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.

Smart money is, for now, on Florida State. In an irony as great as any ever, Golson, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, may not be able to transfer to an SEC school because of that conference’s rule prohibiting the transfer of a player who has been the subject of of official university or athletics discipline at his prior school. Seriously. In the SEC, this is a rule and it would prevent a graduate of the University of Notre Dame from playing for a team from which forty percent of its players cannot graduate in six years.

The SEC’s rule could eliminate South Carolina and Georgia, both schools in need of a competent QB and both within close geographic proximity to Golson’s native Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. If that’s an issue, it must then be noted that Florida State is a mere five hundred and eighteen miles away , two hundred miles further than Georgia, in Athens, but without that pesky graduate transfer rule. The rule, and sheer distance, would seem to rule out Louisiana State in Baton Rouge, a whopping eight hundred and eighty miles. Although the gumbo at The Chimes is worth the drive.

The ‘Noles lost Jameis Winston, who also wore the number five, to the NFL, thereby freeing up a roster spot, and likely several defense lawyers’ retainers. As it stands, FSU has five quarterbacks in the stable: Sean Maguire, John Franklin, III, De’Andre Johnson, J.J. Cosentino, Troy Cook, and Lucas Clark. Add in Deondre Francois, a Rivals four-star recruit, arriving this summer, and the place seems a little crowded. Sean Maguire is the heir apparent, having actually played. John Franklin, III, is a “dual threat” and can also play wide receiver. De’Andre Johnson is a true freshman in a program that has more red shirts than La Tomatina and comes off a strong spring showing. J.J. Cosentino is a red-shirt freshman described as “pro-style.” Troy Cook is a red-shirt sophomore who looks remarkably like Tommy Rees. Lucas Clark is a walk on.

None of them are as a good as Everett Golson. In a program whose GSR is a dismal 65 and whose Federal Graduation Rate is a 53, shoving Franklin, Cosentino or Cook out the door wouldn’t cause anyone any qualms in Tallahassee. With a solid backup in Maguire, dual-threat Everett Golson would actually be a safe bet, given his familiarity with the ‘Noles program and ACC officiating.

FSU’s business school, an attractive academic home for a transferring graduate athlete with its accelerated, one year MBA program, is ranked 85th by Bloomberg. Compare this to Notre Dame’s Mendoza School, ranked 20th.

So, to my mind, Florida State is the likeliest landing spot for our Everett. Whether it’s the best place for him remains to be seen, but there is no denying that its proximity to home, the beach, and a pretty talented O-line and receiving corps make Tallahassee worth a bet.

The post Irish Roulette: Whither Goes Golson? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

To bowl or not to bowl, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The injuries and defeats of a season lost,
Or to take the field against a sea of troubles
And by playing end them. To quit—to rest,
No more; and by a rest to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That losses are heir to: ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To quit, to rest;
To rest, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub:
For in that offseason what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this field of turf,
Must give us pause—there’s the respect
That makes calamity of odds great and small.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of loss,
Th’rival’s blowout, the proud fan’s contumely,
The pangs of FGs missed, the holder’s drop,
The failures on offense, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,
When team itself might their quietus make
With a bowl rejection? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a lost season,
But that the dread of something in that leave,
The unplay’d contest, from whose kickoff
No player can restart, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus disillusion does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.

~From Shakespeare’s Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1…slightly modified…

The Roundup

UAB will be shutting its football doors. There are some that think that there is a vendetta that involves Bear Braynt’s son (seriously), but to finish pissing on their ashes it appears no bowl will take them either.

It also appears that a B1G team will be left out of the bowl shuffle. Not by choice, but because Delany couldn’t negotiate enough spots.

Jameis Winston got to share his side of the story. It was also full of constant mentions of the alleged victim’s name (name is redacted in link) and he compared his situation to being raped because that’s just about par for the course at this point.

The first two big coaching vacancies are filled. Florida hired Colorado State head coach, Jim McElwain, in what has to be the most public search ever which was probably a move to reduce the huge buyout. Nebraska has also hired Oregon State head coach, Mike Riley. Michigan is still vacant. Commence snickering now.

And now your moment of Nix… Speaking of Michigan…

The Booze

I bought a new bottle of bourbon last week. I wasn’t expecting it to be my coping mechanism after last weekend, but, hey, here I am.

Anyways, I’ll be enjoying my liquid medicine while cheering for all kinds of chaos this weekend.

The post Friday Roundup: The “To Bowl or Not to Bowl” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

There’s something rotten at the heart of this squad. Formerly solid Kyle Brindza suffered a crisis of confidence. Max Redfield sat. Cam McDaniel fumbled when merely holding on would have iced the game. The defense was an octopus on roller-skates throughout most of the game, handing the Wildcats acres of yardage up the middle of the field and, among other transgressions, committing a pathetic pass interference penalty to set up a Northwestern touchdown that cut Notre Dame’s lead to three points.

It may be that Everett feels he does not have the moral authority to challenge his teammates. Maybe he doesn’t. After all, he’s a player who flushed away an entire season due to academic issues and then who flushed away any Heisman consideration in a cascade of perplexing fumbles and turnovers. Sure, he’s owned up to his turnovers, and some of the ones at Arizona State were not his fault. But the point is that Golson has been more a cause of his team’s problems rather than a bulwark against them.

Compare him to Jameis Winston for a moment. The Florida State quarterback has been simply remarkable in his ability, especially in the second half of games, to put his team on his back, make critical plays, and win games. If Everett doesn’t lead because he perhaps feels he doesn’t have the moral authority to do so, Jameis has never heard the phrase. He certainly doesn’t care about moral authority. In that perception, he is joined by his teammates, his coaching staff, administration, fans, and local police department, who are all more than happy to ignore behaviors that would have put other players at other schools on ice for swaths of games, if not had them booted out altogether.

And maybe that’s the difference. Everett may feel that there’s always another chance, another redemptive moment to come, whereas Jameis knows that all he has is the next game. You don’t get a pass on rape charges if you’re not the lynch-pin of your team’s success. He knows that if he costs the ‘Noles a game, his disciplinary hearing doesn’t get postponed. Simply put, Jameis has too much at stake outside the lines to tolerate mistakes inside the lines.

It’s been a season of two teams for Notre Dame. The first team set alight the dumpster fire that was Michigan and almost dethroned the Seminoles. The second team is now itself a dumpster fire, sparked by that fateful OPI call in Tallahassee. It’s burned so bad and for so long because no one has had the courage to put it out. For that, I blame the quarterback.

The post Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way, Everett appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

No, this isn’t because I’ve hit a creative wall. I’m not mailing it in because the audio version of this post debuts on the radio this evening. It certainly isn’t for a lack of caring either.

It’s because the main thing consuming my mind is just simply winning this game. After all, I’ve preached patience for the past couple of weeks in regards to the playoff rankings. The hell-raising arguments can start with a defeat of the Sun Devils.

So, yes, I have no jokes. Instead, my mind is full of visions of Brian VanGorder’s defense putting pressure on whoever is taking snaps for Arizona State whether Taylor Kelly or Mike Berovici, the apparent Achilles’ heel to the potent Arizona State offense. Even with VanGorder being in his comfort zone of getting a QB out of theirs, I think about how the Irish secondary will match up against WR stud Jaelan Strong.

And what of the injury to Joe Schmidt (by the way, did you hear he’s a walk-on?!)? Certainly Nyles Morgan is a physical upgrade, but will the “defensive QB” role prove to much for anyone to fill? Or will this be a breakout game in which we see the linebacker combination of Nyles Morgan and Jaylon Smith give Irish fans a glimpse into an incredible future?

Of course I can’t get the offense out of my head. Folston has a chance to go three consecutive games with 100 rushing yards (and let’s not forget, that mark is damn near four games with his 98 rushing yard performance against North Carolina). Golson has a chance to continue the dark horse Heisman buzz after his ND record 6 TD game.

That’s what currently resides in my mind. Jokes will come later. For now, beat the Sun Devils.

The Roundup

At least one of the Marooned 5 has been returned to us. Rejoice, y’all!

University of Notre Dame senior safety Eilar Hardy has been cleared by
the NCAA to participate in competition.

— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) November 7, 2014

This place was reserved for a Jameis Winston point shaving joke. However, the original source of that story seems…well, rather sketchy to say the least. However, Winston still keeps his heel status mostly in thanks this week to his lawyer who wants Winston’s hearing delayed, a request made after he made the alleged victim’s name public (link removes any mention of alleged victim’s name).

Remember when those “Bob Stoops to ND” rumors were a thing? Your turn, Michigan!

I’m not even sure what’s going on in Aggieland anymore. Newly suspended quarterback, Kenny Hill added another strange page to his saga. This drama now stars Sean Salisbury whom claims that he was retained by Hill’s family to coach and mentor the young QB. A source later denied this and Salisbury went on his radio show to say “nuh uh, you totally did”. I think College Station is longing for the days of a “Johnny Football partying in Vegas” photo.

Ole Miss’ AD is mad. He sent a strongly worded letter to an Auburn newspaper for using a photo of Laquon Treadwell’s terrible injury in their story. Also happening this week, trolling Mississippi State fans on Twitter:

. @Therealbrutius The real question is…..do you want to meet face to face? pic.twitter.com/HZaHd3C9nD

— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) November 4, 2014

And now your moment of Nix… Now with 100% more Taylor Swift wearing Notre Dame gear.

The Booze

To humor myself, I Googled “Arizona Tea Cocktails” and low and behold, there is such a thing as an Arizona Stinger featuring two shots of vodka mixed with the readily available beverage. I also forgot that the Arizona Beverage Company owns the Arnold Palmer brand, meaning you can also easily roll with a John Daly: a mixture of vodka, lemonade and iced tea.

Now, the above probably works well as a refreshing drink for anyone enjoying the 80-degree Arizona weather; however, for the rest of us dealing with colder weather I want to make a suggestion that makes a very welcome return: BOURBON. ALL OF IT!

The post Friday Roundup: The “Devils Running Through My Head” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The reason? They aren’t happy that ESPN is doing their job and reporting what’s going on with Jameis Winston. Apparently, ESPN is supposed to operate like the Tallahassee PD and just ignore everything.

Because irony isn’t dead, FSU fans aren’t boycotting by not showing up. No, instead they want to show up sit down and look the other way. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

If any Florida State fan happens to be reading this, I wish you the best of luck and hope you succeed in this endeavor. Watching the GameDay crew poke fun at you for a couple of hours will be quite hilarious. Also, it’ll allow Notre Dame fans to have their signs in clear view, so I’m completely on board with this. Godspeed to all of you.

Also, if you are still reading this and haven’t taken to #FSUTwitter in anger yet, here’s another note from me to you: Hi, welcome to the life of every single college football fan ever. Further, you will receive no sympathy from the Irish side of the aisle. ESPN has a field day at any turn they can when it comes to Notre Dame.

Remember the Manti Te’o thing? I know you do because your frat bros made a two-year old joke. Yeah, it might as well have been 24/7 coverage over what ended up being a non-story all things considered. Embarrassing for Manti? Definitely, but that’s about it.

And let’s not forget Winston said the following:

“If I get Manziel disease, I want every one of you all to get your mikes and start slapping me on the head,” Winston joked.

Well, guess what, ESPN’s cashing in on that receipt and, in reality, is doing nothing more than what Winston requested.

Maybe, just maybe, your problem should be with with Winston, not ESPN. Just a thought.

The post Florida State Fans Want to Boycott College GameDay, Feel Free to Take Over appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

My question: Slow and error-prone starts have plagued the Irish this season (save for an opening TD drive against Purdue). If you’re Brian Kelly, what would you try to do to prevent such a start against Florida State?

Mike Coffey of NDNation says it all starts with the coin toss.

Aaron of the The Fighting Irish Blog says go deep.

Frank of UHND.com also subscribes to the “eff it, go deep” newsletter.

The Subway Domer is also looking to differ on kickoff.

(Aaron Horvath, The Fighting Irish Blog): I’m going to step away from the questions regarding the current squad and turn back the clock. First off, what do you remember about the 1993 game? (Shameless plug, we will be broadcasting the 1993 ND-FSU game on WatchND.tv/classics on Thursday night at 8pm ET) … where did you watch it? If you’re too young to remember, tell us about the best ND-FSU memory.

Tonight will be the first time that I’m able to watch the 1993 classic in full. I was seven years old at the time and, since only my uncle went to college (Stephen F. Austin), my football consciousness barely extended beyond the Cowboys. I don’t even think I could’ve named all the teams in the NFL back then.

A few years ago, I got an awesome DVD set containing classic Notre Dame games (this one) for Christmas. I was working my way through the set chronologically more or less, but some jackass broke into my house and stole all my DVDs before I ever got to the FSU game. So thanks for that, jerk.

Anyways, this is the part where everyone expects that I say 2002 since I was in high school at the time. Truth be told, I’ve never seen that full game either nor much of the 2002 season for that matter (and now I more or less refuse to try because I don’t want to subject myself to anymore Ty-led ND football). I have a better vivid memory of arguing with my mother that the application to Notre Dame was a waste of time and money since I wasn’t Catholic. This may surprise you loyal readers, but, spoiler alert, I’m an idiot.

So that means my first FSU memory was the 37-0 ass-kicking the Irish received in 2003. I remember two things from that nightmare:

1. Chris Rix dodging 2 or 3 different sacks in the endzone and firing a pass for a gigantic gain in the other direction.
2. A student in the push-up position screaming at Brady Quinn in the second half that he believed in him and was ready to do a push-up for a first down. You could hear him clear as day because the stadium was so quiet. It was hilarious. We went three and out.

Then we had the 2011 Champs Sports Bowl which was one of the more famous “TOMMY, NO” games in which Andrew Hendrix got in on the INT mix. So that was fun.

What I’m trying to say is: I NEED TO SEE THE IRISH BEAT FSU IN THE WORST WAY!

(Mike Coffey, NDNation) What, if anything, does this game say about the season for both teams?  Is it make-or-break, or will the loser still have a chance?

In terms of the season, I think this means more for FSU. When you’re the defending champ, it’s definitely title or bust. I don’t see the Seminoles recovering playoff hopes after a loss at this point. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Florida State forces Winston to fall on the many swords he keeps throwing in front of him if the playoff is ever out of reach. That’s partly because I’m cynical about how many major programs act these days, but also because I get the feeling that FSU is really getting tired of dealing with Winston being a headline for all the wrong reasons. So, yeah, a loss for them is a nightmare scenario.

For the Irish, I respectfully disagree with Brian Kelly that we can make the playoff as a one-loss team. After reading some very disheartening things about what the playoff committee can and can’t use in deliberations, I believe there will be too much SEC bias to overcome even if ND gets big wins over Arizona State and Southern Cal.

That being said, I don’t think I loss throws our season in the garbage. A potential 11-1 run is still incredible for this team and I’d be happy with that (or even 10-2 to be honest). I mentioned this on HLS TV, but I’m not entirely convinced the Irish are a team that can win the title right now. They are close, so very, very close.

I still believe the Irish can win this game, but I won’t shift my focus to 2015 if they drop a tough game in Tallahassee.

(Frank Viovitch, UHND.com) With all of the talk of Jameis Winston’s eligibility being called into question after being linked to the same autograph dealer as Todd Gurley, what is your take on Winston with regards to this weekend?  Are you hoping he is ineligible to help Notre Dame’s chances or are you hoping he plays so that if Notre Dame were to win there wouldn’t be any way for the media to downplay it?

Let’s get one thing clear: I never for a second thought Winston would be ineligible this weekend. If that somehow changes, I will be utterly shocked. Like I said above, I think FSU only does something if the playoff is out of the picture. Beyond that, they (and Winston’s lawyer) are just hoping to weather the storm until then.

From a football perspective, I want him to play. I don’t like a potential for anyone to have an excuse of “yeah, ND beat us, but” even though such excuses will inevitably happen. Seriously, with a ND win, watch the narrative shift to “off the field distractions finally caught up to FSU” or “was FSU really that good?” within 24 hours.

It is what it is, but whatever. Beat everyone and play the hand you’re dealt.

(The Subway Domer) Life is a music video. Provide 3 short song lyrics that best describe the upcoming game against FSU and include the video that it accompanies.

Fun fact, thanks to random Twitter conversations, I discovered that Creed more or less formed at FSU as their founding members Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti were classmates in high school and FSU. Another fun fact, I was quite the Creed fan back in the day. Heck, I’ll still listen to some of their stuff because I think Tremonti is a pretty damn good guitarist so I try to forget the fact that Scott Stapp is…well, Scott Stapp.

Anyways, you are forever going to regret going old school in your IBG question, Subway Domer, because I’m going to piss off the entire fanbase with Creed lyrics and music videos. Don’t be mad at me, be mad at FSU, they unleashed this on the world. So, I introduce to you Jameis Winston’s playlist because who needs “I’m the Man” on repeat when you have an entire catalog of Scott Stapp’s whining and self loathing?

“My Own Prison”

I cry out to God
Seeking only his decision
Gabriel stands and confirms
I’ve created my own prison

(And I said oh) So I held my head up high
Hiding hate that burns inside
Which only fuels their selfish pride

“Overcome”

I’m entitled to overcome
Completely stunned and numb
Knock me down, throw me to the floor
There’s no pain I can feel no more
I’m entitled to overcome,
Overcome

“You Stand Here with Me”, a tribute to #FSUTwitter

You always reached out to me and helped me believe
All those memories we share
I will cherish every one of them
The truth of it is there’s a right way to live
And you showed me
So now you live on in the words of a song
You’re a melody

(I’m so sorry…)

The post Irish Blogger Gathering: This Is the Big One appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

2008: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse, L 23-24
2014: Notre Dame @ Syracuse, W 31-15

In 2008, Notre Dame managed to win the turnover battle (+2), out-gained Syracuse, and had Jimmy freakin’ Clausen at QB, yet still managed to lose against a team that had just fired their coach. There’s a reason One Foot Down named this the worst loss of the Weis era. It all but glued Weis’ rear to the hot seat in 2009.

Last night, Notre Dame lost the turnover battle in a big way (-4) and completely re-shuffled their offensive line, yet somehow managed to both out-gain and comfortably beat Syracuse. I don’t believe that the 2014 version of Syracuse will end up being too much better than their 2008 counterparts, but regardless, it’s quite a jump from 6 years ago.

We are now saying “man, we won, but we need to play better” instead of “no wonder we lost, look how we played”.

QBs

Jameis Winston v Everett Golson tonight: pic.twitter.com/W4a5Yv1Js0

— Irish Tightness (@IrishTightness) September 28, 2014

Add to that, Golson had 2 fumbles and Winston had 1 with 21 rushing yards to Winston’s -3.

Even with more turnovers, Golson still managed to put up just as positive a performance as Winston did when all was said and done. An argument could be made that Winston did this against better competition, but the fact that Golson had a wrose game taking care of the ball and still pulled that off is rather impressive regardless of the competition. Also, consider that FSU had a rusher with 126 rushing yards helping Winston out while the Irish had 140 total when you remove Golson’s yards.

Firings

Charlie Weis
Brady Hoke (it’s going to happen)

Weis’ firing has been a looooooooong time coming as he’s led Kansas into a black hole. While Hoke hasn’t been canned yet, the writing is certainly on the wall; however, while Michigan doesn’t want to do their first mid-season firing in their history, they likely have all the ammo to do so after Hoke put an injured and concussed Shane Morris back in the game.

There is simply no excuse for that. I don’t care if Morris was waving off a sub or the third-stringer couldn’t find his helmet. You eat a timeout and protect the kid under your care. Everyone on the sideline from Hoke, the assistants, and the training staff should be held accountable for putting Morris’ health in danger.

Opponents Showing Flaws

Stanford
Florida State

The two toughest Irish opponents for the month of October each had their own unique set of issues.

Stanford needed a late 4th quarter TD (under 5 minutes) to hold off Washington. Their once vaunted rushing attack sits at 70th in the nation while their red zone scoring rate sits at 121st in the nation. They still have the best defense in the nation to this point in the season, but needless to say, holes are starting to show for them.

Florida State has now had two consecutive weeks of dodging bullets. Last week, they could have the excuse of not having Jameis Winston. This week, Winston (as shown above) did a poor job of taking care of the ball and put Florida State in a hole early. Even the Seminoles defense, considered one of the best in the nation, gave up two 75 yard TD drives to start the game.

While both of these games are far from easy, they are certainly looking more winnable than they did before the season started.

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This year has been a bit different. Just go take a look at this week’s IBG, the questions and answers are full of more “wait and see” themes than usual. Perhaps some of that is due to the bye being so early. Perhaps that is because there’s been only one opponent and game we’ve really been excited about and next week’s opponent isn’t USC or Stanford, but Syracuse.

So the more I thought about Notre Dame and their place in the college football world this week, the more my thoughts started to flow outward to the rest of that world.

While the game against Purdue caused some concern (and rightly so), take a look at how the rest of the week went. Virginia Tech, after convincingly defeating Ohio State, had their doors blown off by ECU. Georgia fell apart against South Carolina. Florida nearly lost to Kentucky in OT, in The Swamp no less. Iowa State took out Iowa. And, of course, Boston College upset Southern Cal.

Perhaps you had a feeling about some of these games. There is no way in hell you saw all of that coming. This past week was proof that no matter how hard we try, college football will remind us that we simply cannot predict everything.

College football is a crazy, illogical world. Its season is scattered with statistical outliers and results that make little to no sense. Emotions and other intangibles can reign supreme on any even Saturday and set fire to the expected paper result.

Compare this game to the NFL. Through much work, the pros have created a league of parity. Sure, you have good teams and bad, but the tiers are so well structured that the expectations stay reasonable. An upset will happen here and there, but you never see anything resembling this past week in the NFL. More often than not, you know what to expect: competitive games in which the known better teams will come out on top.

It’s almost a sterile environment for football in comparison to the college game. Give me the crazy, emotional investment with the potential for devastating, unexpected results any day.

Sure, this may mean that Notre Dame may inexplicably forget how to play football for a half against Purdue, leading to additional liver damage by way of increased alcohol intake. However, it also means that the joy of being able to find success in this crazy landscape is simply unparalleled.

The Roundup

Michigan fans are still trying to figure out their offense. Pay special attention to the play action pattern they uncovered here.

Famous Jameis being infamous. Poor meme usage leads to the question of whether or not he gets it at all.

Wait, stealing signs is a story? So last night, K-State mentioned Auburn was stealing their signs, leading to memories of Arkansas and Florida State claiming the same previously. Isn’t that, I don’t know, part of the game? I mean, that’s kind of the reason why people use signs in the first place instead of holding a big sign saying “Hey, play action is coming!” right?

File this under “Only at Notre Dame”. I won’t have proper words to describe this, just read it.

File this under “wait, really?!” So Washington fans knew Sark was a fraud and warned Southern Cal about it, apparently. Queue the “I told you so” column and I can’t help but wonder why they hate the guy that drug them out of the Ty Willingham abyss.

And now your moment of Nix… This is the only time BC has given me joy:

The Booze

I’ve been in Portland all week for work. This means all the IPAs, right?

The post Friday Roundup: The “Crazy World of College Football” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Make no mistake, this team certainly lived up to the hype and will easily be the toughest test the Irish face in the 2014 season. We may all have chuckled when returning Heisman winner, Jameis Winston, stole some crabs from Publix this offseason, but this game will be no laughing matter.

Previous Opponent Previews:

• Rice
  
• Michigan
• Purdue
• Syracuse
• Stanford
• North Carolina

Credit: The Helmet Project

Vitals

Offense

If you want to create a nightmare scenario for the Irish, the Florida State offense is it.

The Seminoles return not just a Heisman winning quarterback that is just a redshirt sophomore, but also senior WR, Rashad Greene, who has been the Seminoles leading receiver the past three years. Greene is also 1,133 yards shy of becoming Florida State’s all-time career leading receiver. His odds of doing that aren’t bad this season either as he had 1,128 yards and will likely have an improved Winston throwing him the ball.

With all due respect to Bayou’s opinion that Southern Cal’s Nelson Agholor will be the opposing WR to watch out for this season, there is no receiver I fear more in 2014 than Greene and it isn’t even close.

As if that wasn’t enough to worry about, FSU returns backup running back, Karlos Williams, who had 748 yards, 8.0 yards/carry, and 11 TDs. The line blocking for him returns four starters and the entire line is comprised of seniors.

There simply isn’t a more complete offensive unit that Notre Dame will face all season. Period.

Defense

With all the offensive hype that Florida State will have in 2014, forgetting about their defense would be a grave mistake as this unit is arguably even better than their offense.

Last year, their defensive line was one of the best in the country and will likely be so again anchored by DE Mario Edwards who had for 3.5 sacks and 9.5 TFL last season.

However, their best unit is by far their secondary that features a very familiar name for Irish fans: Ronald Darby. This unit not only helped form the nation’s best passing defense last season, leading to a nation leading 26 INTs (5 of which were returned for TDs), but they also combined for 8.5 sacks last season and 22.5 TFL.

The secondary did lose Lamarcus Joyner this season who was by far their best DB in 2013, but he was the only starter that the unit lost. Don’t expect much regression here save for possibly the absurd amount of INTs they had in 2013.

What to Expect

If the BCS Championship loss to Alabama was a sign of how much growth Notre Dame still needed to become one of the elite in college football, Florida State will be the checkup of how far the Irish have come in two years.

The truly scary part though is that the Seminoles could likely be a better team than last year. One of the lasting memories I took with me from the BCS Championship game against Auburn was how Jameis Winston finally looked like a deer in the headlights when he faced a defense that could actually hit him. However, in the second half, Winston bounced back and simply tore the Auburn defense to shreds, despite the fact they were still getting pressure on him.

Winston’s hype is well deserved and the only thing that could derail his career at this point is if his issues off the field catch up to him. And no, I’m not talking about the more light-hearted crab stealing incident, but something much more serious. While I do understand Winston was never charged, I simply can’t write this preview and in good conscience pretend the rape allegations never existed, especially considering that the story reached critical mass as the Seminoles closed in on their title. That story will forever be a part of their 2013 narrative, just as the Lizzy Seeberg tragedy will forever be attached to the 2012 Irish (and I do not wish to equate the two, however, I can’t fail recognize the glass house I stand in).

Frankly, if the only issue I can find for this Florida State squad is off the field, that spells major trouble for the Irish on it.

Despite the fact that I think the 2014 Notre Dame squad could very well be more talented than the 2012 squad that faced Alabama, the result could very well be the same. Expect the Irish to be at least a double-digit road underdog in this game, just as practically every other FSU opponent will be.

Study Your Enemy

My picks for Florida State Blogs to follow:

• Tomahawk Nation (SBNation)
• Chop Chat (Fansided)
• Florida State Seminoles Blog (ESPN)

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The post Notre Dame 2014 Opponent Preview: Florida State appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.