Notre Dame will have a chance to ease the pain of the 2014 season and perhaps remove some of the sting from the 2007 Sugar Bowl as the lottery odds were in the Music City Bowl’s favor. The Irish and LSU Tigers will face off in Nashville on Tuesday, December 30 at 3:00pm ET on ESPN.
Before I get too far into my thoughts on the game, as well as some comments from Brian Kelly, I am happy to announce that we are able to be an affiliate with Prime Sports, from whom you can purchase primary market tickets for the Bowl game. So, if you are thinking about buying some tickets, feel free to use that link to secure your seats and support HLS at the same time. If you are interested in testing out the secondary market, you can check out our other partner, Ticket Monster.
Now, with that business done, time for the business of the game.
I, for one, am very excited about the draw. We get an SEC match against a team that has some issues of their own. The Tiger defense is quite stout, but their offense…well, it’s had it’s own set of issues this season. They have the potential to give the Irish defense fits, but they also have the potential to fall flat on their face. And then you have the Mad Hatter himself, Les Miles, who is always good for doing some of the craziest things that you will ever see on a football field.
In short, I think this has the potential to be quite fun and I’m going to enjoy diving into this matchup going forward. It’s certainly a better matchup than some of the other SEC potentials like Georgia and Auburn for instance.
As for the Irish, Brian Kelly delivered some good news today in regards to the injury riddled defense:
Kelly says Greer Martini, Sheldon Day, Max Redfield and Cody Riggs likely to be healthy for the bowl game.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 7, 2014
Kelly says Jay Hayes likely limited in the bowl game, expects Daniel Cage will be available as well.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 7, 2014
That’s certainly the best news that we’ve heard in quite some time. However, there is some bad, but expected news in regards to Austin Collinsworth:
Kelly: "Doesn't look promising" that Austin Collinsworth would be available for bowl game.
— Observer Sports (@ObserverSports) December 7, 2014
Kelly didn’t want to blame the injuries for all the Irish woes. He also didn’t absolve himself and the rest of the coaches for the recent poor performance of the Irish either:
BK not using injuries as an excuse for USC game: "To give up six touchdown passes is absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances."
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) December 7, 2014
Brian Kelly: "We underperformed as coaches on the offensive side of the ball and as players." Said offense had to cover for D and didn't.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) December 7, 2014
As far as who will be taking snaps for the Irish, that is still to be determined.
Kelly says there will be competition at the quarterback position, doesn’t say job is wide open. Wants both QB’s to grow.
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 7, 2014
Even if the job isn’t “wide open”, I am happy that Everett Golson doesn’t get the full vote of confidence. Having Malik Zaire pushing him for the job has loads of upside. Either Zaire wins it outright for the bowl game or Everett gets pushed into fixing the issues that have plagued him all season.
Either way, the tone for the bowl practices are set. It’s time for Notre Dame to right the ship and correct the issues that have caused the 2014 season to spiral out of control. I know no ND fan is happy with where the Irish stand right now and Kelly appears to reflect that similar sentiment.
While the bowl game certainly has the potential for another disappointing loss, the other side of the coin is that Kelly is able to rally the troops this month and get the Irish back on track with all kinds of momentum into 2015. I can think of no better way than defeating someone from the SEC West.
Geaux Irish. Beat Tigers.
Texan by birth, Irish by choice.
First-generation Domer and a former student manager, HLS podcast host, HLS Sim creator, Extra Life streamer, and technical problem haver. You can find more non-Notre Dame related writing on his Patreon.
- Epilogue - January 3, 2022
- HLS Podcast Finale - January 2, 2022
- The Final Fiesta: Notre Dame vs Oklahoma State NCAA ’14 Sim - December 31, 2021
lets hope lsu wins, which will help lay the groundwork for kelly being fired. once again its time n.d. looked in the mirror and realized that, once again, they hired to wrong guy as head coach. maybe its time they set their standards higher.
I don’t agree with your sentiment. But I cannot help but be curious: Which specific coach or coaches do you have in mind that could set a “higher standard”? And is your “higher standard” – more wins? Or something else?
I too can’t wait for the LSU beating so we can hire Bo Pelini. What could possibly go wrong?!
Everyone keeps saying ND’s higher standards (not oversigning, encouraging players to attend actual college classes, on-time graduation) keeps holding them back from greater success…now you want to make them *even higher*?
nad — how does a loss to LSU lay any more or better or needed groundwork? The season ended in flames — and Kelly deserves his share of the blame. I think your point is that ND should have set its standards higher when it hired Kelly, right? Who was better and available at the time. Same question today — who is better and available than Kelly? Les Miles? Bo Pelini? NJIT’s men’s basketball coach?
ND shouldn’t go to a bowl game because I expect the administration, coaching staff and players to exhibit the same level of outrage and embarrassment that I have! I brought my ND flag in from the garden and I haven’t worn an ND polo since the Northwestern game. The least these clowns could do is turn down a lower tier bowl to SEND A MESSAGE!
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that sentiment and I’m appalled that’s how you feel. I’ve only been alive for 18 years, have never seen a National Championship, and most of my memory is from the Davie, Willingham, Weis eras, and even in ’07 when we were 3-9, I gladly accepted wearing the ND logo with pride. Maybe it’s because I’m young, maybe it’s because I understand that there is more to the university than a bowl game, but unless there is something to change my outlook on Notre Dame as a whole, football outcome WILL NEVER change me representing ND with a flag outside my house, a jersey or hat on, or even admitting I am a ND fan. The football team should never dictate someone of any school from representing and taking pride in that institution
Pssst, he’s joking.