A Notre Dame Football Blog
An errant flyer was slipped under my door recently. It was a series of lists from the Office of Housing, instructing incoming freshmen in “What to Bring to Campus.” I found this amusing, because the Office of Housing used to be Brother Paul the Hermit; and “What to Bring to Campus” was “Whatever You Can Fit into Four Saddle Bags or One Steamer Trunk.” So I found these lists…quaint: Personal Supplies - Shower Caddy: This better not mean a fellow who carries your soap into the scrub room ...
Notre Dame and Michigan announced today that their football series will resume in 2018 after what would be a four-year hiatus. The games will be played Sept. 1, 2018 at Notre Dame and Oct. 26, 2019 in Ann Arbor, according to a release from both universities. Here is our earlier report: Ryan Krasnoo, a Michigan grad who covers hoops for SINow.com, reported early this morning that Michigan was going to pay a $2 million fee to Arkansas instead of playing the Razorbacks on Sept. 1, 2018. ...
Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer scores a touchdown against the defense of Michigan's David Key (26) and Chris Hutchinson (97) at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 15, 1990. (Getty Images / John Biever)
Anyone with any sense of college football history knows the importance of the Michigan/Notre Dame rivalry. We don’t have to rehash fight songs, their standing in winning percentage, the legend of Michigan students teaching football to Notre Dame to understand the magnitude of this series. I’ll be honest: When it ended in 2014, I was so elated with Notre Dame’s 31-0 pasting of the Wolverines that I didn’t give it much thought. Now as time passed and Michigan has rebounded under Jim ...
Students at Indiana University saw a Dominican priest and thought he was a Ku Klux Klansman. This is not a joke. Oh, how I wish this really were a joke. They saw his Rosary and thought it was a whip. Since most students at Indiana University didn’t attend Catholic grade school or high school, how would they ever know that a Rosary can be used very effectively as a whip? A priest wearing the white habit of his order – an order that’s been around for roughly 800 years, represented in art, ...
If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, do that now. In Part 2, we’re comparing numbers. To start, how has Notre Dame compared on the recruiting trail to its direct market competitors? (In Part 1 we defined the market as Ohio State, Michigan, Stanford and USC) Using 247sports.com composite team rankings, here are the ranks for each recruiting class: * Stanford only signed 13 players in 2013. I think the rankings draw out what we all probably thought to be true: Notre Dame and Stanford are peers; ...
A generous fellow named Murphy has just endowed the men’s basketball coachship. This goes along with previous endowments for the women’s basketball coachship, the lacrosse coachship, and of course, the football coachship. The defensive backs coachship is also endowed, and even the athletic directorship. Some people think this is crass, that only professorships should be endowed. I don’t have any problem with setting money aside to pay coaches, since it frees up funds to be used elsewhere. But I ...
Last weekend was that big football game which millions ignore to watch everything else that goes on around it. A lot of defense was played and a quarterback of mature years seemingly concluded his career on a high note. One of the several occurrences that people found more interesting than the game itself was the press conference during which the defeated quarterback was laconic, surly, and dismissive before dismissing himself from the press conference. I’m told this fellow attended no fewer ...
There is a class of third-graders in California that has adopted the University as something of learning partner, teacher’s aide, and mentor. These young lads and lasses call themselves the Notre Dame Class of 2029. I enthusiastically applaud this kind of bold, audacious vision and aspiration; after all, in 1842, I declared a mildewed log cabin on the Midwestern American tundra to be a University. Didn’t go from mission to school to college – never used the word ‘impossible’ – didn’t bother to ...
It’s an upside down world lately. I feel like Ferdinand and Isabella when Columbus came back. I mean I feel bewildered, not greedy and despotic. If I wanted a comparison for greedy and despotic, I’d use ESPN. I am bewildered at the odd inversions and reversals of these times. The football team had a mediocre season, while the basketball team is in the top ten. The Joyce Center picks up its 600th victory, while the Stadium ended the season with two wrenching losses. The Stadium is becoming ...
It was the best of seasons, it was the worst of seasons; it was a game of touchdowns, it was a game of turnovers; it was the inspiration for belief, it was the cause of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the autumn of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had a playoff berth before us, we had a second-tier bowl before us; we were in Heaven on earth, we were in a cold, wet Stadium of defeat. Since 1887, we’ve had worse seasons, but few as ...