Big, Big, Big WIN for the Irish Last Night!

My friends at the University of Notre Dame treated me to "center court" seats -- five rows behind Digger, Coach Knight and Reece Davis -- as we watched one of the more exciting home basketball games for Notre Dame in some time.  ND's OT win over Louisville -- scoring the first 14 points in overtime -- put the 7th ranked Irish at 20-4 on the season and 9-3 in the Big East.  What got lost in the excitement of the win was the fact that NOTRE DAME MADE HISTORY LAST NIGHT.  In ND's 100 plus year history of college basketball -- this is the earliest date ever -- that the Irish have won 20 games in a season.  Think about that... 

Here's a link to some highlights from the game, overtime and an interview with Coach Brey after the game.  I've also added a link to the ESPN.COM story and South Bend Tribune story on the game and a link to the current Big East standings.  GO IRISH!   

As an added "treat" -- I was given the great honor of spending nearly three hours after the game with Digger, Coach Knight and Reece Davis at Parisi's Ristorante Italiano in South Bend.  What an enjoyable session of "storytelling" and great food!

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS 

LINK:  OVERTIME HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  COACH BREY POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  PAT FORDE -- ESPN.COM -- NOTRE DAME STORY

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE: GAME STORY

LINK:  BIG EAST STANDINGS

Tom Clements -- Another Championship Ring!

Notre Dame fans won't soon forget Tom Clement's pass from the end-zone to Robin Weber in the 1973 Sugar Bowl against Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide -- clinching the win and a National Championship for the Fighting Irish!  This Sunday -- Tom wasn't starring on the field -- but his pupil was...  Clements is the QB coach of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers.  He didn't get any mention during Sunday's game -- but, this NFL veteran (18 years as a NFL coach) -- was in the ear of his star QB, all game long.  Congratulations Tom -- you now have a National Championship ring -- and a Super Bowl ring.  Not many can say that!  Here's a link to a story about Clements and Rodgers relationship:

LINK:  TOM CLEMENTS -- HIS STAR PUPIL!

Irish Take on Louisville - ESPNU @ 7 PM EST

Mike Brey's #7 Fighting Irish take on Rick Pitino's #15 Louisville Cardinals tonight at a sold-out Purcell Pavillion -- and on ESPNU at 7 PM EST.  It's a big game for the Irish as they fight for the Big East Title and a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.  I'll be in the stands tonight -- rooting on the Irish and reminding Rick Pitino of his prediction (see the story below)!  Here's a link to UND.COM's preview of the game:

LINK:  IRISH HOOPS TONIGHT AGAINST LOUISVILLE

Rick Pitino: "We Will Beat Notre Dame..."

Louisville's "larger than life" head basketball coach, Rick Pitino -- told reporters after the Cardinals' win over DePaul Saturday, that they would "beat a good Notre Dame team..."  Well Rick -- good luck!  Your comment is sure to fire-up an already excited student-body and the #7 team in the country -- the FIGHTING IRISH OF NOTRE DAME.  The game will be televised live -- tomorrow night on ESPNU -- beginning @ 7 PM EST. Here's a link to his prediction:

LINK:  PITINO'S COMMENT 

Irish Football Getting Some National Respect...

Sports Illustrated's senior college football writer -- Stewart Mandel, wrote in his column today that he believes Notre Dame football is back.  "Earth to Mandel" -- we knew that five weeks ago -- but, it's nice to see you've jumped on the bandwagon.  Here's the story:

LINK:  THE IRISH ARE BACK!

Notre Dame's Women's A cappella Choir

I was looking for a John Scully video the other day and I ran across a group singing Here Come the Irish -- that I had never heard of before.  They're called HARMONIA and it's an all-female a cappella choir at the University of Notre Dame.  The members of the group are made up of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students -- and they're really good!   Here's are links to some of their music -- we need to get them on NBC's The Sing Off next season!

LINK:  HERE COME THE IRISH -- HARMONIA

LINK:  HARMONIA -- YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Three Super Bowl MVP's -- Only a Domer!

Former Notre Dame QB, Joe Montana -- is the only player in NFL history to be named SUPER BOWL MVP three times!  There's been a few who've earned this honor twice -- but Montana's the one and only who's had the honor of saying three times "I'm going to Disney..."   Here's a link to every Super Bowl MVP:

LINK:  SUPER BOWL MVP'S

ND Fans -- Think "Player Development" Today!

It's Super Bowl Sunday in "snowy" Dallas, TX -- why does that make me smile!  And, Notre Dame fans won't be able to root for a former Irish star today -- as we don't have any players on the "active" roster for either the Green Bay Packers or Pittsburgh Steelers (at the time of this article it was being reported that Arnaz Battle would be not be activated by the Steelers for this game).  This is the second year in a row that we haven't had a Notre Dame football player -- playing in the Super Bowl.

So, the word of the day for Notre Dame Fans is; "PLAYER DEVELOPMENT."  I know it's two-words...

Here's why.   Did you know there are 15 players in today's Super Bowl game that hail from the Mid American Conference?  Four are from Central Michigan University -- yep, that "football power" in Mt. Pleasant, MI shares the honors of having the most former players in the Super Bowl with LSU, Ohio State and Tennessee.  We're going to want to steer clear of CMU grads today!!!

Do you think we recruited any of the fifteen players who went to play football in the Mid American Conference?  Not a chance -- so, how do we stay positive today?  We think PLAYER DEVELOPMENT and trust that Coach Kelly and staff -- who spent time in the MAC at Central Michigan University -- will develop our talented student-athletes to their full potential "on and off" the field.  Enjoy the game!

LINK:   THE MAC HAS 15 FORMER PLAYERS IN TODAY'S GAME

Tim Brown & Jerome Bettis -- Not This Year!

Former Notre Dame All-American and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown and All-American Jerome Bettis were just eliminated from consideration to join the NFL Hall of Fame's Class of 2011. 

John Scully's "Our Lady of the Lake" -- VIDEO!

Former Notre Dame All-American football player, John Scully -- who's also famous for writing and performing "Here Come the Irish" -- wrote a second song about his beloved alma mater.  It's called "Our Lady of the Lake" -- and I finally found this video of John performing it at the NYC Pep Rally at Lincoln Center -- with Cathy Richardson -- who's also the singing voice in "Here Come the Irish."  And, while I'm at it -- I can't help but share the link to the song they performed right after... Here are the links:

LINK:  JOHN SCULLY'S "OUR LADY OF THE LAKE"

LINK:  THE SECOND SONG...

Troy Niklas -- National Signing Day Feature!

The Orange County Register -- had a video crew follow around Notre Dame commit Troy Niklas -- as he made his college decision.  You'll enjoy this video.  Here's the link:

LINK:  TROY NIKLAS COMMITS TO THE IRISH!

Will ND Overtake USC Tonight in NFL HOF?

The NFL will announce tonight -- at 7 PM EST on the NFL Network -- the latest inductees into the NFL Hall of Fame.  Presently, Notre Dame has ten former players in the NFL Hall of Fame, second only to USC's eleven. Two former Notre Dame stars are among the seventeen finalists -- Tim Brown and Jerome Bettis.  Will they both get in tonight?  They both have to be on 80% of the ballots of the 44 members of the voting committee to be elected.  Here's a list of the ten "Domers" already in the NFL's Hall of Fame followed by a link to this year's finalists:

• Curly Lambeau -- Green Bay Packers
• John McNally -- Milwaukee Badgers
• George Trafton -- Chicago Bears
• Wayne Millner -- Washington Redskins
• George Connor -- Chicago Bears
• Paul Hornung -- Green Bay Packers
• Alan Page -- Minnesota Vikings
• Joe Montana -- San Francisco 49ers
• Nick Buoniconti -- Miami Dolphins
• Dave Casper -- Oakland Raiders

LINK:  A LIST OF THE FINALISTS FOR THE NFL HALL OF FAME

Vote For the IRISH!

The University of Notre Dame sent a team down of students to Wake Forest University this weekend to compete in The Marketing Summit.  And, to get you to go to the website promoting the summit -- the organizers are giving a check away for $1,000 to the school that generates the most votes.  So, VOTE FOR THE IRISH -- you'll find a poll on the right side of the page.  Click on the link:

LINK:  VOTE FOR THE IRISH!

A Video Notre Dame Fans Must Watch!

I was sent an email by one of the ND GO IRISH BLOG regulars, this afternoon, with a link to this video of highlights from the 2010 Notre Dame football season.  It is extremely well done!!!!  You'll enjoy! -- click on the link below:

LINK:  "TODAY'S THE DAY WE'RE GOING TO WIN"

Tom Lemming Talks Notre Dame Recruiting...

Long-time college football recruiting "analyst/expert" Tom Lemming -- spent some time with the gang at WSBT 960 AM's WeekDay Sportsbeat to talk about the 2011 Notre Dame recruiting class.  Here's a link to the radio interview:

LINK:  TOM LEMMING TALKS NOTRE DAME

Parade All Americans -- The Original!!!

To us "old-timers" -- back in the day -- the truly great high school football and basketball players were named "Parade All-Americans."  Parade magazine -- the long-time Sunday supplement found in many weekend newspapers around the country -- was the first to honor America's best high school athletes.  Today -- for the 48th time -- the Parade All-Americans were named for 2011.  And, three high school football players, who've signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the University of Notre Dame -- were named to the team:

• Kyle Brindza, Kicker
• Ben Koyack, TE
• Ishaq Williams, OL

LINK:  2011 PARADE ALL-AMERICANS

Is This the Next "Face" of Notre Dame Football?

I watched with great interest, the interviews of the five "early enrollees" conducted by UND.COM's Jack Nolan this week.  And, after the twenty-five minutes it took to do just that -- I walked away with this thought;  Aaron Lynch will become the next face of Notre Dame football.  I won't say anymore on this subject right now -- other than "judge for yourself."  Here are the interviews of the first five members of Notre Dame's #1 ranked recruiting class (thanks Tom Lemming!) -- to arrive on campus:

LINK:  GO TO PAGE 3 -- TO FIND LINKS

National Signing Day: The Experts Rank!

Thought we'd take a quick look around the "recruiting" expert landscape and check in on what they think of Notre Dame's recruiting class.  YOU'RE GOING TO BE FIRED UP WHEN YOU SEE A COUPLE OF THE RANKINGS!  First, let's take a look at what Coach Kelly thinks:

LINK:  COACH KELLY -- RECRUITING RECAP

LINK:  COACH KELLY -- SIGNING DAY:  PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  ESPN CLASS RANKING

LINK:  RIVALS CLASS RANKING

LINK:  SCOUT CLASS RANKING

LINK:  TOM LEMMING / MAXPREPS CLASS RANKING

Team USA's Notre Dame -- Signing Event!

This had to be quite a moment for these five young men.  The folks at the USA vs. The World game did a wonderful job this morning of parading up the players to sign their National Letter of Intent.  When you watch the video -- note the Notre Dame Victory March playing in the background!  Here's the five young men involved in this event;  George Atkinson III, Josh Atkinson, Matt Hegarty, Anthony Rabasa and Stephon Tuitt.  The game kicks off this evening at 8:30 PM EST -- you can watch it here LIVE online -- just click on the link below:

LINK:  WATCH TEAM USA TAKE & THEIR FIVE IRISH COMMITS -- LIVE!

Notre Dame's Football Recruiting Class -- 2011

Brian Kelly's first full-year recruiting effort payed off quite nicely for the Fighting Irish Football program.  They hail from 14 states -- and represent some of the best talent at their position.  Recruiting "experts" -- generally rank this class among the very best in the country.  Here's a list by state -- of where these young men hail from -- and at what position group Notre Dame has recruited them to play; Skill (QB, WR, RB, DB, K), Big Skill (TE, LB, DE) or Power (OL, DL). And, we've included a link to their highlight video -- just click on their name:






CALIFORNIA -- 3 athletes

• George Atkinson, III -- SKILL
• Josh Atkinson -- SKILL
• Troy Niklas -- BIG SKILL

CONNECTICUT -- 1 athlete

• Conor Hanratty -- POWER

FLORIDA -- 2 athletes

• Aaron Lynch -- BIG SKILL / POWER
• Anthony Rabasa -- BIG SKILL

GEORGIA -- 1 athlete

• Stephon Tuitt -- POWER

 
INDIANA -- 2 athletes

• Nick Martin -- POWER
• Tony Springmann -- POWER

 
ILLINOIS -- 1 athlete

• Davaris Daniels -- SKILL 

MICHIGAN -- 1 athlete

• Kyle Brindza -- SKILL

NEW MEXICO -- 1 athlete

• Matt Hegarty -- POWER

NEW YORK -- 1 athlete

• Ishaq Williams -- BIG SKILL 

NORTH CAROLINA -- 2 athletes

• Ben Councell -- BIG SKILL
• Mathias Farley -- SKILL

OHIO -- 4 athletes

• Brad Carrico -- POWER
• Jarrett Grace -- BIG SKILL
  
• Eilar Hardy -- SKILL
• Chase Hounshell -- POWER

PENNSYLVANIA -- 1 athlete

• Ben Koyack -- BIG SKILL

SOUTH CAROLINA -- 1 athlete

• Everett Golson -- SKILL

TEXAS -- 2 athletes

• Jalen Brown -- SKILL
• Cam McDaniel -- SKILL