On the list of things that I was concerned about for the 2014 season, academic fraud ranked somewhere around the same level as a meteor strike in South Bend. Academic issues? Sure, based on recent history, that was definitely in the back of my mind, but seeing Fr. Jenkins and a bearded Jack Swarbrick announce to the world that Notre Dame was investigating serious academic fraud? Not a chance in hell. Make no mistake, I'm absolutely furious. Not at DaVaris Daniels, Kendall Moore, KeiVarae ...
Ishaq Williams
Friday Roundup: The “Notre Dame Fall Camp 2014 Catch-Up” Edition
Once WatchND started pumping out Notre Dame football fall camp practice videos, I was all in for breaking each one down. It worked great for the first two practices, but then practice #3 happened and saw the video breakdown was a position profile for the CBs. Don't get me wrong, the feature was great, but a basically started at my title of "Fall Camp Practice Report #3: CB Report" for about an hour and realized there was no way that I could even drag 100 words out of the topic. So I passed ...
Defending the Option: Who Takes Over for Te’o?
Before the Irish started their 2012 season against Navy, I had a detailed post describing how Bob Diaco runs Notre Dame's defense against an option attack. In short, Diaco throws the 3-4 away for such games and switches to a more traditional 4-3 look. The catch though, was that Diaco had another wrinkle in the assignment football that you usually see in the option: Manti Te'o. To refresh, here's how ND started to assign players to defend the option after the 2010 disaster in the ...
Ranking the Irish Roster: Tex’s Top 25
Every year, Keith Arnold over at Inside the Irish does an annual ranking of the top 25 players on the Notre Dame roster. This year marks the second year that I have been able to contribute and, this time around, I wanted to give a break down of my rankings. Thankfully, I don't have to justify ranking a kicker #1 (NEVER FORGET) or leaving our starting QB off the top 25 list (NEVER FORGET THIS AS WELL). So without further ado, let's get to the rankings. ...
Irish Survive Purdue, 2011 Flashbacks
Well, I definitely don't want to do that again. While the defense excelled, the Irish offense sputtered, a FG was missed, a costly turnover was made, and Tommy Rees found his way under center. It seemed like it was about to turn into 2011 all over again. However, the Irish held on, and Rees went 3-8 for 35 yards allowing Kyle Brindza to redeem himself from his earlier miss with a game winning field goal. Of course after the game there was only one question: "Has Brian Kelly gone back to Rees ...
Tuitt ND’s Newest Road Runner
Despite the departure of Aaron Lynch and some depth issues, Notre Dame’s defensive line was expected to be one of the team’s strongest position groups in 2012. While the Irish will not face personnel and option plays similar to Navy’s the rest of the season, it is hard not to be very pleased with the performance of Kapron Lewis-Moore, Louis Nix, Kona Schwenke, Stephon Tuitt and the rest of the D-line after shutting down the Midshipmen in Dublin. Outside of Tuitt’s touchdown (we’ll get to that ...
You Don’t Score Fifty Without Doing Something Right
As you know by now, your 2012 Fighting Irish took to the field on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland, and kicked off the season against the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy. And down here on da bayou, we had quite a week, weather-wise, so by the time Saturday rolled around, I was definitely ready for some football, air conditioning and cold, cold beer. Truth be told, we got power back on Friday at the Bayou Ranch, but it WAS remarkably hot walking from my car to the pub for the game watch. ...
Notre Dame 3-4 Defense Primer
Here at HLS, I have broken down game film and done in-depth analysis of the Notre Dame offense under Brian Kelly; however, I have yet to show similar love to the defense. Bob Diaco (and his flowing locks), has taken the schizophrenic Irish defense from the Weis era (seriously, three defensive coordinators in five years) and molded it into a true 3-4 anchored by a front seven that is a wrecking machine. While it would be impossible to describe Diaco's entire scheme or the intricacies of the ...