Tag: gerad parker

Top Notre Dame receiver Mitchell Evans out for season with torn ACL

Big loss for the Irish.

Notre Dame will be without its top receiver for the rest of the season. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] confirmed Monday that tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] tore his ACL in Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh.

Evans, who was in his junior season, currently is the Irish’s top receiver with 422 yards on 29 receptions. He is averaging 14.6 yards a receptions and has scored one touchdown, which came in the loss to Louisville.

This obviously is a tough blow to an Irish offense that has been starting to find its groove again after going through a tough stretch. [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] now will have to dig further into the depth chart.

[autotag]Holden Staes[/autotag] has scored the second-most touchdowns for the Irish this season at four, but this also will open up more opportunities from [autotag]Eli Raridon[/autotag] and [autotag]Cooper Flanagan[/autotag]. Still, they probably wish it was happening under better circumstances.

Hopefully, we’ll see Evans in an Irish uniform again before too long. Until then, here’s to a speedy recovery.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

If Alex Grinch and Gerad Parker both coach poorly, who will win USC-Notre Dame?

USC has a bad defensive coordinator. Notre Dame has a bad offensive coordinator. If this matchup is a draw, which team will win?

Alex Grinch is one of the worst defensive coordinators in the country. Gerad Parker is one of the worst offensive coordinators in the country. Very simply: If they both coach equally poorly (or equally well) and basically fight to a draw in this matchup of lightweights, which team will win the USC-Notre Dame game?

Fighting Irish Wire’s Nick Shepkowski told us the following:

“Woof. The best unit going into the game is USC’s offense so I suppose I have to go with that.”

That’s one vote for USC if Grinch-Parker is a stalemate.

We also think USC wins if Grinch-Parker is a tie. Notre Dame has to cleanly win Grinch-Parker. If it doesn’t, USC has a quarterback who is pretty good at rescuing his team, and who is a lot better than Sam Hartman. Parker needs to have that one great game, or Grinch needs to be extra bad (or both), for this game to unfold in a way which gets Notre Dame the win.

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Prominent Pac-12 sports journalist thinks USC is likely to fire Alex Grinch before season’s end.

USC and Lincoln Riley need to have a plan in place if Alex Grinch coaches poorly and loses to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator might actually be worse than Alex Grinch, a fascinating plot point heading into the October 14 renewal of Irish-Trojans.

Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Notre Dame and Utah.

Notre Dame fans are losing their minds over offensive coordinator Gerad Parker

USC fans have had enough of Alex Grinch. Notre Dame fans are in the same place with offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.

It really is remarkable that USC and Notre Dame have such talented head coaches with great expertise on one side of the ball. Lincoln Riley is a great offensive tactician. Marcus Freeman has a great defensive mind. Riley can score bunches of points on just about anyone. Freeman held Ohio State to 17 points a few weeks ago, 10 in the first 59 minutes before the Buckeyes’ last-second touchdown against the Irish.

Yet, while Riley understands offense and Freeman understands defense, the two head coaches have completely failed on the other side of the ball.

USC has a bad defense, Notre Dame a bad offense. The coordinators don’t seem to know how to fix the problems, either. USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker have been awful in recent weeks. They both started out okay against cupcake-level opposition, but as soon as the schedules got tougher — USC facing Colorado and Arizona, Notre Dame facing Ohio State, Duke, and Louisville — the two coordinators have floundered. USC can’t stop anyone, and Notre Dame can’t score 24 or more points against anyone right now.

USC fans are done with Alex Grinch. They want him gone. Guess what: Notre Dame fans have similarly had it with offensive coordinator Gerad Parker.

It is as though USC and Notre Dame fans are looking in a mirror with their coordinators.

Let’s show you how fed up Irish fans are with Gerad Parker:

The day after: Lasting thoughts on Notre Dame’s loss to Louisville

What is still haunting you from yesterday’s loss Irish fans?

[autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] fell for the second time this season, but for the first time this year, it felt much worse.

The Irish weren’t competitive, it wasn’t a game that went to the wire, Louisville took it to Notre Dame, wearing them out into making mistakes which ultimately cost them the game.

It was another tough pill to swallow, as the Irish just didn’t bring their A-game on the road. There were plenty of Notre Dame thoughts that have been in my mind since the loss last night and here they are, starting with the fact that the other sideline looked very similar.

The day after: Thoughts on Notre Dame’s gut wrenching loss to Ohio State

What has stood out in your mind after the Irish couldn’t finish?

It’s not easy to wake up the day after a [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] loss, there’s no easy way to put it. That was difficult to stomach.

This loss will stick out for a while, a missed opportunity to get a signature program win, one that could have helped catapult the Irish into the upper echelon of college football hierarchy.

That time will have to wait (see more on that below), as we continue to stew over what could have been last night against Ohio State. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since the game’s final whistle blew, but plenty of thoughts regarding Notre Dame have stuck out in my mind since then. Here they are.

Social media reacts to Sam Hartman’s failed sneak on fourth down

Bad play call?

Notre Dame held its own against Ohio State in the first half, allowing only a short field goal in the final minute. While the defense did pretty well, the offense left something to be desired. It was hoped that the second half would change that. Instead, [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] was stuffed on a fourth-and-short at the Buckeyes’ 39-yard line to end the Irish’s first possession of the half.

The Buckeyes immediately made Hartman and the Irish pay for that failed conversion by scoring the game’s first touchdown on the ensuing possession. TreVeyon Henderson needed only one play to run 61 yards to the end zone. He got some help on a nice block from Marvin Harrison Jr., who ended up injured on the play on a collision, but the injury doesn’t sound like it’s too serious.

The debate about what [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] should have called will rage on, but for now, here are the best reactions on social media to the moment:

Tale of the Tape: Notre Dame offense vs. Ohio State defense

Has the Irish’s offense finally met its match?

Notre Dame’s offense finally is matching up with a defense that could neutralize it. That defense is Ohio State, and [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] is going to have to come up with the game plan of his life to outwit that defense. If he’s somehow able to do that, the Irish might have a chance to pull off the biggest program win in recent memory. A lot of things still will need go his unit’s way once the game begins though.

All one has to do is look at the Buckeyes’ national defensive rankings and realize there really aren’t any weaknesses. As a former linebacker for the program, [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] knows what it means to be a part of that program. To that end, he also knows that the program is very good and rarely has an off year. He shouldn’t be surprised by anything the Buckeyes do when they don’t have the ball.

Here’s a look at how the Irish’s offense matches up with the Buckeyes’ defense:

5 stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s season opening win against Navy

Not much to complain about this Irish performance

That was fun for Notre Dame football fans, wasn’t it. The Irish dominated Navy, 42-3.

This game was over early in the second half, and, honestly, there wasn’t much to complain about after a win like this. There were many more positives than negatives and that will show below.

It was more than encouraging to see the team play a complete game, especially considering last year’s game saw the Irish struggle mightily in the second half and have to stave off Navy late.

Find out who my five-stars (best) and one-star (worst) were and everything in between breaking down Notre Dame’s season opening win.

Which questions we want Notre Dame football to answer against Navy

Which questions do you want answered on Saturday?

In just about 24 hours, [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] will begin their 2023 season against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

Plenty of questions will be answered when the Irish hit the field for the first time, but there will be other questions that are bound to arise. For now, there are some aspects of this year’s team that I am extremely interested in seeing.

College football is always changing, new faces are always popping up and that could very well be the case for the Irish this season as well. Find out below what I am most interested in seeing from Notre Dame in game one against the Middies.

Watch: Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker does pushups

How many pushups can you do?

Of all the exercises I had to do in school, pushups were by far my least favorite. I just was never able to get the hang of the proper form, but that’s probably because I have sticks for arms even now. So forgive me if I’m a little jealous of the following video from Tyler Horka of Blue Gold Illustrated. Notre Dame offensive coordinator [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] decided he’d start Monday’s practice by showing off how many pushups he could do:

Parker didn’t miss a beat as he immediately got up and resumed his coaching. As much as I wish I was more athletic than what God blessed me with, I wonder how those whose whole life is football are able to keep up at such a high level. All I know is I’m better sharing my thoughts behind a keyboard than showcasing my skills on a football field. Things sometimes just work out for the best.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89