However, like any good, rebellious teenager, I broke the rules. One day, while flipping through the channels, I saw Hulk Hogan on my TV. Even though I wasn’t allowed to watch wrestling, I knew who this all-American hero was–except fans were booing him and throwing trash at him. Before I could sort out my confusion, some guy with his face painted like the Crow dropped from the rafters and beat the hell out of everyone.

I was hooked.

And now, Hogan’s heel faction, the nWo, that hooked me into pro wrestling has so many hilarious parallels to Notre Dame’s pseudo-membership in the ACC. I just had to make some new merch for this occasion and, like all new merch, it’s 35% for 72 hours in our store.

It’s not even stretching a comparison or joke at this point: a group banded together, many coming from outside the company and had themselves a hostile takeover of an established brand. Not only that, when Hulk captured the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, he spray-painted it and called it the nWo Championship (hop to 6:30 for the actual act):

While the nWo eventually lost the title and, like all things in pro wrestling, the group ended, Notre Dame has an opportunity to do what no one else has done or can (probably) ever do again: win a conference title and leave with the gold, remaining champion…FOR LIFE.

The post The Following Merch Announcement is Brought to You by Wrestling Nostalgia appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So, in this post, and perhaps slightly podcast-drunk from the triumphant return of the Shutdown Fullcast, I’m going to pretend that the 2020 season is definitely happening.

Let’s have some fun.

Join a Conference and Play a Real Schedule, They Said

Analysis: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

/breathes

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Thanks to every conference pretending they can create a magic Power Five bubble, Notre Dame drops the traditional three rivals Navy, Stanford, and Southern Cal as well as non-conference tilts with Arkansas and Wisconsin.

While Wisconsin was the only team ranked in the recently released coaches top 25 (they come in at #12), the original 2020 schedule wasn’t exactly a favorable layout (correction: Southern Cal was ranked #17–this is now an official HLS blog post, complete with a dumb error).

Arkansas was slated as the home opener on the heels of playing Navy. But with the Week 0 Ireland trip cancelled, Notre Dame would’ve played Navy in Annapolis over Labor Day weekend instead, re-creating the dreaded Navy hangover.

Notre Dame then would’ve faced an awful stretch of a neutral site game against Wisconsin, followed by a home game with Stanford, and then hitting the road to face what would surely be a fully charged Pitt super-weapon.

Southern Cal would’ve ended the season on the road and instead the Irish will now end it at home against Syracuse, a team that plays all their home games in a dome, IN DECEMBER–just an incredible swap.

Picking up #19 North Carolina isn’t optimal, but Notre Dame gets a bye before the game (the Tar Heels do as well) and gets a rare Friday Thanksgiving week game before their home finale with ‘Cuse.

Honestly, the only real terrifying part of the schedule is the Clemson and Boston College back-to-back, but should we really fear playing Boston College after a highly anticipated game in Notre Dame stadium? I mean, this one is on the road, against a former Notre Dame quarterback that is recently cleared for immediate play post-transfer.

TOTALLY DIFFERENT SITUATION.

Did We Mention No Navy?

It’s our favorite double-edged sword that everyone has incredibly strong opinions on. I’m firmly in the camp of saying we don’t owe them a wookie life debt (especially because now you can argue we “owe” the ACC conference membership for “saving” the 2020 season and LOL PLEASE NO), and that we’ve done our part.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame disagrees as they’ve inked an extension of the series with Navy until 2032.

But I’m going to enjoy a year of football that’s definitely going to happen in which we face zero triple option teams that could knock out knees and/or hit multiple people on the team with some nagging, season-lingering injury.

Maybe 2020 will let ND’s administration see the light. You know, just like how everyone agrees that in the wake of pandemic wearing a mask, social distancing, and isolation is the best course of action which is exactly why the 2020 season is definitely happening.

Should Notre Dame Fans Hope for an ACC Title?

Oh. Hell. Yes.

Look, we have no idea how or even if the college football playoff will go down with all these conference-only schedules. This is a wacky year of college football that is in no danger of being cancelled so just go all-in. In fact, don’t panic even if somehow Notre Dame falls asleep at the wheel against Western Michigan. Non-conference game, who gives a damn!

This is the ultimate trolling opportunity. You think people get big mad about independence now? Just wait until Notre Dame puts the ACC trophy in the Joyce Center and makes the ACC take the walk of shame after our one-season stand.

Win this sucker, spray-paint the trophy, and carry it around like the nWo once we return to triumphant independence in 2021.

The post Blind Optimism: Path to ACC Title Paved appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

In a topic that has been discussed and debated forever, I think it is time to considering moving in that direction. The first time I recall this subject being seriously broached was back in 1999 when the Irish, after some discussion, spurned the Big 10. At the time, I was a subscriber to the print edition (what is that?) of Blue and Gold Illustrated and I still remember their headline: “Catholic, Private, and Independent” as both a statement as well as justification for not joining the Big 10.

Back then, I thought it was a unique and correct stance. Today, I do not.

In 1999, Notre Dame was just a few years removed from competing for National Championships every year. As the landscape of college football has changed, I believe that era in Notre Dame Football History is over, probably forever. Before people blow up my Twitter mentions, that does not mean the Irish can’t compete for National Championships (see 2012 and 2015 as recent evidence), but yearly is a bit of a stretch.

And before anyone says it, money, in my opinion, is a non-factor when it comes to thoughts of joining the ACC. Granted, in the last few seasons, Forbes had ACC member schools earning roughly $22 million. I’m no math expert, but by my calculations, the Irish earned roughly $24 million in 2014: $15 million from NBC, $2.75 million for the Music City Bowl berth, and $6.2 million for their partial ACC share. Considering that the Irish made a the Fiesta Bowl, a New Year’s Six payout, in 2015, that figure soars even higher. So at this point, money is not really a good motivation for conference membership as excellence on the field already boosts the bottom line.

For me the real question is do you alter or remove tradition to modernize? I believe athletes have changed and kids in general have changed. Would an 18-year-old today trade playing USC in exchange for the ability to play for a Conference Championship? These days, that’s a more interesting question than the moot point it was 30 years ago. Back then, the sell of “Hey kid, if you go to Michigan you can compete every year for the Rose Bowl, but at Notre Dame we compete for National Titles almost every year” held a lot more weight than it does in today’s football reality.

To me, the greatest benefit to joining the ACC is to acquire the ability to play for a conference championship every year, even in a year where you are, say, plodding through a 9-2 season, but a season finale against Virginia Tech gives you a shot to advance to the ACC Championship. A pair of late seasons wins and now you’re looking at an Orange Bowl berth rather than moving from the Russell Athletic Bowl to the Belk Bowl as it would stand today.

I recall a dejected Ron Powlus in 1996 after a loss to Ohio State remark, “The National Championship’s done. The season’s over.” The Irish were 3-1 at that point! I wonder if he would have felt that way had the Irish been playing in a conference with a league title still to be decided. At the height of USC’s power, Pete Carroll always maintained the goal for every USC season was to win the Pac-10 and play in the Rose Bowl.

More recently, look no further than Penn State, one of the more recent examples of independents making the conference jump, this past season who, after a 2-2 start, surged to a Big 10 Championship and Rose Bowl berth following nine straight wins. Now you have analysts across the country praising the return of Penn State football and they now find themselves ranked #6 in the 2017 Athlon Pre-Season poll, giving their title hopes a great boost for the upcoming 2017 season.

The question I ask myself is whether or not that same notoriety have come had they finished 10-3 as an independent with no conference title and a bowl loss.

I know even thinking about this the traditionalists will cringe, including those that write on this site! Scheduling fears are among these reasons, but, remember, in the ACC, you still leave yourself four non-conference games. You can still play Navy and USC and then fill out the schedule with a couple of MAC schools, which Notre Dame is starting to do anyway. Plus, considering that the Irish would be in a league regularly playing with the likes of Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami, Louisville, and Clemson on a more regular basis than their current three year rotation would make the ACC potentially the best conference in college football. The impact of winning a league like that on a regular basis would have a huge impact on recruiting as well as the Irish’s playoff and national title hopes.

I’m a huge fan of tradition, but the ability to play for a conference championship every year, as well as truely recognizing and adapting to the new realities of the college football landscape, makes joining the ACC as a permanent member a very relevant discussion worth having.

The post A Conversation Worth Having: Notre Dame and the ACC appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

“Rights fees continue to move upward,” Brando told FOX’s Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel. “I do believe it’s going to happen when Notre Dame understands that it’s in their financial best interests to be in a conference. Because they cannot command the same same dollar from NBC or any other network by simply having seven home games televised.”

Notre Dame is bound by the terms of a 2013 contract to join the ACC if it decides to join a conference in the next nine years.

Brando said he’s had “many conversations – both publicly and privately” with Kelly about Notre Dame’s independent status and said, “I don’t think there’s any doubt he would prefer to be in a conference.”

The sportscaster said Kelly’s opinion won’t spur Notre Dame to action, however.

“The major reason why you do it, fellas, is not because the coach wants it,” said Brando. “It’s because it makes economic sense. It does make economic sense – and will make even more sense – as these continuing rights fees continue to spiral and move upwards. A lot of things about the television business are being compressed, but rights fees are not. They continue to go upwards. And as a group, Notre Dame as an individual institution – maybe a few years ago, a deal like the one they have with NBC was a seminal moment in broadcasting and in sports for a school to have its own network television deal. That’s not true any more. That’s before the SEC was raking in all this cash and before [Big Ten Commissioner] Jim Delaney was able to put a deal together like the one he did with FOX and has a looming second-tier to negotiate. As a conference, you are stronger than any one institution and yes, that does include the great Notre Dame.”

Notre Dame and NBC have a contract through 2025. Although terms were not disclosed, the previous five-year deal, which elapsed last year, was thought to be worth $15 million annually to the university.

That $15 million figure – although it’s assuredly higher now – doesn’t compare favorably to other deals, as outlined by SB Nation:

“Each year, Fox will pay the Big Ten as much as $250 million a season for the 25 games in their half of the Big Ten’s top-level rights. Keep in mind that the Big Ten’s agreement with BTN continues for another fifteen years and is NOT included in this figure. How do these numbers compare to the other “Power Five” conferences?

• ACC: According to the ACC’s tax returns, the ACC earned $197.2 million in 2013-14 for their television rights from ESPN and Raycom.
• Big XII: $203 million annually for the ESPN/ABC/Fox package, which covers all but one football game per school each season. (That game is what the Longhorn Network gets to televise.)
• Pac-12: In 2019, the Pac-12 will receive $250 million to air 45 football games and 68 basketball games.
• SEC: According to the SEC’s tax returns, the conference earned $347 million in 2013-14 for their television rights from CBS and ESPN, which includes the SEC ESPN Network.”

So it Brando right? Or is his prediction headed for @OldTakesExposed? I’m guessing he’s wrong. But we’re see you back here in three years with an update.

The post Brando: ND Will Be Full ACC Member in 3 Years appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Good teams find a way to win games and better teams win games, and tournaments, on walk-off wild-pitches. That is what the Irish did in Saturday night’s finale against Akron, turning a triple and a wild-pitch in the bottom-of-the-ninth into a come-from-behind 5-4 victory. The morning’s game, an 8-2 romp over Mercer, was notable for the four Irish moon-shots, the most in a game in eight years.

Coach Aoki calls it “creating separation.” Whatever you call it, run production has been a key element to 2015’s winning formula. In the ten wins, the Irish are averaging 8.1 runs per game. Pitching, and defense, combine to hold opponents under three runs (2.9) per game. In Notre Dame’s lone loss, to Oklahoma back on February 13, 2015, the Irish were blown out, 6-1.

Baseball is too-often distilled down to a syrup of sentiment and nostalgia. For these Irish, though, the baseball lineage on the lineup is very much worth mentioning. The sons of Astro’s great and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, Cavin, a sophomore, and Conor, a senior, have added key hits and defense throughout their careers. Now, the son of Twins’ great possible future Hall of Famer Torii Hunter, Torii Hunter, Jr., is poised to join them and Coach Aoki’s squad.

Like basketball, men’s and women’s, Notre Dame baseball’s travel schedule provides more-than-ample opportunity for fans to watch the Irish. With baseball, too, South Bend’s horrific early-season weather gets them on the road, with the first Irish home game not coming until St. Patrick’s Day. Before that, Coach Aoki will do his best General Sherman impersonation through upcoming stands in Atlanta (March 6-8), Savannah (March 11), and Clemson, South Carolina (March 13-15). Future road trips include Pittsburgh (April 3-5), Winston-Salem (April 24-26), and Boston (May 14-16). The ACC tournament kicks off on May 19 in Durham, North Carolina. Though conference play hasn’t started, the Fighting Irish are currently in first place, ahead of Florida State (7-3) and Clemson (6-3). Expect Virginia to be the toughest conference foe this season.

In this, Coach Aoki’s fifth season at the helm, the Irish should be poised for solid runs in both the conference and NCAA tournaments. The roster returns 23 starting players from last season and their experience, production, and leadership account for a lot of Notre Dame’s blazing start. Those same attributes, combined with roster depth, should help stave off any losing streaks, such that this could be a season for the record books.

A herald of spring, baseball still has the ability to turn the sports-fan’s thoughts from cold winter and, for the Notre Dame community, loss. With their quick start to the 2015 season, the Fighting Irish could have Notre Dame fans thinking of tournament titles into the summer.

The post Rocket Men: Notre Dame Baseball’s Best Start Ever? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Did you enjoy college football reclaiming New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as their own this season? Well, too bad, the NFL wants the College Football Playoff to move their games. The reason: New Year’s Eve falls on a Thursday this year and the NFL has a Thursday Night Football game so ESPN is worried about a potential ratings decline for the semifinal bowl games. So yes, the worldwide leader is also pushing for this change.

But there’s another problem. The NFL wants to expand their playoff and, for some reason, have one of those games be another edition of Monday Night Football. The only issue there is that the Monday night in question is the national title game so ESPN all of a sudden has the rights, and a contractual obligation, to air two games on the same night and on the same network (the above linked article cites that the contract states both games must be aired on ESPN and not ESPN2).

Understandably, the CFP commissioners are fighting back on the effort, but let’s be frank: if the NFL wants this, they are going to get it. And make no mistake, ESPN won’t move from their corner as that would be an incredibly dumb business decision on their end.

A one year move for the CFP semifinals or a different date for the title game doesn’t seem like that big of a deal; however, this is yet another step in an incredibly annoying creep of the NFL into the college game. Thursdays during the regular season used to be a college football night as there wouldn’t be any NFL games at all, but now that has long gone out the window (and now you even see the occasional Tuesday and Wednesday college games because of it). Now the NFL wants to start shifting the college postseason around according to their whims which could cause further issues down the line should the college playoff ever want to expand itself.

ESPN could certainly shoulder some of the blame for this as well. After all, the increased television exposure for the college game, while very welcome for fans, manages to equate into a serious money grab for them, the playoff, bowls, and the conferences/schools. Thus, when “traditions” like New Year’s Day belonging to college football are reclaimed or having the title game before the NFL playoffs get rolling, it matters very little when the NFL masters come calling to get their way.

I’m just hoping the NFL will stay out of this and work around the college playoffs. It isn’t like games on one Saturday or refraining from adding a new playoff game on Monday would kill them. Then again, you would think that a slightly under-inflated ball or a player that would prefer to not talk to the media wouldn’t be a big deal to them either.

The Roundup

We will start of with an incredibly serious note. Two of the four Vanderbilt players accused of rape in 2013 have been found guilty.

The ACC is making some interesting scheduling moves. In response to pressure to schedule more Power 5 teams in their out of conference schedule, the ACC will consider BYU a Power 5 school and also possibly starting a trend of scheduling conference games as a non-conference game (no seriously, that happened).

Cryptic quotes: Ohio State edition. In what will certainly be the craziest QB battle ever, Braxton Miller, very much a potential transfer in this mix, gave fans some hope during Ohio State’s title celebration in saying “we’ve got another year to go do it.”

Well this is certainly an interesting take on the facility arms-race. How about a freakin’ beach in a stadium?

If you ever thought that your commencement speaker was a terrible choice, just be glad your school didn’t do this to you:

Ole Miss Law School Commencement speaker: Paul Finebaum #PAAAWWWLLLLSCHOOL pic.twitter.com/auFOD3L6ME

— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) January 27, 2015

I’d have more entertaining links, but everyone’s in full ‘crootin mode right now and my NCAA booster-mandated gag-order hasn’t been lifted. Signing day can’t get here soon enough…

And now your moment of Nix… From the man himself!

She Said YES!!!!!!! ??????

— lOUIS NIX III (@1irishchocolate) January 28, 2015

Well good going, sir!

Noooo…don't congratulate me. Congrats to the lady on this movie I'm watching ?. I'm not getting married ? #SheSaidYes

— lOUIS NIX III (@1irishchocolate) January 28, 2015

Dammit…

The Booze

In the American tradition of over-indulgence of cheap food and drink during the Super Bowl, I’m going Coors Light. Why? Because about a month ago my wife and I failed to communicate to each other and bought a 24-pack each of Coors Light for a family get-together.

I’ve tried to slowly kill the supply, but I’ve noticed that my alcohol intake has gone down ever since the wife got pregnant. Is sympathy sobriety a thing?

Anyways, the Super Bowl is a perfect excuse to consume what remains in the beer fridge to make room for other beverages. Don’t judge me.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Can We Keep the NFL Out of This?” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

And you know what such a letter deserves? A hypothetical, tongue-in-cheek, smart-ass response from Notre Dame. I’m more than happy to oblige.

Dear ACC,

Thanks for reaching out to us. It’s been a little awkward not hearing from you in a while and, after we’ve gone 7-1 in conference play in basketball, we thought we’d never hear from you again.

Oh wait, your letter was about football. Sorry, we’ll try not to let that #8 ranking get to our heads with Duke coming into town.

But let’s talk about that number 8. It seems to be really important to you for some reason. After all you voiced some displeasure to us for having the audacity to win “only” 8 games this season, a mark that only 6 of your 14 non-complicated friends hit. In fact, after the bowl season concluded, had Virginia Tech not pulled out a victory in their bowl game, half of your conference would be sitting below .500.

Ouch.

Anyways, this is about us right? So let’s talk about us. Quite frankly, we agree. We thought those 8-5 seasons would be a thing of the past too to be honest. After all those are soooooo 2010 (have fun looking for our 8-5 seasons before then).

We have no excuse for Northwestern…or the month of November really. However, after starting the season undefeated, as you state, we got rather pissed about how everything ended, changed a couple of things up for the bowl, and beat LSU. That leaves us and Georgia Tech tech as the only ACC super-friends to beat SEC West teams, for the record.

Oh, but that bowl win didn’t help your strength of conference schedule? Normally, we’d feel sorry about that, but you can stick your strength of schedule concerns into a pocket where a certain offensive pass interference flag should’ve stayed. Yeah, we’re not forgetting about that special welcome into ACC territory.

No seriously, we won’t ever forget that. Brian Kelly called that same trips right rub play against Louisville with ACC refs on the field just to prove a point.

And you were worried about poor Florida State making the playoffs because we didn’t win enough football games? Uh, sure, that’s definitely our fault and not the other 12 teams that they played, one of which includes the powerhouse known as the Citadel, by the way. We suppose it’s also our fault that the Seminoles got whatever turnover disease we had as they coughed the football up repeatedly as Oregon embarrassed them in the Rose Bowl. It’s almost like there were come legitimate reasons for concern in regards to Florida State’s playoff worth. Weird.

Oh, and you’re complaining about the bowl selections for the rest of your mediocre conference? We are supposed to feel bad about North Carolina State? The same team who had two wins against FCS teams? The same team that only beat 3 Power Five teams, all of whom were in the ACC and none of whom finished above .500? Yeah, we TOTALLY screwed them over and their 7-5 at the end of the regular season is 100% like ours. Our bad, they completely deserved to be in the same caliber of bowl that we were.

We would address your Pitt complaint in full; however, we are too busy laughing at the “scramble” to find them a bowl game. After their season, you would think one additional mad, stumbling scramble would just make sense, especially considering that they blew their bowl game too…after being up by 25…with 14 minutes to go in the game.

Hang on, we need a second, we just remembered that Pitt beat Miami and we are laughing even harder. The ACC is truly a magical land of failure sometimes.

Now, for the kicker, or what we call here in our offices “the paragraph in which we knew you wrote this at 4 AM while drunk off your ass”. I must say “win more games, but not against our playoff contenders” as an official stance makes a whole lot of sense to us in hindsight (insert pissed-off OPI flag reaction here–NEVER. FORGETTING.), but does that ever sound like wanting to have your cake and eating it too.

Come to think of it, isn’t that what you and everyone else in ACC seems to be claiming we do? Look, we know you love that sweet playoff bonus if the ACC gets if one of your special children makes it into the playoffs. We get it. We like money too. But stating you want us to win more and then requesting that we strategically lose…you’re like a middle school student writing a paper who forgot what their thesis was when they got to the conclusion.

Wait, we’re sorry. That was mean. We know you got your degree from North Carolina.

Anyways, we will do our part, take your advice to win more, and file that letter in the same place that we keep all our fans’ head coaching suggestions. Know that your plea will be nested somewhere in between a request to pay Nick Saban nine figures and a threat to withhold donations until we hire Urban Meyer.

Apologies in advance for racking up more wins at the expense of your conference,

Notre Dame du Lac

The post Dear ESPN…It’s too Early in the Offseason for Clickbait appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Now, the situation isn’t as simple as the six “Tier 1” bowls all throwing their names into a hat. Nothing ever is when it comes to the bowls. I’ve done a bit of digging around to try and paint the best picture that I can, and this post will detail what I’ve found. To paint an easier picture, I will list all bowl options, even those that Notre Dame will not be eligible for.

Playoffs & New Year’s Six Bowls

Bowls: Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, Peach

How the Irish get in: The college football playoff committee will makes these selections. As a safe rule of thumb, the Irish need to land in the top 10 to get into these games. So, yeah, not happening this season.

Any other special conditions? Yes. If ND is the highest ranked, non-playoff team out of the SEC or B1G, they earn an Orange Bowl bid. However, ND can only appear in the Orange Bowl twice over the current twelve year contract (when it is a non-playoff game).

ACC “Top Tier” Bowls

Bowls: Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl (vs. SEC) & Russell Athletic Bowl (vs. Big XII)

How the Irish get in: The playoff committee doesn’t put ND in a NY6 Bowl and one of the following is true:

• Of all ACC teams, Notre Dame is ranked the highest
• Of all ACC teams, Notre Dame is within one win of the best win/loss records

Any other special conditions? Yes. The Citrus Bowl can only select an ACC team if a B1G team is in the Orange Bowl. That likely won’t happen this season based on projections that I’ve seen thus far. Even if FSU falls to Georgia Tech this likely won’t happen. Of course, chaos can still reign. Even if it does, there are too many 9-win teams in the ACC for ND to crack into these two bowls this season. I would assume there is another maximum limit for ND in these bowls, but I didn’t see any.

ACC Tier 1 Bowls

Bowls: Belk Bowl (vs. SEC), Sun Bowl (vs. Pac 12), Pinstripe Bowl (vs. B1G), Music City Bowl (vs. SEC), TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl (vs. SEC)

How the Irish get in: Notre Dame lands in a pool of the ACC 3-6. If any of the bowls in this tier desire to select Notre Dame, they will enter a drawing. The winner of this lottery will win the right to select Notre Dame for their game.

Based on all projections that I’ve read thus far, the only way ND would’ve landed outside of this pool this season is if they ended 6-6. With 7-5, and the ACC having a down season overall, the Irish can be considered for this pool. The Irish will likely end up somewhere here.

Any other special conditions? Yes and this is where things get messy. The Music City and TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowls aren’t ACC exclusive. They also have a contractual obligation to select a B1G team three times in six years. This means only four ACC teams (Notre Dame included) will end up in four of these bowls every year. Further, it appears that Notre Dame can only be selected by each bowl once, with that count only resetting once all bowls have had the chance to select Notre Dame.

For this reason, I seriously doubt that the Pinstripe Bowl blows their single ND bid for the foreseeable future by taking the chance on inviting the Irish to their game two years in a row. As far as teams that are interested, Irish Illustrated noted the following last night.

Sun Bowl rep told Irish Illustrated that it wants Notre Dame back in El Paso this year, likely against Washington or Utah.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 2, 2014

Also spoke with a Belk Bowl rep who indicated they would likely put in to select ND as well. ACC “Tier 1” bowls have lottery for Irish.

— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 2, 2014

They didn’t note comment from the other two bowls which have B1G tie-ins (Music City & Gator), but I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to throw their names into the ND selection hate, especially with the B1G having very little in desirable options this season.

ACC Tier 2 Bowls

Bowls: Military Bowl (vs. AAC), Independence Bowl (vs. SEC), Quick Lane Bowl (vs. B1G)

How the Irish get in: Finish 6-6 during a season or have the poor fortune of finishing 7-5 when the ACC has a stronger season.

Any special conditions? I’d assume it’s the same as the Tier 1 bowls. I honestly didn’t find a thing on this.

The Last Resort

Bowls: Bitcoin Bowl (vs. AAC/C-USA), Birmingham Bowl (vs. SEC/AAC)

How the Irish get in: Finish 6-6 in such a terrible fashion that even the Tier 2 bowls run for cover and avoid ND like the plague.

Any special conditions? These bowls pretty much hope that Notre Dame doesn’t decide to just forgo a bowl by falling this low.

The post Notre Dame to Be Prize in ACC Bowl Lottery appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Enter Brian Freamau, member of the advanced statistics site, Football Outsiders, who came up with the  efficiency rating, FEI, that is an essential competent of the F/+ rating, which is another favorite of ours to use (and has been in every opponent preview this season). As a part of the FEI rating, Brian has calculated his own strength of schedule rating on his personal site, BCF Toys.

But that’s a hell of a lot of sports math on a single page right? And truthfully, data visualization is so crucial to make such huge tables of data easily digestible. Well, thanks to his friends at Chartball.com, Brian has managed to do just that. Behold the SOS of all of college football:

via BCF Toys

And the SOS for ND:

via BCF Toys

Here’s a better look at the ND SOS when the chart is organized by FEI rank:

via BCF Toys

How about the SOS for each conference?

via BCF Toys

And that view just might be my favorite.

We always hear how the SEC has the toughest schedules in all of college football. In fact, we heard this ad nauseum when Notre Dame was about to take on Alabama in the championship game two seasons ago. However, that big gray dot in the “others” section shows Notre Dame with schedule that is right in the thick of it when compared to the SEC. Hilariously enough, Alabama has the weakest SEC schedule.

Even more interesting to me is how the Pac-12 stacks right up there with the SEC. In fact, their schedules are collectively tougher on average than the SEC. With Oregon and Stanford holding down the fort with consistently great seasons, teams like UCLA and Arizona State on the rise, and the persistent threat that is Southern Cal, this really shouldn’t be a surprise to us.

Also not surprising: the B1G having the worst SOS out of the “power 5” conferences. That dot all the way to the left side of shame? That’s Iowa.

Other fun notes:

• Utah just edges out Auburn for top SOS pre-season
• The worst SOS by quite a bit: Marshall
• That huge outlying dot on the left side of shame in the Big XII? Oklahoma.
• The two teams taking it easy this season in the ACC: Duke and Pitt.

I’ve asked Brian if this will be updated throughout the season and he stated it will update along with his weekly FEI ratings (which in turn give him new SOS ratings). I can’t wait to play with this all season and see how this chart moves throughout 2014, especially when the playoff debate heats up.

Be sure to head over to BCF Toys and give it a spin. It’s a great waste of time.

The post Notre Dame’s Strength of Schedule Visualized appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I’m always intrigued by this time of year. It seems like so much (national signing day, NFL combine/draft, spring practices) is going on and yet so little is actually happening. We fantasize about our abilities to grow VanGorder-like mustaches and drink from our Figthing Irish cups. But there is so much more to do, right now, Irish fans.

Yes, I know Everett Golson is back and will be dueling Malik Zaire for the starting quarterback spot this spring, but before that, did you know that Notre Dame boasts one of the best up-and-coming softball teams this year? That’s right, ND Softball is young and their tweets can be quite entertaining, if not informative. Easily the best live-tweeting action from Notre Dame athletics.

It also won’t hurt to watch them battle for a very winnable ACC title. Only Florida State, ranked 10th, is ahead of the 24th ranked Irish squad at this point.

Speaking of ACC titles, remember how exciting it was to watch the football squad go unblemished through the regular season in 2012? Well, turn your heads a few feet east and watch Muffet McGraw lead a stellar (thus far) undefeated women’s basketball team in the Purcell Pavilion. They clinched the regular season ACC title with their second win against Duke this year.

That’s two conference championships in two years. In two different conferences. Take that, Nick Saban.

In all honesty, if you don’t yet know the name Kayla McBride, you just aren’t doing yourself justice. Between her and Jewell Loyd, Notre Dame has one of the best back courts in all of women’s basketball. They are on an almost inevitable collision course to face their long-time rivals, UConn, in the finals. Seriously, don’t miss that kind of stuff. The last few games have made Duke vs. North Carolina look like Northwestern vs. Penn State.

Speaking of missing things, did you give up on Irish hockey’s chances at going to the NCAA tournament? Pay attention, because a win against Boston College this Saturday could put them into one of the last at-large spots after they gave Boston University a double dose of Summerhays shutouts last weekend (for what was actually their third straight shutout). The team is late to the party, but peaking at the right time and selection committees love that stuff.

There are plenty of exciting things going on in South Bend right now, and spring football is just one among them.

But if you want that football fix…if you NEED that football fix, just remember how awesome it is that we still get to be entertained by one of the greats: Mr. Louis Nix III. I hope that man never leaves a microphone behind.

Go. Irish.

The post Plenty of Notre Dame to Go Around appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.