I remember only being around 17 during that season but the Tennessee and Penn State losses were 'baffling.'

The Hawaii win wasn't much of a 'turnaround.'

Was there a reason that the bottom 'fell out' at the end of season?

Mike, Andrew and I will post thoughts, stats and updates in here.

Been a critic of Kelly, but this is a physically and emotionally tough team.

Big season for Will

Magnificent debut by Virginia Tech junior transfer Dara Mabrey with 37 points, but shorthanded Irish squander late 77-70 lead. Game story here.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-women-lose-opener-at-ohio-86-85

ND just sent out the release. Everyone from the two deep is expected to play.

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South Carolina was the first. Any other coaches in the hot seat? Stanford? I don’t buy the PSU or UM hype. Interesting that no one is talking about the USC coach. Anyone have any thoughts on who are the hottest names in CFB right now outside of ND who will be getting HC opportunities? For clarity, this is not a dead horse Clark Lea thread.

is still being shown. I just saw it while watching the Florida-South Carolina. As much as I love ND getting national exposure, I gotta shake my head on that one.

Maybe only us Irish fans notice it while the rest of the country else doesn't

Unless someone wants an AU-Bama thread during the ND game, all college football talk outside of ND can happen here

Just saw a report that Lugg will be a game time decision.

I usually dont read much into the media and talking heads, but ud think we were playing bama today with the commentary im reading and hearing. It makes me very nervous. Objectively, is our defense really that good? Certainly against the run we are elire. But the pass defense leaves a lot to be desired. Bama Clemson and osu would be favored by two tds or more against nc. We obviously are not. And so much is riding on this game, because IF ND WINS TODAY, I really feel they are likely to get in the cfp regardless of what happens in the acc championship game. Today is indeed a playoff game.

So, here we are. Back in the pre-season a lot of people around the country probably wouldn't have guessed that this would be the national game on ABC. Much is riding on the game for ND, and if you listened to Mack Brown this week, much is riding on the game for North Carolina in terms of national recognition. But, when I think of North Carolina athletics, I think of this.

It's going to be another one of those games where ND has a bullseye on their chests, and that's OK because there's something a little different about this team, and it reminds me of the tough physical ND teams that I watched growing up. I don't believe this team will be intimidated, and it certainly won't be intimidated by the crowd as most folks will be back in Mayberry and Mount Pilot watching the game at home. @DillonDomer2010 started a thread and he asked what are we thankful for regarding ND football? I saved my answer for today, and after the injury to Patterson, and Kraemer being out a few weeks, I'm thankful for the talent and depth along the O line. I have complete confidence in Josh Lugg because he's proven himself to be very capable. But what about Zeke Correll? His very first start and his only real playing time has come when the game was already wrapped up and the subs were in. I look at it this way. There were 2 other options at center, and there were 2 other options at guard, but the staff decided to put Zeke in. Must mean they have a bunch of confidence in him, and I'm going to side with the people that watch him in practice every day. Could the rest of the season possibly be an audition for Zeke? I would have to believe so especially since Patterson has some flexibility.


However, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, and you can attribute that to local ND fan @RPMcMurphyyy not being able to get a ticket for the game. At kick-off it will be 65 degrees with mostly sunny skies, and winds out of the NNW at 7mph. By the 4th quarter expect the temperature to be at 59 degrees with clear skies and a light wind. The is no chance of rain.

While ND is on offense, I would expect North Carolina to sell-out and try to stop the run. They play multiple fronts, and I would expect them to crowd the LOS on early downs. I would like to see a little tempo today, and I say that because of a quote from a NC defender during the week. He said that "They like to huddle on offense and that's going to give us a chance to catch our breath."
The Tar Heels are not very big, and their depth along the front are mainly true freshmen, so I can see how this comment has some validity. Getting positive yardage, and making 3rd downs manageable, are the keys to success, and ND has done a good job of this all year. If Book and the receivers are on their game, then I don't see this defense stopping us.

Defensively, stop the run. We'll see the best RB tandem that we'll see all year, and ND needs to be good tacklers today. Make them one dimensional because their O line gives up some sacks, and if we can do that with 4 rushers, and contain Howell from taking off and running, then I don't see their receivers being good enough to consistently beat our secondary. I'd love for this defense to be in a position today where they don't have to bring Kyle Hamilton up around the LOS all day. He'll still be up there, but I'd rather it be not out of necessity.

Hope everyone has a great day, and for me, I'm going into work for a bit, and will be back in plenty of time to watch some of the earlier games. During the week, I called an emergency meeting of the Starkey family, and told them that we are waiting until Saturday to put up the tree. I don't win many (I don't win any), but this time I came out on top.

Good Luck Everyone

GO IRISH!

What a great honor it must be to play a PAC-12 team. Because of all the conference games being cancelled due to covid, they are allowing out-of-conference teams the honor of stepping on the field against PAC-12 teams.

However according to the above article, there are conditions they must observe in order to receive this great honor:

The games must be played at the home field of the Pac-12 school and visiting teams must submit to Pac-12 COVID-19 protocols. Also, the games must be broadcast only by the Pac-12’s TV partners, Fox and ESPN. And the clincher — at least in the case of the offer that the University of Washington made to play BYU — they won’t get a cut of the TV money. That goes only to the Pac-12 host and the conference.

All this and more for the privilege of being on the same field as a Pac-12 team.

If a PAC-12 school called my school with those terms, I would tell that PAC-12 team to piss up a rope.

ESPN lists the cheapest ticket prices for games involving top 25 teams this weekend. ND is $381; Bama/Auburn is $208; all other games are under $100.

TV ratings will be sky high for the ND game.

USC with COVID issues
Colorado may wind up hosting SDSU

Im looking online for tickets for a game in 2021, 4 tickets. Doesnt matter which game. I came across an online ticket site called “ barrystickets” and has nd tickets for sale to all home games. Does anyone know if this is legit? Is there a legit way to buy nd tickets online? Thanks for any help.

Some notable data and topics when No. 2 Notre Dame (8-0) faces No. 19 North Carolina (6-2) when the game is telecast at 3:30 p.m. ET today by ABC.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-vs-north-carolina-countdown-10-to-1

Your guide to this afternoon's meeting between No. 2 Notre Dame (8-0) at No. 19 North Carolina (6-2), telecast on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/gameday-central-notre-dame-fighting-irish-vs-north-carolina

Seldom is a non-offensive lineman so spotlighted for his blocking as junior tight end Tommy Tremble.
https://notredame.rivals.com/news/notre-dame-tommy-tremble-imbue-physical-culture

The Irish are 7-7-2 on this date, and today we put a new twist on the Gold Medal — our first not actually involving a game.

Bronze Medal, 2010: Under first-year head coach Brian Kelly, Notre Dame ends its school record-tying eight-game losing streak to USC (it had also lost eight straight to Michigan State from 1955-63) with a 20-16 victory at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the rain. A power-oriented final drive is capped by a Robert Hughes TD with 2:23 left in the game, and the Trojans also drop a scoring pass thereafter. Freshman QB Tommy Rees improves to 3-0 as the ND starter to end the regular season at 7-5.
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Silver Medal, 1913: One of the most extraordinary months in school history concludes with a 29-7 victory at Texas on Thanksgiving Day, led by All-American QB Gus Dorais. This is the month that first-year head coach and AD Jesse Harper put Notre Dame football much more on the national map as an independent and take-on-all-comers school. It began with a stunning 35-13 triumph at powerful Army, followed by a 14-7 win at Penn State six days later on a Friday. Then on Nov. 22 the Irish are victorious at St. Louis versus Christian Brothers (20-7) before the rout of Texas five days later. Dorais kicked three field goals against the Longhorns, which would not be matched by an Irish player until 58 years later.
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Gold Medal, 1985: One day after the resignation of head coach Gerry Faust, who was 30-25-1 and with a game remaining at No. 4 Miami, Minnesota's Lou Holtz is introduced as Notre Dame's new head coach the day before Thanksgiving. Although he was released as the Arkansas head coach two years earlier, he had been a college head coach for 16 years with a 116-65-4 career mark, with top 10 finishes at both NC State (once in 1974) and Arkansas (four times). Play the video below.
https://und.com/the-hiring-of-lou-holtz-125-years-of-notre-dame-football-moment-071/

In honor of Thanksgiving and expressing gratitude, thus far this season, which player or coach are you most thankful for? Along the same lines, and maybe it’s the same player for you, but who has surprised you the most this season?

Thankful for: Book. His play of late has propelled this offense to a level I previously didn’t think possible. His game against Clemson gave us the most gratifying win of the last 3 decades.

Surprised by: Kyren Williams. After only seeing him for one snap last season, don’t think any of us could have predicted how complete a back he would be for us this season. His ball security aside, he’s been absolutely fantastic and of course was a HUGE part of that Clemson victory, as well.

And, in an act of pure kiss-assery, a very big thank you to @Lou Somogyi @MikeSinger @Patrick Engel @Mason Plummer @AndrewMentock and @MikeGoolsby for their incredible content. From the articles and podcasts, to the recruiting info, to board activity, this site is the best in the biz.

Was it rescheduled for a specific time/date?

Thanks

They have such a good offense, but Notre Dame is going to operate a slow burn clock control run game that isn’t going to give UNC a lot of opportunities. I fully see the Irish scoring on every possession, the only question will be the red zone efficiency, which with their defensive line, I don’t think there will be any problem there.

On the opposite side, I like the idea of locking down the run game and forcing them into a one dimensional offense. They’ll rack up tons of yards, but there’ll be enough incompletions in there to stall drives to the point that we get out to a big lead. From there, Ian book has been playing so well it’s hard to see him letting it slip away.

I like all the staff predictions. This is how I see this game going. Happy thanksgiving!

if you want a kick to the nuts on Thanksgiving. I think Kelly would win a NC with this recruiting classes Weis had.

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No news this week so far has been good news. Through this past Sunday, 191 tests were administered that all came up negative for the Notre Dame team. One member was in isolation from a previous positive test, and no one in quarantine through contact tracing.