Tag: Nd Football

Former Notre Dame quarterback believes Irish aren’t following a football 101 rule

Is Malik correct?

It hasn’t been an easy week for [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag], as it continues to stew over Ohio State slipping away with a win this past Saturday.

An unwritten rule in football is you have 24 hours following a game to celebrate or lament, and former Irish quarterback [autotag]Malik Zaire[/autotag] believes Notre Dame isn’t following this rule.

He cites a quote from defensive coordinator [autotag]Al Golden[/autotag], when he was asked about the Buckeyes converting a third-and-19 and the defense he called. Zaire said “it’s a heavy loss when we still talking about it Wednesday of next week. Doesn’t sound like the 24hr rule is in effect.”

Fan can still be angry, but the team needs to move on. There is another task this week, No. 16 [autotag]Duke[/autotag]. The Irish don’t have much margin for error, so they can’t be distracted about what happened this past Saturday. The focus has to shift to the Blue Devils, even if they don’t want to.

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Notre Dame fans are special

It’s just different here. And we’re not talking about in the SEC.

As Ryan Day’s new mortal enemy Lou Holtz once stated, “To those who know Notre Dame, no explanation is necessary. To those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”

This couldn’t be more true. The reality is every emotion that ripples through Notre Dame football seems to carry extra weight. As [autotag]Paul Finebaum[/autotag] might say, “It just means more.”

Nothing is simple.

Clean cut.

Black and white.

For many Irish fans, present company included, Notre Dame football feels more like a weekly existential soul examination exercise than it does a simple game. Being Notre Dame fans isn’t what we are, it’s who we are. It’s always personal.

As someone who hosts a Notre Dame call-in radio show on YouTube right after every game ends, I must say I was genuinely moved by the calls I received for over three-and-a-half long miserable for all involved hours. This show was by far the least enjoyable one I’ve ever hosted, but may just be the most important.

Allow me to explain.

Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman named best candidate for open Big Ten job

It’s a pipe dream

[autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] found its next coach quickly when [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] left. It was an easy choice to elevate [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag], who at the time was the defensive coordinator.

The former Ohio State linebacker knows the Midwest very well, which shows in the Irish’s recruiting. With turmoil in East Lansing, the Michigan State Spartans are looking for their next head coach and Rico Beard of Rivals suggests Freeman is the best candidate.

As much as Beard would love for the current Irish boss to head North and take over the Spartan program, it’s a pipe dream. Notre Dame isn’t a stepping point for another job, it’s a destination.

After rebuilding the Notre Dame program these last two years, it makes no sense to go to Michigan State and do the same sans having the Irish clout. It’s not surprising Freeman would be linked to other jobs. He’s a solid coach, but this isn’t a match.

[lawrence-related id=77234]

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Notre Dame sees NBC viewership reach ‘Game of Century’ levels against Ohio State

Plenty of eyes were on the Irish this weekend

If you still stewing about [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag]’s weekend, we are right there with you.

There was some good to come out of it, the Irish received three 2025 commitments over the weekend and it seems like everyone was glued to their game against Ohio State.

NBC Sports PR released a statement on the viewership of the highly contested game from Saturday night and the numbers were big. They said that the “thriller averaged 10.5 million viewers – NBC’s most watch regular-seasons college football game since 1993 ‘Game of the Century.”

As the most competitive game in prime time, it wasn’t surprising to hear that plenty of eyes were focused on the matchup.

On3’s social media account explained the numbers in sports terms, and they are still outstanding.

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‘Big Game Notre Dame’ Strikes Again

It happened. Again. Now what?

Unfortunately, Notre Dame fans have been here before. For folks my age, this is the only Notre Dame we’ve known. Failing to win on the biggest stage. In the most humiliating and excruciating ways. One of the main lead-up storylines to this ballgame was the notion of “if not now then when” for the Irish in one of these moments. That question hits home hard after this outcome.

While this game ended in hauntingly similar “Bush Push” style, the feel is different. Notre Dame had about 10 different situations where if any 1 goes their way, they win. Notre Dame made none of those plays. The Irish blew this one. There’s no way around it. And that’s what hurts the most. Notre Dame doesn’t know how to win these kinds of games, which is devastating given that a hundred years of Irish lore is based upon the opposite being the case.

Let’s dissect some of the carnage, shall we?

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.

Notre Dame falls in latest US LBM Coaches Poll after loss to Ohio State

Is this ranking fair after the close loss?

After an exciting Week 4 slate of action, which included [autotag]Notre Dame football [/autotag] losing a heartbreaker to Ohio State, there was plenty of movement all over the updated US LBM Coaches Poll.

There was some movement inside the top six teams, the Irish dropping out of the top ten, while Oregon and their convincing win over Colorado had them moving into the spot that Notre Dame had occupied.

The bottom of the poll saw a lot of movement as well, as teams in the lower half of the rankings got moved all around. Find out below where Notre Dame and the rest of the teams landed in the latest coaches poll.

5 stars: The best and worst of Notre Dame’s devastating loss to Ohio State

This one will be tough to swallow for a long time

There aren’t moral wins in sports, but that might be what [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] achieved on Saturday evening as they lost a classic game to Ohio State at home,17-14.

For a good portion of the second half, it very much looked like the Irish were going to pull out a massive win for the program, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

In a game like this, there is going to be a lot of good, mixed with some bad. Let’s take a look at who earned the 5-star distinction, as a top performer, and a 1-star, as the area where the game was lost below.

Notre Dame football updates their availability report ahead of facing Ohio State

Great news for the Irish ahead of their tilt against Ohio State

There is already good news for [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag], they will be at full strength for their contest against Ohio State.

The Irish missed two major contributors against Central Michigan last week, linebacker [autotag]JD Bertrand[/autotag] and tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag]. Both of them are ready to go this week, along with defensive tackle [autotag]Gabriel Rubio[/autotag] who has been working his way back from an injury.

Everyone will be needed to perform at a high level against the Buckeyes, as they are one of the top teams in the country. With all players who were nursing any sort of injury ready to go, it looks like it will be all hands on deck for [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] and the Irish.

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Watch: Ohio State football arrives to Notre Dame Stadium

The Buckeyes are in the building #GoBucks

As we continue to wait for [autotag]Ohio State football[/autotag] to finally take the field on this Saturday, we now know that they have entered the building.

The Buckeyes social media account shared a video of head coach [autotag]Ryan Day[/autotag], multiple players including [autotag]Marvin Harrison Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]J.T. Tuimoloau[/autotag] getting off the bus as they arrive to Notre Dame Stadium.

The anticipation has been building for this top-10 contest, as we now know which Buckeyes will be missed, along with which ESPN GameDay personality has picked Ohio State to come out victorious.

Check out the video shared on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, of the Buckeyes arriving to the stadium, ready to take care of business.

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