A Notre Dame Football Blog
Well, I thought about stretching this thing out until after the national title game, but considering how the Fiesta Bowl ended, it seemed like this would be a more fitting end to HLS. Shane & I hold one last therapy session in talking about what went wrong during the Fiesta Bowl and what hopes we have for the future. Be sure to stay around post-credits for Eddie and I to pick the national championship and send off the HLS podcast in quite literally the most fitting way ...
What, your copy of NCAA '14 looks different?
The HLS Sim was born from my desire to do something different. In the vast sea of Notre Dame podcasts, I wanted to do more than stand out. I wanted to do something fun but also avoid our show being seen as a parroting of more popular Irish podcasts. So I sent a message with a wild idea to Shane: let's go on Twitch and stream a CPU vs CPU matchup of the week's Notre Dame game using a decade-plus old video game as our "preview". To my knowledge, no one was doing this (at best, they were playing ...
I never liked the Brian VanGorder hire. 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 ...
Longhorns quarterback Tyrone Swoopes (18) is tackled by Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Jaylon Smith (9) in the second quarter. Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Debate This is a recurring series on HerLoyalSons in which two writers take opposing sides on a hot topic. Today and tomorrow, we will debate whether or not Jaylon Smith should have played in the Fiesta Bowl. Yesterday, IrishJimmy led us through the "he should have skipped it" argument. Today, andrewwinn takes the other side. Jaylon Smith was right to play in the Fiesta Bowl because it's what he wanted to do, because devastating injuries can happen at any time and because playing tentative or ...
Notre Dame’s Jaylon Smith (9) leaps over Boston College’s Myles Willis (23) as QB Jeff Smith (5) passes during the second half of the Notre Dame-Boston College NCAA football game on Nov. 21. SBT Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN
When the Irish and the Buckeyes take the field this Friday, the two offenses may be fairly similar with perhaps a slight edge going to the Irish, but the game's eventual outcome will be more a tale of how each side's defense handles these two explosive offenses. The season-long numbers provide a distinct edge to Ohio State. Let's consider how each team ranks nationally in several important categories (actual value in parentheses): Simply put: the numbers strongly favor Ohio State. Whether ...
When the Buckeyes and the Irish square off on New Year's Day in the Fiesta Bowl, two very similar offenses will take the field. Both teams finished in the middle of the College Football Playoff Top Ten, with OSU at six and Notre Dame at seven. Both teams have evolved away from their roots as i-formation, run the damn ball first-style offenses. The purpose of this piece is to let you decide how similar they really are. Coming into the Fiesta Bowl, the Buckeyes finished the season 11-1, with ...