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Midweek thoughts about the Notre Dame football program, its recruiting efforts and college football:

Notre Dame went 22-4 the last two seasons and won at least 10 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1992-1993. That 1993 season was the final season of the last golden era of Notre Dame football, but another 10-win season in 2019 could be the sign that head coach Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish are entering their next one, because that 1993 season was also the last of a three-year stretch in which the Irish went 31-5.

From 1988 to 1993, with Lou Holtz manning the sidelines in South Bend, the Notre Dame football program went 64-9, won at least 10 games in five of six seasons, won a national championship (1988) and had five top 10 finishes in the final Associated Press poll.

Obviously Notre Dame can’t have a true golden era without a title, but a third-straight season with at least 10 wins would certainly put the Irish near the top of that second tier of programs, and it would get them one step closer to getting to the level of Clemson and Alabama.

While the focus will be on championships – and it should be at Notre Dame – another 10-win season is necessary to get the Irish to that point. Because Notre Dame hasn’t been a truly elite program for more than a season here or a season there for over 20 years, young players today haven’t experienced a Notre Dame golden era, they don’t know college football with Notre Dame as a premier program for what it has accomplished on the field year after year.

Notre Dame winning 10 games this season, and Notre Dame putting itself at the top of that second tier of programs, means young players can experience college football with Notre Dame as a premier team. That is what Notre Dame must show the nation’s top recruits, and that is how Notre Dame gets that one or two players per class that can put it over the top and bring home another championship.