Pardon the use of the r-word in the headline. It is so rarely chosen in these parts simply because it is never done so at Notre Dame. There is reason for the institutional zig to the rest of the world’s syntactical zag: Fifth years are not assured until a University committee agrees to them. There is also reason to play along with that facade: Preserving a year of eligibility is not assured until the season is over.
Even with a freshman like linebacker Jack Kiser, who worked on two special teams units in the first four games before sitting against Bowling Green, the Irish coaching staff can only hope to not play him again and thus preserve a year of eligibility thanks to the NCAA rule now in its second season.