Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 PRESEASON 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM LIFELONG LESSONS Kudos to Todd Burlage for the great coverage of Brenda Tracy's visit to Notre Dame and her incredibly important discussion with the Irish football team. Her story and lessons are truly poignant and needed to be shared with the football program. Great work by Coach Kelly, Jack Swarbrick and the Notre Dame leadership for allowing her an un- restricted forum to tell her story and share her wisdom. Notre Dame is such a special place for so many reasons, and the fact that the athletes and students are so inte- grated will ensure that the football players are carrying this message and demonstrating the best possible behavior among the entire student body. The students look up to these amazing athletes and will have a great example to follow. Great work by Ms. Tracy, Coach Kelly and all those involved in mak- ing this event happen. And again, great work by Todd in covering the important event. Sean Kennedy Medford, N.J. P.S. Congrats and thank you to the entire BGI staff for an amazing 2019 football preview! BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com The universal preseason projection for the 2019 Fighting Irish is to finish in the lower half of the top 10. That likely means Notre Dame will finish the regular season either 11-1 with a postseason defeat, or it will be 10-2 at the conclusion of the regular season by winning a Big Six bowl for the first time since 1993. The 12-game regular season features marquee contests on the road at Georgia (Sept. 21), Michi- gan (Oct. 26) and Stanford (Nov. 30), plus a home game versus archrival USC (Oct. 12), which stum- bled to a 5-7 mark last year. At least one "upset special" always lurks every year, too, and last year Notre Dame managed to avoid a couple at home versus Vanderbilt (22-17) and Pitt (19-14). Here were some sample thoughts on the 2019 season by BlueandGold.com subscribers: GoldenJudge: I agree that 10-2 is the short end of probable outcomes. Too much talent, depth and good leadership. I'm not concerned about Ian Book's interceptions (in preseason practices). Pushing the envelope when it doesn't really count is how he will learn to be more, but not too, aggressive. It will help him calibrate things. KSWUSMC: I see 2019 going anywhere from 9-3 to 11-1. That being said, I can see — though don't know who — a loss out of nowhere. Clem- son almost lost to Syracuse last year, a team they should have rolled just like ND did. But a conflu- ence of factors nearly jumped up and bit them. This happens every year, to most teams. Grizz23: I think we will see an uptick of Book pushing the ball downfield, but he seems more comfortable living in the short to intermediate range. It will help ND beat a bunch of teams this year, but it won't be good enough to beat the "playoff" caliber teams. Calind: If we're going to continue to work the short to intermediate passes we'll need better YAC (yards after catch). Michael Young stepping up will have something to do with this, but the old Will Fuller screen would suit Book's game and you could see this becoming more of a staple with ideally Braden Lenzy running this. MPND07: The reason this worked for Fuller was that DeShone Kizer could complete the deep ball to him. If Book cannot complete a deep ball, the screen will not be there. Any defensive coordinator worth anything knows this and will challenge our offense to stretch the field. Otts33: A close, competitive loss to Georgia doesn't eliminate us from a playoff berth — pro- vided Michigan, Stanford, USC and Virginia are all good teams. Maverick1: We are all going to miss just how good Mr. Justin Yoon was. He was ND's best FG kicker in the last 50 years. Accurate and clutch. Chamgel: I actually believe a loss to Georgia hurts us more than a loss to Virginia, Virginia Tech or Duke. I have said all along give me an 11-1 Notre Dame team that had road wins against Georgia, Michigan and Stanford, and also beat USC — and I'll take my chances with the committee. Great wins overcome a bad loss. But if we lose to Georgia, I don't know that the other games on the schedule will be enough to push us over the hurdle even with a close loss. Apegambino: I'll believe it when I see it that an 11-1 Notre Dame team — regardless of what wins/loss — gets a playoff bid over a two-loss Power 5 conference champion. I just don't see that happening. Power 5 confer- ences have too much pull in the decision-making process. NDCorby: I honestly think 10-2 with a Big 6 bowl win would be much better for the program than 11-1 with a playoff appearance and another sound defeat. FROM THE WEBSITE JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! GET A 60-DAY FREE TRIAL WITH CODE IRISH60 Sexual assault survivor and activist Brenda Tracy spoke to the Notre Dame football team in July and challenged the Irish players to make a difference by setting a good example on campus and beyond. PHOTO COURTESY BRENDA TRACY Sophomore wide receiver Lawrence Keys III is one of several emerging playmakers for a Fighting Irish squad that is striving to be more explosive on offense in 2019. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER