Tag: Notre Dame Stadium

Notre Dame Football: Is Kyle Hamilton a Top-5 Safety Nationwide?

Now to the question some may be asking: is Hamilton really a top-five safety?

Notre Dame loses talent in the secondary in 2020 as Alohi Gilman has entered the NFL Draft while Donte Vaughn and Troy Pride, Jr. are both out of eligibility.

Earlier this month Shaun Crawford announced he’d be returning for a sixth season at Notre Dame which will be incredibly beneficial for the Irish as long as Crawford can stay healthy.

What will also help is Kyle Hamilton returning after a freshman year that landed him on both the Pro Football Focus and FWAA Freshman All-American Teams.

PFF released their “Top 30 Returning Defensive Backs” Saturday and Hamilton found a spot at number 20 there.

True freshman safety Kyle Hamilton could not have done much more in coverage for the Fighting Irish this year. The 6-foot-4 defensive back finished among the five best safeties in the country in PFF coverage grade and had more interceptions plus pass breakups (nine) than catches allowed (seven). That production paved the way to just a 1.3 passer rating allowed. He read quarterbacks like books and made special plays all year long — he’ll be a vital piece to the Irish secondary over the next couple of seasons.

If you rank only safeties then Hamilton comes in fifth.

Although the eventual starting defensive backfield won’t have much experience playing together, the likes of Hamilton, Crawford, transfer Isaiah Pryor create a pretty high floor.

Now to the question some may be asking: is Hamilton really a top-five safety?

Frankly, five seems a bit low for a guy who it was newsworthy to pull in a reception against in 2020.

Notre Dame’s Highest “Top Early Top 25” Ranking We’ve Seen

The Irish also come in one spot behind Florida who is fresh-off an Orange Bowl victory and 11-2 season.

We tend to react when national college voices weigh in on Notre Dame gets mentioned, whether it’s good or bad.

This week you’ve seen us post a few different “Too Early Top 25” rankings that various college football writers have offered.  We reacted to one by considering firing it into the sun while the other we dissected, we pretty much fell in line with.

Now we have one that has ranked Notre Dame higher than any we’ve seen this week.

From Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde:

9. Notre Dame

There are two attractive but difficult additions to the schedule: Clemson at home and Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. Those are in addition to games at USC and Pittsburgh. But with Ian Book and most of the offensive line returning, Brian Kelly has some building blocks. There are a lot of good players to replace on defense. The recruiting consistency of the Fighting Irish will come into play there.

Notre Dame coming in at nine placed them a spot ahead of national champion LSU which may come as a shock to some.  The Irish also come in one spot behind Florida who is fresh-off an Orange Bowl victory and 11-2 season.

Three 2020 Notre Dame opponents show up on the list with Clemson being top-rated in the nation and Wisconsin checking in at 13 and USC at 16.  Simple logic leads you to understand why the November 7 showdown with Clemson could very easily be the biggest game at Notre Dame Stadium since The Game of the Century versus Florida State in 1993.

No. 16 Notre Dame Blasts Boston College: A Few Good Numbers

Kmet’s sixth touchdown reception of the year also joined him with Ken MacAfee for the school record for most in a single season by a tight end.

40-7 has a good ring to it as Notre Dame routed Boston College and moved to 9-2 on the year. In our Five Instant Thoughts piece after the game we discussed some of the bizarreness in terms of Notre Dame’s incredibly evenly disturbed offensive production.

What other numbers are worth taking a second look at after the blowout victory.

Cole Kmet:

Became the tenth tight end in Notre Dame history with 400 or more receiving yards in a single season and the first to do so since Troy Niklas in 2013.

Kmet’s sixth touchdown reception of the year also joined him with Ken MacAfee for the school record for most in a single season by a tight end.

Chase Claypool:

Claypool’s touchdown reception against Boston College was his tenth of the season and sixteenth for his career. No player has reached the 10-plus touchdown reception mark since Will Fuller in 2015, while his latest touchdown reception tied him with Jim Seymour for the tenth-most by a receiver in Notre Dame history.

Going Streaking:

In completing their second-straight undefeated home season the Irish are now winners of their last 18 home contests. It marks the first time since the 1988-89 seasons that Notre Dame went unbeaten at home in consecutive seasons.

With Saturday’s 40-7 win over Boston College the Irish won their third straight game by 30 or more points for the first time since 1989 when they beat up Pitt, Navy and SMU in consecutive games.

Notre Dame Should Take Extra Step when Throwing it Back

Don’t ask me why I remember this so vividly because I don’t honestly remember. Nor do I remember what year it was that they went away but I assume when the stadium was opened post-renovations in 1997.

When No. 15 Notre Dame hosts Boston College on Saturday afternoon they’ll do so as a significant favorite in a series the Irish haven’t lost in since 2008.

They’ll also be wearing throwback uniforms made to honor the 1988 national championship team when they do so.

Unfortunately I don’t think anyone will be showing off their bare midriff quite like Chris Zorich used to, but I wouldn’t object if someone chose to.

Instead the playing field at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday should give a nod to not just the 1988 team but the entire Lou Holtz era.

No, they shouldn’t cut the capacity down to under 60,000, even if it’d mean a new sellout streak beginning, but a small, formerly unique characteristic should return Saturday afternoon.

I’m talking about the font of the yard-line markers that used to be one-of-a-kind to Notre Dame Stadium.

There are probably plenty of people reading this who are so young that they have absolutely no clue what I’m talking about. Heck, some that are old enough to remember probably don’t, either. If you’re in that boat, watch the video below and take notice of the yard line markers when you can.

Don’t ask me why I remember this so vividly because I don’t honestly remember. Nor do I remember what year it was that they went away but I assume when the stadium was opened post-renovations in 1997.

It’s an odd request from me I’m sure and I probably sound very old-school in making if. I however I promise I’m not always: I swear I love the video board and am all for the field turf as well as the “ND” on the 50 yard-line.

I just want Saturday for the actual yard-markings to get painted back to how they used to look.

And then left that way forever.

Notre Dame Football: Sellout Streak Over

Where were you on Thanksgiving Day in 1973?

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Where were you on Thanksgiving Day in 1973?

If you answered with being at Notre Dame Stadium when the Irish dismantled Air Force 48-15 en-route to a national championship, then you were a part of history.

No, not just because that Ara Parseghian-led team went on to win it all, but because it was the last time Notre Dame Stadium failed to sell out for a home football contest.

Until this weekend.

It went over four-and-a-half decades and lasted 273 games but it appears that streak of consecutive sellouts is history.

“Based on ticket sales through Wednesday, we do not anticipate sellouts for our games against Navy and Boston College,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “That this comes during a time of sustained success for our football program reflects both challenges impacting the ticket market nationwide and the unique dynamics of this year’s schedule.”

Swarbrick mentioned in an interview with Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune that the Irish playing three true home games this November and the weather that comes with that are the most-likely factors to seeing the streak end.

In the piece you find out how several games over the years counted as sellouts as well, even when plenty of empty seats were clearly evident.

The streak ranked second, behind only Nebraska who has sold out every one of their last 373 home contests.

Over the last ten seasons the Irish have played just one home-game five times, often playing the on-again, off-again Shamrock Series during the month.

Notre Dame can move to 8-2 with a win over No. 21 Navy and potentially 9-2 if they can also get by traditional pain-in-the-rear, Boston College in two weeks.

If you haven’t been to a game in quite some time, here’s your chance to see a potential top-10 finishing Notre Dame team up close.