Most teams play their best against Notre Dame and everyone circles the Irish on the calendar when the schedules come out. As the season wears on, teams see their match up with the Irish as their Super Bowl the game that can make or break their season, especially those teams who are average or are having a below average season, like Pittsburgh, Boston College and Wake Forest. Notre Dame is different than any opponent a team plays and it shows in their efforts every week.
Many saw the games against Pittsburgh, Boston College and
upcoming Wake Forest as tune ups for the Southern Cal and beyond. After escaping by the skin of their teeth and
an underwhelming win over B.C., Wake Forest at 5-5 could be the toughest “tune
up “yet. I’m not saying that the Irish
aren’t learning and growing with these games, they’re just not doing it in the
manner we had envisioned. Nobody saw
Notre Dame Being 10-0 this deep into the season, but no one thought (either at
the beginning of the season or after eight games) that we would be having these
issues with the likes of Pitt and Boston College.
After the Oklahoma win, the Fighting Irish looked crisp and
clean, with only one penalty in the game on a defensive offside call where
Louis Nix knocked their quarterback on his tail. Since that win, Her Loyal Sons are playing
like an entirely different team. Brian
Kelly talked about his team needing to play with the head of a champion. That head is currently somewhere else. Don’t get me wrong, there have been good
plays to be sure, but they have been offset by penalties, mistakes and sloppy
play. Play like that against better
teams, such as USC and even Wake Forest will land a mark in the loss column for
sure.
The most important game is always the next one, and if you don’t
believe me, ask Alabama or any team that you thought would win out. Kelly has done a good job keeping this team
grounded despite all “the noise,” and at 10-0 we have to believe Kelly has
control of the situation. At the same
time, we are talking about 18-22 year olds in a very unique and unfamiliar
situation. Veterans on the team are now
at a place they were hoping to be at when they signed with Notre Dame, and the
younger players have never been on this kind of stage before (and no, winning a
high school state championship is in no way even close).
This program is not run like a traditional undefeated, 10-0,
#3 ranked team. Brian Kelly has his
“process” and it’s working. The players
have bought in, the coaches have bought in as have the fans (including this one
to a point). However, many poll voters
have not. Many in the media knock
Kelly’s Irish for not being flashy enough or offensively dominant enough,
especially against weaker teams. Over
and over, I hear comparisons to Oregon and Kansas State and how they have
scored on offense to gain their “style points.”
In contrast, Notre Dame gains
their “style points” on defense and has not given up the points like Oregon
(22.3 points per game, including a high of 51 against USC) and Kansas State
(17.7 per game including a high of 30) compared to Notre Dame’s 11.1 points per
game with a high of 26 in three overtimes.
Notre Dame’s defense outshines the defenses of both Kansas
State and Oregon and if pollsters, fans and the media recognized that a little
more, the Irish would be more prevalent in the National Championship
conversation. Let’s take a more in depth
look at defensive statistics for these teams.
|
Season Cumulative
|
Notre Dame
|
Kansas State
|
Oregon
|
|
Total Yards Allowed
|
2952
|
3501
|
3777
|
|
TD’s Allowed
|
8
|
18
|
27
|
|
Points Allowed
|
111
|
177
|
223
|
|
Sack / Yards
|
31 / 213
|
27 / 174
|
24 / 138
|
I like the big plays, I want Golson to scramble for big
yardage, for Atkinson to return a kickoff 99 yards for a score or Wood to break
tackles for a 50+ yard touchdown run.
Make no mistake, the Irish are capable of all of that and more, but this
team reminds me of a saying: It is the steady drip that wears away the
rock not the big splash.
Notre Dame has the steady drip, and we’ve also got a “big
splash” player in Manti Te’o, who I would take over any offensive weapon on any
team in the country. If you think
otherwise, watch these video clips, and very little of what you will see is
about being a great football player, but rather, about being a great person
playing football.
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