I am really surprised at the # of players in the Portal from the women's team. The men lost Atkins, and now Wesley declaring for the NBA draft. Some talk as well that Nate Lazewski will leave.
Irish Baseball sweeps FSU, after getting swept by Louisville they needed a good series like this to get some of their MOJO back. Softball takes 2 out of 3 from Ga Tech.
By now everyone knows Marcus Freeman is bringing back the GameDay Mass followed by the team walking to the Stadium from the Basilica. A long time tradition that Kelly changed to Mass at the Gug and then to the Stadium. Discussion has been focused on it's place in today's world and of course recruiting. How will non-Catholic kids and their families feel. Personally I like it
I saw a couple of photos over the weekend from recruiting visits on campus. It's amazing the lengths they go to in order to gain commitments from these kids. In the photos fully uniformed recruits are sitting on a throne made of gold bullion either holding extra bullion in their hands with big grins or fondling a Heisman Trophy. The theme is obvious. Do they still take them around to meet academic advisors?
ND announced that they will be playing Tenn State in 2023 it's the home opener. The Irish open the 2023 season in Dublin with Navy. Not surprisingly the addition of Tenn State (an FCS school) was met with much derision on the Irish Internet Boards.
Looks like we got some DLine help from the transfer portal. Chris Smith a grad transfer from Harvard no less. Fills a need with the recent injuries. Nice
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to fill the schedule. Y'all don't have a full conference requirement but your traditional opponents are "requirements" that.you have to work around.
The internet outrage is aimed at the fact that they are FCS. ND fans (many but not all of them). They are upset that we once could say that we don't play FCS, make fun of schools who do. They have been upset that we've had MAC teams on the schedule. 1988 schedule is the gold standard. The 5 ACC games have been a constant source of irritation, except for Clemson of course.
The reality is that being in a conference has its advantages and disadvantages. We have a 8 games a season that are mandatory. If the rest of the conference is doing well then our strength of schedule is ok. If not then that is a detriment. Alabama also tries to get a quality game to open the season. That takes care of 9 games. That leaves 3 games a year that we have to coordinate schedules to get in. Not everyone with their own conference requirements can accommodate the dates we have open or they don't want to play a top opponent. Notre Dame had a lot more flexibility, but sometimes you have to just take a schedule filler.
Correct. We couldn't have chosen a better "filler" opponent than an HBCU team. Those who don't agree are entitled to their opinions. I'm in favor of the move.
I've written a number of times about the difficulties facing Swarbrick to put together ND's schedule. With our 3 "permanent" opponents and our 5 conference commitments we'd normally have 4 games to schedule. However it's complicated by our Shamrock series and the desire to have 7 home games. Seems that TSU was added much later than opponents are scheduled. They certainly fit the requirement of a non-return game opponent. Games like this allow you to rest starters early if you've had injury problems and allow you to incorporate different schemes you've been working on. If there's a "social" aspect, fine. If it's a friendship thing between Freeman and George, great. I expect USC and Clemson to rebound next season and with OSU on the schedule, we've have a number of chances at "quality wins." I'll spend my "worry time" on our receiving corps and D line.
The only problem I have with the TSU game is that it makes it even harder for us to Get into the playoffs as a 11-1 teams with TSU being 1 of the 11 wins.
Gip, I agree with all that you said in the quote above. I wish that others held your opinion when other schools do the same thing.
Imagine how hard it would be if TSU was the lone loss. Seriously, I'd love to see us go 11-1 with Ohio State, Clemson, and USC, and let the situation sort itself out.
Sid, Meeting ND in the first game would not be my first choice. Trying to schedule games three or four years in advance is a guessing game at best. Offensively we should be in good shape, how we adapt to our new defensive coach is an entirely different situation. This game could prove to be a challenge for both teams. Freeman will have his own problems as a brand new head coach as well.
TWO of our freshman early enrollees @OL are out for the Spring. Billy Schrauth had foot surgery soon after arriving on campus. Should be good to go for summer workouts. Joey Tanona is a different story, he was in a car accident and it's not sure when he will be able to play. This from HH press conference. The same thing with Joey, really freak thing, scary. Just blessing that he’s dealing with what he’s doing with and that it wasn’t worse. It was a terrible accident, I saw a picture of the car. It was terrible. Right where he was sitting. His mom bought a place in South Bend. His sister was driving him to the Gug in the morning for morning workouts and he was asleep and reclining and it was probably a good thing because his body was limp and a car ran a red light and hit him right where he was sitting. So if he’d been awake and like braced or something, they always say if that happens, you’re better off to be kind of (loose). So that’s been unfortunate for those two. But they’re great kids. We’re hoping but we don’t know yet (if Joey can get cleared to resume activities by the end of spring). He’s not there yet.