwestern — which surprisingly has won the last two meetings in this series, more notably in overtime at Notre Dame in 2014, when the Irish lost four in a row in November. • After facing the Wildcats, Notre Dame hosts Florida State (Nov. 10), which has been Director of athletics Jack Swarbrick (right) has built a very challenging schedule for head coach Brian Kelly's team in 2019 with road games at Michigan, Georgia, Louisville and Stanford. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA