Bayou Irish

If you went to Mass on Sunday morning, or received and read your FaithND daily e-mail, you know that the Gospel reading was one about humility. Jesus instructs us, among other things, to not fall for the long tassels and wide phylacteries that all the cool kids are wearing. But why the heck should we be poor-mouthing Saturday's 48-37 win over Wake Forest? It is more than fair to say that The Irish D was "off" on Saturday and especially in the game's second-half. Whether you chalk that up to ...

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Saturday's 35-14 win over #14 North Carolina State capped the most dominant display by Notre Dame against ranked teams in the last fifteen years. The week before, The Irish dispatched then #11 USC by thirty-five points, 49-14. These back-to-back wins over ranked opponents are also the rather luscious cherry on top of a six-game winning streak that dates back to Week Three versus Boston College. Like it or not, you're watching the best Notre Dame team in recent memory. I graduated in 1994, so ...

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As we look ahead to Saturday afternoon's tie with NC State (6-1), one of the more notable avenues to explore is the superficial appeal of Notre Dame's dominant rushing offense taking on State's (seemingly) stout run defense. Notre Dame has the country's sixth-best rushing offense with 317.86 yards per game (ypg). NC State has the country's sixth-best run defense, allowing 91.29 ypg. Considering Josh Adams is accustomed to breaking off runs almost that long, are we really going to see Notre ...

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Last night's destruction of 11th ranked USC was perhaps the finest display by a Brian Kelly-led Notre Dame football team. Without question, the Trojan team that ambled into the stadium was missing some key players due to injury. But the great teams take advantage of those situations. Maybe USC's Heisman Trophy candidate Sam Darnold didn't play his best game. But the great teams capitalize on those situations. Notre Dame did almost everything right Saturday night, on their way to a 49-14 win for ...

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After five games, and equaling last season's win total, your 2017 Fighting Irish are definitely running things the right way. Whether you look at the running game through five games or the defense against the run, The Irish are much better than they were last season. But you knew that just from watching the games, right? Notre Dame has so far looked the part, right? The statistics definitely back that up. At this point in 2016, The Irish were 2-3 and had most recently defeated Syracuse, the ...

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The polls are now out after Week One, and your 1-0 Fighting Irish are now ranked in the Top Twenty-Five. AP has them at 24. The Coaches Poll has them at 25. Interestingly, the AP have us one spot ahead of Tennessee (1-0), who had a tough time handling Georgia Tech last night. This weekend's opponent, Georgia (1-0), is at 15 in both polls. ...

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We have something to look at now. After Temple, Notre Dame has a product that is certainly, hopefully, not finished. The dust and shards of the preseason were once part of a slab carved and chiseled by Brian Kelly and his new staff since the year began. The clanging weights, whistle chirps, and screamed admonitions were the football-equivalent of the sharp hammer blows in the sculptor's studio. The seasons have always started this way. In some, the team becomes Galatea. In others, ...

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In New Orleans, the arrival of a season is generally marked by the appearance of a new menu item. Crab, shrimp, oyster and crawfish are our seasons. Mardi Gras is another of our seasons, but its beginning and end are set by the moon. For the Notre Dame football fan, the arrival of the South Bend Tribune's ND Insider Notre Dame Football Preview is a $9.95, hundred-ish page, glossy reminder that a new season has begun. Football is coming. Reviewing the magazine, and its $4.99 digital sister, ...

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Once again, I was fortunate enough to enjoy Blue Gold Weekend from the relative comforts of the 504 area code. To be fair, at my age and with my systolic, I was lucky to just be alive. But in any event, and with my history with The Shirt, I look forward to its unveiling and to that of next season's forlorn hope with a mixture of excitement and nausea. This year's The Shirt does to the eyes what a heaving ocean does to the stomach. There are worse horrors in the world, but if we can send a ...

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