by Grady Lapczynski
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are undefeated for the second time in the past decade.
Head coach Brian Kelly was heading for the worst. Just two years ago in 2016, he was stuck with a 4-8 record, the worst record in Notre Dame football since Charlie Weis’s 3-9 season in 2007.
Kelly has held his head coaching position for almost ten years and one bad season didn’t make or break him. In 2017, he turned the team around by finding almost a brand new head coaching staff.
Firing previous defensive coordinator Mike Elko and bringing in Clark Lea helped boost Notre Dame's defense. In the 2016-2017 season the changes in Notre Dame's defense was tremendous with a record of 10-3 and dominating performances week to week from the Defense.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) created a four team playoff and it has been in place since 2014. Notre Dame always has a team in the running, but never seems to win in November.
In the 2018 season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won in November. They have finished the season 12-0 and secured their spot in the playoff for the first time ever.
They will take on the Clemson Tigers in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas,Texas on December 29th.
Notre Dame is sometimes hated by other fans and teams because they are not in a conference.
They say Notre Dame walked into the playoffs and that they aren’t an “elite” football team, after they lost to Alabama in the Championship Game and Ohio State in the Battlefrog Fiesta Bowl.
Kelly said that this year’s team is better than the 2012 team, which was his only team to make it to the National Championship, where they then fell short to a dominant Alabama team 42-14.
Kelly says his 2012 team was just a group of athletes, while this year’s team is more balanced and can dominate on both sides of the ball.
Notre Dame hopes to bring a championship back to South Bend for the first time since 1988.