Can Notre Dame relive past glory?
In the world of college football, few programs can provoke so many extreme reactions from so many different types of fans as the University of Notre Dame.
To some the Fighting Irish are “America’s Team”, winners of eight Associated Press national championships, the subject of movies old and new. For others, they are the NCAA equivalent of the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys, a team everyone loves to hate.
But with one 10-win season and four different coaches in the past 10 years, is Notre Dame still capable of commanding respect in college football? Are they finally on the verge of a breakout season? Can one of the last remaining independents in FBS football still compete in the era of superconferences?
In the short term at least, Notre Dame’s prospects are as promising as they’ve been in years. The Fighting Irish head into 2011 with all but three of their starters on either side of the ball returning from last year and a vastly improved defense.
The defense alone could be a major difference-maker, according to Eric Murtaugh, who covers Notre Dame football for One Foot Down.
“That side of the ball should be able to carry the team if the offense still has some growing pains in the second year of a new spread system,” Murtaugh said. “Upon becoming head coach, Brian Kelly made it a point to beef up on both sides of the line, particularly on defense.”
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On offense, Murtaugh said Notre Dame’s chances will be greatly bolstered by the return of senior wide receiver Michael Floyd, who was reinstated by the school on Aug. 3 after a March arrest for drunken driving. In three seasons in South Bend, Floyd has already set the school record for touchdown catches with 28 and is second in career receptions with 171.
“It’s obviously huge for the offense, as Floyd automatically commands double teams and opens things up for other receivers,” Murtaugh said. “What’s more, he is a fierce downfield blocker and really helps out the running game in that respect. Notre Dame has a few really good tight ends that help the passing game, and a budding star in slot receiver Theo Riddick, but without Floyd, the Irish wideouts go from very good to merely good or even average.”
While Notre Dame’s roster is potentially shaping up to be its best since 2006’s 10-3 campaign, they’re still no lock for one of the major bowls. Kyle Kensing of Saturday Blitz said the Fighting Irish have September games against Michigan and Pittsburgh that could go either way, and that’s even before they play late-season games against potentially tough opponents like USC, Maryland, Boston College and Stanford.
“ND plays a particularly taxing schedule, and given [that] Kelly is in just his second year of the rebuilding project I would consider nine wins a major accomplishment,” Kensing said.
Despite his doubts about ND’s 2011 schedule, Kensing believes the Fighting Irish are due for a resurgence. If they’re able to improve on the field, their national TV deal with NBC and storied history could turn them into a real powerhouse again.
“When Notre Dame gets rolling – and I mean really rolling, not sweeping the military academies and being given a BCS bowl wherein it was routed like in [former head coach]Charlie Weis’ first season – I have no doubt ND will sustain that success,” Kensing said. “It’s just a matter of getting it going. The program’s three BCS seasons were all suspect, particularly the actual bowls. The Irish need to beat high-profile opponents, but when they do it will open a floodgate.”
As for Notre Dame staying independent in football, the Fighting Irish are unlikely to change their minds about it any time soon.
“It’s pretty obvious that Notre Dame truly values its independence and that it would take massive changes in college football for that to change,” Murtaugh said. “Money will likely never be an issue, and the program simply will not be pressured into a conference through that route.”
That’s not to say that Notre Dame controls all the factors in the decision, though. Kensing argues that if a major program such as the University of Texas goes independent, it makes sense for Notre Dame to remain unattached to any conference.
“Realistically, ND’s independence all comes down to weighing revenue from being on its own versus what it can get in a conference,” Kensing said. “The Big 10 wouldn’t allow UND to come in and bully its way into a fat percentage the way Texas did with the Big 12. Perhaps the Big East, desperate to expand and keep pace with the other BCS conferences, would, though. But is the Big East together going to net Notre Dame more individually? Doubtful.”
Notre Dame may not be able to dominate as much as they did in the days of Knute Rockne given the rise of other football powers across the U.S., but if they can keep up their current rate of progress, they promise to be just as much of a title threat every few years as other major football programs.
For the Irish, it’s no conference, no problem. Their chance to return to prominence will undoubtedly please some college football fans and anger others. Regardless of where you stand on Notre Dame, though, they look like they’ll be an interesting team to watch.
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