It's a Big Stage for Temple and its New Coach

Matt Ruhle will run out of Notre Dame's famed tunnel as a head football coach for the first time in his career less than 72 hours from now.  Not a bad place to make your debut!  A Philadelphia Inquirer reporter penned this story on Ruhle's "opening act."

LINK:  THE FIRST TIME

Sports Illustrated Writers -- Not High on Irish

They picked their top FLOP team for 2013 and five out of seven picked our Fightin' Irish.  I trust Coach Kelly will bring this to his team's attention...

LINK:  PICKED TO FLOP

Temple Football Coach Press Conference Today

Temple's head football coach Matt Ruhle, met with the media today to talk about their football game Saturday with Notre Dame.  Here's what he had to say:

LINK:  MATT RUHLE

Temple Week -- Coach Kelly Press Conference

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly met with the media today -- as is customary on Tuesday of game week -- to talk about Temple.  GO IRISH!

LINK:  TEMPLE WEEK PRESS CONFERENCE

NBC's Mike Mayock Talks Notre Dame Football

With the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame kicking-off the 2013 football season this Saturday -- the media is asking the question -- can the Irish repeat?

Mike Mayock is the "analyst" on NBC's TV coverage of Notre Dame football.  Here's a link to what Mayock thinks of ND's chances this season:

LINK:  MIKE MAYOCK ON ND

Strong & True: Building Bonds from NBC

Here's the replay of Saturday's NBC Sports Network's airing of "Strong & True:  Building Bonds" -- a look at Notre Dame Football.  Enjoy!

LINK:  BUILDING BONDS

Temple Owls -- Media Coverage Today

Took a look at what the Philadelphia media is saying about Temple and their game this Saturday with our Fightin' Irish -- click on the links below. 

This is the FIRST MEETING -- EVER -- on the football field between these two schools.

LINK:  PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINK:  PHILLY COM

Brian Kelly on the Dan Patrick Show Today

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly appeared on the Dan Patrick Radio Show today -- here's a link to the interview:

LINK:  COACH KELLY ON DAN PATRICK SHOW

Forbes: Notre Dame's Enduring Brand

A Forbes writer penned an interesting piece on what we can learn about an enduring brand from the University of Notre Dame.  Good stuff here...

LINK:  AN ENDURING BRAND

Excerpt from "UNBEATABLE" -- 1988 Team

"The last great college football season" -- is what you'll see on the cover of UNBEATABLE, a look back at Notre Dame's 1988 National Championship.

Jerry Barca '99 (pictured), a Notre Dame alum -- authored this look back at that magical season for the Fightin' Irish.  Here's a link to an excerpt from the book and a second link to where you can buy it!

LINK:  BOOK EXCERPT

LINK:  BUY THE BOOK HERE

The Latest on Notre Dame Players in the NFL...

Took a lap around the worldwide web this afternoon to see what's being said about former Notre Dame football stars in the NFL.  You can watch a number of former IRISH stars tonight in the game on NBC between the Vikings and 49ers.   (That's Harrison Smith, Kyle Rudolph, Jimmy Clausen and Michael Floyd LtoR in the photo above.)

This morning -- 36 former Notre Dame football stars were still on NFL rosters -- unfortunately, that could change before day's end!

Just click on the player's name below:

LINK:  JONAS GRAY

LINK:  CIERRE WOOD

LINK:  THEO RIDDICK

LINK:  ZEKE MOTTA

LINK:  JIMMY CLAUSEN

LINK:  JAMORIS SLAUGHTER

LINK:  BRAXSTON CAVE

LINK:  BRADY QUINN

LINK:  GOLDEN TATE

LINK:  MICHAEL FLOYD

LINK:  MANTI TE'O

LINK:  SAM YOUNG

LINK:  ANTHONY FASANO

LINK:  ROBBY TOMA

LINK:  MIKE GOLIC JR.

LINK:  DAVID BRUTON

LINK:  ERIC OLSEN

LINK:  DEREK LANDRI

LINK:  DARRIN WALLS

LINK:  JUSTIN TUCK

LINK:  HARRISON SMITH

LINK:  TYLER EIFERT

LINK:  JOHN SULLIVAN

LINK:  KYLE RUDOLPH

LINK:  TREVOR ROBINSON

LINK:  JOHN CARLSON

LINK:  R.J. BLANTON

LINK:  IAN WILLIAMS

LINK:  RYAN HARRIS

LINK:  ARMANDO ALLEN

LINK:  ROBERT HUGHES

LINK:  SERGIO BROWN

LINK:  DARIUS FLEMING

LINK:  BRIAN SMITH

LINK:  TOM ZBIKOWSKI

LINK:  J.J. JANSEN

Painting the Numbers @ Notre Dame Stadium

With the opening game just six days away -- the gang at Notre Dame Stadium is hard at work getting the "house that Rock built" ready for 80,000 fans and the Fightin' Irish.

This photo was "tweeted" by Fighting Irish Digital Media's Jack Nolan.  You can follow Jack on Twitter @NDJackNolan

University of Notre Dame's Orientation 2013

It's a special day at Notre Dame -- and a sad one...

The Class of 2017 says good-bye to its parents this afternoon -- for the first time -- as Orientation 2013 comes to a close.

The first video link is of the Alma Mater "Notre Dame Our Mother" being sung at the end of today's Mass.  The second link is of the Band of the Fighting Irish playing the Victory Clog and the "greatest of all college fight songs" the Notre Dame Victory March at the Spirit of Notre Dame celebration.  Enjoy!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME ALMA MATER

LINK:  NOTRE DAME VICTORY MARCH

Another "NFL ALL PRO" Tight End from ND!

Kyle Rudolph caught nine TD passes last season and earned a spot in the NFL Pro Bowl game -- where he walked away with the MVP honors.  Here's a story on how Kyle is doing with the Vikings:

LINK:  A COMPLETE TIGHT END

Didn't Enjoy Waking Up to this Prediction...

The South Bend Tribune's Al Lesar went a little "negative" this morning on our Notre Dame football team -- forecasting a down season for the Irish.  Here's his prediction:

LINK:  LITTLE CAESAR'S BOWL?

Video of Michael Floyd's TD Catch Last Night

He looked like the old Floyd last night -- making a great TD catch.  Here's the video below:

LINK:  HIGHLIGHTS

USA Today Football Story on Notre Dame

The gang at USA Today has been previewing the college football season and yesterday they took a look at our Fightin' Irish.  Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  NOTRE DAME

Golden Tate's "Fail Mary" Touchdown Catch

Former Notre Dame All-American Golden Tate -- returned to the "scene of the catch" last night as his Seattle Seahawks played the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. 

The infamous "catch / non-catch," that eliminated the Packers from the NFL Playoffs last season, was the subject of a story at Channel 4 in Green Bay:

LINK:  FAIL MARY

Our Man Golden Tate -- Having Some Fun!

I don't think the Green Bay Packer fans will find this amusing...

However, you've got to give it to former Notre Dame All-American Golden Tate and the creativity of some Seahawk fans in this t-shirt design.  Classic!

LINK:  GOLDEN TATE -- DON'T HATE

Jonas Gray "On the Bubble" with Dolphins

Just found this story that has Jonas Gray "on the bubble" to make the 53 man NFL roster of the Miami Dolphins.  Gray, the former Notre Dame running back,, is coming off a major knee injury that shortened his senior season with the Irish and placed him on the "physically unable to perform" list this past NFL season.

Going into the Dolphin's fourth exhibition game tomorrow night -- Jonas leads Miami in rushing yards!

I'm rooting for this young man to make the Dolphins!

LINK:  ON THE BUBBLE?

LINK:  MIAMI OFFENSIVE STATS