A Look Back @ Notre Dame's 169th Year...

The University of Notre Dame released their 2011: Year In Review, last night.  The report looks back at the previous 364 days of 2011 and a number of the accomplishments of the Notre Dame students, alumni, faculty and staff.  Just click on the link below to see the report:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME'S 2011

Ronald Darby Returns Kick-off for TD!

The Chesapeake Bowl (featuring high school all-stars from; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., Virginia and West Virginia) was played tonight in Edgewater, MD -- and University of Notre Dame verbal commit, Ronald Darby followed up the opening play of the game -- a 90 yard kick-off return for a TD by the North's Nate Smith by taking the ensuing kick-off for a 75 yard TD for the South!  Here's a link to the news article -- along with a link to the video:

LINK:  DARBY RETURNS KICK-OFF FOR TD!

LINK:  VIDEO OF DARBY'S KICK-OFF RETURN

Semper Fidelis Bowl -- ND Commits Playing

The University of Notre Dame will be well represented in Tuesday's inaugural Semper Fidelis Bowl in Phoenix.  Here's a list of the high school stars playing in the game who have verbally committed to playing for the IRISH:

LINK:  TEE SHEPARD

LINK:  RONNIE STANLEY

LINK:  JUSTIN FERGUSON

LINK:  DEONTAY GREENBERRY

LINK:  SHELDON DAY 

LINK:  MARK HARRELL

The Notre Dame Family Doing Florida Right

The day before the Irish took on Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl -- fifty members of the Notre Dame Family (alumni, cheerleaders and fans) went to work at the New Image Youth Center (Parramore, FL) painting, sanding, weeding, assembling new furniture and playing with the kids.

This community service project is just one of many -- that the Notre Dame Alumni Association will perform around the world each year.  It's what sets ND apart from most institutions in this country.

Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME GIVING BACK

Champs Sports Bowl: Mornin' After...

Have to admit I didn't sleep too well last night.

Yet, I wake up this morning -- once again -- knowing I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE A FAN OF ANY OTHER SCHOOL IN THE WORLD!

Here's what our friends in the media had to say about Florida State's 18 to 14 win over the Irish last night in the Champs Sports Bowl:

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE -- AL LESAR

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE -- ERIC HANSEN

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINK:  TAMPA BAY TIMES

LINK:  NBC SPORTS

LINK:  ESPN BLOG

LINK:  PALM BEACH POST

LINK:  THE OBSERVER

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  NEWS SENTINEL

LINK:  ORLANDO SENTINEL

LINK:  SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN TIMES

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE

LINK:  SPORTING NEWS

LINK:  THE LEDGER

LINK:  FLORIDA TIMES UNION

LINK:  TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

Florida State Scores 15 in Fourth Quarter...

A difficult game for the Notre Dame Family as the Seminoles erase ND's 14 point to win the Champs Sports Bowl.  Here's a link to the "low-lights" courtesy of our friends at ESPN and a link to Coach Kelly's post game comments.


LINK:  CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL

LINK:  COACH KELLY POST GAME 

LINK:  PLAYER INTERVIEWS AFTER GAME

Champs Sports Bowl: ND Team Photos

The top photo of the Irish warming up was just "tweeted" from the Champs Sports Bowl  -- the bottom two photos  of the Irish leaving their team hotel, and the official team photo, were just put up on FACEBOOK by Notre Dame Athletics.  CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE.  GO IRISH!

KeiVarae Russell Commits to Notre Dame!

KeiVarae Russell, one of the top running backs on the West Coast, announced his college choice today at 3 PM ET -- and he chose to wear the GOLD HELMET!

The US Army All-American and 7th ranked "athlete" in the country will play running back for the Irish!

You can watch the LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT at the link below:

LINK:  KEIVARAE RUSSELL DECISION DAY -- LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT

LINK:  NEWS STORY ABOUT KEIVARAE RUSSELL

LINK:  KEIVARAE RECRUITING PROFILE

LINK:  KEIVARAE INTERVIEW

Notre Dame's Champs Sports Bowl JERSEY!

The University of Notre Dame's Football Equipment Manager Ryan Grooms just "tweeted" these photos of the jersey the Fighting Irish will be wearing against Florida State in today's Champs Sports Bowl game.

Must Read: Matt Mulvey's "Red Hat Diaries"

He wears uniform #17 and he's been standing right next to Brian Kelly for every Notre Dame football game the past two seasons.  You'll see him again today on ESPN, signaling in every IRISH offensive play.

For the past seven days, Matthew Mulvey (Senior out of Del Mar, CA)  has been reporting on his experiences at the CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL in what he calls the "RED HAT DIARIES."  You'll enjoy this!

LINK:  THE RED HAT DIARIES

Champs Sports Bowl: Weather Forecast

All you need to know is this -- the GOLD HELMETS will be in FULL SHINE mode prior to kick-off -- and when the lights go on in OrlaNDo's Citrus Bowl Stadium they will go into ULTRA SHINE mode.  Great day for football with the temps in the mid to upper 60's.  Irish caught a break with the game temps!  Here's the link to the hourly forecast for today's Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando:

LINK:  THE WEATHER CHANNEL -- CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL FORECAST

Champs Sports Bowl: The "Experts" Predict...

Took a lap around the web this morning to check in on the media experts and their predictions for the Champs Sports Bowl game this evening (5:30 PM ET) between Notre Dame and Florida State.  Just click on the links below:


LINK:  ESPN BLOG

LINK:  ACC SPORTS JOURNAL

LINK:  NBC SPORTS

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  ESPN

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  TAMPA BAY TIMES

LINK:  OBSERVER

LINK:  TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN TIMES

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINK:  CSN CHICAGO

LINK:  PALM BEACH POST

LINK:  ATHLON SPORTS

It's GAME DAY! Irish Beat Seminoles Today!

It's less than nine hours to kick-off when "HISTORY'S TEAM" takes on that school from northern Florida in the Champs Sports Bowl.

To get ND fans fired up for this game -- I take you back to a November in 1993 when #1 FSU visited then #2 ND.  Folks all over the world tuned-in to NBC's telecast that day to see this introduction and Bob Costas at his best.  Enjoy!

LINK:  NBC'S INTRO TO ND'S GAME AGAINST FSU IN 1993

Will Clements Be Penn State's Next Coach?

Don't be surprised if former Notre Dame QB Tom Clements is named, this week, the next head football coach at Penn State University.

Just hours ago, the rumored front-runner, Mike Munchak denied any interest in the position.  Clements, the QB coach of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, has been very open in his desire to get this gig.  Sure hope he does!


LINK:  TOM CLEMENTS TO PENN STATE?

Champs Sports Bowl: First Wednesday Update

The gang at UND.COM has been busy "having fun" down in OrlaNDo with the Fighting Irish.  Here's a look at what the Irish did off the field yesterday.  Get ready to ride a roller coaster!!!

LINK:  IRISH IN ORLANDO

LINK:  CHAMPS BOWL PRESS CONFERENCE

Irish Beat #22 Pitt @ Home -- 28 Straight Wins!

Playing their best game of the year -- Mike Brey's Fighting Irish defeated the #22 ranked Pitt Panthers last night. 

WOW!

The win extends ND's home winning streak to 28 games and puts the IRISH in FIRST PLACE tie in the BIG EAST!  Here's the game highlights along with Coach Brey's post game comments and what the two team's local papers had to say about the game.  A BIG WIN FOR THE IRISH!

LINK:  IRISH BEAT PITT

LINK:  COACH BREY WITH MEDIA

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE STORY

LINK:  PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE STORY

Rumor: Michigan & ND to End Football Series

There's a rumor flying around this evening on the Michigan fan boards that an announcement could come, as soon as tomorrow, that the football series between Michigan and Notre Dame will end.  Irish fans may recall an announcement last year that the two teams had agreed to a 25-year extension of the home & home series.  Well, the rumor is the contract was never signed and Michigan wants out of the game.

I sure hope this is not the case...  Stay tuned!

LINK:  MICHIGAN vs. NOTRE DAME WIKIPEDIA

Great Piece On Irish Hockey: Onward to Victory!

The Fighting Irish will be playing hockey on New Year's Eve against Boston University at 7:05 PM ET on VERSUS.  The folks at UND.COM produced a wonderful piece to entice you to TUNE-IN.  You'll enjoy this!

LINK:  ONWARD TO VICTORY

Champs Sports Bowl: Tuesday Irish Update

As we've come to expect, the folks at UND.COM caught Coach Kelly after practice.  Here's a link to his interview:

LINK:  COACH KELLY

ESPN's Gottlieb Tells His Notre Dame Story

Doug Gottlieb is an on-air personality at ESPN.  You'll hear him on the radio and you'll see him talk college basketball and other sports from time to time on TV.

What some Notre Dame fans might now know about Gottlieb is he's a former Irish student-athlete.  Unfortunately, Doug Gottlieb made some mistakes while at Notre Dame and he was asked to leave school.

Gottlieb recently gave a little more detail about his departure from ND.  Here's a link to the Los Angeles Times story:

LINK:  GOTTLIEB TALKS ABOUT HIS PROBLEMS AT ND