What needs to be done.

The Irish will know sometime around 8pm Saturday night who they will be facing January 7^th in Miami for the BCS National Championship.  At that point, we will have five weeks to look at every opposing player, coach, game, injury, astrological sign, etc.  Until that point, and even after, there are things that the Irish needs to do no matter who they play.

Stay Focused - There will be a lot of distractions along with the many storylines that will develop over the next five weeks, with much media scrutiny for sure.  This team has done a great job staying focused on the job at hand, looking at one game at a time, one team at a time and no matter who they play on January 7^th, they will need to focus on them.  Besides, after the National Championship Game, the Irish’s next opponent will be the Temple Owls, which is a team we can focus on later.

Stay Healthy – Obviously, this a great time to rest and recover from the bumps and bruises of a long and hard fought season, but I am sure there is a lot of hard work, practice and training going on in South Bend that gives cause for concern each day. 

Improve Red Zone TD / Field goal ratio - The Irish push down the field and settle for field goals, and while three points are better than none, seven would be best.  This is an area that can definitely be improved in practice over the upcoming weeks.  A lot of this will be on the shoulders of Golson and his reads, checks and reps.

Let Longo do his thing - Kelly said that the team was hitting their stride in the weight room and that should continue.  Paul Longo deserves as much credit as anyone for this team’s success.  The worse thing that could happen is that the players lose their physical edge.

Stay out of trouble – Idol hands are the devil’s workshop.  Just consider the past transgressions of Rees, Calabrese, Wood, and Utupo.