WE are back, and the leprechauns are as spry as ever. It’s been another busy offseason of loathing Michigan (because they SUCK) and USC (grooooooan, they’re so bad right now it’s amaaaaaaazing) and waiting for the polls to ding us more than everyone else for losing to Clemson (#9 yay!)

Dance, Dance, Dance!

A reminder: the Leprechauns help me predict the season by giving us a scale of relative (un)certainty on said predictions. I’m generally either really great at this, in the middle, or terrible. Pretty much every time.

As a reminder…

THE SCALE!

This is just as likely to be wrong as it is to be right (aka the BadKermit Effect)

I’ve got a good feeling, but am leaving myself some wiggle room

This is a lock, I am a genius, I cannot be wrong.

Last year recap: I had us losing 2 games and having a shot. We lost 1 and had a shot. I’d say I pretty much nailed it.

I also went to the Clemson game and I just gotta say: THE FIRST QUARTER WAS AMAZING. We seemed to be really giving it to ’em and but for some bad bounces would have had ALL the momentum in Q1.

And then, the 2nd quarter happened and MAN THAT JUMBOTRON WAS NICE! Ah well, at least they trounced Alabama too.

But now we’re in happy / exciting times again! 0-0 and looking forward to crushing some bad guys. Here we go!!!!

Dancing Leprechaun Predictions!

Louisville

This won’t be pretty. Louisville for a moment was a competitive program. That’s over.

ND wins 37-13

Two leps because No One Knows Anything about Louisville.

New Mexico

This is just mean.

ND Wins 45 – 12

Three Leps. Ouch.

Georgia

What a game a couple years ago. What. A. Game. Georgia is a beast this year again, and this will be super tight. I could see us winning this game. I could see us losing this game. I can see me drinking heavily during this game.

I’m gonna go with a similar outcome as last time, sadly. But it’s a coin flip, because life.

ND Loses

One Dancing Freaking Leprechaun. It’s gonna be tough. The season hinges on this one. I am pained predicting a loss but it’s tough to call this one a W when we’re Away.

Virginia

ND will be tired after the trip and hype of Georgia, but will take care of business.

ND Wins 24-9

3 Leps dancin’ on their graves.

Bowling Green: Biscuit Comes Home Edition

No way we lose when I come to tailgate! And the entire Dillon Crew is reuniting at this game as well. Plus it’s Bowling Green. I mean, fo’ ‘real?

ND Wins 41-10

Three! Cuz, for serious, we gonna win one for the Biscuit.

Southern Cal

With a W this year, it’ll be a record in recent history. USC as a program and an AD is kind of a mess. Part of me feels bad for them, but then I think back to when they trounced us for a decade and I smile and it feels good down between my legs. No way we lose to SC this year.

ND Wins 28-17.

Two Leps because it’s still SC.

Michigan

SKUNKBEARS ARE YOU SERIOUS A WEEK AFTER SC!!!??!??!?!?!

Ugh, I despise Michigan. Seriously, just the worst. The colors, the town, HARBAUGH? Ugh, so bad. But, they ain’t bad.

They’re just not close to as good as everyone says they are. I worry a bit about our depth, our energy etc playing our schedule vs their playing a weak-ass B10 schedule. But, we have a BYE the week prior, and it just is what it is and we have to TAKE THEM DOWN.

ND Wins 31-24

Only 1 Lep bc it’s Michigan. UGH DESTROY THEM!!!!!

VA TECH

ND Wins 27-23.

1 Lep 1 Week after a massive game plus it’s VT who can be unpredictable. I think a L here is more likely than one to the Skunkbears. I could see us coming out with 2 Losses for the season because of this game. It has me worried. Gotta have em ready. Sticking with the W but barely.

Duke

ND Wins 40-14

Navy

I like Navy. I hate playing Navy. Even if we win we lose because we all stress out about what can happen with the Triple O and to our team’s collective knees. Can we please play them in the Blue Gold game instead going forward?

Despite all that we take care of bid-ness. ND Wins 59-33

2 Leps bc 2 Leps!

BC

ND Wins 45-13

BC is only good when 85%+ of their roster is in their 5th year.

Stanford

ND Wins 20-13

2 because it’s Stanford. Realistically I shouldn’t be that worried, but I am.

Summary

ND is top 10, barely, and that’s probably about right. I could see us eeking out a win against GA and landing Top 5, or dropping 2-3 to the likes of GA, SC, UM, or VT, putting us into the mid/low teens to end the season. So #9 feels about right, and we could land anywhere in between.

My official call is 11-1, but I think 12-0 is possible (unlikely but possible) as is 10-2 (even 9-3 but feels as unlikely as 12-0). But hell, 11-1 would likely give us a shot again, despite the debacle of last year’s playoff. So let’s go get it boys!

AND DANCE YOU LEPS, DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING (except, well, everyone reading HLS).

Gooooooo Irish! Daaaaaaaaance Leps!

The post (Re)Introducing: DANCING LEPRECHAUNS appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The Setup:

As a reminder, each year I auction off tickets to benefit the ND General Scholarship fund. I was a ‘need based Notre Dame Scholar’ and the financial assistance made it possible for me to attend and graduate from Our Lady’s University. So this is a tiny way that I can help pass that on!

The Tickets:

Two (2!) Tickets together for Notre Dame vs Southern Cal on October 12 at 7:30 PM (NIGHT GAME BOYEEEEEEEE!). And these are LEGIT SEATS! A great vantage point to watch the Irish pummel our Californian rivals.

Section L:23 – Lower Corner

Row: 40

Seats 18 and 19

So, the deal:

It’s a silent auction. To win tickets. To watch us rooooooollllll. To bid you do the following steps…

The Steps:

Email us by midnight on 9/1/19 at HerLoyalSons@gmail.com with

1. Your name and address
2. Your bid amount (must be at or above Face Value which is $170 each + $10 each for delivery)
3. You wait, and on 9/1/19 9/20/19 we will announce the winner!
4. You send a check/paypal/venmo, I send the tickets. Booyah.

The Ending:

That’s it! So key is to get the tickets you should bid VERY HIGH. That way you’re more likely to win them. See how that works?

Make it happen! GET YOUR BIDS IN EARLY AND KEEP EM HIGH TO WIN THE SEATS. SPREAD THE WORD! HELP KIDS LEARN GOOD AT ND!

GO IRISH!

The post Ticket Auction: ND vs USC appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

First there’s the arguments that ND shouldn’t be in at all (See my WAH WAH BABY WAH post), which thankfully the committee outright ignored.

But now the pundits, and Vegas, have ND losing almost to a man, and our beloved Irish are -11 to -12. Seriously? That’s absurd. Let’s evaluate the ND vs Clemson matchup in a few different ways to see how this makes any sense (spoiler: it does not).

Record this Season

Both undefeated. Clemson 13-0 but with Furman and GA Southern BS High School games in there. ND 12-0 playing all real teams. Winner? Tie. Maybe with an Edge to ND. But fine, Tie.

Record Last 2 Seasons

ND has had a similar couple years to Clemson. Both teams were undefeated this year, Clemson went 12-2 last year, and ND went 10-3. So over 2 years the records are very similar 25-2 vs 22-3. Sure, Clemson has a small edge but ND is clearly one of the better teams over the past 2 seasons, and ND didn’t play freaking Furman. Winner? Clemson Edge.

Same Opponents

ND and Clemson played some matching opponents this season, and things happened.

Syracuse: ND trounced ‘Cuse, and Clemson snuck by with a win by 3. ND big time.

FSU: ND crushed FSU, as did Clemson. Tie.

Pitt: ND squeaked by Pitt, Clemson whomped them. Clemson big time.

Wake: ND handled Wake pretty easily, Clemson destroyed them. Clemson Edge.

Overall Same Opponents is an edge to Clemson, but it’s a lot closer than I think folks realize.

Team Stats

The numbers can help us form a story here as well. Let’s compare on a few Key Metrics shall we?

ND SOS: 42 Clemson SOS: 48 Winner? ND

ND SOR: 3 Clemson SOR: 2 Winner? Tie (seriously, 1 spot? Tie)

ND Offense FPI: 19 Clemson: 4 Winner? Clemson

ND Defense FPI: 11 Clemson: 1 Winner? Clemson

As you can see, it’s not all roses for Notre Dame, but this isn’t some landslide in the metrics portion of the evaluation either. I’d say this puts the teams fairly close. Overall Winner? Clemson Edge, but it’s close.

Last Matchup

We all know how that game played out. ND played Clemson SO tight, despite a lot of change and concern going into the game. In the monsoon the Irish took the eventual National Champ to the wire, and fell just a couple yards and a couple points short. Play that game 10 times and the Irish win 5. Winner? Tie.

Recap

So, let’s do a quick recap here:

Record: Tie.
Record Last 2: Clemson Edge but barely
Same Opponents: Clemson Edge but barely
Stats: Clemson Edge
Last Matchup: Tie

So sure, Clemson has a tiny edge. 3.5 points as the spread? Sure. 4? Maybe. But -11 is just plain nuts. 1 of 4 pundits picking the Irish? Okay. None? BS. There’s no respect.

My call: ND Wins 34-30.

GO IRISH!

The post No Respect! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

wah wah wah “But your schedule was weak” wah wah

Boo hoo hoo “But you barely beat Pitt” boo hoo

wah wah waaaaah “you’re going to lose” wah wah

Boo hoo hoo “join a conference already it’s not fair” wah boo-effing-hoo.

I feel like I’m Scott Farkus from A Christmas Story.

Sheesh.

Listen, you little whiny babies, there are counterarguments to all of those silly ‘reasons’ why ND shouldn’t be in the playoff. There’s Strength of Record, There’s Head to Head, There’s Common Opponents, there’s 12-and-freaking-0, there’s “you also barely beat Pitt / a team JUST LIKE PITT” and there’s “No, we won’t be joining a conference, because we’d be idiots to do so.” So, yeah, lots and lots of ways to debate these kinds of arguments.

Side Note: My favorite argument on why we shouldn’t be ‘in’ is the conference argument. It goes like this:

Other Team Fan: we are in a conference, so you should have to be

ND Fan: Nope. We don’t.

Other Team Fan: But you don’t have to play a conference championship game!

ND Fan: Nope, we don’t. Neither did Bama last year and OSU 2 years ago

Other Team Fan: But seriously, not playing that game is a big deal! You didn’t beat the best!

ND Fan: Um, Pitt and Northwestern were in Championship games.

Other Team Fan: But they SUCK. Beating them doesn’t count.

ND Fan: So, you’re saying conference championship games don’t matter? NOW we’re getting somewhere!

Other Team Fan: But, but, never mind. Why do we have to play 13 games and you only play 12!?!?!?!? Not. Fair.

ND Fan: Because we don’t play 1-2 FCS teams during the season, so yeah, it’s pretty much the same thing.

Other Team Fan: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

ND Fan: You should totally leave that conference, it made you a freakin’ baby.

THIS MAKES NO SENSE.

I digress…

The point is, if you’re a fan of another school and you feel your team should have gotten in, we hear you. We FEEL you. We get it, we really do. Your [insert school colors] glasses are heavily shaded to make you feel that way. And that’s okay too. But net net, your opinion matters not. The Committee’s does, and they have spoken.

Now is typically when you give up and we all move along. But not you you naughty fan you! I knew it! wah wah wah…boo boo boo……

So here it is folks. That’s why you play the games. Read it again: That’s why they play the games.

THAT’S THE ENTIRE POINT.

You put teams IN THE GAME to PLAY AGAINST ONE ANOTHER to determine WHO BELONGS. THAT’S IT!!!!!

NOT playing the Irish in there would deprive everyone of seeing whether we belong, or not. I think we do and we have a good shot at Beating Clemson. But, if we lose, we lose. And that won’t mean that we didn’t deserve to be ‘in’. Not in the least. ND has EARNED the right to play Clemson. The Irish have fought and scratched for every inch of every game and they have come out of the other side perfect, just like 2 other teams that also deserve to be there.

Notre Dame, regardless of the result of the first or second round games in the CFP, DESERVE THE CHANCE to play this game. And we all DESERVE to get to see if they win, or lose. Because we know they belong. But whether they deserve to win and play for the CFP is TBD. FYI. STAT.

You see, that’s why the games are played!

#NATCH

The post This is Why You PLAY THE GAMES appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Go, go go. Gently. Quietly. Silently. Now. It’s time. Seriously, dude, go. Go already. WHAT’S HAPPENING GO!!!!!

Urban has let down his players, the sport, his duty, and his own humanity. Move along, you will not be missed. Let’s focus on a few of the biggest ways Urban tainted a sport that gave him everything:

First, there’s the arrests.

Just a few highlights from his Top arrests at Florida. From 2009…

Example 1:

Jamar Hornsby throws a dude onto the hood of a car during a fight and gets a misdemeanor property damage and criminal mischief charge. No punishment for this one from Urban. Later in his UF career, his best friend’s girlfriend dies and he helps him clear her things out of her apartment. Awwww, what a nice guy! Wait, wait…because THEN, Jamar goes around using her credit card for a few months, charging up 70 different things on a dead girl’s credit card. That’s a felony, along with misdemeanor larceny of a credit card. And, really, it’s just evil. Urban brings in guys with great character I tell you, GREAT character. Jamar got booted from the team.

Example 2:

Ronnie Wilson. Ronnie Wilson. Wow. Wilson got busted for aggravated assault, battery and use of/display of a concealed weapon during commission of a felony when he busted out his AK-FREAKING-47 in the middle of a fight. Yes, AK-47 folks. Wilson was suspended from the team for the 2007 season. Wow! Urban takes a stand, right? Right? Ah, nope. Because Wilson was ALLOWED BACK ON THE TEAM NEXT SEASON. Seriously. For real. Then, shockingly, he got busted for marijuana possession and a count of battery and a count of assault. And after all that, he was finally permanently kicked off the team.

Urban recruited, enabled, and protected criminals. Almost 20 arrests, including Firing AK-47s. It was a disgrace, for years, especially at Florida.

Second, Urban Lied.

A lot. All the time.

He lied about telling recruits that God told him the player should join his team. He lied about where Tim Tebow was going to play (linebacker, righhhhhht). He lied about his dream job being ND. He lied about what he knew when and what happened to his texts. He lied about everything. Did you know that Urban Meyer invented the Spread Offense? He didn’t? Could’ve fooled me. Now I don’t know if he ever said that, but if he did, he lied about it.

Third, and by far the worst…

He covered up for a woman abuser, and then lied about his lies and coverups.

This is not funny, I cannot and will not joke about it. And the example he set, and the actions he took in order to protect himself and his job over a woman being abused? Ugh, I can’t even handle it. Completely disgusting.

So yes, Urban, go, go gently into that good night. I wish you no ill will, no ill health, just that you never ever have the opportunity to poison young mens’ minds with your warped sense of what’s right and wrong.

Goodbye, Urban. Good Riddance.

Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out! (But I hope it does. F. Off.)

The post Do Not Go Gentle Into That Urban Good Night appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

HLS Peeps, its Throwback Week. Wherein Domer.MQ (AKA IDTHEMIKE) and I, The (one and only) Biscuit get back into things. For 1 week. Seriously. For 1 week. No longer. Sad? Sorry. All we can do. DEAL WITH IT DEAR READERS. DEEEEEEAL.

So, what’s going on here? Well, MQ and I one night, drunkenly, thought this would be good to do during the season. Then the season passed. And we kept winning. And winning. And winning. And we kept not writing, not writing, and not writing. And here we are. And the guilt, the guilt has been destroying me. So – we write! For 1 week. Despite all the pleas and bribes offered, we are here for up to 10 posts, and that’s that.

What shall we write about? The things that are possible include:

*Rants
*Rants about Urban Meyer Being Shady (SHOCKER)
*Rants about NDFB and things like respect
*Rants
*Rants
*More Rants

Tex and Bayou will of course continue to run the show, and we’ll slot in when we can, and we’ll see if it is good, awesome or amazing. I’m betting on a descriptor that starts with an A.

So, excited to be back folks. Even if for only a short while.

Word to Your Mother, in a good way.

Love,
Biscuit

The post We’re Baaaaaaaaaaack! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Last Year’s Tale of the Tape:

2 years ago I was baaaaaaaad. This year? Hmmmm…

Predicted Actual
Temple W 27-7 W 49-16 Not bad (1-0)
Georgia L 16-23 L 19-20 Amazing (2-0)
BC W 17-14 W 49-20 Correct but off on score (3-0)
MSU W 26-20 W 38-18 Not bad (4-0)
Miami OH W 38-14 W 52-17 One Score Right! (5-0)
UNC L 28-20 W 33-10 WHOOPS (5-1)
USC L 33-14 W 49-14 SUPER WHOOPS (5-2)
NC State W 27-23 W 35-14 Not horrible (6-2)
Wake Forest W 40-27 W 48-37 Solid (7-2)
Miami W 42-35 L 41-8 UGH SO UGLY (7-3)
Stanford L 27-20 L 38-20 Solid call sad game (8-4)

So I called W/L 8 of 12 and hit some scores really nicely.

And on overall record I called a pessimistic 8-4 and we ran it 9-3. Pretty darn close.

I’ll take it! I’M BACK! And so are the Irish.

TO THE SCALE!

This is just as likely to be wrong as it is to be right (aka the BadKermit Effect)

I’ve got a good feeling, but am leaving myself some wiggle room

This is a lock, I am a genius, I cannot be wrong.

Michigan

Down Go the Skunkbears

So it was supposed to be forever but it was just a few years. Last game was TOOOO SWEET and expect more of the same. Actually, exactly the same. I’m calling repeat!

ND Wins 37-0!

Not Really.

ND Wins 33-17. The Skunkbears ain’t really that good folks.

One Lep Because Wimbush still can’t execute 5 yard passes consistently.

Ball State

ND Wins 52-10

 Three Leps. In the can. Not a trap. Etc.

Vanderbilt

Smart kids from the South!

ND Wins 31-20

Three Leps again. Look at all these Dancing Freaking Leprechauns!

Wake Forest

Is this the same game 2 weeks in a row? No? FEELS LIKE IT!

So, same score.

ND wins 31-20

 3 Leps dancing’ FTW. We’re 4 and 0!

Stanford

Not 2 years in a row Tree.

ND Wins 20-17

Less Confident here. 1 Lep.

Virginia Tech

Crazy crowd, night game, ND had a rough previous week. We drop our first.

ND Loses 28-20

One Lep. This and last week are toss-ups. But think we’ll go 1-1.

Pitt

Genac This!

ND Wins 33-27

Navy

ND Wins 40-17.

Only 2 Leps because Navy.

Northwestern

They’ll be jazzed. We’ll be bored. It’ll be cold and wet and ugly. Sneak one out.

ND Wins 20-17

Blah. Northwestern. Wake me up when it’s over.

Florida State

Man this schedule gets ROUGH.

ND Loses a tight one 31-27.

2 Leps. We’ve dodged some bullets but struggled against the quality from the South.

Syracuse

ND Wins 52-33

WHOMPING BECAUSE WE ARE ANGRY.

Southern Cal

ND Wraps it Up on a Roll. Wins 28-24

Freaking So Cal gets 1 Lep.

Summary

10-2! Wow that’s optimistic. That’s assuming Wimbush is FIXED as a thrower. And I really don’t know that he is. If he is, we’re gonna be legit. We could make a run. If he’s not, this feels green-colored-glasses and we’ll probably be looking more like 8-4 MAYBE 9-3. But, the Leps have spoken. TO THE STADIUM!!!!! Leps lead the way, GO IRISH!

The post Heyooooooooooo the Leps are Here! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

And I auction.

Here it is folks, the annual auction to benefit the general scholarship fund. This year we have a killer slate of killer tickets to get your charitable juices flowing. Per usual it’s a silent auction with the winning bid getting the tickets and the profits going to ND. Win Win and (hopefully) WIN! Especially over the Skunkbears and the Trees, which are the two games we have this year.

So, here are the rules.

1. Bid as many times as you like, but only your highest bid will count.
2. Bid the TOTAL amount you’ll pay for both tickets combined. We’ll add a $15 fee to cover signature-required fedex delivery from Sunny Southern California.
3. You can bid on both games. You can win both games. Or none, if you’re a cheap-o.
4. Minimum bid is $200 per ticket for Michigan, and $125 per ticket for Stanford. So don’t bid below $400 for Michigan (hint: they’ll go for a lot more than that so probably go higher). And don’t bid below $250 for a pair or $500 for the 4 to Stanford. We gotta give some $ to the kids ya’ll!
5. You can bid for:
-Two (2) to Michigan
-Two (2) to Stanford
-Four (4) to Stanford
(Note: If we have a tie, we will give the Stanford tickets to whomever bid for 4, or whomever bid first. So bid for all four and make life easy okay!??!?!)
5. Auction is live for 1 week from Today, Wednesday August 1st through midnight PST Wednesday August 8th. GET YOUR BID IN EARLY.

To bid!

Click on THIS LINK HEEEYAH to fill in the information. We need your name, email address, physical address and phone number. If you skip ANY OF THESE you will not be able to submit your bid. We need to know which game, 2 or 4 tickets (for Stanford) and your bid. That’s it. SOOOOOO easy. But we have to ensure you’re legit and we can get in touch. Payment will be via PayPal (preferred) or check (boooooo) and I will personally Fedex the tickets once we receive payment.

THE GAMES!

Season Opener Against the Skunkbears!

OH HOW IT PAINS ME TO AUCTION THESE. But it’s for the greater good, so I’m doing it. These are two (2!) seats together in section 22, about midway up. I’m keeping the exact seating info clandestine for various reasons, including my anonymity. So yeah, they’re good seats. And it’s against the SKUNKBEARS ARE YOU KIDDING ME MUST DESTROY!?!!!!?!?!##@

Bid now, big bid.

The Tree!

Second game is against the dreaded Cardinl. Blah, Cardinal! So lame. A color for a mascot. TREE!

We have 4 tickets together to this game, all section 23, also about midway up. You can bid for two, or all four. I greatly prefer all 4 so yeah, please do that.

That’s it folks. Time is a-ticking and you deserve to see an epic game and these kids deserve scholarships so GET TO THE BIDDING!

Thanks all and GOOOOOOOOOOO IRISH!

-Biscuit

The post Annual Ticket Auction Fundraiser is Here! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Keeping it short and sweet and focusing on the future because I was so bad last year. So this is the really short version. DO YOU? Yes. DO YOU!?!??!

Dance, Dance, Dance! I CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!

THE SCALE!

This is just as likely to be wrong as it is to be right (aka the BadKermit Effect)

I’ve got a good feeling, but am leaving myself some wiggle room

This is a lock, I am a genius, I cannot be wrong.

Last year recap:

I sucked. So did the Irish. That enough? No?

Okay, so yeah one of my worst years ever. I said 10-2. We were like 1 and 7 Zillion. Moving on!

Temple

Notre Dame and the Temple of Doom

ND wins 27 – 7

 Two leps because Entirely New Staff.

Georgia

ND Loses 23-16

 Three Leps. Sorry Folks. We Ain’t There.

Boston College

ND Wins 17-14

One Dancing Freaking Leprechaun. Let Down Week. BC Week. Blah.

Michigan State

ND wins 26-20

 3 Leps dancing’ FTW. MSU is worse off than ND, and now we’re feeling pretty good.

Miamo OH

No way we lose when I come to tailgate.

ND Wins 38-14

Three! Cuz, for serious, we gonna win one for the Biscuit.

UNC

ND Loses 28-20

Ah Crap, we Shit the Bed.

Southern Cal

ND Loses 33-14. Ugh, so painful to predict a loss to SC, but i think we’re another year away from Top 10. And we’ll need to be a top 10 team to beat the Trogans.

Only 1 Lep bc it’s ND-USC. But yeah, they’re likely better than us.

NC State

ND Wins 27-23.

2 Leps because who knows? But I think we stop the slide here.

Wake Forest

ND Wins 40-27

The Revenge of the Sith. (huh?)

Miami (the real one)

ND Wins 42-35

Shootout!

2 Leps bc 2 Leps!

Navy

ND Wins 52-33

1 Lep because Navy is the worst, and it’s Navy and new D Staff and it’s Navy.

Stanford

ND Loses by 7. The Lone Cardinal Wins it. 27-20.

2 for 2 Losses to our CA Rivals. BLEEEEEEEEEEEH. (that’s my puking sound).

Summary

ND isn’t a Top 10 team this year. We’re likely not Top 20. And finishing as I’ve predicted here at 8-4 we certainly won’t deserve any ranking. But, building blocks in place to see a run in 2018.

It’s not fun predicting mediocrity. But, the Football Gods hated my 10-2 last year so we must atone for our sins. FORGIVE ME I HAVE SINNED O LORDS OF THE GRIDIRON! 2017 is MY REPENTANCE! PLEASE ACCEPT THIS SACRIFICE SUCH THAT WE MAY WIN AGAIN SOON!

AND DANCE YOU LEPS, DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING (except, well, everyone reading HLS).

Go Arsh! KILL EVERYBODY!

The post Leprechauns 2017: The Short One appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Time for these Leprechauns to………………………………………………..

Dance.

THE SCALE!

This is just as likely to be wrong as it is to be right (aka the BadKermit Effect)

I’ve got a good feeling, but am leaving myself some wiggle room

This is a lock, I am a genius, I cannot be wrong.

Here we go!

Texas

Texas wasn’t “Texas” last year. Still isn’t, but this is away, and they’re better than they were. And, frankly, we lost a ton. QB great, backfield great, OL decent but not better, WRs waaaaaay worse. TE the same but less depth. Kicking the same. D is likely about equal on the DL (maybe slightly lesser), LBs lesser, DBs should be better than they were but not gonna make up for the lesser crew up front. So yeah, that’s my deep analysis on the depth chart.

Back to Texas.

We’ll win. It’ll be tight through the half due to being Away, Sunday night, under the lights in TX. But we’ll pull away in the end of the 3rd, beginning of the 4th. THE SCORES WILL LIGHT, BIG AND BRIGHT, DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS.

Frosh QB? General Rebuilding for the (kind)StrongMan?

ND wins 33 – 20

 Two leps because Texas!

Nevada

Ouch, Nevada, ouch. We have this backfield and 6 of your starting front 7 have graduated? And you barely cracked .500 last year? And it’s at Notre Dame? Sorry Wolf Pack, you’re screwed.

ND Wins 40 – 14

 Three Leps. Sorry Wolf Pack.

Love your Mascot though.

Michigan State

Oh boy! Now we get into the meat. Sparty is back, and predicted to be pretty darn good. While ND is hovering in the 9-13ish range pre-season, Sparty is rocking their own Top 6-11ish ranking. Dantonio can coach everybody, in case you didn’t know.

Sparty is gonna bring what they bring: hard-nosed D, a good running game, a white dude that can somehow run against Notre Dame (only) and a running back that will drive us INSANE. I haven’t even looked at the depth chart and this is truth.

I don’t think we can pull this one out though. Too many key losses and Sparty is primed for a run. Blah. I hate predicting losses, but can’t find a way despite the home advantage.

ND loses 17-23

One Dancing Freaking Leprechaun. Going to be a tight one, we could surprise and shock the Spartans. Here’s to hoping my genius is stupid on this day.

DUKE

Ah, back to the smart kids. Except, Duke has learned to play football? HUH? Another good coach-that kinda-sorta worked at ND for like 7 minutes-has done a good job with the Blue Devils. But shoot, it’s not enough guys. Why? Well, last year wasn’t great against a mediocre schedule and DEVILS ARE RED NOT BLUE SHIIIIIIIIIIT.

ND wins 36-13
 3 Leps dancin’ up in yo face.

Syracuse

ND wins 35-6. All TDs in this game for ND, all field goals for the Oranges.

Three! That’s THREE Dancing Leprechauns AH AH AH.

NC State

Wait. 2 WOLF PACKS. Is this the Sequel? I gotta say, Bangkok wasn’t quite Vegas. Not sure how I feel about this.

Eh, you know what? I’m gonna call it – similar to Nevada, just less good.

ND wins 35-21.

Stanford

OH YOU TREE, DAMN YOU!

I like that there’s another school that cares about academics. I like it.

I DESPISE that we let them creep into our zone. OUR ZONE. Of being legit in academics and actually good at football. We’ve been pretty even the last chunk of the series, and it’s been exciting and fun to watch and I respect them and all but DAMN YOU THAT WAS OUR BRAND POSITIONING YOU SHOULD GET YOUR OWN.

Okay, anyway, the game. It’s gonna be tough. It’s gonna be tight. It’s gonna come down to the final drive one way or the other, and you know it. It doesn’t matter about what we lost and what they lost. It doesn’t matter if it’s at night or during the day. It doesn’t matter if the The Shirt color changes every year or…WAIT YES IT DOES THAT’S THE WORST THING EVER SERIOUSLY.

Home field advantage matters though. A lot. In the last 5 meetings, the home team has won. THAT’S IT. THAT’S THE TICKET!

ND wins in the last minute, 31-30. Because LAST YEAR.

Only 1 Lep because it’s gonna be a tough, tough game.

MIAMI-NAVY TOGETHER

First ever DUAL GAME SINGLE PREDICTION.

Gonna be tough. They’ll come out ready because they consider us a rival. We’ll be playing to a friendly crowd in this venue. They’ll come out trying to sink our battleship like a Hurricane but ND will be ready and will weather the storm well.

We’ll run, they’ll run. We’ll pass, they’ll pass a little.

We’ll win! ND wins both games, 24-20. (In reality, Miami should be much more of a test than Navy but that’s no fun so we’ll go with this)

2 Leps because this is pretty silly. But watch, gonna nail it!

NAVY-MIAMI

See above, just holding the space so we have 12 games and I don’t get screwed up here.

Army

TRAP GAME.

Why? Well, just because Army is like Navy’s little, less capable, and perennially beaten up by them brother. And since we just beat Navy (and Miami) 24-20, well, we’ll be taking it easy. This is that game I hate because we always play down in the first half. Down in terms of energy, and down to the opponent level.

But the second half we’ll figure it out, clean it up and make it happen.

ND wins 27-13 after a 13-13 half time score.

2 Leps because if we don’t turn around that momentum it could really be Admiral Ackbar style here.

Virginia Tech

What’s VT like after Beamer Ball has ended? Not great. But getting things figure out.

So, clearly an ND win yeah?

Nope, ACTUAL TRAP GAME.

After figuring out Army post half time, ND feels like it’s survived the trap game. But, the trap was after the trap. SHIT TWO TRAPS.

Look, seasons are weird and I don’t see this team, with all that we’ve lost, going through this gauntlet with 1 loss. And since I’ll be there I sure as hell CANNOT pick USC to beat us at the Coliseum. So, VT in the upset. F.

ND loses 24-14.

1 Lep because calling 2 traps in a row has never been done before in the history of the leprechauns dancing their amazing dance.

Southern California

How will ND react? After being shut out of the playoff through a bad loss? Will they fold? Will they toss in the towel against their cross-country rival in the California sun/lights? Will the Irish give it up and move along, and focus on the next season? Will the Irish…FOLD?!?!?!?!

HELLO NO.

The Irish will trounce USC on this beautiful fall day, as my pops and I watch in glory and Coors Light-created buzz.

ND wins! 17-14.

1 Lep because it’s a long season, lots can happen, and USC is no longer completely incompetent (SIGH, those were fun days weren’t they?)

Summary

This is a weird year. I did less research yet I feel about the same about the predictions. VT is outta nowhere yeah, and I’m sure you’ll say ‘that’s stupid Biscuit’ and it may be. But I don’t think we’re a 1-loss team. Yet. Next year? Yep, we can be 1 or, gasp, NO losses.

This year I feel like we’ve lost so much in the front 7 and in the WR corps that it’ll be tough to get there. And overall depth isn’t great. Honestly, we could’ve been a contender again if we’d had less attrition to the NFL. Man, it could’ve been amazing. But, still a good year at 10-2, and a chance to redeem ourselves in a top tier bowl. Because I was at Ohio State in the AZ desert and that offing sucked.

10-2 ain’t bad, should be a fun season!

GO IRISH, CRUSH EVERYONE.

AND DANCE YOU LEPS YOU DANCE DANCE DANCE!

The post Leprechauns 2016: The Main Event AKA Predictions for the Future of Things That Haven’t Happened Quite Yet appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.