Blue and Gold Illustrated

January 2019

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2019 9 UNDER THE DOME The Fighting Irish have played up a storm all season long; now it's time for the final thunder ... a post-season bowl trip!! 2019 TICKETS NOW ON SALE! Tickets & Packages 800-925-2500 NotreDameTickets.com which are extremely important — but the overall culture. That includes two top-10 NFL Draft picks along the offensive line in Quenton Nelson and Mike Mc- Glinchey opting to play in the Citrus Bowl win over LSU last year rather than protecting their individual fi- nancial interests. McGlinchey report- edly was playing with an injury and was given the option to sit out, but wanted the win too much for his Fighting Irish to stand by idly. This year, when fifth-year senior Alex Bars was lost for the season in the fifth game because of an ACL tear, instead of leaving the program with degree already in hand and pre- paring for the NFL, he coached and served as a mentor for the line. When 2017 starters Brandon Wim- bush and Nick Coleman lost their starting jobs, they were disappointed but remained consummate good teammates — and then responded when needed to start versus Florida State before returning to backup roles. "This is my first time in 11 years not a single student-athlete [is] on academic probation," Swarbrick said. "That's where the program is right now culturally. No disciplinary is- sues, just really great kids — and that's what you're looking at. "Yeah, you care about wins and losses, but you're measuring all that stuff. And on that scale I have enor- mous confidence." There is still one item left on the to-do list in the Kelly era. Fighting Irish head football coaches are divided into two categories: those that won a national title, and those that didn't. The only way a statue of an Irish coach is dedicated around Notre Dame Stadium is by "finishing." Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Par- seghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all are immortalized in the venue. For now, Kelly is more in the Elmer Layden (1934-40) category. Layden's career winning percentage of .770 at Notre Dame is actually better than both Holtz (.765) and Devine (.764) … but he couldn't quite finish the deal a couple of times, first in 1935 after the epic upset of Ohio State, and then in 1938, when his unbeaten and No. 1 Irish lost at USC the final day of the season. "He would be the first to tell you we need to win a national championship," Swarbrick said of Kelly. "He feels that, I feel that, but it's really special what he's done with the program." Even USC agrees. ✦ Plan B If No Playoff Had 12-0 Notre Dame been left out of the four-team College Football Playoff this year in favor of Big Ten champion and 12-1 Ohio State or even 11-2 Georgia, which took No. 1 Alabama to the brink in the SEC championship game, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly already had a plan in place. He would have channeled his inner University of Central Flor- ida — which declared itself the 2017 national champion with a 13-0 record that no one else had. Plus, the Knights had defeated Auburn, who handed consensus national champ Ala- bama its lone defeat, in the Peach Bowl. "I felt like if we didn't get in, we were go- ing to go the UCF model — and I had already talked to somebody about a Brian Kelly statue," Kelly said with a laugh. "We would be the national champs. So a statue, and I would get on the 'Play Like a Champion' sign, 12-0 … I had already convinced myself that if we didn't get in, that would be fine, too." — Lou Somogyi

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