Notre Dame Football: Irish Are Better off Than They Were One Year Ago

One year ago today the Notre Dame football program may have hit rock bottom.

They stood at four wins and five losses. In one week's time student videographer Declan Sullivan had been killed falling from a scissor lift at practice, starting quarterback Dayne Crist had blown his patella tendon in a season-ending injury, and the Irish had just dropped a heart-breaker to Tulsa.

The first year of Brain Kelly was fast falling off the rails. In consecutive weeks Notre Dame was pounded by Navy 35-17 and committed four turnovers in the loss to the Golden Hurricane.

What was worse in the rock bottom Tulsa game, despite the turnovers and a punt return for a touchdown, in the closing minutes Notre Dame had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal, but instead opted to attempt a long pass into the end zone, which was intercepted.

On the season Notre Dame had lost to Michigan late, to Michigan State on an overtime field goal, and was roundly pounded by Stanford and Navy—surrendering 404 total yards to the Cardinal and 438 to the Middies, including 367 rushing.

Then the crushing week of Halloween.

It suddenly seemed if the Kelly era's remaining length would be measured in quarters or games rather that of years or championships.

A complete about-face led to a stunning four-game win streak, a bowl and win over the Miami Hurricanes, and new-found hope and hype.

This season also started off with more trials than triumphs. With season-opening losses to South Florida and Michigan—entirely by their own doing—Notre Dame found itself 0-2 following a top 20 preseason ranking.

There were turnovers a plenty; 10 in the first two games and 15 in the first four gave Irish fans fits, even in their two wins over 17th-ranked Michigan State and Pittsburgh.

Notre Dame seemed to turn the corner in the next two games, playing eight consecutive quarters of clean football—maybe some of the best since the Lou Holtz era—blowing out Purdue and Air Force in consecutive weekends.

After the off week, the lethargic and turnover-laden Irish returned for the USC game, in which the Irish seemed poised on making a statement to the sporting world.

Unfortunately the statement seemed to be "not quite ready," as Notre Dame managed to see its second 99-yard fumble return of the season to help secure defeat.

Now doubt had officially returned to Notre Dame.

Enter the US Naval Academy.

Once the whipping boy of every Notre Dame schedule, suddenly Navy had turned the tide.

Winning three of the last four, including last year's humiliation at the New Meadowlands, this was not by any stretch a sure thing.

Mere weeks ago, the triple-option running Air Force gave Notre Dame fits, amassing 363 yards rushing.

To further test the resolve of the team, Brian Kelly called out the upper classmen in a challenge to toughen up. The response in the Twitter universe were less than reinforcing, and internal strife seemed probable.

The result was quite the opposite, however. Notre Dame dismantled Navy from the opening kick and pounded the Midshipmen in every facet of the game.

Entering November 5-3 is not something Irish faithful desire. Were it not for self-inflicted wounds, the squad would certainly be 7-1 and very much in the BCS hunt this season.

However, in contrast to a year ago, there is much room for optimism.

Of the Irish's four remaining games, three are very winnable. The finale at Stanford will require a perfect game to win, but is not outside the realm of possibility.

In contrast to the same point of last year, there should definitely be a "glass is half full" sentiment about the future—both short and long term.

The Irish defense, outside of the first quarter against USC—in which the entire team forgot to play gap strong run defense—has been improving each week.

Young standouts Aaron Lynch, Chase Hounsel and Stephon Tuitt have each become regular contributors, and Manti Te'o remains one of the best middle linebackers in the nation.

Cierre Wood is a dangerous runner with break away speed that should anchor the backfield next year.

George Atkinson III is explosive with good field vision, having returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns, as well as finding pay dirt twice from the backfield.

Expected contributor Cameron Roberson, who tore his ACL in spring workouts, will only help contribute depth-wise to what has become a talented and crowded backfield.

Tyler Eifert looks to be Notre Dame's next NFL ready tight end, as he poses a matchup problem from both the slot or traditional three-point stance, and is solidly backed up by Alex Welch and Ben Koyak.

TJ Jones and Theo Riddick are finally beginning to be regular contributors on offense, and hopefully Robby Toma continues to be as well. The experience that they will bring will be necessary to foster the relative lack of experience behind them once Michael Floyd and John Goodman graduate.

Mostly there are answers at quarterback.

A year ago, when Crist was injured there was not another quarterback with any measurable game experience. Nate Montana and Tommy Rees each played (terribly) in the loss to Michigan, and Rees played in garbage time during the loss to Navy, but neither had been remotely close to starting a game.

Entering next season, Notre Dame will have a quarterback who has started at least a season's worth of games while running the same system for three years in Tommy Rees.

There will also be game-tested Andrew Hendrix, who many feel is a more prototypical fit for Kelly's spread offense because of his ability to run (as exhibited in a 78-yard run against Air Force.

Also in the mix is current true freshman Everett Golson, who Irish fans hope will combine Rees' smooth throwing motion and quick release with Hendrix's physical strength and speed to literally become the perfect quarterback for Brian Kelly.

There is a grumbling among Notre Dame fans there is not enough quick improvements; that it is unacceptable for the team to lose to the same repetitive mistakes; that they are beating themselves rather than being beaten.

And it is frustrating. However, some patience is required.

Kelly is actually going about this the right way: tearing down before he builds, and trimming the fat, if you will (and Charlie Weis left a lot of fat).

The program is in a better state than it was a year ago, and without a doubt in a better place than it was during the Weis era's annual November losing streak.

To further add perspective, through 21 games, Brian Kelly's teams are 13-8.

The last Irish coach to get to a 13-8 record midway through his second season lost the remaining three games that year.

But Lou Holtz won the national championship the next.