One of the most striking things of note during the ND/Navy game this past Saturday was just how much we ran the ball. Notre Dame ended the contest with 46 runs and 23 passes -- that's right, the rushes doubled the passes. More striking though was the fashion in which we ran the football as we saw a mix of personnel packages unlike anything we've ever seen in the Kelly era. ...
Notre Dame Runs Over Navy
Well that game sure felt a whole hell of a lot better than last year's season opener. In a game in which all eyes were on Everett Golson, the Irish rushed for nearly 300 yards as they simply crushed Navy 50-10. The return to the homeland was extremely successful and provided quite a bit of healing from last season's opening day disaster. ...
Emerald Isle Classic Open Thread
Notre Dame Football is upon us so it's time for the first open thread of the season! Since we have moved to Disqus, we will be running these threads in our comment section. One of the great features that we can now take advantage of is that Disqus will update comments live so you have no need to refresh this page to stay up to date in the conversation. Now, your "old" HLS account won't log you into Disqus as those now only work for the forums; however, getting into Disqus is easy and you ...
Friday Roundup: The “Across the Pond…on a Dragon” Edition
My initial plan for this week's Roundup was to do a preview for the Navy game. Perhaps build upon my post about defending the option and talk a bit about Golson and how he would lead the offense against Navy. But then I saw this: ...
Reminder: Rent Like a Champion!
With the Notre Dame football season literally just around the corner, we at HLS thought it would be good to drop a friendly reminder about our ND alumni run partners, Rent Like a Champion. ...
Defending the Option
In last week's defensive primer, we discussed Bob Diaco's 3-4 defense and how the Irish run it. This week, we take a look at how that same defense works against an option team like Navy. Spoiler alert: The defense is completely different. ...
Football is Coming: A Primer to the College Football World
This Thursday, seventeen college football games will be played. In honor of these happy times, and considering that I've been in the mood for writing primers as of late, I felt that one for all things college football was highly appropriate. Let this be your guide for navigating the world of college football outside Notre Dame. ...
Friday Roundup: “The Rise of Golson” Edition
Hat tip to @rakesofmallow and @NDEddiemac for the inspiration of what follows... [In a dark corner of South Bend, Brian Kelly and Everett Golson look upon a motionless Tommy Rees, incapacitated from a devastating tackle from a member of the SBPD...] ...
A Quick Word Regarding Amazon & Ads on HLS
It has been a crazy couple of weeks since the launch of HLS 3.0. While we have mentioned it before, we haven't quite yet been able to take some time to talk to you, the Loyal Readers, about the changes in advertising here on the site. So as we are in the calm before the storm that is football season (and apparently the announcement of Golson as the starting QB), let's have that chat. ...
Notre Dame 3-4 Defense Primer
Here at HLS, I have broken down game film and done in-depth analysis of the Notre Dame offense under Brian Kelly; however, I have yet to show similar love to the defense. Bob Diaco (and his flowing locks), has taken the schizophrenic Irish defense from the Weis era (seriously, three defensive coordinators in five years) and molded it into a true 3-4 anchored by a front seven that is a wrecking machine. While it would be impossible to describe Diaco's entire scheme or the intricacies of the ...