Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Skylar & Manti -- Only Notre Dame!


The two BMOC's at Notre Dame wear a Headband and a Lei...

Skylar Diggins and Manti Te'o recently sat down with Kate Sullivan '98 and talked about their Notre Dame experience.  Good stuff here:

LINK:  SKYLAR AND MANTI

ND Athletic Director Talks Football and Hoops


Jack Swarbrick sat down with Fighting Irish Digital Media's Jack Nolan this week to talk about the Notre Dame football program and men's basketball program...

LINK:  SWARBRICK ON FOOTBALL

LINK:  SWARBRICK ON BASKETBALL

"200 Phone Calls Per Hour" ND Bookstore...


It appears the Notre Dame Family has been awaken!

A story ran this morning that "demand for Notre Dame branded merchandise is reaching HISTORIC LEVELS..."  Here's the link:

LINK:  HISTORIC LEVELS

Manti Mania -- Continues Today, the Latest...


This is quite a week for Notre Dame's two-time All-American -- he collected two national awards yesterday (Butkus and Nagurski) to go with the Sportsmanship award he received last Thursday night...

Is there a HEISMAN in Manti's future?

Sure hope so!


LINK:  ESPN BLOG -- "ALL THINGS HEISMAN"

LINK:  THE OKLAHOMAN

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

LINK:  USA TODAY

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINK:  PHILLY MAGAZINE

LINK:  HAWAII REPORTER

LINK:  NBC CHICAGO

Monday, December 3, 2012

Manti Wins the Bronco Nagurski Award !!!


The Charlotte Touchdown Club awarded Notre Dame's All-American Linebacker the Nagurski Award -- symbolizing the top defensive player in the nation!

Once again, Manti is the first Notre Dame player to win this award!

Congrats!

LINK:  TE'O WINS NAGURSKI


When Did the WSJ Turn Into a Sports Paper?


Some of the more engaging stories these past few weeks on Notre Dame football have come from the Wall Street Journal -- can you believe it!

Here's another fun story about Notre Dame's game with Alabama:

LINK:  BAMA, NOTRE DAME, OH MY!

Looks Like We'll Have Some Fans in Bama!



The students at Auburn have created these "WAR IRISH" t-shirts to wear to show they're rooting for Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game...

Does that mean "half the state" of Alabama will be rooting for ND?

Manti Te'o -- Butkus Award Winner!!!

This is the first HONOR of many this week for Notre Dame's two-time All-American Linebacker -- as Dick Butkus personally called Manti to let him know he's been selected to win the award. 

He'll be presented the Butkus Award on December 17th on the Notre Dame campus.

Manti Te'o is the first Notre Dame player to ever receive this award.

Congratulations Manti!

LINK:  BUTKUS AWARD

Sunday, December 2, 2012

BCS Bowl Teams -- Graduation Success Rate


The BCS Bowl Selection Show aired this evening on ESPN -- and here's the list of the teams playing in the BCS Bowl Games and their NCAA Graduation Success Rate.  As well as all of the other Bowl Games...

If you look at the BCS Bowl Match-ups -- you have three of the five games that will have a hard time selling all of their tickets:  Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl and yes, the Rose Bowl... 


BCS National Championship Game -- January 7, 2013
  • #1 Notre Dame: 97 GSR
  • #2 Alabama:  75 GSR
Current Betting Line:  Alabama is an 8.5 point favorite.
 

Rose Bowl Game -- January 1, 2013
  • #6 Stanford:  90 GSR
  • NR Wisconsin:  65 GSR
Current Betting Line:  Stanford is a 7.5 point favorite.


Sugar Bowl Game -- January 2, 2013:
  • #3 Florida:  75 GSR
  • #21 Louisville:  63 GSR
Current Betting Line:  Florida is a 16.5 point favorite.
 

Orange Bowl Game -- January 1, 2013:
  •  #12 Florida State:  55 GSR
  •  #15 Northern Illinois:  83 GSR
Current Betting Line:  Florida State is a 14 point favorite.


Fiesta Bowl Game -- January 3, 2013:
  •  #4 Oregon:  64 GSR
  •  #5 Kansas State:  58 GSR
Current Betting Line:  Oregon is an 8.5 point favorite.


ADDITIONAL BOWL GAMES

Cotton Bowl -- January 1, 2013
  • #9 Texas A&M:  69 GSR
  • #11 Oklahoma:  47 GSR

Capital One Bowl -- January 1, 2013
  • #7 Georgia:  69 GSR
  • #16 Nebraska:  68 GSR

Outback Bowl -- January 1, 2013
  • #10 South Carolina:  55 GSR
  • #18 Michigan:  69 GSR

Chick-Fil-A Bowl -- December 31, 2012
  • #8 LSU:  77 GSR
  • #14 Clemson:  75 GSR

Alamo Bowl -- December 28, 2012
  • #23 Texas:  58 GSR
  • #13 Oregon State:  60 GSR

Holiday Bowl -- December 27, 2012
  • #17 UCLA:  62 GSR
  • NR Baylor:  63 GSR

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas -- December 22, 2012
  • NR Washington:  74 GSR
  • #19 Boise State:  81 GSR

 LINK:  FINAL BCS STANDINGS

Quinn Leads Chiefs to Emotional Win Today...


Former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn, led his grief stricken teammates to only their second win of the season today -- throwing two TD's in the Chiefs' 27 to 21 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Chiefs' starting LB Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend yesterday morning before turning the gun on himself a little later in front of coaches at the Kansas City Chiefs practice facility.

Brady was 19 for 23 for 201 yards and the two touchdown passes.  It was Quinn's first win as a starter for the Chiefs.  Here's what's being said about today's game...

LINK:  KANSAS CITY STAR

LINK:  BRADY QUINN POST GAME

LINK:  CHIEFS POSTGAME LOCKER ROOM

Three College Coaches Did Not Vote ND #1


The last vote of the college football season by the Coaches -- is made public.  And, fifty-six of the fifty-nine coaches voted NOTRE DAME #1 !!!

Here's the three who did not -- and where they placed the IRISH -- click on the link below to see how all of the coaches voted:
  • James Franklin, Vanderbilt -- picked Notre Dame #4
  • Tommy Tubberville, Texas Tech -- picked Notre Dame #2
  • Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee State -- picked Notre Dame #2

(Photo above of Vanderbilt Coach James Franklin -- who picked Alabama, Georgia and Florida ahead of the IRISH -- all fellow member of the SEC.)

LINK:  FINAL USA TODAY / COACHES POLL

Former MLB Commissioner Talks Notre Dame


Come to find out -- Fay Vincent, the former CEO of Columbia Pictures and Commissioner of Major League Baseball -- is a Notre Dame fan.

Just this week he authored an editorial about the Fightin' Irish football team -- pretty cool!

LINK:  A LIFE LONG PASSION FOR NOTRE DAME

"Biggest BCS Underdog of All-Time" I LOVE IT !

It didn't take long for the media to turn on our Fightin' Irish...

Here's what they have to say less than 12 hours after Georgia 'runs out of time' -- and Bama squeaks by them.

WHAT THOUGH THE ODDS BE GREAT OR SMALL...


LINK:  ESPN'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL FINAL 

LINK:  BCS CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE

LINK:  CBS SPORTS

LINK:  SPORTING NEWS

LINK:  LINDY'S SPORTS

LINK:  YAHOO SPORTS

LINK:  BUSINESSWEEK

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  BLEACHER REPORT

Saturday, December 1, 2012

BRING ON BAMA !!!

The Alabama Crimson Tide were too much to handle for the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC CHAMPIONSHIP game -- earning the opportunity to play Notre Dame for the National Championship with their 32 - 28 victory this evening...

It's pretty obvious what the IRISH will have to do -- make BAMA pass the ball.  It's going to be FUN!

LINK: WATCH CBS' POST GAME

The Turning Point's USC Video -- A CLASSIC!


I missed this video earlier in the week -- you're going to LOVE this...

LINK:  THE TURNING POINT -- PROTECT THIS HOUSE

Musical Tribute to Manti Te'o -- Must See !!!


I received a text and an email today from ND GO IRISH BLOG regulars Dave Peloquin and Michael McLaughlin alerting me to this video -- IT IS A MUST SEE!!!

LINK:  MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO MANTI

Video of Coach Kelly at SEC Championship


University of Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly was a guest on the CBS set at the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, GA today.  Here's a link to the interview:

LINK:  COACH KELLY AT SEC CHAMPIONSHIP

She's the #1 College Golfer in the Country!


For the first time in the history of the golf program at the University of Notre Dame -- an IRISH golfer is ranked #1 in the country.

And, she's a FRESHMAN!

Lindsey Weaver -- who as a high school senior became only the 2nd female golfer in history to shoot a 59 in competition -- is now ranked the #1 player in the country!  Here is her story:

LINK:  THE #1 PLAYER IN THE COUNTRY

Notre Dame & NBC -- "Best Friends Forever"

That's the headline of a Bloomberg Businessweek story...

Here's a business magazine's perspective of Notre Dame and NBC's relationship.

LINK:  NOTRE DAME & NBC