Tag: ND

Notre Dame: Women’s Basketball Gets Much Needed Win Over Miami

Freshman Sam Brunelle led the way with 25 points while Destinee Walker finished 21 points and seven rebounds herself.

It has been a trying year for Muffet McGraw and the Fighting Irish so Sunday’s win over previously 10-7 Miami had to be satisfying.

Especially considering the second half the now 7-12 Fighting Irish went on.

Holding a the slightest of leads at halftime Notre Dame came out on fire after intermission Sunday, outscoring the Hurricanes 24-7 in the third frame en-route to a 76-53 takedown of Miami.

Freshman Sam Brunelle led the way with 25 points while Destinee Walker added 21 points and seven rebounds.

Mikayla Vaughn (16) and Katlyn Gilbert (12) also reached double-figures.

Notre Dame shot a lights-out 70% from beyond the arc while Miami struggled from the outside, making just four of 23 attempts (17.4%).

The win was just the second for Notre Dame in ACC play as they now sit at 2-5 in the conference.

They’ll look for win number three of the ACC season on January 26 as they resume action with a trip to Virginia.

Notre Dame’s Rees: Tom or Tommy?

When he was Notre Dame’s quarterback it was Tommy Rees but when he moved to the coaching staff he apparently grew up and became Tom.

Former Notre Dame quarterback Rees from 2010-2013 returned to campus in 2017 as quarterbacks coach before being promoted Tuesday to offensive coordinator at the school.

When he was Notre Dame’s quarterback it was Tommy Rees but when he moved to the coaching staff he apparently grew up and became Tom. Or at least some people in more powerful positions or something wanted him to be.

What has happened is that we’ve entered to one of the hottest debates of our time: is it Tom or Tommy Rees?

Because I first heard of him as Tommy he has always been Tommy Rees to me.

Just like one of my best friends from childhood – I grew up calling him Ronnie. Just because we’re in our thirties now and he’s married doesn’t mean I’m going to call him Ron, even if he calls himself that now. You were Ronnie when I first met you and you’re Ronnie now, dammit.

But back to Rees. I have been a Tommy loyalist like I said. When others went with Tom, I’ve stayed with Tommy. Had he made some formal request to be called Tom I suppose I would have changed it, but I never got that memo.

The good news is this great debate that has captivated Notre Dame nation of whatever you want to call it can be officially put to rest because the man himself has spoken.

It doesn’t get much more official than that. Now get changing and fixing all your press releases, Notre Dame!

Good start.

Julian Okwara’s Touching Thank You Note to Notre Dame Community

Okwara finishes his Notre Dame career with 14.5 career sacks, three forced fumbles and a pair of interceptions.

Julian Okwara’s Notre Dame career didn’t end the way anyone wanted as he suffered a leg injury at Duke in early November but his future still remains plenty bright at the next level.

More on that in a moment but Okwara took a moment Sunday to simply say “thank you” to the entire Notre Dame community for his last four years.

Okwara finishes his Notre Dame career with 14.5 career sacks, three forced fumbles and a pair of interceptions.

In Pro Football Focus’s latest NFL Mock Draft they had Okwara going in the late first round, citing that he figures to be loved at the scouting combine.

Look: Notre Dame Shows Off Camping World Bowl Uniforms

What we don’t see is if the commitment to green in the gloves and cleats will be made like in last year’s Cotton Bowl or if it’ll be the look we’ve seen the

Does Notre Dame show up and play to their potential today or do they sleepwalk through the Camping World Bowl against Iowa State?

If it’s at all like I feel this morning it will be a slow start to put it nicely. Regardless, they’ll look good doing it as they’ll be in their road uniforms and since it’s a postseason game, names will be on the back.

What we don’t see is if the commitment to green in the gloves and cleats will be made like in last year’s Cotton Bowl or if it’ll be the look we’ve seen the Irish have in road games all season.

For what it’s worth (nothing, actually) Notre Dame has not won a bowl game while wearing white since the 2010 Sun Bowl as they beat Miami 33-17 in a game the Irish dominated, leading 30-3 entering the fourth quarter.

Alright, enough about fashion. Let’s put the ball in the air already and get to kickoff.

Watch: Let Daelin Hayes Get You Pumped for Camping World Bowl

If you’re not excited for the Camping World Bowl I get it. I’m not anywhere near a level I’d be at if it was Notre Dame playing in the Cotton or Orange Bowl but that’s not changing.

This is the last time we’ll see Team 132 together and I’m hoping they go out victorious.

It’s a weird place to be.

A decade ago if you told me I’d feel at all disappointed as a lifelong Notre Dame fan after a 10-2 regular season I’d have thought you were nuts.

The program was broken, ten wins hadn’t happened in a single season since 2006 and had happened just twice in the sixteen seasons previous.

Now we sit and perhaps things aren’t where we ultimately want them to be, but guess what, they’re still in a pretty good spot compared to where they were.

Next year will come and the same expectations for a push to the College Football Playoff will be the expectation, but we’ll discuss that over the next eight months because we’ll have plenty of time to.

For now let’s enjoy this last ride together for 2019, a team that could probably be described like they did Apollo-11:  A successful failure.

If you’re not excited for the Camping World Bowl I get it. I’m not anywhere near a level I’d be at if it was Notre Dame playing in the Cotton or Orange Bowl but that’s not changing.

This is the last time we’ll see Team 132 together and I’m hoping they go out victorious.

It’ll be a long eight months until we get to see this team in action again.

If you’re not ready for the game after my pep talk I’m hardly surprised, so I’ll let senior defensive end Daelin Hayes take over from here.

Go Irish.

Beat Cyclones.

Notre Dame/Iowa State: Coaches Final Press Conference Before Camping World Bowl

The talk is officially all over, only thing left to do is strap the helmets and shoulder pads on and play one final game for the 2019 football season.

Will Notre Dame show up motivated or will the reports of them having their minds elsewhere much of the week end up costing them a very winnable game?

The talk is officially all over, only thing left to do is strap the helmets and shoulder pads on and play one final game for the 2019 football season.

Will Notre Dame show up motivated or will the reports of them having their minds elsewhere much of the week end up costing them a very winnable game?

If Iowa State wins what does it mean for their program going forward?

All of that and plenty more was discussed as the two head coaches, Brian Kelly and Matt Campbell had a joint press conference, their final media obligations before Saturday’s game.

Here’s a transcript of what was said by both, it begins by opening statements before questions from the assembled media:

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

Interview (Listen) – Always Irish Podcast

John was kind enough to invite me on his show and discuss the state of Notre Dame football and how close they are to catching the next level of teams that are always contending for national championships.

In preparation for the Camping World Bowl I was asked to come on the “Always Irish” podcast with John who is about as passionate of Notre Dame fan as you’ll ever meet.

You can follow him on Twitter @jkznd4 where he shares his love for Notre Dame football, animals and battles general stupidity on a daily basis.

John was kind enough to invite me on his show and discuss the state of Notre Dame football and how close they are to catching the next level of teams that are always contending for national championships.

The recent recruiting class, Camping World Bowl and offensive coordinator search are all discussed as are some just real general Notre Dame topics. Hope you enjoy and if you’d ever like to have me on a similar show feel to reach out and I’d be happy to.

Here is John’s latest episode of the “Always Irish” podcast with my appearance.  I hope you enjoy:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk06sb8n_c0&w=560&h=315]

PFF – Rankings Ian Book vs. Other Bowl Game Quarterbacks

Pro Football Focus recently rated every starting quarterback for every team playing in a bowl game this year on how they project as future NFL signal-callers.

Unfortunately for Ian Book, that didn’t come with a very kind evaluation.

Pro Football Focus does a good job of evaluating what college players project to at the next level.  There is good and bad that come of that.

Good in that you get an honest, unbiased evaluation about how a player has performed at the collegiate level and how that play effects how they project at the next level.

The bad in that is that sometimes the truth can hurt.

Pro Football Focus recently rated every starting quarterback for every team playing in a bowl game this year on how they project as future NFL signal-callers.

Unfortunately for Ian Book, that didn’t come with a very kind evaluation.

Ian Book checked in at No. 35 on the list and here’s the write-up from PFF on Book at the next level:

Book has a limited arm and serious pocket-presence issues. We charged him with 11 sacks and 38 pressures on his own this year after charging him with 18 sacks in 2018. Combine that with a limited arm and you have a long shot in the pros

-Pro Football Focus

It’s important to remember that these evaluations are done with the pro game in mind.

Book does so much with his feet that he can still be a difference-maker at the collegiate level in many cases.  However against the stiffer competition, such as Clemson, Georgia and Michigan, the ability to scatter ahead and keep drives moving consistently so much by his feet is extremely difficult to do.

I agree in that Ian Book doesn’t project as a professional quarterback because of what is sighted there and what we’ve discussed on here time and time again.

For what its worth, Brock Purdy of Iowa State checked in eighth in the rankings.

Notre Dame: Decade Challenge Fighting Irish Football Version

Previous to Kelly’s arrival you would have to count back all the way to 1991 if you wanted to count out all of Notre Dame’s victories over USC, a number Kelly was able to reach in just one decade.

While looking through Twitter on Monday afternoon I stumbled into a tweet from a fun follow, CFBTalkDaily.  They do a good job discussing the national news both on their feed and on their podcast and are worth a follow if you’re a part of that website.

They however asked a very simple question on Monday that I wanted to look a little further into instead of just give a simple yes or no.

Let’s examine this from the Notre Dame fan perspective for a bit, shall we?

It starts with coaching:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7, Page 8

James Franklin Extended at Penn State: Who’d You Rather?

Since taking the Penn State job in 2014 he’s returned the Nittany Lions to glory, winning the Big Ten in 2016 before falling in the Rose Bowl to USC. What about Kelly?

News came down Friday that Penn State head football coach James Franklin has been extended through 2025, putting an end to rumors he’d end up at Florida State.

That got me wondering about where Brian Kelly ranks in terms of all college football coaches.

If Saban is the GOAT and Dabo Swinney is the next best thing going, how far down would you have to go in order to find Brian Kelly?

James Franklin took a program that was awful before and has again turned south since his departure into a pretty respectable team in his time at Vanderbilt.

Since taking the Penn State job in 2014 he’s returned the Nittany Lions to glory, winning the Big Ten in 2016 before falling in the Rose Bowl to USC.

He’s gone 55-23 overall since 2014 but 44-11 in his four years Penn State has played without any scholarship restrictions.

Residing in the Big Ten East is no simple life as Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan sit in your division and provide top-tier competition on an annual basis (OK, perhaps not Michigan State).

It gets me wondering though, which coach would you rather have if I were to give five years with each at the helm?

Brian Kelly took advantage of a generous schedule by year-three and had Notre Dame playing in (and getting blown out in) the national championship his third year on campus. Year-nine saw Kelly take Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff where eventual national champion Clemson routed them, 30-3.

Franklin has won at Penn State and in his first year without scholarship restrictions won the Big Ten. However, he hasn’t done so again and despite having a top-ten team this season, is yet to get back to that second Rose Bowl appearance.

I’m curious which coach you’d rather have going forward.

Brian Kelly appears to have an elite recruiting class taking shape for 2021, 11 years into his run.

Franklin again won ten games in one of college football’s best divisions and seems to have Penn State on a level they haven’t been at with any consistency since the nineties.

It’s a tough to make a choice and both coaches bring plenty of off-the-field drama with them.

But gun to my head, Kelly has shown an ability to hire quality assistants on the regular who often take head jobs elsewhere and find the next up-and-comer in the coaching ranks regularly.

That’s something Franklin is yet to show, as he has watched only Joe Moorhead leave, taking the Mississippi State job previous to 2018.

Although a longer tenure, Kelly has seen Chuck Martin, Matt LaFleur, Butch Jones, Bob Diaco and Autry Denson take head jobs elsewhere after being his assistants at various points the last decade or so.

The ability to hire quality assistants is so important to me and if Kelly keeps seeing assistants get head-jobs, it must mean he’s doing something right.

James Franklin is a very good college football coach and worthy of every dime he gets from Penn State.

But even if you complain about Brian Kelly on the regular, would you take Franklin over him given the chance?

At very worst that question is harder than you’d like to admit while truthfully, Kelly’s resume at Notre Dame is incredibly-difficult to compete with unless you’ve actually won a national championship.

Franklin’s extension at Penn State and the desire of other premier programs to hire him should make you appreciate Brian Kelly as a coach a bit more, even if you’re not entirely in love with him.