WINNING EMBRACE: Notre Dame‘sJohn Goodman (81) is mobbed by teammates after he scored a touchdown during Irish’s 20-3 win at Michigan State Saturday night. (Getty Images)
Brian Kelly snowed us all, pulled the wool right over our eyes.
From Grand Valley State to Central Michigan to Cincinnati, he kept churning out dynamic fast-paced offenses that often caught opposing teams in embarrassing mismatches. When he got to Notre Dame, where he inherited a quarterback with experience and some talented skill players, Irish eyes awaited their golden offense. They are still waiting.
But the defense Kelly has built is tough as a diamond, and if that defense continues to play as it did in Saturday night’s 20-3 win at Michigan State, the Irish could post a win in a major bowl game for the first time since the 1994 Cotton Bowl. Yes, it’s been that long.
“It’s a signature win,’’ said Kelly. “There’s no question that when you go on the road and win against the No. 10-ranked team in the country, it’s definitely going to build the confidence in that locker room. They believe that if they do the little things the right way, you need one of those wins to break it open. And this win will help in that development.’’
The Irish held the Spartans to 237 yards in total offense. Michigan State never found the red zone. The Irish held Navy to 341 yards in a 50-10 win and limited Purdue to 288 in a 20-17 victory. They are 18th in total defense, 10th in sacks and sixth in scoring defense.
Is it an SEC caliber defense? Probably not. Kelly needs one more recruiting class to have that kind of depth. But with this defense, those upcoming games against Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and Michigan next week are winnable.
“Our defense continues to be the group that we committed to in building when we started this process,’’ said Kelly. “They’re starting to get to that level that can play against anybody.’’
* After Pittsburgh’s Paul Chryst posted his first win as a head coach, a stunning 35-17 beat-down of Virginia Tech,— The Post’s pick to win it all this season — he was back in the office before the training staff yesterday. No, he was not trying to figure out where to put the game ball that was presented by his players. He was checking the injury report, hosting recruits and breaking down film.
After opening 0-2, including a loss to FCS Youngstown State, Chryst would have been thrilled with any win. But the way in which Pitt won carried a cherry. The Panthers played smash-mouth football, salting away the game with a face guard-busting 88-yard touchdown drive that bled 7:44 off the clock.
In an era in which so many offenses are going spread, no huddle, Chryst, the former Wisconsin offensive coordinator, acknowledges he is a traditionalist. Pitt is going to run the ball. Can you stop it?
“The neat thing was after that drive seeing the look on the linemen’s faces as they came off the field,’’ Chryst said. “That and the emotion after we created a turnover, those are the two images I have.’’
* With Saturday’s 52-0 rout of Wake Forest, Florida State improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2005, the year the ’Noles won the ACC. FSU has outscored its first three opponents 176-3.
This is what we know about FSU: 0
Yep, a big fat 0. The ’Holes, not ’Noles, have beaten Murray State, Savannah State and Wake Forest. Next week, Clemson comes to town and we will know if playing three eclairs does any good. Ever seen a squished eclair? Ew! We have dropped FSU from our Top 10 until we see how it fares on Saturday.