A look around the Internet about what they're saying about Notre Dame football heading into the offseason:
2018 record: 12-1
Postseason: Lost to Clemson 30-3 in the CFP semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
QB situation: Solid. Ian Book returns for his second season as the starter and, for the first time, enters the offseason as Notre Dame's QB1.
Championship potential: Coach Brian Kelly came away from the Cotton Bowl thinking Notre Dame is much closer to competing with a nationally elite opponent than it was six years earlier against Alabama. Is he right? We'll find out in 2019. The Irish return Book and could be more diverse offensively if their line, typically a team strength, takes a step forward after being overwhelmed against Clemson. The defense loses key pieces -- lineman Jerry Tillery, linebackers True Tranquill and Te'von Coney, possibly All-America cornerback Julian Love -- and could be rebuilding. But given what Mike Elko and now Clark Lea have done, the Irish defense should be very good almost every year. This offseason will test Notre Dame's recruiting and development efforts, but the past two seasons have raised the bar in South Bend.
How the Irish reach NOLA: Each season is unique, but it's becoming increasingly tougher to envision Notre Dame in the CFP with a loss. The Irish would have to drop the right game and combat the blemish with plenty of impressive victories to sway the committee. Notre Dame's 2019 schedule doesn't appear to be overly taxing, especially the home slate, but trips to Georgia, Michigan and Stanford could derail the team's playoff hopes. The Irish also need new leadership to emerge. Their offensive line development will be most critical. It's hard to envision Notre Dame playing for a national title again without a top-five offensive line.
Make no mistake, it was embarrassing for the Fighting Irish. It was arguably worse than the 42-14 blowout loss to Alabama in the title game in 2012. But a 12-0 record and a berth in the College Football Playoff is something that should be applauded by outsiders and remembered by Irish fans. The result of the game doesn't change the fact that this team earned its way here. Coach Kelly made a bold move to replace quarterback Brandon Wimbush with Book in late October, played without running back Dexter Williams for the first four games due to a suspension and handled the pressure down the stretch like champions.
The Irish earned it. They just ran into the Clemson buzzsaw. Based on how good the Tigers looked, Saturday should be more of a compliment to the Tigers than a criticism of Kelly's crew.
“Like after 2012, the months of headlines of how overrated Notre Dame is, how it should never have been in the Playoff, how it’s not actually very good,” she explained.
Sure, those narratives have lingered this week, even with Georgia considering the Sugar Bowl optional and Central Florida finally losing. Such is the nature of failing to score even a solitary touchdown. But they should not last into this offseason. Not this time.
That may not be the metric of program progress desired, but it is one, nonetheless.
In just a week, if not less, way too early top 25 listings will be released. In three months, spring conversations will begin. A month after that, spring games will yield buzz. By July, the annual preview magazines will begin providing needed content and predictions.
All of those will include the Irish in their top 10, if not their top 5. All of those will discuss Notre Dame as a Playoff contender in 2019.
Even with a No. 14 ranking heading into the 2013 season, that was not the case then. The 42-14 loss to Alabama was that much more dominating.
“I left that [Alabama] game feeling like there was so much work to be done from the inside out, so much development, so much recruiting,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said. “This felt so much different, like we gave up four big plays that we characteristically don’t give up. …
“With now giving [us] the opportunity to see how [we] need to play in this atmosphere, not flawless but with excellence, we can come back here and win. It’s a real different feeling for me.”
Furthermore, too much was lost from that 2012 unbeaten team, including both Heisman runner-up Manti Te’o and quarterback Everett Golson.
This time around, Notre Dame will return just about everybody outside of the interior ... Replacing two starting defensive tackles, two inside linebackers and a center will not be a small task, but returning up to 16 other starters will make it more manageable. If Trevor Ruhland emerges as the starting center, some will even claim that as 17 starters, including five starting offensive linemen.
Combine that with a schedule with fewer potholes than usual — though the same number of genuine obstacles — and crafting a “the Irish could meet Clemson (or Alabama) again” storyline will be easy next week, in three months, in eight months.
College football as a whole will want that narrative, and not because college football as a whole adores Notre Dame. If the Irish are considered legitimate entering 2019, then their road trips to Georgia (Sept. 21) and Michigan (Oct. 26) take on that much more importance. Along with the two teams atop the sport, that could be a working top five moving forward, order to be debated ad nauseum. Certainly, they will all land in any reasonable top 10.
After those two, the schedule will be much less than usual. If using S&P+ rankings, which grant the luxury of extending through all 130 FBS teams, only four of the top 40 closing this season appear on Notre Dame’s 2019 schedule, the other two being annual foes USC (No. 39) and Stanford (No. 28). That equals the number in the bottom 30, including two to open the season (No. 107 Louisville, No. 104 New Mexico).
A roster largely returning + a reasonable schedule with two marquee matchups + back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins building overall momentum = enough worthwhile factors to soon look past one bad afternoon against a team operating at an entirely different level.
Or, to put it another way, the Irish program as a whole is headed a different direction than it was in 2012, yet it is only two seasons removed from going 4-8. The recovery from that debacle was never going to be quick enough to give Notre Dame a viable chance against this current Clemson juggernaut, but it has at least put the Irish in position to have another chance at the Tigers next season, and even a cynic should recognize as much.
Maybe that results in a 10-2 season with losses in Athens and Ann Arbor, but that would still be a few steps forward from 8-4 with a home loss to Oklahoma and another at unranked Pittsburgh.
----
• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.
• Like us on Facebook.
