Kelly has Irish atop in Year 3

LOS ANGELES — The postgame roars from Notre Dame’s locker room echoed right through the Coliseum’s thick cement walls and metal beams Saturday night, moving around the 89-yearold arena like a long-absent force of nature.

It was the sound of the No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish’s return to the top of college football, and they have a chance to end a 24-year championship drought.

“This is where you want to be when you go to Notre Dame,” linebacker Manti Te’o said after Notre Dame (12-0) completed its first unbeaten regular season since 1988.

After winning half of their games by nine points or fewer, including two hairraising escapes in overtime victories, it’s clear these Irish have something else going for them as well.

And the Irish have six weeks to prepare for the BCS title game on Jan. 7, but Coach Brian Kelly’s restoration of the Notre Dame mystique could linger much longer.

Just three years after taking over a 6-6 team with ancient expectations annually dwarfed by the modern realities of competing at a Catholic school in frigid northern Indiana with tough academic standards, Kelly has put the Irish back on top.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Well, yeah, I’m surprised,”’ Kelly said. “But when you go in that locker room and are around the guys I’m around, you’re not surprised. The commitment they’ve made — they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do. It doesn’t surprise me anymore.”

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who replaced Charlie Weis with Kelly three years ago next month, acknowledges he expected the Irish to need maybe one more year to contend at an elite level.

Although Notre Dame’s defense was clearly tough, nobody could have expected such success from an offense now led by the likes of quarterback Everett Golson, who redshirted last year, and tailback Theo Riddick, who was a slot