Tag: fighitng irish

See where Marcus Freeman ranks alma mater Ohio State in final top 25 ballot

It would appear Marcus Freeman still has a bit of a soft-spot for @BuckeyesWire

Perhaps technically the final task for Marcus Freeman to complete in his first year at Notre Dame was to turn in his postseason ballot to the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Freeman was one of 63 coaches to fill out a final ballot, and he made some interesting choices. For instance, despite TCU beating Michigan in the national semifinal, he had the Horned Frogs outside his final top five.

He also had a pair of two-loss teams ranked in the top five, both above conference rivals they had lost to head-to-head. And shocking nobody, Freeman ranked Notre Dame higher than any of the other 62 coaches did.

Take a look at Marcus Freeman’s final top 25 ballot for the 2022 season below:

Notre Dame baseball accomplishes a first with win at No. 21 Virginia

A Notre Dame baseball first after their hot start continued Saturday

The 25th ranked Notre Dame baseball team finds itself in uncharted waters in a good way after their 12-4 victory Saturday at No. 21 Virginia.

The win secures a series-victory over Virginia and dating back to last season it’s Notre Dame’s fourth-straight series win in ACC play, something the baseball program has never previously accomplished since joining the conference in 2012.

With the win, the Irish improved to 6-2 on the season which to date has consisted of only ACC contests.

John Michael Bertrand led the Irish, pitching seven innings and allowing three runs in the victory, and retired the final ten batters he faced.

After the Irish took a 3-0 lead early on, Virginia stormed back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning before Notre Dame’s bats came especially alive.

Three-straight hits started the fifth inning for Notre Dame before right fielder Brooks Coetzee’s second home run of the series blew things wide open for the Irish, who stretched the lead to 8-3.

The Irish added four more runs before Alex Rao would pitch the final two innings in relief of Bertrand and allow one run along the way.

Notre Dame goes for the series sweep of Virginia on Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville.

St. Cyr named Big Ten’s second star of week

St. Cyr led Notre Dame to a pair of 2-0 victories over the weekend, stopping all 27 shots he faced in game one and then turning around and totaling 29 saves in game two for his second and third shutouts of the season and the fourth and fifth shutouts of his Irish career. 

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Fighting Irish senior goaltender Dylan St. Cyr has been named the Big Ten’s Second Star of the Week following back-to-back shutouts of Michigan State (Feb. 26-27).

St. Cyr led Notre Dame to a pair of 2-0 victories over the weekend, stopping all 27 shots he faced in game one and then turning around and totaling 29 saves in game two for his second and third shutouts of the season and the fourth and fifth shutouts of his Irish career.

A senior from Northville, Michigan, St. Cyr is now 9-8-1 on the season with a 2.38 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. He has started 12 of Notre Dame’s last 13 games dating back to the 2-1 win at Minnesota on Jan. 16 while posting a 2.07 goals against average and a .934 save percentage during that span.

It marks the first Weekly Big Ten honor of St. Cyr’s career.

Big Ten Stars of the Week — March 2
First Star: Cole Caufield, So., F, Wisconsin
Second Star: Dylan St. Cyr, Sr., G, Notre Dame
Third Star: Matty Beniers, Fr., F, Michigan

Notre Dame’s 2020-21 B1G Stars of the Week
First Star: Ryan Bischel (Dec. 1), Graham Slaggert (Jan. 19)
Second Star: Max Ellis (Jan. 13), Alex Steeves (Feb. 9, Feb. 23), Dylan St. Cyr (March 2)

Next Up

  • The Irish are slated to close out the regular season at home this weekend against Penn State (March 5-6).
  • Game one (7:45 p.m.) will be televised on NBCSN, while game two (5:30 p.m.) is slated for RSN distribution including SNY, NBC Sports Boston, NBC Sports Chicago, NBC Sports Philadelphia and NBC Sports Washington.
  • Saturday’s game will include a post-game ceremony to honor the team’s graduating senior class of Pierce Crawford, Matt Hellickson, Dylan St. Cyr, Nick Sanford, Matt Steeves and Colin Theisen.

Notre Dame eighth in USA TODAY 1-126 rankings

Paul Myerberg has his latest 1-126 rankings out for FBS football and Notre Dame shows up three spots lower there than they do on the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

Paul Myerberg ranks every FBS team in college football on a weekly basis during the season and puts them all out there, 1-126.

In recent weeks he’s had to expand his rankings as every conference has decided to ultimately return to action this year and all but four independent programs have decided to play football for at least some amount of games.

With that, Myerberg ranked 1-126 this week and Notre Dame finds itself three spots lower in his poll than they did in this week’s Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY.

Myerberg’s top ten:

Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, Florida and Georgia come in 1-5.  Then it’s Penn State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Central Florida and Miami 6-10.

In that group, Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon are yet to play any games as they check in before Notre Dame shows up.

Besides Clemson at the top spot, North Carolina checks in as Notre Dame’s highest ranked opponent at 18 while Pitt comes in next at 27.

Where does Notre Dame rank after recent big commitment and de-commitment?

Notre Dame has been given both good and bad news in recruiting in recent days. Where do the Irish rank after the said news? See here.

Notre Dame has gotten both great and bad news on the recruiting trail in recent days as former wide receiver commit Deion Colzie gave the Irish his second verbal commitment on Monday.

This came just days after Notre Dame found out that star corner back commitment Philip Riley, Jr. was stepping away from his commitment.  News then came on Monday that Riley had committed to Notre Dame’s biggest rival in USC.

So after one four-star recruit was lost but another was added for the second time, where does Notre Dame’s 2020 recruiting class rank nationally?

247Sports:  11th
Notre Dame is listed just behind Michigan as the Irish are just outside the top ten here.  247Sports ranks the Irish with nine four-star and three-star commitments each but no five-star rankings.

ESPN:  11th
ESPN doesn’t give players star rankings but it’s worth noting you can find Notre Dame currently pegged between USC (10) and Georgia (12) in that 11 spot.  ESPN has recently moved the Irish up four spots in their latest update.

Rivals:  11th
The ranking might be the exact same but how they add up talent is different as Rivals currently has offensive tackle Blake Fisher as a five-star talent but grades just five Notre Dame commitments as four-star talents while a dozen get the three-star grade.

Brian Kelly spoke about making a climb in recruiting and pulling in a top five class last December.

Getting to the top five seems almost impossible at this point but one thing worth noting is how close the Irish are to Clemson, specifically in the Rivals rankings, where the Tigers check in just one spot above the Irish.

Clemson doesn’t recruit to star-ranking like some of the other major programs do but it would certainly be something to make you feel better about the state of recruiting if you’re a Notre Dame fan.

Stay tuned to see just how high Notre Dame ends up with their 2021 class in the coming weeks and months.

USC RB/Former Notre Dame commit “sick” over no meeting

Markese Stepp, a former Notre Dame commitment in the 2018 recruiting class, de-committed from the Irish in favor of USC.

Notre Dame and USC won’t play each other in 2020 for the first time since 1945.  There will be more to come on that later Monday as the shock still feels fresh, but for now a former Notre Dame commitment and now USC running back isn’t liking that there won’t be a battle for any jeweled shillelaghs in 2020.

Markese Stepp, a former Notre Dame commitment in the 2018 recruiting class, de-committed from the Irish in favor of USC.  The Indianapolis native wasn’t exactly thrilled to hear the news of the rivalry being put on hold over the weekend.

The 6-0, 235 pound running back has lost both games he’s played against Notre Dame to date but was a bit of a thorn in the side of the Irish last year as he ran for a career high 82 yards and a touchdown during Notre Dame’s mid-October win over the Trojans.

Even if he ditched his Notre Dame commitment for the stained ketchup and mustard look of USC, I think all Irish and Trojans fans can find a common ground in feeling the exact same way about the fact this rivalry won’t be played in 2020.

Here’s to hoping we get college football at all this fall.

Notre Dame Adds 10th Commitment to 2021 Recruiting Class

Notre Dame didn’t get perfect news in recruiting this week but they did just get another commit as Jason Onye announced Thursday.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and his staff have received their second commitment to the 2021 recruiting class this week and tenth for the class overall.

Defensive lineman Jason Onye announced his commitment to the Fighting Irish early Thursday afternoon.

Onye gets a three star grade on 247Sports and the 6-5, 245 pound defensive end is listed as the top player in Rhode Island for the entire 2021 recruiting class.

A product of Bishop Henricken High School in Warwick, Onye chose Notre Dame despite having a total of 21 scholarship offers.  The likes of Arizona, Boston College, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Pitt, Tennessee, Virginia Tech were among those 21.

Onye’s addition brings Notre Dame’s total commitment count to ten and moves them into the eighth spot of 247 Sports team rankings for 2021 recruiting classes.

Shocker – Star ’21 Receiver De-Commits from Notre Dame

Four stars or five, who cares?  Colzie is one of the very best receivers in the nation in this 2021 recruiting class. This loss is a massive one as talents like it simply don’t come around.   

This one stings, Notre Dame fans.

Top-100 recruit and one of the stars of the 2021 recruiting class has de-committed from Notre Dame as Deion Colzie of Athens, Georgia has reopened his recruiting.

Colzie, a four-star recruit per 247Sports rankings was also slotted as the third-best receiver in the 2021 class, nationally.  He made the announcement Friday afternoon on his Twitter page.

Colzie doesn’t say that he won’t consider Notre Dame as he re-opens things but obviously the chances of that are low.

Four stars or five, who cares?  Colzie is one of the very best receivers in the nation in this 2021 recruiting class. This loss is a massive one as talents like it simply don’t come around.

Notre Dame’s 2021 class is seen as one of the best nationally, at least in the early stages.  This de-commit brings the total commitments down to six for Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish.

If there is good news it’s that there is time to put efforts into a replacement, the bad news is obvious, that they’re simply aren’t many talents quite like his to pursue.

What was supposed to be a massive recruiting weekend for Notre Dame before cancellations in recruiting due to Coronavirus has instead gotten off to a brutal start with the Colzie news.

2020 FIW Tournament: Second Round Voting Open – Hesburgh Region

Any win over Michigan is sweet and this Second Round match-up offers a couple of those.  Manti Te’o’s huge night en-route to 12-0 takes on the old No.1 vs No. 2 game from 1989 that saw Rocket Ismail blast off.  Twice.

The time has come to begin voting in the Hesburgh Region in the 2020 FIW Tournament to crown the best Notre Dame football game since 1986. Round one in the Hesburgh Region saw an 11 knock off a six-seed and was also home to the closer opening-round game where ’00 Purdue beat ’90 Tennessee by just a vote.

How was Round Two shape up? Gets your votes in now. The second round will close voting on Sunday afternoon before we advance to the Sweet 16.

— 1. ’93 Florida State vs. 8. ’99 Oklahoma

The Game of the Century goes down to the final play and results in a Notre Dame win over No.1 Florida State.  That will be a tough one to beat at all but the ’99 forgettable season did feature an entertaining comeback win over Oklahoma that got into the second round.

— 5. ’02 Florida State vs. 4. ’00 Purdue

Carlyle Holiday found Arnaz Battle to start things early as Notre Dame went on the road and beat Florida State in 2002.  Can that huge win get by 2000 Purdue who avoided upset in round-one by the slightest of margins or will Gary Godsey and Nick Setta sneak out another victory?

— 3. ’89 Michigan vs. 11. ’12 Michigan 

We (and by we I actually just mean me) were surprised how little love the 2000 win against Air Force received.  That said, any win over Michigan is sweet and this Second Round match-up offers a couple of those.  Manti Te’o’s huge night en-route to 12-0 takes on the old No.1 vs No. 2 game from 1989 that saw Rocket Ismail blast off.  Twice.

–2. ’12 Oklahoma vs. 7. ’12 Stanford 

We often view the 2012 Oklahoma as the biggest win of the 2012 season and it takes on the overtime thriller that concluded with an all-time goal-line stand.  During seeding, I thought it was certain the Oklahoma game would roll but the more I think the more I’m like Stanford’s chances to make this a Second Round thriller.

“Rudy” – Actual Story Sounds Better Than Hollywood Version

The man didn’t shack up in Notre Dame Stadium, instead he lived and worked in the Joyce Center where he’d mop floors and do janitorial work.  He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a result and once gave Elvis a t-shirt that “The King” would often wear around Graceland.

I don’t care about the predictability of the movie, some of the inaccuricies or how much effort it took the man it’s about to have it made, I’m a “Rudy” apologist.

Work hard, keep working hard, don’t take “no” for an answer no matter how many times you hear it and prove your doubters wrong no matter how long it takes.  Since I saw it in theaters in the fall of 1993 I’ve been a fan and that hasn’t wavered.

The only thing I don’t like about the movie is how they throw Dan Devine in front of the bus, run him over, back him over, run him over again and again and again.  I know every movie needs a villain but my goodness that seemed excessive.

But I digress from Devine, back to actual “Rudy” we go.

Ryan McGee of ESPN caught up with the actual Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger recently and wrote an extensive piece.

I won’t ruin the whole article for you, if you’ve got the ten or so minutes it takes to read at any point do yourself a favor and go read it.  I did have a few thoughts from it however.

The man didn’t shack up in Notre Dame Stadium, instead he lived and worked in the Joyce Center where he’d mop floors and do janitorial work.  He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a result and once gave Elvis a t-shirt that “The King” would often wear around Graceland.

There was no jersey moment on Dan Devine’s desk and it wasn’t exactly the whole team that carried him off the field after-all.  But for a former Holy Cross student that spent time beating up Notre Dame football players in the annual Bengal Bouts on campus, that story sounds even better than the one Hollywood came up with.

His friend didn’t die in a steel-mill accident, instead he died in a coal power plant incident where Ruettiger tried saving his life, somehow more intense than how things go down in the film.

I’ll forever be a “Rudy” apologist and you can call me corny as much as you like, but after reading the piece the actual story of “Rudy” sounds more like “Forrest Gump” than it does of a walk-on football player and that’s perfectly OK.