Notre Dame can skip the tutorial about the next step.
It’s the one the program has tried to take for nearly three decades, only to trip and fall. Notre Dame needs its roster to max out, its coaching moves to click and a healthy dose of luck to break through, particularly because of its schedule (more on that later). Everyone in the program understands the degree of difficulty that lies ahead, mainly because they know the degree of difficulty it took to get back to this place.
A year ago, Notre Dame sat at 4-8, an easy and deserving target for national ridicule.