“We talk in terms of championships, absolutely,” Notre Dame football Coach Brian Kelly said in response to a reporter question this summer.
“For us to be a championship football team there has to be attention to detail. For us to be a championship football team you have to hold each other accountable. For us to be a championship football team, we talk in those terms every single day,” he continued.
As we said our 2015 Notre Dame football season preview, the last time Notre Dame football returned this much talent, depth and experience on both sides of the ball, they accomplished a 12-0 regular season. However, that BCS Title game team in 2012 was built on stout defense, and not even the most delusional and ridiculously optimistic Domer would ever analogize the current defense with the unit on that team.
If the College Football Playoff had already expanded to eight I would feel confident in predicting the Irish to qualify. However, it’s still only four, which means that Lou Holtz will be pretty much the only person penciling them into the big dance.
It’s still a very manageable goal, provided Zaire flourishes as QB1, the defense gets much more comfortable in year two of the new scheme and they figure out how to bring down opposing QBs with regularity. Most preseason polls have Notre Dame football ranked around #9 to #12, so it’s not that much of a leap to the top four.
Getting back to Kelly’s comments about championships, he continued.
“So however that is couched, that is out there. But do I get up there and talk about being on the cover of “Sports Illustrated”? No. Do I get there and talk about, hey, I want to get to the playoffs? No. They know what the mission is. They know when they come to Notre Dame what the mission is.”
“We talk about how do we get there. That’s where we spend most of our time.”
Today is Notre Dame football media day, and Kelly is the longest tenured Notre Dame football coach since Lou Holtz. Despite all the ups and downs, and flirtations with the NFL (not to mention all the off the field issues that have occurred under his regime) Kelly has brought a fair amount of stability to the program.
Read our Notre Dame football season preview here.
Notre Dame Season Preview Series
Paul M. Banks of The Sports Bank/RedEye and Todd Burlage of Blue and Gold Illustrated/The Fan Indiana recapping Notre Dame Media Day on Maximus and the Bartender
Will Fuller is ND’s best chance at the Heisman
KeiVarae Russell returns; wins Media Day
Malik Zaire takes issue with usage of the term “dual threat”
Comprehensive Notre Dame Season Preview
2015 Notre Dame football is playoff or bust
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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