beating Michigan St in basketball today?

Not a particular good one with a 9-8-1 record, and only 1-7 since 1963.

Bronze Medal, 1959: Joe Kuharich's first season as head coach ends with a 16-6 upset of No. 7 USC at home for a 5-5 finish — and, believe it or not, a No. 17 finish in the AP poll. Fullback Gerry Gray scored both touchdowns for the Irish and also recorded a safety on a kickoff.
Watch this video at the 2:44 mark as Gray records the safety while USC's return man pulls a Roy Riegels backward run toward his own end zone.
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Silver Medal, 1992: Despite a flu outbreak that especially had tailback Reggie Brooks heaving on the sidelines, Brooks romps for 227 yards on 19 carries and scores of 55, 44 and 12 yards in No. 5 Notre Dame's 31-23 win at No. 19 USC, their 10th straight conquest of the Trojans. The 55-yard run is one the greatest I've ever seen at Notre Dame in terms of sheer speed while splitting defenders in the middle.
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Gold Medal, 1953: The undefeated and No. 2-ranked Irish crush USC in the Coliseum 48-14. Joe Heap returned the opening kickoff for a 94-yard touchdown, and Heisman winner John Lattner has a career high 174 yards rushing on 17 carries and four touchdowns, the last from 50 yards.

What’s the chances that the Fighting Khakis claim a Covid outbreak on 12/11, cancel the OSU game knocking the Bucks out of the playoffs?

Can’t decide what would be more awesome, that...or watching a 65-3 Michigan beat down.

Five-star 2022 OL target Zach Rice will be attending tomorrow’s Notre Dame vs. North Carolina game.
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Javon McKinley - he showed flashes in previous years but he sure didn’t look like he was on the trajectory to become the playmaker he is today.

Avery Davis - Same as McKinley

Kyren Williams - one of the most complete RBs ND has ever had. Incredible that this is really his first season getting the bulk of the playing time.

“He loves playing and wants to be great” - Brian Kelly

Ian Book - You could argue that Book had regressed in previous years. He’s never going to play in the NFL for any length of time or at all, but he has enough of a skill set for college football. He’s playing his best football right now.

ND’s defense - “Surprised” is too strong of a word, but there dominance is really something else. They’re not overly talented at CB or LB but the coaching staff has the whole unit playing at such a high level that it doesn’t matter. I’d be comfortable with Clark Lea being the next coach at ND with no head coaching experience.

This is not a team loaded with “5 star” players. Yet it has the “right” players, playing with confidence and swag while in position to make plays then executing at a high level. Still, I believe, the best is yet to come.

At the center of it all is Coach Kelly. This guy made changes to his personality and coaching style unlike any I have ever seen. When things start going wrong and the camera pans to the sideline now...to see him confidently keeping his composure, is huge. For me as a fan, I love it. The players benefit from it too.

The way he evolved after 2016 is also inspirational. Let’s enjoy the moment everyone. It’s a long time coming and it’s all thanks to Coach.

Sorry but they shouldn’t be in the playoffs playing 7 games against the worst schedule of any top 10 team

The PAC 12 officials calling this game late are vying for the worst crew in college football. Missed the obvious TD and the obvious offsides late in this game.

Book has the fastest back pedal when pressure comes in all of football. Amazing he doesn’t get sacked when lineman and LBs are running forward and he’s back pedaling. He has great footwork. Like crybaby said he is like a PG back there.

Some notable data from No. 2 Notre Dame's 31-17 victory over the No. 19 Tar Heels.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-north-carolina-by-the-numbers

Are they the winningest Coach/QB at ND? That’s 29 wins. How many did Rice have with Holtz? 28

I think that ND will win on Friday as I do not think North Carolina can keep ND from scoring 40+. If the Irish can hold North Carolina under 30 points, ND wins easily. However, I think that Tar Heels will score 31 or 35 on ND and will cause ND to have an uncomfortable win.

Favored by 1 point tomorrow at home against an 0-5 PSU team. And that 0-5 PSU team has a 53% chance of winning according to ESPN power index.

That is all

After a disappointing 0-2 debut last weekend at home versus Wisconsin, the Irish traveled to Ann Arbor and jumped to a 3-0 lead before staving off a late Wolverines rally and coming out with the 3-2 victory.

The Irish goals came from Nick Leivermann, Nate Clurman and Grant Silianoff, while sophomore goaltender Ryan Bischel made 32 saves, including 11 in the third period to secure the win in his first start of the season.

“It was a big first win for our team,” said head coach Jeff Jackson. “The fact that we got off to a good start was really important, those first couple of games we were chasing the entire time so it is a lot easier playing with the lead. I thought Ryan Bischel gave us a good game in net and then the good thing is we didn’t crumble after they scored that second goal. I thought we did a good job responding and playing pretty solid and that’s the most important thing. It’s still early in the season and I just want to get a little better every game and today was good progress.”

In the Michigan net, Strauss Mann finished with 15 saves. There was just one penalty called in the game, which Notre Dame successfully killed off early in the first period. The two teams will meet again tomorrow night to cap the series.

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Very easy to pull for. Hard for me to say this in the past but Brian Kelly and his staff have been magnificent in a tough year for any sports team to be it’s best. Made life a little more enjoyable

Even the first two drives we missed sacks and tackles that led to the scores. Once we cleaned those up we shut them down.

I was reading Stewart Mandel's Mailbag on The Athletic today. He had an interesting response to a reader's question about Dabo Swinney and Clemson's recent bitching and complaining:

To me, Dabo is a classic case of the perils of power. As his program has grown into a full-fledged dynasty over the years, he’s ascended to a place personally where he can pretty much do and say whatever he wants, because who’s going to stand up to him? I’m guessing no one in and around Clemson University has said “no” or “maybe you shouldn’t do that” to him in years. When you’re that powerful, and you basically spend every day within the walls of your own self-designed football palace (complete with putt-putt course) surrounded by people you either hired or recruited … well, you could see why the guy doesn’t much care whose feathers he ruffles.

It’s too bad. Dabo had been so darn likeable, a refreshing antidote to Nick Saban and his band of football-robot proteges. The tables have turned since the start of the pandemic, where Saban is now the calming, intellectual voice of reason to Dabo’s petulant child.

Making great plays with an offensive line that couldn't block for $hit.

Great defensive adjustment. Excellent wearing down offensive pounding submission.

OSU might have to cancel game this week due to covid outbreak. This is huge news for ND if true. In the B1G, you pretty much have to cancel at least 2 games and if that happens they are ineligible for B1G Championship. Interesting development if this happens.

BlueandGold.com's Mike Singer and former Fighting Irish linebacker Mike Goolsby went live on YouTube 15 minutes after the conclusion of Notre Dame's road matchup with North Carolina to break down the 31-17 triumph and what's next for Brian Kelly's squad.

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Transcription from the opening few segments of the show...

Instant Takeaways

“Holistically, looking at the team, Notre Dame takes a professional approach. I would like to see them let their hair down some at times, but that professional approach has become our identity and it has served us well. Notre Dame came into this game down two starters on arguably its best unit which creates a big hole in the offensive line and then you lose probably your best overall player on defense, or at least one of the top two players on the team next to Owusu-Koramoah on defense when Kyle Hamilton went out with the targeting penalty. Then the defense handled business like it can and should. That is a championship level mentality to me.

“Notre Dame lost some kids today and got it done. If there was a weakness to this team, it is the secondary and losing Hamilton hurts. Then you play North Carolina with Sam Howell who just put up 50-something points last week and threw a bunch out of touchdowns, but you go out and hold him to 17 and a shutout in the second half? The [Notre Dame players] stepped up and we saw that today.

“That has been the question all year long for Notre Dame was whether or not they had the depth to get it done and be a championship level team in situations like today and they did. That is the mark of a championship-level program. Sure, everybody wants to win every game by a four touchdown margin but today we showed some of that mental toughness and got out of there with a good win.

Who Flashed?

“Number one for me has got to be Javon McKinley. What a feel good story for this kid. There were question marks surrounding him for years at Notre Dame and rightfully so. Now, we have seen him get progressively better and become a deep ball threat. His hands have gotten much better and that is evident with some of the great catches he has made not only in this game but all-season long.”

“Defensively speaking, I think the secondary played well today but that was largely due to how well the front four played today as a whole. We put up some sacks but it was really about making Howell uncomfortable and making him make throws he did not want to make and getting in his face. He did not look like the quarterback he was touted to be today and a lot of that was down to the front four getting consistent pressure on Howell and making him uncomfortable.”

“Another on defense that flashed for me was Marist Liufau. We did not see a lot of Shayne Simon this week or last week, so that will be something to watch as the season continues. I love Marist as a player, and I love his body type and stature. I know I called him a liability in the past and it was true at the time, I think he is best served as a blitzer and it’s best to keep things simple for him and let him use his athleticism. I think he really showed up today and made a difference.”

“I will even give Drew White some love today, he played well. He flashed and made plays today and inserted himself on defense.”

On Kyren Williams

“Kyren looks fresh! I think the coaches sat him down about mid-way through the Boston College game to give him a rest because he got his butt kicked against Clemson, not in a bad way though! He was so great against Clemson and took a lot of hits, so coming out of a bye Kyren looked very fresh and he and Tyree both are a legit threat to break one at any time in the game. What you saw today is what you get with a fresh Kyren Williams. The speed and everything that he has is obvious during the game but the contact he created is remarkable. Later in the game in the fourth quarter two UNC players tried to hit him pretty hard and he managed to stay on his feet and scoot for another three yards or so. His ability to keep his feet in traffic is just tremendous.

UNC Thoughts

“I don’t think a team like UNC, as many years as we have been watching, teams develop personalities. Notre Dame has picked up a workman-like approach, while the SEC teams and teams like North Carolina don’t want to get in a fistfight with a team like Notre Dame. Heading towards the end of the game you saw it get a little chippy with them. Notre Dame really limited UNC’s splash plays and limited their momentum by not allowing those big plays that allow them to get on you in an instant. When you don’t allow those big plays, more often than not a team like that will fold and we saw that today.”

Notre Dame new winning formula

“It’s not rocket science! Look at the NFL model right now. When the weather gets cold towards playoff time, you have to run the ball. You have to. If the opposite were true, Peyton Manning would have more than one super bowl ring. It is something you can lean on, play good defense, run the ball, and don’t turn the ball over. Then, you can allow Ian Book to play some ‘backyard football’ and do some things and let him be creative. We saw that today and it is good when he can be creative. It is a traditional-type of football approach with running and the backyard football with Book and he is a guy that you trust to not turn the ball over and still be able to be creative because they trust him to get it done. The staff trusts him and while he makes some crazy throws like the flip passes we saw today, they trust he will not turn the ball over and he has not in a long time for Notre Dame.”

Yes I'm young but I've never seen a Notre Dame team with this many players that are just very good, lunch pail football players. Not flashy but they get the job done.

Guys like Book, Kyren, Tremble, this offensive line, defense ect...Great coaching staffs on both sides of the ball and an absolute will to win every week.

No matter what happens the rest of the season this is a team and coaching staff to be proud of. Hopefully they can keep it going and make a run at this thing.

In true politician form, he sounded to be campaigning for Book to come back next year saying he is a “great college quarterback”. Am I reading too much into it? I don’t blame him one bit as we would be fortunate to have him back and I’m not sure if his pro potential at this point.