It’s officially uncharted territory for Notre Dame. For much of the past month, the Irish have been compared to the 2002 squad, Tyrone Willingham’s first team in South Bend that won thanks to a relentless defense and an opportunistic offense.
For three quarters last Saturday, it appeared those comparisons were all too familiar. Facing a double-digit underdog, it appeared the clock was about to hit midnight on the Irish’s Cinderella season, with the No. 4 team in the country read to fall to a mediocre Pitt team.
But this wasn’t your standard Notre Dame team. With their undefeated season on the line, the Irish found a way to battle back in the fourth quarter from a 20-6 deficit to send the game to overtime. Then the Irish found a way to overcome a goal line fumble by Cierre Wood to win the football game, with an assist to a missed Pitt field goal. It was the type of fortune (and a little bit of luck) that a 9-0 team creates for itself, filled with the self-belief that comes with a lot of work.
“I told the football team that they had the heart of a champion in the way that they battled through triple overtime,” Brian Kelly said Tuesday afternoon. “But now that we understand that we will fight in battle, we’ve got to have the head of a champion, too. The head of a champion understand that each and every week you’re going to get the opposition’s very best. We have to be able to understand that when we play the game on Saturday. As I mentioned, I like the way we prepared all last week. We need to play better.”
With the Irish set to play a woeful Boston College team with a head coach that seems like a dead man walking, the same trappings will face the Irish in a hostile evening environment. But with a chance to get to 10-0 staring at Notre Dame, this team has likely learned another valuable lesson without being saddled with a loss.
Kelly spent over 30 minutes with the media answering questions. While the entire video is below, here are a few segments I found interesting.
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We’ve focused a lot on the freshmen that have contributed valuable minutes during the 2012 season. Kelly gave a quick update on some of the rookies who haven’t seen the field yet, praising a small handful of players.
“I would say guys that really catch my eye, C.J. Prosise. He’s a young man that is fun to watch,” Kelly said. “Gunner Kiel is whipping the ball around there. Big, physical kid on scout team. Really like watching him play. Jarron Jones is doing a great job on our scout team. Hard to block, big, long, physical kid. I would say those kids jump out at me right now. Will Mahone is doing a very good job for us as well. I’m sure I’m missing some of those guys, but those guys have jumped out at me.”
Prosise is a really intriguing athlete. He’s a guy that’s big and physical enough to be an emergency outside linebacker, but also has sprinter speed. With Zeke Motta the only member of the secondary departing, it’s going to be might competitive along the backend of the Irish defense the next few seasons.
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Once again, the Irish struggled in the red zone against Pitt, with two end zone turnovers nearly costing Notre Dame the game. When asked about the difficulties of playing inside the 20, Kelly’s answer all but targeted the decision-making skills of his young quarterback.
“You have to be more accurate; you have to have precision,” Kelly said. “It’s not a word that’s thrown around very easily in our room right now. Precision is not what we have yet. You have to be so precise. I’ve had quarterbacks that were precise, could read things quickly, and then it was easy down there. It was just, you know, shooting fish in a barrel. We’re not there yet. Getting to that precision in that area is the progress that we have to make.”
To that point, Kelly was asked about what things will be like when this offense actually gets to where he wants it to be. With a fleet of strong running options still likely around next season, and a depth chart at tight end and wide receiver that should only thrive, Kelly was pretty candid about what the engine of the offense will be.
“It’ll be driven by the quarterback, by his consistent play, by his decision making, by his athleticism,” Kelly said. “Certainly if you take the last quarter in overtime, I think Everett contributed 75 percent of our offense. So that quarterback will be the one that drives it; he’ll have athleticism; he’ll have the ability to throw the football.”
Consider that a large vote for Golson and his future. Interestingly enough, Gunner Kiel possesses all of those traits as well. But for those worried that the offense was thrown too much on the back of the quarterback down the stretch, that 75% ratio didn’t seem like a number that Kelly feared.
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Lastly, the offensive line has been playing better football of late, running the ball effectively while protecting Golson better. Kelly was asked about his starting left tackle, and what makes Zack Martin, a guy that’s locked down the position since Kelly came to campus, and what makes him so good.
“One word: Consistency. He’s lapping the field. He’s that good on a consistent basis,” Kelly said. “I think Coach Hiestand is grading him out in the 90s where guys are grading in the 60s and 70s. He’s just a consistent player for us at a high level, and has been that way all year.”
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