Notre Dame Veterans Making Last Stand in Music City Bowl

After nearly two months of nothing but bad news, Brian Kelly delivered some reasons for optimism on Sunday. Barring setbacks, both Sheldon Day and Cody Riggs will be in the starting lineup against LSU. 

The return of two key veterans on defense should help Brian VanGorder's struggling unit. And it desperately needed them. An Irish defense that has given up 30-plus points for a school record seven consecutive games will have its best defensive lineman and cornerback in the lineup against the Tigers. 

"Sheldon practiced in full gear and took reps in all of our team [drills],” Kelly said. "We’re a better football team with him. Cody Riggs as well."

The point is obvious. But it's also telling.

Given the opportunity to get healthy and move on to 2015, two key veterans have decided to get back on the field to help deliver an eighth victory that might only matter to the guys inside The Gug. 

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For Riggs, that means testing a foot injury that's hampered him for the second half of the season. Any question of the fifth-year graduate transfer's allegiances to his teammates can end now, with Riggs prepared to take on LSU instead of saving himself for the NFL scouting combine. 

"This time off has helped a lot," Riggs told IrishIllustrated.com. "If I had to do it over again, I probably would have sat out so I could have been more of a help to my team. But that’s the nature of the game. You want to help. You just want to help your guys now."

Riggs' return means he'll end his career at Notre Dame with an opponent he saw plenty of times at Florida. And while the losses down the stretch put a damper on his season in South Bend, it's an experience he'll never forget. 

"They didn’t have to do what they did for me," Riggs said. "The guys on the team didn’t have to accept me the way they did."

If Riggs will be welcomed back in the huddle, Day's return is even more beneficial. Without Jarron Jones, it'll be up to Day to take as many snaps as possible as the Irish try to find a solution in the trenches for LSU's power running game. 

That means bowl practices set up to get Day's endurance back up. And a Christmas break that'll likely be devoid of Christmas cookies, with Day focused on getting back some work volume that was stolen when he injured his knee. 

"His injury is 100 percent, or we wouldn’t put him back out there," Kelly said of his junior captain. "Now getting from that 90 percent to 100 percent is football-related activities—fatigue, volume. So that 10 percent...it's taking reps, gets him stronger and stronger."

Picturing how the Irish plan to stop LSU makes more sense with Day and Riggs in the lineup. We'll likely see sophomore Isaac Rochell playing in Jones' empty spot, with the defensive end rotation including Romeo Okwara, Andrew Trumbetti and Grant Blankenship and the tackle depth coming from fifth-year senior Justin Utupo as well as underclassmen Daniel Cage, Jay Hayes and Jacob Matuska. 

In the secondary, Riggs' return will put him opposite Cole Luke. Going back to the opening-day starters will give VanGorder the comfort to put his cornerbacks in man coverage, allowing a safety to help out in run support. 

Without Joe Schmidt and with question marks still at safety, the defense is still held together with duct tape and glue. But it's a group that's going out there understanding it needs to find a way to win. 

"I think it’s a formidable task. It’s one where we’re gonna be challenged," Kelly said. "There’s a lot for us to get better at, what our last performance was. And we will. We will be much better than what we showed against USC."

On a young Notre Dame football team, there will be little transition from bowl game to spring practice, with the Irish's starting lineup against LSU likely only losing senior Ben Koyack. 

But even if the focus has shifted to next year, key contributions from veterans like Day and Riggs tell you that the Irish are going all in as they try to spring the upset against LSU. 

*Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand.