Two Former Domers Start for Stanford

Two former Notre Dame football players will be in the starting line-up this Saturday for the 16th ranked Stanford Cardinal. Tight end Konrad Reuland and kicker Nate Whitaker both were recruited to Notre Dame by Coach Weis -- and transferred to Stanford after their freshman year. Reuland has five catches on the season for 56 yards and is still looking for his first TD -- not this week Konrad! Whitaker is three-for-three on his field goal attempts and 19 out of 21 on extra points this season for the high scoring Cardinal. THEY'RE AVERAGING 52 POINTS A GAME IN THEIR FIRST THREE WINS!

Coach Elston Back with the Team!

University of Notre Dame Defensive Line & Special Teams Coach, Mike Elston -- was back yesterday on the Labar Practice Complex fields -- coaching his team. Coach Elston has been away for the past two weeks battling a virus - and we learned, a trip to the Mayo Clinic. Here's a link to UND.COM's Jack Nolan's interview with Coach Elston:

LINK: COACH ELSTON INTERVIEW

Coach Kelly's Tuesday Press Conference

Here's the video replay of Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly's Tuesday press conference as the Irish begin preparation for a very talented Stanford team this Saturday. Here's the link:



LINK: TUESDAY PRESS CONFERENCE

The Notre Dame Band -- Needs Your Vote!

I received a note this evening from Jim Callahan from Philladelphia, PA -- alerting me to this promotion. Jim's daughter is a recent Notre Dame grad and had many friends in The Band of the Fighting Irish -- and rightfully, very proud of her favorite marching band! CBS is running a promotion called the Hawaii 5-O Marching Band Contest -- and the Band of the Fighting Irish is one of the contestants! The college marching band with the most votes wins a $25,000 check -- which the ND Band has already decided they will give to a charity. It's time to get behind our BAND -- VOTE TODAY! Here's the link:

LINK: VOTE FOR THE BAND OF THE FIGHTING IRISH!

Newt Gingrich @ Notre Dame Last Night

The former Speaker of the House and his wife Callista were on the Notre Dame campus last night to introduce the film; "Nine Days that Changed the World." The film, produced by the Gingrichs is about Pope John Paul's nine-day visit to Poland in 1979. Gingrich, who converted to Catholocism last year - was greeted by protestors (surprised?). Here's a link to the South Bend Tribune story:

LINK: GINGRICH VISIT TO NOTRE DAME

Golden's First NFL Start -- Makin' Highlights!

It didn't take long for former Notre Dame All-American, Golden Tate -- to make the highlight reels in the NFL. Tate was activated for yesterday's game against Denver and all he did was return a punt for 63 yards and a few minutes later catch a 52 yard pass. Unfortunately, he didn't make it to the end zone -- either time -- but, he's got the Seahawks attention. After the game, Pete Carroll was fielding questions as to "why didn't you have Tate in the line-up last week?" Oh, by the way -- Tate was the back-up punt returner for this game. He only got back there after the #1 guy dropped a punt. Here's a link to a video of Golden's punt return -- ironically, he was tackled by former Domer; David Bruton and a second link to a news story on Golden's debut:

LINK: GOLDEN'S MAKIN' PLAYS

LINK: NEWS STORY ON GOLDEN'S DEBUT

Clausen Gets First NFL Start -- This Sunday!

The Jimmy Clausen era in Carolina begins this Sunday when the Panthers host the Cincinnati Bengals. The former Notre Dame star will be replacing Matt Moore who's had a rough start in their first two games. Panther Head Coach John Fox was pleased with Clausen's relief effort in their loss yesterday to Tampa Bay and made the announcement at his meeting today with the media. Here's a link to John Fox's press conference:

LINK: CLAUSEN TO START!

Clausen & Tate Singing the Victory March!

Found this video last night of former Domers; Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate singing the Notre Dame Victory March as part of the 2010 Upper Deck NFL Rookie Trading Card shoot. The two were invited to the competition along with guys like Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, C.J. Spiller, Jahvid Best, etc. The winner received a pair of LeBron James autographed shoes. Guess who won!

LINK: THE VICTORY MARCH

A Sunday Conversation: Coach Brian Kelly

Coach Kelly sat down this afternoon with Jack Nolan and the gang over at www.und.com -- the day after Notre Dame's OT loss to Michigan State. Here's a link to the interview:

LINK: A SUNDAY CONVERSATION

The Big East Responds: Is Anyone Surprised?

If this doesn't move Notre Dame to hire its own INDEPENDENT OFFICIATING crew -- I don't know what will.

In the wake of the NFL's description of Calvin Johnson's "non-catch" last week against the Bears and the new officiating term " THE PROCESS." We now have the Big East's "SPIN" of the PROCESS an official goes through to determine whether a play clock has expired. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!

So, what they're saying is this; the college play clock isn't 25 seconds. It's 25 seconds plus the time it takes for the Back Judge to take his eyes off the expired play clock (which was at the top of Spartan Stadium), look down to see if the ball is snapped, then some time to think if what he saw - he saw, reach for a flag, throw his flag and blow a whistle... And, if the team had not snapped the ball after all this had transpired, the 25 second PLUS play clock would have been ruled officially expired.

So, in other words -- what we saw, didn't really happen. Michigan State snapped the ball before the play clock REALLY was intended to be expired. Boy, I sure feel better about those Big East guys now. Here' the link to the Big East Conference's official statement:

LINK: BIG EAST STATEMENT

Reality: This Will Always Be OUR Team!

Folks, we've had a very tough run of games for our boys in the GOLD helmets. I'm sure many will say "seasons." Heck, in our last seven games -- we've lost six -- and the average loss is by 4 points. FOUR POINTS! Our last eight losses have all been by less than a TD.

Yet, we wake up this morning -- emotionally drained -- but, still PASSIONATE IRISH FANS!

Trust me, we're going to be rewarded -- for doing things right. USC can break the rules, the Gators can break the laws -- and win -- but, that's not winning in my book.

I've never been more confident -- than I am this morning -- that Coach Kelly will teach this team how to win again. BELIEVE! We've got a tough game coming up this week against Stanford -- great medicine for what transpired last night.

Being a Notre Dame fan is a gift -- given to many of us by our; Grandparents, Parents, etc. Our foes will laugh at that statement -- only because they just don't know what it means to be a NOTRE DAME FAN. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, could you ever root for another team? Not a chance! This is who we are...

It's time for the "millions" in the Notre Dame Family to gather "round' the table" and get behind our Irish. We Win and we lose -- AS ONE!

Brian Kelly Post Game Remarks

Here's a link to Coach Kelly's time with the media following the Irish's overtime loss to the Spartans. The photo was taken after the game during the playing of the Alma Mater. Here's the link:

LINK: COACH KELLY POST GAME

THE FAKE -- That WASN'T!

As you can see in this photo -- the play clock was at ZERO (look at the red box at the bottom of the photo) before the ball was snapped in OT. Look at Darius Flemming's (#45) reaction in this photo as he realizes the clock runs out. And, look at the play clock in the upper right hand and left hand sections of the Stadium's scoreboard -- they both read: 00. Click on the photo to enlarge.

Breaking News: The BIG EAST STICKS IT TO THE IRISH!

Are we obligated to give them any of our Bowl money?

Do you think Notre Dame will receive a call from Big East Commissioner John Marinatto saying "SORRY JACK, WE BLEW IT?"

Here's a link to the video so you can watch it in real time -- again, look at the "RED PLAY CLOCK" in the bottom of the TV screen.

LINK: PLAY SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED!

Live Game Day Blog -- 7 PM EST Tonight!

The boys at www.und.com will be "blogging" live from the Spartan Stadium press box beginning at 7 PM EST. Former Domers; Reggie Brooks and Mirko Jurkovic will be joined by Jack Nolan. They will be taking questions from Irish fans. Here's the link to participate in the blog:

LINK: GAME DAY BLOG -- MICHIGAN STATE GAME

First Photo: Spartan Stadium

Via the magic of Twitter a Notre Dame fan by the Twitter handle of @eTruth_Irish just posted this photo of the Michigan State student section filing into Spartan Stadium nearly two hours before kick-off.

Bring Back the Shamrocks!

I completely forgot about the Shamrock that Notre Dame Football had on its pants (I LIKE!) during the Ty Willingham era. I do remember the Shamrock on the jersey. You just got to know that there's too much time before this football game if I'm thinking about football pants design! We still have more than five hours to kick-off!!!

The Color of Gold: ND Football Helmets

There's been plenty of discussion the past couple of years about the "color" of the Notre Dame football helmets. So, I thought I'd grab four photos of ND QB's over the past 35 years to see if you can see a discernable difference in the gold color of the Irish football helmets. What do you think? I didn't want to mention the jersey color or pants -- that's another conversation!

ND vs. MSU: Brown's Heisman Day!

In the 1987 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State game, Notre Dame's All-American receiver Tim Brown tied an NCAA record with "back to back" punt returns for touchdowns in the #9 ranked Irish's 31-8 win over the #17th ranked Spartans. It was a day many felt he won the Heisman Trophy. Here's a link to the punt returns:

LINK: AN ALL TIME GREAT

Irish Get Basketball & Baseball Recruit Today!

Word on the street is Patrick Connaughton, a 6'-5" shooting guard out of St. Johns Prep (Danvers, MA) committed to the Irish basketball program this morning! Scout has him ranked as a 4* recruit and number 75 overall in the country -- so, he's a good get for Notre Dame. Schools that also offered Connaughton include; UCLA, Florida, Wake Forest, Boston College, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Marquette and Florida State. As you'll see in the ESPN blog report, Connaughton will also play baseball for Notre Dame -- where new Irish baseball coach, Mike Aoki will look forward to his highly recruited, mid-90's fastball:

LINK: CONNAUGHTON COMMITS TO IRISH

LINK: ESPN: CONNAUGHTON COMMITS

PHOTO OF THE DAY: The Golden Dive!

It's one of the greatest photos ever taken inside Notre Dame Stadium. You just have to wonder what that MSU band member (face circled) was thinking as he's about to witness Notre Dame's Golden Tate's Superman dive -- up close and personal! You can click on the photo to enlarge.