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Posted by DonJuan
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Wednesday, 26 May 2010 |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 August 2012 )
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Posted by Greg Tuel
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Wednesday, 26 December 2012 |
Good fortune was our lot.
God gave us a very early Christmas present, and we have been unwrapping it since September. The computer chose twelve random numbers for our lottery ticket, and we hit on each one. We were never the most handsome guy at the club, but Lady Luck picked us up anyway.
To truly appreciate how fortunate we have been, go back to the beginning, way back to the days when pencil pushers who work in logistics with calendars and rolodexes, without ever knowing it, constructed a schedule custom-made to nurture a red-shirt freshman learning to be a quarterback.
Start with an undersized Navy team struggling to get its option in gear, move on to a Purdue team destined to fire its head coach at season’s end, bring on a Michigan State team which no longer strikes fear into the Irish, and finish up with a Michigan team that turns generous to the tune of six turnovers.
Put a bye week in there so the freshman QB can regroup, watch film, learn from his mistakes, and get healthy. Watch him grow bigger and stronger by feeding on a weak Miami defense. Then, and only then, bring on the Stanford Cardinals; and do it just before they solve their own quarterback puzzle.
Just so, the season continued to unfold in a way that gave the young gun, Everett Golson, just enough time to develop his craft and then recover from his wounds, while a veteran Tommy Rees played the old worn-out sheriff who sacrifices himself to keep the bad guys at bay. Now there is a new sheriff in town: a guy who runs and guns well enough to pull off a last minute getaway against Pittsburgh and then a few weeks later put down our formidable arch nemesis USC.
Everett Golson was not the only young gun gifted with enough time and tutoring to develop. While Golson was undergoing his metamorphosis . Just as he was maturing in the offensive backfield, here were a couple young players, one even younger than Everett, growing up in the defensive backfield.
As you can see, the schedule was key: for it served as both the perfect timeline and as a forgiving landscape -- the setting for our fairy tale, if you will. The real magic, the plot of our story, happened against that setting via the play by play within the individual games.
Remember how Tommy Rees came in to run the two minute offense at the end of the Purdue game, tried to call a timeout when there were not any left, and then completed an improbable first down pass to a John Goodman who came off the line late due to all the confusion?
What about the unbelievable pass and catch, Rees to Riddick, on third and eight from the twenty-three yard line in overtime against Stanford? That was immediately followed up by an equally phenomenal TJ Jones catch in the end zone. Speaking of Stanford, how about that fourth down overtime goal line call which ended the game against the Cardinals? However correct you may think that call was, and I for one think it was the right call, certainly you can at least envision it going the other way.
Watch that grass top interception by Manti Te’o against Oklahoma again, and this time see if you can spot the “bang bang” premature contact against the intended receiver by Dan Fox.
Pittsburgh. Need I write more?
What does Lady Luck see in us? Why Notre Dame, and why this season ?
Here is the dirty little secret: the Irish deserved those breaks. The team earned each and every one of them through years of preparation, by virtue of their game time poise, and with their relentless stick-to-itiveness. Our Irish put themselves in a position to take advantage of the good luck that came their way.
As a cross country coach, I would tell my runners to give themselves a chance to break their personal records (PR) by running the first three quarters of the race at a pace that put them in a position to do so. If the course, the weather, and their physical condition on that day allowed it, then they earned another PR. Oftentimes, but not always, they did.
For the Irish, the course they ran, the prevailing winds of good fortune, and the relative lack of injuries at key positions were the final ingredients that allowed a deserving team to achieve the ultimate “personal best”: an undefeated regular season in college football.
Now Notre Dame is in position again, this time with a shot at the National Championship. The race is almost over, the familiar landscape is laid out in front of us, our gunslingers are righteous and lightening fast, our foe might be daunting (and our metaphors may be a little mixed) but we have given ourselves a chance, and we have learned how to take advantage of it.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7
Lady Luck, remember who brought you to this dance. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 December 2012 )
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Posted by Greg Tuel
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Monday, 26 November 2012 |
See the counter up above the main forum page: 41 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes, 49, 48, 47... 46 seconds? That is ostensibly the countdown until we play for the National Championship in Miami (if we can talk the Mayans into putting out a 2013 calendar).
It is that indeed. But it is so much more too, because it also represents a countdown to the last time that several key players will take the field to represent Notre Dame: guys you may have heard of like Manti Te'o, Tyler Eifert, Theo Riddick, and Zeke Motta.
It is also a countdown of sorts for this coaching staff. It represents a time period which will be fraught with the peril of others looking at our coaches like bright shiny Christmas ornaments to decorate their own football programs. Last year, at 8-5, we know that Alford entertained an offer from the Green Bay Packers, but what we don't know is how many calls were unanswered and how many other offers rebuffed by our staff. Oh, and do you remember how 2 coaches did answer those calls? Do the names Warinner or Hinton ring a bell?
Martin and Diaco's names were bantied about as possible candidates at other schools. Who wouldn't want a piece of Mike Elston, the coach who molded perhaps the best D line in the country? Do you think Bob Elliott, a man who already served as a Defensive Coordinator, produced the #1 scoring defense in the country (11.8 ppg, 2002 KSU), and who is a position coach for us, is not on a couple short lists? Are there teams out there who wish to use the Notre Dame experiment as a blueprint for their own revival, and would like nothing more than one of the engineers who drafted the original plan to help them out?
The biggest question of all of these is how much access other teams will have to our assistants during this critical period before the National Championship game. Do not delude yourself into thinking that they will be prohibited from talking to our guys. Remember: Coach Kelly set the precedent by leaving Cincinnati just before a BCS game.
Now, it was not THE Championship game that Cincinnati was about to play, and Coach Kelly was being offered the Head Coaching (HC) position at the University of Notre Dame. I happen to know that none of our assistants will be offered the HC job at Notre Dame. On the other hand, there are some full time positions open at very high profile schools like Boston College, Auburn, and Purdue. There will be more, but thankfully not at Iowa this season with all its connections to Elliott, Cooks, and Diaco. While the high profile schools are not likely to give the job to someone without HC experience, some of those jobs will be filled by guys moving up from smaller programs, Strong at Louisville would be an example, and those smaller programs will take a chance on an assistant, especially a highly successful one like Diaco or one who has already been a National Championship HC (even if it was Division II) like Martin.
How this all plays out over the next 43 days, 01 hours, 21 minutes, 33, 32, 31... seconds will be very interesting to witness. But do not allow it to become a distraction or a source of anxiety. Having assistants move on to take a promotion is the sign of a quality program and a great Head Coach. Coach Kelly himself is not going anywhere, and it was Kelly who took a chance on Diaco, lured Elliott and Martin to Notre Dame, replaced Warinner with Hiestand, and kept Alford by giving him the reigns to recruiting and the new hybrid RB/slot job. It was Kelly who positioned Elliott as a possible and very worthy successor to Diaco. It is Coach Kelly who has a drink of "a diet soda" with other high profile coaches from the west coast, and I am guessing he has a rolodex full of great coaches from across the country.
So sit back and enjoy the next 41 days, 13 hours, 5 minutes, 23, 22, 21…20 seconds. Things are bound to get interesting, and Coach Kelly will have his hands full dealing with all the consequences of success of the highest order. I am certain he is up to the task, and looking forward to it.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 November 2012 )
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