Unlike most other ACC teams, Notre Dame didn’t dip its toes very deep into the transfer portal this past offseason. In fact, the Irish joined North Carolina, Florida State and Pittsburgh as the only schools in the conference to add three or fewer players via the transfer portal. That fell below the conference average of 4.6 transfers a team.
Allocco came over to the Irish from Princeton and is coming off career-high averages in both scoring (12.7) and assists (3.3). That netted him his second straight Second Team All-Ivy League honor, and he now will see how well his game translates in a power conference.
Shaw described Allocco this way:
“Matt Allocco is another connector for [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag]’s team. The 6-foot-4 senior is comfortable moving the ball or knocking down shots. He brings a winning pedigree (70-21 in college) and will provide a veteran presence beside [autotag]Markus Burton[/autotag], someone who compliments his game and is able to take some pressure off his duties.”
Irish fans will be watch Allocco every step of the way. He’ll be crucial to any success this still-young team has.
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As the color analyst for NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night coverage, Todd Blackledge doesn’t get to call Notre Dame games. But that doesn’t mean he’s not keeping tabs on the Irish. After all, he wouldn’t have the gig he has if he wasn’t paying attention to all of college football.
In an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show”, Blackedge was asked by the host about the Irish’s chances at making the College Football Playoff. Blackedge made it clear that the Irish’s remaining schedule is a detriment in that there aren’t a lot of big games left if any at all.
With Florida State at 1-5 and USC below .500 in Big Ten play, Blackege said the Irish don’t have a lot of margin for error. That means they’ll have to win out in order to have even a shot at the playoff. It’s further proof that the loss to Northern Illinois continues to hang over the team like a cloud.
We’ll continue to have this debate for the rest of the season or at least until the Irish lose another game. Better get used to it if you aren’t already, Irish fans.
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Jamir Watkins, currently ranked No. 59 on ESPN’s Top 100, has established himself as one of the nation’s top returning college players. After averaging 12.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in his first season with Florida Sate after transferring from VCU, …
Jamir Watkins, currently ranked No. 59 on ESPN’s Top 100, has established himself as one of the nation’s top returning college players. After averaging 12.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in his first season with Florida Sate after transferring from VCU, and Watkins was named All-ACC Honorable Mention.
Watkins is gearing up for his final season at FSU, where he has emerged as the team leader. Last season, he showed he was much more than a defender, he had 19 consecutive double-figure scoring games, as the 6-foot-7 wing continues to prove his versatility on both ends of the floor. After initially declaring for the NBA draft in April 2024 and entering the transfer portal in May, Watkins decided to return to Florida State, as he seeks to improve his game further with another season under Head Coach Leonard Hamilton.
The Trenton, NJ native recently sat down with HoopsHype to discuss his decision to withdraw from the NBA draft, his development as a player, and his expectations for the upcoming season.
The New Orleans Saints have had scouts including Jeff Ireland at the last two Clemson football matchups against Stanford and Florida State:
The New Orleans Saints scouting department is always out in force throughout the year, and sometimes you can get an idea of who they are looking at based on where their scouts are seen. They’re already hard at work assembling the team’s big board of prospects for thee 2025 NFL draft.
In the last two weeks, they have been seen at Clemson matchups. Firstly, Jeff Ireland was in the press box for Clemson versus Stanford on Sept. 28 per Tiger Illustrated’s Toby Corriston. Then there were scouts from the Saints at Doak Campbell Stadium to watch Florida State against Clemson, per The State Newspaper’s Chapel Fowler.
These two matchups ended in wins for the Clemson Tigers, which, depending on whether or not the Saints were specifically there to see them or not, could be a good indication for their scouting process of certain players. As of now, some of the top prospects from Clemson are:
RT Blake Miller (No. 55 on PFF big board)
LB Barrett Carter (No. 82 on PFF big board)
QB Cade Klubnik (No. 161 on PFF big board)
TE Jake Briningstool (No. 185 on PFF big board)
Each of these positions could be positions of need no doubt, especially tight end as the production from that position has been less than expected this season. All of these four players also fit into the usual height weight metrics for the Saints, especially so for Blake Miller who registers in at 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds. We will see how this progresses throughout the season and if they are seen again at Clemson, as they recently dipped into the Tigers’ talent pool in 2023 taking Bryan Bresee.
Few if any people in the country love college basketball as much as CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. If you follow him on social media, you know he puts absolutely nothing in sports above college basketball. If a college football fan tweets something at him, he’ll play dumb and frame his response in college basketball terms.
Rothstein has released his ACC preview, and Notre Dame gets only one mention, which isn’t unexpected given that it has a lot to prove. However, it’s how Rothstein references the Irish that makes this interesting.
The ACC has been going through a bit of a dry spell as far as the number of berths it gets in the NCAA Tournament. The Irish last made the tournament in 2022, but some conferences teams have even longer droughts. Rothstein particularly signals out Louisville, Syracuse and Florida State.
Rothstein’s point is that all of these high-profile programs need to get their act together in order to restore the ACC’s reputation as the best in college basketball and have more than the five March Madness berths it’s gotten in each of the past three years.
We’ll see how the season plays out, and hopefully, the Irish can help make the ACC truly intimidating again.
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The battle between Herbstreit and Florida State fans rages on
For maybe the first time ever, college football saw Cal fans on social medai trolling Florida State fans about their Week 4 matchup before Cal had even played its Week 3 game against San Diego State.
These are strange times in the ACC, to be sure, but this new conference rivalry may be hard to top. What else would you honestly expect from an undefeated Cal team visiting a winless FSU program?
Sadly, we cannot technically count that as one of pettiest Week 3 moments. Fortunately, we have more than enough trolling of Florida State to hold us over until those powerhouses(!?) kick off in Tallahassee.
Kirk Herbstreit: Defender of Florida State’s integrity
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Florida State fans did NOT like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit before this season and they probably won’t like him anymore after his tongue-in-cheek dig on College GameDay last week.
Herbstreit became the face of FSU’s contempt after the team was snubbed from the College Football Playoff following a season-ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis.
Well, with their season on the ropes before losing to Memphis last Saturday, Herbstreit mocked the “disrespect” coming from the rest of the GameDay panel who picked against Florida State. It was well played, you gotta admit.
Memphis Tigers: Destroyers of Florida State’s integrity
There was trolling before the game. And there was even more trolling after FSU lost to Memphis.
Now, the Tigers could’ve chosen any number of ways to mock the 0-3 start by the program that poached their last coach, but they chose to focus on the very strange tactic of using water guns at practice.
Anyone remember when West Virginia was ranked No. 2 in the BCS poll back in 2007 only to get upset on its home field by unranked Pitt, which was a four-touchdown underdog before the game.
The final score was 13-9.
As former WVU fullback Owen Schmitt said, “We blew it against the [expletive] [expletive] team in the [expletive] world.”
In case you did forget, Pitt had a helpful reminder before hosting (and beating) WVU again on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide hadn’t played in Madison since 1928, a full 64 years before House of Pain released “Jump Around”. So you can’t blame Alabama for embracing the tradition at Wisconsin games on Saturday as they beat the Badgers, 42-10. Especially since it appeared plenty of fans had already left the stadium before the end of the fourth quarter.
Washington State’s Apple Cup victory puts Cougars on the map
Anyone who covered Notre Dame basketball when [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] was coach will tell you he’s a pretty easygoing guy. The way he spoke at times, you wouldn’t mind if he pulled up a seat next to you at the bar and just start telling you one coaching story after another. That’s just who he is.
If Brey felt his team was being put at a disadvantage though, he wasn’t afraid to tell it like it was. Such was the case when he criticized the officiating after the Irish lost a close game at Florida State in January 2020. The ACC responded by fining Brey $20,000.
Nearly five years later, Brey has left college basketball, but ACC coaches across all sports continue to be fined for being critical of officials. Pittsburgh football coach Pat McMurphy was just fined $5,000 for it.
However, Brey seems less bothered by McMurphy’s fine than the apparent inconsistency in the amount for which coaches are fined:
Pitt fball coach gets 5000$ fine from ACC for talking about the refs…mine was 20k!?!? https://t.co/bhaGaAX8m6
Look, we’re not going to pretend to know what goes into determining how much coaches get fined for things. But if one coach is losing four times as much money as another for the same action, it might be time to reevaluate your practices. Otherwise, it’s pure chaos.
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But if you were hoping for any accountability or explanations of the debacle against the Tigers from head coach Mike Norvell, that’s not going to happen.
Not because Norvell didn’t show for his postgame press conference, but because the fire alarm went off in the middle of it, forcing everyone to clear the building.
Apt metaphor for the temperature of Norvell’s seat aside, it sure seems like there a number of people around FSU who would prefer no one ask any questions about the state of the program.
Now, we’re not saying the alarm was pulled on purpose under fraudulent circumstances. It would be highly inappropriate to suggest such a thing. But if that were the case, these suspects would be at the top of the list:
Florida State Athletic Director Michael Alford
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit — though he’s got a pretty good alibi after picking FSU to win today
Florida State’s lawyers, who are trying to help the school escape the ACC because the rest of the league is holding the football team back(???)
Mike Norvell, because you’ve always got to suspect the person at the center of any crime, and because no one wants to talk about this season less than him.
Jameis Winston, on prior history in Tallahassee alone
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, who has to at least be enjoying the chaos at FSU just a bit
Whoever convinced Florida State that the transfer portal QB they needed was DJ Uiagalelei and not any number of significantly better options, should never work in football again.
Notre Dame has been a hotbed for offensive line talent in recent years. While there are concerns about that unit in 2024, the future always seems bright these days. Hopefully for the Irish, that future will include 2026 recruit Ben Nichols.
Nichols, Michigan’s No. 3 recruit in the 2026 class according to 247Sports, has received offers from 19 Football Bowl Subdivision programs. The Irish made their offer on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Now, he’ll be making a visit to campus when the Irish open their home schedule against Northern Illinois.
Nichols took to social media and expressed excitement about his upcoming trip to South Bend:
The Irish have some stiff competition to try and win Nichols’ services. Alabama made the most recent offer in late August. Others aiming for him include Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Illinois.
Good luck to the Irish in landing Nichols. They just might need it.
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