Tag: Nd Football

Notre Dame PLOWS Their Way Out of South Bend

ND Plows Way To L.A.

What a fun senior day it was in South Bend. Wild weather, great individual performances, record-setting stats, and most notably a dominant blowout win against a heated rival. This victory puts Notre Dame in a prime position to potentially end the year at 9-3 after a trip to Los Angeles next week. Quite the accomplishment after suffering three losses by October 15th.

Notre Dame has been very unpredictable at home and has played its’ worst football against bad teams. Boston College certainly earned that description throughout the year and most certainly did today as well. A dominant win such as this was the perfect way to send the Seniors off with a memorable win, comfort the chilly Irish faithful at home, and turn all focus to sunny Southern California. 

Let’s take a look at 10 aspects of this performance that the Irish can use to power them into LA next week to face the Trojans with major momentum. 

Analyzing Notre Dame’s Dominating Senior Day Send-Off

Nice win but a bit of a “too little, too late” feel, Irish fans?

There was nothing that could be done to erase the three losses that besmirched Notre Dame’s record entering Saturday’s game against Wake Forest. The best thing the Irish could do, the only thing they could do was to beat the Demon Deacons badly. They did exactly that to the tune of a 45-7 win on a send-off on senior day.

The Irish are now through 11/12 games on the schedule and will look to get in the clubhouse at 9-3 in their finale against Stanford in Palo Alto. There was a lot to like today about the Irish, but underpinning it is the frustrating thought of “too little too late” when thinking about the year in totality. Let’s take a look at some things that stand out about the last home game for the Irish in 2023.

Which five of Notre Dame’s 2024 commits were ranked in 247Sports Top247

What a start to ‘24

The Irish have an early lead on the 2024 recruiting cycle, as their current group of seven commits is ranked as the top collective in the country by 247Sports. This comes on the heels of them updating their rankings after the majority of high school season is completed. Five of the Notre Dame’s current seven recruits were rankings inside their top 247, find out below who made it.

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Notre Dame’s Quarterback Conundrum Must Be Solved

Solving Notre Dame’s quarterback conundrum

If you are a football fan to any degree, you know the following statement to be true. Quarterback is the single most important position in the sport. Coincidentally, this position has been a frustration for Notre Dame fans for well over a decade.

Sure, there have been some standouts. [autotag]Deshone Kizer[/autotag] comes to mind, [autotag]Ian Book[/autotag] in recent vintage as well in terms of quarterbacks who made it to the NFL after their Notre Dame careers ended. But even when including these players, the Irish haven’t had a signal caller they win their biggest games because of. Not with, but because of.

This needs to change for Notre Dame moving forward and with the rumor mill ablaze regarding quarterback recruits and the Irish, let’s take a look at five things to consider about the current quarterback dynamic.

Notre Dame linebacker a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy

Making Irish nation proud

Every year the [autotag]William V. Campbell[/autotag] foundation awards a senior football player with a GPA over. 3.2 who exhibits leadership both on and off the field.

The foundation announced their finalist and [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] linebacker [autotag]JD Bertrand[/autotag] was one of them. The leader of the Irish defense has been great on the field this season, first on the team in tackles with 52, despite missing a game due to a concussion.

Bertrand has been on fire the last two games, 20 tackles, 1.5 sacks and his leadership to help right the ship against USC. No Notre Dame player has ever won the Campbell Award and Bertrand could break that streak.

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UCLA head coach Chip Kelly believes all schools should be like Notre Dame

Kelly believes that Notre Dame is ahead of the conference realignment curve

There has been a lot of chatter surrounding [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] and their continued independence while most conferences continue to add on schools.

One of those programs on the move is [autotag]UCLA[/autotag], who in 2024 will be making the move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten. Their football head coach [autotag]Chip Kelly[/autotag] has thoughts on conference realignment and believes that Notre Dame has it right, staying independent.

Kelly explained his rationale this way, by saying that the Irish model is one that should be adopted across college football.

Notre Dame is an independent in football, but they’re in a conference for everything else. Why aren’t we all independent for football? Take the 64 teams in Power Five and make that one division, take the 64 teams in Group of Five, make that another division. We play for a championship, they play for a championship and no one else gets affected. – Kelly

This makes plenty of sense, as the recent moves are all about football and not  the other sports. What about the non-revenue sports that will have to travel across the country while still trying to keep their education in focus?

Kelly makes an extremely valid point, just make this about football and keep the other sports as they are. It most likely won’t happen as he would like, but the idea makes plenty of sense and the Irish are ahead of the game.

Check out Notre Dame’s history vs. each current Pac-12 team including UCLA

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Notre Dame football loses two players for the season to ACL tears

Get well soon!

This was not the news [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] fans wanted to hear a few weeks ahead of the season.

Pete Sampson, of The Athletic, posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, that defensive end [autotag]Aiden Gobaira[/autotag] and tight end [autotag]Kevin Bauman[/autotag] have been lost to the season due to ACL tears.

Gobaira was expected to be in the rotation on the defensive line this year. It’s a blow to the depth at the position. As for Bauman, the senior was going to get a lot more playing time with the departure of Michael Mayer to the NFL.

It’s extremely unfortunate news for both Bauman and Gobaira, but injuries are part of the game and the Irish will move forward.

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Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman: ‘You have to continue to get ready’

Freeman gets it

There have been plenty of internet athletic directors out there putting [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] on the hot seat.

That’s completely the wrong take, as Freeman has already elevated this program and will continue to do so for as long as he’s the head man in South Bend. Part of the reason why he is taking the Irish in the right direction is mindset.

Freeman understands that, and is building on it. Some coaches just get that in order to get to the top of the college football world you have to prepare regardless of what has happened in the past.

Some of the bumps in the road right now will be look back upon as a learning experience. Keep in mind that Freeman is just in his second season as a head coach. He’s going to keep getting better while bringing Notre Dame with him and his mindset is a big part why.

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Notre Dame Football: Time For A QB Change?

Is it time for Notre Dame to change quarterbacks?

Unfortunately, Notre Dame will not be accomplishing any of their “big picture” program goals this year due to the three losses they now have on the ledger. As a result, how the remaining games are looked at has changed as well. Will the coaching staff prioritize getting more snaps for younger players looking to the future or will the starting lineup and rotations be the same?

Sam Hartman has not been playing good football. The offense has been playing awful football. This isn’t all Sam’s fault, but he is the sixth year QB that was gifted this job with much expected. Now that there are no national postseason trophies to play for, is it time to consider playing the younger quarterbacks eyeing the future? Let’s examine this circumstance more directly.

Watch: Notre Dame football’s Zeke Correll does ‘Super Troopers’ syrup chug

Chug Zeke Chug!

One of my favorite all-time comedies is Super Troopers and there are certain scenes that stand out for me.

The syrup chugging scene is hilarious in my eyes and to my surprise on Friday afternoon,[autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] offensive lineman [autotag]Zeke Correll[/autotag] emulated the classic scene, which you can watch right here (warning: there is some adult language so please watch on your own).

Correll says that 4 years ago, he learned this unique skill which isn’t normal at all. The 6-foot, 3-inch and 305-pound lineman performed this act in front of all his teammates, and lucky for us shared it on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

Check out Correll’s chugging feat below.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

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