Sure, not a soul on the active Notre Dame roster was around when South Florida kicked 2011 off into hell, but Brian Kelly, Tommy Rees, and all of us sure were. 52-0 heals a lot of wounds.

We reminisce about the Irish blowout and also discuss the Big Ten finding new “medical data”, Navy finding their mojo, FSU finding COVID, Miami finding their swagger, and Phil Jurkovec finding his game.

Oh, and the ACC Sim came for blood, y’all. It was not messing around this week!

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Recap: Exorcising Demons appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Seriously, what’s so hard about this?

No, Big XII, you can sit down after getting trounced by the Sun Belt and the powerhouse that is *checks notes* Houston Baptist. FSU can take a seat as well after blessing us with a hilarious ACC opening loss to Georgia Tech.

Oh, we talk a bunch of ND football against Duke too. Actually, we spend the majority of this episode doing so (much less talk of other games this year, so I gotta keep throwing the jokes in where I can).

Finally, we take a quick look into sim-land to see how the rest of our virtual ACC counterparts fared as well.

Oh, and enjoy the cold open where I talk about the audio issues that I create for myself.

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Recap: This Conference Thing Is Easy appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Virtual Notre Dame begins their road to the virtual ACC title against Duke in an opening tilt in the rain.

Y’all know the drill by now and if you don’t…well, prepare for an experience unlike anything else.

(Also, if you hear occasional pops/clipping on my audio, that isn’t your speakers. Not sure what happened, but for whatever reason my recorded audio feed went to hell. Was able to mute/lessen it, but it’s not the HLS podcast without some kind of issue.)

Podcast

Twitch VoD

The post HLS Sim 2020: Notre Dame vs Duke appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

It seems too good to be true, but in a week in which many teams saw their seasons take a nose dive, Notre Dame strolled into Duke and came out with an easy W.

It’s a shorter episode for all the best reasons. It’s the last time I roll solo this week, so come join for a recap of one hell of a week in college football and ND’s second road victory of the season.

Podcast

Twitch Broadcast

The post HLS Podcast: Week 11, Notre Dame at Duke Recap appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The first college football playoff rankings are out. We have a top five game. We have multiple top 25 games. We have teams with fired coaches. We have teams with soon-to-be-fired coaches (hi, Southern Cal!).

You’ve had a couple months to prepare for this insanity. Eddie and I are ready and at the altar of GAMBLOR as always. Come join us and get hype for the weekend.

#HAILGAMBLOR

Podcast

Twitch Broadcast

The post HLS Podcast: Week 11 Picks appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So with that in mind, I wanted to throw something together as a resource for folks that haven’t jumped into the cord-cutting world. The big bonus is that pretty much everyone has a free trial period, meaning you don’t have to shell out a single penny (if you remember to cancel after the trial!).

I also want to note that HLS doesn’t have affiliate agreements with any of the below providers. So this isn’t a chance for us to shill. Everything below is just good ‘ol free information (if you’d like to toss us something, check out the sidebar and visit our partners).

Equipment Needed

Can you read this post? Great, you have all the equipment that you need. Seriously. For a more detailed answer, Smart TVs, Apple TV, Roku, Fire Sticks, smart phones/tablets, and even game consoles can use the below services.

As far as your connection speed, if you are able to watch other services like Netflix without issues you will be fine. That being said, using a wired connection (Ethernet) is always superior to WiFi. That also being said, I’ve been a PS Vue subscriber all year and have used WiFi as my primary connection method with very little issues.

If You’re Serious About Cutting the Cord…

Go with YouTube TV. I know I said I’m a PS Vue subscriber, but this is your true long term play.

Feature for feature it beats pretty much any other cord-cutting TV service on the market. Unlimited DVR, three simultaneous streams, and just about every channel you’d want.

Trust me on this and don’t over-think it. I’m going to be a YouTube TV subscriber come January because…

If You Might Forget to Cancel the Trial OR Want the Best Game Day Features…

PS Vue is, sadly, dying in January. So if you’re one of those people that tends to sign up for stuff and forget you’re about to get charged, your mistake will be short-lived.

However, signing up for the free trial, gets you what is, in my opinion, the best features for a football die-hard if you happen to have an Apple TV or PlayStation 4. With that hardware, you are able to stream multiple channels on the same stream at once (four with Apple TV, three with PS4). On top of that, you can opt in to the sports package which includes NFL RedZone.

I’m going to miss this flexibility, but YouTube TV is a bit friendlier with the DVR UI, so I won’t mourn it for long (especially once I rig up a mini-PC to try and get this back next season!).

If You Don’t Want to Burn a Free Trial and Need a Lot of Options…

Here’s the rest of the streaming services that I’ve found that will offer the ACC Network:

• Hulu
• DirecTV Now
• AT&T Watch TV

Sling also has ACCN, but I couldn’t find a free trial option, just a discounted first month. Which, nah, that ain’t what we’re here for.

If You Need to Blame Something for Notre Dame Ending Up on ACCN…

Don’t use this year’s performance as the reason. This was ordained before the season started and ND was coming off a playoff run. Even Clemson has been on the ACCN (multiple times in fact!).

So, if you want to make that angry internet post, you need to blame our relationship with the ACC as a whole. Because if you’re hot-taking, you should at least hot-take in truth!

The post How to Get the ACC Network to Watch Notre Dame at Duke for Free appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder yells from the sideline during the Notre Dame Blue-Gold Spring football game on Saturday, April 16, 2016, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. South Bend Tribune Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

VanGorder was hired in 2014, following the departure of Bob Diaco to become Connecticut’s head coach. The criticism of Diaco was his “bend but don’t break” approach made his defenses appear somewhat vanilla or “boring.” So what? They were fundamentally sound, rarely beat themselves and were always in the top half of the nation in total defense.

Much enthusiasm ensued when the Irish brought VanGorder and his NFL pedigree to South Bend. Many media types ballyhooed Van Gorder as an NFL mind that would immediately upgrade the Irish to an SEC style of defense. The media types quickly sold the fans on his various “exotic blitz” packages.

This brought great excitement to the masses.

Apparently no one saw or really seemed concerned with the uneven career of VanGorder prior to his arrival at Notre Dame. For starters: In 34 years as a coach prior to coming to Notre Dame, VanGorder made 18 different stops with various levels of success. Not much was made of VanGorder’s stint as the defensive coordinator at Auburn, which was his college stop previous to coming to Notre Dame. During that season the Tigers went 3-9 and VanGorder’s defense was ranked 81^st in the nation.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder on the sideline during the Notre Dame-Michigan State game. (Photo: SBT Robert Franklin)

VanGorder’s defenses at Notre Dame were inconsistent, undisciplined at times, and often gave up points and big plays in bunches. Trouble was brewing early in VanGorder’s first year. After a very good start, the Irish were scorched for big plays as they stumbled to an 8-5 finish. This included giving up 43 against North Carolina and Northwestern and being lit up for 55 versus Arizona State. We may have gotten some fool’s gold at the end of the year when they played reasonably well vs. LSU in the Music City Bowl.

At that point, we were told that year two of “Uncle Rico” would be better. It was, slightly, as the Irish improved from 69^th in total defense to 45^th. Though the numbers improved and the team went 10-3, they still surrendered a late lead at Stanford and were just beaten down vs. Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Additionally, this was a defense that featured Jaylon Smith and Sheldon Day, two of the better players in recent memory at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly looks back at an official during the Notre Dame-Texas NCAA college football game on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016, at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. South Bend Tribune Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN

Despite the experience and high level talent, VanGorder’s defense was nowhere close to a dominating unit. Enter 2016, the Irish are ranked 109^th in the nation, play with zero sense of urgency, and seemingly cannot tackle. Duke was the final straw. But, a fair question is: How did we even get to this point?

In my opinion, the hiring of VanGorder seemed to be a panic move from the get-go, like a gambler in Las Vegas back at the ATM chasing the money he lost. Perhaps Kelly gambled that he needed to change to grab the ring that has eluded Notre Dame since 1988? With the offenses that he features at Notre Dame and the changing landscape of college football, he needs discipline over pedigree and consistency over resume.

Kelly is at his crossroads at Notre Dame. His next hire will likely help define his own tenure at Notre Dame.

The post I Never Liked The VanGorder Hire appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Never forget.

Unless you are trying to forget last week or the defense attempting to tackle. Feel free to shove that way the hell out of your minds (I’ve found booze helps). It’s for your own sanity.

Anyways, the prediction form, the spread, total, and all the rules are below as usual. You can find all bonus points, positive or otherwise, from last week below that followed by standings, staff picks, and cat picks (bastard got it right last week and I hate him for it).

Bonus Points

I gotta level with you, our loyal readers here. This week was bad. Y’all came in with an astounding load of optimism that the Spartans absolutely destroyed. I feel bad for y’all. Only our staff picked against ND and sadly had very accurate predictions.

Brian VanGorder will be discussed in less-than-glowing terms in the aftermath. – Irish Elvis

Before, during, after, still. Ugh. +1

Corey Holmes doubles his lifetime career catch total…in just one game! – andrewwinn

So, I’m not sure if you’ve notice, but Jude’s been on Corey Holmes watch since Nevada. Catches that game: 1. Catches against Sparty: 1. Total: 2. 1 * 2 = 2. He’s not wrong y’all. Let the Corey Holmes watch begin. +1

Hall of Shame

No late entries this week, but two predictions deserved to be called out. Don’t worry, I’m only going to lash out at our staff.

“A rolling reversal would work well in that situation.”

“If I reversed in a hard-cross, I could immediately go long on him.”

“At that speed, Tommy, it’s too fast… It’s a little bit too aggressive.”

“Too aggressive… I guess when I see something I want, I go right after it.”

That’s why we call him Maverick. That’s why flags fall when he takes the field. Today, Kizer is our Maverick. – Bayou Irish

Crashed and burned, huh, Mav? -1

The bottom line for me: I can’t see how a team that struggled against FURMAN manages to keep up with the Irish offense on the road. I don’t care if they had a bye. I don’t care if the games are usually close, I’m taking this small spread and running all the way to the damn bank with it.

Here’s to St. Brown becoming our new patron Saint of band diving. – ndtex

Don’t listen to this dumbass. What’s next–a podcast in which he voices these terrible opinions? -1

Standings

Staff Picks

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Cat Picks

Record Straight Up: 1-2
Record Against the Spread: 1-2

Thanks for being right last week, you jerk. Here’s this week’s:

Anyone need a new cat?

The post Predictions: Devil May Cry appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

R.J. Shelton #12 of the Michigan State Spartans scores a touchdown in front of Drue Tranquill #23 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half of a game at Notre Dame Stadium on September 17, 2016 in South Bend, Indiana. Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Notre Dame is a deeply flawed team this year; last night confirmed that. It was almost hard to watch the Irish make huge errors on special teams, continue to play defense with the density of Swiss cheese and make questionable coaching decisions in a game they absolutely had to win. There was seemingly no rational reason for handing the ball back to Michigan State down 36-28 with 3:37 remaining.

I know we will hear the arguments and excuses.

The Irish had three timeouts left.

It was fourth and 7 and the Irish were on their own 32.

Blah, blah, and blah!

COACHING FAILURES DOOMED IRISH

With 3:37 to go, the Irish needed two yards on third down to keep the drive and, in all reality, the season alive. Did Brian Kelly have that little confidence in the run game that he didn’t believe they could get him two yards? If the run is stopped, it’s fourth and short.

Despite analysts dramatizing time, football fans know a team almost never runs out of clock. A turnover or a failure to get 10 yards in four downs kills the two minute drill. Kelly opted to take the ball out of his best players’ hands and put the game on a defense that allowed more than 500 yards of total offense.

I predicted the Irish would win this game last week because of Kizer. But, for me, the Irish sealed their fate the moment Kizer trotted off the field and the punt team entered. I would have “rolled the dice” on fourth and 7 in favor of leaving it the hands of the defense.

This week is no easier for Brian VanGorder. The Irish defense struggled. The Spartans manhandled them on the line. The tackling and pass coverage was simply abysmal. I don’t see any scenario where VanGorder returns next year.

It’s difficult to see many wins on the remaining schedule. I think Syracuse, Army, Navy and Duke are likely wins. But, at this point, who knows? NC State, Miami and Virginia Tech – games which, just weeks ago, seemed very manageable – now go into the “toss up” category.

CBS’s latest project has Notre Dame in the Russell Athletic Bowl versus Oklahoma. The leaves haven’t even fallen, and the Irish are out of the playoff race. It’s hard to believe.

The post After Last Night, I See Only Four “Likely Wins” Left appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

David Cutcliffe

DUKE ON THE RISE

The scariest part of this Duke team is their improved play over the last several years. Duke is no longer the joke football program at a basketball school. The Blue Devils have put together three consecutive winning seasons in a tough ACC. The improvement doesn’t seem to be slowing down either, as the most recent recruiting class is considered by some to be the best in Duke’s history. Under head coach David Cutcliffe, Duke has risen up the ranks in the ACC thanks in part to a much improved offense (the Blue Devils averaged 31.5 points per game in 2015).

THE RETURN OF THE QB  

Senior quarterback Thomas Sirk ruptured his Achilles tendon in February, casting uncertainty about his ability to participate in fall camp. But Sirk returned to camp this week, a welcome surprise for Duke fans who expected an offense led by the less experienced Parker Boehme. Sirk threw for 2,625 yards – good enough for third in the ACC – and found the end zone 24 times (16 pass, 8 run). He also led the Blue Devils in all rushing categories.

“That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of room for improvement,” writes Brian Evans of DukeReport.com. “There were times when the Duke offense became very stagnant and predictable and other times when Sirk really struggled to connect on down the field routes. Sirk needs to improve on his 58% completion percentage as well.”

Sirk, who was injured during the Blue Devils’ Coastal Division championship run in 2013, said he wants to lead the team back to ACC glory.

“It means everything to me, coming back for my senior year and being there with the guys I came in with and finishing what we started,” Sirk said. “We want to win an ACC championship. I think we have that caliber of talent on our team. … I feel like I still have unfinished business and I want to make my senior year the best I can for myself and my team.”

T.J. Rahming / Credit: goduke.com

SKILL POSITIONS

Duke running backs Jela Duncan and Shaun Wilson, who combined for nearly 900 yards rushing last year, will likely split carries again this season. At wide receiver, keep an eye on sophomore T.J. Rahming. He is coming off an impressive season in which he logged 43 receptions, 571 yards and two touchdowns. The Georgia native was a U.S. Army All-American in high school and appears to be emerging as the No. 1 receiver Duke needs in the passing game. Max McCaffery, who led the Blue Devils receivers in receptions, yards and touchdowns, is now in the NFL.

DEFENSE BY THE EXPERTS

The post Scouting Report: Duke appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.