Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/841614
and football coach, but our defense simply isn't where it should be. I believe this change is necessary for the best interest of our program and our student-athletes," Kelly says in a statement. Sept. 27 — Kelly vows to spend more time on the defensive side of the ball in practice in an effort to improve the results. Oct. 1 — After a chaotic week, Notre Dame tallies 657 yards of offense in a 50-33 victory over Syracuse at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Kizer finds sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown for a 79-yard touchdown on the first offen- sive play. On the following drive, Kizer hits St. Brown again, this time a 67-yard score. Sophomore C.J. Sand- ers also returns a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. In his defensive coordinator debut, Hudson and the Irish allow 489 yards, but limit the Orange to just six points in the second half. Oct. 2 — Kelly announces that junior cornerback Nick Watkins (arm) is lost for the season. Watkins suffered the injury in the spring. Oct. 8 — Playing in the midst of Hurricane Matthew, Notre Dame loses to North Carolina State 10-3 in Ra- leigh, N.C. Neither side was able to generate much offense in the torrential downpour, the only score coming on a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. Even in the poor conditions, Kizer attempts 26 passes (completing nine). Notre Dame finishes with just 113 yards of offense, including 59 on the ground. Oct. 15 — Even with All-American running back Christian McCaffrey sidelined with in- jury, Stanford overcomes an early 10-point deficit and rallies to beat Notre Dame 17- 10, moving the Irish to 2-5 entering their bye week. Kizer threw interceptions on Notre Dame's first two drives of the sec- ond half and was pulled in favor of Zaire. After Zaire also was ineffective, Kelly put Kizer back in to attempt a comeback, which came up short. Oct. 21 — Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick tells ESPN that Kelly "will lead this team out of the tunnel open- ing day next year," publicly backing the seventh-year coach after the 2-5 start. Oct. 25 — Kelly calls the vote of confidence from Swarbrick "disap- pointing." Oct. 29 — Notre Dame jumps out to a 20-0 lead on Miami, only to have the Hurricanes fight back to take the lead before the Irish score late to win 30-27. Sophomore kicker Justin Yoon hits a 23-yard field goal with 30 seconds left. Sophomore run- ning back Josh Adams also had a 41- yard touchdown run to tie the game with 5:53 left in the fourth quarter. Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jarron Jones has a monster game, finishing with seven tackles (all solo), including six tackles for loss, one sack and one pass broken up, winning the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week award. Nov. 5 — In the 90th consecutive meeting between Notre Dame and Navy, the Midshipmen chew up the clock and outlast the Irish 28-27 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. A week after a dominant performance, Jones plays a season-low 12 snaps against the triple-option attack. Nov. 9 — Kizer is asked about whether he'll return in 2017. "I know that there will be an opportunity for me to play at the next level. … I haven't informed myself enough to make a good decision." Nov. 12 — Notre Dame overpowers Army en route to a 44-6 victory in a Shamrock Series game played at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Nov. 17 — McGlinchey reaffirms that he'll return for a fifth season at Notre Dame, despite projections of a high NFL Draft selection. Nov. 19 — In their home finale, the Irish fall 34-31 to Virginia Tech, unable to hold onto 17-0 and 24-7 leads. Virginia Tech's Joey Slye produced the game-winning field goal with 4:16 remaining. Nov. 22 — The NCAA announces its recommenda- tion that Notre Dame vacate all 21 of its victories from 2012 and 2013 because of academic misconduct. The school says it will appeal the decision. Nov. 26 — The season comes to a close with a 45-27 loss at rival USC, making the Irish 4-8 and putting Kelly squarely on the hot seat. The head coach says after the game that he'll be back at Notre Dame in 2017, despite the "night- mare" season. But just hours later, ESPN and Ya- hoo! Sports report that Kelly's representatives are exploring options to possibly leave Notre Dame. Nov. 27 — In the early morning hours after the loss to USC, Kelly issues a statement that says he is "fully com- mitted" to Notre Dame. Nov. 29 — Zaire requests a re- lease from Notre Dame to transfer to another school for a graduate season. It is granted. Dec. 2 — In a video interview released by Notre Dame, Swarbrick says there is no truth to the rumors of Kelly being ousted. Dec. 3 — Junior wide receiver Corey Holmes announces that he's transferring from the program. He winds up at Purdue. Dec. 7 — Notre Dame alums take out ads in The South Bend Tribune and The Ob- server, bashing Swarbrick and Kelly. Dec. 11 — Offensive lineman John Mon- telus announces he's transferring to Virginia. Fellow lineman Colin McGovern also later transfers to Virginia. Dec. 12 — Kizer declares for the NFL Draft. Dec. 14 — Co-offensive coordinator Mike Sanford takes the head coaching job at Western Kentucky. Dec. 17 — Paul Longo is removed as strength and conditioning coach and placed on disability. Dec. 20 — Wake Forest's Mike Elko is named Notre Dame's new defensive coordinator. Dec. 27 — Brian Polian is named special teams coach. Dec. 29 — Associate head coach Mike Denbrock leaves Notre Dame to become offensive coordinator at Cincinnati. Dec. 30 — Memphis' Chip Long is hired as offensive coordinator. Jan. 14 — Five early enrollees arrive at Notre Dame and begin the spring semester: running back C.J. Holmes, tight end Brock Wright, offensive linemen Aaron Banks and Robert Hainsey, and safety Isaiah Robertson. Jan. 31 — Notre Dame announces its remaining coaching additions: DelVaughn Alexander (wide receiv- ers), Matt Balis (strength and conditioning), Tom Rees (quarterbacks) and Clark Lea (linebackers). Feb. 1 — Notre Dame signs 21 players on National Signing Day. The class, which includes eight four-star prospects and 12 three-star recruits, is ranked No. 13 nationally by Rivals. April 23 — The Gold team tops the Blue team 27-14 in the annual spring game. Sophomore defensive end Daelin Hayes is a top storyline with three sacks and four tackles for loss. April 28 — Kizer is drafted in the second round by the Cleveland Browns, one of just two Irish players selected. Rochell goes in the seventh round to the Los Angeles Chargers. ✦ Sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown burst onto the scene in 2016, finishing with a team- high 58 receptions for 961 yards and nine touchdowns. PHOTO BY RICK KIMBALL BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 137 QUOTABLE "Every player, every coach, myself, other admin- istrators involved in the program, we all share the same view. There's no way around that conclusion. It's not bad breaks, it's not a play here or there. We didn't do what we need to do. So we start from that perspective. But there's a danger in overreact- ing to any one piece of information that you get in the course of the evaluation of football programs." Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick on his radio show Dec. 3 when asked about the 2016 season "Everything's on the table. I have to evaluate a lot of things within the program. There's some really good things in place. But I've always felt that the blend of continuity and change is the sweet spot. For me, we need to clearly look at where that is, because it was off [this season]. I need to look at where that mix is of continuity and change." Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly following a 45-27 loss to USC to end the season "We know we won the games. They're not going to take that away from us. They can take it away in the record books all they want, but we won the games. We had a good season that year, and they had an even better season the year before that. Go ahead and scratch them off a piece of paper, but we know we won those [21] games." Senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey after the NCAA's order that Notre Dame vacate wins from the 2012 and 2013 seasons