Tag: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Kelly’s halftime speech shows change in Notre Dame’s program

Notre Dame’s head football coach Brian Kelly gave a inspiring halftime speech that resonates loudly where the program is headed.

In college football there is a certain mentality that you have to have to consistently be among the best in the country. There are a few teams, that regardless of returning experience, they’ll always have high level of play. Take Alabama for instance, they consistently lose players to the NFL early, but just keep churning out teams that compete for National Championships every year.

How about Oklahoma? Four straight years, including this one, with different starting quarterbacks, same result. Each year they’ve won the Big XII, after one game they’re viewed as the favorite again this year.

It isn’t a coincidence that these programs are almost always in the CFP. It’s in their programs DNA, it’s just what they do.

After seeing this from Irish coach Brian Kelly, I feel like they are trending towards having the culture that the elite, of the elite schools do.

“We’re scoring every time we got the football. We’re not letting them score any points. We want a shutout. We’re playing for a shutout. This thing is too damn hard. I’m tired of being the nice guy.” If this didn’t pump you up, somethings wrong with you.

Back to the message, it’s about a mentality, a focus, one that might have been missing during the early years of Kelly’s tenure. The killer instinct, a change in culture, in urgency, in everything.

Back in 2019, Kelly spoke of coaching for five more years, with his newly signed extension, that brings him to exactly that time frame. You think that Kelly wants to get a championship before the extension is up? You bet your ass he does. This change in mentality is a step in that direction.

Irish steady as Big Ten is back in Amway Coaches Poll

The newest Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports was released, the Irish find themselves holding steady after a blowout win on Saturday.

Doesn’t it feel nice waking up after the Irish demolished South Florida to a tune of 52-0? You bet your ass it does, but as we all prepare to watch Notre Dame alum getting paid to play, in the back of our minds were wondering how the polls will react to the Big Ten rejoining fall football.

The Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports gave the Irish some hope, as our midwestern neighbors once again shook things up. Dropping 52 on South Florida didn’t impress the coaches enough though, as the Irish didn’t see change at all from their No. 7 ranking.

Clemson remained at the top spot, while Miami made a big jump to No. 14. The U is “back,” although we have seen this proclamation before. Have them beat a top 10 team handily, then we can talk. Until then the Hurricanes’ will ride high on the prime time win over then No. 16 Louisville, who dropped out of the poll entirely.

The Big Ten as a group was ranked again, although their top team, Ohio State, was just No. 10 after holding a preseason rankings of No. 2. Interesting take by the coaches to include them when their first game won’t happen for over a month.

Here is the rest of the coaches poll, with ACC teams in bold and last weeks ranking in parentheses.

1 Clemson (1)

2 Alabama (2)

3 Oklahoma (3)

3 Georgia (4)

5 LSU (5)

6 Florida (6)

7 Notre Dame (7)

8 Auburn (9)

9 Texas (8)

10 Ohio State (NR)

11 Texas A&M (10)

12 North Carolina (11)

13 Penn State (NR)

14 Miami FL (18)

15 UCF (13)

16 Cincinnati (14)

17 Wisconsin (NR)

18 Oklahoma St. (12)

19 Michigan (NR)

20 Memphis (15)

21 Tennessee (17)

22 Minnesota (NR)

23 BYU (22)

24 Virginia Tech (19)

25 ULL (21)

Big Ten’s return shakes up ESPN’s Bowl Projections, Irish going where?

With the impending return of the Big Ten, there was some change in ESPN’s Bowl Projections.

The Irish are riding high after a very impressive win against South Florida yesterday, blanking the Bulls 52-0. Even with the dominant performance it wasn’t enough for two ESPN analysts to project the Irish into the College Football Playoff.

Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura have Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State in different orders, but all playing for a championship. Both of them also have a Alabama and Clemson battling it out once again for the crown.

Now for the Irish, it’s not exactly where they want to be. The return of the Big Ten makes the margin for error razor thin and it seems like Schlabach and Bonagura don’t have faith the Irish can make it past Clemson.

The both agree on Notre Dame’ bowl destination, the Orange Bowl against Florida. Yes, it’s a New Years Six game, but it’s not the one the Irish want to play in. It’s a very good consolation prize, but not the grand prize. If the Irish can beat Clemson, they’d have a great chance at crashing the CFP party.

Chirp, chirp. The best Notre Dame second half tweets vs USF

Here are the best second half tweets during Notre Dame’s rout of South Florida.

Here are the best Notre Dame related tweets during the second half rout of the South Florida Bulls.

Chirp, chirp. The best Notre Dame tweets through halftime vs USF

See the best Notre Dame tweets from today through halftime against South Florida.

Here are some of the best tweets from pregame all the way through halftime against USF. The Irish lead the Bulls, 35-0 and look to finish them off in the second half.

 

Watch: C’Bo adds onto Notre Dame’s lead over USF

The Irish lead gets bigger, as running back C’Bo Flemister adds to South Florida’s first half misery.

The Irish have their offense rolling. They have had four possessions, they all have resulted in touchdowns.

Running back C’Bo Flemister makes it three players who have scored touchdowns, Ian Book twice, Chris Tyree and now Flemister. The Irish have opened up a big lead, 28-0, over the visiting Bulls.

Watch: Freshman Tyree scores his first Notre Dame touchdown

The lead extends to two scores as freshman running back Chris Tyree find the endzone for the first time in his Irish career.

The hype for Chris Tyree was real. He has been a big part of Notre Dame’s special teams and getting touches on offense. Today he finished off the Irish’s second drive, with a 1-yard touchdown, the first of his career.

The offense looks lights years better than in week 1, as they are now two for two today, both scoring being touchdowns.

Notre Dame 14 USF 0

Watch: Book cashes in on opening drive TD against USF

Watch Notre Dame take an early lead against South Florida in South Bend.

Last week the offense didn’t look all that great. New offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, a new zone blocking scheme and finding new player makers didn’t result in the best outcome. Just 27 points on the board last week, but his week has been a different story.

The Irish marched down the field 54 yards on 7 plays for the opening drive score.

Notre Dame 7 South Florida 0

Weather watch: What to expect in South Bend today

It should be a great afternoon in South Bend today.

Fall is upon us and today will be a fantastic day for Notre Dame football, weather wise. There should be plenty of sun, while the temperature won’t change much over the course of the game.

It will range from 61 degrees Fahrenheit at kickoff to 64 degrees around the final whistle. It shouldn’t rain at all. A perfect day for Irish football. #BeatBulls

Irish gameday injury update: Hamilon, Bracy and other’s status for USF

Find out which Notre Dame players won’t be suiting up this afternoon against South Florida.

Notre Dame has announced with players who were on the depth chart this week that will no suit up against South Florida this afternoon.

The biggest player not putting on the Blue and Gold this afternoon is safety Kyle Hamilton. He injured his ankle during last weeks win against Duke, Brian Kelly making the safe choice to sit his one of this star players. The defense didn’t look bad after Hamilton was injured, so him not playing shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Other notables include cornerback TaRiq Bracy, who had four tackles last week, and linebacker Marist Liufau. The depth at cornerback and linebacker was probably another reason Kelly played it safe with Bracy and Liufau. Also running back Jahmir Smith is out, hopefully electric freshman Chris Tyree is the benefactor.