Upon Further Review: No one thought Notre Dame would be here
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
Many college football aficionados doubted whether Notre Dame would ever be relevant again on the national stage.
The school’s academic standards were too high, higher than when the Irish last won a national title more than two decades ago. High enough in fact that star players from that 1988 title team probably wouldn’t have gotten into the university.
Critics also clamored that Notre Dame didn’t draw the kind of talent it once did and that was necessary to compete for a national championship. Kids had other viable choices and knew no matter where they went to school, they would be on TV, further damaging Notre Dame’s cause of at one time being pretty much the only show around or at the very least the most recognizable college football program.
Well, fast forward to the year 2012, nearly a quarter of a century after Lou Holtz’s Tony Rice’s-led Irish won the school’s last national championship on the gridiron, and Notre Dame has silenced all the critics.
The Irish are relevant and by going 11-0 this season have proven to the nation that you can be great on the field while achieving excellence in the classroom.
Notre Dame is one win away from playing in the BCS National Championship Game, but it’s already won the national title in the classroom.
When the Irish became the No. 1 ranked team in the BCS standings on Sunday, they became the first football program to ever be top-ranked in the BCS while having the nation’s top graduation rate. In the most recent period, Notre Dame had a 97 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate.
Now, the Irish have the opportunity to finish the regular season No. 1 in the polls at 12-0, punch their ticket to the title game and win a national championship.
To have a shot at the pinnacle in college football, Notre Dame will first have to beat USC Saturday in the Coliseum. Not an easy task, but getting to 11-0 hasn’t been easy either.
For now, lets take a look back at win No. 11 for the Irish, a 38-0 blowout in the home finale against Wake Forest.
Following, IndySportsLegends.com grades the Irish’s latest effort.
QUARTERBACKS – A+
Everett Golson threw the ball as well as he has all season, especially the deep ball.
He hit receivers in stride and was very accurate as he enjoyed a heck of a day throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns.
Golson hit on 20-of-30 passes, wasn’t sacked and threw one pick.
To his credit, Golson really exposed Wake’s glaring weakness, its secondary. The Demon Deacons’ DBs bit on Golson’s bump fakes and when they did have good coverage, his passes were right on the money.
Not a bad effort for a rookie QB not bad at all.
RUNNING BACKS – A+
It was Cierre Wood’s time to shine in this one, and that he did.
Wood averaged 13.6 yards per carry en route to a 150-yard rushing performance on just 11 carries, including a 68-yard touchdown scamper, which started the scoring for the Irish.
George Atkinson also found the end zone. His 9-yard run ended the scoring.
It was a very productive day on the ground as Wood, Atkinson and Co. averaged 7.4 yards per carry, ending with 221 yards on the ground.
If you’re a Notre Dame fan, you really have to like how the Irish busted some long runs.
RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS – A+
Tyler Eifert made sure he went out in style playing in front of the home crowd for the last time.
The Mackey Award semifinalist had half a dozen catches for 85 yards, including a touchdown that he showcased why he’s college football’s best tight end. Eifert hauled in a Golson pass in the corner of the end zone after out-leaping Wake’s defender. As impressive as the grab was, it was equally as impressive that Eifert, while falling back, was able to get a toe down before his body fell out of the back of the end zone.
Eifert shined and so did receiver TJ Jones. Jones had a game-high 97 yards on six grabs, including a 34-yard touchdown where he completely faked out the cornerback and was completely in the clear for an easy touchdown.
Eifert and Jones combined for 12 of Notre Dame’s 22 total catches.
Going forward, you know Irish coach Brian Kelly had to love how his receivers stepped up and had some big plays, something he really hasn’t had a lot of this season from its receiving corps.
OFFENSIVE LINE – A+
What a night the line had. How does 600 yards of total offense, including 200-plus on the ground, 38 points and no sacks sound? Pretty darn good.
This has been a veteran line that has gotten better and better as the season has progressed.
They’ve been helped by the fact that they’ve been injury free and in avoiding the injury bug has seemed to develop some special chemistry and it shows. Everyone really seems to be on the same page, they commit very few penalties and win the battle at the line of scrimmage time and time again.
DEFENSIVE LINE – A+
What more can you say about the Irish defensive front? They helped pitch a shutout, while only allowing Wake to average 2.2 yards per rush.
You would’ve like to see more sacks, considering the group got just one, but 4.0 tackles for loss isn’t too shabby.
The Demon Deacons’ playbook was limited because they knew they couldn’t keep the Irish front from disrupting plays and getting in the face of quarterback Tanner Price.
LINEBACKERS – A+
Would you think Manti Te’o would end his home Irish career any other way than completing shutting down the opposition?
Te’o and Co. were stellar as Wake managed a mere 55 yards rushing total. Not one of Wake’s runs was more than 13 yards.
The backers led an Irish defense that limited the visitors to just 209 total yards. Wake averaged a mere 3.5 yards on its 60 offensive plays.
SECONDARY – A+
The front seven were impressive and so, too, were the back four of the Irish D.
Wake went to the air 35 times, completed 23, ending the day with 154 yards passing. The Demon Deacons were held to 6.7 yards per completion.
None of the Demon Deacons’ 23 catches went for more than 16 yards.
Wasn’t Notre Dame’s secondary supposed to be this team’s Achilles heel?
SPECIAL TEAMS – C
Notre Dame kicker Kyle Brindza missed one of his two kicks, a 40-yarder, and punter Ben Turk wasn’t at the top of his game, averaging 36.8 yards on his four punts.
The Irish cover teams were good again. Wake returned six kickoffs for a total of 106 yards and none was longer than 26 yards.
We’re getting picky here, but just think how good and dangerous this Notre Dame team would be if it had a Raghib RocketĀ Ismail type punt and kickoff returner? I know, I know, players like the Rocket don’t come around too often.
COACHING – A+
I really liked how Kelly tried to expose Wake very suspect secondary early and often, and do so with terrific success.
It would’ve been easy to let off the throttle some, knowing Wake wasn’t going to come close to scoring enough to even make this game interesting, but Kelly didn’t. He went for the jugular and it was game over early.
OVERALL – A+
Notre Dame achieved one of its season goals – being undefeated at home (6-0).
The Irish took care of business against Wake and did so in a very convincing fashion. They didn’t mess around and made this one a laugher early.
Few coaches get to give their seniors a curtain call in a football game, but Kelly did and it was very well deserved for a player like Te’o who has meant so much for this Notre Dame program.
But Te’o and his Irish team aren’t done yet. They have their eyes on a bigger prize, the biggest college football has to offer.
Notre Dame fans should be very thankful this holiday season as they’ve had perhaps the most magical and certainly one of the most memorable the school’s storied football program has ever enjoyed.
Follow Doug Griffiths on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ISLgriffiths.
