Notre Dame’s James Onwualu tackles NC State’s Matthew Dayes. (Grant Halverson / Getty Images)

I was happy to turn the page on the new year if nothing else than to turn the calendar on one of the worst years of Notre Dame football that I can remember.

Starting on New Year’s Day of 2016 and throughout the season it was seemingly one bad moment after another. Now with the national title playing out tonight, our long Notre Dame nightmare can end.

Or can it?

Since the end of this season, there have numerous coaching changes. When the Irish tee it up on opening day next year, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator will all be new. Additionally, Paul Longo will not be returning as the strength coach. That is four major components of a football program all in a tremendous state of flux as we head towards the 2017 spring practice season. How those changes are viewed will vary but given the direction of the program over the last twelve months’ change was certainly in order.

Backup QB Brandon Wimbush looking at 2017 like “Hell yeah.” (Photo credit: SupermanTDJesus)

The Irish will also be breaking in a new signal-caller in the spring and the months to follow. Brandon Wimbush will come in with lofty credentials and tons of “potential” but the fact remains he has attempted five career passes. He should get a boost in the return of Josh Adams and Mike McGlinchey both of whom figure to help boost an Irish run game that was far too inconsistent in 2016.

LOWERED EXPECTATIONS

My early view is the Irish will have tepid expectations from the national media. The talking heads will likely focus on the “major changes” the Irish are undergoing and the “hot seat” Brian Kelly is on when discussing Notre Dame football.

The schedule is no peach either. Though the Irish open against a Temple program that is replacing their coach, they match up in week 2 vs. SEC mainstay Georgia.  September closes with back to back road trips to BC and Sparty, followed by a home date with Miami of Ohio. I think a 3-2 September is very likely. October features the bye week and home dates with USC and NC State after an Oct. 7 date with UNC. USC is always hard to figure; they have been so inconsistent lately but looked formidable with a freshman quarterback in the Rose Bowl.

I think the Irish likely head into November at 5-3.  I’m largely basing this on the fact that they squeak out a win over either USC or UNC. At this point, I’m not sure which one. Notre Dame’s luck was so bad last year; I think they will likely get a few breaks from the football gods this fall. November closes the season with trips to Stanford and Miami and home dates with Wake Forest and the always dangerous Naval Academy.

As it looks in early January, I’m going to go 7-5 and a trip to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. If that is the finish it will be very likely that this year’s off-season changes will give way to bigger ones next off-season.

The post My Early Prediction For Next Year appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Photo Credit: David Maialetti/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

It was far from pretty. The Irish needed a late touchdown yet again from DeShone Kizer and Will Fuller to avoid a loss that would have felt like a nightmare. On a night know for tricks and treats, it felt for much of the evening like the Irish were playing a trick on themselves. The result is fine: Notre Dame proved victorious over the Temple Owls 24-20. If this game were measured as a type of candy, it was far from being a Reese’s Cup. In fact, it’s insulting to mention Reese’s with that performance. It was better than candy corn. I’ll give the Irish that as well. Let’s settle somewhere around the Three Musketeers range of candy – it’s chocolate (a win) but lacks the substance and filling to fully satisfy the Irish faithful.

There was some stuff that happened on the sidelines between Brian Kelly and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach David Grimes that will draw some attention from pundits, and we’ll likely circle around to it later this week, but given that it had zero impact on the game that occurred on the field, I shall waste no more words on it here.

The refs….oh boy. They were worse than Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, and that’s saying something. If you have no idea what I mean by the reference, consider yourself lucky. Elijah Shumate was ejected on a second half targeting call that would have required either or both players to possess the ability to fly to avoid the contact. The evidence against the targeting rule in its current form continues to grow, gif by gif, vine by vine, of completely absurd plays that result in a player being ejected. That may be a topic later this week too.

For now, let’s go a little deeper on some things from the game that stuck out to me:

DeShone Kizer: Kizer fell just one yard shy of 300 passing yards. He set career highs in passing attempts, rushing attempts, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. With the inability to get CJ Prosise going, the entire offense fell on Kizer’s shoulders. Kizer alone accounted for nearly 95% of Notre Dame’s offensive yards. His 143 rushing yards fell a mere 3 yards short of the ND quarterback single-game record (Bill Etter, 146 yards, 1969 v. Navy. Stat courtesy of Michael Bertsch). This was already Kizer’s third game leading a fourth quarter comeback for a victory. Despite all of these successes, this also felt like Kizer’s worst game in several respects. For the first time in Kizer’s career, he had a multi-interception game. The interceptions were magnified by the fact that both came in the opponent’s red zone. The second quarter interception in particular came on a terrible decision to try to force a pass when a simple throw away would have led to a chip shot field goal attempt. Kizer acknowledged as much after the game that that decision was on him and a “rookie” mistake.

The learning curve with Kizer is understandable. Thrust into the starter position, he’s handled adversity extremely well. In interviews, his maturity and intelligence shine. He’s big. He’s got a big arm. And as Temple learned last night, he’s got some wheels. That said, Kizer’s decision-making needs to become more consistent. He now has 6 interceptions in 6 starts. He’s thrown at least one interception in 5 of 6 starts. It’s just a half season, and marks just the first 6 starts of Kizer’s career, but consider this facial comparison on interception rate:

Kizer’s performance has certainly been better than 2014 Golson or 2013 Rees. I don’t want anyone to confuse my concern with reality. He’s also got less game experience. 2014 Golson and 2013 Rees were both seniors whereas Kizer is just a sophomore. So, while there’s plenty of room for optimism, ball security and decision-making need to get better for the Irish to progress throughout the rest of the season. Winning games while losing the turnover battle has been an exception in the Kelly era and one the team will not want to make a habit of testing.

Temple’s Defense:  It would be unfair not to give credit to Temple’s defense. Prior to the game I was critical on whether they were in fact good or whether they’d just played bad teams. Using Football Outsider’s S&P rankings (#SportsMath!) as the guide, prior to the game last night the best offense the Owls had faced was Cincinnati who ranked 46th nationally prior to yesterday’s game. They’d also faced 3 of the 9 worst offenses in the FBS ranks. Notre Dame went into the game ranked 6th, and I fully expected Notre Dame to expose the Owls.

Matt Rhule’s group had different ideas. It was obvious their goal was to take away CJ Prosise. Temple consistently loaded the box and aggressively pursued anything that remotely looked like a run to Prosise. This over-pursuit helped open up the 79 yard Kizer touchdown run, but all and all, the Owls won the day as it related to Prosise. The Irish offensive line never got rolling, and while I’m sure it happened some, it seemed like you never saw the linemen making it to the second level of the Temple defense. Prosise finished with just 25 yards on 14 carries. His 14 carries were the only carries by an ND running back all game.

I hope Irish fans could appreciate Temple’s effort. The game should have felt like a vintage Bob Diaco performance. Temple for the most part was willing to concede smaller chunks of yardage to avoid big plays down field. Their secondary was extremely physical (and yes, overly physical on more than one occasion…some that were called for penalties, others that could/should have been penalties). Will Fuller’s long reception of the night was the 17 yard touchdown pass. He finished with just 46 receiving yards on 5 catches. Deep in their own territory, Temple continued to scratch, claw, and force the Irish to work for every inch. They were rewarded with the two red zone turnovers.

Temple’s defense has surrendered more yards to their opponent than their offense has gained numerous times this year, and yet they now rank 7th nationally in points per game allowed (15.8). Their red zone scoring percentage surrendered is 9th nationally at 70%. Think about that: 3 out of every 10 times an opponent has made it to Temple’s red zone, they’ve come away with 0 points. They rank 9th nationally in yards per point as well giving up 1 point for every 20.8 yards their opponents get. For comparison – Notre Dame ranks 31st nationally giving up a point for every 16 yards they surrender.

Plain and simple – Temple’s defense put in the work to compensate for allowing nearly double the yards of the Irish defense. Sure, opportunity and luck played a role in that. But Irish fans love to harken back to the good ‘ole days of 2012, and well, I can think of few defenses that were more opportunistic than that one.

Red Zone Offense: Speaking of those two red zone turnovers…Notre Dame now ranks 73rd nationally scoring points on 82.14% of red zone possessions. This comes on the heels of the 2014 season when the Irish finished 79th nationally in red zone scoring percentage. Last year’s was particularly difficult because Notre Dame saw the 14th most red zone attempts per game. This year, they’re closer to the middle of the pack getting to the opponent’s red zone about 3.5 times per game.

In the Brian Kelly era, the best the Irish have finished in red zone scoring percentage was 2010 when they finished 51st nationally. The ability to finish drives in the red zone has been a nearly endless source of frustration for both the team (I’m sure) as well as fans. If we consider the percentage of red zone attempts ending in a touchdown, it gets worse.

Notre Dame now sits 85th nationally converting just 57.58% of red zone attempts into touchdowns.

This has been a historically terrible area for Kelly’s Irish teams:

Red Zone Attempts Ending in Touchdowns

Four of six seasons (including this year to date), Kelly’s offense has been ranked 80th or worse at converting red zone attempts to touchdowns. I’m sure many will have theories about “man ball” and fullbacks and whatever else, but whatever the reason, the result has been missed opportunities. Last night’s was just the most recent. Two fewer red zone turnovers and two more red zone touchdowns and that is not a close game.

The Irish get a Pitt team coming off a disappointing loss next and then face two pretty terrible teams in Wake Forest and Boston College. This is a good time to get the team’s head on straight to hopefully set up a game of massive importance with Stanford to end the regular season. It could go without saying, but let’s say it anyways, the offense, for as good as it’s been, needs to clean up these deficiencies if the Irish hope to up end Stanford at the end of the season. For now, let’s get ready for a Narduzzi of an upcoming game.

The post Irish Survive Their Owl of Discontent appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

• Fill out this form (do not post your predictions in the comments section of this blog post)
• Your score predictions and weekly prop are each good for one point, with bonus points for getting the score exactly right.
• The quote section is optional…but like how washing your hands after going to the bathroom is “optional.” Sure, you can skip it, but on the inside you know what you’ve done, and you are a terrible individual for having done so.

Last Game’s Best Quotes:

@NDSeattle:

Man, c’mon. This is gonna suck. Offense looks OK and Kizer has a nice day throwing and running. We consistently put up points in all 4 quarters, but the defense gets shredded. Kessler reminds everyone of why he was a Heisman hopeful in August and Kei Russell gets tagged for 3 PIs. It’s all just terribly painful.

Hey, it wasn’t terribly painful! No points, but at least there’s that.

stogiesnbeer:

[Author’s Edit: I do not enjoy the general company but would be willing to engage in intercourse with] USC. Burn their asses to the ground.

Crude! I like crude. I also like short and sweet, buuuuuut…you got out done…

scoresbyjr:

After losing to rival ND on the road, USC decides to cancel their dinner reservations at the local seafood joint. Why buy crabs when USC girls give them for free? Go Irish!

There we go. Crude. Crass. And continues a nice crustacean theme for our opponents that wear garnett from last season. See: Winston, Jameis. POINTS!

Irisharpe:

Flurries? 30 degree temps? Seems like the perfect game to introduce my son to “how to smuggle hard liquor into ND stadium”. And I’ll need it because you know we’ll let a wounded USC squad hang around far too long and it’ll be up to YOOOOOOONNNN to save us in the end.

Ummmm….did you use what I’m hoping is your like 5 year old son to smuggle liquor into the stadium??? POINTS!

Last Games’s Results:

Nice work Tex! And your company atop last game’s leaders has given you some serious “Dad Goals.”

Overall Standings:

Biscuit’s reign of terror is on the outs after a tragically faulty USC selection. Greater proof has never been provided there is a God, and he’s an Irish fan.

Staff Picks:

Animal Picks:

Okay, I think I’ve got this down now. After some Editor Emeritus Tex like typos last week, this segment should be called:

Gulliver’s TAILS

Gulliver, what say you?

#CatStats Coming Soon

The post Game Predictions! Notre Dame vs. Temple appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

While Notre Dame will get its fair share of air time every week, the podcast is more of a college football podcast than it is an ND one, following in the spirit of the Roundup posts over the years. The stories are certainly told with my ND bias proudly on display–so what I’m trying to say is that I’m doing things a bit differently than every other ND podcast to not completely over-saturate everything.

This post will serve as a supplement to the audio fun. I will always include links of things that I discuss on the show and sometimes (like this week) include things that I missed/forgot about or anything big/hilarious that happens after recording.

I should also note that this post will go live every Friday at noon; however, if you subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Podbean, you will get early access to every episode which goes live early Friday morning.

If you like the podcast, be sure to give me a review on iTunes. If you have suggestions, comments, or want to tell me that I suck, I’m all ears as well to help make this thing better.

So with all that said, let’s get to this week’s episode. We got some fun news about our friends at Rent Like a Champion, coaching moves, a Weis paycheck, the ND playoff picture, some Temple talk, and terrible picks with NDEddieMac to get to.

The Roundup

In this episode:

• Da U got a little less Golden
• I totally forgot about this in this week’s episode, but Jerry Kill retired due to health reasons. Honestly, I’m very upset that I let this slip my mind. Happy trails, coach, we will always have the best memories of Dilly Bars.
• Forgive me Father, for I am going to link a Rovell tweet, but our long nightmare of having to pay Weis money will be over soon.
• From a potential contender in the SEC West, to QB controversies and a divided locker room. Things are not going well in Aggieland.
• Things are a little rough at Florida State. Dalvin Cook is out, Golson isn’t taking first team snaps in front of the media, but Jimbo claims he is still the “likely” starter.
• Undefeated Baylor will have to overcome QB issues of their own, but this is injury related.
• Weekly picks

The Booze

This week, I enlisted Philly Kelly for this segment. After all, she’s been planning this tailgate for a few years and she’s ridiculously excited. She’s even got a selfie stick for this occasion. I better get Facetimed.

Here is Kelly’s booze recommendation for the weekend:

• 3 to 4 bing cherries, pitted
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 2 ounces whiskey
• 1 cherry, to garnish

1. In the bottom of a short glass (Old Fashioned-style), muddle the cherries with the lemon juice.
2. Fill the glass with ice, add the simple syrup and whiskey. Stir for 10 seconds. Garnish with a cherry and enjoy!

Moment of Nix

Adidas ruins everything that they touch. They created glow in the dark helmets for Texas A&M. It looked cool, it sounded like an awesome idea for a Halloween game at night.

The game is being played at 11am in Texas. Adidas has now created a live Aggie joke and Texas A&M is trying to convince everyone that the uniforms will work during the day. You are the worst, Adidas.

Special Mention:

Because I didn’t see this until this morning. Enjoy drunk Michigan fans losing their minds (NSFW audio, by the way) as Sparty breaks their spirits:

Subscribe!

Yeah, I’m going to make sure y’all don’t forget how to subscribe to this thing:

• iTunes
• Podbean
• RSS

The post Friday Roundup: The “Trick or Treat: Here’s a Podcast” Episode appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So, will Saturday’s game be a trick…or a treat? Oh, you didn’t come here for painfully bad Halloween jokes? I’m disappointed in you. But ND football’s back, so let’s hug, make up, and start talking about this week’s match-up.

The When/Where/What Time/Etc: And they’re coming…to your Sit-Tay….I hate that song. I’m not sure who is Big and who is Rich, but whichever one is the skinny white guy wearing a rejected redneck pimp costume ranks high (or is it low) on my list of “celebrities” I do not like. I know nothing about him other than his stupid selection in head wear, but man is that decision to wear a top hat obnoxious. If I saw him trotting down the street in my college town followed by a parade of people acting like he’s Ferris Bueller I would do everything in my power to trip him and take that velvety top hat and burn it…safely away from other people because it looks cheap. I HAVE VERY STRONG FEELINGS ABOUT THE GUY IN THE TOP HAT WHO SINGS THE INTRO SONG TO COLLEGE GAMEDAY!! Which reminds me…

What’s up, Philadelphia? pic.twitter.com/bnSsY4j6jt

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 30, 2015

For the second time this season, College Game Day is joining Notre Dame on the road for an 8PM game on ABC. The game will happen at Lincoln Financial Field, current home to future USC/Miami/Other USC/Central Florida/New Mexico State Head Coach Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles. HLS assistant editor Andrewwinn will be there. His name is Jude. Seriously. If you see him, his name is Jude and not Andrew. I can neither confirm nor deny that he is in fact just an NDMSPaint drawing. The best place to run into him will be at the tailgate of HLS’s graphic goddess Philly Kelly. Awhile back Tex and I got her to agree to make the #HLSSelfieStick a thing…now it’s time to see if that’ll be a reality.

The Opposing Coach:  Matt Rhule is now in his third season as Temple’s head coach. Rhule took over at the beginning of 2013 when former ND assistant coach Steve Addazio left to take the Boston College job. We’ll discuss him more a few weeks from now. Rhule came to Temple in 2006 when Al Golden was hired as head coach. He ascended through the assistant positions during Golden’s time, spending the last three seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. After a one year Stint on Addazio’s staff, Rhule got a taste of the NFL in 2012 as a part of the New York Giants staff. But the sexy allure of Temple’s HC position was too much to resist.  Rhule’s very first game as a head coach was a loss to the Thomas Rees led Irish 28-6. After finishing 2-10 in year one, Rhule’s team showed marked improvement going 6-6 in 2014 which included a road win versus SEC-powerhouse Vanderbilt in the 2014 opener (37-7) and a win versus then #21 East Carolina. Temple’s 7 wins already this year ensures Rhule will have shown progress for a third consecutive season, and the Owl’s appearance in the AP Top 25 is a first since 1979. At just 40 years old, you get the sense this might be his last season at Temple. Rhule was born and raised in State College, PA and played football…at linebacker..at Penn State. His pedigree would seem to make him an attractive candidate to many teams comes season’s end perhaps paving a Golden road back to Temple for Al. I kid..kind of.

Temple’s Last Game: Win over East Carolina 24-14. Temple, as you may have gathered, is located in Pennsylvania. Their proximity to Pitt (who ND will play in a week’s time) probably explains why they got awfully close to pulling a classic Pitt maneuver of doing terribly just before gritting out a gritty grit of a performance versus ND (author’s note: I may be writing this on Thursday evening after watching Pitt go full Pitt). However, in a surprising turn of events, Temple created  turnovers and scored 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to make the Pirates of East Carolina walk the plank. I know walking the plank seems kinda lame, but that can’t be any lamer than a freaking Pirate in East Carolina. Despite winning by 10, the warning signs for the Owls were all around: Temple had fewer first downs, a worse third down conversion rate, less time of possession, fewer rushing yards, fewer passing yards, and more penalties than East Carolina in the win. This was the second time already this season that Temple needed some breaks and 4th quarter magic to salvage a win. In their third game of the year Temple needed a field goal with just 7 seconds remaining to turn a loss into a win over UMass.

Team Talent:  We here at HLS are a big fan of team work. Turns out, Bayou was so dang excited about talking talent that he spent a whole lot of words (and one Paris Hilton YouTube clip…not thinking of the children) doing just that yesterday. His #SportsMath had Notre Dame as roughly 81% more talented based on aggregate stars from Rivals. Using the 5-year 247 Sports Composite class ranks yields an even greater depth discrepancy as raw recruiting points suggest ND nearly doubles Temple every recruiting cycle. This should come as no great surprise. By talent, Temple is the third worst team ND will face this year (ahead of only UMass and Navy). Their team approach has allowed them to exceed raw roster talent, but on paper, this is the exact type of match-up ND should be able to win simply by applying consistent pressure and exploiting physical advantages.

Trends/Thoughts/Stats:

• Extra Rest: Both teams are coming off of extra rest. Temple’s game versus East Carolina was a Thursday night affair. In 2014, Temple had 4 games where they received 9 or more days between games and went 2-2. However, one of those victories was over FCS opponent Delaware State. The Irish, as you might recall from your time reconnecting with loved ones and family last weekend, are coming off a bye. Excluding Bowl Game layoffs, the Irish are 6-1 under Brian Kelly coming off a bye week.
• 9/13/15: That was the date of Temple’s last game versus an opponent that presently has a winning record. Because I’m not a fraud, I’m comfortable acknowledging this statistic is manipulated a bit given that East Carolina sits at 4-4 and was 4-3 at the time Temple played them last weekend. Temple’s only win versus a team better than a game over .500 was their opener versus a mediocre Penn State. Penn State may sit at 6-2, but they’ve played just 2 teams with a winning record and lost both games. Doing some quick research, no one’s impressed with Temple’s schedule – College Football Reference has their SOS as 105/128 teams. Team Rankings currently has theirs at 83rd. Prediction Machine has it at 108th, and Sagarin is the low man rating Temple’s schedule 111th nationally. This isn’t meant to take anything away from what Matt Rhule and the Owls have accomplished. However, there’s not a lot to fear here either. This is a massive shift in team talent that Temple is about to see.
• Dominant Wins: I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but BCF Toys Massey index says that Elite teams (the teams really in the hunt for a National Title) win games versus all FBS opponents by 25+ points 45% of the time. That means ND needs 5 such wins this season to “look” like an Elite team. Assuming they’re not likely to get one of those types of wins versus a solid Stanford team on the road, Notre Dame needs to have 3 such wins in their next 4 games to stay on pace. While this will be the last ranked team ND plays prior to Stanford, it may also be a better shot to get a dominant win than at Pitt next week. With that in mind, I’m going to call for ND to win and win big. I think this team is Elite or very close to it. They’re not flawlesss, but they’re in the part of the schedule that was always circled as their time to get healthy. Temple’s been flirting with a disaster for weeks. It might finally be here.

The post Game Preview: ND v. Temple – H-Owlin’ at Nothing appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

And they’re running into a buzz saw.

For those of you who lived through, and still remember, that frightful night in January when Alabama overwhelmed the Irish, you will recall the biggest difference between the teams was depth. Down the line and across the board, Alabama was deeper. While Notre Dame may have had a better player at a given position, Alabama was simply deeper than Notre Dame. Deeper in talent. Alabama had more stars.

https://youtu.be/joWpYsKere8

To compare Temple to Notre Dame, I took the projected two-deep rosters for both teams and went through the process of tallying up the Rivals rankings for each player. While there are some differences between the two schemes, I think the similarities make the comparison fair across the position groups. In gross terms, each team has three receivers positions, five offensive linemen, a tight end, a quarterback, a running back, four defensive linemen, three linebackers, two cornerbacks, two safeties, a punter, and a placekicker.

Receivers: of the six receivers on Notre Dame’s two-deep, five (Fuller, St. Brown, Carlisle, Hunter, Jr., Robinson) were four star recruits. One (Brown) was three. Of the six Temple receivers, only one (Adonis Jennings) was a four star recruit. He is a transfer from Pitt. One (Romond Deloatch) was three stars and three (Robby Anderson, Samuel Benjamin, Brodrick Yancy) were two star recruits. To his credit, starter John Christopher was unranked. Notre Dame: 23, Temple: 13

Running Back: for the Irish, both Prosise and Adams were three star recruits. For Temple, the starter, Jahad Thomas was a two star recruit and backup Ryquell Armstead was a three star. Notre Dame: 6, Temple: 5

Quarterback: Notre Dame’s quarterbacks, Kizer and Wimbush were both four star recruits. Temple’s starter, P.J. Walker, was two stars. His backup, Frank Nutile, was three. Notre Dame: 8, Temple: 5

O-Line: the Irish have one five star (Nelson), six (Stanley, Bivin, Bars, Mustipher, Elmer, McGlinchey) four star, and two (Martin, McGovern) three star recruits. Temple have one (James McHale) three star on the line. For what it’s worth, he’s the backup left tackle. The rest, nine players (Dion Dawkins, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jovahn Fair, Kyle Friend, Brendan McGowan, Brian Carter, Semaj Reed, Eric Lofton, Leon Johnson) were two star recruits. Notre Dame: 35, Temple: 21

Tight End: Notre Dame’s starter (Luatua) is three stars and backup (Weishar) is four. Temple’s are a four (Colin Thompson) and a two (Kip Patton). Notre Dame: 7, Temple: 6

D-Line: Notre Dame has four (Day, Hayes, Tillery, Rochell) four stars and three (Okwara, Trumbetti, Cage) three stars. Temple has one (Freddie Booth-Lloyd) three star, six (Nate Smith, Sharif Finch, Matt Ioannidis, Averee Robinson, Hershey Walton, Jacob Martin) two star, and one (Haason Reddick) no star. Notre Dame: 25, Temple: 15

LB: Notre Dame has one (Smith) five star, three (Onwualu, Morgtan, Coney) four star, one (Martini) three star, and one (Schmidt) no stars. Temple has two (Chapelle Russell, Jarred Alwan) three star, three (Tyler Matakevich, Avery Williams, Stephaun Marshall) two star and one (Nick Sharga) no star. Notre Dame: 21, Temple: 6

CB: the Irish have two (Russell, Luke) four star, one (Butler) three star and one (Coleman) two star recruits. Temple have one (Jean Chandler) three star and three (Artel Foster, Tavon Young, Nate Hairston) two star recruits. Notre Dame: 13, Temple: 9

S: Notre Dame has one (Redfield) five star, one (Shumate) four star, and two (Baratti, Farley) three star recruits. Temple have two (Adeboye Aromire, Alex Wells) three star, one (Nate L. Smith) two star, and one (Will Hayes) no star recruits. Notre Dame: 15, Temple: 8

P: Notre Dame has one (Newsome) three star and one (Riney) no star at punter. Temple has two (Alex Starzyk, Tyler Mayes) no star punters. Notre Dame: 3, Temple: 0

PK: the Irish have one (Yoon) three star and one (Cheveson) no star placekicker. Temple have two (Austin Jones, Tyler Mayes) no star placekickers. Notre Dame 3: Temple: 0

If you’re counting, that’s 159 stars to the Irish versus 88 to the Owls. That’s an enormous gap between the two programs. Is it a perfect comparison? Not at all. For starters, no weight is given to experience: a five star pure freshman rates higher than a fifth-year, no star phenom. It doesn’t measure performance versus potential: Ishaaq Williams, anyone? And Jerry Tillery’s stars came as an offensive lineman. So it’s flawed. But, as a measure of talent across the board, it’s fair and objective. It helps explain the Vegas line as of the date of my research (Sunday): ND -10.5. Interestingly, ‘bama was a 9.5 favorite over Notre Dame in 2013.

Looking at wins, as another comparison, Temple’s 7-0 is more an argument that they’re better than some really bad teams than anything else. In wins over Penn State (5-2), Cincinnati (4-3), UMass (1-6), Charlotte (2-5), Tulane (2-5), UCF (0-8) and East Carolina (4-4), Temple has only impressed against Penn State. They squeaked by UMass 25-23 while the Irish beat them 62-27. Terry, no doubt, will argue in the comments that Temple’s defense must be better than ours.

So, despite the hype, I’m not too worried about Saturday night. Temple doesn’t have the talent to go four quarters against the Irish.

The post Counting the Stars: Is Temple to Notre Dame what Notre Dame was to Alabama? appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

After rushing for nearly 190 yards per game in 2012, Notre Dame is averaging a meager 137 yards per game this season. While there are a number of reasons why the run game has struggled (graduation of key personnel, playing from behind, etc.), it is clear that the Irish miss Everett Golson’s mobility. Defenses are attacking the line of scrimmage with little fear that Tommy Rees will make them pay for over-pursuing the Irish running backs. Although Rees will never be a running threat, Brian Kelly and Chuck Martin should force defenses to account for Rees in the running game by using more packaged plays.

What are Packaged Plays?

Packaged plays consist of a run and a pass combined into a single play. The quarterback reads one defender and determines whether to pass or hand-off based on that defender’s movement. If the defender plays the run, the quarterback throws; if the he plays the pass, the quarterback hands off to the running back.

The most commonly used packaged plays are bubble screens and stick/draw plays, but the possibilities are endless. High-scoring teams like Baylor and Texas A&M are having great success packaging rhythm throws with inside and outside zone plays. Temple showed the Irish first-hand how packaging rhythm throws with inside and outside zone plays can keep a defense off balance. The Owls repeatedly abused Notre Dame’s linebackers by isolating them and forcing them to commit to defending the run or the pass.

Below is an example of Temple packaging an outside zone with a backside slant to the slot receiver.

The Owls line up in a three receiver, one tight end spread formation. The quarterback will read linebacker Dan Fox on this play. If Fox flows toward the run, the quarterback will throw the slant to the slot receiver; if Fox stays home to cover the slant, the quarterback will hand-off to the running back.

While Fox and Jaylon Smith attack the line of scrimmage, the quarterback pulls the ball and hits the slot receiver in stride. The void left by Fox makes for an easy read and ultimately results in a 25-yard gain for the Owls. As you can see in the video, Elijah Shumate compounds Notre Dame’s problems by taking a bad pursuit angle.

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On the next play, Temple packaged an inside zone with a pop pass to the tight end.

The Owls line up in a three receiver, one tight end spread formation, but this time the tight end lines up to the same side as the twin receivers. The inside zone will go to the weak side of the formation. Once again the quarterback will read Fox.

With Fox rotating to cover the tight end immediately after the snap, the quarterback hands off to the running back heading in the opposite direction. The center gets to the second level and blocks Carlo Calabrese which allows the running back to get well into the secondary before being tackled.

[youtube id=”5ZJOWTuZ01I”]

Although the Irish have occasionally used packaged plays this season, below is the only example that I can recall where Notre Dame may have packaged a rhythm throw with a zone run.

On this play, the Irish line up in a 2X2 spread formation. Tight end Troy Niklas is the slot receiver to the boundary. Given Notre Dame’s tendency to use Niklas as a lead blocker on quick screens, it’s not surprising that the outside linebacker lines up directly over over Niklas, while the safety lines up way outside of the hash marks. The middle of the field is wide open. Rees will read the inside linebacker. If the linebacker takes away Niklas on the slant, Rees should hand-off to Amir Carlisle; if the linebacker crashes to stop the run, Rees should have Niklas open.

Niklas immediately gains inside leverage on the outside linebacker. As the inside linebacker rushes, Rees pulls the ball and throws to Niklas. Had Niklas held on to the pass, it would have been a big play. It’s hard to say whether this play was a designed “option” for Rees or a predetermined play-action pass, but it does illustrate how defenses have to respect backside rhythm passes.

[youtube id=”Ik59B0nAqJU”]

Conclusion

Running more packaged plays will not remedy all the issues with Notre Dame’s run game, but it can open some running lanes for the Irish backs. As you can see from the examples above, packaging rhythm throws with inside and outside zone plays would complement the “check it and chuck it” philosophy that Notre Dame has become too dependent on when defenses key the run.

The post Packaging Rhythm Throws with Base Run Plays appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So without further ado, here are four pleasant surprises and four areas of concern from last Saturday’s game.

Four Pleasant Surprises

1) Tommy Rees Has Improved

And not just his stat line either.

Oh sure, he had a career day going 16-23 for 346 yards, 3 TDs, and, most importantly 0 INTs, but that isn’t the whole story.

Tommy consistently put his passes in perfect locations, hitting receivers in stride and right on the numbers. His two TD passes to DaVaris Daniels were simply things of beauty and he should have had three perfect TD passes to him, but Daniels unfortunately came up lame.

Now, Rees did have a couple of passes that were bad, but not everyone can be perfect nor do I think any of us were really expecting perfection from Rees.

His passes looked strong, his deep balls looked great, and I really think we got more out of him than we all expected.

2) The Backfield Is Stacked

Once Amir Carlisle broke into the open field on his first carry, you just knew the new running backs were going to be fun to watch.

All five backs saw carries with Cam McDaniel shouldering most of the work. Cam, George Atkinson III, Carlisle, and Greg Bryant all had rushing averages better than 4 yards/carry and all the backs combined for 193 yards total.

Speaking of Greg Bryant, that does not look like an 18 year old kid out on the field. That is a full grown man that looks like he could probably truck anything that gets in his way.

Kelly mentioned that all the backs would continue to see varying workloads. I am almost wondering if he held back a bit during Temple, especially with the younger and possibly more talented backs, in order to keep some surprises for Michigan.

Either way, I’m all for some serious running of the damn ball this season.

3) The Quick Start

The first two scoring drives for the Irish were things of beauty. When was the last time that we saw Notre Dame put 14 points on the board within a few minutes — much less at the start of the game?

Even better was that the Irish did this after starting the game with a rather bone-headed illegal substitution penalty on their first huddle. We are all used to seeing brain-farts like that kill drives before they even start, but this time around the Irish made sure that penalty was quickly forgotten.

More of this please.

4) Actual Attempts at a Punt Return

Yes, it was ugly (and we will get to that later), but T.J. Jones wanted to make damn sure he got some positive return yardage. As long as he holds on to the ball, I’m all for him going crazy to try and make something happen. Tom Zbikowski treated the punt return game with similar reckless abandon and he managed to find the endzone because of it.

There is still loads of room for improvement, but I’m glad the fair catch parade is over.

Four Areas of Concern

1) The Play of the Front Seven Wasn’t Up to Par

This was probably the most disappointing thing from the game. I expected so much from the front seven against Temple and was left scratching my head wondering what happened.

I’ll definitely have to do a full rewatch of the game again for a deeper analysis of what happened, but my first reaction during the game was that our linebackers were not doing a great job of filing in the gaps.

In particular, Louis Nix III would consistently command a double team and have no one filling in the gaps behind him. On far too many plays, Nix would have to turn around and chase the play down, often times being the closest one to the play.

I love Big Lou, but I don’t want to see our NT trying to be a MLB.

I really hope this was just a blip in the radar because I really fear what it could mean for the rest of the season.

2) DaVaris Daniels’ Injury

While Kelly said that Daniels could have played through his injury, I am still concerned that it will keep him from being 100%.

Daniels separated himself from the pack as a true playmaker, especially on deep routes. I don’t want to see that fall to the way side because of a nagging injury.

Here’s hoping I’m worrying too much on this.

3) Failing to Dominate a Lesser Team

The quick start was amazing. I thought the Irish would put up 40 by halftime. Instead, the Irish sputtered for most of the game.

Temple was simply outmatched and the score didn’t reflect that.

I’m not panicking about this, but when the talent is clearly that different, I want to see the Irish crush a team as if they were Oregon playing an FCS school.

4) Pretty Much Everything on Special Teams

Yes, the attempts at actually trying to return punts was nice, but beyond that…yeah, this was all ugly.

There were missed field goals, horrible punts, and even T.J. decided to field a punt inside the 10 and attempted a return.

If the Irish continue such awful performances it will end up leading to a painful loss. The two ingredients for an opponent to pull a surprise upset is for them to capitalize on mistakes. These come in the form of costly turnovers or from lapses on special teams.

Even with their struggles, ND should still have one of the best defenses in the nation; however, even the best defense can’t do much if the opposing team scores on a punt return or a punter hands away great field position.

I really want to have a season in which I don’t complain about our special teams the majority of the time…please make this happen.

The post Four Pleasant Surprises and Four Areas of Concern appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

And it isn’t like this current incarnation of Temple football is any better than Temple’s overall history. This is a program with a 430-555-3 (.440) all time record that has led them to only 4 total bowl games and 8 total weeks appearing in the AP Poll.

Yes, football is not exactly Temple’s strong suit. In fact, I’d dare say if this game wasn’t the end to an awful offseason that we are all excited to see go away as Irish fans, I would wager a game against Temple wouldn’t really get many people excited at all.

When I think of Temple, the first thing that comes to my mind is not football, but Temple alumnus, Bill Cosby.

Yes, Bill, I’m not sure why Temple signed up for this either.

I’m a fan of Bill, and while the jello pudding jokes are fun, I will instead let Mr. Cosby give you the most thrilling description of Temple football that you can find anywhere on the internet:

And here he is breaking down the stirring pep talk he gave the Owls in preparation for this weekend’s game:

Yes, Temple, know your assignment: to face off against Notre Dame and be completely destroyed.

Welcome to South Bend, Owls.

The Roundup

Last chance for Fulmer Cup points — you’re doing it wrong. Three football players from Division III’s own William Paterson University technically broke into a convenience store, but after seeing no one was there, they paid for what they took and even included sales tax. I am however, waiting for the NCAA to crack down on them for the gift cards that the video mentions they received for their honesty.

Because I know you didn’t want to be productive at work today…enjoy this site if you haven’t already. Watch the hours fly by.

Done with that site? Ok, let’s eat up more of your day. Read the first chapter of Bill Connelly’s book. For future time wasting, I highly suggest purchasing a copy.

Nick Saban is not human. Regular people just do not act like this.

Want to watch a Hawaii QB deck a Trojan? Of course you do.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Tommy Rees Edition.

Now we start with the signs that football has arrived. First, MS Paint Like a Champion has come out of hibernation. I suggest giving their Twitter feed a follow too because there is some additional genius to be found there.

You can’t start a season without Spencer Hall penning an amazing piece. As usual, he knocks it out of the park.

No ND season can start without an Anti-Preview. If you aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, this would be The Subway Domer previewing a Notre Dame game as only he can.

Finally, your ND Football Primer.

Put These Games on Your Radar

We have games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Plan appropriately.

Friday, August 30th

Texas Tech @ SMU, 8:00pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – Not a whole lot to pick from Friday’s slate that excites me. This is the best of the bunch.

Saturday, August 31st

Purdue at Cincinnati, 12:00pm ET, ESPNU/WatchESPN – Scout out a future opponent during the early games. The rest are almost guaranteed to be one-sided.

Toledo at #10 Floridia, 12:21pm ET, ESPN3 – Sleeper pick for an upset. Remember, last season Florida nearly fell apart in their opener against an inferior team and they haven’t exactly gotten much better this year.

#1 Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, 5:30pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – I’m not expecting Virginia Tech to knock Alabama off, but I am hoping Alabama gets a run for their money here.

#5 Georgia vs #8 Clemson, 8:00pm, ABC – Edit/Update here because I forgot this at 2am! Which, really, is a crime because a top ten matchup in week one certainly belongs here.

#12 LSU vs #20 TCU, 9:00pm, ESPN/WatchESPN – Very excited for this one. The Horned Frogs are never a team that people should sleep on and Les Miles is guaranteed to do Les Miles things. This should be fun.

Sunday, September 1st

Ohio at #9 Louisville, 3:30pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – You are watching this because of Teddy Bridgewater. Get acquainted.

Monday, September 2nd

Florida State @ Pittsburgh, 8:00pm ET, ESPN/WatchESPN – You are watching this because it is the only game on.

Predictions

In this section, the HLS staff will have a friendly competition among ourselves to see who gets “closest to the pin” every week. We will predict not just the winner of the ND game, but the score as well. The closest score wins the week and hitting an exact score nets a half point bonus.

Feel free to play along in the comments. If we get enough participation, we might to a giveaway to sweeten the pot.

NDTex

Temple will be destroyed. ND 42 – Temple 6

Biscuit

Via:

No more slow starts for Notre Dame. Brian Kelly has this team on a program, and it’s working. 3 years ago ANY first game opponent made me nervous. Now, no more. I will be at this game as well, and the insane home opener 2 years ago sucked up any bad mojo for games at which I am in attendance for about a bajillion years. WHOMPING.

ND Wins 45-6

 Supremely confident that BK has this team ready for the opener.

Bayou Irish

ND 63 – Temple 12

Twibby

Irish 52, Owls 7. Greg Bryant steps up with 2 second half touchdowns after Rees leads the way with 3 in the first half.

Irish Elvis

1st Quarter: Start Fast
GA3 scores the first of his 2 rushing TDs early.

2nd Quarter: Attention to Detail
TJ Jones realizes he can return punts, and the Irish take a 17-3 lead into the locker room at halftime.

3rd Quarter: Effort and Enthusiasm
Irish Chocolate effortlessly and enthusiastically records his third sack as Bob Diaco unveils his “Rush Nix, Drop 10” defensive scheme.

4th Quarter: Finish Strong
The first-stringers watch some fresh faces finish strong in the fourth quarter. ND wins, 30-6.

The Beer

I promised that I’d give the beer selection to the winner of the Dave & Buster’s gift card…but then the winner didn’t respond (and if you are reading this Patrick Corbett, you have until lunch to claim before your prize is forfeit!!!).

Therefore we went to the first alternate, wmeehan, who has responded. He gets the beer claim for now, and possibly $25 in D&B fun later!

wmeehan pointed me towards the Mac & Jack’s line of beers with his personal favorite being the African Amber.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Who Gives a Hoot?” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

He heard the door, heavy, heaving, and rose, moving to the sound. Inside, Kelly’s boss, Jack “The Brick” Swarbrick, stood in the shadows, his black trenchcoat giving him a bat-like appearance. His eyes darted quickly from the porch’s inky blackness, looking for others inside the illuminated space. Kelly joined him and fell back into the shadows, too, standing opposite. “Heckuva place for a meeting, Brick. Does the literal cloak come with a figurative dagger?” he asked as he pulled the lapel of Swarbirck’s trenchcoat.

Swarbrick’s voice was a whisper. “Brian, I’ve just finished speaking with Father Jenkins. He’s very concerned about Saturday. When he’s concerned, I’m concerned.” He noticed Kelly’s face and his chin move to speak. He raised his pointed index finger to his own lips, commanding silence. 

“Brian, there’s a reason I asked you to meet me here. And it’s not because it’s far, far from Domer Fest.” His right hand followed the stones of the basillica to the fixture on the wall and he carfully turned the dimmer, the light from the helmet above and between them slowly increasing.

“Jack, I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but like I said the other day, we’re ready for Temple week, we’re…”

Again, Swarbrick silenced him. “Brian, endulge me, if you will. I didn’t run from Father’s office like an extra in a Harry Potter movie, darting from tree to tree, for no good reason. I am here to convey a message: win flawlessly and win big.”

Kelly cocked his head, puzzled. Brick continued, “I’ll get to the point, Brian. There’s a lot riding on the Temple game. A lot of plans are depending on a big, big win. The stadium renovation? You think we’re getting the video boards and the Field Turf if we don’t absolutely blow out Temple? Makes it harder, Brian. Lose to Temple and they’ll build more seats and a meeting spaces, sure, but are they going to give us video boards? I want those video boards, Brian. I want a stadium, as you do, that every five-star recruit wants to play in. That means FieldTurf and JumboTrons and Macklemore.”

“You and your boys did amazing things last season, Brian. Far, far beyond our expectations. But there were too many close-shaves. Purdue? Pitt? We had two guys with the same number on the field, for God’s sake, Brian! Wins like that don’t help us, Brian. There’s more to this than just wins and losses, and, honestly, with the plans that are in the works, we can’t have any losses. Not against the Skunkbears, not against the Tree, not against the Sooners.”

“Gosh, Jack,” Kelly interrupted, raising his voice slightly. “You wanna put a little bit more pressure on me? I promise you, our boys are going to be ready, absolutely ready, every Saturday.”

Swarbrick stepped to Kelly, standing under the inverted doughboy’s helmet, jabbing his finger into the coach’s chest. “This is all about USF, Brian. Neither you, nor your boys, were ready for that. I know you’ve got so much progress between the team and that game, but we’re not having something like that happen again, capisce? You don’t fill the stadium with all those boosters and board members and stupid fifty dollar pots of mums and lose to USF. And I know Temple isn’t even close to USF, Brian, but our plans depends on you blowing out Temple.”

Swarbirck relaxed and fell back into the shadows. “Brian, we’re going after the SEC and that starts with you destroying Temple. I want to see Big Lou under center by the third quarter, okay? I want Tommy’s arm in an ice wrap because he hooked up deep with TJ2Smoove  and Toot Daddy Fresh a hundred times. Once we’re playing, and beating, an SEC team a season, it’s going to make it so much easier to deal with our next target: Mark May.”

“What’s Mark May got to do with this?”

Swarbrick smiled. “Mark May represents institutionalized anti-Irish bias, Brian. It’s ironic that we’ve moved almost one hundred and eighty degrees from the days of Fielding Yost, but that’s what it is. Every time he gets in front of a camera and bloviates about Notre Dame, he wears away at our brand. It’s why we put a man on the inside, right next to him, Brian.”

Kelly’s jaw dropped. “You mean?”

“Yes, Brian. ESPN thinks they were so clever to pair him with Holtz and it seemed that way for so, so long. But what they didn’t know is that the University let it happen. They saw what was happening to the program and they started planning for it. Honestly, they saw the bad years that were coming, the cancer that started under Davie. We just chose the wrong surgeons to cut it out, Brian. Charlie started to help, but it was so far gone at that point. You were able, finally, to contain the disease and start to kill it. We need you to keep going. That will let so many things happen.”

With that, Swarbrick eased open the black metal door handle, opening the Memorial Door to the warm air outside and the distant safari sounds of the still writhing campus. Kelly put his hand on Swarbrick’s shoulder. “You’re not saying…”

Swarbrick again held up his finger for silence. “I’m not saying anything, Brian, but big wins will let us, and Coach Holtz, do what must be done.”

With that, he stepped out into the shadows along the basillica and began quickly walking away. Kelly was left alone, between the Archangel Michael and Joan of Arc, to consider what this all meant.

The post The Irish – Episode Six – “Shadow Dancing” appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.