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Notre Dame Resumes Play, Hopefully Uninterrupted This Time

Finding straight answers to a straightforward question became difficult this week for 11th-year Irish head coach Brian Kelly, and forgivably so.

What did you learn after a COIVID-19 outbreak cut your roster by almost a third and temporarily shut your season down?

“There is just so many levels to all of this that it becomes maddening to try and track every little movement,” Kelly lamented of monitoring 100-plus players, 24 hours a day under a coronavirus cloud. “We have to be on top of every little thing regardless of the circumstances.”


Notre Dame Fighting Irish football head coach Brian Kelly at practice
Having already survived one coronavirus outbreak and a program shutdown, Irish head coach Brian Kelly faces increased challenges guarding against a second wave. (Angela Driskell)
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Kelly’s assessment brought a follow-up question: What exactly spawned the outbreak from a few weeks ago that put 25 players in isolation with positive tests and another 14 in quarantine through contact tracing?

Kelly initially suggested the viral spike that ignited Sept. 21, two days after the game with South Florida, might have been connected to a team dinner gathering the evening before the game.

Kelly later explained that many of his players are involved in campus activities outside of football, so perhaps the virus entered his team’s orbit after one of those gatherings.

Speculating further on potential reasons for a viral breakout that sidelined 39 players at its peak and halted football activities for about 10 days, Kelly theorized that perhaps team members playing video games together without masks, or simply sharing a vehicle ride without proper safeguards may have also accelerated the spread.

“We’re not scientists and it’s almost impossible for us to directly link it,” Kelly explained.

Kelly’s multiple infection theories illustrate just how difficult it is for any football program to get clear control over an invisible enemy, especially in a sport defined by close contact.

Offering one final potential reason for the sudden outbreak, Kelly speculated that perhaps in-game celebrations during the 52-0 win over South Florida might also have promoted some spread in the coming days.

“It’s so hard to win, then you do win, the first thing out of your mouth is, ‘Hey, stop celebrating, put your mask on,’” Kelly explained, loosely estimating that perhaps four or five players became infected or quarantined because of these impromptu celebrations.

By aggressive intervention, Notre Dame officials quickly controlled infection and quarantine rates enough to resume their season Saturday against Florida State.

But with one arrow dodged, wonderment remains if Notre Dame can fulfill its entire 11-game regular-season schedule?

“We have to understand, if we’re going to continue to play in this environment, we have to be even more vigilant than we were in the past,” Kelly explained.

Perhaps most importantly, preserving this football season requires a united University effort — all the way from the decision makers at the top to the concession staff down the ladder.

“Success depends on the choices we make individually and collectively,” Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins announced July 29 in a campus-wide email, while also warning students that failed to comply with viral protection guidelines could face expulsion.

Ignoring his own safeguards, Rev. Jenkins contracted COVID-19 on Oct. 2 after being videotaped at a White House event, mingling with attendees without a face mask.

“I failed to lead by example at a time when I’ve asked everyone else in the Notre Dame community to do so,” Rev. Jenkins said in an apology letter after his diagnosis.

Beyond lapses in judgement and mixed-signaling, the message at this moment is clear: With a season back on track, there is too much at stake and too much already invested into one of the best Irish team Kelly has ever fielded to have players, coaches and staff become complacent during a season that could end with the first national championship in 32 years.

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