Kansas quarterback Dayne Crist throws as fullback Nick Sizemore fends off Oklahoma State defensive end Nigel Nicholas during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012 at Memorial Stadium. (Nick Krug / Lawrence Journal-World)

Dayne Crist’s dream since childhood was to play in the NFL, so the former Notre Dame quarterback wrestled with balancing reality with ambition during the lead-up to the 2013 draft.

“I was a late-round projection at best,” Crist said Tuesday from his Los Angeles office. “You kind of cynically play the game like, ‘Oh, you know. It’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen,’ to not get your hopes up. But at the same time, I mean, you’re really hoping your name gets called, and that’s everybody’s dream.”

Crist knew so many variables outside his control would ultimately decide his fate.

So from Dec. 1 – the day of his final collegiate game – to draft day in late April, Crist’s focus was on readying himself for any opportunity.

“Your agent is the number one guy that you need to secure. Because without him, none of the other stuff is an even important conversation,” said Crist. “Get into OTAs (off-season training sessions for NFL teams), get into camp. Sign your contract and then kind of get a sense of where you are.”

Crist picked Joe Linta, but not because he negotiated the richest contract in NFL history for Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Instead, the former five-star standout from Sherman Oaks chose Linta because of his pedigree as a former coach and a student of the game.

“He wouldn’t sign a guy unless he had kind of watched film on them personally, which I thought was kind of cool, because it was very much kind of that player/coach relationship,” said Crist. “I loved that and (that) he was a straight shooter.”

USA Today Sports

Crist wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, but he didn’t lack opportunity to attract attention.

The quarterback, who played his final season at Kansas, impressed scouts enough at the Casino Del Sol Senior Bowl practices to earn an invitation to a second game, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Los Angeles.

“It’s high stress, right? Because everyone’s trying to put on the best possible showing for all the scouts and teams that are there and GMs that are there,” he said. “But, at the same time, it was just so fun.”

Crist earned MVP honors in the NFLPA bowl after running for a touchdown and throwing for another in a 34-0 victory.

“I didn’t know if I was going to have another opportunity to put on pads and go play,” he said. “So, for me, I really treated this as my last opportunity to play football. It’s a really liberating feeling, just going out there and just enjoying that experience.”

Notre Dame’s Romeo Okwara (45) and Ishaq Williams run a drill during Notre Dame’s NFL football Pro Day in South Bend, Ind., Thursday, March 31, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Notre Dame had 10 players invited to the NFL Combine, but at least 17 former players with higher aspirations who participated in the school’s recent Pro Day evaluation. Players such as linebacker Jarrett Grace, wide receiver Amir Carlisle, safety Eilar Hardy, defensive end Ishaq Williams and quarterback Everett Golson are expected to be either taken late or go entirely undrafted during the three-day NFL event, April 28-30, in Chicago.

“My advice for those (late-round) guys that may never have an opportunity to play again, is absolutely enjoy every second,” he said. “There’s going to come a time when you just can’t do it anymore, and you’re going to really hope that you really had as much fun you possibly did.”

Crist added: “I can fondly look back and say, yeah, I had a blast during that period, and I was lucky that someone set parameters for me and told me to do that going in, because it would be a lot harder as far as the transition is concerned to kind of walk away without having that full closure.”

The former quarterback also suggests that late-round or undrafted guys take all feedback with a grain of salt.

“There’s just so many moving parts, so I don’t think that any of the conversations or suggestions of me being taken were done with any form of like malice or intentional deception,” he said. “A lot of teams will tell you, ‘Look, this is what we have in mind going into the draft,’ but anybody that watching the draft knows how much that changes on a pick-to-pick basis.”

This is where an aggressive, talented agent can be indispensable.

Crist estimates there was nine teams that “had really solid interest” in offering him a rookie minicamp invite and a chance at a roster spot. Within 10 minutes of the draft closing, he had accepted an offer from the Kansas City Chiefs.

While the Chiefs didn’t work out, Crist played with the Ravens on and off for about four months before the start of the 2013 NFL season.

Dayne and his fiancée, Hilary.

“Again, it’s about controlling what you can control,” he said. “I could control the reps that I got in camp, the reps that I got in OTAs, how I prepared, how I took care of my body, so for me it was just doing the same things that I had always done, and not really reading too much into, ‘Oh, I only got … I got eight reps all practice.’ You can’t think about those things, because you’ll drive yourself nuts.”

Crist had gotten his shot at the NFL. And when it didn’t result in a steady job, he held no regrets.

“I was excited about what was going on in my life personally with my fiancée, Hilary,” said Crist, who is getting married May 21 at Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart. “I was excited about being able to kind of walk away from the game on my own terms and pursue my professional passions, and put the Notre Dame degree to work and really kind of enjoy and experience a different side of life, that I just hadn’t had the opportunity to enjoy before.”

The post Crist’s Advice for Late Round Picks: “Enjoy Every Second” appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Irish Illustrated’s Pete Sampson offered this hypothetical Tuesday on Twitter. Sampson added Wednesday that he believed Wimbush would have prevailed each year, underscoring his point that this is the best depth in the Brian Kelly era.

Kelly indicated Tuesday that Wimbush would be given an opportunity to compete for the starting spot, backing off comments he made in February to Bruce Feldman that this year’s goal was to sit the sophomore and preserve a year of eligibility. At this point, however, the primary battle is between redshirt sophomore DeShone Kizer and redshirt junior Malik Zaire.

HIGH PRAISE FOR BRANDON WIMBUSH

Rivals.com photo

So, back to the question: Could Wimbush have won the first three QB competitions of the Kelly era? I asked Eric Hansen, the ND football insider for the South Bend Tribune, during his weekly chat, to weigh in:

“[In] 2010, I think Dayne Crist wins it and Wimbush is pushing. [In] 2011, I think Wimbush wins it. [In] 2012, I’ll go with Wimbush too. If Wimbush had more experience with the read option stuff in high school, I would have gone with him in 2010. But Crist, before he was injured twice, was a real talent with some mobility.”

Coming out of high school, recruiting analysts praised Wimbush’s athletic gifts, and, in particular, his strength. Barton Simmons, a national recruiting analyst for 24/7 Sports, said:

“He has the best arm in this class, in my opinion. … I’ll put it this way: There’s no one that can match Brandon Wimbush’s arm talent. He, along with having a real strong arm, showed that he has accuracy as well. He completed an absurd percentage of passes this year as a senior.”

Tom Lemming, the national recruiting director for CBS Sports Network, was equally effusive:

“He’s got a great arm. Precision passer. Terrific runner. Team leader. He’s got the skills to be a Heisman candidate in three years at Notre Dame. That’s how good I think he is. I think also his ceiling is higher than Golson or anyone on the team right now.”

DAYNE CRIST WAS A STAR IN THE MAKING TOO

MarinMedia.org photo

Scouts and coaches may have been high on Wimbush entering college, but they were even higher on Crist, a 6-foot-5 inch, five-star talent from California. Crist was Rivals’ #25 overall player, Scout’s 44th overall player and #8 on Tom Lemming’s Top 100 Recruits. (For comparison, Stanford QB Andrew Luck – who now starts for the Colts – was #28.)

Crist played parts of four games his freshman year (71 snaps) before tearing his ACL in his right knee in a game against Washington State. In Kelly’s first year – and with Clausen now departed – he won the starting role and performed well: 2,033 yards, completed 59 percent of his passes, threw for 15 touchdowns against seven interceptions.

Almost one year to the date of his first-season ending injury, Crist tore his patella tendon in his left knee. He was named the starter the following year, but pulled midway through the first game for sophomore Tommy Rees. Crist saw only sporadic playing time after that.

In Sampson’s theoretical situation, both Crist and Wimbush would be in their second year in 2010 – with Crist having earned snaps the previous fall. I agree with Eric Hansen; Crist seems like the choice for starter in 2010, even if Wimbush is there.

Wimbush is clearly more athletically gifted than Tommy Rees, so the competition in 2011 would have pitted the redshirt freshman against junior Crist – returning from two serious injuries. Rees and true freshman Everett Golson would have also been in the mix. With Crist’s mobility hampered by two injuries, a healthy Wimbush with a year in the system seems like the right choice to begin 2011.

By 2012, Crist has moved on. The battle would have been among junior Tommy Rees, redshirt freshman Everett Golson and true freshman Gunner Kiel. Kiel didn’t play because coaches decided preserving a year of his eligibility would be better than having him mop-up for Golson. Golson beat Rees, so the competition would have been between two redshirt freshman: Golson and Wimbush. Wimbush is taller, stronger, more comfortable running and has a better arm. Wimbush would have started.

WHAT DO THE STATS SAY?

Wimbush has had 28 snaps under center at Notre Dame. This is too small of a sample size to make accurate conclusions, but here’s the output anyway:

CONCLUSION

I agree with Eric Hansen and disagree with Pete Sampson. Crist prevails in 2010, but Wimbush is likely the starter in 2011 or 2012 in Sampson’s hypothetical scenario. That is fantasy. This is reality: I can’t wait to see more of Brandon Wimbush, whether it be this fall or the next one. He’s going to be truly special.

The post Brandon Wimbush As Starter: A Hypothetical appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Courtesy of Sporting News

In today’s piece, I respond to a comment made by loyal reader Irishize that called into question Brian Kelly’s ability to coach the quarterback position. In six seasons since Brian Kelly came to South Bend, the Irish have played in, and lost, one national championship game and one major bowl game. They’ve won fifty-five games and lost twenty-three. But what does this mean for Kelly’s success with the quarterbacks?

To answer the question of whether or not Brian Kelly can coach quarterbacks, I went back and looked at the career statistics of Notre Dame’s quarterbacks going back to 1956, thanks to the good people at sports-reference.com. 1956 likely falls far enough into the past that we can be certain that any quarterback worth comparing to those coached since 2010 are included in the group. Joe Theismann, Tony Rice, Joe Montana, John Huarte, and Kevin McDougal all played since then. Great offensive minds roamed the sideline, too. For example, Charlie Weis came in with the reputation of being a quarterbacks guy. He was also a quarterpounder guy, but that’s of no moment.

The all-time yardage leader among Notre Dame quarterbacks, and one swell looker, is Brady Quinn. He attempted 1,602 passes, completing 929 of them for 11,762 yards. His career rating is 134.4. He threw 95 touchdowns against 39 interceptions. AND BRIAN KELLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM. Point to Irishize.

In second place among Irish QB’s is Jimmy Clausen. He attempted 1,110 passes and completed 695 of them, a 62.6 percentage, for 8,148 yards. His quarterback rating is 137.2. He threw 60 touchdowns to 27 interceptions. AND BRIAN KELLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIM. 30-0, Irishize.

Brian Kelly, and circumstance, though, had a lot to do with the third-most prolific passer in Notre Dame’s history: Tommy Effing Rees. Tommy No hucked it 1,048 times for 7,670 yards and a completion percentage of 59.8. He connected for 61 touchdowns and 37 interceptions, seven fewer than the school’s all-time INT-leader, Steve Beuerlein who threw 44 picks from 1983 through 1986.

Coach Kelly has also had a hand in your seventh-, fifteenth- and nineteenth-most prolific passers, Messrs. Golson, Kizer, and Crist. Everett completed 745 passes for 5,850 yards, a rating of 138.2, 41 touchdowns and a completion percentage of 59.5. Kizer completed 210 passes for 2,880 yards, 21 touchdowns, a 150.1 rating and a completion percentage of 62.9. Crist completed 199 passes for 2,327 yards, 16 touchdowns, a rating of 127.0 and a completion percentage of 58.9.

Coach Kelly’s greatest measure of how well he coaches and manages the signal-caller position is how he plays the cards he is dealt, year after year. His rotational-system in 2012, in which he spelled an overheating Everett Golson with a cool Tommy Rees, resulted in a perfect regular season. His development of DeShone Kizer meant that the kid was not only ready to step in for an injured Malik Zaire and win the 2015 Virginia game but ready as well to run the team to the Fiesta Bowl and within wishing distance of the playoff. His readjustment of the 2013 offense pulled nine wins out of the hat when the loss of Everett Golson to academic decision-making put the prospect of a losing season very much in play. Only Lou Holtz’s management of the Powlus-to-McDougal succession even mentions comparison to Kelly’s ability to handle the quarterback position.

I didn’t think there was much doubt about Brian Kelly’s ability to develop and coach quarterbacks – the very notion that the larder is stocked with the talent it is at the moment is testament to that. But looking at the record books, it’s impressive to see where the performances of Kelly’s kids stand.

The post Can Kelly Coach Quarterbacks? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Last night, you watched The Oscars.

This morning, for your consideration and viewing pleasure, we present the Top Fifteen Plays of the Brian Kelly Years.

@SupermanTDJesus helped with this project. I am grateful for his technical abilities and efficiency.

Let’s face it, though. There have been a lot of plays in five seasons of football. And, if we’re being honest, a lot of booze chased away the memory of the bad ones. These are the plays that have remained through it all. Through all the “Tommy NOOOO!” moments and through all the turnovers in 2014. These are the plays we can’t forget. Some were season-changing or -defining. Others were just plain incredible. So without further ado, if will, please:

15. C.J. Prosise versus Georgia Tech, 2015
The scene is a gorgeous sunny day at Notre Dame and the Irish are tangling with the Wrambling Wreck. The game was a defensive clinic by the Irish, but on O, C.J. Prosise was the man. This 91 yard run from scrimmage was one of three touchdowns he would score that day.

14. Jaylon Smith versus U.S.C., 2013
Remember when Jaylon was a freshman? This play was our entrée to his once-in-a-generation talent, as he covered fifteen hectares in four strides.

13. Stephon Tuitt versus Michigan, 2013
This play has everything you could want. A pick-six against Michigan. A diving Stephon Tuitt. A shockingly bad decision by a Michigan quarterback.

12. Tommy Rees to Robby Toma versus Purdue, 2012
Who would have thought the Purdue game would be the epic win that it was? A loss would have landed the Irish outside the Championship. This play, a third-and-ten conversion, set up the win.

11. Everett Golson “Superman” versus Purdue, 2012
Continuing the theme, this touchdown, though initially uncalled, made Rees and Golson to scoring what Lennon and McCarthy were to song-writing.

10. DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller versus USC, 2015
Of all the Kizer-to-Fuller moments, this is one of the brightest. Watch him torch Adorée Jackson. Looks like 4.32 speed to me.

9. Josh Adams versus Wake Forest, 2015
Longest run from scrimmage. True freshman. Fourth on the depth-chart.

8. Tommy Rees to TJ Jones versus Stanford, 2012
Did you think you’d see this much Tommy Rees on this list? It’s TJ Jones who makes the play.

7. Stephon Tuitt versus Navy, 2012
You knew 2012 would be a special season when we handed Navy its worse loss since Savo Island. This play, a scoop and score by Stephon Tuitt, showcased his NFL-caliber talent and set his team up for a run to the Championship.

6. CJ Sanders versus Stanford, 2015
“When the team is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys…” you look for plays like this. Sure, the Irish ended up losing the game, but this was one for the ages.

5. Dayne Crist to Kyle Rudolph versus Michigan, 2010
There’s a reason Kyle Rudolph plays on Sundays. This is it.

4. Everett Golson to Chris Brown versus Oklahoma, 2012
One of the brightest plays under the brightest lights, this was the moment the relevance returned.

3. DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller versus Virginia, 2015
Rarely does a season turn on one play, but 2015 did. This is that play.

2. The D-line versus Stanford, 2012
“The Stand.”

1. Louis Nix, III versus Notre Dame, 2014
 Best call ever.

The post Top Fifteen Plays of the Kelly Years appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Enjoy the following five charts. No matter how you slice it, Kizer has had a better beginning than anyone in the past 15 years.

(You may click on the first two graphs for a bigger size. If you’d like to see the numbers, game logs or several more categories, here is my worksheet.)

The post DeShone Kizer’s Year (In Five Charts) appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Credit: Joe Raymond/Associated Press

It seems like only yesterday that Everett Golson held the most popular position on the Notre Dame football team: backup quarterback. 2011 marked a season in which fans clamored for the rise of Golson. A struggling and turnover-prone Tommy Rees did what he could after taking over for Dayne Crist; however, the good will created by his 4-0 run to end the 2010 season, including the first victory over Southern Cal in ages, gave way to the desire to see the freshman standing on the sideline full of potential.

2012 delivered vindication for that desire. Golson found himself trust into the starting QB position after Rees had an ill-fated encounter/failed escape from a police officer at an off-campus party. And while the Irish’s 12-0 run that season included many a save from Rees, including one start, Golson provided more than just flashes of brilliance in his first season. His performance on the road at Oklahoma and a miraculous save in triple overtime against Pittsburgh, a game that featured a benching of Golson and Rees, had us believing the future had arrived at Notre Dame. Brian Kelly had his guy, his quarterback.

And then in the 2013 offseason took him away from us.

You could argue that Golson found himself in the position of backup quarterback for a second time that season. Once again, Irish fans screamed “TOMMY, NO!” more times than they wished. All hope for the success teased in 2012 went to California, as did the young man from South Carolina that delivered them. Perhaps the expulsion would serve as a blessing in disguise, we thought. A semester away from Notre Dame with a quaterback “guru” might just provide Golson to make as many strides, if not more, than he could going through the rigors of a fall season on the field and in the classroom.

We watched training videos as if they were a second round of recruiting film. Golson did drills blindfolded. George Witfield swung brooms at him. It looked like Jedi training from Star Wars modified to fit the game of football. Impossible to see the future was; however, Golson started throwing the football with the laces. Surely, that signified his football growth.

In 2014, the return of Golson appeared to put the Irish back on track. After a 6-0 start, Notre Dame traveled to Tallahassee. This quarterback Jedi looked poised to unseat Jameis Winston and the defending champion, and seemingly the evil empire of college football.

In this battle, Notre Dame fans found themselves in the unfamiliar position of being joined by the majority of the national audience whom were also cheering for the Irish. At the conclusion, ND fans found themselves in an all-too-familiar position of heartache. And while it is far from fair to say that moment was the singular reason that the 2014 season fell apart, it became hard for even the most level-headed Irish fan to not turn back, at some level, to that narrative.

But regardless of the myriad reasons of why the Irish fell from grace, Everett Golson continued to commit the mortal sin of turning the ball over. Any moment in which the Irish appeared posed to stop the bleeding and turn it all around, Golson coughed up a fumble or threw an interception. As the turnovers and losses mounted, fans remembered that Malik Zaire now held the popular position of backup quarterback that Everett once did.

Only this time, unlike Golson’s run at that popular position in 2011, Zaire had no redshirt to protect. Rees had already preserved that in 2013. The future could be now if Brian Kelly willed it and many fans wanted that trigger pulled in the worst way. Kelly resisted until Golson put together a performance so poor against Southern Cal in the season finale that Kelly simply had no choice but to pull his struggling QB.

For the bowl showdown against LSU, Kelly said that both quarterbacks would play, although Zaire got the nod to start. While both put together solid performances, Zaire stole the show. There would be a quarterback competition for 2015. It would be tight. There would be great reasons to start both and the decision for Kelly would be borderline impossible.

However, Kelly’s decision would become just as easy as it was in 2012 and around the same time as well. Instead of an unfortunate conclusion to an end-of-the-year party, Golson simply decided to part ways from Notre Dame.

Perhaps Golson felt like he saw the writing on the wall. After all, he once walked in Zaire’s shoes. Maybe it just felt like a matter of time before he would be overtaken.

Perhaps Golson just didn’t get along with Brian Kelly. Maybe the yelling and screams post mistakes just sat wrong with him. Despite Kelly moving to a more gentler approach, maybe even those non-purple-face conversations still didn’t set right for one reason or another. Maybe Kelly sticking with his QB competition, instead of giving him the starting job outright–or even saying it was his job to lose–made him look elsewhere.

Perhaps Golson didn’t feel like Notre Dame was the right spot for his fifth year. Maybe after already going through the ringer once with the academic honor code was enough. Maybe he saw getting the undergraduate degree from ND as one accomplishment done on the checklist and now the lion’s share of attention should go to football and he wanted to attend a school in which he felt would provide that.

Perhaps Golson simply saw this as the best possible football move for him. Maybe when everything else was considered Florida State would give him the best shot at the pros.

I don’t know what went through Golson’s mind. I’m not even going to pretend that I do nor try to speculate what was the reason of why he decided to leave or why he felt Florida State was his best option. For all I know, Golson’s final decision has nothing to do with what I wrote above.

I do know that when I examine this from an emotional perspective as a Notre Dame fan, I can come up with only one conclusion: this sucks. Golson’s decision to go to Florida State simply rubs salt in an open wound.

While I am certainly a proponent of letting hate rule cheering interests in college football (see also: Michigan), I don’t know where I’m going to stand on Golson. I penned this post as something of a history of Golson’s time at Notre Dame not to bury the lede, but to examine the emotional roller coaster that I and all Irish fans have been on in the past few years. And it’s that journey that has me wishing for both Golson’s success and Florida State’s failure at the same time and hoping for one over the other as if I’m on some kind of strange pendulum of fandom.

If I can remove the emotions from this situation, I can see that this move makes a lot of sense for Golson and will likely work out just fine for Notre Dame as well.  And Golson, much like many other athletes, doesn’t have the same emotional investment tied into rivalries and hatred as fans do. For them success is success and failure is failure whether it is against a rival, a cupcake, or in a title game. Golson’s end goal is to get to the NFL and if wearing garnet and gold makes more sense than blue and gold in 2015 to achieve it, then that’s what he will do.

Malik Zaire will move from the most popular position to the most scrutinized just as Golson did. Hopefully, in 2016, he will become the first quarterback in the Brain Kelly era to start in back-to-back seasons. Hopefully, when DeShone Kizer and Brandon Wimbush find themselves in the popular role of backup quarterback, Zaire’s struggles (and let’s not kid ourselves, he’s going to have some–even Jameis Winston threw 18 interceptions in 2014) won’t be as severe as Golson’s were and the fanbase doesn’t see Kizer or Wimbush as the panacea to cure all Irish ails.

To put it another way, I don’t want to do this dance again. I’ve seen Golson deliver the joy of a national title run and next season I’ll have to watch him wearing hated colors. Regardless of what happens next season Golson’s performance will be compared with Zaire’s. Kelly’s ability to coach and develop quarterbacks will be heavily scrutinized in comparison to Jimbo Fisher. It won’t matter that Zaire barely has over 100 snaps of game experience or that Kelly wasn’t able to coach Golson for connective seasons. The narrative, whatever it will turn out to be, will rule just as Golson’s turnovers ruled the 2014 struggles.

For now, this will sting and the only thing that will soothe the pain will be for Zaire to win to help me forget. I’ll still have some fond memories of Golson’s time with the Irish and when it is all said and done, the stop at Florida State will likely be a passing thought. I won’t begrudge anyone cheering him on, those that want to see his failure, or those that could care less. Regardless of fan emotions, 2015 will be a season to move on.

Next man in.

The post Chop to the Heart, Golson Transfers to Florida State appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

After all, if we decide to listen to those we’ve defeated, they’ll each have their own version of what actually happened. Purude has a coach that can’t select a QB properly. Le’Veon Bell took personal responsibility for Sparty’s failings. Michigan simply didn’t play Michigan football as Denard Robinson handed us the game. Miami would’ve had a different fate if they could only Phillip Dorsett caught a couple of passes. Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor is still convinced that a second OT will still start soon.

Shift over to the talking heads and the national perspective in general and a different narrative forms. Notre Dame simply hasn’t beaten anyone yet. The entire Big Ten is a joke, Navy was Navy, and Stanford might just be the only win that the Irish can truly hang their hat on. Oklahoma will surely bring the Irish back down to earth.

Cameron, what have you seen today?

Nothing good.

Nothing – wha – what do you mean nothing good? We’ve seen everything good. We’ve seen the whole city! We went to a museum, we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!

Of course, being fans, we defend our team, but beyond that, we want the undeniable joy of any doubter eating a healthy dose of crow. After all, most of the folks that attended College GameDay last weekend did just that taking well deserved “told you so” pot-shots when the opportunity presented itself.

It’s definitely quite the added bonus that winning delivers. Doubly so if there is a public proclamation via forums, a blog post, or even a comment that you can link to.

From the outside looking in, I would assume that most people think that we are just beside ourselves with joy until someone delivers a fatal blow to our defeated record.

The city looks so peaceful from up here.

Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.

But like I said at the start, being a Notre Dame fan is a strange existence. In the midst of 6-0 joy, there is angst. We try to force-feed crow to our own.

Simply proving the talking heads outside of the fanbase wrong isn’t enough, there is an additional reflex to prove ourselves right on such polarizing topics like the merits of a field rush, the coaching staff, the quarterback situation, or a jumbotron.

This probably sounds strange from someone that writes and helps run a blog that centers around such debates. Truth be told, I’m really not adverse to them. What I am adverse to is the shift in focus that such debates tend to cause as they rage on. Slowly but surely the focus shifts away from the team and actual games that should be the fuel for the fire in such debates. Instead the spotlight shines on the individuals involved in the debates, their opinions, or their previous works instead of the Irish themselves.

And honestly, I don’t care who wins that kind of a debate. At that point, the only “victory” that can be claimed is from someone sitting behind their computer monitor that I may or may not know. It’s all noise that distracts from the bigger picture.

While the internet pitchforks are sharpened, the rest of the nation continues to fall in love with Manti Te’o. We even have WWE superstars proclaiming his greatness.

Last week, we witnessed one of the most incredible endings to a football game possible. People are still talking about the Michigan game, not simply for the result, but how the Irish fans came together to support one of their own. I still smile when I think about how many non-Irish fans texted me when we defeated Michigan State.

We have something truly special going on this season and it should be savored.

Have your debates, and we will be more than happy to host our fair share here at HLS. But don’t get so caught up in simply “being right” or “proving someone wrong” that you lose your focus on the bigger picture of the season.

Before you know it, it’ll be over.

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

The Roundup

Speaking of life moving fast, Ty Willingham apparently got a very fitting job as an assistant golf coach at Stanford; however, he no longer has the position. So many jokes missed, y’all.

Don’t let the HLS giveaway pass you by. We are still taking entries until the end of the month. Get yourself some free swag!

Dayne Crist’s career might be passing him by. I feel for the kid. Have a rough go of it at ND, follow the man that recruited you to Kansas, and then have the rug pulled out from under you.

Tommy Rees refuses to let his career pass him by. I wanted to to much more on the QB play this week, but Blog Davie does a great job breaking down Rees’ winning TD play. You have to give Rees all kinds of credit for taking whatever chances he gets and making the most of it. Best closer in college football.

John Cena’s tweet wasn’t the only WWE invasion into college football. Alabama knows how to deliver a textbook suplex.

ND Hoops is just around the corner. Let One Foot Down kick off your basketball previews.

In an instant a football career can end, a life can be threatened. Such is the case of Tulane defensive back, Devon Walker, who released his first public statement since the most devastating injury that I can remember on a football field.

It isn’t Rudy, but it’s another story of triumph. If you only read one piece about third string walk-on punters, make it this one.

Put These Games on Your Radar

Lots of great games again this week. Be sure to savor the glory. Below is just a small sample of what’s available.

#7 South Carolina vs #2 Florida, 3:30pm EST, CBS – Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week

#6 LSU @ #18 Texas A&M, 12:00pm EST, ESPN/WatchESPN – Now this is how we should start every Saturday: a top tier game. Johnny Football could start creating some serious Heisman buzz should the Aggies knock off LSU at home.

#4 Kansas State @ #13 West Virginia, 7:00pm EST, FOX – Well, Vegas always knows and they sure had WVU pegged for the upset last week. I’m still not sure where to even rank K-State to be honest. Really intrigued on how this game plays out.

Predictions

Tex

Via my response to the IBG in tweet form:

@thesubwaydomer No TDs once again, Irish win 24-6.

— NDtex (@HLS_NDtex) October 18, 2012

Biscuit

Going with the leprechauns again:

Independence and belief in a book are where the similarities end, on and off the field. This won’t be close.

ND Wins 45-16

Just the 3.

Bayou

ND: 31 BYU: 0

Twibby

ND 27, BYU 10

Grantland-X

31-3 ND

Closest to the Pin Week 6: Biscuit’s dancing leprechauns were magical last week. He damn near nailed both scores and almost had the margin of victory dead on. Leaderboard:

The Beer

This week, we have a special request from Loyal Reader, KyNDfan:

John “Jack” Sheehan, RIP, had been a Subway Domer since the invention of the term. His sons, Greg and Tom, followed in his fandom footsteps. My wife is his granddaughter. She recently went through his old stuff and we are the process of scanning some old pics. This is a sample of them. I will post an album on Facebook and tag HLS on it. That’s Jack standing behind Ara and that’s him holding all that Old Milwaukee. It would be awesome if you would make that this weeks beer on the Friday round up.

You got it, KyNDfan, Old Milwaukee it is.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Ferris Bueller” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

First, he starts off with a conversation that former Irish and current Kansas QB, Dayne Crist, had with Tommy Rees:

“Dayne was telling Tommy that even if they are saying that you are the No. 1 guy,” Newman said, “that’s what they told me. It’s not good for your program if you can’t put stock into what the coaches say.”

…

“The coaches having faith in you to go out there and get the job done goes a long, long, long way,” Newman said. “Even when you are making mistakes it goes a long way. Because every mistake you make on a Notre Dame football field, people think that it is (the quarterback’s) last play.”

Now, while I definitely believe in the “whatever happens here stays here” rule of the locker room, I do see times when it can be broken. We wouldn’t get some great stories and humorous moments that would go untold otherwise (Lou Holtz wanting a piece of Jimmy Johnson for instance).

However, Newman’s recounting of this conversation (I don’t care whether it happened or not) takes a shot at not only the coaching staff, but Dayne Crist as well. Crist handled last season so incredibly well and with so much class–now Newman sees it fit to undo that?

Plus, there’s no telling what context this conversation was in. For instance, we know from Grantland-X that several of the players on the Notre Dame squad were and still are firmly in Tommy’s corner. Knowing this, perhaps Crist felt bad for Tommy when he was named starter despite the locker room support. So, being the good guy that he is, goes and comforts him and makes sure that the young QB doesn’t have his confidence drop.

Instead though, Newman jumps to the conclusion that Kelly and his staff simply didn’t have any real faith in Crist. Add on fan reaction to failures on the field and apparently Crist was doomed before he took a snap. While we all know that the ND fanbase is vocal and critical, implying that Kelly started the dogpile before it began is an absurd conclusion to jump to.

Newman’s criticism doesn’t stop there:

“Tommy has made mistakes,” Newman said. “They were stupid mistakes and he should be punished for those. But I’ve got to go to bat for Tommy. Interceptions are going to be thrown no matter who the quarterback is. Those are going to happen, and honestly, they happen a lot more when the coaches are chewing you out for throwing that first one.”

Yes, interceptions happen and they happened a lot with Tommy (by the way Brandon, fumbles and penalties happened a lot too). According to Newman though, Tommy couldn’t learn from his mistakes because Kelly yelled at him.

I find this hilarious because Newman’s first coach was Charlie Weis.

Want to know how “kind” Charlie was to his players? In fall camp of 2005, Weis, in an open practice with press and fans around, berated Quinn for a terrible pass, proclaiming passes like that would be the reason Quinn would never be better than a 50% completion QB.

I’ve lost could of the times that Charlie gave his eloquent speech of (and excuse my French) “you have only one fucking job to do.” He stopped down one of the last practices of his first fall camp to have the entire team run sprints because he was so pissed at the entire team, himself, and his staff for having such a crappy product in the field.

Here’s a newsflash: coaches yell and tear their players down; however, they will build them back up again. Weis was no different and if you watch any ICONN with a Kelly speech, it is clear he operates in a similar manner.

The fact that Newman considers this newsworthy, much less points to it as the reason Tommy had issues last season, is absurd.

More absurd though, is his final shot at…well…everyone:

“The pressure is magnified through the coaches,” Newman said. “Even through the administration, it’s from everyone. It’s magnified.”

So now it’s everyone’s fault. The coaches, the administration, the fans, and probably even bloggers like myself.

Spare me.

In hindsight, this shouldn’t have surprised me. Yesterday, the News-Sentinel had another piece centered around Newman. In it, he made sure everyone knew why he didn’t play at ND:

Newman said his career – or lack thereof – was due to conditioning (freshman season), problems mastering new techniques (sophomore season), injury (junior season) and, well, he’s not sure about the final season in which he played for his third defensive line coach in four seasons (Ball State’s Chad Wilt will be his fourth in five years).

“I have been capable of playing for years,” Newman said. “You could ask any of the (Notre Dame offensive linemen). It got to the point that when I talked with the coaches, they’d honestly come up with excuses.”

The only “excuses” actually occurring here are the ones from Newman’s own mouth.

Look, I honestly understand the frustration that comes with not getting the playing time you think you deserve. I struggled with it personally through my baseball “career” and I can only imagine how much more amplified it is being a scholarship athlete at a school like Notre Dame.

More often than not though, my playtime was determined by my execution (or rather lack there off…there was also that whole “talent” thing). I suspect much is the same of Newman. In fact, his final quote confirms it:

“There is a difference between playing in the game and playing in practice,” Newman said. “One of my biggest problems is that I am a gamer. As well as I do in practice, a game is where I can turn it up to the umpteenth degree.”

Newman’s admission of a special “game gear” drives the final nail into his own coffin.

Not only does he throw Kelly and his staff under the bus, but his former teammates as well. It was because of coaches that Newman didn’t see game time and, by extension, his former teammates earned unjustified playing time in his eyes. Thanks to that, he had to take his talent to Ball State to show off his amazing game time skills.

Let me be clear, I don’t wish ill on Newman and hope he finds success at Ball State. After all he is a fellow alum and monogram winner. But in the past couple of days, Newman has failed to take on any blame for his own playing time and has extended his personal frustrations and excuses publicly to matters that no longer directly involve him. This approach comes of as nothing more than sour grapes.

If Newman really wishes to make a statement to Kelly and his staff, make it on the field. Actions always speak louder than words.

The post Brandon Newman, Some Things Are Just Better Left Unsaid appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.