TOUGH TASK: Notre coach Brian Kelly will try to bring his Fighting Irish back to the BCS title game with a new starting quarterback and without star linebacker Manti T’eo. (
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Tony Rice, the starting quarterback on Notre Dame’s last national championship team, is sitting in a Midtown restaurant remembering the glory days when he offered a word of caution to Fighting Irish fans that believe this is the year for which they’ve waited 25 years.
“We were a better team in 1989 than we were in 1988,’’ he said.
Yes, Notre Dame was better, more mature and deeper the year after it won the school’s 11th national title in 1988. But one slip-up, a 27-10 loss at Miami, prevented a second straight title.
That’s how tenuous success can be in college football.
There is no overwhelming favorite this season, though Alabama, the team that pummeled the Irish, 42-14, last season in the BCS title game, has been installed as the preseason No. 1.
The Irish left Miami bruised and beaten, but their belief a new era in Notre Dame football has dawned was not diminished.
“Everything we’ve worked on since that next day, and I mean the next day, is about getting back to the national championship game and winning it,’’ coach Brian Kelly said.
Ah, yes, the day after losing to Alabama, Kelly interviewed with the Eagles. The Manti Te’o story made “catfishing” part of our lexicon. Then running back Cierre Wood opted for the NFL Draft. Then quarterback Everett Golson was suspended for this season.
Getting back is tougher than getting there.
Golson, the fantastically athletic quarterback who won the starting job last season after Tommy Rees was arrested for underage drinking, was suspended for the season for what Notre Dame has described as poor academic judgment.
Ironically, it is Rees who becomes the benefactor. Kelly named him the starting quarterback — at least for Week 1.
“I didn’t name him the starter for all 13 games,” Kelly said. “I named him the starter for Temple.”
So much for a ringing endorsement.
There is little question Kelly prefers a more mobile quarterback than Rees. Freshman Malik Zaire should not count on a redshirt season, not with Kelly’s penchant for benching quarterbacks.
“We want to keep him with us,’’ Kelly said. “When I say ‘us,’ we want to keep him with the starters.’’
Rees played a big role last season in getting Notre Dame to the title game. He came off the bench to lead the Irish past Purdue, and he was terrifically efficient in beating Michigan when Golson was injured.
Kelly might not have complete faith in the 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior, but Rees said he believes his time has come.
“I’m not 19 anymore. I’ve grown up a lot,” Rees said. “I’ve dealt with adversity, I’ve learned a lot about the game and this place. I’ve grown up with my teammates. I’m really excited to show how I’ve developed.”
There is no question Kelly has developed the best talent and depth Notre Dame has had since the late 1980s. Even the recent announcement by starting outside linebacker Danny Spond that he was giving up football because of a migraine headache condition isn’t a backbreaker.
His spot likely will be filled by stud recruit Jaylon Smith.
What could break the Irish is handling the new and huge expectations surrounding the program. Notre Dame began last season unranked. This year, the Irish are ranked 14th in the AP poll and 11th by the coaches.
The schedule is once again daunting, with road games at Michigan, Arizona State and Stanford and home games against Oklahoma and USC. Last season, the Irish won five games by seven or fewer points.
“For us here at Notre Dame, we’ve worked hard to put ourselves in a position to be back in the national spotlight,’’ Kelly said. “We have no intention of giving that up. Our focus since our last game has been to get back to the top of the mountain.’’
Kelly might want to add a sherpa to his staff. The Irish might be better than they were last season. But as Rice and Notre Dame fans will tell him, that guarantees nothing.