The later is clearly of interest to any regular reader of this blog, making this week’s Roundup a logical choice to share Kelly’s comments.

We will get to those in the Roundup proper, but first I wanted to share three things that I learned about Kelly during this event:

1. He knows how to work a room.

From the moment he walked into the private meet & greet reception, Kelly went to work. A quick joke about needing to stand next to the fireplace due to the unseasonably cold Dallas day immediately broke the ice, shifting the mood from an awkward moment of “well the head coach of ND football is here, now what?” into one of casual comfort almost immediately.

When I stepped up to have my photo taken with him, he took the initiative to introduce himself, even though none was needed on his end. Almost as soon as “pleasure to meet you, sir” escaped my lips, he made sure to be the first to ask a question of me (when I graduated) to kick off the small talk. Without missing a step, he paused his chit-chat to smile and pose for the camera, and resumed as if nothing had happened. Attentive enough to our conversation to give me the time of day, but still able to quickly end it to give his attention to the next person in line.

Son of a politician indeed.

Throughout his entire speech, he remained aware of his audience, Notre Dame Alumni who could very soon become “sources” and plaster his every last word on the internet (/whistles innocently). He knows that any one person could be ready to pounce on a hot-button issue at a moment’s notice; however, Kelly managed to diffuse any potential tension, managing to crack jokes and get the crowd to laugh — even if we were talking about horrendous Shamrock Series uniforms (more on that later).

Needless to say, this man knew what he was doing.

2. He is unbelievably candid.

Brian Kelly walked up to the podium with zero notes. After his speech, he was more than happy to do a Q&A session without screening any of them nor did he refuse to answer anything. He shot from the hip and said what was on his mind.

To put it another way: a son of a politician he is, an actual politician he is not.

This is how we get quotes like “get used to it” and proclamations that field turf is on the way when it isn’t. It’s a combination of entertaining and combustible instead of a political combo of cautious and calculating.

It’s Kurt Angle climbing to the top of a steel cage for a moonsault. There’s only two possible results: “HOLY S**T THAT WAS AWESOME!” or “HOLY S**T WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!”

I know it can irk a lot of people, but personally, I love it.

3. He “gets” Notre Dame better than most give him credit for.

Myself included.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of Brian Kelly and have been for some time now. Before this event though, I simply figured that he was a good football coach that really understood how the game of college football worked on and off the field.

Throughout his speech, and even during his Q&A, he consistently referred back to the mission of the University, taking every chance to drive home the point that excellence in football and the classroom aren’t mutually exclusive.

Kelly is often viewed as an agent of change at ND and for good reason. However, the noise of his vocal support for field turf and jumbotrons tends to drown out that his “Right Kinda Guys” wasn’t just some recruiting catchphrase. He believes in what Notre Dame stands for and I believe many of his answers below prove that.

The Roundup

Faith Restored. Brian Kelly started off the football portion of his speech in recapping the 2012 season and, in doing so, sold me on the fact that truly “gets” ND.

2012 for Notre Dame Football was a great year. I like to call it “Faith Restored”. There’s faith restored back into the principles that you can graduate all of your players and you can play the game of football the right way and you can do it to being number one in football on the field and number one in football off the field.

That’s why I took the job at Notre Dame. I believe that you can do it. We saw that you can do it.

…

Because all the things that you know about Notre Dame, they’re still occurring on a day to day basis. We haven’t changed our academic standards. We haven’t changed who we are and what our distinctions are…We can recruit young men, not having to apologize for who we are and what we stand for.

…

As it relates to faith — everybody first thinks about religion,  but I will tell you that there is more going on at Notre Dame than just going to church. There’s more going on because, when we talk about faith, and you can feel it when you are on campus, it’s about restoring faith in the human spirit. That faith that you can trust somebody and not be cynical or think that there’s an agenda. And that is an environment that’s energizing.

…

So, just so you know, winning twelve games on the football field is still in lock-step with who we are in our identity at the University of Notre Dame and that’ll never change. I don’t want to be the football coach at Notre Dame that begins selling out on academics, taking kids that don’t want and understand the value of a Notre Dame degree. So when we’re in a home and we’re recruiting a young man, they’ve got to recognize those things.

…

At Notre Dame, those principles will not change.

2013 Outlook. So where does Kelly see the 2013 squad?

We’ve put 2012 in the rear-view mirror. Now, I don’t mind being reminded about it.

Yep, Kelly had jokes and the crowd definitely cracked up at this one. However, Kelly got back on track with his assessment:

I don’t live in the past and I don’t want our players living in the past and I certainly don’t mortgage our future. I live in the present. And the present right now is that our 2013 football team is in the process of constructing their own identity this year.

…

If I could give you a glimpse: it’s probably the sum is going to be greater than any one of the parts on this football team.

Got Youth? This quote was simply mind-blowing:

We had eighteen, eighteen freshman or first year players that were a part of [the Championship Game].

Your Shamrock Series Uniform freakout begins…NOW. This easily was my favorite part of the speech, mostly because I knew simply typing this quote would make heads explode:

And just to put some clarity to the Shamrock Series…it’s my chance to listen to everybody talk about our crazy uniforms. I love it.

And we got some uniforms this year. If you didn’t like the shamrock, and the blue shamrock, if you didn’t like that one, you’re going to hate this year’s. It’s gonna be awesome. So I’m just getting you ready for it.

And now, an actual explanation of Kelly’s views on the Shamrock Series. Come on, he can’t #TrollHard 24/7.

And we do it one time. One time only because tradition is important.

As Dolly [Duffy (who introduced Kelly)] said, you’re gonna look like a champion, you’re gonna act like a champion. And that tradition that Notre Dame has is unmatched and unlike any other.

But one time, and we try to do it in October…it’s Halloween for us.

Our guys like to dress up, and you have to understand my constituency group is also 18 to 21 year-olds. And they like the flashy jerseys and they like the look that that gives them and it helps us a little bit in recruiting and we’ll continue that Shamrock Series as a one shot deal.

Louis Nix continues to be the best ever. Even through BK quotes, Irish Chocolate shines:

By the way [Nix is] down to 352 [pounds], he wanted me to note that. That’s why he thought he could run an offensive play.

In the Spring Game, we put him in at the quarterback position and effectively everybody got out of the way and he ran in the endzone…He says he ran over everybody — I told the defense to get out of the way…he’ll be tweeting about that…

RIP Wild Chocolate. And after giving me some laughs, Kelly breaks my heart:

You better have that on DVR because that’s the last time you’ll see him on [offense] — and I was hesitant to do that because the worst thing that can happen is that he hurts his knee or something foolish like that.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

In talking about Texas players, depth chart news! According to Kelly, Cam McDaniel is “going to play a lot of running back for us this year.” Jalen Brown “is going to get some playing time for us this year.”

RUN THE DAMN BALL! Someone asked Kelly how he would get GA3 to “run with his pads lower” and did I ever love the response:

You have to have those instincts. George is going learn those instincts or he’s going to have to stand next to me and I know he doesn’t like to stand next to me during the game.

Kelly went on to praise GA3’s spring and made sure to mention that he bypassed track season this year to focus on football full-time.

Being “right there” with Alabama. I know this quote from the early spring pressers raised some eyebrows and Kelly went a bit more in-depth on his assessment:

As we got a chance to step back and look at [the game against Alabama] more closely, we’re right there.

Now, there a lot of factors that go into that game. A 42 day layoff does not help a team that is at 80 scholarships at the time. We had really some unique circumstances that didn’t allow us to practice the way we would’ve liked to. We needed to play that game right after the USC game. I like our chances in that situation.

So my point being, is that, after getting a chance to look at it more critically, we didn’t play our best and that’s on me because our players were good enough to be in there and compete with Alabama. And so, we have to look at the preparation.  We have to look at the moment, the enormity of the game, all those things being great experiences for this football team that, when we get an opportunity that happens to be Alabama again, you’ll see a team that is ready for that moment.

The forty year decision includes better NFL chances. Place this in the recruiting file:

We had six players that were drafted…and then we had seven players that signed as free agents. Now, just to put that in perspective  that’s obviously 13 players, that’s our entire senior class.

I will tell you that the 48 hours leading up to the second day [of the NFL draft] was the busiest my phone has been since I’ve been at Notre Dame. Because they want to sign a Notre Dame kid because they know what he’s going to bring to the locker room.

They know, because they have their degrees, that this is just an experience. And if it sticks, fine, they’ll play it out. If not, they’ve got a Notre Dame degree that they can get on with. So they’re playing a game and they know that because they have their degree. Whereas XYZ school signs 12 or 13 [to NFL contracts], they need to make it in the NFL. Because if they don’t make it in the NFL, they don’t have their degree.

And so that’s a big difference when a GM calls and says you know “I want Goody because he’s got his degree” and he can come to these minicamps that are starting right now — if you don’t have your degree, you can’t be in minicamp.

And now, Jack Swarbrick Trick Shot Monday Dot GIF. Because why not (via):

The Beer

In honor of Notre Dame potentially looking at a redesign of Notre Dame Stadium and considering Cinco de Mayo is around the corner, I am going to recommend a bit of drink construction this week.

Because why try to shove a lime into a Corona when you shove an entire Corona into a margarita? Plus your drink refills itself through the wonders of physics. Everybody wins.

Except your liver.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Lunch with Brian Kel–SOURCES” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So after a decade away these two teams, now both in the top ten, are set to face off in one of the biggest games of the season. And Sooner fans are…out for blood?

Perhaps this is all due to the hype machine being cranked into severe overdrive, but the amount of venom coming from Norman is flying at the rate of a freshly tapped oil geyser. Bottled up since the aforementioned streak-snapping game of 1957, the hate has exploded. With no wins against the Irish since then, proper “vengeance” has yet to be exacted on Notre Dame and Oklahoma must claim it!

And the college football world says that Notre Dame fans live in the past…

Several different posts and articles have been publish this week with such a theme. They range from understandable sports pain stemming from 1957 to downright calling Notre Dame cheaters and thieves.

The South and football, y’all, serious business.

I started collecting these articles earlier in the week for the Roundup, but the sheer amount is so much that I’m actually going to split the Roundup into multiple sections. The Sooner Irish-hating will get their own special little section this week (feel better there, big guy?) and the usual Roundup will follow after.

As far as my own thoughts on all this hate…well, I’ll just let the next section speak for itself…

OU MAD?

Refusing to vote for Regan because he played the Gipper is totally logical! This was the first article that started this mess. And my God, is it full of gold. The Irish victory in 1957 inspired vandalism on barns, made mothers cry, caused people to lose respect for the state of Oklahoma, and is actually equated to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. These are all things Sooner fans actually said. I’m not embellishing any of this.

Pretty sure this guy was fired from the Bleacher Report. A poorly researched, trash article that serves little to no purpose — and you don’t even have a numbered list that’s a slideshow?! For shame. Also, don’t forget to drop by comments and watch an OU fan try to explain their sub-50% graduation rate on the singular fact that OU produces more NFL talent than ND…even though ND currently has 4 more players in the NFL than OU does. Details, so heavily biased in ND’s favor.

So no one can remember where exactly Lou saw a sign, let’s call it theft! Reading this entire piece is just hilarious. It starts as clear click-bait for Irish hating clicks with the quote of a Sooner fan claiming said theft and then ends with one Oklahoman being all “welp, didn’t think about it much, thought everyone had one.”

My mom said the Irish cheated so it must be true. I kid you not, that’s the argument — in full. Notre Dame is a bunch of cheater McCheaterpants.

Hey, Barry, the ND hating articles are getting a lot of clicks, throw another one together. It’s fine if it’s comprised of nothing but fan feedback. Yes, even if they think CBS is the channel ND plays football on and that Nebraska left the Big XII because ND refused to join the big ten. Just run with it. Gold, Barry, gold.

OU students may not be into this as much as the older fans. Proof.

And now switching gears to return fire…

OU discipline: send a strong message and suspend a starting defensive linemen until the ND game is done. Oh crap, ND is good? Uh, SUSPENSION LIFTED!

All you need to know about Norman, pretty much ever. Spoiler alert: the law about eating someone else’s hamburger is pretty much the only interesting thing.

Here’s the closest the Sooners will get to the title this season. Then it’ll go to WalMart.

Finally, OU’s president wants to be the peacemaker. I guess he’s worried things might get out of hand. Whatever — I’ve been to games in the Big House, Sparty’s backyard, and at Southern Cal. Do your worst.

The Roundup

For those heading to Norman, here is your itinerary. I’ll out there Saturday with the ND Club of Dallas, so hopefully I see some of y’all out there.

It isn’t all about the big plays. A friend of mine did a nice bit of research on the big play potential of OU and how ND has fared this season. Great read and a great take on how the game could play out. He did a follow up on how K-State took OU apart as well.

Trick Shot Monday is on notice. The ND hockey team has thrown down an impressive gauntlet.

Speaking of hockey, the Compton Family Ice Center is quite impressive. Don’t just take our word for it. A third party has given it rave reviews.

Now joining the family of badass athletic facilities: Fencing. Well deserved for a program that has won its fair share of national titles.

Running on the field without a plan isn’t a good idea. If you run out onto the field in the middle of a play and just kind slowly jog while waving your shirt around, you’re going to have a bad time.

I’m glad we got to the bottom of Texas’ problems. Mack Brown blames the Longhorn Network. Yes, it makes about as much sense as you’d think.

SEC! SEC! SEC! Over seven grand at a strip club? Just expense it.

Law & Order: Honey Badger. Yep, he still don’t care.

That’s so Kiffin. Don’t worry, this doesn’t look shady at all, Lane.

Put These Games on Your Radar

Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week is the Notre Dame game this week. Here’s how to pass the time until Sooner tears flow again:

Temple @ Pittsburgh, 12pm EST, ESPN3 (WatchESPN) – Yeah, the noon games suck. Scout next week’s opponent.

#2 Florida vs #10 Georgia, 3:30pm EST, CBS – The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party will likely cannibalize one of these SEC teams out of the top ten. Georgia is still liking their wounds after the ‘Ol Ball Coach rained a beatdown on them. If there was ever a great chance for them to play spoiler, this is it.

#14 Texas Tech vs #3 Kansas State, 3:30pm EST, FOX – Texas Tech’s “top” defense is starting to look like a myth after the games TCU and OU have put up against them. It’ll be interesting to see how K-State approaches this game.

Predictions

Tex

I’ve gone back and forth on this prediction. I marked this as a no doubt loss preseason, but OU has proven to be more than beatable thanks to K-State. And you know, 7-0 is a horrible time to stop drinking the koolaid. Irish defense makes a statement to the entire nation, again.

20 – 13 ND

Biscuit

Leprechauns once again:

Stoops is back. There are a lot of injuries. But this game happens late enough where the Sooners should be able to get their depth chart figured out, and young guys will have more experience. This is, also, the #4 team in the country pre-season. This is, also, in Norman. ND will also be at the end of a pretty long grind, though the 2nd half against BYU will be a decent rest to add to the 4 hour long nap we all take when we play Purzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Anyway, if this were at home, I’d paint a different picture. But assuming Rees isn’t the QB, this will be a first-season starter in a big, hostile environment. This will be a top 15 opponent for sure (though we will also be ranked), and it will be an electric atmosphere. I think it’s a bit much for the team this Fall. But we perform admirably and don’t slide much in the polls.

ND Drops Another 34 – 21

2 Leprechauns for the Sooners.

Bayou

Irish 21 OU 17

Twibby

Irish 24, Sooners 21

Grantland-X

I’m really bringing up the rear with these score predictions…time to change that. 27-16 Irish

Closest to the Pin Week 7

All of us were very, very far off the mark last week. Twibby’s prediction was the best of the worst. Let us never speak of week 7 predictions again.

Leaderboard

The Beer

I really enjoyed the last time we had suggestions coming in from the comment section. Considering that we are all so spread out, I figure we should do this more often. I’ll pick a style of beer, and sound off on your favorite that can be found in your area.

Since the month of October is coming to an end and the time for winter brews are fast approaching, we should enjoy the Oktoberfest brews while they still last. I’ve previously professed my preference for Shiner’s Oktoberfest (and St. Arnold’s is pretty damn good too), but let me know your favorite Märzen style brew in the comments below.

GO IRISH!

The post Friday Roundup: The “OU Mad?” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

But your Luck has run out and is now an Indianapolis Colt. Now you face a buzzsaw that is the Irish defense.

Spoiler alert: Trees lose to saws. Every. Damn. Time.

Before Andrew Luck became your personal touchdown Jesus, Stanford, we owned you. We beat you seven straight times as a matter of fact before 2009.

Ty Willingham is undefeated against you. Yes, Ty f’n Willingham — he even beat you 57-7 one season. That’s all kinds of special.

Now, I’ll give you some credit. You pulled yourself up off the floor from a Ty beating and eventually built up a good time a few years later. Nice work. I tip my hat to you.

However, you now have to face the fact that without your Heisman caliber QB, your offense is now ranked 85th in the nation. Even your once powerful running game has taken quite the step back, now ranking only 70th in the nation.

Your Haubaugh-led defense was once rather feared to, but he’s gone and you are ranked 55th in the nation right now after you let Rich Rod tear you a new one. “But wait”, you say, “our rushing defense is 6th in the nation“, well, that’s great, but your passing defense is 113th in the nation.

Now, Everett Golson hasn’t quite set the world on fire yet at QB, but then again he hasn’t faced a secondary quite as bad as yours. The Irish defense has to simply be licking their chops at facing an offense that is nothing like what it was last season.

I hope you enjoyed the past three years. I really hope you did.

Tomorrow afternoon, we break you.

Your destruction will be heralded by Lee Corso wearing a Leprechaun hat furiously hacking away at a tree…probably.

The Roundup

Trick Shot Monday continues to hit the big time. First, the Sportscenter Top Ten and now, it’ll be a feature on tomorrow’s ESPN College Gameday.

Decided schematic surrender! I think Weis has waved the white flag this season.

Speaking of Weis, the student newspaper he ripped last week (apparently for this cartoon) fired back. However, Weis couldn’t help himself and had his SID deliver a face-to-face warning to make everything better.

Golden Tate, please tell me you were hacked. I don’t want to believe that this is real:

So mad I didn’t get Justin beiber tickets to the concert tonight. #losing #beiberfever anyone else going?

— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) October 9, 2012

 

I’m sure Kiffin will be more than happy to answer questions on this. So Robert Woods may have failed concussion tests and still played? Oh that’ll go over well. Tweet has since been deleted, but considering the hit and the aftermath this seems plausible.

South Carolina had more surprises than just an upset of Georgia. And this one was a lot bigger.

LSU doesn’t have the chest for warm weather. Even if said weather is the exact same thing they have in Baton Rouge.

Apparently, no one learned our hard lesson from Freekbass. Oklahoma has stepped up to the plate of horribly embarrassing music videos.

I never thought MS Paint could bring me such joy. However, every week, I am proven wrong.

This is what the NCAA has become. They actually had to clarify using Instagram filters is within the rules after a previous release said otherwise.

RIP Beano Cook.

Put These Games on Your Radar

#3 South Carolina @ #9 LSU, 8pm EST, ESPN/WatchESPN – Twibby’s Marquee Matchup of the Week

#15 Texas vs #13 Oklahoma @ Dallas, TX, 12 pm EST, ABC – The Red River Shootout — ’nuff said.

#5 West Virginia @ Texas Tech, 3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN/WatchESPN – I put this game on here because the spread is just so interesting. West Virginia is favored by less than a touchdown and Texas Tech has yet to really beat anyone. Last week, Tech lost to OU and West Virginia won a shootout with Texas. I’m wondering Vegas knows something the rest of us don’t. I don’t want to say upset alert here, but who knows.

#11 USC @ Washington, 7pm EST, FOX – USC heads out on the road again against a team that managed to pull a nice upset of their own against Stanford, and, yes, Stanford beat USC. Will the transitive property of football hold?

Predictions

Tex: Clearly, I am going wrong in my predictions by assuming opposing TDs. 24 – 9 ND

Biscuit: 14-10 ND, Via

Bayou: 24 -9 Irish (Note: No, Bayou and I had no idea what each other’s predictions would be, promise)

Twibby: Irish 31, Trees 17

Grantland-X: 27-17 Irish

Closest to the Pin Week 5: Bayou was the only one to predict a true blowout, giving him victories two weeks in a row. Leaderboard:

The Beer

We will be taking a different direction with the beer selection this week and it isn’t just to troll MQ.

This week, the Subway Domer seriously contemplated retirement from the blogging world. Thankfully, his wife vetoed the decision and Subway will continue to grace the ND blogging world in the only way he can.

I’m thrilled the godfather of the Irish Blogger Gathering is sticking with us. So in celebration, this one’s for you, Subway:

The post Friday Roundup: The “Luck Has Run Out” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.