It had been a season a generation of fans had never seen.
Notre Dame had run through its first 12 games unscathed, knocking off Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma and USC, among others.
The Fighting Irish were headed to sunny South Florida to play No. 1 Alabama in the national championship game, the legendary program looking for its first national title since 1988.
But on Tuesday, surrounded by snow and sitting in traffic on the FDR Drive, it could not have been more clear to coach Brian Kelly just how hard it was to get there, and just how quickly things can change.
Less than one year after the Irish’s magical season ended in misery, Kelly begins his preparation for Rutgers in the fourth edition of the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
The stakes aren’t the same, but the atmosphere makes Kelly feel as if his team is still on the big stage.
“We’re not talking about a bowl game that doesn’t bring that kind of cachet to the table,” Kelly said Tuesday at the bowl’s press conference at the Stadium. “For them to be able to come to New York City, at Christmas time, that is a reward for our football team that they’re really excited about.”
Notre Dame (8-4) enters the Dec. 28 meeting having lost two of its past three games, but with impressive wins over Michigan State, Arizona State and USC this season.
The Irish, who had a storied history playing at the old Yankee Stadium, will be making their second appearance at the new incarnation. Notre Dame defeated Army, 27-3, on Nov. 20, 2010, in the new Stadium’s first football game.
While Notre Dame knew it would be headed to a bowl, Rutgers (6-6) entered last weekend unsure if its season would end last Saturday. Needing a win to become bowl eligible, the Scarlet Knights defeated 2-10 South Florida, 31-6, to earn an invitation to their second Pinstripe Bowl. It was only their second win in their past seven games, but it earned them their eighth bowl appearance in the past nine seasons.
“I’m really proud of our guys. I think our players really responded to what ultimately could have been the finality of our situation had that game gone the other way,” Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. “I think that created an urgency level at an unprecedented height for our program. I think we played hard in the other games, not always as well as we would’ve liked to, but Saturday night we did. Now we have to build on that.”
Rutgers, which defeated Iowa State, 27-13, in the 2011 Pinstripe Bowl, will enter this year’s game shorthanded.
On Sunday, the team fired defensive coordinator Dave Cohen, quarterbacks coach Rob Spence and offensive line coach Damian Wroblewski. Cohen had been accused of bullying former Rutgers player Jevon Tyree.
Flood acknowledged that could make an already difficult matchup even tougher, but the second-year head coach said the team will have time to adjust to the new situation.
“It certainly creates a little bit of a challenge, but I’m confident the people are put in positions where they can be successful,” Flood said. “You’d certainly love to have your entire staff intact, but that’s not the reality of the situation right now. But I will not allow that to be a negative as we go forward with out preparation.”