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Notre Dame Football: It’s time for the Irish to dominate their opponents

By Daniel Morrison

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 30: John Shannon #54 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after he recovered a dropped punt by the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 30: John Shannon #54 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after he recovered a dropped punt by the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 30, 2019 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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The Notre Dame football program hasn’t instilled a lot of fear in its opponents in recent years. It’s time for the Irish to change that.

After a lackluster start against a middling Duke team, there was a tenseness coming from Notre Dame football fans towards the program. It was never that fans didn’t trust the team to win the games they’re supposed to win. It’s just that, outside of the seasonal cupcakes like New Mexico last season, the Irish have rarely flexed their muscles on inferior competition. They win, but they don’t dominate.

That’s a stark contrast from what the top tier, elite teams in college football do to inferior competition. Take Clemson, who dominates every team they play during the regular season. It creates an air of confidence around the team, and intimidation for opponents.

When Clemson has played Wake Forest, they’ve won 12 straight times. In the last three meetings, Clemson has won by a combined score of 152-19. When Wake Forest takes the field against Clemson, they expect to lose.

Teams don’t have that same fear of Notre Dame. For most teams, it’s an exciting opportunity to knock off a traditional power. When they turn on the tape of Notre Dame, they don’t seen an overwhelming, unstoppable force. They see a good team who they can beat.

This is the difference between elite teams and good teams, and after a decade in South Bend it’s time Brian Kelly takes Notre Dame to that elite level.

When you dominate opponents, you ace the ‘eye test.’ This helps you rise through the rankings quicker, and can give Notre Dame more leeway in making a New Year’s Six Bowl or even the College Football Playoff. Just last season, by being good but not dominant, Notre Dame missed an opportunity for an at large bid to the New Year’s Six, and found themselves in the Camping World Bowl instead.

The other thing is that recruits want to go to a dominant program, where they can win big. They want to know they’ll win, and put up good stats doing so. By taking the next step forward and dominating inferior opponents, Notre Dame can take the next step forward in recruiting, and will land those elite players they need to compete with the Clemsons and Ohio States of college football.

Last Saturday, Notre Dame showed how they can dominate opponents. Granted, it was USF, but it was still good to finally see the Irish dominating a team that they’re supposed to dominate. Now, they need to go forward and continue to show that this is who they are as a team.

Coming up against Wake Forest and Florida State, Notre Dame has two games that they’re more than capable of dominating. So, that’s exactly what Notre Dame needs to do. Set the tone for the rest of the season, intimidate future opponents, build confidence, and make sure that the rest of college football knows Notre Dame is a legitimate threat.

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