The 2011 college football season has been over for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to take some time to reflect and look back at what a season it was for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish began the season ranked #16 and expectations of playing in a BCS Bowl. Most writers and college football analysts predicted the Irish to go 10-2, 9-3, or 8-4. I had them finishing 10-2 or at worst 8-4. They had what many thought to be one of the best offenses in the country and a defense that had room for improvement.
The first game of the season was one of the worst games I have ever seen in Notre Dame history. The Irish committed five turnovers and basically gave the game away to the visiting South Florida Bulls. Although the Irish made it close in the end, they weren't able to finish it out and lost 23-20. Right then I knew that the BCS dream went right down the drain. Great teams don't lose games like that.
Next up was a visit to Michigan to play the first night game in Michigan Stadium History. Notre Dame controlled the game until the 4th quarter, when they suddenly forgot how to play defense and lost on a touchdown in the final seconds of the game. The Wolverines won 35-31 in a game that will live in Michigan Football History forever. (I don’t care what you believe in, but there was NO WAY that the football gods were going to let the Irish win that game)
At 0-2, the 2011 campaign looked finished already, esp. with #15 Michigan State coming to South Bend. Surprisingly though, Notre Dame played like they cared and soundly beat the Spartans, 31-13. The next three games (against Pittsburgh, Purdue, and Air Force) showed why the Irish were ranked so high before the season, as they won by an average margin of 19 points.
With momentum building, the Irish were primed and ready for a showdown with rival USC. This was the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium in more than a decade, and with all the festivities and events happening before the game, you would have thought it was the National Championship game. However, the happiest time for the Irish faithful was all the pre-game crap, because USC won the game 31-17. Again, turnovers made it impossible for the Irish to ever get any momentum or keep the game close.
Notre Dame was now 4-3, and all hopes of a BCS Bowl Game were ripped from our blue and gold hearts. Everybody knew that this team was most likely going to the Champs Sports Bowl, and nothing would change that. It showed a lot of maturity, loyalty, and determination for the players and coaches to play their final five games of the regular season so valiantly. N.D. won their next four games, and were 9-3 heading into their final game at Stanford. They kept that game close, but didn’t have the offensive firepower to score enough and lost 28-14.
After finishing 8-4, Notre Dame was invited to the Champs Sports Bowl, as expected. There they faced the Florida State Seminoles who were also 8-4. The Seminoles had one of the best defenses in the country, and it was going to be a tough matchup for the Irish. However, Notre Dame took a 14-0 lead into halftime, but in the second half it all went downhill. Florida State scored 18 consecutive points while keeping the Irish offense in check and not allowing them to score anything. FSU won the game 18-14 and is considered one of the top teams for next season. Notre Dame finished 8-5 and heads into another long offseason.
It’s incredible to me how different this season could have been for Notre Dame. The five losses came by 3, 4, 14, 14, and 4 points. In those losses, the Irish turned the ball over 18 times and only forced a turnover 6 times. A -12 turnover rate is not going to win any games, let alone games against some of the best teams in the country. If the Irish go through those games with one less turnover, they could have easily won three or maybe four of them. Then I’d be talking about how they met their goal of playing in a BCS game.
Notre Dame was a fantastic football team in 2011. As fantastic as they were though, they should be better in 2012. Tight end Tyler Eifert, one of the best in the country, will be back for his senior year. Joining him is linebacker Manti Te’o, and he is one of the best at his position too. Those two will be pre-season All-Americans and vital to Notre Dame having success in 2012.
The only obstacle blocking this team currently is again a question at the quarterback position. There are three quarterbacks on roster; junior Tommy Rees, sophomore Andrew Hendrix, and freshman Everett Golson (class is based on their 2012 season status). I feel like Rees has reached his ceiling and will never get any better. However, what he is isn’t bad; it’s just not national championship-caliber. Hendrix played the whole second half against Stanford and put up two touchdowns. He is my front-runner for the role of starting quarterback.
No comments:
Post a Comment