About Andy Roberts

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

Take That, Army! Instant Reaction

Not a lot is going right for Notre Dame this season, but clearly this program owns Army. The Irish ran the ball at will against the Black Knights, averaging over six yards per carry. No one player ran for 100 yards, but Tarean Folston had a big game, with 13 carries for 84 yards and [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:26:48-04:00November 12th, 2016|Football|13 Comments

Are We Having Fun Yet? Navy Instant Reaction

WatchND highlights: My first instant reaction in the last three games and I get to write about another one of these. Fine. There is no excuse for kicking the field goal to go down 1 against Navy with seven minutes to go when you know they have no interest in scoring again. There isn't. It [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:26:49-04:00November 5th, 2016|Football|80 Comments

How to Lose a Game: NC State Instant Reaction

How to lose a football game in which your opponent repeatedly gives you chances to win it: - Pass the ball more than you run it, even when the conditions dictate you shouldn't. (ND had 26 official pass attempts and 38 rush attempts, but at least 5 of those 'rushes' were sacks and a few [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:26:54-04:00October 8th, 2016|18S Reads|54 Comments

Tiny Steps Forward: Syracuse Instant Reaction

WatchND highlights: Not everything is fixed for Notre Dame football. Far from it. But at least they won a football game. The Irish beat Syracuse 50-33 Saturday, but early on it looked like the score would be much higher. The Irish led 23-13 less than five minutes into the game thanks to some big plays [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:26:59-04:00October 1st, 2016|Football|74 Comments

Is It Over?: Duke Instant Reaction

WatchND highlights: Would you like to know how many current Duke upperclassmen were ranked in the top 600 by the 247Sports composite rankings coming out of high school? One. Trevon Lee was ranked #431 coming out of high school. Trevon Lee has played 24 snaps for Duke, and none of them came today. Less than [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:00-04:00September 24th, 2016|Football|79 Comments

The Bottom Is Falling Out: MSU Instant Reaction

WatchND highlights: Michigan State had 501 yards of offense today against Notre Dame. That's the most MSU has gained against ND in 60 years. @chrissolari The 501 total offensive yards are the most by Michigan State vs Notre Dame since Oct. 20, 1956 when it had 521. #MSUvsND — B Tripi (@btripi) September 18, 2016 [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:02-04:00September 18th, 2016|Football|77 Comments

Bouncing Back: Nevada Instant Reaction

A very wise man once said, "You can either run from your past, or learn from it." Alright, fine. It was Rafiki in The Lion King. But it still applies to Notre Dame, and the Irish performed far better in week two than in week one, downing Nevada 39-10. It remains to be seen whether [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:03-04:00September 10th, 2016|Football|51 Comments

Epic Heartbreak: Notre Dame vs Texas Instant Reaction

I'm going to try to make sense of this game, but it's hard to find new words. Last season I wrote instant reactions over at our old site, and twice I found myself trying to figure out what to say after an absolute heartbreaker of a loss. Today we got another one. Say what you [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:05-04:00September 5th, 2016|Football|35 Comments

Rating the Notre Dame Trap Games

Oh, the 'trap game'. The bane of many a college football fan's existence, the 'trap game' can doom a team's season if not adequately anticipated. For those not 'in the know' (i.e. not complete college football nerds), the trap game is a game whose placement on the schedule makes it more difficult than you'd expect. [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:07-04:00August 15th, 2016|Football|14 Comments

Aliz’e Jones This Year’s Academic Casualty

Notre Dame sophomore tight end Aliz'e Jones will miss the entire season due to academic issues, coach Brian Kelly confirmed this afternoon. Jones will be allowed to practice with the team, but not play. Jones, a huge recruit in ND's 2015 class, started five games last year and caught 13 passes for 190 yards. However, [...]

By |2016-08-03T19:43:58-04:00August 3rd, 2016|18S Reads, Football|27 Comments

The 13th Game’s Effect on ND’s Independence

In early June, the Big 12 Conference announced it will play a conference title game again starting in the 2017 season. This move had been suspected ever since the NCAA voted in early 2015 to allow leagues with under 12 teams to stage league championship games. The move wasn't surprising given what happened the first two [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:15-04:00July 18th, 2016|Football|44 Comments

Why Play Michigan?

Notre Dame fans, especially scheduling buffs like myself, are already very familiar with the recent chatter that the Notre Dame/Michigan football series, left for dead as recently as 2014 when ND won the final scheduled game 37-0 (#RememberThe6), looks to be on its way back. Both sides have expressed interest in scheduling a future series, [...]

By |2018-05-09T22:27:17-04:00July 6th, 2016|Football|12 Comments
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