Muffet's #7 IRISH Beat #19 Ohio State Today

The grand experiment -- playing basketball on the deck of an aircraft carrier, floating in water in less than ideal conditions...

The Notre Dame women's basketball team traveled to Mount Pleasant, SC to play in the 2nd Annual Carrier Classic "outside" on the deck of the USS Yorktown -- and beat Ohio State 57 - 51.

The Irish were led by Natalie Achonwa's 17 points and 10 rebounds.  ND frosh Jewell Loyd -- in her college debut --- grabbed 12 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive end.

LINK:  VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

LINK:  GAME BOX SCORE

Coach Kelly -- Last Media Session Prior to BC

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly met with the media after practice, last night, to talk about his team's week of preparation for Saturday night's PRIME TIME tilt with Boston College.

LINK:  COACH KELLY MEETS WITH MEDIA

Boston College's "Bowl Game" This Saturday!

The Boston College Eagles were eliminated from post season bowl competition with their loss last Saturday to Wake Forest -- thus, this is THEIR BOWL GAME!

I trust Coach Kelly has made his IRISH well aware of this fact!

Took a quick lap around the web -- some 30 hours before kick-off to see what the media has to say about Notre Dame vs. Boston College:

LINK:  BOSTON HERALD #1

LINK:  BOSTON HERALD #2

LINK:  BOSTON GLOBE #1

LINK:  BOSTON GLOBE #2

LINK:  SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE

LINK:  CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

LINK:  ESPN'S NOTRE DAME BLOG

LINK:  NBC'S NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

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!

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!

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

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

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.