It's Game Day @ Notre Dame!

It's the best day of the week -- Game Day at Notre Dame!  This morning I'm updating the blog from a hotel room in Buffalo, NY -- where our youngest son is going to be competing in his first college swim meet today.  That's the good news -- the not so good news is the swim meet has "two sessions" -- the first starts at 10 AM and the second starts at 3 PM -- so, I'm going to miss the Notre Dame game.  For those of you not going to the Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh game today -- here's what you can do ALL DAY to get ready for kick-off:


LINK:  NOTRE DAME GAME DAY RADIO SHOW --  starts at 9 AM EST

LINK:  UND.COM LIVE STADIUM CAM -- watch Notre Dame Stadium fill up, starts at 11 AM EST

LINK:  UND.COM PRE GAME BLOG -- starts at 2:30 PM EST

KICK OFF:  3:42 PM EST

LINK:  UND.COM LIVE POST GAME SHOW -- starts immediately after game's end

What the "Money's" Saying About -- ND vs. Pitt

Here's what "Las Vegas" has to say about today's game between our Fighting Irish and the Pitt Panthers.  It's always interesting to see how they analyze each game.  Here's a link to a few of the sports betting sites:



LINK:  BetUS's ANALYSIS OF ND vs. PITT

LINK:  MADDUX SPORTS -- ANALYSIS OF ND vs. PITT

LINK:  PREDICT'EM -- ANALYSIS OF ND vs. PITT

LINK:  SPORTSODDS -- ANALYSIS OF ND vs. PITT

Football Friday @ Notre Dame!

Here's some video taken by the gang at UND.COM yesterday from the "pageantry" -- as Coach Kelly likes to explain it -- that is a Notre Dame Football Weekend.  Here's a link to video from the QB Luncheon hosted by Digger Phelps and the Pep Rally on the Irish Green.  Enjoy:


LINK:  NOTRE DAME QB LUNCHEON - COACH KELLY

LINK:  NOTRE DAME QB LUNCHEON -- COACH ALFORD, GOLDEN TATE & KYLE RUDOLPH

LINK:  PEP RALLY ON THE IRISH GREEN

Notre Dame To Put a Charge Into Electric Cars!

The University of Notre Dame, Eaton Corporation and Mitsubishi Motors North America are teaming up to explore the viability of moving to electric powered vehicles for the campus fleet.  This weekend, you'll see a "unique" looking vehicle called the iMiev -- displayed in the Irish Green.  It's an electric car that is currently only for sale in Japan.  Notre Dame will have an iMiev for the next several months  -- on campus -- to test.  Eaton Corporation is providing state-of-the-art charging stations to assist ND in this exploration.  The iMiev currently gets about 100 miles to a charge.  Here's a link to the iMiev website:

LINK:  AN ELECTRIC CAR FOR NOTRE DAME

Weather Forecast for ND vs. Pitt

Well, it doesn't get much better than this -- look at this forecast for Football Weekend at Notre Dame!  Here's a link to Storm 16 Interactive Weather Radar out of South Bend:

LINK:  LIVE WEATHER RADAR

ESPN Preview: Notre Dame vs. Pitt

One of the "talking heads" on ESPN's college football team (Trevor Matich) previewed the matchup between our Fighting Irish and the Pitt Panthers.  Here's a link to the video:


LINK:  IRISH vs. PANTHERS -- THIS SATURDAY

ND GO IRISH BLOG Contest -- Win $15

Folks, our friends at Olive Garden sent us a $15 gift certificate, good at any Olive Garden in the United States or Canada -- for our ND GO IRISH BLOG Contest:

So, to win a free meal or two at Olive Garden here's all you have to do -- pick the winner of the Notre Dame vs. Pitt game this Saturday.

The tie-breaker's are these -- who scores the first TD for the Irish and the second tie-breaker is how many points will Notre Dame score in the game.  In the case of -- the tie-breakers canceling themselves out -- the first ND or PITT fan to submit a winning entry -- wins!  Here's what we need from you:

1. The winning team in the Notre Dame vs. Pitt game this Saturday
2. The name of the player who scores the first TD in the game for Notre Dame
3. The total points scored by Notre Dame in the game
4. And, please leave a name, initials or whatever - so we can properly identify the winner!

Post your entry in the Comments Section below -- Good Luck!  We'll notify the winner via the ND GO IRISH BLOG on Sunday morning.   Contest entry deadline is 2:30 PM EST -- this Saturday!

Blogger's Analysis of Notre Dame vs. Pitt

Ran across this blog post this morning -- found it to be a clever analysis of Saturday's game between Notre Dame and Pittsburgh at Notre Dame Stadium.  Please be advised, it's not your typical "offense vs. defense" analysis of the two teams.  It's better than that!  Enjoy:

LINK:  ANALYSIS OF THE FIGHTING IRISH vs. THE PANTHERS

Coach Kelly's Radio Show -- Tonight @ 7 PM!

It's Thursday and that means it's the Brian Kelly Radio Show coming to you live from Legends of Notre Dame at 7 PM EST.  The one-hour show is co-hosted by UND.COM's Jack Nolan.  Here's a link to watch it live on the web and a link to listen to it live on the web:

LINK:  WATCH THE RADIO SHOW LIVE ON THE WEB

LINK:  LISTEN TO THE RADIO SHOW LIVE ON THE WEB

Wednesday Football Interviews -- Pitt Week

The gang over at UND.COM posted a few more interviews last night after practice.  Here are the links with their specific subjects:

LINK:  COACH KELLY AFTER PRACTICE

LINK:  BENNETT JACKSON INTERVIEW

LINK:  DAYNE CRIST & MICHAEL FLOYD

LINK:  DARRIN WALLS & CARLO CALABRESE

Michael Floyd Ranked 19th in Receiving Yards

This might surprise many Notre Dame fans, but Michael Floyd is currently 19th in the country in total receiving yards.  After five games, Floyd has 28 catches for 408 yards and 2 TD's.  The top two receivers in the country both play for Hawaii -- one has 682 yards the other has 602 yards.  Here's a link to the receiver rankings:

LINK:  TOP RECEIVERS IN THE COUNTRY

Irish Walk On Kicker -- Ranked 17th!

Notre Dame field goal kicker, David Ruffer, who last year at this time was playing "interhall football" for his dorm team at Notre Dame is now ranked amongst the top twenty kickers in college football!  Could be a movie here some day!!!  Ruffer has been perfect hitting all eight of his field goals with a long of 46 yards.  Sure hope I didn't just jinx him!  Here's a link to the rankings of field goal kicking:

LINK:  FIELD GOAL KICKING

Irish Ranked 14th in Fewest Penalties!

The Notre Dame Football team is the 14th least penalized team in college football this season after the first five games.  The Irish have been flagged for 21 penalties for 200 yards.  The most penalized team in college football is Troy with 55 penalties for 480 yards.  The second most is Arizona State with 46 penalties for 426 yards.  The least penalized team in the country is Indiana with 14 penalties for 121 yards. Again, a good sign for what's going on with our football program!  Here's a link to the rankings:

LINK:  MOST PENALIZED TEAMS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Notre Dame Ranked 19th in Total Sacks of QB's

Believe it or not, but our Fighting Irish defense is ranked in the top twenty in total number of QB sacks this season with 13!  As a point of reference, last year's "blitz happy" defense of John Tenuta finished 92nd in the country in total QB sacks with 19 for the season.  We have 13 after five games!  That's improvement folks!  Here's a link to the QB Sack Rankings of college football teams this season:

LINK:  TOTAL QB SACKS

Irish Football Ranked 8th in Two Categories...

The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish popped up in 8th in two national rankings this week -- one was for strength of schedule, where their schedule is ranked 8th toughest in the country.  And, the second is in Passing Offense, where the Irish are 8th in total passing yards with 1,465 -- in the country.  The schedule ranking is not surprising -- though if you asked us how tough our schedule was six months ago, most Irish fans would have said it was one of our "easier schedules" in some time.  And, Dayne Crist has had some big games, yardage wise, throwing the ball.  Here's a link to the Sagarin Rankings and a link to the ranking of teams by total passing yards:

LINK:  SAGARIN RATINGS

LINK:  PASSING OFFENSE

ND Football Update -- Tuesday Interviews

The folks at UND.COM have done a wonderful job this year covering Notre Dame Football.  Can't thank them enough!  Here's a link to Brian Kelly's Pittsburgh press conference along with a link to an interview, after yesterday's practice, with Notre Dame's Defensive Coordinator, Bob Diaco (pictured) -- enjoy!

LINK:  BRIAN KELLY PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  BOB DIACO INTERVIEW

Father Jenkins to Attend Canonization in Rome

A member of the Congregation of Holy Cross order -- Brother Andre Bessette, C.S.C. (pictured) will be canonized for sainthood on October 17th in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square.  The Congregation of Holy Cross is the order that founded Notre Dame and Blessed Andre is their first member to be granted sainthood.  University of Notre Dame president -- Rev. John I.  Jenkins will lead a delegation from Notre Dame who will be attending this  ceremony.  Here's a link to the South Bend Tribune article as well as a link to a story about the "Miracle Man from Montrel" -- Brother Andre Bessette.

LINK:  NOTRE DAME DELEGATION TO ATTEND CANONIZATION

LINK:  THE MIRACLE MAN FROM MONTREAL

What a Week for ND's Skylar Diggins!

In the past seven days, University of Notre Dame women's basketball star, Skylar Diggins, was invited to be a panelist at ESPN's W. Retreat at The Lodge at Torrey Pines (three days in San Diego) -- joining some of the biggest female sports stars in America.  And, upon her return to the Notre Dame campus she learns that she's one of the thirty named to the John R. Wooden Women's Award Watch List for their player of the year award -- not a bad week!  In August, Skylar was named to the Watch List for the Wade Trophy which is the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's award for the top player in women's college basketball.  Diggins and her Fighting Irish teammates kick-off the 2010-2011 season with their first official practice tomorrow.  Here's a link to a Fox28TV report on Skylar's trip to the ESPN W. Retreat, a link to the Retreat's website and a link to the Wooden Award's website:

LINK:  A GREAT HONOR FOR SKYLAR

LINK:  ESPN W RETREAT

LINK:  WOODEN AWARD'S WATCH LIST

Zibby Fined $5,000 by National Football League

 

Former Notre Dame All-American, Tommy Zbikowski -- and now starting safety for the 3-1 Baltimore Ravens -- was fined $5,000 for "unnecessary roughness" on a Cleveland Browns running back. Zibby threw Peyton Mills to the ground -- garnering a 15-yard penalty and a few days later -- the NFL FINE!  Here's a link to the story:

LINK:  ZIBBY FINED $5,000 BY NFL

Think Coach Kelly Expected This?

Have we become to "PC" (Politically Correct) in this country?  I've found two articles this morning complaining about Coach Kelly's "methods" on the Notre Dame sideline.  Folks, ESPN on ABC chose to make this a story Saturday night when they continually put a camera on Coach Kelly when his players came to the sideline.   And, they "conveniently" chose to only show the times he was displeased with one of his players.


THIS IS BIG TIME COLLEGE FOOTBALL -- NOT KINDERGARTEN RECESS!  Why am I'm fully expecting the ACLU or Gloria Allred to be next?

Here's a story written by a guy named Mike Hutton from the Post-Tribune -- which I understand is a Northwest Indiana newspaper.  Maybe I'm too old-school -- you decide:

LINK:  KELLY TOO TOUGH ON PLAYERS