Griffiths: Notre Dame reeling after home loss to Oklahoma
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
In Notre Dame football fans’ minds, for all practical purposes the 2013 season is over just five games into it.
Why?
Because Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish have failed their only two matchups against top-25 teams.
As a result, Notre Dame won’t be playing for a national championship this season and won’t be involved in a BCS bowl game.
In the Blue and Gold faithful’s minds, the aforementioned is why many have thrown in the towel with still seven regular-season games to play.
Brian Kelly would tell you there’s still plenty to play for, but he knows full well that unless his 3-2 Irish run the table, which isn’t going to happen, they have no chance to be in the BCS conversation.
So that leaves Notre Dame’s postseason destination likely a trip to a third-tier bowl.
That could mean a trip to Yankee Stadium to play in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 28. Get excited.
If that doesn’t get you pumped, would a trip to San Diego’s Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 26?
That’s hardly where a team that started the season ranked 14th envisioned spending the holidays.
The now unranked Irish have struggled for many reasons this season.
Offensively, the running attack has been inconsistent and not nearly as productive as it was a year ago.
Notre Dame’s rushing game did gain a season-high 220 yards against the Sooners, but the three previous weeks was held to less than 100 yards against Big Ten teams Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State.
The running game looked good against OU, but the passing game was another story. The Irish managed a mere 104 yards through the air.
As if that total wasn’t pitiful enough, the fact that quarterback Tommy Rees threw three interceptions made any thoughts of Notre Dame recording its first quality win of the season impossible.
Two of those three picks came in the game’s outset and helped the Sooners race out to a 14-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Notre Dame played catch up the rest of the way.
Yes, the 2013 season has been a struggle for Kelly’s club.
There’s no real game changer on offense. By the looks of it, that game changer was put on a semester sabbatical and his name is Everett Golson.
This team also really misses tight end Tyler Eifert. Who wouldn’t?
It also misses some linebacker named Manti Te’o.
Don’t get me wrong. Notre Dame is loaded with talent most every team outside the SEC and Oregon would salivate for.
There’s preseason first-team All-American defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix, but they haven’t dominated like those early season prognostications would’ve suggested.
There’s a veteran offensive line that has its share of players not hurting for accolades to fill their bios in the media guide.
Receiver TJ Jones is arguably the team’s biggest offensive threat, but there really isn’t the marquee names you would expect to find on the roster of a team that played for a national championship just a year ago.
A year ago Notre Dame was inferior to Alabama. The same thing was true regarding the Irish and the Sooners. In 72 hours, you might say yet the same thing about Notre Dame in comparison to Arizona State.
The Sun Devils aren’t void of speed, talent and offensive playmakers, making Saturday night’s matchup a tough one for Notre Dame that still has a ways to go in the speed department before it truly can be a threat to win a national title.
If Notre Dame doesn’t watch out, take better care of the ball and become more consistent on offense, it will be a .500 team this time next week and perhaps even spending the rest of the season fighting to secure a third-tier bowl trip.
Who thought we would be saying that in early October?
