Category: Football

Pinstripe Bowl

ND Editor December 7, 2013 Football Tagged

Notre Dame has officially accepted the invitation to play in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in NY on December 28th. Reported payout 1.8 mil per team. As everyone knows Yankee Stadium is basically a baseball field so could be a few field problems – and if usual NY weather, it’s going to be cold cold and colder. It even snows in December in NY. Just wait until these players hit the frozen ground.

Right now it looks like the opponent will be Houston, so the Irish get a chance to lay some wood on Deontay Greenberry who stiffed ND after giving a verbal along with Tee Sheperd.

Don’t know how the players feel but this will be no vacation destination. Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx – so don’t hang around after the game. Think game time is around 12 noon – so get in and get out.

Chuck Martin New Head Coach At Miami Of Ohio

ND Editor December 3, 2013 Football Tagged

Notre Dame OC will be hired today as the top man at the “cradle of coaches” Miami of Ohio. After a very successful HC career at Grand Valley State Chuck Martin rejoined his old Head Coach, Brian Kelly to try to jump start the Notre Dame football program.

Chuck served the last 2 years as Kelly’s OC which included a trip to last years championship game versus Alabama. This is a good move for him, in that if successful he will have a shot to return to ND after Kelly leaves. I really hope he takes Diaco with him.

It always seemed to me, that most Head Coaches would want to call the plays – after all it’s their head on the chopping block if things go south. I’m not at all sure who was calling the plays this year even if Kelly denies doing it.

Anyhow the 2013 offense was way too predictable and no real interest in having a powerful running game. Kelly has two ways to go here – follow the Stanford example or get someone who knows how to really run the Spread. I prefer the Stanford way but if Kelly wants the Spread then he should do everything possible to get his old longtime OC Jeff Quinn currently the Head Coach at Buffalo. I believe Quinn had a lot to do with Kelly’s success. Can you lure Quinn back – think a couple of years with a lot of success, maybe another National Champ opportunity and Quinn would be in line for something a lot better than Buffalo–maybe even Kelly’s successor.

Now Defense – get Michigan States’ DC Narducci if you can pry him away from Dantonio.

Stanford 27 Notre Dame 20

ND Editor December 1, 2013 Football Tagged Stanford

Once again, playing from behind and decimated by injuries ND fell to Stanford in a game that more or less played out as expected. Stanford’s massive OL was just too much for the depleted ND defense. Stanford was just the better team and you just can’t beat them if they can rush for 261 yards to ND’s 64.

Tyler Gaffney was virtually unstoppable – he had about 190 yards himself.

ND started out again having to kick FG’s rather than TD’s. So that just about sums up the entire game. This was a tough loss and Tommy Rees finished his career with 199 yds and 2 TD passes giving him 2nd place All Time with 61 TD passes. Once again, game was placed on his shoulders and he played heroically completing 16 of 34 passes. Like all heroes he had flaws – 2 picks that hurt but ND would have had 0 points without him. Oh – Kevin Hogan QB Stanford also had 2 picks. So Tommy, hats’ off to you kid – truly a great career.

As for Notre Dame’s Bowl aspirations – who knows – but I know one thing for certain, you don’t want to play in NY in December or January. That would be punishment not a reward and 15 extra practices, simply not worth it. Hell, the whole team is battered and playing on frozen ground in NY would be the last thing any sane person would inflict on this team. If that’s the only option – thanks but no thanks.

Notre Dame VS Stanford 6:30 PM EST FOX

ND Editor November 28, 2013 Football Tagged Stanford

When trying to wrap your opinion of this game, it’s so damn difficult to do, since no one knows how really banged up this ND defense really is. Sure with Nix out it makes it all the more difficult but add in Kona Schwenke and maybe a still hobbled Sheldon Day it seems an almost impossible feat for ND to even stay in the game, let alone be around in the fourth quarter. Jarron Jones came up big against BYU and maybe he has arrived – but this is a massive OL and Stanford even puts in 2 extra tackles in place of TE’s – how the hell are we to stop their running game?

Kevin Hogan is a good QB and he is not afraid to run the ball. Stanford has good tough running backs and boy do they like to pound it and that of course sets up the play action. Hogan can throw and they just tuned up by laying 63 points on Cal.

As usual, we can expect 8 in the box with constant blitzes – best way to assure victory is to knock out Tommy Rees and Stanford has the linebackers to do just that. Trent Murphy 6’6″ 251 OLB and Shane Skov ILB can wreak havoc on the ND offense.

I really hope Kelly didn’t mean it when he said this will be a game of inches – that is not thinking big at all. And ND has to think big and let it all hang out and for Christ sake go up tempo and at least try not to be so predictable. Stanford is the best team we face this season and with even mediocre teams running for good chunks of yardage almost every game (think Pitt). I can’t see us stopping them enough times to win this game.

With all that said, Stanford is not invincible – 2 losses USC and Utah and they have lost their All America DE. But ND has to be innovative on offense and above all protect Tommy Rees. If they can protect Rees, he throws 4 TD’s. If ND can run the ball – and they must – to keep the Stanford offense off the field they can win this game.

On defense Tuitt hast to prove he’s a first round pick and someone, anyone has to intercept a pass – DB’s are allowed to do that.

Rees has a big game but not enough to hold off Stanford.

Stanford 31 Notre Dame 28

Commit Number 20 In The 2014 Class – OLB Jhonny Williams

ND Editor November 27, 2013 Football Tagged Jhonny Williams

This kid does not look like a 3 Star not at 6’6″ 235 lbs with a 4.5 40. Williams flipped from Missouri after visiting ND for the BYU game. He was a recent offer as his senior film got out and Michigan offered a week after ND. For once the ND location worked in our favor as he lives about 30 minutes away in the state of Michigan.

It’s quite possible that he can grow into a DE but he looks like a very good pickup no matter where he plays.

Don’t know how many slots are left but get at least one big DT.

ND Gets The Top 2015 QB

ND Editor November 25, 2013 Football Tagged Blake Barnett

Blake Barnett 6’4″ 195 QB from Southern California became the 2nd commit for 2015 joining OL commit Jerry Tillery. One QB guru called Barnett easily the best and most complete QB in both the 2014 and 2015 classes–great arm, accuracy, foot movement and legitimate running speed. Perfect dual threat QB that this coach says could start as a Freshman in any Div. 1 school. He has it all.

Barnett on campus for the BYU game and committed to the Irish and he looks like a very solid commit. Indicated he will now help out recruiting other prospects. Good news all around this past weekend.

Here are some highlights:

Notre Dame 23 BYU 13

ND Editor November 24, 2013 Football Tagged byu

Old time football made it’s appearance in Notre Dame stadium on senior day. Bitterly cold, snow swirling and a nice cold wind blowing all over. Freezing temps – all this reminded me of the old days – November weather and bitterly cold Thanksgiving Day games played on frozen sloppy ground. I think it’s over for our stadiums natural grass field – time to move on to some type of field turf. It is just too easy to get injured on a field in this bad condition. With that said, Kelly continues to try a lateral running game, when even if a lane was there the running back slipped on the cut.

It really seems to me that opponents know our play calls even before Kelly makes them – position groups or whatever this has been a bad year on Chuck Martin’s part – small time football – ok for Grand Valley but not in the big leagues.

On what, if I remember is the first game against Temple ND actually scored on the first possession on a beautiful pass for a 61 yd TD – Rees to Daniels. As usual Tommy, God love him, also threw a pick in the 4th quarter but with one TD pass and one pick he actually matched the talented BYU QB who is quite heralded. ND sealed this game with some hard rushing by McDaniel (117 yds) Folston about 70 yds for an evenly balanced attack – 235 yds pass/rush. Hero of the game, FG kicker Brindza – he hit 3 with a 51 yarder to put the game away.

Finally, we saw a team that was jacked up to play – what would have been nice in the preceding games. ILB’s Fox and Calabrese played their best games – seems Diaco cut them loose to just play football instead of having them play in a straight jacket all year. The depleted DL was superb with Jarron Jones playing a truly great game – big stops, blocked FG that crushed BYU’s hopes – kid is going to be good. Tuitt stepped up again and I believe BYU QB Hill never wants to see him again. Only enigma is Mathias Farley – he just can’t tackle – what happened to him? he played outstanding last year.

So kudos to this team, now at 8-3 and really do have a chance against Stanford – if only the coaches got out of the way.

Tommy Rees – 7000 yards and 59 TD passes sorta makes up for all his travails of the last 4 years. Needs 2 more to pass Jimmy Clausen and land at #2 behind all time leader Brady Quinn – who the hell would have ever thought that 4 years ago. Make no mistake, he still has a few picks left in him but kid can hold his head high. Not many can say “I was a ND QB and threw 60+ TD passes” not even in their wildest dreams. Whatever he does in the future I will always be grateful for what he did for ND football, period!!!

Notre Dame VS BYU

ND Editor November 22, 2013 Football Tagged byu

Really worried about this game all season. Had misgivings about what ND team would show up at Pitt – they were on the field and that’s about it. Coaches also took the night off.

So here comes a good BYU team that just hung 59 points on Idaho State as a tuneup to this game. So what you say “it’s Idaho State”, well guess what they hung 40 on Texas, 38 on Georgia State and 47 on Houston. If Diaco sits back in his bend/break defense and only rushes 3-4 we cannot win. If the db’s play 8 yards off the ball we will get eaten alive.

For Notre Dame to win this game they simply must run the ball and not put the whole game on Rees. It’s going to be cold and rain – not conducive to throwing the ball 30 times. So far ND has not been able to run – even against a weak Pitt team – I don’t see it happening here either. Wisconsin pounded the ball against BYU and they didn’t care if the box was loaded. Empty back set is a perfect set up to get Rees hammered, and continually running east/west won’t help things.

Senior day hasn’t meant much past years and I expect the same ho-hum this Saturday. We only beat them by 3 points last year with a far better team and BYU is better this year.

My only hope is that Tommy goes out in a blaze of glory.

BYU dual threat QB runs all over this depleted defense especially with Nix done for the year having had surgery. All year we have let QB’s look like Heisman candidates and in this game Taysom Hill shines.

BYU 30 Notre Dame 21

Commit Number 19 Drue Tranquill

ND Editor November 20, 2013 Football Tagged commit 2014, Drue Tranquill

Tranquill runs a 4.5 and at 6’2″ 210 is an ideal Safety prospect. ND will also give him a shot at ILB where his speed will help against the pass, something we are lacking right now. From Ft. Wayne Indiana, Drue recently de-committed from Purdue. Other offers include Penn State and Wisconsin.

Good athlete with good speed – looks like a RKG.

Desperately need a few DT’s for this class. If need be just bring in a few big bodies.

Here is his highlight reel:

Last Two Weeks Of Notre Dame Football For 2013

ND Editor November 19, 2013 Football Tagged

Boy, season went by very fast as well as disappointing, sitting at 7-3 and could end up 7-5 and no Bowl Game. When news came out that Golson gone, the ND staff had plenty of time to tailor an offense to Tommy Rees’s capabilities and we were all surprised at how well he progressed in flinging the long ball. Unfortunately, the Staff did not adequately prepare this offense in running the football which led to putting the games solely on Rees – which was indecently unfair.

Here’s a kid that did everything asked of him for the last 4 years and he had spectacular success in threading the ball to his receivers – for the most part. The staff, every game put it on him and I think that subliminally they thought they would be off the hook if the season flat-lined – hey, what could we do – we don’t have our starting QB. Sure Tommy threw picks at the worst of times but he also kept us in games with some great passing. The utter lack of a running game torpedoed ND in many games. This season is on the Coaching Staff and not on Rees.

With all the night games, it gave us an opportunity to see what other teams were doing. I was shocked at how well teams played against good competition – actually had running plays to complement the passing game. I did not see one game that ND could compete – think Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Stanford and of course Alabama and LSU. I really don’t see this ND team beating anyone in the top 10 – all the teams I watched were pumped and played like hell for 4 quarters.

Getting back to Rees – QB’s in all the games I watched threw interceptions – even gasp Johnny Football – 5td’s and 3 picks. AJ McCarron’s last game 2 picks, and on and on. Looking at the criticism of Tommy, I can only conclude the critics never watch other games or even Pro games – All Pro QB’s throw picks all the time.

So when Tommy trots out Senior Day to meet his parents, give him a goddamn standing ovation. Think about it, go back and look at the highlights – ND would be 1-9 without Tommy Rees.

Coaching – not there, play calling baffling at best. As far as RB’s it seems to me these kids want to get the ball and go – not wait around for blocks going east/west. When you have the ball 1st down and 3 for a T – run it in 4 tries, you don’t roll Tommy out to pass on 2nd down against Pitt – Christ sake.

Tuitt and Nix – really, does anyone think they want to come back and play Navy again – get real. As I’ve said before, only the Academies and Georgia Tech cut block – it should be banned. Hey paybacks are a bitch – you cut us and we’ll cut you. see how you like losing 4-5 starters.

Diaco will never again have a Tuitt or Nix in his 3 down defense – better get some tough big boys from the Catholic Schools in Pa, Ohio – they may not have any stars but can help your rotation by just being there clogging the middle – see Penn State and Wisconsin.

Hope it’s good weather Saturday and ND puts on a show but I have a feeling nothing will change and the same lethargic team will just go thru the motions.