NEXT NOTRE DAME GAMEDAY:Blue-Gold Spring GameApril 24, 2010 Stadium Notre Dame Stadium Location: South Bend, IN Gametime: TBA TV: TBA 
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 Posted on February 6th, 2010 by Admin
2010 Notre Dame Home Games: Purdue (9/4), Michigan (9/11), Stanford (9/25), Pitt (10/9), Tulsa (10/30), Utah (11/13), Navy at Yankee Stadium (11/20) 2010 Notre Dame Away Games: Michigan State (9/18), Boston College (10/2), Navy at East Rutherford, NJ (10/23), USC (11/27) Tags: 2010, notre dame, notre dame football, notre dame football schedule, Tickets, TVRelated posts Posted on February 5th, 2010 by Erin McLaughlinIt is that time of year again. The time when so called experts put out so called rankings as to how good the recruiting classes are. The reality is we never really know how good the class is until three or four years. So for what it is worth, Brian Kelly’s first recruiting class landed him at #14 according to rivals.com. At the head of the class is OT Matt James and DT Louis Nix. They also got a QB named Andrew Hendrix and a bruising runner in Cameron Roberson. These guys are all four and five star recruits. Notre Dame has had their share of them the past few years. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten them very far. So how is this year different?
The answer is quite simple. The four and five star recruits are not the ones that will win you games. It is the guys that are ranked below them that will really build depth for the positions. That is where Weis missed alot. The difference is that Kelly has a proven record of finding players that slipped under the radar and turning them into great players. A perfect example of that would be Dan Lefevour. Lefevour was not even recruited by any major university. Yet, Kelly saw something in him. Lefevour went on to be the best player in Central Michigan history. That is definitely a reason for Irish fans to be optimistic. Tags: 2010 Notre Dame Recruiting, Andrew Hendris, Brian Kelly, Cameron Roborson, Dan Lefevour, Louis Nix, Matt JamesRelated posts Posted on February 1st, 2010 by Admin2009 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Schedule and ResultsSep 5 | Notre Dame 35, Nevada 0 Related posts Posted on January 29th, 2010 by Erin McLaughlinDo you remember that day when Brady Quinn was drafted to the Cleveland Browns? It was a day of hope for Notre Dame fans. After seeing Rick Mirer and Ron Powlus fail at the NFL, Irish fans were certain that this Notre Dame quarterback would not follow in his predecessors footsteps.
We were happy to see him go to the Cleveland Browns. That is the team he wanted to go to since he always rooted for them. Former coach Charlie Weis even said that Quinn would be a pro bowl quarterback by his third year. Here we are three years later. Quinn has only 12 career starts. Guys like Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, Chad Henne, and Matthew Stafford all have more starts despite being in the league less time. There is also doubt about whether or not Quinn will be back in Cleveland next year. How did it go so wrong for him? Certainly, there was alot that he had no control over. The main thing is all the turnover in coaches and front office personnel. The plan is constantly changing as is Quinn’s future with the team. While there were factors that were out of his control. Looking back at it, Quinn did make a few mistakes in the process that are still haunting him to this day. Now here we are with Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate both expected to be drafted high this year. I think there is less to deal with with Tate. No matter where he goes he will catch balls. Also, wide receiver is a much less profile position than quarterback. Therefore, there will be less attention around him. Clausen on the other hand, will have to deal with the same things Quinn did. Let’s look at some of the mistakes Quinn made in the process and hope Clausen learns from them. Mistake #1: The Combine and Pro Day This is a player’s first chance to workout for the professional scouts. This is the place to show his skills. Quinn just didn’t impress in these drills. That wasn’t really that surprising though. Quinn was known more for his intangibles than his tangibles. Clausen should have less trouble with this especially on deep balls. This was a mistake for Quinn but was really only a minor setback. Mistake #2: The Holdout After failing to impress at the combine, Quinn’s stock fell a little and it wasn’t until #22 when the Browns took him. Though he fell, he was still a first round pick and expected to be the quarterback of the future. Unfortunately, Quinn didn’t make it to camp on time because his agent failed to negotiate a contract for him. As a result Quinn didn’t sign until right before the first preseason game. He didn’t play until the second exhibition game. Then Head Coach Romeo Crennel decided that Quinn was too far behind to start opening day. Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson would battle it out. Although Frye started the year, Anderson ultimately prevailed. Anderson had a pro bowl year and all Quinn could do was watch. Since then the team has been in total turmoil over whether Anderson or Quinn should be the quarterback. This was probably the biggest mistake for Quinn. Had he signed on time, nobody outside of Oregon would even remember who Derek Anderson was. Let this be a lesson for Clausen. He needs to make sure he hires the right agent that will get the deal done for him on time. That way he can be in camp from day one and doesn’t have to play catch up. Mistake #3: The Endorsements Imagine working at your job where you have for years. You and your co-workers have been working hard to make the company the best. Along comes a new guy who was fresh out of college. He had the potential to do great things for your company but at the moment was doing very little. How would you feel if he was able to do commercials on behalf of the company? That is what happened in Cleveland. Quinn was carrying a clipboard his rookie year, yet Subway and EAS are having him on TV. Not to mention, Quinn did many local endorsements that off season that were shown at Caviler games. That had to rub many of his teammates the wrong way. They were out there playing their hearts out and Quinn was the one getting all the endorsement deals. On one hand, you really can’t blame Quinn for taking these deals. After all if somebody is going to give you money you take it. That is what any of us would do no matter what we say otherwise. At the same time, these endorsements probably wasn’t the best way to earn the respect of his teammates. Let this also be a lesson for Clausen. He needs to be careful on what endorsement deals he accepts and factor in whether or not it is the best way to have a long career. While I am not ready to give up on Quinn yet and still think he can turn it around, it would be nice to see Clausen get off to a better start. Tags: brady quinn, Charlie Weis, Golden Tate, irish fans, Jimmy Clausen, notre dame, TV, wide receiverRelated posts Posted on January 23rd, 2010 by Erin McLaughlin
Here is a guy who was born to a mother addicted to crack. He had many siblings from many fathers. He didn’t even know who his father was for most of his childhood. Many of the things most of us take for granted as kids (stable home, loving parents, food on the table, own bedroom, etc.) were not there for Oher. His whole childhood he had to persevere and overcome the hand that was dealt him. It was not until he was in high school that the Tuohy family abopted him. The Tuohys deserve a lot of credit for that. Just being real, they had a lot more to lose than they had to gain. Sure they saw his potential as a great football player, but it is not like they needed money. The Tuohys were a rich white Republican family. They lived in a part of Tennessee that was very set in their ways as was their circle of friends. Needless to say, adopting a big black kid from the other side of town was not something folks in that part of the country were lining up to do. As you might expect, Oher was never the best student in keeping up his grades. The Tuohys had to hire a private tutor who would follow him all the way to Ole Miss and remain his tutor until the Baltimore Ravens drafted him. If that is not a great story I don’t know what is. He goes from being homeless for part of his childhood to being an NFL lineman. Oher was such a great prospect out of high school, that every major college in the south offered him a scholarship. Watching the movie, there were so many recruits that came to his home that you couldn’t count. The part I found sad was that Notre Dame was not one of the schools that tried to recruit him. Do you think Jimmy Clausen would have liked to have Oher in front of him for a good part of his career? Notre Dame has always made it a point to maintain there high academic standards and still try to build a competitive football team. While I have always commended that, I am beginning to wonder if it is the right thing to do. The reality is that Notre Dame hasn’t seriously contended for a National title since 1993. That is 17 years. The Irish also haven’t won a National Title since 1988. That is 22 years. If you ask me, it is time for Notre Dame to really look at how they do things and think about if it is really the right way to go. The fact is that a player like Michael Oher would have never gotten a chance in South Bend. That really makes me scratch my head. Not every kid comes from an ubringing that would foster a kid to be great academically. Does that mean they are horrible kids? Would it really be that horrible for Notre Dame to bend a little for a player with a background similar to Oher’s? Does it really go against what Notre Dame stands for? I sure hope not. There are certain players that are worth taking a chance on and Michael Oher proved to be one of them. The reality was that he was going to Ole Miss even if Notre Dame had tried to recruit him. That is where is family went to school and where he wanted to go. However, that does not mean that there is not another Micheal Oher out there. I would certainly love to see Notre Dame take a chance on one. After all, isn’t that what colleges are supposed to do? Aren’t they supposed to put young adults in a position to be successful? Tags: Jimmy Clausen, Michael Oher, notre dame, south bend, The Blind Side, TuohyRelated posts Posted on January 17th, 2010 by Erin McLaughlinAs we are all aware, former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis will now be the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. After a disappointing end to his tenure at Notre Dame, Weis is now back to doing what he does best. That is an NFL offensive coordinator. I don’t know how other Notre Dame fans will root. I am sure some will want him to fail and others won’t really care one way or the other. Me personally, I will root for him to do well and I hope he gets a chance to eventually be a head coach again at the NFL level. I could never hate on Weis the way I do Willingham. The reason is really quite simple. Willingham really didn’t aggressively recruit and he drove the program to the brink of irrelevance.
I have no doubt that Weis gave all he had to Notre Dame. From the brink of irrelevance, Weis immediately took this team to the BCS two years in a row. Because of Weis, top recruits once again are going to Notre Dame. There is no doubt that Weis did a really good job with the offensive players. Notre Dame had two really good quarterbacks in Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen. Weis offenses also had guys like Golden Tate, Jeff Samardijiza, Michael Floyd, Darius Walker, Armando Allen, Kyle Rudolph, Anthony Fasano, and the list goes on. Under Weis, Notre Dame produced some of the most exciting offenses I have ever seen. Unfortunately though, Weis apparently didn’t recruit as well on the defensive side of the ball. Nor did he hire the right guy to be his defensive coordinator. That is what ultimately did him in. He did recruit Manti Te’o, but he was a day late and a dollar short on that one. I guess he always was an offensive coordinator at heart. At the end of the day though I know Weis gave it all he could. He is a Notre Dame alum. I always root for Notre Dame players to succeed at the next level no matter where they are. I feel the same way about Weis. The ironic thing is that he will now be working with a former USC quarterback in Matt Cassel. Don’t be surprised if Golden Tate ended up there as well. Then you would have USC throwing to Notre Dame. How weird would that be? Tags: armando allen, BCS, brady quinn, Charlie Weis, Golden Tate, Jimmy Clausen, Kyle Rudolph, Manti Te'o, Michael Floy, Michael Floyd, notre dame, uscRelated posts Posted on January 13th, 2010 by Erin McLaughlinAfter getting turned down by Mike Riley, Jeff Fisher, Jack Del Rio, Steve Sarkesian, and others, USC has hired Lane Kiffin away from Tennessee to replace Pete Carroll. Needless to say Kiffin was not their first choice. Why should he be? He was fired by the Raiders. Then he had a very mediocre year with the Volunteers. During that mediocre year, Kiffin received a lot of bad press. It was one scandal after another. That really has to make you wonder if Kiffin is the right choice for USC. Considering that the basketball team has just been placed on probation for the actions of O.J. Mayo, the football team doesn’t need any bad press. There were the allegations revolving Reggie Bush’s parents a few years ago and most recently the Joe McKnight incident in which his use of a new Land Rover is in question. This is a university that could and likely will undergo an investigation. It makes you wonder why they would hire a guy who just can’t get away from scandals. It reallymakes you wonder if coaches don’t know something. The timing of Carroll’s departure is suspicious no matter what he says. USC has been regarded as a dream job around the country for the last few years. Yet, there have been several who have turned it down. Why would they turn it down, if they didn’t suspect that something is going to happen? This will undoubtedly have a negative effect on recruiting. Hopefully, all gets resolved for USC and everything goes well. Looking at it from a Notre Dame perspective, their last two coaches were not their first, second, or even third choices. It didn’t work out. This time, Brian Kelly was absolutely the first choice. From that standpoint, it could be bad for USC. Hopefully, it does work out for USC because it would be nice for Notre Dame and USC to play when both are two of the best teams in the country. The good thing about the hiring of Kiffin is that his father, Monte will be joining him. Monte Kiffin is a proven defensive coordinator. At the end of the day though, this hiring really makes you scratch your head and provides more questions than answers. You would think that a school that may be in trouble would stay away from a guy who gets followed by scandals. He also has been mediocre based on results. The reality is either Kiffin has outstanding interviewing skills or USC didn’t have much of a choice. Tags: Brian Kelly, Joe McKnight, notre dame, Reggie Bush, uscRelated posts Posted on January 12th, 2010 by Eric MurtaughI was shocked to hear the news that Pete Carroll was resigning from his post as head coach at USC in order to jump back into the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. Literally overnight, one of college football’s most dominant dynasty’s in history entered the beginning of its end. As a Notre Dame fan, this makes me jump for joy, but also hang my head in sadness. Why experience both feelings? It’s because I have been waiting for USC to crumble and no longer beat up on the Fighting Irish, but on the other hand, I wanted Notre Dame to be able to beat the Pete Carroll-led Trojans while they were masters of the college universe. If Notre Dame fans like me are having a plethora of mixed emotions about this continuing saga, I can’t imagine what USC fans are thinking. Deep down inside though, my happiness over Carroll leaving outweighs my sadness. Sure USC is Notre Dame’s biggest rival and I have respect for the Trojan program and history (did I mention the Irish haven’t beaten USC since 2001?), but I don’t like Carroll or 99 percent of the players he has recruited and led on to the field each Saturday.
What cannot be hidding, is the fact that USC under Pete Carroll turned into a slightly less abusive, less menacing, less confrontational and less fraudulent version of the 1980’s and early 90’s Miami Hurricanes. The key word in that sentence is slightly, which should be defined more clearly whenever the NCAA finally comes out with its evidence and report on the Trojan football program and its alleged infractions. USC supporters may claim that nothing has been proven yet and that the school and coaching staff knew nothing of the alleged infractions caused by Reggie Bush and others. Maybe so, but that’s not really the point as far as I’m concerned. My problem with the USC program stems largely from the culture that Carroll created and nurtured over the past decade: Mainly, turning the football team into a Hollywood attention loving, rock star persona-having and over-the-top confidence possessing program that showed not even the faintest sign of taking academics even remotely seriously. Maybe it’s just the team being a product of their geography, but when you have a program that acts like a traveling rock show, it only heightens the alleged problems that Carroll and USC have been accused of. Just look at the school’s most visible stars from the recent past: Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. Leinart seemed to live the life of a spoiled fraternity member, enrolling in joke-level classes and partying left and right. Bush has always seemed more down-to-earth and somewhat of a decent guy, but the allegations against him are just about as serious as you can get in the world of the NCAA. I just can’t imagine that many of the football players under Carroll were really students in Pasadena. The way the team handles itself, the allegations, the ultra-high level of winning…it’s all a giant arrow pointing to cheating on a pretty significant level. Notre Dame fans are supposed to “hate” USC but do it with a level of respect and admiration. Now, its become a different form of hate and it should not surprise USC fans when the rest of the world is claiming their program is dirty and Irish supporters are the first to rally behind the accusers. There may be a handful of reasons why Carroll left for the NFL, but I can’t imagine his own supporters are too happy with him jumping ship with NCAA sanctions looming on the horizon. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised by his resignation from USC because I’ve always looked at Carroll as a Bill Clinton-type of character. Besides their obvious similar physical features, Carroll has reminded me of “Slick Willy” in that he was tremendously successful at what he did, had an aura of “hipness” about him and always had a smile, a wink and a joke for everyone. But those attributes are shared with both men’s sketchy behavior, back room deals and allegations of countless rules violations and the like. By skipping town and leaving a mess in his wake, Carroll deserves all the negative press that is possible, no matter how great of a coach he is or how outstanding his record was at USC. It’s as if he made a deal with the devil to sell his soul for glory at USC, but was able to wiggle his way out of the punishment and continue life in the NFL, and with a pay raise to boot! Still, it makes me a bit sad to think of the ramifications that Carroll’s exit and the hammer that is about to come down from the NCAA. I’m not nearly sold that USC is going to fall of the face of the earth, far from it, but it is difficult to believe that without Carroll and with some form of probation (no matter how small), the Trojans will not be able to play at the high level they have since 2002. They may find it difficult to hire a good coach at this time, but I would think USC will get someone who is at the very least, competent enough to right the ship. If so, we can expect at least two or three more years of conference championship-level football out of USC. Don’t go writing obituaries just yet for the Men of Troy. It’s a bit of a bummer that there is the possibility that USC make slip back into its 1990’s level of winning because Notre Dame needs the Trojans to be good and vice versa. I know USC hasn’t been particularly elated that they’ve run over unranked and overmatched Irish teams the past decade. With Notre Dame’s two biggest rivals in Michigan and USC experiencing difficulties today, it makes you scratch your head and wonder how this will affect the future. And let’s not forget Notre Dame has problems of its own as well. Ultimately, the saga unfolding in Southern California will probably be a positive one in relation to Notre Dame. USC will probably take a small step back in the immediate to near-immediate future, and that will open the door for newly hired head coach Brian Kelly to assert his dominance over the Trojans. And if USC really falls on its face in the future, maybe we can be excited that this will potentially force Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick to schedule some marquee elite programs? What we do know is that when these two teams meet at the end of next season, it sure will be an intriguing match up between two new coaches. Good luck in the NFL Pete. Tags: Academics, Brian Kelly, fighting irish, Jack Swarbrick, Matt Leinart, notre dame, Notre Dame - USC, Reggie Bush, uscRelated posts Posted on January 2nd, 2010 by Erin McLaughlinAs I watched the Sugar Bowl last night, I was paying close attention to the style of offense being run by Cincinnati since that will be the offense run in South Bend next fall. One thing I learned is a bit of a concern as the Brian Kelly era begins. Before the game, I assumed that Interim Head Coach Jeff Quinn would join Brian Kelly at Notre Dame after the game. Apparently that is not the case at all. Quinn will be heading to the University of Buffalo to take over as Head Coach. Why is this a concern? Quinn has been an assistant coach for 26 years. 21 of them have been along side Brian Kelly. That means that Quinn was right there with Kelly through his success at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati. Quinn was Kelly’s offensive coordinator for many of those great offenses. To say that Quinn was a huge part of Kelly’s success is a major understatement. So how will Kelly do without Quinn? There have been a couple of coaches I can think of that constantly lose coordinators and still do fine. Those guys are Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. I know Charlie Weis and and Romeo Crennel were with Belichick a long time before they left. I am not sure how long Norm Chow and Steve Sarkesian were with Carroll before they left. Another coach is Jimmy Johnson. He had Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt at the University of Miami and they followed him to the Dallas Cowboys. Then when Johnson took over the Miami Dolphins, Turner and Wannstedt had both moved on to head coaching jobs. Johnson was clearly not the same coach without them and was nowhere near as successful. I don’t want to make a mountain out of a mole hill here. But when you are a successful coach and one of your top assistants who was with you for 21 years is no longer with you, that is a huge loss. Hopefully, Kelly has somebody that can be as successful as Quinn was. Tags: Brian Kelly, Charlie Weis, notre dame, south bendRelated posts Posted on December 30th, 2009 by Erin McLaughlinAs this Notre Dame fan is enjoying the bowl season, I think I speak for all domers when I say it just isn’t the same without Notre Dame. That is the case for the second time in three years. In that time the only bowl, the Irish played in was the Hawaii Bowl. The image above is the only trophy Notre Dame has hoisted in 16 years. Looking at realistically, Notre Dame has not been a serious contender for a National Championship at all during that time. Is it because Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis have all been that bad of coaches? Many may say yes, but if you remember Lou Holtz’s final years they weren’t anything special either. Holtz wasn’t really forced out. He resigned on his own terms. Did he know something deep down. Holtz was allowed to bring in certain players that didn’t meet academic standards for a good portion of his tenure. However, the new athletic director stopped allowing that toward the end of the Holtz era. On one hand, it is very admirable of Notre Dame to expect more of there players. That is the reason I have always rooted for Notre Dame. They hold their athletes to a higher standard. It is rare to hear about a Notre Dame player in the news for something bad. It is not acceptable to be a thug in South Bend. On the other hand, does not being good at physics make you a thug? If so I am a thug. Does not being a good writer make you a thug? If so, about half of the members on Bleacher Report are thugs. The point is that certain people are just not good at academics but are great athletes. Are we really misrepresenting what Notre Dame stands for by allowing kids like this in? I remember a quote from Rudy. Rudy’s dad was trying to convince him to stay and work at the plant. He said, “Notre Dame is a place for smart kids and great athletes. It is not for us.” The “great athletes” part seems to be less important than the “smart kids” part in 2009. Is it commendable for Notre Dame to take a position like that? In a way it is. At the same time, athletics is supposed to have high standards too. The football team is supposed to be among the nation’s best. It hasn’t been for almost two decades now and yet the administration hasn’t lowered it’s academic standards for football players. I am not convinced that is a good thing though. The purpose of a college is to educate students in an institution of higher learning to best prepare them for a career that best suits them. Along those premises, if a player is a really good football player but not really good at academics, what career choice best suits him? Last I checked college football is a form of higher learning that prepares the kids for a career. That doesn’t mean the NFL although that is an option. There are other league’s like the CFL where players can make a good living. Also, doesn’t football teach kids how to work as a team and do your role well. I don’t know what career doesn’t require those skills. Notre Dame wants it’s athletes to be held to the same standards as anybody else. That makes me scratch my head. The way I see athletes have higher standards. To be an All American at Notre Dame, you also have to be a good student in the classroom. While that may sound good to most people, let me ask do you have to play a sport in order to graduate with honors at Notre Dame? We know the answer to that. Isn’t that a double standard? I am not saying I want Notre Dame to get away from what it represents. I am saying I want it to get back to what it represents. That is the “smart kids” and “great athletes” part. Right now there are loads of “smart kids.” Unfortunately there aren’t as many “great athletes” as there used to be. I in no way want to start putting “morally questionable” kids on the football team. I just think it is time for the university to understand that being a “great athlete” but not a “smart kid” doesn’t make a player a criminal. Notre Dame has always maintained it’s high academic standards and that is great. At the same time, Athletics (especially the football team) is supposed to have high standards too. Tags: Academics, bob davie, Charlie Weis, Hawaii, lou holtz, notre dame, rudy, south bendRelated posts |
 
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