While the Irish kept on trucking, others weren’t as lucky. We were close to a blood weak with multiple ranked teams finding themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet. We were also blessed with what had to be the most insane Red River Shootout and Mike Leach setting a record he probably never expected to.

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Recap: Keep on Truckin’ appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame Athletic Director, Jack Swarbrick, working his magic on future schedules, probably. (Photo Credit: Shane DeLeon aka SupermanTDJesus)

Now, I understand that, even in this barren desert of Irish football news, you may find it hard to get excited for games that are three and eight years away. To be fair, I’m right there with you; however, my excitement lies not with future dates with another SEC opponent, but rather how well ND and Jack Swarbrick have crafted their future schedules in the college football playoff era.

I’ve long hoped that the four-team playoff would force teams to see the value in scheduling tougher opponents, leading to more Power Five vs. Power Five matchups. With Notre Dame naturally having greater flexibility in their schedule as an independent, my personal hope was that the Irish would have a far better selection of willing opponents to agree to home-and-homes than they seemed to have in the BCS era.

That hope appears to have turned into reality with the SEC serving as the most willing dance partner. For all the hell I’ve personally given the majority of that conference for rarely travelling north of the Mason-Dixon line, take a look at what the Irish have put together starting this year through the time that the College Football Playoff contract expires in 2025:

2017: vs. Georgia

2018: vs. Vanderbilt

2019: @ Georgia

2020: vs. Arkansas

2024: @ Texas A&M

2025: vs. Texas A&M and @ Arkansas

And what of the (current) SEC-less gap from 2021-2023? A home-and-home with Ohio State in 2022 and 2023 will more than make up for it . In 2021, the Irish kick off the season in Tallahassee to avenge a certain bullshit offensive pass interference call. Still, consider that we are talking about games that are five-plus years away and it would be premature to say with certainty that the Irish won’t find a willing SEC opponent for those open dates, further adding greatness to these schedules.

But let’s look even further than the SEC additions to the schedule. With a certain Domino’s executive no longer in Ann Arbor, ND has put Michigan back on the schedule for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Purdue has also found their way back on the Irish schedule for 2020-2021 and 2024-2026.

Yes, yes, I know it’s just Purdue, but step back, and look big picture here.

The Irish have a regional, Power Five (hey, stop laughing about Purdue being Power Five) opponent from 2018-2026, one full year past the CFP contract. Should the Irish continue this practice of scheduling SEC opponents or even dipping back into the Big 12 pool (see: Texas and Oklahoma as previous examples) with their current ACC scheduling agreement and current contracts with Stanford through 2019 and Southern Cal through 2023 (and I’m sure those will find extensions to at least 2025), you find a true, coast-to-coast, north-to-south schedule with a regional twist.

Feel free to show me another Power Five team in college football that can pull that off consistently. And that’s not a dig at the rest of college football either. It’s simply the reality of conference membership and the lack of flexibility that those schedules offer their members. Plus, even when most Power Five teams find their way into these non-conference matchups, they often find themselves going to an opening weekend neutral site game instead of the home-and-homes that the Irish are able to pull off.

It’s Rockne’s Ramblers for the modern college football era. If you want to stay independent and truly have a seat at the table in a four-team playoff, these true national schedules, pitting ND against three or even four of the Power Five conferences in a single season, are what the Irish must continue to play.

From a scheduling perspective, the path to the playoff has been paved. It will be up to the Irish to finally walk it.

The post Making the Most of Independence: Notre Dame’s Future Schedules appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

After a nice, even-keeled look through the latest in college football headlines, Eddie came in with loads of fire. Fueled by alcohol and rage, this week’s picks can only be described as a thing that was recorded on Thursday night.

But that’s just the tail end of an hour-plus podcast which, of course, includes a look at Notre Dame taking on a Stanford team that isn’t as good as you might remember them being. Hey, that kind of sounds familiar!

/looks in mirror

The Roundup

The sixth Mike has passed. LSU’s famed live tiger mascot succumbed to kitty cancer.

LSU/Florida is back on. The location has changed and soon-to-depart Florida AD, Jeremy Foley, decided to take some parting shots at LSU for, apparently, making this process as difficult as possible.

And you thought Notre Dame fans got angry. Y’all got nothing on the SEC until you get arrested for calling your coach out for falling to 4-2 after losing to the defending national champs.

We now know why Harbaugh decided to murder Rutgers. The man just wanted a cheaper steak dinner. No, seriously, his team caused a massive discount and he took advantage of it.

Ruth's Chris & Buzz Goebel!Sarah, me & Ann Arbor thank U for being such good sports! Plus the Steaks are A++, Mercy! pic.twitter.com/7CiB8ZMuXy

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) October 12, 2016

But, seriously, Harbaugh, milk?!

Joey Julius has nothing on this girl. Sure the rotund kicker has been leveling people and become a target for headhunting that leads to suspensions, but I think he’s been one upped by Kelly Macnamara’s best Rhonda Rousey channeling:

7-0? pic.twitter.com/E0GQonDe2Y

— Kelly Macnamara (@kellmac_) October 9, 2016

The “BK blames his players for everything” narrative took a bit of a hit. Not only are his players saying that isn’t the case, but immediately after the loss, he squarely put the blame on himself in front of his squad:

Eddie and I actually got some picks right last week. Feel free to follow along as we see if rage and booze is acceptable in GAMBLOR’s sight.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Come for the Roundup, Stay for the Drunk Picks” Episode appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

This year has been a bit different. Just go take a look at this week’s IBG, the questions and answers are full of more “wait and see” themes than usual. Perhaps some of that is due to the bye being so early. Perhaps that is because there’s been only one opponent and game we’ve really been excited about and next week’s opponent isn’t USC or Stanford, but Syracuse.

So the more I thought about Notre Dame and their place in the college football world this week, the more my thoughts started to flow outward to the rest of that world.

While the game against Purdue caused some concern (and rightly so), take a look at how the rest of the week went. Virginia Tech, after convincingly defeating Ohio State, had their doors blown off by ECU. Georgia fell apart against South Carolina. Florida nearly lost to Kentucky in OT, in The Swamp no less. Iowa State took out Iowa. And, of course, Boston College upset Southern Cal.

Perhaps you had a feeling about some of these games. There is no way in hell you saw all of that coming. This past week was proof that no matter how hard we try, college football will remind us that we simply cannot predict everything.

College football is a crazy, illogical world. Its season is scattered with statistical outliers and results that make little to no sense. Emotions and other intangibles can reign supreme on any even Saturday and set fire to the expected paper result.

Compare this game to the NFL. Through much work, the pros have created a league of parity. Sure, you have good teams and bad, but the tiers are so well structured that the expectations stay reasonable. An upset will happen here and there, but you never see anything resembling this past week in the NFL. More often than not, you know what to expect: competitive games in which the known better teams will come out on top.

It’s almost a sterile environment for football in comparison to the college game. Give me the crazy, emotional investment with the potential for devastating, unexpected results any day.

Sure, this may mean that Notre Dame may inexplicably forget how to play football for a half against Purdue, leading to additional liver damage by way of increased alcohol intake. However, it also means that the joy of being able to find success in this crazy landscape is simply unparalleled.

The Roundup

Michigan fans are still trying to figure out their offense. Pay special attention to the play action pattern they uncovered here.

Famous Jameis being infamous. Poor meme usage leads to the question of whether or not he gets it at all.

Wait, stealing signs is a story? So last night, K-State mentioned Auburn was stealing their signs, leading to memories of Arkansas and Florida State claiming the same previously. Isn’t that, I don’t know, part of the game? I mean, that’s kind of the reason why people use signs in the first place instead of holding a big sign saying “Hey, play action is coming!” right?

File this under “Only at Notre Dame”. I won’t have proper words to describe this, just read it.

File this under “wait, really?!” So Washington fans knew Sark was a fraud and warned Southern Cal about it, apparently. Queue the “I told you so” column and I can’t help but wonder why they hate the guy that drug them out of the Ty Willingham abyss.

And now your moment of Nix… This is the only time BC has given me joy:

The Booze

I’ve been in Portland all week for work. This means all the IPAs, right?

The post Friday Roundup: The “Crazy World of College Football” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

On November 1, 1913 Notre Dame established the forward pass as a legitimate offense in college football. Its purpose was to make the quarterback the most feared player on the field and propel the team to greatness.

They succeeded.

Today, the Navy calls him the guy that embarrasses them every year*. The Fighting Irish call him….

TOP QB

*2007, 2009, and 2010 didn’t exist…why the hell is everybody acting like they did?

—————————

Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix stand outside Brian Kelly’s office. Everett Golson walks out, in a cold sweat, clearly upset, and shaken-up…

Hendrix: “Golson?”

Golson: “Good luck, Tommy…”

Kelly: “MAVERICK! GOOSE! COME IN HERE!”

Rees: “The hell is going on?”

Hendrix: “I donno.”

Rees: “Shit…”

Rees and Hendrix enter Kelly’s office, his face is a dangerous shade of red — both QBs know purple isn’t too far away.

Kelly: “Maverick, you did an admirable job in 2012 — BUT YOU STILL THREW TOO MANY DAMNED INTERCEPTIONS!!!”

Rees: “Coach, seriously, what’s with the call signs? It’s freaking me out.”

Kelly: “Your arm is writing checks that your body can’t cash. Don’t even get me started on 2011–I can’t even count the number of interceptions that year and that disaster under the lights!!!”

Hendrix: [Trying to whisper to Tommy] “Which one? Michigan or Southern Cal?”

Kelly: [Glaring at Hendrix] “And you, asshole…you’re lucky to be here after tripping over yourself against Air Force!”

Hendrix: [snaps to attention] “Thank you, sir!”

Kelly: “And let’s not bullshit, Tommy. The mere sound of your name scares the hell out of everyone in the stands. You need to be doing it better, and cleaner than the other guy. Now what is it with you?”

Rees: “Just want to serve Our Lady’s University, sir. Be the best QB that I can be, sir.”

Kelly: “Don’t screw around with me, Tommy. You’re a hell of an instinctive QB. Maybe too good. I’d like to bust your butt but I can’t. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this roster out on the field as the starting QB. I gotta do something here, I still can’t believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot! I’m gonna send you up against the best. You two characters…are moving up the depth chart. For 12 weeks you are going to go up against the toughest schedule in the nation. You were number two and three, Golson was number one. Golson cheated on a test and got kicked out of ND. YOU GUYS are one and two. [Glares at Tommy] You remember one thing…you screw up just this much…and your ass will be on the bench for the rest of your eligibility!”

Rees: “YES, SIR!”

Kelly: “That is all…”

—————————

The season progresses, but disaster strikes against Southern Cal. Tommy Rees is standing over a sink with a bag of ice on his neck as the team departs. Brain Kelly enters…

Kelly: “How ya doin’?”

Rees: “I’m okay.”

Kelly: [sighs] “Hendrix is dead.”

Rees: “What the hell, coach?! He had a horrible game, but you sound like someone with wishful thinking on my Twitter mentions.”

Kelly: “You play football long enough, games like this happen.”

Rees: “He was my backup, my responsibility. It should have never been that bad.”

Kelly: “Look, in my career, I’ve seen many QBs go down. First string goes down, next man in. But there will be others. You can count on that. You gotta let it go. You gotta let it go.”

—————————

Rees comes by Kelly’s office the following day for a heart-to-heart. He’s still sore and shaken up from the injury, concerned his interception-happy ways could return, and Malik “Iceman” Zaire could take his spot.

Kelly: “What’s on your mind?”

Rees: “My options, sir.”

Kelly: “Simple. First, you are healthy enough to be cleared to retake your QB1 spot, or you can quit. There’d be no disgrace. That hit was hell–and you’ve been through hell these past couple of years, it would’ve shook me up.”

Rees: “So you think I should quit?”

Kelly: “I didn’t say that. The simple fact is you feel responsible for every single bad thing that happens with this football program and you have a confidence problem. Now I’m not gonna sit here and blow sunshine up your ass, Tommy. A good QB is compelled to evaluate what’s happened, so he can apply what he’s learned. Out there, we gotta push it. That’s our job. It’s your option, Tommy. All yours.”

Rees: “Sorry to bother you on a Sunday, sir, but thank you very much for your time.”

Kelly: “No problem. Good luck.”

—————————

Tommy takes the field against Air Force. After a slow and shaky start, he comes alive and finishes with 284 yards and 5 TDs. A jubilant Notre Dame team celebrates in the locker room and Zaire gets Tommy’s attention…

Zaire: You…you are still dangerous…[flashes a smile at Tommy]…but you can be my backup any time.

Rees: Bullshit. You’re going to stay mine.

The Roundup

The NCAA has been busy this week. It’s clear that a major restructuring is in the works and based on Delany’s comments, there could be a clearer line between the have and have-nots. Along with this news also comes some new recruiting rules.

The Chip Brown rumor mill is back! Oh, Chip, we didn’t miss you (and if you forget him, he’s the conference realignment rumor-monger that got things so, so wrong), but we will still laugh at you and the wild accusations that you make/get fed with the Texas AD search. This week, Chip unveils Oliver Luck as the favorite, but also manages to toss Jack Swarbrick’s name into the hat. Trying to keep up, the Austin Statesmen pegged Ohio State AD, Gene Smith, as a candidate which he denied.

War Damn Filmgate. Bret Bielema is apparently oh so ready to make friends in the SEC by claiming Auburn doctored the film they sent him. The best part of his public accusation? Lack of a swinging gate on the film. Seriously.

Cierre Wood feels your pain, Carl Pelini. Even coaches aren’t immune to the allure of the sticky-icky.

Opponent injury watch: Stanford DE, Ben Gardner is now out for the season.

Quack, quack and f#*k you, Oregon fans. A former Oregon player writes a letter to the editor and says everything you’ve wanted to say to a crappy fan…well, minus the Spartacus references.

And now your moment of zen…

[youtube id=”VnG8eXIQBZU”]

Put These Games on Your Radar

Well last week was horribly mediocre as I went 3-3 with my picks against the spread. I would like to thank Vandy for failing to do anything with their 100 turnovers they forced and Mizzou just blowing their lead. Bastards.

Anyways, that moves me to 11-8 thus far. Let’s see if this week can be better.

As always, picks are in bold and have the spread listed next to them (Firefox is still buggy on the bold, unfortunately).

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Predictions

Twibby narrowly edged ManCaveQB with his 45-14 prediction by a single point (ManCaveQB had 38-10, a 7 point miss). Here are your standings:

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NDtex (@HLS_NDTex)

The weather sets up for all kinds of potential for this to be an ugly, sloppy game. However, Mav–I mean, Tommy and the Irish will be able to use it to their advantage in an easy win. Unrelated, the poor field will lose so very badly.

ND 41, Navy 13

Biscuit (@HLS_Biscuit)

Via:

2 weeks in a row of Option Ball! Well, couldn’t schedule it better, that’s for sure. ND will have 2 full weeks of option preparation before facing Navy this season, and it will help. Navy came on in ND’s down years and this became a game. Last season, things finally (FINALLY!) seemed back to normal with ND really enforcing their will on the men in the middle of the ship. Anchors may be away, but the Irish aren’t. They’re here, and ready to play. No love for the Navy offense this week as the Irish force multiple turnovers and hold Navy to less than 200 yards rushing for the only time all season. While Air Force gives ND a bit of a fit in the first half the week before, this one is in the bag by the time the band takes the field.

ND Wins 30 – 10

   3 Leprechauns! No more Navy heroics when it comes to the Irish. Save it for the battlefield fellas. (And thank you so much for your service, you guys rule)

Bayou Irish (@HLS_BayouIrish)

Navy is a team that makes me more nervous than any other on our schedule, because if you screw up against them, they’re like an anaconda. There should be a “Notre Dame” proviso under the Federal Tort Claims Act which would give all of us who watched a game like 2010 one fifty minute hour on the psychologist’s couch. I’m glad we played Air Force last week and (hopefully) addressed our issues with the option. I’d love it if we can hold Navy scoreless for more than just the second half. While they blew out the Delaware Blue Hens 51-7 in Week Two, their production plummeted against Western Kentucky and only broke 35 points in its October 19 loss to Toledo in double overtime. Like last year, I expect us to win going away. We should be without Big Lou in the middle – no “knee”-d to risk him against the blocking technique the Middies use. And if we use the DBs to seal the edge like we did, after some time, against USAF, we should be in business and get to see Tommy put up some more insane numbers. Expect big tackle numbers from Jaylon Smith, again, as Navy runs away from Tuitt.

ND 49, Navy 9

Twibby (@HLS_Twibby)

Irish 38, Navy 10. Another week of smooth sailing for ND.

Irish Elvis (@IrishElvis)

TBA

The Irish Twins (@HLS_IT1 & @HLS_Podcast)

Twin 2 (@HLS_Podcast):

Irish keep control in a mud bowl:  38 – 17

Twin 1 (@HLS_IT1): 34-27 Irish win

Blog Davie (@BlogDavie)

The Irish start slow but end up dropping anchor on the Midshipmen.  Notre Dame 40 – Navy 21

Steve in Iowa (@SteveInIowa1)

Alright. Again, I’m Mr. Bad Karma. I hate picking this one because when taking friends to a game in 2009 I picked Navy specifically hoping for an easy victory. What we got was an up close, live viewing Jimmy Clausen taking a crucial momentum killing safety in the north endzone. So while I want pick a ND to win 42-3, a whole lot of psychological pain has conditioned me to expect something ugly like 27-17. Those swabbies have grit. The want revenge for Ireland. And they are plating better than late, so I go with a close one.

ManCaveQB (@ManCaveQB)

SuperManTDJesus (@SuperManTDJesus)

It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be wet, and it’s gonna be ugly for Navy. Tommy Rees tosses 3 TDs and the RBs get 4 more. Navy musters 2 FGs and a garbage time TD. Give Brindza a 3 in there for a nice 52-13 final score.

The Beer Booze

I’m making an executive decision with this section. With Subway Domer, and the Anti-Preview, now gone and considering HLS has picked up the rest of the Subway Domer crew, I feel we are missing a serious alcohol void in the ND blogosphere. It’s as if millions of livers cried out in joy and are now kicking back and relaxing.

To hell with that.

So “The Beer” section is now “The Booze” because I’m going to be mixing it up from here on out. Craft beer suggestions will still find their way in here, but that won’t be the exclusive purpose.

For this week, considering playing Navy is a game in which the focus is on the basics, we are going to do that ourselves with this week’s beverage. Sometimes, a simple gameplan and be strong and potent when given enough time to work. With that in mind, open up your bar and find your favorite whiskey, Irish fans. Mix it, put it on the rocks, have it neat, or just chug from the bottle — it’s all acceptable.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Top QB” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.