2021 ND Football – Page 40 – Syndication Server

USA TODAY bowl projections call for old Cotton Bowl reunion in Atlanta

If Notre Dame misses the CFP but wins a major bowl game for the first time since 1993 would you consider it a successful season?

My first years of being a college football fan meant many things, one of them being that January 1 meant that Notre Dame and Texas A&M would play in the Cotton Bowl.

It didn’t literally happen every year but certainly felt like it did to a youngster as the Fighting Irish and Aggies met in Dallas three times between New Year’s Day in 1988 and 1994.

USA TODAY has released their updated bowl projections and have Notre Dame and Texas A&M meeting again in the postseason but this time in the Peach Bowl which is to be played on December 30 this year.

Obviously Notre Dame fans are hoping for a third trip to the College Football Playoff in four seasons but a lot of cleaning up needs to be done in order for that to occur.

The Irish survived a scare at Florida State last week while Texas A&M blasted Kent State 41-10 to open their season.

Questioning ESPN’s FPI rankings after opening weekend

Notre Dame’s all-time bowl history

How to watch Notre Dame-Toledo on Peacock

Here’s how to watch Notre Dame’s home opener this Saturday. Share it with all who are curious…

Decades and decades ago Notre Dame football grew to the be the iconic brand it is nationally at least in part due to allowing radio stations to air their games for free. That made fans nationwide of a football team they very likely never saw play in person.

I say that to say this:

I hate that Notre Dame’s game against Toledo is airing only on Peacock. I get times are changing and largely for the better but this feels like a money grab by both NBC and the University all while spitting in the figurative face of the accessibility that helped make Notre Dame football what it is.

I understand occassionally having to move from NBC to NBCSN (is that still a thing?) or USA Network, but this is an attempt to gain more subscribers to NBC’s app and nothing more.

With that all stated, here is how you can join the dark side like I’ll be doing and pay for Peacock in order to watch Saturday’s Notre Dame-Toledo football game:

Simply:

Click this link to Peacock
(or search apps for Peacock on your smartphone or tablet)
Click “Unlock with Premium”
Enter “NOTREDAME” as the promo code if you want to pay for three months of Peacock for $7.50 instead of the $4.99 it would cost for one month.
(*Limited time offer. Get 3 months of access for a single, one-time payment of $7.50. Upon conclusion of the 3-month offer period, your subscription will auto-renew on a monthly basis at $4.99/month until you cancel. Cancel at any time by visiting your Peacock account. Offer expires 9/12/2021. Must be new to Peacock Premium. Limited availability. U.S. only. Additional restrictions may apply.)
Fill out your information and click ahead to payment information, fill that out as well and you’re done.

This is anything but an advertisement as I despise that fact Notre Dame is only being shown on essentially a pay-per-view service this weekend. I just want you to be able to watch the Irish like I figure you’d like to do this Saturday seeing as you’re currently on this site.

It’s really that simple, though.

Never has it been so easy to feel so dirty while sitting down to enjoy a Notre Dame football game.

Notre Dame’s all-time results in overtime games

Notre Dame depth chart versus Toledo

What position group are you most curious to watch against Toledo?

Notre Dame escaped disaster at Florida State and now returns home to play in front of a full stadium of their home fans for the first time since November of 2019.

Awaiting the Irish will be the Toledo Rockets who will be making their first trip in program history to Notre Dame Stadium. After a few injuries in the opener, how different will the Irish depth chart look Saturday afternoon?

Here is the depth chart the school released on Wednesday morning:

5 reasons ESPN’s FPI rankings suck (this week)

5 reasons the ESPN FPI rankings suck. Just read it already.

Numbers have been a part of sports for as long as scores have been being kept but their use in recent decades has only grown. Advanced metrics swept across baseball and other sports have followed suit.

Some of those numbers have improved team’s performances or helped to better educate fans while others simply have not.

One that hasn’t is the ESPN Football Power Index (FPI). Like the computers that were used during the BCS days this is entirely done from a formula and not from the opinion of humans.

Here’s the thing though, this formula sucks as it was smart enough rank Alabama No. 1 this week but seemed to mess up the majority of things soon after.

Here are five reasons this week’s FPI rankings suck.

Related: How Notre Dame’s opponents fared in Week One

Notre Dame kicker named award winner following game-winner vs. FSU

A great performance means great recognition for the hero

Notre Dame kicker Jonathan Doerer had quite the night Sunday as he connected on all seven of his attempts at Florida State, nailing five extra points, a 48-yard field goal in the game’s second quarter, and the walk-off winner from 41 yards in overtime.

In doing so Doerer was named one of the four national Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week. Joining him were Gabe Brkic of Oklahoma, Daniel Gutierrez of UNLV, and Alabama’s Will Reichard.

Doerer was the first Notre Dame kicker to kick a game-winning field goal on the final play of a game since Kyle Brindza was good from 32 yards as time expired to beat LSU in the 2014 Music City Bowl.

Best photos from Notre Dame-Florida State

5 instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over FSU

5 stars: good and bad of Notre Dame’s 41-38 win at FSU

Coan’s record night wins him national quarterback award

How surprised were you by Coan’s peformance?

Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan had quite the debut for the Irish as the former Wisconsin starter threw for 366 yards and four scores in the 41-38 overtime victory.

On Tuesday the former Notre Dame lacrosse commitment landed a national award as a result. The following is from the Notre Dame athletics department:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In his first start under center for the Irish, graduate student quarterback Jack Coan earned a number of accolades for his performance in Notre Dame’s, 41-38, overtime win at Florida State. Coan was named to the Davey O’Brien Award’s Great 8 List and was one of the Manning Award Stars of the week after his record-breaking performance in the season-opener.

Coan led the Irish with a career-high 366 yards and four touchdowns, while tying a career-high with 26 completions. His 366 passing yards ranked fifth nationally for Week One, and he was the only quarterback in the top-five who played in a true road game.

Coan broke the Notre Dame record for most passing yards in a season-opening game, while tying the record for most passing touchdowns in an opener. He became the eighth-straight quarterback to win their first game under center for the Irish.

5 instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over FSU

5 stars: The good and bad of Notre Dame’s win vs. FSU

Kyle Hamilton wins national award for performance vs. FSU

Forget just safeties, is there a better defensive player in all of college football?

The following release is from the Notre Dame athletics department:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Junior safety Kyle Hamilton was named the Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week following his performance in Notre Dame’s 41-38 overtime win at Florida State Sunday night.

Hamilton led the Irish with two interceptions on the night and added six tackles in the win. It was his first-career-game with two interceptions. He is the first Irish player to record two interceptions in one game since Alohi Gilman did so against Syracuse in 2018. Following each interception, the Irish took the ensuing drive down the field and scored a touchdown.

Watch: Kyle Hamilton’s insane interception from end zone camera

The two interceptions tied for the most by any player this past week and Hamilton was one of two players to achieve the feat in a true road game against a Power 5 opponent.

Prior to the season, Hamilton was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy Watch List. College defensive players are nominated to the Watch List based on the IMPACT on their teams on and off the field. IMPACT is an acronym for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity. The 42 represents Ronnie Lott’s number during his legendary career.

Notre Dame-Florida State puts up massive TV ratings

To the surprise of absolutely nobody…

To the surprise of absolutely no one the No. 9 Notre Dame vs. Florida State game Sunday night put up a massive ratings number as the game averaged 7.1 million viewers and peaked with 8.8 million tuning in during overtime.

ABC and ESPN hit a home run with the game as it obviously benefited from being the only major college football game played Sunday night and featured two blue-bloods who battled it out until Jonathan Doerer’s 41-yard field goal sailed through the Doak Campbell Stadium uprights.

The game was the second-most-viewed Opening Week Sunday game since 1996 and up over 29% in viewership compared to the 2019 Sunday night game between Oklahoma and Houston.

I have a strange feeling that Peacock won’t be seeing a number quite like this Saturday when they’ll be showing Notre Dame’s home opener versus Toledo.

Sunday's thriller between @NDFootball & @FSUFootball on @ABCNetwork averaged 𝟕.𝟏 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 viewers, peaking in OT with 𝟖.𝟖 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 viewers

🏈 2nd-most-viewed Opening Week Sunday game on record (since 1996)
🏈 Up +29% from 2019 (Houston-Oklahoma) pic.twitter.com/sleG9bTKbD

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 6, 2021

5 instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over FSU

5 stars: good and bad of Notre Dame’s 41-38 win at FSU

Kirk Herbstreit praises Jack Coan in Tweet

Who was the best player on Notre Dame’s offense in the opener?

As far as debuts it doesn’t get much better than what quarterback Jack Coan did in his first game as Notre Dame’s starter as he went on the road to Florida State and threw for 366 yards and four touchdowns in the Irish victory.

On top of that, had it not been for an unlikely and brutal drop by his top target, tight end Michael Mayer, Coan would have led Notre Dame to a potential game-winning field goal attempt at the end of regulation instead of having to play overtime.

Count ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit as one of those who walked away impressed by Coan as the longtime “ESPN Gameday” commentator shared the following Sunday:

To all of you questioning BK about my guy Jack Coan being the guy couple weeks ago…how we doin???

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 6, 2021

I think there’s a difference between dogging the decision and not being thrilled by it despite knowing there wasn’t a better choice entering 2021, but it was one heckuva night for Coan who has me wondering about what this offense might look like in a month or so.

Coan’s teams improved to 13-6 in his career as a starter after Sunday’s win and I can only imagine what Wisconsin fans were thinking while watching him ball out last evening.

5 instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over FSU

5 stars: good and bad of Notre Dame’s 41-38 win at FSU

Notre Dame injury update following Florida State

What injury is the most concerning?

No. 9 Notre Dame got out of Florida State with a season opening win Sunday night but on Monday we found out some unfortunate news in regards to injuries a few players sustained in the 41-38 overtime victory.

Here is what Brian Kelly had to say about the injuries sustained:

5 instant takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over FSU

5 stars: good and bad of Notre Dame’s 41-38 win at FSU