Notre Dame's recruiting machine added an unexpected piece today when linebacker Marist Liufau became the 20th member of the 2019 class. The 6'3", 210-pound Hawaiian wasn't on the radar of any casual fans and, in fact, many more dedicated recruitniks. He was, however, just on campus for an official visit, so he was quite clearly [...]
One thing I like about Chip Long is his ability to creatively use formations and motion to out-scheme the defense. I feel that past Notre Dame offenses where too reliant on one player making big plays to be successful, whether it's Will Fuller getting open deep or CJ Prosise breaking off a big run. Having [...]
In a game where the Irish needed to lean on the run, Dexter Williams and the offensive line came through with a season-high 8.14 yards per carry (excluding garbage time) against a solid FSU front. The Noles entered the game ranked 33rd in Rushing Defense S&P+, including the 26th best run stuff rate. But the [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Another week that was chalk for our contenders... Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams from the the playoff committee rankings. I define "resume wins" for our purposes as wins over currently-ranked teams; it gets too complicated to project [...]
We found ourselves with a very quiet weekend and as a result not a single team moves inside the 18 Stripes Top 12 rankings. The rest of the rankings, well, they continue to be awfully weird. That's good because this upcoming weekend is as bereft of traditional big games as any in recent memory. There's [...]
Notre Dame barely could've scripted a better start to Saturday's game forcing a turnover on the second play from scrimmage and quickly jumping out to a 17-0 lead just over halfway through the 1st quarter. It was never close beyond Florida State closing the gap briefly to 11 points before the Irish ran away with [...]
Notre Dame won on Senior Day and it wasn't close. An interception by the forgotten Nick Coleman on Florida State's first series brought the ball deep into Seminole territory. From there, the Irish would score and the route was on inside a frigid Notre Dame Stadium. Run Game Stepped Up (and On FSU) The Irish [...]
It seems just like yesterday that Florida State was no longer the 9-win team incapable of breaking through and suddenly had morphed into an elite National Championship team. There was a time from mid-2011 through mid-2015 that the Seminoles were on a scorching hot 52-4 run that probably isn't fully appreciated yet historically. Today, things [...]
This morning Irish Sports Daily broke the news that Ian Book will not play Saturday against Florida State. Brian Kelly will address the injury at his press conference today and likely provide additional details, but according to the ISD report Book "suffered multiple injuries to his midsection" in the Northwestern game, and a timetable for his [...]
A huge week of betting from week 10 puts me in better spirits after a rough 9th week of football. On the field we continue to see a bunch of ranked teams losing which has opened the door to many unfamiliar guests in our rankings. We've moved into the gut-check time that is November! 18 [...]
The advanced stats show that Notre Dame dominated Northwestern in most key phases of the game, yet special teams miscues, turnovers, and penalties let the Wildcats get within a score late in the 4th quarter. The Irish should walk away confident about a strong effort against a solid opponent, but maybe a bit concerned about [...]
I haven't had a chance to pick up Mike Brey's book yet. I'm willing to wager the line "Get old. Stay old," appears in the text somewhere. Good coaches have a philosophy that brings success. Great coaches sustain success by adjusting to the realities around them. Indeed, Mike Brey oversaw a golden era of Notre [...]
Welcome back to the playoff big board! Our board will consist of all ranked undefeated teams and all ranked one-loss Power 5 teams from the the playoff committee rankings. With the playoff rankings out now, I've changed the board format from undefeated/one-loss to in-the-playoff/in-the-conversation. I define "resume wins" for our purposes as wins over currently-ranked teams; [...]
With the regular season starting tonight against Illinois-Chicago, here is part two of the 18 Stripes basketball season preview. In case you missed it, here's part one which focuses on individual players. Additionally, the Irish played an exhibition against Central State last week. Here's a quick recap of a somewhat sloppy affair, and a look [...]
Notre Dame's run game sputtered against Northwestern and wasn't able to consistently help the offense move the football down the field. I targeted a handful of plays that I thought were interesting from Saturday and worthy of additional conversation. I'm opening up the film room and flipping on the projector. RP(N)O This is the very [...]
