Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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2 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW O ne of the more amusing sound bites during head coach Brian Kelly's first seven seasons at Notre Dame came shortly after a 31‑17 loss at home to USC in 2011 when he coined a new word. The fanfare prior to the game and during kickoff was at a crescendo because it was the first home night game in 21 years, featured maybe the most star‑studded recruiting visit weekend in the school's history, introduced glittering new gold helmets that matched the Golden Dome, and included piped‑in music for the first time in Notre Dame Stadium annals. Almost forgotten was a football game needed to be played. When Kelly was asked afterwards whether he considered it one of the most disappointing losses in his career, he replied he doesn't have a "stinkometer" to rate such setbacks. If there's a stinkometer to rate every Notre Dame football season since its birth in 1887, the 4‑8 campaign last year would be near the top, or definitely "Final Four" playoff caliber. It was only the fourth time the Fighting Irish football team lost at least eight games in one season, with 2‑8 in 1956 and 1960 plus 3‑9 in 2007 the others. What exacer‑ bated the odor was a preseason No. 10 rank‑ ing and a manageable schedule in which only one (Stanford) of the first seven oppo‑ nents finished the regular season above .500. Beyond the on‑field misery, the drama off it included preseason arrests of a half‑dozen players, the unprecedented in‑season fir‑ ing of a coordinator (defensive boss Brian VanGorder) following a 1‑3 start, and the November edict from the NCAA to have Notre Dame vacate its 21 wins from 2012‑ 13 because of academic improprieties which the university itself revealed and voluntarily reported (the university is appealing the va‑ cating of wins). This September, there will be some new pomp and circumstance when the school officially dedicates its $450 million Campus Crossroads project at Notre Dame Stadium that includes three new buildings attached to the edifice, luxury boxes, a new video score‑ board on the south end and other amenities heretofore unseen. Just like versus USC in 2011, don't forget about the actual football season. Whoever opted to use the word "Cross‑ roads" when the project was unveiled in the winter of 2014 must have possessed prescient powers regarding what might be in 2017. That's because once again the Notre Dame football operation is truly at a crossroads. On one hand, in the four seasons from 2012‑15 under Kelly, Notre Dame was 39‑ 13 (.750) and joined Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida State and Oregon as the lone schools to both play in a national title game and a Big Six Bowl in separate years. The Irish finished in the Associated Press top 20 three times in those four seasons, a first since the seven in a row from 1987‑93. Not the standard, but an appreciable up‑ grade from the previous 18 years. Furthermore, Notre Dame was one of only 10 teams in college football to win at least eight games all six years from 2010‑15 un‑ der Kelly. Again, hardly the bar for the Irish, but at least there was a modicum of consis‑ tency as opposed to going from 10 wins in 2002 or 2006 to five and three in 2003 and 2007, respectively. And then, 2016 happened. At a place like Notre Dame, history shows that once you have such an egregious and precipitous fall like Kelly did so deep in his tenure, credibility is difficult to recapture. Future setbacks get more magnified while the coaching equity diminishes: • Terry Brennan bounced back wonder‑ fully from 2‑8 in 1956 to a No. 10 final rank‑ ing in 1957 … but a year later he was fired. • Joe Kuharich's 2‑8 meltdown in 1960 saw him rise to No. 6 by the middle of the next October while defeating three future Hall of Fame coaches (Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, John McKay of USC and Jack Mollenkopf at Purdue) … but a year after that he stepped down because the job was driving him nuts. • Gerry Faust recorded some amazing "where did that come from?" victories dur‑ ing his five seasons from 1981‑85 — at No. 1 Pitt in 1982, Boston College in the 1983 Liberty Bowl, at SEC champ LSU and Pac‑10 champ USC in 1984 — but the skepticism that emanated from his 5‑6 debut season kept festering until it became overwhelming. • Once Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham produced 5‑7 seasons in 1999 and 2003, respectively, the "countdown" of their depar‑ ture tacitly began, as it did for Charlie Weis after the horrific 3‑9 season in 2007. Ten years later, Kelly and his revamped staff will attempt to become the exceptions at a job where for the past two decades all roads seem to lead back to the crossroads. ✦ NOTRE DAME FACES ANOTHER CROSSROADS SEASON THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com Last year's disappointing 4‑8 campaign under head coach Brian Kelly marked just the fourth time Notre Dame lost at least eight games in one season. PHOTO BY RICK KIMBALL