This Notre Dame team isn’t like other great Notre Dame teams
By John Buhler
This is not the Notre Dame football team you are used to seeing under Brian Kelly.
We are looking at the best Notre Dame football team since Lou Holtz was the head coach.
For the third time in the last decade, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a team strong enough to contend for a national title. In 2012, the Golden Domers got to the title bout but were boat raced by Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide. Two years ago, the Irish made the College Football Playoff for the first time, only to get dismantled by the Clemson Tigers in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
But this year, it is different and undeniably so for Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame program.
Notre Dame is ready to win its first national title in over a generation
After getting its biggest win in decades over Clemson last week at home, many people expected a certain letdown by the Irish vs. the Boston College Eagles over in Chestnut Hill. Instead, the Golden Domers went out and asserted their dominance over Jeff Hafley’s team, leaving no doubt about Notre Dame’s quest to win the ACC Championship and get to the College Football Playoff.
Quarterback Ian Book is playing better every game. Though he led the Irish offense two years ago to the playoff, the dual-threat quarterback is playing the best ball of his career. He completed 20-of-27 passes for 283 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, as well as 10 carries for 85 yards and an additional trip to pay dirt, impressing all of College Football Twitter in the process.
Ian Book has turned into what many thought Shea Patterson was supposed to be as a senior QB last season.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) November 14, 2020
Mobile, making smart decisions and giving his targets a chance to make plays. Book showing clear growth as a senior. #NotreDame
All credit to ND. I thought they'd come out flat post-Clemson. Quite the opposite, Ian Book picked up where he left off in OT last week. Looks great.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) November 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/nicoleauerbach/status/1327738353803030530
Ian Book is having a D'Eriq King game. He's doing everything. Incredible roll he's been on last week and this.
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) November 14, 2020
idk what’s gotten into Ian Book in the last 2 weeks, but he’s more comfortable maneuvering in the pocket than I’ve ever seen him
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) November 14, 2020
Co-sign. Scrambling to throw is a significant upgrade in approach. https://t.co/Dj2fYNlXaQ
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 14, 2020
And it is not just Book who is making the Irish such a dangerous team this year. Notre Dame is dominant in the trenches and it seems as though Kelly has learned from the mistakes he made back in 2012 and 2018, the last time he had a team nearly this good. Notre Dame also has a huge playmaker on the defensive side of the ball in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. This team is complete.
Who knows if Notre Dame will be able to beat Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, but if they do, the Irish have to be the favorite to win the national title. Even if they don’t, Notre Dame has proved it belongs in the upper crust of serious College Football Playoff contenders through the middle part of November.
We must prepare ourselves for Notre Dame getting to and winning the national championship.
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