Could Notre Dame have reached the BCS Championship in 2012 with as many season-ending injuries as the 2015 Irish have already suffered?
“I don't know we'd have been able to do some of the things that we are doing with the number of injuries that we have currently had back in 2012,” coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday. “Matter of fact, I'm certain we wouldn't have.”
That 2012 Irish team still had to overcome some key injuries, of course. Cornerback Lo Wood ruptured his Achilles’ in August, paving the way for KeiVarae Russell — then a true freshman — to start all 13 games at a position he hadn’t played before coming to Notre Dame. Safety Jamoris Slaughter’s season-ending injury in Week 3 brought Matthias Farley — who covered to safety from wide receiver earlier that year — into the starting lineup as well.
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But the core of the team stayed healthy. The same five offensive linemen started all 13 games, which was absolutely necessary given the massive attrition behind them (Notre Dame, at times, practiced for the BCS Championship with six healthy scholarship offensive linemen). The team’s most important players — Zack Martin, Tyler Eifert, Theo Riddick, Manti Te’o, Louis Nix, Kapron Lewis-Moore, Stephon Tuitt and Zeke Motta — all were healthy during the regular season.
The 2015 Irish beat a top-20 Georgia Tech team without its starting quarterback, running back, tight end, nose guard and nickel back on Saturday. Its starting safety against the Yellow Jackets suffered a season-ending injury in the second quarter.
Kelly acknowledged Notre Dame can’t sustain these hits to the depth chart forever. But so far, the Irish have found ways to fill in for and in some cases (specifically, C.J. Prosise) be better than Malik Zaire, Taraen Folston, Durham Smythe, Jarron Jones, Shaun Crawford and Drue Tranquill.
“There is a break point,” Kelly said. “You know, we are still at a point where we have guys that can come in and step in, but there's no question that we have to be able to stem the tide here with these injuries.”
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If this Notre Dame team is able to stay in the College Football Playoff race despite all those injuries, it’ll be some of Kelly’s best work in his coaching career. Not only has he recruited talented depth, but he’ll prove he can mold it ahead of schedule into keeping the Irish competitive.
“We still have a long way to go,” Kelly said. “We have a lot of games, a lot of big games. We're going to have some more injuries. And probably those comments (about 2012) reflect probably more about the depth of our team and the ability to continue to move forward and continue to win. So I think that that's probably the crux of it was depth and quality depth that allows you to continue to win.”