Another Prime Time Tilt for the Irish!

BRING IT ON!

It was announced today that ABC will be televising the Fighting Irish vs. the Spartans of Michigan State "under the lights" on Saturday, September 15 -- to a national TV audience.  It will be the first of three straight games when the IRISH will be playing in PRIME TIME.

LINK:  IRISH IN PRIME TIME

Why Not to Worry About Recruiting Rankings!

Folks, fifteen of the projected thirty-two First Round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft were rated a "THREE STAR or LOWER" by the high-school recruiting experts.  Think about that...

Here we are fretting over whether an eighteen year-old young man has two, three, four or five stars attached to his name -- when he's still a pup.  A lot happens the next four to five years in the maturation of a young man -- and we seem to forget that.

Photo above is of Jason Babin a "no-star" recruit who played at Western Michigan University and ended up being drafted in the First Round in 2004 and is a NFL Pro Bowl player for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Here's that analysis by Sports Illustrated.

LINK:  AN EYE OPENER

Justin Tuck's Monogram Club Speech

Former University of Notre Dame football star and two-time Super Bowl Champion New York Giant Justin Tuck -- spoke at Friday night's Monogram Club's Blue Gold dinner.  You'll enjoy how he defines "special place..."

WOW!

LINK:  JUSTIN TUCK'S SPECIAL PLACE

Top 25 College Football Players in America

The Sporting News published a list yesterday of the top-25 college football players in the country.  You'll find one player on that list who wears a GOLD HELMET -- and you'll find six players from our opponent's this season.  Here's the list:

LINK: RANKING THE TOP COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN AMERICA

Holtz Talks Notre Dame @ Cotton Bowl HOF

Former Notre Dame head coach -- Lou Holtz was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame last Thursday and it didn't take long for the ESPN college football analyst to talk about his favorite school.  Enjoy the links:

LINK:  HOLTZ TALKS NOTRE DAME

NBC'S Alex Flanagan's ND Sideline Interviews

During Saturday's Notre Dame Blue Gold Game -- NBC's Alex Flanagan was roaming the sidelines interviewing a number of former IRISH football stars.  Here are those interviews:

LINK:  MIKE FLOYD & JONAS GRAY

LINK:  KYLE RUDOLPH

The Day After ND's Spring Game 2012

Took a lap around the worldwide web today to see what the media had to say about Notre Dame's 83rd Annual Blue Gold Game.  You'll also find game highlights from the good folks at Fighting Irish Digital Media.  Enjoy!

LINK:  BLUE GOLD GAME HIGHLIGHTS 

LINK:  NBC SPORTS

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN TIMES

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE #1

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE #2

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE #3

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE #1

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE #2

LINK:  ESPN BLOG

ESPN Shows its Bias Against ND -- AGAIN!

The gang in Bristol, CT were showing highlights today of Spring football games across the country.  All of the game clips they showed were positive HIGHLIGHTS -- except for one game...

ESPN chose to show Notre Dame QB's being intercepted twice -- before showing one Everett Golson TD pass. 

Not surprised.

Did Notre Dame Find a QB Today?

If you listened to Coach Kelly after Notre Dame's Blue Gold Game (link below) you would say -- NO.  However, if you polled the 51,000 people inside Notre Dame Stadium today I think they'd say the job belongs to Everett Golson!

And, if you're looking for a position that's stacked with talent -- look no further than the running back position where #3 running back George Atkinson, III ran for 124 yards on 15 carries.

Yet, the story of the day was the Notre Dame QB position.  Here were the stats for each of the QB's:

• Golson: 11-15 for 120 yards, 2 TD's and 25 yards rushing
• Rees:  7-14 for 84 yards, O TD's 1 yard rushing and 1 interception
• Hendrix:  59 yards passing and 12 yards rushing and 1 interception
• Kiel:  57 yards passing and 15 yards rushing and 1 interception

LINK:  COACH KELLY PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  PLAYER INTERVIEWS

Blue Gold Game @ 1:30 PM ET Today!

Today's 83rd Annual Blue Gold Game will be televised today (for the second time ever) on the NBC SPORTS NETWORK.  The first play from scrimmage will take place just a few minutes at the 1:30 PM ET air time.  GO IRISH!

LINK:  NBC SPORTS CENTRAL

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE STORY

The Best THE SHIRT Ever? Just Might Be!

Folks the 2012 THE SHIRT was just unveiled on the University of Notre Dame campus and I must say it's my all-time favorite!  The goal is to sell 200,000 and they expect to put a huge dent into that number this weekend. 

I've got to believe Golden Tate and Robert Hughes (photo above) - the two stars of THE SHIRT -- were quite thrilled with the honor.  Photo courtesy of ND GO IRISH BLOG regular, Travis Mather.

Here's where you can buy it online!

LINK:  BUY THE SHIRT!

LINK:  THE UNVEILING

Notre Dame Tight End Position in the News

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame have had an incredible run of big-time talent at the Tight End position; Bavaro, Hunter, Fasano, Carlson, Rudolph, Eifert to name just a very few in the past few years.  Word on the street is the IRISH will be using "multiple tight ends" on the field this fall.  Here's what ESPN is reporting:


LINK:  ESPN BLOG STORY ON ND TIGHT ENDS

LINK:  ESPN VIDEO STORY

Photo of the Day: Who Said Bald Is Beautiful?

Didn't see this photo...  I couldn't pass this up!

The MAN in this photo is none other than Notre Dame alum, Timothy O'Connor,  AKA "OAK" -- who agreed to shave his head this week to raise money for childhood cancer research.  Thanks Timmy!

For those of you who don't know -- Timmy is the creative genius behind much of the packaging of the great digital work coming out of the Fighting Irish Digital Media team.  You'll see his handy work along with Eric Runyon and Philip Zastrow in the website linked below concerning the 125th Anniversary of Notre Dame Football:

LINK:  TIM O'CONNOR'S WORK

THE SHIRT: Tomorrow the World Will Know

It's the #1 selling item on any college campus in the world.  This T-SHIRT TRADITION started in 1990 and it's never looked back.


I'll never forget a call we received from our oldest son Jimmy five years ago this month "Dad, I'm on The Shirt!"  The Shirt 2007 -- carried for the first time ever -- photos of actual Notre Dame students inside the Notre Dame Monogram.  Jimmy, an Irish Guardsman's photo is the first you see on the bottom left of the Monogram (see below).  They "only" sold 135,000 shirts that year.

What's cool today is we still see people wearing The Shirt 2007 -- reminding us of that special moment for our son and our family...

Tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM ET -- THE SHIRT 2012 will be unveiled to a LIVE TV audience, the Band of the Fighting Irish, Glee Club, Coach Brian Kelly and other dignitaries.  ONLY NOTRE DAME.

Here's a link to a video of the 2010 unveiling of THE SHIRT:

LINK:  THE SHIRT

ND Football's "Patio Appreciation Party"

The Notre Dame football program hosted women, from all over campus yesterday. at a THANK YOU event on the patio outside of Coach Kelly's office.  Enjoy!

LINK:  PATIO APPRECIATION PARTY

ND Coach Elliott Featured in ESPN Story Today

I learned today that Notre Dame's safeties coach Bob Elliott's life was threatened in the late 90's with a rare blood disorder.  The more and more I read about Coach Elliott -- the more I'm impressed with this Coach Kelly hire.

See for yourself!

LINK:  COACH BOB ELLIOTT

A Tribute to "Uncle Blair" This Saturday...

Notre Dame freshman QB Gunner Kiel will wear the #5 his Uncle Blair Kiel wore as a four-year starter for the IRISH -- this Saturday in the 83rd Annual Blue Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium.

Gunner was assigned uniform #1 this spring -- but, in honor of Uncle Blair (who died a couple of weeks ago) Kiel will run out onto Notre Dame Stadium for the first time in a GOLD HELMET wearing the number five.  A nice tribute to the Kiel family.

Great Notre Dame Stories: Launched Today!

Notre Dame football fans -- you're going to want to click on the link below.  The gang at Fighting Irish Digital Media started their journey (THIS AFTERNOON) to tell 125 great stories -- as part of their 125th Anniversary of Notre Dame Football celebration.

If you click on the link below you'll see three stories -- the first is a story about how and why Notre Dame made the decision to begin flying the football team around the country.  The second story is about the "first game of the century" -- the 1935 game between Notre Dame and Ohio State.  And, the third story is about Notre Dame's upset of then undefeated and #1 ranked Pitt Panthers in 1982.

The fun starts at the link below:

LINK:  THREE GREAT NOTRE DAME STORIES

Photo of the Day: St. Baldrick's Event @ ND

The University of Notre Dame's now "annual" St. Baldrick's Foundation event to fund childhood cancer research took place today at LaFortune.  And, as you can see in the above photo -- the Notre Dame Football team was in the chairs with their classmates cutting off their hair for charity.

LINK:  UND.COM VIDEO FEATURE

LINK:  ST. BALDRICK'S WEBSITE

Last Spring Practice for Notre Dame Football

Today was the 14th and last practice of the 2012 Spring Football season as the IRISH get ready for Saturday's 83rd annual BLUE GOLD GAME.  Coach Kelly announced that Saturday's game will be an Offense vs. Defense scrimmage with the following scoring system:

• Defense will score 7 points if it "turns over" the Offense on the "defensive" side of the 50
• Defense will score 3 points if it "turns over" the Offense on the "offensive" side of the 50
• Defense will score 4 points if it "stops" the Offense on the "defensive" side of the 50
• Defense will score 2 points if it "stops" the Offense on the "offensive" side of the 50
• Defense will score 1 point if it "holds" the Offense to a field goal
• Offense will score like they usually do in a regular game

Here's a link to the UND.COM coverage from today:

LINK:  COACH KELLY WITH THE MEDIA

LINK:  LOUIS NIX INTERVIEW

LINK:  DAVARIS DANIELS & GEORGE ATKINSON INTERVIEW