The regular season is over and the Irish finished 10-0 against an ACC (+South Florida) schedule and are headed to the ACC Championship game to rematch Clemson. What a run it has been! Now, the question I have for you is: Did you miss playing USC at any point this season? Did you miss Navy? Did you miss Stanford?

The only game from the original 2020 schedule I missed at any time was the Wisconsin game because it would have been a solid win should ND have lost to Clemson. However, I haven't missed it since November 7.

U

Both Irish lines were superior in the Nov. 7 victory over the Tigers, but there will be some changes this time along the Notre Dame front on offense.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-clemson-a-lot-on-the-lines

There's still football to be played, but Fighting Irish faithful for the time being can savor a special 10-0 achievement.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/note-dame-s-10-for-10-0-

Here are tonight's Lucky Charms...

*** In speaking to a source today, I'm told that Los Angeles Loyola cornerback Ceyair Wright's visit to Notre Dame went well. His family enjoyed their time in South Bend. When Wright visited Notre Dame last December, it was with his father, while this trip was with his mother. He didn't want to make a decision on a school without having his mom seeing the school. Well, good news on this front, as I'm told his mother really enjoyed the visit. Notre Dame is still very much in the thick of this recruitment, but he is not signing in December and will announce his decision Jan. 2. So there is more time to go here.

*** There's been no news yet from Oxnard (Calif.) Pacifica defensive end Devin Aupiu, but I am still feeling great about where the Irish stand in this recruitment. I'm told he will sign next Wednesday and enroll early at his school of choice, and I believe that will be Notre Dame.

*** Evanston (Ill.) High class of 2022 linebacker Sebastian Cheeks made it to South Bend this past Saturday to walk around campus and spent time around South Bend. I'm very close to putting in a FutureCast pick in for Notre Dame in this recruitment, but the only reason I have some pause is that he's been adamant on wanting to stay patient with his recruiting process. Cheeks doesn't have a ton of tape because he's battled injuries and Illinois isn't playing football this fall, so he wants to prove himself in the spring. But still, I feel that the Irish will ultimately win this recruitment. I'll post an article on Cheeks' visit tomorrow.

*** If you hold 20 offers and you trim your list down to 16, then I roll my eyes. But if you hold 36 scholarships and then cut it down to 16, you're good in my book. Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep defensive tackle Keith Miles Jr. announced a top schools list of Texas A&M, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Texas, Miami, Arizona State, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Michigan, USC, Duke, Rutgers and Boston College. You can read my article on Miles from late October; the Irish are in a good early spot here.

Scott Boras claims that despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic in 2020, no MLB team lost any money in 2020. I guess Boras feels that there is no reason why his clients should not continue to receive their multi-million dollar contracts in 2021.

Maybe Boras knows more than the rest of us - though he gives no proof of his claim. I still find it hard to believe that when the Chicago Cubs claim that a MLB team makes 70% of their revenue from ticket sales, concession sales, etc. based on fans attending their games, and they had zero fans attending games in 2020; and their television money was reduced because the television game inventory was reduced by 67% - I just find it difficult to believe the Boras claims.

• All thoughts on COVID, statistics, speculation, updates, etc. should be posted in the daily thread.

• COVID threads that pop up separately on the board will be merged into our daily thread — with the exception of sports news items that are related to COVID (school testing updates, announcements, etc.). These can have their own threads but our staff has final discretion.

• As always, political posts – whether in the COVID thread or not – will be deleted.

All's quiet on the Notre Dame football front again with no new positive tests through this weekend.

Even the BC quarterback not named Phil made it:

QUARTERBACK – Dennis Grosel, Boston College, Jr., QB, Wiloughby, Ohio
Tied a 38-year-old BC single-game record originally set by Doug Flutie with 520 passing yards in Saturday’s 43-32 road loss at Virginia • Set a career high with 32 pass completions and matched his career high with three touchdown passes • Surpassed his previous career high of 229 passing yards in a single game with 251 yards in the first half alone • Grosel’s 520 yards passing were the most ever allowed by Virginia in a game and the most by an Eagles quarterback since Chris Crane’s 428 at NC State in 2008.

CO-RUNNING BACK – Kyren Williams, Notre Dame, R-Fr., RB, St. Louis, Mo.
Eclipsed the 1,000-yards rushing mark for the season with 110 in the No. 2 Fighting Irish’s 45-21 win over Syracuse • First Notre Dame player since Josh Adams in 2017 to reach 1,000 yards rushing for a season • Leads all FBS freshmen in rushing touchdowns (12), total touchdowns (13) and total rushing yards (1,011) • Ranks eighth among all FBS players nationally in rushing TDs, ninth in total TDs and fifth in rushing yards.

CO-RUNNING BACK – Sean Tucker, Syracuse, Fr., RB, Owings Mills, Md.
Became the first player to rush for more than 100 yards against Notre Dame this season with 113 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries • Led the way for Syracuse’s offense, which registered a season-high 229 yards on the ground and 414 yards of total offense • Also caught two passes for 46 yards, the second-most yardage by Orange receiver in Saturday’s game.

RECEIVER – Javon McKinley, Notre Dame, Gr., WR, Corona, Calif.
Caught seven passes for 111 yards and three touchdowns in No. 2 Notre Dame’s 45-21 win over Syracuse • The three touchdown receptions marked a career-high and were his first three touchdowns of this season • McKinley scored two of his three TDs in the first half, marking the first time he has scored multiple touchdowns in a single half • Joined Ben Skowronek (versus Pitt) as the second Irish player to post a three-touchdown receiving game this season• McKinley and Skowronek are the only two players in Notre Dame history to record three touchdown catches versus a Power 5 opponent.

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN – Ryan Swoboda, Virginia, Jr., RT, Windermere, Fla.
Graded out at a near-perfect 96 percent in pass protection (allowing no sacks) in Saturday’s 43-32 win over Boston College • Added a run-blocking score of 86 percent to grade out at 91 percent overall • His four “flat back” blocks helped the Cavalier offense generate a season-high 262 rushing yards and a season-high 549 yards of total offense.

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN – Quincy Roche, Miami, Sr., DE, Randallstown, Md.
Showed no rust after three weeks off, as he led the Hurricanes’ defense in Saturday night’s 48-0 win over Duke • Three of his six total tackles were for loss • Finished with 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery to earn the right to wear the turnover chain for the third time this season • Roche is the FBS’ active leader in career sacks and tackles for loss.

LINEBACKER – Payton Wilson, NC State, So., LB, Hillsborough, N.C.
Despite suffering dislocations of both shoulders in the first half of Saturday’s 23-13 win over Georgia Tech, led NC State with 11 tackles while playing a season low 53 snaps • Registered 2.5 tackles for loss • Made two third-down tackles and helped on another third-down stop with a quarterback hurry.

DEFENSIVE BACK – Clarence Lewis, Notre Dame, Fr., CB, Edison, N.J.
True freshman led the Irish with 12 tackles in Saturday’s win over Syracuse, the most by a Notre Dame player in a single game since Julian Love’s 12 versus USC in 2018 • Ten of Lewis’ tackles were solo stops • Also broke up a pass and forced a fumble • Pass breakup came on third down to force a Syracuse punt • Helped Notre Dame limit Syracuse to 15 first downs.

CO-SPECIALIST – Christopher Dunn, NC State, Jr., PK, Lexington, N.C.
With three field goals in NC State’s 23-13 win over Georgia Tech, now holds the school career record for field goals (56) • Scored 11 total points while connecting on field goals from 40, 20 and 39 yards • Ranks 10th in ACC history with 1.55 FGs per game (56 in 36 games) • His .862 career field goal percentage is the fourth-best mark ever for an ACC player.

CO-SPECIALIST – Porter Wilson, Duke, R-Fr., P, Fairlawn, Ohio
Punted seven times for 312 yards (44.6-yard average) in Saturday night’s loss to Miami • Six punts were downed inside the Miami 20 yard line, and the seventh was a 52-yarder that resulted in a touchback • Four of his punts covered more than 50 yards.

ROOKIE – Myles Murphy, Clemson, Fr., DE, Marietta, Ga.
Tied a season high with seven tackles in Saturday night’s 45-10 win at Virginia Tech, including a forced fumble that led to a Clemson touchdown two plays later • Became the first Clemson true freshman in the Dabo Swinney era to record three forced fumbles in a season and the first Clemson freshman (true or redshirt) with three forced fumbles in a season since redshirt freshman Ed McDaniel in 1988.

Going 3-7, interviewing with SCar, OK. But this press conference wasn't exactly the best look, PR

Login to view embedded media
You be the judge

Login to view embedded media

Fun interview. Id really love to see him make it in the NFL. He’s already accomplished more than anyone could have expected, and no matter what, this kid is a winner and deserves to be recognized as a Heisman candidate.

Enjoy!

Login to view embedded media

I think the men’s basketball team has a chance to have a nice season. They may not be firing on all cylinders yet, but if they can stay healthy they have all the ingredients to make a nice run. I think they go 2-2 over the next four games and finish around fifth in the ACC.

and strong tonight

BlueandGold.com's Mike Singer, Patrick Engel and Lou Somogyi gather to give their takeaways on Notre Dame's 45-21 victory over Syracuse and what's next for the Fighting Irish with the ACC Championship game set for Dec. 19 against Clemson.

By finishing the season undefeated at 10-0 and a No. 2 ranking in the College Football Playoff, have the Irish already locked in a playoff spot?

Please join us by clicking play below at 8 p.m. ET or click this link at 8 to join us to post your questions in the YouTube comment section (You'll need a YouTube/gmail account to do the latter).

Login to view embedded media

Donovan Edwards, Audric Estime, Logan Diggs, Byron Cardwell and 2022 RB recruits included

Did you enjoy Notre Dame playing in the ACC this season?

On run defense, Clarence Lewis, blitzes and more:

The Irish had to rally from a 33-25 halftime deficit against Horizon League power IUPUI before Westbeld took over in the fourth quarter in the 65-58 win.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/freshman-phenom-maddy-westbeld-leads-notre-dame-victory

I know that the broadcasters said that Clark was spotted in a knee brace but I can't help but wonder if Drew has already surpassed him? Obviously, as the leader of the Drew Pyne fan club I've been paying close attention to him and I've noticed this entire season he's the first person to greet Book every time he comes to the sideline. He's the go to for warmups. When the offense is on the field, Pyne is standing next to Kelly. I'm sure there will be an honest to goodness competition but as of now he's got all the markings of "heir apparent".

Hoping we’ve seen the last of him this year. Not trying to be overly critical, but he just drops passes, can’t break tackles, and seems to be involved in a lot of negative plays.

I know he has elite speed, but things just aren’t clicking. I’d rather have a slower wideout who is more reliable.

Logan Diggs was an absolute stud in a loss.

If you didn't watch/listen to the postgame show, catch a five minute snippet below.

Login to view embedded media

Maybe I missed it, but I thought that you were going to advise us as soon as Ceyair announced his silent commitment.