1. A ‘MINI-BOWL ATMOSPHERE’ IN OCTOBER
The two consecutive weekends without a game (Sept. 26 and Oct. 3) once the regular season started mark a first at Notre Dame since 1918.
Right at this time 102 years ago in Knute Rockne’s first season, the entire October schedule was wiped out because of the Spanish Influenza. Five games were played in November, resulting in a 3-1-2 record that season.
Current head coach Brian Kelly indicated there is no model to follow for this season’s current situation.
“Nobody's played two games and then taken two weeks off, so this will be uncharted territory,” he said. “It’s different than preparing and being in camp and just hitting each other, and then playing the game.
“That’s the game of speed. The speed is different and you've got to kind of work through that.”
At least the team has had the benefit of playing a couple of contests, so it is not so far removed where it would be a jolt to the system. At the same time, the reason a live scrimmage is scheduled for Sunday is to not get completely out of rhythm.
When Notre Dame played in the 2013 BCS Championship, it was 44 days removed from its most recent game, and the lack of depth, especially along the lines, made the staff decide to limit contact work. It showed in the 42-14 defeat to Alabama.
“They know what they need to be ready for — tackling, things of that nature,” Kelly said. “We’re going to have to go against each other and we’re going to have to go live, so there’s going to have to be a little bit of bowl game preparation here.”
Fortunately, Florida State 2020 is not Alabama 2012.
“Two weeks is not two months,” Kelly said. “It’s not like we haven’t been doing it for two months. Yeah, there’ll be some challenges, but I think once the game gets going … I’m pretty confident we’ll be able to get up to snuff pretty quickly.”
2. HOW MUCH ATTRITION CAN THE 2020 TEAM MANAGE?
We’ve stated several times this year that from players one through 60, and even one through 85, this is the strongest overall roster assemblage of a Notre Dame team in about 30 years. Even with 39 players out, Notre Dame probably could have handled USF had the game been played Sept. 26 instead of Sept. 19.
But I think back to November 2014 when the Notre Dame defensive front seven in particular was decimated, helping result in a four-game losing streak to end the regular season at 7-5. This included back-to-back home losses to a 3-6 Northwestern team coming in with a four-game losing streak, and then a Louisville team starting a freshman quarterback (Reggie Bonnafon) who would later move to receiver. The Wildcats posted a 43-40 win in overtime despite averaging 12.5 points in the aforementioned four straight defeats, while Bonnafon and Co. also scored 31 points in their victory.
Against Northwestern, defensive lineman Isaac Rochell played nearly an ungodly 90 snaps, and by the end of the season he was running on fumes. Freshmen such as linebacker Nyles Morgan and safety Drue Tranquill also were taking an inordinate number of snaps. By the USC finale (a 49-14 defeat that was not that close), the defense was pretty much a patchwork unit.
There were two elements to postponing the Wake Forest game until Dec. 12. The first was getting enough of a handle on the coronavirus. The second was — despite the depth — there are still enough vulnerabilities that can be exploited by a Power Five school.
“Can you put together a team that is at least resembling, in some fashion, the competitiveness of your group?” Kelly noted. “If you're missing two quarterbacks or if you don’t have a full offensive line, if you have no rotation at defensive line (think Rochell) … then you’re putting a player at risk.”
It makes one appreciate more how players from a bygone era who were required to play both offense and defense held up.
3. DEALING WITH THE MENTAL GRIND
Football takes a physical toll, but the mental grind of not breaking COVID-19 protocols adds another layer.
The trade-off is if Notre Dame can get through the consecutive six weekends from Oct. 10 through Nov. 14 without any setbacks, there is no game scheduled on Nov. 21. By then, first-semester classes will have concluded.
There would be then, hopefully, at least three games — at North Carolina (Nov. 27), Syracuse (Dec. 5) and Wake Forest (Dec. 12) and maybe the ACC championship (Dec. 19) — where concentration can be exclusively on football.
Getting in every single game before Nov. 21 is not something I would bet on at this point with what's been occurring, making mental discipline from everyone even more imperative to handle such potential setbacks.
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