Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
On an afternoon where Notre Dame dominated in every fasset, nobody was more dominant than Chase Claypool, or Ch4ase Cl4ypool as he’ll be known for this afternoon.
No. 16 Notre Dame moved to 8-2 on the season after destroying No. 23 Navy 52-20 at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday.
Ian Book helped lead the way offensively, throwing five touchdown passes on the afternoon, four of which went to Chase Claypool. The blowout win was a pleasant site for Notre Dame fans who have grown accustomed to stressing through the Navy game with a “just survive and advance” feel on an annual basis.
With that here are your Five Instant Thoughts:
Some things never get old. Seeing a No. 25 wearing blue and gold show off his blazing speed and burn an opponent for a touchdown is one of those.
On an afternoon known as the Chase Claypool celebration as he’s already put up four touchdown receptions but with the Irish leading 21-0 in the second quarter this afternoon we saw Braden Lenzy do another Rocket Ismail impression, getting behind the Navy defense for a 70 yard touchdown reception.
Some things never get old. Seeing a No. 25 wearing blue and gold show off his blazing speed and burn an opponent for a touchdown is one of those.
The Irish lead 45-3 at the time of this post. A pleasant change of pace for a Notre Dame/Navy game for the second year in a row.
. @blspeedy21 was GONE 🏃♂️💨 pic.twitter.com/js5sO2KGc8
— Notre Dame on NBC (@NDonNBC) November 16, 2019
The good news is that Braden Kenzie appears back after dealing with fatigue issues.
As No. 16 Notre Dame gets set to kickoff against Navy, a couple of injury notes to keep an eye on for the game.
The Irish have been hit with injuries at the receiver position this season, dressing just four scholarship receivers last week at Duke.
The good news is that Braden Lenzy appears back after dealing with fatigue issues.
The bad news?
Notre Dame played with four healthy scholarship receivers at Duke last week. Javon McKinley was one of them.
Braden Lenzy did go through warmups today after missing last week’s game with fatigue, per Brian Kelly. https://t.co/OWIdNlNIQk
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) November 16, 2019
McKinley has pulled in 11 receptions and four touchdowns for Notre Dame this year.
Well, it appears a certain, recently fired head college football coach may be headed to Ann Arbor for employment soon.
Notre Dame won’t be playing Michigan in football for the next dozen or so years assuming the stars don’t align the two don’t meet in a bowl game before the series resumes in the 2030’s.
But we tend to keep a watchful eye on what’s happening up north with a rival, whether they’re on the schedule or not.
Well, it appears a certain, recently fired head college football coach may be headed to Ann Arbor for employment soon.
Former Florida State head coach Willie Taggart and Jack Harbaugh at #Michigan’s hockey game tonight pic.twitter.com/ZReonhSOW3
— Brice Marich (@BriceMarich) November 14, 2019
It’s easy to piece this one together.
Willie Taggart was the starting quarterback at Western Kentucky long before soaring up the collegiate coaching ranks.
Jim Harbaugh and his father Jack helped recruit Taggart to WKU. Eventually Jim took the job at Stanford where Taggart would become an assistant coach before Taggart would go-on to South Florida, Oregon and eventually Florida State before being fired a couple short weeks ago.
Clearly nothing is official at this point but it’s college football which means if there is smoke, there is probably fire. If you’re into coaching changes and assistant coaching searches, keep an eye out for Taggart to find employment at Michigan before long.
On a strange night for the Irish, they’re due credit for closing the stressful half with a great finish, taking a 40-29 lead to the break.
A 17 point lead early on wasn’t enough to keep things from getting a bit interesting Friday night at Purcell Pavilion as Notre Dame outlasted Marshall in a 74-64 win that felt a bit closer than that.
The Irish shot out of a cannon to a 25-8 lead early on Friday night before stumbling into the later part of the half, watching their lead disintegrate to just three when Marshall got things to 31-27 with three minutes before halftime.
On a strange night for the Irish, they’re due credit for closing the stressful half with a great finish, taking a 40-29 lead to the break.
After another quick start to the second half, Marshall came thundering back (sorry, had to) with a 10-0 run that made things just 49-46 in favor of the Irish before a John Mooney took over like John Mooney tends to do as old-reliable was again the star as putting up 28 points and pulling down 16 boards. Another day, another double-double for the Pre-Season All-ACC team member.
Dane Goodwin had a fantastic night as well as his nine second half points (11 total) and seven rebounds on the night secured the win.
Dry spells from the field were much to blame for why things got interesting multiple times Friday night as Notre Dame shot just 24/76 on their home court. They also knocked down just seven of 28 three-point attempts.
Notre Dame plays their fourth straight game at home Friday as Presbyterian will be in South Bend. The 3-1 Fighting Irish are yet to trail at home this season.
You can watch highlights of Friday night’s victory right here.
Where were you on Thanksgiving Day in 1973?
[jwplayer mF9PQ4vf]
Where were you on Thanksgiving Day in 1973?
If you answered with being at Notre Dame Stadium when the Irish dismantled Air Force 48-15 en-route to a national championship, then you were a part of history.
No, not just because that Ara Parseghian-led team went on to win it all, but because it was the last time Notre Dame Stadium failed to sell out for a home football contest.
Until this weekend.
It went over four-and-a-half decades and lasted 273 games but it appears that streak of consecutive sellouts is history.
“Based on ticket sales through Wednesday, we do not anticipate sellouts for our games against Navy and Boston College,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “That this comes during a time of sustained success for our football program reflects both challenges impacting the ticket market nationwide and the unique dynamics of this year’s schedule.”
Swarbrick mentioned in an interview with Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune that the Irish playing three true home games this November and the weather that comes with that are the most-likely factors to seeing the streak end.
In the piece you find out how several games over the years counted as sellouts as well, even when plenty of empty seats were clearly evident.
The streak ranked second, behind only Nebraska who has sold out every one of their last 373 home contests.
Over the last ten seasons the Irish have played just one home-game five times, often playing the on-again, off-again Shamrock Series during the month.
Notre Dame can move to 8-2 with a win over No. 21 Navy and potentially 9-2 if they can also get by traditional pain-in-the-rear, Boston College in two weeks.
If you haven’t been to a game in quite some time, here’s your chance to see a potential top-10 finishing Notre Dame team up close.
No. 16 Notre Dame and three other college football teams in the College Football Playoff top-25 have seven wins and two losses.
With losses to Georgia and Michigan, the Notre Dame college football team is looking down the barrel in this year’s College Football Playoff.
Considering the circumstances that surrounded the countless departures on defense and then the injuries leading up to Week 1 of the 2019 season, sitting at No. 16 doesn’t happen often for Brian Kelly. The first time the Fighting Irish have occupied such real estate was back in 1952. Since then, only eleven times (excluding preseason polls) has the program experienced a college football’s poll bottom percentile. Because of this, Notre Dame is expected to play in the Camping World Bowl against a conference who has had twists and turns almost all season long, the Big 12.
The two losses may have hurt Notre Dame’s chances of being on the inside-looking-out, but it’s not the only 7-2 team in the College Football Playoff Top 25.
No. 15 Wisconsin
Running back Jonathan Taylor and kicker Collin Larsh both have been the backbone of Wisconsin’s offense. The Badgers two losses come at the expense of Illinois and Ohio State – the latter’s defense who kept Taylor to only 52 yards rushing and forced Wisconsin’s pass game with Jack Coan. For the most part, its defense itself has remained in tact, blanking four opponents. Over the past three games specifically, it has given up over 21 points per contest. Remaining on Paul Chryst’s schedule is Nebraska, Mizzou and the eighth-ranked, row-the-boat-coach Fleck Minnesota Gophers.
No. 14 Michigan
Prior to playing Notre Dame, Michigan didn’t have the same swag against Wisconsin and Penn State. Both away games, Michigan coughed up the ball four times against the Badgers and were held scoreless for almost two full quarters against the Nittany Lions. At this point, it’s really Ohio State’s conference, but Michigan has somewhat regained its footing and lies only a couple of spots ahead of Notre Dame. The Wolverines haven’t played a game since Nov. 2 and that couldn’t come a moment too soon. Going forward, there lies a surprisingly trippy home stretch ahead with Michigan State, Indiana and The Game to round off the season.
No. 12 Auburn
Of the three teams on this list, Auburn has the toughest end-of-season schedule against No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Alabama, who recently forfeited its No. 1 spot to LSU. Most significantly to Gus Malzahn’s team this year was a season opener win against then-No. 11 Oregon, followed by an eight point win against Texas A&M. Losses to Florida and LSU within three weeks of each other was likely the red flag for the committee, though no one hardly ever understands their deliberations and final decisions. On Nov. 23, there is a rehearsal game for Auburn before the Iron Bowl. Quarterback Bo Nix has been up and down with incompletions and a lack of targets. It’s a team that’s much like the SEC version of Wisconsin – depend on the run and a defense that’s just as effective against the run as well.
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Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, a former Notre Dame Fighting Irish, hauled in his second touchdown of the season on Sunday.
Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish tight end Tyler Eifert recorded his second touchdown of the season on Sunday – and his first since Week 2 – in Cincinnati’s 49-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
It was the first career touchdown pass for Bengals rookie quarterback Ryan Finley, a fourth round pick out of North Carolina State in 2019.
It’s been an ugly season for the Bengals, who replaced veteran Andy Dalton with Finley officially on Sunday.
Finley was able to connect on a six-yard touchdown pass with Eifert, a long-time reliable target for Dalton, giving Finley the first of what Cincinnati hopes will be many touchdowns for the young gunslinger.
Save that 🏈
Another look at @RFin15’s first career TD.#BudLightCelly | @budlight pic.twitter.com/AWuEMp4f6P
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 10, 2019
The Bengals are barreling toward an early pick in 2020 however, making Finley’s time as a starter potentially short-lived.
Regardless, expect Eifert – who had 140 receptions and 11 touchdowns while at Notre Dame – to be a go-to target for Finley while he gets his NFL legs under him.
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there is Notre Dame representation on it and as you’d probably assume after watching Saturday’s 38-7 destruction of Duke, it was a defensive player.
Pro Football Focus has named its team of the week for this past weekend of games and there is Notre Dame representation on it and as you’d probably assume after watching Saturday’s 38-7 destruction of Duke, it was a defensive player.
Asmar Bilal recorded five tackles without missing any, a quarterback hit and didn’t allow a catch in his coverages.
The man in the middle for the Fighting Irish, Bilal was dominant in all facets for Notre Dame in their win against Duke. He recorded a QB hit, five total tackles without a miss and didn’t allow a catch into his coverage. He spent double-digit snaps in all facets and put forth great grades, leading the team in overall grade while finishing with elite grades in run defense. – Pro Football Focus on Bilal
You can see who else joined the Indianapolis (Ben Davis) product on the PFF All Week 11 team here.
