Tag: Kyren Williams

Podcast: A Notre Dame Podcast to be Named (Ep. 1)

The first episode recaps what happened against Duke – the good, the bad and the ugly of it all and gives updates on what Brian Kelly had to offer on Monday

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Happy Tuesday to all.

I’ve known for a while, I was going to start a Notre Dame-specific podcast to keep the conversation going not just on Fighting Irish Wire but also in audio form. I just didn’t know where to bring it to.

Turns out for now I’ll do it myself.

I present to you the first episode of:

A Notre Dame Podcast to be Named
Anchor
Spotify

That’s where you can find it for now, hopefully in a matter of days, if not hours, it’ll be available on Apple Podcasts and some other distributors.

The first episode recaps what happened against Duke – the good, the bad and the ugly of it all and gives updates on what Brian Kelly had to offer on Monday. As the week goes on, we’ll preview Game 2 more and more, just like we will every day on Fighting Irish Wire.

In the meantime I need a few things from you:

  1.  You to subscribe and listen. I’ll be trying to do this as close to daily as possible and offering instant analysis to games or breaking news that may come up.
  2. Guest Ideas. Who would you love to hear discuss Notre Dame football? A national writer? A former player or coach? No idea is a bad one (OK, maybe a few are), but I’m interested to hear your ideas.
  3. Questions/Comments. You can leave them in the comments section here or tweet them to @NickShepkowski/@IrishWireND and I’ll try my best to answer/respond to them during shows.
  4. Friends of the Program. If you or someone you know wants to be my personal bag-man and treat me like I’m an SMU recruit in 1981 then I’m all ears.
  5. A NAME. I wanted to get this started but kept waiting while I  figured out the perfect name. Spoiler alert – I’m yet to. Feel free to submit any and all ideas the same way you would submit a question.  If I do end up loving and choosing what you come up with know when again allowed to socially, I’ll shake your hand and probably give you a bro-hug if we’re to ever meet in person. Or perhaps share an adult beverage or six with you.

Thanks for checking it all out and reading this far. If you don’t mind, a simple review, rating and share go a very long way and are all appreciated.

Have a great Tuesday and Go Irish.

-NS

 

Williams grabs ACC conference honor

Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams is the first Irish football player ever to earn an ACC weekly award.

Notre Dame’s sophomore running back Kyren William’s introduced himself to the ACC on Saturday and his efforts were recognized as he was named the conference’s running back of the week.

Balling out was an understatement for Williams as he accounted for 205 total yards with 2 touchdowns in his first Irish start. He showed that he could grind out hard yards and then find a crease and explode like this:

The fourth-and-1 run was huge, as the Irish clung onto a 10-6 before Williams’ defining moment of the game. The Irish wouldn’t look back after that, as they would finish off Duke 27-13. Williams had 112 yards on 19 carries while he caught 2 passes for 93 yards. The 75-yard screen pass was a thing of beauty.

It was a breakout performance that was needed out of the Irish offense. Williams was exceptional all afternoon.

Congrats to Kyren Williams on earning Notre Dame’s first ACC honor.

Notre Dame Beats Duke: Staff Game Balls

Notre Dame starts the year 1-0. Now see who the FIW staff chose are their game ball recipients for the socially distanced week one victory!

Notre Dame defeated Duke 27-13 to start the 2020 season as a member of the ACC for the first time in program history.  It was far from perfect but it was a win.  Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’ll give out game balls for the best players on both the offense and defense each and every week, here is what we came up with from Saturday’s victory.

First from Geoffrey Clark:

Offensive: Kyren Williams
The Irish have a lot of faith in this kid, and he showed why against Duke. Scoring twice and gaining 205 all-purpose yards, including 112 on the ground, was enough to sway at least some people who might have had any doubts about him. He was the only offensive player to look consistent from start to finish on a day when most of the unit took time to wake up. While he can’t be the Irish’s only weapon if they’re going to succeed, there’s no question he’ll be a big one.
Defensive: Isaiah Foskey
Duke threatened to take control of the game when it got to Notre Dame’s 2-yard line in the second quarter.  Instead, Foskey blitzed and was ruled to have sacked Chase Brice for a 10-yard loss after a replay review.  The Irish’s lead never felt seriously threatened after that because the offense started to get it going.  Foskey also recorded two quarterback hits and 1.5 tackles for loss, which cost the Blue Devils 11 yards.
Next:  Mike Chen’s Game Balls
Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

5 takeaways from Notre Dame’s win over Duke

Notre Dame beat Duke to start 2020 off right. Here are five quick takeaways from the opening day victory for the Irish.

It was weird, it was different, it was far from pretty but at the end of the afternoon it was a Week One win over Duke as Notre Dame recorded their first official win as a member of the ACC.

There was good, there was bad and there was ugly but most importantly the Irish started the season with a victory on an ugly day in South Bend.

Five quick takeaways from the season opening 27-13 win over Duke.

First – Kyren Williams.  Hello.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Chirp chirp, best Notre Dame tweets, 2nd half edition

Take a look at the best Notre Dame Football tweets in the second half in their season opening win against Duke.

The second half began with Notre Dame getting some bad injury news, as transfer Bennett Skowronek was ruled out of the remainder of the game. It wasn’t bad as the Irish traded scores with Duke in the 3rd quarter before taking the game over in the 4th and getting a solid 27-13 win over Duke.

Notre Dame vs. Duke: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

There’s no doubt this game was torture for a lot of people.

There’s no doubt this game was torture for a lot of people. When was Notre Dame going to look like the national-title contender it’s supposed to be? We need a little more time to see that in earnest. Regardless, the Irish will take their 27-13 season-opening win over Duke.

Notre Dame (1-0, 1-0) continued its drive from the end of the third quarter by mainly going to the ground game that worked so well. Then, Ian Book hit Kyren Williams for an 18-yard completion that got the Irish into the red zone. After two incomplete passes, Book hit Avery Davis in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown pass that could have been caught by him or Blue Devils safety Michael Carter II.

Duke (0-1, 0-1) couldn’t get anything going on its ensuing possession, and the Irish moved again upon getting the ball back. Chris Tyree ran 25 yards on the drive’s first play, and Book hit Michael Mayer for 14 yards to get into Blue Devils territory. That set up a 34-yard field goal for Jonathan Doerer, the game’s final score. As the cherry on top of the victory, Adetokunbo Ogundeji recovered a fumble after a sack on Chase Brice that ended Duke’s final drive.

If Notre Dame wants to beat Clemson later in the season, it will have to do a little better than what it showed Saturday. It came out flat but slowly found its footing on both sides of the ball. Hopefully, that can be chalked up to opening-day jitters more than anything else. Regardless, it’s a good beginning to a season with high expectations.

Notre Dame vs. Duke: Third-Quarter Analysis

Little by little, we’re seeing glimpses of how Notre Dame is expected to play this season.

Little by little, we’re seeing glimpses of how Notre Dame is expected to play this season. It may not be pretty, but the Irish are getting the job done. They lead Duke, 17-13, after three quarters.

The Blue Devils’ first possession of the second half was cut short when Jalon Calhoun, their leading receiver from last year, fumbled a reception and saw Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah make the recovery. However, it wasn’t all good for the Irish as Kyle Hamilton limped off the field and has yet to return. Gotta give something to get something, I suppose.

Out of a timeout and with eight minutes left in the quarter, Kyren Williams took the ball on a fourth-and-1 and ran it 26 yards for his second touchdown of the game. So far, this kid looks to be worth the hype. Of course, he got a little help on a nice block from Javon McKinley.

It turned out the Irish needed that 17-6 lead because the Blue Devils aren’t going away. After the Irish went three-and-out deep in their own territory, Chase Brice took advantage of a short field and made a couple of nice passes to lead a touchdown drive. He finished it off himself by running in from 2 yards out.

Watch: Williams scores again, extends Irish lead to 17-6 over Duke

Check out Kyren Williams score his second touchdown of the game.

Kyren Williams earned the start at running back, and it is paying off today. Through a little over 2 quarters of football, Williams has run for 91 yards on 17 carries. Take a look at his second touchdown, this one going for 26 yards on 4th-and-1.

The running back has a chance to have a very solid opening game. Expect Williams continue to add on to his current rushing total.

Notre Dame vs. Duke: Second-Quarter Analysis

Well, that’s a little more like it. Though it may not seem so, Notre Dame finally looks something like the team it’s expected to be in 2020.

Well, that’s a little more like it. Though it may not seem so, Notre Dame finally looks something like the team it’s expected to be in 2020. Thanks to a little trickery, the Irish find themselves ahead of Duke at halftime, 10-6.

When it looked like another Irish drive would die early, Jay Bramblett successfully executed a late punt. It woke the offense up, as evidenced by Kyren Williams’ 11-yard run, which was added onto by a face-mask penalty, and a nice catch by Jafar Armstrong, who took it 20 yards to the Duke 2. Williams ran it in for the Irish’s first touchdown of the season one play later.

The defense was picked apart on a drive that Duke got down to the Notre Dame 2. With the Blue Devils threatening to retake the lead on third-and-goal, Isaiah Foskey got to Chase Brice and ultimately was credited with a 10-yard sack after a replay review. Charlie Ham salvaged the drive with a 30-yard field, his second of the game and his career.

On the next drive, the Irish had a chance to extend their lead further after Williams caught an Ian Book pass and ran 75 yards to the Duke 11. But Book made an ill-advised throw into traffic, and Lummie Young IV intercepted it in the end zone for a touchback. Book then threw another interception when he got back on the field, but an offsides penalty wiped it out. The drive continued, and Jonathan Doerer kicked a 48-yard field goal as the clock expired on the first half.

A change in philosophy has the Irish close to elite football status

When Brian Kelly suffered his worst season as Notre Dame head coach, he made changes immediately. They have really paid off

As the Irish step into their first, and most likely only, ACC conference season, there are plenty of questions along the way as to how Notre Dame will fare. Chip Patterson of CBS Sports tried to tackle how Brian Kelly will guide the Irish through this odd season.

Before Patterson got in-depth on how the Irish would do in conference play, still weird to say that, he looked at how they got to this point. Patterson singled out Kelly’s change in player development and recruiting since going 4-8 in 2016. The head coach addressed those issues and “the results were immediate, with Notre Dame going 33-5 over the last three seasons with three top-12 poll finishes and an appearance in the 2018 College Football Playoff.”

You can say that Kelly has really excelled with the change, not hoping the players improve, but instead putting an emphasis on drastic improvements. Patterson singled out linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Kyren Williams as two players who have benefitted from new priorities. This led Patterson to come to the conclusion that “Notre Dame is uniquely built to overcome whatever obstacles are ahead in the 2020 season.”

That main obstacle being the Clemson Tigers, who pretty much own the ACC right now. Patterson knows that as “Clemson is still the odds-on favorite to win the league, but Notre Dame is too strong to think we can pencil in those two matchups as ‘win, win’ for the Tigers.”