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LOS ANGELES – Jack Swarbrick held Saturday night against a wall in the LA Coliseum Tunnel, his ironing spirit where Notre Dame's football program was the last time he played against USC.
"We left this place flat on our backs," said the sporting director of Fighting Irish.
This time, Notre Dame leaves this place undefeated and has the first bid blocked for the 2018 college football game. The Irish are 12-0, having finished a perfect regular season with a 24-17 victory over 23 , sometimes tense, facing USC. How they arrived here after the 2016 4-8 season, which ended with a defeat at the hands of the Trojans, is simply amazing.
"It was a very critical time for the program," said Swarbrick.
Of crucial importance at this critical time: Swarbrick has never considered sending back head coach Brian Kelly. He said as much in the middle of this season 16, and he followed it even as losses increased. But there would be major changes ahead.
"A lot has changed, including me," said Kelly. "… We have not reinvented the wheel here. Behind the scenes, we made some adjustments. "
The truth is, these "tweaks" were titanic. There were new coordinators at all levels: offensive, defense, special teams, strength coach. A review of the structure of the practice. Changes to off-season programs. Even the attitude of the head coach and sometimes the volcanic behavior were open to reassessment.
Guess what? The change can be good. Kelly did not just survive the bad times, he flourished.
From this low point in Los Angeles on November 26, 2016, Notre Dame rose to 22-3. However, even from the 10-3 rebound record of 17 to the 12-0 breakthrough of 18, further changes had to be made.
Star's defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, was swept by Texas A & M. And the guy who was supposed to be starting quarterback, Brandon Wimbush, had to be replaced three times. On Saturday night, former replacement Ian Book again did the work at QB and the half-time defensive adjustments of first-year coordinator Clark Lea stopped the Trojan horses.
After navigating through a turbulent cycle and emerging at the top of its form, it's time for a new appreciation of Kelly. In many programs, it is very difficult to rehire them with the same coach. They did it at Notre Dame and Kelly now has two unbeaten regular seasons at South Bend. (Plus a third in Cincinnati, as he reminded the media after the match.)
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The last coach of Notre Dame to have been undefeated twice was the great Ara Parseghian, in 1966 and 1973 – but that included a tie in 1966. The last coach to be undefeated and Frank Leahy has been separated twice from his mandate at Notre Dame. data-reactid = "42"> The last coach of Notre-Dame to be undefeated twice was the great Ara Parseghian, in 1966 and 1973 – but there was a tie in 1966. last coach to stay undefeated and Frank Leahy was unbound twice at Notre Dame.
When a coach stands beside this company, he does something.
For the moment, the coach of Our Lady of Mount Rushmore remains intact: Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian and Holtz. But Brian Kelly is about to create an argument for himself. The only thing missing is the national championships that the others have won and are still on the table for this season.
In a school renowned for its coaches, Kelly's endurance and growing number of excellence are remarkable.
"It's a tough place," said Swarbrick, noting that Notre Dame has never had a 60-year-old head coach. "It's a really difficult place to succeed over a long period. [Kelly] will be the first to tell you that we have to win a national championship. He knows it, I know it. But what he did is really special.
Brian Kelly's decision to replace Ian Book (above) at quarterback has brought a lot of dividends to the Irish this season. (AP)
This season has been his best job. The 2012 team was in survival mode and advanced throughout the course, winning five games of seven points or less and needed some nice breakouts along the way. This team of Notre Dame has always won and has sometimes been dominant, but it has rarely demonstrated the shock capacity of the two unbeaten in front of her in the rankings of CFP, Alabama and Clemson.
The first three wins of the season were scored by one point, and the offensive struggles of this period led to the promotion of Book as quarterback. There was a tense home game against Pittsburgh in mid-October. And then, there was this last delusional stretch, with the Irish marches from San Diego to Chicago, from New York to Los Angeles for four of their last five games.
"We are in Los Angeles this week, I think," Kelly helplessly. "We're like a show on Broadway – we open in a city near you."
The winding road ended with a final challenge launched by a USC team that struggled to get started but played a lively and animated first half. The fast match of Trojans to external thirds had Notre Dame on his heels, with first-year quarterback J. T. Daniels on fire early. Defensively, USC attacked with blitzes that poisoned the Irish racing game and warmed up Book.
The result was a 10-0 USC lead – the first double-digit deficit the Irish have experienced all year.
They shrugged and continued to play.
"We stayed calm," said offensive lineman Sam Mustipher. "Finally, something was going to appear. We knew that would be the case. With these pressures, they knew we could charge them. "
Notre Dame forced the Trojans to pay two touchdowns of over 50 yards – the second produced a 24-10 lead and ruined the game. A late USC score caused a wave of worry on the Irish sideline, but a recovered kick ended the match.
What followed was interesting. The celebration on Notre-Dame's field was rather moderate. Aside from quarterback coach Tommy Rees who almost crushed the book with a punch in his chest and shouting "Woooo!", There has not been much demonstrable euphoria.
"We understand that there is so much left on the table," said Mustipher. "We understand what we have left. Our ultimate goal at Notre Dame is to graduate and win a national championship. It's always there for us.
This team has the impression of being an outsider if the chalk holds and Notre Dame faces Clemson in the Orange Bowl (the Orange Bowl scouts were happy to talk with the Irish public afterwards). But they have a chance. In the absence of a conference league match to be dealt next weekend, the Irish are the club's first team with an assured playoff bid.
Which means they will be watching the playoffs this week for the first time. The weekly ESPN ratings on Tuesday night were banned on the Notre Dame football pitch.
"We did not look at it, on purpose," Kelly said. "We turned it off. It was the decision of the captains. They did not want to see him. We will have it this Tuesday. "
Two years ago, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, none of this seemed possible. Head in the clouds, Our Lady has come a long way in speed.
"We knew we had to solve this problem," said Swarbrick. "Two years later, it's pretty repaired."
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