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 [...]
If you follow Notre Dame football closely, or even too closely, just like we do, you're probably aware that the Irish have always struggled with defensive line recruiting, especially with landing elite talent on the line. Since 2000, only two 247 Composite five-star defensive linemen have donned an Irish jersey*: Victor Abiamiri (#29 overall/0.9861 rating) and [...]
After the first four games of the 2016 football season, the Notre Dame defense could rightfully be described as a raging tire fire. As a result of the horrific performance of the defense, Brian Kelly decided to make a change and fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. After watching the defense play against Syracuse, I’m comfortable upgrading their [...]
Praying that the defense will have better luck against this Art Briles disciple than the last one, and anticipating a shootout with two defenses that have been shredded by every good offense they've encountered. If looking for additional information on the statistics and terms used here, great starting points are Football Studyhall’s Advanced Stats Glossary, Bill [...]
Note: This recap was 95% finished prior to the news of Brian VanGorder's firing. I've chosen to leave the writing as is although a few things could change in some parts as the Irish move on with an interim defensive coordinator. What a great time start a new website! The beginning of the 2016 football [...]
After calming down on Sunday and taking in the embarrassing loss to Duke it appears Brian Kelly's mind has been changed. Following a tumultuous 30 games on campus, defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder has been fired by Notre Dame. The Irish had entered territory where a move had to be made and frustration was building that [...]
The Michigan State game featured all the same maddening themes that have driven Irish fans to (more) drink over the last couple of years - defensive breakdowns, missed tackles, mindless penalties, inconsistent urgency... You get the idea. A fan base that was restless after the season-opening overtime loss to Texas and mollified only marginally by [...]
Every year, one or two home games become marquee recruiting events; this year, there will be a very impressive list of recruiting visitors for Michigan State weekend, making it arguably the premier recruiting event of the 2016 season for the Irish. The visitor list has steadily grown over the last few weeks with elite names from [...]
The Cincinnati Bengals claimed Keivarae Russell off waivers today, per the official team Twitter account: NEWS- #Bengals make the following roster moves: -Claim DB KeiVarae Russell -Waive OG Trey Hopkins — Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 15, 2016 The Bengals' first-round pick this year, corner William Jackson III, is out until at least November with a [...]
Here's a hot take for you: Red zone touchdown rate is overrated. It's often used as a measure of how successful a team is on either offense or defense; it's often considered, especially by many fans, to be a good predictor of how "elite" that side of the ball is for a team or of [...]
Because we were definitely roasted on Sunday night... Much has been made about two things head coach Brian Kelly "said" in yesterday's post-Texas press conference (more on why that's in quotes in a moment). We're sticking with the quarterback rotation! Brian VanGorder got a vote of confidence! AUUUUGGHHHH!!! Right? Well, as our favorite mascot-headed ESPN [...]
Time to pick ourselves up and continue with the season. There's still a lot of football left to watch and hopefully some happy moments for Irish football. At least, there will be entertaining games across the country to chew on each week. This doesn't look like a super great week as the loaded opening slate means [...]
With the move to the new site I hadn't decided if I would tweak my usual post-game reviews or not. I was leaning towards change in some fashion and the outcome on Sunday night in Austin locked up that I wouldn't be doing the usual review. It's the first game of the season, and it's [...]
The 2016 Notre Dame defense is missing some multi-year stalwarts from last year's team. It's a bit more difficult to be as bullish as we were for the offense review yesterday, but take heart folks, there's still hope. Honest. We'll take a look at each new starter and what the future might hold for his [...]
The 2016 Notre Dame offense depth chart shows quite a bit of turnover and a bit of shuffling versus the 2015 depth chart. Some very big names have moved on, without a clear answer to how their production will be replaced; some other names have moved around or will be relied on more this year than in years [...]
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