Part of what makes college football’s structure beautiful and brilliant is the de facto “one-and-done” nature of the season. There’s only 12 regular season games and that scarcity makes each one meaningful. To get to the playoff, you can’t afford to lose, at all. If you lose one, then you’re in full on single elimination mode.
Notre Dame Starting Quarterback DeShone Kizer articulated this mantra; a state that the Fighting Irish are currently in.
“This week we had a different style of preparation,” he said after ND’s 41-24 victory over Navy, which came the week after Notre Dame suffered their first loss of the season.
“Our guys understand that the margin of loss is very small right now, so as long as that, we continue to prepare the way we prepared this week and play as if it’s one or done, and that we’re in sort of like March Madness mode, I think we’ll be okay going forward.”
Exactly, it’s March Madness, but in October. Like the NCAA Tournament, or the MLB Wild Card game, or any game 7 in any sport, every week for ND is do-or-die.
DeShone Kizer was 22-30 for 281 yards, one interception, one touchdown. He also added a rushing touchdown. Thrust into action in week two, and the QB1 role in week three, Kizer is starting to settle into the role:
“As an offense, when we have momentum on our side and when we’re winning and when we’re playing good football, there’s not much that we can’t do,” he said.
Of course, even in Notre Dame wins out, that doesn’t mean they’re headed to playoff. There will be plenty of 11-1 teams in the mix at the end. There will be some 12-0 teams too, and there’s just four spots. The fact that the Irish don’t have a conference title game to get an additional win, and make an emphatic “closing statement” really hurts.
Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said his team isn’t thinking macro though; and is instead focused on the micro.
“I was so pleased with the way that they were focused, during the week, preparing for Navy, not worrying about anything else. They weren’t talking about last week, they weren’t talking about USC,” he said.
“They were focused on playing this football team,” he said following the win over Navy.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.