Spring Games May be Fake, But Notre Dame Football is Real
Notre Dame football showed the world that they were for real during their 2017 Blue and Gold game, even if it isn’t a clear indication of the regular season.
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What all college football spring games do is get the fans, players and school excited for the upcoming season. There are big plays, celebrating, music, and anything the team can do to get people hyped for the year ahead.
For Notre Dame, they came out as one of the biggest stories of the offseason. Finishing 2016 4-8, losing their starting quarterback to the NFL Draft and replacing almost the entire coaching staff put them in very unknown territory heading into spring practices.
It took virtually no time, though, as the Fighting Irish started to show the college football world that they are as dangerous as a football team comes. With a new starting QB in Brandon Wimbush already showing off his skills, returning players like Alize Mack proving they haven’t missed a step, and flaws of 2016 starting to develop into stars, Notre Dame looked dangerous throughout spring practice.
Then, the spring game came. The 2017 Blue and Gold game was the Irish’s first shot at showing that all the hype wasn’t an overreaction. That they were coming back from the dead biggest, stronger, faster, and better than they’ve been in a long time.
Almost every single player on this team proved exactly what they were trying to – that Notre Dame football was back. From the terrible secondary in 2016 turning into a group of unstoppable corners, to a three-man running game proving they could all dominate a game at any moment. This game was filled with “we’re ready to win” moments and players.
Spring games are fake, though.
What they are is players who know almost every aspect of the offense and defense, playing against teammates they know almost everything about. It isn’t hard to look good when EVERYTHING that happens is a positive sign for one team or the other.
Either the offense scores and touchdown and everyone is excited, or the defense forces a stop and everyone is excited. Get what I’m saying?
Don’t take that the wrong way. What Notre Dame has done this offseason is extraordinary. They’ve turned a “it’ll take years to recover” program into a College Football Playoff contender in less than four months. That’s crazy!
Just because spring games are more show than actual evidence of improvement doesn’t mean what the Irish have done isn’t real. It isn’t like they started a new quarterback and immediately became a contender. They built a whole new system, brought in new coaches, strength staff and made their returners even better.
Notre Dame football is real. They’ve made all the adjustments to turn this program around as quick as possible. Believe me, I was the biggest Brian Kelly critic in December. Now, I’ll be the firs to admit I was wrong. He’s done everything required to be a great head coach and it’ll show come September.
Next: Top 20 ND Players of the 2017 Season
Just because spring games aren’t real doesn’t mean Notre Dame isn’t. Just wait, they’ll prove they are Sep. 2 against Temple and for the 11 games afterwards.