So strap yourselves in for an extremely long post to get all the thoughts in my head that would’ve been shared on the podcast, out and available for internet consumption.

Dabo

Speaking of things getting cancelled within a few hours of going live, let’s go ahead and talk about this Clemson/Florida State postponement thing. In a week where 18 games were either cancelled or postponed, this one took top billing, not just because of the last-minute nature, but because Dabo won’t shut up about it.

We’ve beaten the “Dabo is bad, actually” drum for a while on the pod. Will Leitch tried to tell everyone last August, but too many media folks dismissed it and Notre Dame fans joining the chorus painted as having sour grapes for the Cotton Bowl loss.

Nah, we just know an asshole when we see one.

In Chapter 342384190273 of this story, Dabo spews this bullshit:

It’s a good time to remind everyone that the positive COVID test that made FSU back out came from a Clemson player that travelled with the team. This player had symptoms during the week and, once he initially tested negative, was out practicing with the team, still symptomatic.

It’s also a good time to remind you that FSU had a COVID scare of their own with head coach Mike Norvell testing positive at the beginning of the season.

Clemson had a scare of their own with sure-fire-first-pick Trevor Lawrence getting knocked out due to COVID. You would think that would make them sympathetic to another team wanting to tap the breaks and reschedule in December.

You would also be wrong because, in their biggest game of the season, with their star QB sidelined, Brent Venables was sporting what South Park eloquently coined as a chin-diaper every time the damn camera was on him:

Needless to say, I understand why Florida State would be nervous. Dabo’s reaction confirms they the right choice.

FSU chickening out due to fear of humiliation is a hilarious proposition considering what’s already happened to them season:

• Lost to 2-5 Georgia Tech at home
• Humiliated by rival Miami by 42 points
• Struggled against not-even-close-to-a-FCS-power Jacksonville State for three quarters and trailed at the half.
• Notre Dame easily wins 42-26
• Oh, hey, an upset win against North Carolina. Good job!
• Followed by losing to Louisville by 32. OOPS!
• Oh shit, Pitt: 41-17
• Lost to NC State 38-22

Hot take: they could probably take losing again to one of the best teams in the nation.

Hotter take: they literally had nothing to lose. You win, and holy crap, season highlight! You lose? Oh well, 2-7 now, season still sucks!

But let’s just say for fun that FSU was scared. That doesn’t hold water either because the game would, logically, be played on December 12, much like Notre Dame’s make-up with Wake Forest. Yet, the only person on record against this is Dabo.

Dabo’s protest of rescheduling amounts to holding the rematch hostage, saying FSU either needs to reimburse Clemson for travel costs, pay for a return trip, or come to Death Valley.

Another friendly reminder, Clemson has a football facility worth $55 million and features a plunge pool that can fit 60 people, a sand volleyball court, a whiffle ball bark, a nine-hole miniature golf course, barber shop, shoe shine, nap room, a basketball court, fire pit, basketball course, bowling alley, pool tables, arcade, golf simulator, ping pong tables, and a fuckin’ slide. Dabo is also on a 10-year, $93 million contract.

Before anyone says Clemson or Dabo is actually concerned athletic budgets in These Trying Times and “had” to cut track and field (to save an estimated $2 million a year), I call bullshit. Dabo, nor Clemson, is actually concerned about the Dabo-cited $300K cost of the wasted trip. That’s pocket change in the grand scheme of things.

There’s a reason Dabo is using “forfeit” language in his screed. He doesn’t want to play this game. Why? Because that removes a bye week before the ACC Championship, one that Notre Dame won’t get as they are playing Wake Forest.

Like screaming at refs in Notre Dame stadium after his team commits a clear DPI, Dabo tries to bully his way into a competitive advantage. That’s all this is and that’s his highest priority.

It’s why a symptomatic player was practicing with the team in the first place. Test was negative, go bring your own guts, and get out there. It’s why the player travelled with the team, only to be pulled at the last possible moment. It’s why Dabo screamed at FSU on Sunday, calling them cowards, failing to bring their own guts when Clemson brought their own COVID instead.

Here’s the thing: I actually have no issue with Dabo for fighting so hard for a competitive advantage. What irks me is how Dabo continuously goes about these things. The finger points elsewhere and his performative angers follows. Then, a week later, he’ll “aw shucks” it, quote a Bible verse, and hope the media surrounding him returns to their regularly scheduled worship of him and the false idol that he’s built in South Carolina.

In a just world, the ACC comes out with a statement tomorrow saying that Clemson plays FSU in Tallahassee on 12/12 or Dabo can go pound sand and Notre Dame will have a different opponent on 12/19. If 2020 has proven anything, it’s that the world is decidedly unjust. This won’t happen.

However, 2020 has also proven that anything can and will happen, especially in college football. Pitt stands on deck, super-weapon at the ready, fully charged and unused.

Fire away, Panthers. FOR JUSTICE!

Recap

In writing this, I’m reminded of why I prefer podcasting at times to writing. Loads easier (for me at least) to talk for an hour with Shane than writing this all down. But hey, stuff happened, and we should at least talk about it*!

*Translation: please don’t go and keep reading.

Big Ten

Northwestern is 5-0 and completely in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten West thanks to their 17-7 victory over Wisconsin. Their shortened season concludes with Michigan State, Minnesota, and Illinois. While anything can happen, I’m finding it hard to see how Northwestern doesn’t end up 8-0 and facing off against Ohio State.

Worst case, they can still lose one of their remaining games and still have the head-to-head over Wisconsin (who, if they miss one more game are out of Big Ten title contention anyways per conference rules). 2020 is incredibly weird and perhaps “five turnovers by the Badgers” should’ve been on the bingo cards.

Speaking of weird, Indiana, despite their 42-35 loss to Ohio State, absolutely has some voodoo magic going on. That other-worldly logic of taking them on the spread was incredibly sound as they somehow hexed Justin Fields into 3 INTs and sacked him five times.

It was a hell of a game–even if Indiana continued to make strange blood sacrifices by shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. Dropped passes and four turnovers should’ve doomed the Hoosiers, but they kept this a fight until the end, nearly clawing back even though they started the fourth down 42-21.

Speaking off…Ohio State’s secondary…y’all okay over there? I mean, I kinda hope you aren’t since every ESPN color commentator had ND/tOSU in the playoffs on Saturday. But um…yikes!

In schadenfreude, Penn State got hilariously plastered by Iowa, dropping to 0-5. They trailed at the half 24-7 and then managed to give up 10 unanswered in the forth–just a solid losing effort.

Nebraska is probably re-thinking their playing football stance after getting beat by 2-3 Illinois at home. Scott Frost also threw his players under the bus, citing a lack of juice. Things seem not fun in Lincoln.

And of course, there is Michigan, who benefitted by Rutgers still being Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a 48-42 triple OT thriller. Rutgers absolutely should’ve won this game, but I’m not even mad. The entire game was hilariously stupid and I kept giggling thinking how Michigan fans must feel that Coach Michigan Man Jesus is struggling to beat Rutgers in year six.

Big XII

Oklahoma reestablished some form of Big XII dominance at home during Bedlam in a 41-13 win. However, it was also a game in which Spencer Sanders got sidelined for the majority of the game and Chubba Hubbard was used with caution due to injury. Despite all that, OU didn’t pull away until the fourth. If the Cowboys had an offensive pulse, it would’ve been a Red River headache all over again.

Thanks to this game and an Iowa State victory, the Cyclones sit atop the conference with a 6-1 conference record while everyone else is a two-loss conference team. Hilariously, I think OU is in second place over Texas because they have one more win than them, and thus a higher winning percentage, because Texas/Kansas got the axe this week.

I want to live in a world in which Tom Herman’s Jayhawks problem re-emerges, but this time it’s because they didn’t play at all. That’s art.

Pac-12

Three weeks in and I still have no feel for this conference.

Oregon held off UCLA 38-35 and I still can’t tell if UCLA is starting to turn a corner with Chip Kelly or if Oregon is just suspect as all hell. Reminder: the Ducks dealt with a Wazzu headache for quite a while before pulling away last week.

The Washington Huskies still look solid, but they have only played Oregon State and Arizona, hardly good measuring sticks. With the Apple Cup is already cancelled for this week, the Huskies tried to grant all our wishes by scheduling BYU, but BYU backed out (more on that later). Eventually they will have to play Oregon, so I guess that will be for all the marbles in the North and we might actually know who might be good in this division.

As for the South–Southern Cal maybe figured some things out? They didn’t need a ridiculous fourth quarter tip-drill to stay alive this time and nine second half points kept Utah at bay. I was expecting more from Utah, which was folly considering it was their first game off of multiple COVID cancellations (and this one wasn’t looking great for most of the week).

A decent chunk of this conference could be looking at playing five games this season total. I have no idea how that plays with the playoff committee, but I guess we will see on Tuesday.

SEC

Alabama and Florida are really, really good. Vanderbilt got a brief moment in the sun before Florida boat-raced them and Kentucky received no such grace. Sim to end of season on this one. These two need to battle it out and it’ll be great (and seriously how in the hell did the Aggies beat Florida?!).

Meanwhile, Mississippi State, down loads of scholarship players due to COVID and “fuck Mike Leach–I’m out”, put a scare into Georgia. Clanga’s effort was solid, but there’s a definite “Happy learned how to put–uh oh!” moment when J.T. Daniels finally got to go under center with a stellar 28/38, 401 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT effort. That feeling, however, is dashed by the face that Mississippi State outrushed Georgia.

With 22 yards. Because Georgia had 8.

The SEC is turning into the Big XII land of shootouts with better talent. I’m very much here for it, but I’m not sure I’m going to get used to it this season.

ACC

The biggest ACC news is above in the “main segment”, but it’s worth noting that half the scheduled games for Saturday didn’t happen. That left the ACC with only one conference game on Saturday and two all weekend.

In that Saturday conference tilt, Virginia Tech went from nearly beating Miami to just getting blasted by Pitt by a 33-point margin. This is the third loss in a row for the Hokies and now (an apparently big mad) Clemson team is next. I absolutely didn’t see the Justin Fuente era playing out like this, but um…he might be over his head here.

The only other ACC “highlight” was NC State blocking a game winning field goal attempt to deliver Liberty’s first loss of the season. Guess third time was a charm for the conference.

I’m sitting here giggling to myself that Liberty lost because someone else came in between them and a score because my mind is perpetually in the gutter.

Group of Five

UCF gave Cincinnati everything they could handle in just a banger of a game that ended with a 36-33 comeback win for the Bearcats. Cincy had only given up 20 points once this season when they let off the gas against Austin Peay in week one. That stellar defense coughing up 33 was something I didn’t see coming.

That being said, Cincy won it’s only real clunker to date. With Tulsa raking up the wins and moving into the top 25, there’s a realistic chance the Bearcats can lay claim to three top-25 wins this season (Army, SMU earlier this season). I’m still not sure it will be enough for playoff consideration, but damn, they are trying.

BYU is still murdering opponents, but they still haven’t had a real test yet outside of maybe Boise State. As I mentioned earlier, Washington was willing to give them said test, but BYU said no. The reason seems to depend on who is asked as one source said BYU was waiting to see how the playoff committee treated their current resume and another saying that BYU was just concerned Washington would toss BYU to the side if another Pac-12 school could play and wanted an immediate contract locked and signed.

Whatever the reason, this seems like a massive misstep by BYU. I don’t buy that Washington would easily replace them with a Pac-12 school. They are trying to boost their resume too and the other Pac-12 options aren’t moving that needle right now like BYU could.

The playoff committee ranking doesn’t make sense either. BYU’s resume is junk compared to Cincinnati’s (Coastal Carolina, still undefeated, is going to have a similar problem). So why not take the boost? You can’t just tweet out any time, any place and then start tossing weird qualifiers on it. What’s the committee going to think about that when the news leaks?

It’s all extremely dumb of the Cougars. Take the game and stop being stupid. You’re not landing in a New Year’s Six bowl without it.

Sign Off

Yes, I’m aware posts don’t require sign offs like a podcast, but this section nevertheless will remain because, quite frankly, it’s past midnight, I have work tomorrow, and have no further creative ideas for how to end this post.

That all being said, I hope you enjoyed. Eddie and I are still planning to bring you picks live on Twitch Turkey Day Eve (or on Thanksgiving for those using the podcast medium). Shane and I will return at the close of Thanksgiving weekend to recap Notre Dame at North Carolina.

Until then, “enjoy” the sim that we already ran for that game or come swing by and chat with us in our Discord server and/or hit up our TeePublic store as the traditional shopping holidays will see 35% off everything.

Enjoy your holiday and stay safe! Go Irish. Beat COVID. Beat Tarheels. Have a good one.

The post HLS Recap (Text Edition): Dabo’s the Worst appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame promoted Tommy Rees to offensive coordinator. Penn State found their way into a brand new scandal. Southern Cal fired everyone in the athletic department besides their football coaches. Joe Brady bolted to the NFL after extinguishing his victory cigar with LSU. Phil Jurkovec saved me from having to memorize the spelling of his name by transferring to Boston College.

Hilariously, that’s all only scratching the surface.

Enjoy a longer than usual episode (if you’re wanting the ND stuff, head to the 49 minute mark) as we take our long winter podcast nap. 2020 is going to be one hell of a ride.

Broadcast

Twitch Broadcast

The post HLS Podcast: Welcome to the Offseason, Everything’s Crazy appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Shane and I hopped on the mics shortly after the final whistle of Clemson’s defeat of Ohio State to recap the entire wonderful day.

Come join us and savor the final Irish victory of 2019.

Podcast

Twitch Broadcast

The post HLS Podcast: First New Year’s Six and Camping World Bowl Recaps appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Not only have Shane and I seen or normal recording schedule go haywire, but I was in rare form in terms of podcasting screwups. Thankfully, this medium allows for edits to make the product sound much less clusterfucky; however, I felt like every loyal listener to the show deserved some insight into just how off the rails I went during recording in the form of a cold open.

I can promise the first 30 seconds of the show is absolutely gold. The other two hours are for you to judge.

Yes, we weighed in at two hours because this episode. Due to my schedule going full bonkers, I made the executive decision to combine both of our weekly episodes into one. So, we have a Friday Roundup woven into an HLS Audio Recap, released on Thursday. Follow that? Good.

Look, in the end, we saved you an hour by cramming two 90-minute episodes into one, somewhat tightly produced two hour package. Included in said package is a full recap of week 8, complete with shocking upsets and a team (and coach) that should be on your radar. Spliced in are some of the usual headlines that we would include in the Roundup (and links that we discuss are below), plus a little bonus decision regarding votes of confidence and coaches salaries.

And, as always, we close out with Eddie with weekly picks. Don’t look now, but there was one combined loss between the two of us. Watch out 50%, here we come.

The Roundup

Happy Valley: This week’s home of upsets and tear gas. The celebration after Franklin’s first ever win against a ranked opponent got ever so slightly out of hand.

Tom Herman may have taken an ugly loss, but dude is still gonna get paid. Houston is doing what they can to prevent their coach from departing.

This link is NSFW. 2 Fullbacks 1 TD.

Even in a convincing win, Harbaugh will go full Harbaugh. A bad spot, that had no effect on the outcome of the game, became the “worst call that [he’s] ever seen”.

I’m sure Stanford’s offense is fixed now. On Tuesday, Shaw announced that Keller Chryst would be Stanford’s new starting QB.

I sure hope no one was dumb enough to pick UCLA as the Pac 12 champ. Jim Mora has finally disclosed that Josh Rosen, after not playing since October 8, has a bad nerve in his throwing shoulder that will keep him out indefinitely.

BYU wins the award for the dumbest play call of all time. 4th and 19, on your own 5 in the first half? Perfect time for a fake punt that’s a run. Somehow, Boise didn’t score after that which tells you all you need to know about this game.

For everyone hoping for a BK firing at the end of this season, here’s your dreaded voted of confidence from Jack Swarbrick.

USA Today has released their annual coaching salary rankings. They have Bob Diaco making more money than Brian Kelly which is almost guaranteed to be 100% wrong; however, it is still worth taking a look at some things like just how much of a slimy shell game Michigan played to get Harbaugh’s 2016 salary listed at $9 million.

The post Roundup in your (HLS Audio Week 8) Recap appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Football is a rough sport to analyze through the magic of spreadsheets. With short seasons and smaller sample sizes than a sport like baseball, you truly have to careful in what you pull and how you present the data. Because of this, personally I believe you often have to dive in a bit deeper in the box score and mine that larger sample size to see the bigger picture.

This season, HLS managed to get our hands on a data source that has detail down to the drive. (Note: this is where I thank everyone that’s visited HLS or ordered anything through our Amazon links as well as our wonderful partners because that’s how we funded this treasure trove of information.) This week, I had time to dive back into the stats and do a bit of #SportsMath to see what I could find to supplement our Syracuse preview.

Spoiler alert: when your defense plays like hot garbage, you uncover dumpster fires within tire fires.

“No shit, Tex,” you may say “we knew the defense sucked.”

To that I reply, “You’re a Notre Dame fan. You should know things can always be worse.” And they truly are. I’m pretty sure I made my co-host Shane a little bit ill after letting him in on what I found.

Thankfully, our little show never just focuses on ND alone. This has served as quite the sanity saver this season. Reminders that we are fans of the dumbest and funniest sport ever are always welcome.

Enjoy the show, be sure to use those subscription links over on the sidebar (and this Stitcher link that I’ve still yet to put up there) so you get the show first thing in the morning after we finish editing and recording.

The Roundup

CFB Law & Order got very familiar for Notre Dame fans. Truthfully, this situation is probably familiar to Alabama fans too at this point. However, any story that creates fictional weed suppliers named Brandon Chicken is aces in my book. As of this writing, Saban is still “reviewing” the situation.

Can we leave the damn Toomer’s oaks alone? Something was in the water in Alabama this week. Some jackass lit the toilet paper on one of the new, recently cleared for rolling, transplanted oaks at Auburn on fire.

Neaux, LSU, just neaux. The “eaux” puns have finally gone too far because this reads “OH-OH”:

O no pic.twitter.com/lvRT5o9jLv

— Bunkie Perkins (@BunkiePerkins) September 28, 2016

I wonder if MQ became SOURCES again. FootballScoop is back at it to let us know that LSU will gauge interest in Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. Also, surprisingly money for this new hire won’t be an issue despite the fact that LSU’s funding was in crisis not too long ago. Priorities! (Reference for the section title joke)

The Sharknado of football continues to swirl in Southern Cal. It’s now public that they haven’t been paying off duty cops to secure their games for years.

This is so Aggie it hurts. Three words: Deep. Fired. Helmet. (Enjoy the bonus discussion of being deliciously redneck and blowing up a laptop in the pod.)

I AM SO SORRY THAT I FORGOT TO PUT THIS IN OUR OUTLINE BUT IT MUST BE SEEN. Large college kicker murdered Michigan Return Man.

https://vine.co/v/5vwLVt1uDPb

The post Friday Roundup: The “#SportsMath Will Make You Sick” Episode appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So with that in mind, I decided that there was a need for a co-host on the show. Shane, aka SuperManTDJesus, aka the one that brings you awesome videos here on HLS, had mentioned that he had some interest in appearing on the podcast here and there. So I took that, ran with it, and asked him to join me as co-host.

EddieMac will still join for picks as always, but there will be no more segments (unless my work schedule hoses me) in which I’m just sitting around and talking to myself. I’m hoping this will create a much more entertaining product going forward. I know it was sure as hell a lot more fun to record than usual.

Before we hit the Roundup links, HLS Podcasts are now on Stitcher! I believe this puts us out on practically every podcast app now. If I’m missing your favorite, and the RSS feed won’t work, let me know.

The Roundup

CFB Law & Order has some updates. Two should be filed under “not great”. The first, Southern Cal’s Osa Masina, being charged with rape and two counts of forceable sodomy in Utah is by far the worst. Penn State is still determined to stupidly honor Joe Pa and ignore all the victims that he could’ve helped. Thankfully, the NCAA provided a bit of levity in finding Stanford’s Devon Cajuste guilty of violations that no one really cares about.

Urban Meyer’s past got some more clarity. He ran a win-at-all-costs program at Florida and then inexplicably ran away only to return a year later to Ohio State. It turns out he was battling a major enemy: his own mind.

In case you didn’t realize, Deshone Kizer is really good at sports. Like, really, REALLY good.

#NDFBIsDeterninedToKillMe. And we now have #SportsMath proof of this. Thankfully, things have been better in the BK era.

It’s easy to overlook Alabama. Especially coming off a season in which you lost yet another coach, hired the interim, have proven nothing, and believe that makes you unbeatable–right, Southern Cal?

You can now enjoy Kirk Herbstreit’s meet. I’m not joking.

Harbaugh believes that publicly sharing a depth chart is wrong. Because of this, Colorado decided to have a little bit of fun and hide their own depth chart in the best and most creative way possible.

There’s also a football game happening. No real links to share here, but be sure to stick around after the news roundup to hear our thoughts on Notre Dame taking on Michigan state.

The post Friday Roundup: The “No More Talking to Myself” Episode appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The two teams have met once previously. In 2009, Michael Floyd and the Irish smacked Colin Kaepernick and the Wolf Pack 35-0! This year, the Wolf Pack will show up looking to score.

STARTERS RETURN ON OFFENSE 

The scariest part of the Wolf Pack is their plethora of returning starters on offense. The returners include a 1,000 yard rusher in James Butler as well as all their wide-receivers. Three tight ends who made starts will return and the offensive line welcomes back all primary starters. 

James Butler (Credit: Yahoo)

The most valuable of the returners will be Butler. After averaging 6.47 yards per carry as a sophomore, many conference experts say he has the potential to be named the best tailback in the Mountain West.

QUARTERBACK QUESTIONS 

DEFENSE BY THE EXPERTS

• Michigan State
• Duke
• Syracuse
• NC State
• Stanford
• Miami
• Navy
• Army
• Virginia Tech
• USC

The post Scouting Report: Nevada appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Whether it was the unforgivable 58-7 humiliation that was Gerry Faust’s last game or the near riot prior to the 1988 thriller, the games were hard-hitting, emotion-fueled, big-play dramas. While games in both 1988 and 1989 largely decided the national championship, the 1990 game was actually ranked #3 by fans for the best games in Notre Dame Stadium in a 2005 poll.

It also played a huge role in propelling the Irish to a #1 ranking that they would hold on two different occasions during the 1990 season. Ultimately, an upset at home at the hands of Penn State and an Orange Bowl defeat would derail the Irish national title dreams. Nevertheless, the Irish win was notable for denying Miami a shot at a repeat national championship and it was the last meeting between the two until the 2010 Sun Bowl.

After locating and dusting off this old VHS gem from my archives, I was immediately reminded of a few things.

First, the ND in the end zone for home games in 1990 looks completely out of place in my book. Much like the critiques of “The Shirt” when it deviates from traditional colors, the end zones at Notre Dame should feature slashed lines…period!

I cannot express how much I miss Notre Dame coverage on CBS from the 80s.

I loved the sideline shots that they always had and the open microphones. After a key stop in the second half, you can hear Scott Kowalkowski exhorting his teammates with “good stop” and a fist pump.

For all the benefits of the NBC coverage we no longer get that close up. Perhaps in an era where coaches have billboard sized play cards covering their mouths, they just won’t let the cameras have that much access.

Finally, Notre Dame Stadium was bedlam in the this game. It was loud and stands appeared wild. For years, I’ve heard the crowds at Notre Dame are pedestrian. In all my trips to the stadium, I’ve never seen a crowd like this particular Miami game. I would argue the night game last year vs. USC seemed like a church gathering compared to this game.

Rick Mirer

The game itself was a classic and at the same time it shocks me that this particular Notre Dame team went 9-3. The running backs alone on this day for the Irish may be the greatest collective assembled in college football history. Dorsey Levens the listed starter got 0 carries. Nevertheless, he and the remainder of the group – Rodney Culver, Tony Brooks, Ricky Watters, Rocket Ismail (who while not a true running back was second in carries in this game), and Jerome Bettis – all played in the NFL.

The defense which was also much maligned coming into the game also featured a number of future NFL players.

The Irish would enter the game ranked #6 while Miami would enter the game with a #2 ranking. This particular contest dubbed the “Final Chapter” by some (the teams would end their series following this game) was true to the form of the other Miami/Notre Dame clashes in that it featured big plays, great athletes, and a few surprises.

Two of the bigger questions leading up to this game were whether Notre Dame could run the ball effectively vs. Miami and whether their defense – which had struggled to this point – would have any answers for a potent Miami offense.

The Shirt for the 1990 ND-Miami game

The Irish answered both questions with a resounding yes. On the day, the Irish shredded a Miami run defense – that had to date yielded just 62 yards per game – for a whopping 315 yards on the ground. The defense, though it gave up 473 total yards, forced four Miami turnovers and held the Hurricanes to 6 points on three trips inside the 10.

The final trip which resulted in a Leonard Conley fumble at the Notre Dame 2 proved to be the final undoing of Miami. Despite the run game and defense, a mainstay of the Holtz era may have been the biggest difference in the outcome.

Special teams play was absolutely brilliant for the Irish on this day as Craig Hentrich booted 5 field goals and Rocket Ismail accounted for 158 yards of kickoff return yardage highlighted by a brilliant 94 yard scamper. The kickoff return tied the score at 10-10 and seemed to stabilize the Irish after their offense had struggled greatly in the early going. On the day, Ismail would account for 268 all-purpose yards on his way to a season that featured over 1700 all-purpose yards and a second place finish in the Heisman race. How he lost the Heisman to a guy who threw 28 interceptions I’ll never understand, but that is a story for another day.

Lou Holtz would improve his record at this point in his tenure at Notre Dame to 18-8 vs. teams in the Top 20, underscoring his greatness in preparing for and playing in big games. In the build up to this game, it was well reported that Lou spent a ton of practice time working individually with the defense. On this day, it paid off as the Irish held Miami to just 3 second half points. When asked about the game and the crowd afterwards, Holtz responded, “There is something special about playing here.” There was something special about playing Miami too.

The post Film Session: Notre Dame vs. Miami, 1990 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I’m sure the police asked why he decided just sitting around with pilfered seafood was a good idea. Well, Molly and I put our heads together and figured that it went something like this…

Via @RussellSauve

The crab legs is always sweeter
When it’s something you just take.
You dream about paying up here
But that is a big mistake.
Just look at the crab around you
Right inside Publix’s door.
No on is looking at you
Just swipe ’em and run out the store!

Down here free crawfish, so happy
With ’em out the door I roll.
Paying for crawfish ain’t happy.
Why pay when I won the bowl?
Auburn in the bowl ain’t lucky.
They in for a worser fate.
One day when they all get hungry,
They gotta pay for their plate!

See Duke is a fluke,
And Wake? They are cake,
The ‘Pack got ’em back,
Ain’t no worries there.
The Heels? No big deal,
VaTech? They’re a wreck,
And Clemson is Clemsoning.
The ‘Canes ain’t no thing,
And Pitt should just quit,
The Cards will be charred,
Oh ‘Cuse gonna lose,
The Hoos and the Bees,
They’ll fall to their knees.
An’ of course BC blows!

In the ACC!
In the ACC!
When the seafood
Becomes the free food
Get in my belly!
What do they got? A price to pay?
We got a grand theft getaway!
Each little clam here
Don’t cost a damn here
In the ACC!
Each little shrimp here
Cash you can skimp here
In the ACC!
Each little fish here
It don’t cost ish here
In the ACC!
Paper or plastic
Nah, we don’t bag it
We got the bag man
On the speed dial, man
In the ACC!

—————–

One of our loyal readers, Candice, had a different take:

Yes, this is one of my worst photoshop jobs. You’re welcome.

(Maybe the police are right. Maybe there is something the matter with me.
I just don’t see how a world of such wonderful things could cost money.)

Look at this stuff
Isn’t it neat?
Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?
Wouldn’t you think I’m the guy,
The guy who has everything?
Look at this NC ring,
Don’t mean a thing-
How many wonders can one dorm room hold?
Looking at my heissman, you’d think-
Sure, he’s got everything.
I’ve got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty
I’ve got whozits and whatzits galore
You want thingamabobs?
I’ve got twenty!
But who cares?
No big deal
I want crabs!

I wanna be where the crab legs are.
I wanna see, wanna see them dancin.’
Walking around on those – what do you call ’em?
Oh – legs!

Spendin’ your money, you don’t get too far.
Cash is required for eating, drinking,
Paying all those – what’s that word again?
Bills!

I won’t just walk, I’m gonna run,
After I’ve practiced all day in the sun.
Who cares if Publix loses a few bucks?
Crabs should be free!

What would I give if I could have free crablegs daily?
What would I pay to dip them in butter? (Nothing)
Bet’cha the bag boys understand.
Bet they don’t reprimand a player.
Bright young athletes sick of payin’
Ready to eat!

I’m ready to go to Publix now.
Ask ’em for crab legs  and get some butter.
What’s a pot and how does it – what’s the word?
Boil?

Why should I pay?
Shouldn’t my play, my skills earn me free nice things?
Out of the sea.
Crabs should be free.
Crabs should be free!

The Roundup

Penn State, why do you do this to yourself. Fresh off an absolutely horrid sexual abuse scandal/cover up, this is the guy you decided to hire?!

Looks like the NCAA is ready to head back to court. They’ve, quite predictably, appealed the O’Bannon case.

Let’s have some happier news, shall we? Like a walk on kicker getting the surprise of his life.

Ever wanted to step into the mind of Lane Kiffin? Someone found his playbook for a UCLA game. He actually put fUCLA in it.

More changes are coming to ND. This time, the Irish Guard is getting the overhaul.

And now your moment of Nix… ND coaches and Jack Swarbrick reading athlete tweets:

[youtube id=”wIMguh6-x7I”]

The Booze

So I decided to actually look up what booze Publix had on sale for poor Jameis. I mean, if you’re stealing food, you are saving money for beer right? I’m hoping he sprung for the Dos Equis at $11.99 for a 12 pack. That’s $1 per beer. I’d feel like I was stealing from Publix too, Jameis.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Stealing, Disney Style” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Let’s be honest, last week’s crowd was rather disappointing. We can give all kinds of various reasons for this, but the fact that there was little to no home field advantage for the Irish simply will not change.

This week, it needs to.

The Irish haven’t lost a home game since October 22, 2011 against Southern Cal. Wins were supposed to be the thing that would propel home crowds into a frenzy, but that hasn’t happened quite yet.

It needs to happen this Saturday.

We are welcoming in a team that had a fanbase color coordinate by section and stripe their entire stadium. They easily created one of the most hostile environments the Irish played in (if not the most hostile) in 2012.

When the Sooners head to South Bend for their first road game of the season, we need to return serve.

OU fans pulled off two colors, we’re only asking for one here, folks.

And if you’re cynical enough to believe that this is a simple ploy for the Bookstore to sell their entire inventory of The Shirt (which honestly, isn’t a bad thing since that money goes to charity) or any other green-colored gear, then go to Meijer or Walmart and find a generic green shirt. Dig out the Ty-era Shirts if you have to.

It doesn’t matter if the team isn’t wearing green. I don’t care if you have an issue with green not being a school color either.

The Irish have never worn flowers during a game, but we were still the fanbase that got behind Manti Te’o and filled a stadium in the Midwest full of leis. All the Lennay Kekua jokes in the world can’t take away what an incredible show of unity that was and what an amazing crowd filled Rock’s House that night.

The bottom line is that there are no excuses for this. Find your green, wear your green, and create a home field advantage worthy of a team that has won their last 10 games at home.

Via: LepLegion.com

The Roundup

Saban and Swarbrick in Texas! Yep, add Jack to the crazy that now surrounds Texas which now features a possible impeachment of the regent that talked to Saban’s agent.

The NCAA has ALL THE HEADLINES. So first, you have the NCAA patting Penn State on the head because one year is clearly enough time to implement a total culture change. In the same week, the NCAA fires legal shots at the Paterno family for their ridiculous lawsuit. Meanwhile, Southern Cal is wondering what gives since all of their troublemakers are long gone, and they are basically self-sanctioning themselves with Kiffin on the sidelines anyways (I might have made the later part up).

But wait! There’s more! The NCAA definitely seems to be reaching something of a tipping point. A handful of players participated in a somewhat confusing and last minute protest last week. The responses from the schools are pretty much what you would expect as well as the reactions from the peanut gallery. Jim Delany made the biggest noise all week regarding some of the issues at hand with the NCAA, especially the “pay-for-play” movement, completely overshadowing Mark Emmert’s statement that big changes are on the way for the NCAA.

And now they’ve messed with my video games. EA Sports announced that they’ve pulled the plug on their popular collegiate series as the O’Bannon lawsuit as effectively caused the NCAA and all major conferences to remove their support. They stated they’d like to bring the game back, but considering the O’Bannon lawsuit could hit the Supreme Court, I think you might want to enjoy NCAA ’14 for the forseeable future.

Real life isn’t Grand Theft Auto V. But that didn’t stop Auburn freshman lacrosse player, Zachary Burgess, from deciding that his visit to Baton Rouge should include a real life GTA reenactment.

And now, your moment of Southern Cal schadenfreude. The already thin depth of the Trojans took yet another hit this week.

Put These Games on Your Radar

#6 LSU @ #9 Georgia, 3:30pm ET, CBS – A top ten matchup this early in the season should definitely have your attention and it’s a shame this game shared the same time slot as ND/OU because I’d love to give this game my full attention.

#21 Ole Miss @ #1 Alabama, 6:30pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – The SEC is definitely bringing in some strong games this week. I’m not overly sold on Ole Miss, but I’m hoping that they can put up enough of a fight to make things interesting.

#23 Wisconsin @ #4 Ohio State, 8:00pm ET, ABC – I’m not overly sold on Wisconsin either, but I do think this game has the potential for a fun shootout.

#5 Stanford @ Washington State, 10:00pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – Yes, I’m probably overly intrigued by Mike Leach, but I am interested to see if the pirate make any noise against Stanford, especially after the absolute destruction the Cardinal dealt Arizona State. There is nothing wrong with late night curiosity.

USC @ Arizona State, 10:30pm ET, ESPN2/WatchESPN – Speaking of late night curiosity, here are our two next opponents facing off. Do some scouting mixed in with a likely healthy dose of laughing at Lane Kiffin leading the Trojans on their 2013 death march.

Predictions

Well, Biscuit finally did it. The Leprechauns gave him his first victory of the season. He wanted me to give him more point because he did this all well ahead of time, but I think the fair thing to do is only give points equivalent to the number of leprechauns and he only gave MSU 1.

That leaves Irish Elvis in the lead with 2 and Biscuit and I both tied at 1.

Much like last week, some predictions will come in late since my work travels tied me up and made me forget to hound everyone. They will be added in as they come.

Tex

I’ve gone back and forth on this one a bunch. Initially, I was prepared to give OU a TD victory, but you know what, to hell with it…

ND 31 – OU 24

Biscuit

Via:

The Sooners travel to South Bend seeking revenge for a game that no one, including me, predicted. We WHOMPED them in their own house, and revenge will be on their minds. Unfortunately for the Sooners, easier said than done. Their defensive line pretty much graduated, though it wasn’t great. Defense will be a huge question mark, as will QB after 40th year senior Jones finally graduated. Belldozer is big but can’t throw, and the other 2 QBs have thrown pretty much never as well. So a bad defense that lost a lot of experience, and an offense with a lot of talent but no clear answer at QB. Hmmmmm….should be pretty clear-cut right? I don’t think so.

Stoops is a damn good coach, and OK stocks talent. They will sort the offense out by this point in the season, and the talent on the defensive line was experienced but not top-performing. It’s going to be a bruiser. I think ND should be able to win over all, but I’m not super confident.

ND Wins 24 – 17

 1 Leprechaun. Calling a win, but this could go either way.

Bayou Irish

ND – 28 OU – 17

Here’s how it goes down: Please note that I predicted the appearance of trickeration last week, so here’s another one for this week: Steven Tuett goes OFF. The Bell-dozer is a threat inside the ten, but getting there is tricky against a defense that’s leagues better than OU’s foe last week, perennial PAC-12 doormat Tulsa. In fact, the Irish are WAY better than West Virginia or Ooh La Monroe. Our secondary will be tested, but Bell’s got to get them the ball, and he can’t do that with his feet so much.

Twibby

Irish 30, Sooners 13. Oh wait,  wrong year. Sooners 27, Irish 23.

Irish Elvis

1st Quarter: Start Fast
Blake Bell gets going early, ND run game still stuck in neutral.

2nd Quarter: Attention to Detail
Our ever-astute fanbase will note that green-clad fans have a deleterious impact on our team’s play on the field and should therefore be discontinued.

3rd Quarter: Effort & Enthusiasm
Second half adjustments by the ND coaching staff keep the game tight late into the game…

4th Quarter: Finish Strong
…but the visitors prove too much this year. Oklahoma wins 27-24.

The Beer

One of the advantages to being in Chicago this week was to get the chance to try a few new beers out. Since fall is here and pumpkin beers are out, I couldn’t resist to take a shot at one that was highly recommended by readers last season: Southern Tier’s Pumpking.

You did not steer me wrong, Loyal Readers. Well done.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Bring Your Green Hat (and Shirt)” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.