About Andy Roberts

A lifelong subway alum, Andy specializes in instant reactions to Notre Dame games.

Ran Out of Gas: National Championship Game Instant Reaction

Sometimes football isn't complicated. Sometimes the other team just has more dudes than you and you can't beat them. That's pretty much what happened Monday night as Ohio State ended a dream Notre Dame run with a 34-23 title game win that was not as close as that, but was painfully close to maybe being [...]

By |2025-01-21T00:23:07-05:00January 21st, 2025|18S Reads, Football|24 Comments

I Want This for Him, and I Want it for Them

As we approach next Monday's national championship game pitting our beloved Notre Dame against Ohio State, there's one thing that needs to be made plain. While us ND fans want this championship badly - and I'd argue of the fan bases that at least nominally have reason to expect to compete for titles, no fan [...]

By |2025-01-15T21:47:53-05:00January 16th, 2025|18S Reads, Football|6 Comments

Pure Magic: Orange Bowl Instant Reaction

My first thought after Drew Allar winged the ball out of bounds to secure a 27-24 Notre Dame victory over Penn State, the second New Year's 6 win for Marcus Freeman in a week, was pretty simple: How did that happen? TEAM GLORY ☘️ ORANGE BOWL CHAMPIONS #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/CbqnL8fYTG — Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) January [...]

By |2025-01-10T00:34:48-05:00January 10th, 2025|18S Reads, Basketball, Film Room, Football, Lacrosse, Recruiting|15 Comments

The Sweetest Victory: Sugar Bowl Instant Reaction

First, let's get this out of the way now: I cried. Thirty-one years. Thirty-one long years of not winning these games. Of coming up short. Of drawing the best possible opponent. Of chuckleheads on the Internet pretending losing games meant they shouldn't have been in them. It all got swept away in less than one [...]

By |2025-01-02T20:36:02-05:00January 2nd, 2025|18S Reads, Basketball, Film Room, Football, Lacrosse, Recruiting|24 Comments

On to the Next One: College Football Playoff Round 1 Instant Reaction

All week, I couldn't shake the thought that Notre Dame was going to win comfortably over Indiana. (And they did. 27-17, final score, and it wasn't that close.) It's not the Hoosiers' fault. The idea some will probably start trumpeting that IU didn't belong in this playoff because their schedule was too weak was, in [...]

By |2024-12-21T02:32:02-05:00December 21st, 2024|18S Reads|8 Comments

Looking Ahead: Notre Dame Seeded #7, to Face Indiana in 1st Round of Playoff

Notre Dame fans entered the weekend with stars in their eyes and visions of the coveted #5 seed in the College Football Playoff. Just about nothing that had to happen for that to transpire took place, and instead the Irish were seeded #7 (with a true rank of #5 by the committee) and matched up [...]

By |2024-12-08T18:59:51-05:00December 8th, 2024|18S Reads|30 Comments

The Four Horsemen Are Back: Army Instant Reaction

It was yet another day where the biggest issue Notre Dame fans faced was annoyance at a garbage time touchdown by the other team, and the Irish walloped previously unbeaten Army 49-14 to move one win away from hosting a playoff game. Pretty much everything was hitting on all cylinders for the Irish, except for [...]

By |2024-11-24T00:21:20-05:00November 24th, 2024|18S Reads, Football|10 Comments

Your Flag Means Death: Virginia Instant Reaction

I don't know if I've ever seen a team ignited by a flag before, but that's what happened Saturday as an arcane rules interpretation screwed up the coolest fake punt of all time and pissed Notre Dame off enough to finish delivering a 3-touchdown second-quarter rage bomb in a 35-14 win over Virginia. First up, [...]

By |2024-11-16T19:45:29-05:00November 16th, 2024|18S Reads, Football|20 Comments

Doing the Job: Florida State Instant Reaction

When you're playing a team as utterly hapless as Florida State, you just want to make sure they have no reason to care. Notre Dame did not Saturday night, dispatching the Seminoles 52-3 and moving a step closer to a College Football Playoff spot. The defense threw a sack party in the Florida State backfield, [...]

By |2024-11-10T00:02:04-05:00November 10th, 2024|18S Reads|17 Comments

Playoff Predictor: Georgia Tech Instant Reaction

Before you read this reaction post, remember to let me know in the comments how you think my writing affected Notre Dame's College Football Playoff chances. You might as well, as almost literally every other thing that happened during Saturday's 31-13 win over Georgia Tech was examined through that lens, as opposed to being concerned [...]

By |2024-10-19T22:17:23-04:00October 19th, 2024|18S Reads, Football|24 Comments

A Complete Game: Stanford Instant Reaction

For a little while Saturday, it looked like Stanford was hitting all the checkpoints for an annoyingly stupid Notre Dame game against a lesser opponent that went down to the wire. Not this time, though. Notre Dame exploded for 49 straight points after an opening Cardinal touchdown drive and cruised to the 49-7 win in [...]

By |2024-10-12T23:31:00-04:00October 12th, 2024|18S Reads, Football|7 Comments

Deuce Knight’s Decommitment is the Latest Thing Making This Fan Base Crazy

Top QB recruit Deuce Knight publicly flipped his commitment from Notre Dame to Auburn Wednesday night. Apparently, he was impressed with Auburn making him a priority for 2 months after publicly failing to flip 2 other quarterbacks, versus the two years ND made him their #1. (I'm not bitter at all.) Personally, and I swear [...]

By |2024-10-02T20:33:32-04:00October 2nd, 2024|18S Reads, Football|62 Comments

At Least They Won This Time: Miami (OH) Instant Reaction

For the second straight home game, Notre Dame looked like a tire fire for much of the first half against a MAC opponent Saturday, but this time, at least, the Irish managed to pull itself together and post a workmanlike 28-3 victory over Miami (OH). That should at least calm the frustrated masses who, in [...]

By |2024-09-21T19:41:56-04:00September 21st, 2024|18S Reads, Football|8 Comments
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