Notre Dame Football: The Florida State Hangover has body blows

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were in some danger this year of not being able to finish the season, and it’s still uncertain how all of this will eventually turn out. Javon McKinley spoke of his worries about the end of the season after Notre Dame’s 42-26 win over the Florida State Seminoles. Still — the Irish were able to overcome and move on with the season.

That doesn’t mean it was easy. The two week layoff is something Brian Kelly has never had to deal with in his 30 years of coaching, and despite a few hiccups here and there, the Irish walked out of Notre Dame Stadium with a 16 point win.

I’m good with that.

BODY BLOWS

Even a rusty metal pipe is still a metal pipe. Hit a guy with it, and it’s going to hurt quite a bit. On Saturday night, the Irish were indeed a bit rusty. On the defensive side of the ball, there were missed tackles, a few bad angles, and they let a couple of big plays get past them.

But that doesn’t mean they played soft — far from it. The Notre Dame defense wore down Florida State throughout the night. It’s what ultimately kept the Noles in check, and Brian Kelly took notice.

He [Jordan Travis] was getting hit very hard. In that last couple drives, he got up slow. He’s a tough competitor. But it was starting to take a toll on him physically. Our group was just starting to come together. Kyle had a big hit late in the fourth quarter, too. I think the physicality was coming together. We were getting our legs back. But having some time off, it just takes some time. It’s a physical defense. Like I said, it wasn’t their A game, but they will play at a much higher level and it will be fun to watch.

This (what you just read) was an article that I wasn’t able to finish because of some personal things going on right now (nothing too serious so please don’t worry about me — it’s fine). Rather than trashing it because it’s a little outdated (maybe by a whole 24 hours) or adding more to it — I’m just going to leave it here.

Despite all of the other things I wanted to say, the single point about how physical this defense is right now is something that should be highlighted more from those of us in the media. After coming back to this article, I actually developed another point that I’ll be working on this afternoon to share with you later this evening.

Sorry about all of this, and I hope I didn’t waste your time.