The Fighting Irish left South Bend on the 767 pictured above -- during the noon hour today -- for their trip out to Phoenix International Airport and tomorrow's afternoon game with the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly met with the media after today's practice -- as his #10 Fighting Irish prepare to fly to Phoenix tomorrow to take on #9 Arizona State Saturday afternoon...
Notre Dame's women's hoops team kicked off their "exhibition" schedule last night with a 92 - 32 win over my alma mater -- Ferris State University. It was over -- early -- the Irish scored the first 28 points before the Bulldogs made their first basket...
Just in time for Saturday's nationally televised game with Notre Dame -- the players picked this opportunity to bring out their NIKE "Desert Fuel" get up...
If you're going to be in the Phoenix area this weekend for Saturday's game between Notre Dame and Arizona State -- and you're looking for an opportunity to get together with some Irish fans -- here's what the Notre Dame Club of Phoenix has planned:
Thursday night: UND NIGHT -- at Monti's La Casa Vieja, Tempe @ 6 PM
Friday night: Old Town Irish Block Party -- Old Town Scottsdale @ 6 PM
Saturday morning: Mass & Tailgate Party
Sunday afternoon: St. Louis Rams vs. Arizona Cardinals -- tickets available
For more detailed information -- click on the links below...
PLEASE KNOW THESE EVENTS ARE OPEN TO ALL NOTRE DAME FANS!
Here's what the weather forecast looks like for Saturday's game between our Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and the Sun Devils of Arizona State. It's a 3:30 PM ET kick-off...
ESPN posted this "tweet" this afternoon about the upcoming "Conference Schedule" for the top four teams in the SEC -- choosing not to publicize the games EACH of these teams are playing against FCS teams over the next three weeks. C'mon ESPN -- you're better than this...
Take a look at the opponents that were "conveniently" left off of the story ESPN is telling above about schedules. Who has the "TOUGHEST ROAD" -- is it the team that's playing Presbyterian, Samford, UT-Martin or Western Carolina?
Stephen Shay -- the youngest brother of former Notre Dame All-American Ryan Shay '02 -- ran the New York City Marathon yesterday, in honor of Ryan, who died of a heart attack while running the same route in 2007 during the US Olympic Marathon Trials...
The photo above is of the bench that was dedicated to Ryan at the spot he collapsed and died in 1997 -- Stephen ran by the bench during yesterday's NYC Marathon.
This is a story that I just learned about this morning.
Lauren Hill, a freshman college basketball player at Mount St. Joseph's in Cincinnati -- has inoperable brain cancer. She has been given just a few weeks to live -- so her college team petitioned the NCAA to move up a home game so she could play one last time... FOX SPORTS is broadcasting the game LIVE beginning at 2 PM ET today -- there won't be a dry eye in the gymnasium or in front of TV sets all across America.
Here's the TV GUIDE for where to find the game -- but, first -- you must watch Lauren talk about her situation:
Now, we'll have to wait to learn if we have enough scholarship players left on defense to take on Arizona State's "high flying" offense next week...
That was ugly.
It doesn't matter what the College Football Playoff Committee ranks us this week -- we win our remaining four games and we will be in the College Football Playoff -- bank on it!
Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly met with the media today after practice -- the last time he'll meet with the press prior to Saturday night's PRIME TIME game with the Naval Academy.
Notre Dame's women's basketball team was ranked #3 in the country in today's Associated Press Preseason Poll -- not bad for a team that lost three starters -- two drafted in the first nine picks to the WNBA...
You can add Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops to the bandwagon of those questioning why Notre Dame is ranked only 10th in the first College Football Playoff Ranking.
The folks at ESPN -- who rarely ever talk about graduation rates of college student-athletes -- created a formula called ESPN GRADE which factors in graduation rates when ranking teams. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any play...
Well, ESPN's Gregg Easterbrook penned this piece where he took the College Football Playoff Rankings and "mashed-up" the ESPN GRADE ranking system against their TOP 25. Here's the new rankings of teams based on graduation rates:
Well, the "first-ever" College Football Playoff Poll was released in the past 30 minutes and our Fighting Irish are ranked #10 -- with six weeks left in the college football season.
If you look at the rankings -- each of the "Power Five" Conferences have a team ranked ahead of Notre Dame -- is that a coincidence? I don't think so.
We're the "eighth best" one-loss team in the country? Really???
That is the question being floated around by the Detroit media these days...
The former Notre Dame student-athlete had his best game as a professional in London, England this past Sunday -- subbing for the often injured Reggie Bush.
What if, the College Football Playoff Committee announced a list of the 28 teams today -- still in consideration for one of the FINAL FOUR SPOTS -- instead of a ranking? Then, every week -- for the next six weeks -- they eliminate four more teams from the list.
So, on Tuesday, December 2nd -- the Committee would announce the list of EIGHT TEAMS still under consideration for the College Football Playoff -- with the Final Four announced on Sunday, December 7th. The Committee would then announce their seeding of those four teams at that time.
So, here's my list of the 28 teams that would still be under consideration for the COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS on October 28, 2014:
Notre Dame fans can tune-in LIVE at NOON ET today to watch Coach Kelly's press conference. He'll be addressing another Fighting Irish PRIME TIME contest this Saturday night against the Naval Academy.
The "first-ever" College Football Playoff Rankings will be released today at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN. This poll, which is the work of a 12 person committee, will lead to a FINAL FOUR which will be unveiled on December 7th.
Here's what a few of the media prognosticators are thinking how the Committee will rank the teams -- and what to look for this evening:
There are five teams in the NFL that have at least three former Notre Dame student-athletes on their payroll this morning -- and they are a combined 26 - 13 this season...
ARIZONA CARDINALS: 6 - 1
DETROIT LIONS: 6 - 2
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: 6 - 2
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS: 5 - 3
MINNESOTA VIKINGS: 3 - 5
Four of the five would be in the NFL Playoffs if they started this week -- do you think some NFL General Managers are taking notice?
ARIZONA CARDINALS
Michael Floyd
Jon Carlson
Robert Hughes
Troy Niklas
DETROIT LIONS
Golden Tate
Theo Riddick
T.J. Jones
Joseph Fauria -- he transferred out of ND
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Jonas Gray
Darius Fleming
Kona Schwenke
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Chris Watt
Manti Te'o
Trevor Robinson
MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Harrison Smith
R.J. Blanton
Kyle Rudolph
John Sullivan
That's DOMERS Michael Floyd and Robert Hughes in the photo above.