Tag: Nana Osafo-Mensah

Who is missing from Notre Dame in Sun Bowl via opt-out?

These names could be in the Sun Bowl, but they won’t be.

It’s become increasingly common for college football players to opt out of inconsequential bowl games for one reason or another. With the College Football Playoff field tripling in size next year, that could solve the problem a bit, at least as far as the number of team this practice impacts. This is the future of college football, even if you don’t agree with it.

With Notre Dame facing Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, several Irish players are missing, either having entered the transfer portal or choosing to focus on preparing for the NFL draft. That means many of the Irish’s leaders in each major statistical category will be absent, so it’s not worth listing a bunch of names that won’t play.

Instead, we’re going to list the percentage of each major statistic that will be missing from the Irish during the final game of the season because of opt-outs. Hopefully, this won’t discourage you from watching the game too much:

Notre Dame’s leading receiver is entering the transfer portal

Farewell, Chris.

With the regular season in the books, the dominoes regarding the transfer portal are starting to fall. Notre Dame already is losing defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah to the portal. Now, the Irish can add Chris Tyree to the list after he made the announcement on Instagram:

Tyree converted from running back to receiver during the past year and made the most of it. He finished the regular season as the Irish’s top receiver with 484 yards on 26 receptions, three of them going for touchdowns. He also has the Irish’s only punt return for a touchdown this season.

While we obviously wish Tyree the best moving forward, the Irish’s receiving corps just took another hit ahead of their bowl game. [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag], the tight end right behind Tyree on the receiving chart, is out for the season with an injury. That leaves [autotag]Rico Flores[/autotag] as the top remaining receiver with 392 yards on 27 receptions and one touchdown. Best of luck to [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] in planning for the final game of the season.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame defensive end has entered the transfer portal

Thank you Nana!

It’s that time of year again, when players will seek greener pastures via the transfer portal and Notre Dame football has already taken a hit.

On Monday afternoon, senior edge rusher [autotag]Nana Osafo-Mensah[/autotag] went to social media and announced he will be playing his final season somewhere other than in South Bend. The backup played well this year, registering 20 tackles along with three sacks, all career highs.

Osafo-Mensah could never quite crack the starting lineup, but has been a solid depth player over the last three seasons. The Texas native could be looking to play his final games closer to home, but that is unknown at the moment.

The defender leaves Notre Dame with two degrees, so even after his football career is over, Osafo-Mensah will be set up for success. We wish Nana the best going forward.

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Notre Dame statistical leaders through 10 games

Here’s who to look for against Wake Forest.

Notre Dame has two games left to improve the quality of the bowl it will play in. That might not mean much given that the New Year’s Six bowls are out of play, but it still is something to shoot for. The first of these contests comes against Wake Forest.

Here are the players statistically leading the Irish going into their home finale, one of which knows the Demon Deacons very well:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through nine games

Here’s who to watch for in the next game.

Notre Dame is riding high after winning its past couple of games. Now, it will visit a Clemson team that looks nothing like it did the past few years. The Irish have to feel pretty good about their chances. Wouldn’t you?

Here are the statistical leaders for the Irish heading into November:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through eight games

In case you forgot after the week off.

Notre Dame has had an extra week to enjoy the blow it dealt to USC’s season. Now, it’s back to business with Pittsburgh coming to South Bend. With the gauntlet portion of the schedule behind the Irish, this hopefully will be the easiest game they’ve had to look forward to in a month.

For those who need refreshing after the week off, here are the Irish’s major statistical leaders:

Watch: New Notre Dame football workout hype video

Let’s go!!

We’re roughly two weeks from spring football officially getting going and just under seven months until the 2023 season kicks off in Ireland.  We’re not in preseason hype video season yet but we are counting down until what promises to be a unique spring session.

What we do have though are workout videos that take us behind the scenes.  Notre Dame football’s media team released a new one on Monday evening.  As usual, it delivers as strength and conditioning coach Matt Balis was again at his best in challenging the team to grow.  Check out the video that was released on social media below:

Balis in action speaks for itself as does seeing the head coach helping push players to improve.  Another highlight was [autotag]Nana Osafo-Mensah[/autotag] digging into a leadership role a bit more.

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Notre Dame vs. Purdue: Second-Quarter Analysis

Feeling better, Irish fans?

Well, that’s much more like it. Notre Dame suddenly is treating Purdue like the Notre Dame Stadium guest it is, which is not great. Whatever switch needed to be flipped has indeed been flipped, and the Irish look like a good team once again. They hold a 10-3 lead going into halftime.

A real momentum swing happened on a fourth-and-3 from the Boilermakers’ 39-yard line when Jack Coan fired a complete pass to Kyren Williams, who prompted two defenders to collide and allow him to run to the end zone untouched for a 39-yard touchdown and the Irish’s first lead of the day.

After the Boilermakers went three and out, the Irish took over in good field position and decided to go for it on fourth down again. It appeared to fail, but Jalen Graham was called for a hold before the pass, and that kept the Irish’s offense on the field. A pass interference on the next play set the Irish up in the red zone, but they couldn’t reach first-and-goal. Jonathan Doerer promptly drilled a 28-yard field goal, his shortest of the season so far.

Faced with their worst starting field position of the day, the Boilermakers tried a receiver pass with Milton Wright on their next drive. However, NaNa Osafo-Mensah snuffed that out with a sack. A couple of plays later, the Irish started their next drive in Boilermakers territory. Doerer eventually came on to attempt a 45-yard field goal, but the kick sailed as wide left as it could get.

Neither team mounted a serious threat for the rest of the quarter, so that’s where things stand. The question now is whether the second-half Irish look more like the first-quarter or second-quarter Irish. Whichever one that is will determine if they keep their home winning streak alive.