How To Go 12-0 At Notre Dame? Focus & Preparation
After enjoying the last few days away from the field, No. 3 Notre Dame (7-0) will begin preparations for Saturday’s game against Navy.
The popular saying goes, “The next game is the most important game,” and in Notre Dame’s case, this rings true as the Irish will put a potential spot in the College Football Playoff on the line each week.
Notre Dame was in a similar position last fall, but the Irish lost games at Miami and Stanford. The Irish had an outside shot to make the College Football Playoff in 2015, but a last-second loss at Stanford ruined any selection committee drama for Notre Dame.
You would have to go back to 2012 to find a team who made it through the regular season undefeated as the Irish went a perfect 12-0 before losing to Alabama in the National Championship game.
A lot of has changed across the landscape of college football since 2012, but winning pressure-packed games at Notre Dame has never been easy.
I caught up with four members of the 2012 team to see how head coach Brian Kelly handled the pressure of that stretch run and also some of the unknowns of what it’s like to go through an undefeated season at Notre Dame.
Long snapper Scott Daly did not play in 2012, as Jordan Cowart was in his final year of eligibility, but the Chicago native traveled and saw the season unfold from a unique perspective as a redshirt.
Safety Nicky Baratti played in 13 games as a true freshman and made eight tackles. Baratti’s interception against Michigan in the end zone was a season-defining play.
Linebacker Jarrett Grace was a redshirt freshman in 2012 and was Manti Te’o’s backup. Grace appeared in 12 games and made 12 tackles on the year.
Senior receiver Robby Toma, a fan favorite, played in 13 games and recorded 24 receptions for 252 yards.
Social Media
Twitter and Instagram were part of daily life in 2012, but they didn’t play a significant role in everyday life. In 2018, Twitter and Instagram are massive platforms and also places where fans have the chance to communicate positive and negative feelings towards anyone they want.
When it comes to Daly’s case, he was on the 2012 team and the 2016 team, so he was able to see both ends of the Social Media spectrum. However, when it came to the 2012 season, it was almost all positive in his eyes as the Notre Dame fans showed more support with each win.
“Throughout my five years at Notre Dame, I definitely realized that the fans and positive support that we received, week in and week out, whether we won or lost was unlike any other program in the country,” explained Daly. “When it came to the 2012 season, the attention and distractions seemed to increase in waves after key wins like the Michigan game, then the Stanford game, then the Oklahoma game, and finally the USC game.”
While it was positive on Social Media, the fan support did get a little overwhelming with autograph-seekers seemingly lurking around every corner.
“The overpouring support never really became a distraction until after the USC game and during the idle time leading up to the National Championship game,” stated Daly. “It got to the point where fans would wait for us to get out of practice or even when we would get back to campus from a community service function to fans with five helmets in each hand hoping for an autograph from everyone. That month and a half stretch leading up to the national championship game was a wild, but exciting time to be a member of the team.”
Grace echoed Daly’s statements as Social Media as a growing presence, and the outside distractions were something they weren’t prepared for as they would arrive or leave for practice.
“Before the mudroom door exit to leave The Gug there was a giant sign with reminders on them,” explained Grace. “One of the reminders was to block out the noise. Social Media wasn't so pervasive as it is today, but it still had a huge power of distraction, even if Instagram didn't have live videos and SnapChat had less filters.
“The ‘noise’ came from fans and even family. Outside The Gug doors every evening would be numerous people telling us how great we are and wanting autographs. I think the most significant thing we had to combat all of this was great player leadership and consistent messaging from our coaches. There is the expression that you are never as good as you think or as bad as you think, and during that season we were always finding things we could do better.
“Although at the end of the regular season our record was perfect, it was less than stellar at many points along the way, and that was what kept driving those leaders we had; guys like Zeke (Motta), Kapron (Lewis-Moore), Manti, Tommy (Rees), Zack (Martin), (Tyler) Eifert, etc. wanting to put our best game out there because we knew our best game still hadn't been played.”
Much like Daly, Baratti was in his first year of college football, so each week was a new experience. The Texas native recalled Kelly offering messages to block out the noise, but it only can go so far as Social Media is everywhere.
“You definitely had distractions from fans good or bad on Twitter or comments on Instagram,” Baratti said. “Kelly preached, and I think that helped, but sometimes there’s only so much you can ignore when you’re an 18-year-old kid. I think Kelly has been around long enough to instill into the mind of his players and program that it truly doesn’t mean anything until your last game.”
Toma admitted they didn’t see Social Media as a distraction as the comments were mainly encouraging back in 2012.
“There weren’t too many distractions Social Media-wise as it was too big,” said Toma. “Most of the comments from fans were positive or encouraging throughout the year. It was definitely something we appreciated as players.
“The negative comments were something we used to share with each other and laugh at.”
Focus
With each win, the stakes got higher and higher for the 2012 team and even more with the College Football Playoff rankings in 2018. Notre Dame couldn’t afford a loss back in 2012, and certainly, a loss isn’t favorable in 2018 as the Irish don’t have a conference championship game to fall back on.
How did Kelly and his staff keep the 2012 team dialed? Well, it starts with a message Kelly has preached all throughout the 2018 season.
“Our staff in 2012 kept us on track through our preparation and practice habits,” stated Toma. “We knew every day there was a goal to meet whether it was mentally or physically.
“We took pride in meeting those goals by competing with each other and taking care of our academic duties off the field. All the work was done before Saturday.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Grace felt the staff also provided challenges to what Toma described but also planted the seed that they needed to bring their best each week.
“Coach Kelly and the staff did a good job of building up each opponent each week,” explained Grace. “We obviously knew that when most teams line up across from us, it is a Super Bowl for them. The coaches did a good job of detailing how if we are not on our A-game, we could be beaten. We had keys to the game and opposing team's game-breakers that felt like a legitimate threat. That was enough each week for us to keep our edge sharp.”
Baratti credited the position coaches along with defensive coordinator Bob Diaco with making sure the defense brought same intensity on a weekly basis during practice. Dicao also kept things simple and focused on his defense more than changing things week to week.
“Going out and practicing the same way each week just as hard and as focused as the week before,” stated Baratti. “Diaco did an excellent job on this as well. Focusing on our scheme and not trying to change or have a new defense for every formation or play the offense was going to throw at us. Honing in on our craft with extra film after training table regardless of who our opponent was with (Kerry) Cooks and (Bob) Elliott.”
Daly had the unique perspective of seeing how the offense and defense prepared throughout the week. However, the most significant piece might have been the focus and ability to make ‘game-winning plays.’ The 2012 team made them and went 12-0, while the 2016 team Daly was on, failed to make those plays and finished 4-8.
“I thought Coach Kelly and the rest of the coaching staff did a great job of not overhyping any games into making them bigger than they actually were,” said Daly. “He kept the emphasis on how important our preparation leading up to game day was going to help us be successful week in week out.
“Also something Coach made a significant emphasis on was capitalizing on big plays at the end of the game that makes the difference between winning and losing. Plays such as the goal line stands against Stanford and USC, Theo’s big run to seal it against Oklahoma, Danny Spond’s big interception against BYU, and Tommy’s ability to come in late with some big throws to allow (Kyle) Brindza to win it against Purdue.
“It’s plays like those that make the difference from being a 12-0 team to being an 8-4 team. I never truly understood the importance of this until 2016 when we had just as much talent as we had in 2012 but were unable to capitalize on the big plays in the fourth quarter that win you those games in the end.”
Unknown Distractions
There are the common distractions everyone from the casual fan to the die-hard fan can point to, but there are many things even those in the program don’t realize are impacting the season until it’s too late.
Honesty has always been one of Grace’s best qualities as I’ve gotten to know him over the years and when it came to distractions people might not think of, the Cincinnati native said family became one of the biggest distractions as the Irish went 12-0.
“Everyone you know is reaching out,” stated Grace. “Everyone wants to talk about the success. Everyone wants a ticket to a game because things are going so well. Then they want to fight over who gets tickets to go to the bowl game. It's all the extra non-football business that is really just annoying. And of course, even within the team each week so many guys are trying to get things signed as gifts. I don't say that to complain because it is great and I am thankful to have people that care, but also that sort of thing can be draining.”
As a freshman, Baratti was learning how to develop good practice habits and how to deal with the pressure of big games, while figuring out how to handle his first fall semester at Notre Dame.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize the academic pressure and time we had to put in especially being a freshman playing and traveling every week,” explained Baratti. “I had never been on such a rigorous time-demanding schedule before and probably never will, to be honest. But I cherished every bit of it. It was an awesome time in my life and one I’ll never forget.”
Preparation and focus are crucial for any program to win a National Title, but it’s even more vital for a program like Notre Dame as Daly explained. The chance to beat Notre Dame can catapult a season or even a program.
“Something we had to deal with that sometimes people don’t fully understand is the teams who play Notre Dame play their absolute best, which means we had to be our absolute best week in week out,” Daly said. “It’s difficult to do as everyone has on off day at some point.
“Teams would run formations they’ve never run leading up to us that week, run plays we’ve never seen them run on film before, and try to keep us off balance in all three phases just so they could have a chance of beating us. When a team beats Notre Dame, their season is a successful one, regardless of whatever their record is.”
Toma entered 2012 with three seasons under his belt, so he was prepared for most of the distractions but winning big at Notre Dame also had some added pressures.
“I think we forget the team is filled with young men and not grown men,” said Toma. “We see them on national TV, and we forget that. When we lost to Bama, some fans had some nasty things to say about our team. No matter what the outcomes are on Saturdays, people need to understand the players give it all for Notre Dame and that should be more appreciated win, lose or draw and not only appreciate the players, but the coaches put their all into the program as well.”