Notre Dame notebook: Kelly not interested in being a one-year wonder
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Correspondent
Irish coach Brian Kelly made it very clear that he wants the success Notre Dame is currently enjoying to be a common occurrence and not just a one-year wonder.
Appearing on ESPN’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd Wednesday morning, Brian Kelly said, We’re trying to be a consistent program. We want to be part of the discussion not just one year, we want to do it each and every year. Look at Oklahoma. They’ve been there every single year. That’s the level that we’ve got to get this football program, not just one year where I get to go on your show and talk about Notre Dame football. I want to be able to do this every single year. This is about building a consistent football team.
“We’re not a great team, but we’re mentally and physically tough, and we’ll go play you anywhere and anytime.
Cowherd told Kelly that he didn’t think the Irish are a top five team or a top eight team. Of course, Notre Dame’s opponent this week, Oklahoma, is eighth this week.
Cowherd was also somewhat critical of the Irish offense.
I can’t figure out offensively kind of what you’re doing, said Cowherd to Kelly. What are you offensively, Coach?
Kelly said the Irish are trying to find an identity on that side of the ball.
We’re young on the outside with inexperienced wide receivers, Kelly explained. We’ve got a tight end (in Tyler Eifert) that we’re trying to get the football to and we have three outstanding running backs.
When you’re moving two quarterbacks in and out of the game, it’s really hard to have a set identity. We’re just trying to find ways to put enough points on the board, rely on a great defense, neutralize things in the special teams and win football games.
Until we get our situation where our quarterback is ready to start and finish a game, it’s just the way we have to put it together, he added.
Cowherd responded with, Can’t I say, ˜Come on Coach, you’re halfway through the season, figure out your offensive identity. Pick a quarterback.’
Kelly’s response was, I would say our identity is we’ve run the football extremely well against good defenses. I think that’s where we’re really going to manage the football game.
My background is I like to spread it, run up-tempo and throw the football. We’re not ready to do that, but at Notre Dame you cannot be ready to win. You’ve got to win each and every week so we’re going to eek out a way to move the football and put enough points on the board. When we’re ready to move to that next level, it will be when our quarterback is.
Golson Has Good Week
All signs point to quarterback Everett Golson starting at Oklahoma Saturday night after he sat out the BYU game recovering from concussion-like symptoms.
Golson has enjoyed an impressive week of practice and is slated to make his sixth career start against the eighth-ranked Sooners.
I really like the way he practiced – confident, moving, running around, throwing the ball with authority, Kelly said.
We’re probably all at that state of, ˜OK, when’s it going to happen? When’s it all really going to come together?’ I think we’re all waiting, and it’s going to.
It hasn’t yet, but he’s starting to put together multiple practices in a row where I leave practice and go, ˜Boy when this thing comes together, it’s going to be pretty exciting.’
Happy Birthday Coach
Kelly celebrated his 51st birthday today and his players even sang to him.
Kelly’s Irish also brought him S’mores, too.
As a celebration after practice they had such a great day that we had campfire songs and S’mores, Kelly told the media after today’s practice.
They did sing. They sang ˜Happy Birthday.’ It was nice to share a light moment with the team.
Better Get A Bigger Trophy Case
Middle linebacker Manti Te’o’s trophy case is expected to get a lot of new hardware in the coming months.
This week he was named one of the 20 quarterfinalists for the annual Lott IMPACT Trophy.
A short time after that announcement, it was learned that Te’o was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award.
The senior leads Notre Dame in total tackles (69), solo stops (33), passes defended (seven), interceptions (four), pass breakups (three) and fumble recoveries (two). He is the only FBS player that has averaged over nine tackles/game and collected at least three interceptions.
To top it all off, Te’o was selected a 2012 National Scholar-Athlete by the National Football Foundation.
For that honor, he receives a $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and is one of 15 finalists for the Campbell Trophy, the award presented to the nation’s top scholar-athlete and often referred to as The Academic Heisman. Should Te’o win the Campbell Trophy, the scholarship would grow to $25,000.
Te’o is on track to graduate in December with a degree in graphic design. He owns a 3.32 cumulative GPA.
Simply The Best
Not only is Notre Dame winning on the field, but the Irish are getting the job done in the classroom, too. The Irish rank No. 1 in graduation success rates, according to figures released today by the NCAA.
From 2002-05, 97 percent of Irish football players graduated. The GSR number for all Irish athletes rank first among FBS schools.
Notre Dame leads the country in four GSR categories: all athletes (99), which marks the sixth year in a row Notre Dame has held that distinction, male athletes (98), female athletes (100, tied with Wake Forest) and football players (97, tied with Northwestern).
Oklahoma’s football graduation rate was 47 percent.
Let The Feud Begin
Not that it’s relevant to Saturday night’s game because it isn’t at all, but some pregame fodder, if you will, has begun between Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
No, players aren’t making bold predictions or anything of the sort.
Instead, a tradition that both schools have has somewhat gotten attention as to which one started it.
Just about every college football fan in America knows Notre Dame has a sign that reads Play Like A Champion Today outside of its locker room that is touched by each player prior to them heading out of the tunnel in Notre Dame Stadium.
Oklahoma historians claim legendary Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson hung a sign with that phrase above OU’s locker room door as early as 1947.
Lou Holtz had Notre Dame’s sign put up in 1986. Holtz said he saw an old picture of a sign with the slogan in a Notre Dame book and decided to put it up for the players to touch. Whether that photo was of Wilkinson’s sign or not is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps neither schools can actually lay claim to the phrase as word is Wilkinson adopted the phrase from his head coach at Minnesota when he played for the Golden Gophers in the 1930s. Apparently prior to his team taking the field, Minnesota coach Bernie Bierman would tell his players, Go out there and play like a champion today.
Notre Dame Nuggets
– The Notre Dame-BYU game attracted more viewers (3.73 million) than all Fighting Irish games televised by NBC last year but one. In 2011, the Notre Dame-Michigan State game drew 3.83 million viewers.
– Senior tight end Tyler Eifert is five touchdown receptions short of school leader Ken MacAfee’s standard of 15 career TD catches.
– Notre Dame still has not allowed a rushing touchdown this season, making it the first FBS team since 2004 and just the third since 1996 to not allow a rushing TD over its first seven games to begin a season. Auburn also accomplished the feat in 2004 and Tennessee did the same in 1999.
– The Irish are 50-34-5 in games where they and their opponent were both ranked in the top 10. In those games, Notre Dame is 15-14-2 on the road.
