Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the fifth quarter lou somogyi top-five program in years to come. 3. Sweep Michigan and USC for the second straight year. Yet another accomplishment that hasn't been done since 1989-90. Notre Dame is 1-6 in its last seven trips to Ann Arbor. It also hasn't defeated USC at home since head coach Bob Davie's final season in 2001. Sweep this duo, and a second straight BCS bid likely awaits for the first time since 2006. Which brings us to … 2. First consecutive seasons since 199293 where Notre Dame does not lose at least three games. This would mean at least 11 victories again, or a regular season no worse than 10-2. As much as I loathe saying this, I'm not expecting Notre Dame to go unblemished a second straight regular season. Do you realize that hasn't occurred since Knute Rockne's last two seasons in 1929 (9-0) and 1930 (10-0)? Even Frank Leahy's juggernauts from 1946-49 mixed in a couple of ties — and even Alabama lost at home in November the past two seasons. Chances are the 2012 regular-season bounces won't happen two years in a row. That brings us to … 1. Win a BCS postseason game. This would be my definition of a "successful" 2013 Notre Dame campaign. Let's face it, the 2013 regular season has letdown written all over it (sort of like the 10-3 season in 2006 after going 9-3 in 2005). The magical "where-in-God's-namedid-that-come-from?" 12-0 run is maybe a once-per generation (or 24 years) achievement that Notre Dame faithful will harken back to in the decades to come. That's not to say there can't or won't be better Fighting Irish teams coming up in the future, but it either won't be reflected in the record or won't have quite the same "from these ashes" feel. Nevertheless, the bar has been set, and a BCS bid will be a 2013 preseason projection. If it by chance happens to be the title game again, all the better. Since the advent of the BCS format in 1998, the Fighting Irish are 0-4 in the postseason BCS outings and have lost by an average of 25.3 points, and never less than 14. That is the stat that still has college football folks — especially in the SEC — not yet full believing that "Notre Dame is back." There have been 29 different program (about 25 percent) that have won BCS bowls. Notre Dame isn't one of them. With the four-team playoff getting introduced in 2014, the 2013 season represents the last chance to do so in the current format. Such a victory would be another watershed achievement. The program has set itself up for consistently placing amongst the top 10 in years to come. How much higher it can travel is the next agenda to tackle. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com