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#HLSRecap: Notre Dame vs North Carolina State

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Welcome to another #HLSRecap as we revel in yet another Notre Dame three possession, top-15 victory. Josh Adams has a strong case for the Heisman and Notre Dame has found themselves ranked #3 in the nation in the first 2017 College Football Playoff rankings.

Simply put, it’s been a damn good week.

Now, before we hit the recap, I must warn you in advance, this one will be quite different. That being said, let’s get to it:

Do not adjust your screen. That’s the entirety of the recap. No, we aren’t punting this week either.

At it’s core, the #HLSRecap has always been about telling a story of the game through tweets. Pete’s not only did that (with a fair amount of snark, another hallmark of the recap), but perfectly painted a picture of not just this season, but all the angst that the God-forsaken hellscape of 2016 brought as well. So all of us at HLS felt taking this recap in a radically different direction was absolutely warranted.

We aren’t flying any “Mission Accomplished” banners around here quite yet. There’s still a lot of football left to be played and if the 2017 season has shown us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected and watch chaos reign.

Still, I’ve mentioned throughout this entire season on the podcast that ND fans were looking for key boxes to be checked off that have been vacant throughout the BK era. The biggest of these has been quite a valid complaint: “win a big games against ranked opponents.” ND has checked that box off three times this season against teams currently ranked in the CFP Top 25 and will have multiple chances to do so again this season.

Their lone loss is a single point (possession?!) to #1 Georgia. So, yeah, we’re enjoying this ride thus far.

Now, if you happen to find yourself among those that not only supported the ads, but further find yourself convinced they helped the turnaround, I, respectfully, will have to agree that we will forever disagree on that. 4-8 spurred those changes. Full stop. Brian Kelly, a coach that never fires anyone, jettisoned Brian Van Gorder before the calendar even flipped to October last season. That’s how bad things started and the Irish hadn’t yet found their lowest point.

But regardless of what side you wish to take in that argument, every last Irish fan should agree that an Irish team that is as dominant as this one is what we’ve all wanted. Further, I think we can all also agree that we all want more than #3 in the first CFP ranking.

Keep on (#33)trucking, Irish.

I lied. Two tweets.

Ryan Ritter
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About Ryan Ritter

Editor-in-Chief
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.