Notre Dame-Michigan: Road Warriors, Part II
While games at Louisville Sept. 2 and at Duke Nov. 9 were not or cannot be underestimated, the “Road Warriors” theme the Notre Dame football office had for the 2019 campaign specifically pertained to three opponents from September through November.
The first was the journey to No. 3 Georgia Sept. 21, where Notre Dame was attempting to achieve its first victory versus a top-five team since, well … at No. 3 Michigan in 2005 (17-10).
That 14-year drought so far from 2006-19 doubled the previous longest stretch of seven from 1958-64. Consider that in the six years from 1988-93 the Fighting Irish had 11 such conquests.
Head coach Brian Kelly’s troops battled to the end, having a chance to win on the final series, before falling 23-17 to the Bulldogs. Six false start penalties by the offense resulted from the silent-count operation going awry against a raucous record crowd of 93,246 in Sanford Stadium.
“I made a terrible miscalculation in that I felt our quarterback was prepared, but he wasn’t,” Kelly said afterwards, falling on his sword. “… That falls on my shoulders. I have to do a better job. We’ll make sure that never happens again.”
The third and final one this year will come at Stanford Nov. 30, where Notre Dame has lost five straight since 2009, beginning when current Michigan boss Jim Harbaugh was the head coach for the Cardinal.
In between is Part II of this trilogy — at Michigan Stadium this Saturday.
Preparation for such noise again began from Sunday through Wednesday during the bye week, and have continued this week while the student-athletes are on mid-semester break.
“It will be loud and certainly communication will be very, very important for us,” Kelly reiterated this Monday. “We started our cadence — nonverbal cadence — last week. I learned that that's something that requires much more repetition ... We're not going to make that same mistake twice.
“Our guys are really tuned into understanding that the atmosphere will be loud and that you cannot be distracted if you are interested in executing at a high level. If you're distracted, then you're not in the right place emotionally, and our guys are pretty locked in on that."
Notre Dame has lost four straight in The Big House and is 1-7 at the venue since 1997 (a sharp contrast to the 4-3 mark it held there from 1979-93).
This dubious streak began with a 38-0 victory by the Wolverines in 2007, the year the Irish finished 3-9, and continued with dramatic 11th-hour touchdown drives in 2009 and 2011.
In 2009, Michigan scored with 11 seconds remaining for a 38-34 win, and in 2011 it rallied from a 24-7 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter for a 35-31 victory, scoring with two seconds left while driving 80 yards in 28 seconds.
The most recent meeting between the two schools in Ann Arbor was a 41-30 Michigan triumph in 2013.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Wolverines are desperate for a marquee victory. Michigan under Harbaugh is 1-10 against top-10-ranked teams, most recently getting blown out last year at Ohio State (62-39) and then by Florida (41-15) to end the 2018 campaign, and then losing a heartbreaking 28-21 decision at No. 7 Penn State last weekend.
With about 20,000 more fans expected at Michigan for the Notre Dame game than there were at Georgia, the Irish will confront Phase II of overcoming past ghosts on the road.
Senior quarterback Ian Book’s theme with his teammates is to embrace the elements.
“We like it when it’s really loud, we like it when a lot of people are there, we like it when it’s prime-time television,” summarized Book. “That’s the point, and that’s why we come to Notre Dame.”
Victories at Michigan and Stanford especially would at least win the “best of three” series in 2019 versus Georgia, Michigan and Stanford, and against past ghosts.
The game in Ann Arbor will be the first time since the Sept. 21 matchup at Georgia that the Irish will play away from Notre Dame Stadium.
“Some teams you may be concerned with not being on the road for a little bit,” Kelly said. “This is a pretty mature group. We had one guy come in late (from a mini-vacation last week) because his plane was delayed.
"It just seems like everything that they do is very, very mature, and you don't worry about things like going on the road after being off for five weeks.
“They'll handle themselves very well.”
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