I agree. If there is one thing I know, is that I would hate to be any team facing Notre Dame after the FSU loss... especially after a bye week.
I forgot what BK's record after a bye week is, but I know its really, really good.
5-1 at ND
2010: ND 28 Utah 3
2011: SC 31 ND 17
2012: ND 41 Miami 3
2013: ND 14 SC 10
2013: ND 23 BYU 13
2014: ND 31 'Cuse 15
2014: ND versus Navy
Brian Kelly's Record After a Bye Week
"Notre Dame's bye week could not have come at a better time, with more freshman and sophmores playing than ever before. They have had three games to get some playing time and have had a week off to watch film and work on things that need improvement. The offensive line has some questions and Brian Kelly has talked of reshuffling the starters, so the week off has come at a perfect time.
Notre Dame is ready for a game against Syracuse,, which is coming off its first loss of the season, and this game looks more and more like an easy win for Notre Dame, but how have the Irish done coming off a bye week in Brian Kelly's four years at Notre Dame? Let's take a look.
In Kelly's first year as the head coach in 2010 the bye week came on November 6, after a 4-5 start. They had just lost two straight games to
Navy and Tulsa, but they came out of the bye week and beat a ranked Utah team 28-3 and finished the year on a four game win streak.
In 2011 Notre Dame had a bye week on October 15, after a 4-2 start to the year. After the bye week they had a poor performance against USC. Tommy Rees was injured and Dayne Crist filled in for him and fumbled the ball on the goal line which was returned for a touchdown to put the game out of reach, but it was more than just quarterback play, the team looked completely flat and Notre Dame lost 31-17.
We all know that Notre Dame won after its bye week in 2012, because it was the year they went undefeated! The bye week came on September 29, a week after they had beaten Michigan 13-6. The week off gave them plenty of time to get ready for Miami and they came out and destroyed them 41-3, which was their largest margin of victory for the year.
The 2013 season had two bye weeks. The first came on October 12, after a Shamrock Series win against Arizona St. After the bye week they notched another win onto their record with a 14-10 victory over USC. The second bye week was on November 16, after a 28-21 loss to Pittsburgh. The week off gave the team and coaches a chance to recover from the stunning loss and they were able to beat BYU 23-13.
This season there are two bye weeks again and it is hard to survive two weekends without Notre Dame football but Brian Kelly is 4-1 coming off a bye week at Notre Dame. A game against Syracuse might not seem like a big game, but it gives the players a chance to put to practice, what they worked on during the week off, in live action before a showdown with Stanford.
The second bye week will be on October 25 a week after the big game against the defending National Champions, Florida St. The extra week will give Notre Dame a chance to switch gears as they prepare for Navy's triple offense.
The bye weeks seem to be strategically placed and they are definitely working in Notre Dames favor, even though we have to suffer thru two long weekends of watching lesser opponents!"
