However, though I am called Father, I have never had children of my own, as I have no wife.  My bride is Holy Mother Church and I work for a Virgin.  Just as Father is a symbolic title, so too when I call you my children, that is symbolic…or perhaps it is metaphorical…maybe even analogous…

Ways in which Notre Dame Alumni are like Children

Children cry over spilled milk; alumni cry over plastic grass

Children have one favorite cartoon they love to watch over and over; alumni have Rudy

Children all want their own pet doggie; alumni all want their own pet Leprechaun

Children will eat anything sweet; alumni will eat anything from South Dining Hall or the Morris Inn

Children have trouble walking when very young; alumni have trouble walking after tailgating

Children want anything bright, shiny, or bouncy; alumni want anything from the Bookstore

Children call the most important person in the world Dad; alumni call him Father Hesburgh

Children, when babies, can fill a diaper; alumni, during an Irish overtime, can fill a pair of plaid pants

Children love Mommy; alumni love the Blessed Virgin Mother

Children like brightly-colored drinks; alumni like amber-colored drinks

Children think they came from the stork; alumni think they came from Ireland

Children like to give meaningless orders to younger siblings; alumni like to do the same to Brian Kelly

Children sulk after they are spanked; alumni sulk after the Irish get spanked

Children who think about exciting events lie awake until dawn; alumni who think about beating USC and Michigan lie awake until dawn

Children think they know everything; alumni know they know everything

Children love stories about cute, imaginary, little elves; alumni love Lou Holtz

Children spit-up a lot when they were babies; alumni spit-up a lot when they were in Senior Week

Children love to spend hours playing with toys; alumni love to spend hours watching men playing with a ball

Children think they are the most loved and important people in adults’ lives; so do alumni

Children dream of attending Notre Dame; alumni dream of when they did

EFS CSC

The post Good Fridays w/Padre: Childs’ Play appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Just watch the final time lapse of the FieldTurf installation. Let’s see if you notice it:

Did you see it? You probably missed it. The distraction of plastic cancer-causing grass, kickoff shamrock logos, and midfield monograms likely distracted you from the truth. Let’s try another view:

Exactly one month from right now we'll be running out of this tunnel onto our new field! #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/YYq1HBZdS3

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) July 30, 2014

Still mesmerized by the new eternal green that only used to exist in the dreams of Touchdown Jesus? ENHANCE:

@IrishElvis still no G pic.twitter.com/Ke97Ev0JU6

— Tamara Brown (@NDSportsBlogger) July 31, 2014

That’s right, the “G” marking the goal line is gone. And yes, it definitely was there before:

https://twitter.com/oaknd1/status/492343580233850880

I know the Irish red zone offense has struggled, especially in goal-to-go situations where the goal line creeps ever closer. I had no idea the problems ran this deep.

Kelly’s hatred of the goal line clearly knows no bounds. He’s swapped goal line marked glory for ND monograms and shamrocks.

What’s next Brian? X’s in the endzone corners to mark were to stop on the fade routes? A gigantic sign on the 20 yard line that says “Do not Pass Run”?

And do you realize the ramifications that this will have on defense, Brian? How will we ever have a goal line stand like we did against Stanford ever again? Do you really expect VanGorder to just say “stop them before the line that’s before the slanted lines?”

This has gone too far. I’ve been suckered by the changes. The allure of FieldTurf and a promise of jumbotrons has blinded me to the truth. The road to hell is paved with a synthetic surface and Notre Dame football is all aboard that “Crazy Train”.

The Roundup

If you think FieldTurf is a huge change, just wait until you see what’s going on in Aggieland.

One of the biggest party schools in the nation has announcement: party’s over in Tempe.

And I thought Michigan was having trouble selling tickets. LSU has already taken to Living Social to dump cheap seats for terrible out-of-conference games and less desirable SEC opponents. They are even marketing this deal in Dallas. Here’s an actual, unedited picture of my inbox:

I would say that shots were fired in Urban Meyer’s direction. But this is more like nukes launched.

Our lineup of talking heads has been announced. ESPN released their finalized announcer shakeup as well as FOX which includes Irish alumni Brady Quinn.

And now your moment(s) of Nix… We have a tie this week. I simply could not choose between B1G mascots dancing to a rap song about the B1G conference:

https://vine.co/v/M0VFmnz7uKB

Or Florida State freshmen attempting to rap in a parody video:

The Booze

I missed out on the fun that was Sharknado 2: The Second One as my wife hasn’t yet seen the glory that is Sharknado. To make sure she’s probably introduced to both of these “so incredibly terrible, it’s amazing” movies, we are having a double-feature tonight in the Tex household.

Her only request: buy a handle of vodka.

So this weekend is going to be filled with all kinds of vodka cocktails. Shoot me some of your favorites in the comments. Bonus if they are shark themed.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Brian Kelly Hates the Goal Line” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Earlier this month, Notre Dame officially became an Under Armour school. The Bookstore channeled Black Friday with a midnight event as soon as the calendar flipped to July and demand hit a level that forced the cancellation of many online orders as inventory flew off the shelves.

Prior to that, and even prior to the news of the FieldTurf installation, Jack Swarbrick announced major changes to Notre Dame Stadium in the form of the Crossroads project. Prior to that, Notre Dame saw assistant coaches leave for head coaching gigs. And even prior to that, ND became a scheduling partner with the ACC.

Change is constant in college football. ND has been no stranger to this even outside the Brian Kelly era. Charlie Weis pushed for Notre Dame to allow early admits to level the recruiting playing field for the Irish. The now iconic “Play Like a Champion Today” sign was a Lou Holtz installation. Notre Dame decided to go back to playing in bowl games during the Ara Parseghian era.

But the lines in the endzone will still point to the Dome. The Dome will still be gilded in gold. The original guts of the House that Rock Built will still be in place.

And oh yeah, the only thing that will still really matter in 2014 will be the same thing that mattered in 1888: wins and losses.

The Roundup

Even ND’s band saw some major changes, but they aren’t the only ones. Ohio State’s band director got canned.

Important off-season announcement: don’t be a terrible person and get married in the fall. Ever.

I see Texas is channeling a bit of my dyslexia. Not trying to throw rocks in my glass house of grammar failure, but I don’t have a whole department of people responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen.

Any inappropriate response to “Roll Tide” will be met with violence. “Good luck with that” is on the inappropriate response list.

And now, your moment of Nix… We have a montage of hilarious moments with coaches. First, enjoy Kliff Kingsbury morphing into Charlie Weis.

Weis hung out with Nelly:

Charlie Weis & Nelly discuss college football and rapping pic.twitter.com/O2XhtLYaPN

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 24, 2014

And Mike Leach was doing Mike Leach things:

#SwingYourSword pic.twitter.com/DbnMkK3OSP

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) July 23, 2014

The Booze

You know what I haven’t suggested in a long time on here? Margaritas.

It’s hot as hell right now and my usual beer and bourbon favorites aren’t so great in 100+ degree weather. So I’m going back to my Mexican roots this weekend. You can’t go wrong here as tequila always leads to fantastic decisions.

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

Anyways, the vigil of the wonderful folks over at Fighting Irish Digital Media has paid off as we have our first look at the interlocking Notre Dame monogram at midfield:

We Are ND #TurfWatch pic.twitter.com/dvx1DGFvF9

— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) July 24, 2014

I must say, the monogram looks great in the morning light in ND Stadium. It looks a touch crooked right now, but that’s either my eyes playing tricks on me or the logo isn’t fully set yet (as the endzone strips and other markings aren’t on the field at all right now too).

Oh, and that nice green turf looks pretty nice too. I’m definitely excited for the first full shot of the entire field, sidelines and all, when it’s finally complete.

37 more days, folks.

EDIT: Looks like my eyes were playing tricks on me as Leigh Torbin just tweeted out another photo:

A nice sunny morning to welcome the monogram to ND Stadium RT @NDFootball: What a beautiful sight #WeAreND #TurfWatch pic.twitter.com/BAIjie1N83

— Leigh Torbin (@LTorbin) July 24, 2014

Nice photography work by the way, Leigh! Make that Christianne Harder’s handy work on the photo (which appeared first on the ND Football account, which, if you weren’t aware, she runs). #TurfWatch comes fast and furious and the news stops for no one and I really need to do a better job of seeing “RT” in a tweet and not just looking at the pretty pictures.

EDIT #2: Here’s the first panoramic shot of the field, courtesy of Tim “Oak” O’Connor of FIDM which also comes with a confirmation that the midfield logo isn’t sewn in:

https://twitter.com/oaknd1/status/492326124962463744

EDIT #3: And now we have a bird’s eye view of the stadium. Just a few more touches and it will be complete.

Bird's eye view of the new turf at #NotreDame Stadium. pic.twitter.com/o589qzBT4Y

— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) July 25, 2014

The post First Look at the Notre Dame Midfield Logo appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

But if you think that announcement caused an uproar, you should see one of the design finalists that was rejected in favor of what was announced this week. That design was…well, it was certainly different:

And yes, Notre Dame was very close to going with this option. I was able to speak to Swarbrick, or at least someone that I believe might be Swarbrick, and he emailed me the press release that was to accompany this announcement.

The press release and justifications for the field might just be more shocking than the design itself. Let’s just FJM our way through this:

I’m pleased to talk about the new concept field at Notre Dame. After years of listening to people complain about FieldTurf and jumbotrons, we have decided to take an aggressive expansion and renovation posture that is sure to, well, probably piss of most of the fan base. Those guys are never happy.

Well, that’s certainly an aggressive way to handle the situation. I mean, I get frustrated with all the hair-pulling over something as silly as a field and am always happy to troll those folks.

This, however, is basically a declaration of war.

First, I could not be more proud of our association with Under Armour. Their dedication to excellence matches our own, and it is entirely appropriate to place their logo prominently on the field. This will start what I hope is a long tradition of highlighting our corporate sponsors’ logos and making the field look more cluttered than Dale Earnhardt’s race car.

Well so much for that promise.

And I tell you what, he wasn’t joking about prominent placement of the Under Armour logos. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kickoff marker that large before.

I guess the benefit to this is that Adidas must be really pissed, but I think we’re a bit overzealous in the whole “Protect the House” thing.

Second, you’ll also notice the dog at midfield.  I was really excited to put Eddie from the hit NBC sitcom “Frasier” on there. It’s part of my continuing campaign to have NBC bring back the show. Someone also pointed out that it’s a nod to the days of Clashmore Mike, and I guess that’s kind of neat too.

When I first saw this design, I figured the inclusion of Clashmore Mike was a nice nod to Notre Dame’s history and traditions.

It was also the only thing on the field that could at least use that kind of logic.

However, I’m shocked that Swarbrick really didn’t recognize it. A campaign for Frasier?! Really?!

Hey, Jack, why don’t you use your NBC powers for good and get Community back on the air forever? That show deserves prime-time exposure and not streaming relegation.

Third, it’s no secret that I’ve embraced social media to the fullest extent. Not only does it promote our brand to a younger audience, it’s also a great way to meet girls. That’s why you’ll now see hashtags in our end zones in hopes of getting Notre Dame….what’s that term again?  “Trending.” Yes, trending on Saturdays.

Jack either didn’t notice FIGTHING or is just sitting back, smiling, and watching people explode over a dyslexic typo once again.

I suppose we’re just going to ignore the Comic Sans font too? Did Dan Gilbert consult on this design?

I mean, I appreciate the social media efforts. FIDM is awesome, WatchND is one of the best things ever, and it’s great to see ND reach out to Twitter and Facebook even if it results in a big, heaping dish of stupid.

I love Twitter myself, but holy crap the last thing I ever wanted to see was a hashtag on the field.

Go home, Jack, you’re drunk.

Finally, in response to everyone who asked for FieldTurf–have we got a surprise for you. We took it one step further and installed gold colored turf.  I don’t know how this is going to look on television and frankly I don’t care. People naturally assume I drew inspiration from the Dome, or perhaps our helmets. I actually came up with this idea while eating an entire box of Cheez-Its during a recent trip to Colorado.

Nevermind, you’re high–actually, come to think of it, just what kind of “Irish grass” are you putting by the mums this season?

Perhaps the Colorado trip explains how this design got so out of control. I’m glad cooler/sober heads prevailed in this matter. I could only imagine how hard the FieldTurf folks would struggle actually making the field look gold considering how we’ve been trying to get our pants to look gold on TV for quite a while now.

This entire concept is proof that no matter how bad you think something is, it can always get much, much worse.

The Roundup

Michigan men take their Michigan football seriously. Even during fake games.

So, you mean backing up the Brink’s truck doesn’t guarantee you a coach? Perhaps we can finally put that talking point to rest with this revelation regarding Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his flirtation with Texas (Saban, of course, is denying everything).

Teams struggling with attendance are looking to MLS for answers. I wonder if “lower the ticket prices and stop playing terrible teams” is a part of the advice they got.

And now your moment of Nix… Les Miles being Les Miles and talking about soccer of all things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXnVn_NhP10

The Booze

It’s going to be a rainy weekend here in Dallas. I was trying to think of a rain themed cocktail for the weekend and I couldn’t get (blurry) memories of Purple Rains from the ‘Backer off my mind. So what the hell, I’m going with it.

In a highball glass filled with ice, pour in 1.5 oz gin and fill with cranberry juice. Add in a splash of blue curacao, sour mix, and soda water. Add in more blue curacao until you get the purple color desired.

For a true ‘Backer-like experience, spill a little on yourself and your friends and/or add in more gin than needed with Toto cranked up as high as possible.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Rejected Notre Dame FieldTurf Proposal” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

A full 100-yard view of the new Notre Dame FieldTurf design. Photo credit: UND.com

Today, Notre Dame announced details on the FieldTurf that will be installed in the House that Rock Built. One of the biggest questions, whether or not the design of the field would see changes with the new surface has been answered. That answer is yes with the most notable change coming in the form of a midfield interlocking ND monogram logo and a lesser (and surprise, in my opinion) change to add shamrocks at the 35-yard line to mark kickoff locations:

“The interlocking ND is the most recognized symbol of our University and its athletics programs, and we wanted to communicate that to our fans and all those viewing our home games on NBC,” said Notre Dame vice president and athletics director Jack Swarbrick.

“The integration of the shamrocks allows us to achieve consistency across all of our new or recently renovated facilities where both the interlocking ND and a shamrock have a presence on the playing surface.”

Endzone logos, however, are out. Notre Dame will stick with the familiar diagonal lines in both endzones. There will be 18 total lines, 9 in each endzone, pointed towards the Dome and Basilica at a uniform 42 degree angle. Those numbers are not a coincidence, but a nod to Notre Dame history as the numbers represent the year 1842, the founding year of Notre Dame.

In the end, it’s a mix of something old and something new. Notre Dame has been toeing a delicate line between preserving older traditions while trying to create something new, giving future and current students and student-athletes something to call their own.

This change sound give everyone something to love; however, I’m sure the change will also give something for many to hate. Personally, I would’ve preferred that ND keep the new turf a carbon-copy of the the grass field that we have grown accustomed to. That being said, I’m not going to be upset with the new additions, even though it will take some getting used to.

The way I see it, the endzone diagonal lines in Notre Dame Stadium have become iconic, even though ND has had various endzone designs in the past (especially during the Dan Devin era). The lack of additional designs at midfield and the kickoff markers don’t really fall into that category. I’ve always had issues with the logic that the lack of something equates to a tradition that requires it to remain that way.

I’m happy Jack Swarbrick and company are able to recognize what is an isn’t important in such design decisions. I think this is the best that they could have possibly done to please both the hardcore traditionalist and the fans that want as much change as possible.

You can’t please everyone, however, the process and care involved in even the most minor decisions (and make no mistake, a midfield logo is incredibly minor) should make everyone happy.

The post Notre Dame Stadium Will Have Interlocking ND Monogram at Midfield appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The attention given to this little announcement, and the debates/angst/celebration that have followed, pale in comparison to what I would consider far bigger announcements made by ND this week. On the football side, a “Football Ambassador” group has been announced. This paid position, open to both Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s students, is more or less a response to the area of the recruiting arms-race that has spawned recruiting hostess groups. On the academic side, Notre Dame has bid farewell to the swim test and all other PE requirements for first year students. I actually feel bad for the next incoming class on that one. I got to call Latin dance, working out, and racquetball actual ND course work.

The later two announcements caused minor ripples in comparison to the nuclear response that occurred when Swarbrick announced the fake grass. Even the University’s attention to the field turf announcement is world’s different than the other two. Swarbrick had an on-field interview during Blue/Gold, had a separate interview with Jack Nolan, and ND of course had the usual press release…and that’s really just the start. The other two announcements? Just a simple post on the web.

I find it rather hilarious, personally. How ND approaches the Football Ambassador program I think is a fascinating debate (does ND treat it like another Student Manager program or go full SEC?) and the First Year program changes are a pretty big change from what most of us have known as a rather unique part of the Notre Dame experience. Yet, the focus is on fake grass.

And sure, we’ve played on it here a little bit at HLS. It basically took over the #HLSRecap for Blue/Gold and I even used the news to have a little fun with a sponsored post. Despite that though, the changes that we’ve placed focus on this past week have been things that have occurred on the field rather than the field itself.

Change itself is a part of natural progression of anything. If you don’t change, you will fall behind. The trick though is to pick the battles of what’s worrying about and what isn’t. ND could play on gold field turf for all I care. I might not be a huge fan of the change, but I won’t be burning my diploma or withholding donations because the playing surface simply isn’t that important. Now, say ND’s new Football Ambassador program strives to be a pure hostess program, I might have a bit more of an issue. That would be an actual departure from the way ND usually operates and what they proclaim their mission to be.

But fake grass? Hardly worth the internet ink.

The Roundup

Looks like Florida State and the Tallahassee PD could use some changes of their own. Like, probably actually trying to investigate rape accusations instead of doing next to nothing.

The NCAA made some changes of their own. One was a rule change that brings us one step closer to not being able to hit a QB and allowing schools to provide unlimited food to their athletes. Time for the food recruiting arms-race to begin.

Only Nick Saban would want to blow it all up after two losses. I mean, I get striving for perfection, but I think he’s inching ever closer to insanity.

And now your moment of Nix… Brought to you by Bo Pelini…let’s get a little bit of background first. There exists a Twitter account, @FauxPelini, which might just have the best avatar of all time. Well, the real Pelini is well aware of this and has even interacted with the account in the past. However, Bo decided to escalate the joke to amazing levels during Nebraska’s spring game by leading his team out with his cat and going full @FauxPelini:

Well. Freakin’. Done.

The Booze

In honor of the last few times that anyone will be able to mow the lawn in the House That Rock Build, I give you Fancy Lawnmower by St. Arnold Brewing Company.

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

For years, Notre Dame has held a Fantasy Camp on campus, culminating with every camper donning the blue & gold and fulfilling their ND dream by running out of the tunnel and playing in a game in the House That Rock Built on the Grass That Rock Grew.

However, the folks at the ND Fantasy Camp, whom have been running a campaign with us for a little over a month, delivered some shocking news to me. As the field turf installation will run over the summer, the usual Fantasy Camp game simply cannot be held at Notre Dame Stadium.

Instead, campers will be forced to deal with playing this game at Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears.

I am not sure how these campers are going to manage fulfilling any NFL dreams along with collegiate ones, but I hope they manage. It sounds like the fantasy camp folks are trying to blunt the pain by announcing that some guys named Ricky Waters and Brady Quinn will be there as well.

——————–

Alright, time to get serious now and kill the obvious jokes/trolling to give our sponsor some serious props.

I can only imagine the mad scramble that these folks had to go through once they got the turf installation timeline. Serious kudos to their entire staff for pulling this off. I am now even more jealous of all the campers that will take part in the camp this year and I’m not even a Bears fan.

They could have just as easily said “well, I guess we will just have to have the game at Cartier this year.” Instead, they managed to find a way to up the unique experience even more and truly give this year’s camp a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.

More importantly, there is still time to register for the camp and get this once-in-a-lifetime feeling for yourself! If this latest announcement just made this bucket-list event a can’t miss experience this year, head on over and register via our banner or through this link. I’ve been told that registration will close after Easter, so get on this before time runs out!

The post BREAKING: Field Turf Installation Claims Another ND Tradition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

http://storify.com/IrishElvis/nd-football-switches-grass-turf-twitter-summ

The post Notre Dame Football Switches from Grass to Turf: A Twitter Summary appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Tradition Is Dead

Alex Flannigan was able to make the biggest announcement regarding Notre Dame football since Jimmy Clausen visited the College Football Hall of Fame: Notre Dame Stadium will receive a face lift. Jack Swarbrick explains:

We had a strong predisposition to stay with a natural grass field, however…we have been unable to produce an acceptable playing surface. — Synthetic turf will assist our game preparation because our team will be able to play and practice on the same surface. We will also be able to utilize the Notre Dame Stadium field for practices on home football Fridays and other occasions, whereas that is currently unrealistic. Additionally, this change allows us to eliminate the risk to players posed by the asphalt perimeter that has to be maintained around our current field.

This means two things: message boards everywhere have officially exploded and imploded, creating a supernova with a black hole, and Notre Dame will continue to climb into the modern era of sports.

This is obviously the right move, no matter how much you like “tradition” or whatever word you use to justify a completely unnecessary obsession with the 1940s. Young athletes want it. Younger fans want it. The coaches want it. It’s just better. It’s easier and cheaper to maintain and it’s safer. There’s just no reason to keep the grass anymore. Sorry, Gramps.

Also, if you watched/attended the game, you know exactly how awful and trashed the field looked today. I’m sure this is no accident as it would be the perfect backdrop to Swarbrick’s sideline interview, but let’s not pretend like that wasn’t how it looked four months ago. Because it did. It was hideous.

Everett Golson Is Back…

…and rusty.

As I watched the first few plays that Golson participated in, I couldn’t help but bite my tongue as his touch was off and decisions were slow. After an entire first half, though, I just can’t keep forgiving it. He looked pressed. He was getting “sacked”. He was falling down on simple roll outs. He was missing targets (the Amir Carlisle incompletion into the end zone is just inexcusable).

I know he’s only been back for a month and needs to build chemistry with an essentially brand new offensive roster, but I need to see more from him as a starter. I need poise and 100% accuracy on easy outlet passes. I need to see better pocket presence. I need to see him teaching the younger guys around him instead of just walking off the field.

I’m not going to pretend like he was supposed to look like a Heisman candidate but…

…Malik Zaire Did

I’m going to go ahead and say that either we’re in for one hell of a quarterback controversy leading into the fall or Brian Kelly is pulling one hell of a troll job on Notre Dame fans, because Zaire looked goooooooood. He looked comfortable in the pocket and on roll outs. He put the ball where it is supposed to be for the receivers to make plays. He talked CJ Prosise through a route (then a few plays later throw a long touchdown to Prosise).

Now this was almost bound to happen. He’s playing mostly against the number two guys and under WAY less pressure. But there’s always that eye test, and Zaire most definitely out-scored Golson on that one.

Quarterback Predictions

It’s still going to be Everett Golson to lead this team. Golson had that “It” factor we all look for back in 2012 and I guarantee it’s not gone. The difference is, I believe Zaire will be constantly pushing Golson to stay on the top of his game which is very important at the college level. It could be the difference late in the season when other teams have improved and have plenty of film on the Irish.

I think we’ll also see more late-game substitutions with Zaire needing game play. It won’t just be scrub time late in the fourth quarter. Brian Kelly has said before he only wants one starter on the team…but I think that means we’ll still get those “packages” that he liked to use even back at Cincinnati.

Hole-y or Holy Defense?

New defensive coordinator Brain VanGorder surely has only installed a small portion of his entire playbook and even that portion isn’t going to go onto national television. This game was about two things: Golson and Zair. Kelly made no allusions otherwise. No blitzing, no stunts. It was designed to be straight up pocket practice for the quarterbacks.

That said, I loved the way linemen were still getting into the backfield. They were forcing the quarterbacks to move and forcing them into coverage sacks. Run defense for the most part looked good, until Greg Bryant took over a bit in the second half. The linebackers left a bit to be desired, but again they were playing a lot of vanilla football. What did impress me was the way the corners and safeties were hanging with faster and mostly bigger receivers. For the most part, the projected starters were putting themselves in good positions to make plays.

We likely won’t know much about this defense until the final depth chart comes out and the final whistle blows against Rice, but for a spring game focused on the quarterback play, I’m at the very least satiated by what I saw today.

Running Back Stable

I used stable on purpose as we’ve got some serious horses behind the quarterback. I think this is the deepest, most complete running back depth chart since Lou Holtz had several three-headed monster backfields. Cam McDaniel seemed to struggle against the top defense and never really had big holes through which to run.

The true highlights came from the younger guys. The first half seemed to belong to Tarean Folston. Kelly miraculously added in a screen package this offseason, which will be great to show off Folston’s hands and feet. Getting him into immediate open field situations will go a long way to spreading the field and forcing the defense to play back. Greg Bryant is back with a vengeance after falling into the doghouse last season. Showing both his power and his moves, Bryant even seems to have improved his receiving ability.

Long story short, there was noticeable improvement in the biggest backfield weakness last season: caught balls. We know the speed and power that all three backs possess, but a huge separation between top teams and Notre Dame last year came from passes behind the line of scrimmage. It is absolutely imperative that this gap be, at the very least, narrowed in order to reach the next level of national competition.

Other Notes

• Corey Robinson is big..and he learned how to play receiver. That’s dangerous for opposing teams.
• Jaylon Smith is still a bad, bad man.
• Receiving success will depend on tight ends and slot receivers. Amir Carlisle is a work in progress and we will definitely need to see improvement from Ben Koyack.
• Quarterback coach Matt LaFleur will be to ND female fans what VanGorder’s mustache is the males.
• Kyle Brindza is going to drive you insane all season.
• Chris Brown’s focus is the only thing holding him back from a huge season.
• Under Armour and Notre Dame are going to make boat loads of cash on people like you and me.

The post Notre Dame Football: Blue and Gold Game Thoughts and Reactions appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.