Tag: Illini

Notre Dame football rooting guide for Week 12

How high do you think Notre Dame can realistically finish the season?

The biggest problem with the College Football Playoff in my opinion has been what it has done to the roughly 120 teams that aren’t in contention for a playoff spot this time of year.  Annually there are great stories to be told of teams who have improved greatly since early-season struggles plagued them.  However, since they aren’t part of the CFP then they aren’t worth mentioning or discussing in far too many people’s eyes.

Notre Dame is one of those teams this year.  The Irish obviously started 0-2 and were left for dead after losing to Marshall and losing starting quarterback Tyler Buchner for the year.  However, Notre Dame has gone 7-1 since then and is ranked 18th in the CFP rankings that were released Tuesday night.

I know Notre Dame isn’t going to a College Football Playoff game and there is a 99.99999% chance (my secret formula told me) that they don’t go to the New Year’s Six.  As a lifelong Notre Dame fan though I still prefer the number next to their name to be the smallest number possible at the end of the year.

So how do we make that happen?  Here is what Notre Dame fans should be rooting for this weekend:

Nick Shepkowski’s Heisman Trophy rankings through Week 5

Who are the three that most deserve to be on the ballot?

Five weeks of college football are already in the books on the 2022 season as matchups continue to get better and shape what the postseason will look like.  Some teams seems like guarantees to make the College Football Playoff while some very intriguing division races are shaping up in several different conferences.

What about the most famous individual award in college sports, though?  Has it already been won and we just have to wait for the ceremony?

That’s not the case just yet although through five weeks one name has really begun to run away from the pack in our College Wire Heisman Poll.

Notre Dame football adds former Big Ten back to coaching staff

If this works out how the last former Big Ten player hired by the Irish, it’s going to be a home run

For many collegiate players, the opportunity to continue playing football at the next level is the ultimate goal. Unfortunately for may, the goal just isn’t quite achievable but that still doesn’t mean that being part of the game is out of the cards.

For former Illinois running back Dre Brown, his story should be viewed as one of perseverance. His first two seasons, saw ACL tears in both his knees, before even getting a chance to show his talents on the field. When he finally was able to make it back, Brown was named the offensive MVP by his teammates, and a third-team member on the All-Big Ten squad.

The NFL didn’t come calling during the 2020 draft, but that didn’t stop Brown and his football career. Coaching was next up and quickly he found a spot on Tennessees staff as a recruiting coordinator. Fast forward to today and now Brown has joined the Notre Dame staff as an Offensive Analyst.

It a fantastic story that is still being written for Brown after an injury riddled playing career. We expect big things from him and the opportunity to watch his coaching career grow in South Bend.

Report: Illinois to host Notre Dame in 2021 ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Notre Dame gets a No. 1 seed from last year’s NCAA Tournament.

[mm-video type=video id=01f9ajg60q02rm0nkynz playlist_id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f9ajg60q02rm0nkynz/01f9ajg60q02rm0nkynz-85bf23e6cd07414234fd9340b438ea6a.jpg]

College basketball is still seemed forever away from getting started but the 2021-22 schedules are starting to take shape.

Each December the ACC and Big Ten participate in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge which is done for ESPN exposure and bragging rights between the conferences.

Each year, three days in a row of games are played between ACC and Big Ten teams to determine the annual winner of the challenge.

Although nothing has been made official, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is reporting that Notre Dame will be traveling to Champaign, Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini.

Illinois holds an all-time head-to-head advantage of 15-9 against Notre Dame in basketball but the Irish have taken the last three meetings, including an NCAA Tournament second-round clash in 2003.

In the 22 years previous the ACC holds a 12-7-3 advantage in the challenge.

Related:

50 winningest coaches in men’s college basketball history

Former Notre Dame running back headed to Big Ten

Armstrong was one of the lead-backs at Notre Dame before injuries ran their course and kept his playing time down.

Jafar Armstrong started the eventual 12-0 regular season for Notre Dame with a bang, rushing for a pair of scores in the Fighting Irish victory over Michigan.

Now Armstrong will have a chance to do damage against the rest of the Big Ten as he’s found a new home in Champaign, Illinois.

Armstrong announced earlier this month that he’d be entering the transfer portal, a move that made plenty of sense considering how crowded Notre Dame’s backfield has become.

Armstrong was one of the lead-backs at Notre Dame before injuries ran their course and kept his playing time down.

All the best to Mission, Kansas (Bishop Miege) product.

Related: Griffith stays at Notre Dame despite having entered transfer-portal

Former Notre Dame running back headed to Big Ten

Armstrong was one of the lead-backs at Notre Dame before injuries ran their course and kept his playing time down.

Jafar Armstrong started the eventual 12-0 regular season for Notre Dame with a bang, rushing for a pair of scores in the Fighting Irish victory over Michigan.

Now Armstrong will have a chance to do damage against the rest of the Big Ten as he’s found a new home in Champaign, Illinois.

Armstrong announced earlier this month that he’d be entering the transfer portal, a move that made plenty of sense considering how crowded Notre Dame’s backfield has become.

Armstrong was one of the lead-backs at Notre Dame before injuries ran their course and kept his playing time down.

All the best to Mission, Kansas (Bishop Miege) product.

Related: Griffith stays at Notre Dame despite having entered transfer-portal

Updates on COVID-19 regarding a couple of Big Ten teams

Northwestern became the latest team to suspend football activities on Monday after a positive COVID-19 test found its way to their team.

Last week Notre Dame released news that in their most-recent testing, that no football players tested positive for COVID-19.  That hasn’t happened in many places as we’ve seen the likes of Clemson, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State and plenty of other programs suspend football activities because of the number of positive tests.

One school that had not yet been the case at was Northwestern, who hadn’t had a positive test at that time.

Key word in that last sentence:  had.

Teddy Greenstein covers the Big Ten and college football like a glove for the Chicago Tribune.  Greenstein reports today that Northwestern is pressing pause on football for at least a couple of days after their first player has tested positive for COVID-19.

Also in the Big Ten numbers have come out in regards to the University of Illinois and their COVID-19 test results.  This from Shannon Ryan, also of the Chicago Tribune:

As Greenstein pointed out in his article, four Big Ten teams have already suspended football activities at different times this summer as Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State and Rutgers have all had to hit pause at different times.

Northwestern’s decision to pause football activities now puts that number at five.