Today, we head into the YouTube archives to journey back to the 1971 college football season during the Era of Ara. The Fighting Irish were operating throughout the first half of this season on a whole different level than the competition, especially defensively. On their way to a 5-0 start only 16 total points were [...]
The Irish outplayed Miami in the traditional phases of the game, but special teams blunders let the Hurricanes almost steal a win anyway. Breaking down an overall encouraging performance for Notre Dame with the five factors that lead to winning football games. Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here. Explosiveness Let’s talk about the good [...]
Notre Dame did something it seemed allergic to this year--they won a damn football game. In keeping the theme of 2016 of course they couldn't make it easy on themselves after building a 20-0 lead over the Miami Hurricanes. The offense went ice cold, special teams gifted the Canes short fields and outright points, while [...]
Notre Dame tried and tried and tried and tried to give the game away. "Here, Miami! Take this one from us, please!" The Irish jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter on Saturday and looked really good doing so, maybe even great. By the middle of the 2nd quarter it was pushed [...]
Previewing the advanced stats of Miami in Notre Dame in a game renewing an old rivalry. Brad Kaaya versus DeShone Kizer! 2-5 vs. 4-3! Feel the excitement! If looking for additional information on the statistics and terms used here, great starting points are Football Studyhall’s Advanced Stats Glossary, Bill Connelly’s Five Factors, and Brian Fremeau’s FEI ratings. Miami Offense [...]
It figures that Notre Dame has been fairly healthy this season and during the bye week a season-ending injury hit the program. Fortunately, it's not from someone on the two deep. However, after true freshman Javon McKinley broke his fibula in practice he has to leave the season with 8 snaps on offense while burning [...]
Miami is back in South Bend for the first time since 1990! That game (see the highlights below) saw the Irish give then No. 2 Miami their only regular season loss from September 15, 1990 until October 9, 1993. Yeah, the first era of "Da U" was a sight to behold. Notre Dame got its [...]
Brian Kelly, either with or without direction from above, sent a seismic shock through this season when he dismissed Brian VanGorder as defensive coordinator just four games in. I agree with the move - it was either now or a slow, agonizing death march to the same point in December - but still, tossing a [...]
Notre Dame is back on the field this weekend as home dogs to the Miami Hurricanes. It's been that kind of season, you know. Elsewhere across the country 9 undefeated teams remain after last week's stunning upset of Ohio State by Penn State. By the way, if Notre Dame completed 8 passes, converted 2 third [...]
The bye week is over and before I turn my attention to the Miami Hurricanes it's time to finish up the mid-term grades for the Notre Dame defense. Last week the scores were not very friendly for the Irish offense with lots of disappointment and underachieving. Remember, I'm using an expectations grade as my baseline--perhaps [...]
It's almost time to cast your vote and while we will ardently avoid politics today we still need your help. It's been long enough and we want to bring back Clashmore Mike to the Notre Dame sidelines. Who is Clashmore Mike, you may ask? Well, some of you may know right away. I used to [...]
Notre Dame certainly is not making the playoffs so the season is more than half over now. During the Stanford review I promised some player grades and I come to deliver the goods. I thought it'd be a good idea to grade each unit based on expectations as a good way to provide some talking [...]
It's bye week for Notre Dame and your boy will be attending a cousin's wedding this weekend in Charlotte. Great timing from the family! Except, at this point I find myself secretly wanting to be distracted during an Irish game so the suffering isn't so intense. Come to think of it the last game I [...]
Welcome back to our tri-monthly scholarships and roster update for Notre Dame football. This is the first post on the topic since the beginning of the football season but more importantly it's the first since a 2-5 record has been posted and serious thoughts are considering the future of the current coaching staff. Believe it [...]
Things have gone so poorly in 2016 that troubling comparisons are starting to be made. The ironic (or is it sad?) part during times like these is that as awful as the play on the field is that message boards everywhere duplicate that atmosphere in their communities. When things get ugly most aren't really comfortable [...]
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