When Biscuit and I set out to come back this week, I think we both meant to do a post a day, and I think we’ve both been reminded that it’s damned hard to do that. Kudos to Ryan, Bayou, and Co in keepin’ on keepin’ on. It’s a labor of love, and I appreciate these folks continuing what we started. And thanks for letting us old guys have a little fun.

The Roundup:

• Rubbing the Rock, not a euphemism, but a Clemson blog, take a look at ND with ND blog Slap the Sign.
• Shane Walton, a blast from a past and a guy I knew seemingly a lifetime ago, has a lot of love for Julian Love.
• Dabo Swiney contends that Clemson is no Bama, but they’re FAR closer to being Bama than any of the rest of us.
• And this is nearly a week old, but Reckers – a campus restaurant at ND – is being replaced by a new Pizza Joint THAT WILL SERVE ALCOHOL. I could go on a rant about how amazing the food and dining options on campus have become since the dark days when Reckers first arrived on campus my junior (sophomore?) year, but there aren’t enough bits of memory on the internet to store it, so I won’t. But man, I could. Do you have any idea how much Burger King was consumed? Do you even know how many different kinds of Hot Pockets exist? Because I do. I. DO.

The Beer:

Juleøl by Elder Pine Brewing and Blending

I had a small holiday gathering with friends last weekend, and most of the guys in the group are pretty into trying new and unusual beers. I went looking for something unique to try with the gang and stumbled on this stuff. It’s brewed with juniper berries which immediately made me think there’s no way it can be good, but I was wrong. It’s actually highly drinkable. And with the holidays upon us, it’s nice to have something different that is easy to drink, isn’t cloyingly sweet, isn’t obsessed with cherries, and won’t leave you with a hop headache.

The post Friday Roundup: That Was Fast Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Anyway, I forgot to tune in because 1) I was actually attending a social gathering, and 2) nobody from Notre Dame was even remotely involved. And if you think about that, isn’t that sort of funny? Who would have ever guessed that a Notre Dame squad could go undefeated in the regular season with an incredibly good starting quarterback, and that QB wouldn’t even get invited to NYC? Every Saturday this fall I would regularly marvel at Book’s abilities, whether he was destroying defenses with his lethal efficiency or putting the game on his back and forcing good things to happen to keep ND’s playoff hopes alive. And yet he didn’t get invited to NYC.

Book, while a major injection of offensive output for ND, was simply not on the same tier as either Kyler Murray or Tua Tagovailoa, but even I was sort of stunned by the difference when I really looked at the stats.

Among the 4 QBs in this year’s playoffs, Tua and Murray are simply other-dimensional. Both managed QBRs of over 200 while maintaining YPAs over 11. Absurd. Where Book was an engineer of excellent scoring drives, Tua and Murray were destroyers of worlds. Both had at least 18 more TDs than Book’s 19 on the season. Meanwhile, Book’s season compares quite well with 2 of ND’s best QBs of the recent era, Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen. Ian managed to have a better completion % and QBR than either Brady or Jimmy in their best seasons. Further, Ian managed to best at least one of the duo in 4 of the 8 categories examined above. Pretty damned good. Ian’s only problem is that he’s had this wonderful season while the college football world was having its collective mind blown by Tua and Murray. Not unlike opening a wonderful movie at the same time as Star Wars: A New Hope.

The post Ian Book Is Smokey and the Bandit appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I, frankly, have no idea what the readership of HLS is like these days. I’d guess by the way the folks here have run it so much better than I ever did, that the numbers are quite strong. And I’d also guess that a whole lot of the current readership has no idea I even exist(ed).

I started this blog in 2006 on a bit of a lark, thinking I had smart things to say about Notre Dame football.  I didn’t even start out by trying to explain what we were trying to do here. Then I spent 6 seasons trying to explain why things were so great when they were sometimes great, and trying to commiserate when they weren’t. And in the late winter of 2012, after 2 consecutive 8-5 seasons under “yet another new head coach who wasn’t Bob Stoops,” I left.

In March, 2012, the ND football program was at a crossroads. The Irish were 2 full seasons separated from Charlie Weis, and at best they’d achieved mediocrity. The 2011 Michigan game had basically broken me. It had broken a lot of folks. We had all decided maybe it wasn’t healthy to care so much about the on-field results derived by a bunch of 18-22 year old kids. Maybe we should pay more attention to our own kids on weekends. Maybe, in fact, some of us had just gotten too old for this.

Lo and behold, the very next season, Notre Dame comes roaring back. Shaking down the thunder and beating all comers until the National Championship. If you think I never once considered that somehow that was related to me walking away from caring so much, guess again. It damn near brought me back to blogging, but a certain post-season insanity cured me of that.

Anyway, Biscuit actually suggested we come back for a week way back in week 1 of this season. And that didn’t jinx us, so I’m back believing in mystical powers as they relate to football fortunes only when they’re convenient and/or poetic.

So let’s review what’s happened since I’ve been away:

• Notre Dame won 69% of their games. [Insert Twitter-meme required “Nice” here.]
• ND appeared in a National Championship game for the first time in BCS history.
• ND had 10-win-or-better seasons in 3 out of 6 years.
• ND went 4-8 (did you hear?) in 2016, but 2016 had a lot of weird things happen. We can just pretend it didn’t.
• The Irish earned a berth in the Playoffs in 2018 after yet another undefeated regular season.

Maybe I am saying there’s something karmic going on with me not blogging any more. Maybe I’m not. Maybe coming back for this 1 week jinxes everything in our lead up to the playoffs vs Clemson. But I can tell you that 1 week this season I didn’t wear my ND monogram polo to the office on Friday, and we STILL won, so what could possibly go wrong?

The post Don’t Call It A Comeback appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

In the spring of 2006, I married my impossibly patient, outrageously beautiful wife.

And in the late summer of 2006, seemingly to test her patience, I started HerLoyalSons.com.

After today, I’ll still be married to my wife.

But after 5 and a half years and 6 full Notre Dame football seasons, I’m retiring from the world of collegiate football blogging. I never expected it to go this far, and I never expected to see it come to an end. (But don’t worry, Loyal Sons and Daughters, HLS will go on. It just wont be impeded by me any longer.)

College Football, as a concept, is a wonderful thing. Or it was a wonderful thing. Back when we started this site, college football was still ostensibly about actual student-athletes competing for a championship while maintaining the ideals of amateur athletics. At least it was to me. Perhaps I was naive. Today, possibly in part thanks to the explosion of social media coverage of college football, almost nobody would attempt to tell you that the sport resembles the ideal at all and try to maintain a straight face. From Miami to Ohio. From Pennsylvania to Southern Cal, nobody need look too far to see blatant, and, for a time, horrifying, examples of the Frankenstein’s monster that is college football today. Just look at the various Twitter accounts of other college football bloggers and paid writers these days – a far cry from the relatively light-hearted bunch when Twitter first became a thing among us. Today cynicism runs rampant. The actual business of College Football is just a mockery of the ideal. That’s not to say I don’t still love college football or Notre Dame. It’s just to say I don’t think that the Notre Dame I believe in is playing on the same field as the college football industry I know. I’ll choose to continue to believe in that Notre Dame. I’m choosing to be a little less invested in this college football. I’ll withhold the rest of this screed for whoever I may meet in real life when we can talk over beers.

Instead I’m going to invest myself in some personal projects, and try to do a lot more to help protect the internet. Some of you may have noticed that I would plaster this space with anti-SOPA messaging on occasion. Unfortunately if I kept devoting this space to defense against assaults on the most important communications platform of our time, I’d have to rename the site to something like “SeriouslyStopTheseFingAHolesFromBreakingTheInternet.com.” And that URL is a bit ridiculous (and probably already taken). So instead I’ll be devoting more energy within my personal space to advocacy for the freedom of the internet and the freedom of information, discussions about what’s coming in our very near future, and observations about our crazy new, tech-infused world. That way younger generations can continue to start their own stupid websites devoted to their own favorite college sports teams. At first I’ll be doing it through my writing here, and tweeting here, but over time I hope to be even more involved. It’s important to me.

Biscuit will be taking over ownership and administrative control. It’ll be a bit of a process, probably, but as far as my official involvement with this site is concerned, I’ll just be a long-time, frequent reader. I have no doubt that Biscuit and Tex can build HLS into something big – really big. And I trust them to at least maintain the mission of HLS that sort of evolved over the years – to cover Notre Dame and collegiate football with a frank, sometimes funny, occasionally smart tone. Plus I know where Biscuit lives, so that should keep him from straying too much.

Thanks to so many really excellent people around college football, blogging, and sports writing who helped me and this site find a “voice” and garner some relevance in this niche. Thanks to the guys at Blue Gray Sky for first inspiring me to butt into the conversation, and then throwing advice my way whenever I asked for it. Thanks to the other ND blogs, who made me feel like part of a community, even if I wasn’t always the best member. Thanks to Biscuit, Tex, and all the past HLS writers for keeping this thing moving and keeping it fun. Thanks to my wife, for understanding that yeah, I’m the guy who can obsess so much over a silly game that I stay up late into the night compiling player statistics just to win some imagined debate about offensive philosophy. And to you guys and gals who, for whatever reason, did me the honor of actually reading my stuff on the internet, thanks. It was fun. It was awesome.

The post That Was Fun. Thank You. appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The post Thanks, Poot appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Don’t miss your opportunity to remember this day forever. Purchase your shirt, cherish it forever, and be sure to make your children wear it 20 years from now!

The post 20-1!!!!! The Commemorative Shirt appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The post What Coulda Been? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

If you missed it, here are the bottom 5 of our top 10.

5: My Guys

After Notre Dame managed to look like their all-new “Home Field Advantage” had intimidated the hell out of them when Soutern Cal came to town, just about everyone remotely associated with Notre Dame Football was pretty well good and sick of one another. The fans were at one another’s virtual throats on message boards near and far. We’ve heard there were at least 2 rather heated discussions among the coaching staff (and trust me, that’s no longer an issue). And of course, during Brian Kelly’s live radio show at a local South Bend establishment, leading up to the Navy game, Coach Kelly tried to answer a question about the the dynamic between the younger guys on the team and the more senior guys. And in spite of, or, perhaps because of, whatever effort Kelly did or did not make to tread lightly, he hurt some feelings.

And those poor little hurt feelings made sure to express themselves. Publicly. On Twitter.

Ultimately, if you really read what Kelly said (or hear it) within its context, it’s not nearly as bad as many would believe. But if you only read about it from particular beat writers who work in Chicago, you probably got the impression that Kelly would sooner watch some of the older guys on the team take up vaudeville than keep them around.

Nevertheless, some poor little hurt feelings had to express themselves. Publicly. On Twitter.

And so by the time the pep rally for the Navy game rolled around, fans and media alike were wondering if Kelly could hold this team together, and apparently Kelly had to have a team meeting at some point, during which at some point poor little hurt feelings were salved.

Thank God for those poor little hurt feelings.

4: Decisions, Good and Bad

No matter Mike Floyd’s decision to come back to Notre Dame for one more year (a great one), he made an incredibly stupid decision to get behind the wheel of a car after consuming alcohol on March 20th. Suddenly a lot of optimism about the ND Football program’s chances in 2011 and Mike Floyd’s long-term outlook were thrown for a loop. It cost Floyd practice time, as he was indefinitely suspended from the program and lost all of spring ball. Which, naturally, cost the entire team. It placed Kelly in the unenviable position of having to walk a fine line between publicly dealing with the mess in an appropriate matter that would keep both alums and critics from looking for their pitch forks. It meant Floyd had to spend the off-season going through a legal process and a process put in place by Coach Kelly. It meant the loss of a captaincy for Floyd. And, really, who knows what all of this distraction may have cost the team as a whole in the 2011 campaign?

But Kelly kept angry folks from becoming enraged. And Floyd managed to satisfy both the legal system, the Notre Dame disciplinary system, and Kelly well enough to return to the team in time for the start of the football season. As a result, with a 154 yard, 2 TD performance in the opener against USF, Floyd collected the title for most receptions in a single career at Notre Dame. Later, he’d set records for career receiving yards, 100 yard games, and most receptions in a single season by a Notre Dame player. And by the time Notre Dame met Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl, Floyd once again gained the title of captain.

3: Even Disney World Needs a Fresh Coat of Paint?

It was hinted at multiple times in the off-season by Kelly, Jack Swarbrick, and even some members of the equipment management team. But by the time the first night game at Notre Dame in decades rolled around (against USC), some body of people had created a plan to, if not revolutionize the “Note Dame Experience,” certainly pushed that experience through several evolutionary steps at warp speed.

I’m pretty sure Darwin had some ideas of what happened when things evolved too quickly.

Certainly not everything was a failure. While the object of quite a few “clever” quips about their shine, the new standard for Notre Dame’s helmets, created using something called a “Hydrographic printing process” rather than the old spray-paint, seem to be a resounding success among fans. And yes, they are mind-blowingly shiny.

But quite a few other steps seemed to (forgive me) hitch a ride on the Crazy Train and never get off. The piped-in music was met with disdain, by and large. The new player walk, while perfectly rational and sensible, set off quite a few alums who probably suffer from a mix of inability to be communicated to, and a lack of effort to properly communicate to them. The Addidas “designed” uniforms for the Maryland game set a new standard for “hype over form,” as no apparent actual effort was put into “designing” a uniform that at least featured components that were coordinated with one another.

These attempts at freshening up the staid but popular “Notre Dame Experience” caused quite a tizzy, as more than a few, uh, “traditional” alums and fans saw the as steps toward more major “modernization” of the experience, like the installation of a Jumbotron or (gasp!) Field Turf. And while we couldn’t be accused of being too traditional to see the arguments for either such upgrade to Notre Dame Stadium, we can certainly understand why a poorly coordinated effort towards modernization in 2011 did less to changes the hearts and minds of “traditionalists” and more to scare the high-waisted tartan pants off of them.

2: Crist Is Risen, Only To Be Sat Back Down

The old joke is supposed to be that the most popular player on any college football team is the backup quarterback. But most would agree that the joke is supposed to be about the popularity of that backup among fans of the team.

Although in retrospect, Rees’ ascension into the starting spot over Crist was foretold by a lot of prophetic news items in the off-season. Sure, many felt that Kelly was simply paying lip-service to some ethereal notion of a “quarterback competition” as the season opener approached, but warning bells should have been ringing in every fans head when Kelly was apparently unable to pick a starting QB far in advance on when he finally did.

While Crist clearly possessed superior athletic ability to Rees, and also had that much beloved, though often poorly measured “it” about his personality, there were the small issues of Crist’s tendency to injure knees or experience temporary blindness that probably counted against him. Worst still was his tendency to fail to manage the team before the snap – something Rees excels at, even if he does seem a bit confused after the snap. It’s something Kelly clearly values. And if you read up on the writings of offensive and/or quarterbacking “gurus” you’ll find it a common philosophy: The quarterback has no hope of executing the plays properly if they can’t get the game pieces set up before they go in motion. Crist may have only gotten a few opportunities to show he could manage that aspect of the game in 2011, but he also showed he could do so very few times. And while his athletic ability may be superior to Rees’, Kelly isn’t the kind of coach who wants to depend on athletic ability to get his team out of jams caused by poor execution.

Understandably, many were and are frustrated with the output at the quarterback position at Notre Dame in 2011. While Rees may still have been able to set up the pieces of a play nicely, he never shook his tendency to turn the ball over at the worst possible times and/or in the red-zone. Perhaps that has something to do with Charley Molnar’s departure to UMass. Perhaps not. I’m not one to speculate.

1: Take My Balls, Please

This will be hard for you to believe, but Notre Dame did not finish the season dead last in turnover margin. Somehow both SMU and East Carolina beat them to it. Still, Notre Dame commited an astounding 29 turnovers in 2011 while only managing to steal the ball away from the other guys 14 times. Consider for a moment that LSU only lost the ball 8 times to date, and Honeybadger and Co. stole the ball away 30 times. Major advantages in turnover margin wont make you a great team, but major disadvantages in this statistic will certainly hold you back. Rees was responsible for 14 interceptions alone (Crist with 1, Hendrix with 2).

An incredible 15 turnovers were committed by Notre Dame in September alone. And in their 5 losses, the Irish gave the other guy the ball 19 times and averaged a turnover margin of -2.6. A 2.6 Turnover deficit! Even though the Irish managed to steal the ball away a little more than 1 time per loss! Just astounding. Had the passing game, alone, managed to just cut the interceptions in losses by half (11 were committed), in all likelihood the Irish would be spending the first week of 2012 in a BCS bowl. But instead, Irish fans sit and watch the teams like Virginia Tech and Michigan in slap-fights upon BCS logos. In probably the first time in 10 seasons, had the Irish reached the BCS, they’d have likely not run into what is arguably the best team at that time. In other words, it’s the most winnable set of non-Championship Game BCS contests in a long time, and Notre Dame missed it because of turnovers.

Clearly irked, Kelly made mention of the tendency of Notre Dame to cough up the ball, particularly by the quarterbacks, after just such sins cost the Irish the Champs Sports Bowl against Florida State. And interestingly – and I think tellingly – he placed responsibility for that bad habit on the coaches, mentioning that their’s nothing wrong with how the players compete, but the coaches need to get better in order to see an elimination of the habit. Given the recent moves in shaking up the coaching staff, we expect the top story of 2011 to be the top theme in the spring of 2012.

The post Top 10 NDFB Stories of 2011: 5-1 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Waka waka.

Subway was nice enough to ask that we host the 2011 Bowl Game edition of the Irish Blogger Gathering, and he must have caught us on a good day because we were nice enough to say yes. So I put together a set of questions. At first I’d aimed to use some good questions from my Twitter followers, but I’d actually harvested enough good questions there that I instead aimed to create a manageable set of questions that would serve as an amalgamation of what was asked on Twitter.

Our participants in this IBG include (in order of responses received):

• Subway Domer
• Poot – Yep, our Poot answered my questions, so I’ll let him be the HLS rep for this round.
• Shamrock Head
• Let’s Go Irish
• Gameday 40

Thanks to our participants for joining in the conversation. I’d imagine a few of them will post their full set of answers to each question soon, so go check them all out.

And away we go…

1) FSU might start as many as 4 freshman on the offensive line. In 40 words or fewer, describe what you’re expecting to be the result of such a move.

Subway Domer – You know the hype around Aaron Lynch? Yeah… KABOOM!

Poot – Lots of pressure. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t hassle Manuel all day. However, we need to be disciplined in our rush so he doesn’t run all over us.

2) Lots of stuff Coach Kelly has been saying lately is getting people to believe that if Hendrix looks hot during the bowl game, he may just keep playing in the game. Give me 1 pro to that scenario and 1 con.

Pros

Poot – Adding dimension to the offense. Dynamic run threat could help slightly neutralize outstanding FSU pass Rush
Gameday 40 (Steve in IA) – BK finally breaks the binding on the playbook stretching the field vertically with Hendrix’ arm strength and horizontally with his running ability. This is HUGE given the athleticism of the Seminole defense.

Cons

Subway Domer – If ND loses, Hendrix will of course be blamed as the reason- hence annoying the crap out of me.

3) If you’ve paid any attention at all, you know that the Champs Sports Bowl was officially a sell-out pretty darn quickly. Meanwhile Virginia Tech is struggling to get their allotment of tickets to the Sugar Bowl sold. Remember, the Champs Sports Bowl is a game between 2 very disappointed 8-4 programs longing for the glory days of yore. So explain how this bowl sold out, and try to leave all the rah-rah stuff out of it.

Let’s Go Irish – Sorry, but the rah-rah stuff is a factor here. Notre Dame travels well, and their fans buy tickets, partly because of that rah-rah stuff. Florida State is obviously going to sell in Florida. It’s a dream match-up for those promoters. What are you supposed to say — Notre Dame fans are buying tickets because they want a reason to be near Mickey and Goofy?

Poot – FSU is already in Florida. Not a far trip to see your beloved team over Christmas break. ND fans will travel anywhere. Game being in Orlando allows people to sell it as family vacation. “We can even go to Disney with the kids!”

Gameday 40 (Steve in IA) – To explain this phenomenon, I give you the words of that most insightful interpreter of the human psyche, Don Draper.

As he charms the Kodak execs, Draper tells them (and us) “… in Greek, ‘nostalgia’ literally means ‘the pain from an old wound’. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.'” This is far beyond “rah-rah.” It is that ‘pain of an old wound’–and for the Irish faithful those wounds are manifold and spread over decades– and this is what is driving the attendance figures. Those wounds are numerous and this game offers a chance at healing. The Champs Sports Bowl, pitting ND versus Florida State, is a potentially a sacramental experience for these fan-bases. And Irish fans more than anyone else should understand the power of sacrament. Don Draper certainly does.

4) Will there be an unexpected “hero of the game” for the Irish, or will such a hero prove useless, as the Irish blow out the Seminoles or the Seminoles take the game too far out of reach for the Irish for a hero to be effective? If there will be a hero, who will it be?

Shamrock Head – Hero of the game: George Atkinson III. Which wouldn’t be entirely unexpected, I guess, because the man’s got mad slick moves and everyone knows it. Even so, I hope he gets some touches outside of kickoff returns, because the kid’s got promise. He is the FUTURE. And I hope he returns at least one kickoff for a TD, because given the paucity of our punt return unit, our special teams really needs some street cred.

Let’s Go Irish – I would somehow hope that Golic exceeded all expectations – but I’m not holding my breath. Maybe Lynch causes a key fumble and recovers it. After all, it was FSU that told him he couldn’t cut it at ND academically and recently tweeted about his 3.0 gpa.

5) You Play. To Win. The Game. Unless you don’t. In which case You Play. To Prepare. For Next Year. Which would you prefer to see in this game? And yes, it’s a binary choice. Pick one.

Subway Domer – If this is disguised as a Rees versus Hendrix question, it seems pretty transparent. You play to win this game, and I think that means a LOT of Andrew Hendrix. If that helps with next year, so be it. Also, a win in the bowl game only helps, it never hurts. There are some degrees to that, but it is generally true.

Shamrock Head – I don’t care how much talk there is about the Rees/Hendrix switch-up; no coach worth his salt wants to go to a bowl game and lose. No coach trying to build a program wants such utter deflation of momentum going into the off-season. And no program desperately yearning for the glory days of yore wants to lose to another team yearning for the glory days of yore.

*****

Be sure to check in with the participating sites to see their full complement of questions. And we’d love it if you’d check in with your own thoughts about these questions in the comments.

The post IBG: The “What’s The Difference Between ND/FSU and Cheerios?” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

10: Punt Returns? We don’t need no stinking Punt Returns!

It seems like only yesterday that someone joked on one of the message boards that John Goodman would find a prominent role to play for Notre Dame by fielding punts. Perhaps that jokester had some inside-information that we didn’t. It all started out normally, if not pleasantly enough. The Irish coaching staff had clearly tried to get expected play-maker Theo Riddick ready for the job of actually catching and returning punts, but in his 2011 debut for the job, he contributed to one of the most error-prone performances in Irish history, muffing a punt and turning the ball over to the USF Bulls in a game that the Irish never should have lost, and had no business winning after 5 costly turnovers. And really after that performance and a few other early-season gaffes, the Irish went into full safety mode with the punt returning, giving Goodman the nod to play the role of “Don’t F This Up.” Sure, the Irish played with the idea of Floyd returning punts on occasion, but for all intents and purposes, the Irish gave up on the punt return game entirely.

The Irish finished dead last nationally in punt returns, averaging .30 yards per rerturn – less than a foot. ND only attempted 10 actual, official returns in 12 games. Opting to fair-catch or let the ball roll to a stop on many, many other kicks. Interestingly, that number, 10, is not the lowest nationally, as 8 teams attempted 10 or fewer punt returns all year. But trust me, it’s not a cohort you’d want. One of those teams is about to be coached by Bob Davie in 2012. And even teams that feature just 3, 4, or 5 more returns (30-50% more) are awful. For the Irish to improve in 2012, their actual average return may not need to improve all that drastically (there’s a lot of debate over punt return yardage value to a point), but to fail to at least attempt more returns is a problem.

9: Te’o Isn’t Calling It A Comeback Because He Never Left

Many Irish fans worried over whether or not Manti Te’o would return for the 2012 season before the 2011 season even began. Indeed, if Te’o lived up to the massive expectations so many Irish fans had for him, we’re not sure he could have stayed in college, as he’d have been a shoe-in for the #1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, and would have been considered a lethal weapon in the college ranks. Still, Te’o finished #1 on the squad in total tackles and total sacks. And his total tackles were good enough to place him 27th nationally. He was also a finalist for nearly every award available to a collegiate linebacker and named to a multitude of All American lists. Still, the season also helped further develop a concern over Te’o’s pass coverage capabilities, as more than a few of ND’s opponents sought the mid-level passing routes as safety-valves throughout the season. But once it was official that Manti was investigating his NFL prospects, many considered his decision to go pro a fait accompli. Afterall, he’d just completed the sort of season personally in which an opposing head coach actually called him “unblockable.”

So when Manti Te’o casually mentioned that he’d be coming back to Notre Dame for his senior year during an awards ceremony, the news ignited a mini-celebration among plugged-in fans before most “official” news channels could gain verification. In fact, Manti didn’t meet with the media for a full week after he’d “announced” his decision.

Manti Te’o is an unusual mix of world-class football talent and personality that dances to its own drumbeat (in a good way, in this case) so in retrospect, perhaps it’s not so surprising that he’d choose senior year moments over millions in the NFL. But his decision serves as a major enhancement to the Irish hopes for 2012.

8: Young Beasts are Still Beasts on the DL – And Still Young

Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt, and the still young Louis Nix III. All three have provided more than just glimpses of potential during the 2011 campaign. Nix managed not only to wreak havoc in the center of the field for opposing offenses, but also managed to tally 42 tackles, good for 8th on the team. Lynch, strung together 3 games (MSU, Pitt, Purdue) in which he recorded a sack. And Tuitt managed 23 of his 27 total tackles on the season in just 4 contests from the first week of October to the first week of November. Still, Tuitt and Lynch have growing to do. Lynch managed 1 tackle and 1 personal foul against Southern Cal. Tuitt and his coaches have both spoken of a need to build consistency in his play. And even the more senior Nix is looking to grow both as a better practice player and as an off-season warrior, as he looks to make his production “skyrocket” in 2012.

Look for these 3 players to “set the table” for 2012 with their performances in the Champs Sports Bowl, as they’re likely to face 4 true freshmen on the Florida State offensive line.

7: We All Stand Along the Watchtower, Wondering Where Hendrix Went

15 of 29 for 1 TD, 1 INT, and 225 yards, plus 21 Rushes for 136 Yards and another TD. Not a bad outing, but in Quarterback Andrew Hendrix’s case, that was all over the course of 4 total games played in 2011. And as Crist planned his transfer on the sidelines and Rees never really seemed to shake the turnover blues, more and more momentum was gained for the 2011 Most Popular Player On The Team: The Backup QB. Andrew’s first appearance came against Air Force at the midpoint of the season, when he rushed for 111 yards on 6 carries, including a hilarious 78 yard rumble in which he failed to score simply because he ran out of gas. That seemed to set the table for a “1-2 punch” approach to the QB position the next week against Southern Cal, but as we all know, that game didn’t go as planned for anyone. It was just one big, endless ride on the Crazy Train.

And then, like that… he’s gone. That is, aside for 1 play against Maryland, Hendrix disappeared from the action between Southern Cal and Stanford. And many an Irish fan wondered what the heck happened to the guy with the cannon arm and the athletic ability so vastly superior to Rees’ that it made the really silly among us pose questions of comparison between Hendrix and Tebow.

But if you read really carefully between the lines of things said since that Southern Cal game in which Hendrix clearly provided a “spark” to the Irish offense but also couldn’t deal with a corner blitz and completed only 45% of his passes, you might start to see a lot of clues about “cohesion” between him and the rest of the starting offense, Hendrix’s own practice-time performance, and adjustments to “the plan” that Kelly and Co. had to make in response to various injuries at other positions.

6: Oh, So That’s What “Beast Mode” Means

He wasn’t our “best” running back, statistically, but yeah, he was our best running back in 2011. Jonas Gray seemed to emerge from the Robert Hughes School of Late Bloomers but on the accelerated schedule, bursting onto the scene with a 79 yard TD run against Pitt in which he did the seemingly impossible: Turn an otherwise mundane running play into a highlight while outrunning everyone AND wearing an Irish uniform after the mid-1990s.

Still, it took a bit of time for Jonas to catch on as a consistent part of the Irish attack. In that same Pitt game, he only carried the ball 2 other times aside from the 79 yarder. And in the following 4 games he touched the ball just 38 times. Just as he caught on as a primary focus in the Irish offense, carrying the ball 40 times in 2 games, he finished his Notre Dame career with 11 carries, 61 yards, and 1 TD against Boston College before blowing out his knee. Over his career, Jonas averaged 5.8 yards per carry for a total of 1100 yards. And for at least one full off-season, many an Irish fan will wonder why on earth this kid didn’t arrive until just before he left.

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So that’s our 10th-6th top stories of Notre Dame Football 2011. Soon we’ll release our top 5 stories of the year, but for now, we’d be curious to hear what you think are the top 10 stories and whether or not you agree with our rankings thus far.

The post Top 10 NDFB Stories of 2011: 10-6 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.