Saturday, August 20, 2011

Think This Story Won't Be Told A Few Times?


With Lou Holtz holding down a spot on ESPN's College Gameday set -- and his son Skip leading his team into Notre Dame Stadium -- the story of their family ties to ND will be told many, many times these next two weeks.  Here's a story from today's St. Petersburg Times:

LINK:  THE HOLTZ FAMILY & NOTRE DAME

Brady Quinn Moves Ahead of Tebow -- YEAH!

ESPN's Adam Schefter just "tweeted" that former Notre Dame All-American Brady Quinn will be the Broncos back-up QB behind Kyle Orton tonight.  Here's an article posted earlier today from the Denver Post that gave some hints to this news!

LINK:  QUINN vs. TEBOW


The Most Expensive Tickets in College Football

CNBC came out again with their feature on the most expensive tickets for the upcoming college football season.  Two of ND's games are among the ten most expensive -- won't be hard to guess which two!  Check the link below:


LINK:  COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S MOST EXPENSIVE TICKETS

Skip Holtz's Team Has New Uniforms


This photo was just "tweeted" by the University of South Florida's athletic department.  It's not quite Oregon - but it's a start...  I wonder what helmet, jersey and pant combination we'll see in Notre Dame Stadium on September 3rd?  I'm betting we'll see what #36 is wearing...

Want to go to Notre Dame? -- Better Study!


When you factor in the ACT test score of every member of Notre Dame's Class of 2015 -- all 2025 of them -- you end up with a 33, which is three short of a perfect 36.  More than half of the Class of 2015 graduated as Valedictorian or Salutatorian from their high school -- think about that!  Here's a story in the Observer that speaks to the talents of this year's freshman class at the University of Notre Dame.

LINK:  NOTRE DAME'S CLASS OF 2015

"Once and Future Kings" -- ESPN on ND IRISH


ESPN's Brian Bennett filed a story from ND the other day -- that was quite positive -- as they profiled the top independent football teams in the country.  When you click on the link below -- please note the other stories about the Irish -- in the right hand column:

LINK:  ONCE AND FUTURE KINGS

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Ranked #16 in AP Poll

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame football team was ranked #16 today in the first AP poll for the 2011 season.  Looking at the AP-Top 25 -- the Irish will play one team ranked higher than them going into the season and that's #7 Stanford.  Beyond the away game with Stanford, the Irish have Michigan State (ranked #17) and USC (ranked #25) in the top 25 -- both games at home.  Here's the link to the AP POLL -- along with a link to how each of the AP voters ranked Notre Dame:

LINK:  AP POLL RANKS ND #16

LINK:  HOW THE AP VOTERS -- RANKED ND

Brady Quinn Photos -- Denver Post


My brother Jay lives in the Denver area -- this morning he sent me a note and a link to a photo gallery in the Denver Post of Brady Quinn's career (Denver / Cleveland / Notre Dame).  

Jay tells me that former Denver Bronco and local sports talk radio host Alfred Williams thinks that Quinn is finally becoming a NFL quarterback and that the Bronco’s have a tough decision to make.  Let's hope for Brady's sake this is true!!! 

I don't think Brady is going to like the photos (more than one) of his "eyes closed" throwing the football -- maybe that's been the problem!!!

LINK:  BRADY QUINN PHOTOS

#1 Ranked Irish Win Season Opener!

The defending National Champions opened up their 2011 - 2012 season with a 2-0 win over Wisconsin yesterday!  Here's a link to the UND.COM story:

LINK:  TOP RANKED IRISH -- WIN SEASON OPENER

Jimmy Clausen vs. Cam Newton -- Update


The Carolina Panthers played the Miami Dolphins last night in an NFL exhibition football game -- and the Panthers #1 pick Cam Newton got the starting nod.  Now, if you watched the ESPN highlight package on Sports Center you would have thought Newton had one of the best games ever in a first start (albeit an exhibition game) for a rookie starter.

Well, here are the facts about Mr. Newton's start:
  • 7 for 14 passing for 66 yards
  • 1 completion to a wide receiver a 2 yard gain
  • Longest completion -- 21 yards
  • Ran 4 times for 18 yards
  • Led the Panther first-team offense to 90 total yards, in his first half of play
  • In Newton's two exhibition games to date -- he's yet to convert a third-down

Unfortunately, Mr. Clausen didn't do any better:
  • 9 for 15 passes for 69 yards
  • Longest completion -- 21 yards
  • Carolina's 10 points, came when Clausen was in the game

LINK:  CHARLOTTE OBSERVER 

LINK:  ESPN NFL NATION BLOG

LINK:  USA TODAY

LINK:  MIAMI HERALD

LINK:  SUN SENTINEL