Notre Dame recruiting ranking update after Thomas commitment

So how did the addition of Notre Dame’s second four-star wide receiver in a week and third of the class effect their overall ranking in the eyes of the recruiting experts?

Notre Dame received more good news on the recruiting front on Friday when four-star wide receiver Jayden Thomas of Pace Academy in Atlanta announced his commitment to the Fighting Irish.

So how did the addition of Notre Dame’s second four-star wide receiver in a week and third of the class effect their overall ranking in the eyes of the recruiting experts?

247Sports:  9th

Notre Dame is up two spots to number nine after checking in just outside the top ten at 11 on Tuesday after the Deion Colzie commitment earlier in the week.  Notre Dame leap-frogged both Michigan and Miami to move into the ninth overall spot.

Rivals:  10th

Notre Dame sneaks into the top ten in the Rivals rankings as well, moving past Miami for that tenth spot.  The Irish are also right on the heels of ninth ranked and traditional powerhouse Clemson in these.

ESPN – 11th – Have not updated rankings since Thomas commitment.

For more information on Notre Dame’s 2021 recruiting class be sure to meet all 19 current commitments!

Pre-game meal to blame for Notre Dame football COVID outbreak

I was wrong about the extent of some of the precautions that have been used to try and slow/stop the spread of COVID-19 in college football.

Perhaps some of us have wondered how much social distancing matters in stopping the spread of COVID-19, specifically when it comes to a football team.

One thing I wondered about openly a few weeks back was why the demand to socially distance teammates for the playing of the alma mater after the guys had just got done playing a football game together when they sweat and bled on each other for sixty minutes.

Shocking to exactly nobody, I’m not a doctor.

I’ll no longer question that decision after Brian Kelly gave details as to what is to blame for Notre Dame’s COVID-19 outbreak on the football team.

“Throughout our entire time together, we had not had one meal where we sat down together,” Kelly said, during his media availability on Tuesday. “Everything was grab and go. We get into our game situation where we have pregame meal together, and that cost us. Big. We had somebody who was asymptomatic, and it spread like wildfire throughout our meeting area where we were eating and then it got guys in contact tracing.”

It seems absurd but speaks to the craziness of just how hard it is to slow down the spread of this virus, let alone stop it.

Kelly also gave details as to what happens to his football team as a result of two consecutive off weeks after playing their first two weeks.

“They can rebound from this, but it’s not the ideal situation,” Kelly said, “You don’t want to start your season and then have to take a few weeks off. From that perspective, we’ve got to get our timing back, and certainly we’ll have to have a great week of practice and we expect to be able to do that.”

Notre Dame is set to return to the playing field on October 10 when they host Florida State.

Upcoming Notre Dame opponent suddenly looking strong at 3-0

Notre Dame has long had trouble against Pitt. Now that October 24 trip to Heinz Field is only looking tougher as the season goes on.

If you look at Notre Dame’s most difficult regular season games in what wound up being the two most successful seasons under Brian Kelly, the Pitt Panthers have provided two of those.

In 2012 it took a stunning Notre Dame comeback just to force overtime before missed chip shot of a field by Pitt helped the Irish to their eventual victory.

In 2018 it was an upstart Pitt team that again came to South Bend and led the unbeaten Irish before a late rally kept the Notre Dame dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance alive.

Everyone in and around Notre Dame has circled November 7 against Clemson as the game of the year and understandably so, but three weeks into the season the trip to Pitt isn’t looking like it won’t come against a mediocre Panthers squad but instead a pretty good one.

The Panthers improved to 3-0 on the year Saturday as they handed Louisville their second straight loss, 23-20.

Pitt held Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham to just 9/21 passing for 107 yards and one touchdown while also forcing three interceptions.

The Pitt defense didn’t just handle the passing game though as the Cardinals gained just 116 yards on the ground and picked up only 10 first downs all afternoon.

Pat Narduzzi hasn’t put together a big season at Pitt yet and tough games at Miami, against Notre Dame and at Clemson are still ahead of them but despite having their best defensive player in lineman Jaylen Twymen opting out before the season, the Pitt defense has still been mighty impressive.

When October 24 gets here it’s not going to be the trap game some thought it’d be before the season, it’s going to instead be a road game against an incredibly capable foe.

This one stings – Notre Dame loses four-star commitment in 2021 class

Notre Dame lost one of its biggest recruits in the 2021 class on Friday.

Notre Dame has received bad news this week in regards to a COVID-19 outbreak that postponed their scheduled game at Wake Forest for this Saturday until December.  Now the Fighting Irish have taken a hit in the recruiting game, too, four-star corner back Philip Riley has de-commited from 2021 recruiting class.

Riley, a four-star corner from Valrico, Florida helped raise up the spirits of Notre Dame fans when he committed to the program shortly after the Irish lost out on prized running back Will Shipley earlier this year.

Riley seemingly has his pick of the litter in terms of college choices as he holds 41 offers from schools. For what its worth, 247Sports has now listed USC as the only program as “warm” under Riley’s potential choices.

It’s hard enough to make a college decision to begin with but then factor in that Riley wasn’t being able to make an official visit to Notre Dame due to the NCAA restrictions right now and it’s hardly a surprise.  I would expect plenty more de-commitments coming nationwide, not just with Notre Dame, as a result of an incredible unique recruiting cycle.

Riley exiting the class leaves a whole at defensive back where now only Ryan Barnes, Chance Tucker and Justin Walters remain committed.  Expect Notre Dame to try and fill this sudden void before National Signing Day in late December.

Related – Get familiar with Notre Dame’s current 2021 recruiting class

Notre Dame cracks top 5 in ESPN Power Rankings

Buckle up for a really fun fall if these power rankings are accurate in how things play out in 2020, Notre Dame fans…

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We’re two weeks into Notre Dame’s 2020 football season and three weeks into 2020 college football as a hole.  We started it by thinking there would be no Big Ten football, only to find out last week that we would indeed be watching the Big Ten this fall.

In these strange times, how pollsters have gone about ranking teams who are playing and not playing has been interesting while also at times confusing.

That all said, ESPN has released their latest College Football Power Rankings and after a 52-0 destruction of South Florida, they’re thinking highly of Notre Dame, even with Big Ten teams being accounted for.

Here’s what they said about No. 5 Notre Dame:

Nobody can beat up on the Fighting Irish for not racking up enough style points in Week 2. After a so-so performance in its season-opening win over Duke, Notre Dame looked every bit the part of a national title contender on Saturday in a 52-0 dismantling of South Florida, even without multiple defensive starters. One of the most impressive things about the Irish thus far is that they have a wealth of impact players on both sides of the ball. It’s hard not to like the balance that Brian Kelly has created.

In what I think will become one of the story lines of the week as well as the season is how much Notre Dame’s depth has stuck out.  At the top the Irish might not be loaded with future first and second round draft picks like we’ve seen before, but top to bottom the level of talent is just as great and seemingly deeper than at any point since the early 1990’s.

It’s hard for me to put all that stock in beating up an undermanned South Florida squad, but then again for years and years we saw Notre Dame play with it’s food in games like that and struggle mightily against mediocre foes.

As for the rest of the poll – although excited to see Notre Dame ranked in the top five, it’s hard for me to put too much credit into it when the top ranked team in it is yet to play a down of football yet this fall.

Tom Brady: Michigan man but Notre Dame fan?

Is Tom Brady about to start rooting for a different mid-west team with Michigan not playing football this year?

Here we are just a day away from college football starting for the majority of FBS teams as the unofficial first Saturday of the fall is upon us.

Notre Dame starts the season Saturday as they welcome Duke to South Bend, Indiana.  Notre Dame will be representing the mid-west this fall as the Big Ten and MAC have both cancelled their seasons and despite rumors to the contrary, don’t appear very close to having that change.

I’ve found myself wondering if fans of other mid-west programs will take up Notre Dame for 2020 as a result and cheer for the region.  Personally I wouldn’t be one who is overly quick to root for Michigan or Ohio State all year long but if they were playing an entirely non-regional schedule that may change things a little bit.

One football fan having troubles with his team not playing this fall is perhaps the most successful quarterback in the history of the NFL.

Former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady took to Instagram to share his thoughts on who he might be rooting for if the Big Ten is in fact not going to play this fall.

View this post on Instagram

Tag your favorite #ProBlue guy! 👇

A post shared by Michigan Football (@umichfootball) on

On this post from Michigan football’s official Instagram account, Brady commented the following:

tombrady —I hope we play football this year I would hate to have to root for Notre Dame 😖
Notre Dame might not have had his talents in college, not that they needed them against Michigan in 1998, but maybe just maybe they’ll at least get his fandom for 2020.

See it – Notre Dame football’s tremendous troll job to ACC

Notre Dame added something to their football field for the first time ever Thursday, trolling the entire ACC while doing so.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last month, chances are good you’re aware that Notre Dame won’t be an independent this football season, instead becoming a member of the ACC.

Notre Dame will play ten conference games and be eligible to participate in the ACC Championship Game should they qualify for it.

But Notre Dame staying in the ACC going forward may be closer to happening than ever before, but still has a long way to go before happening.

Nine days ahead of their opener, Notre Dame’s football field saw something put down that has never been put down before and to some of us, hopefully will never be put down again.

Usually Twitter is a cess-pool that only makes me angry but that was perfectly done, @NDFootball.

It’s great in that it allowed Notre Dame football to be played in 2020, but hopefully we look back on this logo in 15 years the same way we now look back at incredibly baggy suits in the early 2000’s.

Notre Dame in NFL: Former Irish defensive back signs with Giants

Former Notre Dame defensive back KeiVarae Russell has a new NFL home. See how he could be helping out the New York Giants.

The New York Giants secondary is now home for a pair of former Notre Dame defensive backs 2019 draft pick Julian Love will now be joined by another Fighting Irish product in KeiVarae Russell as the two agreed to a deal on Saturday.

Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News was first with the news, adding that the Giants also let go of corner Christian Angulo and running back Javon Leake.  Leonard suggests that Russell’s biggest contribution to the Giants will likely come on special teams.

Russell has played in 20 games in his NFL career, all of which came for the Cincinnati Bengals between 2016 and 2018.  In that time he intercepted one pass and made 22 total tackles.

Russell, who started every game of his freshman season in 2012, played 36 games for Notre Dame between 2012-15, making 165 tackles and five interceptions in his Fighting Irish career.  He missed the 2014 season due to an academic suspension.

Russell was originally a third round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016 but never played a regular season down for them.

Clemson releases stadium guidelines for 2020

Football powerhouse Clemson has released their plans for having fans in the stands in 2020. See how many will be allowed in Death Valley

Clemson, the preseason number one team in both major polls this college football season, announced Thursday that they’ll be allowing roughly 25% capacity at their home games in 2020.

Furthermore, to keep with social distancing policies, Clemson will have guests sit in pods of two or four socially-distanced pods.

Each fan will have a designated gate of entry and no stadium reentry will be permitted, starting with Clemson’s first home game of the year on September 19 when they host The Citadel.

Clemson has asked fans to not tailgate for the entire 2020 season and prohibited the use of tents, trailers and gatherings of large groups in their parking lots.

Face coverings will also be required by all fans during the game while Clemson has also called off game day traditions like their Tiger Band parade, Tiger Walk and Gathering at the Paw.

Notre Dame is yet to announce guidelines for fans at home games this season.

College Football: Amway Coaches Poll adjusts for this fall

Changes are coming as to who gets a vote in the 2020 Amway Coaches Poll.

The Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA TODAY will be a bit different this season as only coaches on teams that are participating in football this fall will be eligible to vote.

Of the usual 130 FBS college football programs that suit up each fall, only 76 are set to be in action this season.  As a result, the previous 65 coaches who were set to vote in the poll all year have been reduced to 42, all of which whose programs will be playing football this fall.

The first regular season Amway Coaches Poll is set to be released on September 13, a day after much of college football kicks off the 2020 season.

The final poll of the regular season will be announced on December 20, the day after the regular season is currently set to conclude.

Notre Dame ranked tenth in the initial Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY as it was released three weeks ago.