Luck of the Irish Cuts Both Ways

Three Saturdays into the 2015 season, Notre Dame continues to win, even though they continue to lose player after player to devastating injuries.

This week, going in as a home dog against Georgia Tech, the Irish jumped out to a 30-7 lead, and after giving up two touchdowns in the final minute, won the game, 30-22.

They also ended, yet again, with fewer healthy players than they had at the start.

Here was the body count going into last weekend:

• During pre-season practices, DL Jarron Jones tore his MCL and was ruled out for the season.
• Then in their opener, a 38-3 blowout of Texas, featured RB Tarean Folstron tore his ACL and was lost for the season.
• In the Virgina game, QB Malik Zaire went down with a broken ankle and was lost for the season.

So far, Notre Dame's depth has held.

• Folstron was replaced by CJ Prosise, who starred in the win against Virginia, and followed it up by rushing for 198 yards against Georgia Tech. 
• With Everett Golson transferring to Florida State, coach Brian Kelly called on freshman DeShone Kizer who threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds to go to win the game.

The Irish are thus 3-0, and with and easy game coming up this week against UMass, Kizer will get more work leading up to a road game the following week at Clemson. That is, assuming bad luck doesn't catch up to him, too.

However, true to the trend, Notre Dame couldn't escape the Georgia Tech game without an injury. And this one was on the stupid side.

Drue Tranquill, a steady defender who was coming off ACL surgery, re-injured his knee while celebrating a call that went Notre Dame's way.

Kelly's on record as claiming this to be his most talented team, but all that's confirmed so far is they're ahead of last year's pace. That's when the Irish started 6-0 before injures and mistakes ruined their season.

With games against Clemson, USC, and Stanford looming, it may be time to re-turf their field with four-leaf clovers.