Notre Dame Returns To The Road
It's difficult to fathom that No. 3-ranked Notre Dame entered the 2017 season with a 3-10 record in its last 13 true road games (non-neutral sites).
Such futility was instantly erased in September with back-to-back routs of Boston College (49-20) and Michigan State (38-18), No. 12 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings.
Next, the 33-7 win at North Carolina on Oct. 7 also marked the first time the Fighting Irish won three straight road games by at least 20 points since Ara Parseghian's 1973 national champs captured their final four road contests at Rice (28-0), Army (62-3), No. 20 Pitt (31-10) and … Miami (44-0).
That win against the Tar Heels will be 35 days ago this Saturday, and since then the Irish have had a bye and three home games. The comforts of home will not be present in Hard Rock Stadium this Saturday versus No. 7 and 8-0 Miami. The Hurricanes were 5-0 at home versus the Irish from 1981-89 when they became the dominant college football team of that decade, but it’s a different era, with the Orange Bowl from days of yore long since torn down.
“I think it will have a lively atmosphere, similar to a Michigan State,” Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said following Thursday’s practice. “I don’t know if our kids will be star-struck in that respect. They’ve been in big moments and big-game kind of atmospheres. There’ll be some nerves and they’ll have to settle into the game, but they’ve been really good at once they get into the game they’ve settled in nicely. There will be the moments early that they will have to settle into.”
With temperatures this week hovering into the freezing mark in northern Indiana, there wasn’t much that could be done to simulate the humidity that will be present in southern Florida on Saturday night. Trusting the conditioning process since last January is a plus.
“It’s really about hydrating during the week and making sure that they are well hydrated,” Kelly said. “That’s all you really can do, and then just go play and see what happens.”
During last week’s preparation for Wake Forest, Kelly noted that many of his players had more activities or setbacks than usual in their preparation — from an academic workload to health issues — but he couldn’t be more pleased with where the collective team is right now mentally and health-wise.
“The distractions are always going to be there — it’s how you handle distractions,” Kelly said. “I think my comments were more that our players needed to continue to work on how they deal with internal and external distractions, because they’re going to continue to be there. They’re going to be there this week and next week, against Navy and the week after against Stanford.
“They have done a great job of getting back focused on what’s important right now, and that is in their preparation … That eliminates the distractions.
“I think they just did a better job of focusing on what’s important.”
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