There is no question Notre Dame will remain the “Wal-Mart” of college football as long as it is able to keep its national television network deal.
Um, what that a compliment? A back handed compliment? A jab?
It seems that Mr. Christ is a little bent out of shape that UConn will be playing Notre Dame in Gillette Stadium instead of Rentschler Field - UConn’s normal home stadium. He writes:
As a UConn football season ticket holder, state legislator from East Hartford and taxpayer who at the request of UConn supported using nearly $100 million in taxpayer funds to build Rentschler Field, I find it insulting that the school’s athletic department is now considering leaving “The Rent” in favor of outsourcing our home games against Notre Dame.
Nevermind the fact that an up and coming program like UConn’s benefits greatly from playing a team like Notre Dame on a national stage for 10 straight years.
Ask most Notre Dame fans how they feel about the series with UConn and many will question why the series is 10 years long. Could playing the games in Gillette Stadium be a consolation for a 10 game series?
And honestly, what does being the “Wal-Mart” of college football mean? Many people see Wal-Mart as a gigantic corporation which puts small town “mom and pop” stores out of business. Is that how Mr. Christ sees Notre Dame in this deal? As a giant corporate bully pushing around the small mom and pop in UConn? Because if that is the case, shouldn’t the corporate giant have been able to pull the same deal without agreeing to a guaranteed 10 game series?
Granted, this 10 game series has not even been formally announced yet, despite multiple reports that it is all but signed.
I asked from some opinions on the running back battle this spring after writing an article on the homepage about all those involved. Here are some of your thoughts from the football forum:
fightNYirish wrote:
I started a thread on this but when I was done typing it there was already one up but heres my take. The article made me curious, because I felt differently on some parts of it, so I went to nbc and watched some game replays to rethink some things. The MSU game especially stands out.On offense, our line wasnt too bad, and our 3 running backs were healthy and I feel best showcased their own personal style againt a tough opponent. Heres what I saw for the season out of the 3 guys
James was the most well rounded and when lanes were opened he found them. He has great vision and showed he can break tackles for yards, run by guys for yards, or bend the facemask of anyone who wants to stand in front of him. His downside, he is too patient, he was handed the ball with no lanes opened and didnt move forward, he did what darius did and waited than would be hit in the backfield. I think he shows better speed and agility in 08 with another year from injury, I think he still runs upright too early in the hole, but he has shown he knows when to drop the shoulder, and he hits with the force of a car. Side note, his role in pass blocking/recognition was the best of the 3, and throughout the season did not see some of the nice lanes Hughes was given. I think he is underestimated in this position battle because he is not as flashy, he doesnt have armandos speed and doesnt drag entire defensive lines behind him. However he is the best mix of size and speed, as well as great vision, he breaks arm tackles, and is solid in pass blocking. Total package who got banged up but played tremendous against bowl caliber opponents in our early games when the team was not gelling. His consistency,and vision should allow him to put up big numbers this year if the line plays well so we can open the passing game and get guys out of the box. I think he has 1000 yard season.
Hughes had some nice runs too, to me he definitely shows better cutting ability than aldridge,he has great lateral movement but he loses too much speed on his cuts, which is why out of the 3 backs he is suited for redzone play.When holes open hughes finds them, when they arent, he makes them, ridiculously strong lower body where its less punishing blow than James, but unbelievable second effort drive with his legs to move the pile. I think next year he continues to do what he did for us this year, and that is beast his way into the endzone and force defenses to bring more guys in the box when we are in the redzone to either A.be run over by Hughes. B.leave kamara 1on1 outside and get jumped over. C.get pushed of yeatman so he can make the easy grab. or D. not notice luke on play action and he gets the underneath route for a td. I think Hughes is slightly over hyped in this race.Im trying to pick my words carefully because I too am super excited about this kid and think he is awesome. However his best moments were against low level teams when our offense was showing signs of life and our starter was injured, so he left a good taste in the mouths of ND fans at the end of our season. He was 100% going into 07 and now going into 08 which is a huge upside for him not battling serious injury he has a year of speed and strength gain, and not recovery. Unless JA gets injured, I dont see Hughes starting. Huge contributor, will lead the irish in td’s.
Allen had some screens,draws and outside runs that he looked good on, he doesnt take long to control the ball and become a runner after the catch or pitch, and as he gets stronger will turn those small gains into larger ones. I take into strong account that he broke his leg and missed his senior year, and how big of strides he made in the strength department by the end of 07. I expect him to look like travis thomas standing still, and blur like rocket when he runs. He can pack on some more size without losing speed, I think 08 he still plays that 3rd down back role, but he is going to get some looks, this kid is going to be special over the years. He isnt the typical speedster track star that is put on the field just for his speed, he knows the game very well, and as he gets more physical he will be outright dangerous. Should lead the backs in avg yards per touch this year.
Very good breakdown of all 3. I agree that Aldridge starts off the season as the #1 guy and if he can hold off Hughes, there isn’t a reason why he can’t top 1,000 yards as fightNYirish suggests.
Sophomore to be Steve Paskorz has been working at fullback after spending his freshman year at linebacker. From IE’s Weis Transcript:
“For example, (Steve) Paskorz we moved over to fullback this week. I don’t know if you guys noticed that or not, but he went from 50 to 30 and he wasn’t playing linebacker, he was playing fullback”
There has been a lot of speculation that Paskorz should be tried at fullback since he was recruited so this move doesn’t come as a surprise. Notre Dame has not gotten much, if any production, out of the fullback position since Raeshon Powers-Neal’s suspension during the 2005 season so it can’t hurt giving Paskorz reps there. With all of the talented LB’s coming in the fall, its very possible that Paskorz would have been lost in the mix at linebacker.
Notre Dame assistant Gene Cross has reached a deal in principle to take over at Toledo, sources told CBSSports.com on Thursday night.
A formal announcement could come as early as Friday.
An Illinois graduate, Cross has long been considered one of the premier assistants in the country, having worked at Illinois-Chicago, DePaul and Virginia before joining Mike Brey at Notre Dame.
The 36-year-old Cross has received recognition as one of 10 assistant coaches “ready to take the next step” to become a head coach by CBSSportsline.com and also as a top 25 recruiter by Rivals.com.
Cross, who could not be reached for comment last night, has extensive recruiting ties in Chicago. That’s an area UT has had much recruiting success in recently, signing Chicago natives such as Florentino Valencia, Jerrah Young and Tyrone Kent.
He has 12 years of coaching experience at the Division I level and also played at Illinois. Cross has coached at Virginia, DePaul and Illinois-Chicago and got his master’s degree from Ohio State.
Tough loss for the Hoops team, Cross was an excellent assistant on Brey’s staff and will be sorely missed.
The Notre Dame hockey team won an overtime thriller over the #1 ranked Michigan Wolverine late Thursday night to advance to the Championship game of the Frozen Four for the first time in school history.
Notre Dame, the first #4 seed in NCAA history to reach the Frozen Four, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and then used an excellent penatly kill with under three minutes to go to force overtime after Michigan tied the score at 4 earlier in the third period.
Calle Ridderwall punched the puck past freshman goalie Bryan Hogan 5:44 into overtime Thursday night, giving Notre Dame a 5-4 victory over the top-ranked Wolverines in the Frozen Four semifinals.
Ridderwall’s second goal of the night sent the Irish into a frenzied, pile-on celebration at center ice while the heavily favored Wolverines stood in stunned silence, their dreams of their first championship in a decade dashed at the hands of the upstart Fighting Irish, of all teams.
The Irish will now face Boston College in the championship game Saturday night in Denver. How nice would it be to beat BC for the title after their history of upsets over the Irish on the football field?
“We’re trying to juggle some things around, put together some different combinations and see if we can get the same play from different spots but also create some depth just in case of injury or maybe a young guy that you plan on doesn’t pan out as well or just trying to get different looks … ” Brown said. “You do that with a number of different combinations and hopefully you strike gold, you hit the jackpot and then you got something special.”
Brown also said he wanted to move Harrison Smith around because he has the ability to make big plays no matter where he is on the field. But Brown jokingly cautioned against giving him such glowing praise.
“If you see certain guys making plays, you kind of want to see how far you can take that, so you try to put them in different positions because you know what you have here … ” Brown said. “He’s a hard-working [player], he’s smart, he’s tough. I don’t want to say too many good things about him, though, because he’ll probably poop in my lunch bucket.”
Brown moved Zibby towards the line at times last year in obvious passing downs so this could be a sign that Brown is liking what he is seeing out of the sophomore safety. Smith has had a great spring so far and will be fighting for the starting strong safety spot through the rest of the spring and into fall camp.
Here’s some video of Emeka Nwankwo. Nwankwo has been getting some first team reps and really surprised me with his size when I saw the practice videos from Saturday.
The annual Blue-Gold game will be a little bit different this year. Here is a quick overview of how the game will be played.
Gameplay: There will be two 30 minute halves with a running clock. Only injuries or timeouts will stop the clock other than in the final two minutes of each half. In the final minute, normal clock rules apply.
Timeouts: Each team gets 3 timeouts per half.
Halftime: 20 minutes
Coin Toss: Jersey color, sidelines, and lock rooms will be determined by a coin toss on Wednesday, April 16. There will also be a ceremonial
Other Rules:
Everyone will be live for tackling except players in red (presumably only QBs) who will be ruled down after they are touched by a defender with two hands.
No kickoff or punt returns - each possession will start at the 35 yard line.
