Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sylvia Yacoub Advances to Final 12 -- The Voice


Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, IN) student Sylvia Yacoub keeps advancing on NBC's hit show THE VOICE -- as it was announced this evening that she was one of the top eight in the audience vote!

Yacoub will perform again next Monday night!

LINK:  YACOUB ADVANCES!

LINK:  VIDEO OF SYLVIA'S PERFORMANCE

Lady Irish to Play on Aircraft Carrier Friday!


Muffet McGraw's #7 Fightin' Irish will take their game "outside and off-land" on Friday as they play in the 2012 Carrier Classic on the deck of the aircraft carrier the USS Yorktown -- docked in Mount Pleasant, SC.

This is the first time a women's college basketball game will have taken place on an aircraft carrier.

Notre Dame will be playing Ohio State -- Irish fans can watch the game on the NBC Sports Network beginning at 11 PM ET (tape delayed basis) Friday night.  The game tips-off at 4 PM ET.

LINK:  COACH McGRAW'S PRESS CONFERENCE

LINK:  CONVERTING AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO A BASKETBALL STADIUM

LINK:  CARRIER CLASSIC WEBSITE

LINK:  UND.COM WEBSITE

ABC Already Previewing ND vs. BC Game


ESPN's Brad Edwards was given the assignment of talking about the ABC Prime Time Matchup Saturday night at 8 PM ET between Notre Dame and Boston College.  Here's what he had to say:

LINK:  PREVIEW -- NOTRE DAME vs. BOSTON COLLEGE

Five Domers Win Election Tuesday Night!


Four University of Notre Dame graduates were elected to the United States House of Representatives and a fifth was elected to the United States Senate!
  • Peter Visclosky -- a 1973 Notre Dame Law School grad won his fifteenth term in Congress (Indiana)
  • Peter King -- a 1968 Notre Dame Law School grad was re-elected for an eleventh term in Congress (New York)
  • Michael Kelly -- a 1970 Notre Dame graduate was re-elected for a second term in Congress (Pennsylvania)
  • Keith Rothfus -- a 1990 Notre Dame Law School grad won his first term in Congress (Pennsylvania)
  • Joe Donnelly -- a 1977 Notre Dame graduate and a 1981 Notre Dame Law School grad won his first team in the U.S. Senate after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2006 (Indiana)

LINK:  DOMERS WIN TUESDAY!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

BC's Head Football Coach Talks Notre Dame


Frank Spaziani -- the head football coach at Boston College met with the media today to talk about Saturday's game against our Fighting Irish.  Here's a link to the teleconference:

LINK:  SPAZIANI TALKS NOTRE DAME

Two Irish Football Players Among Top 32!


The folks at USA Today published a story "today" on the top rated 32 college football players for next year's 2013 NFL Draft.  Notre Dame fans will recognize a couple of names on that list!

LINK:  TOP 32 NFL DRAFT PROSPECTS

Could the IRISH End Up in the Rose Bowl?


The folks in Pasadena are already talking about the prospects of Notre Dame returning to the Rose Bowl -- the Irish last played in that game in 1925! 

This could be fun!   

Thanks to ND GO IRISH BLOG regular Shawn Gallagher for alerting me to this story.

LINK:  IS NOTRE DAME ROSE BOWL BOUND?

Coach Kelly on the Dan Patrick Show Today


Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly was a guest this morning on the Dan Patrick Show.  Coach Kelly let the world know where he voted his Fightin' Irish, in the latest Coaches Poll.

LINK:  COACH KELLY -- DAN PATRICK SHOW

Photo of the Day: The Green Fire Truck!




You've got to love this!

ND GO IRISH BLOG regular Corey Angst (Mendoza College of Business faculty member) was kind enough to forward me these photos of a 1934 Ford Fire Truck that a number of "Notre Dame" families have restored; the Angst family, Kidder family, Cullinan family, Dugard family, Cox family, Egan family, Sedlack family, Curran family, Smoker family, Haigh family, Barrett family, O'Shaughnessy family and the O'Brien family.

You can find it over in the Hesburgh Peace Studies parking lot on football weekends!

Corey believes the GREEN FIRE TRUCK has brought the IRISH Good Luck and should be given some of the credit for NOTRE DAME's undefeated season!   

Hey, we're 9 - 0  -- they better drive that truck to Los Angeles over Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Chicago Tribune Story: ND's Zach Martin


He's one of the best offensive linemen in the country -- and he wears #70 for the Notre Dame Fightin' Irish!

Irish captain and left tackle Zach Martin was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune -- enjoy!

LINK:  ZACH MARTIN

Take the Blind Test -- Who Should Be #1 & #2?




Folks, the gang at CBS Sports put together a BLIND TEST of the top five teams in the polls -- based on their performance on the field and their opponents performance.

You need to take that TEST -- I will tell you, the two teams I voted for ended up getting 61% of the vote and it did include the NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH!

LINK:  TAKE THE TEST!

Boston College Week: Coach Kelly Presser

The head football coach of the undefeated Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame met with the media today to talk about his team and their game this Saturday in PRIME TIME against Boston College.

If you'd like to watch Coach Kelly -- click on the link below:

LINK:  COACH KELLY PRESS CONFERENCE

Luke Zeller Has Never Missed a Shot in NBA!


Former Notre Dame basketball player -- Luke Zeller '09, made the Phoenix Suns roster this year and after playing two games -- he's NEVER MISSED A SHOT!

Luke is 3 for 3 from the field -- including a three-pointer!

Phoenix Suns GM Lance Blanks has called Zeller "...one of the best shooters in the world."

Zeller worked his way into the NBA by playing professional basketball in Japan, Lithuania and the NBA Development League (Bakersfield, CA and Austin, TX) -- since graduating from Notre Dame in 2009.

LINK:  ZELLERS MAKES SUNS ROSTER

Monday, November 5, 2012

It's a Bird, It's a Plane -- No, It's "GOL"DMAN!


This is a photo of the greatest TWO POINT CONVERSION in the history of Notre Dame football!

If Everett Golson -- AKA "GOL-DMAN" -- doesn't make that great dash from the ten yard line and LEAP OVER the final three yards into the end zone, our National Championship hopes would have vanished!

Here's a look at a piece produced by Fighting Irish Digital Media about "Gol"dman -- my nickname for Everett Golson.

LINK:  GAME BALL TO EVERETT GOLSON

Irish Move Down to #4 in BCS Rankings...


A 3 OT win over Pittsburgh and a win over USC where a defense gave up 51 points and 615 yards of offense -- led to the Ducks moving ahead of the IRISH in the BCS rankings this week...

It just goes to show you "what sells" to the human voters -- OFFENSE.

Anyway -- there's three more games left for Notre Dame and four for the others; Alabama, Kansas State and Oregon -- plenty can happen.

It may come down to the IRISH beating USC by more than 10 points on November 24th.

GO IRISH!

LINK:  NOTRE DAME MOVES TO #4

Sunday, November 4, 2012

STAT OF THE GAME -- In Notre Dame's Win


The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame out gained Pittsburgh 222 yards to 20 yards in the 4th quarter and the three OT periods

Think about that!!!

ESPN Jumps the Gun -- Posts IRISH Loss


The folks at ESPN.COM posted this on their site right after the fumble by Cierre Wood in the 2OT and as the kicker for Pitt was lining up for the 31 yard FG to win the game...


Maybe it was the ESPN.COM "JINX" -- that led to the field goal miss?

A ND fan was quick to pick this up before ESPN took it down.


IRISH EYES ARE SMILING! Undefeated 9 - 0 !


You'll find a number of stories about Notre Dame's 3 OT win over Pittsburgh -- in my post last night.  Here's a few more for your reading pleasure!

Oh, what a night!!!

LINK:  YAHOO SPORTS

LINK:  ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINK:  ESPN


Saturday, November 3, 2012

NBC's Coverage of Notre Dame's 3 OT Win!


The gang at NBC may have picked up another RATINGS WINNER tonight -- as Notre Dame struggled, yet found a way to beat a game Pittsburgh squad in TRIPLE OVERTIME!

Here's a look at NBC's coverage of Notre Dame's 29 - 26 win over the Pitt Panthers -- including the FULL GAME REPLAY:

LINK:  GAME HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  COACH KELLY WITH ALEX FLANAGAN

LINK:  KAPRON LEWIS-MOORE POST GAME

LINK:  FULL REPLAY OF GAME

LINK:  GOLSON'S WINNING TD IN OVERTIME

Media's Initial Reaction to ND's 3 OT Win!


The Fightin' Irish are 9 - 0 and that's really all that matters right now for this football program.  There were some positives tonight:
  • 522 yards of total offense
  • Holding Pittsburgh to 1 for 14 on third down
  • 34 first downs against only 13 for Pitt
  • 231 yards of rushing
  • And, almost eleven more minutes in time of possession

Yet, it took THREE OVERTIMES and a MISSED FIELD GOAL for Notre Dame to go to 9 - 0 on the season.  The Irish overcame:
  • Three turnovers on offense -- while getting ZERO on defense
  • Special teams that were not so special -- kick-off and punt -- all struggled big time
  • Field goal miss and an extra point miss
  • 170+ rushing by Pitt's Graham
  • Two long drives to start the game on offense and NO TD's to show for it

LINK:  PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE

LINK:  PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE

LINK:  NBC'S NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  ESPN NOTRE DAME BLOG

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

LINK:  FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE

LINK:  CHICAGO TRIBUNE